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Symbolism Of The Corner-Stone
CHAPTER XXIII
the symbolism of freemasonry
albert gallatin mackey
We come next, in a due order of precedence, to the consideration of the
symbolism connected with an important ceremony in the ritual of the first
degree of Masonry, which refers to the north-east corner of the lodge. In
this ceremony the candidate becomes the representative of a spiritual
corner-stone. And hence, to thoroughly comprehend the true meaning of the
emblematic ceremony, it is essential that we should investigate the
symbolism of the corner-stone.
The corner-stone,107
as the foundation on which the entire building is
supposed to rest, is, of course, the most important stone in the whole
edifice. It is, at least, so considered by operative masons. It is laid
with impressive ceremonies; the assistance of speculative masons is often,
and always ought to be, invited, to give dignity to the occasion; and the
event is viewed by the workmen as an important era in the construction of
the edifice.108
In the rich imagery of Orientalism, the corner-stone is frequently
referred to as the appropriate symbol of a chief or prince who is the
defence and bulwark of his people, and more particularly in Scripture, as
denoting that promised Messiah who was to be the sure prop and support of
all who should put their trust in his divine mission.109
To the various properties that are necessary to constitute a true
corner-stone,—its firmness and durability, its perfect form, and its
peculiar position as the connecting link between the walls,—we must
attribute the important character that it has assumed in the language of
symbolism. Freemasonry, which alone, of all existing institutions, has
preserved this ancient and universal language, could not, as it may well
be supposed, have neglected to adopt the corner-stone among its most
cherished and impressive symbols; and hence it has referred to it many of
its most significant lessons of morality and truth.
I have already alluded to that peculiar mode of masonic symbolism by
which the speculative mason is supposed to be engaged in the construction
of a spiritual temple, in imitation of, or, rather, in reference to, that
material one which was erected by his operative predecessors at Jerusalem.
Let us again, for a few moments, direct our attention to this important
fact, and revert to the connection which originally existed between the
operative and speculative divisions of Freemasonry. This is an essential
introduction to any inquiry into the symbolism of the corner-stone.
The difference between operative and speculative Masonry is simply
this—that while the former was engaged in the construction of a material
temple, formed, it is true, of the most magnificent materials which the
quarries of Palestine, the mountains of Lebanon, and the golden shores of
Ophir could contribute, the latter occupies itself in the erection of a
spiritual house,—a house not made with hands,—in which, for stones and
cedar, and gold and precious stones, are substituted the virtues of the
heart, the pure emotions of the soul, the warm affections gushing forth
from the hidden fountains of the spirit, so that the very presence of
Jehovah, our Father and our God, shall be enshrined within us as his
Shekinah was in the holy of holies of the material temple at Jerusalem.
The Speculative Mason, then, if he rightly comprehends the scope and
design of his profession, is occupied, from his very first admission into
the order until the close of his labors and his life,—and the true mason's
labor ends only with his life,—in the construction, the adornment, and the
completion of this spiritual temple of his body. He lays its foundation in
a firm belief and an unshaken confidence in the wisdom, power, and
goodness of God. This is his first step. Unless his trust is in God, and
in him only, he can advance no further than the threshold of initiation.
And then he prepares his materials with the gauge and gavel of Truth,
raises the walls by the plumb-line of Rectitude, squares his work with the
square of Virtue, connects the whole with the cement of Brotherly Love,
and thus skilfullv erects the living edifice of thoughts, and words, and
deeds, in accordance with the designs laid down by the Master Architect of
the universe in the great Book of Revelation.
The aspirant for masonic light—the Neophyte—on his first entrance
within our sacred porch, prepares himself for this consecrated labor of
erecting within his own bosom a fit dwelling-place for the Divine Spirit,
and thus commences the noble work by becoming himself the corner-stone on
which this spiritual edifice is to be erected.
Here, then, is the beginning of the symbolism of the corner-stone; and
it is singularly curious to observe how every portion of the archetype has
been made to perform its appropriate duty in thoroughly carrying out the
emblematic allusions.
