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

230 ECOSSISM
EDWARD
Eeossism. A name given by French Masonic
writers to the thirty-three degrees of the
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. This
in English, would be equivalent to Scottis!e
Masonry which see .
Ecuador. Masonry was introduced into
the Republic of Ecuador, in the year 1857, by
the Grand Orient of Peru, which organized a
Symbolic Lodge and Chapter of the Eighth
Degree in Guayaquil ; but in consequence of
the opposition of the priests, these bodies did
not flourish, and at the end of two years their
members surrendered their -warrants and
ceased to pursue their Masonic labors . But,
since then the Craft has revived and there are
in Ecuador two Lodges under the Grand
Lodge of Peru .
Edda. An Icelandic word, literally translated
great-grandmother, as referred to in
Scandinavian poetry. There are in reality
two books of this name which were deemed
inspired by the ancient Germans, Norwegians,
and Swedes, and there grew out so many
myths from these canonical writings, that
great difficulty is now experienced as to what
were apocryphal. The myths springing from
the old German theology are full of beauty ;
they pervade Freemasonry extensively and so
intimately that they are believed by many of
the best students to be the origin of a large
number of its legends and symbols.
The older of the two, called The Edda of
Samund the Learned, was written in a language
existing in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway
as early as the eighth century. Samund
Sigfusson, an Icelandic priest born in 1056,
collected thirty-nine of these poems during the
earlier portion of the twelfth century. The
most remarkable of these poems is the Oracle
of the Prophetess, containing the cosmogony,
under the Scandinavian belief, from the creation
to the destruction of the world . A wellpreserved
copy was found in Iceland in 1643 .
The younger Edda is a collection of the
myths of the gods, and of explanations of
meters of Pagan poetry, and is intended for
instruction of young scalds or poets. The
first copy was found complete in 1628 . The
prologue is a curious compendium of Jewish,
Greek Christian, Roman, and Icelandic
legend. Its authorship is ascribed to Snorro
Sturleson, born in 1178 ; hence called Edda of
Snorro .
Edict of Cyrus . Five hundred and thirtysix
years before the Christian era, Cyrus
issued his edict permitting the Jews to return
from the captivity at Babylon to Jerusalem,
and to rebuild the House of the Lord . At the
same time he restored to them all the sacred
vessels and precious ornaments of the first
Temple, which had been carried away by
Nebuchadnezzar, and which were still in existence.
This is commemorated in the Royal
Arch Degree of the York and American Rites .
It is also referred to in the Fifteenth Degree,
or Knight of the East of the Scottish Rite .
Edicts . The decrees of a Grand Master or
of a Grand Lodge are called Edicts and obedience
to them is obligatory on all the Craft.
Edinburgh . The capital of Scotland .
[The Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel is
No . 1 on the "Roll of Lodges holding under the
Grand Lodge of Scotland," and is described
therein as instituted "Before 1598 ." Nothing
more precise is known as to the date of its
foundation, but it possesses minutes commencing
in July, 1599. It met at one time in
a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and
from this is derived the second part of its
name . Its history has been written by D .
M . Lyon (1873) .-E. L. H .] (See Scotland .)
Edinburgh, Congress of . It was convoked,
in 1736, by William St . Clair of Roslin,
Patron of the Masons of Scotland (whose
mother Lodge was Canongate Kilwinning),
with the view of abdicating his
as
hereditary Grand Patron, with all the privileges
granted to the family of St. Clair of
Roslin by the Operative Masons of Scotland
early in the seventeenth century (see St .
Clair Charters), and afterward to organize
Masonry upon a new basis. The members of
thirty-three Lodges uniting for this purpose,
constituted the new Grand Lodge of Scotland,
and elected St . Clair Grand Master on November
30, 1736. (See St . Clair .)
Edinburgh - Kilwinning Manuscript .
One of the "Old Charges," probably written
about 1665 . It is in the custody of the
"Mother Lodge Kilwinnin , No. 0," which
heads the Roll of Scotch Lodges . It has been
reproduced in Hughan's Masonic Sketches
and Reprints, and in D . M . Lyon's History
of the Lodge of Edinburgh. [E. L. H .]
Edward the Confessor, King. Said to
have been a patron of Masonry in England
in 1041 .
Edward, Rings. The four kings, numerically
known as the First, Second, Third, and
Fourth, appear as favorers, abettors, and
protectors of the Institution of Freemasonry .
Edward, Prince . Son of George III ., and
Duke of Kent, was initiated in 1790, at
Geneva, in the Lodge De l' Union des Cnurs ;
was Grand Master of the Ancients, and resigned
to the Duke of Sussex on the memorable
occasion of the Union in England,
1813.
Edward III. Manuscript . A manuscript
quoted by Anderson in his second edition
(p. 71), and also by Preston, as an old record
referr' g to "the glorious reign of King
Edward III ." The whole of the record is not
cited, but the passages that are given are
evidently the same as those contained in what
is now known as the Cooke MS., the archaic
phraseology having been modernized and interpolations
inserted by Anderson, as was,
unfortunately, his habit in dealing with those
old documents . Compare, for instance, the
following passages :
From the Cooke MS . "When the master
and the felawes be forwarned ben y come to
such congregations if nede be the Schereffe
of the countre or the mayer of the Cyte or
alderman of the towne in wyche the congregacions
is holde schall be felaw and sociat
to the master of the congregation in helpe of