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

368 JERUSALEM
JEWEL
trine was announced that the Freemasons
were the successors of the Knights Templar,
a dogma peculiarly characteristic of the Rite
of Strict Observance. In the year 1764, a
second Congress was convoked by Johnson or
Leucht with the desire of authoritatively
establishing his doctrine of the connection
between Templarism and Masonry . The
empirical character of Johnson was here discovered
by the Baron Hund, and he was
denounced, and subsequently punished at
Magdeburg by the public authorities .
Jerusalem . The capital of Judea, and
memorable in Masonic history as the place
where was erected the Temple of Solomon. It
is early mentioned in Scripture, and is supposed
to be the Salem of which Melchizedek
was king. At the time that the Israelites entered
the Promised Land the city was in possession
of the Jebusites, from whom, after the
death of Joshua, it was conquered, and afterward
inhabited by the tribes of Judah and
Benjamin . The Jebusites were not, however,
driven out ; and we learn that David purchased
Mount Moriah from Ornan or Araunah
the Jebusite as a site for the Temple . It is
only in reference to this Temple that Jerusalem
is connected with the legends of Ancient
Craft Masonry . In the degrees of chivalry
it is also important, because it was the city
where the holy places were situated, and for
the possession of which the Crusaders so long
and so bravely contested. It was there, too,
that the Templars and the Hospitalers were
established as Orders of religious and military
knighthood .
Modern Speculative Masonry was introduced
into Jerusalem by the establishment of
a Lodge in 1872, the warrant for which, on
the application of Robert Morris and others,
was granted by the Grand Lodge of Canada .
Recently a Lodge has been warranted in
England to meet at Chester, but to be in due
course removed to Jerusalem, named "King
Solomon's Temple," No . 3464.
Jerusalem, Knight of. See Knight of
Jerusalem .
Jerusalem, New . The symbolic name of
the Christian church (Rev . xxi. 2-21 ; iii. 12) .
The Apostle John (Rev . xxi .), from the summit
of a high mountain, beheld, in a pictorial
symbol or scenic representation, a city resplendent
with celestial brightness, which
seemed to descend from the heavens to the
earth . It was stated to be a square of about
400 miles, or 12,000 stadia, equal to about
16,000 miles in circumference-of course, a
mystical number, denoting that the city was
capable of holding almost countless myriads
of inhabitants . The New Jerusalem was
beheld, like Jacob's ladder, extending from
earth to heaven . It plays an important part
in the ritual of the Nineteenth Degree, or
Grand Pontiff of the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite, where the descent of the New
Jerusalem is a symbol of the descent of the
empire of Light and Truth upon the earth .
Jerusalem, Prince of. See Prince of
Jerusalem.
Jerusalem Word . In the Grand Mystery
of the Freemasons Discovered of 1724 occurs
the following question and answer :
" Q. Give me the Jerusalem Word .
"A . Giblin."
The origin of this phrase may perhaps be
thus traced . The theory that after the completion
of the Temple a portion of the workmen
traveled abroad to seek employm ent,
while another portion remained at Jerusalem,
was well known to the Fraternity at the
beginning of the last century . It is amply
detailed in that old manuscript known as the
York MS ., which is now lost, but was translated
by Krause, and inserted in his Kunsturkunden
. It may be supposed that this
"Jerusalem Word" was the word which the
Masons used at Jerusalem, while the "Universal
Word," which is given in the next question
and answer, was the word common to the
Craft everywhere . The Jerusalem Word, as
such, is no longer in use but the Universal
Word is still found in the first Degree .
Jesse . A large candlestick, of metal, with
many sconces, hanging from the ceiling, and
symbolically referring to the Branch of Jesse .
Jesuits . In the last century the Jesuits
were charged with having an intimate connection
with Freemasonry, and the invention
of the degree of Kadosh was even attributed to
those members of the Society who constituted
the College of Clermont . This theory of a
Jesuitical Masonry seems to have originated
with the Illuminati who were probably governed
in its promuigation by a desire to depreciate
the character of all other Masonic
systems in comparison with their own, where
no such priestly interference was permitted .
Barruel scoffs at the idea of such a connection
and calls it (Hist. de Ja ., iv ., 287)
"la fable de la Franc-MKonnerie Jesuitique ."
For once he is right . Like oil and water,
the tolerance of Freemasonry and the intolerance
of the " Society of Jesus " cannot commingle
.
Yet it cannot be denied that, while the
Jesuits have had no part in the construction of
pure Freemasonry, there are reasons for believing
that they took an interest in the invention
of some degrees and systems which
were intended to advance their own interests .
But wherever they touched the Institution
they left the trail of the serpent . They sought
to convert its pure philanthropy and toleration
into political intrigue and religious bigotry
. Hence it is believed that they had
something to do with the invention of those
degrees, which were intended to aid the exiled
house of Stuart in its efforts to regain the
English throne, because they believed that
would secure the restoration in England of
the Roman Catholic religion. Almost a library
of books has been written on both
sides of this subject in Germany and in
France .
Jetzirah, Book of. See Jezirah .
Jewel of an Ancient Grand Master. A
Masonic tradition informs us that the jewel of
an ancient Grand Master at the Temple was