Symbolical Masonry 💖 By H. L. Haywood. FULL Audiobook

Symbolical masonry by HL Haywood the MSA National Masonic Library the MSA National Masonic Library presents in a series of volumes of uniform binding and competent craftsmanship the best results of masonic research by masters of the craft in America and abroad the library will cover every aspect of Freemasonry its

Ritual its symbolism its philosophy its past history and activities and development representing all recognized schools of masonic thought it will bring the Best Literature of The Craft Within Reach of lodges and members symbolical masonry by HL Haywood the great teachings of masonry by HL Haywood the beginnings of Freemasonry

In America by Melvin M Johnson speculative Masonry by as McBride the builders by Joseph Fort Newton the men’s house by Joseph Fort Newton the philosophy of masonry by Rosco pound symbolism of The Three Degrees by Oliver Day Street Washington DC the Masonic Service Association of the United States how do you find this

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Preface shortly after taking my degrees in masonry I asked my friend brother Newton R Harvin Grand secretary of the Grand Lodge of Iowa for a book to explain the ritual in which I had just participated so much of which had escaped or confused me like a foreign

Language he told me there was no such book in existence and said it was the most badly needed volume in the whole field of Freemasonry later I chanced to report this remark to a group of friends at watero Iowa consisting of Alfred E Longley Raymond folk Lewis Fowler and

PJ Martin the last mentioned of whom now deceased was one time Grandmaster of masons in that state whereupon these gentlemen challenged me to write such a book myself and offer to cooperate in publishing and marketing it after my Ms might be completed the upshot of it

All was that after engaging a young man to assist me in the work I spent the larger part of one year in the Iowa Masonic library at Cedar Rapids Iowa a magnificent collection of masonic literature founded by Theodore Sutton par Parvin and maintained by the Grand

Lodge of Iowa I owe very much to the unfailing kindness of brother Newton Parvin and to his Deputy brother c c hunt and wish at this time and publicly to extend to them my most sincere thanks also I wish to extend my thanks to Brother John H cows Sovereign Grand

Commander of the Scottish right Southern jurisdiction for his permission to read Albert Pike’s unpublished manuscript on the ritual of The Three Degrees which is preserved in the vaults of the House of the temple Washington D C and which according to Pike’s own written directions can never be published while Prosecuting those necessary researches

An arduous task since I was new in the field and found no previous books to guide me in my particular undertaking I became associate editor of the Builder the Journal of the national Masonic research society and later editor of its Study Club Department because of this connection it

Fell out that instead of publishing my Ms in book form I published it in the Builder or at least all of it except the first few sections and in such shape as could be used by study clubs as well as by individual students owing to the delay thus occasioned the book is just

Now appearing it has been so widely used by study clubs and is still so much in demand by them that I have placed in an appendix a list of questions for discussion and I have also incl included such bibliographies as experience has shown to be useful for their

Purpose I may say that since its appearance as a serial in the Builder I have entirely revised and in many cases Rewritten the whole the introduction except for two or three paragraphs is entirely new and so are the first four or five chapters one chapter has been omitted

The work undertaken originally as an apprentice task proved so attractive to me that I was at last drawn to surrender all my other duties in order to devote myself entirely to Masonic research and the cause of masonic education and have found my own particular and quite congenial Niche with the national Masonic research

Society of which I now have the honor to be editorinchief there is no need to tell the veteran Masonic scholar who may chance to peruse these pages that the book was not designed for his uses but rather for the host of beginners in the field whose first intellectual interest

In the craft is usually aroused by their Cur osity as to what the work is all about I have tried to tell the beginners what it is all about as clearly as possible within the limits of space and of the obligations to secrecy and as far as the results of modern Masonic

Scholarship have allowed h l Haywood Cedar Rapids Iowa an introduction to the history of symbolical Freemasonry unto the Divine Light of the Holy altar from the outer darkness of ignorance through the shadow of our Earth Earth life wins the beautiful path of initiation the question is often asked

How old is masonry and where did it begin the answer must depend entirely on one’s definition of the word if by that term one means a Freemason in the modern sense who is a member of a subordinate Lodge operating under the authority of a grand lodge and practicing the rights of

Symbolical masonry then Freemasonry came into existence in London in 1717 but this present Day craft is in historical continuity with lodges or Guilds of Masons who in earlier days engaged in the tasks of actual building if the word Freemason is to be extended to those Brethren than we may say that

Freemasonry came into existence in the 12th century along with Gothic architecture and that its cradle was very probably the Northwestern corner of France but if the word Freemason is to be applied to any secret society that makes use or has made use of some of our symbols or signs then Freemasonry goes a

Long way back into history because there were organizations among the GRE Roman peoples two or 3,000 years ago that had much in common with ours and it is certain that the ancient Egyptians made use of several of the symbols or emblems that we are accustomed to because we

Find them in the Book of the Dead and in other Egyptian memorials if Freemasonry is given the widest possible sense of being merely a secret fraternity then it has existed in many parts of the world for thousands and thousands of years because primitive tribes have made use of such

Organizations through an Untold period of time all over the world at present and throughout the world in the past there have been existing all manner of secret societies which in many of their characteristics are so much like our own that writers at various and sunry times have been led to attribute to almost

Every one of the more important of them some connection with Freemasonry and in many cases have sought to derive Freemasonry from them this makes for a great deal of confusion of thought and leads men into very absurd positions as to what Freemasonry really is and what Freemasonry ought to

Do a student can easily avoid this confusion if he begins his studies with the known facts of the now existing fraternity and works his way back step by step and with scholarly care and accuracy as far as ascertainable facts can carry him the student who pursues this method will soon find that our

Craft in its earlier days borrowed from or derived many things from or was otherwise connected in many ways with other organizations having an historical connection with Freemasonry these organizations properly come within the scope of masonic history and research whereas all other secret societies that have no such historical connection are of merely curious

Interest if we can judge by the practices of primitive tribes that now exist and by the evidences of archaeology we are safe in assuming that long before the dawn of History men organized themselves into secret societies Each of which had its headquarters or Lodge building produced ceremonies of initiation carried on a

Religious cult maintained Law and Order made war and so forth a great deal of speculation is now rif concerning such primitive societies and many very strange theories are being erected upon the basis of what little we know concerning this subject a beginner in this field will be wisely

Advised if he is very cautious about accepting these speculations because as a matter of fact we yet have learned very little comparatively speaking at least concerning primitive secret societies the first great secret organizations in history of which very much is known were the religious cults in the GRE Roman World Egypt Rome Greece

Etc etc which were known as the ancient Mysteries these powerful fraternities had very many things in common with our own craft except in few instances men only were eligible to membership they met in tiled Lodge rooms employed ceremonies of initiation collected fees and dues divided their memberships into

Grades Etc one of the most typical of these ancient Mysteries was mithraism it is believed that Metra was originally an Aryan Sun God who after passing through many transformations of form and attribute was at last introduced into the Roman Empire by that time he had become a

Savior God who had left his home in heaven to become a human being for a time in order to affect the salvation of the world it was believed that after his death he ascended to his former Place In Heaven There to judge the dead and to keep watch over his followers on Earth

These followers were supposed to constitute a great Army of militant worshippers who after the fashion of muhammadan devotees of present day Islam were to conquer the world for metral who was heralded as the God of Light making Everlasting war on the god of Darkness the meeting place of the cult was known

As a mithum men only were admitted to this membership and they were obliged to undergo a severe ceremonial of initiation in some respects strikingly like the drama of our third degree the other ancient Mysteries were in essential similar to mithraism and all of them anticipated in many ways sometimes startlingly the rights and

Customs of modern Freemasonry the analogies are in many instances so close that some careful student believe that our own fraternity is linearly descended from the ancient Mysteries this hypothesis is intelligible and one that commends itself in many ways but as yet it has been impossible to establish all the

Links in the long chain of evolution at the time the ancient Mysteries were flourishing in the Greco Roman World another form of organization became very common which also anticipated in many very striking ways our own lodges I refer to the Roman collegia from a very early early date

All the trades and crafts among the Romans were very closely organized in every Community The Bakers The Butchers the Carpenters the shoemakers painters etc etc had each their own collegium which was organized according to Imperial law and used as a kind of Social and benefit club by its members

It is supposed that most of these collegia originated as burial societies to enable the usually impoverished workmen to have the respectable burial for himself and for the m MERS of his family which every Roman much desired as time went on these collegia passed more and more under the control

Of the Imperial government until it came to pass that by the time of the Barbarian invasions the Emperors were making use of them as the most perfect means of controlling the hordes and masses of laboring people in their Dominion each collegium met in its own Lodge room had its own constitutions and

Bylaws admitted to membership men only and by means of initiatory services had a common chest wardens Masters etc etc the Collegiate form of Trade Organization was so very common in the ancient world that it is most probable it existed in the near East when hyam King of Ty built for Solomon king of

Israel the world famous temple at Jerusalem in his exceedingly curious and very interesting book called The dionan artificers dasta has argued that the collegia which constructed this Temple were dedicated to dionis and were therefore called dionan artificers some Masonic Scholars agree with dasta in his hypothesis While others impatiently Scout the whole

Theory be that as it may it is most probable that Solomon’s Temple which has become both the head and center of our system of masonic symbolism was built by men organized after the fashion of the Roman collegia what became of all these collegia when The Barbarians destroyed

The Roman Empire the question is one about which there has been endless debate and it is probable that it will be a very long time if ever before historians have satisfied themselves that they know the truth in the premises some believe that the collegia were utterly destroyed others that they

Survived in Byzantium there to act as the seeds out of which later developed Byzantine civilization others that some of the collegia passed over to England and they became the centers out of which developed English medieval civilization others believed that the collegia became transformed into various Church organizations among all these various

Historical speculations there is one that holds for us students of masonic History A peculiar interest I refer to what is known as the Kine theory in the celebrated book called The Cathedral Builders a woman Mrs Baxter under the pen name of leader Scott first brought this Theory to the serious attention of

Masonic Scholars she was followed by Brother w r Ravenscroft who has published cot to her Theory at two various times in the Builder the Journal of the national Masonic research Society according to this Comming Theory certain collegia of Architects took Refuge from the Barbarian invasions in the easily defended territory

Immediately around Lake KO in the northern part of Italy and there for two or 300 years by means of carefully training the youths preserved alive the old methods and secrets of the builders as The Barbarians themselves became settled in community ities and began to feel the need of walls Bridges

Highways and buildings these Kine Masters as they came to be called sent out their skilled workmen here and there to superintend the new activities and to organize schools in which boys could be taught the rudiments of the trade in this wise the kamine Masters served as a

Bridge over which something of the old Roman civilization passed into the Medieval World from their own communities which acted as the center the art of architecture along along with its auxiliary Arts passed into other parts of Europe to Germany to the Netherlands to France to Spain and also

To England the Kine Masters were organized into lodges each with its own officials and its own meeting place with rights ceremonies passwords signs and Trade Secrets all this according to leader Scott the hypothesis is plausible and there is much by way of evidence to prove its validity but as yet the

Majority of careful students have refused refused to accept it and that because some of its most fundamental positions have not been substantiated RF Gould the greatest of masonic historians described the whole Kine Theory as a vision hanging in the air whether it be that he is right in his

Position or that they who hold to the Kine Theory have the truth on their side the fact remains that every careful student of masonic history must familiarize himself with and somehow come to terms with this Theory it is the consensus of opinion among the best equipped modern Masonic historians

That the history of the craft properly so-called began with the Advent of Gothic architecture this style of building was such a revolutionary change as compared with the Romanesque which preceded it that new conditions were created and profound changes were wrought in the habits and customs of the working men

That had Gothic buildings in charge under the new conditions of their labor those guilds began such practices and forms of organizations as led after a number of centuries of evolution to the development of modern Freemasonry a romanes building was very simple in principle it consisted of a

Flat roof laid across four walls if this roof was pitched or arched the walls were thickened in order to take up the side thrust if the buildings were made large and the roofs High then it was necessary to make the walls of such great thickness that the buildings had the appearance of military

Fortresses and since these walls served to buttress the roof it was impossible to cut very large windows in them lest they be too much weakened and the buildings collapse as a result of this condition the general character of Romanesque buildings was one of squat heaviness and of gloomy

Interiors in the 12th century and either in England or in Northwestern France the builders discovered a new principle that enabled them completely to transform their structures instead of the round arch of the older style they took up the use of pointed arches which enabled them to raise their roofs to any desired height

And they learned how to take care of the thrust of these arches by means of flying buttresses in the course of time this system became so well articulated and so consistent that the skeleton of the building became a thing in itself and capable of standing alone like the

Framework of a machine so that walls were no longer necessary to serve for buttress purposes therefore the builders began to leave out the walls as much as possible and to substitute for them stained glass windows the thrusts from the pointed arches that were not taken up by the

Flying buttresses were carried for on the interior of the building by slender pillars and peers this made these great structures capable of housing thousands of persons at once and yet gave to them airiness Grace and ease and such Harmony of line and color as later on LED Gera to

Describe Gothic architecture as Frozen music the principles and methods of Gothic were applied to Bridges walls domestic structures to Art ornamentation dress and even to household utensils but of all the manifestations of it the most magnificent and enduring were the cathedrals and owing to the devastation

Of war in which the cathedrals were ever held more or less inviable they are all that is left to us of an art that at one time spread over the whole of Europe and of England these Cathedrals were complicated structures that required for their erection rare skill knowledge

Difficult to acquire and a compact organization of men it is believed that in the course of time the Guilds of workmen who had the cathedrals in charge were given in recognition of the unique character of their labors certain privileges and immunities not many Cathedrals were built and such as were undertaken were

Very naturally placed in the larger centers of population since comparatively few men were skilled enough to work at such structures it was necessary to move the guilds about from place to place to such points as they were needed this set the cathedral building guilds sharply apart

From the other Guilds of that time each one of the latter of which was stationary and forbidden by law to practice its trade outside of the Incorporated limits of its own Community some writers believe that the builders or Masons the two words mean the same who belong to the cathedral

Building guilds came at last to be known as Freemasons in virtue of the fact that their guilds were permitted to move about from place to place and free from most most of the local restrictions under which other guilds were compelled to operate if this theory is true we may

Say that Freemasonry strictly so-called began with these Cathedral Builders and not with the ordinary Guild Mason or local Builder there is much debate now going on about this whole subject and it is very necessary that one move with caution and that one make these statements not as utterances of known

Fact but as tentative hypotheses more or less substantiated by evidence but not yet clearly proved moved whatever may be correct of the Guilds of Freemasons we may feel quite certain that their practices were in many important respects very much like the guilds existing everywhere about them upon undertaking a new work they

Would begin by erecting a temporary building to serve as their Lodge Room workroom Store room Etc in this temporary building they would hold their Lodge meetings they were governed by a master and wardens and they probably had secretaries treasurers constitu tions and bylaws when a youth was taken into the

Craft he was vouched for by some Master Mason and received upon entering the lodge the obligation of an apprentice he was then indentured to a Master Mason who was to serve as a sponsor his name was entered in the book of the lodge and he was then for a

Period of 7 years set to work to learn the various secrets of his trade his time of apprenticeship over he was brought again into the lodge and given his obligation as a fellow of the craft or Master Mason the two terms signifying the same thing at that time and he

Henceforth did a master’s work received the Master’s wages was free to travel in search of employment and was taught how to prove himself a Master Mason wherever he might go it is supposed that through the teaching of apprentices their traditions and their various other usages these Freemasons gradually came

To use their tools and building Secrets as emblems and symbols whereby to instruct their members in think thinking and immoral conduct also it is known that these guilds possess traditional histories of The Craft and it is supposed that such histories were either read or recited to a candidate at the time of his

Initiation in the course of time these traditional histories or Legends along with charges and regulations were written down in manuscript form and thereby preserved many of these ancient documents are now in existence and are known as ancient charges or ancient constitutions the oldest existing copy has been dated at

1390 Gothic architecture began in the 12th century reached its apogee in the 13th century and began its period of decline in the 15th century there were many reasons for this decline the most important of which were Civil War and the Advent of puritanism this applied particularly to England to which country

The present historical sketch must confine itself for a time when Cathedrals were no longer erected a great many of the old cathedral building guilds passed out of existence but a few of them continued their activities by taking up domestic architecture especially for the landed gentry the aristocracy of England at that time to

What extent the now transformed guilds maintained their old Customs it is difficult to say because records are lacking but we know that such as continued to exist remained very jealous of their traditions and very loyal to their landmarks there was one exception to this however and it is a matter very

Essential to this story after The Lodges had come to be comparatively weak in number and membership and after they had been working for many years in close contact with the rich and learned class they began to admit to their membership men who had no thought of becoming

Actual Builders at all but who developed an interest in this ancient craft because of its old traditions and its Rich symbolisms this acceptance of non-operative or speculative Masons began in the latter part of the 16th century but became much more common in the following Century a certain Boswell

Was initiated as a speculative Mason in Scotland in 1598 the first event of such a character in the records of masonry but either a great many men had been so admitted and left no record or the custom of admitting speculative members grew with great rapidity for there was a speculative Lodge in full

Working order in London in 1631 when Elias ashm was initiated at Warrington in 164 six his lodge was almost wholly speculative during the 17th century the fraternity in England was made up of a membership in which operatives and non- operatives mixed together a few lodges were wholly non-operative some of them

Were wholly operative and many of them were divided between the two each of these lodges was wholly self-governed and owed no allegiance to any body higher than itself but each and all had in common the old traditions and usages so that a man could pass from one to to

Another and easily make himself known wherever he went this is not to say that there were no important differences among these lodges because there were it means that during the period of transition the Masonic bodies continued in the practice of their ancient Customs to such an extent as to maintain their identity

Through the years it is believed that during this period of transition a number of influences were admitted into the craft which were not at all of operative origin and had never been felt by the craft at the time when it was in engaged in actual building there are few

Documents in existence to guide us in untangling the clues of History during that period so we must be very cautious in consequence but the internal evidence seems to show very clearly that these influences were powerful and in the sequel had a revolutionary effect on the craft among these non-operative

Influences the cabala must be mentioned as one of the most important the word itself means that which has been accepted as Authority and was the the name given by Jewish Mystics to a body of occult Jewish literature that appears to have come into existence among Spanish Jews in the 13th and 14th

Centuries these books are among the most difficult to read in the world and they are full of ideas and terms that now seem very bizar but in their own period they appealed powerfully to the imagination of medieval thinkers most of whom were devoted to theological and metaphysical speculation when royin the Great German

Who shared with Martin Luther the leadership of the Protestant Revolution made his impassion plea in behalf of the Jews he brought this strange old literature to the attention of the intellectual world of Europe and gave it such currency that for a Time the cabalistic writings were on the study tables of almost every

Theologian the framework of the cabala was a kind of theosophy expressed by means of a system of symbolism which centered about King Solomon’s Temple in as much as there are things in the Masonic rituals which appear to be identical with many many of the old cabalistic symbols and since the cabala

Was very influential in the 16th and 17th centuries it is a reasonable supposition that it had a certain influence on Freemasonry during the years in which that Society was undergoing a transformation there were many other streams of occultism flowing in the same period and there is little doubt but

That influences from many of them found their way into the speculations of the Masons of that time space does not here make it possible to go into these matters in detail I have mentioned them as suggestions for lines of masonic study upon the part of the student who may

Undertake to follow the chapters in this book they will serve to remind him that many and various influences were at work among the scattered and independent lodges in England during the 17th century and that at the beginning of the 18th century Masonic lodges were scattered here and there through England

Ireland and Scotland it is impossible to guess how many were in existence at the time but it is probable that but there were not very many and it is still more probable that there was a considerable diversity of custom and usage among them in Scotland it came to pass in some

Localities that a man could make a Mason of another merely by giving him the so-called Mason’s word Irish lodes differed radically from those that existed in England but the time for the Great Awakening had come and the first gleams of a new day brightened The Horizon in the year 1716 when certain

Members of a few lodges in or about London thought fit to cement under a Grandmaster as the center of Union and Harmony how many of these bold lodges were concerned we do not know but Dr are James Anderson a presbyterian Minister whose story of the period is the only

Official account we possess of the foundations of the Grand Lodge of England and of the first six years of its history gives us the names of four those that met in the following places one the goose and Grit iron Ale House two the Crown Ale House three The

Apple Tree Tavern four rummer and grapes Tavern to quote Anderson whose the new book of constitutions was issued in 1738 they and some other old brothers met at the said apple tree and having put into the chair the oldest Master Mason now the master of a lodge they constituted themselves a Grand Lodge

Prot temporary in due form and forth with revived the quarterly communication of the officers of lodges called the Grand Lodge resolved to hold the annual assembly and feast and then to choose a Grandmaster from among themselves till they should have the honor of a noble brother at their head

Accordingly on St John Baptist’s day in the 3D year of King George I ad. 1717 the assembly and feast of the free and accepted masons was held at the afores said goose and grid iron Ale House before dinner the oldest Master Mason now the master of a lodge in the chair

Proposed a list of proper candidates and the Brethren by a majority of hands elected Mr Anthony Seer gentleman Grandmaster of Masons Mister Jacob lamal Carpenter Captain Joseph Elliot Grand wardens who being forth with invested with the badges of office and Power by the said oldest master and installed was

Duly congratulated by the assembly who paid him the homage SE Grandmaster commanded the Masters and wardens of lodges to meet the grand officers every quarter in communication at the place that he should appoint in the summon sent by the Tyler George pay became Grandmaster in 1718 and caused several

Old copies of the gothic I.E manuscripts constitutions to be produced and collated a fact which shows that they earnestly desired to adhere to the old traditions Reverend JT Des sagul was elected Grandmaster in 1719 and George Payne received a second term in 1720 during the years several manuscripts copies of the old

Constitutions probably were burned by some scrupulous brothers that these papers might not fall into strange hands in 1721 Grand Lodge elected to the Grand mastership John Duke of monague the first of a long and unbroken line of noble Grand Masters and the society Rose at a single bound into notice and esteem

So popular did the order become that the Learned doct stukeley writing January 6th 1721 complained that immediately upon that it took a run and ran itself out of breath through the Folly of the members at first the Grand Lodge the formation of which is above described claimed no jurisdiction except over

London and its immediate environs but it was possessed of such Vitality that there was nothing to stay its growth every with in 1772 2112 lodges were represented at the quarterly Communications by 1723 the number had increased to 30 gradually lodges outside London came into the jurisdiction and the Grand Lodge itself chartered new

Organizations here and there one of which was the lodge in Madrid in 1728 the First on foreign soil but the growing authority of the Grand Lodge at London was not unchallenged in 1725 the old Lodge at York began to call itself a Grand Lodge in 1729 Irish Masons instituted a Grand

Lodge of their own and the Scottish followed in 1736 moreover Rivals sprang up in England itself so that at one time there were no fewer than four bodies operating as Grand lodges and claiming full sovereignty as such upon the very rapid growth of Freemasonry in and about London a number of imitative societies

Sprang into existence in order to capitalize the increasing Prestige of the Freemasonry or else to to appeal to the 18th century love of Fun by caricaturing it the majority of those societies have passed out of existence the gormogons the Bucks Etc but one of them the order of Odd Fellows survives

Until this day also a great many individuals who wish to take advantage of the social life of the fraternity soon began to secure the passwords and grips by dishonest methods and at the same time and in order to Pander to such individuals a number of exposes were

Published in consequence of all this the Grand Lodge found itself very much embarrassed by cow and E droppers and in order to rid itself of this nuisance and to enable regular Masons to detect the cheats and frauds the Grand Lodge authorized certain changes in the work

When this occurred a number of the older Brethren set up an outcry and alleged that this new Grand Lodge was violating the ancient landmarks and making itself guilty of Innovations in the body of Masonry it is supposed that as a result of this resentment against change certain of the

Independent lodges that had never affiliated with the Grand Lodge gradually grew together and at last undertook to form a Grand Lodge of their own it may be that this is not the authentic account of how this new Grand Lodge came into existence but a majority of Latter-day Masonic Scholars are of

The opinion that this account is the most probable at any rate a new Grand Lodge came into existence in 1751 Henry Saddler has shown that it and its subordinate lodges were in close communication with Irish lodges and the Irish Grand Lodge where no Innovations had been permitted or found

Necessary this new Grand Lodge came into existence in 1751 34 years after the organization of the first or mother Grand Lodge owing to the fact that the 1751 organization undertook to adhere more closely to what its members believed to be the ancient usages than their rival they began to call

Themselves that ancient Grand Lodge and they dubbed the older body the modern Grand Lodge the ancient Grand Lodge was fortunate in securing a most able man Lawrence dermit to serve as secretary for 30 years and who during that time proved himself a man possessed of extraordinary abilities as a leader

Dermid adopted the expedient of army lodges whereby a man in military services could be inducted into the fraternity and this in itself added power to the Ancients or atole Masons as they also came to be called owing to the fact that the Duke of atle became Grandmaster it is supposed also that

Dermit made use of that work which afterwards became embodied in the Royal Arch as a means of inducing prospective candidates to unite with the bodies under his Grand Lodge for a long time there was constant Strife between the two camps but by the first decade of the

19th century overtures began to be made by one Grand Lodge to another joint committees were formed and the spirit of masonic Unity began to win its way in 1813 a great lodge of reconciliation was held at which 640 Lodges of the moderns were represented and 359 of the

Ancients the two old Grand lodges passed out of existence and in their place came the United Grand Lodge of England from that famous assembly Freemasonry emerged cleansed from all its feuds United and triumphant meanwhile Freemasonry had been established on this continent and soon took root here and developed with

Surprising Vigor Boston New York Philadelphia and Charleston were among the earliest centers of masonic activity there has been a great deal of rivalry among the champions of these communities to determine priority in date but the subject is too complicated to permit me to enter into it at this place

Comparatively little is known of the activity of the craft prior to the Revolutionary War but it would appear that The Lodges were social in character in it has been proved by our historians that much of the passion for Independence was generated among Masonic lodges as in The Lodges that met in the

Green Dragon Tavern at Boston where the Boston Tea Party was planned and from which it is supposed it was executed Dr Joseph Warren was a member of a lodge which met in that Tavern the most important event in the Freemasonry of those days was the initiation of

George Washington who was made a mason in Fredericksburg lodge number four in Fredericksburg Virginia on the 4th of November 1752 later in life he became the first master of what is now known as Washington Alexandria Lodge Alexandria Virginia hundreds of other Patriots and military leaders became members of The

Craft and they with their lodges carried on so much patriotic activity during the war that it is almost not an exaggeration to say that the revolution would not have been won by the Patriots had it not been for Freemasonry the spirit and principles of Freemasonry had been written into the Declaration of

Independence and they were also embodied in the Constitution which became the organic law of the new Republic as a result of the prestige it gained for itself in Revolutionary times the craft flourished exceedingly some of our historians believe that it flourished more than was good for itself because its influence

Became a temptation to politicians to enter its ranks some of them in order to further their own aims owing to this fact and owing also to the general Revival of a type of religion that condemns secret societies there grew up a sentiment opposed to the fraternity this finally culminated in The anti-masonic

Craze anti-masonry as a definite movement sprang into existence in 1826 with the mysterious disappearance of William Morgan a printer of bavia New York who undertook to print an expose of the Masonic work what became of Morgan has never been ascertained AED but enemies of The Craft immediately fastened responsibility for the man’s

Murder or abduction upon the local Masonic Lodge in a shorttime scheming politicians among whom thurow weed was a leader fan the flames in their own interest and soon an antimonic political party came into existence a number of religious denominations joined hands with the politicians in a determined effort to destroy

Freemasonry for a few years it looked as if they might succeed hundreds of lodges went out of existence several Grand lodges suspended activities were surrendered their Charters there came a time when men had to be masons in secret or else in many communities were obliged to suffer

Obloquy because of bearing that name a typical example of the disastrous ravages of the antimonic furor is furnished by the experience of the Grand Lodge of New York the proceedings of that Grand Lodge for 1860 contain a paragraph that presents in the most Vivid manner the extent of the Havoc at

The commencement of the present Century there were 91 lodges with a membership of about 5,000 in a population of 588,398 with a membership of 8,600 in a population of 96188 in 1820 there were 295 lodges numbered to 128 and a membership of 15,000 in a population of 1,312

1812 this decade witnessed the tornado anti-masonry which swept over the states so that in 1830 the number of lodges which in 1825 had run up to 480 with a membership of over 20,000 was but 82 and a reliable membership scarcely exceeding 3,000 in a population of 1,918

131 in 1840 the institution began to exhibit symptoms of resuscitation and Brethren awakened from the blight and persecution of the 10 preceding years as from a terrible dream the number of lodges then was 79 to 22 in New York and 27 in 14 counties west of the Hudson

River with but about 5,000 members in a population of 2, 24289 21 the increase was slow but steady to the year 1850 when there were 172 lodges in the three grand lodges then existing with about 12,000 members and the population of the state then was 3,97

304 at the present time 1860 there are 432 working lodges numbered to 477 and a membership of 30,000 and the population is computed at about 4 million it will thus be seen that the ratio was in 1800 1 to every 117 inhabitants in 1810 1 to

111 in 1820 1 to 91 1825 1 to 80 1830 1 to 637 1840 1 to 485 1850 1 to 258 and in 1860 1 to 133 and it should be borne in mind that there are computed to be in the state 5,000 unaffiliated Masons who are

Recognized as such making the ratio now to be one to every 114 inhabitants a state of prosperity fully equaling that of the best days of the fraternity no sooner was the anti-masonic movement abetted then the civil war came on and cut the fraternity in two in the same way that it divided

The nation Grand lodges were among the most vigorous agencies on both sides of the Mason and Dixon’s line to stem the ti of blood and after the conflict had come brethren in both camps displayed many remarkable examples of fraternalism but even so The internes Strife was almost as disastrous in its

Own way as the anti-masonic movement had been bitterness and jealousy were engendered and all manner of sexal feelings aroused after the Civil War the fraternity entered a new phase altogether different in many respects from what it had ever been before it became more secret than ever almost Secret

In fact so that Masons jealously guarded from public knowledge even their most perfunctory activities to a large extent lodges fell under the control of the older men masonry became interpreted as a moral and religious institution so that Grand Lodge proceedings of that period read like The minutes of church

Conventions in many quarters the ritual became accepted as literal history and many of the most influential Masons began to believe that that history incredible and unknown to historians was Freemasonry secret we are now 1923 entering a new era in which it is very evident that Freemasonry is undergoing another profound inward

Transformation one of the evidences of this is found in the fact that the average age of members has become less and less so that Freemasonry may be said to be almost a young man’s institution accompanying this has been a growth so phenomenal that many of the older heads have looked with some alarm

Upon it in 1920 there were in the United States 2, 4276 Master Masons 55168 Royal Arch Masons 173,880 Mark Masons and such as the great structure in Detroit of such magnificent proportions as to attract the attention of the world along with this growth there has come a new

Spirit of Enterprise and activity like the churches Masonic lodges have become possessed of a social conscience and Masons feel that the Magnificent power generated in such a fraternity should be harnessed up to the work of the world this new life has already made itself felt inside Masonic Circles by the

Organization of a great number of new auxiliary bodies some of which have already become National forces nor has the mind of masonry been asleep during this time there was a time when Masonic scholarship belonged to a school of thought long outgrown in other circles so that the carelessness and

Gullibility of masonic writers had become almost proverbial but in the beginning of the last quarter of the 19th century a new movement began to make itself felt in this country its leaders were Albert Pike Dr Albert Mackey Henry Josiah Drummond Theodore Sutton Parvin and their colleagues this intellectual Renaissance

Appeared with greater power in England which may still justly claim to be the motherland of masonic scholarship in our 886 the lodge quatu Corona was established in order to become an Academy of masonic Scholars every member of which had to qualify himself in general scholarship as well

As in Masonic studies the quatu coronad lodge has flourished beyond the most sanguin expectation of its Founders and in the last 36 years has made a record that will probably set the standards of masonic research for generations to come its transactions called ours quat Kuran torum have grown to be a great

Encyclopedia of all matters pertaining to the craft and absolutely indispensable to every serious Masonic student the end of all this growth is not yet and no man can see what it is going to be perhaps it will never have an end perhaps the fraternity will grow

From power to power until it has become a great public institution standing in the midst of the world to teach the human race how good and blessed a thing it is for Brethren to dwell together in unity Freemasonry is in its very nature profoundly religious but it is not a

Church for though it is friendly to all churches that preach the fatherhood of God the Brotherhood of Man and the immortality of the Soul it teaches no theological dogmas of its own it is not a political organization whatever enemies May allege though it is vitally interested in the public life of the

Land and never sleeps in its efforts to keep American governmental life as pure as possible it preaches no program or reform but nevertheless lends itself to every effort made to lift the burdens of life from the common people and it everm more holds before its membership the

High ideals of service and of mutual helpfulness it is a great body of picked men who are bound together by sacred and serious obligations to assist each other by means of eternity and through the teaching instrumentalities of ritual to build in each man and in society at

Large a communal life which is not inadequately described as a holy Temple of human Souls such in brief is the story of Freemasonry what a story it is it began in a far for time in a few tiny rivulets of Brotherly effort these united into a current that swept with Healing Waters

Across the Pagan centuries many tributaries augmented it stream during the Middle Ages and in modern times it has become a mighty river which sweeps on irresistibly and now if I may venture to change the figure its Halls are homes of light and life therein men may learn how

To live the life that is life indeed well may one unclasp his shoes and uncover his head as he enters a masonic lodge a symbolism white with an unutterable age is there and voices eloquent with an old old music and a wisdom drawn from the thought and travail of a thousand

Generations part one the first step chapter 1 an introduction to the first step I in the days before 1717 when the first Grand Lodge of modern speculative Freemasonry was organized the first degree it was called the apprentices part then must have been a less elaborate ceremony than it is now

In Scotland one Mason could and often did make another merely by communicating that Mason’s word what it was we do not know now in England the ceremony was richer than this but even so was doubtless very bald as compared with the work as we of the 20th century have come

To know it there are many scholars who believe that the old Freemasonry of Ireland was more complete than that of England by this fact they helped to explain the famous so-called Schism and which was healed over in 1813 but even if it was it could not have compared with the ritual of today

Which has grown to such proportions as would require a man years of study in order to master its history and meaning it appears that the great Revival of Freemasonry which occurred in 1717 and out of which grew the first Grand Lodge mentioned above was in reality a very complete reorganization of

Freemasonry though it may well be that no such radical changes were made as some of our more extreme Scholars have believed the fraternity prior to that date had become very much demoralized and divided lodges had lost touch with each other and many Masons had no understanding at all of the meaning of

The ceremonies they performed after the fraternity began to make a new start a center was established about which Masons could rally and to which they could all furnish their own traditions and Records in consequence of this it seems that the ritual grew with such rapidity that

After a few years it became necessary to fabricate more degrees what had been the first was divided into the new first and the new second what had been the third was continued as such though much Amplified this division was completed by 1738 since which time and by the

Addition of Preston’s lectures Etc the Machinery of the degrees has reached its present Perfection two it is impossible to know exactly how the candidate was given the apprentices part in the old days when Freemasons were still operatives engaged in the construction of actual buildings but many hints have

Been left us embedded in the old charges as the ancient manuscript constitutions and traditions are usually called e l Hawkins who edited a well-known Encyclopedia of Freemasonry collated all these references and out of them composed a mosaic picture of the oldtime ceremony the meeting was opened with prayer the legendary history of The

Craft was then read then the candidate was led forward and instructed to place his hand on the volume of the sacred law which was held by one of the the seniors while the Articles binding on all Masons alike were read at the conclusion of which a brief obligation was imposed

Upon the candidate all present joining in it then followed the special charges for an apprentice concluding with a longer obligation by which the candidate specially bound himself to secrecy with regard to what was about to be communicated to him then the secrets whatever they were modes of recognition

Were entrusted to him and the proceed ings terminated before receiving the first degree the youth was obliged to prove himself well- qualified of lawful age Freeborn sound in mind and limb of clean habits and in good repute at the same time he was compelled to bind or

Indenture himself to a Master Mason for a term of years usually seven this master set him his tasks taught him the methods of the trade and saw to it that he Faithfully observed the rules and regulations of the order and kept in Violet the secrets of the craft and of

His fellow workmen at first The Apprentice was little more than a servant performing menial tasks but as his skill increased he was given more important duties meanwhile he must be obedient to the master without argument or murmuring respectful to all Freemasons courteous avoiding obscene or uncivil speech free from slander

Dissension or dispute he must not haunt or frequent any Tavern or Ale House or so much is go into them except it be upon an errand of the master or with his consent using neither cards dice or any unlawful game Christmas time accepted he must not steal anything even to the

Value of a penny or suffer it to be done or Shield anyone guilty of theft but report the fact to the master with all speed after seven long years The Apprentice brought his Masterpiece to the lodge or in earlier times to the annual assembly bodies not unlike the

Grand Lodges of today and on strict trial and due examination was declared a master thereupon he ceased to be a pupil and a servant passed into the ranks of fellow crafts and became a free man capable for the first time in his life of earning his living in choosing his

Own employer see the builders by Dr JF Newton page 129 The Apprentice was a Learner in those old days he is a learner still the word itself is found in many languages apprenti in French apprente in Italian lling in German Etc but whatever its form it means at bottom a learner being

A learner he is said to be in the porch and his Apprentice Lodge is said symbolically to be in the porch of King Solomon’s Temple time was when all business was transacted in a lodge on the first degree but now The Apprentice is not considered a full member of a

Lodge and is not entitled to vote to hold office to walk in a funeral procession or to receive Masonic burial though it is true that grand jurisdictions differ somewhat among themselves in these last mentioned details in a symbolical sense The Apprentice may be likened to a human

Embryo about to be born into a new world he does not have power over himself and he does not know anything about the new life upon which he is entering and therefore it is necessary that he follow his guides with implicit and unquestioning obedience for not other wise can he

Advance a step from one end to another accordingly the great note struck in the first degree is obedience and this virtue it is a virtue in all strict senses of the word though many young men of today have grown to dislike that fact is impressed upon his heart by every

Device of symbolism by every art of ceremony in learning any art obedience must come first obedience to the teachers and obedience to the rules the boy who learns to ride a b bicycle must obey the laws of equilibrium with slavish carefulness a girl must abjectly follow

The laws of Music if she would become the Mistress of her piano and so is it in every trade and in every accomplishment for he who would Master an art must begin as a servant of its regulations whether it be molding iron planting corn or writing

Poems this is not the slavery that leads to slavery it is the slavery that leads to freedom for after one has mastered the technique of his art his mind is set loose to work with power If the vice of our day is slip shot work and slovenly

Arted is because our young people are lacking in the patience and in the perseverance to win mastership but the young man who passes through the first degree learns differently the craft causes the great importance and necessity of obedience to bite deeply into his heart and he is

Made to know that no man can ever become a master who scams his work three if obedience must come first in order to master an art or a craft so it is the first of Virtues in that which is the most difficult of all the greater Arts life

Itself this is the truth which the first degree emphasizes above all else if the candidate is to be a builder in the speculative that is in the moral intellectual and spiritual sense building and built upon he must learn to serve the laws of that difficult architecture if he thinks of himself as

A student learning a royal art he must obey the rules of that art if he considers himself a babe passing into birth and into a new world he must Place himself under the laws According to which that life can alone fulfill itself if he pictures himself as a type of the

Natural man if one may thus use the old theological expression in his ignorance his raw untutored condition seeking to live the life of the spirit which rises above ignorance as a temple rises above the crown of a hill above all he must learn to know and to to obey the awful

But benignant statutes of the soul of all the various interpretations they vary as much in value as in theory of the first degree one of the noblest that I have ever discovered is that given by Dr J D buck in an essay published in the New Age Volume 7 page 161 reflect a

Moment on the condition of the candidate on first entering the lodge room he is not only in darkness going he knows not where to meet he knows not what and guided solely by the JD but he Bears The Mark of abject slavery he is spared the shame of nakedness and the pride of

Apparel and his feet are neither shod nor bare he is poor and penniless no external thing to help or recommend him the old life with all its accessories has dropped from him as completely as though he were dead he is to enter on a new life in a new world his intrinsic

Character alone is to determine his progress and his future status if he is worthy and well qualified and duly and truly prepared for this and if he understands and appreciates what follows in symbols ceremonies and instruction the old life in him will be dead forever these eloquent sentences make

Abundantly clear the importance of the first degree which is the drama of Beginnings for though The Apprentice himself is but a babe a beginner a learner not for that reason is the ceremony to be made easy or careless but quite the opposite for it carries within

Itself all the dignity in the mystery of birth therefore should a lodge see to it that the apprentice’s part is conducted with solemnity and with beauty its impressions are the candidates first experience of masonry and they will consequently remain with him the longest and influence him the most chapter 2 the petition for

Membership I the first step toward seeking admission into the membership of a masonic lodge is to to file with the worshipful master of the lodge nearest one’s residence a petition which is a printed form fundamentally the same in all jurisdictions this form sets forth the petitioner’s answers to the usual

Constitutional questions and solemnly asserts that he has not been improperly solicited but that he has sought the portals of the fraternity of his own free will and Accord before this petition can be presented to the lodge which is usually done at the next regular monthly communication or business meeting it must bear the

Signatures of at least two Masons by way of recommendation and then after an interval usually of 1 month is put to the ballot if the prayer for membership is then granted the petitioner is instructed to present himself for initiation if the prayer is denied the fee which has accompanied the petition

Is returned and the petitioner is notified of his rejection in a majority of American jurisdictions by jurisdiction is meant the territory over which a Grand Lodge hold Sway in the United States it is almost always coincident with the political boundaries of a state the man is permitted to enter

Another petition after a certain fixed interval after which second application the procedure is substantially the same as outlined above two the manner and details of making application for membership in a masonic lodge have changed somewhat from country to Country and from Century to Century but for the

Most part the custom has remained the same in fundamentals the points to be noted in the petition are one that the candidate makes application of his own initiative and not after having been solicited two that he holds himself to be in accord with the order’s own teachings concerning the Constitutional

Questions three that he voluntarily and at the beginning places himself entirely under the authority in laws of the fraternity pledging himself the while to a full obedience to the officers as well as to the laws four and that he seeks admittance not for any gain to himself

But out of having heard the good repute of the order these many years in older times it was often permitted a man to shape the wording of his own petition within certain limits one of the most beautiful petitions of this type of which there is any record is that

Presented by the first Great American naval hero John Paul Jones to the lodge of a Bernard kbri Scotland under date of November 27th 1770 see the Builder August 1920 page 221 to the worshipful the master the wardens and permanent Brethren of free and accepted masons of the lodge of ATI Bernard held at

Kbri the petition of John Paul commander of the John of kendle humbly showeth that your petitioner for a considerable time past hath entertained a strong and sincere regard for your most noble honorable an ancient Society of free and accepted masons but hither to not meeting with reasonable opportunity do

Now most humbly crave the benefit of receiving and admitting me into your fraternity as an Entered Apprentice promising assuring and engaging to you that I shall in all rules and Orders of your Lodge be most obsequent and observant the compliance of you right worshipful wardens and rest of the

Brethren will singularly oblige and very much honor right worshipful your most humble petitioner and most humble servant John Paul it is worthy of note in passing and merely as an item of information that brother John Paul afterwards known as John Paul Jones was entered and passed in the St Bernard

Lodge No 122 co- winning Scotland November 27th 1770 and that his petition was endorsed by one brother James Smith as follows I do attest the petitioner to be a good man and a person whom I have no doubt will in due time become a worthy brother three in the days of John

