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IMAUM. The appellation given to the most honored teacher of Mohammedanism. The title of the Sultan, as the spiritual chief of all Moslems. IMITATIVE SOCIETIES. A title sometimes given to those secret societies which, imitating the general organization of Freemasonry, differ from it entirely in their character and object. In the eighteenth century, when at one time they abounded, were the Bucks, the Sawyers, the Gormogons, and the Gregorians; and, in the nineteenth century, the Odd Fellows, the Good Templars, and the Knights of Pythias. Most of them unitate the Freemasons in their external appearance; such as the wearing of aprons, collars, and jewels, and in calling their places of meeting, by a strange misnomer, Lodges. But in these points is their only resemblance to the original Institution. IMMANUEL. A Hebrew word signifying God unth us, from ury, immanu, meaning with us, and el, God. It was the symbolical name given by the prophet Isaiah to the child who was announced to Ahaz and the people of Judah as the sign which God would give of their deliverance from their enemies, and afterward applied by the Apostle Matthew to the Messiah born of the Virgin. As one of the appellations of Christ, it has been adopted as a significant word in modern Templarism, where, however, the form of Emanuel is most usually employed. IMMATERIALISM. A doctrine relating to the quality of God and of the human soul, showing that He forms an absolute contrast to matter, and is the basis of the qualities of eternity, omnipotence, and unchangeablenesa The immateriality of the soul includes simplicity as another of its qualities. IMMEMORIAL. Applied to ancient Masonic Bodies of unknown age, the term "from time immemorial" then meaning beyond all memory. IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. fiery wisely has Max Muller said (Chips from a German Workshop i, page 45) that "without a belief in personal immortality, religion is surely like an arch resting on one pillar, like a bridge ending in an abyss"; and he cites passages from the Vedas to show that to the ancient Brahmans the idea was a familiar one. Indeed, almost all the nations of the earth with whose religious faith we are acquainted recognize the dogma, although sometimes in vague and, perhaps, materialistic forms. It was the professed teaching of the Ancient Mysteries, where, in the concluding rites of their initiation, the restoration of the hero of their legend was a symbol of the immortal life. So, too, the same doctrine is taught by a similar legendary and symbolic method in the Third Degree of Freemasonry. Archdeacon Mant thus describes the differences, in the teaching of this doctrine of immortality, between what he calls, after the school of Brother Oliver, the spurious and the true Freemasonry: Whereas the heathens had taught this doctrine only by the application of a fable to their purpose, the wisdom of the pious Grand Master of the Israelitish Masons took advantage of a real cireumstance, which would more forcibly impress the sublime truths he intended to inculcate upon the minds of all Brethren. It will be doubted by some of our modern skeptics whether the Hiramic myth is entitled to more authenticity as a historic narrative than the Osiric or the Dionysian; but it will not be denied that, while they all taught the same dogma of immortality, the method of teaching by symbolism was in all the same. In reply to an inquiry, Brother Robert I. Clegg offered in the Builder (December, 1915, page 300), such proofs as in his judgment demonstrated the immortality of the soul as a fact. Aside from faith in the revealed Word of God in the Great Light, the assurances may briefly be outlined thus: We are taught as Fellow Crafts the symmetry and order of Nature. Order indicates purpose, the design of the Grand Arehitect. Seeing in life much that is incomplete, rewards and punishments various and mysterious, seemingly ill-assorted and unequal, there is the more reason for belief that the Designer will adjust and finish the work. Men of all tongues and times, the wise and the simple, have accepted the probability of immortality. This universal hope may be classed with the axioms of geometry. Force is eternal. Nature ebbs and flows.. The round of existence in the falling rain, the rising evaporation from ocean and lake, the dropping of seed into soil, the upward growing plant, in material forces of moving water and vegetable life we see an analogy of the soul, as the lower so the higher, and thereby the further hope of eternity. Lastly, by ripened knowledge we discover as adults what was hidden in youth. Facts at first are few and unrelated. Finally we see unity. Scientists by observation of facts, few or manv establish relations between them and formulate laws. Astronomers probe into darkness to explain variations in star motion, chemists to define elements, physicists to bound the interplay of atoms, these and other scientists go forward into the unknown with faith founded on the seanty available systenlatized truths. All truth is but related uniformities. Beyond these we look farther and confidently. From isolated facts we unearth the general law. To us the present is a