THE BUILDER OCTOBER 1919

CORRESPONDENCE CIRCLE BULLETIN No. 31
DEVOTED TO ORGANIZED MASONIC STUDY

Edited by Bro. H. L. Haywood

THE BULLETIN COURSE OF MASONIC STUDY FOR MONTHLY LODGE MEETINGS AND
STUDY CLUBS

FOUNDATION OF THE COURSE

THE Course of Study has for its foundation two sources of Masonic
information: THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. In another
paragraph is explained how the references to former issues of THE
BUILDER and to Mackey's Encyclopedia may be worked up as
supplemental papers to exactly fit into each installment of the
Course with the papers by Brother Haywood.

MAIN OUTLINE:

The Course is divided into five principal divisions which are in
turn subdivided, as is shown below:

Division I. Ceremonial Masonry.

A. The Work of the Lodge. 
B. The Lodge and the Candidate. 
C. First Steps. 
D. Second Steps. 
E. Third Steps.

Division II. Symbolical Masonry.
A. Clothing. 
B. Working Tools. 
C. Furniture. 
D. Architecture. 
E. Geometry.
F. Signs. 
G. Words. 
H. Grips.

Division III. Philosophical Masonry.
A. Foundations. 
B. Virtues. 
C. Ethics. 
D. Religious Aspect. 
E. The Quest. 
F. Mysticism. 
G. The Secret Doctrine.

Division IV. Legislative Masonry.

A. The Grand Lodge. 
1. Ancient Constitutions. 
2. Codes of Law. 
3. Grand Lodge Practices. 
4. Relationship to Constituent Lodges. 
5. Official Duties and Prerogatives.

B. The Constituent Lodge.
1. Organization. 
2. Qualifications of Candidates. 
3. Initiation, Passing and Raising. 
4. Visitation. 
5. Change of Membership.

Division V. Historical Masonry.

A. The Mysteries--Earliest Masonic Light.
B. Studies of Rites--Masonry in the Making. 
C. Contributions to Lodge Characteristics.
D. National Masonry.
E. Parallel Peculiarities in Lodge Study. 
F. Feminine Masonry. 
G. Masonic Alphabets. 
H. Historical Manuscripts of the Craft. 
I. Biographical Masonry.
J. Philological Masonry--Study of Significant Words.

THE MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS

Each month we are presenting a paper written by Brother Haywood,
who is following the foregoing outline. We are now in "First Steps"
of Ceremonial Masonry. There will be twelve monthly papers under
this particular subdivision. On page two, preceding each
installment, will be given a list of questions to be used by the
chairman of the Committee during the study period which will bring
out every point touched upon in the paper.

Whenever possible we shall reprint in the Correspondence Circle
Bulletin articles from other sources which have a direct bearing
upon the particular subject covered by Brother Haywood in his
monthly paper. These articles should be used as supplemental papers
in addition to those prepared by the members from the monthly list
of references. Much valuable material that would otherwise possibly
never come to the attention of many of our members will thus be
presented.

The monthly installments of the Course appearing in the
Correspondence Circle Bulletin should be used one month later than
their appearance. If this is done the Committee will have
opportunity to arrange their programs several weeks in advance of
the meetings and the brethren who are members of the National
Masonic Research Society will be better enabled to enter into the
discussions after they have read over and studied the installment
in THE BUILDER.

REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTAL PAPERS

Immediately preceding each of Brother Haywood's monthly papers in
the Correspondence Circle Bulletin will be found a list of
references to THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. These
references are pertinent to the paper and will either enlarge upon
many of the points touched upon or bring out new points for reading
and discussion. They should be assigned by the Committee to
different brethren who may compile papers of their own from the
material thus to be found, or in many instances the articles
themselves or extracts therefrom may be read directly from the
originals. The latter method may be followed when the members may
not feel able to compile original papers, or when the original may
be deemed appropriate without any alterations or additions.

HOW TO ORGANIZE FOR AND CONDUCT THE STUDY MEETINGS

The lodge should select a "Research Committee" preferably of three
"live" members. The study meetings should be held once a month,
either at a special meeting of the lodge called for the purpose, or
at a regular meeting at which no business (except the lodge
routine) should be transacted--all possible time to be given to the
study period.

After the lodge has been opened and all routine business disposed
of, the Master should turn the lodge over to the Chairman of the
Research Committee. This Committee should be fully prepared in
advance on the subject for the evening. All members to whom
references for supplemental papers have been assigned should be
prepared with their papers and should also have a comprehensive
grasp of Brother Haywood's paper.

PROGRAM FOR STUDY MEETINGS

1. Reading of the first section of Brother Haywood's paper and the
supplemental papers thereto.

(Suggestion: While these papers are being read the members of the
lodge should make notes of any points they may wish to discuss or
inquire into when the discussion is opened. Tabs or slips of paper
similar to those used in elections should be distributed among the
members for this purpose at the opening of the study period.)