Paul Jones towns and cities were very small as compared with the great Urban centers of our day and Men did little moving about from Community to community so that it was usually the case that nearly all the members of a lodge would be personally acquainted with a petitioner under such conditions it was

Quite easy to determine his Fitness or unfitness with us it is different our country Villages have grown to be towns of 5 to 10,000 population our cities are deemed small if they contain not at least 100,000 persons families live next door to each other without ever becoming acquainted

And men work in the same shop Factory or offices without coming to know each other accordingly it is the rule rather than the exception that a petitioner is not personally known to the members of The Lodge to which he submits his petition and to meet this situation it

Has become the custom for the worshipful master to appoint a committee to investigate into the character and record of the man man if it be true as it undoubtedly is that freemasonry’s future usefulness and present welfare depends upon the quality of membership admitted then it is instantly apparent

That in the whole structure of the order there is not another office of more urgent importance than that of the investigating committee the worshipful master should make it one of the first of his duties to use great caution in naming such a committee and he should follow up his appointment by seeing that

The committee carefully performed their functions as are necessary in the old days of operative masonry the master of the work stood by with a watchful eye to see that no rotten Stone was incorporated into the walls of the edifice over which he was superintendent so should it be today with the

Worshipful master the master of the works in a speculative Lodge in the long run his mastership is judged not by the number of initiations he has given or by the elaborateness of his ceremonials or the amount of money received during his administration but by by the quality of

The members he has permitted to enter Freemasonry during the days of his authority for if ever the walls of Freemasonry go down which God prevent it will be due to no failure in the order itself but to the defective and Illy qualified men who are received within

Its portals many of the larger lodges and in some instances Grand lodges themselves are requiring a petitioner to fill out a questionnaire in which he makes records of all the Salient facts about himself his life and his connection this document duly signed and attested is after it has served its immediate

Purpose with the investigating committee filed in The Archives of the lodge for future reference in some quarters opposition has developed to the questionnaire system why it is difficult to discover because the same conditions that have made an investigating committee necessary operate also to make it good sense to use a

Questionnaire the information therein entered is merely a substitute for the personal knowledge men had of each other in early times when communities were small and men were known to each other moreover modern society has grown very complicated like the vision Ezekiel had of Wheels within wheels and the Masonic

Institution has had to readapt itself to changing conditions so that now a lodge performs functions it did not dream of in older days consider how relief work has been organized and systematized how employment bureaus have been instituted Social Clubs formed and all of that it is immediately apparent that it is

Necessary to have a line on the men who must be adjusted to and controlled by all this complicated Machinery the information contained in a questionnaire has become necessary and how that information is to be obtained and preserved is a mere matter of detail but it is difficult to think of any

Other method more effectual than the printed questionnaire four in the petition which a man presents to a Lodge No statement is more important than that he has not been solicited this question of solicitation why it is an evil and why it must be strictly forbidden is a

Subject which if there were space to go into it with the thoroughness it deserves would let us into some of the inmost truths about Freemasonry because it would help us to see as by a kind of internal illumination something of the very soul of Freemasonry as things are in this book

It is only possible to touch upon one of the most superficial of the many matters that hinge upon it solicitation is an evil when never practiced and utterly condemned by the public opinion as well as by the laws of the fraternity why is this so because solicitation is an injustice to the

Petitioner and a danger to the craft and that for many reasons one or two of which may be suggested solicitation is wrong to a petitioner because at the door of the lodge when he for the first time presents himself there he must solemnly swear that he has not been

Solicited but if he has been solicited how is he truth Yul to make such a solemn declaration see in what an embarrassment the man’s own friends have placed him furthermore those that solicit supposing there are such for the sake of the discussion would usually be the men least qualified to present the nature

And claims of Freemasonry to a man with accuracy and without misleading misinterpretations and the chances are that they would hold out some kind of an appeal in order to win the man over and tell him that he will gain such and such a thing for himself if he will submit

His ition but Freemasonry offers no rewards for membership except itself it does not offer emoluments prestige Fame position commercial advantages or any other such thing and they who so interpret it do it a wrong and mislead the man that is persuaded by such means to seek its doors solicitation is quite

As great a wrong to the order itself for it needs not great numbers but sincere and devoted members and your solicited member and as everyone knows who belongs to a society that encourages solicitation usually assumes the attitude that something is owing to him that the promises that were made of the

Advantages that would acrew must be now fulfilled and consequently he is not useful at all and becomes not a Mason but a mere member which is only so much dead Timber weighing down the craft unless a man is willing to work to endure hardships and to make sacrifices

He should stay outside the order his name and his dues are valueless if they are not accompanied by his willingness ever to serve as a loyal son of Freemasonry it is of his own free will that he comes and that means willingness if it means anything and not otherwise

Will a man progress far in the attainment of the royal art V but suppose a Mason may he interject that I have a friend who would I am certain make a genuine Mason but he knows so little about Freemasonry that he may never become enough interested in it

Voluntarily to to apply this would be a loss to the lodge as well as to himself would it not therefore would it not be proper for me to seek to persuade him to become a Mason this is a fair and honest question and it has been answered often

And often by the wise heads of the order which answer may be put into my own words as follows explain to him as best you are able the principles of Freemasonry acquaint him as much as your obligations will permit with its spirit and its aims give him Masonic literature to read

But do not once directly or indirectly ask him to submit a petition for membership else you will violate your own obligation and make it necessary for him to lie if ever he stands at a lodge door just as one may explain astronomy to a man without urging him to become an

Astronomer so is it lawful to explain masonry to men as is done times without number in publicly circulated books but solicitation is another matter for its aim is not to instruct a man but to persuade him to take a step which he must take if he takes it at all on his

Own initiative a few of our authorities Albert Pike for example have discouraged masons from going even this far and they have argued that masonry’s teachings are masonry’s secret and belong only to the initiated but this surely is carrying the matter too far for masonry has obligations to the world as well as to

Its own membership one might refute Pike’s contention out of his own mouth for no other Mason has ever written more eloquently or to more effect of the social mission of The Craft as when he says masonry cannot in our age forsake the broad ways of life she must walk in

The open Street appear in the crowded square and teach by her Deeds her life more eloquent than any lips Chapter 3 The Ballot I Freemasonry is a social and moral institution that undertakes to build a symbolic Temple of which its members are the living stones in as much as the stability of

The structure depends upon the materials of which it is composed it is obvious that the craft must exercise every precaution lest unfit men weaken its walls to guard against this it makes use of the secret ballot as an instrument of selection because of this most important

Use The Ballot Box May well be described as one writer has phrased it a bullwark of the order it is no exaggeration to say that 90% of the trouble and lack of Harmony in our lodges arises from the improper use of the ballot I believe that this statement is an exaggeration

For I have observed that many troubles have their origin elsewhere but for all that there is much sense in it the ballot is to the order what the Sentinel is to an army what the Tyler is to allod performing as it does a function of such major importance it is natural

That the ballot should be the Storm Center of no end of controversies and arguments one brother has been led to exclaim that the ballot question is the most irritating of all subjects relating to Lodge government and discipline he had in mind the abuses that creep in through the employment of the secret

Unanimous ballot such abuses are evil enough but it is a question whether they would not be as bad or Worse under any other system because it would be manifestly impossible to devise any method for the election of members that would not at some point or other or in

Some hands or other lend itself to misuse two in the great majority of American jurisdictions a petition is put to the ballot 1 month after first reading though a few shorten the interval to 2 weeks in less than half the jurisdictions no separate ballot is required for the second and third

Degrees and in almost all jurisdictions a Reb ballot is permitted if only one black ball has been cast it is almost an invariable Rule and a just one that a ballot cannot be reconsidered after the result has been declared in about half the states a rejected petitioner May

Submit another application in 6 months the other states require a year in no case is a member Exempted from voting save in a few jurisdictions where he may be excused by the worshipful master or by vote of the lodge it is almost a landmark in American Freemasonry that no

Petitioner can be accepted for membership save by a unanimous ballot it is at this particular point that many Brethren some of whom have been among the leaders of the craft have directed their fault find because it appears to them that such a usage places altogether too much power into the hands of an

Individual so that if a member feel some personal slight against a petitioner or has had a private quarrel with him such things in no wise militating against the petitioner’s real Fitness for membership it would be unjust that a good man be prevented from Freemasonry because of Such trivial circumstances English lodges have long

Practiced the custom of requiring three black balls and there is much to to be said in favor of that custom others there are who go to the opposite extreme and demand that a petitioner be elected by a majority merely While others go so far as to ask the return of the ancient

Custom of a Viva voi vote my own opinion is that the three black balls rule is a good one for it would appear to steer a middle course between extremes but for all that I am quite contented with the system as it now operates in our land

One may agree with brother J G Gibson see his Masonic problems page 26 when he says that the lodge certainly owes more Masonic consideration to a member than to a petitioner no matter how prosperous popular and prominent the latter may be if a member believes that a certain

Petitioner would be unwelcome to sit with him in Lodge or would prove disagreeable in Masonic Society the member has the first rights in the premises not the petitioner the whole question as to how many black balls should reject is one that must must be decided by experience or

Expediency there are no landmarks to go by no ancient usages to bind the order on the contrary very different rules apply in different countries and in the same country different rules have applied at different times as is the case with England where the three blackball rule is now in force though

There was a time when a unanimous ballot was required French lodges generally require 1/ of the votes cast in order to reject in other countries still the grand governing body sets up a minimum requirement as for example that 1/5 of the ballots are required to reject and then leaves it to each subordinate

Lodged to vary its practices that will inside that sign quanan free there may be room for argument as to how many black balls should be required for rejection but on one matter there would appear to be little ground for dispute I refer to secrecy secrecy of ballot is in keeping

With the genius of the the order as a whole and Dr Albert Mackey was well advised in putting secrecy among his famous 25 landmarks it is true that the use of the secret ballot had not even yet begun in 1720 but it must be remembered that the

Rapid growth of and the many changes in the society since those early years has made secrecy a necessity if voting were done openly from the floor it would often happen that a member having just but private reasons for believing a petitioner unworthy would be driven by the tyranny

Of numbers to vote with the crowd besides a negative oral vote might be reported to a rejected petitioner and bitter and unnecessary feelings be thereby engendered taking it up one side and down the other the present system is as good a method of balloting as can be

Devised it is kind to the petitioner himself it is kind to the voter and it is fair to The Lodge at the time of writing 1923 the fraternity is inundated by petitions never never before in the entire history of the institution has it been so snowed under by applications as

Now one is reminded of the old complaint of Dr stukely that the order ran itself out of breath through the Folly of the members we are now running ourselves out of breath lodges that once were put to it to reach 300 members are now mounting

To 1,000 or 2,000 and in a few cases more still in such great bodies it is becoming necessary to devise new methods for balloting in order to expedite business and in many cases the problem has come before Grand lodges with the result that new ballot legislation hitherto undreamed of has been adopted

It is impossible to go into detail regarding these new usages or to deal with them critically because there are too many experiments now being tried and space does not Avail it would be richly worthwhile for an individual student or for a study club to go into this matter

Thoroughly it would prove a rewarding feel field of research in present day jurisprudence and many other subjects of cognate interest and importance would be meanwhile encountered for the whole ballot system is one that insinuates itself into the very core of Freemasonry four one more word needs to

Be said be careful how you vote if you are a member of a board of directors of a business Corporation and you are balloting on a new member or on the selection of a new cashier or president your ballot means nothing NE necessarily more than that you believe that the

Candidate is not technically qualified your black ball would under no circumstances be considered an insult if you vote against a political candidate it may mean and usually is so considered that you disagree with his policies not that you deem him morally unfit for office but when you vote against a

Petitioner for membership in our fraternity it is a different matter in almost every case and far more serious so far as the man’s reputation is concerned because almost all the requirements of membership in the order are of the moral type you pass upon the man’s character it is unfair to him to

Blackball him on mere hearsay or because you chance to entertain a merely private grudge against him or for any reason less substantial than that he is unfit fundamentally for membership the thing to be decided is not whether the petitioner is prosperous or popular but whether he will make a

True Mason a helpful brother a desirable associate in the lodge room if you have valid reasons for believing that a petitioner would not thus qualify it is your duty to vote against him but you should not vote against him if he be recommended by the committee on Investigation for any lesser

Reasons chapter four worthy and well-qualified I to many Outsiders it may seem that Freemasonry demands too much of a petitioner by way of qualifications as if it were actuated by some exclusive or aristocratic motive Masons themselves occasionally ask that the bars be let down a little but those who know the

Fraternity from the inside and who understand well its purposes are of the opposite opinion many of them and believe that the bars should be put up higher still the fraternity is not a social club an insurance Society or a charitable institution but a body of picked men consecrated to a certain set

Purpose there from it follows that only those who possess the qualifications for such a fellowship and the abilities for such a work should be permitted membership the receiving of unfit candidates for Dooms the temple now building to Future collapse as was the fate of so many buildings erected by the

Old Norman architects in England which went down because they used poor Stone and scamed with the Trel a wise business manager will not employ inefficient help a sensible church will not accept unworthy members for like reasons Freemason must guard well its own portals else it fail of its high Mission which God

Forend in his War and Peace a great work that every Mason should read Tolstoy makes the old mason say the first and foremost aim and chief Foundation of our order upon which it rests and which no human power can destroy is the preservation of a certain mystery and

Its transmission to posterity a mystery which has reached us from the most remote times even from the first man and on which perhaps the fate of the human race depends but since this mystery is of such character that nobody can know it or make use of it who has not been

Prepared by a prolonged and thorough purification of himself not everybody May Hope to come into its possession two the earliest of the old charges or manuscript constitutions is the regius sometimes called after its discover the Hallowell believed to have been written late in the 14th century and to have

Been based on yet older materials it specifies that The Apprentice be of lawful blood I modernize the spelling and have his limbs whole and that the lodge shall no Thief accept lest it would turn the craft to shame it would be of interest to us in this connection

Did space permit to make a careful analysis of the qualifications required by this and other ancient constitutions fortunately they were embodied in substance at least and for the most part in the Constitution published by James Anderson in 1723 this andersonian document one of the most famous of all Masonic

Productions of any kind whatsoever has been employed as a model by nearly all our grand lodges in writing their own constitutions it is important to study carefully the list of qualifications laid down in it they are as follows the persons admitted members of a lodge must

Be good and true men Freeborn and of mature and discreet age no bondmen no women no immoral or scandalous men but of good report three note first in this catalog the disqualifications one dot no bondmen in the earlier days of operative masonry slavery or some form of serfdom was

Common in all countries where masonry flourished in as much as these slaves or surfs were uneducated and had no legal status and were not permitted to move away from their place of bondage they were un fit for membership in such a society as the old Greeks were want to

Say a slave has slave manners such manners could not be tolerated in a masonic lodge two dot no women women were freely admitted to a majority of the old craft Guilds of which says Robert freak Gould not one out of a 100 but recruited their ranks from both

Sexes but to this the Freemason Guild was an exception many tales to the contrary notwithstanding there there is one case on record in which the Widow of an operative Mason was permitted to carry on her husband’s trade but she was given none of the secrets of the craft some

Writers have expressed the opinion writes brother a s McBride in his speculative masonry a most noble work that women were admitted into the old operative lodges but so far they have not Advanced a single proof of their Theory three dot no immoral or scandalous men on this there is no no

Need to make comment a child can see that an immoral man cannot qualify for adeptship in immoral art four note in the next place what qualifications are demanded one dot good and true men how simple yet how profound are these time warn adjectives they are not qualities that

Glitter but they are in their completeness as rare as many that do if it be asked why masonry does not accept bad men in order to make them good if it replies that such is not its function for it has a unique purpose of its own

To carry out and its demands are made with that in view one organization cannot attempt everything the Reformation of men is left to other agencies two dot true men many a Mason has been troubled by the question if I am fit to be a Mason why not also my

Wife Freemasonry had its origin in Guilds of men engaged in erecting buildings a work for which women were not not fitted the Customs laws Traditions regulations and ritual evolved by these men continue to form the core of Freemasonry modern Constitutions are modeled on the ancient constitutions the

Ritual of today is an outline the ritual of many centuries ago our laws are of long standing and so are the usages and Customs inside the tiled Lodge to admit women the entire organization from the Spire to the basement would need to be torn down and built a new and in a

Manner wholly different Freemasons do not object to women as such they object to the revolutionizing changes that would have to be made in the craft in order to admit them the exclusion of women has offered opportunities for the Masonic humorous times without number and often one is happy to remark tempted

Our heaviest writers to a lighter vein why do so many writers make Freemasonry so ferial and so solemn an old French author factiously remarked that the the presence of the sex would distract men from the work of the lodge whilst the old London pocket companion and history of Freemasons 1764 furnished reasons

Which may sometimes be in am Masons mind but which except behind the Tyler he wouldn’t dare Express the ladies claim right to come to our light since the apron they say is their bearing can they subject their will can they keep their tongues still and let talking be changed into hearing

This difficult task is the least we can ask to secure us on Sury occasions when with this they comply our utmost will try to raise lodges for lady Freemasons three dot freeorn after slavery had been abolished in England by Act of parliament the old demand that a candidate be freeorn was

Changed to Free Man in this country and owing to the longer continuance of slavery Freeborn has been longer retained and is still found I believe in several constitutions but now the term is given a more liberal interpretation and is made to mean that the man is not an

Inmate of a penal institution and that his mind is free from enslaving superstitions as we may read in Gibson’s Masonic problem is he free not free in common law only but also free from hostile and absorbing interests of subversive to Masonic influence of this more and on for do of

Mature and discreet age regarding the question of age remarks McBride the old manuscripts do not so far as we have noticed particularize they in some cases use the phrase of full age but nothing beyond that each Lodge in the old days evidently settled this point for itself as the operative custom varied in

England so has the speculative the Grand Lodge regulations made it 25 years in 1721 this was changed to 18 and thus remained until a very recent period it is now 21 though some other countries have clung to 18 under these circumstances McBride comments the practice of obligating a candidate not

To be present at the initiation of anyone under the age of 21 years is most reprehensible it debars him while visiting a lot working under a constitution in which the full age is 18 from remaining during the ceremony of initiation if the candidate is under 21

Years the point is well taken it would be well if Grand lodges were to specify that by full age is meant the minimum age required of a candidate By Any Given Grand Lodge and thus the member of One jurisdiction while visiting in another would not be put to the annoyance described by Brother

McBride and the grand lodic itself could set its own minimum at the age declared legal by the state in which it operates it must be remembered in these premises that a lodge sustains legal relations with a candidate this makes it absolutely necessary that a candidate be

Of legal age V the matter of physical qualifications has long been a storm Center and that for the reason that the doctrine of the perfect youth appears to be a landmark and Masons are obligated to maintain and violate the ancient landmark s since the ancient Builders performed difficult manual labor it is

Easy to understand why they found it necessary to demand of a candidate soundness of limb besides an infirm member was supported usually out of the common chest and that worked a hardship on his fellows accordingly one may read in the regious manuscript it was cast in Poetic

Form as follows to the craft it were great shame to make a halt man and a lame for an imperfect man of such blood should do the craft but little good thus you may know everyone the craft would have a mighty man a maed man he hath no

Might you must it no long air night after the speculative regime came into full blast in England these physical qualifications were greatly modified so that we find lodges initiating the blind deaf and dumb and persons otherwise defective or maimed in this land land on the contrary a majority of the

Jurisdiction still cling to the ancient doctrine of the perfect youth for what reason it is difficult to understand seeing that what was so necessary in operative days is no longer needed in a symbolic craft which requires of its members work with head and heart rather than with hands and feet it would be

Better for us as brother Lewis block PGM of Iowa once exclaimed to admit a man with a wooden leg than with a wooden head it would be quite easy to fill a book with quotations from eminent Masonic leaders and from Grand lodges which have argued in behalf of a

Modification of the ancient rule three such quotations will suffice as being typical in 1875 the board of general purposes of the Grand Lodge of England issued a circular in which the writer said I am directed to say that the general rule in this country is to consider a candidate eligible for

Election who although not perfect in limbs is sufficiently so to go through through the various ceremonies it was left to the Masters and members of subordinate lodges to determine whether the candidate was thus able Dar George Oliver who was once the mightiest influence in Masonic literature and whose influence is still

Felt everywhere and who was always conservative writes to this effect in his treasury it would indeed be a solic ISM in terms to contend that a loss or partial deprivation of a physical organ of the body could by any possibility dis qualify a man from studying The

Sciences or being made a Mason in our own times while in possession of sound judgment and the healthy exercise of his intellectual Powers the veteran Masonic scholar of Iowa Theodore Sutton Parvin was of similar opinion as when he contended that it is the sole right of

Each and every Lodge to act upon these qualifications even as it is universally conceded that they are the sole judges of the moral qualifications of all candidates six such other qualifications as are required will receive consideration in later connections there remains here only to remark that perhaps after all

The chief essential qualification in any candidate is a right motive that is a full and sincere inward determination to take Freemasonry seriously the vast increase of late years wrote brother WJ hugan one of the Giants of modern Masonic scholarship both of lodges and members calls for renewed vigilance and

Extra Care in selecting candidates that numbers may not be a source of weakness instead of strength the man who enters out of mere curiosity or to gain social standing or business advantages the watch fob Mason he is the real Cowen and a subtle source of weakness inside the

Body of The Craft which will surely sap the life from the fraternity if we do not have a care chapter 5 the hoodwink I where were you prepared the answer made to that question opens for our vision away into one of the secrets of Freemasonry we must prepare ourselves in

Order to receive any teaching whatsoever for we see only as Gerda has expressed it that which we carry in our hearts for this reason many of the ancient Mysteries insisted on a long period of preparation as do many churches today for the same reason the Masonic Lodge

Should see to it that the candidate is as fully prepared in mind as he is in body before he is given admittance to the door in some parts of Europe I have been told an experienced Master Mason is appointed sponsor or Godfather to a candidate and Lodges of instruction are

Held in which the petitioner is taught something of the history and principles of the order surely this is a wise custom many a man you yourself perhaps were one as was I has stepped into the first degree without the slightest inkling of what it was all about with

The consequence that he has been too bewildered to know whether to laugh or to cry and how often it happens that a candidate passes from one degree to another as rapidly as he can learn the lectures moving all the while in too great haste to comprehend the simplest

Rudiments of the great ideas and teachings that are dramatically presented to him moment after moment to be prepared in the heart means that within one’s own mind and feelings he is experiencing the meaning of that which he does and sees if a candidate is hustled along too rapidly to be able to

Have any such understanding of the degrees how can it be said that he is duly and truly prepared to be a Master Mason the ritual itself is wise in these connections because it recognizes the fact that a man must be prepared in the heart as well as in the preparation room

Except a man’s mood be right except his will be in the appropriate attitude except he act from True motives and in a reverent prayerful frame of mind the work will be to him as meaningless as an old wife’s taale it is necessary that every Lodge arranged to prepare the candidate’s Mind by previous

Instruction and it is equally necessary that it build about the preparation room a wall of secrecy and sanctity in order to ward off the Gest or careless word that may lead a candidate to approach the door in light or flippant mood two being in Masonic ignorance a Seeker

After light and a representative of the natural untaught man it is fitting that the candidate be made to walk in darkness by wearing the Hoodwink which macki has well described as a symbol of secrecy silence darkness in which the mysteries of our art should be preserved from The unhallowed Gaze of the profane

The use of the blindfold goes far back among secret societies even to the ancient mysteries in which the candidate was usually made to enter the sanctuary with eyes covered the katari whom innocent theii tried so hard to annihilate and who were a bottom Christian Mystics were accustomed to

Call those seeking initiation into their Mysteries Hoodwinked slaves implying that the eyes of the Soul were still blind in ignorance and lust our own use of the device is in harmony with these old customs and ideas the purpose of the Hoodwink is not to conceal something from the candidate

For it has another significance it symbolizes the fact that the candidate is yet in darkness like the Babe lying in its mother’s womb being in dark the candidate is expected to prepare his inmost mind for those Revelations that will be made to him after the Hoodwink is removed

Three I have used the word revelations advisedly in this connection because the entire symbolism of the Hoodwink is a beautiful and Pregnant suggestion of the methods of Revelation and of the part played by it in the larger life of man literally signifying and unveiling Revelation carries within itself the

Meaning of something that is hidden behind a veil and of of the removing of the veil if one stands before a blinded window a great sweep of the Sierra Madres May stretch before him but he will not see them any more than if they were not there but the moment the blind

Is lifted the mountains appear lifting their Eternal sheaves of snow and The Apparition is like a piece of magic as though they had been suddenly created the lifting of the blind that is revelation whether in religion science art or in Freemasonry in the volume of the sacred

Law we read of Jesus that he brought life and immortality to light these words do not mean that Jesus brought life and immortality into existence as though before him they were not the true life had been knocking at the hearts of men from the beginning and immortality had always awaited them beyond the

Narrow house Jesus was among the first to Open the Eyes of men to see these realities men had always been Brothers God had always been the all father love had always been the law of the world and Purity the law of the heart it was the

Great mission of Jesus to be one of the way Showers of men who could lift from their eyes the Hoodwink of unseeing he was an unveil and therefore a revealer it is ever thus with Revelation gravitation existed before the first man came to be but it was not

Until Sir Isaac Newton came that men saw this thing that had been about them always he lifted the Blind and Men saw gravitation the sight material universe is from eternity but nobody saw it until Copernicus after gazing at the stars from his narrow cell for many years

Uncovered the Majesty in meaning of the heavens steam had always been at work along with fire and water like an unknown Genie but it took an Isaac what to discover discover means to uncover and is very similar to reveal its presence and so it ever is reality is

More wonderful than gravity steam or stars are perhaps playing about or within us all the while but we wearing the hoodwinks of ignorance are blind to the great presences the Prophet The Leader the mighty teacher of the race is one who born into blindness as are we all

Somehow has been able to get the Hood wik from his eyes and is then able to cause us to see he does not create he confers the power of vision four it is in the sense thus explained that we may describe Freemasonry as standing among men to reveal to them the raal

Brotherhood lived in the bonds of eternal life it has created neither Brotherhood or eternal life for these have always been facts it reveals them to its adepts and thus enables them to Avail themselves of the powers and privileges thereof Brotherhood is a reality it is a law of the race but

There are many alas too many who have not discovered that fact they are like those who lived in the days before what learned to harness steam Steam was about them but they made no use of it so with the uninitiated using that word in a very deep sense Brotherhood is at their

Side but they do not see it and therefore can make no use of it when masonry comes into them it is not that Brotherhood has for the first time been created but that for the first time the man is made to see it and to Avail

Himself of it the Kingdom of Heaven may be defined as mankind living happily together the one way in which mankind can live happily together is through the use of Brotherhood this was true when the first Savages ran naked about the forest some of them perhaps eating each other it was

True then but the Primitive folk could not discover or see it just as electricity was about them without their knowing of it but know it or not Brotherhood was the fixed law of human Association and they progressed toward harmony with each other only in so far as they learned to discover and to

Practice Brotherhood and so is it today it is not Brotherhood that is in question but ourselves Brotherhood is a law a reality like gravitation it is in proportion as we recognize and make use of it that we progress until we learn and practice it we shall be unhappy in our living one

With another for happiness is impossible where Brotherhood is not Freemasonry does not exist in a world where Brotherhood is a mere dream flying along the sky it exists in a world of which Brotherhood is the law of human life its function is not to bring Brotherhood into existence just as a hot house

Gardener May at last coax into bloom a frail flower though the climate is most unfriendly but to lead men to understand that Brotherhood is already a reality a law and that it is not until we come to know it as such and practice it that we can ever find happiness together

Freemasonry does not create something too fine and good for this rough World it reveals something that is as much a part of the world as roughness itself in other words it removes the Hoodwink of jealousy hatred unkindness and all the other Myriad forms of unbr liness in

Order that a man may see and thus come to know how good and pleasant a thing it is for Brethren to dwell together in unity the Hoodwink of cloth or leather that is bound over a man’s eyes is not the real Hoodwink at all but only the

Symbol thereof the real Hoodwink and it is that which Freemasonry undertakes to remove from a man’s eyes is all that antisocial and unhuman spirit out of which grow the things that make life unkind and unhappy Brotherhood is heaven the lack of Brotherhood is Hell chapter 6 the

Cable toe I the cowboy who lassos a pony and the laplander who throws a noose about the neck of a reindeer are making use of a device for fettering and controlling animals that was discovered by man long before the beginnings of History because of the many uses to

Which he put the Rope or noose and because it was a natural thing for his imagination to play about simple everyday implements and experiences man early made a symbol of the Noose it may be that the emblematic use of the Rope could be traced to yet other sources but

That given is reasonable enough and may stand in our mind for a suggestion of the manner in which symbols and emblems often come into existence the candidate in a number of the ancient Mysteries was led into the place of initiation at the end of a rope Brahman and dervishes continue to make a

Similar use of it at the present time in every such case The Noose rope or cable toe has been used to signify control obedience and Direction C rat Kuran torum volume 1 page 264 Hereafter in referring to these familiar volumes which contain the published transactions of a great lodge

Of masonic research of London England I shall use the well-known initials aqc this symbol as every candidate has learned is used in Masonic ceremonies when by whom and in what Manner it was introduced there is still an open question though our Scholars have searched far and wide to discover

Its use may have been borrowed from earlier fraternities or it may have been inherited from the operative lodges who may have used it for the purely practical purpose of maintaining bodily control of the candidate the latter supposition receives a certain amount of support from the fact that English log

Is still give the cable toe a non-s symbolical function and then in the first degree only and there are echoes of such a meaning in the first degree as practiced here in the United States two macki defines a cable toe as a rope or line for drawing or leading and suggests

That it may have been derived from the German calow which has that significance macki adds that the word is purely Masonic but this is not quite true because it is found in a standard dictionary of 19 13 and they’re defined as a rope or line for drawing or leading

In Freemasonry symbolizing in the second and third degrees the Covenant by which Masons are bound this last named point is inaccurate as the reader will have instantly noted because the cable toe is used in the first as well as the other two degrees this is one more example of the

Waffle ignorance of Freemasonry displayed by profane editors of encyclopedias and dictionaries and reminds one how careful a student should be to make sure of the authenticity of his sources of information Albert Pike traced the word back to the Hebrew cabel which meant variously a rope attached to an anchor

And to bind as with a pledge JT Lawrence Finds Its origin in two languages cable a Dutch word signifying a great rope which being fastened to the anchor holds the ship fast when she rides toe he believes to be a Saxon word which means to hail or Draw and is is

Applied matically to draw a barge or ship along the water three what does this symbol mean many have contended Albert Pike among them that the cable toe is nothing more than a device for the bodily control of the candidate but this interpretation is not borne out by

The second and third degrees in both of which it carries an undeniably symbolical meaning others see in it an emblem of the natural untaught man’s bondage to ignorance and lust which bondage it is the mission of masonry to remove of such an opinion is Arthur Edward Wade seeing in the Rope a

Suggestion of the cord that binds The Unborn babe or the Babe newly born to its mother’s body finds in the symbol a representation of the gross Earthly ties that hold unregenerate men to their appetites and passions in view of the fact that the symbolism of rebirth runs through the ritual this interpretation

Is not at all far-fetched Peyton finds in a cable toe of a simple and natural tie which unites the fraternity Lauren sees it as the Mystic tie binding the initiate to God to the order and to righteousness a tie which both binds and draws and which holds a man fast lest he

Drift like a ship at Sea churchward who loves to go far a field traces the symbol back to ancient Egypt where he believed himself to have discovered so many Masonic origins in whose Mysteries some of them the candidate wore a chain about the neck to signify their belief

In God and their dependence on him see his signs and symbols of primordial man others have believed that the cable toe is the symbol of all bad obediences obedience to lust to Passion selfishness worldliness Etc and consequently must be removed from the emancipated finder of the light others have found in it the

Opposite symbol of all good obediences the ties That Bind a man to his fellows to laws to duty and to ideals the variety of these interpretations tends to confuse one especially a beginner in symbolism who is tempted to believe that where so many meanings are found there cannot be any

Meaning at all it must be remembered that a symbol by its very nature says many things at once things often the most diverse a function which is not the least of its many advantages almost all great and simple words love patriotism friendship immortality God Etc are similarly

Prolific of meanings and so are symbols or symbolical actions in everyday use such as a flag the wave of a hand or the Tipping of one’s hat four to my own mind the candidate is as a child struggling for release from narrow environments and external restraints in order to enter

Into the larger life of Liberty and self-direction the cable toe about his NE symbolizes all those external checks and restraints such as conventionality fear of the world fear of the adverse opinions or displeasure of men and of the control of teachers and parents on which a child naturally depends but

Which must be thrown off when one has reached full responsibility as a man of mature age the removal of the new symbolizes the attainment of inward light judgment and the power of self-direction in other words real manhood which has its Center and support in an inward power that is stronger than

Any pressure from without Dar Buck whom I have already quoted I am not in agreement with him in his interpretation of masonry as a whole has given us in words of admirable Simplicity and Noble exposition of the true significance of this symbol he the candidate is restrained now after the removal of the

Cable toe by the voluntary obligations taken all of which indicate the necessity of constant vigilance and self-control in place of the former command Thou shalt not comes the voluntary pledge I will the result is to replace outer constraint by inward restraint without annulling or altering a single moral precept the slave who

Formerly obeyed a master through fear now voluntarily serves a master through love the difference is that between a bondman and a Freeman and the result to the candidate can hardly be put in words when it is once realized New Age Volume 7 page 159 the hely Practical truth and

Usefulness of all this inter ration may be made instantly discernible by a simple example in human society in general law written or Unwritten is the cable toe that holds fast every man the good man cannot escape from it any more than a bad man and He Who Walks about

His own yard a free and respectable citizen is quite as much held fast by the law as he who sits sullenly in a prison cell denied the right of seeing the Sun or of walking upon the grass but while these two men are equally held by

Law the manner in which law holds them is as different as day is from night for whereas the prisoner is held by it against his own will the free man obeys it of his own choice the hope of the world depends upon those who have the

Law in their inward parts and keep it because they love order and security men and women who must be forced to keep order are a source of social unhappiness it is impossible to have a policeman at every man’s elbow a wise and good citizen is one who inwardly

Understands why law is necessary and what law is and gives it a voluntary obedience so that nobody needs to stand by to force compulsion moreover such a man has learned that freedom is nothing other than the Inward and voluntary obedience glad obedience to wise and just laws

People of a low order must be held fast by external force in proportion as men and women become Advanced external Force becomes increasingly unnecessary so that in in a truly civilized State order rests on the inward character of men The Savage has the Rope about his neck the

Civilized man has it in his heart it is not a question of tie or no tie but of what kind of a tie it is that holds a man to his fellows to the state and to his duty v as to the meaning of the expression length of my cable toe it is

Somewhat difficult to speak owing to the great variety of interpretations that have been offered a few of the more typical examples of which may be here given Pike sees in it the scope and intent and spirit of one’s pledge brother Reverend F the P Castello writing on the geometry of Freemasonry

Authors large transactions volume I page 286 says the cable’s length has always been understood to be one of 720 ft which is twice 360 the measure of the circle making one Circle to stand for the spiritual in man and the other for the material he believes

The length of my cable toe to mean that I will go as far in assisting my brethren as my moral principles and my material condition will permit in macky’s encyclopedia we may read the old writers Define the length of a cable toe which they sometimes call the cable’s

Length to be 3 Mi for an Entered Apprentice but the expression is really symbolic and as defined by the Baltimore Convention in 1842 a notable Masonic Gathering means the scope of a man’s reasonable ability with the Baltimore Convention one may very well agree chapter 7 The Lodge I qualified in always necessary in

Prepared in Body Mind the candidate approaches the lodge the symbolic significance of which may now claim our attention the term itself has been traced back to early Languages by word scientists one m Sonic writer Pearson traditions of Freemasonry asserts that its most ancient form was the Sanskrit

Loga which had the meaning of world other writers find different Origins for it too many to be cataloged here especially since the philology of masonic words and names does not come within the range of this study the reader curious of such matters will find an overwhelming abundance in the new

English dictionary and similar works of reference the definitions of the word Lodge are as numerous and almost as diverse as its derivations it is found to mean a Hut or Cottage the cavity at the bottom of a mining shaft a Miner’s cabin a collection of objects such as a lodge of

Islands a small house in a forest any covered place or shelter a bird’s nest even but among Masons it has been used to signify the organized body of Masons or the room in which that body meets in 18th century English masonry it was used also to describe a piece of f Furniture

Similar to The Ark when first found among the records of the operative Masons it meant the building usually temporary and often little more than a shed which served as General headquarters for the craft being at the same time a meeting place a banquet room the office of the superintendent and a

Storehouse for tools and materials occasionally it may have served for a sleeping place as well as time went on the name of the building came gradually to signify the body of men using it and thus arose our custom of speaking of the fraternity itself as

A lodge two but over and above all this the lodge is used by the ritual as a symbol the chief perhaps among all our symbols and as such it is understood as a mystical representation of the world this use of it is more ancient than the

Others for it connects up with ideas and customs of the early world the peoples of antiquity who believed so thoroughly that power could be gained by imitating nature and the gods built their temples and the sanctuaries of their secret societies as Miniatures of the earth which they of course believed to be an

Oblong Square Professor breasted who writes so fascinatingly of the Egyptians says that the rich of Old Egypt would even build their hes Earth shape the floors made to represent Plains and seas the ceiling painted in Imitation of the sky this custom was of Great Value to

The men of that day for it threw something of the Majesty of the universe and the sanctity of Heaven about their daily tasks and their habits of worship all the most ancient temples were intended to symbolize the universe writes Albert Pike which itself was habitually called the temple and

Habitation of deity every Temple was the world in miniature and so the world was one grand Temple whether or not we stand in direct historical connection with this old custom we cannot know but the fact remains that our lodge like the Egyptian temple is a symbol of the

Universe and only when it is thus interpreted can we understand its characteristics at all its form is ideally a double cube of old considered the symbol of deity and now understood as containing the rough ashler of The Apprentice and the perfect ashler of the master this form includes the heaven

Above in its height and the Earth beneath in its being an oblong Square its situation is on the highest hills and the lowest valleys because it includes men of all ranks in its membership in position it lies east and west its lengthen the path of the sun its portals

In the West in order that the member may enter facing the East the place of light hope and Power in dimension it extends east and west and north and south to signify its universality it is supported on the three pillars of wisdom strength and beauty because these are the foundations

Of noble life and its covering is the Cloudy canopy of the heavens which is connected with the Earth by The Mystic ladder of faith hope and charity its furniture its ornaments and its Jewels are flooded with a light that shines through the windows of the East the

South and the west and an allseeing eye keeps watch above it all what a world is this into which the candidate is born a visible representation of those invisible truths and spiritual realities in which the pure of Soul alone can live three in this symbolic World preserved

In law order as the real universe is an otherwise discordant number of men become organized into a harmonious body each member performing his appropriate function and all cooperating in harmony through this cooperation the influence of the individual is Multiplied many times over and what these men could not do separately they easily accomplished

Through United effort the member who finds the Eternal varities growing dim from absorption in the Heat and burden of his daily task has them made real to him again as he sits in this Sanctuary surrounded on all sides by the impressive symbols of God of Truth and of

Immortality truly the body of men thus living and working becomes itself an eloquent Prophecy of the far-off coming of the universal Brotherhood and stands in the midst of a Waring Humanity as an Earnest of the good time coming when the engines of War and the Implements of all contention will be laid aside

Forever God hath made mankind one vast Brotherhood himself master and the world his lodge chapter 8 the entrance I bearing in mind all this manifold significance of the lodge and all that is implied by membership therein we can understand that entrance into its precincts is a step having

Something of the importance and the Dignity of birth accordingly the candidate is placed in the care of trusty friends who will see that he is duly prepared and he is given necessary instructions by one of the officers of the craft who is careful to ascertain Ain that he comes with no unworthy

Motive when he steps inside the door and enters for the first time into a tiled Masonic Lodge he may well feel a certain awe or even tremble a bit with apprehension for he is about to participate in a right and to stand in the presence of symbols over which

Hovers the awful impressiveness of centuries the badges of rank the tokens of Distinction the customary of the world the manifold ties of the temporal and external order now stand him in no stad and he is thrown back on the resources of his own naked and essential

Humanity the will to do the mind to know the heart to love the imagination to conceive these and these only can serve as the materials out of which his own Masonic temple can be built if he must knock for entrance into this world it is to remind him that everywhere and always

He must knock for entrance into any of the great worlds of existence God in his unsearchable wisdom has ordained that except for the involuntary entrance into physical existence every birth comes from our willing to have it so the world of nature the various worlds of literature

Of Science of art of religion lie about man but the doors leading therein never open except a man knock once twice Thrice it is only after the blows of his hammer after his tireless patient study of details that the heavy portals of the Rocks open their secrets to the

Geologist it is only after the student has 100 times s implored in toil and prayer that music can be persuaded to swing back her Ivory wickets of Sweet Sound over the lentil of every realm of great achievement the infinite has carved his irreversible law knock and it

Shall be opened unto you two at the time of his entrance the candidate is given a definition of masonry this definition is beautiful and true as far as it goes and that in the nature of the case cannot be far but we shall be wise to press toward a more

Complete understanding of the matter than the ritual makes possible if such a definition as may be fashioned here Falls far short of its purpose one can Comfort himself by the reflection that the truer and more vital a thing is the less capable is it of definition and that masonry in this

Regard is in the same case as religion or friendship or art in discussing the mission of masonry brother as McBride speculative masonry page 1 defines Mission as the aim and purpose of anything of masonry he writes the word carries with it through all the variants

Known to us the idea of unity to mass a body of men or troops for instance is to bring them into close touch or United action from this view it appears that masonry is the building together of various units such as Stones bricks wood iron or human beings into a compact mass or

Structure speculative masonry he defines as the building morally of humanity into to an organized structure according to a design of plan of similar purpose is the definition given by Thomas Green true speculative masonry teaches a man by the industrious application of the principles of Eternal truth and right to

The untaught material of humanity to shape its thoughts and actions so as to erect from it a spiritual building on sure foundations with intelligence and purpose and admirable to contemplate the Royal Arch lectures give the definition a religious term the glory of God is the grand object of our

Mysteries Dr J D Buck who interpreted masonry from the mystical point of view states that masonry is really a school of instruction and preparation for the most profound wisdom ever open to man AE wait another Mystic albeit of a different School says that masonry in its proper understanding is a summary of

The quest after that which is divine in connection with the these it will be well to carry in mind the time- tried definition long accepted by the craft masonry is a beautiful system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols these several definitions are all acceptable in their way as would be

Many others that might be cited for myself I have long thought of the Masonic life being in one of its principal aspects a quest for that which is divine in the universe and in the human soul this purpose is expressed it seems to me in all all our symbols now

In subdued Whispers and again in eloquent ringing voices and because our ceremonies represent the combination of at least three streams of symbolism it would be possible to set this purpose forth from as many points of view three if we study the matter from the point of view of the

Architectural symbolism we may say that masonry is the attempt to release in US those materials of our nature which are most Divine and to build them into a temple fit for the indwelling deity and that in turn the individual is to be used as a living Building Stone in

That larger Temple of human Brotherhood which is now building sometimes in the day and often in the night among the children of men there is also in our ritual a stream of symbolism representing the Mason as on a quest after that which is lost this may be

Understood as a secret once in our possession but now escaped or it may be known as the ultimate truth goodness and beauty which lie behind the veils of time and sense of this latter significance of the quest brother McBride has given us an illustration of rare appropriateness there is an ancient

Gaelic poem called the poem of trael part of which describes a mother playing a harp to her children and which translated runs thus two children with their Fair locks rise at her knee they bend their ears above the harp as she touches with white hands the trembling

