Scottish Rite Masonry Illustrated - The Masonic Trowel

224 KNIGHTS OF TH~ SUN.
would have agreed, and four have been the number Instead
of three. But in the East, in ancient times there
were but three seasons. The three pillars “ that support
the lodge are Wisdom, Strength and Beauty.
The Egyptians and the Hebrews based their civil pol’icy
upon the wisdom of the priests, and the power,
strength or valor of their civil chiefs who were also
military conunanders, and the harmony between these
(synonymous with beauty among the Egyptians) completed
the prosperity of the State. The age of an Apprentice
is said to be three years, because in the ancient
mysteries three years preparation was required before
initiation could commence.
The number three’” belongs in a peculiar manner to
this degree. The alarm is three raps. There are three
movable and three immovable jewels; three principal
officers, three lights, greater and lesser; three journeys
are made around the lodge.
In the Fellow Craft degree, the number five succeeds
Note 358.—”Pilisrs. Every lodge must be supported by three grand
shafts, or pillars—wisdom 5~ength~ and Beauty wisdom constructs
the huildlng, Beauty adorns, and Strength supports it, also, wisdom Is
ordained to discover. Beauty~ to oraament. and Strength to bear. He
wbo is wise as a perfect Master wili not be easily injured by his own
actions “—Macny’s F.nc~olop.di& and Dictionary of Freemasonry, Article
Pluars.
Note 335.—’in all the mysteries, from Egypt to ficandinavla. we find
a sacred regard for the number three, in the rites of Mlthras. the Empyrean
was said to be auptuorted by three Intelligences, Ormuad. Mlthra, and
Mlthras. in the rites of Hlnduetan, there was the trinity of Brahms,
vishnu, and five. It was. In short, a general charactfr of the my steri55
to have three prIncipal officers and three grades of lot tattoo.
In Freemasonry the ternary is the moat sacred of all the mystical
numbers. BeginnIng with the old axiom of the Roman Artificers. that
tree faciunt collegium, or it requires three to make a college, they have
established the rule that not less than three shall couugrcgnte to form 5
Lodge ‘Then in all the Rites, whatever may be the number of superimposed
grades, there lie at the hasis the three symbolic degrees. There
are in all the degrees three princIpal, officers, three supports, three greater
and three lesser tights, three movable and three immovable jewels, ibred
principal tenets, three working-tools of a Fellow Craft, three principal
orders of architecture, three chief human senses, three .Auucient Grand
Masters. In fact, everywhere In the system the number three Is presented
as a prominent symbol.”—Mackey’s Encyclop.dia of Freemasonry, Aztieie
Three,
INITIATION. 225
to- three. In this degree the letter 0.’.”’ represents
fleometry alone, Its deeper meaning is properly reserved
for the third. Here the young Fellow Craft is
the representative of the student of the seiences in the
school of Pythagoras; and it was there known that
aiuioiig the Brahmins, Gannes was the God of numbers
and the patrons of schools and learned societies. With
us, too, the letter is the substitute for the Hebraic Yod,
tIle initial letter of the Divine name and a monogram
that expressed the uncreated being, principal of all
things, and enclosed in a triangle, the unity of God.
The word of a Fellow Craft has an astronomical
meaning that connectsmasonry with the primitive times.
Setting the celestial globe for the place where the temple
was built, and the season of the year when it was commenced,
the master’s station corresponds with the solar
rising. The sun’” has just shown himself above the
horizon, The candidate entering by the west door faces
the day star and is consequently near that star of the
sodiac which sets as the sun rises, It is the star which
blesses the husbandm an; that brilliant star which the
Hebrews called Shibboleth, meaning an ear of wheat,
In the Fellow Craft degree, one point of the compatut
is raised above the square. The latter is an emblem of
the mechanical world and of obedience. The former
lint, 384,—’G. The situation of this letter when alone, Is well
knowuu to ali Freemasons, it cannot sliud’e to the name of God alone
in the German lodges, or it could not be found in the situation itt
foreign lodg. Ii has a closer affinity to Geometry, which is so nec-esanry
to an Architect. and geometrical certainty and truth is everywbure
necessary —Gadloks. ‘—Macny’s Encyslop.dua and Ductionary of Free
masonry, Article 0.
Note 855,—’ ‘The heraldic definition of the sun as a bearing fit mcat
appuusltely to the symboilam of the sovereignty of the Master. Thuus
Gwiilim says ‘The sun i, the symbol of sovereignty, the hieroglyphic
of royalty; it doth signifi absolute authority This representation of
the auto as a symbol of authority, while it explains the reference to the
Master, enables us to amptify Ii, mesnluug. and apply It to the three
sources of authority in the Lodge. and accounts for the respective positions
of the officers wielding this authority. “—Mackey’s Ensyclopudia of
Freemasanry, Article Sun.