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

324 GRASP ELECT, PERFECT AND SUBLIME MASOA.SACRED WORD :—Jehovah.GRAND WORD :—Jod. ‘.He. ~.Van.‘.He.. The grand ineffableand real name of the Almighty Grand Architectof the Universe, and never to be pronounced.BATTERY :—Twenty-four strokes by three, five, sevenand nine; 000 00~00 0000000 000000000.MARCH :—Eight hurried steps and then one slower,altogether nine.AGE :—Seien times seven years.HOURS OF WORK :—From high twelve till midnight.Thrice Puissant—My dear brother, I now salute youas a Grand Elect, Perfect and Sublime Mason, and withgreat pleasure decorate you with the symbols of thegrade.COLLAR:—This coHar of flame color is emblematic ofardent zeal, affection and charity.CROWN :—The crown on your jewel is a symbol of theroyal origin of the grade.COMPASS :—The compass extended to ninety degreesdenotes the extensive knowledge of the Grand Elect.SUN :—In the centre, that our actjons should be asopen as the full blaze of the noonday sun and our charityas diffusive as its beams.JEWEL :—This jewel suspended on your breast shouldremind you to be attentive to your duties and admonishesyou ever to walk so a~ to adorn your station.GIRDLE :—I also invest you with the girdle of a GrandElect, Perfect and Sublime MasonThe Girdle’4’ was used of old to strengthen the bodyand to enable man to continue and persist in his labors.It is therefore an emblem of activity, promptness andNote 145.—”Girdle. In ancient aymboiogy the girdle warn always consideredas typical of chastity and purity, in the Brahmanicsl initiations.the raudidate was prr’seoted with the Zennar, or sacred cord, as a partof the ancred garments. and Gibh~ nays that ‘at the age of pubertythe faithful Persian wns investe4 yith a mysterious girdle; fifteen~enuiiections were required afire he 3ut on the sacred girdie.~ The oidTempiara assumed the obilyntions of poverty, obedience and chsatity4and~ girdle was given them, at their initiation. as n symbol of ‘theinst of the three vows As a symbol of purity, the girdle is slill usedin many chivalriC initiations, and may be prnperiy considered as theaririogue of the Mssonc at,ron.~—M*Oh5F’5 Enoyalopandia of mesasscm?.Article Girdle.INITIATION. 325,,erseverance.The Girdle was used to bind on the garments andprevent them from flying open and discovering ournakedness and is an emblem of charity, to the observanceof which virtue you have been laid under new obligations.The Girdle was also used for ornament and, beauty.Let it be your endeavor to be adorned with and rich inthose virtues which its various colors represent.These are arranged by three, five, seven and nine.The three are blue, red and yellow, by a due mixtureof which the primitive colors” are formed.The five consists of these three and a green aicd purple.The seven of the five with white and black.And the nine of these seven and stone and flamecolors.The Blue”5 is an emblem of friendship and fidelity.The Red”’ of zeal.The Yellow’” which resembles gold, of wisdom, whichNets IU.—’Golus Symbolism of. wemyss I. his Claris Symbelica,says ~Coior,which is outwardly seen on the habit of the body. Is nym.boliralir used to denote the true state of the person or subject to whichit is a”piied. according to its nature. This definition may appropriatelybe borrowed on the present occasion, and applied to the system of Masonic colors. The color of a vestment or of a decoration is never arbitrarilyadopted in Frcemasonry. Every color is selected with s view to itspower in the symbolic alpbabet. and it teaches the initiate some instruc~tive moral lesson., or refers to some important historloal fact in thesystem,” ‘—Mackeys Esayelepeedia of Fresmassery, hatiels OsIm. lym.beilsa of.Note 147.“DIne. This ii emphatically the color of Masonry. It is theappropriate tincture of the Ancient Crsft degrees. It is to the Masona symbol of universal friendship and begevolence. because. as it is thecolor of the vault of heavea, which emhraces and covers the wholeglobe, we sre thus reminded that in the breast of every brother thesevirtues should be eqoally as extensive. ‘—Mackeys Zacyotopasdia ciFreemasonry, hillel. Dine.late 14*,—”wbere red is not need historteally, and adopted as amemento of certain tragicel circumstances in the history of Masonry1it is alwsys. under some modification, a symbol of seal sod fervency.~—Mackeys EncyclopaedIa of Freemasonry. Article Red.Nats 149,—’Ysllow. Of all the the colors, yellow seems to be theleast important and the least general in Masonic symbolism, In otherinstitutions it would bays the same insignificance, were it not that ithas been adopted as the representative of the sun, and of the soblemetal gold. Ihus, in colored hiasonry, the small dots, by which thegold in. an engraved coat of arms is designated, are replaced by the yel.low color. La colombiere. a wench hersidic writer, u,s. (Science Esro.ique. p 30.) in remarking on the connection between gold end yellowthat as yellow, which is derived from the sun is the moat exaltsu&of colors, so gold is the moat noble of metsia.~ —ibokeys Zasyolopesiloof Fresmasemny, Article Fellow.