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

36 AGATE
AGNOSTUS
of the high priest . Agates often contain
representations of leaves, mosses, etc ., depicted
by the hand of nature . Some of the
representations on these are exceedingly singular
. Thus, on one side of one in the possession
of Velschiua was a half moon, and on the
other a star . Kircher mentions one which
had a representation of an armed heroine ;
another, in the church of St . Mark in Venice,
which had a representation of a king's head,
adorned with a diadem ; and a third which
contained the letters I. N. R . I . (Oliver's Historical
Landmarks, ii ., 522.) In the collections
of antiquaries are also to be found many gems
of agate on which mystical inscriptions have
been engraved, the significations of which are,
for the most part, no longer understood .
Agate, Stone of . Among the Masonic
traditions is one which asserts that the stone
of foundation was formed of agate . This,
like everything connected with the legend of
the stone, is to be mystically interpreted . In
this view, agate is a symbol of strength and
beauty, a symbolism derived from the peculiar
character of the agate, which is distinguished
for its compact formation and the ornamental
character of its surface . (See Stone of Foundation
.)
Agathopades . A liberal ecclesiastical
order founded in Brussels in the sixteenth
century . Revived and revised by Schayes in
1846 . It had for its sacred sign the pentastigma
Age, Lawful. One of the qualifications
for candidates is that they shall be of " lawful
age." What that age must be is not settled
by any universal law or landmark of the Order .
The Ancient Regulations do not express any
determinate number of years at the expiration
of which a candidate becomes legally entitled
to apply for admission. The language used
is, that he must be of " mature and discreet
age ." But the usage of the Craft has differed
in various countries as to the construction of
the time when this eriod of maturity and
discretion is suppose to have arrived . The
sixth of the Regulations, which are said to
have been made in 1663, prescribes that " no
person shall be accepted a Freemason unless
he be one and twenty years old or more" ; but
the subsequent Regulations are less explicit .
At Frankfort-on-the-Main, the age required
is twenty ; in the Lodges of Switzerland, it has
been fixed at twenty-one. The Grand Lodge
of Hanover prescribes the age of twenty-five,
but permits the son of a Mason to be admitted
at eighteen. (See Lewis.) The Grand Lodge
of Hamburg decrees that the lawful age for
initiation shall be that which in any country
has been determined by the laws of the land
to be the age of majority . The Grand Orient
of France requires the candidate to be twentyone,
unless he be the son of a Mason who has
performed some important service to the Order,
or unless he be a young man who has served
six months in the army, when the initiation
may take place at the age of eighteen . In
Prussia the required age is twenty-five .
Under the Grand Lodge of England the Constitutions
of 1723 provided that no man should
be made a Mason under the age of twenty-five
unless by dispensation from the Grand Master,
and this remained the necessary age until
it was lowered in the Constitutions of 1784 to
twenty-one years, as at present, though the
" Ancient " Masons still retained the requirement
of twenty-five until the Union of
1813 . Under the Scotch Constitution the age
was eighteen until 1891, when it was raised
to twenty-one . Under the Irish Constitution
the age was twenty-one until 1741, when it
was raised to twenty-five and so remained
until 1817, when it was lowered again to
twenty-one . In the United States, the usage
is general that the candidate shall not be less
than twenty-one years of age at the time of
his initiation, and no dispensation can issue
for conferring the degrees at an earlier period .
Age, Masonic . In some Masonic Rites a
mystical age is appropriated to each degree,
and the initiate who has received the degree
is said to be of such an age . Thus, the age of
an Entered Apprentice is said to be three
years ; that of a Fellow-Craft, five ; and that
of a Master Mason, seven. These ages are
not arbitrarily selected, but have a reference
to the mystical value of numbers and their
relation to the different degrees . Thus, three
is the symbol of peace and concord, and has
been called in the Pythagorean system the
number of perfect harmony, and is appropriated
to that degree, which is the initiation
into an Order whose fundamental principles
are harmony and brotherly love . Five is the
symbol of active life, the union of the female
principle two and the male principle three, and
refers in this way to the active duties of man
as a denizen of the world, which constitutes
the symbolism of the Fellow-Craft's degree ;
and seven, as a venerable and perfect number,
is symbolic of that perfection which is supposed
to be attained in the Master's degree .
In a way similar to this, all the ages of the
other degrees are symbolically and mystically
explained .
The Masonic ages are-and it will thus be
seen that they are all mystic numbers-3, 5,
7, 9, 15, 27, 63, 81 .
Agenda. A Latin word meaning " things
to be done ." Thus an " Agenda Paper " is a
list of the matters to be brought before a
meeting.
Agla . One of the Kabbalistic names of God,
which is composed of the initials of the words
of the following sentence : '1~yK iT?y~7 77a 1'Idi,
Atah Gibor Lolam Adonai, " thou art mighty
forever, 0 Lord ." This name the Kabbalists
arranged seven times in the center and at the
intersecting points of two interlacing triangles,
which figure they called the Shield of David,
and used as a talisman, believing that it would
cure wounds, extinguish fires, and perform
other wonders . (See Shield of David.)
Agnostus, Trenaeus . This is supposed by
Moss (Bibliog ., Nos. 2442, 2497, etc .) to have
been a nom de plume of Gotthardus Arthusius,
a co-rector in the Gymnasium of Frankfort-