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

GEOMATIC
GERMANY 295
to the knees of a man ." Solomon placed himself
in this position when he prayed at the
consecration of the Temple ; and Masons use
the same posture in some portions of their
ceremonies, as a token of solemn reverence .
In Ancient Craft Masonry, during prayer, it is
the custom for the members` to stand, but in
the higher degrees, kneeling and generally on
one knee, is the more usual !orm .
Geomatic . See Domatic.
Geometrical Master Mason . A term in
use in England during the last century . By
the primitive regulations of the Grand Chapter,
an applicant for the Royal Arch Degree
was required to produce a certificate that he
was "a Geometrical Master Mason," and had
passed the chair. The word Geometrical was
here synonymous with Speculative .
Geometric Points . In the language of
French Masonry, this name is given to the
four cardinal points of the compass, because
they must agree with the four sides of a regular
Temple or Lodge . They are a symbol of regularity
and perfection .
Geometry . In the modern rituals, geometry
is said to be the basis on which the superstructure
of Masonry is erected ; and in the
Old Constitutions of the Medieval Freemasons
of England the most prominent place of
all the sciences is given to geometry, which is
made synonymous- with Masonry. Thus, in
the Regius MS., which dates not later than the
latter part of the fourteenth century, the Constitutions
of Masonry are called "the Constitutions
of the art of geometry according to
Euclid," the words geometry and Masonry
being used indifferently throughout the document
; and in the Harleian No . 2054 MS . it is
said, "thus the craft Geometry was governed
there, and that worthy Master (Euclid) gave
it the name of Geometry, and it is called
Masonrie in this land long after." In another
part of the same MS . it is thus defined : "The
fifth science is called Geometry and it teaches
a man to mete and measure of the earth and
other things, which science is Masonrie ."
The Egyptians were undoubtedly one of
the first nations who cultivated geometry as a
science. "It was not less useful and necessary
to them," as Goguet observes (Orig .
des Lois ., I ., iv., 4), "in the affairs of life, than
agreeable to their speculatively philosophical
gemus ." From Egypt, which was the parent
both of the sciences and the mysteries of the
Pagan world, it passed over into other countries
; and geometry and Operative Masonry
have ever been found together, the latter carrying
into execution those designs which were
first traced according to the principles of the
former .
Speculative Masonry is, in like manner,
intimately connected with geometry . In deference
to our operative ancestors, and, in fact,
as a necessary result of our close connection
with them, Speculative Freemasonry derives
its most important symbols from this parent
science. Hence it is not strange that Euclid,
the most famous of geometricians, should be
spoken of in all the Old Records as a founder
of Masonry in Egypt, and that a special legend
should have been invented in honor of his
memory .
Georgia . Freemasonry was introduced at
a very early period into the province of Georgia
. Roger Lacey is said to have been the
first Provincial Grand Master, and to him the
warrant for Solomon's Lodge, at Savannah,
was directed in 1735 . Rockwell (Ahim. Rez .,
p . 323) denies this, and thinks that there was
an earlier Lodge organized by Lacey, perhaps
in 1730. The original warrant of Solomon's
Lodge has, however, been destroyed, and we
have no authentic evidence on the subject ;
although it is very generally conceded that the
introduction of organized Masonry into Georgia
does not date later than the year 1735 .
There is no evidence, except tradition, of the
existence of an earlier Lodge . In 1786, the
Independent Grand Lodge of Georgia was
formed, Samuel Elbert, the last Provincial
Grand Master resigning his position to William
Stephen, who was elected, the first Grand
Master .
Gerbier, Doctor . An energetic Mason,
and, as mentioned in The Royal Masonic Cyclopcedia,
one of their removable Masters of the
ancient Grand Lodge of France . He is said to
have fabricated the title of the Metropolitan
Chapter of France, which it was pretended
had emanated from Edinburgh, in 1721 .
German Union of Two and Twenty.
A secret society founded in Germany, in 1786,
by Dr. Bahrdt, whose only connection with
Freemasonry was that Bahrdt and the twentyone
others who founded it were Masons, and
that they invited to their cooperation the
most distinguished Masons of Germany .
The founder professed that the object of the
association was to diffuse intellectual light, to
annihilate superstition, and to perfect the
human race . Its instruction was divided into
six degrees, as follows : 1 . The Adolescent ;
2 . The Man ; 3 . The Old Man ; 4. The Mesopolite
; 5 . The Diocesan ; 6 . The Superior .
The first three degrees were considered a preparatory
school for the last three, out of which
the rules of the society were chosen . It lasted
only four years, and was dissolved by the imprisonment
of its founder for a political libel,
most of its members joining the Illuminati .
The publication of a work in 1789 entitled
Mehr Noten als Text, etc., i . e ., More Notes
than Text, or The German Union of XXII
which divulged its secret organization, tended
to hasten its dissolution . (See Bahrdt .)
Germany. Of all countries Germany plays
the most important part in the history of ancient
Masonry, since it was there that the
gilds of Operative Stone-Masons first assumed
that definite organization which subsequently
led to the establishment cf Speculative Freemasonry.
But it was not until a later date
that the latter institution obtained a footing
on German soil. Findel (Hist ., p . 238) says
that as early as 1730 temporary Lodges, occupied
only in the communication of Masonic
knowledge and in the study of the ritual, were
formed at different points . But the first reg-