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

LOST
LOYALTY 453
the Grand Lodge of England, and a modification
of the Masonic system, whence the Freemasonry
of the present day has descended .
Anderson, in his second edition of the Book of
Constitutions (1738), gives the account of
this, as it is now called, Revival of Masonry,
which see .
Lost Word . The mythical history of Freemasonry
informs us that there once existed a
WORD of surpassing value, and claiming a
profound veneration ; that this Word was
known to but few ; that it was at length
lost ; and that a temporary substitute for it
was adopted . But as the very philosophy of
Masonry teaches us that there can be no
death without a resurrection-no decay
without a subsequent restoration-on the
same principle it follows that the loss of the
Word must suppose its eventual recovery .
Now, this it is, precisely, that constitutes
the myth of the Lost Word and the search for
it . No matter what was the word, no matter
how it was lost, nor why a substitute was provided,
nor when nor where it was recovered .
These are all points of subsidiary importance,
necessary, it is true, for knowing the legendary
history, but not necessary for understanding
the symbolism . The only term of the myth
that is to be regarded in the study of its interpretation,
is the abstract idea of a word
lost and afterward recovered .
The WORD therefore, may be conceived to
be the symbol of Divine Truth ; and all its
modifications-the loss, the substitution, and
the recovery-are but component parts of the
mythical symbol which represents a search
after truth . In a general sense, the Word
itself being then the symbol of Divine Truth,
the narrative of its loss and the search for its
recovery becomes a mythical symbol of the
decay and loss of the true religion among the
ancient nations, at and after the dispersion on
the plains of Shinar, and of the attempts of
the wise men, the philosophers, and priests, to
find and retain it in their secret mysteries and
initiations, which have hence been designated
as the Spurious Freemasonry of Antiquity .
But there is a special or individual, as well
as a general interpretation, and in this special
or individual interpretation the Word, with its
accompanying myth of a loss, a substitute,
and a recovery, becomes a symbol of the personal
progress of a candidate from his first
initiation to the completion of his course,
when he receives a full development of the
mysteries .
Lotus . The lotus plant, so celebrated in
the religions of Egypt and Asia, is a species
of Nymphsea, or water-lily, which grows
abundantly on the banks of streams in warm
climates . Although more familiarly known as
the lotus of the Nile, it was not indigenous to
Egypt, but was probably introduced into that
country from the East, among whose people it
was everywhere consecrated as a sacred symbol
. The Brahmanical deities were almost
always represented as either decorated with
its flowers, or holding it as a scepter, or seated
on it as a throne . Coleman says (Mythol .
Hindus, p . 388) that to the Hindu poets the
lotus was what the rose was to the Persians .
Floating on the water it is the emblem of the
world, and the type also of the mountain
Meru, the residence of the gods . Among the
Egyptians, the lotus was the symbol of Osiris
and Isis . It was esteemed a sacred ornament
by the priests, and was placed as a coronet
upon the heads of many of the gods . It was
also much used in the sacred architecture of
the Egyptians, being placed as an entablature
upon the columns of their temples . Thence
it was introduced by Solomon into Jewish
architecture, being found, under the name of
"lily work," as a part of the ornaments of the
two pillars at the porch of the Temple . (See
Lily and Pillars of the Porch.)
Louis Napoleon . Second Adjoint of the
Grand Master of the G . Orient of France .
Nominated, in 1806, King of Holland . Louis
Napoleon III . was widely known as an interested
Mason .
Louisiana. Masonry was introduced into
Louisiana in 1793 by the organization of Perfect
Union Lodge, under a Charter issued by
the Grand Lodge of South Carolina . A second
Lodge was established by the Mother
Lodge of Marseilles, in France ; and three
others were subsequently chartered by the
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania . These five
Lodges instituted a Grand Lodge on July 11,
1812, and Francis du Bourg was elected the
first Grand Master . A difference of nationality
and of Masonic rites have been a fertile
source of controversy in Louisiana, the results
of which it would be tedious to follow in detail .
In 1848, there were two Grand Lodges, which
were united in 1850 to constitute the present
Grand Lodge .
The Grand Chapter of Louisiana was instituted
on March 5, 1813 ; a Grand Council of
Royal and Select Masters on February 16,
1856 ; and a Grand Commandery of Knights
Templar on February 4, 1864 . The Ancient
and Accepted Scottish Rite has always held
a prominent position in the Masonry of Louisiana,
and it has a Grand Consistory and many
subordinate bodies of the Rite in active and
successful operation.
Louveteau . See Lewis.
Lowen. In the Lansdowne Manuscript
we meet with this charge : "that a Master or
ffellow make not a moulde stone square, nor
rule to no Lowen nor sett no Lowen worke
within the Lodge . ; ' [This has been said to be
an error for "Cowan," but it is more probably
intended for "Layer" (q. v .), which is the word
used in the parallel passage in other MSS .-
E. L. H .]
Low Twelve . In Masonic language midnight
is so called . The reference is to the sun,
which is then below the earth . Low twelve
in Masonic symbolism is an unpropitious
hour.
Loyalty . Notwithstanding the calumnies
of Barruel, Robison, and a host of other anti-
Masonic writers who assert that Masonry is
ever engaged in efforts to uproot the governments
within which it may exist, there is