2. Discussion of the above.

3. The subsequent sections of Brother Haywood's paper and the
supplemental papers should then be taken up, one at a time, and
disposed of in the same manner.
4. Question Box.

MAKE THE "QUESTION BOX" THE FEATURE OF YOUR MEETINGS

Invite questions from any and all brethren present. Let them
understand that these meetings are for their particular benefit and
get them into the habit of asking all the questions they may think
of. Every one of the papers read will suggest questions as to facts
and meanings which may not perhaps be actually covered at all in
the paper. If at the time these questions are propounded no one can
answer them, SEND THEM IN TO US. All the reference material we have
will be gone through in an endeavor to supply a satisfactory
answer. In fact we are prepared to make special research when
called upon, and will usually be able to give answers within a day
or two. Please remember, too, that the great Library of the Grand
Lodge of Iowa is only a few miles away, and, by order of the
Trustees of the Grand Lodge, the Grand Secretary places it at our
disposal on any query raised by any member of the Society.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The foregoing information should enable local Committees to conduct
their lodge study meetings with success. However, we shall welcome
all inquiries and communications from interested brethren
concerning any phase of the plan that is not entirely clear to
them, and the Services of our Study Club Department are at the
command of our members, lodge and study club committees at all
times.

QUESTIONS ON "THE TWO PILLARS"

I
Where do you keep the pillars in your lodge room during the time
they are not in actual use? Has such position any particular
significance? In some jurisdictions we find them at either side of
the entrance from the preparation room; in others they stand in
front of the Senior Warden's station. Can you give a reason for
either or both of these locations other than "for convenienced? How
did the pillars impress you when you first saw them ? What do they
mean to you now?

II
Why did early peoples set up pillars before their places of abode,
about their villages and over the graves of their dead? What did
they believe such pillars to symbolize?

What did pillars portray to the Mayas and Incas? How were they
looked upon in bible times? By whom were monoliths most widely
used? In what manner, and for what purposes? In the course of
religious development what did they come to symbolize? What did the
obelisk symbolize?

III
Whence did the custom of placing pillars before temple entrances
proceed from Egypt? What did Hiram probably use as his models for
the pillars placed before Solomon's Temple?

What do the pillars used in the lodge room represent ? What is the
height of the pillars as given in the Book of Kings ? In the Book
of Chronicles? What is Brother Haywood's theory concerning these
variations ? How does Mackey describe the original pillars?

What was the shape and composition of the pillars ? What was their
combined weight? What were they respectively called and what were
their positions? How are these names interpreted Masonically ? What
part did they occupy during celebrations? Where were the pillars
supposedly cast?

What should be the height of the pillars used in our lodge rooms?
What are the heights as adopted by American Grand Lodges? What was
the height of the pillars as now accepted by present-day
authorities ? Is it imperative that we know the actual height of
the pillars to pursue our Masonic studies? In what light should we
consider them ?

What did the pillars symbolize to Preston ? To Caldecott? To Covey-
Crump ? To Mackey ? To the old Jewish Rabbis ? What is brother
Haywood's interpretation?

IV
What two theories have been offered by Masonic Scholars concerning
the origin of the globes? How was the first theory suggested? What
is the symbol of the winged globe? What did its oval shape suggest
or symbolize? Do you accept this Egyptian theory? If so. why? If
not, why not?

V
Why does it appear that Preston modified the chapiters of the
pillars into globes? How is Preston's theory verified? Do you agree
with Brother Haywood that we of today have the same right to
interpret the symbols in our own way as did the ancients? If not,
why not?

SUPPLEMENTAL REFERENCES

Mackey's Encyclopedia:

Globe, p. 298; Pillar, p. 565; Pillars of Cloud and Fire, p. 566;
Pillars of the Porch, p. 566.

THE BUILDER:

Vol. I. Globes on the Pillars, p. 10; Pillars, Height of, pp. 192,
310.

Vol. II. Pillars, The Two, pp. 176, 222.

Vol. III. Pillars of the Porch, pp. 177, 200, 236.

Vol. IV.-Jachin and Boaz, pp. 21, 264; The Globes, p. 265; The
Lily-Work, p. 265; The Net-Work, p. 265; The Pomegranate, p. 266.

Vol. V. The Origin of the Pillars to King Solomon's Temple, (this
issue) C. C. B. p. 8; The Position of the Pillars, (this issue) C.
C. B. p. 6; The Two Pillars Standing in the Porch of the Temple,
(this issue) C. C. B. p. 5.

