Scottish Rite Masonry Illustrated - The Masonic Trowel

60 GB.&ND MASTER OF ALL SYMBOLIC LODGES. INITIATION. 61
Lofty titles, arbitrarily assumed, and to which the
inventors had not condescended to attach any explanation
that should acquit them of the folly of assuming
teniporal rank, power and titles of nobility, made the
world laugh afid the initiates feel ashamed. Some of
the titles we still retain, but they have, with us, meanings
entirely consistent with that spirit of equality
which is the foundation and peremptory law of its being;
of all masonry.
The Knight, with us, is he who devotes his hand, his
heart, and his brain to the science of masonry, and professes
himself the sworn soldier of truth. The Prince”’
is he who aims to be chief, first, leader, among his
equals, in virtue and good deeds.
The Sovereign”
8 is he who, one of an order whose
members are all Sovereigns, is ~uprexne.’only because
the law and constitutions are so which he administers,
and by which he, like every brother, is governed.
The titles Puissant, Potent, Wise and Venerable, indicate
that power of virtue, intelligence and wisdom,
which those ought to strive to attain who are placed in
Note 2S7.—”Prlnce. The word Prince is not attaeb~d as a title to
any Masonic ottice. but is prefixed aa a pert of tbe name to several
degrees, as Prlnee of the RoyaI~ 8ecret. Prince of Rose Croix. and ~riDca
of Jerusalem. In all of these Instances it seelna to convey nome idea of
sovereignty inherent in the character of the degree. Tbus We Prince ot
the Royal Secret was the ultimate and, of course, controlling degree
of tbe Rite of Perfection. wbence. shorn, however, of it~ sovereignty,
it has been traneferr~d to the Ancient ~and Accepted Ecottiab Rite. The
Prince of Rose Cmlx, although holding in Home Rite, a subordinate
po.ition. was originally an independent degree, and th~ repreuentntlye
of flosierucian Masonry. It is still at the head of tbe Wrench Rite.”—
Mackey’3 Encyclopaedia of Jw.emaaonq, Aztislo Prince.
Note 2S8.—”Snverelgn. An epithet applied to certain degrees which
were invested witb supreme power over interior ones; aa Sovereign Prince
of Rose Crcui, which Is the highest degree of tbe ~‘renh Rite alid of
~me other Rites, and Sovarsugn hmpcotor.Gontral, wbkb ig the con.
trolling degree ot the Ancient and Accepted Rite. Some degrees, originally
Sovereign in the Rites in which they wtre first ~itahli’hed. In
being transferred to other Rites, have lost tbeir sovereigu ebaracter,
but still improperiy retain tbe name. Tbua tbe Rose Croix degree of
the Scottisb Rite. whih is there only the elghteentb. snd aubordinate
to the thirty-third or S~ipreme Couneii. stili retains eYers’wber~. except
in the Southern JurIsdIctIon of tbe United States, the title of Sovereign
Prince of Bose Croix.’ —Mackey’3 Encyclopaedia of Eremaaonq, Aitici.
—‘Un.
high office by the suffrage of their brethren, and all
other titles and designations have an esoteric meaning,
consistent with modesty and equality, and which those
who receive them should fully understand.
As Master of a lodge, it is your duty to instruct your
brethren that they are all so many constanL lessons,
touching the lofty qualifications which are required of
those who claim them, and noL merely idle gew-gaws
worn in ridiculous imitation of the times when the
Nobles and the Priests were masters and the people
slaves, and that in all true masonry, the Knight, the
Pontiff,” the Prince, and the Sovereign, are but the
first among their equals, and the Cordon,’40 the clothing
and the jewel buL symbols and emblems of the virtues
required of all good masons. The Mason kneels
no longer to present his petition for admittance, or to
receive the answer; no longer to a man as his superior,
who is but his brother, but to his God, to whom he appeals
for the rectitude of his intentions, and whose ~id
he asks to enable him to keep his vows. No one is de-
Not. U9.—”Wbat is The meaning of ~poniJff? ‘Pontlfl means bridge
maker, bridge buIid~.r. Why are they c~,ih.d in thjt way? Here is
the ~xpIanation of tbe fact In tbe very first years of the exlRtt,nce of
Rome. at a lime of Which we h8~e a ~‘ery fahulous hlqtorv and but
few existing monuments, the little town of Rome. not built on seven
hiiis, as is generally supposed—there are eleven of tbem now: then
there were within the t~ n leaR than sey.n, even—tbat little toun
bad a great deal to fear from mi enemy whieh sbouid take one of the
bills that were out of town—the Janieulunj—beeause the Jnni~uiaim
is bigher than the otberR. and from tbat hill an enemy could very easily
throw stones fire, or apy meana of destruction Into the town. The Janie..
ului’i was sepah~ed from the town by the Tiher. Then the firRt necessity
for the defence of that little town of Rome was Ia have a bridge
They had built a wooden bridge over the Tiber. and a great point of
interest to the towu was, that this bridge should be kept alwaya in
good order, ao that at any moment troops could pass over. Tben. witb
the ~peclal genius of tbe Romans. of wbich we have other Instancee. Ibey
ordained, curiously enougb. that the men who v.ere n corporation to
take care of that hridge ahould be sacred: that their functioD. necessary
to the defence of tbe town. should be considered holy: that they Should
be priests, and Ihe highest of them was called ‘tbe high bridge ma&er.~
So It hsppened that tbere waa in Rome a corporation of bridge makers
—pontifices——of whom the bead was the most sacred of all Romnans:
hepause in those days bis life and the life of big co
ncccssary to the safets’ of the lown.’ mvanionu wss deemed
And th~,R it ig that thp title at Nntifei M~xiwus. ss8ulned hv the
Pope of Rome. lltrraliv m~nns th~ Orand Bridge Builder. “—Machera
Encyclopaedia of Frcemaaonq, Article Pontiff.
Note 240.—”Ooidon. The Masoule decoration. wbfch In English I. caned
The ‘oii~ir. is styled by the French ?~fanonu th. aordon.”~Nackey’a Eaq.
elopaodia of Fr.cmasonq• Article Cordon.