PURIFICATION.  A religious rite practised by the ancients, and which was performed before any act of devotion.  It consisted in washing the hands, and sometimes the whole body, in lustral or consecrated water.  It was intended as a symbol of the internal purification of the heart.  It was a ceremony preparatory to initiation in all the ancient Mysteries.

PYTHAGORAS.  A Grecian philosopher, supposed to have been born in the island of Samos, about 584 B.C.  He travelled extensively for the purpose of acquiring knowledge.  In Egypt he was initiated in the Mysteries of that country by the priests.  He also repaired to Babylon, where he became acquainted with the mystical learning of the Chaldeans, and had, no doubt, much communication with the Israelitish captives who had been exiled from Jerusalem, and were then dwelling in Babylon.  On his return to Europe he established a school, which in its organization, as well as its doctrines, bore considerable resemblance to Speculative Masonry; for which reason he has been claimed as “an ancient friend and brother” by the modern Freemasons.

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RESURRECTION.  This doctrine was taught in the ancient Mysteries, as it is in Freemasonry, by a scenic representation.  The initiation was death, the autopsy was resurrection.  Freemasonry does not interest itself with the precise mode of the resurrection, or whether the body buried and the body raised are in all their parts identical.  Satisfied with the general teaching of St. Paul, concerning the resurrection that “it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body,” Freemasonry inculcates by its doctrine of the resurrection the simple fact of a progressive advancement from a lower to a higher sphere, and the raising of the soul from the bondage of death to its inheritance of eternal life.

RITUAL.  The forms and ceremonies used in conferring the degrees, or in conducting the labors, of a lodge are called the ritual.  There are many rites of Freemasonry, which differ from each other in the number and division of the degrees, and in their rituals, or forms and ceremonies.  But the great principles of Freemasonry, its philosophy and its symbolism, are alike in all.  It is evident, then, that in an investigation of the symbolism of Freemasonry, we have no concern with its ritual, which is but an outer covering that is intended to conceal the treasure that is within.

ROSICRUCIANS.  A sect of hermetical philosophers, founded in the fifteenth century, who were engaged in the study of abstruse sciences.  It was a secret society much resembling the masonic in its organization, and in some of the subjects of its investigation; but it was in no other way connected with Freemasonry.  It is, however, well worth the study of the masonic student on account of the light that it throws upon many of the masonic symbols.

ROYAL ART.  Freemasonry is so called because it is supposed to have been founded by two kings,—­the kings of Israel and Tyre,—­and because it has been subsequently encouraged and patronized by monarchs in all countries.