e ancients, modified, however, in its
details, by our better knowledge of divine things, has supplied
Freemasonry with a double symbolism--that of _Light_ and _Darkness_.

Darkness is the symbol of initiation. It is intended to remind the
candidate of his ignorance, which Masonry is to enlighten; of his evil
nature, which Masonry is to purify; of the world, in whose obscurity he
has been wandering, and from which Masonry is to rescue him.

Light, on the other hand, is the symbol of the autopsy, the sight of the
mysteries, the intrusting, the full fruition of masonic truth and
knowledge.

Initiation precedes the communication of knowledge in Masonry, as darkness
preceded light in the old cosmogonies. Thus, in Genesis, we see that in
the beginning "the world was without form, and void, and darkness was on
the face of the deep." The Chaldean cosmogony taught that in the beginning
"all was darkness and water." The Phoenicians supposed that "the beginning
of all things was a wind of black air, and a chaos dark as Erebus." [104]

But out of all this darkness sprang forth light, at the divine command,
and the sublime phrase, "Let there be light," is repeated, in some
substantially identical form, in all the ancient histories of creation.

So, too, out of the mysterious darkness of Masonry comes the full blaze of
masonic light. One must precede the other, as the evening preceded the
morning. "So the evening and the morning were the first day."

This thought is preserved in the great motto of the Order, "_Lux e
tenebris_"--Light out of darkness. It is equivalent to this other
sentence: Truth out of initiation. _Lux_, or light, is truth; _tenebrae_,
or darkness, is initiation.

It is a beautiful and instructive portion of our symbolism, this
connection of darkness and light, and well deserves a further
investigation.

"Genesis and the cosmogonies," says Portal, "mention the antagonism of
light and darkness. The form of this fable varies according to each
nation, but the foundation is everywhere the same. Under the symbol of the
creation of the world it presents the picture of regeneration and
initiation." [105]

Plutarch says that to die is to be initiated into the greater Mysteries;
and the Greek word [Greek: teleuta~|n], which signifies _to die_, means
also _to be initiated_. But black, which is the symbolic color of
darkness, is also the symbol of death. And hence, again, darkness, like
death, is the symbol of initia