Strings she stops they they take the harp themselves but cannot find the cord they admired why they ask does it not answer us show us the strings where dwells the song she bids them search for it until she returns their little fingers wander among the wires and so with the children

Of men their fingers wander among the wires of the harp of Life they say show us the string where dwells the song we search for the Lost song the lost Harmony of the Soul again we have in our ritual a symbolism that hints of a death

And a rising again to life let this not be understood as a rising up after the death of the body the raising is done in the present it signifies that there is in each of us here and now that which is truly Eternal that which the old Christian Mystics called The Divine

Spark in the soul within thyself declares the bagad Gita and truly thou Hast a Sublime friend friend thou knowest not God dwells within all men to this heart subduing truth all the seers have borne witness and all the ancient Mysteries and all religions it is masonry’s Chief Mission

Also to hear that same witness for masonry is I believe a drama of regeneration four let us consider this a moment there is that in a man which serves only his private his physical and his present temporal needs food clothing drink riches these have almost wholly a

Reference to the body and the body’s desires and for that reason are transient only for the flesh posth away and the lust thereof but there is also that in a man which has reference to the needs of his Spirit which craves goodness truth and Beauty for these the

Spirit will be searching long after the body lies a heap of dust within its narrow house will be searching and finding in all the worlds and in all the eternities it is The Misfortune of the merely natural man of him whom the prophets have called the unregenerate that in his

Life the merely physical the merely temporal are in command it is the great privilege of the newborn man the regenerate that in him the good the true and the Beautiful that is the spiritual have full control so that in the midst of the fleeting days while he walks

Through the Shadows of the earth life and everything about him is steadily Falling Away into Oblivion he is already living the life that shall endless be to teach men The Secret of this present eternal life is I am convinced masonry’s Chief and greatest Mission and I may say

That this interpretation can carry with it the weight of the authority of Albert Pike whose brain was made like a continent and whose Soul towered like a Himalayan range a farther reaching a deeper goinging definition of masonry than the following was never written Freemasonry is the subjugation of the

Human that is is in Man by The Divine the conquest of the appetites and passions by the moral sense and the reason a continual effort struggle and warfare of the spiritual against the material and sensual that Victory when it has been achieved and secured and the Conqueror

May rest upon his shield and wear the well- earned laurels in the true holy Empire chapter N9 the sharp instrument after the candidate has affected his entrance a certain sharp instrument which should never be one of the working tools is applied in a peculiar Manner and a certain hint of

The meaning of this is given as the initiated reader will clearly remember on all this there is no reason to comment save in brief Manner and then only on the meaning given as a fores said this meaning has a special significance to us because it sets forth

The only real penalty that a Mason ever suffers for violating his obligation on obligation C page 110 it is accurate to say that a majority of the attacks on Freemasonry have been occasioned by the penalties which are supposed to be enforced on oath violating members of these penalties it is manifestly impossible

Here to speak though there is much that could be said orally in a tiled Lodge it seems that their present form was derived from the 17th century English treason laws though certain particulars may be elsewhere traced it is certain that we have not inherited them from the

Operative Masons for we have many their OBS in print and a comparison of our own form with theirs is not altogether to our advantage as witness the following passage from McBride’s speculative masonry it seems to us with these OBS before us there is only one course open

To all Masons Desiring the welfare of our ancient institution and that is to insist that a simpler more sensible and consequently more solemn and binding form shall be substituted wherever the corrupt form now prevails the latter has neither the sanction of age of law of Reason nor of good

Taste this it may be emphasized is but a criticism of the form of the penalties I am very sure that neither Brother McBride or any other wise Mason will Advocate the abandoning of penalties else we leave out of our symbolism a symbol of the everywhere present moral law that the wages of sin

Is death truth dies out in the liar Beauty dies out in the vulgar goodness dies out in the wicked and the way of the transgressor is hard would ours be a complete moral science if it ignored this Divine Law built into the spiritual structure of man there is more to be

Said he who violates the laws of an art will lose out of his mind the power of that art The Pianist who occupies himself wholly with tin pan rag time loses the ability to play and even to appreciate real music the author who descends to the diamond dick level of literature

Forfeits his ability to write nobler Pages the architect who scamps and cheats in his building will soon lose the skill of erecting structures that deserve the name of architecture a fact brought out with convincing Power by Robert herck in his great novel The Common lot so is it with him who

Deliberately transgresses the laws of the royal art of Freemasonry the art of noble Brotherhood lived in the bonds of the eternal life its skill and its influence will die out within him as if an instrument of torture had been plunged into his heart chapter 10 invoking the blessing of

Deity I it is of the highest import that in the ceremony of initiation the candidate kneel at the altar of prayer for this is nothing other than a symbol of the fact that allright life inside and outside of the lodge is established in our relationship with God it is of

Further significance that in the early degree he has another to pray for him while at a later time he must pray for himself because this is a recognition of Prayer as an art to be learned gradually as all other Arts are learned brother J T Thorp the veteran English student has

Suggested that The Apprentice prayer has come to us from the old custom of beginning each old charge with an invocation this is a reasonable historical inference but perhaps it does not go deep enough the prayer is in the Masonic ceremony because it must be in the Masonic life and the important Point

Here is not how we came to pray but why we do pray and the reason we do pray is that we cannot help it man is a Praying creature because of the way he is made and not all the arguments of the naturalist or all the sophistries of the

Skeptic can cure him of the Habit prayer is more than the aspiration of the Soul toward the absolute and infinite intelligence it is more than meditation it is more than the Soul’s dialogue with its own higher self it is more than Soliloquy prayer is a force which accomplishes real work in its own

Appropriate Realm when a Forester wishes to fa a tree he uses an axe when a farmer desires a crop he plows the soil and SS the grain the merchant who seeks money applies himself to his trade by token of the same universal law of cause and effect the soul that would get

Spiritual work done must apply the instrument of prayer two if it be said that God is all knowing and all powerful and does not need our praying we reply that there are some things which God will not do whether he can or not without the assistence of man working by

Himself God produces the Wild dog row working with man he produces an American Beauty working by himself he produces the wild wheat unfruitful and inedible working with man he carpets the Prairies with heavy seated grain enough to feed a nation working by himself he brought forth the first man half animal half

Human slinking in his milu cave and killing his prey with his hands like the wild bear working in cold cooperation with man they too have brought forth this human world of netted highways and thrumming cities literature art Beauty the temple and the home The Iliad The Tempest the Bible Homer Shakespeare and

Christ man cooperates with God in transforming Nature by the use of his hands he cooperates with God in transforming the Spirit by the use of prayer besides God has not shut himself out of the soul that he has made and prayer itself May well be his own activ

His Divine hand clasp with the human heart this is not an argument to justify the use of prayer there is no need of that it is its own justification after all is said pro and con the fact remains that the great Souls have been praying men it is not

For us to twist this fact about to suit our theories it is for us to adjust our theories to the fact prayer widens Our Horizons purifies our motives disciplines the will releases us from the gravity itations of the material sets a new light in the face and links

Us to heaven in an ineffable Fellowship it is a Stairway let down by God into the inmost chambers of our hearts up and down which the better angels of our nature pass and repass in their healing Ministries upon this Earth there is nothing more eloquent than the Silence

Of a company of men and women bowed in the hush and awe of a House of Prayer through all the groping Generations the soul of man has never ceased to seek a city unseen and Eternal no thoughtful man but at some time has mused over this great adoring

Habit of our humanity and the Marvel of it deepens the longer he Ponders it that instinct for eternity which draws together the stones of a stately Cathedral where the shadow of the infinite is bidden to linger tells us more of what man is than all else

Besides so far as we know man is the only being on our planet that pauses to pray and The Wonder of his worship is at once a revelation and a prophecy man sits here shaping wings to fly his heart for boess a mystery he names the name

Eternity that type of perfect in his mind in nature he can nowhere find he SWS himself on every wind he seems to hear a Heavenly friend and through thick walls to apprehend a labor working toward an end chapter 11 circumambulation I we come now to the right of the Mystic

Journey wherein the candidate travels from the East to the west by way of the South a ceremony of much interest and many meanings how it found its way into our ritual is I believe a mystery though some have sought its origin in the operative custom of leading the initiate

From one station to another for examination but this origin seems unreasonable because such a journey would have been conducted in a very different manner it is more probable that circum ulation walking around is one of our inheritances from ancient times primitive people firmly believe that they could wield influence over a

God by imitating his actions they believed the son to be a God or the visible embodiment of a God who made a daily tour of the heavens beginning in the east in the Northern Hemisphere and progressing toward the west by way of the South it was most natural therefore that they should

Evolve a ceremony in Imitation of this accordingly in India in Egypt in Greece and in Rome we early find the practice of circumambulation in Greece the priest or the priest leading the worshippers would walk three times around the altar always keeping it to the right sprinkling it

The while with meal and holy water C macky’s symbolism ch21 the Romans employed a similar ceremony and called it dextrum meaning from the right to the left being so often used in connection with the rights whereby a person or an object was purified circumambulation became after a Time the Roman equivalent of

Purification also among the Hindus says macki the same right of circumambulation has always been practiced in illustration of which he cites the early morning ceremonies of a Brahman priest who first adors the son then walks towards the west by way of the South saying I follow the course of

The sun macki likewise refers to The Druids as having performed the same right and to the fact that even in recent years it has been a custom in the remoter portions of Ireland some have seen in the circular row of stones at Stonehenge a huge altar built for the purposes of

Circumambulation and others have seen in the various processions of the early Christian Church an example of the same custom it will be interesting further to note that the Greeks accompanied the journey with a sacred chant divided into three parts the strophy the antistrophe and the the epode on which macki makes a

Significant comment the analogy between the chanting of an OD by the Ancients and the recitation of a passage of scripture in the Masonic circumambulation will be at once apparent two what is the meaning of circumambulation for us as Masons and in our daily lives circumambulation is sometimes understood among older Masonic

Writers especially as a symbol of the progress of masonry itself which according to the old Legends was supposed to have originated in the east in Egypt more particularly this is hinted at in certain of the old charges in which we find the following scrap of dialogue

When did it masonry begin it did begin with the first men of the East other writers Pike among them see in this symbolism a figure of the progress of the civilization of humanity whether that civilization began in Egypt as some argue or in Babylonia as others contend it did begin in the

Orient and travel dents along the Mediterranean to the ocient for all knowledge all religion and all Arts and Sciences have traveled according to the course of the Sun from east to west again some writers see in circumambulation a drama of the development of the individual life which

Begins in the young Vigor of the Rising Sun reaches its climax in the Meridian Splendor of the South and declines to the old age of the West Pearson sees in it an analogy of the individual’s Masonic progress traditions of Freemasonry CH two the Masonic symbolism is that the circumambulation and the obstructions at

The various points refer to the labors and difficulties of the student in his progress from intellectual Darkness or ignorance to intellectual light or truth three yet again others see in it an allegory of the pilgrimage of the Soul through the shadows of this Earth life

We are born in darkness and walk all our days in search of that which is lost the Lost Harmony among the strings believing that somewhere there exists the absolute life we make a continual search and transform our days into a long Pilgrim’s Progress these various interpretations you will have observed have their Point

Of Departure one and all in the thought that circumambulation is a journey with this one cannot quarrel but may one not also be permitted to Fashion an explanation which Builds on the fact that the candidate walks in harmony with the sun to my mind this is its point of

Greatest significance even as it was evidently the original idea embodied let the sun represent the powers and laws of nature as in the ancient ceremonies let circumambulation be understood as an attempt to work in harmony with those powers and laws and we see at once that

The right gives us the secret of human accomplishment to fight nature is suicide to work in cooperation with her is power to keep step with her Cycles to move in sympathy aathy with her vibrations that gives us fullness of Life the Sailor clasps hands with her winds the farmer adjusts himself to her

Chemic processes the artist vibrates with the pulses of her beauty the poet weaves her rhythms into his lines the saint harmonizes himself with her laws as they rise in the soul it is thus and thus only that we Mount the stairs to life chapter 12 approaching the East I

This PO of the ceremony has many things to tell us which for the sake of simplification we may break into three divisions one the symbolism of the cardinal points two orientation three the meaning of the candidate’s approach to the east symbolism of the cardinal points north

South east and west macki uses as an illustration of this the fact that the sun in its summer Journey never passes north of 23° 28 and that a wall built built anywhere above that will have its northern side entirely in Shadow even when the sun stands at his

Meridian as this fact became known to early peoples it led them to look upon the north as the place of Darkness accordingly in all ancient mythologies that portion of space was regarded with suspicion and even with Terror this Prejudice was carried over into the Middle Ages and traces of it

Often dim and vague survive to this day in popular customs in his Antiquities of Freemasonry Fort writes that that North by the Judes was denominated black or somber the friisans called it fear Corner The Gallows faced North and from these hyperborean Shores beyond the north everything base and terrible

Proceeded to the churchmen of medieval times it carried a like sinister meaning as we may read in animal symbolism in ecclesiastical architecture e p Evans P 258 the north is the region of meteorologic iCal Devils which under the Dominion and Leadership of the prince of the power of the air produce storms and

Convulsions in nature and Foster unruly passions and deeds of violence in man the evil Principle as embodied in unclean beasts and exhibited in obscene and lascivious actions was properly portrayed in the sculptures and paintings on the north side of the church which was assigned to Satan in his

Satellites and known as the black side Milton connects Satan with the North and Shakespeare speaks of demons who are substitutes under the lonely Monarch of the north this Cardinal Point has a similar meaning in masonry and the portion of the lodge on the Northern side should contain no furniture or

Lights by token of the same symbolic reasoning the South stands for all that is opposed to the North in that direction the Sun reaches his Meridian to pour out light warmth and Beauty accordingly Church Builders of old time were want to depict on the South Wall of their churches the triumphs of

Christianity and the millennial reign of Christ in the lodge the Corinthian column type of beauty is placed in the south at the station of the junior Warden it is the place of high 12 and the scene of the labors of The Craft as the West is the place of the sun’s

Setting and of the closing of the day it stands for rest for darkness and for death in operative lodges it was the place set apart for finished work in Greek mythology it was the place of Hades that is darkness and death as we may read in Sophocles life on life down stricken

Goes swifter than the wild bird’s flight swifter than the fire gods might to the Western shores of night Tennyson makes Arthur to go into the west and ulyses to travel beyond the baths of the Setting Sun and at this day it is said soldiers in the trenches of Europe speak of a

Dead comrade as having gone west to the West all men come at last men and Masons to The beautiful tender West and lay them down in the sleep that knows no waking if there is one symbol that recurs again and again in our blue Lodge ritual like a musical refrain it is the

East of this I almost despair to speak save in crudest outline so rich and so many sided is the truth enshrined in it as the center of gravity is to the Earth and all things thereon so is the East to a masonic lodge the master sits there the representative of a complete

Humanity the Blazing star shines there the Mystic g at the center of the Rays it is the born the goal the ultimate destination towards which the whole craft moves how it came to have this significance for early societies as well as for our own may be made clear as we

Turn our attention to orientation two in early Egypt as Norman Locker tells us in his dawn of astronomy the most brilliant of all works on orientation and as authoritative as it is readable it was the custom to dedicate a temple to some planet or star

To the Moon in one of her phases or to the Sun at one of his various periods originally perhaps a majority of the temples were dedicated to the Rising Sun in that event the building was so situated that on a given day in the year the light of the sun would pass between

The pillars at the entrance and fall upon the altar at the moment of his first appearance of above the Horizon this placing of the temple so as to face the dawn gave rise to the term orientation which means finding the East however other temples were directed

Toward the moon or some star and this also by an accommodation of language was called orientation the term was further used in after days when a building or a city was laid out in harmony with the cardinal points according to this usage the city of Rome was oriented for its first form

Was a a quadrangle with a gate facing in each Direction aqc volume 4 Page 87 this custom was practiced by the Jews and indeed may be considered as universal throughout the ancient world moreover it was carried over into Christian Customs for all the early churches were oriented to the Sun the

Apostolic Constitution specifying that a church must be an oblong form and directed to the east in as much as the orienting of a temple was chiefly for the purpose of Permitting the light to fall on its altar on a given day the altar was necessarily placed in the West

End of the building this Arrangement must also have been often used by the Jews even though they did reverse so many Heathen Customs for Dr when westcot tells us that it is clear that both Mosaic Tabernacle and the Temple of Solomon had the holy place at the west

But he goes on to say and this is a point especially deserving of our attention it is equally certain that churches from the earliest Christian development have always reversed the positions when possible this is to say that though Christian houses of worship were placed East and West as Heathen

Temples had been they were built with their altars in the East End instead of in the west it is from the Christian churches of medieval times perhaps that the operative Masons derived their practice of placing the master station in the East the pagans saw in the Sun a

Symbol of deity its rais and emblem of the Divine forth shining accordingly they had the Sun or a representation of the Sun in the East we also worship a deity whom we have clothed with light but in our East is no longer the natural son or even a representation thereof but

A man the master to my mind this is a thing of significance though I cannot place the weight of the name of any one of our authorities behind the interpretation ancient peoples like ourselves were in search of God even as are we they hoped to find him in nature among

The things that he had made even as the Wise Men followed a star in their search for him but whereas they went through nature to God we go through man to God and believe that his completest unveiling will be found in the perfected human soul even as the master of Master

Said he that hath seen me hath seen the father three if this interpretation of the East is valid as I believe that it is the candidates approach to the east is a symbolic art of far-reaching meaning for it signifies nothing less than that he has tuned his will toward

The perfecting of his own human nature in order to enter into communion with the Divine if he is compelled to advance by a certain regulated manner it is in token of the fact that the soul itself is a realm of Law and that he who would reach the Soul’s highest development

Must walk in harmony with the spirit’s laws and if in the succeeding degrees his manner of approach approximates more and more toward a perfect step it is is in recognition of the necessity of gradual and orderly progress in the highest growth always and everywhere in whatever condition or task a man finds

Himself if he would go up into the Sear’s house he must Mount by those Virtues Of Purity Beauty and Truth which are the hidden laws of the heart chapter 13 The Altar I in the center of the lodge stands the altar it should be cubical in shape and about 3 ft in

Height and it should have horns at Each corner to suggest in light of a Hy usage that it is a place of refuge on the East the South and the West should be placed one of the representatives of the three lesser lights but never on the north for that is the place of

Darkness on its top in due Arrangement should lie the three grand lights thus arranged it may well be considered the most important article of furniture in a lodge room and the ground whereon it stands as the most holy place place too Universal in its use both through space

And time to admit of our tracing its history here we must content ourselves with some reference to the ideas embodied in it to this end let us remember here and everywhere that the Masonic life is not that which occurs in the Lodge rooms alone for that is but its allegorical picture its tracing

Board but it is that which a Mason should do and be in all circumstances under the inspiration of the fraternity and its teachings thus understood the altar standing in the center of the Masonic Lodge is the symbol of something that must operate at the center of the

Masonic life often serving as a table whereon the worshipper may lay his gifts to God the altar May well remind us of the necessity of that human gratitude which leads us to return to him the gifts he has showered upon us this is that teaching of stewardship found in

All religions to remind us that our very lives are not our own having been bought with a price and that our talents are held in trusteeship to be rendered again to him to whom they belong thus stated I know the matter may sound bald and even unappealing but once we encounter a man

Who lives his life as a stewardship held in the frail tenure of the flesh we see to what high issues the character of man May Ascend such personalities carry an atmosphere about with them as of another world and radiate influences that are light and fragrant surely a man who denied this in

His practices can never serve as a living Building Stone known in masonry’s Temple two in its proper sense also the altar serves as a sanctuary a place of refuge and this too has much to tell us though I am aware of the dangers of moralising in the earlier centuries of

Our era before the complete development of common law the hunted criminal fleeing from his pursuers would escape to a church and their lay hold of the horns of the altar in that he found safety and an opportunity to prove his innocence if innocent he was out of this

Arose the beautiful customs of sanctuary the chivalrous unselfish harboring of the weak the sorrowful and The Afflicted is there not a sanctuary in masonry certainly there is for in the fraternity itself in the privacy of its inner fellowships a brother will often find rest for his heart and relief from

The bruisings of the world and a man is no true Mason in whose nature there is not at least one inner chamber in which the weary may find rest and the weak may have protection more than a table for gifts in a place of sanctuary the altar

Has from of old served as the station of sacrifice and this usage also is recognized in our symbolism for therein we are taught that the human in us our appetites our passions yeah our life itself if need be must be laid down in the service of man

In the glory of God how otherwise could masonry remain masonry if it is the subjugation of the human that is in Man by The Divine three of the altar as a place of prayer we have already spoken but in this connection we may well Ponder a paragraph from Dr

JF Newton composed of those Lucid sentences of which he is a master thus by a necessity of his nature man is ever a Seeker after God touched at times with a strange sadness and longing and laying aside his tools to look out over the far Horizon whatever else he may have been

Vile tyrannous vindictive the story of his long search after God is enough to prove that he is not holy base writes horrible and even cruel may have been a part of his early ritual but if the history of past ages had left us nothing but the memory of a race at prayer they

Would have left us rich and so following the good custom of the great ones of former ages We Gather at our altar lifting up hands in prayer moved there too by the ancient need and aspiration of our Humanity like the man who walked in a

Great gray years of old our need is for God the Living God whose presence Hallows all our mortal life even to its last ineffable hward sigh which men call death chapter 14 the obligation I the turning point in the ceremony of each degree is the obligation for it is that which marks

The Apprentice and Apprentice the fellowcraft A fellowcraft and the Master Mason a Master Mason consequently the subject is worthy of careful consideration in this connection especially as there will be no need of a repetition of the discussion in our study of the second and third degrees obligation being a Latin word

Literally means a binding to it is more than an oath and more than a vow for it combines both and it has been used in one form or another from Antiquity felo described it as the most sure symbol of good faith and Cicero defined it as an affirmation under the

Sanction of religion brother Twining American Tyler Keystone volume 18 P for 23 writing in our own day gives it a similar meaning an oath may be defined as an asseveration or promise made under non-human penalty or sanction some Oaths have an imprecation attached but others do not the

Widespread use of Oaths in ancient and in modern times has been well described by J Tyler through all the Diversified stages of society from the lowest barbarism to the highest cultivation of civilized life where the true religion has been professed no less than where paganism has retained its hold recourse

Has been had to Oaths as affording the nearest approximation to certainty in evidence and the shest pledge of the performance of a promise in the England of operative days Oaths were taken as a matter of course as witness schs concise history from the time of athlan down to

The Norman conquest and from the Conqueror to Edward I first and later the oath of Allegiance was annually administered to every free man G suggests that this oath of allegiance to the king may have been the original of the Masonic obligation the wording of this oath as given in a publication of

1642 you shall be true and faithful to our Sovereign Lord the king is substantially the same as that of the corresponding charge or inculcation which is met within Masonic constitutions the two obligations virtually stand on the same level as regards Antiquity and as survivals of still earlier forms their

Close resemblance is very suggestive of their common origin it must be remembered however that the Guild of that day could enforce its OES only within narrow limits grave offenses were necessarily turned over to the courts which administered the common law at the present day Oaths and obligations are in

Very common use from the crowning of a king to the swearing in of a juror the world is held together by Oaths and affirmations administered by the proper authorities to all rulers and officials of a high and low degree in state and municipalities and in every phase of human

Society without official Oaths the country would undoubtedly lapse into a state of disorder confusion and finally Anarchy Trestle board volume 20 Page 247 this right Freemasonry also enjoys and for the same reasons as another writer has expressed it in Freemasonry a number of men form themselves into a

Society whose main end is to improve in commendable skill and knowledge and to promote Universal beneficence and the social virtues of human life under the solemn obligations of an oath this Liberty all human societies enjoy without impeachment or reflection two it is difficult to believe in the light of

All this that any sane person could attack masonry for being an oathbound fraternity especially since its oath is itself a symbol of those ties and obligations which everywhere bind men together but such has been the case the Roman Catholic attacks from 1738 when Pope Clement the 12 issued the first

Papal Bowl against us until the present year of Grace have all been principally aimed at Our obligation a very inconsistent course in a society that authorizes such a secret fraternity as the Jesuits a few other churches and sects have followed suit usually on the ground that Christ saying that whatsoever is

More than ye or nay cometh of evil makes Oaths unchristian laying aside the false interpretations thus made of the Gospel text this position is difficult to explain on the part of such organizations for they use an obligation in the marriage ceremony of the most solemn kind and their members often do

Not refuse to take oath when entering public office the attack on masonry made in America early last century which used the Morgan Affair as its subterfuge and which was really a political scheme in Disguise grew Savage in its condemnation of the Masonic obligation as is made clear by the words

Of one of its leaders John Quincy Adams the whole case between masonry and anti-masonry now on trial before the tribunal of public opinion is consecrated in a single act let a single Lodge resolve that they will cease to administer the oath and that Lodge is dissolved let the whole order resolve

That this oath shall be no longer administered the order is dissolved for the abolition of the oath necessarily Imports the extinction of all other landmarks of the penalty supposed to be attached to the obligation and which have especially aroused the animosity of the anti-masons we have already spoken

But more may be said in the present connection with due reserves of secrecy and I may say that I am herein much indebted to the illuminating article published in the Builder volume n page 135 by my friend and colleague brother Robert the CLE three commenting on one phase of the

Matter he writes death by slow drowning was once by legal Authority in England hlh established as a proper punishment consider the following in the Curious ordinances of Henry V 6 for the proper conduct of the court of admiralty of the Humber are enumerated various offenses of a maritime connection and

Their due punishments to adhere closely to the character of the court and to be within proper jurisdiction of the admiralty the punishments were generally inflicted at low water mark this court he says being composed of Masters merchants and Marines with all others that do enjoy the king’s stream with

Hook net or any engine or Implement was addressed when assembled as follows you masters of the quest if you or any of you discover or disclose anything of the kingk secret Council or of the Council of your fellows for the present you are admitted to be the kingk counselors you

Are to be and shall be had down to the low water mark where must be made three times oh yes for the king and then and there this punishment by the law prescribed shall be inflicted upon them that is their hands and feet bound their throats cut their tongues pulled out and

Their bodies thrown into the sea in the England of the 17th century the death penalty and that in its most terrible forms was often inflicted because of comparatively small offenses such as petty theft Oaths were so freely given and taken that every little organization had its own even the Brotherhood of pig

Drivers if certain far-off Echoes of these practices seem to be heard now and then in our own form it is because the obligation was probably cast in its present mold in the early 18th century this contention that the penalties are thus of comparatively recent origin is apparently borne out by the fact that

Such obligations as are found in the old charges are very brief and of quite a different character I may cite as one specimen of these that found in the harlean mes no 2054 of the 17th century there are several words and signs of a Freemason to be revealed to you which as

You will answer before God at the great and terrible day of judgment you keep secret and not to reveal the same to any in the hearing of any person whatsoever but to the Masters and fellows of the said Society of Freemasons so help me God spelling modernized as to the agitation for the

Simplification of the obligation the penalties more especially much may be said pro and con archaic usages and obsolete terms often unintelligible to the modern Mason may be often found in the ritual many are contending that these should be eliminated or modernized as witnessed the following from Brother

McBride there are many errors in our ceremonies to be corrected and not a few rude customs should be abolished before our lodges can become what they ought to be schools in which men may learn the ways of right living in high thinking with the spirit of this

I am in sympathy but I have often felt while witnessing the work in Lodge that these very errors and archaisms are valuable in that they link us up to a long past and thus give us the feeling so much needed in a hasty age too often irreverent of the past of historical

Continuity but on the other hand other considerations connect up with the obligation and other issues are at stake and I have long believed that the penalties should be changed to conform not only with common sense and practicality but with the modern Spirit of humanitarianism of which masonry itself was one of the first

Exemplars four after all the one object of the obligation aside from its official function of Legally binding men to the craft is to secure secrecy is it not and there is one little word often used by Masons which carries all this within itself this word is often spelled as it

Is pronounced hail but it is properly the Anglo-Saxon word hel hell is derived from it and means to bury or to cover up if I hail it means that down in the underground of my memory far Out Of Reach of the profane I hide away all the

Affairs of my Lodge and all the secrets of my brother too much perhaps has already been written on the subject but there is yet another angle of it which deserves a word we use all our arts and influences to make the member realize his obligation to the craft should we

Not do as much to make the lodge realize its obligation to the member a man spends a sum of money he can sometimes ill spare to join the fraternity he devotes much time to learning the lectures he is admitted and entered as a member and very often very often indeed

The lodge itself does not do one thing to explain to that man its symbolism or to instruct him in its history is this right I do not believe it is I believe that every Lodge should do its utmost to place the right type of literature in

The hands of its members that it should conduct courses of lectures and Masonic schools that it should encourage and support study classes whenever possible in short that it should as completely fulfill its duties to the candidate as it asks the candidate to do for IT chapter 15 the three great lights the first

Objects to greet the candidates unblind eyes are the three great lights an appropriate arrangement for they symbolize his duty to himself to his neighbor and to his God sending their Rays into every nook and cranny of the lodge they are fit representatives of those High realities of the spirit which

Are indeed the great lights the master lights of all are seeing in these three symbols the Holy Bible the square and the compass we shall find inspiration as well as instruction one as much as the other and they may be studied in order I without the Open Bible on its altar a

Lodge can neither receive nor initiate candidates nor can it transact its own business for the book is a part of its indispensable Furniture so much of the ritual is drawn from it that students have traced to it some 70 five references while almost every name found in the work is a

Biblical name the teachings of The Craft are based upon it as a house is built upon the ground and it is fitting that the candidate should salute it in recognition of this fact this salutation of the book was much used by the church of medieval times from the ecclesiastics

The courts derived the custom and it is probable that early Masons adopted their usage from the courts some basing their theory on references scattered among the the old charges believe that in operative days the candidate sealed his Oath by placing his hands on the Open Bible but of this we cannot be certain

At any rate we do know that the vssl was considered a part of the furniture of the lodge long before the Revival though it was not made a great light until 1760 or thereabouts our Masonic forefathers were led by a wise Instinct in this where they could have found no other book or

Object capable of sending out so many rays of healing and of Revelation at least so we of the Western World believe a library of 66 books of the most diverse character drawn from many PES and conditions the Bible is yet one book its miscellaneous chapters being linked one to another by a single

Pervading Spirit as pearls are strung upon a silver wire the most recent of its pages are almost 2,000 years old while other portions go back a thousand years Beyond yet is its force unabated and it seems to speak as though written y yesterday the history of the

Collecting of its books together is so marvelous that many have deemed it miraculous that which Drew from out the boundless deep of racial experiences makes its appeal to Men of all Races it has been translated into more than 500 languages and dialects and read by men of the most opposite cultures and

Traditions To Whom It seems as if it had been written especially for them truly such a literature is inspired if anything can be and we Masons May well believe it to be the perfect symbol of the mind and will of God we do not permit ourselves to be carried to that

Extreme of fetishistic bibliolatry that has been such a serious obstacle to the spread of knowledge and to the progress of the race and is now just beginning to be set aside by scientific research and sound criticism yet we may reasonably hold it to be Mankind’s divinest book to date

The Bible was not written to be a textbook in history or science or philosophy and as such it should not be judged it was written to show us what manner of God God is and what is the way of the Soul with this men of all faiths

And of little faith May well agree Gera confesses that it is a belief in the Bible the fruit of deep meditation which has serve me as the guide of my moral and literary life Huxley can give a similar testimony agnostic though he is take the Bible as a whole make the

Severest deductions which Fair criticism can dictate and there Still Remains in this old literature a vast residuum of moral Beauty and Grandeur by the study of what other book Could children be more humanized to these ascriptions we may add a tribute spoken in a masonic lodge by Brother JF

Newton my brethren here is a book whose scene is the sky and the dirt and all that lies between a book that has in it the arch of the heavens the curve of the Earth the E and flow of the sea sunrise and sunset the peaks of mountains and

The glint of sunlight on flowing Waters the shadow of forests on the Hills the song of birds and the color of flowers but its two great characters are God and the soul and the story of their life together is its one Everlasting romance it is the most human of books

Telling the old forgotten secrets of the heart its bitter pessimism and its death defying hope its pain its passion its sin its SOB of grief and its shout of Joy telling all without malice in its Grand style which can do no wrong while echoing the sweet toned

Paos of the pity and mercy of God no other book is so honest with us so mercilessly merciful so austere and yet so tender piercing the heart yet healing the Deep wounds of sin and sorrow while holding to all this with the tenacity of our minds we must nevertheless remember

That to masonry the Bible itself is a symbol and stands for something larger than itself even the whole races book of Faith the will of God as man has learned it in the midst of the years that Perpetual revelation of himself which God is making Mankind in every age and

Every land slowly the Bible of the race is writ and not on paper leaves nor leaves of stone each age each Kindred adds a verse to it texts of Despair or hope or Joy or moan while swings the sea while Mists the mountain shroud while Thunder surges burst on Cliffs of cloud

Still at the prophets feet the nation sit accordingly our craft permits lodges to use as the great light the book held Sacred by the land in which they may be situated the Old Testament to the Jews the kurran to the muhammadans the Zesta to the Paras the bagad G and the VAS in

India also we are not asked to accept any given interpretation of the book but are left free to Fashion our own Creed out of its materials which is a privilege that theologians themselves have always enjoyed the members of the operative lodges were trinitarians as the invocation set at the head of the

Old charges will testify but at the formation of the first Grand Lodge the fraternity ceased to be specifically Christian though Hutchinson in an early day see his Spirit of masonry a volume of beautiful spirit and Rich insights and whimper at a later time religion of Freemasonry have undertaken to interpret

It in the terms of that Faith a deputy District Grandmaster of Burma wrote in a letter to g w spth I have just initiated moring ban ahm a Burman who has so far modified his religious belief as to acknowledge the existence of a personal God the

WM was a Pary one Warden a Hindu or Brahman the other an English Christian and the Deacon of muhammadan this is wholly in harmony with the principles of a society that asks of its members only that they hold to that religion in which all men agree

And Longs for the time when high above all dogmas that divide all bigotries that blind all bitterness that be clouds will be written the simple words of the one Eternal religion the fatherhood of God the Brotherhood of Man the moral law the Golden Rule and the hope of Life

Everlasting the fraternity does not even seek to impose upon us any given conception of the sgot TU its position being that each must passion for himself his own conception of deity on this Albert Pike has spoken for us all to every Mason there is a God one supreme

Infinite in goodness in wisdom foresight Justice and benevolence Creator disposer and preserver of all things how or by what intermediate powers or emanations he creates and acts and in what way he unfolds and manifests himself masonry leaves to Creeds and religions to inquire two in our blue Lodge ritual the square has

Three distinct and different symbolisms it serves as an emblem of the WM as a working tool of a fellow craft and as the second of the great lights being concerned with it here only in its last named capacity I shall postpone until a future page much that may be said about

It asking the reader meanwhile to remember that it is a tri square and not a carpenter Square as it is often depicted and that it must not be confused with the Square as a four-sided figure of right angles and equal sides which is a very different symbol until

Some 400 years ago all men save for a few isolated Scholars beli the Earth to be an oblong Square in consequence of this figures of square form were generally used as having reference to the Earth or to the Earthly and as the tri Square was an instrument used for

Testing angles or squareness it came to serve as a symbol of that which is mundane or human as opposed to to the Divine but as it was used to prove that angles were right it received the further significance of true character of Conformity with righteousness of Duty

Done Etc the ancient Chinese to give one example of this built their Temple to the Earth in square form and called a person of rectitude a square man this I believe is the meaning of the square when serving as one of the great lights it is the symbol of right character in

Its human relationship three the compasses are used in the entrance ceremony of the second degree and in another Connection in the hyam abff drama but here we are to interpret them as one of the great lights and then in close connection with the exposition of the square as just given the same

Crude observations that led the men of antiquity to see the Earth as an oblong Square caused them also to believe that the heavens were circular was not the sky itself a dome did not the the heavenly bodies move in curved tracks were not the Sun and the Moon discs in

Shape was not an astronomical chart and assemblage of Curves and Circles by an inevitable Association of ideas the compasses which were used to test or to draw curves and circles were made to stand for the Heavenly or the Divine in man and this is their meaning

Still as they lie on the altar of the lodge in the first degree the candidate is an apprentice a representative of crude natural man his Earthly nature dominating or covering the spiritual in the fellowcraft degree he has advanced halfway and the noer elements are struggling for control when he has

Become a master as symbolized in the third degree that Divine in him has subjugated the human if you will carefully examine the relative positions of the Square and Compasses in the various degrees you will find an eloquent hint of this write human conduct right spiritual aspirations and the revealed will of God

Fitting is it that the lodge place the symbols of these principles at its very center for the Mason who walks in their light continually will never wander far from the paths of Life chapter 16 the Lesser lights I the sun moon and master of the lodge is according to our

Best authorities a hermetic symbol and must be interpreted accordingly the sun throws out light from itself it dispenses energy and in the physical sense is the creator of life in view thereof the Hermits made the sun to signify the active principle in nature by A peculiar coincidence it

Is still a popular custom to speak of the Sun as he or him and this suggests that the Hermetic theory was not very far-fetched by virtue of a similar kind of reasoning the moon was accepted as the symbol of the passive forces of nature and here again we find the

Popular custom in agreement for we all speak of the Moon as she or her the moon has no light of her own but merely reflects to us that which she has received from the Sun therefore she may be understood as symbolizing the receptive passive and feminine principles this cleavage between

Masculine and feminine active and passive goes down to the roots of the world it is a distinction found in all Nature’s processes and in every man and woman work and rest ruthlessness and pity hardness and tenderness everywhere are these qualities found mingling in various proportions and the secret of

The full orb life is to hold them in equilibrium John wolman was so tender that he grieved for days over a robin’s death Friedrich nche looked upon pity as a weakness and taught men to flee it as a disease and urged his disciples to be hard too much of John wolman in human

Nature would people the world at last with a race of sentimentalists too soft for the Mastery of the hard graay facts of nature too much of n would give us a world full of blonde beasts praying on each other like the dragons in the Slime but when woman and nche balance each

Other the one correcting the extravagances of the other man will be tender with little children chivalrous to women patient with his fellows and he will have strength to wage the Warfare against death disaster and destruction out of Isis and Osiris comes Horus the master of life out of the

Woman and the Man Comes Christ the man woman out of the sun and the moon comes the Master even the master of a lodge for the master of the lodge in our symbology is nothing other than a representation of the complete man two this I have said is the Hermetic

Explanation of the symbolism of the three lesser lights but with this reading of the matter some Scholars will not agree preferring to trace it to usages in the old operative lodges the hut or the lodge they say was always erected against the southernly wall of the church and could therefore receive

Received no light from the North or dark side accordingly the windows of the workroom were necessarily on the east south and west sides steinbrener who traces the order to the German Stein medson argues that windows were known as lights and quote Cicero and Vitruvius in support of his

Contention he holds that these windows were the origin of the great lights While others of the same school of thought believe them to have been the Prototype of the Lesser lights this interpretation of the matter is on the side of Simplicity and makes unnecessary that one go a field into occultism but

To some of us it is not convincing and that for more than one reason that operative lodges always or even frequently built their temporary headquarters on the south side of the church is not supported by evidence and may well be questioned besides it is difficult to understand how these windows could ever

Have become identified with the Holy Bible square and Compass or with the sun moon and M Master moreover the last Nam symbolism was in use by occult fraternities long before lodges were built as many authorities have testified and it seems most reasonable to believe it to have been introduced

Into our ritual by the speculatively Light writes brother JF Newton it is the mother of Beauty and the joy of the world it tells men all they know and their speech about it is gladsome and grateful light is to the mind what food is to the body it brings the morning

When the Shadows flee away and the loveliness of Earth is uncurtained this is the mystery of light it is not matter but a form of motion it is not Spirit though it seems closely akin to it it is the Gateway where matter and spirit pass

And repass of of all that is in nature it the most resembles God in its gentleness in its beauty and in its pity this passage So Beautiful to read and so revealing would have met with a still more cordial response from the men of ancient days for it seems that the first

Great religion of the world was the worship of light as we read in Norman lockers dawn of astronomy Sunrise it was that inspired the first prayers of our race and called forth the first sacrificial Flames after telling how large a place this light worship occupied among the

Remote peoples of India the same author goes on to say the ancient Egyptians whether they were separate from or more or less Allied in their origin to the early inhabitants of India had exactly the same view of nature worship and we find in their hymns and in the lists of

Their gods that the Dawn and the sunrise were the Great Revelations of Nature and the things which were most important to man and therefore everything connected with the sunrise and the Dawn was worshiped knowing little of the Cure return of Nature’s Cycles the Egyptians were fearful lest the sun having

Disappeared at dusk he would forget to return accordingly the night was a season of forboding and fear while the Dawn was an occasion of rejoicing out of this alternation of fear and gladness of the son’s apparent death and his apparent Return To Life arose that ancient Egyptian like

Religion so many Echoes of which remain with us in our Masonic symbolism two the ritualism of light and darkness occurs and recurs throughout the Bible like a refrain when Jehovah would bring the world out of the dripping chaos he is made to say let there be light of him

The psalmist cried Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path the Evangelist says of him that God is light and in him is no Darkness at all and the Book of Revelation promises the faithful that in the great life beyond there will be no more night

Jamers wrote that light is the Simplicity the penetration and the ubiquity of God Zoro Aster made light to stand for all the good of life and darkness for its evil in the ancient Mysteries the candidate clothed in white went into the caverns of the night to issue then into a place of

Illumination the cabalists great book was that Zohar which means light and it is an exposition of the saying let there be light similarly one of the great mots of masonry is Lux e tenebrous light out of Darkness while Masons true Masons are justly called the Sons of light and in

All the ceremonies there is not one more eloquent act than the bringing of the candidate to light what is this light that has been shed abroad in our lives it is sometimes explained as knowledge and it is that but it is more than that for it is also truth knowledge is the

Mind’s awareness of a fact while truth is is the mind’s understanding of the meaning of that fact facts May Heap themselves up like the grains in a pile of sand they may have little or no apparent relations with each other and the man who is said to have knowledge of

Them may know little more than their number and their names but when he has learned the hidden connections of these facts how they bear upon each other and what import they have for human life he has learned truth three with this in mind consider the world of men

Individuals jostle each other they love and fight events come and go and The Facts of Life make and unmake themselves like summer clouds thus considered the world is a jumble of unrelated happenings enough to bewilder the mind and freeze the heart but masonry says to this world each and

All of your facts are mystically bound together your individuals are linked by unseen ties and all your apparently Waring forces are steadily at work to build a temple in the world consider also the individual himself he finds in himself an array of feelings thoughts impulses experiences existing side by side but apparently

Making for no end to this man masonry says the deepest forces in you are making toward goodness Beauty truth far withdrawn in your nature is a buried Temple at the core of your being is the hidden Master you are a potential Christ when masonry utters this word which is

More than a word to the world and to the man who lives in the world it is revealing the hidden Unity that binds the jangling facts together it is finding the song among the strings it is discovering the Lost word it is bringing truth that is to say light into the race

Of men it says let there be light and there is light to this end every symbol speaks of this Mission the ritual is eloquent more than the tongues of men and of angels from the first of it unto the last chapter 18 te words grips and

Tokens I the candidate is now a member of an Entered Apprentice Lodge accordingly he is given the words grips and tokens whereby he may prove himself to his fellows whether in the day or in the night these signs and tokens are of no small value wrote brother Benjamin

Franklin they speak a universal language and act as a passport to the attention and support of the initiated in all parts of the world they cannot be lost so long as memory retains its power let the possessor of them be expatriated Shipwrecked or imprisoned let him be

