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HIGH GRADES.
Sometimes used for High Degrees, which see.
HIGH PRIEST.
The presiding officer of a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons according to the American System His title is Most Excellent, and he represents Joshua, or Jeshua, who was the son of Josedech, and the High Priest of the Jews when they returned from the Babylonian exile. He is seated in the east, and clothed in the apparel of the ancient High Priest of the Jews. He wears a robe of blue, purple, scarlet, and white linen, and is decorated with a breastplate and miter. On the front of the miter is inscribed the words, Holiness to the Lord. His jewel is a miter.
HIGH PRIESTHOOD, ORDER OF.
This Order is an honorarium, gift of honor, to be bestowed upon the High Priest of a Royal Arch Chapter in the United States, and consequently no one is legally entitled to receive it until he has been duly elected to preside as High Priest in a regular Chapter of Royal Arch Masons. It should not be conferred when a less number than three duly qualified High Priests are present. Whenever the ceremony is performed in ample form, the assistance of at least nine High Priests, who have received it, is requisite. The General Grand Chapter of the United States has decided that although it is highly expedient that every High Priest should receive the order, yet its possession is not essentially necessary as a qualification for the discharge of his official duties.

The jewel of the Degree consists of a plate of gold in the form of a triple triangle, a breastplate being placed over the point of union. In front, the face of each triangle is inscribed with the Tetragrammaton, n ; on the other side, the upper triangle has the following mystical notation, Jib ,=r; the two lower triangles have the Hebrew letters U and p inserted upon them. Each side of each triangle should be one inch in length, and may be ornamented at the fancy of the wearer. The breastplate may be plainly engraved or set with stones. It was adopted in 1856, on the suggestion of the author of this work, at a very general but informal meeting of Grand and Past Grand High Priests during the session of the General Grand Chapter held at Hartford, Connecticut. It is now in general use.