As, for example, this symbolic reference of the corner-stone of a
material edifice to a mason, when, at his first initiation, he commences
the intellectual task of erecting a spiritual temple in his heart, is
beautifully sustained in the allusions to all the various parts and
qualities which are to be found in a "well-formed, true and trusty"
corner-stone.110
Its form and substance are both seized by the
comprehensive grasp of the symbolic science.
Let us trace this symbolism in its minute details. And, first, as to
the form of the corner-stone.
The corner-stone of an edifice must be perfectly square on its
surfaces, lest, by a violation of this true geometric figure, the walls to
be erected upon it should deviate from the required line of
perpendicularity which can alone give strength and proportion to the
building.
Perfectly square on its surfaces, it is, in its form and solid
contents, a cube. Now, the square and the cube are both important and
significant symbols.
The square is an emblem of morality, or the strict performance of every
duty.111
Among the Greeks, who were a highly poetical and
imaginative people, the square was deemed a figure of perfection, and the
ἀνὴρ τετράγωνος—"the square or cubical man," as the words may be
translated—was a term used to designate a man of unsullied integrity.
Hence one of their most eminent metaphysicians112
has said that "he who valiantly sustains the shocks of
adverse fortune, demeaning himself uprightly, is truly good and of a
square posture, without reproof; and he who would assume such a square
posture should often subject himself to the perfectly square test of
justice and integrity."
The cube, in the language of symbolism, denotes truth.113
Among the pagan mythologists, Mercury, or Hermes, was
always represented by a cubical stone, because he was the type of truth,114
and the same form was adopted by the Israelites in the
construction of the tabernacle, which was to be the dwelling-place of
divine truth.
And, then, as to its material: This, too, is an essential element of
all symbolism. Constructed of a material finer and more polished than that
which constitutes the remainder of the edifice, often carved with
appropriate devices and fitted for its distinguished purpose by the utmost
skill of the sculptor's art, it becomes the symbol of that beauty of
holiness with which the Hebrew Psalmist has said that we are to worship
Jehovah.115
The ceremony, then, of the north-east corner of the lodge, since it
derives all its typical value from this symbolism of the corner-stone, was
undoubtedly intended to portray, in this consecrated language, the
necessity of integrity and stability of conduct, of truthfulness and
uprightness of character, and of purity and holiness of life, which, just
at that time and in that place, the candidate is most impressively charged
to maintain.
But there is also a symbolism about the position of the corner-stone,
which is well worthy of attention. It is familiar to every one,—even to
those who are without the pale of initiation,—that the custom of laying
the corner-stones of public buildings has always been performed by the
masonic order with peculiar and impressive ceremonies, and that this stone
is invariably deposited in the north-east corner of the foundation of the
intended structure. Now, the question naturally suggests itself, Whence
does this ancient and invariable usage derive its origin? Why may not the
stone be deposited in any other corner or portion of the edifice, as
convenience or necessity may dictate? The custom of placing the
foundation-stone in the north-east corner must have been originally
adopted for some good and sufficient reason; for we have a right to
suppose that it was not an arbitrary selection.116
Was it in reference to the ceremony which takes place
in the lodge? Or is that in reference to the position of the material
stone? No matter which has the precedence in point of time, the principle
is the same. The position of the stone in the north-east corner of the
building is altogether symbolic, and the symbolism exclusively alludes to
certain doctrines which are taught in the speculative science of Masonry.
The interpretation, I conceive, is briefly this: Every Speculative
Mason is familiar with the fact that the east, as the source of material
light, is a symbol of his own order, which professes to contain within its
bosom the pure light of truth. As, in the physical world, the morning of
each day is ushered into existence by the reddening dawn of the eastern
sky, whence the rising sun dispenses his illuminating and prolific rays to
every portion of the visible horizon, warming the whole earth with his
embrace of light, and giving new-born life and energy to flower and tree,
and beast and man, who, at the magic touch, awake from the sleep of
darkness, so in the moral world, when intellectual night was, in the
earliest days, brooding over the world, it was from the ancient priesthood
living in the east that those lessons of God, of nature, and of humanity
first emanated, which, travelling westward, revealed to man his future
destiny, and his dependence on a superior power. Thus every new and true
doctrine, coming from these "wise men of the east," was, as it were, a new
day arising, and dissipating the clouds of intellectual darkness and
error. It was a universal opinion among the ancients that the first
learning came from the east; and the often-quoted line of Bishop Berkeley,
that—
"Westward the course of empire takes its way"—
is but the modern utterance of an ancient thought, for it was always
believed that the empire of truth and knowledge was advancing from the
east to the west.