Stripped of everything he has in the world still these credentials remain and are available for use as circumstances require the great effects which they have produced are established by the most incontestable facts of History they have stayed the uplifted hands of the Destroyer they have softened the asperities of the Tyrant they have

Mitigated the horrors of captivity they have subdued the ranker of malevolence and broken down the barriers of political animosity and sectarian alienation on the field of battle in the Solitude of the uncultivated forests or in the busy haunts of the crowded City they have made men of the most hostile

Feeling and most distant religions and the most Diversified conditions rush to the aid of each other and feel a social joy and satisfaction that they have been able to afford relief to a brother Mason some historians believe this sign language to have existed before oral speech its use is so ancient that we

Find men thus communicating when they first appear in history the laconic Spartans preferred a gesture to a word there is no doubt that the initiates of the Mysteries possessed a system of passwords and grips indeed the custom is referred to in the Bible as in the instance where benh Hadad saved his life

By making a sign the pythagoreans recognized each other by signs and tokens and so did the essenes in Rome the art of gesturing was once so cultivated that groups of players the pantomimus were able to arouse any in every emotion without recourse to speech in medieval monasteries the monks were taught a sign

Language like the alphabet even among the American Indians it has been shown C writes Indian masonry the sign language is so well understood that tribes who have no common verbal medium of communication invariably and effectively use it in the orient at this day the language of the sign remains in use and the

Chinese employ a written language almost wholly composed of pictures or signs of many other secret societies not mentioned above the same may be said albeit there is little evidence to show that the Stein medson made much use of signs and words though they were probably in possession of a grip brother

Gould in his essay on the voice of the sign writes that signs and passwords I think we may confidently assume were common features italic mind of all or nearly all secret societies from the earliest times down to our own the same Authority further states that signs and tokens were used by the medieval

Builders may I think be reasonably deduced as the result of legitimate inference or conjecture two brother Gould is careful to make it plain that his conclusion is a matter of inference because strangely enough our actual historical evidence of the operative Mason’s use of signs goes no further back than the 17th century

Randall Holm in 1665 wrote of several words and signs of a Freemason Dar Robert plot in his natural history of Staffordshire published in 1686 describes the manner of admission into the Masonic society which chiefly consists in the communication of certain secret signs whereby they are known to one

Another all over the nation by which means they have maintenance whereever they travel for If any man appear though altogether unknown that can show any of these signs to a fellow of the society whom they otherwise call an accepted Mason he is obliged presently to come to

Him from what company or place whoever he be in nay though from the top of a steeple what hazard or inconvenience whoever he run to know his pleasure and assist him Etc spelling modernized John Aubrey in certain rough memor Randa made in 1691 also says of

The Masons that they are known to one another by certain signs and watch words Robert Kirk in 1691 speaks of a grip and a word as being in use in Scotland and Sir Richard steel writing in the Tattler mentions signs and tokens like Freemasons if signs were thus in general

Use by Freemasons in the 17th century it is a fair inference that the practice was in Vogue much earlier just how early or from what source derived is still a mystery though it may be mentioned that so high in Authority as Dr are Krauss traced the use of signs back to the

Medieval monasteries in cooperation with which the early Builders so often worked being members of a secret society and often obliged to travel in strange places it would seem that the operative Masons were obliged to invent some form of recognition known to all their fellows this conjecture is supported by mister Ferguson an architectural

Historian of the first rank for we find in his history of architecture the following significant paragraph at a time when writing was unknown among the Le and not one Mason in a thousand could either read or write it was evidently essential that some expedient should be hit upon by which a

Mason traveling to his work might claim the assistance in Hospitality of his brother Masons on the road and by means of which he might take his rank at once on on reaching the lodge without going through tedious examinations or giving practical proof of his skill for this

Purpose a set of secret signs was invented which enabled all Masons to recognize one another as such and by which also each man could make known his grade to those of similar rank without further trouble than a manual sign or the utterance of some recognized password other trades had something of

The same sort as operative passed into speculative masonry many of the old usages became lost but secret modes of recognition were retained and that because speculative masonry is always a secret society being modes of secret recognition it is manifestly impossible to discuss them in print but a few hints

Easily interpreted by the initiated May safely be given three do guard this it is probable was not used in early English masonry but came into practice in this country macki called calls it an americanism it is a Perpetual reminder to the member of his OB and it is always

Given in entering or retiring from the lodge words in 18th century Scotland the only degree known was that in which the legend of the craft was read and the benefit of the Mason word conferred this seems to indicate that the word meant more than a pass but it

Is in this latter sense that it seems to have been used by operative lodges and other secret societies generally with us however it has become a symbol and that of a High character as will be learned in the study of the third degree but at

The same time it retains it may be added something of its original usage as a password grips it is probable that the earliest form of a secret mode of recognition among operative Masons was the grip but what it was we may not know the nature of the secret having made written descriptions

Impossible Robert Kirk a scotch Minister who who published a book called secret Commonwealth in 1691 wrote that the Masons of his day had some Sigma delivered from hand to hand an entry in the minutes of the hot lodge for 1702 gives a brief description of an initiation in which it is noted that

They then whisper the word as before and the master grips his the candidates hand in the ordinary way but in neither case are we told what the grip was tokens this word long and Vogue among English and American lodges is used to describe a sign or grip when given as a brotherly

Recognition it signifies an outward act as evidencing an inward pledge when one Mason grips another by the hand it is as if he said this physical act is the outward sign or token of the Union of our minds and hearts in popular use it has the same meaning as when we speak of

A little gift as a token of our regard this custom of having a secret mode of recognition of among Masons has often been misunderstood and sometimes derided as when a friend remarked to me that Masons act like children with their signs and grips and such nonsense had my friend known something

Of the fraternity he would have spoken differently for signs and grips are as necessary as secrecy and for the same reasons masonry is a world within itself Masons are as a hidden race among men and there is nothing more natural than that they should have a language of Their Own besides secret recognitions

Are on the side of gentle charity for they often enable one brother to help another without undue injury to self-respect chapter 19 the right of salutation the right of salutation during which the candidate Pays His respects to the various stations is in one sense only the Lodge’s recognition

Of the membership of the candidate he having now been received by the master as a brother and fellow Workman and encouraged to make himself at home home in his new Fellowship in another sense and one of much greater importance I believe the salutation is the candidate’s recognition of the

Constituted authority of The Craft as vested in the master and wardens of this there is need to speak at some length as it is a lesson to be learned by the citizen of a state as well as by a member of the fraternity since it is nothing other than the old

And badly needed teaching of true Liberty and of the relationship between Liberty and law a teaching to which masonry has always borne testimony by its actions as well as its words no part of its history has been more noble writes Dr JF Newton the builders P 273

No principle of its teaching has been more precious than its age- long demand for the right and duty of every soul to seek that light by which no man was ever injured and that truth which makes men free down through the centuries often in times when the highest crime was not

Murder but thinking and and the human conscience was a captive dragged at the wheel of the ecclesiastical Chariot always and everywhere masonry has stood for the right of the soul to know the truth and to look up unhindered from the lap of Earth into the face of God not

Freedom from Faith but freedom of faith has been its watchword on the ground that his despotism is the mother of Anarchy so bigoted dogmatism is the prolific source of skepticism knowing also that our race has made its most rapid advance in those fields where it has been free the long

True to this spirit always masonry has everywhere fought as a champion of human freedom in Civil Life in art and in religion it worked as a lean in France long before the Revolution set that country a flame it was one of the secret forces that made for Italian nationality

It was a power behind the scenes in the American colony struggle for Independence truly as Albert Pike has said it is devoted to the cause of Toleration and liberality against fanaticism and persecution political and religious and to that of Education instruction and Enlightenment against error barbarism and

Ignorance two but this Freedom be it noted it is my point here is freedom in not freedom from the law this is Nature’s Way and law is never anything else if it be truly law and not conventionality than the open path along which life walks to ample power he then

Keeps the laws of hygiene enjoys the vigorous Liberty of Health he that keeps step with the seasons reaps the first fruits of the fields he that thinks in accordance with fact and evidence is given the scepter of Truth it is our loyalty that sets us free it is our

Keeping the rules of the game that yields us the joy and spontaneity of the game all just civil law partakes of this character for its purpose is to relieve a man from The Bondage of Caprice the dominance of the brutal and the super perilousness of the Tyrant making it

Safe for children to play along the streets and for women to walk in the dark it is the friend and protectress of the human it guards our property in our limbs it arbitrates our quarrels it secures to us the fruit of our toil and night and day stands watch above our

Lives always the best country is that where the head is held high the heart is free and Men walk in that Liberty which is inbound in law if there is one one danger lurking in our midst today it is the spread of that subtle civil skepticism that flouts Authority and

Makes light of order the rich would prostitute the statutes of the land to the support of ill-gotten gains those that have nothing would shape them into means of resting what they want from those that have and the anarchists of whom there are many in fact if not in name whisper that law

Itself is bondage and every officer a tyrant masonry’s word to this condition is that the evil of law is to be remedied only by making laws wiser and more just and that the one cure for bad Authority is good authority accordingly the candidate is no sooner released from

His cable toe than he is told to salute the wardens this act may be a contradiction in appearance but is not in fact chapter 20 the apron I having been privileged to read up and down a great deal of masonic literature I may say that on no other one symbol has so

Much nonsense in my opinion been written the apron has been made to mean a thousand and one things from the Fig Leaf worn by Adam and Eve to the last mathematical theory of the fourth dimension and there is little to cause wonder that the intelligent have been scandalized and common men

Bewildered if an interpretation can be made that steers a safe course between the Folly of the learned and the fanaticism of the ignorant it will have some value whatever may be said of its own intrinsic worth warned by the many who have fallen into the pit of unreason

We shall be wise to walk wearily and to theorize carefully the wildest theories concerning the apron have been based on its shape a thing of comparatively recent origin and due to a mere historical accident the body of it as now worn is approximately Square in shape and thus has suggested the

Symbolism of the square the right angle and the cube and all arising there from its flap is triangular and this has suggested the symbolism of the triangle the 47th proposition and the pyramid The Descent of the flap over the body of the apron has also given rise to reasonings equally

Ingenious by this method of interpretation men have read into it all manner of things the mythology of the Mysteries the metaphysics of India the mysteries of the cabala and the fantasies of magic meanwhile it has been forgotten that the apron is a Masonic symbol and that we are to find out what

It is intended to mean rather than what it may under the stress of our lust for fancifulness be made to mean when the ritual is consulted as it always deserves to be we find that it treats the apron one as an inheritance from the past two as the badge of a Mason and

Three as the emblem of innocence and sacrifice two for one purpose or another and in some form the apron has been used for 3 or 4,000 years in at least one of the ancient Mysteries that of mithis the candidate was invested with a white apron so also was the initiate of the

Essin who received it during the first year of his membership in that order and it is significant that many of the statues of Greek and Egyptian gods were so ornamented as may still be seen Chinese secret societies in many cases also used it and the Persians at one

Time employed it as their National Banner Jewish prophets often wore aprons as did the early Christian candidates for baptism and as ecclesiastical dignitaries of the present day still do the same custom is found even among savages for as brother J G Gibson has remarked wherever the religious sentiment remains even Among The Savage

Nations of the earth there has been noticed the desire of the natives to wear a girdle or apron of some kind from all this however we must not infer that our Masonic apron has come to us from such sources though for all we know the early Builders may have been influenced

By those ancient and Universal Customs the fact seems to be that the operative Masons used the apron only for the Practical purpose of protecting the clothing as there was need in labor so rough it was nothing more than one item of the workman’s necessary equipment as

Is shown by Brother w h rylands who found an indenture of 1685 in which a master contracted to supply his Apprentice with sufficient wholesome andc competent meat drink lodging and aprons because the apron was so consp spicuous a portion of the operative Mason’s costume and so necessary a

Portion of his equipment it was inevitable that speculative should have continued its use for symbolical purposes the earliest known representatives of these aprons so we are informed by Brother JF Crow who was one of the first of our Scholars to make a thorough and scientific investigation

Of the subject AOC Volume 5 p 29 is an engraved portrait of Anthony Seer only the upper portion is visible in the picture but the flap is raised and the apron looks like a very long leathern skin the next drawing is in the front of piece to the book of constitutions published in

1723 where a brother is represented as bringing a number of aprons and gloves into the lodge the former appearing of considerable size and with long strings in hogarth’s cartoon Knight drawn in 1737 the two Masonic figures brother Crow points out in another connection see his things a Freemason

Should know have aprons reaching to their ankles but other plates of the same period show aprons reaching only to the knee thus marking the beginning of that process of shortening and of General decrease in size and change in shape which finally gave us the apron of

The present day for since the Garment no longer serves as a means of protection it has been found wise to Fashion it in a manner more convenient to wear nor is this inconsistent with its original Masonic significance it is this fact as I have already suggested that has made the present form

Of the apron a result of circumstances and proves how groundless are interpretations founded on its shape according to Blue Lodge usages in the United States the apron must be of unspotted Lambkin 14 to 16 in in width 12 to 14 in in depth with a flap

Descending from the top some 3 or 4 Ines the Grand Lodge of England now specifies such an apron as this for the first degree but requires the apron of the second degree to have two sky blue rosettes at the bottom and that of the third degree to have an addition to that

A sky blue lining and edging not more than 2 in deep and an additional rosette on the fall or flap and silver tassels Grand officers are permitted to use other ornaments gold embroidery and in some cases Crimson edgings all the evidence goes to show that these ornate aprons are of recent

Origin the apron should always be worn outside the coat three the thick tan hide Girt around him with thongs wherein the Builder builds and at evening sticks his Trel was so conspicuous a portion of the costume of the operative Mason that it became associated with him in the

Public mind and thus gradually evolved into his badge for a badge is some Mark voluntarily assumed as the result of established custom whereby one’s work or station or School of opinion may be signified of what is the Mason’s badge a mark surely its history permits but one

Answer to this it is the mark of honorable and conscientious labor the labor that is devoted to creating to constructing rather than to destroying or demolishing as such the Mason’s apron is itself a symbol of a profound change in the attitude of society toward work for the labor of hand and brain once

Despised by the great of the earth is rapidly becoming the one badge of honorable life if men were once proud to wear a sword while leaving the tasks of life to slaves and menials if they once sought titles and coats of arms as emblems of Distinction they are now

Figuratively speaking eager to wear the apron for the night of the present day would rather save life than take it and prefers a thousand times over the glory of achievement to the glory of title or name truly the rank has become the guinea stamp and a man’s a man for that

A especially if he be a man that can do and the real modern King as carile was always contending is the man who can if this is the message of the apron none has a better right to wear it than a Mason if he be a real member of the

Craft for he is a knight of Labor if ever there was one not all labor deals with things there is a labor of the mind and of the spirit more arduous often and more difficult than any labor of the hands He Who dedicat Ates himself to the

Cleaning of the aan Stables of the world to the clearing away of the rubbish that litters the paths of life to the fashioning of building stones in the confused quaries of mankind is entitled more than most men to wear the badge of toil four when the candidate is invested

With the Garment he is told that it is an emblem of Innocence it is doubtful if operative lodges ever used it for such a symbolic purpose though they may have done so in the 17th century after innocence white being as Cicero phrased it most acceptable to the gods the

Candidate in the Mysteries and among the essenes were similarly invested and it has the same meaning of Purity and innocence in the Bible which promises that though our sins be as Scarlet they shall be white as snow in the early Christian Church the young cuman or convert robed himself in White in token

Of his abandonment of the world and his determination to lead a blameless life but there is no need to multiply in instances because each of us Feels by Instinct that white is the natural symbol of Innocence now it happens that innocence comes from a word meaning to do no hurt

And this may well be taken as its Masonic definition for it is evident that no grown man can be innocent in the sense that a child is which really means an ignorance of evil the innocence of a Mason is his gentleness his chivalrous determination to do no moral evil to any

Person man or woman or babe his patient forbearance of the crudeness and ignorance of men his charitable forgiveness of his Brethren when they willfully or unconsciously do him evil his dedication to a spiritual Knighthood in behalf of the values and virtues of humanity by which a lone man rises above

The brute and the world is carried forward on the upward way it is in token of its texture Lambkin that we find in the apron the further significance of sacrifice and this also it seems is a symbolism developed since 1700 it has been generally believed until recently that the operatives used

Only leather aprons and this was doubtless the case in early days but brother Crow has shown that many of the oldest Lodge records evidence a use of linen as well in the old Lodge of Melrose he writes dating back to the 17th century the aprons have always been

Of linen and the same rule obtained in Mary’s Chapel noi Edinburgh the oldest Lodge in the world whilst brother James Smith in his history of the old Dum free Lodge writes on inspecting the box of Lodge 53 there was only one Aon of kid or leather the rest being of linen as

These lodges are of Greater Antiquity than any in England I think a fair case is made out for linen versus leather originally brother Crow has not entirely made out his case to the satisfaction of all for other authorities contend that the builders who necessarily handled rough Stone in heavy Timbers must have

Needed a more substantial fabric than linen or cotton but in any event the fraternity has been using leather aprons for these two centuries though cotton cloth is generally substituted for ordinary Lodge purposes and it is in no sense far-fetched to see in the lamb skin a

Hint of that sacrifice of which the lamb has so long been an emblem but what do we mean by sacrifice to answer this fully would lead one far a field into ethics and theology but for the present purpose we may say that the Mason sacrifice is the

Cheerful surrender of all that is in him which is unmonitor be a fraud and a sham carrying with it so rich a frage of symbolism the apron may justly be considered more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle more honorable than the star and gter for these badges were too often

Nothing more than devices of flattery and the Insignia of an empty name the Golden Fleece was an order of Knighthood founded by Philip Duke of burgundy on the occasion of his marriage to the infanta Isabella of Portugal in 1429 or 1430 it used a golden RAM for its badge

And the motto inscribed on its Jewel was wealth not serval labor the Roman of old bore an eagle on his Banner to symbolize magnanimity fortitude swiftness and courage the order of the star originated in France in 1350 being founded by John II in Imitation of the order of the

Garter of the last named order it is difficult to speak as its origin is clothed in so much obscurity that historians differ but it was as essentially aristocratic as any of the others in every case the emblem was a token of aristocratic idleness and aloofness the opposite of that which is

Symbolized by the apron and the superiority of the latter over the former is too obvious for comment chapter 21 destitution I before a man can be persuaded to learn an art he must realize his ignorance thereof before he can be made to enter into a new life he

Must be made to feel that he is in a natural state of ignorance in regard to that life there is a certain method by which the candidate is prepared in our ceremony that is designed to cause The Apprentice to know that whatever may be his title and possessions in the world

He is poor and naked and blind as regards that new life which is masonry there is in this method no desire to humiliate him as that word is understood but there is every need that he experience humility a very different thing humiliation may come from disgrace or some check of adverse Fortune

Humility is that lowliness of Mind in which one becomes aware of of his real position in the universe to know oneself is to be humble for in the presence of the Infinities of the universe and individual be he the greatest of the great is pitiably small and weak what is

Man that thou art mindful of him is his cry and he will be the last to strut with pride a mere sense of humor alone would preserve a man against vanity did he not also know that he is a frail creature compounded of dirt and deity hemmed in by ignorance and weak every

Way when a man Compares himself with his fellows he may find cause for Pride but when he stands in the midst of that Lodge which is itself a symbol of the cosmos surrounded by emblems and images on which rests a weight of time more than that which lies upon the pyramids

Where the allseeing eye symbol of omnics looks down upon all he can but feel how frail how unspeakably helpless and frail he is the worldling May eek out a modum of pride in considering how much wealthier he may be or more more learned than another but the Mason acknowledging

A law that demands he be perfect as the father in Heaven is perfect will be more inclined to cry depart from me for I am a sinful man oh Lord among the Ancients writes Pearson the ceremony of discal or the pulling off a shoe indicated reverence for the presence of God the

Pythagorean rule that an initiate must sacrifice and worship unshod applied throughout the religious customs of antiquity the priest removed his shoes from off his feet before entering the place of worship even as does the muhammadan of today of this macki gives an interpretation as simple as it is wise

The shoes or sandals were worn on ordinary occasions as a protection from the defilement of the ground to continue to wear them then in a consecrated place would be a tcid insinuation that the ground was equally polluted and capable of producing defilement but as the very character of

A holy and consecrated spot precludes the idea of any sort of defilement or impurity the acknowledgement that such was the case was conveyed symbolically by divesting the feet of all that protection from pollution and uncleanness which would be necessary in unconsecrated places the right of discal is therefore a symbol of

Reverence it signifies in the language of symbolism that the spot which is about to be approached in this humble and reverent manner is consecrated to some holy purpose two in the beginnings of the moral life of man a place was made Holy by being set apart as the word

Literally means the Sabbath was kept separate from other days the temple from other buildings the altar from all other spots of Earth this was a necessary teaching to cause men to recognize the mere existence of sacredness but the floor of a masonic lodge room is not made sacred in order

To render other places defiled by contrast rather is it to convince us that as the lodge is a holy place so also should the whole world be of which the lodge is a symbol when men walk the common ways of life with bare feet when they undertake

Every daily task with clean hands when they seek out their fellowships with a pure heart then will all life shine with the sanctity God intended and the universe be in fact as well as Theory the Temple of deity in the days before our era when astrology and Alchemy were

Seriously received by great minds the planets were believed to rule variously over the fates of life and each planet was supposed to be in some wise linked up with a corresponding metal lead was Saturn’s metal iron belonged to Mars copper to Venus gold to the sun Etc to

Keep one of these Metals in one’s possession was to invite the influence of the planet to which it was sacred consequently as a candidate came to the Mysteries he was divested of metals lest he bring some welcome planetary influence into the sanctuary if we find a far-off echo of

This custom in our own ceremonies we may understand that the lodge would thus symbolically exclude every jarring element from its Fellowship we may further understand it in another sense as meaning that the possessions which secure us the services of the world have no potency in the

Lodge of this as we may read in his booklet on deeper aspects of masonic symbolism AE Wade has written with characteristic Insight his words have a finality of wisdom that may fitly conclude a study of destitution the question of certain things of a metallic kind the absence of

Which plays an important part is a little difficult from any point of view those several explanations have been given the better way toward their understanding is to put aside what is conventional and arbitrary as for example the poverty of spirit and the denuded state of those who have not yet

Been enriched by the secret knowledge of the royal and holy art it goes deeper than this and represents the ordinary status of the world when separated from any higher motive the world Spirit the extrinsic titles of recognition the material standards the candidate is now to learn that there is another standard of values

Italics mind and when he comes again into possession of the old tokens he is to realize that their most important use is in the cause of others you know under what striking circumstances this point point is brought home to him chapter 22 the northeast corner I when the

Candidate reinvested with that of which he had been divested is made to stand in the northeast corner of the lodge as the youngest Entered Apprentice both the position in which he stands and the posture of his body have referen to such laws of the new life in masonry as are deserving of careful

Consideration it has long been observed and that for the most obvious reasons that Northeast is neither North nor East but a Midway situation partaking of both if we recall that the north is the place of Darkness the symbol of the profane and unregenerate world and that the East

Is the place of light the symbol of all perfection in the Masonic life you will see that it is fitting that an apprentice be made to find his station there for by virtue of being an apprentice he is as yet neither wholly profane nor wholy initiate having yet

Much light to receive in Masonry it is unfortunate that some masons in all the Deep senses of the words never move Beyond this position but remain through indifference to the influences of the order or sluggishness of spirit in that halfway place his standing in an upright

Posture is at once a hint and a prophecy it is a hint because it is indicative of the plum which will be offered him as one of the working tools of a fellowcraft it is a prophecy because it is an anticipation of that raising up which will be made in the sublime degree

In as much as these completer unfoldings of this symbolism will come in due time and under their appropriate circumstances I have elected to defer a study of moral perpendicularity to subsequent Pages meanwhile we may be reminded that the northeast corner is also the place at least ideally of the

Laying of the Cornerstone a ceremony as ancient as it is significant from of old the builders have ever attended the placing of the Cornerstone with elaborate ceremonies often lasting many days and the custom is still in use if we stop to inquire the reason for this celebration of a

Constructing process we shall find that the Cornerstone is the most important Stone in the building and that it represents the sacrifices that have gone to the making of the structure that is called the Cornerstone or Chief Cornerstone which is placed in the extreme angle of a foundation writes a 17th century commentator conjoining

And holding together two walls of the pile meeting from different quarters performing a functional of such Cardinal importance the Cornerstone has always appealed to men with a meaning Beyond its practical use serving as the symbol of that which is the foundation and principle of consistency in a structure The Apprentice standing

Upright and ready for his working tools a tried and trusty brother is accordingly the Cornerstone of the fraternity even as youth is the Cornerstone of society but there is a meaning in it even Beyond this before the influence of civilization banished many barbarous usages from the rights of men it was no

Uncommon custom to bury a living human being under the Cornerstone this was at first probably intended to mify the gods of the ground on which the building stood and later a recognition of those sacrifices always required of Mir when they would build cths Builder rights as time went on

Effigies or statues were used in Li of human beings and this was in time refined away into the custom of placing Metals jewels and other valuables in the Cornerstone even as we Masons now use corn wine and oil two in keeping with all this we may see in The Apprentice

Standing in the Northeast a dedicated and consecrated man who offers himself as a building Stone in the spiritual Temple which the lodge is making of itself and striving to make of all human society this symbolism wholly divested of every vestage of the inhuman practices of which it is a far-off

Reminder is beautiful and wise every way for until men the individual as well as the mass do offer their own lives to the service of the Brotherhood and the state both Brotherhood and state will ever remain as imperfect as they are now moreover it seems to me that when the

Craft says to the candidate you are the material of which I am builded and of which the Kingdom of Heaven is being builded it pays a tribute to the essential dignity and even Divinity of human nature itself we humans may be crude and barbarous we may be of the

Earth earthy but it is out of us out of that very nature we often affect to despise that all the noble stately things of the future must be made there is no need that we call angels to our Assistance or any Celestial beings whatever in us as we now are are those

Qualities which would we let them rule in us would bring the will of God to pass in the earth it is not Beyond reason that the reigning religion of this Western world dares to link God to man in the person of its found ER for in

A man there is that which is at once human and divine this is the ancient faith of the builders and it is above all things fitting that it should have been set to music by Edwin Markham who is both poet and Mason as gifted in the

One as he is enthusiastic in the other we men of earth have here the stuff of paradise we have enough we need no other thing to build the stairs into the unfulfilled no other Ivory for the doors no other marble for the floors no other Cedar for the beam and

Dome of man’s Immortal dream here on the paths of every day here on the common human way is all the busy Gods would take to build a heaven to mold and make new Edens ours the stuff Sublime to build eternity in Time chapter 23 working tools are an Entered

Apprentice I man is a tool-using animal weak in himself and of small stature he stands on a basis at most for the flattest sold of some half square foot insecurely enough has to straddle out his legs lest the very wind supplant him feeblest of bipeds three quintals are a crushing

Load to him the steer of the meadow tosses him Aloft like a waste rag nevertheless he can use tools can devise tools with these the Granite Mountain melts into light dust before him he needs glowing iron as if it were soft paste seas are his smooth Highway winds and fire his unwearying

Steeds nowhere do you find him without tools without tools he is nothing with tools he is all thus writes Thomas carile who was not always as Masonic as he is here it would be difficult to state in language more forceful the whole philosophy underlying the working tools of masonry albeit reference might

Also be made to hre Beren who wrote his Creative Evolution many years after carile had penned his sard res Sardis and when new light had come and men had grown wiser in science in his book which is the most original discussion of evolution since Darwin’s Origin of Species bergson shows that nothing more

Distinguishes the man from The Brute than his use of tools The Brute has his tools built into his own own body and consequently can neither modify nor change them the beaver’s teeth the spider spin net the Eagle’s Talons the lion’s claws in all these and similar

Cases the brutes tool is a part of the brutes Anatomy with the result that its operations are confined within very narrow limits but man makes his own tools can modify or change them at will and is always free to adapt himself and his work to everchanging needs from this

Has arisen man’s Superior it to the brute creation for he can use his tools upon himself and thus change his own nature as well as the external World accordingly bergon defines man as the animal that makes things and he is careful to show that man’s superiority

Lies in his power to work upon himself as well as upon things here in this last Clause is the key to masonry’s use of working tools in no case are they instruments to be used on external things though they are symbolized by the tools of the operative builders in every case they

Are mental or moral forces with which a man May reshape himself into a masterful man and help reshape Society into a great Brotherhood with the implements thus understood no man or Mason can ever hope to build except he be equipped with his kit of tools but some tools are simpler

In use than others and better adapted to simpler work therefore the craft has wisely distributed the implements among the degrees in recog of the candidates increase of skill and responsibility in the first degree The Apprentice is given the 24 in gauge and common gavel in the second the candidate is allotted the

Plum square and level while the Master Mason in token of his task in completing the building work is given the Trel two the 24in gauge this is nothing other than an ordinary twoot rule such as may be found in use among stonemasons of today as such we need not go go far to

Seek its origin or dive deep to find its meaning our monitors make it the symbol of time well systematized and our older writers have often referred to STS Ambrose and Augustine and to King Alfred as exemplars of the wisdom of devoting 8 hours to the service of God

And distressed worthy Brethren 8 hours to their usual vocation and eight to rest and to refreshment this reading of the symbolism may be accepted without Reserve but is not this right use and dividing of time itself suggestive of that wider use of Law and Order so necessary in the life of the individual

And the world what time is in itself we do not know perhaps we shall never know but in everyday life it is nothing other than our opportunity to live and work we have our allotted span of existence we have our allotted task our wisdom consists in making one fit the other

Time flows over some men as water flows over a stone to others a single Hour May bring a new depth of experience and open out new vistas of vision it is not the least among the secrets of Genius that it understands the value of the odd moment or the spare hour many Illinois

Lawyers between 1840 and 1860 found their days eaten up by their practice Abraham Lincoln was as busy as the others but he managed in his spare time to learn White’s geometry by heart to study the technique of politics and to master every phase and angle of the slavery question

There were only 24 hours in one of Albert Pike’s days even as in ours he made of himself in spite of a thousand handicaps one of the profoundest scholars of his day antiquarian linguist jurist philologist whatnot he found the Scottish WR a log cabin and left at a

Palace he plowed his influence into America and all because he knew how to apply the gauge to his time much of the waste and confusion of human existence arises from Men’s failure to measure their work by some standard or rule they float down the stream like chips take

Things as they come and go and suffer themselves to be blown this way and that like a derel at Sea their days are as mere heaps of stone to which no Quarry man has ever brought his tools he who has learned how to transform time into Life deals with

Circumstances as an artist uses his materials he has ever before him a plan laid out on his mind’s tracing board he selects his materials and appoints each to its appropriate function fitting and shaping all according to his design what is the standard by which we may test our

Work what is the measure of rightness for many centuries we have been dividing our actions into two opposing tables one made up of good actions and one of bad when we have desired to learn whether or not some proposed action was good or bad we searched for it in the two lists but

This morality by code is rapidly breaking down for we find that a deed will be wrong under some circumstances right under others if I shoot a man for assaulting my family I may do right if I shoot a friend in a quarrel I do evil

The one test which we can apply to any and every action is what is its effect on life if it enlarges exalts ennobles if it makes life more musical more worthful more Rich it is good if it cramps corrupts debases defile it is evil this is like morality and every

Evidence indicates that it is to be the morality of the future and it is also I believe the morality of masonry as symbolized by that working tool which would teach us how to transform time into life he who learns this use of it need never regret the passing of every

Year for every year will but add honor to his head and riches to his heart until the end comes when time will lead him to Eternity old time will end our stay but no time if we end well will end our Glory three in the Middle Ages the

Gavl was a symbol often made use of by religious bodies to signify possession a meaning derived perhaps from the ancient custom of throwing a gavl or Hammer across a field to claim ownership in the Scandinavian mythology it was Thor’s hammer and stood for power often seen in the thunderings and Lightnings by which

That dread God split the rocks and destroyed the trees it is similarly used we learn from GM Murray Ansley aqc volume 6 page 51 by new zealanders the maues and Channel Island Savages in masonry it has other meanings being derived from the tool used by the Workman in dressing a stone to the

Desired shape as a working tool it must not be confused with the Master’s Hammer which because it stands for his authority is often called hyam in commemoration of the authority wielded by the first grandmas the the gavl is a tool with one sharp edge and combines the functions of

The hammer and the Chisel when looked at from the end with The Cutting Edge turned up it has the appearance of the Gable of a house and this suggested to macki that it may have been derived from the German gyl or gable however that may be it is a tool

For shaping and not for breaking and is therefore not an emblem of force as some have faned though it is obvious that Force must be employed to use it according to the monitorial explanation the common gavel is an instrument made use of by operative Masons to break off

The corners of rough Stones the better to fit them for the Builder’s use but we as free and accepted masons are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of divesting our minds and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of Life thereby fitting our bodies as living

Stones for that spiritual building that house not made with hands Eternal in the heavens in other connections we are told that the gavl was used by operative Masons to break off the knobs and excrescences of stones in order to shape the rough ashler into the perfect ashler or finished building

Stone part two the Second Step chapter 24 an introduction to the Second Step I the term fellowcraft as a compound word was first used by Scotch Masons and it so happens that our earliest detailed picture of the old manner of passing an apprentice to the fellow craft grade is found in the shaw

Statutes an old Scottish document brother Gould has given so complete a summary of the matter that I shall quote his paragraph in full as found in his concise history p 253 the most complete picture we possess of the early masonry of Scotland is afforded by the shaw statutes of 1598 and

1599 these are codes of laws signed and promulgated by William Shaw Master of the king’s work and general Warden of the Masons the one directed to the craft in general the other to the lodge of kwin from these two codes we learn very little with regard to the entry of

Apprentices simply that in each case it was booked but on other points they are more communicative thus a master or fellowcraft which was a term importing the same meaning was to be received or admitted in the presence of six Masters and two entered apprentices his name and Mark each Mason

Had a private Mark which he chiseled or painted on his finished work just as a painter will place his name or initials in one corner of his picture. hlh were also to be booked together with the names of those by whom he was admitted and of his intenders or

Instructors no one was to be admitted according to the earlier code without an essay a specimen of his work and sufficient trial of his skill and worthiness in his vocation and craft or according to the later one without a sufficient essay and proof of memory and art of craft a further regulation

Requires an annual trial of the art of memory and science thereof of every fellow craft and Apprentice according to their vocations under penalty if any of them shall have lost one point thereof this manner of passing was in Vogue in Scotland evidence shows that a similar usage obtained in England as

Well the term fellowcraft was first introduced into the English lodges by the Constitutions of 1723 but even then it still meant so far as the grade was concerned the same thing as Master it was not until some years later at the two names came to have their present import fellow craft literally means

Fellow or companion of the craft in language other than English it is usually derived from some form of the word companion and the meaning is always as that given above brother Gould along with other authorities believed that the operative first degree was broken into two by the speculative sometime between 1723 and

1738 and that the former half of the ceremony was made into the new first and the latter half into the new second this second became known as the fellow craft degree while the Old Second became after sunry editions the new third or master degree in this manner fellow craft and

Master Mason came to have their present meanings two the operative Apprentice was compelled to prove his proficiency by a masterpiece or essay before being passed to the higher grade this means that the Apprentice was one learning to use his tools and that the fellow was one who

Had achieved at least in part that knowledge in our present ritual this old distinction is still observed so that the key word to the second degree is knowledge just as the key word to the first degree was obedience this knowledge is at once a knowing about things and and knowing how

To do things and the entire fellowcraft ceremony is a kind of treatise on the functions played by Enlightenment information and mental development in the life of man we know that while operative Masons were men of trained minds they did not incorporate into their simple ceremonies any such elaborate treatment of knowledge as that

Found in our present degree we owe this enlargement of the right to a Scotchman William Preston Preston was born in Edinburgh on August 7th 1742 at 12 years of age he was compelled by his father’s death to leave school at which time he was Apprentice to a

Printer in 1762 he moved to London where he found employment with the king’s printer during his first year or so in London he was made a Mason becoming a member of a lodge of scotch men situated in London and later at the age of 23 a master accepting the obligations of the

Office with more than usual seriousness he set out to master a history and symbolism of the order Preston found that the usual ceremony of initiation consisted of a reading of the old charges to the candidate followed by Oral expositions these expositions were often Hasty and superficial to a degree and

They seemed a very unworthy form of lecture to Preston who had studied hard and mastered a notable literary style accordingly he set out to write a new system of lectures more in harmony with the Dignity of the fraternity and with the real value of the initiation ceremony after many delays and much

Criticism these lectures were sanctioned by Grand Lodge and diffused throughout England but owing to an unfortunate State of Affairs Preston’s lectures were replaced by hemings at the time of the Union of ancients and moderns in 1813 meanwhile Preston had organized a band or Club of disciples and it was

Through the influence of this group that is lectures came to America where they are the foundation of our craft lectures the fact that has led me to this biographical sketch of the man to this day Most states are using the prestonian system as Modified by Philip Webb brother Rosco pound whose philosophy of

Masonry I am never weary of recommending and whom I am following herein has pointed out that Preston’s age was one in which finality was the dominant idea that it was the period of formal over refinement in every department of human activity and that it was the century of

Intellectual ISM when reason was the central idea of all philosophical thought and knowledge was regarded as the universal solvent of all problems true to the spirit of his day and awake to the necessity of Education in a land without a free public school system Preston undertook to transform masonry

Into an Academy of Learning accordingly we find in the second degree which most carries his impress a complete system of Education covering the five senses the liberal arts and the Sciences today this seems a narrow and inadequate conception but the basis of such a philosophy is perfectly clear if we remember the man

In his time three one need not say I am quoting pound that we cannot accept the prestonian philosophy of masonry as sufficient for the Masons of today much less can we accept the details or even the general framework of his ambitious scheme to expound all knowledge and set

Forth a complete outline of a liberal education in three lectures we need not wonder that Masonic philosophy has made so little Headway in anglo-american masonry when we reflect that this is what we have been brought up on and that it is all the most Masons ever hear of it comes with an official

Sanction that seems to preclude inquiry and we forget the purpose of it in its obsolete details but I suspect we do Preston a great Injustice in thus preserving the literal terms of the lectures at the expense of their fundamental idea in his day they did teach today they do not

Suppose today a man of Preston’s tireless diligence attempted a new set of lectures which should unify knowledge and present its Essentials so that the ordinary man could comprehend them to use Preston’s words supposed lectures were written as a result of seven years of Labor and the cooperation of a

Society of critics which set forth a regular system of modern knowledge demonstrated on the clearest principles and established on the firmest Foundation suppose if you will that this was confined simply to the knowledge of masonry would not Preston’s real idea in age of public schools be more truly

Carried out than by our present lip service and would not his Central notion of the lodge as a center of light vindicate Itself by its results brother pound’s idea of modernizing the educational element in the second degree appeals to me as one of eminent sanity and desirability however few of us can

Afford to wait for such a time we are in the Frat eternity now and we must have its services Now or Never but we do not need to fear that if we throw ourselves into a thoroughgoing study of the degree as it now is that we shall be

Disappointed for it will richly repay the most laborious examination besides there are many elements in it as we shall see that derive from the customs of the old Builder centuries before Preston was born with these elements and with Preston’s great conception of the function of knowledge in the life of man

We shall now have to do chapter 25 passing I in operative days The Apprentice was compelled to spend a series of years sometimes five usually seven in mastering his trade during this period he remained indentured or bound to some Master Mason at its termination he was examined in an assembly of the

Lodge usually on St John’s day and if found proficient was passed to the grade of fellowcraft in our speculative system there is no necessity that so much time be spent between the two degrees but many of our best experienced men believe we have gone to the opposite extreme in

At least three jurisdictions in the United States the candidate may be passed from the first to the second in 2 weeks in nine jurisdictions he may pass as soon as proficient in a majority one month must intervene of course the candidate may take longer than necessary

In every case but the point is that he is almost never required to spend more than one month in preparation for passing surely no man can become fully prepared for advancement which means that he has mastered the teachings of the preceding degree and is made ready

For the next in so brief an interval especially if he be engaged in Daily work surely one thing to explain the indifference of many members to the order is just this habit of hurrying through the degrees when The Apprentice passed to the fellow craft grade in operative masonry he was given a

Distinguishing mark Mark which was usually a crude figure having something of the appearance of a letter of the alphabet though some of these marks were pictures and others were symbols or emblems it is very remarkable writes Gould in his concise history p 239 that these marks are to be found in all

Countries in the chambers of the Great Pyramid at giz on the Underground walls of Jerusalem in herculanum and Pompei on Roman walls and Grecian temples in Hindustan Mexico Peru Asia Minor as well as on the great ruins of England France Germany Scotland Italy Portugal and Spain some of the foundation stones of

The Haram wall of Jerusalem are cut in the surface to a depth of 3/4 of an inch but most of the characters are painted with a red color like Vermilion to use the words of the late professor hater Lewis they seem to give at least strong presumptive ground for the belief that

In these Splendid Foundation stones we may see the actual work of The Phoenician hyam for his Great Master Solomon italic mine similar marks were used by medieval guilds among them the Masons by the latter they were employed to identify each man with his own work in order that responsibility for ilone

Tasks might be easily traced in early days these marks were chiseled or painted in plain view often evidently carried a symbolic significance in later days they were placed on a side of the stone that was hidden from sight each Mark was a worker’s own private possession which another could copy only

At his Peril consequently the receiving of an authorized Mark by an apprentice when passing to be a fellow craft was a token of his Assumption of full responsibility for his work and must have been to him an occasion of Pride and rejoicing it would be easy to comment on

This from our speculative point of view did space permit for every Mason even today is leaving his own mark on his work whether whether it be a visible Mark or not and the allseeing eye beholds it when men cannot in order to be ped the operative Apprentice had also

To produce an essay or Masterpiece the latter word literally meaning Master’s piece it was a proof of his ability to handle his tools and to understand his materials and it was a token to the craft of his Mastery of its Trade Secrets we have a parallel to this in

The present custom of colleges in demanding of a student some Treatise or book to prove his worthiness for degree a lodge of Masons might also take up a similar rule again if a candidate were compelled to study the craft and its history enough to enable him to write a

Paper about it or if he were required to give some signal of genuine service in its behalf his earnestness therein would enable him to get more out of masonry and masonry to get more out of him one test we still employ an advancement that was used by operatives of old the memory

Test a thing I am very sure you will remember as vividly as I do myself some radical critics are advocating that the letter perfect learning of the lecture be abandoned but this I believe would be a catastrophe for this work is the only form of masonic study demanded by the

Lodge and that surely when we remember all that masonry has to offer its voies is little enough two it may be noted in conclusion that it was often the custom in Old lodges to appoint an intender or instructor to have responsibility for teaching the candidate our present

System of custodians of the work or other similar standing committees to instruct district lecturers and Masters in the proper methods of ritualism is roughly analogous to the ancient custom but it has only a remote influence on the candidate it would be a wise thing as I have already more than once

Suggested if every Lodge maintained a permanent School in which to expound to the initiates the mysteries of our craft the Masonic study Club is a step in the right direction may they multiply in number and increase in power up to this point I have been interpreting the passing in the light of operative

Customs and you may be wishing to remind me that in our present speculative system we have added a third degree and that today the fellow craft is no longer a master of the trade all this I admit but is not this true that if so much preparation was once required for

Passing to one higher degree that we should require all the more preparation for advancing to two higher degrees if our candidates are caused more thoroughly to master the fellow craft teaching all the more will they be ready for the sublime degree besides the second degree is so rich in material

