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

138 CEDARS
CENSOR
In reference to the practical purposes of the
cavern, as recorded in the legend of these
degrees, it may be mentioned that caverns,
which abounded in Palestine in consequence
of the geological structure of the country, are
spoken of by Josephus as places of refuge for
banditti ; and Mr. Phillott says, in Smith's
Dictionary, that it was the caves which lie
beneath and around so many of the Jewish
cities that formed the last hiding-places of the
Jewish leaders in the war with the Romans .
Cedars of Lebanon . In Scriptural symbology,
the cedar-tree, says Wemyss (Symb .
Lang . Scrip.), was the symbol of eternity,
because its substance never decays nor rots .
Hence, the Ark of the Covenant was made of
cedar ; and those are said to utter things
worthy of cedar who write that which no time
ought to obliterate .
The Cedars of Lebanon are frequently
referred to in the legends of Masonry, especially
in the higher degrees ; not, however, on
account of any symbolical signification, but
rather because of the use made of them by
Solomon and Zerubbabel in the construction
of their respective Temples . Mr . Phillott
(Smith's Bible Diet .) thus describes the grove
so celebrated in Scriptural and Masonic his-
The grove of trees known as the Cedars
of Lebanon consists of about four hundred
trees, standing quite alone in a depression of
the mountain with no trees near, about six
thousand four hundred feet above the sea,
and three thousand below the summit . About
eleven or twelve are very large and old, twentyfive
large, fifty of middle size, and more than
three hundred younger and smaller ones .
The older trees have each several trunks and
spread themselves widely round, but most of
the others are of cone-like form, and do not
send out wide lateral branches . In 1550,
there were twenty-eight old trees, in 1739,
Pococke counted fifteen, but the number of
trunks makes the operation of counting uncertain.
They are regarded with much reverence
by the native inhabitants as living records
of Solomon's power, and the Maronite
patriarch was formerly accustomed to celebrate
there the festival of the Transfiguration
at an altar of rough stones ."
Celebration . The Third Degree of Fessler's
Rite . (See Fessler, Rite of.)
Celestial Alphabet . See Alphabet, Angels'
.
Celtic Mysteries . See Druidical Mysteries
.
Celts . The early inhabitants of Italy,
Gaul, Spain, and Britain . They are supposed
to have left Asia during one of the
Aryan emigrations, and, having traveled in a
westerly direction, to have spread over these
countries of Europe . The Celtic Mysteries
or the Sacred Rites which they instituted are
known as Druidical Mysteries, which see .
Cement. The cement which in Operative
Masonry is used to unite the various parts of
a building into one strong and durable mass, is
borrowed by Speculative Masonry as a sym-
bol to denote that brotherly love which binds
the Masons of all countries in one common
brotherhood . As this brotherhood is recognized
as being perfected among Master
Masons only, the symbol is very appropriately
referred to the Third Degree .
Cemeteries, Masonic . The desire to
select some suitable spot wherein to deposit
the remains of our departed kindred and
friends seems almost innate in the human
breast. The stranger's field was bought with
the accursed bribe of betrayal and treason, and
there is an abhorrence to depositing our loved
ones in places whose archetype was so desecrated
by its purchase-money . The churchyard,
to the man of sentiment, is as sacred as
the church itself . The cemetery bears a hallowed
character, and we adorn its graves with
vernal flowers or with evergreens, to show that
the dead, though away from our presence
visibly, still live and bloom in our memories .
The oldest of all the histories that time has
saved to us contains an affecting story of this
reverence of the living for the dead, when it
tells us how Abraham, when Sarah, his beloved
wife, had died in a strange land, reluctant
to bury her among strangers, purchased
from the sons of Heth the cave of Machpelah
for a burial-place for his people .
It is not, then, surprising that Masons,
actuated by this spirit, should have been
desirous to consecrate certain spots as restingplaces
for themselves and for the strange
Brethren who should die among them . A
writer in the London Freemason's Magazine
for 1858 complained that there was not in
England a Masonic cemetery, nor portion of
an established cemetery especially dedicated
to the interment of the Brethren of the Craft .
This neglect cannot be charged against the
Masons of America, for there is scarcely a
city or town of considerable size in which the
Masons have not purchased and appropriated
a suitable spot as a cemetery to be exclusively
devoted to the use of the Fraternity . These
cemeteries are often, and should always be,
dedicated with impressive ceremonies ; and it
is to be regretted that our rituals have provided
no sanctioned form of service for these occasions
.
Censer. A small vessel of metal fitted to
receive burning coals from the altar, and on
which the incense for burning was sprinkled
by the priest in the Temple . Among the furniture
of a Royal Arch Chapter is to be found
the censer, which is placed upon the altar of
incense within the sanctuary, as a symbol of
the pure thoughts and grateful feelings which,
in so holy a place, should be offered up as a
fitting sacrifice to the great I AM . In a similar
symbolic sense, the censer, under the name of
the "pot of incense," is found among the emblems
of the Third Degree. (See Pot of Incense
.) The censer also constitutes a part of
the Lodge furniture in many of the high degrees
.
Censor . Gadicke says he is not an officer
but is now and then introduced into some of
the Lodges of Germany . He is commonly