ANTON, DR. CARL GOTTLOB VON.
A German Masonic writer of considerable reputation, who died at Gorlitz on the 17th of November, 1818. He is the author of two historical works on Templarism, both of which are much esteemed.
l. Versuch einer Geschichte des Tempelherren ordens, that is, An Essay on the Order of Knights Templar, at Leipzig, 1779.
2. Untersuchung uber das Gehemniss und die Gebrauche der Tempelherren, that is, An Inquiry into the Mystery and Usages of the Knights Templar, at Dessau, 1782.
He also published at Gorlitz, in 1805, and again in 1819, a brief essay on the Culdees, entitled Ueber die Culdeer.
ANTON HIERONYMUS.
In the examination of a German stanmetz, or stonemason, this is said to have been the name of the first Freemason. The expression is unquestionably a corruption of Adon Hiram.
ANTRIM, EARL WILLIAM OF.
Brother W. J. Hughan's Memorials of the Union says the Earl of Antrim was Grand Master from 1782 to 1790 of the Antient or Athol Masters.
ANUBIS OR ANEPU.
Egyptian deity, son of Osiris and Nephthys. He was an equivalent to the Greek Hermes. Having the head of a jackal, with pointed ears and snout, which the Greeks frequently changed to those of a dog. At times represented as wearing a double crown. His duty was to accompany the souls of the deceased to Hades or Amenthes, and assist Horus in weighing their actions under the inspection of Osiris.
APE AND LION, KNIGHT OF THE.
See Knight of the Ape and Lion.
APEX, RITE OF.
See Sat B'hai, Order of.
APHANISM.
In the Ancient Mysteries there was always a legend of the death or disappearance of some hero god, and the subsequent discovery of the body and its resurrection.
The concealment of this body by those who had slain it was called the aphanism, from the Greek, abavatw, to conceal. As these Mysteries may be considered as a type of Freemasonry, as some suppose, and as, according to others, both the Mysteries and Freemasonry are derived from one common and ancient type, the aphanism, or concealing of the body, is of course to be found in the Third Degree. Indeed, the purest kind of Masonic aphanism is the loss or concealment of the word (see Mysteries, and Euresis).
APIS.
The sacred bull, held in high reverence by the Egyptians as possessing Divine powers, especially the gift of prophecy. As it was deemed essential the animal should be peculiarly marked by nature, much difficulty was experienced in procuring it. The bull was required to be black, with a white triangle on its forehead, a white crescent on its side, and a knotted growth, like a scarabaeus or sacred beetle, under the tongue. Such an animal being found, it was fed for four months in a building facing the East. At new moon it was embarked on a special vessel, prepared with exquisite care, and with solemn ceremony conveyed to Heliopolis, where for forty days it was fed by priests and women. In its sanctified condition it was taken to Memphis and housed in a temple with two chapels and a court wherein to exercise. The omen was good or evil in accordance with which chapel it entered from the court. At the age of twenty-five years it was led to its death, amid great mourning and lamentations. The bull or apis was an important religious factor in the Isian worship, and was continued as a creature of reverence during the Roman domination of Egypt.
APOCALYPSE, FREEMASONRY OF THE.
The Greek word apocalypsis means a revelation and thus is frequently applied to the last book of the New Testament. The adoption of Saint John the Evangelist as one of the patrons of our Lodges, has given rise, among the writers on Freemasonry, to a variety of theories as to the original cause of his being thus , connected with the Institution. Several traditions have been handed down from remote periods, which claim him as a brother, among which the Masonic student will be familiar with that which represents him as having assumed the govemment of the Craft, as Grand Master, after the demise of John the Baptist.
We confess that we are not willing to place implicit confidence in the correctness of this legend, and we candidly subscribe to the prudence of Dalcho's remark, that ''it is unwise to assert more than we can prove, and to argue against probability."
There must have been, however, in some way, a connection more or less direct between the Evangelist and the institution of Freemasonry, or he would not from the earliest times have been so universally claimed as one of its patrons. If it was simply a Christian feeling-a religious veneration-which gave rise to this general homage, we see no reason why Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, or Saint Luke might not as readily and appropriately have been selected as one , of the lines parallel.
