The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1869-06-04

1
senting st. John the Baptist and st.
John the Evangelist" &c. a3iI.uit
The origin Of the point, circle, and
parallel tines is evident; the point rep
resents the sun, the circle the path OF
the earth's annual revolution round the
sun, and the perpendicular Tines the
earth's axis at the two solsticial points,
or maximum and minimum polar dis
tances. Neither is IL difficult to ind In
Anudis the origin of Janus or the Johns,
or to find in those words which marked
the beginning OF the Egyptian and
Roman year the Latin onnus (year) and
the English annual (yearly).0 lfla
From Janus, who opened the seasons,
and the gates of Heaven, comes our
word jdnitor, one who opens doors. The
Church then, in observing st. Johns
Days, as also the Masons, had merely
given new names to days that had been
observed for centuries.
AS doubts exist whether the st. Johns
were Masons, the Grand Lodges of Eng
land and Scotland have abandoned all
allusion to them in their rituals, and
have even abandoned the observance of
those days as fast days, because, as the
st. Johns were not certainly known to
be Masons, they deemed the dedication
of certain days to them as an eutire in
novation, and that everything connect
ed with them should be abolished. 1t
may be that the dedication of lodges to
the st. Johns, and illusions to them
in the rituals as Masons, are unwarrant-
ed, yet the observance of the sOlsticial
feasts was a religious custom among the
Egyptians long anterior to the building
of Rome, and afterwards by the Rom
ans, and by the Masons of England by
the name of st. Johns Days, since
short time after the granting OF the
Charter of York, A. d. 926.
These days, then, were observed by
the ancient Masons of England and
Rome-by the builders of Palmyra,
Balbec and Thebes, and the Pyramids
of Egypt. ....I. ia
We need not pause at the Temple OF
Solomon, nor its great contemporary,
built by the same great King, the Tenn
pie OF the Sun at Palmyra, but may
travel back along the path of ages to
Karnac, Luxor, and Belus. is7ar
The observance of these days is not
an idolatrous worship of the st. Johns,
of Janus, or of Anubis, but was found
ed upon astronomical events of the
greatest interest and curiosity-upon
causes upon which depended the exist
ence of the Egyptian people, from
whom we have derived our civilization
they being, thousands of years ago,
the most civilized people in the world,
and in masonry the grandeur and inn
mensity of their architecture is not
equalled at this day. IL ...F af.i
All the nations Of antiquity worship
ped the SUN, as did the Jews. In Eze-
kiel viii, IA, 1G, written six hundred
years before Christ, we read "Then he
brought me to the door of the gate of
the Lords House, which was toward
the north, and behold there sat women
weeping for 1an'nuz; and he brought
me into the inner court of the Lords
House, and behold at the door of the
Temple of the Lord, between the porch
and the altar, were about five and twen-
ty men with their backs toward the
Temple of the Lord, and their faces
toward the east, and they worshipped
the Sun toward the east" -.r-+.
One of the months of the Jewish year
is named Tammuz, and the first day is
observed by the Jewish Church as a
fast day, viz: "Taking of the Temple"
and usually falls on some one of the
long days near the summer sOlstice, and
this year fell on the precise day, June
2l, although, owing to the fact that the
Jewish year consists of lunar months,
the first days of the month do not al.
ways fall upon the same days Of the
year.
The ancients, then, rendered homage
to the Sun and stars as the immediate |
visible sources to them of light, Of life
and beneticence; and shall we condemn,
as idolatry, that people in the worlds
infancy should have been impressed
with awe and wonder on observing the |
Sun, that wonderful luminary, or that
beautiful star that proclaimed plenty
for the people. 1t was the natural In.
stinct of reverence for the good, 1t was
a worship, a religion, looking at
nature that led 10 ''loOk through nature
up to natures God" OIL tHa I9s.fs
In the Fellow Crafts Degree, we road
in the Monitor that Speculative Ma
sonry leads the contemplative TO view
with reverence and admiration the glor-
lous works of the Creator, and impress
him with the most exalted idea of the
perfections OF his divine Creator; that
upon one OF the globes is represented
the face Of the heavens, the planetary I,
the consultations and heav- /,
enly bodies; that the globes are maps
to distinguish the situation of the fixed
stars, and to illustrate and explain the
phenomena arising from the annual
revolution of the diurnal rotation of the ,
earth round its own axis that contem-
plating these bodies we are inspired
with due reverence for the Deity and
MS works. We are also taught that as
tronOmy Is that Divine art by which
we are taught TO read the wisdom,
strength and beauty OF the Almighty
Creator in those sacred pages, the Celes-
lial Hemisphere. Assisted by astrono-
my we can observe the motions, meas
are the distances, comprehend the
and eslculate' ths periods
and eclipses of the heavenly bodies.
BY it We learn the system of the world
and the preliminary law of nature.
While we are employed in the study of
shis science, we must perceive unparal-
eled instances of wisdom and goodness,
and through the whole creation trace
the glorious Author and his works: