Mystic masonry, or, The symbols of freemasonry and the greater ...

The Genius of Freemasonry. 83
sound of hammer or any tool of iron, and it is thus
likened more nearly to that other "Spiritual Temple,
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," and
the literal and historical features disappear, and the
symbolism stands out in bold relief. Masonic
Lodges are dedicated to the Sts. John ;
one of whom,
the Evangelist, opens his Gnostic Gospel with the
Greek philosophy of the Logos, the principle of
emanation already referred to; and the other, the
Seer of Patmos, writes a book symbolical of ancient
initiations, which many a non-initiate has tried in
vain to interpret. It may thus be seen that there is
a deep significance in the dedication of Lodges to
the Sts. John. Take, for example. Revelations xxi,
16: "And the city lieth foursquare, and the length
; is as large as the breadth and he measured the city
with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The
length, and the breadth and the height of it are
equal" (a perfect cube). "And he measured the
wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits,
according to the measure of a man, that is, an angel."
The language is evidently a veil, designed to conceal
the real meaning from the uninitiated. As the
measure of man ;
that is, a perfect man, or "angel,"
we have the cube as a symbol of perfect proportion.
Hence a Square Man. The temple of Sol-om-on;