The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

88 HISTORY OF INITIATION
silence, temperance, fortitude, prudence, and justice. He
proceeded to inculcate the omnipresence of God, the
immortality of the soul, and the necessity of personal
holiness to qualify man for admission into the society of
the gods and declared his ;
opinion that no man could be
accounted happy or miserable till the day of his death ;
because, in his most exalted moments he is not able to
pry into futurity, or to divine to-day what evils to-morrow
may bring upon him.
He taught that man is endowed with eight organs of
knowledge to which symbolical institution might be
usefully applied ;
32 and these were, sense ? phantasy, art,
municate not your mysteries to an idle or foolish person, for such an
one will disgrace and betray you. Sleep not at noon. Shut not your
eyes against the Light of knowledge at a time when its hidden stores
are most clearly displayed before you, lest the remainder of your life
be passed amidst the uncertain glimmering of twilight, or the shades of
midnight darkness the mists of ; imperfect information, or the dark
clouds of total ignorance. The curious reader who wishes to pursue
this subject further, may find all the symbolical sentences of Pythagoras
in Stanley's Lives of the Philosophers, from which celebrated work the
above have been extracted.
32 The following are some of the symbols of : Pythagoras The
equilateral triangle, a perfect figure, refers to God, the principle and
author of all sublunary things ; who, in his body, resembles Light,
and in his soul Truth. He was, and is, and shall be. The right
angle or square comprehends the union of the celestial and terrestrial
capacities ; and was an emblem of Morality and Justice. The perfect
square represents the divine mind, as has already been explained of
the Tetractys. The cube was a symbol of the mind of man after a
well spent life in acts of piety and devotion ; which is thus perfectly
prepared by virtue for translation into the society of the celestial
gods. A point within a circle. A symbol of the universe. Mesouraneo,
because the most excellent body ought to have the most
excellent place, viz., the centre. The central fire was esteemed by
Pythagoras, the mansion of Jove. The Dodecaedron was also a
symbol of the universe. The triple triangle formed of five lines
returning into itself, was a symbol of health, and was called Hygeia.
The forty -seventh proposition of Euclid was invented by Pythagoras,
and is so extensively useful that it has been adopted in all lodges
since his time, as a significant symbol of Masonry. It is said by
Apollodorus and other authors, that Pythagoras sacrificed a Hecatomb
on the discovery of this useful problem. This, however, is
exceedingly doubtful, because Pythagoras abhorred bloody sacrifices,
and directed his followers to offer nothing but cakes and wine, herbs,
flowers, and fruit. The letter Y. This symbolical character represented
the course of human life. Youth, arriving at manhood, sees
two ways before him, and deliberates which he shall pursue. If he