XIV.

The Officers of a Lodge.



The Three Principal Officers of a lodge are, it is needless to say,
situated in the east, the west, and the south. Now, bearing in mind that
the lodge is a symbol of the world, or the universe, the reference of
these three officers to the sun at its rising, its setting, and its
meridian height, must at once suggest itself.

This is the first development of the symbol, and a very brief inquiry will
furnish ample evidence of its antiquity and its universality.

In the Brahminical initiations of Hindostan, which are among the earliest
that have been transmitted to us, and may almost be considered as the
cradle of all the others of subsequent ages and various countries, the
ceremonies were performed in vast caverns, the remains of some of which,
at Salsette, Elephanta, and a few other places, will give the spectator
but a very inadequate idea of the extent and splendor of these ancient
Indian lodges.[70] More imperfect remains than these are still to be found
in great numbers throughout Hindostan and Cashmere. Their form was
sometimes that of a cross, emblematic of the four elements of which the
earth is composed,--fire, water, air, and earth,--but more generally an
oval, as a representation of the mundane egg, which, in the ancient
systems, was a symbol of the world.[71]