THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

II. 58, _n._ 9), the elements of life and stability, and others the
sacred
beetle of the sun, overshadowed by the wings of two figures of the
goddess
Thmei. In all this we see the type of the Jewish ark. The introduction
of
the ark into the ceremonies of Freemasonry evidently is in reference to
its loss and recovery; and hence its symbolism is to be interpreted as
connected with the masonic idea of loss and recovery, which always
alludes
to a loss of life and a recovery of immortality. In the first temple of
this life the ark is lost; in the second temple of the future life it
is
recovered. And thus the ark of the covenant is one of the many masonic
symbols of the resurrection.
ARTS AND SCIENCES, LIBERAL. In the seventh century, and for many
centuries
afterwards, all learning was limited to and comprised in what were
called
the seven liberal arts and sciences; namely, grammar, rhetoric, logic,
arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The epithet "liberal" is a
fair translation of the Latin "ingenuus," which means "free-born;" thus
Cicero speaks of the "artes ingenuae," or the arts befitting a freeborn
man; and Ovid says in the well-known lines,--
"Ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes
Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros,"--
_To have studied carefully the liberal arts refines the manners, and
prevents us from being brutish._ And Phillips, in his "New World of
Words"
(1706), defines the liberal arts and sciences to be "such as are fit
for
gentlemen and scholars, as mechanic trades and handicrafts for meaner
people." As Freemasons are required by their landmarks to be _freeborn_,
we see the propriety of incorporating the arts of free-born men among
their symbols. As the system of Masonry derived its present form and
organization from the times when the study of these arts and sciences
constituted the labors of the wisest men, they have very appropriately
been adopted as the symbol of the completion of human learning.
ASHLAR. In builders' language, a stone taken from the quarries.
ASHLAR, PERFECT. A stone that has been hewed, squared, and polished, so
as
to be fit for use in the building. Masonically, it is a symbol of the
state of perfection attained by means of education. And as it is the
object of Speculative Masonry to produce this state of perfection, it
may
in that point of view be also considered as a symbol of the social
character of the institution of Freemasonry.
ASHLAR, ROUGH. A stone in its rude and natural state. Masonically, it
is a