THE TEMPLE

THE TEMPLE

Brethren, I need not ask but for the purpose of recollection, condescend to answer me;Which Temple is the most popular in the life of Freemasonry?
Right glad am I to find your answers correct. The King Solomon's Temple, of course has the greatest connection with Freemasons. It has great allusions to our teachings and it is quite dramatically rhapsodic to relate our ceremonies in the craft Freemasonry to its contruction.
It, therefore becomes more than necessary that we learned a little about this historic superstructure, which has continued to shape good men into better ones even after its collapse.

The Temple was built on a table of rock which apexed a hill in Jerusalem called Mount Moriah. This particular location,according to Hebrew tradition, was where Adam was created and his boys Cain and Abel sacrificed. It was on same hill that Noah built his altar at the hiatus of the flood, where Abraham offered a his son Isaac a sacrificial lamb to God and it was on same Mount Moriah, David erected his altar. The Mohammedans named it the centre of the world and gate to Heaven, for it was on this same hill that,Mohammed convinced his followers that he had made his famous ascent to Heaven.
Brethren, it cannot be by mere coincidence that KS, H of Tyre and HA chose this same location to erect the first Temple at Jerusalem. Freemasonry,like I have always said, has more than can be seen or heard in a lodge room. Only the seekers decipher the encrypted.

Few realize how high the temple towered in the history of the olden world and how the story of its building haunted the legends and traditions of timed following. Great writers such as Durandus and Bunyan,used it as a symbol of religious truth. Until proven otherwise about some 50yrs ago, many masonic writers of old,thought that our craft had been organized during the building of the Temple,even in detail,that our order has survived from then to now. Archaelogical research has proved that the Temple was built by phoenician Masons since some phoenician Marks were uncovered on the original foundation stones. Though history does not recognize the actual connection between the building of the Temple and our fraternity, we still don't have to minify the relevance of the Temple in our rituals and the dramatic nexus we have manufactured. For we stand as Masons, to all external appearances, just and upright Men, as was the Temple.
However, if we still will accept Vibert's contention that there existed no evidence of our possesion of the Temple until the eighteen century, we still have the question of how it entered our masonic system and why that time to answer. A masonic scholar, Brother Ryland said "no satisfactory reason has so far been offered why the Temple of Solomon and its builders have been selected to play an important part in one division of our legendary history"...well,what I say is, who cares.

Ever since Bro. Rylands wrote the above, Brother A.E Waite came up with a reason that I find befitting, holding that,many of the speculatives who were admitted in the 18th century were mostly Kabbalists in one degree or the other,therefore he believed that we may have borrowed the Temple symbolism from that source. A point I firmly second,because the Kabbalists owned the Temple symbolism some 400years before the 18th century and any inside out student of masonry will accept a basic fact that,symbolism in masonry was greatly influenced by Kabbalists, those guys were very influencial teachers. Be that as it may, we shall always retain the Temple symbolism,for nothing could better explain the ideal of craft masonry than the Temple - the building of a superstructure of morality in good men and the divine brotherhood among men on earth.
The temple was built of stones,wood and metals, which were collected from earth but well prepared,adjusted and joined to result in a solemn aesthetically beautiful house dedicated to the service of God. It has a likewise allusion to the development of self. We are also gathering materials which seem earthly or common, our flesh,appetites and passion. We so hope to also prepare,adjust and join in the holy communion of brotherly love, to build a house not made by hands, in which our human nature will be transfigured. As brothers to Solomon,we too have to build a Temple for God, but whereas the Jews would have Him dwell in Temples of stone, we would fain prepare for Him a Temple of Flesh. We hope that through the morphallaxis of men, the fraternity of men, The Great Architect would continue to cement and adorn us with every virtue that,when finally we are summoned fron this sublunary abode, we may ascend to the Grand Lodge Above, where the world's greatest Architect lives and reigns for ever.