SECOND STEPS

PART VI THE TWO PILLARS

OF ALL objects which greet the eyes of the candidate as he stands
before the stairs leading to the Middle Chamber none are so
conspicuous as the two great pillars nor are any more deserving of
careful study. They stand there before him as if to guard the
sanctum from the profane world while they invite him into newer
mysteries; so noble in proportion are they, so intricate in design,
so beautiful to see, they keep solemn watch above the scene and
throw a hush of awe about the soul that would mount to the Upper
Room of the spirit. What they mean, it is difficult, although not
entirely impossible, to say. If our Masonic students and savants
have surrounded them with a host of theories more intricate than
the network and more multitudinous than the pomegranates it is
because so many hints of ancient wisdom and symbolism have been
carved into their capitals, their chapiters, and their bases. Our
own study may lead to apparently contradictory results; this need
not disturb us; no symbol can walk on all fours; a symbol which
says hut one thing is hardly a symbol at all.

II
It was the custom of many of the early peoples, as Frazer describes
so abundantly in his "Golden Bough," (six volumes on primitive
religion, etc.) to set up stone pillars before their huts, about
their villages, and over the graves of their dead. In some cases
these stones were believed to be gods or demons, or the abodes of
gods or demons; in others they were believed to be the homes of the
ghosts of departed human beings; in many cases they were looked
upon as symbols of sex. Of the last named usage one competent
historian speaks as follows: "Pillars of stone, when associated
with worship, have been from time immemorial regarded as the
symbols of the active and passive, the generating and fecundating
principles." In India at the present time one may see almost
anywhere the sacred "lingam," a stone pillar, emblem of the organs
of sex, and consequently the symbol of life forever renewing
itself. Also, pillars have often been used as emblems of stability;
Dr. Newton, in his "The Builders," speaks as follows:

"In India, and among the Mayas and Incas there were three great
pillars at the portals of the earthey and skyey temple, Wisdom,
Strength, and Beauty. When man set up a pillar, he became a fellow
worker with Him whom the old sages of China used to call 'the first
Builder.' Also, pillars were set up to mark the holy places of
vision and divine deliverance, as when Jacob erected a pillar at
Bethel, Joshua at Gilgal, and Samuel at Mizpeh and Shen. Always
they were symbols of stability, of what the Egyptians described as
'the place of establishing forever' emblem of the faith 'that the
pillars of the earth are the lord's and He hath set the world upon
them."'


"In all countries," remarks another writer, "as the earliest of
man's works we recognize the sublime, mysteriously-speaking, ever-
recurring monolith." By no peoples were these monoliths (the word
literally means "one stone") so venerated, or so widely used, as
among the Egyptians: originally, it is thought, they were used as
astronomical instruments to mark the time and to denote the stages
of the movements of the heavenly bodies; also they were employed to
orient temples, that is, as markers through which the ray of a star
might pass at a given time. Connected with places of worship they
were at last connected with the gods and became in after time
symbols of deity, as we may learn from Professor Breasted's
"History of the Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient
Egypt," in which interesting and helpful book he tells us that the
obelisk, as the solitary pillar came to be called, stood pre-
eminently for the great Sun God.

III
From Egypt, scholars believe, the custom of placing pillars at the
entrance to a temple passed to Phoenicia: be that as it may we know
that a king of Tyre erected two great columns before his
magnificent temple at Melkarth, where Herodotus saw them five
centuries afterwards. It was these, perhaps, which served Hiram as
models for the more famous pillars which he erected before the
Temple of Solomon.

It is these last named pillars, of course, of which copies stand in
our Masonic lodge room. Two descriptions of the originals are given
in the Old Testament, -one in the Book of Kings, another in the
Book of Chronicles. In the former record the height is given as 18
cubits, or (if a cubit is believed to have equalled 18 inches) 27
feet; in Chronicles, the height is given as 35 cubits, or 52 1/2
feet. This variation has occasioned much controversy but it is
thought that the Book of Kings gives the height of but one pillar
while Chronicles combines the two, making allowance for the sockets
of the chapiters, or head pieces. These last items are the
conspicuous features of the pillars and first challenge attention:
Mackey has given a good description of the originals, as good as
our scant knowledge makes possible:

"Above the pillar, and covering its upper part to the depth of nine
inches, was an oval body or chapiter seven feet and a half in
height. Springing out from the pillar, at the junction of the
chapiter with it, was a row of lotus petals, which, first spreading
around the chapiter, afterwards gently curved downward towards the
pillar, something like the Acanthus leaves on the capital of a
Corinthian column. About two-fifths of the distance from the bottom
of the chapiter, or just below its most bulging part, a tissue of
network was carved, which extended over its whole upper surface. To
the bottom of this network was suspended a series of fringes, and
on these again were carved two rows of pomegranates, one hundred
being in each row."

The pillars were cylindrical in shape and were cast of brass; their
combined weight is estimated to have been no less than fifty-three
tons. one of them was called Boaz, the other Jachin: the former
stood in the northeast corner of the porch, the latter in the
southeast. To one who stood inside the temple looking out. Jachin
stood at the right, Boaz at the left. What these names signified
nobody knows, but some think the High Priest was wont to stand at
one, the King at the other, on such occasions as when all the
people held high celebrations at the Temple. According to tradition
the pillars were cast in foundries situated between Succoth and
Zeredatha, about thirty-five miles northeast of Jerusalem; jewelers
of the holy city still use clay brought from that region.

