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MANUAL OF THE LODGE.
A Lodge is situated due east and west, because when Moses crossed the Red Sea, being pursued by Pharaoh and his host, he erected on the other side, by divine command, a tabernacle,[1] which he placed due east and west, to receive the first rays of the rising sun, and to commemorate that mighty east wind by which their miraculous deliverance was effected. This tabernacle was an exact pattern of King Solomon's Temple, of which every Lodge is a representation, and it is, or ought, therefore, to be placed due east and west.
- ↑ Dr. Oliver assigns the following reasons why the tabernacle is considered as the type of a Mason's Lodge; "It was an oblong square, and, with its courts and appendages, it represented the whole habitable globe. Such is also the extent of our Lodges. The former was supported by pillars, and the latter is also sustained by those of Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty. They were equally situated due east and west. The sacred roll of Gods revealed will and law was deposited in the Ark of the Covenant; the same holy record is placed in a conspicuous part of our Lodges. The altar of incense was a double cube, and so is our pedestal and stone of foundation. The covering of the tabernacle was composed of three colors, as a representation of the celestial hemisphere; such, also, is the covering of a Mason's Lodge. The floor of the tabernacle was so holy, that the priests were forbidden to to tread upon it without taking off their shoes; the floor of the Lodge is holy ground."
