1,82 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: Charles River Editors
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Seitenzahl: 579
Ähnliche
THE MYSTERIES OF MASONRY
L.E. Reynolds
PAPHOS PUBLISHERS
Thank you for reading. In the event that you appreciate this book, please consider sharing the good word(s) by leaving a review, or connect with the author.
This book is a work of nonfiction and is intended to be factually accurate.
All rights reserved. Aside from brief quotations for media coverage and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form without the author’s permission. Thank you for supporting authors and a diverse, creative culture by purchasing this book and complying with copyright laws.
Copyright © 2016 by L.E. Reynolds
Interior design by Pronoun
Distribution by Pronoun
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE ARGUMENT.
INTRODUCTION
OF THE DEGREES IN MAN.
THE DEGREES OF THE TEMPERAMENTS.
THE ORDERS IN MAN.
THE NINE GROUPS OF THE FACULTIES.
DEMONSTRATION.
DEGREES IN LIGHT.
THE ZONES.
DEGREES OF THE BRAIN.
Of the Blue.
Of the Scarlet
Of the Yellow.
COMBINATION OF THE DISCRETE DEGREES OF THE BRAIN.
Of the Orange.
CONTINUOUS DEGREES OF THE BRAIN.: Of the Green.
CONTINUOUS DEGREES OF THE BRAIN.: Of the Purple.
Of the Russet
Of the Citron.
Of the Olive.
DISCRETE DEGREES OF MASONRY.
DEGREES OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
CRYPTIC DEGREES.
OF GOD.
OF THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES.
OF MAN.
THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE.
THIRD SECTION OF THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE.
THE OPENING OF THE LODGE.
FIRST SECTION OF THE FELLOW CRAFT’S DEGREE.
SECOND SECTION OF THE FELLOW CRAFT’S DEGREE.
ARITHMETIC.
GRAMMAR.
GEOMETRY.
LOGIC,
RHETORIC.
MUSIC.
ASTRONOMY.
THE THIRD, OR, SUBLIME DEGREE OP MASTER MASON.
FIRST SECTION OF THE MASTER’S DEGREE.
THE SECOND SECTION OF THE MASTER’S DEGREE.
The Mysteries of Masonry
By
L.E. Reynolds
THE ARGUMENT.
EVERY ONE THAT HAS RECEIVED the degrees of Ancient Freemasonry, is aware that they represent The building of a spiritual Temple, not made with hands; eternal in the heavens.
Are these symbolic representations arbitrary? Or do they exist in the nature of things? These are questions that must arise to every reflecting Mason. If they exist in the nature of man, the degrees of Masonry must be, not only a likeness of the natural formations of the human body; but, of the universe itself; and the opening of the degrees and their ceremonies, must refer to the orderly changes of the mind, and the progress of creation.
The reflecting mind may at once see, that all created things run in series and degrees, as end, cause and effect; that the effect, when carried into uses, becomes the foundation of other causes and effects. Thus, that the universe is a system of uses, causes and effects, consisting of a series of three, six, nine and twenty-seven; with their attendant orders of three, five and seven, in likeness of the degrees of Ancient Masonry. The object of the present work, is to unfold a knowledge of these decrees in the creation of the universe; and the regeneration of man agreeably to the principles of science, as far as they have been developed.
Where these have failed, the author has relied upon the highest probabilities of science. If he has ascended into the regions of the vast and unknown, and unlocked and brought forth their hidden mysteries, it has been because the foot-prints of Masonry have led him in that direction, and its symbols have furnished a ready key to unlock their wonders; for which he claims the indulgence of the Craft.
The Author.
INTRODUCTION
AS THE EARTH IS COLD in winter, but revives under the genial sun of spring, bringing forth her love flowers as a token of divine favor; so the heart, when chilled by selflove, is a dreary waste, and darkness is upon the face of the deep. But when the heavenly spirit of charity moves upon the waters, the heart is warmed, and the understanding is illuminated by a divine light. A thousand principles of latent truth spring forth to quicken and elevate the imagination to view, with reverence and awe, the unfoldings of those principles handed down to us through the golden age of man, concealed in correspondential semblances, locked like a precious casket, and sealed with seven seals, which the Divine Hand will only open to a loving heart and faithful breast.
To the selfish man, masonry is a dreary road, strewed with unmeaning ceremonies and the dry husks of the past. God is love, and warms the breasts of his children with mutual love, and charity is the fruit. “An honest man is the noblest work of God.” Honesty springs from love, and is not the work of policy. The empire of charity is the counting house and workshop, through which she dispenses her blessings. The judge who condemns the guilty, has performed an act of love to humanity. A kind and sympathetic spirit, and a liberal hand, governed by a judicious head, are tokens of a loving heart; a blind sympathy may be the impulse of a depraved heart suggested by an unlawful end. Charity is the work of principle and sympathy. The heart and the head must join in the act. Our affections are best protected by an enlightened understanding. Without it, the work of the heart may be used to pervert order, and, what we intended as a good, may become the greatest evil. Faith and charity cannot be separated. The love of use to the human family ever seeks the truths of a living faith. Whatever is good, is also true, and vice versa. The mind, that loves truth for the sake of truth, loves good. These are inseparably blended, like light and heat, in the rays of the sun. Hence charity is equally as much the work of truth as it is of love. Love is the soul of truth, and truth is the body of love. Therefore he, who is in charity, is also in truth and love.
To teach the truth and inculcate the precepts of charity, for the sake of a divine life, are the sole ends and objects of masonry. Hence, all the instructions given in the Masonic Lodge, are representative of a true and universal system of religious doctrines, constituting a universal faith in God and the sacred Scriptures, charity being the end or life. Thus faith and charity are both adjoined, making the true Mason, either one, alone, being dead. Therefore, we must look to the ritual of Masonry for the true doctrines of the sacred Scriptures, and to the life of the Mason for true charity or a heavenly life. Masonry is explanatory of the life and doctrines of the church.