The symbolical pillars employed in our lodges should be of a size
that best comports with their surroundings albeit there is a
certain fitness in making them of one height throughout. Some
believe that a cubit was only four inches in length; acting on this
theory some American Grand Lodges claim the pillars to have been
just six feet in height; one that they were 30 cubits, and twenty-
five insist that they were thirty five cubits. The best authorities
are now very sure that a cubit equalled eighteen inches according
to our measurements; inasmuch as the Temple itself was only ninety
feet long and thirty feet wide, thirty-five cubits would have been
altogether out of proportion! But such discrepancies as these need
not trouble us for to us the pillars are symbols only and quite as
worthy of study when six feet high as when thirty.

What do these pillars symbolize ? To Preston they stood for the
pillar of cloud and of fire which guided the Israelites through the
day and the night; to Caldecott they meant the principles of
authority in religion and in politics whereby all social
organization is guided: to Covey-Crump they have become the
pictures of Space and Time, those two mighty monoliths through
which the mind passes into all truth; and Albert Mackey, our own
encyclopedist, makes them to stand for strength and stability. With
these meanings we have no quarrel but there is, we believe, a far
truer interpretation, one that goes right back to the Jewish Rabbis
themselves who should have known the meaning of the symbols if they
ever had any meaning. One of them wrote of them as follows:

"The names of the pillars signified potency and perpetuity; the
pomegranates on their capitals or chapiters were symbols of
generation."

This, I myself believe, is the true interpretation. The pillars
stand at the entrance to the Middle Chamber even as birth is the
entrance to life. To pass between them into the lodge room means
that a man is being born into the world of Masonry; to pass between
them and on up the Winding Stairs means that a man is being born
into one of the higher and more spiritual realms of the life
Masonic, a thing high and noble for him that has a mind to think.

Many of our ills come from a bad heredity; a man who poisons his
blood makes war on the unborn; he is anti-Masonic, whatever be the
watch-charm on his breast; he has placed rotten pillars before the
house of life, and causes his children to pass through them, as
heathen Israelites made their babes to pass through the fire to
Moloch. What is true of birth into life is true also of birth into
any of the realms of man's life. If the pillars at the entrance to
the home be strong and straight the child will live a clean, happy
life; if wise men guard the doorway of the school our children can
pass into the Middle Chamber of a real education, untainted by
superstition, unpoisoned by bigotry. He who would become a wise
master of life must learn the secret of the beginnings; a little
deflection at the start means a long way off the path later on; he
who begins aright and who perseveres until the end will himself
become strong, a pillar strengthened and strengthening, against
which kings and priests may lean, and past which others may safely
go, seeking life. woe be it to humanity if ever it neglects to
give, in any of its spheres, right birth to its children, its
seekers, its learners !

IV
On top of each of the two pillars thus described stand two globes,
one the celestial, representing the heavens; the other the
terrestrial, representing the earth. Whence came these, and what do
they signify ?

In answer to the first of these questions our scholars have offered
two hypotheses first, that they are of Egyptian origin; second,
that they are a modified form of the chapiters or headpieces of the
pillars. The first of these theories was evidently suggested by the
ancient Egyptian symbol of the winged globe, often found on the
entablature above a temple, surrounded by a snake holding its tail
in its mouth, and flanked by two wide outstretched wings. So common
was this device that it became at last one of the national emblems,
so that Isaiah speaks of Egypt as "the land of the winged globe."
This globe was in all probability oval in shape, to suggest the
egg, symbol of life; the serpent was the symbol of Infinity, the
wings of power; combined, the figure stood for the infinite life-
giving power of Deity. If it be supposed that the globe was a true
circle then it may have represented the Sun, the first great God of
Egypt, but the meaning remains practically the same.

If our two globes could be made to serve as a modern form of the
Egyptian winged globe they might be enriched in meaning and
interest, but there is no evidence whatever that the older symbol
ever transmigrated into Masonry. The probability is all against it,
for we have two globes instead of one, and we do not have the
serpent or the wings; besides, as actually exhibited, our globes
manifestly refer to the earth and the heavens as modernly
understood.

V
The chapiters on the two pillars were spherical in shape and always
so represented. It would evidently seem, therefore, that the men
who framed our ritual, among whom Preston was chief, simply
modified the chapiters into globes. By why did they do this ?
Because Preston and his school undertook to transform the lodge
into a school, and consequently required symbols for geography and
astronomy, two very important branches of the curriculum they
outlined. This theory is verified, it seems to me, by reference to
the Prestonian lectures, in which we find the following paragraphs,
as slightly modified by Webb:

"The sphere, with the parts of the earth delineated on its surface,
is called the terrestrial globe; and that with the constellations
and other heavenly bodies, the celestial globe."

