Origin And Beauty Of Masonic Symbolism.

natural universe during the changes of the four seasons of the year , and the days Avhich marked the significant changes or positions of the earth and sun respecting each other , as the solsticial and equinoctial days Avere also the clays of festh-al or mourning observed by those who celebrated

the death and rescue of the body . Principal among the days , Masons observe the summer and winter solstices , as did those in ancient times . It Avas at the

winter solstice that the sun , overcome by cold and darkness , seemed to have succumbed to the wicked and opposing spirit of the evil god of darkness , as Osiris Avas fabled to be slain by Typlion , Adonis by the wild boar , and Balder by Loke . It Avas at the summer solstice , Avhen the

sun rode in midsummer power and splendour triumphant on the uttermost limit of the northern tropic , that the most magnificent of the festivals Avere celebrated in his

honour . If the festival days of the lodge fall three days later in the month than the actual solstice , it is because of the slow change in the earth ' s position in the ecliptic , Avhich produces Avhat astronomers call the precession of the equinoxesamounting to

, about a day in two thousand years—a circumstance that , more than any other , attests the great antiquity of our festivals . As among the Romans the god Janus ( Yahnus ) presided over the seasons and opened and closed the gates of the year

( from which Ave derh'e the word janitor ) so in our Institution the IAVO Saints John ( Johanus , Yohanus , or Yahanus ) preside over the gates of the year—the summer and Avinter solstices .

But time AVIII not permit the pursuit of these matters further in particulars . Let it suffice to say that the forms of the Craft are representations of the universe and its forms and motions , as much so as the tabernacle of Moses and the great temple of Jerusalem Avith their

furniturevest-, ments and ceremonies ; and these constitute the art of Masonry ; but the science of Masonrv is the knoAvledge of the universal order of things , visible and invisible—the correspondence between all that which is external and the more sublime

truths of philosophy and religion , which are internal and inmost , as the correspondence between the ground floor , Avhich is external , and the middle chamber , Avhich

is internal , and the Holy of Holies , which is inmost . There is , however , one thing connected Avith the masonic lodge Avhich is , and has been , a part of its very furniture , as finback as its history can he traced , and hy

means of Avhich it differs , so far as we can learn , from all the systems of symbolic philosophy or Avorship Avhich have existed in the Avorld . And this is , the first great light , Avhich appears not only imbedded in the very centre of the system to-day , so

that it could not possibly be removed Avithout unhinging and destroying the whole fabric of the three degrees , but from the place it holds and the manner in which it is treated throughout , and the utter impossibility of providing any substitute

in case of its removal , must , of necessity , have been present and incorporated as the centre-piece and key-stone of the work at the beginning . I knoAV that in some places , under the teachings of certain deistic philosophers ,

the Holy Writings have been set aside , and the Book of Constitutions substituted as the first great light , and placed upon the altar with the square and compasses , and the lodges so furnished have been opened and closed , and have performed the external ceremonies of the several degrees ; but no one can say that the so placing of the Book of Constitutions can make it in

any sense a great light , or anything like a substitute for the Holy Writings , unless the whole body of the degrees be so changed as to make it immaterial Avhat is first or last , or else tho other two . great lig hts be shorn of their sublime significance , in order to reduce them beloAv that Avhich

is made the first . For all lights must , of necessity , be subordinated to that which is first , both in kind and degree . Since the three degrees of Masonry are so formed and co-ordinated that no portion of one exists except in correlation with that

Avhich is contained in both the others , it is manifest that the AA'hole , with all its parts , even to particulars , Avas contemplated in the beginning . Since the whole order of the three degrees forbids that there should be less

than three great lights , and since the square and compasses are well known to be two of the three , and neither of them the first ; and as no other implement or geometric figure can be found Avhich can