U.
D.
Letters placed
after the names of Lodges or Chapters which have not yet received a Warrant or
of Constitution. They signify Under Dispensation. In the United
States when a Lodge is started it is known as being Under Dispensation and
after a certain time has elapsed and the members are found worthy they receive
a regular Charter.
Unfavorable Report
Q. When the committee on the investigation
of a candidate makes an unfavorable report what is the usual procedure?
A. In some Lodges a vote is taken anyway;
but the more sensible course and that which is followed in many jurisdictions
is to consider the candidate rejected.
Uniface
Having a
design on only the obverse side of a coin, badge or medallion. The
reverse side is blank.
Uniformity of Work
It is claimed
by Freemasonry that from time immemorial the forms for opening and closing the
Lodge, and the Rites and Ceremonies of the degrees have been unaltered, that
they are uniformly identical today throughout Masonry, and any alterations or
changes would be a violation of the solemn oaths of the Order. The
Entered Apprentice is solemnly charged that he is never to "suffer an
infringement of our Rites, or a deviation from established usages and
customs." The requirement for committing to memory, and the oral tests
for advancement, of all the fundamentals of Freemasonry, particularly of the
distinctive Rites, Ceremonies, and symbols, reasonably guarantees this
uniformity and its perpetuation from one generation to another. This
distinctive element of Freemasonry appears to have many advantages over the
usual monitorial system commonly practiced in Fraternal institutions.
United Grand Lodge of England
The Grand Lodge of England
assumed that title in the year 1813, because it was then formed by the Union
of the Grand Lodge of the Ancient, the "Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted
Masons of England according to the Old Institutions, "and the Grand Lodge of
Moderns, the "Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons under the Constitution
of England. "The Body thus formed, by which an end was put to the dissensions
of the Craft which had existed in England for more than half a century,
adopted the title, by which it has ever Since been known, of the United Grand
Lodge of ancient Freemasons of England.
Union of 1813, The
At one time two conflicting Grand Lodge
Bodies were in existence in England. One, known as the Grand Lodge of England,
originally with four old Lodges assembling at London on June 24, 1717. This
Lodge we will designate as the Grand Lodge of the Moderns, that being the name
by which they were known during the famous controversy, in spite of the fact
that they were in existence long before the other competitor. There as on for
the designation Modern in this instance is that parts of their ritual and
ceremony had been modified or changed, as time went on, from the ancient
workings of the Freemasons. The other Lodge, while of more recent
establishment, became known as the Grand Lodge of the Ancient because they
claimed that their ceremonies had come down from the ancient or Operative
Lodges without change.
This Grand Lodge of the Ancient was also
known as of Atholl Masons, it having been headed by Lord Atholl. They elected
their first Grand Master on December 5, 1753, their membership at that time
consisting largely of Irish Freemasons then resident in London. This Ancient
Grand Lodge became strong as time went on. The Grand Lodge of the Moderns was
weakened by dissension within its own ranks between the Operative and
Speculative Lodges, some of whom joined the opposing Grand Lodge of the
Ancient. The famous Laurence Dermott was for many years the head of the
Ancient. Dermott was selected Grand Secretary of the Ancient February 5, 1752.
After much conflict between the Ancient and Moderns a Union was consummated,
the Articles of Union being signed November 25, 1813, by the Dukes of Sussex
and Kent, the Grand Masters of the two Lodges. Later, December 27, 1813, the
Act of Union confirmed this agreement at a joint meeting of the two Lodges and
the present United Grand Lodge of England came into existence.
Unity
Recorded in the one hundred and
thirty-third Psalm is a song of the degree of David, and refers to the
beauties of brotherly love, the mystic tie of fraternalism, the tie that binds
men together into one temple of living stones. Psalms 133;1-3
Universality
of Masonry
The boast of the
Emperor Charles V., that the sun never set on his vast empire, may be applied
with equal truth to the Order of Freemasonry. From east to west, and
from north to south, over the whole habitable globe, are our Lodges
disseminated. Wherever the wandering steps of civilized man have left
their footprints, there have our temples been established. The
lessons of Masonic love have penetrated into the wilderness of the West, and
the Red Man of our soil has shared with his more enlightened Brother the
mysteries of our science; while the arid sands of the African desert have more
than once been the scene of a Masonic greeting. Freemasonry is not a fountain,
giving health and beauty to some single hamlet, and slaking the thirst of
those only who dwell upon its humble banks; but it is a mighty stream,
penetrating through every hill and mountain, and gliding through every field
and valley of the earth, bearing in its beneficent bosom the abundant waters
of love and charity for the poor, the widow, and the orphan of every land.
Untempered
Mortar
In the lecture
used in the United States in the early part of the nineteenth century, and in
some parts of the country almost as recently as the middle of the century, the
Apprentices at the Temple were said to wear their Aprons in the peculiar
manner characteristic of that class that they might preserve their garments
from being defiled by untempered mortar. This is mortar which has
not been properly mixed for use, and it thus became a symbol of passions and
appetites not duly restrained. Hence the Speculative Apprentice was made
to wear his Apron in that peculiar manner to teach him that he should not
allow his soul to be defiled by the "untempered mortar of unruly
passions."
Unworthy Members
We are forced
to admit that there are men in the Masonic Order whose characters and lives
reflect no credit upon the Institution, whose hearts are untouched by its
sublime moral and religious teachings, and to whom Masonry means nothing in
its higher and nobler aims and purposes. They are in the Temple, but not
of the Temple; members of our household, but not of us; they are of Israel,
but have not the faith of Israel. Some Lodges may have been remiss in
conferring on them the Degrees. Masons persist in the hope of making
them better. But the Institution is not responsible for what they are,
and should not be unduly criticized. The merciful thing is to bear with
them and hope and pray for the regeneration of their heart by God, who alone
can perform such miracles.
Upright
Posture
The upright
posture of the Apprentice in the Northeast Corner, as a symbol of upright
conduct, was emphasized in the ritual by Preston, who taught in his lectures
that the candidate then represented "a just and upright man and
Mason." The same symbolism is referred to by Hutchinson, who says
that "as the builder who raises his column by the plane and
perpendicular, so should the Mason carry himself toward the world."
Indeed, the application of the Corner-stone, or the Square Stone, as a symbol
of uprightness of conduct, which is precisely the Masonic symbolism of the
candidate in the Northeast, was familiar to the ancients; for Plato says that
he who valiantly sustains the shocks of adverse fortune, demeaning himself
uprightly, is truly good and of a square posture.
Urea
formaldehyde
One of three
thermosetting plastics using formaldehyde, the others being Thiourea
which came out at about the same time, and Phenol, commonly known as Bakelite,
invented in 1907. All were introduced at about the same time in 1925.
Urn
In Freemasonry, the cinerary urn has
been introduced as a modern symbol, but always as having reference to the
burial of the Temple Builder. In the comparatively recent symbol of the
Monument, arranged probably by Cross for the Degree of Master in the American
Rite, the urn is introduced as if to remind the beholder that the ashes of the
great artist were there deposited. Cross borrowed, it may be supposed, his
idea from an older symbol in the advanced Degrees, where, in the description
of the tomb of Hiram Abif, it is said that the heart was enclosed in a golden
urn, to the side of which a triangular stone was affixed, inscribed with the
letters J.M.B. with in a wreath of acacia, and placed on the top of an
obelisk.
Click
here to return to the Glossary Index
