Page:Manual of the Lodge.pdf/100

Rh The orientation of Lodges, or their position due east and west, is derived from the universal custom of antiquity. "The heathen temples," says, "were so constructed that their length was directed toward the east, and the entrance was by a portico at the western front, where the altar stood, so that the votaries approaching for the performance of religious rites, directed their faces toward the east, the quarter of sunrise." The primitive reason of this custom undoubtedly is to be found in the early prevalence of sun-worship, and hence the spot where that luminary first made his appearance in the heavens was consecrated, in the minds of his worshipers, as a place entitled to peculiar reverence. Long after the reason had ceased, the custom continued to be observed, and Christian churches still are built, when circumstances will permit, with particular reference to an east-and-west position. Freemasonry, retaining in its symbolism the typical reference of the Lodge to the world, and constantly alluding to the sun in his apparent diurnal revolution, imperatively requires, when it can be done, that the Lodge should be situated due east and west, so that every ceremony shall remind the Mason of the progress of that luminary.

Our ancient brethren dedicated their Lodges to King Solomon, because he was our first Most Excellent Grand Master; but modern Masons dedicate theirs to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, who were two eminent patrons of Masonry; and since their time, there is represented, in every regular and well-covered Lodge, a certain point within a circle, embordered by two perpendicular parallel lines, representing St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist; and upon the top rests the Holy Scriptures. The point represents an individual brother; the circle is the boundary line, beyond which he is never to suffer his prejudices or passions to betray him. In going round this circle, we