206 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
206 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XIII January, 1935 No.1
|
||
|
||
AHIMAN REZON
|
||
|
||
by: Unknown
|
||
|
||
These strange words were first used Masonically by Laurence Dermott
|
||
(1720-1721) as a title of the Book of Constitutions, printed in 1756,
|
||
used by the Ancient Grand Lodge in London.
|
||
The Title Page of this Ancient Tome is as follows:
|
||
|
||
AHIMAN REZON
|
||
or,
|
||
A Help To A Brother
|
||
|
||
Showing the excellency of secrecy, the principles of the craft And
|
||
the Benefits arising from a strict Observance thereof.
|
||
|
||
What sort of Men ought to be initiated into the Mystery, and what
|
||
sort of Masons are fit to govern lo with their Brethren in and out of
|
||
the Lodge. Likewise the prayers unfed in the Jewish and Christian
|
||
Lodges, the Ancient Manner of Constituting new Lodges, with all the
|
||
Charges, Etc.
|
||
|
||
Also the old and new Regulations. The Manner of Chufing and
|
||
Installing Grand-Master and Officers, and other useful Particulars
|
||
too numerous here to mention. To which is added, The Greatest
|
||
Collection of Masons Songs ever presented to public view, with many
|
||
entertaining Prologues and Epilogues.
|
||
Together with, Solomon’s Temple and Oratorio as it was performed for
|
||
the benefit of Freemasons by Brother Laurence Dermott, Sec.
|
||
|
||
According to “The Builders,” at one time or another, eight American
|
||
Grand Jurisdictions have used the words as a title to their Books of
|
||
Law; Georgia, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South
|
||
Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
|
||
Two still retain the old title; Pennsylvania and South Carolina.
|
||
Georgia now has “Masonic Manual and Code;” Maryland, “Constitutions,
|
||
By-Laws and Standing Orders;” New York, “Book of Constitutions;”
|
||
North Carolina, “Code,” also named “Constitution and Regulations;”
|
||
Tennessee, “Masonic Code;” and Virginia, the “Text Book,” commonly
|
||
referred to as the “Methodical Digest.”
|
||
Pennsylvania’s Ahiman Rezon contains the following:
|
||
|
||
SECTION XII - HISTORICAL NOTES - AHIMAN REZON.
|
||
|
||
The first Masonic book published in America was printed in
|
||
Philadelphia by Brother Benjamin Franklin in 1734. It was a reprint
|
||
of what is known as “Anderson’s Constitutions,” which was published
|
||
in 1723 under the authority of the Grand Lodge of England, and
|
||
entitled: “The Constitutions of the Freemasons. Containing the
|
||
History, Charges, Regulations, &c., of the Most ancient and Right
|
||
Worshipful Fraternity. For the use of the Lodges,” and was compiled
|
||
by Brother James Anderson, D.D. This reprint is now very scarce. A
|
||
copy of it is in the Library of the Grand Lodge.
|
||
The “Ahiman Rezon; A Help to a Brother,” was prepared in 1756 by
|
||
Brother James Dermott, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of England
|
||
According To The Old Institutions,” once called the “Ancients.”
|
||
This corresponded to the Book of Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of
|
||
England, once called the “Moderns.”
|
||
The first Book of Masonic law published by the Grand Lodge of
|
||
Pennsylvania was entitled: “Ahiman Rezon abridged and digested” as
|
||
a help to all that are or would be Free and Accepted Masons.” It was
|
||
prepared by the Grand Secretary, Rev. Brother William Smith, D.D.,
|
||
Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, and was almost entirely a
|
||
reprint of Dermott’s work; it was approved by the Grand Lodge
|
||
November 22, 1781, published in 1783, and dedicated to Brother George
|
||
Washington.
|
||
It is reprinted in the introduction to the first or edited reprint of
|
||
the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, 1730-1808. (See
|
||
the Library, p 201.)
|
||
On April 18, 1825, a revision of the Ahiman Rezon was adopted, being
|
||
taken largely from “Anderson’s Constitutions.”
