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

442 LEONTICA
LEVEL
aerie prouvle~par l'Explicatwn des Myafkres
Anciens et Modernes (Paris, 4to, p . 304) .
The theory of the author being that the mysteries
of Freemasonry are only a repetition of
those of antiquity, he attempts to support it
by investigations into the ancient initiations
that are marked with profound learning, although
the work was severely criticised in the
Journal de Debats. He had previously published,
in 1809, a work in three volumes, entitled
Nouvelle Explication des Hieroglyphes
ou Anciens Allegories sacrEes des Egiptiennes .
He died at Paris, June 12, 1839 .
Leontica . Ancient sacrificial festivals in
honor of the sun ; the officiating priests being
termed Leontes .
Leo XH ., Pope . Born in 1760, died in
1829 . On the 13th of March, 1825, he issued
the well-remembered bull, beginning "Quo
graviora mala " against the Freemasons .
Lepage . One of those French Masons
who in the latter part of the last century
occupied themselves in the accumulation of
cahiers or rituals of Masonic degrees . Most
of the degrees in his collection, which is said
to have been a valuable one, are referred to
by Thory in the nomenclature contained in
his Acta Latomorum.
Lerouge, Andre Joseph Etienne . A
man of letters and zealous Mason of Paris,
born at Commercy, April 25, 1766 . He made
a large and valuable collection of manuscript
and printed degrees. He died in 1834, and on
the 7th of . January, 1835, his collection was
sold at public auction. Thory has made use
of it in his Nomenclature des Grades . Lerouge
was the author of several didactic writings on
Masonic subjects, all of which, however, have
had but an ephemeral existence . He was one
of the editors of the French Masonic journal
Hermes, published in 1819, and of the Melanges
de Philosophic, d'Histoire et de Literature
Maconnique . He was a man of much
learning, and is said to have supplied several
of his Masonic contemporaries with assistance
in the preparation of their works .
Lesser Lights. In the lecture of the First
Degree we are told that a Lodge has three
symbolic lesser lights ; one of these is in the
East, one in the West, and one in the South .
There is no light in the North, because King
Solomon's Temple, of which every Lodge is a
representation, was placed so far north of the
ecliptic that the sun and moon, at their
meridian height, could dart no ra ys into the
northern part thereof . The North we therefore
Masonically call a place of darkness .
This symbolic use of the three lesser lights
is very old, being found in the earliest lectures
of the last century .
The three lights, like the three princi pal
officers and the three principal supports, refer,
undoubtedly, to the three stations of the sun
-its rising in the East, its meridian in the
South, and its setting in the West ; and thus
the symbolism of the Lodge, as typical of the
world, continues to be preserved .
The use of lights in all religious ceremonies
is an ancient custom . There was a seven-
branched candlestick in the tabernacle, and
in the Temple "were the golden candlesticks,
five on the right hand and five on the left ."
They were always typical of moral, spiritual,
or intellectual light .
The custom prevalent in some localities,
of placing the burning tapers, or three symbolic
lesser lights, East, West, and South, near
the altar, is sometimes changed so that these
resp ective lights are burning on or beside the
pedestals of the Master and his two Wardens
at their several stations . In the old Teutonic
mythology, and in accordance with Medieval
court usage, flaming lights or fires burned
before each column, similarly situated, on
which rested the image of Odin, Thor, and
Frey . These columns are further represented
as Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty,
sustaining the "Starry-decked Heaven," roof
or ceiling colored blue, with stars .
Lessing, Gottfried Ephraim . A learned
litterateur of Germany, who was born at
Kaumitz, in the Neiderlausetz, January 22,
1729, and died on the 15th of February, 1781,
at Woefenbutal, where he was librarian to the
Duke of Brunswick . Leasing was initiated in
a Lodge at Hamburg, and took great interest
in the Institution . His theory, that it sprang
out of a secret association of Templars which
had long existed in London, and was modified
in form by Sir Christopher Wren, has long
been rejected, if it was ever admitted by any •
but in his two works Ernst and Falk and
Nathan der Weise, he has given profound and
comprehensive views on the genius and spirit
of Freemasonry. Leasing was the most
eminent litterateur of his age, and has been
styled "the man who was the forerunner of
the philosophers, and whose criticisms supplied
the place of poetry.". (See Ernest and
Falk .)
Lessons . The passages of Scripture recited
by the Prelate in the ceremony of inducting
a candidate into the Masonic Order
of Knights Templar. It is an ecclesiastical
term, and is used by the Templars because
these passages are intended to instruct the
candidate in reference to the incidents of our
Savior's life which are referred to in the
ritual .
Letter of Application . More properly
called a Petition, which see .
Letters Patent . See Patents.
Lettuce . A sacred plant used in the mysteries
of Adonis, and therefore the analogue
of the Acacia in the mysteries of Freemasonry .
Leueht . A Masonic charlatan of the
eighteenth century, better known by his
assumed name of Johnson, which see.
Level. In Freemasonry, the level is a symbol
of equality ; not of that social equalit
which would destroy all distinctions of ra
and position, and beget confusion, insubordination,
and anarchy ; but of that fraternal
equality which, recognizing the fatherhood
of God, admits as a necessary corollary the
brotherhood of man . It, therefore, teaches
us that in the sight of the Great Architect of
the Universe, his creatures, who are at an im-