A Lexicon of Freemasonry - The Masonic Trowel

46 ARM-ART
ARMS OF FREEMASONRY . "The Masons," says Bailey,
"were incorporated about the years 1419, having been called the
Freemasons . Their armorial ensigns are, azure on a cheveron
between three castles argent ; a pair of compasses somewhat extended,
of the first . Crest a castle of the second ."
The arms of the Grand Lodge, according to Dermot, are the
same as those now adopted by Royal Arch Masonry in this
country, which may be blazoned as follows
Party per cross vert voided or ; in the first quarter, azure, a
lion rampant, or, for the tribe of Judah ; in the second, or, an
ox passant, sable for Ephraim ; in the third, or, a man erect,
proper, for Reuben ; in the fourth, azure, a spread eagle, or, for
Dan . Crest an ark of the covenant ; and supporters, two cherubim,
all proper. Motto, "Holiness to the Lord ."
The impossibility of blazoning a coat, except in the terms of
heraldry, will, I trust, be my excuse for the technical nature of
this description, which, I know, must be unintelligible to all who
are unacquainted with the principles of heraldry . The plate of
this coat of arms may, however, be seen in Cross's Chart .
These arms are derived from the " tetrarchical" (as Sir Thos .
Browne calls them) or general banners of the four principal
tribes : for it is said that the twelve tribes, during their passage
through the wilderness, were encamped in a hollow square, three
on each side, as follows : Judah, Zebulon, and Issachar, in the
east, under the general banner of Judah ; Dan, Asher, and Naphtali,
in the north, under the banner of Dan ; Ephraim, Manasseh,
and Benjamin, in the west, under the banner of Ephraim ; and
Reuben, Simeon, and Gad, in the south, under Reuben . See
Banners .
ARTS, LIBERAL . The seven liberal arts and sciences are
illustrated in the Fellow Craft's degree . They are Grammar,
Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy .
Grammar is the science which teaches us to express our ideas in
appropriate words, which we may afterward beautify and adorn