The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

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Chapter 4 - Signs & Symbols
there, it was transported to Hungary, and thence to Austria (Vienna). In German
Masonry, the "Vorhof" or "Saal der verlorenen Schritte" is unknown. 373 The
expression itself was taken over from profane phraseology, there being several
examples of anterooms or fore-courts as introductory to the essential chambers
of un-Masonic society:
Diese freimaurerische Bezeichnung stammt aus dem profanen
Sprachgebrauche: Vorraum vor dem Audienz- oder Sitzungssaal, so
z.B. im Genfer Rathaus, in der französischen Deputiertenkammer und
dem Pariser Justizpalast. Mackeys Enzyklopädie sagt: die
freimaurerische Bezeichnung rührt daher, daß jeder Schritt, der vor dem
Eintritt in die Bruderschaft oder nicht in Übereinstimmung mit ihren
Satzungen getan wird, symbolisch als verloren anzusehen ist. 374
Neither the English nor American forms of Masonry know or use a "Hall of
the Lost Steps."
4.1.4 The Middle Chamber & the Winding Stairs
The "Middle Chamber" is interrelated with the symbol of the "Winding
Stairs," and therefore will be discussed here together with the latter. Both form a
part of the Senior Deacon's lecture in the Fellow Craft Degree, which is called
the "Middle Chamber Lecture." The symbolism is taken from Scripture. As
stated in the Bible, I Kings 6:5-8, King Solomon's temple was surrounded on
three sides by a substructure three stories high, the "Middle Chamber" being the
middle story. It was supposedly used for the priests and their vessels, flesh
hooks, tongs and similar paraphernalia necessary for sacrificial and other
ceremonies. 375 TRMC claims that "in the middle storey, reached by a winding
outside staircase, the wages were paid." 376
According to an old York Masonry lecture, cited in TRMC, King Solomon
allowed proselyted Fellow Crafts to enter the Middle Chamber, of which the
future Masonic Fellow Craft lodge is an exact copy:
373 IFL, p. 1363.
374 Ibid.
375 Cf. CME, p. 421.
376 TRMC, p. 485.
When the Temple was finished, and a short time prior to its dedication,
King Solomon permitted such of the 80,000 Fellow Crafts as had
become proselytes to the Jewish faith to ascend to the upper or fourth
row of chambers in the porch, where the most sacred furniture of the
tabernacle had been deposited; in the centre of which was the famous
middle chamber, which being symbolical of the Divine presence,