That it is many times worth a candidates labor to make it his own and furthermore the better a man has prepared for the fellow craft work the more completely will he have digested the teachings of The Apprentice degree and that is always a consummation devoutly to be wished chapter

26 Square on the breast I in the earliest of the old charges we find 15 points or rules set forth for the regulation of the conduct of the fellow craft these were the perfect points of his entrance to the order as well as in his transactions with Mankind and it is

Worthy of note that this code of ethics was far in advance of the standards of the 15th century there is no need to analyze these requirements except to say that consisted in essence of acting on the square that is the candidate was to deal squarely with the craft with his

Masters his fellows and with all men whomsoever in his relations with the craft he was expected above all else to keep an attentive ear to his instructors to preserve carefully the secrets of his order and his brethren in a faithful breast and to be ever more ruled by the

Principle of virtue in his behavior if such qualifications were demanded of apprentices in an operative trade how much more may they be reasonably required of a fellow craft in a speculative or moral science in its original form virtue meant Valor today it means rectitude but the rectitude which is

Virtue is more than a passive not doing of evil it is the courageous doing of right virtue is but heroic bravery to do the thing thought to be true in spite of all enemies of Flesh or spirit in despite of all Temptations or menaces the man of conventional morality is

Content not to steal drink gamble swear Etc but often it does not enter his head that there is an active aggressive work to be done in cleaning up the world conventional morality is neuter virtue is masculine and the craft that seeks to build the Temple of humanity needs in

Its voter something more than passive morality two many of the most vital organs are in the breast a man man can go without water for days he can do without food if necessary for a month or more but without breath in his lungs or blood in his heart he cannot live an

Hour the breast accordingly is the symbol of the most essential things in personality love faithfulness Purity and character if the square is applied to the breast it is to compel us to realize that virtue must rule in the very deeps of us in the springs of conduct and the

Motives of action as well as on the surface the man whose morality is on the outside of his skin is held up by external restraints and will often fall into evil if they chance to be removed as the Deacon of a church or the pillar of a community will sometimes wallow in

Vice while among strangers but when virtue is the law of the Hidden motives of the will the man will walk as uprightly in the slum of a city as in the precincts of his home should masonry trust to Conventional morality alone it would build on sands by demanding virtue of its members it

Lays its foundations in Bedrock and the storm may come the winds blow the rains fall but its house will not be moved and the same virtue that it requires in the lodge room it expects in all a Mason’s transactions with mankind else Masonic virtue itself becomes a lifeless conventionality chapter

27 the scripture reading from Amos I the Greeks as we recall from our discussion of circumambulation chanted an ode as the worshipper moved about the altar from left to right for their ODS were the most sacred literature in their possession but the master of the Masonic

Lodge reads from the Holy Bible as the fellow craft makes his Mystic rounds and that for the same reason he on Whose life’s journey the great light sends its rays May walk confidently and cheerfully and not as those who stumble through the dark and it is fitting that in this

Connection the Rays come from the prophecy of Amos for that sear sought to bring order and light into the workaday world of men one of the chief tasks of the fellow craft who receives knowledge that he may become a social Builder Amos wrought his great work during the days

Of jeroboam 2 in whose Reign religion had grown hard and formal pleasure had rotted into Vice luxury had become a disease and the aristocracy fattened on the poor against these conditions Amos said himself though he was no Prophet nor the son of a prophet and he lashed

The abuses of his people with such effective Fury that the high-ups had him banished from the kingdom the first great social reformer in history Amos was no mere denunciatory but one who condemned things as they are by setting before them a picture of things as they should be in the graphic Visions

Recorded in his book Amos sets before us a picture of Israel being judged by a plague of locusts then follows a fire that devoured the great deep and had begun to Devour the tilled land these visitations are stayed by the supplication of the prophet and then

Jehovah brings a new kind of judgment to bear on his people as we may read in Amos own words thus the Lord shed me and behold the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline with a plumbline in his hand and the Lord said unto me Amos what

Sayest thou and I said a plumbline then said the Lord behold I will set a plumbline in the midst of My People Israel I will not pass by them anymore two this was no mere dramatic way of saying the people had been bad they must now be

Good The Lesson is no such banality as that but Cuts deeper into things it is really a vision of an entirely new kind of judgment for consider at first Jehovah chastised his people physically as one may whip a child later he passed from external things into their hearts

And said in your conscience you will be judged and in your conscience you will be punished it was just the Lord’s method of plunging a sharp instrument into the naked left breast of Israel external punishments came and passed but when the inner standard was set up it

Remained whatever came and went and the Lord did not pass by them anymore ever is this the truth of things the law of life that bad men are not always visited by physical evils and that good men do not always receive material reward this was a lesson learned by job many

Centuries ago but there is a harvest from wrongdoing that is always sure as sure as the tides and it is nothing other than inward corruption to lie blunts the moral perception to fall into impurity bouds the heart to live in selfishness puts out the eyes of love

For the wages of sin is death like the path of the ego the ways of the punishment of transgression may be viess but they are sure as sure as a plumbline the universe is just and in its laws there is neither variableness nor turning and he that is a skilled fellow

Craft in the building tasks of life will be wise to govern himself accordingly chapter 28 The Oblong Square I having discussed the approach to the East and its first-degree connections there is no need that we go into the matter here though the fellow Craft’s approach naturally falls into

This place but there is one problem associated with this right which was not touched on in the earlier section and as it occurs in both the first and second degrees it may be fitly studied here I refer to the oblong Square this has long been one of the standing puzzles of

Masonry and that because oblong Square seems a contradiction in terms and because no scholar has thus far traced the origin of the Masonic use of this phrase what it really means is still a mystery though we may make our guess as other students have done before us macki

Defined finds it as a parallelogram or four-sided figure all of whose angles are equal but two of whose sides are longer than the others rectangle following Pearson he finds in it a reference to the ground plan of the lodge room and this in turn he sought to

Trace to the shape of the world as known to the ancients from this point of view we may infer he saw in the candidates adjusting his feet to an not the angle of an oblong Square an indication of his willingness to stand to and abide by all

The laws rules and regulations of The Craft others have seen in the oblong square a reference to the tri square one of the working tools when made Gallows shape with one arm longer than the other to this it may be objected first that our working tool is properly a stonem

Mason’s Tri square with the two arms of equal length and not divided into inches and secondly that The Gallows Square interpretation cannot explain the illusion to a perfect square in the third degree others again find in it a suggestion that the stones of bricks used in a wall

Of masonry are almost never Cubes but bodies longest in their horizontal Dimensions the better to overlap they say the candidate is to adjust himself to The Oblong Square because he is himself to be built into a wall that must stand while the ages last but this seems a far-fetched explanation

And also does not explain the perfect square of the master degree two brother c c hunt Deputy Grand Secretary of Iowa has given another interpretation and one that seems to me most reasonable what then is the oblong square of Freemasonry I believe it to be a survival in our ceremonies of a term

Once common but now obsolete my reading has convinced me that at one time the word square meant right angled and the term a square referred to a four-sided figure having four right angles without regard to the proportionate lengths of adjacent sides there were thus two classes of squares

Those having all four sides equal and those having two parallel sides longer than the other two the first class were called perfect squares and the second class oblong squares in time these terms were shortened to square and oblong respectively and that is the sense in which they are used at the present time

So that when we speak of an oblong Square we are met with the objection that if it is a square it cannot be oblong and if it is oblong it cannot be square this is true in the present sense of the term but Freemasonry still retains the older meaning in support of

This so far as America is concerned at least brother CF irn of Ohio produced a letter written by a certain Drive P hildr of Marietta Ohio on June 8th 1819 in regard to the fortifications near his City on the outside of the parapet near the oblong Square I picked up a

Considerable number of fragments of ancient Potters where brother irn contends that if this term was thus in use in Ohio in 1819 it must have been in use further east much earlier if oblong Square was so used by Masons prior to the 17th century it may be that the

The framers of our ritual meant to signify that as the candidate in the Preparatory degree is to try himself by an oblong Square the Master Mason as befits the Adept of perfection must adjust himself to the perfect square thus read the symbolism as found variously in the three degrees is really

A recognition of the fact that the Masonic life is necessarily Progressive and that a Mason strives toward Perfection chapter 29 due form of the obligation of the the fellow craft there is no need to speak in as much as the general topic of obligations was dealt with in an earlier

Section but it may be wise here to add to the previous discussion a very brief comment on that due form in which the oath is made as the details are necessarily secret they must be passed by though it may be said that all the postures seem to be arranged about the

Square thereby suggesting that in order to keep the Covenant a candidate must be square through and through in every limb of his body so that not one faculty or organ shall be permitted to violate those principles and secrets of Freemasonry to which the candidate obligates himself in ordinary everyday life we

Make a distinction between form and formality the man who overvalues the manner of doing things or who does not put his conscience into his forms we call a formalist and that rightly he may have the veneer of a gentleman but the heart of a cat he may perform the

External functions of morality but remain all the while like one of those whitewashed seers of which Jesus speaks formality is pretense mockery unreality but our abhorrence of formalism must not blind us to the necessity of form for the manner of our behavior is itself a kind of language

And speaks with the voice of the sign about the realities of character I may love or admire you greatly but if I do not express my regard through actions that you can understand you may live and die in ignorance of it we lift the Hat shake hands step aside

For ladies surrender our seats to the agent observe the propriety of dress Etc and all because manners are so essential a form of social communion that as Emerson says if they were lost to the world some gentlemen would be obliged to reinvent them now it needs to be

Observed that while masonry must not become formal lest it die and while it must ever be as clean and natural as the blowing Clover and the Falling Rain yet must it use use forms and nowhere are they more manifestly needed than in taking the obligation in that connection as in

Others we call them due forms because they are due to the order in the nature of things and they are nothing other than the candidate’s manner of expressing to his Brethren his wholehearted determination to keep to the last letter all the duties principles and secrets to which he therein binds

Himself Chapter 30 working tools of a fellowcraft the first operation of actual building is the quaring of the stones this is followed by dressing them into shape with straight and level sides and true angles as the gavel and the gauge are appropriately used in the first process they are allotted to The

Apprentice as the plung square and level are for testing perpendiculars angles and horizontals they belong naturally as being next in order to the fellow craft I the line teaches the Criterion of of rectitude wrote William Preston to avoid dissimulation in conversation and action and to direct our steps in the path

Which leads to immortality the web monitor of 1821 defines it in similar fashion the plum is an instrument made use of by operative Masons to raise perpendiculars the plum admonishes us to walk uprightly in our several stations before God and man the idea embodied in each of these

Definitions is expanded by macki in his symbolism of freem as follows the plum is a symbol of rectitude of conduct and inculcates that Integrity of life and undeviating course of moral uprightness which can alone distinguish the good and just man as the operative Workman erects his temporal building with strict observance of that

Plum line which will not permit him to deviate a hair’s breadth to the right or to the left so the speculative Mason Guided by the uniring principles of right and Truth inculcated in the symbolic teachings of the same Implement is steadfast in The Pursuit Of Truth neither bending beneath the frowns of

Adversity nor yielding to the seductions of prosperity by an inevitable coincidence the central word in each of these three typical definitions is rectitude and rectitude is from the Latin rectus signifying upright not leaning to one side or another standing as it ought from rectus we have derived our word

Right a term referring to a straight line originally even as wrong first meant a crooked line rect itude therefore is a straight line running up and down and we find in it the very picture of the plum line in the operative Mason’s hand it is an instrument for making a wall stand

Straight up and down in speculative masonry it is the symbol of that in Us by means of which we may cause our characters to stand straight up and down there from arises the question what is this that which we find in human nature and by which we can test our

Rectitude this question must be answered lest we be trying to use a working tool without knowing what it is but our answer if it be adequate cannot be packed into a sentence by a necessity of our nature it would seem we must think in terms of time and space men in all

Ages have instinctively linked whatever is strong Noble and true with that which is above and whatever is weak base and vile with that which is below this habit of thought is more Hy than the most antique custom and no matter what science may tell us of how the world is

Made the two dimensions of space will always describe the two orders of being indeed it could hardly be otherwise and until the end of things men will still look to the heights for The Sovereign virtues and to the depths for the malefic and infernal vices nor does it matter what words we

Use so long as we keep it in mind that such ways of thinking are only symbols which conceal as much as they reveal the truth which they try to tell in consequence of this manner of thought to which we are thus instinct ly LED we find ourselves constantly saying of

Things within our own character this is lofty or high this is low or base we may call this perception of different moral levels taste conscience idealism or what we will but the power of such perception is in US everyone and it is this which is our plumbline by virtue of this same habit

Of judging we recognize that other men also are high or low in character and we say that the saint lives on the heights while The Sinner GR in the depths to one we look up on the other we look down what the best man says is sweet is sweet

Says Walt Witman most democratic of Mortals and the best man must ever be to us an example and an ideal to be followed as a teacher and reverenced as a superior All Nations have had such guides and leaders as Moses to the Jews Buddha to the Hindus muhamad to Islam

Confucious to the Chinese and Jesus to the Christians these great characters are the plum lines of society two the level says macki encyclopedia is deemed like the square and the plum of so much importance as a symbol that it is repeated in many different relations first it is one of the jewels

Of the lodge in the English system a movable in the American an immovable one this leads to its being adopted as the proper official end sign of the senior Warden the plum is the badge of the junior Warden and also an immovable Jewel because the craft when at labor at

Which time he presides over them are on a common level of subordination when a building is being erected every stone in it must be so placed that the stress of gravity pulls on all portions of the structure in such a manner that its unity and consistency are preserved this is accomplished by having

The longitudinal axis of each Stone made perfectly horizontal as the level is used for this purpose it is properly said to lay horizontals and because of that mental custom of dividing things into higher and lower classes described above we naturally think of the level in its figurative sense as denoting equality in symbolizing

Democracy if we can discover that in us which unites us to our fellows on a common ground we shall have unveiled the principle in human nature which may be figured by the level and may serve as a genuine symbolical working tool in a time when Nations bowed before the

Divine right of kings and churches made Basin to a pope masonry was teaching men to meet upon the level indeed as Albert Pike has said masonry was the first Apostle of equality before democratic governments were known in Europe and early Mason was justified in saying that

The chief Glory of masonry is that it brings together upon a plane of common equality men of the most diverse opinions occupations and interests here upon the level the symbol of equality the rich and poor high and low titled princes and and sturdy yman forget all differences of rank and station and

Unite their best Endeavor for the highest good of each and all so marked was the Democratic character of the order even in the 17th century that certain of its English critics declared it to have been secretly organized by Oliver Cromwell as an engine of republicanism what is this equality of

Which masonry has ever been so Ardent an advocate we may answer first that it is a task in ways without number men are unequal by birth and by circumstances one man is born in a city slum another in a circle of wealth one is endowed with Talent another is condemned to

Mediocrity one seems to be bound in by an iron wall of disabilities while another finds the gates of opportunity opening out on all sides our fraternity solution of this problem of the inequalities of fate and Fortune is to bring all the diverse men into a circle of Brotherhood where each can share with

The others the the Learned giving his knowledge to his less enlightened mate and the strong helping to Bear the burdens of the weak from this point of view the equality of masonry is like that of a family in which the members May contribute little or much but all

Share equally and the law is from each according to his ability to each according to his need again the fraternity recognizes equality as a natural fact contradictory as these two attitudes may seem for despite the sundering differences of talent of possession of opinion race and Creed

There is in each of us that which he holds in common with all even as the sap flows in the roots of a tree as well as in the leaves this is our Universal human nature our life in the One World of time and space and our child ship

Under the one God these are the things that unite us and ever are they more than the things that divide thus understood there is no conflict in idea between the plum and the level for in one we have that aristocratic ideal which bids us grow as tall of Soul as

Possible and in the other the democratic ideal which bids us share our advantages with our fellows to use one alone might lead us to Pride to use the other alone might debase us to the dead level to use them in cooperation saves us from both extremes and rightly adjusts us to that

Sovereign will of the grand architect of the universe which is to the world of men what gravity is to the world of matter three when a perpendicular is United to a horizontal a right angle results this is embodied in the Square which is therefore included with the

Level and the plum as a working tool and which may consequently be appropriately studied as the third member of this fellow craft Triad it is necessary to bear in mind that we have to do not with a four-sided figure or the measuring square of the carpenter but with the tri

Square of the Mason of the square it is difficult to speak under due limitations because its history is so varied and so ancient and its use so Universal but perhaps if we study it simply as a working tool as the present connection only requires we may uncover something of its Secret in China’s

Classic the great learning written some five centuries before our era it is said that a man should refrain from doing unto others that which he would not want them to do unto him a rule described by the writer as the principle of acting on the Square while men IUS confucious

Great disciple adjured his followers to apply the square and Compass to their lives see Gould’s history volume 1 ch1 brother John Yara tells us that one of the oldest words in the Chinese language is literally Square Encompass and signified right conduct in the foundation of Cleopatra’s Needle the

Egyptian obelisk removed to New York City the square was found carved in a stone surrounded by other builders emblems among the Egyptians the square was evidently a sacred symbol from a remote period and some believe that it originally derived from an old form of the Cross among many other ancient peoples

It was widely used and always for similar purposes in brother conders whole craft and fellowship of Masons we read that a picture of William Warrington was engraved on that Worthy’s Tombstone showing him holding the Square and Compasses in his hand the date was 1427 in 1830 Square was found in the

Foundations of an old bridge near Limerick dated 1517 and bearing the inscription I will strive to live with love and care upon the level by the square the emblem is also found in Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra read not my blemishes in the world’s report I have not kept my square

But that to come shall all be done by rule the square played a conspicuous part in the symbolism of of the companion and of ult fraternities of the Middle Ages the data thus thrown promiscuously together comprises but a fraction of the number of examples that

Might be given but even so they show us how widespread has been the symbolic use of the square and how under all circumstances it has meant the same thing right conduct what explains this Universal usage some have suggested and rightly I believe that the square is a natural

Symbol and would deliver its message to a man utterly ignorant of its symbolic interpretations brother McBride believes that it may have received its Vogue from its obvious connection with the great transition of the building Arc from pyramid form to square form structures speaking of the early Workman

Groping his way along the path of progress he writes gradually no doubt in the course of centuries of experience and through the lessons of repeated failures he acquired a working knowledge of the law of the square in building but it seems that it it was only when he

Properly mastered the problem of forming a right angle that the day of civilization really dawned this was the Chief Cornerstone in his Evolution progress seemingly would have been impossible without it Art and Science alike owe almost everything to it the same wise interpreter goes on to suggest the symbolic meaning of the tool

Hence the importance attached to this instrument and the reason why Masons speculative and operative call it the great symbol of their craft but however important it may be it should not be forgotten that after all it is nothing more than an instrument it has no power nor virtue in

Itself operatively it derives its importance from being adjusted to the Great Central forces that dominate in the material world speculatively it obtains its significance because it represents the great faculty of conscience that governs in the moral world as the square is applied by the operative to his work so are we to apply

Our conscience to our work of lifeb building it is true theoretically that neither Square nor Compass is perfect but they are the best and the only test we have and are in their respective spheres indispensable to True building if we consider carefully the Practical use of the square we see that its

Function consists in the right adjustment of two lines which would otherwise oppose each other in view of this a number of our Scholars have seen in the Implement a symbol of that do of balance which Albert Pike expounded with such stately language especially in the closing pages of his morals and Dogma in

This world of men light and darkness fatalism and freedom dogmatism and agnosticism sensuality and asceticism Etc are ever in Conflict the true life of man consists in the right adjustment of one opposing Force to another so that one does not lapse into either extreme but walks on a

Level in which the two hold each other in equilibrium the way of wisdom is to accept both facts in the case as the two pillars of a temple of Truth and walk between them into the hush of the Holy Place see the Builder Volume 2 page 268 chapter 31 the

Ashlers I a further meaning of the square lies in the fact that it is the tool used by the workmen whereby to test the rough and perfect ashlers these should have been discussed perhaps in their usual position in the first-degree lecture but as space forbade a detailed examination of that

Lecture and as many of the symbols adverted to therein have been or will be explained in other connections it may not be inappropriate to study the ashler symbolism in this connection especially as the latter is so intimately related to the former not unnaturally writes one author in times when the Earth was

Thought to be a square if the cube had emblematical meanings it could hardly have for us from earliest stages it was a venerated symbol and The Oblong Cube signified immensity of space from the base of Earth to the Zenith of the heavens this world old meaning was incorporated by the framers of our

Ritual in the symbolism of the two ashlers the rough ashler is according to the monitor a stone as taken from the Quarry in its rude and natural state a perfect ashler is a stone made ready by the hands of the workmen to be adjusted by the working tools of the fellow craft

In connection with this it must be remembered that even the rough ashler is not a mere shapeless Stone found by accident but a stone roughly shaped suggesting thereby that the craft is selecting its materials and not attempting to make something out of nothing if the rough ashler signifies The Apprentice coming crude and

Unfinished from the quaries of mankind then the perfect ashler is the man made complete by the influence of masonry when thus understood we may agree with the words of brother j w Lawrence whose little volumes of simple Exposition enjoy a popularity justly deserved the perfect ashler as a symbol

Is the summum bonum of Freemasonry that is to say everything else in masonry leads up to it the V of s l describes it the checkered pavement illustrates it the great Architect no less than the grand geometric and desire it and are satisfied with nothing less when the craft has fashioned the the

Perfect ashler it has nothing else to do two the distinction between the rough and perfect ashlers is an eloquent example of the power of refinement for the latter does not differ from the former in its substance being the same Stone as completed for use indeed the word perfect properly means complete and

Suggests that while none of us may hope ever to become Flawless at least in the present World each of us may grow symmetrical a full or man in Body Mind in spirit to achieve which is not the least among the ideals of a fraternity that asks us to remove all knobs and

Excrescences that so often disfigure us and render us unfitted for Fellowship another meaning of the ashler symbolism is set forth by certain of the old lectures in one of which occurs the following paragraphs he that is truly Square well polished and uprightly fixed is qualified to be a member of our most honored

Society he that trusteth such a person with any engagement is freed from all trouble and anxiety about the performance of it for he is faithful to his trust his words are the breathings of his heart and he is an utter stranger to deceit this is as well put as

Emerson’s description of a perfect ashler man whose character consists he says in the power of self-recovery so that a man cannot have his flank turned cannot be outgeneraled but put him where you will he stands Albert Pike found in the ashler symbolism a picture of the true state the rough ashler is the

People as a mass rude and unorganized the perfect ashler cubical stone symbol of perfection is the state the rules deriving their powers from the consent of the Govern the Constitution and the laws speaking the will of the people the government harmonious symmetrical efficient its powers properly distributed and duly adjusted in

Equilibrium if a man objects that nowhere does such a social perfect ashler exist Masonry might make reply in the words of the late Josiah Roy our Noble Apostle of the Gospel of loyalty I believe in the Beloved Community and in the spirit which makes it beloved and in

The communion of all who are in will and inde deed its members I see no such Community as yet but nonetheless my rule of life is act so as to hasten its coming this is a great truth greatly said and as Masonic as it is true these interpretations of the ashler may seem

Seem to differ but they harmonize one with another like the parts of a fitly framed building when the fellow craft adjusts himself to that which is above him by the plum to that which is about him by the level and when he rightly adjusts the plum to the level with the

Square he will make a perfect ashler of himself and when Once thus made he will be ready to be fitted into the Great temple of the Supreme architect whose will is the genius of masonry chapter 32 the Middle Chamber the ascent toward a place representing the Middle Chamber of King Solomon’s

Temple is the outstanding ceremony of the second degree because of this and because of the space devoted to it by the ritual we shall devote several sections to its study in the present section we shall deal with the Middle Chamber itself and with the truth of

Which it is a symbol that it is a symbol and not a bit of history there is every evidence to show Sir Charles Warren while master of the quator coronad Lodge of research gave expression to the opinion of the best modern scholars in saying that there never was a Middle

Chamber in the temple as the fellow crafts were only employed during the building of the temple they could not have used this chamber for the service mentioned you will recall what this service is supposed to have been even if it had existed even if this chamber had

Existed they would not have been allowed to desecrate it by use as a pay office Albert Mackey one of the most conservative of masonic writers and who wrote his symbolism of Freemasonry some 20 years before brother Warren delivered his speech took the same position as we

May read P 210 the whole legend is in fact an historical myth in which the Mystic number of the steps the process of passing to the chamber and the wages they received our inventions added to or engrafted on the fundamental history contained in the sixth chapter of Kings to inculcate important symbolic

Instructions relative to the principles of the order the passage in the book of Kings to which macki here refers is in the authorized version of the Bible as follows they went up with winding stairs into the Middle Chamber modern biblical scholarship has shown that the term here translated chamber really means a story

And that there were three such stories on one side of the temple composed of small rooms in which the priests kept their vestments utensils Etc that workmen were paid their wages in this middle story or that fellow crafts were there prepared for a higher grade there

Is not a hint in the record to show this account of the matter as macki has said is an historical myth a myth has been defined as philosophy in the making it is an allegorical piece of fiction designed to convey some abstract teaching the purpose of our ceremonies

Is not to furnish truth rather than history and that truth is no wise affected by the accuracy or inaccuracy of the narrative ative behind which it is veiled to remember this in all connections will save one from those pitfalls of literalism into which so many Masonic students used to fall when

Understood purely as a symbol the Middle Chamber stands for that place in life in which we receive the rewards of our endeavors this is the broadest sense of it its narrower sense as found in the second degree lecture is that it represents the wages of Education of mental culture for learning is described

As the peculiar work of the fellow craft learning stores the mind with facts preserves one from bigotry and Superstition offers to one the fellowships of great minds quickens perception strengthens the faculties gives one in Short a masterful intellect it is into the possession of such riches

As these that the winding stairs of the liberal arts and sciences bring a man at last we may Rejoice that William Preston gave this teaching so large a place in our lectures for without it may would have been wholly inadequate as a complete system of Life ignorance is a

Sin in most cases at least and the sooner we thus regard it the better will it be for all of us Masons and profane in olden days when men had so few opportunities for learning it was inevitable that the common man should be ignorant but in these days with Public

Schools correspondence schools cheap books and periodicals and free libraries a man who remains content with not possessing the best that has been thought and said in the world is Holy without excuse always and everywhere should men have in the house of Life a Winding Stair of Art and of science up which to

Climb into a Middle Chamber wherein to hold converse with the good and great of all ages chapter 33 operative and speculative in medieval times the builders were organized into a secret fraternity composed of separate lodges which was for the purposes of self- protection and for preserving the

Secrets of the trade and men were given words grips and tokens on their admittance to a lodge this fraternity had an ancient traditional history and it used its tools and trade processes as emblems and symbols whereby to teach a code of morality far above the average ethical standards of the time this was

Called operative masonry because its followers were engaged in the work of actual building at the time of the Reformation ecclesiastical building in which the Freemasons were mostly engaged aged fell into a decline during the 16th and 17th centuries the operative lodges began to receive a large number of

Members who had no intention of practical building but were attracted by the history and symbolism of the order in course of time this speculative element out topped the operative so that at the Revival of 1717 masonry became wholly a speculative body the details of this picture may be filled out by a

Remarkable paragraph in brother McBride’s speculative masonry P 124 The View we wish to consider is that down through the Roman collegia and the medieval craft guilds along with certain Traditions there was probably transmitted some of the symbolism of the ancient Mysteries and that the great quickening of intellectual life in the 16th century

Resulting from the social and political upheaval of the Reformation gave new life and a more developed form to the speculative element within the old craft lodges the mental activities of men had so long been cribed cabined and confined under ecclesiastical rule that having burst its bonds it fairly reveled and

Rioted in all sorts of ways hence we find cabalism theosophy Alchemy and astrology receiving attention and support from the Learned Scholars of the age the spirit of inquiry was rampant and Ill directed as it was in many respects it had on the whole a wonderfully stimulating effect science

In all its branches expanded and developed literature art and social and political life acquired fresh Vigor it is from this period that we can mark the presence of the speculative element in the old craft lodges our view is that the seat of our present speculative system lying latent

In these old lodges was quickened into life through the influence of the Reformation period and later on in 1717 developed into the present organized form on another page of the same work brother McBride gives a more specific description of the moral and symbolic germ in the craft guilds which later

Expanded into speculative masonry taking the old charges and reading them over no one can fail to be impressed with the moral precepts they contain and how the speculative bulks over the purely operative Parts in every case the Mason is charged first of all to be true to

God the king and to his fellows stealing and vice are explicitly named to be avoided falsehood and deceit are condemned and the general impression left after reading these ancient documents is that they are not those of a mere trades Union or operative Guild there is an

Element in them apart from and above the operative work that refers to conduct and morals and it is in this more than anything else that their relationship with modern masonry shows itself after all what is the purpose of our speculative system but to shape life and conduct to Noble ends in these

Passages brother McBride takes the position that speculative masonry is the expansion of a germ that lay in operative masonry other writers while holding this view also believe that the non- operatives who were accepted during the 16th and 17th centuries brought with them an entirely new element brother a e

Weight speaks for these writers in his booklet deeper aspects of masonic symbolism the interest in operative masonry and its records though historically it is a of course important has preceded from the beginning on a misconception as to the aims and symbolism of speculative masonry it was and it remains natural

And it has not been without its results but it is a confusion of the chief issues it should be recognized henceforth that the sole connection between the two arts and crafts rests on the fact that the one has undertaken to uplift the other from the material plan

To that of morals on the surface and of spirituality in the real intention my position is that the traces of a symbolism which may in a sense be inherent in operative masonry did not produce by a natural development the speculative art and craft though they helped undoubtedly to make a possible

And partially prepared field for the Great Adventure and experiment on another page of the same book brother weight contends that Among The Men Who were accepted into the operative lodges were many Latin writing Scholars who brought with them ideas and symbolisms from cabalism and Rosicrucianism with this position Albert

Pikee and many other authorities agree brother wait’s argument it seems to me does not contradict but rather supplements brother McBride’s position if this be the case we may say that from operative masonry our speculative system has received an organization a moral element and certain emblems and symbols

Derived from the building art but that there is an element of philosophy in mysticism in it in the third degree more especially is derived from other s ources leaving for other Pages a discussion of the mystical and philosophical element we may examine here only the elements inherited from

The operative guilds the operative Mason used actual tools to erect structures of wood and stone for this he received material wages the speculative Mason uses moral mental and spiritual forces to erect himself into a nobler manhood and Society into a nobler Brotherhood his wages consist in the enrichment of his

Own and his Race’s life these words are familiar enough to every Mason indeed they have become almost hackneyed and threadbear but familiarity must not be permitted to Blind us to the radical I had almost said the Revolutionary character of this teaching for it implies that human nature may be

Modified reformed regenerated and the world likewise The Cry of the reactionary the obstructionist the ultraconservative has ever been as the world is so has always been so will it always be poverty ignorance Vice these are faded things built into the nature of the race and can in no wise be

Improved against this position masonry throws itself with all its weight and contends that out of the stuff of the present and nobler future can be made that a man’s nature is plastic material out of which a better man can be fashioned that the world of today is a

Rough Quarry out of which may be heed the stones for a temple of tomorrow in which a god may be found to dwell if his philosophy of masonry be true as we Masons are most profoundly convinced that it is it gives us the one great hope of man the one certain pledge of

Progress man is not man as yet nor shall I deem his objects served his end attained his genuine strength put fairly forth while only here and there a star dispels the darkness here and there a towering mind erls its prostrate fellows when all mankind is perfected equal in

Full-blown Powers then not till then I say begins man’s General infancy such men are even now upon the Earth Serene amid the half-formed creatures ground Robert Browning chapter 34 the two great pillars I of all objects to which the candidates attend attention is called as he begins his Ascent to the Middle

Chamber none are more conspicuous or more deserving of the most thorough investigation then the two great pillars which stand at the entrance at one and the same time they guard the sanctum from the outer world and invite the initiate into its Mysteries so Noble in proportion so

Intricate in design So Beautiful to see they seem to keep solemn watch above the scene as if to throw a hush of awe about the soul that would mount to the Upper Room of the spirit if throughout our history students of masonry have surrounded them with a host of swarming

Theories more intricate than the network and more multitudinous than the pomegranates it is because so many hints of ancient wisdom and secrets of symbolism have of old been hidden Within These Mighty columns and if our own studies of the matter lead us to meanings numerous and almost conflicting

We need not worry about it for a symbol that says but one thing is hardly a symbol at all it was the custom of many of the most primitive peoples as Fraser describes so abundantly in his golden bow to set up Stones about their huts and their Villages and over the graves

Of their dead in some cases these crude Rock pillars were thought to be the abodes of gods or demons in others homes of the ghosts and often as symbols of sex of the last named usage one writer has said that pillars of stone when associated with worship have been from

Time immemorial regarded as symbols of of the active and passive the generative and fecundating principles in Egypt Horus and Su were regarded as two living pillars twin Builders and supporters of the heavens and Sir Arthur Evans has shown that pillars were everywhere worshiped as gods in India and among the Mayas and

Incas we read in the builders there were three pillars at the portals of the Earthly and Sky Temple wisdom strength and beauty when man set up a pillar he became a fellow worker with him whom the old sages of China used to call the first Builder also pillars were set up

To Mark the holy places of vision in Divine Deliverance as when Jacob erected a pillar at bethl Joshua at gilgal and Samuel at mispe and Shen always they were symbols of stability of what the Egyptians described as the place of establishing forever emblem of the faith

That the pillars of the Earth are the Lords and he hath set the world upon them in all countries REM marks another writer as the earliest of man’s work we recognize the sublime mysteriously speaking ever recurring monolith but by no people were pillars so venerated or so variously used as by the

Egyptians originally perhaps they served as astronomical instruments to Mark the time to denote the stages of the heavenly bodies and to assist in the orienting of temples connected with the places of worship they were gradually associated with the gods and became in time symbols of deity as we may learn from Professor

Breed’s history of the development of religion and thought in ancient Egypt in which delightful book he tells us that the Obelisk as Egyptians called the pillar came at last to stand preeminently for the great son God this veneration of upstanding Stones answered so deep a need in man’s habits of

Worship that it proved to be one of the last forms of idolatry to give way before monotheism the worship of the one invisible God the Israelites as the Bible Witnesses cling stubbornly to their stocks and Stones reverence for which they may have learned in Egypt during their long sojon there and even

In Christian countries the custom remained with such tenacity that the latter and Council formally prohibited Stone worship as late at 452 from Egypt it is said the custom of placing pillars before temples was Borrowed by the Phoenicians but this has been somewhat disputed be that as it may

We know that hyam of Ty erected two great columns before his magnificent Temple of melcarth where Herodotus saw them five centuries afterwards it was these perhaps that served hyam as models for the more famous pillars which he erected before the Temple of Solomon of these pillars

One description is in the book of Kings another in the book of Chronicles in the former record the height is given as 18 cubits in the latter as 35 if a cubit be accepted as denoting 18 in the former height would be 27 the latter 52 and 1/2 ft A variation of 25

Ft to explain this discrepancy Scholars have supposed Kings to give the height of only one Chronicles the combined height of both leaving allowances for the sockets of the headpieces concerning these headpieces historians have differed but none have given a clearer explanation than macki above the pillar and covering its

Upper part to the depth of 9 in was an oval body or chaper 7 ft and A2 in height springing out from the pillar at the junction of the chaper with it was a row of lotus pedals which first spreading around the chaper afterwards gently curved downward towards the

Pillar something like the aanus leaves on the capital of a Corinthian column about two- fths of the distance from the bottom of the chapiter or just below its most bulging part a tissue of network was carved which extended over its whole upper surface to the bottom of this

Network was suspended a series of fringes and on these again were carved two rows of pomegranates 100 being in each row two the pillars were cylindrical in shape probably and were cast of brass and the combined weight must have been not less than 53 tons one

Of them was called Boaz the other Jain and the former stood in the northeast corner of the porch the latter in the Southeast Jain was the right pillar Boaz the left and this means that right and left have reference to one standing inside the temple which faced the East

According to the tradition the pillars were cast in foundaries situated between sukus and Zera about 35 Mi Northeast of Jerusalem whose molders and Jewelers still use clay brought from that region the network about the chapiter was probably an ornamental lattice work of metal though some think it was an

Interlacing of branches or Vines the Lily work doubtless was a form design made to represent a species of the Egyptian Lotus a sacred plant among the Dwellers of the Nile and much used by them there were no Globes on these pillars though the chapters themselves were spherical the Globes were added at

A late date by some Masonic ritualist Preston it may be those pillars strange to say were not often copied by medieval Builders though they seem to have been imitated in the Cathedral of notra Dame at puer erected in 1161 and in the wburg cathedral in Bavaria the work it seems of the

Kines but at a very early date they were used by Masons for symbolical purposes as testified by the history of the companion and by the Bold charges of the Freemasons in the latter we find a curious Legend the cook Ms of about 1350 relates that before Noah’s flood jabal

Jubil and tubil Kain knew that God was to destroy the world wheree for they wrote The Sciences that they had found out on two pillars of stone Hermes that was son to Kush afterwards found the two pillers and the Sciences written thereon and Abraham taught them to the

Egyptians in as much as it was supposed that masonry had come from Egypt the old Chronicles thus quaintly sought to link their Traditions up to the very beginnings of the world from these old charges we may suppose the legend crept into the symbolic lore of The Craft and was thus preserved until speculative

Days when the pillar symbolism became embodied in the rituals as we now have them it has often been shown that in the descriptions and interpretations given in our work of the pillars there are many inaccuracies and inconsistencies thus only 14 American jurisdictions use the pillars as being 18 cubits in height one jurisdiction

Makes them 30 and 27 make them 35 35 cubits is a lofty height indeed and would make the pillars entirely out of proportion to a temple that was only 90 ft long and 30 ft wide but such inaccuracies as these historical and Architectural need not trouble us if we

Will but keep in mind the fact that with us the pillars have become symbols of Truth and that errors of fact do not touch the hidden meanings what are these hidden meanings William Preston saw in them a reference to the pillar of cloud and the pillar of Fire by which it is

Said the Israelites were guided and accordingly made them to stand for Providence this is ingenious but altogether out of harmony with the long historical use of the emblems for no other interpreter had ever found such meanings in them cicott believed that the Jewish King stood before one pillar

In public ceremonies and the high priest before the other and that the pillars consequently stand for government and religion in society brother cvy Crump writing in the transactions of the author’s Lodge volume 1 made them to stand for space and time the two pillars through which the human mind passes into

Knowledge of similar character is the other reading which sees in them the two Tropics of cancer and Capricorn macki reasoning from their names Jain which means he shall establish and Boaz in it is strength makes them to mean the strength and the stability of masonry many of the old Jewish rabbis

Afterwards followed by the cabalists found in them the symbolism of birth as one wrote the names of the pillars signify potency and perpetuity the pomegranates on their capitals or chapiters were symbols of generation with this after everything is taken into consideration I am inclined to agree being properly stationed at the

Door of the lodge room or on the porch of the temple they signify entrance for it is through them that the candidate passes to his initiation and initiation as we have already seen is birth into a new life when thus understood the two pillars represent a law that applies

Throughout the world of men as well as in the lodge and that in a sense not at all far-fetched we have learned that many of our human ills spring from Bad heredity and come to us in birth and not until men are well born will they be

Well men sound in body and soul and what is true of birth into life is also true of any new birth into any of the Realms of life if the pillars at the door of the family be strong and clean the child will be wholesome and happy in its life

Therein if wise men guard the doorways of the schools our youth will enter into the mind’s world of light and power but not otherwise for always is it that if one would anywhere become a master he must make a right entrance into life’s Temple and he who thus lives will himself

Become a pillar strengthened and strengthening against which Kings and Priests May lean and past which others may be enable to enter into the life that is life indeed woe be it to Human Society if ever it FS to give in any of its spheres right birth to its children its Seekers and

Learners chapter 35 the Globes on the top of each of the two pillars thus described stand two Globes one the celestial representing the heavens the other the terrestrial representing the Earth whence came these and what do they signify in answer to the first of these questions our Scholars have offered two

Hypotheses for first that they are of Egyptian origin second that they are a modified form of the chaps or headpieces of the two pillars the first of these theories was evidently suggested by the ancient Egyptian symbol of the wing Globe often found on the Ure above a

Temple surrounded by a snake holding its tail in its mouth and flanked by two wide outstretched wings so common was this device that it became at last one of the national emblems so that Isaiah speaks of Egypt as the land of the wind GL Globe this globe was in all

Probability oval in shape to suggest the egg symbol of Life The Serpent was the symbol of infinity the wings of power combined the figure stood for the infinite life-giving power of deity if it be supposed that the globe was a true Circle as some contend that it was

Instead of an oval then it may have represented the Sun the first great God of Egypt but the meaning remains practically the same if our two Globes could be made to serve as a modern form of the Egyptian winged Globe they might be enriched in meaning and interest but

There is no evidence whatever that the older sybol ever transmigrated into masonry the probability is all against it for we have two Globes instead of one and we do not have the serpent or the wings besides as actually exhibited our Globes manifestly refer to the earth and the heavens as modernly

Understood the chapit on the two pillars were spherical in shape and always so rep presented it would evidently seem therefore that The Men Who Framed our present ritual of the Second Step among whom Preston was conspicuous simply modified the chaps into Globes but why did they do this because Preston and his

Circle undertook to transform the lodge into a school and consequently required symbols for geography and astronomy two very important branches of the curriculum they outlined this theory is verified it seems to me by reference to to the prestonian lectures in which we find the following paragraphs as slightly

Abridged by web the sphere with the parts of the earth delineated on its surface is called the terrestrial globe and that with the constellations and other Heavenly Bodies the celestial Globe the principal use of the Globes besides serving as maps to distinguish the outward parts of the earth and the

Situation of the fixed stars is to illustrate and explain the phenomena arising from the annual Revolution and the dial rotation of the Earth around its own axis they are the noblest instruments for improving the mind this was Preston’s motive hlh and giving it the most distinct idea of any problem or

Proposition as well as enabling it to solve the same some of our writers have ridiculed all this they say that the use now made of the Globes is school boyish perhaps but even so the idea behind it all is sound and worthy of serious consideration it is good to think about

This marvelous planet on which we live and it is good to gaze into the heavens by which we are surrounded the heavens and the Earth together this is the universe the all thing as the old nors men called it the contemplation of which As Old Samuel Kant once confessed fills one with

Unspeakable awe if a man cannot feel reverence in the presence of all that which is represented by the two Globes there is something lacking out of his nature chapter 36 the ascent I the three five and seven steps have long been a puzzle to the candidate and a problem to Masonic

Writers in the present connection there is no need that we go into the aidite debates that have circled about the matter because our main concern is with that living practical truth of which the stairs are a symbol whence came this symbolism to that question many answers have been offered some ingenious but

None very convincing ining any discussion of origin is valuable only as it throws light on the symbol itself some Scholars have contended though not in recent years that there was a winding stare of three five and seven steps in Solomon’s Temple itself it is thought that at the gate niker there was a

Semicircular stairway leading from one Court to another and that it was on the successive steps of the stair that the Levites chanted the 15 Psalms of degrees specimens of which remain in The Book of Psalms but the archaeologists who have learned most about the temple as it actually existed are generally agreed

That this stairway could not have been the Prototype of the three five and seven steps as we find them in our second degree Sir Charles Warren as iminent in archaeology as he is in masonry writes that there was a winding staircase certainly but this led to little cells or Chambers a few feet

Square in the thickness of the temple walls in which the functionaries temple attend ANS kept their stores for the vo of offerings aqc volume 1 page 42 other Scholars have opined that the steps were originally the same in the Masonic system as the theological ladder and had the same historical origin this