|
||
Another revision was adopted June 15, 1857, which was followed by the
|
||
revisions adopted June 15, 1867, December 5, 1877, December 6, 1893,
|
||
December 4, 1895 and December 1, 1915. The revision of 1825 contains
|
||
the following as the definition of the words Ahiman Rezon:
|
||
“The Book of Constitutions is usually denominated Ahiman Rezon. The
|
||
literal translation of “Ahmian” is a “Prepared Brother’,” from
|
||
“Manah” to “Prepare,” and “Rezon”, “Secret;” so that “Ahiman Rezon”
|
||
literally means, the secrets of a Prepared Brother. It is likewise
|
||
supposed to be a corruption of “Achi man Ratzon,” the thoughts and
|
||
opinions of a true and faithful Brother.”
|
||
As the Ahiman Rezon is not a secret. but a published book, and the
|
||
above definition has been omitted from subsequent revisions of the
|
||
book, the words were submitted to Hebrew scholars for translation
|
||
upon the assumption that they are of Hebrew origin. The words,
|
||
however, are not Hebrew.
|
||
Subsequent inquiry leads to the belief that they come from the
|
||
Spanish, and are thus interpreted: “Ahi” (which is pronounced
|
||
“Ahee”), is demonstrative and means “there,” as if pointing to a
|
||
thing or place; “Man” may be considered a form of “Monta,” which
|
||
means the “Account, amount, sum total,” or “Fullness;” while “Razon”
|
||
(or Rezon) means “Reason, Principle,” or “Justice,” the word justice
|
||
being used in the sense of law. If, therefore, we ascribe the words
|
||
“Ahiman Rezon” to Spanish origin, their meaning is - “There is the
|
||
full account of the law.”
|
||
South Carolina’s Ahiman Rezon, under “Masonic Definitions,” states:
|
||
“The Book of Constitution of the Grand Lodge of South Carolina is
|
||
also called the Ahiman Rezon. The title is derived from three Hebrew
|
||
words, “ahim,” brothers; “manah,” to appoint or select; and “ratzon,”
|
||
the will or law; and it consequently literally signifies “the law of
|
||
appointed or selected brothers.” It contains the rules and
|
||
regulations of the Order, the details of all public ceremonies to be
|
||
used on various occasions, such as consecrations, installations,
|
||
funerals, etc., and is, in fact, a summary of all the fundamental
|
||
principles of Freemasonry. To this book reference is made in all
|
||
cases where the by-laws of the Grand Lodge are silent or not
|
||
sufficiently explicit. In all public processions, the Ahiman Rezon,
|
||
or Book of Constitutions, should be carried before the Grand Master
|
||
by the Master of the oldest Lodge present.
|
||
Considerable controversy has taken place over the meaning of the
|
||
words, and many and ingenious have been the explanations offered by
|
||
various students.
|
||
Mackey, who erred so seldom that his monumental Encyclopedia of
|
||
Freemasonry, albeit enlarged and revised, is still a foundation stone
|
||
for most structures of Masonic lore; interpreted them to mean “the
|
||
will of selected brethren.” Dr. Fredrick Dalcho, learned Masonic
|
||
authority of early years, believed that a better translation of the
|
||
Hebrew was “the secrets of a prepared brother.”
|
||
For the benefit of those who are not familiar with the structure of
|
||
Hebrew, it may be stated that many words in that ancient tongue are
|
||
susceptible of many interpretations; indeed, many words in English
|
||
have different meanings, according to context. “Case,” for instance,
|
||
may be an action-at-law, a container, and illness or an injury.
|
||
Other words pronounced alike but spelled differently have divergent
|
||
meanings, as t-w-o, and t-o-o, or i-n and i-n-n. Written Hebrew is
|
||
often without vowels (instance JHVH, usually written Jehovah in
|
||
English) so the difference in translation of these two able Masonic
|
||
scholars is not particularly strange.
|
||
Later authorities, however, believe that both were mistaken and that
|
||
the real meaning of Ahiman Rezon is “faithful brother Secretary,” for
|
||
technical reasons which have been well set forth by noted Hebrew
|
||
scholars, including Brother the Reverend Morris Rosenbaum, a quarter
|
||
of a century ago, in the Transactions of Quatuor Coronati (the great
|
||
research Lodge in London).
|
||
According to the theory of the more modern translation, Dermott chose
|
||
the word “Ahiman” because, as a Hebrew proper name, it was translated
|
||
in the Geneva or “Breeches” Bible as “a brother of the right hand.”