Again: the north, as the point in the horizon which is most remote from
the vivifying rays of the sun when at his meridian height, has, with equal
metaphorical propriety, been called the place of darkness, and is,
therefore, symbolic of the profane world, which has not yet been
penetrated and illumined by the intellectual rays of masonic light. All
history concurs in recording the fact that, in the early ages of the
world, its northern portion was enveloped in the most profound moral and
mental darkness. It was from the remotest regions of Northern Europe that
those barbarian hordes "came down like the wolf on the fold," and
devastated the fair plains of the south, bringing with them a dark curtain
of ignorance, beneath whose heavy folds the nations of the world lay for
centuries overwhelmed. The extreme north has ever been, physically and
intellectually, cold, and dark, and dreary. Hence, in Masonry, the north
has ever been esteemed the place of darkness; and, in obedience to this
principle, no symbolic light is allowed to illumine the northern part of
the lodge.
The east, then, is, in Masonry, the symbol of the order, and the north
the symbol of the profane world.
Now, the spiritual corner-stone is deposited in the north-east corner
of the lodge, because it is symbolic of the position of the neophyte, or
candidate, who represents it in his relation to the order and to the
world. From the profane world he has just emerged. Some of its
imperfections are still upon him; some of its darkness is still about him;
he as yet belongs in part to the north. But he is striving for light and
truth; the pathway upon which he has entered is directed towards the east.
His allegiance, if I may use the word, is divided. He is not altogether a
profane, nor altogether a mason. If he were wholly in the world, the north
would be the place to find him—the north, which is the reign of darkness.
If he were wholly in the order,—a Master Mason,—the east would have
received him—the east, which is the place of light. But he is neither; he
is an Apprentice, with some of the ignorance of the world cleaving to him,
and some of the light of the order beaming upon him. And hence this
divided allegiance—this double character—this mingling of the departing
darkness of the north with the approaching brightness of the east—is well
expressed, in our symbolism, by the appropriate position of the spiritual
corner-stone in the north-east corner of the lodge. One surface of the
stone faces the north, and the other surface faces the east. It is neither
wholly in the one part nor wholly in the other, and in so far it is a
symbol of initiation not fully developed—that which is incomplete and
imperfect, and is, therefore, fitly represented by the recipient of the
first degree, at the very moment of his initiation.117
But the strength and durability of the corner-stone are also eminently
suggestive of symbolic ideas. To fulfil its design as the foundation and
support of the massive building whose erection it precedes, it should be
constructed of a material which may outlast all other parts of the
edifice, so that when that "eternal ocean whose waves are years" shall
have ingulfed all who were present at the construction of the building in
the vast vortex of its ever-flowing current; and when generation after
generation shall have passed away, and the crumbling stones of the ruined
edifice shall begin to attest the power of time and the evanescent nature
of all human undertakings, the corner-stone will still remain to tell, by
its inscriptions, and its form, and its beauty, to every passer-by, that
there once existed in that, perhaps then desolate, spot, a building
consecrated to some noble or some sacred purpose by the zeal and
liberality of men who now no longer live.
So, too, do this permanence and durability of the corner-stone, in
contrast with the decay and ruin of the building in whose foundations it
was placed, remind the mason that when this earthly house of his
tabernacle shall have passed away, he has within him a sure foundation of
eternal life—a corner-stone of immortality—an emanation from that Divine
Spirit which pervades all nature, and which, therefore, must survive the
tomb, and rise, triumphant and eternal, above the decaying dust of death
and the grave.118
It is in this way that the student of masonic symbolism is reminded by
the corner-stone—by its form, its position, and its permanence—of
significant doctrines of duty, and virtue, and religious truth, which it
is the great object of Masonry to teach.
