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

420 LABRUM
LADDER
from time to time repeated, until the third
year of the reign of Henry VI ., A. D . 1425,
when the celebrated statute entitled "Masons
shall not confederate themselves in chapters
and congregations," was enacted in the
following words :
" Whereas, by yearly congregations and
confederacies, made by the Masons in their
General Assemblies, the good course and
effect of the Statutes for Laborers be openly
violated and broken, in subversion of the law,
and to the great damage of all the Commons,
our said sovereign lord the king, willing in this
case to provide a remedy, by the advice and
assent aforesaid, and at the special request of
the Commons, hath ordained and established
that such chapters and congregations shall not
be hereafter holden ; and if any such be made,
they that cause such chapters and congregations
to be assembled and holden, if they
thereof be convict, shall be judged for felons,
and that the other Masons that come to such
chapters and congregations be punished by
imprisonment of their bodies and make fine
and ransom at the king's will . ;'
[Findel (Hist. of F. M., p . 94), following
Preston says that this Statute was passed in
the Parliament of Bats ; but this is erroneous,
for the Act forbidding Masons to meet in
Chapters or Congregations was passed in 1425
by the Parliament at Westminster, while the
Parliament of Bats met at Leicester in the
following year . (See Bats, Parliament of.)-
E. L. H.]
All the Statutes of Laborers were repealed
in the fifth year of Elizabeth ; and Lord Coke
gave the opinion that this act of Henry VI .
became, in consequence, "of no force or effect"
; a decision which led Anderson, very
absurdly, to suppose that "this most learned
judge really belonged to the ancient Lodge,
and was a faithful brother " (Constitutions,
1723, p. 57) ; as if it required a judge to be a
Mason to give a just judgment concerning the
interests of Masonry .
Labrum. From the Latin. A lip or edge,
as of a dish or font ; having reference to the
vase at the entrance of places of worship for
preliminary lustration .
Labyrinth. A place full of intricacies,
with winding passages, as the Egyptian,
Samian, and Cretan labyrinths . That of
the Egyptians was near Lake Moeris, which
contained twelve palaces under one roof and
was of polished stone, with many vaulted passages,
and a court of 3000 chambers, half
under the earth and halt above them . Pliny
states it was 3,600 years old in his day . The
labyrinth is symbolical of the vicissitudes and
anxieties of life, and is thus metaphorically
used in a number of the degrees of various
Rites . Sage of the Labyrinth is the eighteenth
grade, Rite of Memphis, in the Order of
1860. Sage Sublime of Labyrinth, the fiftyfifth
grade of the same organization . (See
Catacombs.)
Lacepede, B . G . E. de la Ville . A French
savant and naturalist, born in 1756, died 1825 .
President of the Legislative .Assembly in 1791 .
Master of the Lodge "De St. Napol6on" in
1805 . An account of his installation is recorded
by Kloss .
Lacorne. The Count of Clermont, who
was Grand Master of France, having abandoned
all care of the French Lodges, left them
to the direction of his Deputies . In 1761, he
appointed one Lacorne, a dancing-master, his
Deputy ; but the Grand Lodge, indignant at
the appointment, refused to sanction it or to
recognize Lacorne as a presiding officer . He
accordingly constituted another Grand Lodge,
and was supported by adherents of his own
character, who were designated by the more
respectable Masons as the "Lacorne faction ."
In 1762, the Count of Clermont, influenced by
the representations that were made to him,
revoked the commission of Lacorne t and appointed
M . Chaillou de Joinville his Substitute
General . In consequence of this, the two
rival Grand Lodges became reconciled, and a
union was effected on the 24th of June, 1762 .
But the reconciliation did not prove altogether
satisfactory. In 1765, at the annual
election, neither Lacorne nor any of his associates
were chosen to office. They became disgusted,
and, retiring from the Grand Lodge,
issued a scandalous protest, for which they
were expelled ; and subsequently they organized
a spurious Grand Lodge and chartered
several Lodges. But from this time Lacorne
al-
ceased to have a place in regular Masonry,
though the dissensions first begun by him ultimately
gave rise to the Grand Orient as the
successor of the Grand Lodge .
Ladder . A symbol of progressive advancement
from a lower to a higher sphere, which is
common to Masonry and to many, if not all,
of the Ancient Mysteries . In each, generally,
as in Masonry, the number of steps was seven .
(See Jacob's Ladder .)
Ladder, Brahmanical . The symbolic
ladder used in the mysteries of Brahma . It
had seven steps, symbolic of the seven worlds
of the Indian universe . The lowest was the
Earth ; the second, the World of Reexistence ;
the third, Heaven ; the fourth, the Middle
World, or intermediate region between the
lower and the upper worlds ; the fifth, the
World of Births in which souls are born again ;
the sixth, the IViansion of the Blessed ; and the
seventh, or topmost round, the Sphere of
Truth the abode of Brahma, who was himself
a symbol of the sun .
Ladder, Jacob's. See Jacob's Ladder.
Ladder, Kabbalistic . The ladder of the
Kabbalists consisted of the ten Sephiroths or
emanations of Deity . The steps were in an
ascending series-the Kingdom, Foundation,
Splendor, Firmness, Beauty, Justice, Mercy,
Intelligence, Wisdom, and the Crown . This
ladder formed the exception to the usual number
of seven steps or rounds .
Ladder, Mithrattle . The symbolic ladder
used in the Persian mysteries of Mithras .
It had seven steps, symbolic of the seven planets
and the seven metals . Thus, beginning at
the bottom, we have Saturn represented by
lead, Venus by tin, Jupiter by brass, Mercury