Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Part 7

It is not strange that, thousands of years ago, men worshipped the Sun, and that to-day that worship continues among the Pa.r.s.ees. Originally they looked beyond the orb to the invisible G.o.d, of whom the Sun's light, seemingly identical with generation and life, was the manifestation and outflowing. Long before the Chaldaean shepherds watched it on their plains, it came up regularly, as it now does, in the morning, like a G.o.d, and again sank, like a king retiring, in the west, to return again in due time in the same array of majesty. We worship Immutability. It was that steadfast, immutable character of the Sun that the men of Baalbec worshipped. His light-giving and life-giving powers were secondary attributes. The one grand idea that compelled worship was the characteristic of G.o.d which they saw reflected in his light, and fancied they saw in its originality the changelessness of Deity. He had seen thrones crumble, earthquakes shake the world and hurl down mountains. Beyond Olympus, beyond the Pillars of Hercules, he had gone daily to his abode, and had come daily again in the morning to behold the temples they built to his worship. They personified him as BRAHMA, AMUN, OSIRIS, BEL, ADONIS, MALKARTH, MITHRAS, and APOLLO; and the nations that did so grew old and died. Moss grew on the capitals of the great columns of his temples, and he shone on the moss. Grain by grain the dust of his temples crumbled and fell, and was borne off on the wind, and still he shone on crumbling column and architrave. The roof fell crashing on the pavement, and he shone in on the Holy of Holies with unchanging rays. It was not strange that men worshipped the Sun.

There is a water-plant, on whose broad leaves the drops of water roll about without uniting, like drops of mercury. So arguments on points of faith, in politics or religion, roll over the surface of the mind. An argument that convinces one mind has no effect on another. Few intellects, or souls that are the negations of intellect have any logical power or capacity. There is a singular obliquity in the human mind that makes the false logic more effective than the true with nine-tenths of those who are regarded as men of intellect. Even among the judges, not one in ten can argue logically. Each mind sees the truth, distorted through its own medium. Truth, to most men, is like matter in the spheroidal state. Like a drop of cold water on the surface of a red-hot metal plate, it dances, trembles, and spins, and never comes into contact with it; and the mind may be plunged into truth, as the hand moistened with sulphurous acid may into melted metal, and be not even warmed by the immersion.

The word _Khairum_ or _Khurum_ is a compound one. Gesenius renders _Khurum_ by the word _n.o.ble_ or _free-born: Khur_ meaning _white, n.o.ble_. It also means the opening of a window, the socket of the eye. _Khri_ also means _white_, or an _opening_; and _Khris_, the orb of the Sun, in _Job_ viii. 13 and x. 7. _Krishna_ is the Hindu Sun-G.o.d. _Khur_, the Parsi word, is the literal name of the Sun.

From _Kur_ or _Khur_, the Sun, comes Khora, a name of Lower Egypt. The Sun, Bryant says in his Mythology, was called _Kur_; and Plutarch says that the Persians called the Sun _Kuros. Kurios, Lord_, in Greek, like _Adona, Lord_, in Phnician and Hebrew, was applied to the Sun.

Many places were sacred to the Sun, and called _Kura, Kuria, Kuropolis, Kurene, Kureschata, Kuresta_, and _Corusia_ in Scythia.

The Egyptian Deity called by the Greeks "_Horus_," was _Her-Ra_. or _Har-oeris, Hor_ or _Har_, the Sun. _Hari_ is a Hindu name of the Sun.

_Ari-al, Ar-es, Ar, Aryaman, Areimonios_, the AR meaning _Fire_ or _Flame_, are of the same kindred. _Hermes_ or _Har-mes_, (_Aram, Remus, Haram, Harameias_), was Kadmos, the Divine Light or Wisdom. _Mar-kuri_, says Movers, is _Mar_, the Sun.

In the Hebrew, AOOR, is Light, Fire, or the Sun. Cyrus, said Ctesias, was so named from _Kuros_, the Sun. _Kuris_, Hesychius says, was Adonis.

Apollo, the Sun-G.o.d, was called _Kurraios_, from _Kurra_, a city in Phocis. The people of _Kurene_, originally Ethiopians or Cuthites, worshipped the Sun under the t.i.tle of _Achoor_ and _Achor_.

We know, through a precise testimony in the ancient annals of Tsur, that the princ.i.p.al festivity of _Mal-karth_, the incarnation of the Sun at the Winter Solstice, held at Tsur, was called his _rebirth_ or his _awakening_, and that it was celebrated by means of a pyre, on which the G.o.d was supposed to regain, through the aid of fire, a new life. This festival was celebrated in the month _Peritius (Barith)_, the second day of which corresponded to the 25th of December. KHUR-UM, King of Tyre, _Movers_ says, first performed this ceremony. These facts we learn from _Josephus, Servius_ on the aeneid, and the _Dionysiacs_ of _Nonnus_; and through a coincidence that cannot be fortuitous, the same day was at Rome the _Dies Natalis Solis Invicti_, the festal day of the invincible Sun. Under this t.i.tle, HERCULES, HAR-_acles_, was worshipped at Tsur.

