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

HARODIM
HARRIS 319
Durham, England, during the latter half
of the eighteenth century, but what its exact
nature was has now been forgotten .-E . L . H .]
Harodim, Grand Chapter of . An institution
under the title of the "Grand Chapter
of the Ancient and Venerable Order of Harodim"
was established in London, in the year
1787, by the celebrated Masonic lecturer,
William Preston . He thus defines, in his
Illustrations, its nature and objects : (12th
ed ., p . 310 .)
"The mysteries of this Order are peculiar
to the institution itself ; while the lectures
of the Chapter include every branch of the
Masonic system, and represent the art of
Masonry in a finished and complete form.
"Different classes are established, and
particular lectures restricted to each class .
The lectures are divided into sections, and
the sections into clauses . The sections are
annually assigned by the Chief Harod to a
certain number of skilful Companions in
each class, who are denominated Sectionists
; and they are empowered to distribute
the clauses of their respective sections, with
the approbation, of the Chief Harod and
General Director, among the private companions
of the Chapter, who are denominated
CLAUSEHO DERS . Such Companions
as by assiduity become possessed of all the
sections in the lecture are called Lecturers ;
and out of these the General Director is always
chosen .
"Every Clauseholder, on his appointment,
is presented with a ticket, signed by the
Chief Harod, specifying the clause allotted
to him . This ticket entitles him to enjoy
the rank and privileges of a Clauseholder
in the Chapter ; and no Clauseholder can
transfer his ticket to another Companion,
unless the consent of the Council has been
obtained for that purpose, and the General
Director has approved the Companion to
whom it is to be transferred as qualified to
bold it . In case of the death, sickness, or
non-residence in London of any Lecturer,
Sectionist, or Clauseholder, another Companion
is appointed to fill up the vacancy
for the time being, that the lectures may be
always complete ; and during the session
a public lecture is usually delivered at stated
times .
"The Grand Chapter is governed by a
Grand Patron, two Vice Patrons, a chief
Ruler, and two Assistants, with a Council
of twelve respectable Companions, who are
chosen annually at the Chapter nearest to
the festival of St . John the Evangelist ."
The whole system was admirably adapted
to the purposes of Masonic instruction and
was intended for the propagation of: the
Prestonian system of lectures, but it no
longer exists .
Harodim, Prince of. In the old lectures
of the Ineffable degrees, it is said that Tito,
the oldest of the Provosts and Judges, was
the Prince of Harodim, that is, chief of the
three hundred architects who were the
Harodim, or additional three hundred added
to the thirty-three thousand Menatzchim
mentioned in Chronicles, and who thus make
up the number of three thousand six hundred
recorded in the 1st Book of Kings, and who
in the old lecture of the degree of Provost
and Judge are supposed to have been the
Harodim or Rulers in Masonry . The statement
is a myth ; but it thus attempts to
explain the discrepancy alluded to in the
article Harodim .
Harpocrates . The Greek god of silence
and secrecy . He was, however, a divinity
of the Egyptian mythology ; his true name
being, according to Bunsen and Lepsius,
Har-pi-chrati, that is, Horus the child ; and
he is supposed to have been the son of Osiris
and Isis . He is represented as a nude figure,
sitting sometimes on a lotus flower, either
bareheaded or covered by an Egyptian miter,
but always with his finger pressed upon his
lips . Plutarch thinks that this gesture was
an indication of his childlike and helpless
nature ; but the Greeks, and after them the
Romans, supposed it to be a symbol of silence ;
and hence, while he is sometimes described
as the god of the renewed year, whence peach
blossoms were consecrated to him because
of their early appearance in spring, he is
more commonly represented as the god of
silence and secrecy . Thus, Ovid says of
him :
"Quique premit vocem digitoque silentia
suadet."
He who controls the voice and persuades to
silence with his finger .
In this capacity, his statue was often
placed at the entrance of temples and places
where the mysteries were celebrated, as an
indication of the silence and secrecy that
should there be observed . Hence the finger
on the lips is a symbol of secrecy, and has
so been adopted in Masonic symbolism .
Harris, Thaddeus Mason . The Rev .
Thaddeus Mason Harris, D .D ., an American
Masonic writer of some reputation, was
born in Charlestown, Mass ., July 7, 1767,
and graduated at Harvard University in 1787 .
He was ordained as minister of a church
in Dorchester in 1793, and died at Boston,
April 3, 1842 . He held at different times
the offices of Deputy Grand Master, Grand
Chaplain, and Corresponding Grand Secretary
of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts .
"His first great Masonic work, says Huntoon
(Eulogy), "was the editing of a collation,
revision, and publication of the `Constitutions
of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of
Free and Accepted Masons,' a quarto volume,
printed at Worcester, Mass ., 1792 ; a work
which he accomplished with the accustomed
diligence and fidelity with which he performed
every enterprise confided to his care . His
various occasional addresses while Grand
Chaplain of the Grand Lodge, Masonic
defences, and his volume of Masonic Discourses,
published in 1801, constitute a large
and valuable portion of the Masonic classic
literature of America ."