It is probably well known to the outside world as well as to members of the Mystic Craft, that the Mysteries of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons are based on the building of King Solomon's Temple. In the published lectures much is said of this Temple, its dimensions, plans and the process of building. As the name Masons indicated the order is one of builders, but what they propose to build is not so generally known. We are taught that the most wonderful building ever erected in ancient times was the temple at Jerusalem, built under the direction of Solomon, king of Israel.
The name Sol-Om-On is very suggestive, being a combination of three names for Deity taken from the Latin, the Hindu, and the Egyptian languages, or rather a combination of three names for the Sun, which to all the early races was the visible representation of the invisible God, and this combination suggests the thought that reference is made to a mythical personage representing that Great Light of Masonry which once sufficed to illumine the mind of the faithful craftsmen, making all things plain. We may then have some doubts as to whether King Solomon of the Mysteries is the same as the wise monarch of Israel.
Many Masonic writers claim that the Order of Free Masons had its origin during the Middle Ages among the operative Masons and that the change was from operative to speculative masonry; indeed we have been given the place and the time when the change was made, the place being a certain tavern in London. We know that during the Middle Ages, the various handicrafts were organized into Guilds, into which, in some cases, there was a regular initiation service. That these Guilds had a large membership and were possessed of great wealth, the magnificent Guild Halls in England and on the continent bear witness. And among these Guilds or leagues of workingmen including masters, journeymen and apprentices, the Masons were certainly not the least important. In the intervals between the incessant wars and even during the wars, stone castles, palaces and cathedrals were erected, requiring the labor of skilled Masons, so that the guild of Masons became one of the most powerful, their work being so important and in such demand, that the secrets of the craft would be most carefully guarded.
I do not agree with this theory of the origin of Free Masonry for I find much in the symbols and glyphs of the order, which makes me certain that speculative preceded operative Masonry and that long before the age when Operative Masons were formed into a Guild, there were large and powerful fraternities of Speculative Builders. The order of evolution is from within without, from the one absolute point the centre of all things to the periphery where manifestation begins, from the thought in the Divine Mind to that crystallization of the Divine thought which we call the Universe. The grand mistake of modern times is to suppose that out of nothing something can be made, that from matter spirit can be evolved more than was first involved, that no spiritual builders exist. To be sure spirit is nothing and precedes matter which is something, but this is not the sense in which the word nothing is used; that means as commonly accepted absolute emptiness, which cannot be for we have been told truly by Science that Nature abhors a vacuum.
But granting that Masons were first an operative Guild, we have to go farther back than to the Middle Ages. The beautiful temples of Greece, the solemn and impressive buildings of India and Egypt require a guild of builders as well as the cathedrals of Europe. And we are told that Atlantis, buried long ago beneath the Atlantic Ocean, rejoiced in costly and grand temples of most elaborate architectecture, surpassing anything ever seen in modern times.
Masonic Tradition and Masonic teaching dates the beginning of Free Masonry from the building of King Solomon's temple. In Jewish history this was an important event, and as Christianity is an outgrowth of Judaism, it has become to Christendom also very important. To make of this temple one of the wonders of the world, we are told that strangers from Tyre were introduced among the Jewish workmen, who were entirely incompetent to carry out the plan supposed to be revealed to Solomon by Jehovah, the details of which he drew on a trestle board and gave to the master in charge of the work, that this workman Hiram Abiff might prepare working plans for the craft. Several reasons make this seem unlikely the most important being that the Jewish temple supposed to have been built by Solomon according to the dimensions given either in the Bible or Masonic tradition was no wonder as compared with the temples of Greece, Egypt and India. Should it be built today, 103 feet long, 206 feet high and 35 or 50 feet wide (the dimensions given in the Bible) it would attract attention only for its awkwardness and lack of symmetry.
Further studying the details of the Egyptian temples, of those built by the prehistoric people of America, so much alike as to demand an Atlantis from which colonies could have gone both east and west, their Cyclopean and symmetrical structure required a far greater knowledge of mechanics than the temple at Jerusalem. Studying the temples of Greece, the beauty and harmony of design is far greater than is displayed in Solomon's temple. One, on examining the Cathedral of Cologne might almost believe that a supernatural architect had been employed, which supposition is by no means needed to account for the temple fabled to have been built by King Solomon and which was indeed much inferior to that built at Jerusalem by King Herod.
Then there is much in the ceremonies connected with Free Masonry which takes us back to very ancient times. Of this much can be spoken of among the brethren but enough is known to the public to warrant the assertion that Masonry reaches back to prehistoric times.
