CHAPTER XVII
part II - Symbolism and the Teachings of Freemasonry
THE SQUARE AND COMPASSES
W.
M. Don Falconer PM, PDGDC
From the earliest times sunrise and
the east have been symbols of birth, light and learning, whilst
sunset and the west have been symbols of death and
darkness.
Since
our prehistoric ancestors first awoke to the glory of a primeval
sunrise, east and west have held a pre-eminent position in the
symbolism of human beings. Archaeological evidence indicates that
the first humans dwelt in the tropical zone. It therefore would be
reasonable to assume that Rudyard Kipling’s dramatic description of
sunrise in his poem Mandalay would reflect a primitive
human being’s perception of the event, that “the dawn comes up
like thunder!” Imagine too the indelible impression that the
sunset would have left on a primitive human being’s mind at the end
of that first day. Robert Browning portrays the event graphically
his poem Home Thoughts from the Sea, in which he says
that the “sunset ran, one glorious blood-red, reeking . . .
.”. It is impossible for us to understand how primitive
human beings would have comprehended the events of that first day,
from awe-inspiring sunrise to overwhelming sunset, but there can be
no doubt that the impact of those two events would have left a
lasting impression in their minds. Since the first human beings
walked on this earth, sunrise and sunset have been inescapable
factors that have significantly influenced their daily lives.
The
symbolism that has been derived from sunrise and sunset has evolved
progressively, in parallel with the development of human mental
capacity, while mankind learned and put into practice the various
occupational pursuits necessary for survival. When primitive humans
searched for food they became nomadic hunter-gatherers of necessity,
when they could no longer find sufficient sustenance in the
immediate vicinity of their original domicile. Their travels
gradually took them away from the equatorial regions, where the
weather had always been either hot and wet or hot and dry. As the
hunter-gatherers ventured into the higher latitudes, they noticed
that the sun no longer passed almost directly overhead throughout
the year. After living for several years in the more temperate
regions they deduced that the seasonal changes, to which they had
become accustomed, were related to the elevation of the sun in the
sky at different times of the year. They also observed that the
germination of plant life varied with the seasons and was directly
related to the influence of the sun. Thus from the earliest times
sunrise and the east were symbols of birth, light and learning,
whilst sunset and the west were symbols of death and darkness. In
the ancient Mysteries, for example, the rising sun
that originally typified physical birth also became a symbol of the
regeneration of the soul.
The
discoveries that primitive human beings made about the influence of
the sun naturally intensified their awe of and reverence for the
sun. This fostered a conviction that the sun not only was a
harbinger of birth, but that it was in fact a life sustaining orb,
which in turn cultivated the belief that the sun was the source of
life itself. Because the primitive human mind could not comprehend
that the sun was only one of the Almighty Creator’s bounteous and
life-sustaining gifts, our prehistoric ancestors began to visualise
the sun as God. Thus arose the worship of the sun, which was an
essential element in most of the ancient religions around the world,
including the earliest that evolved in Egypt, Phoenicia, Babylonia,
Persia, India, Mexico and Peru. The wandering Celts and Teutons in
the primeval forests of northern Europe regularly held feasts to the
sun. Offerings to the sun were also made in ancient China.
In
Greek mythology one of the twelve tasks of Hercules was to kill
Hydra, the many-headed water snake of the Lernaean marshes, which
symbolised the dissipation of marsh malaria by the purifying rays of
the sun. In ancient times, especially in Babylonia, Persia and
India, the worship of the sun was often coupled with the worship of
the moon and stars, collectively described as the host of
heaven. This also was a feature of the religion of ancient
Egypt and had a powerful influence on all later religions. The
worship of the host of heaven is known as
Sabaism, from the Hebrew tsäbä meaning
a host. Sabaism should not be confused
with the ancient Sabaeans or Sabians of
southern Iraq and western Iran, now living mainly in Yemen. The
Sabians, also called Mandeans, derive
their name from the Arabic säbi’ meaning to
baptise. In the Koran the Sabians are included with Moslems,
Jews and Christians as believers in one true God.