But the fact is that there is something, both in the life and in the writings of Saint John the Evangelist, which closely connects him with our mystic Institution. He may not have been a Freemason in the sense in which we now use the term.
But it will be suflicient, if it can be shown that he was familiar with other mystical institutions, which are themselves generally admitted to have been more or less intimately connected with Freemasonry by deriving their existence from a common origin.
Such a society was the Essenian Fraternity-a mystical association of speculative philosophers among the Jews, whose organization very closely resembled that of the Freemasons, and who are even supposed by some to have derived their tenets and their discipline from the builders of the Temple. As Oliver observes, their institution "may be termed Freemasonry, retaining the same form but practised under another name." Now there is little doubt that Saint John the Evangelist was an Essene. Calmet positively asserts it; and the writings and life of Saint John seem to furnish sufficient internal evidence that he was originally of that brotherhood. Brother Dudley Wright has taken the position that Jesus was also an Essene and that the baptism of Jesus by John marked the formal admission of the former into the Essenic community at the end of a novitiate or, as it may be termed, an apprenticeship (see page 25, Was Jesus an Essene ? ). Brother Wright says further (page 29) that when Jesus pronounced John the Baptist to be Elijah there was evidently intended to be conveyed the information that he had already attained to that acquisition of spirit and degree of power which the Essenes strove to secure in their highest state of purity.
But it seemed to Doctor Mackey that Saint John the Evangelist was more particularly selected as a patron of Freemasonry in consequence of the mysterious and emblematic nature of the Apocalypse, which evidently assimilated the mode of teaching adopted by the Evangelist to that practised by the Fraternity. If anyone who has investigated the ceremonies performed in the Ancient Mysteries, the Spurious Freemasonry, as it has been called, of the Pagans, will compare them with the mystical machinery used in the Book of Revelations, he will find himself irresistibly led to the conclusion that Saint John the Evangelist was intimately acquainted with the whole process of initiation into these mystic associations, and that he has selected its imagery for the ground-work of his prophetic book.
George S. Faber, in his 0rigin of Pagan idolatry (volume ii, book vi, chapter 6), has, with great ability and deamess, shown that Saint John in the Apocalypse applies the ritual of the ancient initiations to a spiritual and prophetic purpose.
"The whole machinery of the Apocalypse," says Faber, "from beginning to end, seems to me very plainly to have been borrowed from the machinery of the Ancient Mysteries; and this, if we consider the nature of the subject, was done with the very strictest attention to poetical decorum.
"Saint John himself is made to personate an aspirant about to be initiated; and, accordingly, the images presented to his mind's eye closely resemble the pageants of the Mysteries both in nature and in order of succession.
"The prophet first beholds a door opened in the magnificent temple of heaven; and into this he is invited to enter by the voice of one who plays the hierophant.
Here he Witnesses the unsealing of a sacred book, and forthwith he is appalled by a troop of ghastly apparitions, which flit in horrid succession before his eyes.
Among these are pre-eminently conspicuous a vast serpent, the well-known symbol of the great father; and two portentous wild beasts, which severally come up out of the sea and out of the earth.
Such hideous figures correspond with the canine phantoms of the Orgies, which seem to rise out of the ground, and With the polymorphic images of the hero god who was universally deemed the offspring of the sea.
"Passing these terafic monsters in safety, the prophet, constantly attended by his angel hierophant, who acts the part of an interpreter, is conducted into the presence of a female, who is described as closely resembling the great mother of pagan theology. Like Isis emerging from the sea and exhibiting herself to the aspirant Apuleius, this female divinity, upborne upon the marine wild beast, appears to float upon the surface of many waters. She is said to be an open and systematical harlot, just as the great mother was the declared female principle of fecundity; and as she was always propitiated by literal fornication reduced to a religious system, and as the initiated were made to drink a prepared liquor out of a sacred goblet, so this harlot is represented as intoxicating the kings of the earth with the golden cup of her prostitution. On her forehead the very name of MYSTERY is inscribed; and the label teaches us that, in point, of character, she is the great universal mother of idolatry.
