The General Ahiman Rezon and Freemason's Guide (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The General Ahiman Rezon and Freemason's Guide<br><br>These two words have acquired a wide Masonic celebrity. They constituted the title of the Book of Constitutions, used by the division of Freemasons, which separated from the Grand Lodge of England in 1736, and have since become the usual designation of such works in this country. Dermott, in 1772, styled his book the true Ahiman Rezon, and he claimed for his portion of the Order the practice of Ancient Masonry. The inference is obvious that there was a spurious work under this title then extant. An inquiry into their meaning is, therefore, not irrelevant.<br><br>I have met with no exposition of the signification of this phrase, except in the edition first published in South Carolina by Dr. Dalcho, in 1807, and reprinted, with additions, in 1822; and afterward re-arranged and edited by Dr. Mackey in 1852; and, also, in the "Lexicon of Freemasonry," by the last-mentioned distinguished author.<br><br>The following is Dr. Dalcho's definition in the edition of 1822: "The Book of Constitutions is usually denominated Ahiman Kezon. The literal translation of ahiman is a prepared brother, from manah, to prepare; and that of rezon, secret. So that Ahiman Eezon literally means the secrets of a prepared brother. It is likewise supposed to be a corruption of achi man ratzon, the thoughts or opinions of a true and faithful brother."<br><br>There are several difficulties which seem to render this definition inadmissible. The derivations do not appear to be in accordance with the structure of the Hebrew language (if the words be Hebrew); and the phrase, with this view of its derivation, has no grammatical construction.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.