The
sun in Central American cultures
As
recently as 200 BCE the Toltec inhabitants of Teotihuacan in
Mexico began to construct the Temple of Quetzalcoatl the Plumed
Serpent. The Toltecs also constructed the Pyramid of the Moon and
the enormous Pyramid of the Sun, that was more than 60 metres high
and larger than the Great Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt, containing at
least a million cubic metres of earth, rubble and sun-dried mud
brick. The two pyramids were not tombs, but temple platforms with
shrines on top. The Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the two pyramids were
all associated with the “Way of the Dead” that was
about 2 kilometres long, bisecting the metropolis of ancient Mexico
in a north-south direction. Teotihuacan flourished until about
650 CE when it began to fall into decay, being looted and burnt
in about 750 CE. In Teotihuacan and in the many Mayan centres
throughout Mesoamerica, the altars in the temples to the sun
streamed with blood, including human blood, from the sacrifices made
in honour of the golden orb. The Aztecs later occupied the site of
Teotihuacan and built their own city over the ruins. They believed
that the Pyramid of the Sun was the birthplace of the
sun in our solar system. The Aztec empire lasted from about
1325 CE until Mexico fell to the Spanish invaders in 1521.
The
sun in South American cultures
Among
the edifices of the several regional cultures in South America,
probably the best known are the “Gateway of the Sun”
at Tiahuanaco near Lake Titicaca at an elevation of 4,000 metres in
Bolivia and the “Temple of the Sun” at Pachacamac on
the coast of central Peru. The Gateway was commenced
in about 200 CE and the Temple in about
400 CE, both continuing in use until the Spanish conquest. Sun
worship was also a key feature of the vast empire of the Incas on
the west coast of South America. The Incan Empire extended for more
than 3,000 kilometres from Quito in Ecuador to Talca in Chile and
lasted from 1438 until the Spanish conquest in 1532. Archaeological
investigations high in the Andes Mountains confirm that the Incas
also carried out human sacrifices.
The
sun in Hinduism
The
origins of Hinduism are shrouded in the mists of time. It probably
is the oldest religion that has existed continuously until the
present day. The Aryans of ancient India worshipped and tried to
appease a number of gods who personified the forces of nature,
originally revering the sun as their godhead. With the merging of
many cultures down through the ages, those ancient beliefs have been
modified as they have absorbed and reflected the developing social
structures, progressively transmuting into modern Hinduism. As a
result of this process the sun came to be regarded in its various
aspects as a composite symbol of the triune essence of
the Supreme Being. This triune essence
is reflected in the Trimurti, the trinity in
unity of God found in the mythology of the Hindus. In modern
Hinduism the one Supreme Being is represented by three
coeval and coequal manifestations in the form of Brahma the
creator, Vishnu the preserver and Siva
the destroyer. As a composite symbol of the
Trimurti, the rising sun represents
Brahma and signifies birth; the midday sun represents
Siva and signifies life; and the setting sun
represents Vishnu and signifies death.
Religion
in ancient Egypt
Long
before their first dynasty, the ancient Egyptians called the sun
Ra. It is not known what the name meant, nor is it
known what attributes it ascribed to the sun, but it is known that
Ra was believed to possess the power of creation and
was identified as the visible emblem of God and was venerated as the
god of the earth. Osiris was identified with the
constellation of Orion and was believed to possess the power of
rebirth and resurrection. He was venerated as an astral body from
the Zep Tepi or the “first time of the
Gods”, who would conduct the spirits of the deceased on
their celestial journeys from their earthly tombs to dwell in the
heavenly Duat. Some of the most important of the
extant Egyptian texts are the Wisdom of Ptah-Hotep,
the Papyrus of Ani and the Pyramid Texts
that date from about 2500 BCE. They say that the souls of the
deceased will travel to the “abode of the blessed” in
heaven, which is the “barque of millions of years” in
which Ra sails across the sky. The ancient Egyptians
believed that the sun had a morning boat and an evening boat, in
which Ra travelled in the company of his morning and
evening forms that were called Khepera and
Tmu respectively. Khepera represented
birth in both the physical and the spiritual worlds, which enabled
the dead from the earthly Duat to burst forth into a
new life in glorified form in the heavenly Duat.
Tmu represented death in a compassionate sense and
supposedly was the source of the “cool breezes of the north
wind”, which those who mourned the dead prayed for.