No. 2. Ancient Masonry is a life of charity, agreeable to a certain system of natural, moral and spiritual truth, correspondentially and representatively given in three discrete degrees, each degree consisting of three continuous degrees. Hence, they are termed three, and three times three, or nine. The instruction is natural, when it relates to our duty to ourselves; moral, when it relates to our neighbor; and spiritual when it teaches our duty to God. Instruction is conferred, when it is given through a correspondential and representative ceremony, and communicated, when orally explained.
Representation is the substitution of natural objects and ceremonies, to represent spiritual substances and acts, in which the mind sees the parallelism. Correspondence is the agreement and parallelism that exist between the principles and qualities of natural things and the truths and affections of the spiritual. Thus light corresponds to truth, and heat to love. Correspondence and representation are not mere comparisons, to be used at the discretion of the speaker, but arise from fixed and positive laws of parallelism and agreement, that exist between mind and matter, or the natural and spiritual worlds, which are discrete or distinct substances, that can in no wise be compounded, but are parallel by agreement of uses. So that the spiritual world rests in and upon the natural, and every natural substance and quality serves as a vessel and base for the spiritual world or world of mind: and yet the substances of each are distinct. The parallelism between natural and spiritual objects does not take place by any agreement of form or geometrical principle; but arises alone from uses—the parallelism being between the uses in the two worlds of mind and matter. When objects in the natural world perform certain uses to the body and natural things, we must reflect and discover what mental ideas and substances perform the same use in the world of mind, and the correspondence and representative will be complete.
There are no such things as literal truths in Masonry. Every word, action or substance represents a rational idea or spiritual truth. The working tools and implements of Masonry are symbols or representatives of spiritual operations and truths. Hence, in order to understand the spiritual world, we must first comprehend the natural. The desire of spiritual knowledge, first culminates in the natural, then ascends to the spiritual; so that the natural is the base of spiritual thought; and just in proportion as we understand the laws and uses of this world, we are prepared to comprehend those of the next. The great use of uses is the progression, growth and regeneration of the spiritual man, which are the object and end of Masonry. But our motives and ends govern our reasoning and train of thought. If other motives be uppermost in the mind, we have but little care and thought upon the subject of regeneration. Man must first feel the necessity of being saved. This, in Masonic language, is called the desire of light. The Holy Bible is the great light of Masonry, but this can best be understood by doctrinals, which are taught in the symbols of Masonry.
No. 3. In contemplating the three discrete degrees of Masonry, we behold the trinity of God, the order of the heavens, and the three-fold life of man. In the natural man, there are formed, in the successive order of his creation, three receptive planes of will, understanding and action. These are the first stages of the creation, in which the man’s powers are altogether natural, relating only to the gratification of his desires and the preservation of life. If his creation were arrested here, his desires would grow into an unrestrained selflove, and love of the world. Earth would become his empire of thought and affection. He would regard all things as proceeding in the order of creation, from the solid to the fluid and gaseous forms; thus the order of creation would be reversed. He would regard God as a principle, and himself its highest manifestation, and hence the Pantheistic idea of Gods many. This state, in Masonic language, is a state of darkness: “and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.”
The next stage of creation consists of three successive states of implantation of truth; first, in the memory, secondly, in the understanding, and lastly in the will, which corresponds to the initiation, passing and raising of the candidate. Then follows the confirmation of these truths, by work, in the three several higher degrees, by which he makes them his own, interwoven into a divine life of charity, by which he becomes a man-angel, and stands in the presence of his Maker. These six successive states are the Masonic days of creation. The seventh is a day of rest. These are spiritual states of regeneration or the perfecting of the intellectual principle; then follow the six states of implantation and confirmation of the affections, which are represented in the higher degrees of Ancient Masonry.
There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body, 1. Cor. 15, 44. The natural body is first, afterwards the spiritual, 1. Cor. 15, 46. The corporeal and sensual body is purely animal, and composed of substances belonging to this world, and to the natural sun. The spiritual body is composed of spiritual substances, and belongs entirely to the spiritual world. Between these two worlds, there is a parallelism. They adjoin by agreement of uses, and not by infusion of substances.
Masonry treats of the formation of the spiritual man, which is represented by the building of Solomon’s Temple; and each mason is represented, as building to himself a spiritual house, not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens. We cannot, therefore, treat of the formation of that house, without first explaining the formation of the natural body and its correspondential and receptive degrees.
No. 4. Altogether the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms rise in discrete degrees, with lofty, mental grandeur, above each other, yet they occupy a world of effects, far below the commencement of the Masonic creation. One is a state of ultimation of natural substances, the other of mental creation. They are separated by a discrete degree. No sublimation of ultimate matter can ever elevate it to a thought, substance of the human mind. The mind surveys, with a pure and serene light, the world below. But the natural mind, without the opening of the spiritual, can never contemplate the spirit, and any essay to arise terminates in a negation that places spirit in the dust beneath its feet, as the offspring of matter.
All things live and subsist from an interior principle, by discrete degrees, yet more and more interior, until they terminate in an infinite will and understanding, in which the past, present and future join as in a circle, in a simultaneous and progressive order, like the instantaneous conception of a mighty problem in the mind, where all the operations are present, yet to be outworked in progressive states. That Being is not a combination of effects, but the First Cause, existing in three discrete degrees, in his manifestations of will, understanding and action; yet in himself, he is distinctly one. He has no law in common with other substances, no more than the cause can operate in common as the law of the effect. He is therefore distinctly a person, having no law or principle in himself common to any other person. From his divine good flows forth his creative fiat, through his divine Wisdom or Word, in endless successive order, like a mighty sun of causes, through discreted suns, into worlds of ultimate effects, clothed with the three kingdoms of nature for the reception of man.
