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

LAUREL
LAWRIE 427
we are informed that the children of Lamech
" knew that God would take vengeance for
sinne, either by fire or water, wherefore they
did write these sciences that they had found in
twoe pillars of stone, that they might be found
after that God had taken vengeance ; the one
was of marble and would not burne, the other
was Latres and would not drowne in water."
(Harleian MS . No . 1942 .) It is the Latin
word later, a brick . The legend is derived
from Josephus (Antiq ., I ., ii.), where the same
story is told . Whiston properly translates the
passage, "they made two pillars ; the one of
brick, the other of stone ." The original Greek
is irxlv8os, which has the same meaning .
The word is variously corrupted in the manuscripts
. Thus the Harleian MS . has latres,
which comes nearest to the correct Latin
plural lateres; the Cooke MS . has lacerus; the
Dowland, laterns ; the Lansdowne, latherne;
and the Sloane MS ., No . 3848, getting furthest
from the truth, has letera . It is strange
that Halliwell (Early Hist . off .M. in England,
2d ed ., p. 8) should have been ignorant of the
true meaning, and that Hy. Phillips (Freemasons'
Quarterly Review, 1836, p . 289) in
commenting on the Harleian MS ., should have
supposed that it alluded "to some floating
substance ." The Latin word later and the
passage in Josephus ought readily to have led
to an explication .
Laurel Crown . A decoration used in
some of the higher degrees of the Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite . The laurel is an emblem
of victory ; and the corona triumphalis of
the Romans, which was given to generals who
had gained a triumph by their conquests, was
made of laurel leaves . The laurel crown in
Masonry is given to him who has made a conquest
over his passions .
Laurens, J . L. A French Masonic writer,
and the author of anEssai historique et critique
sur la Franche-Magonnerie, published at Paris
in 1805 . In this work he gives a critical examination
of the principal works that have
treated of the Institution . It contains also a
refutation of the imputations of anti-Masonic
writers. In 1808 he edited an edition of the
Vocabulaire desFranc-Masons, the first edition
of which had been issued in 1805 . In 1825
was published a Histoire des Initiations de
l'ancienne Egypt with an essay by Laurens on
the origin and aim of the Ancient Mysteries .
(HIoss, Bibliographic, No . 3871 .)
Laurie. See Lawrie, Alexander.
Laver, Brazen . A large brazen vessel for
washing placed in the court of the Jewish tabernacle,
where the officiating priest cleansed
his hands and feet, and as well the entrails of
victims . Constructed by command of Moses
(Exod. xxxviii . 8) . A similar vessel was
symbolically used at the entrance, in the modern
French and Scotch Rites, when conferring
the Apprentice Degree . It is used in many of
the degrees of the latter Rite .
Law, Moral . See Moral Law .
Law, Oral. See Oral Law .
Law, Parliamentary . See Parliamentary
Law .
Law, Sacred. The Sacred Scriptures, the
Bible, the Great Light in Masonry .
Lawful Information . See Information,
Lawful.
Lawrie, Alexander. He was originally a
stocking-weaver, and afterward became a
bookseller and stationer in Parliament Square,
Edinburgh, and printer of the Edinburgh Gazette.
He was appointed bookseller and stationer
to the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and
afterward Grand Secretary . In 1804 he published
a book entitled The History of Freemasonry,
drawn from authentic sources q information
; with an Account of the Grand
Lodge of Scotland, from its Institution in
1736 to the present time, compiled from the
Records ; and an Appendix of Original
Papers. Of this valuable and interesting
work, Lawrie was at one time deemed the
author notwithstanding that the learning exhibited
in the first part and the numerous
references to Greek and Latin authorities,
furnished abundant internal evidence of his
incapacity, from previous education to have
written it . The doubt which naturally arises,
whether he was really the author, derives
great support from the testimony of the late
Dr . David Irving, Librarian to the Faculty of
Advocates, Edinburgh . A writer in the Notes
and Queries (3d Ser., iii ., 366), on May 9, 1863,
stated that at the sale of the library of Dr .
Irving, on Saturday, March 28, 1862, a copy
of Lawrie's History of Freemasonry was sold
for £l . In that copy there was the following
memorandum in the handwriting of Dr .
Irving :
"The history of this book is somewhat curious,
and perhaps there are only two individuals
now living by whom it could be divulged .
The late Alexander Lawrie, `Grand Stationer,'
wished to recommend himself to the Fraternity
by the publication of such a work.
Through Dr . Anderson, he requested me to
undertake its compilation, and offered a suitable
remuneration. As I did not relish the
task, he made a similar offer to my old acquaintance
David Brewster, by whom it was
readily undertaken, and I can say was executed
to the entire satisfaction of his employers
. The title-page does not exhibit the
name of the author, but the dedication bears
the signature of Alexander Lawrie, and the
volume is commonly described as Lawrie's
History of Freemasonry ."
There can be no doubt of the truth of this
statement . It has never been unusual for
publishers to avail themselves of the labors of .
literary men and affix their own names to
books which they have written by proxy .
Besides, the familiarity with abstruse learning
that this work exhibits, although totally irreconcilable
with the attainments of the
stocking-weaver, can readily be assigned to
Sir David Brewster the philosopher . (See
Lyon's Hist . of the Lodge of Edinburgh,, p . 55 .)
Lawrie had a son, William Alexaner Laurie
(he had thus, for some unknown reason,
changed the spelling of his name), who was for
very many years the Grand Secretary of the