Despite
this obvious cloak of polytheism, Champollion Figeac, one of the
earliest Egyptologists who had studied the Egyptian texts
intensively, said “the Egyptian religion is a pure monotheism,
which manifested itself externally by a symbolic polytheism”
when writing in Égypte in 1839. This view, which has
been supported by many other eminent Egyptologists including the
director of the School of Egyptology in Cairo 1870-1890, Dr Heinrich
Karl Brugsch, was summarised by M. Pierret in Religion et
Mythologie des anciens Égyptiens in 1881 when he said
“the texts show that the Egyptians believed in One infinite
and eternal God who was without a second”. The relationship
between the monotheism of Egypt and such concepts as “body,
soul and spirit” and the “triune essence of the
deity” are reflected in aspects of the Egyptian beliefs.
Many of these concepts are revealed in the texts of the
Papyrus of Ani, translated by E. A. Wallis Budge in
his Book of the Dead, which was first published in
1895 by order of the Trustees of the British Museum. In his
discussions on the “abode of the blessed”, Wallis
Budge explains the ancient Egyptian belief that the gods dwelt in
heaven, each with its ka, khu and
khaibit, where they received the blessed dead to dwell
with them. Some of the relevant doctrines relating to this belief
will now be discussed briefly.
The
physical body of a person considered as a whole was called
khat, which always seems to suggest something that is
liable to decay and is the word usually used with reference to a
mummified body. Notwithstanding mummification, nowhere do any of the
texts suggest that a person’s corruptible body will rise again. It
is only the sahu or spiritual body, after having
obtained a degree of knowledge, power and glory that becomes lasting
and incorruptible and rises again. The ka is a
person’s abstract individuality or personality which has all its
characteristic attributes, but can separate from or unite with the
body at will and can also enjoy life with the gods in heaven, when
it seems to be identical with the sekhem which was the
power, form or image of the body supposed to exist in heaven. They
are separate from the ab, which is seat of the power
of life and the fountain of good and evil thoughts loosely referred
to as the heart and also from the ba, which is the
soul and signifies sublime or noble and was believed to enjoy an
eternal existence in heaven in a state of glory. The
ab and the ba are associated with the
khu or shining one, which is the spirit of a person
that after death joins the khu’s of the gods in
heaven. Closely allied with the ka and
khu is the khaibit or shadow of a person
comparable with the umbra of the Greeks and Romans and
the aura or subtle essence that it is
claimed emanates from all living things and affords an atmosphere
for occult phenomena.
After
the end of the Old Kingdom, in about 2200 BCE, Egypt fell into
a state of rapid decline, when the priesthood progressively
increased their authority over the people, using the accepted
cosmogony and the associated pantheon of subsidiary gods to their
own benefit. This insidious state of affairs continued for more than
800 years, until the pharaoh Amenophis IV (1372-1354 BCE)
and his beautiful wife Nefertiti overthrew the power of the
priesthood during the sixth year of their reign. They renounced the
worship of the old gods and emphasised the power of an intangible
deity. Amenophis IV overruled the apparent functions of the old
gods and introduced a purified form of solar monotheism as the
official religion. He emphasised his action by changing the name of
the sun disc of the absolute god Ra from
Amen to Aten, at the same time changing
his own name to Akhenaten, meaning the Glory of the
Aten.
In
the mind of the Egyptians, the sun represented the source of all
life and creation, whose power was made manifest by its life-giving
rays. It was synonymous with movement and typified the life of man,
with sunrise in the east representing birth and sunset in the west
representing death. The Egyptians also developed a moral conception
of the sun, as a symbol of the victories of right over wrong and of
truth over falsehood. The beliefs and actions of the pharaoh
Akhenaten had an impact on the people similar to that of the
covenant God made with Noah, who survived the great flood recorded
in the Hebrew Scriptures. Many scholars regard Akhenaten’s
unequivocal reintroduction of a monotheistic religion in Egypt as
the vision of a Messiah who was before his time. However the
priesthood strongly objected to their loss of power and did
everything they could to resist Akhenaten changes, calling him the
“heretical pharaoh”.
