Title Page
Illustrations of Masonry by William Morgan [1827] Start Reading This book has a controversial backstory which is part of the mythology of anti-Freemasonry. 'Captain' William Morgan, the author, was a disappointed Freemason in Batavia, New York....
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p. i ILLUSTRATIONS —OF— MASONRY —BY— ONE OF THE FRATERNITY Who has devoted Thirty Years to the Subject. "God said, Let there be Light, and there was Light." Copyright Secured. Printed for the Proprietor, CAPT. WM. MORGAN'S EXPOSITION OF FREEMASONRY, Republished...
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p. ii Northern District of New York to wit: Be it Remembered, That on the fourteenth day of August, in the fifty-first year of the Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1826, William Morgan, of the said district, hath deposited in this office the title...
Introduction
p. iii (WRITTEN FOR THE ORIGINAL EDITION. By the Publisher, Col. David C. Miller, Batavia, N. Y.) In the absence of the author, or rather compiler of the following work, who was kidnapped and carried away from the village of Batavia, on the 11th day of September,...
Opening the Lodge | Chapter 1
p. 10 p. 11 ILLUSTRATIONS —OF— MASONRY, ETC. A Description of the Ceremonies used in opening a Lodge of Entered Apprentice Masons; which is the same in all upper degrees, with the exception of the difference in the signs, due-guards, grips, pass-grips, words and their...
First Degree Initiation | Chapter 2
If there are any candidates to be brought forward, that will be the first business to be attended to. I will therefore proceed with a description of the ceremonies used in the admission and initiation of a candidate into the first degree of Masonry. A person wishing...
Closing the Lodge | Chapter 3
The work of the evening being over, I will proceed to give a description of the manner of closing the lodge. It is a very common practice in lodges to close a lodge of Entered Apprentices, and open a lodge of Fellow Crafts, and close that, and open a Master Mason's...
First Section of the Lecture on the First Degree | Chapter 4
Having described all the ceremonies and forms appertaining to the opening of a lodge of Entered Apprentice Masons, setting them to work, initiating a candidate, and closing the lodge, I will now proceed too give the lecture on this degree. It is divided into three...
Second Section of the Lecture on the First Degree | Chapter 5
"Why was you divested of all metals when you was made a Mason?" Ans. "Because Masonry regards no man on account of his worldly wealth or honors; it is, therefore, the internal and not the external qualifications that recommend a man to Masonry." "A second reason?"...
Third Section of the Lecture on the First Degree | Chapter 6
"We have been saying a good deal about a lodge; I want to know what constitutes a lodge?" Ans. "A certain number of Free and Accepted Masons duly assembled in a room, or place, with the Holy Bible, p. 44 [paragraph continues] Square and Compass, and other Masonic...
Second or Fellow Craft Degree Initiation | Chapter 7
p. 49 I will now introduce the reader to the second degree of Masonry. It is generally called passing, as will be seen in the lecture. I shall omit the ceremonies of opening and closing, as they are precisely the same as in the first degree, except two knocks are used...
First Section of the Fellow Craft Mason Lecture | Chapter 8
"Are you a Fellow Craft Mason?" Ans. "I am—try me." "By what will you be tried?" Ans. "By the square." "Why by the square?" Ans. "Because it is an emblem of virtue." "What is a square?" Ans. "An angle extending to ninety degrees, or the fourth part of a circle."...
Second Section of the Fellow Craft Mason Lecture | Chapter 9
"Have you ever worked as a Fellow Craft Mason?" Ans. "I have in speculative; but our forefathers wrought both in speculative and operative Masonry." "Where did they work?" Ans. "At the building of King Solomon's temple, and many other Masonic edifices." "How long did...
Third, or Master Mason’s Degree | Chapter 10
The traditional account of the death and several burials, and resurrection of Hiram Abiff, the widow's son [as hereafter narrated], admitted as facts, this degree is certainly very interesting. The Bible informs us that there was a person of that name employed at the...
First Section of the Master Mason Lecture | Chapter 11
"Are you a Master Mason" Ans. "I am—try me, prove me—disprove me if yon can." "Where were you prepared to be made a Master Mason?" Ans. "In a room adjacent to the body of a just and lawfully constituted lodge of such, duly assembled in a room representing the sanctum...
