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OBLIGATED.
To be obligated, in Masonic language, is to be admitted into the Covenant of Freemasonry. "is obligated Freemason" is tautological, needless repetition, because there can be no Freemason who is not an obligated one.
OBLIGATION.
The solemn promise made by a Freemason on his admission into any Degree is technically called his obligation. In a legal sense, obligation is synonymous with duty. Its derivation shows its true meaning, for the Latin word obligatio literally signifies a tying or binding. The obligation is that which binds a man to do some act, the doing of which thus becomes his duty. By his obligation, a Freemason is bound or tied to his Order. Hence the Romans called the military oath which was taken by the soldier his obligation, and, too, it is said that it is the obligation that makes the Freemason.
Before that ceremony, there is no tie that binds the candidate to the Order so as to make him a part of it; after the ceremony, the tie has been completed, and the candidate becomes at once a Freemason, entitled to all the rights and privileges and subject to all the duties and responsibilities that enure in that character. The jurists have divided obligations into imperfect and perfect, or natural and civil. In Freemasonry there is no such distinction.
The Masonic obligation is that moral one which, although it cannot be enforced by the courts of lav, is binding on the party who makes it, in conscience and according to moral justice. It varies in each Degree, but in each is perfect. Its various clauses, in which different duties are prescribed, are called its points, which are either affirmative or negative, a division like that of the precepts of the Jewish law. The affirmative points are those which require certain acts to be performed; the negative points are those which forbid certain other acts to be done. The whole of them is preceded by a general point of secrecy, common to all the Degrees, and this point is called the tie.
OBLONG SQUARE.
A parallelogram, or foursided figure, all of whose angles are equal, but two of whose sides are longer than the others. Of course the term oblong square is strictly without any meaning, but it is used to denote two.squares joined together to form a rectangle.

Brother Sir Walter Scott (in chapter vii of his novel Ivanhoe) has a description of a tournament and tells of the enclosure 'sforming a space of a quarter of a mile in length, and about half as broad. The form of the enclosure was an oblong square, save that the corners were considerably rounded off in order to afford more convenience for the spectators."
Brother C. C. Hunt (Builder, volume ii, page 128), says it is the survival of a term once common but now obsolete; that at one time the word square meant right-angled, and the term a square referred to a four sided figure, having four right angles, without regard to the proportionate length of adjacent sides. There were thus two classes of squares; those having all four sides equal, and those having two parallel sides longer than the other two. The first class were called perfect squares and the second class ob1t squares (see Orientation).
This is the symbolic form of a Masonic Lodge, and it finds its prototype in many of the structures of our ancient Brethren. The Ark of Noah, the Camp of the Israelites, the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, and, lastly, the Temple of Solomon, were all oblong squares (see Ground Floor of the Lodge).
OBOTH.
Ventriloquism. It will be found so denominated in the Septuagint version, Isaiah xxix, 3, also xix, 3.
OBRACK, HIBERNUS.
Grand Master of the Order of the Temple in 1392, according to the chronology of the Strict Observance of Germany.
O'BRIEN, JEREMIAH.
Born in 1744 at Scarborough, Maine, and died September 5, 1818, in Machias, Maine, in which town the family of O'Brien settled down and lived shortly after the birth of Jeremiah. He was a Captain in the American Navy in the War of the Revolution, capturing many prizes, and winning much renown due to his bravery and perseverance. He had five brothers, all of whom followed the sea.
Record says that Jeremiah O'Brien made the first fight and captured the first British armed vessel at the beginning of the Revolutionary War in 1775. Later in life he became Collector of Customs at Machias. He also served in Congress, and in the War of 1812 he was made a Colonel. Captain O'Brien was a Freemason of the Lodge of Saint Andrew, in Boston, beginning December 11, 1777, and receiving his Master's Degree March 26, 1778. It is known that at least three of his brothers were active Masons, and Jeremiah, with his father, Morris, started the Warren Lodge in Machias under the Grand Lodge.
Jeremiah was its first Junior Deacon and its Senior Warden in 17824. Up to the time of his death he wore a queue, knee breeches, and low shoes with large shoe buckles, and it is said that he never used stimulants except snuff, which in his dav was a common custom. Jeremiah and his father, Morris, were founders and pew holders of the Congregational Church in Machias.
