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

200 DEDICATION
DEDICATION
emperors. According to the Papirian law, the
dedication must have been authorized by a
decree of the senate and the people, and the
consent of the college of augurs . The ceremony
consisted in surrounding the temple or
object of dedication with garlands of flowers,
whilst the vestal virgins poured on the exterior
of the temple the lustral water . The
dedication was completed by a formula of
words uttered by the Pontiff, and the immolation
of a victim, whose entrails . were placed
upon an altar of turf . The dedication of a
temple was always a festival for the people,
and was annually commemorated. While the
Pagans dedicated their temples to different
deities-sometimes to the joint worship of
several-the monotheistic Jews dedicated
their religious edifices to the one supreme Jehovah
. Thus, David dedicated with solemn
ceremonies the altar which he erected on the
threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, after
the cessation of the plague which had afflicted
his people ; and Calmet conjectures that he
composed the thirtieth Psalm on this occasion .
The Jews extended this ceremony of dedication
even to their private houses, and Clarke
tells us, in reference to a passage on this subject
in the Book of Deuteronomy, that "it
was a custom in Israel to dedicate a new house
to God with prayer, praise, and thanksgiving ;
and this was done in order to secure the divine
presence and blessing, for no pious or
sensible man could imagine he could dwell
safely in a house that was not under the immediate
protection of God ."
According to the learned Selden, there was
a distinction among the Jews between consecration
and dedication for sacred things were
both consecrated and dedicated, while profane
things such as private dwelling-houses were
only dedicated. Dedication was, therefore, a
less sacred ceremony than consecration. This
distinction has also been preserved among
Christians, many of whom, and, in the early
ages, all, consecrated their churches to the
worship of God but dedicated them to, or
placed them under, the especial patronage of
some particular saint . A similar practise prevails
m the Masonic Institution ; and therefore,
while we consecrate our Lodges "to the
honor of God's glory," we dedicate them to
the patrons of our Order .
Tradition informs us that Masonic Lodges
were originally dedicated to King Solomon,
because he was our first Most Excellent Grand
Master . In the sixteenth century St . John the
Baptist seems to have been considered as the
peculiar patron of Freemasonry ; but subsequently
this honor was divided between the
two Saints John, the Baptist and the Evangelist
; and modern Lodges, in this country at
least, are universally erected or consecrated to
God, and dedicated to the Holy Saints John .
In the Hemming lectures, adopted in 1813, at
the time of the union of the two Grand Lodges
of England, the dedication was changed from
the Saints John to King Solomon, and this
usage now prevails very generally in England
[where Lodges are dedicated to "God and His
Service, also to the memory of the Royal Solomon,
under whose auspices many of our Masonic
mysteries had their origin ."-[E . L . H .] ;
but the ancient dedication to the Saints John
has never been abandoned by the American
Lodges .
The formula in Webb which dedicates the
Lodge "to the memory of the Holy Saint
John," was, undoubtedly, an inadvertence on
the part of that lecturer, since in all his oral
teachings he adhered to the more general system,
and described a Lodge in his esoteric
work as being "dedicated to the Holy Saints
John ." This is now the universal practise,
and the language used by Webb becomes contradictory
and absurd when compared with
the fact that the festivals of both saints are
equally celebrated by the Order, and that the
27th of December is not less a day of observance
in the Order than the 24th of June .
In one of the old lectures of the last century,
this dedication to the two Saints John is thus
explained :
"Q . Our Lodges being finished, furnished
and decorated with ornaments, furniture, and
jewels, to whom were they consecrated?
"A . To God.
"Q . Thank you, brother ; and can you tell
me to whom they were first dedicated?
"A . To Noah, who was saved in the ark .
"Q . And by what name were the Masons
then known?
"A . They were called Noachidae, Sages, or
Wise Men .
"Q . To whom were the Lodges dedicated
during the Mosaic dispensation?
"A . To Moses, the chosen of God, and Solomon,
the son of David, king of Israel, who
was an eminent patron of the Craft .
"Q . And under what name were the Masons
known during that period?
"A . Under the name of Dionysiacs, Geometricians,
or Masters in Israel.
"Q . But as Solomon was a Jew, and died
long before the promulgation of Christianity,
to whom were they dedicated under the Christian
dispensation?
"A . From Solomon the patronage of Masonry
passed to St. John the Baptist .
"Q . And under what name were they
known after the promulgation of Christianity?
"A . Under the name of Essenes, Architects,
or Freemasons .
"Q . Why were the Lodges dedicated to St .
John the Baptist?
"A. Because he was the forerunner of our
Saviour, and, by preaching repentance and
humiliation, drew the first parallel of the
Gospel .
"Q . Had St . John the Baptist any equal?
"A . He had ; St. John the Evangelist .
"Q . Why is he said to be equal to the Baptist?
"A . Because he finished by his learning
what the other began by his zeal, and thus
drew a second line parallel to the former ; ever
since which time Freemasons' Lodges, in all
Christian countries, have been dedicated to