LECTURE XI.

THE TWELVE GRAND POINTS IN MASONRY.

"There are in Freemasonry twelve original points, which form the basis of the system, and comprehend the whole ceremony of initiation. Without the existence of these points, no man ever was, or can be, legally and essentially received into the Order. Every person who is made a Mason must go through all these twelve forms and ceremonies, not only in the first degree, but in every subsequent one."

OLD LECTURES (now obsolete).

"Answer me, if you please, in mystical and obscure terms, for perhaps there are persons present who are not initiated in the mysteries."-THEODORET, Bishop of Cyzicus.

In the series of lectures which are comprehended within the general plan that I have marked out for explanation in the present work, it will be seen that I am desirous of being as communicative on all points connected with Freemasonry, whether as now practised,' or used according to the ancient creed of our

1 I am prepared to admit that innovations have been made on the continent in the ancient and simple ritual; but they have now a real and sensible existence, and therefore must be noticed. The American system has in many instances been modelled on the continental plan; and the haut grades were practised there and elsewhere under charters from the Supreme Grand Council of France. The organization com

forefathers in the science, as the nature of the inquiry will allow, in strict conformity with the terms of my obligation. The subject of the present lecture will be new to many Brethren who have been initiated since the union of ancient and modern Masonry, in 1813, when a revised system was agreed on, and promulgated by the united Grand Lodge, in which the Twelve Grand Points were for ever consigned to oblivion, although, previously to that period, they formed a constituent and interesting portion of the lectures, which was impressed on my mind by my Masonic instructor, as an essential appendage to genuine Freemasonry. As they are now finally rejected, there will prises four orders, and forty-three degrees.-1. The three first degrees, called symbolical or blue Masonry, governed by Grand Lodge. 2. Four additional degrees, comprising R. A. Masonry, governed by Chapters and Grand Chapters, and presided over by a most excellent General Grand High Priest, to whom all look up as the head. 3. The Encampment of Knights Templars of the 13th degree, governed by a General Grand Encampment. 4. The fourth and highest rank is comprised in the Supreme Council of Princes of the Royal Secret, and the Sovereign Grand Consistory, which go as high as forty-three degrees. The members of this Order are styled,

Royal and Most Illustrious Princes of High Masonry." And the presiding officer has the title of "Most Powerful Sovereign Grand Commander, and Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the 33rd degree."

2 In the lecture of Master ad vitam, the following passage occurs : -How many signs have you in this degree of Grand Pontiff, which is Grand Master of all Lodges? Twelve. Name them. 1. The sign of the earth, or E A. P.; 2, of water, or F. C.; 3, of terror, or M. M.; 4, of fire; 5, of air; 6, of the point in view; 7, of the sun; 8, of astonishment; 9, of horror; 10, of stench, or strong smell; 11, of admiration; 12, of consternation.

be no impropriety in entering on a detailed explanation of them.3

They referred to the Twelve Tribes of Israel, after their wanderings in the wilderness, and ultimate settlement in the Land of Promise. After the death of Moses and Aaron, when none of the disobedient generation remained except Caleb and Joshua, the regal authority over the Israelites devolved upon the latter; and he accordingly prepared for the invasion of the land of Canaan, under a divine promise of success.*

'It is rather unfortunate for Freemasonry that the lectures should be so fluctuating and uncertain. It is an evil which has a baneful effect on the Order; and has been severely felt under every one of its systems. In 1842 the Grand Master of Tennessee observed in his charge to the Grand Lodge: "The want of uniformity in the lectures on the various degrees which cannot be committed to writing, and in the mode of administering our rites and ceremonies, is not confined to our own State, but pervades the other States of the Union. Grand Lodges far more ancient than ours, complain of this want of uniformity, as you will find by recurring to their proceedings, and the charges of their grand officers. The correction of this evil was one of the great objects of the National Convention recently held in the city of Washington, at which, however, only ten out of the twenty-six Grand Lodges were represented. In the investigation of this subject by a committee appointed for the purpose, it was ascertained that practices had obtained in many of the subordinate Lodges, calculated to do great injury to the Craft; and perhaps we shall find it to be the case in this State, when the subject comes to be freely discussed, as I trust it will be, at this meeting. As to the mode proposed for producing uniformity throughout the United States, I refer you to the proceedings of the convention, and invite your particular attention to the plan recommended. one which, if adopted by the several Grand Lodges, and carried out, cannot fail of producing, in a short time, the desired result."

Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, saith the Lord, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From

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The prescribed term of forty years, which they were doomed to wander in the wilderness being completed, Joshua led the people towards Jordan, and issued his commands to the priests and Levites, that with bare feet they should precede the host of Israel, under the

the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee; I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage; for unto this people thou shalt divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them." (Josh. i. 3-6.)

A festival was instituted in commemoration of these wanderings, called the feast of tabernacles, when the Israelites dwelt seven days in booths or arbours constructed of green boughs. "Plutarch making mention of this festivity saith, that these booths were made principally of ivy boughs; but the scripture reckoneth up four distinct kinds, which are thought to be, the citron, the palmn, the myrtle, and the willow. The Rabbins teach, that every man brought every morning his burden of the boughs of these four trees, otherwise he fasted that day. And this burden they termed Hosanna; in allusion unto this, the people cutting down branches from the trees, and strewing them in the way when our Saviour did ride into Jerusalem, cried saying, Hosanna to the Son of David.' Plutarch, scoffing the Jews, compares this feast with that drunken festival in honour of Bacchus, in which the Bacchides ran up and down with certain javelins in their hands wrapped about with ivy, called Thyrsis; and in this respect he termeth this feast of the Jews, a bearing about of the Thyrsi." (Godwyn. Moses and Aaron 1. iii. c. 6.)

This custom, which proceeded from the especial command of God, was soon converted by heathen nations to the most absurd and senseless superstition. The Romans used to clear their gardens from the caterpillars and other insects which destroy the fruits of the earth, by the magical aid of women who walked barefoot round the trees. Sorceresses likewise, in all their incantations cast off their shoes, as

protection of the ark of the covenant; and that the people should follow them according to their tribes, with this proviso, that the tribe of Judah, which led the van, should preserve a distance of two thousand cubits, or more than half a mile from the holy company who had charge of the sacred utensils. Thus were they arranged, and before the word was given to proceed, the priests were directed, when they came into the centre of the river, to remain stationary with the ark till all the host had passed over. The river, at that time, was broad, deep, and rapid; for in the season of harvest it always overflowed its banks.7

is evident from several passages of Ovid, Horace, and Virgil. Even the ancient Christians observed it in their solemn processions, of which we have many instances in ecclesiastical history. The Emperor Theodosius the Younger, and the Patriarch Proclus, humbled themselves in this manner, when they assisted at the processions made at that time on account of several earthquakes. Heraclius went farther, for he resolved to carry the cross upon his back, and bear the weight of that sacred burden during a long procession, though he was almost overwhelmed with the weight of his imperial robes, But preferring the humble weight of the cross to all the pomp and grandeur of a throne, he cast off not only his royal vestments, but his shoes also, to accomplish with more alacrity, his journey to Mount Calvary. The Indians of Peru observe the custom of being barefooted as the most incontestible proof they could possibly give of their unfeigned humiliation. They never entered the famous and magnificent temple of the Sun till they had first put off their shoes in the porch of the temple.

7" Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest, which was in the first month when the Israelites entered Canaan. Maundrell observes that upon this flow of Jordan, the waters had anciently covered a large strand, and washed up to an outer bank about a furlong from the common channel. At this time there could be no passing it, and therefore the Israelites being now able to get over was