He was buried as he wished in the O'Brien burying ground on the southerly side of the Machias River at Machias. The stone sacred to his memory may be said liter ally to "lie like a tombstone," as it states he was seventy-nine years old, whereas the dates stated show he was born in 1744 and died in 1818, making him seventy-four vears of age at the time of his death. In the Maine Historical Society-' publications, and in the History of Machias, are extended biographies.

Brother Charles T. Gallagher said, in Proceedings, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, 1918 (page 49):
When Revolutionars heroes were being honored I received word from Most Worshipful Brother George W Baird, of Washington, District of Columbia, that a proposition was before a Congressional Committee to appropriate money for a monument to Jeremiah O'Brien an Irish-American, ete. It had the support of the usuail politician who was looking for patronage and the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Knights of Columbus joined in its support. Answering Brother Baird's inquiries, I told him of the O'Brien Masonic connections as above related and the Admiral appeared before the Committee with them. Some of the numerous societies thought this hero was at least entitled to be called an unhyphenated American, and the original supporters thereupon abandoned their first love to his fate.
Our own Ex-Governor Long as Secretary of the Navy, however, thought the name entitled to consideration and under his influence a destroyer of our Navy was named for him. The O'Brien was launched at 8:30 A.M. September 24, 1900, being christened by a lineal descendant of Joseph the youngest of the six O'Brien boys. And thus, with the O' Brien Rifles which formed part of Maine's quota in the Spanish American War, the name of this enterprising American family with its Masonic affiliations gives us cause to be proud of their achievements; although the official order for the naming of the torpedo boat states it is on account of "Jeremiah O'Brien," he who was our Brother in Freemasonry.
OBSERVANCE, CLERKS OF STRICT.
See Clerks of Strict Obseavance.
OBSERVANCE, LAX.
See Lax Observance.
OBSERVANCE, RELAXED.
The French expression is Observance Relachée. This is the term by which Ragon translates the lata observantia or lax observance applied by the disciples of Von Hund to the other Lodges of Germany. Ragon (Orthodoxis Maconnique, page 236) calls it incorrectly a Rite, and confounds it with the Clerks of Strict Observance (see Laz Observance).
OBSERVANCE, STRICT.
See Strict Observance, Rite of.
OBVERSE.
In numismatics that side of a coin or medal which contains the principal figure, generally a face in profile or a full or half-length figure, is called the obverse.
OCCASIONAL LODGE.
A temporary Lodge con-voked by a Grand Master, as for the purpose of making Freemasons, after which the Lodge is dissolved. The phrase was first used by Anderson in the second edition of the Book of Constitutions, and is repeated by subsequent editors. To make a Freemason in an Occasional Lodge is equivalent to making him "at sight." But any Lodge, called temporarily by the Grand Master for a specific purpose and immediately afterward dissolved, is an Occasional Lodge. Its organization as to officers, and its regulations as to ritual, must be the same as in a permanent and properly warranted Lodge (see Sight, Making Freemasons at).
OCCULT MASONRY.
Ragon, in his Orthodoxie Maconnique, proposes the establishment of a Masonic system, which he calls "Occult Masonry." It consists of three Degrees, which are the same as those of Ancient Craft Freemasonry, only that all the symbols are interpreted after alchemical principles. It is, in fact, the application of Masonic symbolism to Hermetic symbolism—two things that never did, according to Hitchcock, materially differ.
OCCULT SCIENCES.
This name is given to the sciences of alchemy, magic, and astrology, which existed in the Middle Ages. Many of the speculations of these so-called sciences were in the eighteenth century made use of in the construction of the higher Degrees. We have even a Hermetic Rite which is — based on the dogmas of alchemy.
OCCUPIED TERRITORY.
A state or kingdom where there is a Grand Lodge organization and subordinate Lodges working under it is said to be occupied territory, and, by the American and English law, all other Grand Lodges are precluded from entering it and exercising jurisdiction (see Jurisdiction of a Grand Lodge).
OCEANIA. Fiji Islands.
Marquesas Islands.
New Caledonia.
Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands.
Society Islands.
Timor Island.
Includes all the islands of the Pacific Ocean between the southeastern shores of Asia and the western shores of America.
Fiji Islands.
On March 12, 1872, Polynesia Lodge established itself at Levuka with the full consent of the native King. Britain took possession of the Island in 1874 and a Scottish Lodge was constituted under the same name and met at the same place as the Lodge of 1872.
Marquesas Islands.
