LION'S PAW.
A mode of recognition so called because of the rude resemblance made by the hand and fingers to a lion's paw. It refers to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. This expression is found in Revelations v, 5. The "paw of the lion" is mentioned in First Samuel xvii, 37.
LION'S PAW CLUB.
Brother William G. Sibley a newspaper editor in Gallipolis, Ohio, and an active member of the Masonie Bodies there, as well as of Cincinnati Consistory, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, was frequently invited to address Masonic audiences and prepared an essay for that purpose which soon ran far beyond the limits of a talk for such occasions and, meeting the favor of the local Brethren, a group of a few members of the Fraternity arranged in 1904 for the publication of the lvork, Story of Freemasonry, the Brethren using the name I~on's Paw Chub as that of the original publisher. The book is published now by The Masonic history Company.
LISZT, FRANZ.
Famous pianist and composer. Born at Raiding, Hungary, October 22, 1811; died at Bayreuth, Germany, July 31, 1886. Initiated September 18, 1841, in Lge Einigkeit (Union-Lodge), founded at Frankfort, Germany, 1742, as one of the first German Lodges, and stood for a long time under the direct jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of England.
LITERATURE OF FREEMASONRY.
Freemasonry has its literature, which has been rapidly developed in the last few decades of the past and present centuries, far more than in any preceding ones.
This literature is not to be found in the working of its Degrees, in the institution of its Lodges, in the diffusion of its charities, or in the extension of its fraternal ties. Of all these, although necessary and important ingredients of the Order, its literature is wholly independent. This is connected with its ethics as a science of moral, social, and religious philosophy; with its history and archeology, as springing up out of the past times; with its biography as the field in which men of intellect have delighted to labor; and with its bibliography as the record of the results of that labor. It is connected, too, incidentally, with many other arts and sciences. Mythology affords an ample field for discussion in the effort to collate the analogies of classic myths and symbols with its own. Philology submits its laws for application to the origin of its i mystic words, all of which are connected with its history. It has, in fine, its science and its philosophy, its poetry and romance. No one who has not studied the literature of Freemasonry can even dream of its beauty and extent; no one who has studied it can have failed to receive the reward that it bestows.
LITIGATION.
See Lawsuits.
LITTRE, MAXIMILIEN PAUL EMILE.
The French lexicographer and philosopher, born at Paris on February 1, 1801. Studied medicine while teaching Latin and Greek, contributed to periodicals, became friend and follower of Auguste Comte, the Positivist, and in 1844, after publishing several works of importance was associated in preparing a literary history of France, and began labor on his great dictionary of the French language which was not finished for forty years. By reason of the opposition of Monsignor Dupanloup, Bishop of Orleans from 1863, it was only at the close of 1871 that he was honored by election to the French Academy. He became a life Senator in 1875 and was an associate of Leon Gambetta with whom and Jules Ferry he affiliated in Paris on July 8, 1875, with the Masonic Lodge La Clémente Amitié. His family were devout Roman Catholics and on his death, June 2, 1881, his funeral was performed with the rites of that Church.
LIVERY.
The word livery is supposed to be derived from the clothing delivered by masters to their servants. The trading companies or Gilds of England began about the time of Edward I to wear a suit of clothing of a forrn, color, and material peculiar to each company, which was called its livery, and also its dRothin~. To be admitted into the membership and privileges of the company was "to have the clothing." The Grocers' Company, for instance, were ordered "to be clothed once a year in a suit of livery"; and there is an order in the reign of Henry V to purchase cloth "for the clothing of the brethren of the brewers' craft." There can be no doubt that the usage of speaking of a Freemason's clothing, or of his being clothed, is derived from the custom of the gilds. A Freemason's clothing, "black dress and white gloves and apron," is in fact, his livery.
The use of a distinctive livery for members of the Gilds is seen in the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, Pilgrims, about 1350, where the poet, Chaucer, says:
- An Haberdasher, and a Carpenter
- A Weaver, dyer, and tapiser
- Were alle yclothed in o livere
- Of solempne and grete fraternitie.
Tapiser, in the above, has reference to the trade of Broderer, a member of the Gild of that name, the embroiderers being so chartered in 1561.
