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

FIVE-POINTED
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Degree, where five are required to hold a
Lodge, and where, in the wording stairs, thefive
steps are referred to the orders of architecture
and the human senses. In the Third
Degree, we find the reference to the five points
of fellowship and their symbol the fivepointer
star. Geometry, too, which is deemed
synonymous with Masonry, is called the fifth
science ; and, in fact, throughout nearly all the
degrees of Masonry, we find abundant allusions
to five as a sacred and mystical number .
Five-Pointed Star . The five-pointed star,
which is not to be confounded with the blazing
star, is not found among the old symbols of
Masonry ; indeed, some writers have denied
that it is a Masonic emblem at all . It is undoubtedly
of recent origin, and was probably
introduced by Jeremy Cross, who placed it
among the plates in the emblems of the Third
Degree prefixed to his Hieroglyphic Chart . It is
not mentioned in the ritual or the lecture of
the Third Degree, but the Masons of this country
have, by tacit consent, referred to it as a
symbol of the Five Points of Fellowship. The
outlines of the five-pointed star are the same
as those of the pentalpha of Pythagoras, which
was the symbol of health. M . Jomard, in his
Description de l'Egypte (tom . viii ., p . 423),
says that the star engraved on the Egyptian
monuments, where it is a very common hieroglyphic,
has constantly five points, never
more nor less .
Five Points of Fellowship. (See Points
of Fellowship, Five .)
Five Senses . The five senses of Hearing,
Seeing, Feeling, Tasting, and Smelling are introduced
into the lecture of the Fellow-Craft
as a part of the instructions of that Degree .
See each word in its appropriate place . In the
earlier lectures of the eighteenth century, the
five senses were explained in the First Degree
as referring to the five who make a Lodge .
Their subsequent reference to the winding
stairs, and their introduction into the second
degree, were modern improvements . As these
senses are the avenues by which the mind receives
its perceptions of things exterior to it,
and thus becomes the storehouse of ideas, they
are most appropriately referred to that degree
of Masonry whose professed object is the pursuit
and acquisition of knowledge.
Fixed Lights . In the old lectures of the
last century, the fixed lights were the three
windows always supposed to exist in the East,
South, and West . Their uses were, according
to the ritual, "to light the men to, at, and from
their work ." In the modern lectures the~
have been omitted, and their place as symbols
supplied by the lesser lights .
Flaming Sword . A sword whose blade is
of a spiral or twisted form is called by the
heralds a flaming sword, from its resemblance
to the ascending curvature of a flame of fire .
Until very recently, this was the form of the
Tiler's sword . Carelessness or ignorance has
now in many Lodges substituted for it a common
sword of any form . The flaming sword
of the Tiler refers to the flaming sword which
guarded the entrance to Paradise, as described
in Genesis (iii ., 24) : "So he drove out the man ;
and he placed at the east of the garden of
Eden cherubims and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the
way of the tree of life" ; or, as Raphall
has translated it, "the flaming sword
which revolveth, to guard the way to
the tree of life ." In former times,
when symbols and ceremonies were
more respected than they are now ;
when collars were worn, and not ribbons
in the buttonhole - and when
the standing column of : the Senior
Warden, and the recumbent one of p,
the Junior during labor, to be reversed
during refreshment, were
deemed necessary for the complete
furniture of the Lodge, the cavalry sword was
unknown as a Masonic implement, and the
Tiler always bore a flaming sword. It were
better if we could get back to the old customs .
Floats. Pieces of timber, made fast together
with rafters, for conveying burdens
down a river with the stream . The use of
these floats in the building of the Temple is
thus described in the letter of King Hiram to
Solomon : "And we will cut wood out of Lebanon,
as much as thou shalt need ; and we will
bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa ;
and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem ."
(2 Chron . ii ., 16 .)
Floor . The floor of a properly constructed
Lodge room should be covered with alternate
squares of black and white, to represent the
Mosaic pavement which was the ground floor
of King Solomon's Temple .
Floor-Cloth. A framework of board or
canvas, on which the emblems of any particular
degree are inscribed, for the assistance
of the Master in giving a lecture . It is so
called because formerly it was the custom to
inscribe these designs on the floor of the
Lodge room in chalk, which were wiped out
when the Lodge was closed . It is the same as
the "Carpet," or "Tracing Board ."
Flooring. The same as floor-cloth, which
see.
Florian, Squin de. The first accuser of
Grand Master Jacques de Molay and the
Knights Templar . He was subsequently assassinated
.
Florida. Freemasonry was first introduced
into Florida, in 1806, by the organization,
in the city of St. Augustine, of St . Fernando
Lodge by the Grand Lodge of Georgia . In
the year 1811, it was suppressed by a mandate
of the Spanish government . In 1820, the
Grand Lodge of South Carolina granted a
Charter to Floridian Virtue Lodge, No . 28,
but, in consequence of the hostility of the political
and religious authorities, it did not long
exist . In 1824, the Grand Lodge of South Carslina
granted another Charter for Esperanza
Lodge at St . Augustine, which body, however,
became extinct after a year by the removal of
moat of its members to Havana . In 1826, the
Grand Lodges of Tennessee and Georgiaa
granted warrants for the establishment rep
spectively of Jackson Lodge at Tallahassee,