By Bro. Oppong Clifford Benjamin
References : Symbolical Masonry by H.L. Haywood
The Great Teachings of Masonry by H.L Haywood
Speculative Masonry by A.S. MacBride
The Builders by Joseph Fort Newton
Symbolism of the Three Degrees by Oliver Day Street.

A LETTER TO A BROTHER ABOUT HIS DRESS CODE

Hello Sweet Brother Amagashie,

I was at Makola yesterday, I inquired the prices of different classes of suits, the most expensive was ghc1400 and some were as cheap as ghc55. You won't get angry to know that, almost all of them looked better than the one you wore to the last half yearly communication. ( Onua fakye me wai, truth is bitter too much).
This was not to sport your feelings, but for three especial reasons, one, to point your attention to your external appearance as a superstructure and not a summer hut. Two, to remind you of the nobility and honour this fraternity has earned, by the good of its members in all forms of presentation, of which, included, our wardrobe.

At large masonic meetings like the recent half yearly communication in Takoradi, Brethren invite their ladies, some even come with their crop of families, others of a more sociable nature, come with their friends, whom they would want to arrest their interest in the fraternity. It therefore necessarily follows that, we appeared noble men in all corners of our superstructure. King Solomon was a fashionable man, why then would you think the women fell practically at his feet?, Come to think of how well he adorned the first temple at Jerusalem. The network, lily work and one hundred pomegranates on each of the chapiters on the pillar. The pillars were not built of aluminium but brass, and he didn't place them within the structure but right at the porchway or entrance, My Brother, you should by now know that, our Solomon, King of Israel, from whom we derive so much precepts, was a man who loved to prove himself a beautiful man, handsome was just inappropriate a word for him. Such, my brother, ought to designate our sense of fashion too, until time or circumstances, this time, makes us better.
And please don't tell me you dressed to match your age, do you know how old the District Grand Master and His officers are?, yet they appeared so sweet that, I could count some winks and smiles flying their direction from..... ( y3ntwa so).

It has truly been said that Masonry does not give you money and no material benefits, well, that is something I don't believe personally,(a letter of another unknown day) but, masonry certainly doesn't make a man poor or grotty in his dressing. I am not suggesting we dressed so heavily that our guests would think of us billionaires, NO, I mean, we dress so elegantly that, they will think of us, a group of baronial guys, that when they finally find our connetion with King Solomon, they will exclaim "OOoOH I thought as much".

First sight impression is the most important perception we sell of ourselves, I need not here dilate on its importance, as it has often been felt and practised by men of the elite class. Like its sister, speech, it has the ability to make the other like or hate you. The power to influence the perceptual sight of the uninitiated at our meetings, lies in the neatness of your suit, your ironed pair of trousers, your well shaved hair, the gentility in your steps, the perfume that diffuses it frangrance in the hall, your well polished black pair of shoes, and most importantly, the little words and smiles that emanate from your mouth and face respectively, please cook all your thoughts in your middle chamber, taste them before you serve the other, so that, when it is heard of you, it can be said to be a speech from a Freemason - a society of highly moralized men.

Brother Amagashie, you thought I had forgotten, I reserved it for last because, for this one only your brothers see it, it is your supposed white gloves. I nearly prompted you at Takoradi, to wear your gloves, until I came closer. Your gloves is of a colour that blends your skin now. Well done. Much said and tiring, you can visit Makola or any boutique for a new set of suit and shame me in our next meeting. I still love one thing about you though, your pair of socks. However, the last time I saw your wife hanged them on the drying line, they were losing their dignity, you may consider replacing those guys too at yout feet.

I am off to the District office for a new apron, do you care for anything, my one and only sweetest Brother Amagashie.

Fraternally Yours
Bro. Oppong Clifford Benjamin
Excelsior Lodge No. 7670 EC.

‪#‎Cliffmasonicletters‬ are open-thought letters not addressed to any Brother or person in particular, but to mention out some disturbing issues in Freemasonry Ghana.

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