But one grand idea ever emerged and stood prominent and unchangeable over the weltering chaos of confusion. G.o.d is great and good, and wise.
Evil and pain and sorrow are temporary and for wise and beneficent purposes. They _must_ be consistent with G.o.d"s goodness, purity, and infinite perfection; and there _must_ be a mode of explaining them, if we could but find it out; as, in all ways we will endeavor to do.
Ultimately, Good will prevail, and Evil be overthrown. G.o.d alone _can_ do this, and He _will_ do it, by an Emanation from Himself, a.s.suming the Human form and redeeming the world.
Behold the object, the end, the result, of the great speculations and logomachies of antiquity; the ultimate annihilation of evil, and restoration of Man to his first estate, by a Redeemer, a Masayah, a Christos, the incarnate Word, Reason, or Power of Deity.
This Redeemer is the Word or Logos, the Ormuzd of Zoroaster, the Ainsoph of the Kabalah, the Nous of Platonism and Philonism; He that was in the Beginning with G.o.d, and was G.o.d, and by Whom everything was made. That He was looked for by all the People of the East is abundantly shown by the Gospel of John and the Letters of Paul; wherein scarcely anything seemed necessary to be said in proof that such a Redeemer was to come; but all the energies of the writers are devoted to showing that Jesus was that Christos whom all the nations were expecting; the "Word," the Masayah, the Anointed or Consecrated One.
In this Degree the great contest between good and evil, in antic.i.p.ation of the appearance and advent of the Word or Redeemer is symbolized; and the mysterious esoteric teachings of the Essenes and the Cabalists. Of the practices of the former we gain but glimpses in the ancient writers; but we know that, as their doctrines were taught by John the Baptist, they greatly resembled those of greater purity and more nearly perfect, taught by Jesus; and that not only Palestine was full of John"s disciples, so that the Priests and Pharisees did not dare to deny John"s inspiration; but his doctrine had extended to Asia Minor, and had made converts in luxurious Ephesus, as it also had in Alexandria in Egypt; and that they readily embraced the Christian faith, of which they had before not even heard.
These old controversies have died away, and the old faiths have faded into oblivion. But Masonry still survives, vigorous and strong, as when philosophy was taught in the schools of Alexandria and under the Portico; teaching the same old truths as the Essenes taught by the sh.o.r.es of the Dead Sea, and as John the Baptist preached in the Desert; truths imperishable as the Deity, and undeniable as Light. Those truths were gathered by the Essenes from the doctrines of the Orient and the Occident, from the Zend-Avesta and the Vedas, from Plato and Pythagoras, from India, Persia, Phnicia, and Syria, from Greece and Egypt, and from the Holy Books of the Jews. Hence we are called Knights of the East and West, because their doctrines came from both. And these doctrines, the wheat sifted from the chaff, the Truth separated from Error, Masonry has garnered up in her heart of hearts, and through the fires of persecution, and the storms of calamity, has brought them and delivered them unto us. That G.o.d is One, immutable, unchangeable, infinitely just and good; that Light will finally overcome Darkness,--Good conquer Evil, and Truth be victor over Error;--these, rejecting all the wild and useless speculations of the Zend-Avesta, the Kabalah, the Gnostics, and the Schools, are the religion and Philosophy of Masonry.
Those speculations and fancies it is useful to study; that knowing in what worthless and unfruitful investigations the mind may engage, you may the more value and appreciate the plain, simple, sublime, universally-acknowledged truths, which have in all ages been the Light by which Masons have been guided on their way; the Wisdom and Strength that like imperishable columns have sustained and will continue to sustain its glorious and magnificent Temple.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
[Ill.u.s.tration]
XVIII.
KNIGHT ROSE CROIX.
[Prince Rose Croix.]
Each of us makes such applications to his own faith and creed, of the symbols and ceremonies of this Degree, as seems to him proper. With these special interpretations we have here nothing to do. Like the legend of the Master Khurum, in which some see figured the condemnation and sufferings of Christ; others those of the unfortunate Grand Master of the Templars; others those of the first Charles, King of England; and others still the annual descent of the Sun at the winter Solstice to the regions of darkness, the basis of many an ancient legend; so the ceremonies of this Degree receive different explanations; each interpreting them for himself, and being offended at the interpretation of no other.
In no other way could Masonry possess its character of Universality; that character which has ever been peculiar to it from its origin; and which enables two Kings, worshippers of different Deities, to sit together as Masters, while the walls of the first temple arose; and the men of Gebal, bowing down to the Phnician G.o.ds, to work by the side of the Hebrews to whom those G.o.ds were abomination; and to sit with them in the same Lodge as brethren.
