General Discussion

I found this paper on Solomon today and thought I'd post it here for those interested. It's a catechism of a 18th century Masonic dialogue with comments about its symbolism and meaning.

One noteworthy bit:

The two Saint Johns appear in several places in the manuscript. Their use in our rituals has been questioned for many years. Looked at together, it is said that Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist serve to represent the balance in Masonry between zeal for the fraternity and learned equilibrium. The Saints are in perfect parallel harmony, representing that balance. From an historical point of view, Saint John’s Festival is said to be a widely celebrated Masonic holiday in some parts of the world. Traditionally June 24 (or the summer solstice) is taken to be Saint John the Baptist’s day, and is celebrated in many countries around the world. According to ‘McCoy’s Masonic Dictionary’ every Mason has a duty to join in the celebrations on this day, to renew and strengthen fraternal ties.

I've been seeing a few reference to the Saints John, in particular related to the point within a circle and the Saints as the two parallel lines instead of Solomon and Moses. Interpret this way, the phrase "while a Freemason keeps himself thus circumscribed, he cannot materially err." make a lot more sense (to me anyway). Odd that they'd replace the meaning of the parallel lines with Solomon and Moses, as Moses also has a Christian connotation. (Bring back the Saints! 🙂)