promise, the bud is the unopened flower. Immortality is the fact that scientifically satisfies. Here in part are the restful rocks on which at least one Freemason builds his expectancy of meeting those he loved who have gone before. IMMOVABLE JEWELS. See Jewels of a Lodge. IMPLEMENTS. The Operative Freemasons of the Middle Ages gave to certain of their implements— the most important of which were the square, the compasses, the stone-mason's hammer, or gavel, and the foot-rule—a special symbolic meaning. When the Operative Institution was merged in the Speculative, the custom of thus spiritualizing, as it avas called, these implements was continued; but the system of symbolic instruction has been so greatly enlarged and improved as to constitute, in fact, the characteristic feature of modern Freemasonry—a feature which widely distinguishes it from all other societies, whether secret or open. Thus, in Freemasonry the twenty-four-inch gage and gavel are bestowed upon the Entered Apprentiee because these are the implements used in the quarries in hewing the stones and fitting them for the builder's use, an occupation which, for its simplicity, is properlv suited to the unskilled apprentice. The square, level, and plumb are employed in the still further preparation of these stones and in adjusting them to their proper positions. This is the labor of the Craftsmen, and hence to the Fellow Craft are they presented But the work is not completed until the stones thus adjusted have been accurately examined by the Master Workman, and permanently secured in their places by cement. This is accomplished by the trowel, and hence this implement is entrusted to the Master Mason. Thus, the tools attached to each Degree. admonish the Freemason, as an Apprentice, to prepare his mind for the reception of the great truths which are hereafter to be unfolded to him; as a Fellow Craft, to mark their importance and adapt them to their proper uses; and as a Master, to adorn their beauty by the practise of brotherly love and kindness, the cement that binds all Freemasons in one common Fraternity. IMPOST There is no doubt, as Findel says (History, page 68), that the stone-masons were not the first who symbolized the implements of their craft. But they had reason, above all other gilds, for investing them with a far higher worth, and associating them with a spiritual meaning, on account of the sacred calling to which they were devoted. By the erection of churches, the Master Mason not only perpetuated his own name, but assisted in giving glory to God, in spreading the knowledge of Christianity, and in stimulating to the practice of the Christian virtues. And hence the Church-building Freemasons naturally gave a more sacred signification in their symbolism to the implements employed in such holy purposes. And thus it was that they transmitted to their successors, the Speculative Freemasons, the same sacred interpretation of their symbols. Modern Freemasonry has been derived from an association of church architects, and this accounts for the religious character of its symbolism. Had it been the offspring of the Templars, as Ramsay contends, its symbolism would have been undoubtedly military, somewhat like that emb ployed by Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians. IMPOST. The point where an arch rests on a wall or column. Husenbeth says imposts were "members of a secret Society of Tyrian artists who were hired by King Solomon to erect the temple, in order to distinguish them from the Jews, who performed the more humble labors, were honored with the epithet of free annexed to the name of Builder or Mason, and, being talented foreigners, were freed from the usual imposts paid to the state by the subjects of Solomon." IMPOSTORS. Impostors in Freemasonry may be either Profanes who, never having been initiated, yet endeavor to pass themselves for regular Freemasons, or Freemasons who, having been expelled or suspended from the Order, seek to conceal the fact and still claim the privileges of members in good standing. The false pretensions of the former class are easily detected, because their real ignorance must after a proper trial become apparent. The latter class, having once been invested with the proper - instructions, can stand the test of an examination; and their true position must be discovered only by information derived from the Lodges which have suspended or expelled them. The Tiler's Oath is intended to meet each of these eases, because it requires every strange visitor to declare that he has been lawfully initiated, and that he is in good standing. But perjury added to imposture will easily escape this test. Hence the necessity for the utmost caution, and therefore the Charges of 1722 say, "You are cautiously to examine a strange Brother in such a method as prudence shall direct you, that you may not be imposed on by an ignorant false pretender, whom you are to reject with contempt and derision, and beware of giving him any hints of knowledge" (see Constitutions, 1723, page 55). The Masonic rule is, that it is better that ninety and nine true Brethren be rejected than that one impostor be admitted. IN ACTIVITY. When a Lodge is performing all its duties and functions and is