The General Ahiman Rezon & Freemason's Guide

Daniel Sickels

• Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9783849630362
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Containing Monitorial Instructions in the degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow-Craft, and Master Masons, with Explanatory Notes, Emendations, and Lectures; together with the Ceremonies of Consecration and Dedication of New Lodges, Installation of Grand and Suborninate Officers, Laying of Foundation Stones, Dedication of Masonic Halls, etc.

TASTING

Enables us to make a proper distinction in the choice of our food. The organ of this sense guards the entrance of the alimentary canal, as that of smelling guards the entrance of the canal for respiration. From the situation of both these organs, it is plain that they were intended by Nature to distinguish wholesome food from that which is nauseous. Every thing that enters into the stomach must undergo the scrutiny of tasting; and by it we are capable of discerning the changes which the same body undergoes in the different compositions of art, cookery, chemistry, pharmacy, etc.

Smelling and tasting are inseparably connected; and it is by the unnatural kind of life men commonly lead in society, that these senses are rendered less fit to perform their natural offices.

The proper use of these five senses enables us to form just and accurate notions of the operations of Nature; and when we reflect on the objects with which our senses are gratified, we become conscious of them, and are enabled to attend to them till they become familiar objects of thought.

On the mind all our knowledge must depend. What, therefore, can be a more proper subject for the investigation of Masons?

To sum up the whole of this transcendent measure of GOD'S bounty to man, we shall add, that Memory, Imagination, Taste, Reasoning, Moral Perception, and all the active powers of the soul, present a vast and boundless field for philosophical disquisition, which far exceeds human inquiry, and are peculiar mysteries, known only to Nature and to Nature's GOD, to whom all are indebted for creation, preservation, and every blessing we enjoy.

The Seven Liberal Arts And Sciences,

Which are Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy, are here illustrated. Grammar is the science which teaches us to express our ideas in appropriate words, which we may afterward beautify and adorn by means of Rhetoric; while Logic instructs us how to think and reason with propriety, and to make language subordinate to thought. Arithmetic, which is the science of computing by numbers, is absolutely essential, not only to a thorough knowledge of all mathematical science, but also to a proper pursuit of our daily avocations. Geometry, or the application of Arithmetic to sensible quantities, is of all sciences the most important, since by it we are enabled to measure and survey the globe that we inhabit. Its principles extend to other spheres; and, occupied in the contemplation and measurement of the sun, moon, and heavenly bodies, constitute the science of Astronomy; and, lastly, when our minds are filled, and our thoughts enlarged, by the contemplation of all the wonders which these sciences open to our view, Music comes forward, to soften our hearts and cultivate our affections by its soothing influences.

GRAMMAR

Is the key by which alone the door can be opened to the understanding of speech. It is Grammar which reveals the admirable art of language, and unfolds its various constituent parts—its names, definitions, and respective offices; it unravels, as it were, the thread of which the web of speech is composed. These reflections seldom occur to any one before their acquaintance with the art; yet it is most certain that, without a knowledge of Grammar, it is very difficult to speak with propriety, precision, and purity.

RHETORIC.

It is by Rhetoric that the art of speaking eloquently is acquired. To be an eloquent speaker, in the proper sense of the word, is far from being either a common or an easy attainment: it is the art of being persuasive and commanding; the art, not only of pleasing the fancy, but of speaking both to the understanding and to the heart.

LOGIC

Is that science which directs us how to form clear and distinct ideas of things, and thereby prevents us from being misled by their similitude or resemblance. Of all the human sciences, that concerning man is certainly most worthy of the human mind, and the proper manner of conducting its several powers in the attainment of truth and knowledge. This science ought to be cultivated as the foundation or ground-work of our inquiries; particularly in the pursuit of those sublime principles which claim our attention as Masons.

ARITHMETIC

Is the art of numbering, or that part of the mathematics which considers the properties of numbers in general. We have but a very imperfect idea of things without quantity, and as imperfect of quantity itself, without the help of Arithmetic. All the works of the Almighty are made in number, weight, and measure; therefore, to understand them rightly, we ought to understand arithmetical calculations; and the greater advancement we make in the mathematical sciences, the more capable we shall be of considering such things as are the ordinary objects of our conceptions, and be thereby led to a more comprehensive knowledge of our great Creator and the works of the creation.

GEOMETRY

Treats of the powers and properties of magnitudes in general, where length, breadth, and thickness are considered—from a point to a line, from a line to a superfices, and from a superfices to a solid.

A point is the beginning o...

Table of contents

• Freemasonry – Its Origin And History
• FIRST DEGREE. ENTERED APPRENTICE.
• SECOND DEGREE. FELLOW-CRAFT.
• THIRD DEGREE. MASTER MASON.