The Form of the Lodge.
In the last essay, I treated of that symbolism of the masonic system which
makes the temple of Jerusalem the archetype of a lodge, and in which, in
consequence, all the symbols are referred to the connection of a
speculative science with an operative art. I propose in the present to
discourse of a higher and abstruser mode of symbolism; and it may be
observed that, in coming to this topic, we arrive, for the first time, at
that chain of resemblances which unites Freemasonry with the ancient
systems of religion, and which has given rise, among masonic writers, to
the names of Pure and Spurious Freemasonry--the pure Freemasonry being
that system of philosophical religion which, coming through the line of
the patriarchs, was eventually modified by influences exerted at the
building of King Solomon's temple, and the spurious being the same system
as it was altered and corrupted by the polytheism of the nations of
heathendom.[64]
As this abstruser mode of symbolism, if less peculiar to the masonic
system, is, however, far more interesting than the one which was treated
in the previous essay,--because it is more philosophical,--I propose to
give an extended investigation of its character. And, in the first place,
there is what may be called an elementary view of this abstruser
symbolism, which seems almost to be a corollary from what has already been
described in the preceding article.
As each individual mason has been supposed to be the symbol of a spiritual
temple,--"a temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,"--the
lodge or collected assemblage of these masons, is adopted as a symbol of
the world.[65]
It is in the first degree of Masonry, more particularly, that this
species of symbolism is developed. In its detail it derives the
characteristics of resemblance upon which it is founded, from the form,
the supports, the ornaments, and general construction and internal
organization of a lodge, in all of which the symbolic reference to the
world is beautifully and consistently sustained.
The form of a masonic lodge is said to be a parallelogram, or oblong
square; its greatest length being from east to west, its breadth from
north to south. A square, a circle, a triangle, or any other form but that
of an _oblong square_, would be eminently incorrect and unmasonic, because
such a figure would not be an expression of the symbolic idea which is
intended to be conveyed.
Now, as the world is a globe, or, to speak more accurately, an oblate
spheroid, the attempt to make an oblong square its symbol would seem, at
first view, to present insuperable difficulties. But the system of masonic
symbolism has stood the test of too long an experience to be easily found
at fault; and therefore this very symbol furnishes a striking evidence of
the antiquity of the order. At the Solomonic era--the era of the building
of the temple at Jerusalem--the world, it must be remembered, was supposed
to have that very oblong form,[66] which has been here symbolized. If, for
instance, on a map of the world we should inscribe an oblong figure whose
boundary lines would circumscribe and include just that portion which was
known to be inhabited in the clays of Solomon, these lines, running a
short distance north and south of the Mediterranean Sea, and extending
from Spain in the west to Asia Minor in the east, would form an oblong
square, including the southern shore of Europe, the northern shore of
Africa, and the western district of Asia, the length of the parallelogram
being about sixty degrees from east to west, and its breadth being about
twenty degrees from north to south. This oblong square, thus enclosing the
whole of what was then supposed to be the habitable globe,[67] would
precisely represent what is symbolically said to be _the form of the
lodge_, while the Pillars of Hercules in the west, on each side of the
straits of Gades or Gibraltar, might appropriately be referred to the two
pillars that stood at the porch of the temple.
[Illustration: Map of Mediterranean Sea and surrounding area.]
A masonic lodge is, therefore, a symbol of the world.
This symbol is sometimes, by a very usual figure of speech, extended, in
its application, and the world and the universe are made synonymous, when
the lodge becomes, of course, a symbol of the universe. But in this case
the definition of the symbol is extended, and to the ideas of length and
breadth are added those of height and depth, and the lodge is said to
assume the form of a double cube.[68] The solid contents of the earth
below and the expanse of the heavens above will then give the outlines of
the cube, and the whole created universe[69] will be included within the
symbolic limits of a mason's lodge.
By always remembering that the lodge is the symbol, in its form and
extent, of the world, we are enabled, readily and rationally, to explain
many other symbols, attached principally to the first degree; and we are
enabled to collate and compare them with similar symbols of other kindred
institutions of antiquity, for it should be observed that this symbolism
of the world, represented by a place of initiation, widely pervaded all
the ancient rites and mysteries.
It will, no doubt, be interesting to extend our investigations on this
subject, with a particular view to the method in which this symbolism of
the world or the universe was developed, in some of its most prominent
details; and for this purpose I shall select the mystical explanation of
the _officers_ of a lodge, its _covering_, and a portion of its
_ornaments_.