Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

BABYLON
BACON 89
the principles of truth upon which Masonry
is founded . Hence it is that the rituals speak
of the lofty tower of Babel as the place where
language was confounded and Masonry lost .
This is the theory first advanced by Anderson
in his Constitutions, and subsequently
developed more extensively by Dr . Oliver in
all his works, but especially in his Landmarks .
As history, the doctrine is of no value, for it
wants the element of authenticity . But in a
symbolic point of view it is highly suggestive .
If the tower of Babel represents the profane
world of ignorance and darkness, and the
threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite is the
symbol of Freemasonry, because the Solomonic
Temple, of which it was the site, is the
prototype of the spiritual temple which Masons
are erecting, then we can readily understand
how Masonry and the true use of language
is lost in one and recovered in the other,
and how the progress of the candidate in his
initiation may properly be compared to the
progress of truth from the confusion and ignorance
of the Babel builders to the perfection
and illumination of the temple builders, which
temple builders all Freemasons are . And
so, when in the ritual the neophyte, being asked
"whence he comes and whither is he travelling,"
replies, "from the lofty tower of Babel,
where language was confounded and Masonry
lost, to the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite,
where language was restored and Masonry
found," the questions and answers
become intelligible from this symbolic point
of view. (See Ornan .)
Babylon . The ancient capital of Chaldea,
situated on both sides of the Euphrates, and
once the most magnificent city of the ancient
world. It was here that, upon the destruction
of Solomon's Temple by Nebuchadnezzar in
the year of the world 3394, the Jews of the
tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who were the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, were conveyed and
detained in captivity for seventy-two years,
until Cyrus, King of Persia, issued a decree for
restoring them, and permitting them to rebuild
their temple, under the superintendence
of Zerubbabel, the Prince of the Captivity,
and with the assistance of Joshua the High
Priest and Haggai the Scribe .
Babylon the Great, as the prophet Daniel
calls it, was situated four hundred and seventyfive
miles in a nearly due east direction from
Jerusalem . It stood in the midst of a large
and fertile plain on each side of the river
Euphrates, which ran through it from north to
south . It was surrounded with walls which
were eighty-seven feet thick, three hundred
and fifty in height, and sixty miles in compass .
These were all built of large bricks cemented
together with bitumen. Exterior to the walls
was a wide and deep trench lined with the
same material . Twenty-five gates on each
side, made of solid brass, gave admission to
the city. From each of these gates proceeded
a wide street fifteen miles in length, and the
whole was separated by means of other smaller
divisions, and contained six hundred and seventy-six
squares, each of which was two miles
and a quarter in circumference. Two hundred
and fifty towers placed upon the walls
afforded the means of additional strength
and protection . Within this immense circuit
were to be found palaces and temples and
other edifices of the utmost magnificence,
which have caused the wealth, the luxury, and
splendor of Babylon to become the favorite
theme of the historians of antiquity, and
which compelled the prophet Isaiah, even
while denouncing its downfall, to speak of it
as "the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the
Chaldees' excellency ."
Babylon, which, at the time of the destruction
of the Temple of Jerusalem, constituted a
part of the Chaldean empire, was subsequently
taken, s .c. 538, after a siege of two years, by
Cyrus, King of Persia .
Babylon, Red Cross of. Another name
for the degree of Babylonish Pass, which see.
Babylonish Captivity . See Captivity .
Babylonish Pass . A degree given in
Scotland by the authority of the Grand Royal
Arch Chapter. It is also called the Red Cross
of Babylon, and is almost identical with the
Companion of the Red Cross conferred in
Commanderies of Knights Templar in America
as a preparatory degree .
Back . Freemasonry, borrowing its symbols
from every source, has not neglected to
make a selection of certain parts of the human
body. From the back an important lesson
is derived, which is fittingly developed in the
Third Degree. Hence, in reference to this
symbolism, Oliver says : "It is a duty incumbent
on every Mason to support a brother's
character in his absence equally as though he
were present ; not to revile him behind his back,
nor suffer it to be done by others, without
using every necessary attempt to prevent it ."
And Hutchinson, referring to the same symbolic
ceremony, says : "The most material
part of that brotherly love which should subsist
among us Masons is that of speaking well
of each other to the world ; more especially it
is expected of every member of this Fraternity
that he should not traduce his brother .
Calumny and slander are detestable crimes
against society . Nothing can be viler than to
traduce a man behind his back ; it is like the
villainy of an assassin who has not virtue
enough to give his adversary the means of
self-defence, but, lurking in darkness, stabs
him whilst he is unarmed and unsuspicious of
an enemy." (Spirit of Masonry, p . 205.)
(See Points of Fellowship .)
Bacon, Francis. Baron of Verulam, commonly
called Lord Bacon . Nicolai thinks
that a great impulse was exercised upon the
early history of Freemasonry by the New
Atlantis of Lord Bacon . In this learned romance
Bacon supposes that a vessel lands on
an unknown island, called Bensalem, over
which a certain King Solomon reigned in days
of yore . This king had a large establishment,
which was called the House of Solomon, or
the college of the workmen of six days, namely,
the days of the creation . He afterward describes
the immense apparatus which was