Theological ladder which appears on our tracing board and represents by its seven rungs the three theological virtues of faith hope and charity and the four cardinal virtues of temperance fortitude prudence and justice was introduced into the ritual it is thought by Martin CLA in 1732 this latter was made to stand for

The progress of the soul from the Earthly to the Heavenly and it was looked upon as a masonic type of a similar symbol used in several of the ancient Mysteries especially in mithraism in brahmanism ETC and it was generally held to be in its strictly Masonic form a suggestion of that latter

Which Jacob saw in his vision up and down which the Angels came and went in as much as this theological lad symbolized progress just as does the Winding Stair some have argued that the latter symbol must have come from the same sources as the former this interpretation of the matter may be

Plausible enough and it may help toward an interpretation of both symbols but It suffers from an almost utter lack of tangible evidence other Scholars of more modern views believe that the Winding Stair symbol may have been devised by operative Masons during the Saxon period in England it seems that the numbers

Three five and seven were in the air so to speak at that time as is proved by Gould who gives examples to show that these numbers were grouped together in laws religious doctrines superstitions Etc with startling frequency especially during the years 449 to 1066 but this latter date it will be

Seen is some two centuries earlier than our oldest Masonic record consequently there can be no hope of tra facing the Winding Stair symbol to that time with any degree of accuracy thus it is that we are thrown back upon conjecture accepting that alternative we may believe that the stairway was first

Used simply because it was a necessary part of the symbolic Temple of the second degree here were the pillars standing at the entrance on the porch Yonder was the Middle Chamber on a higher level some means of ascent was obviously needed to get the candidate from one to another two but the

Difficulties in the way of accounting for the origin of the symbol need not perplex us while searching for an interpretation for that is plain the mystical use of numbers in the ascent suggests to us that the clim itself is a Divine task worthy of the noblest in man

The stair as a whole is a symbol of the progress of a man from the low level of natural ignorance toward that high level of spiritual power and insight symbolized by the Middle Chamber the number 15 itself cannot have much mystical significance because it is is another one of those dreaded American

Innovations which have given so much Scandal to certain interpreters in some 18th century tracing boards the stair is composed of only five steps in others of seven Preston divided them into 1 3 5 7 9 and 11 making 36 in all the Heming lectures which replaced Preston at the time of

The Union struck out the group of 11 steps thus reducing the number to 25 the American ritual in turn further reduced the number to 15 by striking out the one and the nine Albert Pike was of the opinion that the nine should have been retained because he believed that

The series 3 5 7 and nine had a very ancient and very precious meaning as long ago as the time of zarathustra he writes the irano Arian Soldier and king of bactria 5,000 years or more before our ERA this date is most certainly wrong the hlh the barura or bundle of

Twigs used in the sacrifices were Bound by three five seven and nine twigs and even then the number seven Had A peculiar significance I consider it a fine thing that the architects of the House of the temple at Washington which is a monument to Albert Pike and headquarters of the

Scottish right of the Southern jurisdiction have divided the steps that lead from the street to the entrance of that Noble building into groups of three 5 7 and nine but while it may possibly be true that the original symbolism should have contained the group of Nine the winding

Stare as it now exists in the second degree can never be changed to do so would dislocate the entire structure of the ritualism of the second degree and it is doubtful if the additional group would give us any additional meanings from ancient times numbers have been much employed in symbolism as is

Proved by the records of all the ancient Nations philosophies and religions for one reason or another too complicated to explain here the even numbers were usually made to denote Earthly or human things while the odd numbers were revered as expressions or suggestions of divine or Heavenly truths this was not the case invariably

Because the early Christians used 888 as the number of Jesus but even they made 666 to stand for the human or demoniac and 777 to mean absolute perfection it is now believed that the number of the Beast spoken of in the Book of Revelation and given as 666 in our

Authorized version was really 616 which was the numerical value of the words kaisar theas or God Caesar and referred to the worship of the emperor at any rate with few exceptions number symbolism has always made the odd number to suggest that which is divine or very

Noble and as such we may understand the use of the odd numbers 3 5 and 7 an old Roman historian of architecture notes that ancient temples were nearly always approached by an odd number of steps because they led to the Divine precincts the three or Triad or turnery

Is found scores of times throughout the ritual and it is bodied forth in the Triangle the symbol of deity it would be impossible in the present space even to hint at the wealth of instances in which the Triad occurs in the various symbolic systems of the past we must satisfy

Ourselves with the following parag gra from Pearson’s traditions of Freemasonry the turnery or Triad is the first of unequal numbers the Triad mysterious number which plays so great a part in the traditions of Asia the philosophy of Plato the mysteries of all ages an image of the Supreme Being

Includes in itself the properties of the two first numbers that is 1 + 2 equals 3 hlh it was to philosophers the most excellent and favorite number a mysterious type revered by all Antiquity and consecrated in the Mysteries wherefore there are but three essential degrees among Masons who venerate in the

Triangle the most August mystery that of the Sacred Triad object of their homage and study three concerning the number five I cannot do better than give Macky interpretations as found in his encyclopedia volume 1 among the pythagoreans five was a mystical number because it was formed by the

Union of the first even number and the first odd rejecting unity and hence it symbolized the mixed conditions of order and disorder happiness and Misfortune life and death the same Union of the odd and even or male and female numbers made it the symbol of marriage among the

Greeks it was a symbol of the world because says theodoris it represented ether and the four elements it was a sacred round number among the Hebrews in Egypt India and other Oriental Nations says jinius the five minor planets and the five elements and Elementary Powers were accounted sacred it was the pentus

Of the gnostics and the Hermetic philosophers it was the symbol of their quintessence the fifth or highest essence of power in a natural body in masonry five is a sacred number inferior only in importance to three and seven it is especially significant in the fellow Craft’s degree where five are required

To hold a lodge and where in the winding stairs the five steps are referred to the orders of architecture and the human senses in the third degree we find the reference to the Five Points of fellowship and their symbol the five-pointed star geometry to which is deemed synonymous with masonry is called

The fifth science and in fact throughout nearly all the degrees of masonry we find abundant illusion to five as a sacred and mystical number the number seven usually stands for Perfection and it may not be without meaning that in the vssl it occurs as one writer has said an

Incredible number of times during the medieval period knowledge was usually divided among seven branches of learning first was a group of three called the Trivium and composed of grammar rhetoric and logic secondly was the quadrian which comprised arithmetic geometry music and astronomy it is interesting to observe how our monitorial interpretation of the

Third group of steps preserves this old idea G says that during the same period these seven Sciences were thought of as a number of steps leading to Virtue and finally to heaven let us now glance first at the group of three steps the most familiar explanation of them is

That they represent the three degrees or The three principal officers of the lodge in either case the first three steps suggest to the candidate that he is being helped on his way by an organized fraternity represented by the degrees or the officers does not this

Have much to tell us is not this one of the Prime functions of masonry instead of leaving the individual to climb on alone it surrounds him with its inspiration and its help as the organized public school stands back of the child that begins the ascent to an education no individual Mason need fail

In his attempt to lead a life a worldwide Brotherhood with its almost inexhaustible resources is at hand to help him have you kept that in mind during dark days no Mason climbs alone even from the start the entire order sensitive to his needs and responsive to

His call is ever ready to help him on and up if we glance at the next group of five steps we find another teaching equally valuable and quite as practicable a teaching that has more boldness in it than appears on the surface let us agree with the monitor

That this group of steps now represents to us whatever it may have originally meant the five senses in other words our physical body with its organs functions and faculties what does this mean is it not this that the very body itself when kept in control by thorough discipline and

When trained by education may be a stepping stone toward the highest life this was an exceedingly bold teaching when first promulgated for it was at a time when religious teachers and moralists were telling people that the body was evil in itself and must be put underf foot masonry does not despise the

Physical but urges us to prepare it so as to serve as a Stairway toward the noblest life the third group of seven steps is interpreted as referring to the liberal arts and sciences in other words we are told that right learning and culture of the mind

Will lead us up and on this is a teaching as badly needed now as ever because so many men tend to make light of knowledge or to excuse themselves for not having it but masonry condemns this attitude teaching us as it does in other connections as well as in this that

Ignorance is a sin if we lay our prejudices aside here and are brave enough to face the facts I believe that we must agree with masonry we may say that we have no time to read or to learn the fallacy of this is proved by the number of men about us

Who are as busy as we yet manage to get an education in odd moments we may say that we have not the opportunities for securing an education that we cannot go to school or that we cannot buy books we do not need to go to school we can turn our bedroom into a

School and be our own teacher like U burrett or Benjamin Franklin or David Livingstone nor do we need to buy books they can always be borrowed from public libraries or from our friends when we remember how Superstition crime fanaticism disease poverty and Kindred evils grow out of

Ignorance we can well afford to study again the lessons of the winding stairs the Winding Stair as a whole is a symbol of progress when is a man progressing let Ruskin answer he alone is advancing in life whose heart is getting softer whose blood warmer whose brain quicker

Whose spirit is entering into living peace in spite of the Great War which for so long dragged its bloody coils across the world we may still believe that the race progresses that step by step since time began we see the steady gain of man but we must not fall into

The error of measuring progress by merely mechanical achievements as the custom is the race as a race goes forward only as mankind as a whole becomes possessed of those qualities described by Ruskin do you not believe that masonry has a leading role to play in this real progress of man can you

Think of a better recipe for advanced M than masonries to unite with others for cooperation to control the passions and discipline the faculties to Enlighten the mind and to keep ever before one a great ideal as is suggested by the holy of holies chapter 37 the builders I in the foregoing section I

Interpreted the group of five steps as alluding to the five senses as the monoral lectures suggest but these same lectures also make the five steps to allude to the five orders of architecture and it is to this that we must now devote our attention in so doing we must remember

That Preston’s great idea in the formation of the lectures just here was to give to the candidate certain useful information which the average man of his day was unable to get elsewhere in our time such matters are taught in the public schools and a man does not go to Lodge for

Instruction some have criticized this lecture because the division of architecture into five orders is no longer countenanced by by Architects themselves be that as it may we need not quarrel over details for it was a wise Insight that led Preston to devote so much space to the Builder’s art seeing

That it is the one art that has given most to masonry even as it is still the art that furnishes masonry with most of its symbols and illustrations so while we may ignore a discussion of the five orders though such a discussion would not be fruitless

By any means and might be carried out by a masonic Study Club with great profit we cannot afford to Omit from our study some Reflections on architecture as a whole and its meanings for the Masonic life perhaps the one man of modern times who next to Ruskin has written most

Beautifully of Architecture is William Morris a great prophet who though not a member of the fraternity blazed and throbbed with the spirit which is the soul of masonry one of his biographers clutton Brook says that for him the great art was always architecture for in that he

Saw use made beautiful and the needs of Man enbl by their manner of satisfying them when we ask Morris to give us a definition of this great art we have the following as his reply a true architectural work is a building duly provided with all necessary Furniture decorated with all du ornament according

To the use quality and dignity of the building from Mere moldings or abstract lines to the great epical works of sculpture and painting which except as decorations of the nobler forms of of such buildings cannot be produced at all in this definition Morris contends that a building deserving of the name of

Architecture must satisfy physical needs and that it must also satisfy the need for beauty only a structure satisfying both needs can be called architecture therefore a mere perola which is ornamental only or a pigy which is practical only cannot be described as architecture when we turn to a study of

The art of building we find that Morris definition is borne out by facts for always from the first rude Hut down to the last erected dwelling house or public building men have made their buildings to house both the mind and the body the stately structures of the ancient world were houses books

Monuments statues Creeds and dreams Allin one the solemn colonades at thieves and the graceful Dignity of the Parthenon tell us what men hoped and believed as well as how they lived in the Middle Ages was the same for throughout that long period architecture was the very mother of all the Arts it

Stood above all other arts and made all other subservient to it it commanded the services of the most brilliant intellects and the greatest artists always a great building is more than a building it is a human document and a man might recover the history of

The life of man upon the Earth from the records left us in the ruins and remains of his architecture so completely has man embodied his soul in the the work of his hands for whatever else man may have been cruel tyrannous vindictive his buildings always have reference to

Religion they bespeak a vivid sense of the Unseen and his awareness of his relation to it as you travel through Europe what arrests you most are the Glorious Cathedrals which tell of the faith of the past one can read the history of Christianity of its bewildering varieties of its

Contradictions and oppositions of the secrets of its life in its buildings the story of the Tower of Babel is not a fable man has ever been trying to build to Heaven embodying his prayer and dream in brick and stone and as he wrought his faith and vision into

Stone it was but natural that the tools of the Builder should become the emblems of the thoughts of The Thinker not only his tools but his temples themselves are symbols of that house of doctrine that home of the Soul which though unseen He is building in the midst of the years

Two that home of the soul in these words we have the secret of masonry’s use of architecture no longer are we as Masons interested in the building of material structures but we are using the Builder’s tools and methods hallowed by long use enriched by ancient associations and found appropriate through centuries of

Experience as symbols and types of a building work of a different kind even a great structure of Truth and Love wherein bre May dwell in unity and joy not arbitrarily have we chosen these symbols for men have so used them from the earliest times as may be learned

From very ancient books The Holy Bible especially which is full of Illusions references and metaphors drawn from the Builder’s art and this emblematic use of tools which was so instructive to early man is equally instructive now as one may learn from a study of Our Daily Language how often do expressions words

And phrases borrowed from architecture spring to our lips edification constructive solid foundation well- founded roof of the world floor of the Seas the walls of creation the windows of Heaven erect construct raise edify one could extend such a list indefinitely for we use the ideas of building up or tearing down almost every

Day of our lives and almost always be it noted we use the Builder in a good sense and the tear down in a bad sense there is something appropriate in the nature of things in the intimate relation between the message of masonry and the language of architecture this is not to forget of

Course that there is also a historical connection between the two for one grew out of the other but even had there been no such actual relationships the two Arts that of the Builder and that of the Mason respectively have so much in common as to ideals and methods that the latter

Has a native right to employ the terms and symbols of the former what is a Mason if not an architect of the mystical order in so far as he is true to his Royal art he is one engaged in building up within himself a real but buus Temple its foundations laid deep in

Character its walls formed of the solid stuff of genuine manhood its roof the stately Dome of Truth inspires the upreach of that aspiration toward a higher which was the original inspiration of every great Cathedral this is no fanciful picture or collection of high sounding words you

And I have both known of Brethren have we not formed by their Masonic fellowships and inspired by their Masonic ideals to be with whom was itself an act of worship truly such men are temples temples not made with hands what is masonry itself if not a World Builder a social architecture on the

Grand Style with its fellowships established in every nation under Heaven its activity ities never ceasing night or day its message uttered in nearly all the languages of the race but always the same message it is one of the mightiest one of the most benign one of the most

Constructive of all forces in the world when its work is finished which will not be until the end is ended it will have proved itself a builder of an unseen Cathedral more noble more enduring than any ever made of stone chapter 38 the five senses I all the emotions and thoughts

Aroused in me on the night I took my second are still fresh in my memory after these many years but nothing remains more vividly than my surprise at the elaborate lecture about the five senses what I kept saying to myself does all this mean in what possible way can

Our sense apparatus have anything to do with the Masonic life I remained nonplussed over the matter until I began to ask myself what part these senses play in life outside masonry and then it dawned upon me that the ritual would be incomplete were it to omit the senses from the scope of its

Illumination I began to see that an interpreter could write whole libraries about the senses from the Masonic point of view and I began to believe that it would require a long lifetime for a man thoroughly to Mize his five senses consider the part played by the

Senses in a man’s life at the center of the man is his Consciousness a lonely isolated invisible Center of awareness outside the man surrounding him on all sides is the universe with its Limitless number of things and happenings the senses are nothing other than the channels perhaps the only

Channels through which the outside Universe gets into man’s Consciousness he is an island the senses are the bridges over which he passes to the mainland and over which the mainland sends its messages into him every impression every experience every sensation every word must pass by way of

Them if you could control a man’s senses then you would be able to determine how much of the universe gets into him and how much of him gets into the universe this is the idea at the bottom of the great series of wall paintings in the Congressional library at Washington

Wherein a picture is devoted to each sense since this is true it follows that the man who would make his mind the home of goodness truth and Beauty will be the one who sees to it that his senses are trained to do their work effectively and that he permits nothing to travel back

And forth over their Bridges except that which is good or true or beautiful two this I take it is the chief Point made in the second degree lecture a Mason is to make his Five Senses Into Five Points of contact with his fellows by seeing to it that only Goodwill kindliness and all

The Fine Things of Brotherhood are permitted to travel back and forth between him and them this implies the further point and it is one that we shall need to elaborate that the senses like every other faculty of a man may be trained and improved so that the man who

Has been making a bad use of them can learn to make a good use if this seems far-fetched or even impossible to us we need only direct our attention to each sense in turn to be convinced that it is always being done what is more or less

Than a touch says Walt Wickman touch is the first or original sense and is employed in the lowest forms of life such as the jellyfish long before four separate organs are dreamed of as the living creature grows more and more responsive to the world outside at the

General sense of touch grows more and more defined until it gradually breaks itself up into the other senses of smelling tasting seeing and hearing and by so doing the creature rises in the scale of life from one point of view at least it is not too much to say that the

Whole process of physical Evolution consists of splitting up the general sense of touch and of refining in special izing each of the split-offs even when we get to man the highest in the scale this development and Improvement of the sense of touch need not stop a musician or an artist

Can carry the development of it to the utmost limit of refinement at the back of the tongue is a series of little organs called taste buds when any object is brought against them they give to the Consciousness a feeling of flavor this sense Also may be developed

Only a few days ago I watched a tea taster at work determining the quality of various kinds of tea he sat at a revolving table on which were several cups of the beverage from each of which he sipped in turn it was only a mouthful but it sufficed because his taste buds

Were so accurate that he could tell where the tea had been grown and what it was worth in lower animals the sense of smell is often unimaginably acute hry Fab describes a moth which can detect the presence of another rods away in a forest at night merely by the odor this

Is the sense of smell raised to the nth degree of acuteness for the naturalist himself was unable to detect the slightest odor even in a Jar full of the insects we cannot smell as the animals can because we do not need to nevertheless like the other senses one

Can develop this faculty as is demonstrated by the perfumery expert who can detect the various kinds and grades of perfumery quite as easily as my tea taster can judge of tea when we make sounds either by speaking or by striking against some object waves travel through the atmosphere in all

Directions when these waves strike against the tonum of the ear they give us the experience of hearing so that hearing itself is a kind of touch the extent to which hearing can be developed and educated is shown by the expert musician who can detect subtle variations of sound wholly lost on

Others of us three seeing is touch at a distance the Sun or some artificial light sends waves Through The Ether these strike against the retina of the eye and give us the sense of seeing if the waves are of one length and speed we see one color if of another we see a

Different color the Indian who can see an antelope grazing a far off on the Prairie the pilot who can detect the smoke of a coming ship in the remote distance are examples of men who have raised this sense to an extraordinary degree of perfection in this discussion

Which may seem to some almost School boyish I have had it in mind to emphasize the fact that we humans have a considerable degree of control over our senses and that if we choose we can improve them by right training from the point of view of General culture this

Means that we can greatly enrich our lives and that is surely worthwhile from the point of view of masonry which is necessarily our chief concern it means that the senses may be so used as to Mize Our Lives the candidate is urged to touch taste or smell nothing nothing that would injure

Himself or Brethren he is in the language of the vssl to take eat how he hears lest some word of slander against a brother be given admission to his mind and he is to see nothing in his fellows except their better selves how much it would mean to every Lodge by way of

Avoiding friction and of increasing Brotherhood if every Mason would train his senses to ignore the things that divide or injure and to heat only those things that increase brotherly love this is a high ideal truly but then masonry itself is a high ideal chapter 39 the liberal arts and

Sciences I the educators of the Middle Ages taught seven branches of learning in their school and these were divided as I have already said into two groups the first of which was called the Trivium meaning where three roads meet and the second quadrivium where four roads meet grammar rhetoric and logic

Comprised the former group usually and it was these subjects that the young student in college first studied the latter group included arithmetic music astronomy and geometry when all of these subjects were mastered the man was said to have a liberal education and the school in which they were taught was called as it

Still is a college of liberal arts this educational system was inv Vogue when the earliest operative lodges were practicing and it was inevitable that the Masons who refused to per their Guild to become a mere labor organization should incorporate the liberal arts and sciences into their schemes of study and in their literature

Brother cond informs us that as early as the 14th century the London Society of Masons required the Master Mason to be acquainted with the Seven Liberal Sciences in the ahiman reason a book of constitutions much used by the Ancients in the 18th century we have a reminiscence of this in the following

Bit of dog roll the grammar rules instruct the tongue and Pen rhetoric teaches eloquence to Men by Logic we are taught to reason well music has claims beyond our power to tell the use of numbers numberless we find geometry gives measure to mankind the Heavenly system elevates the

Mind all those and many Secrets more the Masons taught in days of your this dog girl is really a paraphrase of a few lines from the oldest of our manuscripts written about 1390 and it goes to show that for four or five centuries the Arts and Sciences had held a prominent place

In the thought as well as in the ritual and constitutions of Freemasons in the beginning of the 18th century the liberal arts and sciences were embedded in the first degree after the revision of the ritual they were moved to the second degree where they very naturally serve Preston’s scheme

For making this degree a short course course of instruction there they still remain if they can no longer fulfill Preston’s great purpose they may still very fittingly serve to remind us of the place which such culture must have in the life of every complete and well-furnished Mason to enter into any detailed

Analysis of the seven subjects is obviously impossible here though it might prove more interesting than we would think but we may well ask ourselves why are these Arts and Sciences set in the middle of the ritual why do the lectures devote so much space to them what possible connection can

They have with a man’s Masonic life I believe that we can find a satisfactory answer to these questions by recalling a bit of History during the so-called Dark Ages what few Scholars there were in Europe devoted themselves almost entirely to studies that had little or no connection with human life they

Debated such questions as what are the attributes of deity what are angels what are demons what is being what what is existence how many angels can stand on the point of a needle Etc after the great Revival of learning had come with its rediscovery of history

Of nature of human life and of classical literature the scholars turned from the old subjects to themes that were nearer to life history the Arts science politics and so on the men who took up these studies were called humanists because they were more interested in questions related to the life and needs

Of humanity than they were to the dry as dust discussion of metaphysics and they urged in favor of their new studies that they would humanize men who would pursue them two I believe that masonry is Justified in retaining the liberal arts and sciences in its ritual just because they still

Have power to humanize us to improve Us in social intercourse to make us broader of mind more tolerant in opinion more Humane in action and more brotherly in conduct besides knowledge of them even a little knowledge of them can make us more useful to the lodge the brother who

Understands enough grammar to write a paper to be read to his Brethren who has studied enough rhetoric to learn how to speak well in open Lodge who has so disciplined his mind by Logic as to think straight and clear without prejudice or passion who has an appreciation of a fine artlike music so

As to be mellowed and softened by the charm It throws about one’s personality who has had his mental Outlook broadened and his store of knowledge enriched so as to have useful information to place at the disposal of The Craft such a brother it seems to me is one who exemplifies the Masonic love

Of light we may go a step further suppose a lodge member is critical captious fault– finding Prejudiced and ignorant he adds nothing to the Brotherhood and he is a cause of trouble if the lodge could persuade him to ascend the seven steps of the Arts and Sciences consider how it would affect

Him his Prejudice and vanity would drop away for these are fruits of ignorance his captious would vanish for that comes from a lack of culture his enlarged mind would make him more tolerant of others opinions and more patient with others faults for great knowledge always begets humility the man

Who has captured even a little vision of the wide world of knowledge can never be bigoted or vain glorious because he has learned how little he himself really knows masonry needs the Arts and SCI es for the sake of Brotherhood itself chapter 40 the ephi war and corn

Wine and oil I for many years the Jewish tribes have been harassed on one side by the Philistines and on the other by the ammonites the latter a rude bwin tribe of crafty Fearless desert people made desperate by their losses the Israelites at last gathered behind a semi barbarous

Chieftain from the land of top a region just north of the ammonites and full of folk almost as barbarous as they this Chieftain whose name was jeffa and who suffered the disgrace of a legal birth easily bested the foes and was afterwards made one of the judges of

Israel see Book of Judges on this the men of the Jewish tribe of Ephraim became jealous of the new leader and undertook to destroy his power they crossed over to the east side of Jordan where jeffa lived and they engaged him in war after he had thoroughly whipped

Them he set groups of his men at each of the Jordan Fords to intercept the refugees but jetha discovered that the ephraimites were so much like his own soldiers in appearance that confusion would result so he HIIT upon the ingenious expedient of having every suspect undertake to say shth as he

Waited across the river the ephraimites were as unable to frame the sound of s as Englishmen are to pronounce the scotch o the nearest they could come to the pronunciation was cilith this betrayed them and 42 2,000 were slain two among all primitive peoples the gods were supposed to have

Need of food from that idea arose the custom of placing gifts on the altar a custom as universal as it was ancient the nature of the gifts was determined usually by the occupation of a people the Shepherds for example offered a sheep or a lamb while agricultural peoples appropriately gave fruits or

Grain this explains why it was that the Greeks and Romans in their early periods so often brought to their altars Gifts of corn oil and wine the same people also were accustomed to offer similar gifts to the gods when they undertook the erection of a building thinking to

Appease the gods for taking possession of the soil they would Place fruits and grains in the bottom of the foundation pits a practice well described by Avid in his mythical history of the building of Rome a pit is dug down to the firm clay he writes fruits of the Earth are

Thrown to the bottom and a sample of Earth of the adjacent soil the pit is filled with the Earth and when filled an altar is placed over it Etc the present day habit of placing valuables in a Cornerstone is a reminiscence of that ancient custom the Masonic reader will understand from this

Our custom of using corn wine and oil in the dedication of Masonic buildings but these things have a very different significance in the fellow craft lecture there they symbolize the wages of the workmen alluding to nourishment refreshment and joy this symbolism interprets itself it is nothing more than a figurative manner of

Saying to the candidate if you actually put into practice the teachings of this degree you will receive a rich reward you will be nourished in mind and body you will be refreshed by the consciousness of work well done you will know the joys of Brotherhood of achievement of a life well lived

Compared with such wages money compensation is a very poor thing chapter 41 the letter g i the letter G is so intimately related to the symbolism of the Middle Chamber all connected therewith that it will be wise just here to attempt an explanation of that mysterious letter mysterious is used

Advisedly because there has been very little agreement among our Scholars either as to its origin or to its meaning usually we can hit upon the manner in which a symbol was introduced into the ritual by studying the record of the early 18th century in England at

Which time and place the ritual was cast in its modern form but such a study cannot help us here because the 18th century Masons were themselves confused about the matter this confusion survives to our own day with some authorities holding to one Theory others to its opposite and still others like the

Grandmas of one American jurisdiction inclined to throw the symbol out altogether macki who was always so conservative was quite as radical as this grandmas as is witnessed by this statement of his it is to be regretted that the letter G as a symbol was ever admitted into the Masonic system one

Writer believes that the G stands for the Greek rendering of geometry another that it is the initial of the Greek name for square brother J T Lawrence thinks that it may be an old Egyptian snake emblem others hold that it was originally the square made Gallows shape and that this gradually became corrupted

Into AG the most common theories however are that it stands for geometry or that it is the initial of our word god it will be necessary to examine these last interpretations more at length for the evidence seems to favor one or the other or perhaps both together one cannot read

The old Masonic constitutions without being struck by the prominence given to geometry in their descriptions of masonry the oldest copy of them makes masonry to Spring from geometry as may be seen in the following excerpt on this manner through goodwi of geometry began first the craft of

Masonry brother hexall aqc volume 25 P 97 has pointed out that in every one of the 100 or more copies of these old charges or old constitutions geometry is placed first among Sciences how can we account for this the most reasonable explanation would seem to be that operative masonry was nothing

Other than applied geometry the Builder in that early day had no architectural handbook no blueprints no tables of construction his art was based on Geometry alone and his skill consisted in knowing by heart many of the processes of geometry and his secrets were nothing other than these same

Processes and the knowledge of applying them this being the case it was natural that he should hold his science in high reverence and make its name represented by its initial letter to serve as a symbol in his lodge such at any rate is the reading of

The matter as held by a majority of our best modern Scholars these scholars believe that when Freemasonry became stagnant in the 17th century so that very few lodges remained in existence Freemasons themselves lost the old explanation of the letter G though they retained the symbol because it was

A part of the system which they inherited this so it is believed accounts for the confused explanations made by 18 Century writers two how did the letter G ever come to stand for deity it is almost impossible to answer this question with any degree of certainty because the available evidence

Is so slender but it is thought by some that an explanation may be found in the connection between Freemasonry and cabalism CP 28 for it is believed that some of the non- operatives accepted by The Lodges in the 17th century brought a certain amount of cabalistic lore with

Them the symbolic system of the cabala centers mostly about the Divine name according to ancient Jewish Traditions the real name of God given to the Jewish people through Moses was not permitted to be written except with the consonants only at the time of the Exile the pronunciation and consequently the true

Spelling of the holy name was lost the consonants J or y h w h remained but what the vowels were nobody could discover to find the lost name became one of the great Ambitions of Jewish priests and Scholars and this search became one of the principal subjects in the literature

Of the cabala not having the name itself the cabalists were want to inscribe a Hebrew y to the center of a triangle with equal sides and make this stand for it it is supposed that this symbol was brought into masonry by the non-operatively initial of the Divine

Name the English initial in as much as the initial letter of God was the same as the initial letter of geometry the two symbols became confused and at last the old Masonic meaning of g was forgotten if this history of the matter be correct I have pieced it together

From the opinions expressed by many of our Scholars I do not see that we need to make any choice between G as standing for geometry and G as standing for deity the two conceptions merge naturally together because men have always seen in the geometry which is everywhere found

In nature the clearest unveiling of the infinite mind the Greek philosopher Pythagoras who was the first to raise geometry to the rank of a science built his philosophical system on numbers and their relations all things are in numbers he said the world is a living arithmetic in its development a realized geometry in

Its Repose of a similar mind was Plato king of Greek philosophers when asked how God spends his time he replied God is always geometri geometry rightly treated is the knowledge of the Eternal geometry must ever tend to draw the soul towards the truth three in spite of the enormous

Increase in knowledge we who live 2500 years after those thinkers can still agree with them science has made more apparent the Lucid order the geometric symmetry of the universe the very element of which matter is composed gather themselves together in regular order crystals are a solid geometry the plant the tree the

Construction of an insect’s Wing are all symmetrical in their proportion and rhythmical in their motions the stars move in curves the wildest Comet inscribes a spiral and the whole universe is one vast realm of order and design as science builds itself on the orderliness of nature so

Does masonry seek to build itself upon the equally certain laws of the human mind human beings are not exceptions to the universal reign of law there are laws of Brotherhood laws of the ideal as certain in their operations and as undeviating in their processes as the

Law of gravity when men learn these laws and when they adjust their actions to them they will discover that the face of God has been made plain they will have learned the secret of the letter G part three the third step chapter 42 an introduction to the third step I the

Moment one steps into the third degree he finds himself in an atmosphere very different from that of the first and the second the opening and closing ceremonies are similar to theirs but the architectural symbolism which was in them the predominant feature is here crowded into the background by a

Symbolism of a very different order for whereas the first two degrees deliver their message in the terms of building the third speaks of a living and a dying and a rising again and so compact is it of profound meanings that it furnishes many of the suggestions as many scholars

Have noted from which the higher grades have developed their magnificent teachings by what men the degree was made or when are questions on which our authorities differ so widely that one student brother Robert the C has collected no fewer than 20 different theories while another brother hexall has found 14 different interpretations

Where so many scholars have failed to discover a satisfactory hypothesis it would require some tarity to offer a theory of One’s Own and I must content myself to State as nearly as I can such positions as the majority have agreed on it is believed that in the beginning of

The Grand Lodge period there were at most but two degrees these being known as I have already described as The Apprentice and fellow craft or Master Mason Parts the latter being convertible terms but during this same period so much new material new at least to the ritual of initiation was introduced that

It became necessary to break up the old Apprentice degree into two parts leaving the old second to become the new third this was done for the sake of convenience as the ceremonies had grown too long for only two evenings this division was made sometime between 1723 in

1738 the new Arrangement was a long time in gaining a foothold among the Brethren at first only a few were made Masters and then only in Grand Lodge in fact so few knew how to put on the degree that for sometime special Master’s lodges were organized for the purpose the

Progress of the tri gradal system was even slower in countries other than England g notes that the third did not become common in Scotch lodges until after 1770 why was the third so slow in taking on if it was the old second degree the explanation of the problem seems to be

That so much new material had been added to it that it had become practically a new ceremony there is even some reason to believe that it was this new material which among many other things gave offense to many old Masons living at a distance from London who were thereby

Led to form the Rival Grand Lodge of the Ancients by whom was this new material introduced some attribute the Innovations to Anderson others to Dr dagers others of whom Pike was one have held to the theory that at the time of the Revival certain groups of

As we are to devote a section to this I cannot go into that matter here except to say that it seems unreasonable on the face of it that so elaborated drama occupying the greater part of one whole degree could have been bodily imported into the ritual as a holy new thing the

Conservative old mason of whom many were remaining in the Revival period would not have tolerated so huge an innovation the more reasonable theory is that the substance of the legend and materials appertaining their too had long been a part of the floating tradition of The Craft if indeed as

There is some evidence to show that it was it was not a part of the old operative ritual this would answer the question who imported the new materials no one man or group of men imported it the third degree was not made it grew like the great Cathedrals

No one of which can be ascribed to a single artist but to an order of men working in unity of Enterprise and aspiration to this it may be added that the degree has not ceased to grow in America at least for it is more elaborate here than in England even as

It is more elaborate there than in other countries more elaborate and different by whom the degree was made and when will furnish material for many debates in years to come and in the lap of that future must the problem be left but of one thing we can be very sure the idea

Enshrined in the ceremony is so old that we find it serving as the motif of initiatory long before the dawn of history in a majority of the ancient Mysteries to judge by such memorials as we have of them the action centered in the violent death of some person and is

Being raised again in various guises was this idea presented but always did it convey the same truth that in men there is something that cannot die that this something is akin to the Divine that it can be given the rule of a man during his Earth

Pilgrimage and that it is the purpose of initiation to discover and to develop this Divine element in human life this is nothing other than regeneration it is nothing other than eternal life the life of God in the soul of man lived in the bounds of time and space and under human

Conditions such I take it is the secret of our third degree chapter 43 the vital parts of the breast I on his entrance to the third degree the candidate is received in a manner peculiarly impressive he is told that as the vital parts of the body are in the breast so are the

Vital things of the human world to be found in Friendship morality and brotherly love how vague are these words we have rolled them around in our mouths so much that they have become smooth as billiard balls they have been used so often for merely oratorical purposes that they have grown nebulous and

Abstract and because they have become smooth and vague we are prone to let them slip through our minds without their depositing their meaning behind them a thing fatal to an understanding of masonry the essence of much of which lies in these three wonderful words man

Is by nature a social being it has been proved that he cannot exist as a sane creature except he live among his fellows for his very personality itself is a social product the language on his lips implies another to hear and to understand his emotions and affections seek another in whom to find

Satisfaction not until the individual ual has found other human individuals who can feel with him think with him and act with him can he know the meaning of happiness but it is a part of the tragedy of Our Lives that we are so clumsy in uncovering our own souls and

Others are so inexpert in understanding our secret feelings that our fellowship is never complete so that the music of companionship is continually being disturbed by jangling dissonances of misunderstanding with a friend however it is different he is one with whom we can live in harmony as if the two lives

Could mingle like two streams his thoughts and our thoughts merging together and the two Spirits living as one such a union is one of the sweetest experiences in all the world and he who has found his friend May well congratulate himself as being one who has discovered the pearl of great price

Little Wonder that our prophets and seers have so often broken into rapidy on this subject that our literature May count as its richest Treasures such utterances as those of Emerson black Trumble Montaine bacon and Cicero concerning friendship two morality has been stretched to cover so many meanings

It has been forced into the support of so many conflicting theories and been made fellow to so many crimes against reason that we can hardly blame many for not being interested in it but the word is necessary because the idea of which it is the sign is a real and a necessary

Idea if men misuse it there is all the more reason for for our learning how to rightly use it what is morality it is derived from a Latin word meaning custom and it is probable that the Romans first used it in the sense of living according to the custom in

Christian times a richer meaning was poured into it so that it has come to mean the life of righteousness but what is righteousness it is living the right way doing the right things thinking the right thoughts a very Masonic Behavior but what is right we might answer that

Question in two ways we might say that the right is that which gives us the fullest completest life for it is the purpose of morality to give us life and give it more abundantly or we might say that right is Conformity to the law of our being as

The scientist seeks to learn the laws of nature and to conform to them so does a righteous man seek to discover the laws of his own nature in order to conform to them he obeys the laws of the body by living healthfully He obeys the law laws of the intellect by thinking facts

Without prejudice or haste and he obeys the laws of the Heart by loving only that which he finds to be good and true of Brotherly Love much more might be said though space may not permit especially the Brotherly Love which masonry inculcates how can Brotherhood be

Possible Among Us Men we are all so unbrotherly we are so selfish we are so quick to take or give offense the solution of this Troublesome problem lies in the fact that the one cure for un brotherliness is brotherliness we love our enemies that they may cease being enemies we make

Friends in order to have friends brotherliness is a creative Force Brotherhood is not a thing already made it is a condition we must create so that the very presence of unbin is a challenge to Brotherhood to do its best when our fellows and Lodge act thoughtlessly toward us and bruise and

Hurt us it is not for us to retaliate in so far as we are true Masons we shall love them even though they are not lovable simply because the only way in which we can make men lovable is by loving them Brotherly Love Therefore is

A task a kingly task one of the greatest and most important inside the whole Compass of Life indeed we may say that one of the chief purposes of masonry is to mobilize all men of Goodwill in order that they may help to brother the world into a worldwide

Brotherliness chapter 4 4 The Golden Bowl and the silver cord I the sacred sentences which fall on the years of the candidate as he makes his Mystic round are so heavy with poignant beauty that one hesitates to intrude the harsh language of Pros upon such strains of

Poetry so solemnly sweet we may well believe that the men who introduced the reading here had no other thought than that the words might the better create an atmosphere in which the coming drama of hate and doom might all the more impressively come home to the heart of the

Participants if such was their purpose neither Shakespeare nor Dante could have found words or sentiments more appropriate to the hour there is a music and Majesty in the 12th chapter of Ecclesiastes that leaves us dumb with awe and wonder and our hearts open to the impressions of a tragedy alongside

Which the Doom of Lear seems insignificant for Generations the commentators of holy RIT have seen in the allegory of this chapter a reference to the decay of the body and the coming of death to them the Golden Bowl was the skull the silver cord the spinal nerve

The keepers of the house were the hands the strong men the limbs and the whole picture made to symbolize the bodies falling into ruin and the approach of death one hesitates to differ from an interpretation so true in its application and so dignified by its associations but it must be doubted

Whether the sad and disillusioned man who penned the lines possessed either the knowledge of human anatomy implied by the old interpretation or the intention to make his poem into a medical description of senility a more thorough scholarship has come to see in the allegory a picture of the honor of

Death set forth by metaphors drawn from an oriental thunderstorm it had been a day of wind and cloud and rain but the clouds did not as was usual disperse after the shower they returned again and covered the heavens with their Blackness thunderstorms were so uncommon in Palestine that they always inspired

Fear and dread as many a paragraph in the scriptures will testify as the storm broke the strong men guarding the gates of Rich men’s houses began to tremble the hum of the little Mills wherewith the women were always grinding at even time suddenly ceased because the Grinders were

Frightened from their toil the women imprisoned in the Herms who had been gazing out of the lattice to watch the activities of the streets Drew back into their dark rooms even the Rev ERS who had been sitting at their tables through the afternoon eating dainties and sipping wine lost their appetites and

Many were so nervous that the sudden twitting of a bird would cause them to start with anxious surprise two as the terror of the storm the poet goes on to say so is the coming of death when man goes to his home of everlasting and mourners go about the

Street whatever men may have been good or bad death brings equal Terror to all a man may have been rich like The Golden lamp hung on a silver chain in the Palace of the king he may have been as poor as the Earth and pitcher in which maidens carried water from the public

Well or even as crude as the heavy wooden will wherewith they drew the water what his state was matters not death is as dread a Calamity to the one as to the other when that dark adventure comes the fine possessions in which men had sought Security will be vain to stay

The awful passing into night vanity of vanities all is Vanity the one Bull workk against the common Calamity the preacher urges is to remember the Creator yeah to remember him from youth to old age to believe that one goes to stand before him is the one and only solace in an hour when

Everything falls to ruin and the Very desire to live has been quenched by the ravages of age and the coming of death chapter 45 that which was lost I we come now to the Crux and the climax of blue Lodge symbol ISM the master symbol by means of

Which all other symbols have their meaning well will it be for us to walk warily here not only because the origins of the symbolism of the Lost word are bound up with an ancient and Tangled tradition and not only because it has been so often prostituted to the level

Of magic and Superstition even in recent times but also because it is the embodiment of one of those ideas so high and so deep that they contain whole systems of philosophy and theology Within in them it is like the flower in the crannied wall of Tennyson’s poem If

We could understand it root and all all in all we would know what God and man is much has been written about the Mason’s word as employed in old days when Brethren were sometimes made Mason by having that secret term entrusted to them research has failed to show what

This word was though some scholars believe it to have been that Sovereign name which stands at the center of one of the higher grades some who hold to this last named Theory would have us believe that this transfer of the word from the blue Lodge to that degree was

So disastrous to the symbolic structure of the blue Lodge that to patch up the damage a substitute word was devised to take its place until the candidate passed on to the higher grade but as there is little or no evidence to prove that the great word of the degree is the

Same as the Mason’s word of the old lodes that theory must be left suspended in the midair of conjecture two for my own part and I can speak here for no other I cannot believe that the blue Lodge system was ever rifled of its chiefest treasure to Grace the forehead

Of a higher grade nor can I see why we should think that the third degree just as it is has lost the one key to its Mysteries the search for a lost word is not the search for a mere vocable of a few letters which one might write down

On a piece of paper it is the seeking for a truth nay a set of truths a secret of life and that secret truth is so clearly set forth in the hyam abff drama that one is led to wonder why anybody should suppose that it had ever been

Lost the Lost word does not refer so it seems to me to any term once in possession of the third degree in accidentally lost but rather it denotes the ancient tetraman or four-lettered name for which search has been made these two and a half millenniums according to a very old

Tradition how much actual history may be in it we cannot know the legend of the tetraman goes back to ancient Israel as far as the time of Exile like all people of that day the Jews saw in a person’s name not a mere handy cognomen whereby a

Man be addressed but a kind of sign standing for the personality of the one who bore it Jacob was Jacob because he actually had been a supplanter as that name means and he later became Israel because he grew to be a prince of God Jacob’s name was a revelation of his

Character so was it with all names therefore was it that the Ancients held proper names in a reverence difficult for us to understand as is hinted in an old caldian Oracle never change native names for there are names in every nation god-given of unexplained power in the

Mysteries bearing this in mind we can understand why the Jews threw about the name of deity the wrappings of secrecy and sanctity at first after the dread secret had been imparted to Moses the people pronounced the name in Whispers or not at all they were bid never to use it

Except on the most solemn occasions as witness the third commandment which reads when literally translated Thou shalt not utter the name of thy God idly as time went on the priests forbade them to do more than hint at it one of the Priestly commands in Leviticus reading

