The Covering of the Lodge.
The Covering of the lodge is another, and must be our last reference to
this symbolism of the world or the universe. The mere mention of the fact
that this covering is figuratively supposed to be "a clouded canopy," or
the firmament, on which the host of stars is represented, will be enough
to indicate the continued allusion to the symbolism of the world. The
lodge, as a representative of the world, is of course supposed to have no
other roof than the heavens;[82] and it would scarcely be necessary to
enter into any discussion on the subject, were it not that another
symbol--the theological ladder--is so intimately connected with it, that
the one naturally suggests the other. Now, this mystic ladder, which
connects the ground floor of the lodge with its roof or covering, is
another important and interesting link, which binds, with one common
chain, the symbolism and ceremonies of Freemasonry, and the symbolism and
rites of the ancient initiations.
This mystical ladder, which in Masonry is referred to "the theological
ladder, which Jacob in his vision saw, reaching from earth to heaven," was
widely dispersed among the religions of antiquity, where it was always
supposed to consist of seven rounds or steps.
For instance, in the Mysteries of Mithras, in Persia, where there were
seven stages or degrees of initiation, there was erected in the temples,
or rather caves,--for it was in them that the initiation was
conducted,--a high ladder, of seven steps or gates, each of which was
dedicated to one of the planets, which was typified by one of the metals,
the topmost step representing the sun, so that, beginning at the bottom,
we have Saturn represented by lead, Venus by tin, Jupiter by brass,
Mercury by iron, Mars by a mixed metal, the Moon by silver, and the Sun by
gold, the whole being a symbol of the sidereal progress of the solar orb
through the universe.
In the Mysteries of Brahma we find the same reference to the ladder of
seven steps; but here the names were different, although there was the
same allusion to the symbol of the universe. The seven steps were
emblematical of the seven worlds which constituted the Indian universe.
The lowest was the Earth; the second, the World of Reexistence; the third,
Heaven; the fourth, the Middle World, or intermediate region between the
lower and upper worlds; the fifth, the World of Births, in which souls are
again born; the sixth, the Mansion of the Blessed; and the seventh, or
topmost round, the Sphere of Truth, the abode of Brahma, he himself being
but a symbol of the sun, and hence we arrive once more at the masonic
symbolism of the universe and the solar orb.
Dr. Oliver thinks that in the Scandinavian Mysteries he has found the
mystic ladder in the sacred tree _Ydrasil;_[83] but here the reference to
the septenary division is so imperfect, or at least abstruse, that I am
unwilling to press it into our catalogue of coincidences, although there
is no doubt that we shall find in this sacred tree the same allusion as in
the ladder of Jacob, to an ascent from earth, where its roots were
planted, to heaven, where its branches expanded, which ascent being but a
change from mortality to immortality, from time to eternity, was the
doctrine taught in all the initiations. The ascent of the ladder or of the
tree was the ascent from life here to life hereafter--from earth to
heaven.
It is unnecessary to carry these parallelisms any farther. Any one can,
however, see in them an undoubted reference to that septenary division
which so universally prevailed throughout the ancient world, and the
influence of which is still felt even in the common day life and
observances of our time. Seven was, among the Hebrews, their perfect
number; and hence we see it continually recurring in all their sacred
rites. The creation was perfected in seven days; seven priests, with
seven trumpets, encompassed the walls of Jericho for seven days; Noah
received seven days' notice of the commencement of the deluge, and seven
persons accompanied him into the ark, which rested on Mount Ararat on the
seventh month; Solomon was seven years in building the temple: and there
are hundreds of other instances of the prominence of this talismanic
number, if there were either time or necessity to cite them.
Among the Gentiles the same number was equally sacred. Pythagoras called
it a "venerable number." The septenary division of time into weeks of
seven days, although not universal, as has been generally supposed, was
sufficiently so to indicate the influence of the number. And it is
remarkable, as perhaps in some way referring to the seven-stepped ladder
which we have been considering, that in the ancient Mysteries, as Apuleius
informs us, the candidate was seven times washed in the consecrated waters
of ablution.
There is, then, an anomaly in giving to the mystical ladder of Masonry
only _three_ rounds. It is an anomaly, however, with which Masonry has had
nothing to do. The error arose from the ignorance of those inventors who
first engraved the masonic symbols for our monitors. The ladder of
Masonry, like the equipollent ladders of its kindred institutions, always
had seven steps, although in modern times the three principal or upper
ones are alone alluded to. These rounds, beginning at the lowest, are
_Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, Justice, Faith, Hope_, and _Charity_.
Charity, therefore, takes the same place in the ladder of masonic virtues
as the sun does in the ladder of planets. In the ladder of metals we find
gold, and in that of colors yellow, occupying the same elevated position.
Now, St. Paul explains Charity as signifying, not alms-giving, which is
the modern popular meaning, but love--that love which "suffereth long and
is kind;" and when, in our lectures on this subject, we speak of it as the
greatest of virtues, because, when Faith is lost and Hope has ceased, it
extends "beyond the grave to realms of endless bliss," we there refer it
to the Divine Love of our Creator. But Portal, in his Essay on Symbolic
Colors, informs us that the sun represents Divine Love, and gold indicates
the goodness of God.
So that if Charity is equivalent to Divine Love, and Divine Love is
represented by the sun, and lastly, if Charity be the topmost round of the
masonic ladder, then again we arrive, as the result of our researches, at
the symbol so often already repeated of the solar orb. The natural sun or
the spiritual sun--the sun, either as the vivifying principle of animated
nature, and therefore the special object of adoration, or as the most
prominent instrument of the Creator's benevolence--was ever a leading idea
in the symbolism of antiquity.
Its prevalence, therefore, in the masonic institution, is a pregnant
evidence of the close analogy existing between it and all these systems.
How that analogy was first introduced, and how it is to be explained,
without detriment to the purity and truthfulness of our own religious
character, would involve a long inquiry into the origin of Freemasonry,
and the history of its connection with the ancient systems.
These researches might have been extended still farther; enough, however,
has been said to establish the following leading principles:--