But I have said that the material corner-stone is deposited in its
appropriate place with solemn rites and ceremonies, for which the order
has established a peculiar ritual. These, too, have a beautiful and
significant symbolism, the investigation of which will next attract our
attention.
And here it may be observed, in passing, that the accompaniment of such
an act of consecration to a particular purpose, with solemn rites and
ceremonies, claims our respect, from the prestige that it has of all
antiquity. A learned writer on symbolism makes, on this subject, the
following judicious remarks, which may be quoted as a sufficient defence
of our masonic ceremonies:—
"It has been an opinion, entertained in all past ages, that by the
performance of certain acts, things, places, and persons acquire a
character which they would not have had without such performances. The
reason is plain: certain acts signify firmness of purpose, which, by
consigning the object to the intended use, gives it, in the public
opinion, an accordant character. This is most especially true of things,
places, and persons connected with religion and religious worship. After
the performance of certain acts or rites, they are held to be altogether
different from what they were before; they acquire a sacred character, and
in some instances a character absolutely divine. Such are the effects
imagined to be produced by religious dedication."
119
The stone, therefore, thus properly constructed, is, when it is to be
deposited by the constituted authorities of our order, carefully examined
with the necessary implements of operative masonry,—the square, the level,
and the plumb,—and declared to be "well-formed, true, and trusty." This is
not a vain nor unmeaning ceremony. It teaches the mason that his virtues
are to be tested by temptation and trial, by suffering and adversity,
before they can be pronounced by the Master Builder of souls to be
materials worthy of the spiritual building of eternal life, fitted "as
living stones, for that house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens." But if he be faithful, and withstand these trials,—if he shall
come forth from these temptations and sufferings like pure gold from the
refiner's fire,—then, indeed, shall he be deemed "well-formed, true, and
trusty," and worthy to offer "unto the Lord an offering in righteousness."
In the ceremony of depositing the corner-stone, the sacred elements of
masonic consecration are then produced, and the stone is solemnly set
apart by pouring corn, wine, and oil upon its surface. Each of these
elements has a beautiful significance in our symbolism.
Collectively, they allude to the Corn of Nourishment, the Wine of
Refreshment, and the Oil of Joy, which are the promised rewards of a
faithful and diligent performance of duty, and often specifically refer to
the anticipated success of the undertaking whose incipiency they have
consecrated. They are, in fact, types and symbols of all those abundant
gifts of Divine Providence for which we are daily called upon to make an
offering of our thanks, and which are enumerated by King David, in his
catalogue of blessings, as "wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and
oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart."
"Wherefore, my brethren," says Harris, "do you carry corn, wine, and
oil in your processions, but to remind you that in the pilgrimage of
human life you are to impart a portion of your bread to feed the hungry,
to send a cup of your wine to cheer the sorrowful, and to pour the healing
oil of your consolation into the wounds which sickness hath made in the
bodies, or affliction rent in the hearts, of your fellow-travellers?"
120
But, individually, each of these elements of consecration has also an
appropriate significance, which is well worth investigation.
Corn, in the language of Scripture, is an emblem of the resurrection,
and St. Paul, in that eloquent discourse which is so familiar to all, as a
beautiful argument for the great Christian doctrine of a future life,
adduces the seed of grain, which, being sown, first dieth, and then
quickeneth, as the appropriate type of that corruptible which must put on
incorruption, and of that mortal which must assume immortality. But, in
Masonry, the sprig of acacia, for reasons purely masonic, has been always
adopted as the symbol of immortality, and the ear of corn is appropriated
as the symbol of plenty. This is in accordance with the Hebrew derivation
of the word, as well as with the usage of all ancient nations. The word
dagan, דנו which signifies corn, is derived from the verb
dagah, דנה, to increase, to multiply, and in all the ancient
religions the horn or vase, filled with fruits and with grain, was the
recognized symbol of plenty. Hence, as an element of consecration, corn is
intended to remind us of those temporal blessings of life and health, and
comfortable support, which we derive from the Giver of all good, and to
merit which we should strive, with "clean hands and a pure heart," to
erect on the corner-stone of our initiation a spiritual temple, which
shall be adorned with the "beauty of holiness."
