singularly emphatic summons," says a profound modern writer,[98] "by which
light is called into existence, is probably owing to the preeminent
utility and glory of that element, together with its mysterious nature,
which made it seem as

'The God of this new world,'

and won for it the earliest adoration of mankind."

Light was, in accordance with this old religious sentiment, the great
object of attainment in all the ancient religious Mysteries. It was there,
as it is now, in Masonry, made the symbol of _truth_ and _knowledge_. This
was always its ancient symbolism, and we must never lose sight of this
emblematic meaning, when we are considering the nature and signification
of masonic light. When the candidate makes a demand for light, it is not
merely for that material light which is to remove a physical darkness;
that is only the outward form, which conceals the inward symbolism. He
craves an intellectual illumination which will dispel the darkness of
mental and moral ignorance, and bring to his view, as an eye-witness, the
sublime truths of religion, philosophy, and science, which it is the great
design of Freemasonry to teach.

In all the ancient systems this reverence for light, as the symbol of
truth, was predominant. In the Mysteries of every nation, the candidate
was made to pass, during his initiation, through scenes of utter darkness,
and at length terminated his trials by an admission to the
splendidly-illuminated sacellum, or sanctuary, where he was said to have
attained pure and perfect light, and where he received the necessary
instructions which were to invest him with that knowledge of the divine
truth which it had been the object of all his labors to gain, and the
design of the institution, into which he had been initiated, to bestow.

_Light_, therefore, became synonymous with truth and knowledge, and
_darkness_ with falsehood and ignorance. We shall find this symbolism
pervading not only the institutions, but the very languages, of antiquity.

Thus, among the Hebrews, the word AUR, in the singular, signified
_light_, but in the plural, AURIM, it denoted the revelation of the divine
will; and the _aurim _ and _thummim_, literally the _lights_ and _truths_,
constituted a part of the breastplate whence the high priest obtained
oracular responses to the questions which he proposed.[99]

There is a peculiarity about the word "light," in the old Egyptian
language, which is well worth consideratio