regularly represented in the Grand Lodge, it is said to be in activity, in contradistinction to a Lodge which has ceased to work or hold communications, which is said to be dormant. INAUGURATION. A word applied by the ancient Romans to the ceremony by which, after the Augurs or official prophets had been consulted, some thing or person was solemnly consecrated. The consecration of a Master of a Lodge to his office, which is equivalent to the ancient inauguration of a priest or king, is in Masonic language called an Installution, which see. INCENSE. The use of incense as a part of the Divine worship was common to all the nations of antiquity. Among the Hebrews, the Egyptians, and the Hindus it seems to have been used for no other purposes; but the Persians burnt it also before the king. The Roman Catholic Church has borrowed the usage from the ancients; and the burning of incense in certain sacred rites is also practised in Freemasonry, especially in the advanced Degrees. In Scripture, incense is continually spoken of both in the Old and the New Testaments, as a symbol of prayer. Thus the Psalmist says (cxli, 2), "Let my prayer be set before thee as incense." It has in Freemasonry a similar signification; and hence the Pot of Incense has been adopted as a symbol in the Third Degree, typifying the pure heart from which prayers and aspirations arise, as incense does from the pot or incensorium, as an acceptable sacrifice to the Deity. INCENSE, REGULATIONS FOR USE OF. From the Talmud we learn that the mixture of the perfume of incense was composed of balm, mycha, galbanum, frankincense, of each an equal weight, namely, 70 manehs; myrrh, cassia, spikenard, and saffron, of each an equal weight, 16 manehs; costus, 12 manehs; the rind of an odoriferous tree, 3 manehs; cinnamon, 9 manehs; soap of Carsina, 9 kabs; wine of capers, 3 seahs and 3 kabs, and if caper wine could not be had, strong white wine was substituted for it; salt of Sodom, the fourth part of a kab, and of an herb called maa-a-lay o-shon, a small quantity. Rabbi Nathan said a small quantity of the Amber of Jordan. If honey was mixed with it, it was profane; and if it was deficient in any one of its ingredients, the priest was accounted worthy of death. Rabbi Simeon, the son of Gamliel, says that the balm issues from an incision in the tree called balsamon. The soap of Carsina was to refine the omycha, that it might have a handsome appearance. The wine of capers was brought to soak the cloves or mycha therein, that it might become hard. And though the "water from the feet" was proper for the purpose, yet it was not used beeause it was not decent to bring it into the temple. INCHOATE LODGES. From the Latin word, inchoatus, meaning unfinished, incomplete. Lodges working under the dispensation of the Grand Master are said to be inchoate or incomplete, because they do not possess all the rights and prerogatives that belong to a Lodge working under the Warrant of Constitution of a Grand Lodge. The same term is applied to Chapters which work under the Dispensation of a Grand High Priest (see Lodges). INCOMMUNICABLE. The Tetragrammaton; so called because it was not common to, and could not he bestowed upon, nor shared by, any other being. It was proper to the true God alone. Thw Drusius, Tetragrammaton, sive de Nomine Dei proprio (page 108) says, "Nomen quatuor literarum proprie et absolute non tribui nisi Deo tbero. Unde doclores catholici dicunt incofnmunicabile-not common—esse creaturas." That is: "The name of four letters, which is not to be attributed, properly and absolutely, except to the true God. Whence the Catholic Doctors say that it is incommunicable, not common to or to be shared, by any creature." Brother Oliver, in his Symbolic Dictionary, commits a curious blunder in supposing that the Incommunicable Name is the Name not to be communicated to or pronounced by anyone; thus incorrectly confounding the words incommunicable and ineffable. Although the two epithets are applied to the same name, yet the qualities of incommunicability and ineffability are very different. INCORPORATION. By an act of incorporation, the supreme legislature of a country creates a corporation or body politic, which is defined by Kyd (Corporations i, page 13) to be "a collection of many individuals united in one body, under a special denomination, having perpetual succession under an artificial form, and vested by the policy of the law with a capacity of acting in several respects as an individual, particularly of taking and granting property, contracting obligations, and of suing and being sued; of enjoying privileges and immunities in common, and of exercising a variety of political rights." Some Grand Lodges in America have been incorporated by Act of the GeneralAssembly of their respective States; others are not, and these generally hold their property through Trustees. In 1768, an effort was made in the Grand Lodge of England to petition Parliament for Incorporation, and after many discussions the question was submitted to the Lodges; a large majority of whom having agreed to the measure in 1772, a Bill was introduced in Parliament by the Deputy Grand Master, but, being approved on its second reading, at the request of several