The Life of the Craft in these Islands was short- L'Amitie (Friendship) Lodge, opened at Nukihiva by the Grand Orient of France in 1850, soon passed out of existence.
New Caledonia.
In 1854 France took possession of New Caledonia to use it as a convict settlement. Fourteen years later the Grand Orient of France constituted a Lodge at Noumea. Western Polynesia Lodge, warranted by the Grand Lodge of England on June 1, 1880, and constituted October 29, was also located at Noumea. It is now number 86 on the register of the Grand Lodge of New South Wales.
Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands.
The Supreme Council of France warranted Le Progres de l'Oceanie (Progress of Oceania) here in 1850. Two other Lodges were instituted under the control of the Grand Lodge of California. The King of the Islands, Kalakaua, and his brother were both active members of the Craft, the former being elected an honorary Grand Master of the National Grand Lodge of Egypt.
Society Islands.
The Craft was made known in Tahiti in 1834 when the Grand Orient of France established L'Oceanie Francaise (French Oceania) Lodge One of the same name was opened in 1850 but neither of the two has survived. Other French a Lodges have, however, since been established.
Timor Island.
In 1910 Oceania Lodge was constituted here by the Grand Orient of Portugal.
OCTAGON.
The regular octagon is a geometrical figure of eight equal sides and angles. It is a favorite form in Christian ecclesiology, and most of the Chapter-Houses of the cathedrals in England are eight sided. It is sometimes used in the lectures of the Knights of Malta, and then, like the eight-pointed eross of the same Order, is referred symbolically to the eight beatitudes of Jesus (Matthew, volumes 1-11). Doctor Mackey in this comparison regards, as has been the case with other authorities (see Peak's Commentary on the Bible, 1919, page 704) the nine references to the beatitudes in as many verses to be counted as eight declarations of special blessedness m the Sermon on the Mount, verses 10-2 to have a single import. We may also compare the four references in Luke vi, 20-2.
ODD NUMBERS.
In the numerical philosophy Of the Pythagoreans, odd numbers were male and even numbers female. It is wrong, however, to say, as Brother Oliver and some others after him have that odd numbers were perfect, and even numbers imperfect. The combination of two odd numbers would make an even number, which was the most perfect. Hence, in the Pythagorean system, 4, made by the combination of 1 and 3; and 10, made by the addition of 3 and 7, are the most perfect of all numbers. Herein the Pythagorean differs from the Masonic system of nurnerals. In this latter all the sacred numbers are odd, such 3S 3, a, 7, 9, 97 and 81. Thus it is evident that the Masonic theory of sacred numbers was derived, not, as it has been supposed, from the school of Pythagoras, but from a much older system (see Numbers).
ODEM.
The Hebrew word are. The carnelian or agate in the High Priest's breastplate. It was of a red color, and claimed to possess medical qualities.
ODIN.
The chief Scandinavian deity and father of Balder, which see. The counterpart of Hermes and Mercury in the Egyptian and Roman mythologies. Odin and his brothers Vili and Ve, the sons of Boer, or the first-born, slew Ymir or Chaos, and from his body created the world. As ruler of heaven, he sends daily his two black ravens, Thought and Memory, to gather tidings of all that is being done throughout the world.
OFFENSES, MASONIC.
See Crimes, Masonic.
OFFERINGS, THREE GRAND.
See Ground Floor of the Lodge.
OFFICERS.
The officers of a Grand Lodge, Grand Chapter, or other Supreme Body in Freemasonry, are divided into Grand and Subordinate; the former, who are the Grand and Deputy Grand Master, the Grand Wardens and Grand Treasurer, Secretary, and Chaplain, are also sometimes called the Dignitaries. The officers of a Lodge or Chapter are divided into the Elected and the Appointed, the former in the United States of America being the Master, Wardens, Treasurer, and Secretary, while in England only the Master and Treasurer are elected.
OFFICERS' JEWELS.
See Jewels, Official.
OFFICERS OF FRENCH LODGES.
The office of Orator exists throughout Continental Freemasonry. He is presumed to be a Brother of some eloquence and facility of speech who is called upon to deliver an oration whenever thought advisable.