Wine is a symbol of that inward and abiding comfort with which the
heart of the man who faithfully performs his part on the great stage of
life is to be refreshed; and as, in the figurative language of the East,
Jacob prophetically promises to Judah, as his reward, that he shall wash
his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of the grape, it seems
intended, morally, to remind us of those immortal refreshments which, when
the labors of this earthly lodge are forever closed, we shall receive in
the celestial lodge above, where the G.A.O.T.U. forever presides.
Oil is a symbol of prosperity, and happiness, and joy. The custom of
anointing every thing or person destined for a sacred purpose is of
venerable antiquity.121
The statues of the heathen deities, as well as the
altars on which the sacrifices were offered to them, and the priests who
presided over the sacred rites, were always anointed with perfumed
ointment, as a consecration of them to the objects of religious worship.
When Jacob set up the stone on which he had slept in his journey to
Padan-aram, and where he was blessed with the vision of ascending and
descending angels, he anointed it with oil, and thus consecrated it as an
altar to God. Such an inunction was, in ancient times, as it still
continues to be in many modern countries and contemporary religions, a
symbol of the setting apart of the thing or person so anointed and
consecrated to a holy purpose.
Hence, then, we are reminded by this last impressive ceremony, that the
cultivation of virtue, the practice of duty, the resistance of temptation,
the submission to suffering, the devotion to truth, the maintenance of
integrity, and all those other graces by which we strive to fit our
bodies, as living stones, for the spiritual building of eternal life,
must, after all, to make the object effectual and the labor successful, be
consecrated by a holy obedience to God's will and a firm reliance on God's
providence, which alone constitute the chief corner-stone and sure
foundation, on which any man can build with the reasonable hope of a
prosperous issue to his work.
It may be noticed, in concluding this topic, that the corner-stone
seems to be peculiarly a Jewish symbol. I can find no reference to it in
any of the ancient pagan rites, and the EBEN PINAH, the
corner-stone, which is so frequently mentioned in Scripture as the
emblem of an important personage, and most usually, in the Old Testament,
of the expected Messiah, appears, in its use in Masonry, to have had,
unlike almost every other symbol of the order, an exclusively temple
origin. FOOTNOTES
107. Thus defined:
"The stone which lies at the corner of two walls, and unites them; the
principal stone, and especially the stone which forms the corner of the
foundation of an edifice."—Webster.
108. Among the
ancients the corner-stone of important edifices was laid with impressive
ceremonies. These are well described by Tacitus, in his history of the
rebuilding of the Capitol. After detailing the preliminary ceremonies
which consisted in a procession of vestals, who with chaplets of flowers
encompassed the ground and consecrated it by libations of living water, he
adds that, after solemn prayer, Helvidius, to whom the care of rebuilding
the Capitol had been committed, "laid his hand upon the fillets that
adorned the foundation stone, and also the cords by which it was to be
drawn to its place. In that instant the magistrates, the priests, the
senators, the Roman knights, and a number of citizens, all acting with one
effort and general demonstrations of joy, laid hold of the ropes and
dragged the ponderous load to its destined spot. They then threw in ingots
of gold and silver, and other metals, which had never been melted in the
furnace, but still retained, untouched by human art, their first formation
in the bowels of the earth."—Tac. Hist., 1. iv. c. 53, Murphy's
transl.
109. As, for
instance, in Psalm cxviii. 22, "The stone which the builders refused is
become the head-stone of the corner," which, Clarke says, "seems to have
been originally spoken of David, who was at first rejected by the Jewish
rulers, but was afterwards chosen by the Lord to be the great ruler of his
people in Israel;" and in Isaiah xxviii. 16, "Behold, I lay in Zion, for a
foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure
foundation," which clearly refers to the promised Messiah.