You have already learned that these ceremonies have one general significance, to every one, of every faith, who believes in G.o.d, and the soul"s immortality.
The primitive men met in no Temples made with human hands. "G.o.d," said Stephen, the first Martyr, "dwelleth not in Temples made with hands." In the open air, under the overarching mysterious sky, in the great World-Temple, they uttered their vows and thanksgivings, and adored the G.o.d of Light; of that Light that was to them the type of Good, as darkness was the type of Evil.
All antiquity solved the enigma of the existence of Evil, by supposing the existence of a Principle of Evil, of Demons, fallen Angels, an Ahriman, a Typhon, a Siva, a Lok, or a Satan, that, first falling themselves, and plunged in misery and darkness, tempted man to his fall, and brought sin into the world. All believed in a future life, to be attained by purification and trials; in a state or successive states of reward and punishment; and in a Mediator or Redeemer, by whom the Evil Principle was to be overcome, and the Supreme Deity reconciled to His creatures. The belief was general, that He was to be born of a Virgin, and suffer a painful death. The Indians called him Chrishna; the Chinese, Kioun-tse; the Persians, Sosiosch; the Chaldeans, Dhou-vanai; the Egyptians, Har-Oeri; Plato, Love; and the Scandinavians, Balder.
Chrishna, the Hindoo Redeemer, was cradled and educated among Shepherds.
A Tyrant, at the time of his birth, ordered all the male children to be slain. He performed miracles, say his legends, even raising the dead. He washed the feet of the Brahmins, and was meek and lowly of spirit. He was born of a Virgin; descended to h.e.l.l, rose again, ascended to Heaven, charged his disciples to teach his doctrines, and gave them the gift of miracles.
The first Masonic Legislator whose memory is preserved to us by history, was Buddha, who, about a thousand years before the Christian era, reformed the religion of Manous. He called to the Priesthood all men, without distinction of caste, who felt themselves inspired by G.o.d to instruct men. Those who so a.s.sociated themselves formed a Society of Prophets under the name of Samaneans. They recognized the existence of a single uncreated G.o.d, in whose bosom everything grows, is developed and transformed. The worship of this G.o.d reposed upon the obedience of all the beings He created. His feasts were those of the Solstices. The doctrines of Buddha pervaded India, China, and j.a.pan. The Priests of Brahma, professing a dark and b.l.o.o.d.y creed, brutalized by Superst.i.tion, united together against Buddhism, and with the aid of Despotism, exterminated its followers. But their blood fertilized the new doctrine, which produced a new Society under the name of Gymnosophists; and a large number, fleeing to Ireland, planted their doctrines there, and there erected the round towers, some of which still stand, solid and unshaken as at first visible monuments of the remotest ages.
The Phnician Cosmogony, like all others in Asia, was the Word of G.o.d, written in astral characters, by the planetary Divinities, and communicated by the Demi-G.o.ds, as a profound mystery, to the brighter intelligences of Humanity, to be propagated by them among men. Their doctrines resembled the Ancient Sabeism, and being the faith of Hiram the King and his namesake the Artist, are of interest to all Masons.
With them, the First Principle was half material, half spiritual, a dark air, animated and impregnated by the spirit; and a disordered chaos, covered with thick darkness. From this came the WORD, and thence creation and generation; and thence a race of men, children of light, who adored Heaven and its Stars as the Supreme Being; and whose different G.o.ds were but incarnations of the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, and the Ether. _Chrysor_ was the great igneous power of Nature, and _Baal_ and _Malakarth_ representations of the Sun and Moon, the latter word, in Hebrew, meaning Queen.
Man had fallen, but not by the tempting of the serpent. For, with the Phnicians, the serpent was deemed to partake of the Divine Nature, and was sacred, as he was in Egypt. He was deemed to be immortal, unless slain by violence, becoming young again in his old age, by entering into and consuming himself. Hence the Serpent in a circle, holding his tail in his mouth, was an emblem of eternity. With the head of a hawk he was of a Divine Nature, and a symbol of the sun. Hence one Sect of the Gnostics took him for their good genius, and hence the brazen serpent reared by Moses in the Desert, on which the Israelites looked and lived.
"Before the chaos, that preceded the birth of Heaven and Earth," said the Chinese Lao-Tseu, "a single Being existed, immense and silent, immutable and always acting; the mother of the Universe. I know not the name of that Being, but I designate it by the word Reason. Man has his model in the earth, the earth in Heaven, Heaven in Reason, and Reason in itself."