Moreover, his duty is to wind up every discussion in the Lodge, in an impartial light placing the arguments adduced by the Brethren but at the same time expressing his own opinion of their value and correctness. No Brother is allowed to speak on any subject after the Orator has had his say and the vote is then immediately taken. The office has not been usual in England but the Lodge of Antiquity No. 2 still appoints an Orator. To the above comments by Brother George W. Speth in the Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge, we may add that Brother Oswald Wirth of Paris made a suggestive explanation in brief, regarding the offices of Orator and Secretary of a Lodge something after thefollowing effect- "The Orator voices the conscience of the Lodge—the Secretary is its memory."

Brother Speth explains thq use of several Brethren as Tylers thus: In one of the letters which eame under my observation which is signed by some score of officers of the Bordeaux Lodge, there were no less than six who signed themselves Tuilleur. I can only make the suggestion on this matter without certainty that I am right.
I believe that at that time and especially abroad the Tiler was not a paid servant of the Lodge. If this is the case it is evident that the Tiler's duties must have been performed by a member of the Lodge, and in order that there should be a sufficient number present, and that moreover they should be able to share the duties of the evening so as to avoid any one of those spending the whole time with the door, several Brothers would hold the office at the same time. I think the duties of Inner Guard were also performed by one of the Tilers.
The Expert is, I fancy, never met in English Masonry. According to information I gathered in Antwerp, the duty of the Expert is to be expert in the ceremonies as he is liable to be called upon by the Worshipful Master to fill any post which may happen to be vacant for the moment. He is, therefore, the understudy of the whole body of officers, a superior sort of general utility man. The Frere Terrible is still a Continental Lodge officer..
His duties are to prepare the candidate in the several stages and introduce him into the Lodge Continental preparation differs widely from ours and is taken much more seriously, not only the body but also the mind must be prepared. In the earls days the foolish and reprehensible habit of thoughtless English Brethren who directly hinted at red-hot pokers, etc., was far outdone by the ministrations of the Frere Terrible nor were there wanting features in the Lodge ceremonial abroad directly intended to startle and test the nerves of the entrant.
The name Terrible, in Germans Schreckensbruder, was therefore fit enough. I am glad to think that his functions todays no longer justify his appellation. His exhortations are rather directed to the intellect than to the senses. I am by no means sure that he did not also officiate as Inner Guard. Diane of the French plates professing to show our ceremonial, place at the door a brother armed with a Word whom we should unhesitatingly call the Inner Guard if it were not for the fact that the references below call him the Terrible. But how far can we trust these plates?

Brother Thomson Foley (Transaction, Quatuor Coronati Lodge, 1899, volume xii, page 102), says that "Constitutional Lodge No. 294 at Beverly annually appoints an Orator. The first recorded appointment is William Acklam, the founder of the Lodge and its first Worshipful Master in 1793." Brother E. J. Barron also contributed the following comment: "In the By-Laws of Antiquity Lodge of 1820 is the following:
'The Orator shall deliver such eulogiums, congratulatory or funeral orations, and lectures as by the Master may be deemed necessary. " ' Lodge Le Césarée, No. 590, Jersey, of the English Constitution, works in the French language and has an Orator. The office was formerly most important as before the connection between the English Grand Lodge and the Grand Orient of France was severed, there was a frequent interchange of visits with the Lodges in Brittanv.
On these occasions it nas expected that the Orator should make an elaborate flowery speech and therefore it was of the greatest consequence that he should not only be eloquent but also full of tact. "We have for some time past styled our Deacons Experts particularly because their duties are more akin to those of the French Experts and practically because the ritual we at present use so names them. We use Respectable as exactly equivalent to Worshipful except in the case of the Worshipful Master, who is Venerable. All our Past Masters are termed Respectable."

Clavel (Histoire Pittoresque, pages 6 and 7, 1844), has a list of officers and their duties under the Grand Orient of France. Clavel tells us that Freemasons who are strangers to the Lodge upon presenting themselves for purposes of visitation are Tiled, that is to say, examined by the Expert. He also says that it is either the Expert or his substitute, the Frere Terrible, who prepares the candidate and conducts him during the course of the proofs to which he is submitting. Me also states that the Orator pronounces the discourses of instruction. He requires the observance of the General Laws of Freemasonry and of the particular By-Laws of the Lodge if he detects the infringement of them. In all debates he gives his logical conclusions immediately before the summing up bt the Worship ful Master.
OFFICE, TENURE OF.
In Freemasonry the tenure of every office is not only for the tilne for which the incumbent was elected or appointed, but extends to the day on which his successor is installed During the period which elapses from the election of that suecessor until his installation, the old officer is technically said to "hold-over."
