ANNUAIRE.
Some French Lodges publish annually a record of their most important proceedings for the past year, and a 1ist of their members. This publication is called an Annuaire, or Annual.
ANNUAL COMMUNICATION.
All the Grand Lodges of the United States, except those of Massachusetts, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, hold only one annual meeting; thus reviving the ancient custom of a Yearly Grand Assembly.
The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts has provided far Quarterly Communications held in Boston on the second Wednesday in December, March, June and September. There has also been a Communication held annually on December 27 for the Installation of the Grand Oflicers and the Celebration of Saint John the Evangelist's Day. When that Anniversary occurs øn Saturday or Sunday the Communication is held on the following Tuesday.
The Grand Lodge of Maryland has had two Communications, the Semi-Annual and the Annual of the Grand Lodge every year, in May and November.
The Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia has provided for four Stated Communications in each year, one on the second Saturday in March for the exemplification of the degrees, another on the second Wednesday in May for the transaction of general, business, a third on the third Wednesday in December being the Annual Communication to receive the Grand Master's annual address, the reports of the Grand Lecturer and Committees, and for general business, a succeeding Communication on Saint John the Evangelist's Day, December 27, or on the day following if the date fall upon a Sunday, to receive the Grand Master's report, to consider reports of Committees on the Annual Address of the Grand Master, and to elect and install officers.
The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania has provided for Quarterly Communications on the first Wednesdays of March, June, September, and December, and an Annual Grand Communication on Saint John the Evangelist's Day in every year.
The Grand Lodge of Rhode Island has had two Communications in each year, namely, the Annual Communication on the tbird Monday in May and the Semi-Annual Communication on the third Monday in November.
The Grand Lodge of England holds Quarterly Communications.
At these Annual Communications it is usual to pay the representatives of the subordinate Lodges a per diem allowance, which varies in amount in the several Grand Lodges, and also their mileage or traveling expenses.
ANNUAL PROCEEDINGS.
Every Grand Lodge in the United States publishes a full account of the proceedings at its Annual Communication, to which there is usually added a list of the subordinate Lodges and their members. Some of these Annual Proceedings extend to a considerable size, and they are all valuable as giving an accurate and official account of the condition of Freemasonry in each State for the past year.
They also frequently contain valuable reports of committees on questions of Masonic law.
The reports of the Committees of Foreign Correspondence are especially valuable in these publications (see Committee on Foreign Correspondence).
ANNUITIES.
In England, one of the modes of distributing the charities of a Lodge is to grant annuities to aged members or to the widows and orphans of those who are deceased. In 1842 the Royal Masonic Annuity for Males was established, which has since become the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution for Aged Freemasons and Their Widows, and grants annuities to both males and females, having also an asylum at Croydon in Surrey, England, into which the annuitants are received in the order of their seniority on the list (see Asylum for Aged Freemasons).
ANOINTING.
The act of consecrating any person or thing by the pouring on of oil. The ceremony of anointing was emblematical of a particular sanctification to a holy and sacred use. As such it was practised by both the Egyptians and the Jews, and many representations are to be seen among the former of the performance of this holy Rite. Wilkinson informs us, in his Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians (iv, 280), that with the Egyptians the investiture to any sacred office was confirmed by this external sign; and that priests and kings at the time of their consecration were, after they had been attired in their full robes, anointed by the pouring of oil upon the head.
The Jewish Scriptures mention several instances in which unction was administered, as in the consecration of Aaron as high priest, and of Saul and David, of Solomon and Joash, as kings. The process of anointing Aaron is fully described in Exodus (xxix, 7).
After he had been clothed in all his robes, with the miter and crown upon his head, it is said, "then shalt thou take the anointing oil and pour it upon his head, and anoint him."
The use of oil in the service of the Churches is also worthy of note. In the ceremony of confirmation there is usually employed a chrism, an anointing fluid sometimes compounded of olive oil and a balm of balsam made from the terebinth tree of the East.
The olive oil is symbolic of strength, for it was used by the ancient athletes as an ointment to increase the bodily vigor; of light, because possible of use in lamps; of health, because practicable for food and medicine, while the balm means freedom from corruption and having the sweet savor of virtue.
The ceremony is still used in some of the high degrees of Freemasonry, and is always recognized as a symbol of sanctification, or the designation of the person so anointed to a sacred use, or to the performance of a particular function. Hence, it forms an important part of the ceremony of installation of a High Priest in the Order of High Priesthood as practised in America.
As to the form in which the anointing oil was poured, John Buxtorf, in the Lexicon Chaldaicum, Talmudicum et Rabbinicum (page 267), quotes the Rabbinical tradition that in the anointment of kings the oil was poured on the head in the form of a crown, that is, in a circle around the head ; while in the anointment of the priests it was poured in the form of the Greek letter X, that is, on ahe top of the head, in the pattern of a Saint Andrew's cross.
