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

202 DEDICATION
DEFORMITY
says Chambers (Inf . for the People, No . 89),
"variously called midsummer eve, was formerly
a time of high observance amongst the
English, as it still is in Catholic countries .
Bonfires were everywhere lighted round which
the people danced with joyful demonstrations,
occasionally leaping through the flame ."
Higgins (Celt . Druids, p . 165) thus alludes
to the celebration of the festival of midwinter
in the ancient world :
"The festival of the 25th of December was
celebrated, by the Druids in Britain and Ireland,
with great fires lighted on the tops of the
hills . . . . On the 25th of December, at the
first moment of the day, throughout all the
ancient world, the birthday of the god Sol was
celebrated. This was the moment when, after
the supposed winter solstice and the lowest
point of his degradation below our hemisphere,
he began to increase and gradually to ascend .
At this moment, in all the ancient religions,
his birthday was kept ; from India to the Ultima
Thule, these ceremonies partook of the
same character : everywhere the god was
feigned to be born, and his festival was celebrated
with great rejoicings ."
Our ancestors finding that the Church, according
to its usage of purifying Pagan festivals
by Christian application, had appropriated
two days near those solstitial periods to
the memory of two eminent saints, incorporated
these festivals by the lapse of a few days
into the Masonic calendar, and adopted these
worthies as patrons of our Order. To this
change, the earlier Christian Masons were the
more persuaded by the peculiar character of
these saints . St . John the Baptist, by announcing
the approach of Christ, and by the
mystic ablution to which he subjected his
proselytes, and which was afterward adopted
in the ceremony of initiation into Christianity,
might well be considered as the Grand Hierophant
of the Church ; while the mysterious
and emblematic nature of the Apocalypse assimilated
the mode of instruction adopted by
St. John the Evangelist to that practised by
the Fraternity .
We are thus led to the conclusion that the
connection of the Saints John with the Masonic
Institution is rather of a symbolic than
of an historical character . In dedicating our
Lodges to them, we do not so much declare our
belief that they were eminent members of the
Order, as demonstrate our reverence for the
great Architect of the Universe in the symbol
of His most splendid creation, the great light
of day .
In conclusion it may be observed that the
ceremony of dedication is merely the enunciation
of a form of words, and this having been
done, the Lodge is thus, by the consecration
and dedication, set apart as something sacred
to the cultivation of the principles of Masonry,
under that peculiar system which acknowledges
the two Saints John as its patrons.
Royal Arch Chapters are dedicated to
Zerubbabel, Prince or Governor of Judah, and
Commanderies of Knights Templar to St .
John the Almoner . Mark Lodges should be
dedicated to Hiram the Builder ; Past Masters'
to the Saints John, and Most Excellent
Masters' to King Solomon .
Dedication of the Temple. There are five
dedications of the Temple of Jerusalem which
are recorded in Jewish history : 1 . The dedication
of the Solomonic Temple, B .c. 1004 . 2.
The dedication in the time of Hezekiah when
it was purified from the abominations ofAhaz,
B .c . 726 . 3 . The dedication of Zerubbabel's
Temple, B .c. 513 . 4 . The dedication of the
Temple when it was purified after Judas Maccabmus
had driven out the Syrians, B .c . 164 .
5 . The dedication of Herod's Temple, B.c .
22 . The fourth of these is still celebrated by
the Jews in their "Feast of the Dedication . '
The first only is connected with the Masonic
ritual, and is commemorated in the Most
Excellent Master's Degree of the American
Rite as the "Celebration of the Cape-Stone ."
This dedication was made by King Solomon
in the year of the world 3000, and lasted eight
days, commencing in the month of Tisri, 15th
day, during the Feast of Tabernacles . The
dedication of the Temple is called, in the English
system of Lectures, "the third grand offering
which consecrates the floor of a Mason's
Lodge ." The same Lectures contain a tradition
that on that occasion King Solomon assembled
the nine Deputy Grand Masters in
the holy place, from which all natural light
had been carefully excluded, and which only
received the artificial light which emanated
from the east, west, and south, and there made
the necessary arrangements. The legend must
be considered as a myth ; but the inimitable
prayer and invocation which were offered up
by King Solomon on the occasion are recorded
in the eighth chapter of the 1st Book of Kings,
which contains the Scriptural account of the
dedication .
Defamation. See Back .
Definition of Freemasonry. "The definitions
of Freemasonry," says Oliver, in his
Historical Landmarks of Freemasonry, "have
been numerous ; but they all unite in declaring
it to be a system of morality by the practice
of which its members may advance their spiritual
interest, and mount by the theological
ladder from the Lodge on earth to the Lodge
in heaven. It is a mistake, however, to suppose
that Freemasonry is a system of religion .
It is but the handmaiden to religion, although
it largely and effectually illustrates one great
branch of it, which is practice ." The definition
in the English Lectures is most often
quoted, which says that "Freemasonry is a
peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory
and illustrated by symbols ."
But a more comprehensive and exact definition
is, that it is a science which is engaged in
the search after Divine Truth, and which employs
symbolism as its method of instruction .
Deformity . The old Constitutions declare
that the candidate for Masonry must be
a "perfect youth, having no maim or defect in
his body ." The Masonic law of physical qualifications
is derived from the Mosaic, which
excluded from the priesthood a man having