Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry

44."The Entered Apprentice starts on his career with the triangle surmounting the square (spirit has not yet descended into matter). As he progresses the descent takes place, and we have the triangle in the square, and finally as a Master the ascent of the square into the triangle begins, which every Master Mason will understand. Masonry being a 'Progressive Science, ' the progress of the neophyte is thus made to ^[44] conform to the process of evolution and the descent of spirit into matter, and this is illustrated by the manner in which he is taught to wear his apron in each degree in the Blue Lodge. The Entered Apprentice is not only a 'hewer of wood and a drawer of water, ' but is a novice, taking his first instruction, and this is symbolized by his apron.

45."The tradition of the Master's Word, of the power which its possession gives to the Master; the story of its loss and the search for its recovery; the tradition of the Ineffable name in connection with the Lost Word, showing that it could not or should not be pronounced, except with bated breath; or, as the Hindoo tradition declares, ' with the hand covering the mouth.' The symbol of the three greater and three lesser lights, and the play made in many places on the word Light itself, in conjunction with the Lost Word, all these references and uses constitute a complicated Symbolism working in and towards a common center or glyphic. which, taken in conjunction with the building and restoration of the Temple constitute the secret Symbolism of Masonry, and illustrate the whole process of Initiation. What real Initiation is, has already been stated. These symbols when correctly interpreted, serve two purposes. First, they reveal a complete philosophy of the Creation of the Universe and of Man, unfolding all essences, powers, and potencies, and their mutual relations and correlations. Second, they unfold the process of Initiation as synonymous with the uninterrupted evolution of man guided by knowledge and design along the lines of ^[45] least resistance. In the third degree the candidate impersonates Hiram, who has been shown to be identical with the Christos of the Greeks, and with the SunGods of all other nations. The superiority of Masonry at this point over all other exoteric Religions consists in this: All these religions take the symbol for the thing symbolized. Christ was originally like the Father. Now He is made identical with the Father... Here lies the true meaning of Abiff, 'of, or from my Father.' Hiram — Christos, and Abiff — 'at one with the Father.' i. e., 'of,' or 'from.' In deifying Jesus the whole of humanity is bereft of Christos as an eternal potency within every human soul, a latent Christ in every man. In thus deifying one man, they have orphaned the whole of humanity. On the other hand. Masonry, in making every candidate personify Hiram, has preserved the original teaching, which is a Universal Glyphic. Few candidates may be aware that Hiram, whom they have represented and personify, is ideally, and precisely the same as Christ. Yet such is the case. This old philosophy shows what Christ as a glyphic means, and how the Christ-state Its from real Initiation, or from the evolution of the human into the Divine. Regeneration is thus given a meaning that is both apprehensible and attainable; both philosophical and scientific; and at once ideal and practical. In the Tetragrammation, or four-lettered name of Deity, the Greek followers of Pythagoras found a glyphic by which they both expressed and concealed their philosophy, and it is the Hebrew tetrad IHVH, or 'Yod, he, vau, he' that is introduced ^[46] into Masonry with the Pythagorean art speech. The devout Hebrew, in reading the sacred text, when he came to the tetral IHVH, substituted the word Adonai (Lord), and if the word was written the points of Alhim, he called it Elohim. This custom is* preserved in Masonry by giving the candidate a substitute for the Master's Word. The Hebrew tetrad 'Yod, he, vau, he,' is produced by repeating the 'he.' The root word is a triad, and the quaternary is undoubtedly a blind. The Sacred word is found in the Mysteries as a binary, a trinary, and a quaternary; as with the Hindoos we have the om, and the a, u, m, indicating different methods of pronouncing the Sacred name,"*

46.This Secret of the Lost Word is carried on and fully explained in the Higher Degrees of Mystic Masonry and as already stated, the Candidate is taught not only the meaning of The Sacred Name or Lost Word, but is taught the Word itself.