For further information as to the old livery and the Livery Companies, see many references in the Hole Craft and FeUowship of Masonry, Edward Conder Jr. (see Clothed ) .
LIVRE D'ARCHITECTURE.
The French designation of the book of minutes.
LIVRE D'ELOQUENCE.
A French expression for a collection of minutes of addresses made in a Lodge.
LIVRE D'OR.
French, meaning the Book of Gold, which see.
LOAN FUNDS, EDUCATIONAL.
See Educational Loan Funds.
LOCAL LAWS.
See Laws of Freemasonry.
LODGE.
There are three definitions which, in the technical language of Freemasonry, apply to the word Lodge.
1. It is a place in which Freemasons meet. In this sense the word more generally used is Lodge-room, which see.
2. It is the assembly or organized Body of Freemasons duly congregated for labor or for business. These two distinctions are precisely the same as those to be found in the word Church, which is expressive both of the building in which a congregation meets to worship and the congregation of worshipers themselves. This second definition is what distinguishes a meeting of Symbolic Freemasons, who constitute a Lodge, from one of Royal Arch Masons, whose meeting would be c ailed a Chapter, or of Cryptic Masons, whose assembly would be a Council.
The word appears in French as loge; German, logeSpanish, logia; Portuguese, loda; and Italian, loggia. This is irrefragible evidence that the word was, with the Institution, derived by the Continent of Europe from England. The derivation of the word is, I think, says Doctor Mackey, plain. Ragon says that it comes from the Sanskrit loga, signifying the world. There would, at first sight, seem to be a connection between this etymology and the symbolic meaning of a Lodge, which represents the world; but yet it is evidently farfetched, since we have a much simpler root immediately at hand. Hope says, speaking of the Freemasons of the Middle Ages; and Wren had previously said the same thing, that wherever they were engaged to work, they "set themselves to building temporary huts, for their habitation, around the spot where the work was to be carried on. " These huts the German Freemasons called hasten; the English, lodges, which is from the Anglo-Saxon, logian, to dwell. Lodge, therefore, meant the dwelling-place or lodging of the Freemasons; and this is undoubtedly the origin of the modern use of the word.
To corroborate this, we find Du Cange (Glossarium) defining the Medieval Latin, logsa or sodium, as "a house or habitation." He refers to the Italian, loggia, and quotes Lambertus Ardensis as saying that Utopia is a place next to the house, where persons were accustomed to hold pleasant conversation." lIence Lambertus thinks that it comes from the Greek, logos, a discourse. Du Cange asserts that there is no doubt that in the Middle Ages logia or logium was commonly used for an apartment or dwelling connected with the main building. Thus, the smallest apartments occupied by the Cardinals when meeting in Conclave were called logiae or Lodges. All of which sustains the idea that the Lodges of the old Operative Masons were small dwellings attached, or at least contiguous, to the main edifice on which they were at work.
In the Old Charges, the word is not generally met. The meeting of the Craft is there usually called the Assembly. But there are instances of its employment in those documents. The Regius Manuscript of 1390 forbids the apprenticing of a bondman because he might be fetched out of the Lodge, or lodge, as line 133 of the famous poem spells it. Thus also in the Lodge of Antiquity Manuscript whose date is 1686, the word occurs several times. There is also abundant documentary evidence to show that the word Lodge was long before the eighteenth century, applied to their meeting by the Freemasons of England and Scotland. Before the restoration of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717, Brother Preston tells us that any number of Brethren might assemble at any place for the performance of work, and, when so assembled, were authorized to receive into the Order Brothers and Fellows, and to practise the Rites of Freemasonry.
The ancient charges were the only standard for the regulation of their conduct. The Master of the Lodge was elected pro tempore, for the time being, and his authority terminated with the dissolution of the meeting over which he had presided, unless the Lodge was permanently established at any particular place. To the General Assembly of the Craft, held once or twice a year, all the Brethren indiscriminately were amenable, and to that power alone. But on the formation of Grand Lodges, this inherent right of assembling was voluntarily surrendered by the Brethren and Lodges, and vested in the Grand Lodge. And from this time Warrants of Constitution date their existence.