of the Fraternity, who had petitioned the House against it, it was withdrawn by the mover, and thus the design of an Incorporation fell to the ground. Perhaps the best system of Masonic incorporation in existence is that of the Grand Lodge of South Carolina. There the Act, by which the Grand Lodge was incorporated, in 1817, delegates to that Body the power of incorporating its subordinates; so that a Lodge, whenever it receives from the Grand Lodge a Warrant of Constitution, acquires thereby at once all the rights of a corporate body, which it ceases to exercise whenever the said Warrant is revoked by the Grand Lodge. Objections have been made to the Incorporation of Lodges in consequence of some of the legal results w hich would follow. An incorporated Lodge becomes subject to the surveillance of the Courts of Law, from which an unincorporated Lodge is exempt. Thus, a Freemason expelled by an unincorporated Lodge must look for his redress to the Grand Lodge alone. But if the Lodge be incorporated, he may apply to the Courts for a restoration of his franchise as a member. Masonic discipline would thus be seriously affected. The objection to incorporation of Lodges is, it seems, founded on good reasons. The incorporation of the Grand Lodge of England was proposed by its Grand Master, the Duke of Beaufort, in 1768, 168 Lodges declared for it and 43 against it, the motion being carried in Grand Lodge in 1769 by a great majority. A petition was presented to the House of Commons in February, 1772, permission was granted for the bringing in of a bill and on March 4 of the same year this bill was read for the second time. On March 11 another petition, this time against the bill, was submitted by a strong party in the Craft who were able to postpone further consideration of the. proposed incorporation until April 1, on which day the bill was withdrawn by motion of one of its original introducers and nothing further was ever done in this direction. With regard to the practise followed in the United States of America, about which there has not been any uniformity, we may state in general that: The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts was incorporated in 1859 by the following enactment of the Senate and House of Representatives of that State in General Court assembled: Section 1. John T. Heard, Grand Master, and his associates, the Grand Wardens and Members of the Voluntary Association known as the Grand Lodge of Free and Aecepted Masons in Massachusetts, and their sueeessors, are hereby incorporated, and made a body politic, by the name of " The Master, Wardens and Members of the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massaehusetts," for the purpose of managing and administering the charity funds belonging to said voluntary association with power to have a common seal, to sue and be sued to make and ordain, from time to time, By-Laws, Rules and Regulations for the government and management of the Corporation, provided the same be not repugnant to the Constitution and Laws of the Commonwealthand that they have all the privileges, and be subject to all the liabilities set forth in the forty-fourth chapter of the Revised Statutes, so far as the same are applicable to Corporations for charitable purposes. Section 2. The said Corporation may take by purchase, gift, grant, or otherwise, and hold real estate not exceeding the value of Two Hundred Thousand Dollars and personal estate not exceeding the value of Fifty Thousand Dollars. Seetion 3. John T. Heard is hereby authorized to eall the first meeting of said Corporation, by advertisement in two newspapers printed in Boston one week previous thereto, and appoint the tilne and place thereof, at which meeting the mode of calling future meetings shall be regulated. Section 4. This Act shall take effect on and after its passage. In 1866, 1896 and 1916, the second section of the above Act has been amended so that now the Master, Wardens and Members of the Grand Lodge may take and hold real estate not exceeding in value five million dollars, and personal estate not exceeding one million dollars. An Act of 1884 incorporated the Masonic Education and Charity Trust of the Grand Lodge and in 1916 this Act was amended so that the Trust might take and hold funds and property not exceeding in value five million dollars The Grand Lodge of Mississippi has been incorporated under the Laws of the State of Mississippi. The Grand Lodge of New Jersey is incorporated under an Act of the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey, approved March 7, 1866. As a matter of interest a copy of the Act follows: I. Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey, That William Silas Whitehead, John Hopper, Robert Rusling, James H. Stevens, Jonathan S. Fish, Joseph H. Hough, Joseph Trimble, Daniel B. Bruen, David Naar, William S. Bowen Henry R. Cannon, David S. Plume, Thomas J. Corson, Williain E. Pine and James S. Gamble, and their associates, officers and members of the Grand Lodge of Free and accepted Masons of the State of New Jersey, and their uccessorst be and are hereby constituted and declared to be a body corporate and politic in law by the name style and title of "The Grand Lodge of the frost Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and .accepted Masons for the State of New Jersey," and by that name they and their successors shall and may at times hereafter be capable in law of having, purchasing and holding any lands, tenements, hereditaments and personal estate purchased, devised or bequeathed by any person or persons, body corporate or politic, capable to devise or bequeath the same; and also to have a common seal and the same to use at pleasure, and to enact a constitution and by-laws for their own government, and to alter and amend the same, and to make and ordain such rules and regulations and to appoint such agent or agents at their regular stated meetings as may seem to them necessary and proper for the management and disposal of their property, whether real or personal; provided alunaos, that the said corporation or body politie shall not at any tome hold or possess property, real, personal or mixed, the net income of which shall exceed the sum of ten thousand dollars per annum. 2. And be it enacted, That this act shall be deemed a publie act, and shall take effect immediately. The Grand Lodge of New York is not incorporated Woof itself, but the Trustees are incorporated, and they wact under the Laws of the State of New York. The matter of incorporation was taken up in the Communication for 1916 of the Grand Lodge of North Dakota, and after much discussion was referred to the constituent Bodies and the question was finally defeated. The Grand Lodge of Ohio was incorporated on March 12, 1844, by the following Act: Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That William B. Thrall, David T. Disney, W B. Hubbard, George Keifer, James D. Caldwell, J. G. Willock, Theophilus Keckeler, Geo. D. Palmer, Ao D. Bigelow, M. Z. I£reider, Sam'l Reed, William P. Strickland, Geo. P. (W.) Claspill, John W. Milligan, J. S. Burr, and George Johnson, the present Officers of the Grand Lodge of Free and Sccepted Masons of Ohio, and their successors in of fine, be, and hereby are incorporated by the name of the Grand Lodge of Ohio and by which name they shall be capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, in all Courts the same as natural persons; and with power to hold and convey real and personal property, and to do any and all other things usually done by corporations, and subject to the act now in force, entitled, An Act Instituting w Proeeedings Against Corporations not Possessing Banking Powers and the Visitorial Powers of Courts, and to Provide for the Regulation of Corporations Generally, passed March 7, 1842. Section 2. That the said corporators, and their successors, of the Grand Lodge of Ohio, shall have power to hold in its name property, as Trustee, for any Subordinate Lodge of this State. The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania has never been incorporated. The Grand Lodge of West Virginia appoints a Board of Trustees who organize as a Corporation under the Laws of that State. A full statement of the authority and duties of this Board will be found in Article IV of the General Laws and Regulations of the Grand Lodge of West Virginia. INCREASE OF WAGES. The French phrase is Augornentation de gages. To ask for an increase of wages, is, in the technical language of French Freemasonry, to applyfor advancement to ahigher Degree. INDEFEASIBLE. Unavoidable, that which cannot be voided or taken away. The word is thus used a ill the second of the Charges of 1722, where, speaking of a Brother who has been guilty of treason or rebellion, it is said that he cannot for this cause be expelled from the Lodge, and that "his relation to it remains indefeasible" (see Constitutions, 1723, page 50). It is a law tertn, which is usually applied to an estate or right which cannot be defeated. INDELIBILITY. The indelibility of the Masonic character, as expressed in the often-repeated maxim, "Once a Freemason, always a Freemason," is universally admitted. That is to say, no voluntary or even forced withdrawal from the Order can cancel certain obligations which have been contracted, and place the person withdrawing in precisely the same relative position toward the Institution that he had occupied before his initiation. INDENTED TARSEL. In the old lectures these words were used for what is now called the Tessellated Border (see Tarsel). INDENTED TESSEL. The ornamented border which surrounds the Mosaic pavement (see Tessellated Border). INDENTURE. This was an old form of contract which was executed in duplicate on the one sheet, between the two parties, the two halves of the document being separated along a notched or waving line. The separation in this tooth-like manner gave the document its name, Indenture, coming from a Latin term meaning to are a jagged edge like teeth. The irregular separation of the documents permitted them to tally together as good proof of their bona fide character whenever they were matched in this way to show their original identity. The expression continues at the present time, no matter whether the deed or contract has or has not an indented edge to show its relationship to a duplicate of it. Such a tertn is very often applied to a contract of apprenticeship. |
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