A
freemason's lodge represents the universe, which is the temple of
the Deity whom we serve.
The
founders of modern speculative craft freemasonry embraced the
underlying symbolism of their predecessors in operative freemasonry,
who based their rituals on the construction of King Solomon's temple
at Jerusalem. The temple was a focal point in Israel and helped to
consolidate the many cults of the disparate and often warring
tribes, which was politically and spiritually advantageous to King
Solomon in his establishment of stability among the Israelites. The
temple and its construction was an appropriate model on which to
base the symbolic instruction given in lodges of operative
freemasons, from which speculative freemasonry was derived. The Rev
Dr George Oliver DD was one of the most learned and distinguished of
the early speculative craft freemasons. His father, the Rev Samuel
Oliver, initiated him in 1801 in the St Peter's Lodge of the
city of Peterborough, in Scotland. Dr Oliver studied and wrote
extensively on ecclesiastical antiquities and most aspects of
speculative freemasonry. In his renowned treatise, Revelations
of the Square, Dr Oliver gave one of the most succinct yet
comprehensive explanations ever given in respect of the foundation,
purpose and symbolism of freemasonry when he said:
"The
Society adopted the Temple of Solomon for its symbol, because it was
the most stable and the most magnificent structure that ever
existed, whether we consider its foundation or superstructure; so
that of all the societies men have invented, no one was ever more
firmly united, or better planned, than the Masons . . . The edifices
which Freemasons build are nothing more than virtues or vices to be
erected or destroyed; and in this case heaven only occupies their
minds, which soar above the corrupted world. The Temple of Solomon
denotes reason and intelligence."
From
the earliest days of operative freemasonry in Europe and Britain,
Egypt was believed to have provided the prototype for the design of
the temple in Jerusalem, notwithstanding the Biblical record of the
participation and influence of the Phoenicians. The fact that King
Solomon had obtained the Phoenician’s expertise, because he thought
it essential for the design and construction of his temple, appears
to have been overlooked. This belief that there was an Egyptian
prototype persisted right through the Middle Ages and the entire
period of intensive cathedral building. When the lodges of operative
masons became defunct, the belief was perpetuated in the lore of the
speculative freemasonry that emerged in Britain as the successor of
operative freemasonry. However, archaeological investigations in
Palestine and Syria since the 1930s have unearthed a series of
temples that have similar characteristics, design and orientation to
the temple at Jerusalem, usually with two pillars at the entrance.
Their construction predated the construction of King Solomon's
temple by periods ranging from 200 to 800 years. All of those
temples were elongated about 3:1 in plan and were subdivided into
compartments, permitting worshippers to make a logical progression
from the profane outside world to the sacred inner sanctum. As there
were no similar temples in Egypt, it is clear that King Solomon's
temple did not have an Egyptian prototype, but was of the same
general type as the Phoenician temples discovered in Palestine and
Syria.
The
precursor of King Solomon's temple was the "tent of
congregation", called the tabernacle, which
was a portable sanctuary for the Ark of the Covenant
that was first erected by the Israelites at Mount Sinai under the
leadership of Moses, about 500 years before King Solomon's temple
was built. In plan the tabernacle was in the
proportions 3:1, being 30 cubits long and 10 cubits wide. It was
oriented east to west and had a single entrance in the east. The
tabernacle proper was the mishkan, the
ten linen curtains woven in blue, purple and scarlet and hung inside
the northern, western and southern walls of the structure, which was
covered by the ohel or tent. Towards the western end
similar curtains subdivided the mishkan to form two
compartments. The hekhal or Holy Place
at the eastern end was a double cube 20 cubits long, 10 cubits wide
and 10 cubits high. The debir or Holy of
Holies at the western end was a perfect cube of 10 cubits
sides.
The
arrangement of the tabernacle was replicated in King
Solomon's temple, but its dimensions in plan were doubled to provide
a building 60 cubits long and 20 cubits wide. The Holy
Place at the eastern end of the temple differed from the
tabernacle in which it was a double cube. The
Holy Place in the temple was a double square in plan,
being 40 cubits long and 20 cubits wide, but it had a height of 30
cubits. The Holy of Holies at the western end was a
perfect cube with sides of 20 cubits length, which was set on a
podium 10 cubits high to maintain a uniform ceiling height. The
Holy of Holies was screened from the Holy
Place by curtains. Construction of the temple commenced
during the fourth year of King Solomon's reign and completed a
little more than seven years later, probably about 950 BCE. The only
entrance to the temple was at the eastern end of the Holy Place, to
which access was gained through the ulam, an unroofed
porch 20 cubits wide and 10 cubits along the axis of the main
building. The ulam was flanked by a pillar on each
side, which could be seen from inside the temple when looking
through the entrance towards the east. The left pillar was Boaz at
the northeast corner of the temple and the right pillar was Jachin
at the southeast corner. The temple was enclosed by small chambers
three stories high on the northern, western and southern sides. The
chambers had two external entrances from the surrounding courtyard,
each with a winding staircase for access to the upper floors. One
entrance was near the southwest corner, where the middle chamber was
located and the other was near the northeast corner.