Thus, while the temple was being erected, the death and resurrection of a Sun-G.o.d was annually represented at Tsur, by Solomon's ally, at the winter solstice, by the pyre of MAL-KARTH, the Tsurian Haracles.

AROERIS or HAR-_oeris_, the elder HORUS, is from the same old root that in the Hebrew has the form _Aur_, or, with the definite article prefixed, _Haur_, Light, or _the_ Light, splendor, flame, the Sun and his rays. The hieroglyphic of the younger HORUS was the point in a circle; of the Elder, a pair of eyes; and the festival of the thirtieth day of the month _Epiphi_, when the sun and moon were supposed to be in the same right line with the earth, was called "_The birth-day of the eyes of Horus_."

In a papyrus published by Champollion, this G.o.d is styled "_Har-oeri_, Lord of the Solar Spirits, the beneficent eye of the Sun." Plutarch calls him "_Har-pocrates_;" but there is no trace of the latter part of the name in the hieroglyphic legends. He is the son of OSIRIS and ISIS; and is represented sitting on a throne supported by _lions_; the same word, in Egyptian, meaning _Lion_ and _Sun_. So Solomon made a great throne of ivory, plated with gold, with six steps, at each arm of which was a lion, and one on each side to each step, making seven on each side.

Again, the Hebrew word [Hebrew], _Khi_, means "_living;_" and [Hebrew]

_ram, "was, or shall be, raised or lifted up_." The latter is the same as [Hebrew], [Hebrew], [Hebrew], rom, arom, harum, whence _Aram_, for Syria, or _Aramaea, High_-land. _Khairum_, therefore, would mean "_was raised up to life, or living_."

So, in Arabic, _hrm_, an unused root, meant, _"was high," "made great,"

"exalted_;" and _Hirm_ means an _ox_, the symbol of the Sun in Taurus, at the Vernal Equinox.

KHURUM, therefore, improperly called _Hiram_, is KHUR-OM, the same as _Her-ra_, _Her-mes_, and _Her-acles_, the "_Heracles Tyrius Invictus_,"

the personification of Light and the Son, the Mediator, Redeemer, and Saviour. From the Egyptian word _Ra_ came the Coptic _Ouro_, and the Hebrew _Aur_, Light. _Har-oeri_, is _Hor_ or _Har_, the chief or _master_. _Hor_ is also heat; and _hora_, season or hour; and hence in several African dialects, as names of the Sun, _Airo, Ayero, eer, uiro, ghurrah_, and the like. The royal name rendered _Pharaoh_, was PHRA, that is, _Pai-ra_, the Sun.

The legend of the contest between _Hor-ra_ and _Set_, or _Set-nu-bi_, the same as _Bar_ or _Bal_, is older than that of the strife between _Osiris_ and _Typhon_; as old, at least, as the nineteenth dynasty. It is called in the Book of the Dead, "The day of the battle between Horus and Set." The later myth connects itself with Phoenicia and Syria. The body of OSIRIS went ash.o.r.e at _Gebal_ or _Byblos_, sixty miles above Tsur. You will not fail to notice that in the name of each murderer of Khurum, that of the Evil G.o.d Bal is found.

Har-oeri was the G.o.d of TIME, as well as of Life. The Egyptian legend was that the King of Byblos cut down the tamarisk-tree containing the body of OSIRIS, and made of it a column for his palace. Isis, employed in the palace, obtained possession of the column, took the body out of it, and carried it away. Apuleius describes her as "a beautiful female, over whose divine neck her long thick hair hung in graceful ringlets;"

and in the procession female attendants, with ivory combs, seemed to dress and ornament the royal hair of the G.o.ddess. The palm-tree, and the lamp in the shape of a boat, appeared in the procession. If the symbol we are speaking of is not a mere modern invention, it is to these things it alludes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Hieroglyph]

The ident.i.ty of the legends is also confirmed by this hieroglyphic picture, copied from an ancient Egyptian monument, which may also enlighten you as to the Lion's grip and the Master's gavel.

[Hebrew: ??], in the ancient Phoenician character, [Symbols], and in the Samaritan, [Symbols], A B, (the two letters representing the numbers 1, 2, or Unity and Duality, means _Father_, and is a primitive noun, common to all the Semitic languages.)

It also means an Ancestor, Originator, Inventor, Head, Chief or Ruler, Manager, Overseer, Master, Priest, Prophet.