"The principal use of the globes, besides serving as maps to
distinguish the outward parts of the earth and the situation of the
fixed stars, is to illustrate and explain the phenomena arising
from the annual revolution and the diurnal rotation of, the earth
around its own axis. They are the noblest instruments for improving
the mind (this was Preston's motive - H.L.H.) and giving it the
most distinct idea of any problem or proposition, as well as
enabling it to solve the same."

Certain of our writers have ridiculed all this, arguing that it is
trite and schoolboyish and that the placing of two such globes on
top of two ancient pillars is a glaring anachronism. Granting as
much, however, it may be that Preston builded better than he knew,
for the two globes do symbolize a truth profound and fruitful of
application; and if it be objected that this symbolism is modem, we
may reply, What of it ? Surely we moderns have as much right to
fashion symbolism as the ancients!

The monitors explain the globes as indicating the universality of
Masonry, a subject to which we have already adverted; and, as
inculcating reverence. This last is really a noble insight and not
so banal as it sounds, because it is the central idea in no less a
work of genius than the Book of Job, in which, as you will recall,
the suffering patriarch learned to trust and revere the Creator by
a contemplation of the power and majesty of the Creation. Beyond
these monitorial interpretations my own mind discovers in the two
globes a symbol of the truth that we humans are citizens of two
worlds, the earthly and the heavenly, the temporal and the eternal,
the material and the physical. If it be charged that this is merely
a private interpretation I am willing to let the charge stand; for
why were we released from the cabletow if it were not to encourage
us to follow our own Light?

THE TWO PILLARS STANDING IN THE PORCH OF THE TEMPLE

Next, in view, come the two famous Pillars which stood in the Porch
of the Temple; and were for Matter, Brass; for Form, Cylinders; for
Height, 18 Cubits a piece; for Compass, twelve Cubits; for
Diameter, about four Cubits, which is conceived to be the meaning
of that expression, That they were four Cubits in the Porch, that
is, the Chapiters were four Cubits Diameter, and so the Brass
Cylinder under them, taking up so much ground-room in the Porch.
But some there be, who would have the meaning to be this, that the
Lilly-Work, which hung over the Pillars, was four Cubits deep round
about the Chapiters. Indeed, the Chapiters seem to be of an Oval
Form; for, their Diameter, in their middle, was four Cubits, and
their Height five, if we compare the I King, 7:16 with the 19 ver.
For having declared the measures of the Pillars, ver. 15, he
proceeds to describe the Measures and Ornaments of the Chapiters,
and tells us, v. 16, that the height of each was five Cubits; and
then mentioning some of their Ornaments, goes on to tell us, that
the top of the Pillars (where they were placed) was of Lilly-Work,
and that the Chapiters thus situated on the top of the Pillars,
which had a compass of Lilly-work at their upper edge, were four
Cubits, that is, in their middle Dimetient Line, and so were about
twelve Cubits round, like unto the Pillar beneath. So that we may
read and point the 19th verse thus (And the Chapiters which were on
the head of the Pillars of Lilly-Work, were in the Porch four
Cubits), that is, did comprehend in the Line measuring their Belly,
as much as would take up four Cubits on the Floor of the Porch. So
that Opus Lilii, is by apposition to be construed with Caput
Columnarum; and the two other words (Four Cubits in the Porch) are
to delineate the quantity of these Chapiters that stood on the
Lilly-wrought head of the Pillars. The Accounts for this
Construction may be two-fold.

First, because this Verse aims not at the mention of the Lilly-work
on the Pillars: for if it did, then were it superfluous to mention
it again, as a particular work by itself, v. 22. Wherefore it
seems, that this verse aims rather at the Description of the
Chapiters set upon that Lilly-work, which are the principal things,
and so more nicely described, the Lilly-work being but an Ornament.
But,

Secondly, if the hole of the Chapiter resting on the Pillar with
this Lilly-work sustaining it, were as large as the Pillar it self,
as is affirmed by some, to let in the top of the Pillar; and that
this Lilly-work on the top of the Pillar, in a circling Border,
stood out four Cubits in the Porch, at the bottom of the Chapiter,
fastened to the top of the Pillar: then will there arise twelve
Cubits Diameter, that is, four of the Pillar, and four on each side
of this Lilly-work and so the pillars will be shut out of the
Porch, which was but ten Cubits abroad, I King, 6:3.