In
those days it was customary for temples also to serve as state
treasuries. The temple at Jerusalem was no exception and it had a
peaceful existence until during the reign of King Solomon's son
Rehoboam, when Sheshonq raided it in about 920 BCE. Sheshonq was a
prince of Libyan descent, known in the Bible as Shishak. He founded
Egypt's XXIInd Dynasty in about 945 BCE and reigned as the Pharaoh
Sheshonk I. After Sheshonq had plundered the temple it had a very
chequered history until about 720 BCE, when Hezekiah refurbished,
adorned and re-established it as the centre of worship. Hezekiah was
one of the most outstanding kings of Judah, renowned for his piety
and vigorous political activities. However, all of the subsequent
kings were idolatrous and desecrated the temple, which fell into
decay. By the time of King Josiah, some 300 years after its
construction, the temple needed extensive repairs that had to be
financed by contributions from the worshippers. Finally in 587 BCE,
during the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, the temple was looted
and sacked by Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon who took the
remaining Israelites into captivity.
The
east-west orientation of the tabernacle and the temple, with the
only entrance in the east, reflects the fact that from time
immemorial human beings have associated the east with the source of
life and the light of knowledge. This veneration of the east
originated in primitive society, probably because of the mystery
then associated with the daily rising of the sun after the darkness
of the night. Even in ancient times the sun was known to germinate
plant life and to ripen the seed and fruits of nature. Hence the sun
came to be regarded as a symbol of the commencement of a new cycle
of life. This is reflected in the reverence held for the east in the
Egyptian rites and other Ancient Mysteries, in which the sun was
regarded as a manifestation of God. In those Mysteries the place
where the sun rose was esteemed as the birthplace of God. Many of
the earliest Christian churches, especially those in the eastern
countries, were oriented east west and had the entrance in the east
like King Solomon’s temple. It also was the custom of the early
Christians, when praying in public, to turn towards the east
because, as Saint Augustine said:
"The
east is the most honourable part of the world, being the region of
light whence the glorious sun rises."
In
operative freemasonry the symbolic lodge was oriented on an east
west axis. The entrance to the lodge was at the eastern end and the
master was seated in the west. This arrangement was in allusion to
King Solomon's temple at Jerusalem, which had a single entrance in
the east, flanked by two columns. In his lectures on Signs and
Symbols, the Rev Dr George Oliver supported the customs
adopted in operative lodges when he said:
"The
principal entrance to the lodge room ought to face the east, because
the east is a place of light both physical and moral; and therefore
the Brethren have access to the lodge by that entrance, as a symbol
of mental illumination."
Notwithstanding
the historical precedents, the orientation of Christian churches was
reversed from about the end of the first century of Christianity.
Throughout the great period of cathedral building in Europe and
Britain, pains were taken to orient Christian churches and
cathedrals on an east-west axis, with the entrance at the western
end and the sanctuary and main altar at the eastern end. With this
arrangement worshippers facing the altar during prayer were facing
the east. This was in accordance with an injunction in the Apostolic
Constitutions that required the designers to "let the church
be of an oblong form, directed to the East". In cruciform
buildings the transept also was placed towards the eastern end, thus
forming a Latin cross. Although the Apostolic
Constitutions are usually attributed to Saint Clement, who
died in about 101, this assumption probably is incorrect.
Nevertheless Saint Clement was the first of the Apostolic
Fathers and the second or third successor of Saint Peter in
the See of Rome.
Although
speculative craft freemasonry closely follows most of the symbolic
precedents established by the ancient Israelites and adopted in
lodges of operative freemasons, the orientation of speculative
lodges is the reverse of their operative counterparts, so that the
entrance is in the west and the master is seated in the east. It is
not known when this reversal took place, but it probably was in
deference to established religious practices in Europe and Britain
during the formative days of modern speculative craft freemasonry.