It is impossible, from the want of authentic documents, to throw much light upon the historical origin of this Degree. No allusion to it can be found in any ritual out of America, nor even here before the end of the eighteenth or beginning of the nineteenth century. Webb is the first who mentions it, and gives it a place in the series of capitular Degrees. The question was, however, exhaustively examined by Brother William Hacker, Past Grand High Priest of Indiana, who has paid much attention to the subject of American Masonic archeology. In a letter to the author in August, 1873, he sought to investigate the origin of this Order, and Brother Mackey gladly availed himself of the result of his inquiries. Brother Hacker compiled the following details for us:
Thomas Smith Webb, in the first edition of his Monitor published in 1797, makes no mention of it. But in the second edition, published in 1802, he gives a monitorialritual for the Order or, as he terms it, Observations on the Order of High Priests. Now, I infer, as we find no mention of the Order in the edition of 1797, and a monitorial ritual appearing in the edition of 1802. that at some time between those dates we must look for the true origin of the Order.
Turning then to the proceedings of the General Grand Chapter of the United States, we find that at the Communication held in the city of Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, on January 9, 1799, Benjamin Hurd, Jr., Thomas Smith Webb, and James Harrison were appointed "a Committee to revise the Constitution, and report such alterations and amendments thereto as theyshall find necessary to be made." The next day, January 10, 1799, Webb as chairman of the committee, submitted their report, which was adopted as reported. In Article IV of that Constitution, we find the forms for constituting new Chapters and installing High Priests fully laid down and provided for. In those forms, after certain ceremonies had been gone through with, "All the Companions, except High Priests and Past High Priests, are requested to withdraw, while the new High Priest is solemnly bound to the performance of his duties; and after the performance of other necessary ceremonies, not proper to be written, they are permitted to return."
Now, right here the question naturally arises, Whatwere those "other necessary ceremonies not proper to be written"? A few lines farther on we find this language laid down: "In consequence of your cheerful acquiescence with the charges and regulations just recited, I now declare you duly installed and anointed High Priest of this new Chapter." Now do not the words "and anointed," as here used, fully answer the question as to what those "other necessary ceremonies" were? It seems so to me. Upon this theory, then, we have Thomas Smith Webb, and his associates on the committee, Benjamin Hurd, Jr., and James Harrison, as the authors of the Order. It was adopted by the General Grand Chapter on January 10, 1799, when it became a part of the constitutional requirements of Royal Arch Masonry, so far, at least, as the authority of the General Grand Chapter extended. Following this matter out, we find that this provision of the Constitution was retained until the Triennial Communication held in the city of Lexington, Kentucky, on September 19, 1853, when, on motion of Companion Gould, the section was repealed; thus leaving the Order of High Priesthood the exclusive property of those who were in possession of it.
Where these Excellent Companions got the original thought or germ out of which the Order was formed will have, perhaps, to be left to conjecture; yet even here I think we may find some data upon which to found a conclusion. In setting about the formation of an Order suitable for the office of High Priest, what could be more natural or appropriate than to take the scriptural history of the fleeting of Abraham with Melchizedek, Priest of the Most High God; the circumstances which brought that meeting about; the bringing forth the bread and wine, the blessing, etc.; and the anointing of Aaron and his sons to the Priesthood under the Mosaic Dispensations. It does seem to me that these would be the most natural sources for any one to go to for facts and circumstances to work into an Order of this kind. We can illustrate this point farther by reference to a note found in an old ritual of the " Mediterranean Pass," as then—and perhaps it may be so now—conferred under the Grand Priory of England and Wales, preparatory to the Order of Malta. That note read as follows: " In some Priories the candidate partakes of bread from the point of a sword, and wine from a chalice placed upon the blade, handed to him by the Prelate."
Again, in an old manuscript of the ritual of the Royal Strand Conclave of Scotland, now also lying before me, I find similar language used in the ritual of the Templars Order. IIow weu the thoughts contained in these extracts have been worked into the Order of High Priest every well-informed High Priest must very well under stand.
But the question now comes up: were Webb and his associates in possession of these rituals at the time they originated the Order of High Priesthood? I think they were, and for these reasons: In these rituals to which I have referred I find these expressions used:
"That I will not shed the blood of a K. T. unlawfully"; "the skull to be laid open, and all the brains to be exposed to the scorching rays of the sun"; with several other familiar expressions, which every Royal Arch Mason will readily recognize as appropriately wrought into Webb's Royal Arch Degree. From the foregoing facts, as svell as others not stated, I Infer that Thomas Smith Webb, with his co-advisers Benjamin Hurd, Jr., and James Harrison, were the true authors of the Order; that it dates from January 10, 1799, at which time it was adopted by the General Grand Chapter, and became a part of the constitutional regulations and requirements of Royal Arch Masonry so far as the authority of the General Grand Chapter extended, and that it continued as such until the 19th day of September, 1853, when it was repealed, as before stated.

A thought or two further, and I will have done. Webb in arranging the Order, evidently intended that it should be conferred as a part of the installation ceremonies of a High Priest- and whether he ever conferred it at any other time or in any other manner I have been unable to learn, as I have never met with any one who claimed to have received the Order from him. At what time and by whom it was first conferred as a separate ceremonial is equally unknown to me. All I have yet been able to find upon this point is in Cross's Chart, where, in the edition of 1826, and it may also be in the earlier editions I find it arranged as a separate ceremonial, and disconnected with the ceremonies of installation.

The earliest authentic record of the organization of a Council of High Priests I have yet found is in the proceedings of the Grand Chapter of Ohio in 1828, where it appears that a Council was duly formed, rules adopted for its government, and a fun list of officers elected, with Companion John Snow as President. It is more than probable that the Order has always been conferred, west of the mountains, as a separate ceremonial, and never as a part of the installation ceremonies. It is well known that John Snow, who no doubt brought it with him when he came to the West, always so conferred it, and not then until the applicant had been regularly elected and installed as Eigh Priest of his Chapter. I have also met with those who claimed to have received it from the celebrated Lorenzo Dow, of whom it is further alleged that he always required an election and installation as a prerequisite to the Order.

