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

FUSTIER
G 287
are respectfully dedicated to God, the Master
of the Lodge, and the Craft . Our English
brethren differ from us in their explanation
of the furniture. Oliver gives their illustration
from the English lectures, as follows :
"~he Bible is said to derive from God
to man in general ; because the Almighty
has been pleased to reveal more of His divine
will by that holy book than by any other
means . The Compasses being the chief
implement used in the construction of all
architectural plans and designs, are assigned
to the Grand Master in particular as emblems
of his dignity, he being the chief head and
ruler of the Craft . The square is given
to the whole Masonic body, because we are
all obligated within it, and are consequently
bound to act thereon ." (Landmarks, i ., 169 .)
But the lecture of the early part of the last
century made the furniture consist of the
Mosaic Pavement, Blazing Star, and the Indented
Tarsel, while the Bible, square, and
compass were considered as additional
furniture .
Fustier. An officer of the Grand Orient
of France in the beginning of this century .
In 1810, he published, and presented to the
Grand Orient, a Geographical Chart of the
Lodges in France and its Dependencies . He
was the author of several memoirs, dissertations,
etc ., on Masonic subjects, and
of a manuscript entitled Nomenclature Alphabetique
des Grades . Oliver (Landmarks,
ii ., 95) says that he promulgated a new system
of sixty-four degrees. But he seems to have
mistaken Fustier's catalogue of degrees invented
by others for a system established
by himself . No record can be found elsewhere
of such a system . Lenning says
(Encyc. der Freimaurerei) that Fustier was a
dealer in Masonic decorations and in the
transcript of rituals, of which he had made
a collection of more than four hundred, which
he sold at established prices .
Future Life. Lorenzo de Medici said
that all those are dead, even for the present
life, who do not believe in a future state .
The belief in that future life, it is the object
of Freemasonry, as it was of the ancient
initiations, to teach .
Fylfot . An ancient symbol well known
among Heralds . It is sometimes
known as the crux dissimulata,
found in the catacombs of Rome,
and forms one of the symbols of the
degree of Prince of Mercy, Scottish
Rite System . It is a form of the "Swastika ."
(See Jaina Cross .)
aG. (Hebrew, a . Chaldaic, or
hieroglyphic .) The seventh letter of
the English and Roman alphabets .
In the Greek and many other alphabets
it is the third in place ; in the
I
Russian, Wallachian, and some others it is
the fourth ; in the Arabic the fifth, and in
the Ethiopian the twentieth .
In Hebrew it is called "Gimel," is of the
numerical value of 3, and its signification is
camel. It is associated with the third sacred
name of God in Hebrew, 511a (Ghadol),
magnus . In Masonry it is given as the initial
of God . The Masonic use of the letter
tends to the belief of a modern form in the
ceremony of the Fellow-Craft Degree . (See
G. 0. D .)
G . As in all Roman Catholic and in
many Protestant churches the cross, engraved
or sculptured in some prominent
position, will be found as the expressive
symbol of Christianity, so in every Masonic
Lodge a letter G may be seen in the east,
either painted on the wall or sculptured in
wood or metal, and suspended over the
Master's chair . This is, in fact, if not the
most prominent, certainly the most familiar,
of all the symbols of Freemasonry . It is
the one to which the poet Burns alluded in
G
those well-known and often-quoted lines,
in which he speaks of
" that hieroglyphic bright,
Which none but Craftsmen ever saw" ;
that is to say, ever saw understandinglyever
saw, knowing at the same time what it
meant.
There is an uncertainty as to the exact
time when this symbol was first introduced
into Speculative Masonry . It was not derived,
in its present form, from the Operative
Masons of the Middle Ages, who bestowed
upon Freemasonry so much of its
symbolism, for it is not found among the
architectural decorations of the old cathedrals.
Dr . Oliver says it was "in the old
lectures" ; but this is an uncertain expression .
From Prichard's Masonry Dissected, which
was published in 1730, it would seem that
the symbol was not in use at that date. But
it may have been omitted . If Tubal Cain,
which was published in 1767, is, as it purported
to be, identical with Prichard's work,
the question is settled ; for it contains the
lecture on the letter G, to which reference
will directly be made .
It is, however, certain that the symbol
was well known and recognized in 1766, and