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

KING
KNEE 383
by the high priests as the vicegerents of the
kings of Persia, to whom they paid tribute .
This is the reason that the high priest is the
presiding officer in a Chapter, and the king
only a subordinate . But m the Chapters of
England and Ireland, the king is made the
presiding officer. The jewel of the king is a
level surmounted by a crown suspended within
a triangle .
King of the Sanctuary. A side degree
formerly conferred in the presence of five
Past Masters, now in disuse .
King of the World . A degree in the system
of the Philosophical Rite .
Kings, The Five . The sacred code of the
older Chinese . The word king signifies web
of cloth, or the warp that keeps the threads in
position, or upon which we may weave the
somber and golden colors that make up this
life's pictured history . This great light in
Chinese secret societies contains the best sayings
of the best sages on the ethico-political
duties of life . They cannot be traced to a
period beyond the tenth century B .c ., although
the religion is believed to be older .
Some of the superior classes of Chinese are
believers in the great philosopher Lao-tse, and
others in the doctrines of Confucius . The
two religions appear to be twin in age, not
strikingly dissimilar, and each has been given
a personality in color in accordance with the
character of ethics believed in by the two
writers . Lao-tse and Confucius were the revivers
of an older religion, the former of whom
was born 604 B .c ., and the latter fifty-four
years subsequently .
The five kings are, the Yih-King, or Book of
Changes ; the Shi-King, or Book of Songs ;
the Shu-King, or Book of Annals ; the Ch'un
Ts'iu, or "Spring and Autumn" ; and the Li-
King, or Book of Rites. The fourth book was
composed by Confucius himself, while the
first three are supposed to have been compiled
by him, and the fifth by his disciples from his
teachings .
Dr . Legge, late Professor of Chinese at Oxford,
England, and Dr . Medhurst assert that
there are no authentic records in China earlier
than 1100 B .c ., and no alphabetical writing
before 1500 B .c .
The grandeur of the utterances and brilliancy
of the intellectual productions of Confucius
and Mencius, as law-givers and expounders
of the sacred code of the Chinese,
called The Five Kings, are much to be admired,
and are the trestle-board of fully
80,000,000 of the earth's po,Pulation .
Kislev or Chislev. (177 .) The third
month of the Hebrew civil year, and corresponding
with the months November and
December, beginning with the new moon of
the former .
Kiss, Fraternal . The Germans call it der
bruder kuss ; the French, le baiser fraternal .
It is the kiss given in the French and German
Lodges by each brother to his right and left
hand neighbor when the labors of the Lodge
are closed . It is not adopted in the English
or American systems of Ancient Craft Ma-
sonry, although practised in some of the high
degrees .
Kiss of Peace. In the reception of an Ancient
Knight Templar, it was the practise for
the one who received him to greet him with a
kiss upon the mouth . This, which was called
the osculum pacis, or kiss of peace, was borrowed
by the Templars from the religious orders,
in all of which it was observed . It is
not practised in the receptions of Masonic
Templarism .
Kloss, Georg Burkh . Franz . A celebrated
German Masonand Doctorof Medicine
who was born in 1788 . Dr . Kloss was initiated
into Masonry early in life. He reorganized the
Eclectic Grand Lodge, of which he was several
times Grand Master . He resided at
Frankfort-on-the-Main, where he enjoyed a
high reputation as a physician . He was the
possessor of an extensive Masonic library, and
devoted himself to the study of the antiquities
and true character of the Masonic institution,
insomuch that he was styled the "teacher of
the German Freemasons ." Kloss'a theory was
that the present Order of Freemasons found
its origin in the stone-cutters and building
corporations of the Middle Ages . He delivered,
in the course of his life, many valuable
historical discourses before the Lodge Zur
Einigheit, several of which were printed and
published : Annals of the Lodge Zur Einigheit,
Frankfort, 1840 ; Freemasonry in its true
meaning, from the ancient and genuine documents
of the Stonemasons, Leipsic, 1846 ; A
History of Freemasonry in England, Scotland,
and Ireland, Leipsic, 1848 ; A History of the
Freemasons of France, from genuine documents,
Darmstadt, 1852 ; and a Bibliography of Freemasonry,
Frankfort, 1844 . This last is a
most valuable contribution to Masonic literature.
It contains a list of more than six
thousand Masonic works in all languages,
with critical remarks on many of them . Dr .
Kloss died at Frankfort, February 10, 1854 .
Bro . Meisinger, who delivered his funeral
eulogy, said of him : "He had a rare amount
of learning, and was a distinguished linguist ;
his reputation as a physician was deservedly
great ; and he added to these a friendly, tender
amiable disposition, with great simplicity and
uprightness of character."
Kneeling . Bending the knees has, in all
ages of the world, been considered as an act
of reverence and humility, and hence Pliny,
the Roman naturalist, observes, that "a certain
degree of religious reverence is attributed
to the knees of 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
the act of prayer, Masons in the lower degrees
adopt the standing posture, which was the
usage of the primitive Church, where it was
symbolic of the resurrection ; but Masons in
the higher . degrees generally kneel on one
knee .
Knee to Knee . When, in his devotions to
the G. A . O . T . U., he seeks forgiveness for the