Ancient
Hebrew traditions
The
significance of the covenant God made with Noah is derived from the
root meaning of the Hebrew word berith, which
signifies to bond or to fetter and
implies a binding relationship that is based on a commitment that
includes both promises and obligations. In the covenant with Noah,
God’s promise established Noah’s security, in return for which Noah
was obliged to construct the ark and save his family and specified
creatures. As a result of this covenant Noah, who was the son of
Lamech and the tenth in descent from Adam, was able to hand down to
his descendants two important religious truths that he had received
from the line of Patriarchs who preceded him. These truths were a
belief in the existence of one Supreme Being who is the creator,
preserver and ruler of the universe, coupled with a belief in the
immortality of the soul. Noah’s three sons, who accompanied him in
the ark, were Shem, Ham and Japhet. The Hebrew Scriptures record
that the flood occurred in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life,
which was 2348 BCE according to the chronology established by
Bishop Ussher in 1650. Modern research indicates that the great
flood would have occurred about 12,000 years ago or a little
earlier, during the melt down that took place towards the end of the
last great Ice Age.
In
the book of Genesis we are told that after the flood the descendants
of Noah’s three sons populated the earth and used a single language.
However the truths handed down by Noah must have become obscured,
because we also read that when they had learnt to make bricks and to
use bitumen for mortar, they apparently displeased the Lord when
they said “let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its
top in the heavens and make a name for ourselves” and put
their words into action. The scriptures tell us that, as a
punishment for their pride and disobedience, the people were
dispersed from Babel all over the earth and that their speech was
confused so that they could not understand one another. Babel is the
Hebrew name of Babylon, from the Hebrew word balbel
that means to confuse. The original Tower of
Babel was the first temple tower or ziggurat
mentioned in the scriptures. Archaeological investigations indicate
that it was indeed built of bricks jointed with bitumen, almost
certainly before 4000 BCE and possibly as early as
4800 BCE. The temple tower derives its name from the Assyrian
word ziqquratu, which means a pinnacle
and also is often used to signify the top of a
mountain.
The
descendants of Noah again lapsed into polytheism after their
dispersion from Babel, in consequence of which there were serious
deviations from the worship of the one true God that had been
established by Noah. This lapse was not rectified until after the
Israelites had escaped from slavery in Egypt, during the Exodus
under the leadership of Moses when he was about 80 years old,
probably in about 1280 BCE. We are told in the scriptures that
the pharaoh’s daughter took Moses from the waterside. This most
probably this would have been at about the end of the pharaoh
Akhenaten’s reign, or very soon after. As Moses was brought up in a
royal harem, he would have received a very good
classical education and Akhenaten’s monotheistic beliefs would have
been impressed on his mind. This might well have been the foundation
for Moses’ belief in the one true God, but at the very least it
would have reinforced those beliefs.
Tabernacle
is derived from the Latin word tabernaculum, which
means a tent. It is the diminutive of taberna, which
means a hut. In the Hebrew Scriptures the three
tabernacles that are mentioned all signify a
tent of meeting, which is also called a tent of
congregation. During the second year of the Exodus, Moses
established the first or provisional tabernacle after
he had destroyed the image of the golden calf made by Aaron and the
Israelites. They had made the golden calf while Moses first spent
forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai, when he was in communion
with the Lord. The provisional tabernacle was an
ordinary tent, probably that of Moses himself, pitched well outside
the camp so that it would not be disturbed by the commotion of
everyday life. Although there was no priesthood and no ritual was
carried out, the people went out to the tabernacle as if to an
oracle. A transitional period followed, during which the whole
future of the people depended upon their contrition and penitence.
Moses displayed the most earnest zeal and interceded with the Lord
on behalf of his people, which was rewarded during his second stay
of forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai. This was when the
glory of the Lord was revealed to Moses, the tables of the law were
renewed and a new covenant was made with Israel. When Moses returned
to his people his shining face was covered with a veil.
Moses
then erected the second, or Sinaitic tabernacle, in
accordance with directions given to him by the Lord on Mount Sinai.
This tabernacle was a portable sanctuary in which it was said,
“God dwelt among the Israelites”. By God’s special
command the tabernacle was oriented due east and west, with its only
entrance at the eastern end. The tabernacle was composed of two
parts. The main part was the mishkan or dwelling,
which was the tabernacle proper. The mishkan was
covered by the other part, the ohel or tent, which was
in the form of a fly roof. The mishkan was 30 cubits
long and 10 cubits wide, divided into two compartments. The
compartment at the eastern end was the Holy Place,
20 cubits long and 10 cubits wide. The compartment at the
western end was the Holy of Holies, a perfect cube
with sides of 10 cubits. The ohel or tent was a
weatherproof covering, which the New English Bible
describes as “a cover of tanned rams’ skins and an outer
covering of porpoise-hides”. It is now known that portable
shrines similar to the tabernacle were being used in Egypt before
the Exodus led by Moses.