With these facts before us, and I have no doubt of the truth of every word of them, I would ask of those who have attempted to heap such obloquy and derision upon the Order, as Doctor Mitchell and others who followed him, to point us to any other single Order or Degree of Masonry that can be traced so successfully to the source from whence it came- that has in it more of the elements of sublimity and impressiveness, and that is more scripturally and Masonically appropriate for that for which is was intended, than has this much-maligned Order of High-Priesthood; remembering also that it was established upon the constitutional authority of the General Grand Chapter of the United States, which is, and ever has been, the highest authority in Royal Arch Masonry in the United States. And again, among the names of those zealous companions who participated in its adoption stands that of the Honorable De Witt Clinton, for so many yours the zealous and efficient General Grand High Priest. Then I say, when we take all these facts together, as they stand recorded before us, I think the question as to the origin and authenticity may be considered as fully settled.
For additional information consult Mackey's revised History of Freemasonry (pages 1705-14).
HIGH PRIEST OF THE JEWS.
The important of lice of the High Priesthood was instituted by Moses after the completion of the directions for erecting the tabernacle, and was restricted to Aaron and his descendants, and was so confined until the time of the Asmonean dynasty, when it passed into the family of Judas Maccabaeus. The High Priest was at the head not only of ecclesiastical but of civil affairs, presiding in the Sanhedrim and judging the people. He superintended the Temple, directing the mode of worship, and preserving the building from profanation. He was inducted into his office by anointment and sacrifices, and was invested with a peculiar dress. This dress, as the Rabbis describe it, consisted of eight parts, namely, the breastplate, the ephod, with its curious girdle, the robe of the ephod, the miter, the broidered coat, and the girdle. The materials of which these were composed were gold, blue, red, purple, and fine white linen. As these garments are to a certain extent represented in the vestment of a High Priest of a Royal Arch Chapter, a brief description of them may be expedient:

The High Priest was first clothed in a pair of linen drawers. Over this was a coat or shirt of fine linen reaching to his feet, and with peeves extending to his vrists. over this again was a robe of blue, called the Coat of Ephod. It was without sleeves, but consisted of two pieces, one before and another behind having a large opening in the top for the passage of the head, and another on each side to admit the arms. It extended only to the middle of the legs, and its skirt was adorned with little golden bells and pomegranates. Above all these vestments oras placed the ephod, which has already been described as a short garment coming down only to the breast before, but somewhat longer behind without sleeves, and artificially wrought with gold and blue, and purple, and scarlet, in embroidery of various figures. It was looped on the shoulders with two onyx stones, on each of which was inscribed the names of six of the tribes. On the front of the ephod he wore the breastplate- at solemn ministrations a miter of fine linon of a blue color.
This was wrapped in several folds and worn about his head in the manner of a Turkish turban, except that it was without a crown, being open on top and sitting on his head like a garland. In front of it there hung down upon his forehead a square plate of gold, called the plate of the golden crown, upon which were inscribed the words Holiness to the Lord, which were engraved in the ancient Hebrew or Samaritan characters. The vestments of a High Priest of a Royal Arch Chapter are intended to represent—though the representation is imperfect—the gorgeous apparel of the Jewish Pontiff. They are a miter breastplate, and a robe of four colors. To these the Masonic ritualists have ascribed a symbolic signification. The miter teaches the High Priest the dignity of his office; the breastplate, his responsibility to the laws and ordinances of the Institution, and that the honor and interest of the Chapter should be always near his heart; and the robe, the different graces and virtues which are symbolized by the various colors of which it is composed.
HIGH TWELVE.
The hour of noon or twelve o'clock in the day, when the sun is high in the heavens in contradistinction to low twelve, or midnight, when the sun is low down beneath the earth. The expression is always used, in Masonic language, to indicate the hour of noon, at which time, as the tradition tells us, the Craft in the Temple were called from labor to refreshment. The phrase was used in the earliest lectures of the eighteenth century. The answer in the catechisms to the question, "What's a clock?" was always, "High Twelve."
HINDUSTAN, MYSTERIES OF.
Of all the ethnic religions, that of Hindustan is admitted to be the oldest, for its Vedas or sacred books claim an antiquity of nearly forty centuries. However Brahmanism may have been corrupted in more modern times, in its earliest state it consisted of a series of doctrines which embraced a belief in a Supreme Being and in the immortality of the soul. All primitive religions were more or less mystical, and that of India formed no exception to the rule. Brother Oliver, in his History of Initiation, has given a very succinct account of the Brahmanical mysteries, collected from the most authentic sources, such as Maurice, Colebrook, Jones, and Faber. His description refers almost exclusively to the reception and advancement of a Brahman in his sacred profession; for the initiations of India, like those of Egypt, were confined to the priesthood. All Brahmans, it is true, do not necessarily belong to the sacerdotal order, but every Brahman who has been initiated, and thus been made acquainted with the formulas of worship, may at any time become an officiating priest.