"I am," says Isis, "Nature; parent of all things, the sovereign of the Elements, the primitive progeny of Time, the most exalted of the Deities, the first of the Heavenly G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses, the Queen of the Shades, the uniform countenance; who dispose with my rod the numerous lights of Heaven, the salubrious breezes of the sea, and the mournful silence of the dead; whose single Divinity the whole world venerates in many forms, with various rites and by many names. The Egyptians, skilled in ancient lore, worship me with proper ceremonies, and call me by my true name, Isis the Queen."
The Hindu Vedas thus define the Deity:
"He who surpa.s.ses speech, and through whose power speech is expressed, know thou that He is Brahma; and not these perishable things that man adores.
"He whom Intelligence cannot comprehend, and He alone, say the sages, through whose Power the nature of Intelligence can be understood, know thou that He is Brahma; and not these perishable things that man adores.
"He who cannot be seen by the organ of sight, and through whose power the organ of seeing sees, know thou that He is Brahma; and not these perishable things that man adores.
"He who cannot be heard by the organ of hearing, and through whose power the organ of hearing hears, know thou that He is Brahma; and not these perishable things that man adores.
"He who cannot be perceived by the organ of smelling, and through whose power the organ of smelling smells, know thou that He is Brahma; and not these perishable things that man adores."
"When G.o.d resolved to create the human race," said _Arius_, "He made a Being that He called The WORD, The Son, _Wisdom_, to the end that this Being might give existence to men." This WORD is the _Ormuzd_ of Zoroaster, the _Ainsoph_ of the Kabalah, the [Greek: ???~?] of Plato and Philo, the _Wisdom_ or _Demiourgos_ of the Gnostics.
That is the True Word, the knowledge of which our ancient brethren sought as the priceless reward of their labors on the Holy Temple: the Word of Life, the Divine Reason, "in whom was Life, and that Life the Light of men"; "which long shone in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not;" the Infinite Reason that is the Soul of Nature, immortal, of which the Word of this Degree reminds us; and to believe wherein and revere it, is the peculiar duty of every Mason.
"In the beginning," says the extract from some older work with which John commences his Gospel, "was the Word, and the Word was near to G.o.d, and the Word was G.o.d. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was Life, and the life was the Light of man; and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not contain it."
It is an old tradition that this pa.s.sage was from an older work. And Philostorgius and Nicephorus state, that when the Emperor Julian undertook to rebuild the Temple, a stone was taken up, that covered the mouth of a deep square cave, into which one of the laborers, being let down by a rope, found in the centre of the floor a cubical pillar, on which lay a roll or book, wrapped in a fine linen cloth, in which, in capital letters, was the foregoing pa.s.sage.
However this may have been, it is plain that John"s Gospel is a polemic against the Gnostics; and, stating at the outset the current doctrine in regard to the creation by the Word, he then addresses himself to show and urge that this Word was Jesus Christ.
And the first sentence, fully rendered into our language, would read thus: "When the process of emanation, of creation or evolution of existences inferior to the Supreme G.o.d began, the Word came into existence and was: and this word was [Greek: p??? t?? Te??] _near to_ G.o.d; _i.e._ the immediate or first emanation from G.o.d: and it was G.o.d Himself, developed or manifested in that particular mode, and in action.
And by that Word everything that is was created."--And thus Tertullian says that G.o.d made the World out of nothing, by means of His Word, Wisdom, or Power.
To Philo the Jew, as to the Gnostics, the Supreme Being was the _Primitive Light_, or _Archetype of Light_,--_Source_ whence the rays emanate that illuminate Souls. He is the _Soul_ of the World, and as such acts everywhere. He himself fills and bounds his whole existence, and his forces fill and penetrate everything. His Image is the WORD [LOGOS], a form more brilliant than fire, which is not pure light. This WORD dwells in G.o.d; for it is within His Intelligence that the Supreme Being frames for Himself the Types of Ideas of all that is to a.s.sume reality in the Universe. The WORD is the Vehicle by which G.o.d acts on the Universe; the World of Ideas by means whereof G.o.d has created visible things; the more Ancient G.o.d, as compared with the Material World; Chief and General Representative of all Intelligences; the Archangel, type and representative of all spirits, even those of Mortals; the type of Man; the primitive man himself. These ideas are borrowed from Plato. And this WORD is not only the Creator ["_by Him was everything made that was made_"], but acts _in the place_ of G.o.d; and through him act all the Powers and Attributes of G.o.d. And also, as first representative of the human race, he is the protector of Men and their Shepherd, the "Ben H"Adam," or Son of Man.