Dr. George Oliver in the Freemasonz Quarterly Revieuw, 1844, has given us a description of an English Lodge about the year 1801, which is well worth insertion here as showing the practices of the Brethren at that time:
The appointments and arrangements of the Masonic Lodge-room were then very different to our present praetise. A long table was extended from one end of the room to the other covered with a green cloth, on which were placed duplicates of the ornaments furniture, and jewels, intermixed with Masonic glasses for refreshment. At one end of this table was placed the Master's pedestal, and at the other that of the Senior Warden while about the middle of the table, in the south, the Junior Warden was placed and the Brethren sat round as at a comman ordinary. When there was an initiation the candidate was paraded outside the whole- and, on such occasions after he had been safely deposited at the north-east angle of the Lodge, a very short explanation of the design of Freemasonry or a brief portion of the lecture, vras considered sufficient before the Lodge was called from labour to refreshment. The song, the toast, and sentiment went merrily round, and it was not until the Brethren were tolerably satiated, that the Lodge was resumed, and the routine busuless trwnsseted before closing.
The mode of bringing a Lodge into existence under the present system in the United States of America is as follows: Seven Master Masons, being desirous of establishing a Lodge, apply by petition to the Grand Master, who will, if he thinks proper, issue his Dispensation authorizing them to congregate as Freemasons in a Lodge, and therein to confer the three Degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry. This instrument is of force during the pleasure of the Grand Master At the next meeting of the Grand Lodge it expires; and is surrendered to the Grand Lodge, which, if there be no objection, will issue a Charter, technically called a Warrant of Constitution, whereby the Body i8 permanently established as a Lodge, and as one of the constituents of the Grand Lodge.
The power of granting Warrants of Constitution is vested in the Grand Lodges of Scotland, Ireland, Germany, and France, as it is in America; but in England the rule is different, and there the prerogative is vested in the Grand Master. A Lodge thus constituted consists, in the American system, of the following officers: Worshipful Master, Senior and Junior Wardens, Treasurer, Secretary, Senior and Junior Deacons, two or more Stewards, and a Tiler. Under the English Constitution the officers are, in addition to these, a Director of Ceremonies, a Chaplain, an Inner Guard, an Organist, and an Almoner.
In a Lodge of the French Rite, the officers are still more numerous. They are Le Venerable or Worshipful Master, Premier and Second Surveillants or Senior and Junior Wardens, Orator, Treasurer, Secretary, Hospitaler or Collector of Alms, the Expert, combining the duties of the Senior Deacon and an Examining Committee, Master of Ceremonies, Architecte, who attends to the decoration of the Lodge, and superintends the financial department, Archiviste or Librarian, Keeper of the Seal, Master of the Banquets or Steward, and Guardian of the Temple or Tiler.
The officers in a Lodge of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite are a Master, two Wardens, Orator, Treasurer, Secretary, Almoner, Expert, Assistant Expert, Master of Ceremonies, Almoner, Steward, Tiler, and sometimes a few others as Pursuivant, and Keeper of the Seals.
In other Rites and countries the officers vary to a slight extent, but everywhere there are four officers who always are found, and who may therefore be considered as indispensable, namely, the Master, two Wardens, and Tiler. A Lodge thus constituted is a Lodge of Master Masons. Strictly and legally speaking, such a Body as a Lodge of Entered Apprentices or of Fellow Crafts is not known under the present Masonic system. No Warrant is ever granted for an Apprentices' or Fellow Crafts' Lodge, and without a Warrant a Lodge cannot exist.
The Warrant granted is always for a Master's Lodge, and the members composing it are all Master Masons. The Lodges mentioned by Wren and Hope, to which allusion has been made, and which were congregated, in the Middle Ages, around the edifices which the Freemasons were constructing, were properly Fellow Crafts Lodge, because all the members were Fellow Crafts; even the Master being merely a gradation of rank, not a degree of knowledge.
So at the Revival of Freemasonry in 1717, the Lodges were Entered Apprentices Lodges, because in them nothing but the First Degree was conferred, and nearly all the members were Entered Apprentices. But when the Grand Lodge, where only at first the Fellow Craft and Master's Degree were conferred, permitted them to be conferred in the subordinate Lodges, then the Degree of Master Mason was sought for by all the Craft, and became the object of every Freemason's ambition. From that time the Craft became Master Freemasons, and the First and Second Degrees were considered only as preliminary steps. So it has remained to this day; and all modern Lodges, wherever Freemasonry has extended, are Masters' Lodges, and nothing less.