No substance of these three kingdoms can become a part of any living organism without decomposition, and a regrowth, under the direct influence and laws of the organism in which they are incorporated; the new growth being in a certain likeness of the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms. Thus all things proceed in series of life and death, running through three discrete and six continuous degrees, in likeness of the degrees of Masonry which we shall now proceed to unfold as contained in the natural organism of man.
Physiology is a world in itself. We therefore can give but a rapid sketch of the degrees in the physical system, and advance to the more important unfolding of the parallelism that exists between the symbols of Masonry and the mental states and conditions of the mind, or, in other words, the parallelism that exists between mind and matter. Natural objects and actions are the resting points of thought, and no man can reflect upon spiritual things without natural objects as his starting point; and then he cannot proceed without a knowledge of the laws of correspondence and representation, which are the spiritual language of nature, contained in the symbols of Masonry. The mind cannot be elevated into the sphere of life and comprehend its laws, without the aid of the science of correspondence and representation. All the natural sciences treat of the arrangement and qualities of natural objects, that come under the notice of the senses and may be demonstrated by observation.
By the laws of chemistry, we may follow the affinities of the elements through their various changes; but whenever they become subject to an organism or germ of life, they pass beyond our reach and become the subjects of death again, before we can apply the analytical powers of chemistry. It is true that we may analyse the various substances of an organism, and ascertain what elements have entered into its composition; but it is beyond the skill of the chemist to produce a like organized substance. We may infer many things relative to’ the process of the growth of plants and animals, which are of great use, but the law of life can only be comprehended and understood through the science of correspondence and representation.
We shall therefore proceed to the consideration of the degrees contained in the body, and afterwards to the degrees of the spirit, and finally to the changes that take place in the progressive states of regeneration, taught through the correspondential and representative ceremonies of Masonry.
OF THE DEGREES IN MAN.
NO. 5. ALL THINGS MOVE by a mysterious cause. We behold the elemental world tending to the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms of nature, with an unerring certainty, through chemical combinations. Hence we are irresistibly led to infer that all of the elements, in their solid, liquid and gaseous forms, have been previously prepared and arranged under three distinct spheres of chemical affinities, with a view to their ultimate combination in the body of man, and for his express and immediate wants. We are also led to the conclusion, with equal force, that every combination of the elements, as well as the elements themselves, are referrable to one or the other of these kingdoms; and, that every particle of nature has its seed-germ planted within it; and, so far as science has unfolded the causes, we are directed to light, heat and electricity, in their discrete degrees, as the great workers in the laboratory of nature. There is no combination, action or decomposition in nature without their excitation. They constitute a trinity of three, and three times three.
There are three rays of light, the red, yellow and blue, containing three discrete rays of heat, of different refractive and chemical power, susceptible of demonstration from the thermometer and prism. In the great field of nature, they excite positive, negative and animal electricity in their respective kingdoms. In the mineral, it is electric; in the vegetable, it is aromal; and in the animal, it is magnetic. In their continuity and unity, they form the substance of the animal spirit in its three kingdoms of primates, with its throne in the base of the brain, with all the animal affections, powers and appetites; whence the animal spirit descends through the nerves, and presses on every molecule of the body, and pervades the great laboratory of the blood in the three kingdoms of its red globules, fibrine and albumine, which agree with the electric fluids of the three kingdoms of nature. The electric and magnetic fluids, which reside in the red globules and fibrine, are positive and negative to each other; but unite their common power in the albumine. The blood globules, like little earths, are lighted and vivified as from a great central sun. Being freshly coated with a deep alluvial soil from the decomposed kingdoms of food, through the chyle, in passing the lungs, they are oxidized and warmed from the atmosphere; whence they are again returned to the heart, where they are magnetised by the heart through the white blood.
The red globules are thrust forth into the arteries in the spring of their orbits, in little groups of globules, in their three, five and seven fold order. In this state, the vitalizing and fecundating influence first commences upon a single particle, which brings forth its metallic and mollusca tribes. Upon the adjoining globule next spring forth from its coating, in order, all the varieties of the vegetable formation, shooting forth as little trees, plants and shrubs. In successive order of formation, there follows, upon the adjoining globule, every beautiful form of the infusoria tribes, in the type of the animal creation. These operations are reversed in the aged; the order of the animal creation coming forth first. These little form substances, which have grown in likeness of the three kingdoms, have their instantaneous day of life and die; decomposition follows, and they are expelled from the red globules, and taken up by the white blood that immediately surrounds the globules, which has been electrified by the white and red globules and formed into lymph, which acts as a vehicle receptive of the form particles that have been cast off from the globules. The fibrine of the blood slightly contracts, drawing the red globules to the centre, throwing the lymph and white globules to the surface, along the walls of the arteries. The red globules now repel each other, and, as the arteries branch in a thousand directions to their final destination, the red globules pass single into the capillaries, being held together by the fibrine, the lymph, containing the nutrition derived from the growth and death of the three kingdoms, that takes place upon the globules heretofore described, passes through the walls of the capillaries by exceedingly minute vessels, passing directly into the glands and cellular tissue. The red globules, and white blood after it is deprived of its nutriment, passing onward in the capillaries through the glandes, enter into the veinous capillaries, where they give off their surplus light and heat. The fibrine and red globules, contracting, reject portions of the serum and watery substances of the blood, which, in a normal state, passes in a gaseous, insensible perpiration.
If the temperature of the system be suddenly raised, the blood contracts more violently, and ejects its watery substances as sensible perspiration. Each secretory organ has its own peculiar electric motion which contracts the blood, causing it to eject such portions as may be required by the organ, until the oxygen and vitalizing gases, together with the nutritious substances, are exhausted from the blood. The blood at this point becomes absorbent, and takes on a sheet of electric light from the nerves and surrounding electricity, and returns with its surplus of carbon, through the veins, towards the heart, while the lymph, derived from the white blood which passed off through the walls of the arterial capillaries, conveying its nutriment, from the growth in the blood of the three kingdoms of nature has conveyed its richly laded substances to every tissue and pervaded every cell with its vitalizing influence, taking on such substances from the glands as may be required for the blood, and is collected into the small lymphatic vessels, and returns by the throracic duct towards the heart. Having been supplied and refreshed by the decomposed substances derived from the food, through the decomposing fires of nature, it ascends and again is united with the veinous blood just before it reaches the heart. The arterial blood, ascending to the head, gives off its lymph in the manner heretofore described, the brain being supplied with vitalized blood by four large arteries; namely, the two carotids, and the two vertebrals. These ascend, dividing into innumerable small branches, ramifying the dura mater, from which the arterial capillaries descend dipping in to the great cortical substances of the brain, giving off its lymph, which is taken up by a class of cells arranged in the tissues in a glandular form. There being three cells of a primitive character, the walls of which are composed of smaller cells, the walls of these again are composed of a third class of a still finer texture. The membranes or coatings of the cells are continued and formed into cerebral tubules in a three, six and nine fold order.
Thus the lymph is sifted and strained, as it passes inwardly to the substances of the brain, giving off its vital forces of light, heat and electricity in their continuous degrees, the states of which are represented by the nine colors of the positive and negative spectrums, which will be hereafter treated of when we come to speak of the nine portions of the brain. The finer portions of the lymph are consumed in the operations of the brain and nervous system; the serous portion of the lymph being collected by the ventricles, and used for the softening of the tissues of the brain. The lymph of the scalp, neck, face, and upper portion of the chest, is collected and returned to the veinous circulation by the right throracic duct. Thus it is that the blood is the seat of life, and any part or organ of the body, deprived of arterial blood, becomes immediately paralized and dead. The three kingdoms of nature hold a distinct or discrete relation to each other; yet they compound, by their continuous degrees, in a three, six and nine fold principle. From these again arise a series of orders which follow as three, five and seven, which will be explained when we come to treat of these numbers in Masonry.
The mechanical manifestations of the blood, in external uses, take place by corresponding organs and parts of the body, which are directly adapted to the wants and uses of life in the external world. The first elementary organs or tissues, which composed the whole and entire bodily form, are three, namely: the nervous, vascular and cellular tissues; from these again are derived the white and yellow fibres, which compound, with considerable variety, in an areolar tissue, which is receptive of the cells, glands and follicles. These nine degrees of the bodily formation compound in the soft and hard tissues, which consist of muscles, membranes and tendons, cartilages, bones and ligaments, sacs, tubules and glands. These are manifested and grouped in the human body in a series of three, six and nine parts; namely, the head, chest and abdomen, the fore-arm, arm and hand; the femur, leg and foot. These consist of groups which are in themselves articulated agreeably to their order, which will be treated of when we speak of the subject of orders. The nine groupings of the form are duplicated in the right and left sides.
The interior organs, also, consist of nine groupings, namely: the brain, heart and lungs, the liver, stomach and bowels, the spleen, kidneys and organs of generation. Thus the groupings of the human form are twenty-seven, being a multiplication of three and three times three, which being again multiplied by three, give twenty-seven, which is the full number of cryptic Masonry.
The great uses of the human system are nine, expressed by nine groups in the body; namely, the heart, lungs and stomach with their appendages; the muscles, bones and excretory system; the integumentary, or skin, and generative organs. These are all harmoniously arranged, and inductively acted upon by the nervous system, the centre of which is the brain, it being the great centre or seat of life and sensation, through which the blood charges the system with its vital forces or animal spirits, ultimately accumulated and reworked in the nine lobules of the testes, and elaborated into a minute form or principle of the human brain.
The soul-germ takes upon itself a foetal body in the womb from the blood of the mother. When all the organs are formed, the blood, which exists in the arteries and veins at the time of birth, receives an independent motion by the inflowing of forces from the external world through the medium of respiration and the skin. The heart is stimulated to action, and an independent circulation of the blood is produced, with its laboratory of chemical forces for the future growth of the body and mind. The forces of the human system are derived from the same source as those of the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms, which are light, heat and electricity.
There are three degrees or rather separate atmospheres, each having an elemental formation or composite. The atmospheric air is composed of gases mingled together, within which exists an etherial atmosphere, consisting of caloric and ether, the active force of which is electricity in its continuous degrees. Within these, again, reside the most subtle forces of the sun. The decomposition, or separation of caloric into its continuous degrees, produces the manifestation of the different heat rays. The decomposition of ether, is induced by the active forces of caloric, which produce the sensation of light, the electric force being the combined result of each.
The decomposition of electricity into its discrete degrees, gives rise to the electric, magnetic and aromal forces as they exist in the kingdoms of nature, which will be hereafter illustrated. The positive and negative electricities are the result of decomposition or division into their respective degrees, the recombination of which give rise to the phenomena of attraction and repulsion. A decomposition of the electric forces also takes place by passing a current at right angles to a different conductive body, producing an inductive current, which is always at right angles to the motive force. The atmosphere acts as a lens, decomposing the light and heat of the sun, producing the inductive, electric and magnetic currents of the earth, which are similar to the nervous forces in man.
There are three degrees or rather separate atmospheres, each having a composite elemental formation. The atmospheric air is composed of gases mingled together. Within this, exists an etherial atmosphere, consisting of caloric and ether, the active force of which is electricity in its continuous degrees. Within these, again, reside the most subtle forces of the sun. The decomposition, or separation of caloric into its continuous degrees, produces the manifestation of the different heat rays. The decomposition of ether is induced by the active forces of caloric, which produce the sensation of light, the electric force being the combined result of both.