On the top of the Pillars then were two Chapiters, of five Cubits
higher then the Pillars with Nets of Checker-work; and each Pillar
had seven Wreaths of Chain-work, with two Rows of Pomegranates; in
each Row, one hundred; but ninety six only could be seen by those
that stood upon the Pavement of the Porch. So that there were on
both Chapiters four hundred goodly Pomegranates in all which were
put upon Chains in two Rows. Both Pillars joined together in their
measure, were but thirty five Cubits high, that is twice eighteen,
bating one Cubit, because each Chapiter did sink half a Cubit
within the Socket of the Cylinder for their fastening. So that each
Pillar, with its Chapiter, was twenty two Cubits, and, 1/2 high.
The Pillars seventeen, and 1/2, and the Chapiter five: Whereas 'tis
said each Chapiter was but three Cubits high, it's to be understood
of the stately embroidery, and Ornaments of Net-work, Chains, and
Pomegranates, which were at the beginning of the third Cubit. Thus
being fitted and prepared, they were placed within the Porch; the
Pillar on the right side that is, the South was called Jachin,
(being the future Hiphil from stabilize). He shall establish:
noting the fixediness of this pillar upon its Foundation, and that
on the left hand, or on the North side, was called Boaz, denoting
the strength and firmitude of that stately piece of Brass. These
famous Pillars, though never so strong, were broken in pieces, and
conveyed to the City of Babylon; but Saints, that are Spiritual
Pillars in the House of God, shall go no more out of that Heavenly
Temple.

 From Lee's "Orbis Miraeulum," 1669.

I need do nothing contrary to my mind and divinity, since no one
can force me to act thus, or force me to act against my own
judgment. Marcus Aurelius.

THE POSITION OF THE PILLARS

BY BRO. JOHN T. THORP, P.M. QUATUOR CORONATI LODGE, ENGLAND

The author of this interesting paper is one of the veteran Masonic
scholars of England to whom THE BUILDER has been often indebted; he
is almost the last of the band of giants who composed the Quatuor
Coronati group of savants. Accepting the Old Testament record as he
finds it, he has endeavored to ascertain therefrom the position of
the two great pillars with what results the following essay will
show- we hope that Brother Thorp will be yet spared to the Craft
for many years. Editor.

IN endeavouring to fix the respective positions of the two brazen
pillars at the Porchway-entrance of King Solomon's Temple, I must
first give a brief historical account, as well as describe the form
and situation, both of the original Tabernacle and also of the
Temple itself, as a proper understanding of these will materially
assist in estimating the evidence that I have to bring forward.

The Tabernacle was erected in the wilderness by Moses, Aholiab and
Bezaleel, by the special command of the G. A. O. T. U., according
to instructions given by Him to Moses on Mount Sinai the form,
situation, ornaments, and furniture being minutely given, and as
minutely and faithfully carried out by His faithful servants, as we
find recorded in the Book of Exodus, chapters 25, 26, 27. The word
"Tabernacle" means 'tent of meeting," the place where the Holy One
meets with the congregation, and Whey with Him, and it was the
centre and seat of the Hebrew Theocracy. The theocracy was a
kingdom, of which God was King, and the Tabernacle was His palace
or abode; the kingdom was visible, so was the palace, so was at
least the Presence of the King; there the people had audience of
the Monarch, and thence He issued commands in a way cognizable by
the senses for their guidance.

It will be best to proceed with the account of the Tabernacle, (1)
beginning from the outside and going inwards, as one would
naturally do who inspected it for the first time. The first object
that would present itself is the Court; this, although an important
part of the whole edifice, was, strictly speaking, no part of the
Tabernacle, being merely a large enclosure in the shape of a
parallelogram, with the narrow ends situated east and west; the
only entrance to this Court was in the east. As confirmation of
this, take the following passage from Exodus, chapter 38:

"And he made the court: on the south side southward the hangings of
the court were . . . an hundred cubits their pillars twenty; and
for the north side an hundred cubits, their pillars twenty. And for
the west side fifty cubits, their pillars ten. And for the east
side eastward fifty cubits; the hangings of the one side of the
gate were fifteen cubits, their pillars three; and for the other
side of the court gate fifteen cubits, their pillars three; and for
the gate of the court twenty cubits, their pillars four."

Going into the outer court by the entrance at the east, and
proceeding westward, we come first to the Altar of Burnt Offering;
passing this, to the Laver, at which the priests washed their hands
before entering the Tabernacle, then immediately we reach the
entrance of the Tabernacle itself.

The Tabernacle, like the outer Court, was of rectangular form,
having its entrance in the east, and at a point two-thirds of its
length from the entrance, was divided into two portions by a
hanging vail; the larger portion was called the Holy Place, the
smaller portion, or westmost part, was called the Sanctum
Sanctorum, or Holy of Holies. The Holy Place contained the Altar of
Incense, symbol of prayer and thanks, opposite the entrance,
together with the Table of Shewbread, symbol of holy deeds and
works of faith, on the north side; and the Golden Candlestick,
symbol of heavenly light, on the south side. The Holy of Holies
contained only one object, viz.: a small gilt rectangular chest,
with a lid of solid gold, and on each end, attached to the lid, a
small winged human figure of solid gold. The chest was called the
Ark of the Covenant, and within it were deposited the two tables of
the Law; the golden lid was called the Mercy Seat, and the two
figures Cherubim, and from between them, on the Mercy Seat, the
G.A.O.T.U. spoke to the High Priest. The whole of the people were
admitted into the Court, but Priests only into the Tabernacle,
whilst into the Sanctum Sanctorum the High Priest alone entered
once a year, after many washings and purifications, to make
atonement for the sins of the people.