Important as the anointing ceremony was to persons, we also see plainly that in Bible times the use of the consecrating oil was deemed necessary to the house of worship, to the furniture therein, and to the pilliars or other memorials of man's religious relation to God. Now as then we follow the same tendency in our Masonic consecration ceremonies of official comerstone laying, and of Temple and Lodge-room authorized dedication to Masonic usefulness.
See the Old Testament for the anointing of memorial stones (Genesis xxviii, 18, 22; xxai, 13, and xxxv, 14), and compare these references with the modern Masonic treatment of a comerstone, and for some comparison of the present day consecration of Lodgerooms with the ceremonies of old read Exodus (xxx, 23-9, and xl, 9), where we find an account of the sanctifying of the Tabernacle and its furniture "and it shall be holy."
ANONYMOUS SOCIETY.
A Society formerly existing in Germany, which consisted of seventy-two members, namely, twenty.-four Apprentices, twentyfour Fellow Crafts, and twenty-four Masters. It distributed much charity, but its real object was the cultivation of the occult sciences. Its members pretended that its Grand Master was one Tajo, and that he resided in Spain. Thory. is authority for the above statement in his Acta Latomorum (1, 294).
Anonymous
is a compound of two Greek words that together mean without name.
ANSYREEH.
A sect found in the mountains of Libanon, of Northem Syria. the name is also given as Nusairiyeh. Like the Druses, toward whom, however, they entertain a violent hostility, and the Assassins, they have a secret mode of recognition and a secret religion, which does not appear to be well understood by them. ''However,'' says Rev. Mr. Lyde, who visited them in 1852, "there is one in which they all seem agreed, and which acts as a kind of Freemasonry in binding together the scattered members of their body, namely,, secret prayers which are taught to every male child of a certain age, and are repeated at stated times, in stated places, and accompanied with religious rites."
The Ansyreeh arose about the same time with the Assassins, and, like them, their religion appears to be an ill-digested mixture of Judaism, Christianity, and Mohammedanism. To the Masonic scholars these secret sects of Syria present an interesting study, because of their supposed connection with the Templars during the Crusades. Brother Bernard H. Springett discusses at length the subject of secret organizations of that neighborhood in his Secret Sects of Syria and the Lebanon.
ANTEDILUVIAN FREEMASONRY.
Among the traditions of Freemasonry, which, taken literally, become incredible, but which, considered allegoricaliy, may contain a profound meaning, not the least remarkable are those which relate to the existence of a Masonic system before the Flood, the word antediluvian being from the Latin language and meaning before the deluge. Thus, Anderson (Constitutions, first edition, page 3) says: "Without regarding uncertain accounts, we may safely conclude the Old World, that lasted 1656 years, could not be ignorant of Masonry.''
Doctor Oliver has devoted the twenty-eighth lecture in his Historical Landmarks to an inquiry into "the nature and design of Freemasonry before the Flood" ; but he admits that any evidence of the existence at that time of such an Institution must be based on the identity of Freemasonry and morality. "We may safely assume," he says, "that whatever had for its object and end an inducement to the practice of that morality which is founded on the love of God, may be identified with primitive Freemasonry."
The truth is, that antediluvian Freemasonry is alluded to only in what are called the ineflable degrees; and that its only important tradition is that of Enoch, who is traditionally supposed to be its founder, or, at least, its Great Hierophant, or Chief Priest (see Enoch).
ANTIN, DUKE D'.
Elected perpetual Grand Master of the Freemasons of France, on the 24th of June, 1738. He held the office until 1743, when he died, and was succeeded by the Count of Clermont.
Clavel, Histoire Pittoresque, or Picturesque History (page141) relates an instance of the fidelity and intrepidity with which, on one occasion, he guarded the avenues of the Lodge from the official intrusion of a commissary of police accompanied by a band of soldiers.
ANTIPODEANS.
The French expression being Les Antipodiens. The name of the Sixtieth Degree of the seventh series of the collection of the Metropolitan Chapter of France (Acta Latomorum, 1, page 294).
ANTIQUITY, LODGE OF.
The oldest Lodge in England, and one of the four which concurred in February, 1717, in the meeting at the Apple-Tree Tavern, London, in the formation of the Grand Lodge of England. At that time the Lodge of Antiquity met at the Goose and Gridiron, in Saint Paul's Churchyard. This Lodge and three others met on Saint John the Baptist's Day, June 24, 1717, at the Goose and Gridiron Tavern, and by a majority of hands elected Mr. Anthony Sayer Grand Master, he being the oldest Master present. Capt. Joseph Elliot, and Mr. Jacob Lamball, carpenter, were chosen as Grand Wardens.