No. 6. There are nine groupings of the brain which are receptive of the forces of the blood; three of which are primitive and discrete in their character, the others are compound and inductive; neither of these groups can induce action by itself. It requires at least three of the groups, on both sides of the brain, to induce co-ordinate action in the body. Every act of life, to be truly rational, must partake of the entire forces of the brain. Hence, there is a great circuit of the mental forces through the commissures of the brain and oblongata, descending to the body. Animal life, perception and order are located in these basular lobes on either side of the base of the encephalon; namely, the cerebellum, anterior and middle lobes. The cerebellum is the seat of the animal will, and receives, by influx, all the laws of natural order, relating to procreation and civil life. The anterior lobes are “perceptive in their character, and receive by influx all the forces and powers of special sense. The middle lobes of the brain are the true seat of action, and are both compound and inductive in their character, receiving the vital forces of the cerebellum and anterior lobes, which they first present for approval and support to all the other groups, collecting the combined action and forces of the three basular lobes, on either side of the brain, passing them upward by the middle cornues along the hippocampus major. The electric forces of the upper posterior lobes are brought forward along their cornues by the commissures of the hippocampus minor, extending forward and downwards to the floor of the lateral ventricles, passing forward through their commissures; they receive the forces of the rational faculties by the commissures of the anterior cornues; and are collected by the corpus callosum. Passing upward and backward, they descend to the body by the six commissures of the oblongata and spinal cord.
The inceptive forces of the cerebellum are pulsatory, which continue in . their life currents as described, by the hippocampus major, fornix and corpus callosum; where they receive, by the cross commissures, another pulsatory motion which flows in through the superior hemispheres of the brain, uniting the forces of the middle respiratory, central lobes on either side of the lateral ventricles, which now into the pulsation of the cerebellum during their passage through the commissures of the corpus callosum.
It is important to the life-actions of the body and mind, that these two pulsatory motions should exactly agree as to time, so as to unite their combined efforts in all the operations of life. The respiratory motions of the brain take place, in a normal condition, about every fourth pulsation. The brain swells and the corpus callosum rises, with a gentle motion, at each respiration. As these currents and forces are constant in their operation, they are provided with three sets of fibres, one of which proceeds from the middle basular lobes, one from the cerebellum, and one from the superior hemispheres. Thus, the day, with the regenerate man, who stands in divine order, is divided into three equal parts; giving eight hours for the avocations of life, eight for the relief of a worthy distressed brother, and eight for refreshment and sleep; the cerebellum standing watch by night, and holding the reins of life, the perceptive faculties watching by day during the common avocations, and the superior hemispheres of the brain holding the control during the hours of devotion. These necessities will be more apparent when we come to speak of sleep.
In the unregenerate man, the influxes of the upper brain are weak and feeble, so that they are unperceived in the mind and body; but, as regeneration takes place, these influxes increase, until they are seen and felt by the higher faculties of the mind, when they assume a full and complete control of the entire being.
There are fibres entering the nervous system from each degree of the brain; but, in general, there are three great systems of nerves, arising from the lobes in the base of the brain; namely, the nerves of special sense, and the motor and involuntary nerves. The involuntary nerves have their centres in the cerebellum. The motor nerves take their rise in the middle lobes, and the nerves of special sense derive their power from the influxes of the anterior lobes of the brain. Fibres, from each of these systems, enter the ganglionic, which, in the main, is involuntary, its great office being to decompose, allot and partition the nervous forces agreeably to the wants of the human system, manifested in the different organs. The nerve fibre of the brain does not extend into the organs, but acts upon their forces by decomposition and induction, producing chemical action by their recombination.
No. 7. The cerebellum acts as a ganglion upon the forces of the spinal cord during the wakeful state of the mind. The nerves of special sense, collected in the medulla oblongata, are positive to the cerebellum and the ganglionic system; so that a third part of their fibres, or tubules are entirely at rest; yet they receive a passing current that restores the wear and tear of the night; also the frontal perceptive powers of the brain are entirely at rest, the same being the case with the motor fibres of the central lobes.
When these portions of the brain become weary and require resuscitation, the cerebellum becomes active, and produces a positive power on the nerve fibres of the spinal cord and ganglionic system. Embracing tire head of the medulla oblongata close in the folds of the ponsverolii, it sends around it a spiral band of electric currents, and sends down the spinal cord a flow of inductive electricity. The ganglionic system becomes generally active and positive to the nerves, giving off by the spinal column. The electric forces of the brain extending down the spinal cord, proceed no further than the root of the branching nerve to be affected, passing round the root. It decomposes the electricity of its centre, thereby producing an inductive current in the nerve branch, and returns again to the brain. The inductive current, in the branching nerve, becomes positive, again decomposing the electric current of the ganglion, sending off an inductive current to the muscles and bodily organs, as the case may require, and vice versa with the returning current.
The nerve forces of light, heat and electricity, which are set at liberty by the blood in the heart, body and limbs, are separated by a discrete degree, acting upon each other by induction, produced by chemical change of the molecules of the forces in their decomposition and recombination, acting upon each other by loop nerves and ganglia. The blood of the throrax and abdominal regions makes a great circuit through the lungs to the heart, another through the spleen and bowels, returning by the liver; and a third by the kidneys, throwing off its lymph to the viscera and organs, and setting at liberty its vital forces of light, heat and electricity, by chemical changes that take place in the blood.
The nerve forces, thus liberated, supply the ganglionic system, being decomposed and separated into discrete and continuous degrees by the ganglions, which produce such inductive currents as are required for the chemical operations in the motion of the organs. The current of the blood, through the limbs, sets at liberty the electric degree of the nervous forces which are confined to the extremities and the muscular tissues of the limbs, being partitioned by ganglia peculiar to its own system.
