Читать книгу Manual of the Lodge - Albert Gallatin Mackey - Страница 18

The material light which sprung forth at the fiat of the Grand Architect, when darkness and chaos were dispersed, has ever been, in Masonry, a favorite symbol of that intellectual illumination which it is the object of the Order to create in the minds of its disciples, whence we have justly assumed the title of "Sons of Light." This mental illumination—this spiritual light, which, after his new birth, is the first demand of the candidate, is but another name for Divine Truth—the truth of God and the soul—the nature and essence of both—which constitute the chief design of all Masonic teaching. And as the chaos and confusion in which, "in the beginning," the earth, "without form, and void," was enwrapt were dispersed, and order and beauty established by the Supreme command which created material light; so, at the proper declaration, and in the due and recognized form, the intellectual chaos and confusion in which the mind of the neophyte is involved are dispersed, and the true knowledge of the science and philosophy, the faith and doctrine of Masonry, are developed.

But what mind can conceive, or what pen portray, that terrible convulsion of nature, that awful disentanglement of its elements, which must have accompanied the Divine command, "Let there be light!" The attempt to describe it would be a presumptuous task. We feel, when we meditate on the subject, that stillness and silence must have fled before the Almighty Voice, and the earth itself have trembled in its new existence, when the gloomy pall of darkness was rolled as a curtain from the face of nature.

And in Masonry, by the Shock of Enlightenment, we seek, humbly, indeed, and at an inconceivable distance, to preserve the recollection and to embody the idea of the birth of material light by the representation of the circumstances that accompanied it, and their reference to the birth of intellectual or Masonic light. The one is the type of the other; and hence the illumination of the candidate is attended with a ceremony that may be supposed to imitate the primal illumination of the universe—most feebly, it is true, and yet not altogether without impressiveness.

The Shock of Enlightenment is, then, a symbol of the change which is now taking place in the intellectual condition of the candidate. It is the symbol of the birth of intellectual light and the dispersion of intellectual darkness.

The Holy Bible is given to us as the rule and guide of out faith; the Square, to square our actions; and the Compasses, to circumscribe our desires and passions in due bounds with all mankind, but more especially with brother Masons; and hence the Bible is the light which enlightens the path of our duty to God; the Square, that which enlightens the path of duty to our fellow-men; and the Compasses, that which enlightens the path of our duty to ourselves.

The lesser lights are intended to remind us of that symbolism which makes the Lodge a type of the world; and hence the Master, presiding and dispensing light, may well be compared to those heavenly luminaries which were made, "the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night;" and we are thus reminded, that as the sun rules the day and the moon governs the night, so should the W. M. rule and govern his Lodge with equal regularity and precision.

Note.—Errors are so often made in placing the lights around the altar, that the preceding diagram is inserted for the direction of the Senior Deacon, whose duty it is to see that they are properly distributed. The stars represent the positions of the lights in the E., W., and S., and the black dot, the place of darkness in the N., where there is no light. The dotted line passing through these points in the diagram represents the limits of the Lodge, and above that the lights are in the proper cardinal points.

When being clothed as an Entered Apprentice, the candidate receives the following charge:

I present you with this lambskin or white leather apron, which is an emblem of innocence and the badge of a Mason, more ancient than the Golden Fleece³ or Roman Eagle;⁴ more honorable than the Star and Garter,⁵ or any other order that could be conferred upon you, at this or any other future period, by king, prince, or potentate, or any other person, except he were a Mason and in the body of a Lodge, and which, I trust, you will wear with equal pleasure to yourself and honor to the fraternity.