ORDER, RULES OF.
Every permanent de liberative Body adopts a code of rules of order to suit itself; but there are certain rules derived from what may be called the Common Law of Congress and Parliament, the wisdom of which having been proven by long experience, that have been deemed of force
at all times and places, and are, with a few necessary exceptions, as applicable to Lodges as to other societies. The rules of order, sanctioned by uninterrupted usage and approved by all authorities, may be enumerated under the following distinct heads, as applied to a Masonic
Body:
1. Two independent original propositions cannot be presented at the same time to the meeting.
2. A subsidiary motion eannot be offered out of its rank of precedence.
3. When a Brother intends to speak, he is required to stand up in his place, and to address himself always to the presiding officer.
4. When two or more Brethren rise nearly at the same time, the presiding officer will indicate, by mentioning his name, the one who, in his opinion, is entitled to the floor.
5. A Brother is not to be interrupted by any other member, except for the purpose of calling him to order.
6. No Brother can speak oftener than the rules permitbut this rule may be dispensed with by the Master.
7. No one is to disturb the speaker by hissing unneeessary eoughing, loud whispering, or other unseemly noise, nor should he pass between the speaker and the presiding officer.
8. No personality, abusive remarks, or other improper language should be used by any Brother in debate.
9. If the presiding officer rises to speak while a Brother is on the floor, that Brother should immediately sit down, that the presiding officer may be heard.
10. Everyone who speaks should speak to the question.
11. As a sequence to this, it follows that there can be no speaking unless there be a question before the Lodge. There must always be a motion of some kind to authorize a debate.
For additional information consult Doctor Mackey's revised Jurisprudence of Freemasonry.
ORDERS OF ARCHITECTURE.
An order in architecture is a system or assemblage of parts subject to certain uniform established proportions regulated by the office which such part has to perform, so that the disposition, in a peculiar form, of the members and ornaments, and the proportion of the columns and pilasters, is called an order. There are five orders of architecture, the Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan, and Composite—the first three being of Greek and the last two of Italian origin (see each in this work under its respective title). Considering that the orders of architecture must have constituted one of the most important subjects of contemplation to the Operative Masons of the Middle Ages, and that they afforded a fertile source for their symbolism, it is strange that so little allusion is made to them in the primitive lectures and in the earliest catechisms of the eighteenth century. In the earliest catechism extant, they are simply enumerated, and said to answer "to the base, perpendicular, diameter, circumference, and square"; but no explanation is given of this reference. Nor sire they referred to in the Legend of the Craft, or in any of the Old Constitutions. Preston however, introduced them into his system of lectures, and designated the three most ancient orders—the Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian—as symbols of wisdom, strength, and beauty, and referred them to the three original Grand Masters. This symbolism has ever since been retained; and, notwithstanding the reticence of the earlier ritualists, there is abundant evidence, in the architectural remains of the Middle
Ages, that it was known to the old Operative Freemasons.
ORDERS OF ARCHITECTURE, EGYPTIAN.
The Egyptians had a system of architecture peculiar to themselves, which, says Barlow (Essays on Symbolistrns, page 30), "should indicate a people of grand ideas, and of confirmed religious convictions." It was massive, and without the airy proportions of the Greek Orders. It was, too, eminently symbolic and among its ornaments the lotus leaf and plant predominated as a symbol of regeneration. Among the peculiar forms of the Egyptian architecture were the fluted column, which suggested the Ionic Order to the Greeks, and the basket capital adorned with the lotus, which, afterward became the Corinthian. To the Masonic student, the Egyptian style of architecture becomes interesting, because it was undoubtedly followed by King Solomon in his construction of the Temple. The great similarity between the pillars of the porch and the columns in front of Egyptian temples is very apparent. Our translators have, however, unfortunately substituted the lily for the lotus in their version.
ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD.
An order of knighthood is a confraternity of knights bound by the same rules. Of these there are many in every kingdom of Europe, bestowed by sovereigns on their subjects as marks of honor and rewards of merit. Such, for instance, are in England the Knights of the Garter; in Scotland the Knights of Saint Andrew; and in Ireland the Knights of Saint Patrick. But the only Orders of Knighthood that have had any historical relation to Freemasonry, except the Order of Charles XII in Sweden, are the three great religious and military Orders which were established in the Middle Ages.
