ave
an immortal part within us, which shall survive the grave, and which shall
never, never, never die." And again, in the closing sentences of the
monitorial lecture of the Third Degree, the same sentiment is repeated,
and we are told that by "the ever green and ever living sprig" the Mason
is strengthened "with confidence and composure to look forward to a
blessed immortality." Such an interpretation of the symbol is an easy and
a natural one; it suggests itself at once to the least reflective mind,
and consequently, in some one form or another, is to be found existing in
all ages and nations. It was an ancient custom, which is not, even now,
altogether disused, for mourners to carry in their hands at funerals a
sprig of some evergreen, generally the cedar or the cypress, and to
deposit it in the grave of the deceased. According to Dalcho,[183] the
Hebrews always planted a sprig of the acacia at the head of the grave of a
departed friend. Potter tells us that the ancient Greeks "had a custom of
bedecking tombs with herbs and flowers." [184] All sorts of purple and
white flowers were acceptable to the dead, but principally the amaranth
and the myrtle. The very name of the former of these plants, which
signifies "never fading," would seem to indicate the true symbolic meaning
of the usage, although archaeologists have generally supposed it to be
simply an exhibition of love on the part of the survivors. Ragon says,
that the ancients substituted the acacia for all other plants because they
believed it to be incorruptible, and not liable to injury from the attacks
of any kind of insect or other animal--thus symbolizing the incorruptible
nature of the soul.

Hence we see the propriety of placing the sprig of acacia, as an emblem of
immortality, among the symbols of that degree, all of whose ceremonies are
intended to teach us the great truth, that "the life of man, regulated by
morality, faith, and justice, will be rewarded at its closing hour by the
prospect of eternal bliss." [185] So, therefore, says Dr. Oliver, when the
Master Mason exclaims, "My name is Acacia," it is equivalent to saying, "I
have been in the grave,--I have triumphed over it by rising from the
dead,--and being regenerated in the process, I have a claim to life
everlasting."

The sprig of acacia, then, in its most ordinary signification, presents
itself to the Master Mason as a symbol of the immortality of the soul,
being intended to remind him, by it