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

228 ECBATANA
ECOSSAIS
teach reserve and taciturnity, which should
be inviolably maintained in regard to the incommunicable
secrets of the Order. When it
is said that the ebony box contained the plans
of the Temple of Solomon, the symbolic teaching
is, that in the human heart are deposited
the secret designs and motives of our conduct
by which we propose to erect the spiritual
temple of our lives.
Eebatana. An ancient city of great
interest to those who study the history of the
rebuilding of the Temple . Its several names
were Agbatana, Hagmatana, and Achmeta .
Tradition attributes the founding of the city
to Solomon, Herodotus to Deioces 728 B .C .,
the Book of Judith to Arphaxad . ft was the
ancient capital of Media. Vast quantities of
rubbish now indicate where the palace and
citadel stood . The Temple of the Sun
crowned a conical hill enclosed by seven concentric
walls . According to Celsus, there was
thus exhibited a scale composed of seven steps
or stages, with an eighth at the upper extremity
. The first stage was composed of
lead, and indicated Saturn ; the second of tin
denoted Venus ; the third, of copper, denoted
Jupiter ; the fourth, of iron, denoted Mars ; the
fifth, of divers metals, denoted Mercury ;
the sixth, of silver, denoted the Moon ; the
seventh, of gold, denoted the Sun ; then the
highest, Heaven. As they rose in gradation
toward the pinnacle, all the gorgeous battlements
represented at once-in Sabean fashion
-the seven planetary spheres. The principal
buildings were the Citadel, a stronghold of
enormous dimensions, where also the archives
were kept, in which Darius found the edict of
Cyrus the Great concerning the rebuilding of
the Holy Temple in Jerusalem .
Eclectic Masonry. From the Greek,
J,cXewnubs, eklektikos, which means selecting .
Those philosophers who, in ancient times,
selected from the various systems of philosophy
such doctrines as appeared most conformable
to truth were called "eclectic philosophers
." So the confederation of Masons in
Germany which consisted of Lodges that
selected the degrees which they thought most
comformable to ancient Freemasonry, was
called the eclectic union, and the Masonry
which it adopted received the name of Eclectic
Masonry. (See Eclectic Union.)
Eclectic Rite. The Rite practised by the
Eclectic Union, which see.
Eclectic Union . The fundamental idea
of a union of the German Lodges for the purpose
of purifying the Masonic system of the
corruptions which had been introduced by
the numerous degrees founded on alchemy,
theosophy, and other occult sciences which at
that time flooded the continent of Europe,
originated, in 1779, with the Baron Von Ditfurth,
who had been a prominent member of
the Rite of Strict Observance ; although Lenning
attributes the earlier thought of a circular
letter to Von Knigge. But the first practical
step toward this purification was taken in
1783 by the Provincial Grand Lodges of
Frankfort-on-the-Main and of Wetzlar . These
two bodies addressed an encyclical letter to
the Lodges of Germany in which they invited
them to enter into an alliance for the purpose
of "re-establishing the Royal Art of Freemasonry
." The principal points on which this
union or alliance was to be founded were, 1 .
That the three symbolic degrees only were to
be acknowledged by the united Lodges . 2 .
That each Lodge was permitted to practise
for itself such high degrees as it might select
for itself but that the recognition of these was
not to he made compulsory on the other
Lodges . 3 . That all the united Lodges were
to be equal, none being dependent on any
other . These propositions were accepted by
several Lodges, and thence resulted the Eklectischer
Bund, or Eclectic Union of Germany .
at the head of which is the "Mother Grand
Lodge of the Eclectic Union" at Frankforton-the-Main
which has 21 Lodges and 3,166
brethren under its jurisdiction . The system
of Masonry practised by this union is called
the Eclectic system, and the Rite recognized
by it is the Eclectic Rite, which consists of
only the three degrees of pprentice, Fellow-
Craft, and Master Mason .
Eeossais. This is a French word, which
is most generally to be translated as Scottish
Master. There are numerous degrees under
the same or a similar name ; all of them, however,
concurring in one particular, namely,
that of detailing the method adopted for the
preservation of the true Word . The American
Mason will understand the character of
the system of Ecossaism, as it may be called,
when he is told that the Select Master of
his own Rite is really an Ecossais Degree .
It is found, too, in many other Rites . Thus,
in the French Rite it is the Fifth Degree .
In the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite,
the Thirteenth Degree or Knights of the
Ninth Arch is properly an Ecossais Degree .
The Ancient York Rite is without an Ecossais
Degree, but its principles are set forth
in the instructions of the Royal Arch .
Some idea of the extent to which these degrees
have been multiplied may be formed
from the fact that Oliver has a list of eighty
of them ; Ragon enumerates eighty-three ; and
the Baron Tschoudy, rejecting, twenty-seven
which he does not consider legitimate, retains
a far greater number to whose purity he does
not object.
In the Ecossais system there is a legend,
a part of which has been adopted in all the
Ecossais degrees, and which has in fact been
incorporated into the mythical history of
Masonry . It is to the effect that the builder
of the Temple engraved the word upon a triangle
of pure metal, and, fearing that it might
be lost, he always bore it about his person
suspended from his neck, with the a aved
side next to his breast. In a time great
peril to himself, he cast it into an old dry well,
which was in the southeast comer of the
Temple, where it was afterward found by
three Masters . They were passing near the
well at the hour of meridian, and were attracted
by its brilliant appearance ; whereupon