These are the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaler or Knights of Malta, and the Teutonic Knights, each of which may be seen in this work under its respective title. Of these three, the Freemasons can really claim a connection only with the Templars. They alone had a secret initiation, and with them there is at least traditional evidence of a fusion. The Knights of Malta and the Teutonic Knights have always held themselves aloof from the Masonic Order. They never had a secret form of initiation; their reception was open and public; and the former Order, indeed, during the latter part of the eighteenth century, became the willing instruments of the Church in the persecution of the Freemasons who were at that time in the Island of Malta. There is, indeed, a Masonic Degree called Knight of Malta, but the existing remnant of the historical order has always repudiated it. With the Teutonic Knights, the Freemasons have no other connection than this, that in some of the advanced Degrees their peculiar cross has been adopted. An attempt has been made, but without reason, to identify the Teutonic Knights with the Prussian Knights, or Noachites.
ORDERS OF THE DAY.
In parliamentary law, propositions which preappointed for consideration at a particular hour and day are called the orders of the day. When the day arrives for their discussion, they taL:e precedence of all other matters, unless passed over by mutual consent or postponed to another day. The same rules in reference to these orders prevail in Masonic as in other assemblies. The parliamentary law is here applicable without modification to Masonic Bodies.
ORDINACIO.
The Old Constitutions known as the Halliwell or Regius Manuscript, fourteenth century, speak of an ordinacio in the sense of a law, "Alia ordinacio artis gemetriae (line 471). It is borrowed from the Roman law, where ordtnatio signified an Imperial Edict. In the Middle Ages, the word was used in the sense of a statute, or the decision of a judge.
ORDINATION.
At the close of the reception of a neophyte into the Order of Elect Cohens, the Master, while communicating tohimthemysterious words, touched himwith the thumb, index, and middle fingers, the other two being closed, on the forehead, heart, and side of the head, thus making the figure of a triangle . This ceremony was called the ordination.
ORDNUNGEN DER STEINMETZEN.
German, meaning Regukions of the Stonecutters. For an account of the Gerrnan Fraternity of Steinmetzen see StonoMasons of the Middle Ages.
ORDO AB CHAO.
A Latin expression, meaning Order out of Chaos. A motto of the Thirty-third Degree, and having the same allusion as lug e tenebris, which see in this work. The invention of this motto is to be attributed to the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish petite at Charleston, and it is first met with in the Patent of Count de Grasse, dated February 1, 1802. When De Grasse afterward carried the polite over to France and established a Supreme Council there, he changed the motto, and, according to Lenning, Ordo ab hoc, Order out of This, was used by him and his Council in all their documents. If so, it was simply a blunder.
OREGON.
The Grand Lodge of Missouri granted authority for the organization of Multnomah Lodge at Oregon City in 1848. When two other Lodges were opened under the Grand Lodge of California the requisite number for the formation of a Grand Lodge of Oregon was complete. On August 16, 1851, a Convention was held at Oregon City, with Brother Berryman Jennings in the Chair and Brother Benjamin Stark, Secretary, which decided in favor of a Grand Lodge. An address was sent out and a further meeting called for September 13, 1851. Multnomah, Willamette and Lafayette Lodges, the three then existing in the state, sent representatives, and Brothers John Elliott and W. S. Caldwell were elected Chairman and Secretary. Two days later a Constitution was adopted and Brothers Jennings and Stark were installed Grand Master and Grand Secretary respectively.
Multnomah Chapter, No. 1, Royal Arch Masons, at Salem, was granted a Dispensation about AprilMay, 1856, by the General Grand High Priest, Robert P.
Dunlap, Brunswick, Maine, and the first meeting held under this authority occurred on June 17 of the same year. Records of this Chapter were submitted to the General Grand Chapter at the Triennial Convocation in Hartford, Connecticut, later in the above year and a Charter was issued accordingly under the date of September 11, 1856. This Charter reached Salem in due course and Past Grand High Priest William H. Howard, Grand Chapter of Louisiana, was chosen to constitute the Chapter under the Charter Companion Howard residing in San Francisco, it was not until February 14, 1857, that the Chapter was legally constituted and the officers installed.
