ABBREVIATIONS.

A

Abbreviations are much more in use among French than among English or American Masons. An alphabetical list, however, of those principally employed, is appended for the benefit of such as may be engaged in the examination of masonic writings. It must be observed, that a masonic abbreviation is generally distinguished by three points in a triangular form (thus, ...) following the letter: various attempts have been made to explain the origin of these dots, but if they have any allusion at all, we presume it to be to the three lesser lights placed in a triangular form around the altar, or, as they were first introduced by our French brethren, they may refer to the situation of the three principal officers of the lodge in the French rite, where the Master sits in the east and the two Wardens in the west. Ragon says that the three points were first used on the 12th of August, 1774, by the Grand Orient of France in an address to its subordinates.

A.. Dep.. Anno Depositionis. In the year of the deposit. The date used by Royal and Select Masters..

A.. Inv.. Anno Inventionis. In the year of the discovery. The date used in Royal Arch Masonry.

A.. L.. Anno Lucis. In the year of light. The date used in Ancient Craft Masonry.

A... L... G·.· D.·. G... A.·. D.·. L.·. U... A la Gloire du Grand Architecte de l'Univers. To the glory of the Grand Architect of the Universe. The caption of all French Masonic

writings.

A.·. L'O... A l'Orient, or at the East. The seat of the lodge. (French.)

A.. M... Anno Mundi, or in the year of the world. The date used in the Ancient and Accepted or Scotch rite.

A..O... Anno Ordinis, or in the year of the Order. The date used by Knights Templars.

B.. A... Buisson Ardente, or Burning Bush. (French.)

B... B... Burning Bush. These two abbreviations are found in the caption of documents of the Ancient and Accepted rite. C... C... Celestial Canopy. Another abbreviation found in the same documents.

I... T... N... O... T... G... A.·. O... T.·. U... In the name of the Grand Architect of the Universe. Sometimes found at the head of English diplomas.

M.. M.. Mois Maçonnique, or masonic month. (French.) March is the first masonic month among French Masons.

R.... Rose Croix. The mark att hed to their signature, by those who are in possession of the degree of Prince of Rose Croix.

R..

R.. W.

Respectable loge, or Worshipful lodge. (French.)
Right Worshipful.

S... P... R... S...

Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret.

S... S... S... Trois fois salut, or thrice greeting. The caption

of French masonic writings.

T... G... A... O... T... U... The Grand Architect of the Uni

verse.

V... Vénérable, or Worshipful. (French.)

V.. L... Vraie lumière, or true light. (French.)

V.. W.. Very Worshipful.

W... M... Worshipful Master.

An oblong square is the sign adopted for the word "lodge."

. Two squares indicate the plural, or "lodges."

ABIF. A Hebrew word ', signifying "his father." The word ab, or father, was a title of honour "often used," says Adam Clarke, "in Hebrew, to signify a master, inventor, or chief operator." In this sense it is used in II Chronicles, ch. iv. v. 16, where it is said, "the pots also, and the shovels, and the flesh hooks, and all their instruments, did Huram his father, (Huram abif,) make to King Solomon." The Greek, Latin, French, and English versions, translate the Hebrew words literally as "Hiram his father," but Luther in his German version has preserved the spirit of the original by writing "mochte Huram Abif," looking upon this latter word as a title of honour bestowed by Solomon on his chief builder. See Hiram the Builder.

ABLUTION. A purification by water, whereby, in some of the higher degrees of masonry, the candidate is supposed, as in the religious systems of antiquity, to be cleansed from the taint of an inferior and less pure condition, so as to be prepared for initiation into a higher and purer degree. See Lustration

ABRAXAS. In the MS. found by Mr. Locke in the Bodleian library, the original of which is said to have been in the handwriting of King Henry VI., it is asserted that Masons conceal, among other secret arts in their possession, "the facultye of

Abrac." This is an evident allusion to the word Abraxas, which was the name applied by the arch-heretic Basilides to the Supreme Deity, from whom all other deities were emanations, being seven in number, with 365 virtues, which were typified by the numerical value in Greek of the word, as is shown below. It, like the incommunicable name of God among the Jews, was supposed to be possessed of magical virtues. Abraxas was also the name of small statues, on which were inscribed figures of the Egyptian gods, combined with Hebrew and Zoroasteric symbols, and characters in a variety of languages. According to Beausobre and Lardner, these stones were mostly of Egyptian origin. The deity Abraxas is said to be identical with Mithras or the sun. The letters of both names, taken according to their numerical value in the Greek language, amount exactly to 365, thus:

Saumaise says that it pronounced Abrasax.

is purely Egyptian, and should properly be Beausobre, in his History of Manicheism, enters into a long etymological disquisition to prove that it is derived from two Greek words Appos Zaw, and signifies "the magnificent Saviour, he who heals and preserves." Aẞpos is also an epithet of the sun, and hence we again come to the conclusion that Mithras and Abraxas are identical.

It was therefore typical of the annual course of the earth around the sun, constituting the solar year, and was a part of the sun worship of the first seceders from pure Freemasonry.

It is a singular coincidence, that Belenus, the deity of the Gauls, and who is supposed from his form and ornaments to be

identical with Mithras, was also equivalent, in the numerical value of the letters of his name in Greek, to 365, thus:—

ABSENCE. It is contrary to the principles of Freemasonry, to inflict pecuniary fines for non-attendance. The obligations and duties inculcated by the order are of such a nature, as to compel the attendance of its members who are without reasonable excuse. It would, therefore, be a descent in the grade of punishment, and manifestly tend to weaken the solemn nature of those obligations which every member and officer contracts, were the lodge to attempt the imposition of any trifling pecuniary penalty for inexcusable absence. The regular attendance of each brother, at his lodge, is strictly insisted on in the ancient charges, which prescribed as a rule, "that no Master or Fellow could be absent from the lodge, especially when warned to appear at it, without incurring a severe censure, until it appeared to the Master and Wardens that pure necessity hindered him." This regulation has been perpetuated by the modern constitutions.

ACACIA. The ancient name of a plant, most of whose species are evergreen, and six of which, at least, are natives of the East. The acacia of Freemasonry is the Mimosa Nilotica of Linnæus, a shrub which grew in great abundance in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. According to the Jewish law, no interments were permitted within the walls of the city, and as it was unlawful for the cohens or priests to pass over a grave, it became necessary to place marks wherever a dead body had been interred, to enable them to avoid it. For this purpose, the acacia was used. Much of the masonic history of the acacia is incommunicable, but it may be permitted to say, that its evergreen nature, united to other circumstances, is intended to remind us of the immortality of the soul. The Greek work azazia signifies "innocence or freedom from sin ;" and Hutchinson, who