THE COMPANIONAGE.
when
the priests were engaged in the rite of
251
they and the people always walked
In making this procession, great
sacrifice,
three times round the altar while singing a sacred liymn.
care was taken to move in imitation of the sun.^
In the
28. Discalceatiou.
Israelitish, as well as in the
Germanic
nationalities, this rite, in
widest signification, was symbolised to mean a total relinquishing of personal claim, and
Dr Adam Clarke thinks that the custom of worcomplete humiliation and subjection.^
its
shipping the Deity barefooted was so general among all nations of antiquity, that he assigns
as one of his thirteen proofs that the whole human race have been derived from one
family.*
it
29. Tlie living
30.
circle.
The two lighted candles, reijresenting the sun and moon.
The avoidance of a conventional method of salutation.
31.
The oath
33.
The banquet following the ceremony.
of
32.
secrecy.
34.
The use
two separate rooms.
of
(The
Steinmdzcn only used one, their workshop.)
35. Tlie
Guilbrette.
This evidence of membership
remembered that no
may
be held to correspond with the
was discoverable amongst
The watch or pass word. This also was unknown in Germany. The
Companions probably made use of Biblical words. 37. Tlie use of the square and compasses.
38. The custom of holding monthlj' meetings, generally on the first Sunday.
Freemasons
It will be
signs of antiquity.
the Steinvietzen.
trace of a sign
36.
meet on the first, second, third, etc., Monday, Tuesday, or as the case may be that is to
both societies as a rule avoid appointing for then- assemblies a fixed day of the montli,
say,
but arrange to meet on a certain day of the week.
also
;
39. The custom of holding a yearly festival, accompanied by a religious service and
followed by a grand banquet. 40. The habit of converting fines into liquor for the general
benefit. The by-laws of our old lodges prove the existence of this custom among the Freemasons.
As
accidental coincidences, "which cannot influence our conclusions,
Eoman Church
enmity of the
of candidates of all religions,
factors in our final
41.
its
and the blue sash edged
judgment must be
The mutual possession
of
probable existence amongst the
Many
tlie
But the most
witli gold.
—
striking
;
in
Freemasonry we meet with but sparing allusions
to
early part of the last century.
what must arise in every secret society, and
be possibly discerned the germs of our existing Freemasonry, if viewed
of the above characteristics are only
those in which
singly,
the
an Hiramic Legend and, as I have endeavoured to show,
Companions from a very remote period. Candour, however,
demands the acknowledgment, that
Hiram, until
may be mentioned
towards both Freemasonry and the Companionage, the admission
may
would be
of very slight value.
Taken
conjointly, their w-eight materially increases.
It is necessary, however, to call attention to the possible absence
Nowhere do
one of the leading features of Freemasonry.
^
At the aucient Symposia, the cups were always
I find
carried round from riglit to
amongst the Companions of
any distinct mention of a grip.
left,
and the same odrer was observed
in the conversation, and in everything that took place in the entertainment (Smith, Diet, of Greek and
Cf. Fort, p. 321
;
Nat. Hist., xxii. 2
-
Fort, p. 320.
Oliver,
;
Hist.
Landmarks
(1846), vol.
Elton, Origins, etc., p. 293
;
and
3
i.,
p. 311
;
Homau
Asiatic Kesearches (1798), vol. v., p. 35"
ante, p. 42, note 6.
Clarke, Commeut;iry on the
Holy
Bihle, 1836 (Exodus).
Antiip).
;
Pliny,