In a Lodge Room properly built the most elevated platform is in the East, the next in the West, the next in the South and none in the North. Sun worshippers always looked on the North as the abode of evil, where darkness prevailed. There is much in the initiation service which plainly refers to sun worship and to the motion of the earth round the Sun, a motion known to the wise men of the East and to dwellers on the American continent long before the time of Solomon.
The search for the Master's Word of which we hear so much, takes us back to a very remote period and to certain teachings once very carefully concealed. Sound in the form of words was always conceived to be of the greatest importance.
In the book of Genesis we read as the first act of Manifestation or Evolution, "The Elohim" said "Let there be light and there was light." Silence was broken by a divine sound followed by that vibration which we call "light." Among the people of the Orient great power has always been supposed to reside in spoken words, and certain combinations of words or mantrams are believed to possess magical power, as the famous sentence "Om Mani padme hum," and the paternoster as given by Jesus to his disciples. In the New Testament, as well as in other sacred books, we hear much of the Word of God, not referring to the Bible but to certain divine sounds. Jesus said that he worked wonders by the name of his father and the Apostles did the same by the name of Jesus. Once in the year the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies at Jerusalem and pronounced at low breath the true name of God (Jah-veh, male, female potency) never used by the Jews. All of these allusions to the word refer to the sacred Omnific Word whispered by the Hierophant or Master of Ceremonies in the ear of the candidate, who after a sleep of three days was brought to life and light.
Another indication of the great antiquity of Free Masonry is the frequent recurrence of the number seven, not referring to the seven days of the week, but to the ancient doctrine of the sevenfold nature of man, because of which we have a week of seven days. Seven seems to be the number which belongs to this age of manifestation. We read of seven colors in the rainbow, the imperial standard of the Incas of Peru, seven notes in the scale, seven labors of magic, seven upper spheres, seven orifices in the head, seven layers of the skin, seven divisions to the eye, seven ancient Rishi's, seven branches to the candlestick in the temple, seven Archangels, the Greek poet sings "Seven sounding letters sing the praise of me, Th' Immortal God, Th' Almighty Deity," seven fires burned before the altar of Mithra. In man are seven kingdoms joined: mineral, vegetal, animal, intellectual, Astral, Spiritual and Celestial.
Seven steps in masonry enter the Holy of Holies in groups of three and five. In the centre of the Lodge Room stands an altar four square with three lights, the Masonic Apron is four square with a triangular bib, referring to the square of the animal man, the first Adam and the triangle of the Spiritual or second Adam, of which the Pyramid found in all parts of the world is an enduring symbol, appearing (the Pyramid) long before the time of Solomon in Egypt, India and America, dating back to the time when Atlantis was a great continent, on which dwelt many skilled builders.
What means the circle with the point in the centre used by Astrology as symbol for the sun? This figure, found on all Masonic Charts is also found on the temples of India, Egypt and America, and always means the same thing, the finite coming forth from the infinite, the first stirring of life in the Universe. The first sound which breaks the silence before there is either motion or form. This most sacred symbol referring to the Supreme One, to the Great Architect of the Universe is found in all the mysteries and especially refers to the circle of manifestation which is the visible Universe proceeding from the Absolute or unmanifested God. Another emblem of this grand evolution is the compasses worn by every Mason, and being the instrument used to describe the circle, represents Cosmic Evolution or the manifestation of Deity.
One of the most ancient of symbols long antedating Christianity is the cross, which tells of the great mystery of manifestation, for the cross is the cube unfolded, the altar represents the cube or unmanifested God, the cross the manifestation of God, which is always a sacrifice of the higher to raise the lower; or the descent of spirit into matter, to redeem it and then lift it on high, thus teaching the divinity and necessarily the immortality of man. This cross appears in many forms, now as the Latin, then as the Greek, now as the letter T, then as the Swastica; among masons it is the carpenter's square. The square and compasses, then, are a compound symbol expressing the whole mystery of the Universe, teaching that man really is both animal and God, teaching the union of spirit and matter and the final divinizing of matter, when man has finally been seated in the chair of King Solomon.
The Cable Tow figured on Masonic charts and of such importance to the brothers reminds of the famous triple cord of Brahmin Sanyasi's, the string on which certain Lamas place their Vy stone with which they would not part for all the fabled wealth of King Solomon; it also reminds of the Sutratma or thread on which the Orientals teach, that the various lives of man are strung and which through many changing personalities ever preserves the individuality.
