Altar

Altar. The presence of an altar in a Masonic lodge is difficult to account for, though those who have been accustomed never to see a lodge without one regard that object as an ancient fixture and indispensable. Furthermore, it is difficult to estimate the time of, or the occasion for, its introduction into American lodges. Altars were decidedly of religious origin and were anciently of two kinds, one for incense burning and one for sacrifices. Altars being places of refuge, a person who fled to an altar and grasped the horns of the altar was deemed under the especial care of the Deity to whom that altar was dedicated. The horns of the altar were not, as some suppose, animal horns, but were simply the four corners of the altar which were somewhat raised and figuratively called horns.

Another peculiarity is that, while the altar is about the most prominent feature of an American Masonic lodge, many Protestant churches have either neglected to provide altars or have reduced them to a mere table. Also, the altar is the place where the lodge Bible reposes but not so in many churches, nor was such the original purpose of an altar, the Hebrew Book of the Law being deposited in the Ark. Accordingly, the altar was not only an innovation in the lodge but the use made of it was novel as a religious practice. Freemasons were first to associate the Bible with the altar quite as much as they were first to place the terrestrial and celestial globes on top of the columns.

There were no altars in lodges of the early eighteenth century, and it is particularly to be noted that Preston, in his Lectures about 1772 describes all of the furniture, ornaments, lights, and jewels of the lodge, its shape, floor, and ceiling, but mentions no altar. If there was a Bible or other V.S.L. in lodges of the early 18th century, it was not required. It probably came in around the middle of that century simply by the individual choice of Masters or lodges but, when it did, it rested on the Master’s pedestal in the East, where it remains to this day in British lodges. The altar appears to have been an American innovation, and it is doubtful whether it became a fixture in the lodges before the time of Thomas Smith Webb, after the Revolution.

Macoy Collector's Note: Coil shatters the myth of ancient operative origins for the Masonic altar, correctly identifying its placement in the center of the lodge as a distinctly American speculative innovation.