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

270 FORMULA
FORTY
remembered that, at the era of the Temple,
the earth was supposed to have the form of a
parallelogram, or "oblong square ." Such a
figure inscribed upon a map of the world, and
including only that part of it which was
known in the days of Solomon, would present
just such a square, embracing the Mediterranean
Sea and the countries lying immediatel
on its northern, southern, and eastern
borers. Beyond, far in the north, would be
Cimmerian deserts as a place of darkness,
while the pillars of Hercules in the west, on
each side of the Straits of Gades-now Gibraltar-might
appropriately be referred to the
two pillars that stood at the porch of the
Temple. Thus the world itself would be the
true Mason's Lodge, in which he was to live
and labor . Again : the solid contents of the
earth below, "from the surface to the centre,"
and the profound expanse above, "from the
earth to the highest heavens," would give to
this parallelogram the outlines of a double
cube, and meet thereby that definition which
says that "the form of the Lodge ought to be
a double cube, as an expressive emblem of
the powers of light and darkness in the creation
."
Formula. A prescribed mode or form of
doing or saying anything . The word is derived
from the technical language of the
Roman law, where, after the old legal actions
had been abolished, suits were practised according
to certain prescribed forms called
formulae .
Formulas in Freemasonry are very frequent .
They are either oral or monitorial . Oral formulas
are those that are employed in various
parts of the ritual, such as the opening and
closing of a Lodge, the investiture of a candidate,
etc . From the fact of their oral transmission
they are frequently corrupted or altered,
which is one of the most prolific sources
of non-conformity so often complained of by
Masonic teachers . Monitorial formulas are
those that are committed to writing, and are
to be found in the various monitors and
manuals . They are such as relate to public
installations, to laym g foundation-stones, to
dedications of halls, to funerals, etc. Their
monitorial character ought to preserve them
from change ; but uniformity is not even here
always attained, owing to the whims of the
compilers of manuals or of monitors, who
have often unnecessarily changed the form of
words from the original standard .
Fort Hiram . An earthwork erected on
October 3, 1814, at Fox Point, Rhode Island,
by the Grand Lodge, with the members of the
subordinate Lodges, about two hundred and
thirty in number. The object was to build a
fortification for the defense of the harbor of
Providence, and the G. Lodge, of which
Thomas Smith Webb was Grand Master,
through its Deputy, Sen . G. Warden, and W .
Bro. Carlisle were authorized to work on the
defenses . They formed a procession, marched
in the early morning to the Point, and by sunset
had completed their labors consisting of a
breastwork four hundred and thirty feet in
length, ten wide, and five high . They then
marched and countermarch upon the parapet
from one extremity to the other, when
the G . Master gave the work the appellation
of Fort Hiram which was approved and
sanctioned by tie Governor.
Fort Masonic. A redoubt of the fortifications
on what was known as the Heights
of Brooklyn, located between, what is now,
Bond and Nevins Streets, Brooklyn, the
south point of the quadrangle resting on
State Street and extending north nearly to
Schermerhorn Street ; built by members of
the fourteen Lodges located in New York
City, who, agreeable to a resolution of the
Grand Lodge, of which De Witt Clinton was
Grand Master, adopted August 22, 1814, assembled
at sunrise on the morning of Thursday,
September 1st, and accompanied by the
officers of the Grand Lodge, proceeded to
Brooklyn where they were joined by the
members of Fortitude and Newton Union
Lodges, marched to the Height and performed
one day's work on the fortifications ; the redoubt
was not completed, however, until September
17th, when another day's labor was
performed . [W. J . A .]
Fortitude . One of the four cardinal virtues,
whose excellencies are dilated on in the
First Degree . It not only instructs the
worthy Mason to bear the ills of life with becoming
resignation, "taking up arms against a
sea of trouble," but, by its intimate connection
with a portion of our ceremonies, it
teaches him to let no dangers shake, no pains
dissolve the inviolable fidelity he owes to the
trusts reposed in him . Or, in the words of
the old Prestonian lecture, it is "a fence or
security against any attack that might be
made upon him by force or otherwise, to extort
from him any of our Royal Secrets ."
Spence, in his Polrnnetis (p. 139) when describing
the moral virtues, says of Fortitude-
" She may be easily known by her erect air and
military dress, the spear she rests on with one
hand, and the sword which she holds in the
other . She has a globe under her feet ; I suppose
to show that the Romans, by means of
this virtue, were to subdue the whole world ."
Forty. The multiple of two perfect numbers-four
and ten. This was deemed a sacred
number, as commemorating many events
of religious signification, some of which are as
follows : The alleged period of probation of
our first parents in Eden ; the continuous del-