he full fruition of manhood,--the
reward is attained, and the purified and elevated intellect is invested
with the reward in the direction how to seek God and God's truth,--to
believe this is to believe and to know the true design of Speculative
Masonry, the only design which makes it worthy of a good or a wise man's
study.

Its historical details are barren, but its symbols and allegories are
fertile with instruction.

XXVII.

The Legend of the Third Degree.

The most important and significant of the legendary symbols of Freemasonry
is, undoubtedly, that which relates to the fate of Hiram Abif, commonly
called, "by way of excellence," the Legend of the Third Degree.

The first written record that I have been able to find of this legend is
contained in the second edition of Anderson's Constitutions, published in
1738, and is in these words:--

"It (the temple) was finished in the short space of seven years and six
months, to the amazement of all the world; when the cape-stone was
celebrated by the fraternity with great joy. But their joy was soon
interrupted by the sudden death of their dear master, Hiram Abif, whom
they decently interred, in the lodge near the temple, according to ancient
dusage." [157]

In the next edition of the same work, published in 1756, a few additional
circumstances are related, such as the participation of King Solomon in
the general grief, and the fact that the king of Israel "ordered his
obsequies to be conducted with great solemnity and decency." [158] With
these exceptions, and the citations of the same passages, made by
subsequent authors, the narrative has always remained unwritten, and
descended, from age to age, through the means of oral tradition.

The legend has been considered of so much importance that it has been
preserved in the symbolism of every masonic rite. No matter what
modifications or alterations the general system may have undergone,--no
matter how much the ingenuity or the imagination of the founders of rites
may have perverted or corrupted other symbols, abolishing the old and
substituting new ones,--the legend of the Temple Builder has ever been
left untouched, to present itself in all the integrity of its ancient
mythical form.

What, then, is the signification of this symbol, so important and so
extensively diffused? What interpretation can we give to it that will
account for its universal adoption? How is it that it has thus become so
intimate