The nerve forces of the head or brain are decomposed into discrete and continuous degrees for the nine groupings of the brain. Thus, there is a complete system of action and reaction of the nervous forces, one degree inducing action in another. The whole nervous system decomposing and setting at liberty, in the chemical changes, the forces of light, heat and electricity, which now in their appropriate currents, induced by the cardiac and pulmonary actions of the brain, being induced by general influxes of efforts which flow in, through the spiritual world, from the Divine mind.
The cardiac action of the cerebellum contains all the principles of divine order, relating to generation and civil life. The pulmonary motion of the superior brain contains the principles of divine Providence, relating to the preservation of man, in which the soul resides. The cardiac motions of the superior and inferior brains, together with the motions of the heart, are derived from the three continuous degrees of divine love. The pulmonary motions of the superior and inferior brain, together with the motions of the lungs, are derived, through the spiritual world, from the three degrees of divine truth. The cardiac motion of the cerebellum flows forth into the right and left inferior middle lobes of the brain, where it is vitalized through the pulmonary motion of the influxes, derived from divine truth, and where it receives the outward influxes of the world through the medium of the senses; being carried upward just above the ear, forward and downward to the floors of the lateral ventricles. It rises upward and backward, being again vitalized by the cardiac and pulmonary motions of the superior hemispheres. It passes downward by the medulla oblongata being decomposed. The forces of the light, heat and electricity are distributed by induction to the organs and tissues of the body. Passing outward to the skin, and inward to the bones, it returns along the gelatinous nerves of the skin, pericardium and muscles by inductive currents of the vital organs and brain, having sensed the surrounding world and internal tissues.
The pulmonary motions of the lungs are in complete harmony with the actions of the body and mind, adjusting themselves to them in speaking, thinking and muscular movements; receiving their currents directly from the pulmonary motion of the brain by both voluntary and involuntary nerves, by which the muscular currents are induced, reversed, altered and changed to suit the slightest mental perception of the mind; the pulmonary action stimulating, vivifying and producing chemical changes in the cardiacal currents of the cerebellum; so that, there is a complete flux and reflux, action and reaction between the two producing a complete intercourse between the will and the understanding. With the regenerate man, the cardiac and pulmonary actions are opened in the superior hemispheres of the brain, and, with it, a perception and understanding of the laws of divine Providence, from which arise celestial faith and science by perception.
The foregoing hypothetical statements account for the widest range of physical and psychological facts known to man. Their principles and science will be fully illustrated in the following pages, when we come to treat of the degrees and order in masonry, and the correspondence and symbols. Mathematics is only an expression of the degrees and order that exist in the mental and physical world. Without these degrees and orders, the universe would be a complete chaos; but through the degrees of the divine mind, there is action and reaction, harmony and beauty in all things. The key to unlock the mysteries of the universe, is found in the numbers, three, five and seven, three six and nine, and two, four, eight and twelve. These numbers correspond to the laws contained in the numeral digits; ten and twelve being the fulness of affections and truths. The principles contained in these numbers are the foundations of all science and knowledge, and have ever been held in high estimation among Masons. All the operations of the physical and mental man, who stands in divine order, being in likeness of the Lodge, Chapter and Council, as will be shown when we treat of the opening of these bodies.
THE DEGREES OF THE TEMPERAMENTS.
NO. 8. THE ULTIMATE KINGDOMS of nature, in their discrete and continuous degrees, compose the blood which gives off its forces of light, heat and electricity, which are interwoven into the substances of the animal spirit. Therefore, as the blood is, so is the temperamental quality of the tissues; a similar series of degrees running through the temperaments, giving harmony of action, and manifestation of mind. If the law of the temperaments be perfectly understood, the form and quality of all the parts may be known, from the development of any organ or tissue. The nine groups of the brain are developed in an exact ratio to their corresponding parts of the body.
Hence, there are three qualities or temperaments, with their continuous degrees, which agree with the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms, running throughout the brain and tissues. These exist separately and yet simultaneously in the brain. The grosser and more corporeal degrees of the temperaments are located in the base of the brain; the more intellectual degrees of the temperaments are located in a horizontal belt or stratum, occupying the middle portion of the head. The more refined and subtle degrees of the temperaments are located in the superior lobes of the hemispheres. These are divided perpendicularly by the anterior, middle and posterior lobes. Thus the hemispheres, upon either side of the head, are divided into nine-groups or three great columns of brain. The inferior lobes, namely, the cerebellum, anterior and middle lobes, on both sides are the seat of animal life, which is possessed of three powers; namely, desire or will, perception and action.
The intellectual or spiritual life of the man resides in the central belt of the head, occupying three groups of organs upon both sides; namely, the rational faculties, the semi-intellectual and social, which have corresponding powers of intellectual thought, affection and action; namely, the affections of social life, rationality and judgment. The celestial principles of the mind reside in the superior hemispheres of the brain; the peculiar qualities of which are dignity, sympathy and devotion. To these nine principles of the human mind, in general, are referrable all the motives, ends, thoughts and affections of the soul, spirit and body. All the activities of the mind reside in the central columns of the brain; the affection in the posterior, and the intellectual in the frontal.
We shall now proceed to describe the temperaments and their marks and indications in the head and body. From the foregoing article, it will be perceived that the temperaments cannot be referred to the tissues, but to the blood, from which they have their origin, and any attempt to derive them from the tissues would mislead the mind. Yet the temperaments are marked in all the bodily formations. It is not our purpose to treat on phrenology. We shall, therefore, follow the subject of the temperaments no further than they relate to the degrees. If the mineral substances of the blood prevail, the osseous and muscular systems are strongly developed. If the vegetable kingdom predominates, the nutritive system, consisting of the elementary canal and lymphatics, are strongly marked. When the animal kingdom in the blood prevails, there is a chemical activity of all the parts derived from the lungs and arterial blood. The movements are quick and sprightly, and the pulsations of the heart are rapid. Thus the combined qualities culminate in three temperaments; namely, the bilious, lymphatic and sanguine, with their continuous degrees. The bodily tissues of these discrete temperaments react, and produce the cellular, vascular and nervous systems, which interblend in continuity in all the ultimate tissues of the body, as described in article 5.
