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

132 CANOPY
CAPITULAR
purple, and crimson silk, with gold fringes and
tassels, borne upon staves, painted purple
and ornamented with gold, by eight of the oldest
Master Masons present ; and the Masters
of private Lodges walk under canopies of
light blue silk with silver tassels and fringes,
borne by four members of their own respective
companies . The canopies are in the form
of an oblong square, and are in length six feet,
in breadth and height three feet, having a
semicircular covering . The framework should
be of cedar, and the silken covering ought to
hang down two feet on each side . This is,
properly speaking, a Baldachin . (See Baldachin
.)
Canopy, Celestial. Ritualists seem divided
in the use of the terms "Clouded Canopy
" and "Celestial Canopy" in the First
Degree. (For the former, see Canopy, Clouded,
and Covering of the Lodge .) It would seem
that the unclouded grandeur of . the heavens
should not be without advocates .
Sir John Lubbock gives the following description
of the heavens filled with stars in
connection with the latest discoveries : "Like
the sand of the sea, the stars of heaven are
used as a symbol of numbers . We now know
that our earth is but a fraction of one part of,
at least 75,000,000 worlds .- But this is not all .
In addition to the luminous heavenly bodies,
we cannot doubt there are countless others
invisible to us from their great distance,
smaller size, or feebler light ; indeed, we know
that there are many dark bodies which now
emit no light, or comparatively little . Thus
the floor of heaven is not only `thick inlaid
with patines of bright gold,' but studded also
with extinct stars, once probably as brilliant
as our own sun ."
Canopy, Clouded . The clouded canopy,
or starry-decked heaven, is a symbol of the
First Degree, and is of such important significance
that Lenning calls it a "fundamental
symbol of Freemasonry ." In the lectures of
the York Rite, the clouded canopy is described
as the covering of the Lodge, teaching
us, as Krause says, "that the primitive Lodge
is confined within no shut up building, but
that it is universal, and reaches to heaven,
and especially teaching that in every clime
under heaven Freemasonry has its seat ."
And Gadicke says, "Every Freemason knows
that by the clouded canopy we mean the
heavens, and that it teaches how widely extended
is our sphere of usefulness . There is
no portion of the inhabited world in which
our labor cannot be carried forward, as there
is no portion of the globe without its clouded
canopy." Hence, then, the German interpretation
of the symbol is that it denotes the universality
of Freemasonry, an interpretation
that does not precisely accord with the English
and American systems, in which the doctrine
of universality is symbolized by the form
and extent of the Lodge . The clouded canopy
as the covering of the Lodge seems rather to
teach the doctrine of aspiration for a higher
sphere ; it is thus defined in this work under
the head of Covering of the Lodge, which see.
Canzler, Carl Christian . A librarian of
Dresden, born September 30, 1733, died October
16, 1786 . He was an earnest, learned
Freemason, who published in a literary journal,
conducted by himself and A . G . Meissner at
Leipsic, in 1783-85, under the title of Fur
altere Litteratur and neuere Lecture, many
interesting articles on the subject of Freemasonry
.
Cape-Stone, or, as it would more correctly
be called, the cope-stone (but the
former word has been consecrated to us by
universal Masonic usage), is the topmost
stone of a building . To bring it forth, therefore,
and to place it in its destined position,
is significative that the building is completed,
which event is celebrated, even by the Operative
Masons of the present day, with great
signs of rejoicing . Flags are hoisted on the
top of every edifice by the builders engaged in
its construction, as soon as they have reached
the topmost post, and thus finished their
labors . This is the "celebration of the capestone"-the
celebration of the completion of
the building-when tools are laid aside, and
rest and refreshment succeed, for a time,
labor . This is the event in the history of the
Temple which is commemorated in the degree
of Most Excellent Master, the sixth in the
American Rite . The day set apart for the
celebration of the cape-stone of the Temple is the
day devoted to rejoicing and thanksgiving for
the completion of that glorious structure .
Hence there seems to be an impropriety in the
ordinary use of the Mark Master's keystone
in the ritual of the Most Excellent Master .
That keystone was deposited in silence and
secrecy ; while the cape-stone, as the legend
and ceremonies tell us, was placed in its position
in the presence of all the Craft .
Capitular Degrees . The degrees conferred
under the charter of an American Royal
Arch Chapter, which are Mark Master, Past
Master, Most Excellent Master, and Royal
Arch Mason . The capitular degrees are almost
altogether founded on and composed of
a series of events in Masonic history. Each
of them has attached to it some tradition or
legend which it is the design of the degree to
illustrate, and the memory of which is preserved
in its ceremonies and instructions .
Most of these legends are of symbolic signification
. But this is their interior sense . In
their outward and ostensible meaning, they
appear before us simply as legends . To retain
these legends in the memory of Masons appears
to have been the primary design in the
establishment of the higher degrees ; and as
the information intended to be communicated
in these degrees is of an historical character,
there can of course be but little room for
symbols or for symbolic instruction ; the profuse
use of which would rather tend to an
injury than to a benefit, by complicating the
purposes of the ritual and confusing the mind
of the aspirant . These remarks refer exclusively
to the Mark and Most Excellent Master's
Degree of the American Rite, but are not
so applicable to the Royal Arch, which is