A Dispencation for Portland Chapter, No. 3, at Portland, was dated January 1, 1859, and the first meeting took place on February 12 of that year. A Charter for this Chaps ter was issued on September 15, 1859, and the officers installed on January 12, 1860. The Grand Chapter of Oregon was organized at Salem on September 18, 1860, by representatives of Multnomah Chapter, No. 1, Salem; Clackamas Chapter, No. 2, Oregon City Portland Chapter, No. 3, Portland, and Oregon Chaps ter, No. 4, Jacksonville. Clackamas Chapter, No. 9, and Oregon Chapter, No. 4, surrendered their Charters soon after the organization of the Grand Chapter of Oregon but were later on chartered anew with the same names and numbers as Clackamas Chapter No. 2, on June 12, 1893, and Oregon Chapter No. 4, on June 9, 1877.
Companion A. H. Hodson was authorized by the General Grand Master of the General Grand Council to convene a minimum of five Royal and Seleet Masters and to confer the Degrees upon not more than nine Royal Arch Masons. Pioneer Council, No. l, was therefore organized at McMinnville by Dispensation dated September 1, 1881. A Charter was issued August 14, 1883. A Convention composed of representatives from the three Councils in the State, namely, Pioneer, No. 1; Oregon, No. 2, and Washington, No. 3, was held on February 3, 1885, and a Grand Council was formed by Dispensation from General Grand Master George M. Osgoodby, dated December 15, 1884.
A Special Dispensation from the Grand Master of the Grand Encampment of the United States was issued December 10, 1875, for Oregon CoInmandery, Noel. A Regular Dispensation followed on February 15. On October 6, 1877, the Charter was signed and the first meeting as a chartered Commandery toolplaee on. October 22. The Grand Commandery of Oregon was organized in Albany, on Thursday, February 10,1887,and Sir Knight James F. Robinson was elected first Grand Commander. The Grand Master of the Grand Encampment, Charles Roome, under date of March 4, 1887, gave his authority to complete the organization and to install the Grand Officers, which was done on April 13, 1887.
The history of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in Oregon begins with the establishment in Portland of Oregon Lodge of Perfection, No. 1; Ainsworth Chapter of Rose Croix, No. 1: Multnomah Couneil of Eadosh, No. 1, and Oregon Consistory, No. 1. Their Charters were dated Februarv 5, 1870, November 14, 1871, January 11, 1872, and March 20, 1891, respectively.
ORGANIST, GRAND.
An officer in the Grand Lodge of England, Scotland, and Ireland whose duty it is to superintend the musical exercises on private and public occasions. He must be a Master Mason, and is required to attend the Quarterly and other communications of the Grand Lodge. His jewel is an antique lyre. Grand Lodges in this country do not recognize such an officer. But an organist has been recently employed since the introduction of musical services into Lodge ceremonies by some Lodges.
ORGANIZATION OF THE GRAND LODGES.
See Grand Lodge.
ORIENT.
The East. The place where a Lodge is situated is sometimes ealled its Orient, but more
properly its East. The seat of a Giand Lodge has also sometimes been called its Grand Orient; but here Grand East would, perhaps, be better. The term Grand Orient has been used to designate certain of the Supreme Bodies on the Continent of Europe, and also in South America; as, the Grand Orient of France, the Grand Orient of Portugal, the Grand Orient of Brazil, the Grand Orient of New Grenada, etc. The title always has reference to the East as the
place of honor in Freemasonry (see East, Grand ) .
ORIENT, GRAND.
See Grand Orient and East, Grand.
ORIENT, GRAND COMMANDER OF THE.
The French title is Grand Commandeur d'Orient. The Forty-third Degree of the Rite of Mizraim.
ORIENT, INTERIOR.
A name sometimes used in Germany to designate a Grand Chapter or superintending body of the higher Degrees. The French title is Interieur Orient; the Gerrnan, Innere, innerster, Orient.
ORIENT OF FRANCE, GRAND.
See France.
ORIENT, ORDER OF THE.
In French, Ordre d'Orient. The Order was founded, says Thory (Acta Latomorum, volume i, page 330), at Paris, in 1806, on the system of the Templars, to whom it traced its origin.
ORIENTAL CHAIR OF SOLOMON.
The seat of the Master in a Symbolic Lodge, and so called because the Master is supposed symbolically to fill the place over the Craft once occupied by King Solomon. For the same reason, the seat of the Grand Master in the Grand Lodge receives the same appellation. In England it is called the throne.
ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHY.