The
tabernacle was constructed with vertical planks of shittim wood or
acacia, each plank 10 cubits high and 1½ cubits wide, plated with
sheets of gold. In earlier times it was thought that the planks were
butted together to form solid walls, but modern research indicates
that they were used to form a framework that was joined together by
cross-rails to support ten linen curtains. The curtains were
decorated with figures of cherubim woven into blue, purple and
scarlet tapestry. In its strict sense, the word tabernacle refers to
these curtains. The roof of the tabernacle was comprised of goats’
hair curtains. In the Holy Place there were a table of
shewbread, a seven-branched golden candlestick and an altar of
incense. The Holy of Holies was screened from the
Holy Place by a veil. The Holy of Holies
held the gold plated Ark of the Covenant, which was
protected by two cherubim with outstretched wings. The cherubim
looked down on the lid of the ark, which was called the mercy
seat.
The
tabernacle was enclosed within a courtyard that was 100 cubits long
from east to west and 50 cubits wide from north to south, completely
surrounded by a fence 5 cubits high. The fence was constructed with
pillars of shittim wood or acacia. The pillars supported rods from
which sheets of “fine twisted linen” were hung,
probably similar to duck canvas. The fence formed a continuous
screen around the courtyard and had a gateway 5 cubits wide at the
eastern end. A screen of “needlework of blue and purple and
scarlet and fine twined linen” closed the gateway. In the
courtyard, spaced along the centre-line between the gate and the
entrance to the tabernacle, were a brazen altar nearest to the gate
and a laver nearest to the tabernacle. When the tabernacle was
complete, Moses consecrated Aaron and his sons to the priesthood,
numbered the people and arranged the order in which the tribes would
assemble when in camp and on the march. While Canaan remained
unconquered, the host of Israel continued to move as an army. They
dismantled the tabernacle to move it from place to place, setting it
up again wherever the people intended to be camped for some time.
The
host of Israel finally arrived at Shiloh in about 1220 BCE,
where they stayed for almost 200 years. When the Philistines
destroyed the central sanctuary at Shiloh in about 1050 BCE,
worship was transferred to Mizpeh. Later, when the Philistines had
returned the plundered tabernacle and its contents to the
Israelites, the Ark of the Covenant was kept at
Kiriath-jearim, but the tabernacle, the brazen altar and the tables
for the shewbread were moved to Nob. The contents of the tabernacle
were kept at Nob until about 1025 BCE when Saul, the first king
of Israel, destroyed the shrine in which it was kept. Saul did this
because he heard that the priests had assisted the fugitive David
when he raided the shrine at Nob and then had Ahimelech and the
other eighty-five priests put to death. The tabernacle, brazen altar
and shewbread were then moved to Gibeon. When Saul died about
1010 BCE, David became king over Judah in the south. After
David had consolidated the supremacy of Judah over the other tribes
about seven years later, he captured the Jebusite city of Jerusalem
and became king over Israel in the north and the first king over the
united kingdom of “all Israel”. David then moved the
Ark of the Covenant from Kiriath-jearim to Mount Zion,
where he established the third tabernacle, usually called the
Davidic tabernacle.
After
King David had established the tabernacle at Mount Zion, he
purchased the site of the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite,
on top of Mount Moriah. He then began collecting materials and
gathering treasure for the construction of a temple. It is recorded
in I Chronicles 22:7-9, that before King David died he charged
his son Solomon to build a temple, saying that although he himself
had intended to build one he had been forbidden to do so when the
Lord said to him:
“You
have shed much blood in my sight and waged great wars; for this
reason you shall not build a house in my name. But you shall have a
son . . . Solomon, ‘Man of Peace’ . . . He shall build a house
in honour of my name . . . and I will establish the throne of his
sovereignty over Israel forever.”
King
Solomon commenced work on the temple in the fourth year of his reign
and completed it in a little over seven years, in about
950 BCE. It was not by chance that King Solomon secured the aid
of Hiram King of Tyre and his Tyrian artificer, Hiram Abif, to
construct the temple. King Solomon knew that the Tyrians were highly
skilled in such projects, because they had been engaged in the
design and construction of similar buildings for about a thousand
years. Nor was the temple at Jerusalem the first of its kind,
because many temples of similar style had been built in the Levant
for centuries before King David first contemplated building a temple
to the Lord at Jerusalem. Many archaeological excavations that have
been carried out in Iraq, Syria and the Levant generally since 1930
show that the temple at Jerusalem was in a direct line of tradition
that had been established in the Levant and was followed at least
during the preceding two thousand years and probably for
longer.