This and the other three Lodges did not derive their Warrants from the Grand Lodge, but "acted by immemorial Constitution or by an acknowledged authority reaching back beyond memory."
ANTIQUITY MANUSCRIPT.
This celebrated manuscript is now, and has long been, in the possession of the Lodge of Antiquity, at London. It is stated in the subscription to have been written, in 1686, by, "Robert Padgett, Clearke to the Worshipful Society of the Freemasons of the city of London."
The whole manuscript was first published by W. J. Hughan in his Old Charges of British Freemaons on page 64, but a part had been previously inserted by Preston in his Illustrations (see book ii, section vi, pages 81-3, 1812 edition).
Here we have evidence of a curious tendency to alter or interpolate passages in old documents whenever it was required to confirm a preconceived theory.
Thus, Preston had intimated that there was before 1717 an Installation Ceremony for newly elected Masters of Lodges, a claim of doubtful worth. He inserts what he calls "the ancient Charges that were used on this occasion," taken from the manuseript of the Lodge of Antiquity,. To confirm the statement, that they were used for this purpose, he cims the conclusion of the manuscript in the following words:
"These be all the charges and covenants that ought to be read at the installment of Master, or making of a Freemason or Freemasons." The words in italics are not to be found in the original manuscript. Brother E. Jackson Barron had an exact transcript made of this manuscript, which he carefully collated, and which was published by Brother Hughan. Brother Barron gives the following description of the docua ment:
"The manuscript copy of the Charges of Freemasons is on a roll of parchment nine feet long by eleven inches wide, the roll being formed of four pieces of parchment glued together; and some few years ago it was partially mounted (but not very skilfully) on a backing of parchment for its better preservation.
"The Rolls are headed by an engraving of the Royal Arms, after the fashion usual in deeds of the period; the date of the engraving in this case being fixed by the initials at the top, 1. 2. R.
"Under this engraving are emblazoned in separate shields the Arms of the city of London, which are too well known to require description, and the Arms of the Masons Company of London, Sable on a chevron between three castles argent, a pair of compasses of the first surrounded by appropriate mantling.
"The writing is a good specimen of the ordinary law writing of the times, interspersed with words in text. There is a margin of about an inch on the left a side, which is marked by a continuous double red ink line throughout, and there are similar double lines down both edges of the parchment. The letter U is used throughout the manuscript for V, with but two or three exceptions" (see Hughan's Old Charges, 1872, page 14).
ANTIQUITY OF FREEMASONRY.
Years ago in writing an article on this subject under the impressions made upon me by the fascinating theories of Doctor Oliver, though I never completely accepted his views, 1 was led to place the organization of Freemasonry, as it now exists, at the building of Solomon's Temple.
Many years of subsequent research have led me greatly to modify the views I had previously held.
Although I do not rank myself among those modern iconoclasts who refuse credence to every document whose authenticity, if admitted, would give to the Order a birth anterior to the beginning of the last century, I confess that I cannot find any incontrovertible evidence that would trace Freemasonry, as now a organized, beyond the Building Corporations of the Middle Ages.
In this point of view I speak of it only as an architectural brotherhood, distinguished by signs, by words, and by brotherly ties which have not been essentially changed, and by symbols and legends which have only been developed and extended, while the association has undergone a transformation from an operative art to a speculative science.
But then these Building Corporations did not spring up in all their peculiar organization-diflerent, as it was, from that of other gilds-like Autochthones, from the soil. They, too, must have had an origin and an archetype, from which they derived their peculiar Character. And I am induced, for that purpose, to look to the Roman Colleges of Artificers, which were spread over Europe by the invading forces of the empire. But these have been traced to Numa, who gave to them that mixed practical and religious character which they are known to have possessed, and in which ahey were imitated by the medieval architects.
We must, therefore, look at Freemasonry in two distinct points of view: First, as it is-a society of Speculative Architects engaged in the construction of spiritual temples, and in this respect a development from the Operative Architects of the tenth and succeeding centuries, who were themselves offshoots from the Traveling Freemasons of Como, who traced their origin to the Roman Colleges of Builders. In this direction, I think, the line of descent is plain, without any demand upon our creduliay for assent to its credibility.
But Freemasonry must be looked at also from another standpoint. Not only does it present the appearance of a speculative science, based on an operative art, but it also very significantly exhibits itself as the symbolic expression of a religious idea. In other and plainer words, we see in it the important lesson of eternal life, taught by a legend which, whether true or false, is used in Freemasonry as a symbol and an allegory.
