The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1870-07-02

VOL. 3. OF
man societies, and that from the mora
tendehsy of the society the ceremony o
initiation generally took its coloring
Thus, if the society inculcated the wor
ship of God, the practice of morality, 0
the pursuit Of useful knowledge, th
ceremonies of initiation were chaste ant
impressive, and interspersed with sign
and symbols pregnant with moral mean
ing if the f4mer nught an idolatrou
and superstitious faith, or was designed
to promote the study Of occult and su
| pernatural arts and scietces,, the cere
monies of the latter were frightful anc
demoralizing.
Thus we see that the ceremony o.
initiation into the Christian church is
at once simple and sublime. o The can.
dia9te fos immortality, being first pre-.
pared in heart, voluntarily presents
himself before the hierophant Of the
Most High, and is brought, in the lus.
tration ok baptism, from the darkness
and bondage of spiritual death, into the
light and liberty of spiritual life. Con-
trast this ceremony with thaSof an ini,
tiation into the Bacchanalian Mysteries.
There the candidate for initiation, hav.
ing been previously subjected to severe
probation of fasting and physical tor
ture, was conducted, at nj ght, to gloomy
cavern, where all the horrors which hu-
man ingenuity could devise awaited his
reception. "And beingl led forward into
the recesses of the vault, the machinery
of initiation opened suddenly up
on him. His ears were assailed by
sounds resembling terrific peals of thun-
der, mingled with the barking Of
savage dogs, and the howlings
of wild beasts. Suddenly he
was eaveloped in the thickest darkness,
through which occasional flashes of light
served only to heighten the terrors by
which he was surrounded. Monstrous
shapes, and demoniacal figures fitted
with menacing gestures across his path
way, and Missed into his ears the most
horrible denunciations as he passed I"
In this fearful state of mental torture he
was kept, fasting, three days and nights,
wien, having undergone in his own per-
son a representation of the mystical
death of Bacchus, he was hailed as a
brother, and welcomed to scene of rev.
elry and RIGHTEOUSNESS too gross for re-
cital. ......
Men were ancientlv accustomed to at
tach symbolic meanings to common and
familiar objects, and the primitive archi-
tects found in their working tools fruit
full source of symbolic instruction. Thus,
the twenty-four inch guage taught them
to divIe the twenty-four hours of the
day into three equal parts, to be respect
lively devoted to the discharge of their
duties to God, their neighbors and them
selves. From the common gavel they
learned to divest themselves Of vice and
Irregularities. The compasses instructed
them to circumscribe their desires, and
to keep their passions within due bounds.
The square symbolized justice and mo-
rality. The plumb admonished them to
walk uprightly, in their several stations,
towards God and man and the level re-
minded them that as all men sprang
from common origin in the dust, SO
would they realize common destiny in
the grave. From these symbolic teach
ings, and because their secret assemblies
were evidently designed exclusively for
the study of morality, and Of those lib
eral arts aid sciences knowledge of
which was essential to the attainment
Of eminence in their profession, we may
safely presume that the initiatory cere-
monies OF the ancient architects were
Of purely moral nature. But when
those architects extended their travels
into Egypt, the princes and priests of
that country sought to familiarize them
selves with the mysteries of those men
whose labors had conferred such re-
nown upon their cities and temples and
being admitted to participation in those
they gradually blended with
them the imposing rites of the Egyptian
religion, until finally the craftsmen saw
their anciently pure ritual debased by
The pollutions of idolatry, and the simple
symbols Of morality supplanted by the
smblems Of superstition.
At the building of Solomon's Temple,
hat wise and righteous monarch, famil-
lar with the ancient mysteries, and de-
ploring the degradation into which they
nad fallen through the innovations Of
dolatry, conceived the idea of attempt
ng to restore them to their primitive
purity. To this end he caused the 1885,
300 workmen Of the Temple to be divided
INTO three classes-Entered Apprentices,
,r bearers Of burden; Fellow Crafts, or
lewers in the mountains and quarries !;
md Master Masons, or overseers Of the
work. These classes were distinguished
rom each other by popularity Of ap-
,arel each held its Lodges in separate
Ipartments OF the Temple; and each
possessed mysteries peculiar to itself. |
The rites of initiation into each of these
we're purely moral, and directly incul-
;ated the worship Of the true God. just
,efore, OF soon after, the completion Of
he Temple. a terrible calamity furnished
King Solomon with legend for the Mas
er's Degree, which. while essentially |
analogous IN fact to those Of the Egypt
an Mysteries, was vastly superior to
hem il q moral sense.
From that time until about the begin
ling Of the fifteenth century, the Order
I Masonry was composed exclusively Of
rchitects il wood and stone; but when
he invention Of printing began to dis