The Tabernacle was completed and erected on the first day of the
first month of the second year of the Exodus, and it was carried
about by the Israelites during all their wanderings in the
wilderness. After their entrance into Canaan, it was first set up
in Gilgal, afterwards at Shiloh, still later at Gibeon and
Jerusalem, and for a period of 447 years it was esteemed the centre
of the religious life and worship of the people; and it was not
until the Temple was erected by King Solomon that it ceased to be
such, and until, as we read in II. Chronicles, chap. 5, "that
Solomon brought up the Ark and all the holy vessels from the
Tabernacle on Zion Hill, and placed them in the Temple that he had
made."

The incongruity of a settled people having only a tent for the
celebration of their splendid ritual service, first occurred to the
mind of David. It appeared unseemly to him that the Ark of God
should still dwell "between curtains," while he abode in a "house
of cedar." He therefore proposed to build a Temple, in which the
worship of God might be more becomingly conducted. The prophet
Nathan was, however, commissioned to inform him that having been
engaged in constant warfare, and shed much human blood, he could
not be allowed to execute the design he had formed, which was to be
reserved for the peaceful reign of his son Solomon. This
undertaking was, however, the principal subject of David's thought
and care during the remainder of his reign, and to it he
appropriated a large proportion of the immense treasure which his
many victories produced. He may be said to have provided all, or
nearly all, the materials before his death, secured the services of
skilful mechanics and artificers for every branch of the work, and
furnished the design, plan, and site of the building, so that more
of the credit of this work seems due to David than to Solomon.

The foundation of the Temple was laid B. C. 1012, being the fourth
year of Solomon's reign, and in seven years and a half it was
completed, during which time no less than 183,000 persons were
employed in the work.

The Temple, (2) in its general idea, did not materially differ from
the Tabernacle; it was situated also due east and west, but had
three entrances, viz.: at the north, south, and east (referred to
in the Masonic Traditional History). The general form of the
Tabernacle was retained in the Temple, and like the Tabernacle, the
Temple looked towards the east, having the Most Holy Place at the
extreme west. The principal entrance was at the east, where there
was a porch, adorned by two large brazen pillars. We have in the
volume of the S. L. two accounts of these pillars; one will ho
found in I. Kings. chap. 7. and is as follows:

"And King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. . . . And he
came to King Solomon, and wrought all his work. For he east two
pillars of brass of eighteen cubits high apiece. (3) . . . And he
made two chapiters of molten brass to set upon the top of the
pillars: the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and the
height of the other chapiter was five cubits: and nets of checker
work, and wreaths of chain work, for the chapiters which were upon
the top of the pillars. . . And he set up the pillars in the porch
of the Temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name
thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name
thereof Boaz. . . And he made a Molten Sea. . . And he made ten
bases of brass Then made he ten lavers of brass, . . . and upon
every one of the ten bases (placed he) one laver. And he put five
bases on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of
the house; and he set the sea on the right side of the house
eastward over against the south.

Again, in II. Chronicles, chapter 4:

"Also he made a Molten Sea of ten cubits. . . He made also ten
lavers, and put five on the right hand, and five on the left, to
wash in them: such things as they offered for the burnt offering
they washed in them; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.
And he made ten candlesticks of gold, according to their form, and
set them in the Temple, five on the right hand, and five on the
left. He also made ten tables, and placed them in the Temple, five
on the right hand, and five on the left. . . And he set the sea on
the right side of the east end, over against the south."

When finished, the Temple was dedicated with great solemnity by
King Solomon; but its day of glory was not of long continuance. The
revolt of the ten tribes in the next reign withdrew from it a large
proportion of the worshippers, and scarcely forty years had Passed
when the Egyptian Shishak spoiled it of many of its treasures.
Successive plunderings followed rapidly, till, by reason of the
great wickedness of the people, the Holy City and Temple were laid
in ruins by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, after the sacred
building had stood about 416 years.

The second Temple was built by Zerubbabel, after the return of the
Jews from their Babylonian captivity; this Temple was as near as
possible a counterpart of the first, although greatly inferior to
it in beauty and splendour, and was completed about B. C. 516.

This Temple stood for about five hundred years, when Herod the
Great sought to rival, if not to exceed, the greatness of Solomon,
by the erection of the third Temple. He took the old one down
piecemeal, and put up the other in its place, so as to preserve the
continuity of the edifice; and it was said to be, except in respect
of its magnificence and splendour, an exact copy of the original
Temple built by Solomon. Indeed the porchway entrance was still
called "Solomon's Porch," and is thus spoken of in the New
Testaments

About this time there lived and flourished the great Jewish
historian, Flavius Josephus, a man of noble family, being descended
on his mother's side from the Asmonean princes, and on his father's
side from the highest of the priestly families, himself being also
a priest. this Josephus wrote a history of the Jews, under the
auspices off the Roman Emperors, Vespasian and Titus, and in this
history he gives a full description of Solomon's Temple.

