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

416 KNIGHTS
KORAH
American use of this latter phrase is derived
from the authority of the present Constitution
of the Grand Encampment of the United
States, and is therefore the very point in
controversy . The former Constitution used
the phrase `Knights Templars.' "On the
whole," Dr . Mackey concludes, "I am satisfied
that the expression `Knights Templar' is
a violation both of the grammatical laws of
our language and of the usage of our best
writers on both sides of the Atlantic, and it
should therefore, I think, be abandoned ." *
Knights of St. John the Evangelist of
Asia in Europe . Founded at Schleswig and
Hamburg by Count of Ecker and Eckhoffen
in 1786 out of his Order of the "True Light,";
founded the previous year.
Knights of the True Light . A degree
founded by Count of Ecker and Eckhoffen, in
1785 .
Knocks, Three . When the Craft were to
be called to labor in old North Germany, "the
Master should give three knocks a Pallirer
two, consecutively ; and in case the Craft at
large were imperatively demanded, one blow
must be struck, morning,
midday, or at eventide
." (Ordnung der
1462, Art .
28 .) Fort, in his Early History, etc ., says,
"three strokes by a Master convened all the
members of that degree ; two strokes by the
Pallirer called the Fellows, and by a single
blow each member was assembled in Lodge .
In the opening and closing of Teutonic tribunals
of justice, the judge carried a staff or
mace, as an emblem of jurisdiction, and order
was enjoined by a blow on the pedestal by the
Arbiter."
An exposure of Masonry called The Three
Distinct Knocks, was issued in 1760. Dermott
(Ahiman Rezon, 1764, p . iii .) says Daniel
Tadpole was the editor, but this is probably
intended for a joke .
Knowledge. In the dualism of Masonry,
knowledge is symbolized by light, as ignorance
is by darkness. To be initiated, to receive
light is to acquire knowledge ; and the cry of
the neophyte for light is the natural aspiration
of the soul for knowledge .
Knowledge, Degrees of. See Degrees of
Knowledge .
Kojiki . (Book of Ancient Traditions .) The
oldest monument of Shintoism, in ancient
religion of Japan . It is written m pure Japanese,
and was composed by order of the
Mikado Gemmio, A.D. 712, and first printed
about 1625 . The adherents of Shmtoism
number about 14,000,000 .
Konx Ompax. There is hardly anything
that has been more puzzling to the learned
than the meaning and use of these two apparently
barbarous words. Bishop Warburton
says (Div . Leg., I ., ii ., 4), but without giving
his authority, that in the celebration of the
Eleusinian mysteries, "the assembly was dismissed
with these two barbarous words, Kom
OmnAg" ; and he thinks that this "shows the
* Knights Templar is the form now -adopted.
[E. E . C .]
Mysteries not to have been originally Greek."
Le Clerc (Bib. Univ ., vi ., 86) thinks that the
words seem to be only an incorrect pronunciation
of hots and omphets, which, he says, signify
in the Phcenician language, "watch, and
abstain from evil." Potter also (Gr . Ant., 346)
says that the words were used in the Eleusinian
mysteries .
The words occur in none of the old Greek
lexicons, except that of Hesychius, where
they are thus defined :
"K6yt o orat . An acclamation used by those
who have finished anything. It is also the
sound of the judge's ballots and of the clepsydra.
The Athenians used the word blops ."
The words were always deemed inexplicable
until 1797, when Captain Wilford offered, in
the Asiatic Researches (vol . v ., p . 300), the following
explanation . He there says that the
real words are Candsha Om Pacsha ; that they
are pure Sanskrit ; and are used to this day by
the Brahmans at the conclusion of their religious
rites . Candsha signifies the object of our
most ardent wishes . Om is the famous monosyllable
used both at the beginning and conclusion
of a prayer or religious rite, like our
word Amen . Pacsha exactly answers to the
obsolete Latin word vix ; it signifies change,
course, stead, place, turn of work, duty, fortune,
etc ., and is particularly used in pouring
water in honor of the gods .
Uwaroff (Ess . sur les Myst. d'Eleus.) calls
this "the most important of modern discoveries
." Creuzer, Schelling, and Monter also
approve of it .
Not so with Lobeck, who, in his Aglaophamus
(p . 775), denies not only that such words
were used in the Eleusinian mysteries, but the
very existence of the words themselves. He
says that in the title of the article in Hesychius
there is a misprint . Instead of K6yt
6µ,rdt, it should be K6yt 6µ. ,rtft, where 6µ is
the usual abbreviation of dµotms, like or similar
to ; so that the true reading would be Kofl
6µotms ,rat, or konx, like pax ; and he confirms
this by referring to ,rat, to which Hesychius
gives the same meaning as he does to
rcoyt . This is too simple for Godfrey Higgins
who calls it (Anacal ., i ., 253) "a pretended
emendation." It is nevertheless very ingenious,
and is calculated to shake our belief that
these words were ever used in the Eleusinian
Rites, notwithstanding the learned authority
of Meursius, Warburton, Lempriere, Creuzer,
Uwaroff, and others .
Korah . The son of Izhar, uncle of Moses,
who was famed for beauty and wealth . It
is related that he refused to give aims, as
Moses had commanded, and brought a villainous
charge against Moses, who complained
thereof to God ; the answer was that the earth
would obey whatever command he should
give ; and Moses said, "O earth, swallow them
up" i then Korah and his confederates were
sinking into the ground, when Korah pleaded
for mercy, which Moses refused . Then God
said, "Moses, thou hadst no mercy on Korah,
though he asked pardon of thee four times ;
but I would have had compassion on him if he