of morality.

STONE OF FOUNDATION. A very important symbol in the masonic system. It is
like the _word_, the symbol of divine truth.

STONE WORSHIP. A very early form of fetichism. The Pelasgians are supposed
to have given to their statues of the gods the general form of cubical
stones, whence in Hellenic times came the Hermae, or images of Hermes.

SUBSTITUTE WORD. A symbol of the unsuccessful search after divine truth,
and the discovery in this life of only an approximation to it.

SUN, RISING. In the Sabian worship the rising sun was adored on its
resurrection from the apparent death of its evening setting. Hence, in the
ancient Mysteries, the rising sun was a symbol of the regeneration of the
soul.

SUN-WORSHIP. The most ancient of all superstitions. It prevailed
especially in Phoenicia, Chaldea. and Egypt, and traces of it have been
discovered in Peru and Mexico. Its influence was felt in the ancient
Mysteries, and abundant allusions to it are to be found in the symbolism
of Freemasonry.

SWEDENBORG. A Swedish philosopher, and the founder of a religious sect.
Clavel, Ragon, and some other writers have sought to make him the founder
of a masonic rite also, but without authority. In 1767 Chastanier
established the rite of Illuminated Theosophists, whose instructions are
derived from the writings of Swedenborg, but the sage himself had nothing
to do with it. Yet it cannot be denied that the mind of Swedenborg was
eminently symbolic in character, and that the masonic student may derive
many valuable ideas from portions of his numerous works, especially from
his "Celestial Arcana" and his "Apocalypse Revealed."

SYMBOL. A visible sign with which a spiritual feeling, emotion, or idea is
connected.--_Mueller_. Every natural thing which is made the sign or
representation of a moral idea is a symbol.

SYMBOL, COMPOUND. A species of symbol not unusual in Freemasonry, where
the symbol is to be taken in a double sense, meaning in its general
application one thing, and then in a special application another.

SYMBOLISM, SCIENCE OF. To what has been said in the text, may be added the
following apposite remarks of Squier: "In the absence of a written
language or forms of expression capable of conveying abstract ideas, we
can readily comprehend the necessity, among a primitive people, of a
symbolic system. That symbolism in a great degree resulted from this
necessity, is very obvious; and that, associated with man's primi