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

LADDER
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by iron, Mars by a mixed metal, the Moon by
silver, and the Sun by gold ; the whole being a
ymbol of the sidereal progress of the sun
through the universe .
Ladder of Kadosh . This ladder, belonging
to the high degrees of Masonry, consists
of the seven following steps, beginning at the
bottom : Justice, Equity, Kindliness, Good
Faith, Labor, Patience, and Intelligence or
Wisdom . Its supports are love of God and love
of our neighbor, and their totality constitute
a symbolism of the devoir of Knighthood and
Masonry, the fulfilment of which is necessary
to make a Perfect Knight and Perfect Mason .
Ladder, Itosicruclan . Among the symbols
of the Rosicrucians is a ladder of seven
steps standing on a globe of the earth, with an
open Bible, square, and compasses resting on
the top . Between each of the steps is one of
the following letters, beginning from the bottom
: I . N . R. I . F . S . C ., being the initials
of Jesus, Nazarenus, Rex, Iudseorum, Fides,
Spes, Caritas. But a more recondite meaning
is sometimes given to the first four letters .
Ladder, Scandinavian. The symbolic
ladder used in the Gothic mysteries . Dr . Oliver
refers it to the Yggrasil, or sacred ash-tree .
But the symbolism is either very abstruse or
very doubtful. It retains, however, the idea
of an ascent from a lower to a higher sphere,
which was common to all the mystical ladder
systems. At its root lies the dragon of death ;
at its top are the eagle and hawk, the symbols
of life.
Ladder, Theological . The symbolic ladder
of the Masonic mysteries . It refers to the
ladder seen by Jacob in his vision, and consists,
like all symbolical ladders, of seven
rounds, alluding to the four cardinal and the
three theological virtues . (See Jacob's Ladder.)
Lady . In the androgynous Lodges of
Adoption, where the male members are called
Knights, the female members are called Ladies
; as, the Knights and Ladies of the Rose .
The French use the word Dame .
Lakak Deror Pessah. . ( Hebrew, 'IDD '111'1
i175 .) The initials of these three words are
found on the symbol of the Bridge in the Fifteenth
Degree of the Scottish Rite, signifying
liberty of passage and liberty of thought .
(See Bridge, also Liber.)
Lalande. See De la Lande .
Lamaism . The name of the religion revalent
in Tibet and Mongolia . (Tibet, Lama,
pronounced lama, a chief or high priest .)
Buddhism, corrupted by Sivaism, an adoration
of saints . At the summit of its hierarchy
are two Lama popes having equal rank
and authority in spiritual and temporal affairs.
Lamb . In ancient Craft Masonry the lamb
is the symbol of innocence ; thus in the ritual
of the First Degree : "In all ages the lamb
has been deemed an emblem of innocence ."
Hence it is required that a Mason's apron
should be made of lambskin . In the high
degrees, and in the degrees of chivalry, as in
Christian iconography, the lamb is a symbol
of Jesus Christ . The introduction of this
Christian symbolism of the lamb comes from
the expression of St . John the Baptist, who exclaimed,
on seeing Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of
God " ; which was undoubtedly derived from
the prophetic writers, who compare the Messiah
suffering on the cross to a lamb under the
knife of a butcher . In the vision of St . John,
in the Apocalypse, Christ is seen, under the
form of a lamb, wounded in the throat, and
opening the book with the seven seals . Hence,
in one of the degrees of the Scottish Rite, the
Seventeenth, or Knight of the East and West,
the lamb lying on the book with the seven
seals is a part of the jewel .
Lamb of God . See Lamb, Paschal.
Lamb, Paschal. The paschal lamb, sometimes
called the Holy Lamb, was the lamb
offered up by the Jews at the paschal feast .
This has been transferred to Christian symbolism,
and naturally to chivalric Masonry ;
and hence we find it among the symbols of
modern Templarism . The paschal lamb, as
a Christian and Masonic symbol, called also
the Agnus Dei, or the Lamb of God, first speared
in Christian art after the sixth century .
Vt is depicted as a lamb standing on the ground,
holding by the left forefoot a banner, on which
a cross is inscribed . This paschal lamb, or
Lamb of God, has been adopted as a symbol
by the Knights Templar, being borne in one
of the banners of the Order, and constituting,
with the square which it surmounts, the jewel
of the Generalissimo of a Commandery . The
lamb is a symbol of Christ ; the cross, of his
passion ; and the banner, of his victory over
death and hell . Mr . Barrington states (Archcsologia,
ix ., 134) that in a deed of the English
Knights Templar, granting lands in Cambridgeshire,
the seal is a Holy Land, and the
arms of the Master of the Temple at London
were argent, a cross gules, and on the
nombril point thereof a Holy Lamb, that is, a
paschal or Holy Lamb on the center of a red
cross in a white field .
Lamballe, The Princess of . Niece of
Marie Antoinette, murdered in 1792 at Paris .
The Grand Mistress of the so-called Mother
Lodge of "La Maponnerie d'Adoption ."
Vmbskin Apron . See Apron .
Lamma Sabactani . An expression used
in the Masonic French Rite of Adoption .
Lamp, Knight of the Inextinguishable .
A degree quoted in the nomenclature of Fustier.
(Thory, Acta Lat ., i ., 320.)
Lance. A weapon for thrusting at an
enemy, usually adorned with a small flag
made of tough ash, weighted at one end anc
pointed at the other .
Landmarks . In ancient times, it was the
custom to mark the boundaries of lands by
means of stone pillars, the removal of which
by malicious persons, would be the occasion of
much confusion, men having no other guide
than these pillars by which to distinguish the
limits of their property. To remove them,
therefore, was considered a heinous crime .
"Thou shalt not," says the Jewish law, "remove
thy neighbor's landmark, which they of