Scottish Rite Masonry Illustrated - The Masonic Trowel

440 SUBLIME PRINCE OF TILE ROYAL SECRET. PrITIATION. 441
of which was published by Gronovius in his Latin editiDn
of Agostini, representing Mithras, with one foot
on the body and the other between the horns of a Bull,
are seen a Lion’s head and two palm trees just putting
out their Icaves, a Raven and an Eagle on a palm tree
holding a thundcrbolt in his claws. It is this thunderbolt
which has been, in our symbol, corrupted into a
sword, with a crooked and wavy blade.
Mithras himself was often represented with the head
of a lion.
The palm tree was not only an emblem of virtue and
truth, but it was also consecrated to the celestial movements,
and abovc all, the annual revolutions of the
Sun.
Among the Hebrews, it will be remembered, the lion
~vas borne on the crimson standard of the tribe of
Judah. The Ox, on the green standard of Ephraim.
The Eagle on the green standard of Dan, and the ship
on the purple standard of Zebulon. Perhaps the Ark
of the Covenant is really the Ark of the Deluge, or the
ship of Zebulon.
The inflamed winged heart is probably the winged
globe or sun, a common symbol in Egyptian temples
and an emblem of imn~ 7ortality.
The figure 525 on the golden collar of the lion had
originally, no doubt, a meaning connected with the
number of degrees or perhaps with an Epoch in the
annals of Masonry, but for the present at least, that
meaning is lost.
Nor have we been able to discover the origin of the
several letters which designate the tents of the nonagon
and the standards of the pentagon. Others possessed of
more extensive learning may hereafter succeed in doing
so, and also in unveiling the hidden meanings of
the names of the commanding officers. We might pretend
to do so, and give you, as others have done, arbi-
trary and perhaps unmeaning explanations, without
any warrant but that of our own inlagination. There has
been too much of that in Masonry, and we prefer to be
satislied with the little that we know, and to leave the
rest for future investigation.
It will be noticed that the seven watch-words for the
different days of the week, all of them names of persons,
correspond with the number of sides of the heptagon,
and that if they were assigned to command there,
they would make the number of commanders complete.
These seven names are curiously enough, those of three
Persian kings, Darius, Xerxes and Cyrus. The Macedonia
n conqueror Alexander, Ptolemy Philadelphus,
one of his successors, Herod, the tributary Roman king
in Judea, and Jewish king, Hezekiah, while all the answers
are the names of Jewish prophets. The name of
Ilerod and those of Xerxes and Ptolemy Philadelphus
seem wholly out of place in Masonry.
The names of the Commanders of the nonagon; one
Phaleg goes back to the building of the tower of Babel;
one Aholiab, to the building of the first tabernacle, one
JoRhua, is the name of the successor of Moses, one
Johaben, is fictitious, one Jehoiada, is that of the Jewish
High Priest, in the time of Jehoash and Athaliah,
and three, Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiab, refer to the
rebuilding of the temple, while the one remaining is
the name of the last prophet.
Of the names of the five Chiefs of the standards,
two Bezaleel and Aholiab, were those of the Architects
of the tabernacle of the desert, Mahuzen or Masshin,
which means in Latin, “Haesintantes” that is, hesitating,
it is not the name of a person. Amariah was a
common Jewish name, or if it be Emerk, the meaning
is not known, and Garimont or Guarimond, was the
Patriarch of Jerusalem, between whose hands the first