A peculiar system of doctrines concerning the Divine Nature which is said to have originated in Persia, its founder being Zoroaster, whence it passed through Syria, Asia Minor, and Egypt, and was finally introduced among the Greeks, whose philosophical systems it at times
modified. Pliny calls it a magical philosophy, and says that Democritus, having traveled into the East for the purpose of learning it, and returning home, taught it in his Mysteries. It gave birth to the sect of Gnostics, and most of it being adopted by the School of Alexandria, it was taught by Philo, Jamblichus, and other disciples of that school. Its essential feature was the theory of emanations, which see. Oriental Philosophy permeates, sometimes to a very palpable extent, Ineffable, Philosophic, and Hermetic Freemasonry, being mixed up and intertwined with the Jewish and Cabalistic Philosophy.
A knowledge of the Oriental Philosophy is there fore essential to the proper understanding of these advanced Degrees.
ORIENTAL RITE.
The title first assumed by the Rite of Memphis (see Marconis, also Memphis, Rite of ) .
ORIENTATION.
The onentation of a Lodge is its situation due East and West. The word is de rived from the technical language of architecture, where it is applied, in the expression orientation of
churches to designate a similar direction in building. Although Masonic Lodges are still, when circumstances will permit, built on an east and west direction, the explanation of the usage, contained in the old lectures of the eighteenth century, that it was "because all chapels and churches are, or ought to be so," has become obsolete, and other symbolic reasons are assigned.
Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that such was really the origin of the usage. The orientation of churches was a principle of ecclesiastical architecture very generally observed by builders, in accordance with ecclesiastical law from the earliest times after the apostolic age. Thus in the Apostolic Constitutions, which, although falsely attributed to Saint Clement, are yet of great antiquity, we find the express direction, Sit aedes oblonga ad orientem versus—let the church be of an oblong boron, directed to the East—a direction which would be strictly applicable in the building of a Lodge-room.
Saint Charles Borromeo, in his Instructiones Fabricae Ecclesiasticae, is still more precise, and directs that the rear or altar part of the church shall look directly to the east, in orientem versus recta spectat, and that it shall be not ad solstitialem sed ad aequinoctialeen orientem—not to the Solstitial East, which varies by the deflection of the sun's rising, but to the Equinoctial East, where the sun rises at the equinoxes, that is to say, dueEast.
But we must not forget that, as Bingham (Antiquities, book viii, chapter in) admits, although the usage was very general to erect churches toward the East, yet "it admitted of exceptions, as necessity or expediency"; and the same exception prevails in the construction of Lodges, which, although always erected due East and West, where circumstances will permit, are sometimes from necessity built in a different direction. But whatever may be externally the situation of the Lodge with reference to the points of the compass, it is always considered internally that the Master's seat is in the east, and therefore that the Lodge is "situated due East and West." As to the original interpretation of the usage, there is no doubt that the Masonic was derived from the ecclesiastical, that is, that Lodges were at first built East and West because churches were; nor can we help believing that the church borrowed and Christianized its symbol from the Pagan reverence for the place of sunrising. The admitted reverence in Freemasonry for the east as the place of lithe, gives to the usage the modern Masonic interpretation of the symbol of orientation.
The Fardle of Facions, printed in 1555, has a quaint description of church arrangement. This curious essay is found in the Symbolism of Churches and Church Ornaments 1906, John M. Neale and Benjamin Webb. Fardle, by the way, means package or bundle. The importance of the direction of the building is indicated by the positive instructions.
Oratories, temples, or places of praier, whiche we calle churches, might not be built without the good will of the bishoppe of the diocese. And when the timbre was redy to be framed, and the foundation digged, it behoved them to sende for the bishoppe, to hallowe the firste corner stone of the foundation, and to make the signe of the Crosse thereupon, and to laie it, and directe it juste easte and west. And then might the masons sette upon the stone, but not afore.
This churche did they use to builds after the facion of a crosse, and not unlike the shape of a manne. The channcelle, in the whiche is conteined the highe altars and the quiere, directe fulle in the easte, representeth the heade, and therefore ought to be somewhat rounde, and muche shorter than the body of the churche. And yet upon respect that the heade is the place for the eyes, it ought to be of more lighte, and to bee seperate with a partition, in the steade of a neeke, from the bodye of the churche. This particion the Latine calleth cancelli, and obt of that cometh our terme channcelle. On eche side of this channcelle peradventure, for so fitteth it beste, should stand a turret; as it were for two ears, and in these the belles to be hanged, to calle the people to service, by daie and by night. Undre one of these turretts is there commonly a vaulte, whose doore openeth into the quiere, and in this are laid up the hallowed vessels and ornamented and other utensils of the churche.