The cerebellum gives rise to the heart and arterial system, controlled and governed by the sympathetic or ganglionic system of nerves. The lymphatic or nutritive system, which culminates in the cellular tissue and lymphatic glands, is also receptive of the vascular and nervous systems. The sanguine temperament which ultimates in the chemical activities of the blood, derived through the nervous system, has its seat in the lower, frontal and middle lobes, and is distinct from the cerebellum, only acting upon it by induction. These both unite in the middle lobe, which governs the active forces of the lungs, muscles and cellular tissue. The seat of animal life is manifested in the base of the brain, namely, the cerebellum, and anterior and middle lobes from which the bodily formation takes its development. As the base of the brain approximates a circle, the middle lobes predominate. The chest is large and full, the shoulders square, the limbs tapering to their extremities; the complexion florid, and the hair red, giving the general characteristics of the sanguine temperament; as the base of the brain becomes acutely elliptical, the cerebellum and anterior lobes prevail over the middle. The head being thin and long, if the front and posterior portions of the skull terminate sharply over the eyes, projecting in the occipital region, the temperament is bilious; the figure tall in proportion, muscular and long. The eyes are brown, the hair black and the complexion dark. If the base of the brain is oval, regular and smooth, the perceptive faculties and cerebellum neither sharp nor prominent, the temperament is lymphatic, the skin of a milky white, the eyes of an indistinct blue, the shoulders small and drooping, and the abdomen and lower limbs large and full.
The full development of the continuous degrees of the temperaments, which have their locality in the middle and superior hemispheres of the brain, exercise a controlling and modifying influence upon the temperaments, and indicate the size and height of the man, together with his intellectual and moral powers; as a well developed and harmonious brain can only exist in connection with a similar body.
We shall now take up the temperaments and treat them in their separate and combined form with their marks and mental characters.
No. 9. There are several distinctive marks of the bilious temperament found in the head. Sharp and projecting perceptive faculties, thin head in the region of the temples, and protuberance of the occipital bone, are the basular marks. The spiritual region or middle belt of the head recedes; the forehead slopes backward, and the sides, in the region of the semi-intellectual faculties, incline inward; sympathy is low, and self-esteem high. The base of the head is large and rises high in a sugar loaf form in the region of dignity. When all of these marks are found in the head, the subject is of a full bilious temperament. The man is about six feet high, with long and bony limbs, with well developed muscles; the movements are slow and sauntering; the heart has about sixty beats to the minute. The complexion is dark, the eyes are brown and hair black, the nose Roman, and lips firm. The character of the mind is cool and determined, weighing every question well before acting; the scholastic and religious instructions of youth are adhered to with great tenacity. Persons of this temperament are firm friends and untiring enemies, and either sceptics or fanatics in religion, and opposed to any change or progress. In proportion, as any of these marks are found interblended with the other temperaments, the character and form partake of the bilious. The spiritual or intellectual degree of this temperament is called the nervo-bilious, and is known by the fulness of the central belt of the head, in part or in the whole. The eyes are black, the hair fine. The intellect is quick and active, with refinement of person and tissues of the body.
No. 10. The lymphatic temperament arises from the lymph of the blood, which is a vehicle of nutrition. The stomach, bowels, lymphatics and cellular tissue prevail in the body; all of which are referable to the vegetable kingdom of the blood. The distinctive features of the temperament, in the base of the brain, are its oval and smooth form. The posterior frontal, and sides of the head rise perpendicularly in the central or spiritual belt of the head.’ The superior frontal lobe of sympathy, and the posterior lobe of dignity, and the organs of conscientiousness are well and broadly developed. The devotional faculties, in the region of the organ of reverence, are deficient, leaving a hollow in that portion of the head. All the corners and angles are well rounded. If the corporeal or base of the brain predominates, the man is about five feet eight inches high, with small well formed drooping shoulders and rounded limbs. The abdomen and hips are large, and limbs full; the flesh soft and placid to the touch. The countenance is smooth, the lips thick, the nose on its bridge curved inwardly, and pugged at the end. If the spiritual or central belt of the head is well developed, the man is about five feet ten or eleven inches high, and of symmetrical form; and when the head is large and high, combining the sanguine temperament, the body is frequently of gigantic form. The corporeal man, of this temperament, has a free, easy and unsolicitous character, coarse and practical in his intellect. When the spiritual degree of the temperament is well developed, it forms the basis of the great scientific mind, by giving patience, endurance of investigation; and when combined with the sanguine, it gives the grace, ease, dignity and quiet, requisite for the orator. The habit of this temperament is sedentary, its combination with all the other temperaments is highly important for health and mental equilibrium. The religious character is liberal and progressive. The personal marks of the temperament are a large abdomen, rounded form, light complexion, brown hair the ends tinged with red, blue eyes, curved nose, thick lips and placid countenance. The character is friendly and sympathetic. Murder is unknown to this temperament. Its perversion is the love of the world, and its perfection charity.