But whence came this legend? Was it invented in 1717 at the revival of Freemasonry in England? We have evidence of the strongest circumstantial character, derived from the Sloane manuscript No. 3,329, exhumed from the shelves of the British Museum, that this very legend was known to the Freemasons of the seventeenth century at least.
Then, did the Operative Masons of the Middle Ages have a legend also? The evidence is that they did. The Compagnons de la Tour, who were the offshoots of the old Masters' Gilds, had a legend. We know what the legend was, and we know that its character was similar to, although not in all the details precisely the same as, the Masonic legend. It was, however, connected with the Temple of Solomon.
Again : Did the builders of the Middle Ages invent their legend, or did they obtain it from some old tradition? The question is interesting, but its solution either way would scarcely affect the Antiquity of Freemasonry. It is not the form of the legend, but its spirit and symbolic design, wish which we have to do.
This legend of the Third Degree as we now have it, and as we have had it for a certain period of two hundred and fifty years, is intended, by a symbolic representation, to teach the resurrection from death, and the Divine dogma of eternal life. All Freemasons know its character, and it is neither expedient nor necessary to dilate upon it.
But can we find such a legend elsewhere? Certainly we can. Not indeed the same legend; not the same personage as its hero; not the same details; but a legend with the same spirit and design; a legend funereal in character, celebrating death and resurrection, solemazed in lamentation and terminating in joy.
Thus, in the Egyptian Mysteries of Osiris, the image of a dead man was borne in an argha, ark or coffin, by a procession of initiates; and this enclosure in the coffin or interment of the body was called the aphanism, or disappearance, and the lamentation for him formed the first part of the Mysteries.
On the third day after .the interment, the priests and initiates carried the coffin, in which was also a golden vessel, down to the river Nile. Into the vessel they poured water from the river; and then with a cry of ............"We have found him, let us rejoice," they declared that the dead osiris, who had descended into Hades, had retumed from thence, and was restored again to life ; and the rejoicings which ensued constituted the second part of the Mysteries.
The analogy between,this and the legend of Freemasonry must be at once apparent. Now, just such a legend, everywhere coinciding in particulars, but everywhere coinciding in general character, is to be found in all the old religions-in sun worship, in tree worship, in animal worship. It was often perverted, it is true, from the original design. Sometimes it was applied to the death of winter and the birth of spring, sometimes to the setting and the subsequent rising of the sun, but always indicating a loss and a recovery.
Especially do we find this legend, and in a purer form, in ahe Ancient Mysteries. At Samothrace, at Eleusis, at Byblos-in all places where these ancient religions and mystical rites were celebrated-we find the same teachings of eternal life inculcated by the representation of an imaginary death and apotheosis.
And it is this legend, and this legend alone, that connects Speculative Freemasonry with the Ancient Mysteries of Greece, of Syria, and of Egypt.
The theory, then, that I advance on the subject of the Antiquity of Freemasonry is this: I maintain that, in its present peculiar organization, it is the successor, with certainty, of the Building Corporations of the Middle Ages, and through them, with less certainty but with great probability,, of the Roman Colleges of Artifieers.
Its connection with the Temple of Solomon, as its birthplace, may have been accidental-a mere arbitrary selection by its inventors-and bears, therefore, only an allegorical meaning; or it may be historical, and to be explained by the frequent communications that at one time took place between the Jews and the Greeks and the Romans. This is a point still open for discussion. On it I express no fixed opinion. The historical materials upon which to base an opinion are as yet too scanty. But I am inclined, I confess, to view the Temple of Jerusalem and the Masonic traditions connected with it as a part of the great allegory of Freemasonry.
But in the other aspect in which Freemasonry presents itself to our view, and to which I have already adverted, the question of its antiquity is more easily settled.
As a brotherhood, composed of symbolic Masters and Fellows and Apprentices, derived from an association of Operative Masters, Fellows, and Apprentices-those building spiritual temples as these built material ones-its age may not exceed five or six hundred years. But as a secret association, containing within itself the symbolic expression of a religious idea, it connects itself with all the Ancient Mysteries, which, with similar secrecy, gave the same symbolic expression to the same religious idea. These Mysteries were not the cradles of Freemasonry, : they were only its analogues.
But I have no doubt that all the Mysteries had one common source, perhaps, as it has been suggested, some ancient body of priests; and I have no more doubt that Freemasonry has derived its legend, its symbolic mode of instruction, and the lesson for which that instruction was intended, either directly or indirectly from the same source. ln this view the Mysteries become interesting to the Freemason as a study, and in this view only.
And so, when I speak of the Antiquity of Freemasonry, I must say, if I would respect the axioms of historical science, that its body came out of the Middle Ages, but that its spirit is to be traced to a far remoter period.
The foregoing digest of his conclusions is by Doctor Mackey. |