[Hebrew: ???] simply Father, when it is in construction, that is, when it precedes another word, and in English the preposition "of" is interposed, as [Hebrew: ???-??], Abi-Al, the Father of Al.

Also, the final Yod means "my"; so that [Hebrew: ???] by itself means "My father." [Hebrew: ???? ???], David my father, 2 _Chron._ ii. 3.

[Hebrew: ?], (Vav) final is the possessive p.r.o.noun "his"; and [Hebrew: ????], _Abiu_ (which we read "Abif") means "of my father's." Its full meaning, as connected with the name of Khurum, no doubt is, "formerly one of my father's servants," or "slaves."

The name of the Phoenician artificer is, in Samuel and Kings, [Hebrew: ????] and [Hebrew: ?????]--[_2 Sam._ v. 11; 1 _Kings_ v. 15; 1 _Kings_ vii. 40]. In Chronicles it is [Hebrew: ????], with the addition of [Hebrew: ???] [_2 Chron._ ii. 12]; and of [Hebrew: ????]. [_2 Chron._ iv. 16].

It is merely absurd to add the word "_Abif_" or "_Abiff_," as part of the name of the artificer. And it is almost as absurd to add the word "_Abi_," which was a _t.i.tle_ and not part of the name. Joseph says [_Gen._ xlv. 8], "G.o.d has const.i.tuted me _'Ab l'Paraah_, as Father to Paraah, _i.e._, Vizier or Prime Minister." So Haman was called the Second Father of Artaxerxes; and when King Khurum used the phrase "Khurum Abi," he meant that the artificer he sent Schlomoh was the princ.i.p.al or chief workman in his line at Tsur.

A medal copied by Montfaucon exhibits a female nursing a child, with ears of wheat in her hand, and the legend (Iao). She is seated on clouds, a star at her head, and three ears of wheat rising from an altar before her.

HORUS was the _mediator_, who was buried three days, was regenerated, and triumphed over the evil principle.

The word HERI, in Sanscrit, means _Shepherd_, as well as _Saviour_.

CRISHNA is called _Heri_, as JESUS called Himself the _Good Shepherd_.

[Hebrew: ???], _Khur_, means an aperture of a window, a cave, or the eye. Also it means white. In Syriac, [Symbols].

[Hebrew: ??] also means an opening, and n.o.ble, free-born, high-born.

[Hebrew: ???], KHURM means consecrated, devoted; in aethiopic [Symbols]

It is the name of a city, [_Josh_. xix. 38]; and of a man, [_Ezr_. ii.

32, x. 31; _Neh_. iii. 11].

[Hebrew: ????], _Khirah_, means n.o.bility, a n.o.ble race.

Buddha is declared to comprehend in his own person the essence of the Hindu Trimurti; and hence the tri-literal monosyllable _Om_ or _Aum_ is applied to him as being essentially the same as Brahma-Vishnu-Siva. He is the same as Hermes, Thoth, Taut, and Teutates. One of his names is Heri-maya or Her-maya, which are evidently the same name as Hermes and Khirm or Khurm. Heri, in Sanscrit, means _Lord_.

A learned Brother places over the two symbolic pillars, from right to left, the two words [Symbols] and [Symbols] [Hebrew: ???] and [Hebrew: ???], IHU and BAL: followed by the hieroglyphic equivalent, [Hieroglyphic: ] of the Sun-G.o.d, Amun-ra. Is it an accidental coincidence, that in the name of each murderer are the two names of the Good and Evil Deities of the Hebrews; for _Yu-bel_ is but _Yehu-Bal_ or _Yeho-Bal?_ and that the three final syllables of the names, _a, o, um_, make A.U.M. the sacred word of the Hindoos, meaning the Triune-G.o.d, Life-giving, Life-preserving, Life-destroying: represented by the mystic character [Mystic Character: Y].

The genuine _Acacia_, also, is the th.o.r.n.y tamarisk, the same tree which grew up around the body of Osiris. It was a sacred tree among the Arabs, who made of it the idol Al-Uzza, which Mohammed destroyed. It is abundant as a bush in the Desert of Thur: and of it the "crown of thorns" was composed, which was set on the forehead of Jesus of Nazareth. It is a fit type of immortality on account of its tenacity of life; for it has been known, when planted as a door-post, to take root again and shoot out budding boughs over the threshold.

Every commonwealth must have its periods of trial and transition, especially if it engages in war. It is certain at some time to be wholly governed by agitators appealing to all the baser elements of the popular nature; by moneyed corporations; by those enriched by the depreciation of government securities or paper; by small attorneys, schemers, money-jobbers, speculators and adventurers--an ign.o.ble oligarchy, enriched by the distresses of the State, and fattened on the miseries of the people. Then all the deceitful visions of equality and the rights of man end; and the wronged and plundered State can regain a real liberty only by pa.s.sing through "great varieties of untried being," purified in its transmigration by fire and blood.