|
||
It is interesting to note that Young’s Concordance of the Bible (1924
|
||
revision) translates Ahiman, which occurs four times in the King
|
||
James version, as meaning “brother of man.” Numbers, Joshua and
|
||
Judges refer to Ahiman, a son of Anak, who dwelt in Hebron, and First
|
||
Chronicles to Ahiman, a Hebrew porter in the Temple.
|
||
Dermott, however, must have used the Geneva Bible; all the texts in
|
||
his book, quoted in his address “To the reader,” are verbatim
|
||
excerpts from this work. In that “Breeches” Bible is the familiar
|
||
“Table of Names and their Interpretations familiar in many editions
|
||
of the Scriptures. Here Dermott must have found this “brother of the
|
||
right hand” which he evidently took to indicate brother of fidelity,
|
||
a faithful brother. However incorrect this translation may be -
|
||
apparently it comes from the Hebrew “ah,” brother, and “yamin,” right
|
||
hand - it was the translation to which Dermott had access. In the
|
||
same Bible “Rezon” in translated “a secretarie or leane.”
|
||
In the dedication of his second edition of the Ahiman Rezon, Dermott
|
||
wrote: I hope you will do me the honor of calling me a faithful
|
||
brother.”
|
||
Dermott had a smattering of Hebrew, but he fell into the common error
|
||
of those whose knowledge runs not very deep; he lacked perspective
|
||
and any feeling for the relativity of facts about the difficult
|
||
tongue. Moderns find the same attitude of mind among the unschooled;
|
||
an ignorant man denies that the earth is a ball, because it “looks”
|
||
flat, but has no difficulty in believing in ghosts and banshees; he
|
||
can “understand” how “speech travels through a telephone wire” but
|
||
cannot comprehend the verity of the geological doctrine that the
|
||
earth is many, many times six thousand years old. Similarly, Dermott
|
||
could go to a Bible for his Hebrew words and their meanings, and not
|
||
comprehend that a Hebrew scholar might make a mistake.
|
||
It is curious to find the pseudo-science of numerology called upon to
|
||
explain Dermott’s choice of a name for his Book of Constitutions,
|
||
which was, so oddly, to persist long after its contents was
|
||
superseded by more modern text. Yet the evidence is plain; one need
|
||
not credit that belief which ascribes magical powers of prophecy to
|
||
the numerical value of the letters in a name to see the point.
|
||
An ancient Jewish writer chose as a title of his work, words the
|
||
numerical value of the letters of which would equal or nearly
|
||
approximate the numerical value of the letters of his name, thus
|
||
cryptographically offering evidence that he did, indeed, have the
|
||
right to claim its authorship . . .a custom at least as old as 1200
|
||
A.D.
|
||
In all probability Dermott knew this; without such knowledge, it is
|
||
difficult on any theories of probability to account for the fact that
|
||
the numerical value of the letters in Ahiman Rezon is 372, while
|
||
those in Laurence total 371. The difference of one is not actually a
|
||
discrepancy, because Gematria, or numerical cryptography, regards a
|
||
difference of but one as an equality, and even gives such a factor a
|
||
name.
|
||
It may well be that this old Jewish custom was set forth for Dermott
|
||
by a Jew, who would naturally demonstrate it only with a given name,
|
||
not a surname; this may be why Dermott chose words which
|
||
cryptographically equal “Laurence” and not “Laurence Dermott.”
|
||
Whatever the real meaning of Ahiman Rezon - whether it be Hebrew,
|
||
properly translated “faithful brother secretary,” or “the will of
|
||
selected brethren,” or “the secrets of a prepared brother,” or
|
||
Spanish in origin, properly understood “There is a full account of
|
||
the law” as Pennsylvania sets forth - the name for many years caught
|
||
the imagination of Masons. Only lately has it fallen from its former
|
||
high estate. Two old and greatly respected American Jurisdictions
|
||
still find it all sufficient as the title of their official books of
|
||
the law. It is to be noted, however, that but little of Laurence
|
||
Dermott remains in either Pennsylvania’s or South Carolina’s volume;
|
||
only the name there persists as a reminder of the Antient: influence
|
||
in both these Grand Lodges.
|
||
|
||
|