L.H. JENKINS, INC.
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
PREFACE.
The following Digest of the contents of Brother Albert Pike"s monumental work, "Morals and Dogma," the text book of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the southern jurisdiction, issued by the Supreme Council, grew out of the desire of the writer to have an index of the contents for his own personal use as the presiding officer, for twenty years, of each of the Scottish Rite Bodies in Duluth, Minnesota, and it can be imagined that in that time, dating from the first organization, many questions have been propounded which could only be properly answered by reference to that epitome of Scottish Rite Free Masonry; the book referred to.
From the very nature of "Morals and Dogma," different subjects are hard to find; the book is very naturally divided under the headings of Degrees; there are no sub-headings; and as most of the important subjects are touched on, to a greater or lesser extent, in all the Degrees it meant a perusal of the entire book if all the information on any of those subjects was desired.
The writer started to compile an Index (in the ordinary acceptation of the term), giving the pages where such and such words would be found, but he had not progressed very far before it became evident that was only half a solution of the problem; so many references were found that it would have been necessary to spend a great length of time looking up the several pages to see if that particular reference was to what the searcher was after; the procedure was entirely changed and it was decided, although it would consume very much more time, and entail more arduous labor, to digest the contents and then Index that, so that when a person wanted to find out what, for instance, the Egyptians understood by "The Universe," it was not necessary to look in "Morals and Dogma,"
at all the pages on which "Universe" was mentioned but by following down the column, under the heading "Universe," come to "Universe of the Egyptians a living, animated being like man, page 665-l;" if that is not enough in detail turn to page 665, and in the lower third of the page will be found the paragraph of which the line just quoted is the boiled down meaning; most of the time it will not be necessary to consult the "Morals and Dogma" at all.
When the Digest (so called for want of a better name) was completed, a meeting of the Duluth Brethren was called to secure the a.s.sistance of some of them in making a few copies on the typewriter, but they decided that each of them wanted a copy and the only thing to do was to print; hence the book.
In the opinion of the writer no one who has not carefully studied "Morals and Dogma," or the several subjects of which it is the epitome, is or can be a Master of the Royal Secret in the true meaning of the term, no matter how many patents he may have, nor how completely they are countersigned by distinguished Masons of the Thirty-third Degree, and it is for those who do not wish to sail along under false colors and a.s.sume t.i.tles of which they know not the meaning that this volume is prepared, believing it will a.s.sist them to acquire an interest in the subject which they otherwise would be much slower in gaining, if not deterred altogether by the apparent difficulty in following up the several subjects.
Honored with the personal friendship and confidence of the author of "Morals and Dogma," receiving the highest honors at his hands and cherishing a lively recollection of his many splendid qualities of mind and heart, the writer can conceive of no higher ambition than that of shewing by deeds that he has appreciated the privileges of that friendship and has absorbed some of the inspiration which personal intercourse with Brother Pike made possible therefore.
This volume is dedicated in grateful memory of the Prince Adept, Albert Pike, 33, Mystic, Poet, Scholar, who through his researches and his study of the Symbolism of Free Masonry has raised that Inst.i.tution far above the commonplace and enthroned it on the lofty plane of a sublime system of Philosophy, embracing the acc.u.mulated Wisdom of the ages fitted to make men wiser, happier, better.
No attempts have been made to standardize the spelling of some words, nor make any changes in phraseology; for instance, "Cabala," "Kabalah,"
"Kabala," are different spellings of the one word; "Deity" and "G.o.d" are used indiscriminately, etc., etc.; this volume is a Digest of "Morals and Dogma" as it is, and nothing else.
T.W. HUGO.
Duluth, Minn., October 1st, 1909.
EXPLANATION.
In explanation of the characters used in the Index; the letters "u,"
"m," "l" after a number signifies that the subject mentioned will be found on the page represented by the number and in the upper, middle, or lower thirds of that page, respectively; thus "Unity of G.o.d taught in the Kabalah, 625-l," means that on the lower third of page 625 will be found the paragraph of which the notation in question is a shortened statement.
Where no final letter is given it means that the notation refers to the entire page, as "Universe, questions concerning the creation or self existence of, 648," means that all of page 648 refers to that notation just quoted.
Where a dash (--) appears at the end of the words, it means that for the completion of the sentence reference must be made to the page whose number follows; for instance, "Universe must have been co-existent with Deity because--, 684-u," means that the reader must consult page 684-u, and complete the sentence, as it is of such a nature that it could not be boiled down very well and preserve the true sense.
Where a dash (--) appears between two numbers of pages it means that both of those pages and the intervening ones refer to the subject matter of the notation opposite those numbers.