He that pronounce the name of the Lord distinctly shall be put to death ch24 V 16 at last only the high priest was permitted to utter the name at all and then on some great occasion such as the day of atonement at the same time it must be

Remembered that Jews were using no vowels in their writing for some strange reason only consonants were ever written or printed therefore only the four consonants jhwh were ever seen when the Jews were taken into Exile all traces of the true pronunciation was lost either because the high priest was killed

Before he could impart it or died in Babylonia before a successor entitled to the secret could be found consequently the Exile was no sooner ended than priests and scribes began their search for the Lost name the four consonants only did they have what the vowels were nobody could learn nor has anybody since

Discovered at least according to the legend three this tetraman became a storm Center of Theology and around it a great mass of symbolism gradually accumulated so deeply did it sink into the imagination of Israel that the later theosophists who built up the speculative system we call the cabala

Made it the very core of their teaching and through the cabala the literature of which was so popular even as late as Reformation times the legends of the Lost name made its way into the thought and literature of medieval Europe but the form of the legend did not always

Remain the same now it is a spoiled Sanctuary now a sacramental mystery now the abandonment of a great military and religious order now the age-long frustrations of the greatest building plan which was ever conceived now the Lost word of cabalism now the vacancy of the most holy of all

Sanctuaries whatever the disguise the quest was always the same a search for something strangely precious which men believed had been lost out of the world but might be found again four this wonderful symbolic idea still retains its power to cast a spell over us as witness its use by modern writers

Eugene Sue Incorporated it in his haunted Tale the wandering jew Tennyson wo it into his Arthur epic where it has assumed the form of the search for the Lost Grail the cup used by The Lord At His Last Supper Henry van djk has embodied it in his book of Stories the

Blue flower and Maurice Mater link has woven about it a Strangely Beautiful drama the blue bird shall we not add to that list the drama of the third degree surely that which was lost can refer to nothing else as the evidence both internal and external so abundantly

Seems to show if that indeed be the case how it does light up with prophetic meaning the whole mystery of the third degree for it shows that the candidate is not on a hunt for a Mystic term to be used like a magic spell still less is it some mysterious individual that he

Seeks that for which he really searches is to discover the Divine in himself and in the world going out to find God we need not wonder when he finds no one word or one thing to reward his labors nor need we be disappointed if he is put off with a substitute for though

His search is not fruitless it is not altogether successful as is fitting when we recall that the complete unveiling of God cannot come to any man in any one lifetime that hope must ever remain an ideal to us humans in the shadow of our Earth life a flying ideal eluding us

While it beckons us leading us over the hills of time into the tireless searchings of Eternity chapter 46 the Trel I this emblem is like a key insignificant in itself it opens up matters of such vast import that to pursue its teachings through all their ramifications would itself require a

Book consequently I can only hope to set down a few hints of the Rich and various applications of it there is no need to say that of all working tools it is the most appropriate to the Master Mason degree it carries that significance upon its surface the Entered Apprentice who

Can make only a beginning at the task of shaping the ashler needs only the gavel and the gauge the fellow craft to bring the stone into completeness of size and form requires the plum square and level the master Mason’s task is to set the finished Stone in its place and bind it

There for which purpose the Trel is his most necessary tool therefore the Master Mason has been given the Trel as his working tool because it is most symbolic of His function in the great work of temple building when that tool has done its work there is nothing more to do

Because the structure stands complete a United Mass incapable of falling apart the stones which were many have now because of the binding power of the cement become as one two if the stone represents an individual man and if the temple represents the fraternity as a

Whole it is evident that the Trel is the simp Sy of that which has power to bind men together there arises the question what is this unifying power let us undertake to answer this question from the several points of view of the individual the fraternity and the World

At Large we very frequently meet with men who seem to lack unity in their makeup a spirit of disorganization or Anarchy is at work in them so that they seem to live at cross- purposes with themselves what they know they should do they do not and many things which they

Do they do against their own will they may have personal Force but it is scattered and their lives never come to a focus of these men we say that they lack character and we say right character comes from a word that meant originally a graving tool after long use

The name of the tool came to be applied to the engraving itself and thus the term has come to stand for a man whose actions give one an impression of definiteness and clear– cutness like an engraving a man who lacks character is a blur a confused and self-contradictory mass of impulses and

Forces the one salvation for such a man is to find some means of unifying himself of using himself to some purpose so as to arrive at some goal what can he use we may answer perhaps that he can best use an ideal for an ideal is

Nothing other than a picture of what one Wills to be which he ever keeps before him as an architect refers to his blueprints in short the man needs a plan to live by a thing we have symbolized in our ritual by means of the tracing board before the time of the Reformation

Builders did not use plans drawn to scale as architects now do but laid out their building design on the ground or even on the floor of the workshop or the lodge in early English lodges this design was often drawn on the floor in chalk by the master and the youngest

Entered Apprentice would erase it with a mop and water at the end of the ceremony after a while to to make this labor unnecessary the plan of work was drawn on a permanent board which was set on an easel and exhibited during the degree as is still done in England the

Tracing Board of a degree therefore is the plan of work for that degree drawn in symbols and hieroglyphics and the tracing board itself as it stands in the lodge is a constant reminder to the Mason that as a spiritual Builder he must have a plan or an ideal for his

Life and when the Mason does live in loyalty to an ideal he is a man of character his faculties work in unison there is no war between his purposes and his behavior and he is able to stand among his Brethren as a completed Temple

Such a man has used a Trel in his own life three it is more difficult to answer the question what is the force that can unite individual Masons into a unified and harmonious order but a practicable answer may be found by asking a further question what is it that now unites us

Even if imperfectly what is the cement perhaps we cannot point to any one thing when I inquire of my own heart what it is that ties me to my fellow Masons I find myself thinking of many things there is the sense of a wonderful history which links up to unknown Brethren who lived

Generations ago there is the symbolism of the society in which precious truths and living philosophies have been poured as into golden vases there is the spirit which pervades the order a sense of Oneness in purpose and aims of Tolerance of Charity of patience and forbearing there is also the remembrance

Of the obligation which I voluntarily assumed and which wo into my heart a silken thread the other end of which is woven into the hearts of my brethren these and similar influences hold me to the craft now and ever shall but how to sum them up in one word I know not

Except that word be Brotherhood Brotherhood has suffered much from overuse from sentimentalism and from oratory but no other word can be found to take its place therefore we may say that so far as the fraternity itself is concerned the Trel and the cement spread on by the Trel is the kindly pervasive

Irresistible spirit in power of Brotherhood true it is that Fellowship is heaven the lack of Fellowship is hell if this be so we have already to hand an answer to our last question what power can unite the scattered peoples and nations of the earth especially in a

Time like this when they are more than ever sundered by Passion and hatred surely if the spirit and influence of Brotherhood can call together 2 million men out of all classes and localities of America and combine them into the solidarity of a great United order that same power can accomplish similar

Results if applied to the World At Large diplomats and politicians do not seem to believe it but it is true nevertheless tried as it may sound and freemasonry’s benign Genius of fraternity was never more badly needed in the earth than just now every device has been used to bind

The peoples together force money fear Superstition and what not let us hope that sooner or later the race will try the means proved so effective by more than 200 years of Freemasonry chapter 47 the hamic legend I in all my research and study in all my close analysis of

The masterpieces of Shakespeare in my Earnest determination to make those plays appear real on the mimetic stage I have never and nowhere met tragedy so real so Sublime so magnificent as the legend of hyam it is substance without Shadow the Manifest Destiny of Life which requires no picture and scarcely a

Word to make a lasting impression upon all who can understand to be a worshipful master and to throw my whole soul into that work with the candidate for my audience and the lodge for my stage would be a greater personal distinction than to receive the plotts

Of people in the theater of the world when so accomplished a judge and critic as Edwin boo could speak like this of the hyam abff tragedy we humbler students may be forgiven for approaching such a theme in awe if not in silence in truth I may confess that I

Should not dare to write a line on the subject where it not absolutely necessary to the scope of these studies the Majesty of the drama is not the only deterrent its origin and its interpretation have engaged our best Scholars for many years but they have not yet reached an agreement many of

Them remain as wide apart as the polls nor is there any hope for an early uniformity of opinion therefore I shall be compelled to lay out for reviews such varying hypotheses as seem most reasonable leaving to you reader the privilege of forming your own conclusions two it is generally agreed

However whatever may be our theory of the origin of the drama that it was first introduced into the ritual in its modern form not more than 200 years ago Pike describes it as a modern invention vibert calls it a comparatively late addition to the ritual and Gould went so

Far as to fix on 1725 as the most probable date of its introduction into its ceremonies but while as I have already said there is General agreement on this some Scholars and they not the least considerable contend that that the drama could not have been invented outright in

1725 even if it was Amplified or improved and they believe that the story of the great martyrdom must have existed in some form long before the 18th century McBride believes that there are traces of the hamic legend in connection with the British craft lodges prior to

1717 Newton holds that it was in the possession of the French companion long before that date and that they almost certainly learned it from the Freemasons even Gould who is so conservative in his opinions writes that the Traditions which are gathered around Ham’s name have come down to us from

Ancient times three 18th century writers usually accepted the legend as having been based on actual history even in details from this position the pendulum swung to the opposite position one writer going so far as to say that nowhere in history sacred or profane in no document upon no Monument is there a

Single shred of authentic historical evidence to support the Masonic Legend while another affirms that in spite of diligent search no reference on the hamic legend has hitherto been found in Jewish writings we are now in process of reaction from this extreme negative position as is proved by Max mou’s

Brilliant article published in the transactions of the Arthur’s Lodge volume 1 p 28 in which he shows that the name of hyam abff in Hebrew literally means hyam his father or hyam his master and that the term as such is found in 2 Chronicles 4:16 this means that the record tells

First of ham of Ty Solomon’s architect and then of a second hyam the former son or pupil which leaves us to infer that the first hyam may have died or have been killed that this latter supposition is not a modern one is proved by a sentence in one of the oldest Jewish

Writings in which we read that all workmen were killed that they should not build another Temple devoted to idolatry hyam himself being translated to heaven like Enoch this is doubtless only a Rabin Legend but it proves that even to the Jews of ancient times there had descended a tradition of the

Grandmaster’s death other writers however have not agreed with this historical Theory but prefer to believe that the drama was devised during medieval times if so it must have come into existence some time before the 14th century for speth asserts that there are references to it veiled in certain of

The old charges and Dr Marx a learned Hebrew scholar declares that he found an Arabic manuscript of that date which contains the sentence we have found our Lord hyam four some Scholars have argued that the drama was brought to Europe by the KN Templar others have seen in it a

Literary result of popular interest in the temple which was so frequently the theme of books and speeches in 17th century England but a diligent search among this literature has failed to unearth a single reference to hyam abff aqc volume 12 page 142 nor has an equally diligent search

Been able to discover any such references in the mystery plays which were once so common in Europe though some Scholars have hoped for light from that quarter aqc Volume 14 page 60 speth considered that the legend may have originated among early Builders as a parabol iCal story suggested by the old

Customs of sacrificing a human being under the Cornerstone of a building Pike was of the opinion that it was invented by 17th century occultists for the purpose of concealing their teachings Carr traces it back to a legend still found in operative lodges While others hold that it was made out

Of the whole cloth by Anderson or dagers While others have seen in it a kind of political allegory devised by Oliver Cromwell of all men or some other Republican as a blast against royalty to me it seems reasonable to believe that the core of the drama came down from

Solomon’s day that it was preserved until Medieval Times by Jewish and especially cabalistic literature that it found a place among the traditions of the old Builders because it was so intimately related to the story of the temple around which so much of their symbolism revolved that it was inherited by 17th

Century masons in crude form and along with the mass of other Traditions that it was elaborated and given its literary form by the early framers of the ritual and that it was adopted by them because it embodied so wonderfully the idea at the center of the third degree as I said

Above This Theory cannot be proved by documentary evidence but it is the opinion toward which the drift of all our data seems to lead One V the confusion which may have been occasioned by this review of the theories of origin will not be lessened I fear when we turn

To interpretation for in this also we find a multitude of counselors and few agreeing to make this diversity as plain as possible I shall set down a table of the theories with their authors names in parentheses when known there are 14 of them I borrowed the list from brother

Hexall but even more could be added by a little search one real and actual death of hyam abith Oliver two Legend of Isis and Osiris Oliver three allegory of Setting Sun Oliver four death of Abel at hand of Cain five expulsion of Adam from Paradise Oliver six entry of Noah into Arkansa Freemasons

Magazine seven morning of Joseph for Jacob Oliver 8 an astronomical problem Yara nine death and res resurrection of Jesus Oliver also Pike in part 10 violent death of King Charles I 1 Oliver 11 persecution of the Templars the Quincy 12 political invention by Cromwell Oliver 13 a parable of old age and death

Oliver 14 a drama of regeneration Hutchinson it is highly significant that the majority of these theories were born in bro Oliver’s learned brain he devoted a lifetime almost exclusively to the study of masonry and he was a man of unusual intellect yet see how bewildered he

Became in the presence of the drama how impotent he was to discover any one fact or event to which it might refer is not this in itself a solution of the problem for why should we persist in thinking that the legend as we now have it derives its meaning from any event

Whatsoever why may we not believe that it is simply a dramatic parable of a great experience of the soul and its struggle against adversaries in its apparent defeat and its ultimate moral Victory whatever it may have originally meant this surely must be its meaning now hyam abff is the type of every

Christlike man who lives as an apostle of light and Liberty and his experiences as set forth in the drama are just those experiences in one degree or another which attend every such man who stands true to his principles adversaries whether men or circumstances seek to undermine his

Courage and betray his soul they may even Encompass his death and apparent defeat but he lives while they die for the man who stands true to his loyalties whatsoever betide has that within him which contumacy cannot kill nor death destroy such a man is unconquerable even immortality and on his lips we might

Place without any in congruity whatsoever the Magnificent exclamation of the heroic fcta I raise my hand to the threatening Rock the Raging flood and the fiery Tempest and cry I am Eternal and defy your might break all upon me and thou Earth and thou Heaven mingle in the wild tumult and all ye

Elements foam and fret yourselves and Crush in your conflict the last atom of the body I call mine my will in its own firm purpose shall SAR unwavering and hold over the wreck of the universe chapter 48 eternal life I that which I believe to be the central idea in the whole hyam

Abff drama and consequently the profoundest interpretation of it is that embodied in the term used as the title of this section I have chosen to consider it in a section apart not only because its importance is deserving of such emphasis but also because the truth of eternal life is so confused so

Mingled with other very different ideas in the minds of men that we have need of a careful analysis of the matter by eternal life we do not mean quite the same thing as we meant by a future Life future Life by virtue of the very words

Used to describe it is a life that is supposed to lie in the future beginning after death eternal life will be lived in the great future true enough but is something more than that nor is eternal life the same as immortality for immortality means deathlessness that is an existence of endless

Duration it suggests a picture of Life lived on a level line of which line there is no end eternal life includes this conception of infinite duration but it also includes much besides again eternal life is not to be identified with Resurrection according to this latter hope the man who dies will be raised

From the dead and will be the same man that he was before death this also may be true in some sense doubtless is true but the idea is not the same as that meant by eternal life two what then do we mean by eternal life briefly it may be put thus there is

Something in every man call it Spirit Soul a Divine spark or what you will which even now belongs to another order of reality and is not to be numbered among the things that go into that utter passing away from which there is nothing to return

It is possible for a man to discover in himself those things that are most akin to God and to keep these things at the center of his being and it is possible for him to do this here and now and under the very conditions which seem to

Us so broken and so unfavorable to high living and not wait until after death all of God and all of the universe and all of the powers of human life These are present with us now and it is not necessary to postpone real life until after death

Three it is the great tragedy in the life of many men that they so entirely devote themselves to the body’s needs that they forget or neglect the spirit’s needs giving themselves up to the search for temporalities they leave the divinest Cravings in them to go unsatisfied as a result they become

Materialistic self-centered vain greedy and animalistic the soul becomes dissatisfied God becomes unreal and the future life uncertain and they even fall into the Fatal habit of making such goodness truth and Beauty as they do find in themselves or others into a mere means to temporal gains such a man’s whole life revolves

About himself he becomes his own world and his own God and out of such a state grow the fears doubts superstitions quarreling grasping prejudices envyings and hatreds which so often make life a mere scramble after the things of Self in other words small all things are set

At the center of existence so that all the man’s life is made up of temporalities the one remedy for this condition is to change the center of gravity so that the spirit is master and body is servant so that search is made for the Eternal things instead of holy

For the things that pass away when this occurs selfishness envy and materialism vanish the soul becomes the great reality God draws very near and becomes very certain the perspective of life is changed and scale of values is reversed to be honorable and true to love others to live in pity charity and kindliness

To know eternity as present in the present existence as a brief phase of an endless life all this becomes for such a man the great ideal toward which all his energies are bent loss and disease may be serious but they are not fatal even death is robbed of its Terrors because

The man’s Treasures are out of the reach of Destruction this is eternal life this is the life of God in the soul of man eternity in the midst of time a Divine Human Experience possible in the here and now to reach such an existence

Is in the power of every man nay it is the birthright the God intended plan of every child of the race herein it seems to me we have the reality of which the Lost word is the Mystic symbol and he who has found that word within himself

Is Victorious always whatever tied if he is betrayed by the friends in whom he has trusted wayed by Ruffians put to death in the midst of his creative and benignant work and thrown into an unmarked grave he is not defeated or destroyed the Godlike Spirit within him dedicated to the Eternal values raises

Him up from the level of death to the perpendicular of the life that is endless four if this be the true interpretation of the raising we can no longer agree with those who see in it merely a cere ceremony in witness to the Future life of the Soul how could it be

The raising is not accomplished on the other side of the grave but on this out of the very disaster that overwhelmed him out of the midst of that Dreadful masterful negation which men call death the master is lifted up and made Victorious the spirit is conqueror even

Here furthermore and as I have already hinted this interpretation makes void the theory which would have us believe that the Lost word must be sought outside the blue Lodge ritual when is the master raised is it not in the third degree is not the very power that raises

Him itself the thing we mean by the word it is true that no word of a certain number of letters is given us it is true that the secret is elaborated and made plain in a higher degree but the power the Actual appraising energy of which

Such a word must be a symbol is present and does its work inside the limits of the degree as as this understanding came home to me and opened up within my mind the whole of the blue Lodge ritual nay the whole of masonry itself became transfigured Dark Places filled with

Light and obscure symbols often so cryptic and dim became eloquent with endless meanings I found that every ceremony from the first simple acts of the preparation room to the climax of The Tragedy of the third degree arranged itself in a solemn order that moved easily to its predestined goal

Freemasonry Rose in my vision to the most Divine Heights and I saw that it has in its heart an eternal gospel which gives it a place among the great witnesses to religion and among the noblest of all the philosophies where through men have sought for light on the brief broken bewildering mystery of

Existence and strength to live unconquered and unashamed in the midst of so many enemies and defeats chapter 49 the lion paw I the macki encyclopedia article on this subject is very brief as may be seen from the following a mode of recognition so-called because of the rude resemblance made by the hand and

Fingers to a lion’s paw it refers to the lion of the tribe of Judah this is true as far as it goes but it doesn’t go far enough for it leaves unanswered the questions of origin and interpretation nor does the companion article on the lion of the tribe of

Judah give us much more information if macki refrained from saying more because he knew no more we can sympathize with him seeing that at this late day there is still very little known about the matter but we have learned something since macki wrote enough maybe to set us

On the track toward a satisfactory understanding of the matter owing to its appeal to the imagination and to the fear and reverence it has ever aroused the lion has often been a favorite with symbolists especially religious symbolists our modern anthropologists and folklore experts have furnished us with numberless examples of this even

Among primitive folk now living who are sometimes found worshiping the animal among the early peoples of India the lion was often used and generally with the same significance as standing for the Divine spirit in man among the early Egyptians it was still more venerated as may be learned from their monuments

Their temples and especially their sphinxes if we may trust our authorities in the matter the Nile dwell used it as a symbol of the life-giving power of the sun and the sun’s ability to bring about the resurrection of vegetation in the springtime in some of the sculpture left

By the Egyptians to illustrate the rights of the Egyptian Mysteries the candidate is shown lying on a couch shaped like a lion from which he is being raised from the dead level to a living perpendicular the bar Leafs at dendra make this very plain though they represent the god Osiris being raised

Instead of a human candidate here writes J E Harrison in her very interesting little book on Ancient Art and ritual the God is represented first as a mummy SED and lying flat on his beer bit by bit he is seen raising himself up in a series of gymnastically impossible positions till he

Rises all but erect between the outstretched wings of Isis while before him a male figure holds the Crux and Sada the cross with a handle the Egyptian symbol of Life two The Croc sensada was as Miss Harrison truly says the symbol of Life originally a stick

With a cross piece at the top for a handle it was used to measure the Overflow of the Nile but in as much as it was this overflow that carried fertility into Egypt the idea of a life-giving power gradually became transferred to the instrument itself in

The same manner that we attribute to a writer’s pen his ability to use words a few of our Masonic expositors among whom albertt Pike may be numbered have seen in the Crux and Sada the first form of that lion’s paw by which the Masonic Horus is raised if this be the case the

Lion’s paw is a symbol of life-giving power an interpretation which fits in very well with our own position as outlined in the two preceding sections three but it is also possible to trace the lion’s paw symbolism to another source among the Jews the lion was sometimes used as the emblem of the

Tribe of Judah as the Messiah was expected to Spring from that tribe the lion was also made to refer to him as may be seen in the fifth verse of the fifth chapter of the Book of Revelation where Jesus Christ is called The Lion of the tribe of Judah it

Was from this source doubtless that the Kines the great Cathedral Builders of the Middle Ages who were always so loyal to the scriptures derived their habitual use of the Lion in their sculptures of this leader Scott the great Authority on the Kines writes that my own observations have led me to the

Opinion that in Romanesque or transition architecture I.E between AD 1,200 The Lion is to be found between the columns and the arch the arch resting upon it in Italian Gothic I.E from ad 1200 to 1500 it is placed beneath the column in either position its significance is evident in the first

It points to Christ as the door of the church in the second to Christ the pillar of Faith springing from the tribe of Judah since the cathedral Builders were in all probability among the ancestors of Freemasons it is possible that the lion symbolism was inherited from the Kines four during the cathedral building

Period when symbolism was flowering out on all sides in medieval life the lion was one of the most popular figures in the common animal mythology as may be learned from the physiologus the old old book in which that mythology has been preserved according to this record the

People believe that the welps of the lionist were born dead and that at the end of 3 days she would howl above them until they were awakened into life in this the childlike people saw a symbol of Christ’s Resurrection after he had Lain Dead 3 days in the Tomb from this

It naturally resulted that the lion came to be used as a symbol of the resurrection and such is the significance of the picture of a lion howling above the welps so often often found in the old churches and Cathedrals the early Freemasons so the records show read both these meanings

Christ and Resurrection into the symbol as they used it and when we consider that most of Freemasonry was Christian in belief down at least to the Grand Lodge era it is reasonable to suppose that the lion symbol may have been one of the vestages of that early belief

Carried over into the modern system if this be the case the lion’s paw has the same meaning whether we interpret it with Pike as an Egyptian symbol or with leader Scott as a Christian emblem since it stands for the life-giving power a meaning that perfectly Accords with its

Use in the third degree this also brings it into harmony with our interpretation of eternal life for in both its egypti and its Christian usages it refers to a raising up to life in this world and not to a raising in the world to come chapter 50 the

Emblems I the Weeping virgin this Monument symbol was unknown to the ritual in the 18th century it is not now found in European systems nor even in some American jurisdictions according to such slender evidence as we possess it seems to have been invented by Jeremy cross the famous

New Hampshire ritualist and pupil of Thomas Smith web though some deny this according to one tradition cross borrowed the idea from a tombstone according to another he adapted an old picture of Isis weeping over the dead Osiris whatever may be the truth of the matter the symbol is not of such

Importance as many others it is an elaborate construction utterly lacking in that quality of naturalness and inevitableness which is found in all the older emblems so that its very artificiality and complexity invites every man to Fashion his own interpretation until new light is thrown on its origin we can make no better use

Of it than is made by the lecture itself where it is transformed into a kind of allegorical picture of Ham’s death two the temple the Great temple of Solomon was erected on a table of rock which crowned a Jerusalem Hill Called Mount Mariah this hill itself occupies a most

Conspicuous place in Hebrew tradition According to which it was variously the spot where Adam was created where Cain and Abel sacrificed where Noah built his altar at the subsidence of the flood where Abraham offered Isaac and David erected his altar the muhammadans who inherited so much from the Jews

Described it as the center of the world and the Gate of Heaven and Muhammad persuaded his followers that it was from this same Hill that he had made his famous Ascent to heaven the temple which Solomon erected there by the assistance of hyam of Ty has had an even larger

Place in the traditions of mankind few realize now how high that temple on Mount Mariah towered in the history of the olden world and how the story of its building haunted the Legends and traditions of times following many a church in the Middle Ages was patterned on it and many a

Writer such as durandis and bunan used it as a symbol of religious truth in making so much of their symbolism to Cluster about this dream haunted building the early Masons were only following in the footsteps of many others until a half century ago Masonic writers believed that our craft had been

Organized during the building of the temple even in detail and that the order had survived from then until the present today there is no need to say we cannot hold that position at least many of us cannot we have a fairly accurate conception of the size and form of the

Structure and we know that it was built by Phoenician workmen even as our legend asserts for archaeologists have uncovered phenician Mason’s marks on the original Foundation Stones what the actual historical connection between the temple building and our own fraternity was Still Remains covered by obscurity but while we wait for future

Research to establish that connection or lack of connection we need not Abate our interest in a temple or minimize its importance to our ritual for the masonry of today is interested in it as a symbol rather than as history how the temple found its way into our system is also a

Debated question if we accept vibert’s contention that there is no evidence that we possessed it at all before the 18th century we are still left with the question on our hands how did it come to be adopted at that time in 1724 vop pandis exhibited a large model in London

Accompanied by an explanatory handbook and this created an immense amount of interest in the subject some have believed that the Freemasons of that period were so caught by this wave of interest that they worked it into their symbolism but Brother s p Johnston who went through the records with a fine-

Toothed comb announced that he was unable to find one shred of evidence to support this Theory aqc volume 12 page 135 brother rylands who was second to nun as a masonic scholar supported this position in the following statement No satisfactory reason has so far been offered why the Temple of Solomon and

Its Builders have been selected to play an important part in one division of our legendary history since brother rylands wrote the above sentence brother AE Wade has come forth with a theory that seems reasonable whether it can be accepted as a satisfactory reason or not holding as he does that many of the

Speculatively were cabalists in one degree or another he believes that we may have inherited the temple symbolism from that Source the cabalists had made the temple one of their principal symbols for more than 400 years and many of their interpretations were strikingly similar to ours if we accept the theory

Of cabalistic influence as I myself am inclined to do at least to a certain extent we may well believe that our use of the temple was borrowed from that very influential group of teachers be that as it may we shall always retain the temple symbolism for nothing could more adequately portray

That which is the great ideal of our craft the building up of a Divine human Brotherhood here among men the temple was built of wood and stone and metals taken from the Earth but these materials were so prepared and so adjusted one to another that a miracle of solemn Beauty

Resulted we also are gathering together materials which seem Earthly or common men with their fleshly nature their appetites and passion and we hope so to prepare and to shape them that in the very Act of Brotherly Union a holy structure of heavenly loveliness will come into existence a house not made

With hands in which our human nature will be transfigured the Temple of Solomon was not an ordinary house of worship for the worshippers remained in the outer courts nor was it patterned after the Earth or the Sun as other temples were for its entrance faced the East instead of the

West by its orientation and its construction it suggested the system of heaven and it was designed to be God’s Dwelling Place among men we also would build a house for God but whereas the Jews would have him dwell in a temple of stone we would Fain prepare for him a

Temple of Flesh and our hope is that through the Regeneration of men and through their banding together in a fraternity the all highest will Tabernacle with us so that God and man May abide together in a holy Eternal house three the pot of incense the use of incense in worship is

Almost as old and as universal as religion itself in ancient days when the gods were supposed to be merely magnified invisible human beings it was believed that they would enjoy sweet odors as much as men did so incense was burned on the altar that they might inhale its unctuous smoke where the

Custom of slaughtering animals on the altar was in use incense was also employed to cover up the odor this was especially necessary in warm climates where the mous of a dead carcass soon became intolerable as religious rights became more spiritualized the burning of incense was usually retained but in a

More symbolic way thus in both the Old and the New Testaments incense is used as an emblem of prayer as many texts will testify in the early Christian period when occultism began to take root the occultists employed incense in their magic rights believing it to possess some mysterious potency like a spell at

The time of the Reformation the custom of using incense in Christian churches became almost abandoned at least by Protestant bodies but there is a tendency abroad now to renew the custom not for any occult or theological purpose but simply to add to the pleasures of the church ceremonies in masonry incense is now

Used only as a symbol typifying prayer and such is its significance in the third degree lecture but it must he noted for it is usually overlooked in spite of the rituals insistence on it that our symbol is not only the incense itself but also the pot or vessel in

Which it is kept if incense means prayer then the pot of incense means the human heart from which prayers arise and the purport of the symbol is to remind us that only such prayers are acceptable to God as rise from a spirit guess and pure four The

Beehive both the bee and the Beehive have been used simp symbolically from a very old time in some cases for what reason it is now hard to Guess The Bee was made the emblem of Heaven as may be seen in certain old Hindu pictures of the god Krishna wherein bees hover over

The deity’s head and also in similar early pictures of Jesus both the Persians and the Egyptians sometimes embalmed their dead in Honey because they believed it to possess antiseptic properties out of this custom we may believe arose the latter habit of using the bee as a symbol of immortality

Alexander the Great so it is said was emomed in this manner and so also were certain of the maravian Kings the last fact may explain why the bee has so often been used symbolically by the French and why Napoleon to lend the luster of age to his upstart Dynasty

Adopted the insect as his Royal Emblem The Bee was used as a symbol of immortality by the mithraic cult so popular in the time of the Caesars and also by the early Christians as the catacomb pictures still witness the bee was also used in another order of symbolism theocritus tells a Charming

Tale in his idols of how Cupid complained to Venus of be stings and how the goddess archly replied thou too art like a bee for although a tiny child yet how terrible are the wounds thou Dost inflict anacan includes the same conceit in his ODS as do other Greek poets as

Well as a few of their more modern imitators such as Manuel de VIIs the cast Ian felis sappi and even the German Ling sometimes one will see bees flying about the head of Cupid on old Greek pottery this is to suggest that as bees steal honey from the rose so does love

Steal honey from the lips of Maidens and as the stings of the bee are very painful so are the sharp darts of Love bees were not domesticated in Europe until the age of the monasteries when the monks considered a hive an essential part of the equipment owing to which

Custom The Beehive came to to be used frequently in Christian symbolism in their exhortations to the monks the church fathers would point to The Hive as an example of industry in the old elely Cathedral of England a woman weeping over a broken beehive evidently represents a home when ravaged by indolence or

Drunkenness the Egyptians called the bees an obedient people because of their faithfulness to the rules of the hive and to order they are a farsighted people always preparing for the future and their industriousness has become proverbial alas as many Masters have learned in the lodge as in the hive there are often

Many drones the brother who could discover a remedy for the Drone evil would lay the whole fraternity under Everlasting indebtedness to his genius the bees as we know kill their drones with scant ceremony that would be a swift but unhappy manner of disposing of ours how to destroy the Dron isness

Without killing the Drone that as h would say is the problem chapter 51 the emblems continued I the book of constitutions During the period lying say between 1,400 when operative Freemasonry was enjoying its plitude of power it is probable that no written constitutions were in use according to such Meer

Evidence as we possess it seems that the candidate at the time of his initiation was given an oral account of the traditional history of the craft and that the master gave him the charges of instruction and Duty in such language as he might choose to employ at the time as

Would inevitably happen under such circumstances these traditions and charges gradually assumed a more or less stereotyped form until at last to make uniformity more certain they were committed to writing the oldest Ms form of the old charges now in existence as I have already noted is that which was

Written by some unknown cleric somewhere near the year 1390 it is known as the Regus or Hallowell Ms and is written in the form of dog roll verse our next oldest copy is the cook which was written early in the following Century many copies were made of these from time

To time and other versions of The Craft story were composed through the labors of brother WJ hugan the great Pioneer in this field and through the efforts of his colleagues we now possess close on to 100 copies of these old documents many copies of the old charges

Were in the hands of brethren in the beginning of the 18th century when the Revival came and Outsiders began to probe into the secrets of the order certain of these Brethren to guard against their falling into strange hands burned several of their manuscripts not all however were

Destroyed and it appears that an attempt to collate the ancient constitutions was made as early as 1719 shortly after the formation of Grand Lodge some members expressed dissatisfaction with the existing constitutions and Grandmaster monague ordered Dr James Anderson to make a digest of all available manuscripts in

Order to draw up a better set of regulations for the governance of the body it is thought by some that it was Dr Anderson himself who first urged this on montigue a committee of 14 learned Brethren examined Anderson’s work and approved of it except for a few amendments and it was accordingly

Published in the latter part of 17 23 this book of constitutions is still the groundwork of masonry and stands to our jurisdictions very much as the Constitution of the United States does to our nation two holding such a position it is fitting that the book of constitutions serve as a symbol in the

Third degree being as it were the title deed of our fraternity it is much more than a mere instrument of Law and links us on to the great past and binds Us in an organic Unity to the generations of old Builders who in departing this life left behind them so shining a monument

As a symbol therefore the book of constitutions reminds us of our debt to the past of our solidarity with the vanished generations of kindly workmen and of the necessity of Law and of seemly order if the craft is to hold itself together in a world where everything is always falling to pieces

Three the Tyler if the Tyler is set to guard the book it is to remind us that secrecy and watchfulness must ever be at hand to guard us against our enemies for the Tyler is here introduced as a symbol rather than as an officer of the lodge

When the craft first began to employ such a sentinel we know not nor can we be sure how the word itself originated some believe that the first Tyler was literally what the word implies a brother employed to make roofs himself a member of One branch of the old Guilds of

Builders others think that as the Sentinel is to protect the secrecy of the lodge he was called Tyler in a figurative sense since it is the roof which conceals the interior of a building accepting such views for what they are worth and acknowledging the Practical necessity for such a guardian

We may also see in the Tyler in the present connection a reminder that each and every one of us must become a Watchman seeing to it that no influence shall undermine our organic law and that no enemies shall be permitted admittance to our fellowship every loyal Mason must be a

Tyler watchful lest he recommend an unfit candidate and careful lest in his own person he admits such influences into the lodge as make for disunion and disharmony to keep off cowens and Eaves droppers figurative and actual is one great duty of membership Cowen is a scotch term it was

Used in early Scotch masonry in more than one sense but seems originally to have meant a man who uses round unsquared stones for building purposes whether walls or Huts in other words the Cowen was originally an unskilled Mason often times a Cowen was Loosely affiliated with the craft but never

Given its secrets for which reason he was often known as a Mason without the word the term was also employed to describe a non-affiliated skilled Mason one who had unlawfully obtained the secrets of the craft as we would say a scab the word was employed by English masonry in the Grand Lodge period

Brother JT Thorp believes it was Dr D sagers who first used it after his visit to Scotland in 1721 brother vibert believes it was imported by Dr Anderson in 1723 or later be that as it may the word found a permanent place in our vocabulary albe it with gradual changes

Of meaning literally speaking as the word is now employed a Cowen is a man with unlawful Masonic knowledge an intruder is one with neither knowledge nor Secrets who makes himself otherwise is obnoxious a clandestine is one who has been initiated by unlawful means an irregular is one who has been initiated

By a lodge working without authorization in all these senses a man is designated who makes use of the fraternity in an illegal or obnoxious manner who uses masonry for unmic’d sword pointing to the naked heart Macky notes that in Old initiation ceremonies still preserved in some places the candidate found himself

Surrounded by swords pointing at his heart to indicate that punishment would duly follow his violation of his obligation He suggests that in this old ceremony we may find the origin of the present symbol which has been undoubtedly introduced into our system by some Modern ritualist Thomas Smith web

Perhaps this is a reasonable account of the matter and may be allowed to stand until further light is available the heart is here the symbol of conscience the seat of man’s responsibility for his own acts the sword is the symbol of Justice the device therefore tells us

That Justice will at last find its way to our inmost motives to the most hidden recesses of our being this may sound trit enough but the tress must not blind us to the truth of the teaching for centuries men believe that God the moral lawgiver lived above the guys and dealt

With his children wholly through external instruments agents of the law calamities and physical punishments such things as these were considered the Divine methods of administering Justice entertaining such a view of the matter it is of Little Wonder at men held themselves innocent until punishment would come or

That Justice could be avoided simply by staying clear of the instruments of Justice in this wise morality came to be an external mechanical thing operating like a civil code of law which which depends on policemen but now we have a better understanding of the matter the moral

Law so we have learned is in our very hearts and it is self-executing sin and Punishment as Emerson says in his great essay on compensation a profoundly original and stimulating study of the subject grow from the same stem conscience like the physical body is under a universal reign

Of law that swerves not by a hair’s breath a man May cherish an evil thought in some chamber of his soul almost outside the boundaries of his own self-consciousness but such secrecy is of no avail the law is in the secret places as well as in the open and always

Does the point of the sword rest against the walls of the heart the penalties of Justice are unescapable because Justice and conscience are of the same root chapter 52 the emblems continued I the anchor in Arkansas simple as it is is the ark and anchor symbol is very very old and around it

Clusters a cloud of associations drawn from many lands and times the anchor significance is self-revealing and needs no interpreter it is a type of that security which holds a man fast and prevents his drifting with the winds nor is it difficult to learn what is this security for mankind with an almost

Unanimous consent has found it in deity who while all else changes changes not but overarches the drift of the years with his eternal purpose unyielding will and everlasting love mrss Jameson in Her Sacred art and Legend says of the anchor that it was among early Christians the symbol of

Immovable firmness hope and patience in which sense it is often displayed in the catacombs and on Ancient Christian gems and lundi says that among the same Christians it was also used as a symbol of Christ’s Divinity for in that as the first Believers held was man’s one stay

Again against sin and human overthrow two of the Ark it is somewhat more difficult to speak Lawrence dermit the erratic but brilliant Grand Secretary of the Ancients saw in it an illusion to the Ark of the Covenant but this is most certainly an error in company with the

Hermeticist with whom it was a familiar emblem our ritual sees in it a reminder of the Ark wherein according to the old Legend Noah found refuge for himself and family when all else was given over to the deluge but the story of Noah’s Arc itself rests on more ancient Traditions as any reader

Of such a work as Dr Elwood Worcester Genesis in the light of modern knowledge will remember long before that story was conceived the ancient Mysteries were repeating the story of how some hero God such as Osiris was slain and how his mutilated body was placed in a box and

Set a drift upon the waters the Greeks called such a chest and bark a word having the meaning of containing that which was sacred three among the first Christians the ark was used as a symbol of the church not only because it was a place of Refuge

For bruised and hunted Souls but also because the church was then thought of as a home for all the family of man in that great Household of Faith the individual found Security in fellowship and protection from enemies spiritual or otherwise this Faith found expression in

An old old himym behold the Ark of God behold the open door hasten to gain that dear Abode and Rove my soul no more those Christians found their Ark in their Brotherhood of Believers is it not the same with us is not our Masonic Ark the great Brotherhood itself in that

World embracing Fellowship the individual often so harassed and lonely finds help inspiration and companionship and many a man on whom disaster followed fast and followed faster has found the order and Ark of quiet and protection shall we not believe that even in the future life such privileges will be

Granted eternity would grow a solitary place without the dear love of comrades and The Binding closer of Man to Man chapter 53 the emblems continued I the 47th Problem of euklid here is a symbol The Sovereign importance of which has been recognized by almost every student of our

Mysteries Hoffman wrote a book about it Sydney Klein devoted a magnificent study to it which will be found published in the transactions of the lodge quatu coronati under the title of the great symbol darar Anderson used it on the title page of his constitutions and therein described it as the foundation

Of all masonry if duly observed Scholars have vied with each other in attempting to uncover all the riches stowed away among its lines and angles most of these interpreters it must be said have shown consider able dissatisfaction with the account of the problem as given in the lecture there it

Is said that it was discovered by Pythagoras and that he was so Overjoyed by it that he sacrificed a hecome to celebrate his Discovery this has behind it the authority of vrus but even so it is hardly credible and that for the following reasons the problem was known

To the Egyptians long before Pythagoras and it is not possible that Pythagoras who forbade the killing of animals should have sacrificed a herd of oxen so needlessly also the explanation that this problem is to teach us to be lovers of the Arts and Sciences is not very convincing those who would defend the

Monitor here urged that while the three four five triangle may have been used before Pythagoras he may have been the first to understand the problem as a whole that his hecome may have been made of wax figures of oxen as was sometimes the practice and that the problem is so

Important to mathematics that it may well stand as an emblem of all Arts and Sciences between these two views one may take his choice two whatever may be the attitude of our authorities to the monitorial interpretation they are all agreed that the symbol is of the greatest importance dionisius lardner in his

Addition of uid writes it is by the influence of this proposition and that which establishes the similitude of equilateral triangles in the sixth book that geometry has been brought under the Dominion of algebra and it is upon the same princip that the whole science of trigonometry is founded the Encyclopedia

Britannica calls it one of the most important in the whole of geometry and one which has been celebrated since the earliest times on this theorem almost all geometrical measurement depends which cannot be directly obtained on its Masonic uses our interpreters have written with equal enthusiasm thus one brother

JF Thompson says that in it are concealed more ancient symbolism than all other symbols used by or incident to our order in it we find concealed the jewels of the worshipful master the senior and Junior wardens and also he might have added the apron the square

The tow Square cross Etc the brother who wishes to experiment for himself can easily do so by drawing the triangle after the following fashion lay out a baseline 4 in in length at one end erect a vertical 3 in high connect the ends of these two lines and a figure is drawn

This is not the strictly scientific way of going about it but it will serve the point of this procedure is that whenever the vertical is three and the base is four the hypotenuse or long side will be five and the angle at the juncture of the base and the vertical will always be

A right angle after this manner a man can always prove a right angle with no mathematical instruments whatever what this meant to the ancient Builders before such instruments were devised or had come into common use is plain to be seen three but our concern here is not

With the problem as a Geometric Theorem but with it as a Masonic symbol what is its Masonic meaning many answers can be given to this none exhaustive but all valuable of these I can suggest but two or three if we experiment with a group of numbers falling into the series

Corresponding to three five we will find that they will always bear the same relationship to each other in other words the problem establishes a harmonious relationship among numbers apparently unrelated does not this suggest something of The Secret of masonry we select a large group of men they seem to

Have little in common but through our teachings and the application of our principle of Brotherhood we are able to unite them into a harmonious fraternity the problem is in this view a symbol of Brotherhood the Egyptian made the Bas line to represent Osiris the male principle the vertical Isis or

Female principle the hypotenuse represented Horus the product of the two suppose we follow such a method and let the base represent our Earthly nature the vertical our spiritual Nature by a harmonious adjustment of these two a complete or perfect man will result the same meaning which we found in the three

Lesser lights four along with these two readings of the symbol we might place in historical interpretation the ancient Builders as has been repeatedly said did not have algebra and trigonometry nor were they in possession of architectural tables or instruments such as we have nevertheless they were obliged to fashion right