Josephus was well acquainted with Herod's Temple, which it must be
remembered was an exact copy of Solomon's; he was accustomed to
officiate therein, and was an eye-witness of its destruction by the
Romans under Titus, A. D. 70.

This history of Josephus was written in Greek, and the following
description of the pillars is from a translation made by William
Whiston, professor in the University of Cambridge. It is as
follows:

"Moreover, this Hiram made two pillars, whose outsides were of
brass, . . . there was cast with each of their chapiters lily-work,
that stood upon the pillars, and it was elevated five cubits, round
about which there was net-work interwoven with small palms, made of
brass, and covered the lily-work. To this also were hung two
hundred pomegranates, in two rows. The one of these pillars he set
at the entrance of the porch, on the right hand, and called it
Jachin; and the other on the left hand, and called it Boaz. . . .
He also made ten large round brass vessels, which were the Savers,
. . . and he set five of the lavers on the left side of the temple,
which was on that side towards the north wind, and as many on the
right side, towards the south."

And then he adds the following explanation:

"By the right hand is meant what is against our left, when we
suppose ourselves going up from the east gates of the courts,
towards the Tabernacle: whence it follows that the pillar Jachin,
on the right hand of the Temple, was on the south, against our left
hand; and Boaz on the north, against our right hand."

Here, then, we have the evidence of a man, who was personally
acquainted with Herod's Temple, which was a copy of Solomon's, and
who was familiar with the opinions of men of his time, as to the
various parts of the sacred edifice. His veracity and
trustworthiness as a historian are seldom questioned, and his
statements therefore we may safely accept as facts.

I think that the three extracts I have given two from the Vol. of
the S. L. and one from the historian Josephus, settle the
respective positions of the two pillars, Boaz and Jachin.

(1) See cut "Plan A."
(2) See cut "Plan B."
(3) In II. Chronicles, chap. 3, the height of the pillars is given
as 35 cubits, which included the pedestals on which the pillars
stood, and also the chapiters.
(4) John x., 23; Acts iii., 11: Acts v., 12.


THE ORIGIN OF THE PILLARS TO KING SOLOMON'S TEMPLE

One thing is perfectly clear about the design of the Temple, and
that is that the plan of it was not an original one, for it was
designed to be only a copy on a larger scale of the Tabernacle.
This want of originality in design was also reflected in its
ornamentation, for the King of Tyre being appealed to for
assistance, which was evidently lacking in Jerusalem at the time,
at.- artificer was sent from Tyre itself to supply those ideas
which were needed at the headquarters of the building. One can
imagine Hiram the Architect gazing at the plans which merely
attempted to translate into the more lasting form of stone the
temporary woodwork of the Tabernacle, and wondering in what way it
could be improved. His thoughts would naturally turn to the Temple
which stood in Tyre itself, and which is thus described by
Herodotus, the Greek Historian (B. ii., c. 44), "And being desirous
of obtaining certain information from whatever source I could, I
sailed to Tyre in Phoenicia, having heard that there was there a
Temple dedicated to Hercules; and I saw it richly adorned with a
great variety of offerings, and in it were two pillars, one of fine
gold, the other of emerald stone, both shining exceedingly at
night." ache Temple was probably open to the air, and the historian
is picturing the magnificent view of the pillars as they appeared
by bright moonlight.

Hiram, when summoned to Jerusalem, might naturally have bethought
himself of these magnificent pillars of the Tyrian temple, and
designed two others of different shape and different materials, but
yet intended by him to be as noteworthy as those of his native
city.

It will probably be remarked that Herodotus viewed the Temple at
Tyre in 443 B. C., or about 550 years after the temple at Jerusalem
had been built, but on this question he expressly tells us that the
priests at Tyre assured him that their temple had stood for 2,300
years, and consequently it must have been in existence prior to
King Solomon's time.

Whether the two pillars in King Hiram's temple had any special
religious significance, or were merely architectural necessities,
remains to be seen, but it is worthy of attention that amongst the
Egyptians, who were the earliest builders of the world, and from
whom other peoples, and probably also the Tyrians, derived their
ideas, pillars were held in great honour, and that the Egyptian
great god Osiris was known as the "Lord of the Pillars." One of the
familiar scenes in Egyptian sculptures was the great festival of
"setting up the pillars," in which the Kings took a prominent part.

F. Armitage, A. Q. C., Vol. 1.

A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner, neither do
uninterrupted prosperity and Success qualify for usefulness and
happiness. The storms of adversity, like those of the ocean, rouse
the faculties, and excite the invention, prudence, skill, and
fortitude of the voyager. The martyrs of ancient times, in bracing
their minds to outward calamities, acquired a loftiness of purpose
and a moral heroism worth a lifetime of softness and
security. Anon.