The ceremonies of initiation, as they have been described by Brother Oliver, were celebrated in spacious caverns, the principal of which were Elephanta and Salsette, both situated near Bombay. The mysteries were divided into four Degrees, and the candidate was permitted to perform the probation of the first at the early age of eight years. It consisted simply in the investiture with the linen garment and Zennar or sacred cord; of sacrifices accompanied by ablutions; and of an explanatory lecture. The aspirant was now delivered into the care of a Brahman, who thenceforth became his spiritual g ude, and prepared him by repeated instructions and a life of austerity for admission into the Second Degree. To this, if found qualified, he was admitted at the requisite age. The probationary ceremonies of this Degree consisted in an incessant occupation in prayers, fastings, ablutions, and the study of astronomy. Having undergone these austerities for a sufficient period, he was led at night to the gloomy caverns of initiation, vwhieh had been duly prepared for his reception.

The interior of this cavern was brilliantly illuminated, and there sat the three chief hierophants, in the east, west, and south, representing the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, surrounded by the attendant mystagogues, dressed in appropriate vestments. After an invocation to the sun, the aspirant was called upon to promise that he would be obedient to his superiors, keep his body pure, and preserve inviolable secrecy on the subject of the mysteries. He was then sprinkled with water, an invocation of the Deity was whispered in his ear; he was divested of his shoes, and made to circumambulate the cavern three times, in imitation of the course of the sun, whose rising was personated by the hierophant representing Brahma, stationed in the east, whose meridian height by the representative of Siva in the south, and whose setting by the representative of Vishnu in the west. He was then conducted through seven ranges of dark and gloomy caverns, during which period the wailing of Mahadeva for the loss of Siva was represented by dismal howlings.
The usual paraphernalia of dashes of light, of dismal sounds and horrid phantoms, was practised to intimidate or confuse the aspirant. After the performance of a variety of other ceremonies, many of which we can only conjecture, the candidate reached the extremity of the seven caverns; he was now prepared for enlightenment by requisite instruction and the administration of a solemn oath. This part of the ceremonies concluded, then the sacred conch or horn was blown, the folding-doors were suddenly thrown open, and the aspirant was admitted into a spacious apartment filled with dazzling light, ornamented with statues and emblematical figures, richly decorated with gems, and scented with the most fragrant perfumes. This was a representation of Paradise.
The candidate was now supposed to be regenerated, and he was invested by the chief Brahman with the white robe and tiara; a cross was marked upon his forehead, and a tau upon his breast, and he was instructed in the signs, tokens, and lectures of the Order. He was presented with the sacred belt, the magical black stone, the talismanic jewel to be worn upon his breast, and the serpent stone, which, as its name imported, was an antidote against the bite of serpents. And, lastly, he was entrusted with the sacred name, known only to the initiated. This ineffable name was Aum, which, in its triliteral form, was significant of the creative, preservative, and destroying power, that is, of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. It could not be pronounced, but was to be the subject of incessant silent contemplation. The symbols and the aporrheta, or secret things of the mysteries, were now explained. Here ended the Second Degree.
The Third took place when the candidate had grown old, and his children had all been provided for. This consisted in a total exclusion in the forest, where, as an anchored withdrawn from the world, a hermit, he occupied himself in ablutions, prayers, and sacrifices. In the Fourth Degree he underwent still greater austerities, the object of which was to impart to the happy sage who observed them a portion of the Divine nature, and to secure him a residence among the immortal gods.

