A traditionary secret was handed
down, revealed to the initiated, and that only according to the degrees
they had attained. they adopted for symbols the square, the level,
the compass, and the hammer. In some lodges and in higher grades
(for they differ almost in every nation) we find the Bible, compass,
and square only. But the Bible given to the aspirant he is to
understand he is to acknowledge no other law but that of Adam--the
law which Almighty god had engraved on his heart, and which is called
the law of nature (thereby rejecting the laws of the Church and
society). The compass recalls to his mind that God is the central
point of everything, from which everything is equally distant, and to
which everything is equally near. By the square he is to learn that
God made everything equal. The drift of these symbolic explanations
is obvious.
In the ceremonies of initiation into the various degrees everything
was devised that could strike the imagination, awaken curiosity, or
excite terror. The awful oath that has been administered in some
Continental lodges would send a thrill of horror through every right-
minded person, whilst the lugubrious ceremonies the aspirant has to
pass elicit a smile--such, for instance, of leading the young Mason
with bandaged eyes around the inner temple, and in the higher grades
presenting him with a dagger, which he is to plunge into a manikin
stuffed with bladders full of blood, and declare that thus he will be
avenged of the death of Adoniram! Then he is instructed in the code
of secret signals by which he can recognize a brother on the street,
on the bench, or on the field of battle.
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