Sometimes Secretaries will record in their Minutes that "the Lodge of Master Masons was closed and a Lodge of Entered Apprentices was opened." Neither written nor unwritten law sanctions any such phraseology. If the Lodge of Master Masons is closed, there is an end of the Masonic Congregation. Where is the Warrant under which a Lodge of Entered Apprentices is opened, and how can a Lodge, in which there is not, probably, a single Apprentice, but where all the officers and all the members are Master Masons, be called a Lodge of Apprentices?
The instruction has wisely provided for the avoidance of such an anomaly, and, seeing that the Warrant provides that the Lodge of Master Masons is empowered to make Apprentices and Fellow Crafts, it says, "the Lodge was opened on the First Degree." That is to say, the Lodge of Masters still retaining its character as a Masters' Lodge, without which it would lose its legality, and not venturing to open a kind of Lodge for which its members had no Warrant nor authority, simply placed itself on the points of a Degree in which it was about to give instruction.
Some of the instructions speak, it is true, of Lodges composed in ancient times of Masters and Fellow Crafts or Masters and Apprentices; and the Webb Lectures tell us that at the Temple of Solomon the Lodges of Entered Apprentices consisted of one Master and six Apprentices, and the Lodges of Fellow Crafts of two Masters and three Fellow-Crafts. But all this is purely symbolic, and has no real existence in the practical working of the Order. No one in these days has seen a Lodge of one Master Mason and six Ape prentices. The Freemasons working in the First Degree are as much Master Masons as the same Freemasons are when they are working in the Third. The Lodge legally is the same, though it may vary the subjects of its instruction so as to have them in the First, Second, or Third Degree.
So important a feature in Freemasonry as a Lodge, the congregations of Freemasons for work or worship, cannot be without its appropriate symbolism. Hence a Lodge when duly opened becomes a symbol of the world. Its covering is like the world's, a sky or Clouded Canopy, to reach which, as the abode of those who do the will of the Grand Architect, it is furnished with the theological ladder, which reaches from earth to heaven; and it is illuminated as is the world, by the refulgent rays of the sun, symbolically represented in his rising in the East, his meridian height in the South, and his setting in the West; and lastly, its very form,
a long quadrangle or oblong square, is in reference to the early tradition that such was the shape of the inhabited world.
3. The Lodge, technically speaking, is a piece of furniture made in imitation of the Ark of the Covenant, which was constructed by Bezaleel (Exodus xxxvii, 1), according to the form prescribed by God Himself, and which, after the erection of the Temple, was kept in the Holy of Holies. As that contained the Tables of the Laws, the Lodge contains the Book of Constitutions and the Warrant of Constitution granted by the Grand Lodge. It is used only in certain ceremonies, such as the Constitution and Consecration of new Lodges, but its use is obsolete in England.
We may here add to Doctor Mackey's comments, that the old ceremonies recorded by Brother Preston mention the Lodge as a piece of furniture. For example, in the Appendix, I llustrations of Masonry
(first edition, 1772, pages 219, 220), Ceremony of Consecration, we read:
The Grand Master, attended by his Officers, and some dignified ClerQman, form themselves in order round the Lodge in the center; and, all devoutly kneeling the preparatory prayer is rehearsed. The chaplain produees his authority, and being properly assisted, proeeeds to consecrate. Solemn music strikes up, and the necessary preparations are made. The first clause of the consecration prayer is rehearsed, all devoutly kneeling; and the response is made, Glory to God on High. Ineense is scattered over the lodge and the grand honors of Masonry are given.
These two references to the Lodge as a piece of furniture are supplemented by a similar but more extended account in later instanced as in Brother Preston's Illustrations of Masonry (twelfth edition, 1812, page 79), where the first reference to the Lodge reads:
The Lodge being covered with white satin, the eeremony of Consecration commences. All devoutly kneel
and the preparatory prayer is rehearsed. The chaplain or orator produces his authority, the Constitution Roll and being properly assisted, proceeds to consecrates corn, wine, and oil are the elements of eonseeration. Solemn music is introduced, while the necessary preparations are making.