"The nature of this mystery the officiating hierophant undertakes to explain; and an important prophecy is most curiously and artfully veiled under the very language and imagery of the Orgies. To the sea-born great father was ascribed a threefold state---he lived, he died, and he revived; and these changes of condition were duly exhibited in the Mysteries. To the sea-born wild beast is similarly ascribed a threefold state---he lives, he dies, he revives.
While dead, he lies floating on the mighty ocean, just like Horus or Osiris, or Siva or Vishnu. When he revives again, like those kindred deities, he emerges from the waves; and, whether dead or alive, he bears seven heads and ten horns, corresponding in number with the seven ark-preserved Rishis and the ten aboriginal patriarchs. Nor is this all : as the worshipers of the great father bore his special mark or stigrna, and were distinguished by his name, so the worshipers of the maritime beast equally bear his mark and are equally decorated by his appellation.
''At length, however, the first or doleful part of these Sacred Mysteries draws to a close, and the last or joyful part is rapidly approaching.
After the prophet has beheld the enemies of God plunged into a dreadful lake or inundation of liquid fire, which corresponds with the infernal lake or deluge of the Orgies, he is introduced into a splendidly-illuminated region, expressly adorned with the characteristics of that Paradise which was the ultimate scope of the ancient aspirants ; while without the holy gate of admission are the whole multitude of the profane, dogs, and sorcerors, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolators, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. "
Such was the imagery of the Apocalypse. The dose resemblance to the machinery of the Mysteries, and the intimate connection between their system and that of Freemasonry, very naturally induced our ancient brethren to daim the patronage of an apostle so pre-eminently mystical in his writings, and whose last and crowning work bore so much of the appearance, in an outward form, of a ritual of initiation.
APOCALYPSE, ORDER OF THE.
An Order instituted about the end of the seventeenth century, by one Gabrino, who called himself the Prince of the Septenary Number or Monarch of the Holy Trinity.
He enrolled a great number of artisans in his ranks who went about their ordinary- occupations with swords at their sides. According to Thory, some of the provincial Lodges of France made a degree out of Gabrino's system. The arms of the Order were a naked sword and a blazing star (see the Acta Latomorum, 1, 294). Reghellini, in Freemasonry considered as a result of the Egyptian, Jewish, and Christian Religions, or La Maçonnerie considérée comme le résultat des religions égyptienne, juive et chrêtienne (iii, 72), thinks that this Order was the precursor of the degrees afterward introduced by the Freemasons who practised the Templar system.
APOCALYPTIC DEGREES.
Those degrees which are founded on the Revelation of Saint John, or whose symbols and machinery of initiation are derived from that work, are called Apocalyptic Degrees.
Of this nature are several of the advanced degrees: such, for instance, as the Seventeenth, or Knight of the East and West of the Scottish Rite.
APORRHETA.
Greek, . The holy things in the Ancient Mysteries which were known only to the initiates, and were not to be disclosed to the profane, were called the aporrheta.
What are the aporrheta of Freemasonry? What are the arcana of which there can be no disclosure?
These are questions that for years past have given rise to much discussion among the disciples of the Institution. If the sphere and number of these aporrheta be very considerably extended, it is evident that much valuable investigation by public discussion of the science of Freemasonry will be prohibited. On the other hand, if the aporrheta are restricted to only a few points, much of the beauty, the permanency, and the efficacy of Freemasonry which are dependent on its organization as a secret and mystical association will be lost.
We move between Scylia and Charybdis, between ' the rock and the whirlpool, and it is difficult for a Masonic writer to know how to steer so as, in avoiding too frank an exposition of the principies of the Order, not to fall by too much reticence, into obscurity. The European Freemasons are far more liberal in their views of the obligation of secrecy than the English or the American. There are few things, indeed, which a French or German Masonic writer will refuse to discuss with the utmost frankness. It is now beginning to be very generally admitted, and English and American writers are acting on the admission, that the only real aporrheta of Freemasonry are the modes of recognition, and the peculiar and distinctive ceremonies of the Order; and to these last it is claimed that reference may be publicly made for the purpose of scientific investigation, provided that the reference be so made as to be obscure to the profane, and intelligible only to the initiated.
APPEAL, RIGHT OF.
