on man;
but on the contrary, we elevate it in our thought to the height of a
religious act, which is the most acceptable to God because it is the most
useful to man and to society.

"We decorate ourselves with the emblems of labor to affirm that our
doctrine is an incessant protest against the stigma branded on the law of
labor, and which an error of apprehension, proceeding from the ignorance
of men in primitive times has erected into a dogma; an error that has
resulted in the production of this anti-social phenomenon which we meet
with every day; namely, that the degradation of the workman is the greater
as his labor is more severe, and the elevation of the idler is higher as
his idleness is more complete. But the study of the laws which maintain
order in nature, released from the fetters of preconceived ideas, has led
the Freemasons to that doctrine, far more moral than the contrary belief,
that labor is not an expiation, but a law of harmony, from the subjection
to which man cannot be released without impairing his own happiness, and
deranging the order of creation. The design of Freemasons is, then, the
rehabilitation of labor, which is indicated by the apron which we wear,
and the gavel, the trowel, and the level, which are found among our
symbols."

Hence the doctrine of this work is, that Freemasonry teaches not only the
necessity, but the nobility, of labor.

And that labor is the proper worship due by man to God.

LADDER. A symbol of progressive advancement from a lower to a higher
sphere, which is common to Masonry, and to many, if not all, of the
ancient Mysteries.

LADDER, BRAHMINICAL. The symbolic ladder used in the Mysteries of Brahma.
It had seven steps, symbolic of the seven worlds of the Indian universe.

LADDER, MITHRAITIC. The symbolic ladder used in the Persian Mysteries of
Mithras. It had seven steps, symbolic of the seven planets and the seven
metals.

LADDER, SCANDINAVIAN. The symbolic ladder used in the Gothic Mysteries.
Dr. Oliver refers it to the Yggrasil, or sacred ash tree. But the
symbolism is either very abstruse or very doubtful.

LADDER, THEOLOGICAL. The symbolic ladder of the masonic Mysteries. It
refers to the ladder seen by Jacob in his vision, and consists, like all
symbolical ladders, of seven rounds, alluding to the four cardinal and the
three theological virtues.

LAMB. A symbol of innocence. A very ancient symbol.

LAMB, PASCHAL. See _Paschal Lamb_.

LAMBSKIN APRON.