The Freemasons' Version of Jonah.

 Freemasonry takes itself very seriously. To many of its members it is no more than a pleasant social centre. That is all it seems to be in the opinion of the ignorant outsider. But, to the true Mason, it is something infinitely greater.
The symbols of Masonry resemble Browning's poetry. Give the enthusiast a passage from the poet, and he will extract meanings Browning would have been amazed to know were in it. Give a Mason some symbols; that seem familiar and meaningless enough, and he will invest them with a mysticism that is positively awesome.
Freemasonry is certainly a wonderful institution. In a way, it is as broad as it is long. For history, it goes back to the dawn of time; for members, it drawn upon the entire human race. Freemasons are plentiful in Peru; the brotherhood includes many Chinese. Its ubiquity is worthy of its antiquity. And its claim to antiquity is the first thing to astound the uninitiated.
You must not feel nervous about figures; you must prepare for some stiff swallowing. One accredited historian proves that the order existed 300,000 years ago. That it is so largely based on ideography is offered as proof of the validity of this claim. Signs preceded words, words preceded writing, all at long distances. If the theory be accepted, the antiquity of Masonry is reasonably established. But in many respects its history is as great a mystery as its ritual.
Its forms have in many instances been affected by time and distance, but all retain traces of common origin.  That origin is alleged to be found in the sacred mysteries of the ancient Egyptians. There is a consensus of opinion that Egypt was its earliest home. The Great Pyramid was really the first Masonic Temple. When the old Egyptian empire fell, 5000 years ago, the brotherhood was scattered, and carried its secrets into all parts of the world.
The true Mason scorns the suggestion that his order originated in any utilitarian trades union. Its philosophy soars far beyond its ceremonies. In its highest significance it seeks to lift man above all religious sectarianism. Its signs are no meaningless mummery; they are saturated with the wisdom of the ancients. During the long period of its existence the outer aspects of civilisation have changed again and again. But over that enormous stretch of years two things have remained unchanged — men and Freemasonry.
And the two have formed the greatest brotherhood the world has ever known. They proclaimed the doctrine of universal brotherhood to every land ages before temples and churches were ever thought of. Prior to the birth of the religions which unite and divide men to-day, they found their universal religion in Freemasonry. It is the only real democracy in existence and in active operation. Even in the British army, where rank is venerated, Freemasonry banishes distinctions. Non-commissioned officers control lodges where superior officers sit.
Freemason rites were practised by the ancient Britons and Gauls. How the practices were conveyed from the Orient to the distant north is inexplicable. It may have been by the great wandering from North India, or it may have been by the Mediterranean merchants; who traded in every part of the then known world, from India to Britain. In any event, there they demonstrably were. The simple coins of the period supply further proof. Long before the Roman Conquest Northern Europe had a rude coinage. And in the markings of these coins can be traced the Masonic symbolism of ancient Egypt.
Long before the Christian era Masons' emblems were employed as moral symbols, and one deity was common to all people, from the Himalayas to the North Sea. He was the god of Nature and the god of Mystery. His northern priests were the Druids, probably the most frequently mentioned and least understood of all the institutions of the past. They were really Brahmins. They were the Magi, of the north. There are many points of similarity between their rites and the Chaldean cults. And the symbols and mysteries common to both are still employed in modern Freemasonry.
But neither the testimony of history nor the voice of legend will induce the uninitiated to concede all that Freemasonry claims. It is asserted that there is a close identity between Freemasonry and the ancient Hebrew mysteries. You can scarce mention a prominent person in the Old Testament over whom the Masons have not pegged out a prior claim. Take Jonah. Without any acquaintance with Scripture you know at least the opening incident in his adventure. Now the Masons can explain Jonah in quite a novel way. It was all a piece of mythology and masonry.
Ancient Nineveh has been rediscovered. On its walls are found lavish pictures of one named Oannes. The Hebrew story of Jonah is a legend of this Oannes. He is a great figure in the folklore of the period. He was a being part man, part fish, who rose out of the Persian Gulf, and taught the people on the neighboring coasts architecture and the arts and sciences, which education achieved, he departed as he came. His cult spread among all the Semitic races of Syria, and the colossal figure of a man emerging from the body of a huge fish is the principal ornament found, amid the ruins of Nineveh, in palace and temple indiscriminately.
These were days when astrology determined the value of everything under the sun. All philosophy and religion gathered round the Zodiacal signs. Palestine as a country was considered under the special guardianship of the Pisces.
The geographical feature which connoted Palestine with this Sign of the Fishes was that of its situation bordering upon the shores of the Mediterranean, into which the sun nightly seemed to sink. When this conception prevailed the sun seemed to die out of winter and be born into spring in the Zodiacal sign of the Fishes. The symbol, therefore, became typical of causing dead matter to live by infusion of spirit. For this reason the Pisces came to represent Vishnu, the life preserver, and Shiva, the life destroyer. The whole subject of the fish symbolism of the ancient world and its embodiment in Scripture and in Freemasonry is linked up with the idea of the sun as a dying hero slain in the western heavens for the benefit of humanity, and rising again to rule and govern a grateful world.
The transmission of this mixture of Semitic mythology to Hebrew thought was natural, and almost inevitable. Improved and made more convincing, the idea appears in the familiar Old Testament story of Jonah. Even the orthodox may still find trace of the myth in the fact that the fish's head is now the mitre of Christian bishops, and that the Greek word "ixthos" (the fish) has came to mean "Jesous Xristos Theos Oios Soter."
The explanation of it all lies back in the days when the sun appeared to die at the winter solstice in the sign of the fishes. As it slowly changed its course from south to north in order to return to light and fertility, the shadows of the columns set up by the astronomer priest's in the temple court yards neither shortened nor lengthened for 72 hours. The sun was swallowed by the Fishes. In similar fashion Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the solstitial fish.
From the dim recesses of Freemason archives comes this remarkable version of the famous Bible story. Whether it will be pleasing will largely depend on our religious upbringing. Some have had difficulty in accepting Jonah as explained by the theologians. They will not have less difficulty in accepting him as explained by the Freemasons.

Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Saturday 17 January 1920, page 21