In a Republic, it soon comes to pa.s.s that parties gather round the negative and positive poles of some opinion or notion, and that the intolerant spirit of a triumphant majority will allow no deviation from the standard of orthodoxy which it has set up for itself. Freedom of opinion will be professed and pretended to, but every one will exercise it at the peril of being banished from political communion with those who hold the reins and prescribe the policy to be pursued. Slavishness to party and obsequiousness to the popular whims go hand in hand.

Political independence only occurs in a fossil state; and men's opinions grow out of the acts they have been constrained to do or sanction.

Flattery, either of individual or people, corrupts both the receiver and the giver; and adulation is not of more service to the people than to kings. A Caesar, securely seated in power, cares less for it than a free democracy; nor will his appet.i.te for it grow to exorbitance, as that of a people will, until it becomes insatiate. The effect of liberty to individuals is, that they may do what they please; to a people, it is to a great extent the same. If accessible to flattery, as this is always interested, and resorted to on low and base motives, and for evil purposes, either individual or people is sure, in doing what it pleases, to do what in honor and conscience should have been left undone. One ought not even to risk congratulations, which may soon be turned into complaints; and as both individuals and peoples are p.r.o.ne to make a bad use of power, to flatter them, which is a sure way to mislead them, well deserves to be called a crime.

The first principle in a Republic ought to be, "that no man or set of men is ent.i.tled to exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges from the community, but in consideration of public services; which not being descendible, neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislature, nor judge, to be hereditary." It is a volume of Truth and Wisdom, a lesson for the study of nations, embodied in a single sentence, and expressed in language which every man can understand. If a deluge of despotism were to overthrow the world, and destroy all inst.i.tutions under which freedom is protected, so that they should no longer be remembered among men, this sentence, preserved, would be sufficient to rekindle the fires of liberty and revive the race of free men.

But, to _preserve_ liberty, another must be added: "that a free State does not confer office as a reward, especially for questionable services, unless she seeks her own ruin; but all officers are _employed_ by her, in consideration solely of their will and ability to render service in the future; and therefore that the best and most competent are always to be preferred."

For, if there is to be any other rule, that of hereditary succession is perhaps as good as any. By no other rule is it possible to preserve the liberties of the State. By no other to intrust the power of making the laws to those only who have that keen instinctive sense of injustice and wrong which enables them to detect baseness and corruption in their most secret hiding-places, and that moral courage and generous manliness and gallant independence that make them fearless in dragging out the perpetrators to the light of day, and calling down upon them the scorn and indignation of the world. The flatterers of the people are never such men. On the contrary, a time always comes to a Republic, when it is not content, like Tiberius, with a single Seja.n.u.s, but must have a host; and when those most prominent in the lead of affairs are men without reputation, statesmanship, ability, or information, the mere hacks of party, owing their places to trickery and _want_ of qualification, with none of the qualities of head or heart that make great and wise men, and, at the same time, filled with all the narrow conceptions and bitter intolerance of political bigotry. These die; and the world is none the wiser for what they have said and done. Their names sink in the bottomless pit of oblivion; but their acts of folly or knavery curse the body politic and at last prove its ruin.

Politicians, in a free State, are generally hollow, heartless, and selfish. Their own aggrandis.e.m.e.nt is the end of their patriotism; and they always look with secret satisfaction on the disappointment or fall of one whose loftier genius and superior talents overshadow their own self-importance, or whose integrity and incorruptible honor are in the way of their selfish ends. The influence of the small aspirants is always against the great man. _His_ accession to power may be almost for a lifetime. One of themselves will be more easily displaced, and each hopes to succeed him; and so it at length comes to pa.s.s that men impudently aspire to and actually win the highest stations, who are unfit for the lowest clerkships; and incapacity and mediocrity become the surest pa.s.sports to office.

The consequence is, that those who feel themselves competent and qualified to serve the people, refuse with disgust to enter into the struggle for office, where the wicked and jesuitical doctrine that all is fair in politics is an excuse for every species of low villainy; and those who seek even the highest places of the State do not rely upon the power of a magnanimous spirit, on the sympathizing impulses of a great soul, to stir and move the people to generous, n.o.ble, and heroic resolves, and to wise and manly action; but, like spaniels erect on their hind legs, with fore-paws obsequiously suppliant, fawn, flatter, and actually beg for votes. Rather than descend to this, they stand contemptuously aloof, disdainfully refusing to court the people, and acting on the maxim, that "mankind has no t.i.tle to demand that we shall serve them in spite of themselves."