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

84 ASSOCIATION
ATHEIST
spiritual connection with it. These persona
were termed "Associates of the Temple ."
The . custom was most probably confined to
England, and many "of these Associates"
had monuments and effigies erected to them
in the Temple Church at London .
Association . Although an association is
properly the union of men into a society for
a common purpose, the word is scarcely ever
applied to the Order of Freemasonry . Yet
its employment, although unusual, would not
be incorrect, for Freemasonry is an association
of men for a common purpose. Washington
uses the term when he calls Freemasonry
"an association whose principles lead
to purity of morals, and are beneficial of
action ." (Letter to G . L . of So. Ca.)
Assyrian Architecture . The discovery in
1882 of the remains of a town, close to, and
north of, Nineveh, built by Sargon, about 721
Bs cc in size about a mile square, with its
angles facing the cardinal points, and the
enclosure containing the finest specimens of
their architecture, revived much interest in
archeologists . The chief place of regard is
the royal palace, which was like unto a city
of itself, everything being on a colossal scale .
The walls of the town were 45 feet thick . The
inclined approach to the palace was flanked by
strangely formed bulls from 15 to 19 feet high .
There were terraces, courts, and passage-ways
to an innermost square of 150 feet, surrounded
by state apartments and temples. The Hall
of Judgment was prominent, as also the astronomical
observatory. All entrances to great
buildings were ornamented by colossal animals
and porcelain decorations and inscriptions .
Astrwa . The Grand Lodge established in
Russia on the 30th of August, 1815, assumed
the title of the Grand Lodge of Astrxa . It
held its Grand East at St . Petersburg, and
continued in existence until 1822, when the
Czar issued a Ukase, dated August 1, 1822,
closing all Lodges in Russia and forbidding
them to reopen at any future time .
Astrology . A science demanding the
respect of the scholar, notwithstanding its
designation as a "black art," and, in a reflective
sense, an occult science ; a system of divination
foretelling results by the relative positions
of the planets and other heavenly bodies
toward the earth . Men of eminence have
adhered to the doctrines of astrology as a
science . It is a study well considered in, and
forming an important part of, the ceremonies
of the "Philosophus," or fourth grade of the
First Order of the Society of Rosicrucians .
Astrology has been deemed the twin science
of astronomy, grasping knowledge from the
heavenly bodies, and granting a proper understanding
of many of the startling forces in
nature . It is claimed that the constellations
of the zodiac govern the earthly animals, and
that every star has its peculiar nature, property,
and function, the seal and character of
which it impresses through its rays upon
plants, minerals, and animal life. This science
was known to the ancients as the "divine
art." (See Magic .)
Astronomy. The science which instructs
us in the laws that govern the heavenly bodies .
Its origin is lost in the mists of antiquity ; for
the earliest inhabitants of the earth must have
been attracted by the splendor of the glorious
firmament above them, and would have
sought in the motions of its luminaries for the
readiest and most certain method of measuring
time . With astronomy the system of
Freemasonry is intimately connected . From
that science many of our most significant
emblems are borrowed. The Lodge itself is
a representation of the world ; it is adorned
with the images of the sun and moon, whose
regularity and precision furnish a lesson of
wisdom and prudence ; its pillars of strength
and establishment have been compared to the
two columns which the ancients placed at the
equinoctial points as supporters of the arch
of heaven ; the blazing star, which was among
the Egyptians a symbol of Anubis, or the dogstar,
whose rising foretold the overflowing of
the Nile, shines in the East ; while the clouded
canopy is decorated with the beautiful
Pleiades . The connection between our Order
and astronomy is still more manifest in the
spurious Freemasonry of antiquity, where, the
pure principles of our system being lost, the
symbolic instruction of the heavenly bodies
gave place to the corrupt Sabean worship of
the sun, and moon, and stars-a worship
whose influences are seen in all the mysteries
of Paganism .
Asylum. During the session of a Commandery
of Knights Templars, a part of the
room is called the asylum; the word has hence
been adopted, by the figure synecdoche, to
signify the place of meeting of a Commandcry.
Asylum for Aged Freemasons . The
Asylum for Aged and Decayed Freemasons is
a magnificent edifice at Croydon in Surrey,
England. The charity was established by
Dr . Crucefix, after sixteen years of herculean
toil, such as few men but himself could have
sustained . He did not live to see it in full
operation, but breathed his last at the very
time when the cope-stone was placed on the
building. (See Annuities .)
Atelier. The French thus call the place
where the Lodge meets, or the Lodge room .
The word signifies a worksho or place where
several workmen are assembled under the
same master . The word is applied in French
Masonry not only to the lace of meeting of a
Lodge, but also to that ofpa Chapter, Council,
or any other Masonic body . Bazot says
(Man . Mason, 65) that atelier is more particularly
applied to the Table-Lodge, or Lodge
when at banquet, but that the word is also
used to designate any reunion of the Lodge .
Atheist . One who does not believe in the
existence of God. Such a state of mind can
only arise from the ignorance of stupidity or a
corruption of principle, since the whole universe
is filled with the moral and physical
proofs of a Creator . He who does not look to
a superior and superintending power as his
maker and his judge, is without that coercive