All brothers will remember the peculiar way in which the substitute for the missing word was given, but probably few know that in very ancient times the seal word was communicated in precisely the same way, taking us back to a time when in the Great Pyramid at Ghizeh the candidate for a knowledge of the mysteries was conducted through the chambers and galleries so peculiarly constructed, or through more confusing passages in underground temples, and then after having slept for three days and three nights in the Sarcophagus was raised from a dead level to a living perpendicular.
Masonry is found in all parts of the world among nations professing many religions, and only among Jews, Christians and Mohammedans do we hear anything about King Solomon's temple, yet everywhere the ritual is similar to that in Christian countries, so that a Mason can make himself known in any part of the world. Indeed that great light in Masonry, the Hebrew Bible, is replaced in other lands by the book held sacred in those countries.
From the earliest times in all religions, early Christianity among the rest, there have been secret societies which initiated the worthy into the Mysteries, using much the same symbolism which prevails among Masons. Of some we have only vague rumors, of others a complete knowledge. For the purpose of such initiation it is now believed by careful students that some of the pyramids were constructed symbolizingas they do that most sacred part of the mysteries, the seven-fold nature of man, rising toward God and implying the final divinizing of the whole man when God should rule through all the kingdoms and man should be raised to the true life — at one with God.
The purpose of all these mysteries was the same, to build a perfect character. This was the temple of Solomon, not that erected at Jerusalem, but to be built by every one deemed worthy to receive the knowledge which should correctly guide him. The building of the Temple of King Solomon is the symbolical representation of the gradual attainment of divine wisdom; the development of the spiritual from the earthly; the manifestation of the power and splendor of the spirit in the physical world, through the wisdom and genius of the builder, who, when he has become fully possessed of this secret wisdom, is a mightier than King Solomon himself. "He who is Lord of Self is Lord of all the world." When the ideal character is developed, then is the temple builded, without the sound of hammer or any tool of iron being heard in the house while it is in the process of building.
Freedom, Fraternity, and Equality are the corner stones of Free Masonry, because of which Masons have been hated the world over by kings and priests, because of which they have done much for humanity. In the Masonic Lodge as in the Christian Ecclesia of the first centuries, noble and peasant, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, sit side by side, even the Master being on a level with his brothers except when presiding over his lodge.
Rightness is the most important factor in housebuilding, and, righteousness of most importance in character building. The plumb is used by the Operative Mason to test the rightness of the walls which he is erecting, and the speculative Mason must also try his life to see whether he is building plumb, so that he can endure all tests whether from the sun of prosperity or the storms of adversity. His character must be builded square, and he must ever stand erect, facing the rising sun of truth.
Perhaps nothing is more necessary in character building than the due restraint of the passions and appetites and the general habit of doing all things in moderation. Masonry ever teaches its members to circumscribe their appetites and passions within due bounds, so that instead of being a promoter of licentiousness, Masonry teaches its members to practice virtue and seeks the reformation of those brothers who yield to their lower nature.
Belief in God, not in Jehovah or a God of any name, not in this God or that God, but in a supreme power making for righeousness; in an holy one, superior to man, whose wisdom, order and beauty is visible on every side, is necessary to a perfect character, and every Masonic Lodge gives plain evidence of such belief.
The one thing for which people are everywhere seeking is some knowledge of a future life. Perhaps the Mason now, no more than others, has any knowledge, though the Great Lodge of Masters, from whose teachings Masonry originated did possess such knowledge, and in due time in this country, with the true word, it shall be given again. But even in the Lodges of today the brothers symbolically, have died to the earth and the lower man, have been regenerated and raised from a dead level to a living perpendicular. More important than a life beyond the grave is a raising from the animal sensual life now, for that higher life once realized on the earth, the divine man made ruler, the Christ principle, or Christos, elected master; "the light which lighteth every man, who cometh into the world" made to burn brightly, come what will, the union with Strength, Wisdom and beauty, the true God, can never be lost. The Master's word received, the divine sonship acknowledged, and man walks a God on earth. Masonry attempts the same grand work, then, which was done in the ancient lodges long before history was written and it long antedates King Solomon.
Masonry by its tolerance of all creeds, by its vigorous battle for civil and religious freedom, by its exalted morality, by its brotherhood exemplified even on the battle field, by its symbolic teaching of immortality, has been a strong aid in diffusing light and opposing materialism. It deserves well of all men for it demands of its members that they build these temples of Solomon, so that when called upon they may meet the Supreme Inspector at the East Gate of the Temple with their feet forming the angle of a perfect square, and their bodies erect, facing the Sun of Righteousness, which, rising in the Holy of Holies, sheds its glorious light into the dark cavern, illumining the whole man, and flooding him with unspeakable strength, wisdom and beauty.