It is probable that the early speculative ritualists in England
adopted ecclesiastical practice in the orientation of their lodges,
because they had not been operative freemasons and were not familiar
with the orientation of operative lodges. Most of the early English
ritualists were acquainted with the Cabalists and
their teachings, which also might have influenced them with regard
to orientation. An essential doctrine of one school of the
Cabalists ignores the orientation of the tabernacle
and the temple and says that:
"His
Majesty . . . . sits on a throne in the east, as the actual
representative of God."
Whatever
may have been the reason for the change, this reversal of the
orientation causes confusion concerning the position of the pillars
at the entrance to King Solomon's temple and also reverses the
symbolic direction in which the winding stairs are ascended to reach
the middle chamber. The middle chamber was one of the rooms that
surrounded the temple, but was not within the temple as is usually
depicted on the second tracing board. In the Prestonian system of
speculative craft freemasonry, which had been practised widely for
some fifty years before the formation of the United Grand Lodge of
England in 1813, the "search for that which was lost"
proceeded logically from west to east in a lodge that was oriented
in the same way as the lodges in operative freemasonry.
In
ancient times stone altars commonly were cubical in the shape and a
cubical stone often represented heathen deities. The Greek
geographer and historian Pausanias of Magnesia, who was probably
born in Lydia, is regarded as one of the founders of archaeology and
the most important antiquarian of Roman times. In about 170 CE he
wrote Periegesis, usually called the Itinerary
of Greece, which provides invaluable information on the
people of Greece and their beliefs, customs and history, compiled
during his extensive travels and investigations. Pausanias records
that the cube was the symbol of Mercury because he
represented truth. He also says that
Apollo, the god of music, poetry, archery, prophecy
and the healing art, was often worshipped under the symbol of a
square stone. Pausanius also recorded that when the
great plague raged in the Roman Empire from 164 to 180, with fatal
results at Delphi, the oracle at Delphi ordered that the
cubical stone erected as an altar to
Apollo should be doubled and that when it was doubled
in height to form a double cube the pestilence ceased.
It is interesting to note that the black stone built
into the Kaaba, the holy building at Mecca, also is in
the form of a double cube and all Muslims revere it.
The prophet Muhammad declared that the black stone was
given to Abraham by the archangel Gabriel and it is reputed to be
possessed of many virtues.
The Israelitish patriarchs
built many altars, including Noah after the flood; Abraham at
Shechem, Bethel, Hebron and Moriah; Isaac at Beersheba; Jacob at
Shechem and Bethel; and Moses at Rephidim after the Amalakites were
defeated. There is no information about their construction, but it
is believed that they were in the form of a double
cube, similar to the Altar of Incense which
the Lord commanded Moses to make, as recorded in Exodus 30:1-3 and
later prescribed in the Mosaic law:
"Make
an altar on which to burn incense; make it of acacia wood. It shall
be square, a cubit long by a cubit broad and two cubits high . . .
Overlay it with pure gold, the top, the sides all round . . ."
The
Altar of Incense used in the tabernacle and also in
King Solomon’s temple at Jerusalem was the form of a double
cube. Many altars that have been discovered in Palestine,
predating the occupation of the Israelites, also are in the form of
a double cube. One of the oldest and best preserved is
an altar of incense that dates from the fourteenth century BCE, from
the Canaanite town of Hazor. It was constructed of basalt and
features an emblem of the sun god, a wheel with four spokes and a
central boss, all carved in relief. Another limestone altar of
incense from Megiddo, that dates from the tenth century BCE, is
embellished with an decorative horizontal band at mid height and
four ornamental horns at the top corners.
The
operative freemasons dedicated their lives to the construction of
earthly or material temples, consecrated to the service and worship
of God. In each of the degrees conferred in lodges of operative
freemasons, the candidate represented one of the stones used in the
construction of King Solomon's temple and the ritual exemplified the
shaping, testing and laying of that stone. The candidate was told
that he was a living stone and that the ceremonial typified his
preparation as a stone for the earthly temple, symbolising the moral
and spiritual preparation that he must undergo to become a living
stone in the heavenly temple. Modern speculative freemasons are
intended to exemplify the labours of their operative predecessors by
engaging in the construction of spiritual temples in their hearts,
pure and unsullied, fit to become the dwelling place of God the
creator who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, the author of
truth and purity from whom all goodness emanates.
All
freemasons are familiar with the rectangular shape of the modern
lodge room. In earlier times a rectangle was called an oblong
square, which could be any oblong with square or right-angled
corners. In lodges of operative freemasons the symbolic lodge was an
oblong square in the proportions of 3:1 in plan, called a temple
square, in allusion to the temple at Jerusalem. The proportions of
3:1 in plan also were those most frequently used in cathedral
building. However these proportions have not been retained in modern
speculative freemasonry, in which the symbolic lodge is described as
an oblong square in the proportions of 2:1 in plan and called a
double square. This ratio may have been adopted because the double
cube had been chosen as the symbolic form of speculative
lodges.
