LECTURE XLVIII.

THE TRIPLE TAU.

"A good Lodge may be known by its ornaments. In most Lodges all sorts of decorations are heaped together without the slightest attention to propriety. There should be no picture, statue, or emblem of heathen deities; nor any bust or picture of heathen philosophers. The proper images or emblems are to be taken from the Bible, which alone contains the authentic records of ancient Masonry. The decorations should be Masonic emblems, intersecting triangles, the Triple Tau, square and compasses, death's head, &c.; and these, if properly managed, can be made highly ornamental."-HELVETIAN CEREMONIES.

"The Triple Tau forms two right angles on each of the exterior lines, and another at the centre, by their union, for the three angles of each triangle are equal to two right angles. This being triplified illustrates the jewel worn by the Companions of the Royal Arch; which by its intersection forms a given number of angles, that may be taken in five several combinations, and reduced, their amount in right angles will be found equal to the five Platonic bodies which represent the four elements and the sphere of the universe.”—R. A. LECTURes.

THE signs or marks of our sublime science are generally explained on a principle which is evident and satisfactory, and not liable to misapprehension, although Freemasonry is a secret society. Whether these symbols have been constructed from instruments of manual labour, from geometrical figures, from the works of nature, or the sublime vaults of heaven, there can be no doubt in the mind of the well-instructed Mason respecting their general reference and application.2 The design of their adoption was to embody valuable moral and religious truths, that the view of a sensible object might raise before the contemplative Brother's mental eye some intellectual maxim, by which he might become wiser and better. This is a noble design. It allures to the pursuit of virtue, and inspires a love for investigations whose aim and end are the perfection of our mental faculties. And thus science is applied to the practice of moral virtue and religious duty.

There is much difficulty in treating perspicuously on the subject of this lecture, because the materials are scanty and much depends on tradition. We have no lack of evidences respecting the use of the single cross, which has been traced through the tau of Jews and heathens, to the rod of Moses, and the staff of Jacob; but the use and signification of the triple tau are involved in mystery. The letter tau is translated from the Chaldaic Hebrew, to signify the MARK spoken of by the angel which Ezekiel saw in the spirit,5 when the man with a writer's inkhorn was recommended to go through the cities of Jerusalem, and set the mark of God' on those who sigh and cry for the abominations that are in the midst thereof. The words are, "I will put the mark tau upon their foreheads." ""9 Tertullian says, this tau was in the form of our cross,10 and was intented to be the herald of life and salvation in the true Jerusalem. Origen was of the same opinion." And by this mark they were preserved when, by the wrathful displeasure of Jehovah, the idolatrous people were slain.12 And hence the has been presumed to be a Jewish symbol.13

In ancient times this mark T was set on those who had been acquitted by their judges, as a symbol of innocence. The military commanders placed it on soldiers who escaped unhurt from the field of battle, as a sign of their safety under the divine protection. For these causes it has been designated as an emblem of LIFE. In our own island it was venerated in connexion with the oak, which was a tree sacred amongst all nations, and considered as peculiarly sanctified by the gods,1 if not their immediate residence.15 As a badge of innocence it was reputed to have been transmitted by the antediluvian patriarchs. With this reference it occurs amongst the hieroglyphics of India,16 was accounted sacred amongst the Celtic Druids," and by the Greeks was esteemed a prodigy (@avua).18 In Rome the statue of Osiris had this emblem, which was a cross with two limbs, the transverse ones placed at the top, and shorter than the upright pillar.19 The goddess Isis or Ceres, the great patroness of the spurious Freemasonry, was frequently depicted bearing this extraordinary instrument; and the caverns of initiation, in various parts of the world, were constructed in the form of a cross, with a pyramid, or some other

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sacred building placed over the sacellum." The original caduceus of Mercury2 was cruciform, to symbolize, as was supposed, the four elements. The most ancient astronomical characters used to designate the planets and the days of the week, were also of the same form, or in other words, were composed of a cross united with a circle,25 to represent the sun and moon; the latter, as the two parents of the universe, producing the cross as an emblem of life.26 In like manner the cross was used in forming the chemical characters" before the time of Christ; and in heraldic devices afterwards. It is worthy of observation, and displays the workings of an over-ruling Providence, that the Jews and Romans should have condemned Jesus to die by the very instrument,30 which in all nations was esteemed the symbol of eternal life. And hence it appears that this emblem T, amongst Christians, was not altogether primitive. But it is by no means clear that the early converts were acquainted with its specific use amongst their heathen neighbours.32 Although in Egypt the statues of the various deities were distinguished by it; and the same figure was sculptured on gems, to signify vitam eternam. And when the temple of Serapis, at Alexandria, was destroyed by the command of Theodosius, sundry crosses cut in stones were found in the vaults; which, as we are informed by Socrates, occasioned many of the people to become Christians.39 The sign of the cross amongst the Egyptians signified life," and was the mark by which the Cabalists" expressed the number ten,42 which was a perfect number, denoting heaven, and the Pythagorean Tetractys, or incommunicable name of God.43 Hence crosses were abundantly used in the composition of charms by Christians," after they became acquainted with this peculiarity, as the name was used by the Jews.46

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The emblem forms the principal distinction of a Royal Arch Mason's apron and jewel. Being placed in the centre of a triangle and circle, both emblems of the Deity, it would appear that it was originally intended to typify the sacred name, as the author probably of eternal life; being tripled in the Christian system, because the life to come, according to the light of revelation, is superior to the elysium of the heathen; or perhaps in allusion to the three heavens mentioned by St. Paul. It has been

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referred to the Three Great Lights of Masonry, expres. sive of the creative, preserving, and destroying power God. Some interpret it as being allusive to the temple at Jerusalem; 51 others as the monogram of Hiram, King of Tyre; and some assert that it was only a modification of the Hebrew letter schin ; while there are those who hold it to have no further signification than to the triplification of the heathen tau cross; which being known to the Israelites in their wanderings, was a Jewish symbol in existence before the temple of Solomon was erected.52 It is said to be found in the Isiac table 53 and hence has been taken by some for a nilometre,54 or key of the Nile,55 to measure the increase and decrease of its fructifying

waters.57

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It is extremely doubtful whether the triple tau was known to the Jews 58 and I think it much better adapted to Christian Freemasonry, partaking of the typical nature and application of all other parts of the Jewish mode of worship; for although the single tau is found, as we have already seen, amongst the sacred symbols of many ancient nations, we have no certain evidence that the compound figure existed as a single symbol, till after the crucifixion of Christ. And though there are amongst the fraternity many theoretic opinions respecting its construction, it is almost universally interpreted as a Christian symbol. I am inclined to think that it was adopted in some very early age of the church,62 as an hierogram to represent the great I AM, by whom the gloomy and shapeless masses of chaos were changed into order, regularity, and beauty; and probably used as the sign or mark of some eminent ecclesiastical architect.6 and hence perpetuated in the system of Freemasonry as a Master's mark. It is thus represented on the coins of the Greek empire under the Constantines.6

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Now I am at a loss to apprehend how it could have happened that the Christian symbol should have been preserved and perpetuated in the spurious Freemasonry; and with the selfsame reference, viz., Innocence and Eternal Life, if it had not been impressed on the darkened minds of the heathen by the divine wisdom, for the purpose of preparing them for the easy reception of the reality when it actually appeared. And the device was eminently successful; for after the establishment of Christianity,

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