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

And that labor is the proper worship due by man to God.
LADDER. A symbol of progressive advancement from a lower to a higher
sphere, which is common to Masonry, and to many, if not all, of the
ancient Mysteries.
LADDER, BRAHMINICAL. The symbolic ladder used in the Mysteries of
Brahma.
It had seven steps, symbolic of the seven worlds of the Indian
universe.
LADDER, MITHRAITIC. The symbolic ladder used in the Persian Mysteries
of
Mithras. It had seven steps, symbolic of the seven planets and the
seven
metals.
LADDER, SCANDINAVIAN. The symbolic ladder used in the Gothic Mysteries.
Dr. Oliver refers it to the Yggrasil, or sacred ash tree. But the
symbolism is either very abstruse or very doubtful.
LADDER, THEOLOGICAL. The symbolic ladder of the masonic Mysteries. It
refers to the ladder seen by Jacob in his vision, and consists, like
all
symbolical ladders, of seven rounds, alluding to the four cardinal and
the
three theological virtues.
LAMB. A symbol of innocence. A very ancient symbol.
LAMB, PASCHAL. See _Paschal Lamb_.
LAMBSKIN APRON. See _Apron_.
LAW, ORAL. See _Oral Law_.
LEGEND. A narrative, whether true or false, that has been traditionally
preserved from the time of its first oral communication. Such is the
definition of a masonic legend. The authors of the Conversations-
Lexicon,
referring to the monkish Lives of the Saints which originated in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, say that the title _legend_ was given
to
all fictions which make pretensions to truth. Such a remark, however
correct it may be in reference to these monkish narratives, which were
often invented as ecclesiastical exercises, is by no means applicable
to
the legends of Freemasonry. These are not necessarily fictitious, but
are
either based on actual and historical facts which have been but
slightly
modificd, or they are the offspring and expansion of some symbolic idea
in
which latter respect they differ entirely from the monastic legends,
which
often have only the fertile imagination of some studious monk for the
basis of their construction.