OGMIUS.
The Druidical name for Hercules who is represented with numberless fine chains proceeding from the mouth to the ears of other people, hence possessing the powers of eloquence and persuasion.
OHEB ELOAH.
The Hebrew words meaning Love of God. This and Oheb Karobo, meaning Love of our Neighbor, are the names of the two supports of the Ladder of Kadosh. Collectively, they allude to that Divine passage, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and mith all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matthew xxii, 3740)." Hence the Ladder of Kadosh is supported by these two Christian commandments.
OHEB KAROBO.
See Oheb Eloah.
OHIO.
With the close of the War of the Revolution came the introduction of Freemasonry to Ohio. Several members, including Brother Jonathan heart the Master of American Union Lodge, moved tee Marietta. Their Charter, granted bv the Saint John's Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, February 15 1776, was claimed by Brother Heart to be that of a Lodge at large, owing allegiance to no Grand Lodge. A few years later the Charter was destroyed by fire. but the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania refused to issue a new one to the Lodge except as to one of its constituents.
The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts granted leave for work to be resumed under a eop!t of the original Charter until such time as a Grand Lodge should be formed. On January 4, 1808, delegates to a Convention to organize a Grand Lodge met representing five Lodges, namely, American pinion, No. 1; Cincinnati, No. 13; Seioto, No. 9; Erie, No. 47; Amit!, No. 105. Rules were adopted and the first Mondan in January, 1809, was appointed for a Grand Communication at Chillicothe.
At this Communication the delegates from American Union Lodge were absent, so the Grand Lodge was established by four Lodges under the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. Grand Officers were elected and installed and Brother Samuel Huntington then Governor of Ohio, was elected Grand Master General Rufus Putnam lvas the first choice but his age and infirmities compelled him to decline the office of Grand Masters his letter, characteristically Masonic, closing with the words: "May the Great Architect, under whose all-seeing eye all Masons profess to labor, have vou in His holy keeping, that when our labors here are finished, we may, through the merits of Him that was dead, but now is alive, and lives forevermore, be admitted into that temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; Amen. So prays your friend and Brother."

A Chapter was opened at Marietta on June l6, 1792, under authority of the Warrant of American Union Lodge, by Robert Oliver, Rufus Putnam and Griffin Green. At a further meeting held on December , 1792, the Brethren organized and elected these three as the principal officers. R. J. Weigh was elected Secretary and Joseph Wood, Treasurer. On October 21, 1816, on the invitation of Cincinnati Chapter a meeting was held at Worthington for the purpose of forming a Grand Chapter which was duly opened on the 94th.
Three Chapters were represented, American Union, NO. 1; Cincinnati, No. 2; Horeb, No. 3. Samuel Hoit was elected Grand High Priest and Benjamin Gardiner Grand Secretary of the new Body which was received into the Union of the State Grand Chapters. The earliest record of the organization of a Council of High Priests dates from 1828 and appears in the Proceedings of the Grand Council of Ohio. Companion John Snow was elected President of this Council.
A Charter for a Council at Chillieothe was sent in 1817 by Companion Jeremy L. Cross after he hael visited Ohio, but there is no record of the organization of that Council. A Charter, issued by the Grand Council of New York, this time for a Council at Cleveland, was also barren of result. Companion John Barker, however, organized several Couneils in Ohio during 1827 and 1828. Five of these Couneils met on January 6, 1830, and formed a Grand Council for the State of Ohio.
The first Commandery in the State mas also the first to be established by Knights Templar west of the Allegheny Mountains. Sir Thomas Smith Webb, Deputy Grand Commander of the Grand Encampment of the United States. on Mareh 14, 1819, granted a Dispensation to Mount Vernon Commandery, No.1, at Worthington. A Charter was issued September 16, 1819, and the Commandery was duly constituted September 20. Five Commanderies, namely, Mount Vernon, no 1; Lancaster, No. 2; Cincinnati, No. 3; Massillon, No. 4, and Clinton, No. 5, met and organized the Grand Commandery of Ohio on October 14, 1843.

On April 27, 1853, the Gibulum Lodge of Perfection and the Dalcho Council of Princes of Jerusalem at Cincinnati were chartered. The Cincinnati Chapter of Rose Croix was chartered December 27, 1853, and the Ohio Consistory on May 14, 1854. These are constituent Bodies of the Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

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