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

BLAZING
BLAZING 107
as a Blazing Star, enlighteneth us through the
dreary and darksome paths of this life ." (Sp .
of Mas ., ed . 1775, Lect . V., p . 111 .) Hutchinson
also adopted Dunckerley's allusion to the
Star of Bethlehem, but only as a secondary
symbolism .
In another series of lectures formerly in use
in America but which I believe is now abandoned,
the blazing Star is said to be "emblematical
of that Prudence which ought to appear
conspicuous in the conduct of every Mason ;
and is more especially commemorative of the
star which- appeared in the east to guide the
wise men to Bethlehem, and proclaim the
birth and the presence of the Son of God ."
The Masons on the Continent of Europe,
speaking of the symbol, say : "It is no matter
whether the figure of which the Blazing Star
forms the centre be a square, triangle, or
circle, it still represents the sacred name of
God, as an universal sirit who enlivens our
hearts, who purifies our- reason, who increases
our knowledge, and who makes us wiser and
better men ."
And lastly, in the lectures revised b~y Dr .
Hemming and adopted by the Grand Lodge
of England at the union in 1813, and now
constituting the authorized lectures of that
jurisdiction, we find the following definition :
"The Blazing Star, or glory in the centre,
refers us to the sun, which enlightens the
earth with its refulgent rays, dispensing its
blessings to mankind at large, and giving
light and life to all things here below."
Hence we find that at different times the
Blazing Star has been declared to be a symbol
of Divine Providence, of the Star of Bethlehem,
of Prudence, of Beauty, and of the Sun .
Before we can attempt to decide upon these
various opinions, and adopt the true signification,
it is necessary to extend our investigations
into the antiquity of the emblem, and
inquire what was the meaning given to it by
the nations who first established it as a symbol.
Sabaism, or the worship of the stars, was
one of the earliest deviations from the true
system of religion . One of its causes was
the universally established doctrine among
the idolatrous nations of antiquity, that each
star was animated by the soul of a hero god,
who had once dwelt incarnate upon earth .
Hence, in the hieroglyphical system, the star
denoted a god . To this signification, allusion
is made by the prophet Amos, when he says
to the Israelites, while reproaching them for
their idolatrous habits : "But ye have borne
the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your
images the star of your god, which ye made to
yourselves." (Amos v . 26 .)
This idolatry was early learned by the
Israelites from their Egyptian taskmasters ;
and so unwilling were they to abandon it, that
Moses found it neceesA.ry strictly to forbid
the worship of anything "that is in heaven
above " ; notwithstanding which we find the
Jews repeatedly committing the sin which
had been so expressly forbidden . Saturn was
the star to whose worship they were more
particularly addicted under the names of
Moloch and Chiun, already mentioned in the
passage quoted from Amos. The planet
Saturn was worshiped under the names of Moloch,
Malcom or Milcom by the Ammonites,
the Canaanites the Phoenicians, and the Carthaginians,
and' under that of Chiun by the
Israelites in the desert . Saturn was worshiped
among the Egyptians under the name
of Raiphan, or, as it is called in the Septuagint,
Remphan . St. Stephen, quoting the passage
of Amos, says "ye took up the tabernacle of
Moloch and the star of your god Remphan ."
(Acts vii . 43.)
Hale, in his Analysis of Chronology, says, in
alluding to this passage : "There is no direct
evidence that the Israelites worshipped the
dog-star in the wilderness, except this passage ;
but the indirect is very strong, drawn from
the general prohibition of the worship of the
sun, moon, and stars, to which they must have
been prone. And this was peculiarly an Egyptian
idolatry, where the dog-star was worshiped,
as notifying by his heliacal rising, or
emersion from the sun's ra s, the regular
commencement of the periodical inundation
of the Nile . And the Israelite sculptures at
the cemetery of Kibroth-Hattaavah, or graves
of lust in the neighborhood of Sinai, remarkably
aliound in hieroglyphics of the dog-star,
represented as a human figure with a dog's
head . That they afterwards sacrificed to the
dog-star, there is express evidence in Josiah's
description of idolatry, where the Syriac
Mazaloth (improperly termed planets) denotes
the dog-star ; in Arabic, Mazaroth ."
Fellows, in his Exposition of the Mysteries
(p . 7), says that this dog-star, the Anubis of
the Egyptians, is the Blazing Star of Masonry,
and supposing that the latter is a symbol of
Prudence, which indeed it was in some of the
ancient lectures, he goes on to remark : "What
connection can possibly exist between a star
and prude , except allegorically in reference
to the caution that was indicated to the
Egyptians by the first appearance of this star
which warned them of approaching danger .';
But it will hereafter be seen that he has totally
misapprehended the true signification of the
Masonic symbol. The work of Fellows, it
may be remarked, is an unsystematic compilation
of undigested learning ; but the
student who is searching for truth must carefully
eschew all his deductions as to the genius
and spirit of Freemasonry .
Notwithstanding a few discrepancies that
may have occurred in the Masonic lectures,
as arranged at various periods and by different
authorities the concurrent testimony of the
ancient religions, and the hieroglyphic lanage,
prove that the star was a symbol of
od. It was so used by the prophets of old
in their metaphorical style, and it has so been
generally adopted by Masonic instructors .
The application of the Blazing Star as an emblem
of the Savior, has been made by those
writers who give a Christian explanation of
our emblems, and to the Christian Mason such
an application will not be objectionable . But