The actual condition of Man is not his primitive condition, that in which he was the image of the Word. His unruly pa.s.sions have caused him to fall from his original lofty estate. But he may rise again, by following the teachings of Heavenly Wisdom, and the Angels whom G.o.d commissions to aid him in escaping from the entanglements of the body; and by fighting bravely against Evil, the existence of which G.o.d has allowed solely to furnish him with the means of exercising his free will.
The Supreme Being of the Egyptians was _Amun_, a secret and concealed G.o.d, the Unknown Father of the Gnostics, the Source of Divine Life, and of all force, the Plenitude of all, comprehending all things in Himself, the original Light. He _creates_ nothing; but everything _emanates_ from Him: and all other G.o.ds are but his manifestations. From Him, by the utterance of a Word, emanated _Neith_, the Divine Mother of all things, the Primitive THOUGHT, the FORCE that puts everything in movement, the SPIRIT everywhere extended, the _Deity of Light and Mother of the Sun_.
Of this Supreme Being, _Osiris_ was the image, Source of all Good in the moral and physical world, and constant foe of Typhon, the Genius of Evil, the Satan of Gnosticism, brute matter, deemed to be always at feud with the spirit that flowed from the Deity; and over whom Har-Oeri, the Redeemer, Son of Isis and Osiris, is finally to prevail.
In the Zend-Avesta of the Persians the Supreme Being is _Time without limit_, ZERUANE AKHERENE.--No origin could be a.s.signed to Him; for He was enveloped in His own Glory, and His Nature and Attributes were so inaccessible to human Intelligence, that He was but the object of a silent veneration. The commencement of Creation was by emanation from Him. The first emanation was the Primitive Light, and from this Light emerged _Ormuzd_, the _King of Light_, who, by the WORD, created the World in its purity, is its Preserver and Judge, a Holy and Sacred Being, Intelligence and Knowledge, Himself Time without limit, and wielding all the powers of the Supreme Being.
In this Persian faith, as taught many centuries before our era, and embodied in the Zend-Avesta, there was in man a pure Principle, proceeding from the Supreme Being, produced by the Will and Word of Ormuzd. To that was united an impure principle, proceeding from a foreign influence, that of Ahriman, the Dragon, or principle of Evil.
Tempted by Ahriman, the first man and woman had fallen; and for twelve thousand years there was to be war between _Ormuzd_ and the Good Spirits created by him, and _Ahriman_ and the Evil ones whom he had called into existence.
But pure souls are a.s.sisted by the Good Spirits, the Triumph of the Good Principle is determined upon in the decrees of the Supreme Being, and the period of that triumph will infallibly arrive. At the moment when the earth shall be most afflicted with the evils brought upon it by the Spirits of perdition, three Prophets will appear to bring a.s.sistance to mortals. Sosiosch, Chief of the Three, will regenerate the world, and restore to it its primitive Beauty, Strength, and Purity. He will judge the good and the wicked. After the universal resurrection of the Good, the pure Spirits will conduct them to an abode of eternal happiness.
Ahriman, his evil Demons, and all the world, will be purified in a torrent of liquid burning metal. The Law of Ormuzd will rule everywhere; all men will be happy; all, enjoying an unalterable bliss, will unite with Sosiosch in singing the praises of the Supreme Being.
These doctrines, with some modifications, were adopted by the Kabalists and afterward by the Gnostics.
Apollonius of Tyana says: "We shall render the most appropriate worship to the Deity, when to that G.o.d whom we call the First, who is One, and separate from all, and after whom we recognize the others, we present no offerings whatever, kindle to Him no fire, dedicate to Him no sensible thing; for he needs nothing, even of all that natures more exalted than ours could give. The earth produces no plant, the air nourishes no animal, there is in short nothing, which would not be impure in his sight. In addressing ourselves to Him, we must use only the higher word, that, I mean, which is not expressed by the mouth,--the silent inner word of the spirit.... From the most Glorious of all Beings, we must seek for blessings, by that which is most glorious in ourselves; and that is the spirit, which needs no organ."
Strabo says: "This one Supreme Essence is that which embraces us all, the water and the land, that which we call the Heavens, the World, the Nature of things. This Highest Being should be worshipped, without any visible image, in sacred groves. In such retreats the devout should lay themselves down to sleep, and expect signs from G.o.d in dreams."