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.
THE LAMBSKIN APRON.
The use of the apron, or some equivalent mode of investiture as a mystic symbol, was common to all the religious systems of antiquity. Among the Israelites, the girdle formed a part of the investiture of the priesthood. In the Persian mysteries of Mithras the candidate was invested with a white apron. In the Brahminical initiations of Hindostan, the Zennaar, or sacred Lord, was substituted for the apron. The Essenians clothed their novices with a white robe. Even the Japanese, in their rites of initiation, invest their candidate with a white apron.
The color of a Mason's apron should be pure white, because this color has in all ages and countries been deemed an emblem of purity and innocence. Thus, in the early ages of the Christian Church, the newly-baptized convert was invested with a white robe, to denote that he had been cleansed from his former sins, and was thenceforth to lead a life of purity. With a similar meaning, the same undefiled color has been preserved in tho apron of the Freemason.
The material of a Mason's apron must be lambskin. No other substance, such as linen, silk, or satin, can be substituted, without entirely destroying the symbolic character of the apron, because the lamb has in all ages been deemed the appropriate emblem of innocence.
The true Masonic apron should, then, be of unspotted lamb skin, from 14 to 16 inches wide, and from 12 to 14 inches deep, with a fall about 3 or 4 inches deep, square at the bottom, with sharp angular corners, and without device or ornament of any kind. The usage of the craft in this country has, within a few years past, allowed a narrow edging of blue ribbon, in allusion to that universal friendship which is the bond of the Society, and of which virtue blue is the symbol. But this, undoubtedly, is an innovation, for the ancient apron was without any edging or ornament. All extraneous ornaments and devices are in bad taste, and detract from the symbolic character of the investiture. But the silk or satin aprons, bespangled, and painted, and embroidered, which have been gradually creeping into our Lodges, have no sort of connection with Ancient Craft Masonry. They are an innovation of French origin, which should be persistently discouraged by all who admire the simplicity and beauty of our symbols. A Mason who duly and truly appreciates the symbolic meaning of his apron would no more tolerate a linen one for its economy, or an embroidered satin one for its decorations, than an artist would a gilded statue. The lambskin, and the lambskin alone, is the badge "more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, and more honorable than the Star and Garter."
THE NORTHEAST CORNER.
In the important ceremony which refers to the northeast corner of the Lodge, the candidate becomes as one who is to all outward appearance a perfect and upright man and Mason, the representative of a spiritual corner-stone, on which he is to erect his future moral and Masonic edifice.
This symbolic reference of the corner-stone of a material edifice to a Mason when, at his first initiation, he commences the moral and intellectual task of erecting a spiritual temple in his heart, is beautifully sustained when we look at all the qualities that are required to constitute a "well-tried, true, and trusty" corner-stone. The squareness of its surface, emblematic of morality—its cubical form, emblematic of firmness and stability of character—and the peculiar finish and fineness of the material, emblematic of virtue and holiness—show that the ceremony of the northeast corner of the Lodge was undoubtedly intended to portray, in the consecrated language of symbolism, the necessity of integrity and stability of conduct, of truthfulness and uprightness of character,