The object of the Indian mysteries appears, says Brother Oliver, to have been to teach the unity of God and the necessity of virtue. The happiness of our first parents, the subsequent depravity of the human race, and the universal deluge were described in a manner which showed that their knowledge must have been derived from an authentic source.
HINNOM.
A deep valley south of Mount Moriah, known as Gehenna; in which carrion was cast as food for vultures. The holy Valley of Judgment, Jehoshaphat, has been improperly substituted for Hinnom.
HIRSCHAU, WILHELM VON.
The Abbot Wilhelm von Hirschau, Count Palatine of Scheuren, is said to have been the founder, at the close of the eleventh century, of the German Bauhütten. Having been previously the Master of the Bauhütte, or Lodge of St. Emmerau, in Ratisbon, when he became Abbot of Hirschau, he collected together in 1080-91 the Freemasons for the purpose of enlarging the Convent. He incorporated the workmen, says Findel ( History, page 54), with the monastery, as lay Brethren, and greatly promoted their instruction and general improvement. Their social life was regulated by special laws; and the one most frequently inculcated by him was that brotherly concord should prevail, because only by working together and lovingly uniting all their strength would it be possible to accomplish such great works as were these undertakings for the public benefit.
HITTITES.
A powerful nation, whose two chief seats were at Kadesh, on the Orontes, and Carchemish, on the River Euphrates, and who subjected as allies, forces from Palestine, Lydia, and the Troad.
This great empire had at times contended with the Egyptian monarchs before the days of the Exodus.
The Assyrians also had felt their power. They were foremost in arms and in the arts, and carried their religion to the shores of the Aegean Sea; in fact, as shown by the explorations and discoveries of 1879, the early civilization of Greece and other European nations was as much indebted to them as it was to the Phoenicians. Egyptian inscriptions bear out the truth of these discoveries, and more firmly establish Biblical history. Jerusalem came within the influence of this great empire. The Hittites were finally subdued by the capture of their famous capital Carchemish, by Sargon, 717 B.C. For Biblical references, see Judges (i, 26!; First Kings (x, 28-29); Second Kings (vii, 6).
The system of writing by the Hittites was unique; their letters were hieroglyphic and their sculptures a peculiar and curious style of art, some of which may be found in the British Museum (see Fresh Lights, etc., by Sayce, chapter 5).
H.-. K.-. T.-.
The abbreviation for Hiram, King of Tyre.
HOBEN.
The name given, in some of the advanced Degrees, to one of the three conspirators commemorated in the Master's Degree. The derivation is uncertain. Oben, in Hebrew, means a stone: or it may be a corruption of Habbone, the Builder or Mason.
HODIN.
The Blind Fate mentioned in the Scandinavian Mysteries (see Balder).
HOGARTH, WILLIAM.
Artist and engraver. Born November 10, 1697, and died on October 25, 1767, London. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge at the Hand and Apple Tree Tavern on Little Queen Street at London. This Lodge was organized and constituted in 1725 and erased in 1737. Hogarth, according to the Grand Lodge Register, was also a member of the Lodge at the Bear and Harrow Tavern in 1731 and was a Grand Steward in 1735. His father-in-law, Sir J. Thornhill, was Senior Grand Warden in 1728.
Brother George W. Speth was of the opinion that the date of Hogarth's famous picture Night, that is the occurrence it celebrates, was intended to be May 29, the anniversary of the Restoration of Charles II, as shown by the oak-leaves over the barber's sign and in the hats of two of the figures. The street is probably Hartshorn Lane, Charing Cross, opening into what is now Trafalgar Square and which was Northumberland Street but is now North Avenue in London. Brother Speth suggests the principal figure is that of Sir Thomas de Veil, a member of Hogarth's first Lodge, the one meeting at the Vine in 1729. A sword under the arm of the boon companion and the Masonic apron, large in size, as was typical of these times, are suggestive of the Tyler and have been taken to mean a caricature of Brother Montgomerie. the Grand Tyler, or, as he was then called, "garder of ye Grand Lodge." Note the snuffers, useful where candles were a common source-of illumination, to be seen hanging at the Tyler's belt in the picture representing Night. This engraving was published in 1837.

