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

260 EZRA
FAMILY
to the laying of the foundation of the second
Temple, and yet places in the scene, as a
prominent actor, the later Ezra, who did not
go up to Jerusalem until more than forty
years after the completion of the building . It
is more probable that the Ezra who is said in
the ritual to have wrought with Joshua, Hagand
Zerubbabel, was intended by the original
framer of the ritual to refer to the first
Ezra, who is recorded by Nehemiah as having
been present ; and that the change was made
in the reference without due consideration,
by some succeeding ritualist, whose mistake
has been carelessly perpetuated by those who
followed him. Dr . Oliver (Hilt . Landmarks,
ii., 428) attempts to reconcile the difficulty,
and to remove the anachronism, by saying
that Esdras was the scribe under Joshua,
Haggai, and Zerubbabel, and that he was succeeded
in this important office by Ezra and
Nehemiah. But the English ritual makes no
allusion to this change of succession; and if it
did, it would not enable us to understand bow
Ezra and Nehemiah could he present as scribes
when the foundations of the second Temple
were laid, and the important secrets of the
Royal Arch degree were brought to light,
unless the Ezra meant is the one who came to
Jerusalem with Nehemiah . There is a confusion
is all this which should be rectified .
F. The sixth letter in the English and
Latin alphabets, and the same as the Greek
digamma or the ¢ or ph, and the vau of the
Hebrew, which has a numerical value of six .
F. . In French Masonic documents the
abbreviation of Frbre, or Brother . FF . . is
the abbreviation of Frbres, or Brethren.
Fabre-Palaprat, Bernard Raymond .
The restorer, or, to speak more correctly, the
organizer of the Order of the Temple at Paris,
of which he was elected Grand Master in
1804 . He died at Pau, in the lower Pyrenees,
February 18, 1838. (See Temple, Order of
the .)
Faculty of Abrac .
In the so-called Leland
Manuscript, it is said that Masons "conceal
the way of wynninge the facultye of Abrac ."
That is, that they conceal the method of
acquiring the powers bestowed by a knowledge
of the magical talisman that is called
Abracadabra. (See Abracadabra and Leland
Manuscript .)
Faith. In the theological ladder the explanation
of which forms a part of tlhe ritual
said
of the First Degree of Masonry, faith, is
to typify the lowest round . Faith, here, is
synonymous with confidence or trust, and
hence we find merely a repetition of the lesson
which had been previously taught that the
first, the essential qualification of a candidate
for initiation, is that he should trust in God .
In the lecture of the same degree, it is said
that "Faith may be lost in sight ; Hope ends
in fruition ; but Charity extends beyond the
grave through the boundless realms of eternity.';
And this is said, because as faith is
"the evidence of things not seen " when we
see we no longer believe by faith but through
demonstration ; and as hope lives only in the
expectation of possession, it ceases to exist
when the object once hoped for is at length
enjoyed, but charity, exercised on earth in
acts of mutual kindness and forbearance, is
still found in the world to come, in the sub-
F
limer form of mercy from God to his erring
creatures .
Faithful Breast. (SeeBreast, the Faithful .)
Falk, De, Rabbi . A native Israelite of
-Furth, who attracted some attention in
London at the close of the eighteenth century
in consequence of his presumed extraordinary
powers, acquired through the secrets of the
Kabbala, as a Thaumaturgist . It was alleged
that he could and did transmute metals, and
thereby acquired large sums with which he
was liberal to the poor . A merry incident is
perhaps familiar to the reader . An invitation
was extended by the Baal Shem (the sacerdotal
pronouncer of the Holy Name) to the
Doctor to call as a visitor for a friendly and
philosophical discussion . This was assented
to, when the Doctor was asked to fix a time .
He did so by taking from his pocket a small
taper and handing it to his new friend, saying :
"Light this, sir, when you get home, and
I shall be with you as soon as it goes out ."
This the gentleman did next morning, expecting
an early call, but the taper appeared
to have a charmed life, and it was deposited
in a special closet, where it continued to burn
for three weeks, and until in the even=g, when
Doctor drove up to the door and alighted,
much to the surprise of the host, who, with
wonderment, had watched the bright-burning
taper . As soon as his visitor was announced,
the light and candlestick . disappeared The
Doctor was asked if the candlestick would
be returned, when he replied, "It is already in
the kitchen" ; and so it was found . A further
incident is mentioned of his leavin upon his
death a sealed box to his parti friend,
Aaron Goldsmid stating that to n it
portended evil. Aaron could not wit tand
his curiosity, and one day opened it, and ere
the night came Aaron was picked up dead .
Fail of Water. (See Waterfall .)
Family Lodge. A Lodge held especially
for the transaction of private and local busi-