two antagonistic principles,
distinguished as the good and the evil principle. This doctrine pervaded
all the Oriental religions, and its influences are to be seen in the
system of Speculative Masonry, where it is developed in the symbolism of
Light and Darkness.

E

EAST. That part of the heavens where the sun rises; and as the source of
material light to which we figuratively apply the idea of intellectual
light, it has been adopted as a symbol of the Order of Freemasonry. And
this symbolism is strengthened by the fact that the earliest learning and
the earliest religion came from the east, and have ever been travelling to
the west.

In Freemasonry, the east has always been considered the most sacred of the
cardinal points, because it is the place where light issues; and it was
originally referred to the primitive religion, or sun-worship. But in
Freemasonry it refers especially to that east whence an ancient priesthood
first disseminated truth to enlighten the world; wherefore the east is
masonically called "the place of light."

EGG. The mundane egg is a well-recognized symbol of the world. "The
ancient pagans," says Faber, "in almost every part of the globe, were wont
to symbolize the world by an egg. Hence this symbol is introduced into the
cosmogony of nearly all nations; and there are few persons, even among
those who have not made mythology their study, to whom the _Mundane Egg_
is not perfectly familiar. It was employed not only to represent the
earth, but also the universe in its largest extent." _Origin of Pag.
Idolatry_, i. 175.

EGG AND LUNETTE. The egg, being a symbol not only of the resurrection,
but also of the world rescued from destruction by the Noachic ark, and the
lunette, or horizontal crescent, being a symbol of the Great Father,
represented by Noah, the egg and lunette combined, which was the
hieroglyphic of the god Lunus, at Heliopolis, was a symbol of the world
proceeding from the Great Father.

EGYPT. Egypt has been considered as the cradle not only of the sciences,
but of the religions of the ancient world. Although a monarchy, with a
king nominally at the head of the state, the government really was in the
hands of the priests, who were the sole depositaries of learning, and were
alone acquainted with the religious formularies that in Egypt controlled
all the public and private actions of the life of every inhabitant.

ELEPHANTA. An island in the Bay of Bombay, celebrated for