FORM OF THE LODGE. The form of a Masonic Lodge is said to be a parallelogram or 3quare—its greatest length being from East to West—its breadth from Ninth to South. A square, a circle, a triangle, or any other form but that of an oblong, square, would be eminently incorrect and unmasonie, because such a figure would not be an expression of the symbolic idea which is intended to be conveyed. At the Solomonic era—the era of the building of the Temple at Jerusalem—the world, it must be remembered, was sup posed to have that very oblong form, which has been here symbolized. If, for instance, on a map of the world, we should inscribe au oblong figure whose boundary lines would circumscribe and include just that portion which was known and inhabited in the days of Solomon, these lines running a short distance -North and South of the Mediterranean sea, and extending from Spain in the West to Asia Minor in the East, would form an oblong square, including the southern shore of Europe, the northern shore of Africa, and the western district of Asia, the length of the parallelogram being about sixty degrees from East to West, and its breadth being about twenty degrees from North to South. This
oblong square, thus inclosing the whole of what was then supposed to be the habitable globe, would precisely represent what is symbolically said to be the form of the Lodge, while the Pillars of Hercules in the West, on each side of the straits of Gades or Gibraltar, might appropriately be referred to the two pillars that stood at the porch of the Temple.
A Masonic Lodge is, therefore, a symbol of the world This symbol is sometimes, by a very usual figure of speech, extended, in its application, and the world and the universe are made synonymous, when the Lodge becomes, of course, a symbol of the universe. But in this case the definition of the symbol is extended, and to the ideas of length and breadth are added those of bight and depth, and the Lodge is said to assume the form of a double cube.* The solid contents of the earth below and the expanse of the heavens above will then give the outlines of the cube, and the whole created universe be included within the symbolic limits of a Mason's Lodge.-11AcKEr.