What are to Moveable Jewels of the Lodge?
Quote of the Month
The Holy Bible
Upon the Altar of every Masonic Lodge, supporting the Square and Compasses, lies the Holy Bible, The old, familiar Book, so beloves by so many generations, is our Volume of Sacred Law and a Great Light in Masonry. He Bible opens when the Lodge Opens: it Closes when the Lodge closes. No Lodge can transact its own business, much ess initiate candidates into its mysteries, unless the Book of Holy Law lies open upon its Altar. Thue=s the book of the Will of God Ryles the Lodge in its Labors, as the sun rules the day, making its work a worship.
The history of the Bible in the life and symbolism of Masonry is a story too long to recite here. Nor can any one tell it as we should like to know it. Just when, where, and by whom the teaching and imagery of the Bible were wrought into Freemasonry, no one can tell. Anyone can have his theory, but no one can be dogmatic. As the Craft labored in the service of the Church during the cathedral building period, it is not difficult to account for the Biblical coloring of its thought, even in the days when the Bible was not widely distributed, and before the discovery of printing. Anyway, we can take such facts as we are able to find, leaving the research to learn further truth.
The Bible is mentioned in some of the old Manuscripts of the Craft long before the revival of Masonry in 1717, as the book upon which the covenant, or oath, of a Mason was taken; For example, in the Harleian Manuscript, dated about 1600, the obligation of an initiate closes with the words: “so help me God, and the holy content of this book.” In the old Ritual, of which a copy from the Royal Library in Berlin iz given by Krause, there is no mention of the Bible as one of the lights. It was in England, due largely to the influence of Preston and his fellow workmen, that the Bible came to its place of honor in the Lodge. At any rate, in the rituals of about 1760 it is described as one of the three Great Lights. ~Short Talks on Masonry by Bro. Joseph Fort Newton~
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