Mysteries, and hence we will again develop the identity of their origin.

Each of the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry contains some of these
ritualistic symbols: the lessons of the whole order are, indeed, veiled in
their allegoric clothing; but it is only to the most important that I can
find opportunity to refer. Such, among others, are the rites of
discalceation, of investiture, of circumambulation, and of intrusting.
Each of these will furnish an appropriate subject for consideration.




XVIII.

The Rite of Discalceation.



The _rite of discalceation_, or uncovering the feet on approaching holy
ground, is derived from the Latin word _discalceare_, to pluck off one's
shoes. The usage has the prestige of antiquity and universality in its
favor.

That it not only very generally prevailed, but that its symbolic
signification was well understood in the days of Moses, we learn from that
passage of Exodus where the angel of the Lord, at the burning bush,
exclaims to the patriarch, "Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from
off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." [84]
Clarke[85] thinks it is from this command that the Eastern nations have
derived the custom of performing all their acts of religious worship with