The Lodge being then uncovered, the first clause of the consecration prayer is rehearsed all devoutly kneeling. The response being made, Glory to God on High, incense is scattered over the Lodge, and the grand honours are given. The Invoeation is then pronounced, with the honours; after which the eonseeration prayer is concluded, and the response repeated as before, together with the honours. The Lodge being again covered, all the brethren rise up solemn music is resumed, a blessing is given, and the response made as before, accompanied with the honours. An anthem is then sung, and the Brethren of the new Lodge having advanced according to rank, and offered homage to tho C!,rand Master, the ceremony of consecration ends.
The reader will note the distinction made in the above ceremony between the Lodge being an organized Masonic Body of authorized Brethren consecrated around a Lodge, this latter being a part of the furniture required for that ceremonial.
On page 95 of the above work (edition of 1812), we find that at the Dedication of Masons Halls the procession ineludes "Four Tylers carrying the Lodge covered with white satin." Later on, after the procession arrives in the Hall and proceeds three times about it, "The Lodge is then placed in the centre, on a crimson velvet couch." Wlien the officers have taken their places "The Three Great Lights, and the gold and silver pitchers, with the corn, wine, and oil, are placed on the dodge." We also have the tiling of the Lodge
but here the reference is assuredly to the whole assembly. Then "the Lodge being uncovered" we have a procession around. Later comes the Chaplain who "strews corn over the Lodge." Subsequently wine is sprinkled on it, and oil, and finally "the Lodge being covered, the Grand Mastér retires to his chair, and the business of Masonry is adjourned. "
Page 289 records a similar procession at the consent oration of a Lodge at Madras in 1787, "The Lodge, covered with white satin, carried by four Tylers."
Thus we have the Lodge as an Ark, and Brother Woodford suggests that it is not here the Ark of the Covenant but the Ark of Noah. However, it is the designated place and may bs of various forms provided the requisite associations are preserved. Brother Mackenzie defines it as "a piece of furniture containing the Archives and important documents connected with the ceremonials of Masonry, and is only used on grand occasions." But other forms are favored, as for instance the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania provides in Constituting a Lodge that in the preparations "The Lodge or floor cloth is to be placed near the center of the Lodge room, with the three vessels thereon, containing the elements of consecration, Corn, Wine, and Oil, and is to be covered." A like arrangement is seen for the Dedication of a Masonic Hall in that Jurisdiction (see pages 93 and 121, Ahiman Rezon, Pennsylvania, 5915).
The distinction between a church as a building and as a congregation is a case in point. The Bible speaks of "the church that is in their house (Romans xvi, 5), and the Masonic Ark or the Floor Cloth is the place of consecration, a lodging place around which the Brethren form into a Lodge of Freemasons.
For the Masonic Festival of June 24,1926, Brother J. C. Stewart, Poet-Laureate of Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, No. 2, Edinburgh, Scotland, wrote a fine tribute to the permanency of the Lodge:
- TEE LODGE: LIVES ON
- (Stat Fortuna Domus)
- Our generations fleet and pass:
- Earth's strongest scion bows the head
- And withers, like to sunlmer grass,
- And joins the innumerable dead:
- But when the sons of Time are gone,
- The Lodge lives on, the Lodge lives on!
- Time's ravages doth Time repair,
- Time s deepest wounds are healed of Time:
- The Master passes from the Chair,
- The Warden to the Chair doth climb:
- Master and Warden soon are gone,
- The Lodge lives on, the Lodge lives on!
- The bard who sang in other days,
- And woke a nation's heart to fire,
- Is dead, and wears immortal bays,
- And feeble hands must strike his lyre:
- The voice of Robert Burns is gone
- The Lodge lives on, the Lodge lives on!
- No Temple is so stoutly barred
- But it can entered be by Death:
- Keep he the closest watch and ward
- The trustiest Tyler yields his breath:
- Outer and Inner Guard are gone,
- The Lodge lives on, the Lodge lives on!
- The torch of light is handed down
- The ages that so swiftly flee;
- Out of our frailty comes renown
- And life from our mortality:
- The pomps of yesteryear are gone,
- The Lodge lives on, the Lodge lives on.
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