110. In the ritual
"observed at laying the foundation-stone of public structures," it is
said, "The principal architect then presents the working tools to the
Grand Master, who applies the plumb, square, and level to the stone, in
their proper positions, and pronounces it to be
well-formed, true, and trusty."—WEBB'S Monitor, p. 120.
111. "The square
teaches us to regulate our conduct by the principles of morality and
virtue."—Ritual of the E. A. Degree.—The old York lectures define
the square thus: "The square is the theory of universal duty, and
consisteth in two right lines, forming an angle of perfect sincerity, or
ninety degrees; the longest side is the sum of the lengths of the several
duties which we owe to all men. And every man should be agreeable to this
square, when perfectly finished."
113. "The cube is a
symbol of truth, of wisdom, and moral perfection. The new Jerusalem,
promised in the Apocalypse, is equal in length, breadth, and height. The
Mystical city ought to be considered as a new church, where divine wisdom
will reign."—OLIVER'S Landmarks, ii. p. 357.—And he might have
added, where eternal truth will be present.
114. In the most
primitive times, all the gods appear to have been represented by cubical
blocks of stone; and Pausanias says that he saw thirty of these stones in
the city of Pharae, which represented as many deities. The first of the
kind, it is probable, were dedicated to Hermes, whence they derived their
name of "Hermae."
115. "Give unto
Jehovah the glory due unto His name; worship Jehovah in the beauty of
holiness."—Psalm xxix. 2.
116. It is at least
a singular coincidence that in the Brahminical religion great respect was
paid to the north-east point of the heavens. Thus it is said in the
Institutes of Menu, "If he has any incurable disease, let him advance in a
straight path towards the invincible north-east point, feeding on
water and air till his mortal frame totally decay, and his soul become
united with the Supreme."
117. This symbolism
of the double position of the corner-stone has not escaped the attention
of the religious symbologists. Etsius, an early commentator, in 1682,
referring to the passage in Ephesians ii. 20, says, "That is called the
corner-stone, or chief corner-stone, which is placed in the extreme angle
of a foundation, conjoining and holding together two walls of the pile,
meeting from different quarters. And the apostle not only would be
understood by this metaphor that Christ is the principal foundation of the
whole church, but also that in him, as in a corner-stone, the two peoples,
Jews and Gentiles, are conjoined, and so conjoined as to rise together
into one edifice, and become one church." And Julius Firmicius, who wrote
in the sixteenth century, says that Christ is called the corner-stone,
because, being placed in the angle of the two walls, which are the Old and
the New Testament, he collects the nations into one fold. "Lapis sanctus,
i.e. Christus, aut fidei fundamenta sustentat aut in angulo positus duorum
parietum membra aequata moderatione conjungit, i.e., Veteris et Novi
Testamenti in unum colligit gentes."—De Errore profan. Religionum,
chap. xxi.
118. This permanence
of position was also attributed to those cubical stones among the Romans
which represented the statues of the god Terminus. They could never
lawfully be removed from the spot which they occupied. Hence, when Tarquin
was about to build the temple of Jupiter, on the Capitoline Hill, all the
shrines and statues of the other gods were removed from the eminence to
make way for the new edifice, except that of Terminus, represented by a
stone. This remained untouched, and was enclosed within the temple, to
show, says Dudley, "that the stone, having been a personification of the
God Supreme, could not be reasonably required to yield to Jupiter himself
in dignity and power."—DUDLEY'S
Naology, p 145.
119. Dudley's
Naology, p. 476.
120. Masonic
Discourses, Dis. iv. p. 81.
121. "The act of
consecration chiefly consisted in the unction, which was a ceremony
derived from the most primitive antiquity. The sacred tabernacle, with all
the vessels and utensils, as also the altar and the priests themselves,
were consecrated in this manner by Moses, at the divine command. It is
well known that the Jewish kings and prophets were admitted to their
several offices by unction. The patriarch Jacob, by the same right,
consecrated the altars which he made use of; in doing which it is more
probable that he followed the tradition of his forefathers, than that he
was the author of this custom. The same, or something like it, was also
continued down to the times of Christianity."—POTTER'S
Archaeologia Graeca, b. ii. p. 176.
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