Second Section of the Master Mason Lecture 1 | Chapter 12
"Did you ever return to the sanctum sanctorum or holy of holies of King Solomon's Temple?" Ans. "I did." "Was there anything particular took place on your return?" p. 94 Ans. "There was, viz.: I was accosted by three ruffians, who demanded of me the Master Mason's...
Second Section of the Master Mason Lecture 2 | Chapter 13
"What does a Master's lodge represent?" Ans. "The Sanctum Sanctorum, or holy of holies of King Solomon's Temple." "How long was the temple building?" Ans. Seven years, during which it rained not in the day-time, that the workmen might not be obstructed in their...
Entered Apprentice Degree | Chapter 14
p. 104 The Holy Bible on the altar is usually opened at the 123d Psalm and the square and compass placed thereon, the latter open and both points placed below the square. Preparation of Candidate Entered Apprentice Degree.—He is ushered into the "preparation room,"...
Fellow Craft Degree | Chapter 15
The Holy Bible ought to be opened at the 7th chapter of Amos and one point of the compass elevated above the square. Preparation of Candidate Fellow Craft Degree.—He is ushered into the "preparation room" as before, and divested of all his clothing as in the preceding...
Master Mason’s Degree | Chapter 16
The Holy Bible ought to be opened at the 12th chapter of Ecclesiastes and both points of the compass elevated above the square. Preparation of Candidate Master Mason's Degree.—He is conducted into the preparation room as in the preceding degree. All his clothing is...
Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret | Chapter 32
p. 839 [Master of Royal Secret.] THE Occult Science of the Ancient Magi was concealed under the shadows of the Ancient Mysteries: it was imperfectly revealed or rather disfigured by the Gnostics: it is guessed at under the obscurities that cover the pretended crimes...
Grand Inspector Inquisitor Commander | Chapter 31
p. 825 [Inspector Inquisitor.] To hear patiently, to weigh deliberately and dispassionately, and to decide impartially;--these are the chief duties of a Judge. After the lessons you have received, I need not further enlarge upon them. You will be ever eloquently...
Knight Kadosh | Chapter 30
p. 814 WE often profit more by our enemies than by our friends. "We support ourselves only on that which resists," and owe our success to opposition. The best friends of Masonry in America were the Anti-Masons of 1826, and at the same time they were its worst enemies....
Grand Scottish Knight of St. Andrew | Chapter 29
p. 801 A MIRACULOUS tradition, something like that connected with the labarum of Constantine, hallows the Ancient Cross of St. Andrew. Hungus, who in the ninth century reigned over the Picts in Scotland, is said to have seen in a vision, on the night before a battle,...
Knight of the Sun, or Prince Adept | Chapter 28 Part 10
p. 780 "O how great and glorious is the presence of the Almighty God which gloriously shines from between the Cherubim! "How adorable and astonishing are the rays of that glorious Light, that sends forth its bright and brilliant beams from the Holy Ark of Alliance and...
Knight of the Sun, or Prince Adept | Chapter 28 Part 9
p. 757 Three points first emanated, one under the other; Kether, Hakemah, and Binah; and, so far, there was no copulation. But afterward the positions of Hakemah and Binah changed, so that they were side by side, Kether remaining above them; and then conjunction of...
Knight of the Sun, or Prince Adept | Chapter 28 Part 8
p. 735 If two children live together, and still more if they sleep together, and one is feeble and the other strong, the strong will absorb the feeble, and the latter will perish. In schools, some pupils absorb the intellect of the others, and in every circle of men...
Knight of the Sun, or Prince Adept | Chapter 28 Part 7
p. 713 and opens out the unfathomable mystery of the One Supreme into more explicit and manageable Forms, which express not indeed His Essence, which is wholly beyond our reach and higher than our faculties can climb, but His Will, and so feeds an endless enthusiasm...
Knight of the Sun, or Prince Adept | Chapter 28 Part 6
p. 691 And at last reaching the highest truth, Pindar, Hesiod, Æschylus, Æsop, and Horace said, "All virtue is a struggle; life is not a scene of repose, but of energetic action. Suffering is but another name for the teaching of experience, appointed by Zeus himself,...
Knight of the Sun, or Prince Adept | Chapter 28 Part 5
p. 669 "The soul of the world," says Macrobius, "is nature itself" [as the soul of man is man himself], "always acting through the celestial spheres which .it moves, and which but follow the irresistible impulse it impresses on them. The heavens, the sun, great seat...