We call it a vestrie. The other part oughte to be fitted, that having as it were on eche side an arme, the reste maye resemble the bodye with the fete stretched in breadthe, and in lengthe. On eche side of the bodye the pillers to stande, upon whose coronettes or heades the vaulte or rophe of the churche maye reste. And to the foote beneth aulters to be joyned.
Those aulters to be orderly allay coffered with two aulter clothes, and garnished with the erosse of Christe, or some little eofre of reliques. At eehe ende a candelsticke, and a booke towarde the middes. The walls to be painted without and within and diverselv paineted.
That they also should have in every parishe a faire round stone, made hollowe and fitte to holde water. in the whiche the water consecrate for baptisme mave be kept for the christening of children. Upon the right hand of the highe aulter that ther should be an almorie, either cutte into the walle, or framed upon it, in the sthiche they svoulde have the saerament of the Lorde's bodye, the holy oyle for the sieke, and ehrismatorie, alwaie to be locked. Furthermore they would that ther should be a pullpite in the middes of the ehurehe, wherein the prieste maye stonde upon Sondaies and holidays to teaehe the people those things that it behoveth them to knovve. The ehanneelle to serve onlsr for the priests and cierks; the rest of the temporalle multitude to be in the bodye of the ehurche, seperate notwithstanding, the men on the righte side, and the women on the left.
Messrs. Neale and Webb show in their introduction the tendency of the earliest churches to produce an antitype to the typical Tabernacle, and also that it has been pointed out that a Christian Church built at Edessa in 202 A.D., with three parts, was expressly after the model of the Temple. Referring to the Apostolic Constitutions we are told, " 'The Church', they say 'must be oblong in form, and pointing to the Esqqt.
The oblong form was meant to symbolize a ship, the ark which was to save us from the stormy world.
The Church of Saints Vincenzo and Anastatio at Rome, near Saint Paolo alle Tre Fontane, built by Honorius I, 630 A.D., has its wall curbed like the ribs of a ship.
The Constitution itself refers to the resemblance of this oblong form to a ship. It would be perfectly unnecessary to support this obvious piece of symbolism by citations.
The orientation is an equally valuable example of intended symbolism. We gain an additional testimony to this from the well-known passage of Tertullian, 200 A.D., about 'The house of our dove.' Whether this corrupt extract be interpreted with Mede or Bingham, there can be no doubt that it its in lucem means that the church should face the East or dayspring.
The praying towards the East was the almost invariable custom in the Early whurches, and as symbolical as their standing in prayer upon the Festivals of the Resurrection. So common was orientation in the most ancient churches, that Socrates mentions particularly the church at Antioch as having its 'position reversed: for the altar does not look to the east but to the west.' This rule appears to have been more scrupulously followed in the East than in the West; though even in Europe examples to the contrary are exceptions" (see Oblongs) .
ORIFLAMME.
The ancient banner which originally belonged to the Abbey of Saint Denis, and was borne by the Counts of Vezin, patrons of that church but which, after the country of Vezin fell into the hands of the French crown, became the principal banner of the kingdom. In heraldic language it is described as charged with a saltire wavy or, with rays issuing from the center crossways;
Seccee into points, each bearing a tassel of green silk.
The banner is also described as a red flag or gonfalon divided on the lower edge into points, as three or five, each having a tassel of green silk, the banner carried on a gilded staff or gold spear. In heraldry the term, oriflamme, has been applied to a red banner charged or decorated on the surface with fleurs-de-lys of gold, the fleurs-delys being a conventional design of some obscurity as to origin but probably meant for repetitions of sets of three leaves or lobes representing a flower, as a lily for example, such as were on the royal arms of France from the reign of Charles VII (see Gonfaloat)
ORIGINAL POINTS.
The old lectures of the eighteenth century, which are now obsolete, contained the following instruction: "There are in Freemasonry twelve original points, which form the basis of the system and comprehend the whole ceremony of initiation. Without the existence of these points, no man ever was, or can be, legally and essentially received into the Order. Every person who is made a Freemason must go through all these twelve forms and ceremonies, not only in the First Degree, but in every subsequent one."
ORIGIN OF FREEMASONRY.