No. 11. The discrete temperaments rise above each other like a majestic column with its base, shaft and capital. The bilious supports, the lymphatic sustains, and the sanguine crowns, vivifies and enlivens the whole. The sanguine, without the lower temperaments, is like the animal kingdom without the earth or vegetation. It rests upon the bilious for stability, and feeds upon the lymphatic, which gives it animal spirit and support. It wanders to and fro, like the animal, upon the surface of the earth. It loves to bask in the sunshine of intellect by the crystal stream, and behold its own image in the still waters, or ascend the mountain peak, and gaze upon the lovely scene below. It delights to hold its lodge in the highest mountains and lowest valleys. It loves to stand upon the beach, and view the mighty ocean as it rushes upon the shore. It contemplates with reverence and awe the raging storm and heaving billow; it reclines in the moon-light dell, and surveys the heavens with wonder and delight. It is the rhapsody of poetry, and the zeal of argument. It is the heart of friendship, the warmth of love, and the life of society. The sanguine temperament, like the oxygen of the atmosphere, induces the chemical changes of the blood, which warms and vitalizes the system. This temperament is known by full and rounded perceptives, a sloping and broad forehead, by full moral organs, by sometimes a flattening in the region of concentrativeness, a perpendicular posterior of the head, large and full sustaining faculties, a circular and uneven base of the brain, and sometimes an unevenness of the head. These marks are seldomly all found in the same character.
This temperament is decomposed into its corporeal, intellectual and moral degrees, which may all, or in part, be beautifully and harmoniously blended with the degrees of the other temperaments, in their nine respective portions of the head. When the corporeal degree of the temperament is well developed in the base, the man is about five feet eight inches high, with square shoulders, large chest, muscular and tapering limbs, and small hands and feet. The hips are small, and the entire body tapers from the shoulders downward. The cheek-bones are high, the nose broad upon the bridge and straight, the chin double, the hair red, the eyes blue, and the skin florid. The man is active and restless, always preferring an out-door life. If the intellectual and moral degrees are well developed, the mind is restless, scientific, searching, sympathetic and affectionate. It is a law of the temperaments that the corporeal and moral degrees react against each other, concentrating: their common and combined force in the intellectual. Hence, no man can be truly great without a well developed base and coronal region. Each temperament is liable to different diseases, and should never be treated alike by the physician.
No. 12. Each temperament has its corporeal, spiritual and celestial degrees, which we shall term the corporeal, intellectual and moral. The corporeal degrees reside in the base of the brain, the intellectual in the central belt, and the moral in the sympathetic, dignifying and devotional faculties. The discrete temperaments are three, namely, the bilious, the lymphatic and the sanguine. These arise from the quality of the blood, and reside in every part of the brain. They are distinct, yet blending with every part; they have each three continuous degrees; the corporeal degree residing in the base of the brain, the intellectual in the middle, and the moral in the superior brain. The bilious resides more in the base of the brain than it does in any other part of the head. The lymphatic resides more in the middle portion, and the sanguine more in the superior. Yet they are decomposed, and, like the nine numeral digits, recombine, forming, like the nine colors of the positive and negative spectrums, an infinite variety of light and shade in the human character. It is the office of this work to treat only of the normal conditions of the temperaments, and to leave their endless distortions, arising from diseased and weakened parents, from their habits of mind and confirmed evils, which they transmit from their blood to their children, precociously developed by forcing an early education, or neglect of their moral, spiritual and bodily training, developing an unnatural, sensual and corporeal state of the body, and mind, or precocious conditions of the nerves, with top shaped heads, or bell-crowns and small base, subject to ill health in life, and premature death. Physiologists have dignified this condition with the name of the nervous temperament; the distorted corporeal states, as the lymphatic, and the depraved conditions of the passions, and the violation and profanation of every holy condition, as the sanguine; but we must leave these states for correction to the physician and theologian, and proceed to develope the normal conditions of the temperaments in their harmonious and beautiful blendings of the human character.
Each individual has a different arrangement of the temperaments in the head. The sanguine may be found developed in prominent, oval and full perceptives, with a broad and receding forehead governing the entire countenance, or it may be found indicated in the large sustaining faculties, a perpendicular posterior brain, or a flattening of self-esteem and concentration, or indicated by a general unevenness of the head. The bilious and lymphatic temperaments may be indicated in either of the nine groups by their marks as before described.
THE ORDERS IN MAN.
NO. 13. THE CORPOREAL TEMPERAMENTS should not be confounded with the discrete degrees of the mind, which reside in the perceptive, domestic and devotional faculties; two of these, namely, the perceptive and the domestic, are located in the base of the brain, and constitute the natural degree or order which is common to man with the brute creation. The devotional faculties are located in the coronal region of the head, and flow into the sympathetic and dignifying faculties, constituting the celestial order of the mind. The celestial and natural orders react against each other, and combine in the central belt of the head, in the rational, semi-intellectual and social faculties, constituting the spiritual or intellectual order.
Thus, there are three orders of men which are separate in their character, and which may be compared to the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders in architecture. The natural or Doric order takes its character from the base of the brain. The spiritual or Ionic order from the central belt, and the celestial from the coronal regions. These orders arise from the perfection and perfect blending of the discrete degrees in their continuous degrees of altitude and longitude, see No. 80. A compound degree intervenes between the natural and spiritual degrees, indicated by the fulness of the belt of the head just above the perceptive faculties, and the top of the ear, which gives a different style of body and character, which may be compared to the Tuscan order. The spiritual and celestial orders compound in an intermediate order which may be compared to the Composite, and are indicated by the fulness of the upper portion of the head, on the line separating the semi-intellectual and devotional faculties. These orders constitute five classes of men, in each of which, if examined, the temperaments will be found equally blended, and yet each individual class will be decidedly different in the form of the body and character of the mind.
The natural or Doric order represents the perfection of strength and stability of character. The head, features, body and limbs all partake of the square and oblong forms, and the mind is geometrical and practical.
The Ionic or spiritual order of men, are oval and round in the form of the face, head, body and limbs. Their manners are graceful, polite and polished. The character is mild, gentle and firm, with great activity and breadth of thought.
The celestial or Corinthian order are characterized by the more oval forms of the head, features, body and limbs. The figure is tall, erect and gracefully formed. The mind is luxuriant in thought and perceptive in character.
