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

of the philosopher's stone. No system has been more misunderstood than
this. It was secret, esoteric, and highly symbolical. No one has so
well
revealed its true design as E.A. Hitchcock, who, in his delightful work
entitled "Remarks upon Alchemy and the Alchemists," says, "The genuine
Alchemists were religious men, who passed their time in legitimate
pursuits, earning an honest subsistence, and in religious
contemplation,
studying how to realize in themselves the union of the divine and human
nature, expressed in man by an enlightened submission to God's will;
and
they thought out and published, after a manner of their own, a method
of
attaining or entering upon this state, as the only rest of the soul."
There is a very great similarity between their doctrines and those of
the
Freemasons; so much so that the two associations have sometimes been
confounded.
HIEROPHANT. (From the Greek [Greek: i(ero\s], _holy, sacred_, and
[Greek: phai/no] _to show_.) One who instructs in sacred things; the
explainer of the aporrheta, or secret doctrines, to the initiates in
the
ancient Mysteries. He was the presiding officer, and his rank and
duties
were analogous to those of the master of a masonic lodge.
HIRAM ABIF. The architect of Solomon's temple. The word "Abif"
signifies
in Hebrew "his father," and is used by the writer of Second Chronicles
(iv. 16) when he says, "These things did _Hiram his father_ [in the
original _Hiram Abif _] do for King Solomon.".
The legend relating to him is of no value as a mere narrative, but of
vast
importance in a symbolical point of view, as illustrating a great
philosophical and religious truth; namely, the dogma of the immortality
of
the soul.
Hence, Hiram Abif is the symbol of man in the abstract sense, or human
nature, as developed in the life here and in the life to come.
HIRAM OF TYRE. The king of Tyre, the friend and ally of King Solomon,
whom
he supplied with men and materials for building the temple. In the
recent,
or what I am inclined to call the grand lecturer's symbolism of Masonry
(a
sort of symbolism for which I have very little veneration), Hiram of
Tyre
is styled the symbol of strength, as Hiram Abif is of beauty. But I
doubt
the antiquity or authenticity of any such symbolism. Hiram of Tyre can
only be considered, historically, as being necessary to complete the
myth
and symbolism of Hiram Abif. The king of Tyre is an historical