The
double square is usually represented in modern lodges of speculative
craft freemasons by a mosaic pavement of black and white square
tiles laid out in the centre of the floor, with the length along the
east west axis being twice the length along the north south axis. An
indented border of black and white triangular tiles usually
surrounds this rectangle. Although lodges usually assemble in
buildings that are rectangular in shape, this has not invariably
been the shape of all symbolic lodges. Some operative lodges,
especially during the Middle Ages, were in the shape of a mason's
square, or a mason's square gauge, or even a circle. Some
speculative lodges, especially in Scotland and on the continent of
Europe, sometimes have adopted a triangular form, which some still
do. Some speculative lodges in the early 1700s had three symbolic
steps in the west, on which the apprentice, the fellow of the craft
and the master mason knelt in the appropriate way. Most modern
speculative lodges have three symbolic steps in the east, separating
the master’s dais from the floor of the lodge.
In
the earliest days of speculative craft freemasonry, lodges usually
occupied premises on a temporary basis, when it was the custom to
indicate the symbolic shape of the lodge by marking it out with
lines on the floor. Chalk, charcoal and clay were the materials most
commonly used for this purpose, the markings being erased at the
conclusion of the meeting. In 1766 it was recorded that the floor
drawings were frequently made using a mixture of chalk, stone-blue
and charcoal and that in some lodges a mixture of powdered resin and
shining sand were strewn on the floor to produce an attractive
appearance under bright illumination. These floor drawings and
special effects later gave way to the use of removable floor cloths,
which ultimately were replaced by the mosaic pavement and tracing
boards when permanent accommodation was available for the sole use
of lodges. Chalk, charcoal and clay naturally became the subjects of
symbolism and their use for floor drawings gave rise to their
inclusion in the old catechisms. In his lectures on Signs and
Symbols, the Rev Dr George Oliver said that these three
materials:
".
. . have ever been esteemed symbolically as emblems of freedom,
fervency and zeal. Nothing is more free for the use of man than
chalk, which seldom touches but leaves its trace behind. Nothing is
more fervent than charcoal, for when well lighted no metal is able
to resist its force. Nothing is more zealous than clay, which will
open up her arms to receive us when forsaken by all our
friends."
The
speculative ritualists clearly intended a masonic lodge to represent
the universe, which is the temple of the Deity whom we serve. This
is confirmed in one of the passages included in the explanation of
the first tracing board, which reflects the words of the Lord
recorded in Isaiah 66:1 as follows:
"Heaven
is my throne and the earth my footstool. Where will you build a
house for me, where shall my resting-place be?"
A
similar description of heaven as God's home and our ultimate
resting-place is given in the Egyptian Book of the
Dead, which was recorded in hieroglyphs in the pyramid of
the Pharaoh Pepi I at least fifteen centuries before Isaiah's time,
in about 2300 BCE:
"Thou
hast opened the gates of the sky, thou hast opened the doors of the
celestial deep; thou has found Ra and he watcheth over thee, he hath
taken thee by thy hand, he hath led thee into the two regions of
heaven and he hath placed thee on the throne of Osiris."
The
explanation of the first tracing board describes the form of the
lodge as a double cube, in length from east to west, in breadth
between north and south, in depth from the surface of the earth to
its centre and as high even as the heavens. In reality this does not
describe a double cube, but it is an apt description of a perfect
cube of infinite dimensions, which is appropriate as the
representative shape of the Holy of Holies in the
tabernacle and the temple, symbolising truth and perfection, because
the cube is one of the most ancient symbols of truth and perfection.
The perfect cube is also the shape of the perfect ashlar test piece
that a craftsman is required to create from the rough ashlar, by
accurate squaring and polishing in his skilful hands, to prove his
capabilities and demonstrate that he is worthy to be classed as a
master mason. The production of the perfect ashlar symbolises the
transformation of the ignorant and uncultivated mind that must be
achieved by discipline and education, so as to render the living
stone morally and spiritually fit for incorporation into the
celestial temple. We can only speculate that when the early
speculative ritualists described the masonic lodge as a double cube,
either they intended that it should represent the Holy
Place in the tabernacle, or they had in mind the shape of
the Altar of Incense and were attracted to the
combined symbolism of the cube and incense. Incense is a symbol of
the purification of the soul and the cube is a symbol of perfection,
which together suggests that state of purification and perfection
that is necessary for admission into the Lord's temple.