The origin and source whence first sprang the institution of Freemasonry, such as we now have it, has given rise to more difference of opinion and discussion among Masonic scholars than any other topic in the literature of the Institution. Writers on the history of Freemasonry have, at different times, attributed its origin to the following sources:
1 The Patriarchal religion.
2 The Aneient Pagan Mysteries.
3. The Temple of King Solomon
4. The Crusaders.
5. The Knights Templar.
6 The Roman Colleges of Artifieers
7 The Operative Masons of the Middle Ages.
8. The Rosicrucians of the sixteenth century
9. Oliver Cromwell, for the advancement of his political schemes.
10. The Pretender, for the restoration of the Eouse of Stuart to the British throne.
11. Sir Christopher Wren at the building of Sailt Paul's Cathedral.
12. Doctor Desaguliers and his associates in the year 1717.
Each of these twelve theories has been from time to time, and the twelfth within a recent period. sustained with much zeal, if not always with much judgment, by their advocates. A few of them, hon~ever, have long since been abandoned, but the others still attract attention and find defenders. Doetor Mackey had his own views of the subject in his boots SIistory of Freemasonry, to which the reader is referred (see Antiquity of Freemasonry Egyptians Mysteries; Roman College Artificers; Como; Comacine Masters; Traveling Masons; Stone-Masons of Middle Ages; Four Old Lodges; Revival; Speculative Freemasonry).
ORLEANS, DUKE OF.
Louis Philippe Joseph, Duke of Orleans, better known in history by his revolutionary name of Egalite, meaning Equality, was the fifth Grand Master of the Masonic Order in France. As Duke of Chartres, the title which he held during the life of his father, he was elected Grand
Master in the year 1771, upon the death of the Count de Clermont. Having appointed the Duke of Luxemburg his Substitute, he did not attend a meeting of the Grand Lodge until 1777, but had in the meantime paid much attention to the interests of Freemasonrv, visiting many of the Lodges, and laying the foundation-stone of a Masonic Hall at Bordeaux.
His abandonment of his family and his adhesion to the Jacobins during the Revolution, when he repudiated his hereditary title of Duke of Orleans and assumed the republican one of Egalite, forms a part of the history of the times. On the 22d of February, 1793, he wrote a letter to Milsent, the editor, over the signature of Citoven Egalite, which was published ain the Journal de Paris, and which contains the following passages:
"This is my Masonic history. At one time, when certainly no one could have foreseen our Revolution, I was in favor of Freemasonry, which presented to me a sort of image of equality, as I was in favor of the Parliament, which presented a sort of image of liberty.
I have since quitted the phantom for the reality. In the month of December last, the Secretary of the Grand Orient having addressed himself to the person who discharged the functions, near me, of Secretary of the Grand Master, to obtain my opinion on a question relating to the affairs of that Society, I replied to him on the 5th of January as follows: 'As I do not know how the Grand Orient is composed, and as, besides, I think that there should be no mystery nor secret
assembly in a Republic, especially at the commencement of its establishment, I desire no longer to mingle in the affairs of the Grand Orient, nor in the meetings of the Freemasons."'
In consequence of the publication of this letter, the Grand Orient on May 13, 1793, declared the Grand Mastership vacant, thus virtually deposing their recreant chief. He soon reaped the reward of his treachery and political debasement. On the 6th of November in the same year he suffered death on the guillotine.
ORMUS or ORMESIUS.
See Rose Croiz of Gold, Brethren of the.
ORMUZD AND AHRIMAN.
Ormuzd was the principle of good and the symbol of light, and Ahriman the principle of evil and the symbol of darkness in the old Persian religion (see Zoroaster).
ORNAMENTS OF A LODGE.
The lectures describe the ornaments of a Lodge as consisting of the Mosaic Pavement, the Indented Tessel, and the Blazing Star. They are called ornaments because they are really the decorations with which a properly furnished Lodge, is adorned (see these respective
words).
ORNAN THE JEBUSITE.
He was an inhabitant of Jerusalem, at the time that that city was called Jebus, from the son of Canaan, whose descendants peopled it. He was the owner of the threshing-floor situated on Mount Moriah, in the same spot on which the Temple was afterward built. This threshing floor David bought to erect on it an altar to God (First Chronicles xxi, 18 to 25). on the same spot Solomon afterward built the Temple. Hence, in Masonic language, the Temple of Solomon is sometimes spoken of as "the threshing-Soor of Ornan the Jebusite" (see Threshing-Floor).
|