In
1950 a Canaanite temple, similar to King Solomon’s temple, was
discovered at Hazor in northern Palestine, which dated from about
1950 BCE. Similar small temples have also been unearthed at
Emar in Iraq and at Ebla and Moumbaqat in Syria, which predated the
temple at Jerusalem by periods ranging from two hundred to eight
hundred years. These later temples were contemporaneous with or
perhaps a little later than the Sinaitic tabernacle, which strongly
suggests that there had been an interchange of information and ideas
between the various tribes inhabiting the lands around the eastern
Mediterranean. In any event, the orientation and internal layout of
the temple at Jerusalem was similar to that of the earlier temples,
most of which also had two pillars that flanked their only entrance
at the eastern end, similar to the layout of temple at
Jerusalem.
The
ground plan of the temple at Jerusalem, like the tabernacle proper,
was in the ratio of 3:1 and the same internal arrangement was
adopted. However the dimensions of the temple were exactly twice
those of the tabernacle. Thus the Holy Place in the
temple was 40 cubits long from east to west and 20 cubits wide,
while the Holy of Holies at the western end was a
perfect cube with sides of 20 cubits. The temple, like the
tabernacle, was enclosed in a courtyard, but it was surrounded by
another outer courtyard where the ordinary people could assemble.
Although the fittings and fixtures in the inner courtyard of the
temple were functionally similar to those in the courtyard of the
tabernacle, they were more numerous and more elaborate.
In
any discussion on the symbolism of an east-west orientation, it is
important not to lose sight of the fact that in ancient times east
and west respectively signified the regions, the places, the lines,
or the directions in which the sun would be seen to rise and to set.
At any given location the positions of the sun at sunrise and sunset
varies throughout the year, especially as the distance of the
location from the equator increases. However, the positions of the
sun at sunrise and sunset at the summer solstice were almost
universally regarded as the most important. Hence many temples and
many of the ancient burial sites, such as the long
barrows in the British Isles, actually are oriented more
nearly on a northeast to southwest direction, so that at the summer
solstice the rising sun will shine directly into the temple or
burial chamber.
During
the early period of Christian worship, when the gatherings were held
outdoors, it was customary for the congregation to face the east.
The earliest Christian churches had their entrances in the east,
like the temple at Jerusalem. Lodges of operative freemasons have
always followed the tradition of having the entrance in the east and
the master seated in the west, so that the master faces the east,
which is the symbolic source of light. However, lodges of
speculative craft freemasons have adopted the reverse orientation.
Possibly this is because, since early in the Middle Ages, Christian
churches usually have been oriented with the altar in the east,
which is the reverse of the orientation adopted in ancient temples.
Although it is the custom to orient Christian churches on an
east-west axis, site conditions have not always allowed this to be
achieved. Even so, builders have often gone to extreme lengths to
achieve an east-west orientation. The Canterbury Cathedral is a
classic example of achieving an east-west orientation in difficult
circumstances. Construction began in 1070, in the heart of a city
that had been occupied continuously since about 200 BCE. This
remarkable cathedral was completed in 1503, fortunately without
destroying the ambience of the ancient city.
The
east to west orientation is very significant in speculative craft
freemasonry, because it is the symbolic source of light. The art of
writing was first developed in the Near East as an essential medium
of communication and traditionally the east is where learning
originated. Unlike his operative predecessors, the master of a
speculative lodge is seated in the east. Like the sun, which opens
the day in the east, the master opens the lodge to employ and
instruct the brethren. Also in contrast to his operative
predecessors, the senior warden of a speculative lodge is seated in
the west, but like his predecessors it is his duty to superintend
the work. Like the sun, which sets in the west to close the day, the
senior warden closes the lodge when the labours of the day have been
completed. A speculative craft freemason first learns the symbolism
of an east-west orientation in relation to the tabernacle erected by
Moses near Mount Sinai, later amplified by an account of the
construction and dedication of King Solomon’s temple at
Jerusalem.
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