Blanchard J (anti-masonic) - Scotch Rite Masonry Illustrated Part I

282 THIUTI’.P.NTII OR ROYAL ARCH DUOREE. INITIATION. 2.3ajvived at the designated spot found such strange thingstheywere at a loss to account for the seine, but imaginedthat the presumptuous masters were enveloped in theruins” which they saw had fallen in.Upon strict search they found a few pieces of marbleon which were engraved some Hieroglyphics which theytook possession of, carried to Solomon and reported ae.them an immense treasure to embellish God’s temple.Go in peace and do as they have done. Work to adornthe temple of the mighty God, and he will recompenseyou as you deserve.Those masters being proud and !ain, and much ~frightenedat the reply of Solomon, returned and made a reportof their embassy, and not having been reprimanded,ambition also mixed with jealousy, agreed to go togetherto the ancient ruins. They discovered the ring tolift thetrap and with a ladder of ropes entered the arches withlighted flambeaus.God desirous-ofpunishing those masters for their vainand proud ambition and to give a clear proof of hisjustice and providence, pronounced their doom for theirinsolence, insomuch that when the last of them enteredthe arches fell in upon them successively one after theother, with all their appertenants, in consequence ofwhich the ancient word,13’ which had been corrupted,was entirely lost with them and known only to those wehave spoken of before.After Solomon had heard what befell those masters,he sent Guiblim, Joabe~t and Stolkin to inquire thecircumstances.They accordingly Aeparted at break of day, and havingNote 129.—’The WORD, therefore. I conceive to be the symbol ofDivine Trutb~ sod ail Its modifications—the loss, the substitution, andthe recovery—are but component parts of the mythical symbol wbich rep.resents a search after truth. In a general sense, the word ilseif beIngthcu the symbol of Divins Truth, the narrative of its loss and the searchfor its recovery becomes a mythical symbol of the decsy and loss of theline religion among the ancient nations, it and after Ihe dispersion onthe plain of Shinur, and of the attempts of the wise men, the philosophers,and priests, to find and retain ii In their secret mysteries andinitiations. ~ihich have hence been designated as the Spurins Freemasonryof Antiquity“lint there is a special or individual, as well as a general interprets.tion. and in this special or individual InterpretatIon the word with itsaccompanying myib of a lose, a substitute, and a recovery, becomes asymbol of the personal progress of a candidate from his first Initiationto the completion of his course, when he receives a full deveinpmnent ofthe mysteries. “—Mackey’s Encyclopaedia of Frsemasanry, Article LostWord,cordingly. Solomon put those pieces together and sentfor some learned brethren who deciphered those characters,when he ascertained they were the ruins of theTemple of Enochisi which he had built and consecratedto the true God, which he had built before the flood andwhich was destroyed in the Deluge which swept awayevery thing but the nine arches under ground where wasdeposited the Delta or treasure so often spoken of toMoses and David by God, together with the brazen pillarfrom which the history of the Ancient Masters istaken.Brethren meditate upon the grandeur of our mysteries,the ultimate knowledge of which you have not beenmade acquainted, but by your zeal, fervor and constancywe hope one day to see you attain the degree of Perfection,which is the ultimatum of ancient masonry.Note l1S.—”The vault was, therefore, in the ancient myaterlee, sym.belle of the grave; for initiation was symbolic of desib: where aloneDivine Truth is to be found. The Masons have adopted the same idea.They teach that death Is hut ihe beginning of life; that if the first orevanescent temple of our transitory life he on the surface. we mustdescend mb the secret vault of death hefore we can find that sacreddeposit of truth which is to adorn our second temple of eternal life. Itis in this sense of an entrance through the grave into eternal life thatwe are to view ths symbolism of the secret vanit. Uke every othermyth and allegory of Masonry, the historical relation may he true or itmay he false; it may be founded on fact or he the invention of imagination:Ihe iesson is stili there, and the s~mboliam teaches it czclusiveof the history. “—Mackay’s Inoyelogaadia of Yreemaso.ry. Article vault,leastNote l31.—”On the death of Enoch, Methuseish, and Lamech, and thedestruction of the world by the dein e. all knowledge of this temple. andof the sacred treasure which it contaVued. was lost until. in after tim~. itwas scridentaliy discovered by another worthy of Freemasonry, who. ilkeRnoch. was engaged in the erection of a temple on the acme spot.”—~skeys rp.cyeiop.sdla at Freemasonry, Article Ranch.