The right of appeal is an inherent right belonging to every Freemason, and the Grand Lodge is the appellate body to whom the appeal is to be made.
Appeals are of two kinds: first, from the decision of the Master; second, from the decision of the Lodge.
Each of these will require a distinct consideration.
1. Appeals from the Decision of the Master. It is now a settled. doctrine in Masonic law that there can be no appeal from the decision of a Master of a Lodge to the Lodge itself. But an appeal always lies from such decision to the Grand Lodge, which is bound to entertain the appeal and to inquire into the correctness ot the decision.
Some writers have endeavored to restrain the despotic authority of the Master to decisions in matters atrictly relating to the work of the Lodge, while they contend that on all questions of business an appeal may be taken from his decision to the Lodge.
But it would be unsafe, and often impracticable, to , draw this distinction, and accordingly the highest Masonic authorities have rejected the theory, and denied the power in a Lodge to entertain an appeal from any decision of the presiding officer.
The wisdom of this law must be apparent to anyone who examines the nature of the organization of the Masonic Institution. The Master is responsible to the Grand Lodge for the good conduct of his Lodge. To him and to him alone the supreme Masonic authority looks for the preservation of order, and the observance of the Constitutions and the Landmarks of the Order in the body over which he presides. It is manifest, then, that it would be highly unjust to throw around a presiding officer so heavy a responsibility, if it were in the power of the Lodge to overrule his decisions or to control his authority.
2. Appeals from the Decisions of the Lodge. Appeals may be made to the Grand Lodge from the decisions of a Lodge, on any subject except the admission of members, or the election of candidates; but these appeals are more frequently made in reference to conviction and punishment after trial.
When a Freemason, in consequence of charges preferred against him, has been tried, convicted, and sentenced by his Lodge, he has an inalienable right to appeal to the Grand Lodge from such conviction and sentence.
His appeal may be either general or specific. That is, he may appeal on the ground, generally, that the whole of the proceedings have been irregular or illegal, or he may appeal specifically against some particular portion of the trial ; or lastly, admitting the correctness of the verdict, and acknowledging the truth of the charges, he may appeal from the sentence, as being too severe or disproportionate to the offense.
APPENDANT ORDERS.
In the Templar system of the United States, the degrees of Knight of the Red , Cross and Knight of Malta are called Appendant Orders because they are conferred as appendages to that of the Order of the Temple, or Knight Templar, which is the principal degree of the Commandery.
APPLE-TREE TAVERN.
The place where the four Lodges of London met in 1717, and organized the Grand Lodge of England. This tavern was situated in Charles Street, Covent Garden.
APPRENTI.
French for Apprentice.
APPRENTI ET COMPAGNON DE SAINT
APPRENTICE DEGREES
APPRENTICE, EGYPTIAN.
APPRENTICE, ENTERED.
APPRENTICE, HERMETIC.
APPRENTICE MASON.
APPRENTICE MASONESS.
APPRENTICE MASONESS, EGYPTIAN.
APPRENTICE, MYSTIC.
APPRENTICE OF PARACELSUS.
APPRENTICE OF THE EGYPTIAN SECRETS.
APPRENTICE PHILOSOPHER, BY THE NUMBER 3.
APPRENTICE PHILOSOPHER, HERMETIC.
APPRENTICE PHILOSOPHER TO THE NUMBER 9.
APPRENTICE PILLAR.
APPRENTICE, SCOTTISH.
APPRENTICE THEOSOPHIST.
APPRENTICE.
See Apprentice, Entered.
APPRENTICE ARCHITECT.
The French expression is Apprenti Architecte. A degree in the collection of Fustier.
APPRENTICE ARCHITECT, PERFECT.
The French being Apprenti Architecte, Parfait. A degree in the collection of Le Page.
APPRENTICE ARCHITECT, PRUSSIAN.
The French being Apprenti Architecte, Prussien. A degree in the collection of Le Page.
APPRENTICE, CABALISTIC.
The French is .Apprenti Cabalistique. A degree in the collection of the Archives of the Mother Lodge of the Philosophic Rite.
APPRENTICE COHEN.
The French being Apprenti Coën. A degree in the collection of the Archives of the Mother Lodge of the Philosophic Rite. |