Brother Hogarth married Jane Thornbill in 1729, daughter of Sir James Thornbill, at whose art school he studied for a time, and who for a long time refused to admit his genius and skill as an artist. It was not until Hogarth finished his series of six pictures depicting A Harlot's Progress that his father-in-law was entirely reconciled to the painter who had finally attained the fame warranted by his art. Hogarth painted a number of these series or pictures or illustrated stories, among the most popular being Marriage à la mode, A Rake's Progress and Four Tirnes a Day. Hogarth also met with success as a portrait painter and in 1746 he painted Garrick as Richard III, for which he wages handsomely paid for that day and age. His celebrated portrait of himself with his dog Trump is now in the National Gallery at London.

Hogarth died at the age of sixty-eight years and was buried in Chiswick, a tomb having since been erected to him, in 1771, by his admirers. A private hou3e in which he spent many of his summers was purchased in 1902 by Lieutenant-Colonel Shipway of Chiswick and turned into a Hogarth Museum.
HOGG, JAMES.
Famous Scottish poet, born 1770; died 1835. Became a Freemason in Canongate Kilwinning Lodge in Scotland, May, 1835 (see New Agc, Mav, 1925).
HO-HI.
A combination of the two Hebrew pronouns m, ho, meaning He, and of, hi, meaning 'n; thus mystically representing the twofold sex of the Creator, and obtained by a Cabalistic transposition or inversion of the letters of the Tetragrammaton nln' or Ihoh. Ho-hi, therefore, thus Cabalistically obtained, denotes the male and female principle, the vis genitrix, the phallus and lingam, the point within the circle; the notion of which, in some one form or another of this double gender, pervades all the ancient systems as the representative of the creative power Thus, one of the names given by the mythological writers to the Supreme Jupiter was appevo9vXvs, the man-woman. In one of the Orphic hymns we find the following line:
Zeus QpO7/V, yevero, Zfus vS3poros e7rXero Wag.
Jove is a male, Jove is all immortal virgin.

Plutarcht in his Isis and Osiris, says, "God, wbo is a male and female intelligence, being both Life and Light, brought forth another intelligence, the Creator Of the world." All the Paean gods and goddesses, however various their appellation, were but different expressions for the male and fenale principle. "In feet," says Russel, "they may all be included in the one great Hermaphrodite, the appevoinaus who combines in His nature all the elements of production, and who continues to support the vast creation which originally proceeded from His will." And thus, too, may we learn something of the true meaning of the passage in Genesis (i, 27), where it is said, "So God created man in His ourn image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." The suggestion of this working of Ho-hi out of Oh- Ho was put forward by George R. Gliddon, the Egyptologist, who had obtained it from the writings of Lanzi, the Italian antiquary.

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