Numa was the first who erected an altar to Fides, under which name the goddess of oaths and honesty was worshiped. Obligations taken in her name were considered as more inviolable than any others.[1]
THE BADGE OF A MASON.
The lamb has in all ages been deemed an emblem of innocence; by the lambskin, the Mason is therefore reminded of that purity of life and conduct which is so essentially necessary to his gaining admission into the celestial Lodge above, where the Supreme Architect of the Universe presides.
THE FIRST INSTRUCTIONS.
The candidate receives those first instructions whereon to erect his future moral and Masonic edifice in a particular part of the Lodge, because as on the night of his initiation he commences the great task, which is never in his future Masonic life to be discontinued, of erecting in his heart a spiritual temple for the indwelling of God, of which the great material Temple at Jerusalem was but the symbol; and as each new duty which he learns, and each new virtue that he practices, becomes a living stone in that temple, it is proper that, respecting the whole system of symbolism, he should begin the labor of erecting a spiritual temple just as the operative mason would commence the construction of his material temple, by first laying the corner stone on which the future edifice is to arise. His first instructions constitute that corner-stone, and on it, when laid in its proper place, he constructs the moral and Masonic temple of his life.
THE LESSON OF CHARITY.
Although Freemasonry is indebted for its origin to its religious and philosophic character, yet charity, in the ordinary
- ↑ Montfaucon mentions several medals in which Fides was represented by two hands joined together, which, he says, "was the most usual symbol."