Angles in the erection of their buildings how could they have done this without the 47th Problem a method so simple that any Apprentice could use it it is not too much to say that there would have been no ancient masonry without the three for or five triangle or the principle embodied in it

Therefore it has for us a peculiar value in that it represents the skill of our early brethren in surmounting their obstacles since this principle is so essential to the exact Sciences we may agree with our ritual in seeing in it a symbol of all the Arts and

Sciences just as a crown may serve as an emblem of all governments so may this triangle serve as an emblem of all science and since masonry undertakes to make character building into an art or a science we may also find in the triangle as Dr Anderson said the foundation of

All masonry if duly observed chapter 54 conclusion I The Hourglass in writing of Mason’s marks brother Gould notes that one of the commonest has ever been the figure of an hourglass The Hourglass form very slightly modified has been used in every age down to the present and in almost

Every country According to some good authorities it was a custom at the period immediately preceding the era of grand lodges to enter an hourglass with the dead as an emblem of the Sands of Life having run out what could more clearly prove the hold which this simple

But eloquent symbol has ever had on the imagination of man the Sands of Life they are swiftly running away be up Mortal and about your task soon the night cometh when no man can work in the grave man will seek him out no more inventions what you do must do while it

Is still called today such is the message of The Hourglass too simple to need any interpreter he who has learned how to transform time into life and how to make the years leave behind them that which perishes not who lives the eternal life in the midst of time such a one has

Learn the lesson of the glass two the Scythe if The Hour Glass is the symbol of the fleetingness of a mortal life in which all do Fade as both the leaf in which the Sands are ever running out the Scythe is the figure of time which is

Itself that stream in which the Sands are borne along time What a Mighty theme the libraries of the world could not hold the books that might be written about this eternally fascinating eternally elusive mystery so infinite are the suggestions of one small symbol in masonry’s House of Doctrine

Three time is ever with us flowing through our minds as the blood courses through our veins yet does it mystify us and the more thinking we do about it the more mysterious does it become we divide it into past present and future but what

Is the past has it ceased to exist if so why does it continue to influence us if it continues to exist why do we call it the past what is the future is it something already made awaiting us out there as the land waits for its Explorer what is the present we feel

That it exists yet it eludes us before I have said now it is still future the moment I have said it it belongs to the past how can one’s mind lay hold of that which is always becoming but never is if one’s mind cannot apprehended how can it

Be said to exist it is such puzzles as these that have led our most ulent Minds to despair of ever surprising its secret from time nevertheless Time Is Here a part of the scheme of things for good or for bail indeed it seems to be the very

Stuff of life itself as bergon has argued so brilliantly in his Creative Evolution existence itself is a process of duration and man begins to Die the moment he is born four the stately solemn words of the lecture offered an elucidation of the simp Syble leave the

Mind saddened and waited with a sense of the Frailty or even futility of Life William Morris who is in so many ways the poet of architecture felt in the same way about it all through his pages one feels its presence like a shadow against which life’s little events

Become etched into brighter relief so that the little amenities of the Day become all the dearer in that they flutter so fragile over the abysm of Eternity all the more precious because the Sweet Days die but there is no need that we be shadowed by the sad sweetness of this

Melancholy time is a part of the scheme of things it is the very form of life so that he who accepts life must also accept time and look upon it as friend and Ally rather than enemy time helps to solve our problems assuages our griefs and always carries us farther into the

Strange adventure of existence the most triumphant Minds have trusted themselves to it as a child to its mother learning how to transform it into ever richer life not lamenting the past nor impatient for the future but living in an eternal now which must be such time as Heaven Knows man postpones

Or remembers complains Emerson he does not live in the present but with reverted ey laments the past or heedless of the riches which surround him stands on tiptoe to foresee the future he cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present above

Time great Souls live many in Ian in man’s brief years to him who dreads no spite of fate or chance yet loves the Earth and man and Starry spheres life’s swiftness is the pulse of life’s romance and when the footsteps fall of death’s Advance he hears the feet he

Quails not but he hears the it is above all things fitting that the ritual which began with the candidate’s birth into the world of the lodge should end by bringing him to that death which is but a larger birth into the Grand Lodge above thus does our Sublime symbolism

Like the sky gather all things into its Embrace and overarch the end as well as the beginning so also is it fitting that the ritual should throw about the instruments and trappings of the Grave the memories of the slain Master thus reminding us that death may be

Transfigured by A Great Soul into a pean and a Triumph to die is as natural as to be born death is no interloper in the universe but at one with its laws and its life in truth it is itself the friend and servant of life in that it

Keeps fresh the stream and removes the outborn and the old lest one good custom should corrupt the world the very Act of death proves this for however much we shrink from its approach we yield peacefully to it when it comes of this all our physicians testify as witness

These words from one of the noblest of them darar oer I have careful notes of about 500 deathbeds studied particularly with reference to the modes of death and the sensations of the dying 90 suffered bodily pain or distress of one sort or another 11 showed mental apprehension two positive Terror one expressed

Spiritual exaltation one bitter remorse the great majority gave no sign one way or another like their birth their death was a sleep and a forgetting natural as it is however death will ever remain solemn and even sad not only because of what comes after or because of the body’s masterful

Negation but because as the lecture reminds us the day of death is a kind of Judgment Day for it brings to an end and sets a lasting seal upon the life of a man the world with its problems its imperious needs its great tragedies and ancient heartbreaks is Left Behind the

Man’s career is ended and the influences of his life the Harvest of his deeds all the are now taken from his control what he has done he has done and death places it Beyond his changing surely it must be an awful thing for a human being to

Realize at the last that so far as he has been concerned there is less happiness less love less kindliness and honor among men than before he entered life to so live in the midst of this mystery Haunted World to so work among the wing days that little children may

Be happier youth more joyous manhood more clean and old age less lonely to so live that men will hate less and love more be honorable in public dealings as in private acts create more than destroy to so live that the great Kingdom of Brotherhood may be brought near and man

Be bound closer to man and woman closer to woman that it is to be a Mason appendix questions for discussion the following paragraphs are designed solely for the use of study clubs and such other classes or groups as may systematically study the ritual of Freemasonry by means of the present book

The method pursued in arranging these queries will be immediately apparent they are constellated in the same order as the chapters and numbered accordingly no attempt has been made to represent every Point made and often questions have been devised for the purpose of leading discussion outside of the limits imposed upon me in discussing

Symbolical masonry chapter 1 an introduction to the first step I Dot when was the first Grand Lodge of modern speculative Freemasonry organized where what was the first degree then called how were Masons made in Scotland where was the most complete Freemasonry then what do you know about the famous so-called Schism what had

Come to be the condition of the fraternity prior to 1717 what do you suppose brought about this condition how many degrees were there at the time of the Revival what was done with the old first with the old third by what date was the 3 deegree system completed two dot what was operative

Masonry what were the old charges give from memory and in substance the picture of an old initiation as given by Hawkins in what Essentials does that initiation differ from the one now in use what do you suppose was the volume of the Sacred law then used was it the

Holy Bible or was it the old book of constitutions what qualifications were required for initiation what was an indenture how long did it last why did it have to last so long were the conditions of apprenticeship governed merely by the rules of The Craft or were

They also controlled by the laws of the state to whom was The Apprentice bound what were the apprentice’s duties what were the moral requirements of an apprentice how could he become a master where what does the word apprentice mean what is it to be a learner how did you set out to learn

Masonry is masonry do you think worth the time and trouble of study real study why is a learner said to be in the porch what would be meant by Solomon’s porch what are the rights of an apprentice today what are his disqualifications what is meant by the

Phrase in a symbolical sense what is a symbol what is symbolical language can you furnish an original example in what sense is it true that an apprentice is born into a new world what is meant by obedience give examples of your own of how obedience must preced Mastery and

Freedom which is morally free the man who obeys the moral laws or the man who disobeys them three dot what is in art in what sense is life an art what kind of a building is it that a speculative Mason is set to build what are his

Materials what are his tools which is more difficult to build a man or a building in how many various ways May The Apprentice be pictured in what sense is he a babe about to be born into a new world in what sense is Freemasonry a new

World did you find it such what was new in it to you what is the central idea in Dr Buck’s interpretation what can you find out about Dr Buck who was he when did he live and where what did he do who is Dr JF Newton have you read his book The

Builders does your Lodge put on the first degree with semity and de Beauty how could you improve it chapter 2 petition for membership I Dot what is the first step to be taken by one who desires admittance to Freemasonry what is contained in a petition what are the Constitutional

Questions when is the petition read to the lodge by whom what is then done with it what is an investigating committee who must recommend a petition what is done when a petition is rejected how is a petition rejected can a rejected petitioner make another application how when what is a

Jurisdiction two dot can you discover when the present laws governing petitions first came into use give the main points covered in a petition tell what you can about John Paul Jones as a Mason was his petition substantially the same as yours three dot what change of conditions made an investigating committee

Necessary have you ever served on such a committee how did you perform your functions do you believe it to be a good system among the last dozen petitions presented to your own Lodge how many have you known personally how can a master of a lodge Safeguard membership

How can he hold a committee up to the highest standards have you ever known a lodge to fall to a lower plane of usefulness through the poor materials admitted to membership if so tell about it have you ever seen a questionnaire what questions were asked what do you think of the use of

Questionnaires what are the objections under what conditions is the questionnaire necessary for what purposes is it necessary to have filed such information as a questionnaire contains four what is meant by solicitation in what way does the problem of solicitation lead a student into the inner soul of masonry in what

Way is solicitation a wrong to the man solicited what is he asked to swear to at the door of the lodge when he comes to be initiated in what way does that conflict with his having been solicited how would solicitation be in danger of misleading him as to the real

Character of the order why is solicitation an evil to the order if solicitation were freely permitted in what way would it cause a deterioration in masonry in this regard compare masonry with other orders that encourage solicitation have you had exper erience in such what was the difference V Dot to

What extent can you go in acquainting your non-masonic friends with the history and principles of Freemasonry how can you tell a nonmon what masonry is who was Albert Pike what great Masonic book did he write Chapter 3 The Ballot I dot what is meant by a ballot describe the Machinery of

Balloting now employed in masonry as you understand it what kind of a man would make bad material for the fraternity do many such gain admission if so how why is the ballot question so irritating as one brother is quoted to have remarked could you devise improvements in the

Method what are the abuses that creep in under the present system could you think of an entirely different system for selecting members two dot when is a petition put to the ballot in how many cases is it 1 month 2 weeks in how many jurisdictions is a reball required for

The second and third degrees when may a rejected petitioner reapply when can a member refrain from voting what is meant by a unanimous ballot what is the universal custom in America what is the practice in your own Lodge what is the objection to the unanimous ballot what do you think about

It what system is employed in England what may be said in favor of the three black balls reject rule does the ballot exist in order to get good men in or to keep bad men out what does Gibson say about it are there landmarks to go by

What is to decide what is the wisest system of balloting what is the usual custom in France to what extent should the method of balloting be left optional with the subordinate Lodge three what is meant by secrecy of ballot do you believe in it who was Dr Mackey have you

Ever seen his system of landmarks what custom of balloting was used before 1720 why did the methods for balloting change what is a Viva voi vote what are the objections to it why is the present system as good a method as can be devised why is the present system of

Balloting difficult to manage in a large Lodge how can its difficulties be overcome has your Grand Lodge dealt with balloting methods recently what is meant by Masonic jurisprudence for DOT what is the difference between a masonic ballot and any other what determines your choice of political candidates have you exactly the same

Things in mind when you cast your ballot on a petition in what way does the ballot pass upon a petitioner’s character what are the qualifications for membership in the order when should you vote against a man should you vote for or against a petitioner who is a

Stranger to you chapter 4 worthy and well-qualified I dot what is meant by qualifications are they now too rigorous do you think what is the certain purpose for which Freemasonry is organized what is the Criterion by which the fitness of a candidate is judged who was Tolstoy What is the point of the

Quotation made from his book How would you defend the high demands made on candidates as against those who criticize Freemasonry for being aristocratic or exclusive two dot what were the old charges what are they otherwise called name the oldest of them what is its date how does it describe the qualifications of

Membership who was James Anderson when was his version of the Constitution made what qualifications are described in it what qualifications are demanded by your own Grand Lodge three give your own reason why no bondmen could be admitted into operative lodges were women admitted to the old guilds were they admitted to the Masonic

Guilds if not why not who was Gould what did he write what is he quoted to have said what does McBride say give your own reasons at length why an immoral man cannot be admitted what is an immoral man for DOT why does not masonry accept

Bad men in order to make them better what are the reformative agencies in society why cannot we admit women to membership under what conditions did Freemasonry evolve into its present form what would have to be done in order to admit them are you in favor of it to

What would you object from what book are the verses quoted have you ever read a history of masonry can you name three such histories what is meant by Freeborn what does your own Grand Lodge require on this point what is Gibson quoted to have said what is meant by

Mature age how old were apprentices in operative days what have been the regulations in force in England with regard to age what are the rules in your own Grand Lodge what is the point of McBride’s comment do you agree with him have you ever visited lodges in a

Foreign country How could a Grand Lodge maintain its requirement for legal age in such wise as to enable a member to visit a jurisdiction in which 18 years is permitted V why has the question of physical qualifications so long been a storm Center have you ever debated it

What does the Regus manuscript say about it why was physical soundness necessary in operative law es what is the position maintained by the Grand Lodge of England why have grand lodges in this land maintained the doctrine of physical Perfection what is your own opinion about the matter give substance of

Statement issued by the board of general purposes of England who was Dr Oliver can you name any of his books what was his position who was TS Parvin what position did he take six St what is meant by a right motive are you taking masonry seriously were you serious when

You came in what is said by hugan who was hugan what is a Cowen what is a watch fob Mason chapter 5 the Hoodwink I dot why is the question where were you prepared so important in what way does its answer reveal many of the secrets of Freemasonry why you suppose did the

Ancient Mysteries demand a long process of preparation what can you tell about the Mysteries how much of the ritual did you understand after you had completed your third degree what is meant by prepared in the heart when is a candidate duly and truly prepared what kind of

Preparation room have you in your Lodge how is it protected against justest and derisive remarks two dot how did macki describe the Hoodwink How would would you yourself describe it what is the symbolical meaning of it how long has the Hoodwink been used in initiations who were the

Catari who was innocent theii in what sense is it true that the purpose of the Hoodwink is not to hide things from the eyes of the candidate what effect did wearing the Hoodwink have on you three dot what is meant by the word revelation give examples of your own

That explain its meaning in what sense did Jesus according to the vssl bring life and immortality to light in what sense has love ever been the law of the world what did Newton discover what Copernicus give other examples that would illustrate the same point what is the difference between reveal and

Discover in what Manner may it be said that Freemasonry confers the power of vision for DOT what does Freemasonry reveal to us how in what sense has Brotherhood always been a reality law of the world does Freemasonry create Brotherhood Define the Kingdom of Heaven Can you think of a

Better definition in what sense was Brotherhood true during Savage times does brotherhood seem like a frail tender thing to you in what sense is this an erroneous thought what are the enemies of Brotherhood what is the Hoodwink that prevents men from discovering it in their own lives what

Is the real Hoodwink give examples of this same idea from religion politics and science chapter 6 the cable toe I dot why was the news whereby early man learned to control wild animals of such great importance to him what part did animals play in the life of primitive

Man C the dawn of History by J L Meyers what led primitive peoples to to make symbolical use of tools and implements is the symbolizing process still going on if so give examples repeat the examples of the early use of the Noose as a symbol given in the text what is meant by

Aqc how did operative lodges use the cable toe what is meant by operative lodges how is the cable toe used in English lodges how used Among Us two dot how does macki Define cable toe the standard Dictionary what is said by the author of this last definition how is the term defined by

Pike by Lawrence three dot what did the cable toe mean to you during your initiation how would you now interpret it how does Pike interpret it do you agree with him if not why not what is weight’s opinion Pence Church wordss give The Obedience theory of the cable

Toe give examples of bad obediences of good why does a symbol always have many meanings in what sense is this an advantage give a list of symbols emblems and symbolical acts in everyday use about you for DOT repeat the author’s interpretation do you agree with it could you write out your own

Interpretation give substance of Dr bucks interpretation in what sense are you Bound by law as a candidate is bound by the cable toe is law a thing that gives us Liberty or does it take away Liberty give examples of other cable Toes that bind us in everyday life how about the

Ties of friendship marriage business contracts does the principle made clear by the interpretation of the cable toe enable you the better to understand the meaning and use of of all human ties V in actual Masonic practice how do you interpret the length in your cable toe what does Castello say give Mackey’s

Interpretation what was the Baltimore Convention would the length of my cable toe mean the scope of your ability to associate with a brother as much as to assist a brother should it be given that larger interpretation chapter 7 The Lodge I what is Pearson’s theory of the meaning

Of the word Lodge give the various definitions of the word what is its meaning among Masons what did it mean to operative Masons how did the fraternity as a whole come to be called Lodge two what is the symbolical meaning of Lodge what did ancient people believe about the Earth

What does Professor breasted say about Egyptian homes what does Albert Pike say about ancient temples of what is the lodge a symbol give a description of the symbolical lodge what are the three pillars on which it is supported three dot what does the lodge do for men how does cooperation increase

The power of men in what way is the lodge a symbol of Brotherhood in what way does Lodge life prepare for Brotherhood chapter 8 the entrance I dot what is the first step taken toward introducing a candidate into a lodge what worthy motive might a man have for entering a masonic lodge on

What must a candidate depend when he enters a lodge Why must a candidate knock for entrance give examples of the way in which one must knock for entrance to the Arts and Sciences two dot how is Freemasonry defined to the candidate how did McBride Define masonry how does he Define speculative

Masonry give Thomas Green’s definition what is the Royal Arch definition give Dr bucks definition give brother weight’s definition what is the author’s definition three how is masonry defined from the point of view of architectural symbolic ISM what is it which was lost what is brother McBride’s illustration

Of this idea what is meant by a drama of regeneration in what way can masonry be thus described for DOT what is meant by a merely natural man how can one live the eternal life now give Albert Pike’s definition of Freemasonry chapter N9 the sharp instrument I dot what is the meaning of

Sharp instrument what is the only real penalty why have penalties led to attacks on Freemasonry what is McBride’s Theory concerning them what are the actual penalties of wrongdoing what are the the penalties for transgressing the laws of any art chapter 10 invoking the blessing of deity I what is the place of Prayer

In human life what is thorp’s theory of the apprentice’s prayer why is prayer found in the Masonic ceremonies in what way is prayer a force how may prayer be described as spiritual work two why should man pray if God is all knowing and all powerful give give

Examples of the way in which God and man must work together why do men pray what are the effects of prayer do any other living beings on this Earth ever pray who was the author of the stanzas quoted what do these stanzas mean chapter 11 circumambulation I dot what is the

Meaning of the word circumambulation from whom have we inherited this right what do primitive people believe about the Sun among what people was the right of circumambulation practiced what is said about the Greeks Romans Hindus Druids and early Christians in what way does macki compare Masonic circumambulation with

The Greek two how did the old Legends explain circumambulation what was Pike’s explanation in what way is circumambulation a drama of the development of the individual life what is Pearson’s Theory what did circumambulation mean to you at the time of your initiation what is the last explanation

Given three dot what does the sun represent in what way does circumambulation suggest the secret of human accomplishment give some examples of this chapter 12 approaching the East I dot into how many parts may the ceremony of approaching the East be divided why did early peoples come to look upon the

North as a place of Darkness what does Fort say about the North in the Middle Ages what does Evans say about the symbolism of the north Milton Shakespeare why is the North in the Masonic Lodge the place of Darkness what is the symbolism of the South how did the church builders make

Use of this symbolism what part does the South play in a masonic lodge what is the symbolical meaning of the West who was Sophocles how does Tennyson use the symbolism of the West what does the east mean in a masonic lodge two dot what is meant by orientation how were ancient temples

Situated and dedicated how was the city of Rome oriented how were early Christian churches situated how did the Jews Orient their temples why is the master station in the East how is the Masonic Lodge oriented three what is the meaning of the approach to the east what is the Masonic

Ceremony of approaching the East what is the meaning of that ceremony how do you approach the east in your daily life chapter 13 The Altar I do where does the altar stand how should the altar be made with what should it be furnished where is the Masonic life

Lived of what is the altar a symbol in what way is it the symbol of attitude what is the theory of human stewardship two how was the altar used as a sanctuary in early centuries in what way is the lodge a sanctuary in what way is the altar a station of

Sacrifice what is meant by sacrifice how do you yourself make use of sacrifice three give in your own words the substance of the paragraph quoted from Dr Newton why is man a Seeker after God chapter 14 the obligation I dot Define the word obligation have Oaths and obligations been in Universal

Practice why can you name Oaths administered outside the fraternity with which the Masonic obligation may be compared are the marriage oath the president oath Etc such forms why is a religious sanction thrown about an oath does the taking of an o obligation imply that the candidate cannot be trusted does it make his

Obligation or does it Define it what does Tyler say about the universality of Oaths how do felo and Cicero Define an oath can you give a better definition of an obligation than any herewith offered if so will you send it into the society what does g believe to have been

The original of the Masonic oath why was the oath taken by the Freeman adopted into the forms of the Masonic Lodge do we see today any institutions copying the forms of Oaths employed by some other institution name them were the earliest Masonic obligations short or long how did the obligation evolve into such

Length is this legitimate have any other parts of the ceremony evolved similarly are Masonic ceremonies still changing and growing if so why if not why not what was the substance of the earliest obligations why were the building secrets so jealously guarded how did these secrets come to be public property

What effect did such publicity have upon the Freemasons what is the whole point of the present obligation have we any Trade Secrets if you believe that a simpler more effective obligation might be written will you offer one why should Masonic Secrets be still so jealously guarded what what is the function of

Secrecy in masonry does friendship have its Secrets business diplomacy what would happen to the fraternity if it should abandon its policy of secrecy does secrecy attract men to it why what is the meaning of do form when came the term what is the difference between form and

Formality when two friends meet do they Shake Hands In Due form does the form in which the obligation is given add to its dignity and impressiveness do you permit any flippancy in your own lodes ceremony of initiation why not why are the penalties kept so secret how much can you talk

About masonry without violating your obligation to secrecy did the earliest obligations have any penalties attached if not why not what is the harlean manuscript what is meant by bold charges what do Old Testament writers seem to feel concerning the sea when the sailors cast Jonah overboard did they suppose

They were putting him Out Of Reach of the God he had offended would you as soon be buried in the sea as on the land what is meant by consecrated ground what churches still bury their dead in consecrated ground why does the custom of setting apart a special tract of ground for

Burial add dignity to the thought of death would you as soon think yourself dead lying in the sea as lying in a grave who added the present penalties to our obligations when what hint do you get from Brother C’s suggestions two why have anti-masons so rapidly attack the

Obligation is a man scared by penalties which he knows will never be inflicted who was John Quincy Adams why did he fight the fraternity do you agree with what brother McBride says about the the obligation if not why not if you do why is there any way in which the obligation could be

Recast who would have the authority to do so would it be of any advantage to have a general Grand Lodge of America to take care of such matters why is the cable toe removed when it is what does it signify is the obligation an appeal to a

Man’s sense of Honor or is it a Slam against his sense of Honor does the wedding oath add to or detract from the stability and dignity of marriage if marriages were left to private Wills could the law have any control over them how could Masonic law

Be brought to bear upon a man who had never taken an obligation what is the real Masonic tie does that tie draw you to other Masons does it ever restrain you from doing a wrong to a brother Mason why chapter 15 the three great lights

I dot why is the Holy Bible called the vsl to what extent are the materials in our ritual drawn from it in what sense is the Bible true what constitutes its Unity how many books in it can you tell how these books came to be gathered together can you tell the difference

Between the Canon or collection of books used as the Bible by the Greek Catholics the Roman Catholics and the Protestants what is inspiration in what way is the Bible inspired what does infallible mean is the Bible infallible as history as a book of Science in what way is it

Infallible if it is infallible in any manner at all how can we prove it how can its teachings be verified how are scientific teachings verified of what is the Bible a symbol what are the sacred books of other races when and for what reason can those books

Be substituted for the Bible on a masonic altar in what Manner can other sacred books serve as a symbol of that of which the vsl is the symbol two dot in how many ways is the square used in our ritual describe the square as it is used masonically why did early peoples think

That the Earth was cubical or square shape how did the square come to have its present significance what is the great light of which it is a symbol why do we say of an honest man that he is square what do we mean by the Square Deal why do we say

That a dishonest man is crooked is dishonesty ever justifiable is a dishonest man like one who walks in the dark why three dot why did ancient peoples believe the Heavens to be circular what did the compasses signify to them what do they signify to

Us do you do you believe that there is a Divine element in you is there a Divine element in a murder how can we discover the Divine in others and in ourselves how can we learn to let it rule us explain the various positions of the compasses with relationship to the

Square and explain the reason for this chapter 16 the Lesser lights I dot what are the Lesser lights what is meant by hermetic what was the Hermetic symbolical explanation of the sun of the moon give illustrations of the way in which nature is divided between male and

Female active and passive who was John wolman what kind of a nature did he have who was fredri nche what did he stand for who were Isis Osiris Horus what does the worshipful master represent in Masonic symbolism two dot what is steinbrenner’s theory of the Le ler lights how could this symbol have

Been suggested by Lodge Windows what do you think about steinbrenner’s Theory what did the Lesser lights mean to you chapter 17 Luxy tenebris I dot repeat in your own words brother Newton’s paragraph about light what was the nature of the first religions of the world repeat quotation from Norman Locker who is Norman

Locker what does he say about the Egyptians and their beliefs concerning the sun why did ancient peoples worship light two what does the Bible say about light and darkness who was jamus Zoro Aster what is the meaning of Lux e tenebrous why are masons called the Sons

Of light in what way does initiation bring a candidate to light what is meant by light in masonry what is the difference between truth and knowledge three dot what meaning does the author give to the symbolism of light in the World At Large in the individual what is the word that masonry

Utters to man what is the Lost word chapter 18 words grips and tokens I dot give examples of the use of secret modes of recognition in Past Times what does g say about the use of signs grips Etc why do you suppose are these common features of all secret

Societies in what way do they protect secrecy why should secrecy be protected can you name any political social religious or literary clubs which employ secret modes of recognition if so why do they use them chemists and druggists employ arbitrary signs to stand for various formula and these are understood only by themselves

Are such signs analogous to our own two dot what evidence is there to show that Freemasons used signs in Old Times why is the evidence so slender why were not these signs published and explained what is the point of the quotation from Ferguson even if the early operative Masons had been able to

Read and write could they have dispensed with their signs and grips we can all read and write why have we not dispensed with them can you guess what the scotch Mason word may have been what was the significance of words among masons in other countries at that time

How and for what purpose do we use words can you define a password what are its usages and advantages does the Army employ passwords why what other organizations do so in what way is word used in a third degree what is the meaning of the

Lost word three dot what is the do God guard why was it invented and taken up by American lodges what is the meaning of an americanism as macki employs the term in what way are grips and tokens different from passwords can you give any examples of

Your own use of these outside the lodge room when we say we have given a friend a token of our esteem do we use the word in its Masonic sense why are masons entitled to use secret modes of recognition can you give reasons not given in this paper chapter 19 the right of

Salutation I what is the meaning of salutation how is it used in general Society is tipping your hat to a lady a salutation why does a private salute an officer in the Army give all the reasons you can think of to explain why the candidate should salute the wardens in

What way do they represent the law and authority of the lodge what is there in the principles of Masonry that has ever caused it to be the champion of Liberty can you offer examples and not given in the paper can you tell the story of masonry’s part in the Revolutionary War

What great leaders in that day were Masons was lafayett a Mason Washington Franklin where was the Bible obtained on which Washington took his oath of office two dot can Liberty exist in a monarchy as well as in a democracy what is the difference between freedom and liberty between Liberty and

Independence can a nation be independent without enjoying Liberty did Italy secure Liberty when she gained independence from Austria and France what is a freeth thinker are masons freeth thinkers why is law necessary to Liberty what would become of Liberty if laws were destroyed what does law do for us

In our daily life why should a man desire to be free what are the advantages of Freedom what are the relations between Liberty and Authority are they opposed to each other why are masons bound to uphold the Dignity of Law and Order what is meant by civil skepticism does the habit of speaking

Sarcastically of Law and of Courts help to uphold man’s respect for social order what should be a Mason’s attitude toward the laws of his own Community suppose as was the case in Italy that masonry itself were declared unlawful should a Mason under such circumstances oppose the law if so why

In what way should such opposition be different from lawlessness is the desire to substitute a good law for a bad law lawlessness how were the laws of masonry instituted how are they enforced in what way do they protect the liberty of each member would you say that the Masonic organization is a con

Constitutionalism or a democracy what is the difference chapter 20 the apron I dot why has the apron been interpreted so variously give a list of the interpretations you have heard why is it dangerous to seek for symbolisms in the present shape and size of the apron how

Long has it had its present shape and size if the shape and size has changed from time to time is it safe to build any symbolism thereon two can you give any examples of non-masonic use of the apron not mentioned in the text why do you suppose

Has the apron been so widely used why did the operative Mason wear an apron what do you imagine its material and size to have been if it was once of leather why why was it changed to its present material why is the apron we usually wear in large different from that given

To us during initiation what led speculative Masons to change its material and shape give usual dimensions of aprons as worn in American lodges why are they sometimes varied for different degrees and offices three dot what is a badge what is the badge of a mason what is the difference between a

Badge and an emblem a symbol has the Masonic use of the apron done anything to wear down the old prejudice against manual labor why were men so prejudiced how long has it been since the Prejudice began to break down what were the causes what are the labors of a

Mason are they of any great value to Society for DOT in what way is the apron as now used the symbol of sacrifice and innocence why have men so frequently thought of white as a symbol of Innocence give examples of the early use of the color as such symbol what is the

Meaning of Innocence how can a grown man be innocent what is the Masonic meaning of Innocence what do you think of brother Crow’s argument as given in the text why is the Lamb the symbol of sacrifice can you give examples from the Bible of such a meaning what is sacrifice why is sacrifice

Necessary what is a Mason sacrifice what was the Golden Fleece the Roman Eagle star and gter why is the apron more ancient and honorable than these how would it affect Human Society if all men accepted the Masonic meaning of toil innocence and sacrifice chapter 21 destitution I what is the significance

Of the way in which the candidate is prepared what is the difference between humility and humiliation why should the symbols in a masonic lodge cause a man to feel humility what is meant by scalation what is macky’s interpretation of discal what is the meaning of this ceremony in the terms of everyday life

Two dot what is the meaning of the word holy what does the Holy Bible teach concerning Holiness what is meant by sacredness what is Astrology Alchemy what was the astrological theory about the influence of planets what does a he wait say about destitution what is your theory of destitution chapter 22 the northeast

Corner I why is the candidate reinvested with that of which he had been divested why not wait until the end of the degree what means Northeast is a boy halfway through school standing in educations Northeast what is the Masonic meaning of profane why is the north a place of

Darkness and the East a place of light why is an enter Apprentice said to be midway between the two do you know of any members of your Lodge who are still in the Northeast has your study Club helped you to find the East describe the posture of

The candidate as he stands in the northeast corner why is he made to stand us when is a man morally upright what is the function of a Cornerstone in a building have you ever attended a ceremony of Cornerstone laying if so describe what happened why a ceremony what would you describe as a

Cornerstone of government of Education of religion in what way is the Entered Apprentice the Cornerstone of masonry describe the Cornerstone ceremonies in early times why was a living man sacrificed what is the real meaning of sacrifice have you ever made sacrifices for masonry in what way has the fraternity a

Right to expect sacrifices from its members numers would you agree with this definition of masonic sacrifice Masonic sacrifice is the surrendering of all that conflicts with the principles of masonry name some things which men commonly do that would so conflict what sacrifice has masonry as a whole been making during the war not

Subordinate lodges but the craft as a whole two dot what is your opinion of human nature do you believe that man is by nature depraved is our hope for the race built on what man is now or on his capacities what can be meant by the

Divinity of man has man a capacity for the Godlike if so how does masonry appeal to that how does masonry help to develop it what is the point of brother markham’s poem do you agree with him is it mere sentimentalism to deal with men in such

A way as to call out the best that is in them in what way does masonry make its appeal to the best that is in US chapter 23 working tools of an Entered Apprentice I dot what can you add to the quotation from Carlile what particular accomplishment

Of man is cited by bergon to distinguish man from brute in what Manner do the tools of the brute differ from those of man how has man’s superiority Over The Brute developed where does man’s superiority lie what is the key to masonry’s use of the working tools what is their use

How are they symbolized what is the ultimate design to be accomplished by the use of the working tools of masonry can a Mason shape his own destiny or be instrumental in shaping the destiny of others without the aid of his Masonic working tools why is not the newly initiated

Candidate at once entrusted with all the working tools or Implements of masonry with what tools is he entrusted and instructed in the Masonic application of in the Entered Apprentice degree in the fellow craft degree in the Master Mason degree two dot what is a 24in gauge of what is it the symbol in

Our monitors give the monitorial exposition of the 24in gauge in the language of the standard work of your grand jurisdiction what reference to it was made by the old writers in connection with Saints Ambrose and Augustine and King Alfred do you agree with what the author says regarding the right use and

Division of time if not why not what is your definition of time what definition of it does the author give does time symbolize to you opportunities to be grasped and improved upon who wastes time the laggard or the successful man do you consider it a waste of time to

Attend the study club meetings of your Lodge or study Club are you wasting time by not attending these meetings are you applying the 24in gauge to your time as did Abraham Lincoln and Albert Pike and other busy men what is the fundamental reason for so many men developing into human

Failures how may we protect ourselves against becoming failures in life how has man here to for divided his actions what test should we apply to our actions what Foundation are masons laying for the morality of the future what great secret have we to learn from the 24in gauge three dot what

Was the symbolism of the gavl in the Middle Ages whence was this symbolism derived of what was the gavl a symbol in Scandinavian mythology what other people’s attribute to it the same symbolism what is the Masonic derivation of the gavl give the monitorial reference o the gavl as used in the

Standard work of your grand jurisdiction is the common gavl a symbol of authority how is it distinguished from the Implement of authority wielded by the master of a lodge what functions are combined in the common gavl what is macky’s explanation of its probable derivation what use did the operative

Masons make of the common gavl what is a knob on a stone an excrescence what do these suggest to the author do you agree with him in his deductions if not why not does masonry demand more from its members in the foregoing respect than do other organizations of their members or employees

What is the first lesson to be learned by a soldier or an employee of a corporation why must they learn this lesson is teamwork and cooperation necessary to the success of a lodge of a Grand Lodge of masonry as a whole could masonry successfully cope with the

Questions which are arising each day in connection with the great work of reconstruction which the world is now facing without some such United organization as the recent recently launched Masonic Service Association of the United States did the necessity of teamwork and cooperation demand the organization of such a body chapter 24

An introduction to the Second Step I dot what is the meaning of the term fellowcraft what were the shaw statutes what do they say about fellowcraft what was a Mason’s mark what was the ceremony of passing in operative lodges when when was the term introduced into England what was the oldtime meaning of

Fellowcraft how did the term come to have its present meaning two dot what was a masterpiece what is the key word of the second degree who was William Preston what did he set out to do who was Heming when were his lectures adopted who was Philip web what was the dominating idea

In Preston’s time what did Preston do with the the second degree three dot what does pound say about Preston’s Theory what is your own Theory concerning the matter what did the second degree mean to you when you were initiated chapter 25 passing I dot what is the meaning of

Indentured what space of time do American jurisdictions require between the first and second steps what does g say about marks in Solomon’s Temple how did operative Masons use the mark Mark what is meant by essay how could present day lodges make use of the old custom of the essay or

Masterpiece two dot what do you think about the memory test what was an intender what is the function of custodians of the work how could the fraternity carry on schools of masonry what should be demanded of a candidate who wishes to pass from the first to the second degree chapter 26

Square on the breast I dot what is meant by the phrase Arts Parts and points Etc familiar to every Mason what teaching do they convey is a Mason expected to be square and upright only in his dealings with members of the fraternity what has always been expected

Of him in his relations to the craft is a fellow craft under any stronger tie to the fraternity than he was as an apprentice why what was the original meaning of virtue what is its present definition what is your definition of rectitude should Masons be content with merely observing the conventions of

Society or should they strive to be active at all times in things that tend toward a higher plane of morality two dot of what is the breast a symbol in masonry what are we to realize from the fellow craft application of the square has the man who has two codes of Ethics

One of which he practices for effect in his own community and the other one away from home and amongst strangers fully learned the truth designed to be conveyed by the application of the square what kind of a moral code does masonry demand that its voies follow chapter 27 the scripture reading from

Amos I dot what custom was observed by the Greeks during their ceremony of circumambulation why did this custom obtain what similar custom is practiced in Masonic Lodges of the present day why what did Amos seek to do in in his day what is the end to which the fellow

Craft should apply the knowledge gained in his Masonic studies what was the state of society during the time of Amos what penalty was inflicted upon Amos because of his teachings what was Amos method of teaching two dot what picture does Amos portray to us in the scripture reading

What is the author’s interpretation of the reading have you a better interpretation what was the lesson learned by Jos can we expect to escape from punishment for our wrongdoings chapter 28 The Oblong Square I in what particular does the fellow Craft’s approach to the east differ from that of the Entered

Apprentice what is the significance of this variation prior to the time of reading this chapter did you ever try to discover the origin and meaning of the term oblong square if so what did you learn concerning it what is macky’s definition what reference does he find in it whence

Does he seek to trace this reference what inference does the author take from macky’s deductions two dot what other interpretations are cited by the author what objections are Advanced to these interpretations how are squares classed by brother Hunt do you agree with him in his deductions if not why not how is brother

Hunt’s Theory supported by Irwin what Theory does the author Advance as to the possible manner in which the oblong Square was handed down to us what lesson does he think the framers of our present day ritual intended to convey when they retain the phrase chapter 29 due form I

Do described the due form assumed by the candidate in the fellow craft degree in certain jurisdictions whenever the signs are given the Brethren must also be on the step of that particular degree at the same time it is held that the signs cannot be properly given unless this is

Done the Brethren thus Place themselves in due form to give the signs try this and see if the body is not thus brought into the proper position to facilitate giving the signs properly then try giving them without first being on the step possibly you will thereby discover the reason for practicing such

Forms Define the words form and formality what is a formalist what is formality is form necessary in our everyday business and social life is it necessary in masonry if so for what purpose why do we use the term due form is a candidate expected to comply with these due forms

What does his compliance signify Chapter 30 working tools of a fellow craft I dot what are the working tools of a fellow craft how have you explain them to yourself what is their meaning in your understanding now why do you always think of goodness Holiness Heaven God as being above you what is

The difference in your judgment between morality and righteousness do you think of your ideal of your own life as being above and beyond you if so what efforts are you making to attain to that ideal may this not be one of the suggestions in this working tool of the plum what do you

Mean by a hero how can a man erect himself above himself what influence has the memory of Washington Pike Jefferson and Lincoln had for you in what way may a true Mason be a hero to his friends his family his race two what do you understand yourself when you use the

Word level do you really believe that you are equal in all ways to every other individual is every other individual equal to you in always ways if there are fundamental differences between you and other individuals just what is the nature of these differences what do you understand by pride

Superciliousness in what way are all Masons on a level with each other What Becomes of your pride when you sincerely stand in a large room on a level with your brother Countryman three dot how would you explain the meaning of the square when that symbol is used as one

Of the working tools of a fellow craft how can the sense of manly pride and the feeling of equality be joined together in your own experience do you really use your gifts to help your brethren and to help others in this world how can a healthy man use

His own strength to help those that are ill how can a learned man use his learning to help those that are ignorant how can a man who has money really help those that have little or no money should not we try to help others in such

A way that they do not even know that we are helping them how should parents help their children how should teachers help their pupils how may the master and officers of a lodge help the members of that Lodge without their knowing it what is meant by not letting your right hand

Know what your left hand is doing chapter 31 the ashlers I what is your understanding of the ashler symbolism hat is meant by saying that a profane man using the word in a masonic sense is but like a rough block of stone is not an ignorant unclean profane dishonest unbrotherly man like an

Unshaped piece of rough Rock From The Quarry if you know of such a man how can you help him to become a man more Square cultured and brotherly what is the Masonic fraternity as a whole now doing in your own honest estimation to help

This old world to cease to be a wreck of a world two dot is not this present world but a great crude piece of rock in your eyes what can our fraternity do to help make this living human race more square with the Everlasting laws of Life righteousness health happiness and God

Which are you in your own Lodge a rough ashler or a perfect ashler what do you do with the members of your Lodge who make trouble do you grow impatient with them or do you help them you see that all these questions are designed to lead Masonic students to understand that

Freemasonry tries to help us in our daily lives chapter 32 the middle chain chamber I in what light have you here to for interpreted the existence of the Middle Chamber Of Solomon’s Temple as a literal fact or simply as a symbol what is Sir Charles Warren’s opinion what is

Mack’s opinion regarding it do you agree with them if not what reasons have you for disagreeing with them what is the modern biblical interpretation of the term chamber as used in the present connection how many such Chambers were there in the temple and what were their uses were they used as pay masters

Offices or as chambers of instruction what is a myth were our ceremonies contrived as vehicles for the conveyances of historical facts to candidates what thought should we continually bear in mind while pursuing our Masonic studies of what is the Middle Chamber a symbol what does it represent in the second degree

Ritualism how are we benefited by learning or education what part does the second degree occupy in ancient craft masonry would the system have been complete without it have you gained a new conception of the second degree from this section of the author’s present study paper from that

Which you formerly held of it chapter 33 operative and speculative I dot describe operative masonry why did operative masonry decline give substance of McBride’s Theory what specific elements existed in operative masonry what is McBride’s theory about this give substance of AE weights Theory what elements in modern masonry could

Not have come from operative masonry what did speculative masonry inherit from operative masonry what is masonry’s general idea concerning the world what is the point of the Browning poem how were Builders organized in medieval times and for what purpose why were they trusted with signs words and grips why were they called operative

Masons why were persons who had no connection with the Building Trades admitted into the order prior to 1717 What attracted them to it what was the result of their admittance how does brother McBride describe the transition from operative to speculative masonry what influence has the speculative element on the operative

Organization what did the non-operative element under take to do after their acceptance into the organization according to brother waight how were cabalistic and rosac crucian ideas and symbols introduced into the order what did speculative masonry inherit from the operatives was all of our philosophy and mysticism handed down from the

Operatives what was the work of the operative Mason and what were his wages what is the work of the speculative Mason and what are his wages do you believe with those who claim that the race cannot be improved that because evils of one kind and another have

Always existed that they are always to remain with us what is the mission of masonry chapter 34 the two great pillars I do why did early people set up pillars before their places of Abode about their Villages and over the graves of their dead what did they believe such pillars to

Symbolize what did pillars portray to the Mayas and Incas how were they looked upon in Bible times by whom were monoliths most widely used in what Manner and for what purposes in the course of religious development what did they come to symbolize what did the Obelisk symbolize whence did the custom of

Placing pillars before Temple entrances proceed from Egypt what did hyam probably use as his models for the pillars placed before Solomon’s Temple what do the pillars used in the large room represent what is the height of the pillar as given in the book of kings in the book of

Chronicles what is the author’s Theory concerning these variations how does macki describe the original pillars two dot what was the shape and composition of the pillars what was their combined weight what were they respectively called and what were their positions how are these names interpreted masonically what part did they occupy during

Celebrations where were the pillars supposedly cast what should be the height of the pillars used in our Lodge rooms what are the heights as adopted by American Grand lodges what was the height of the pillars as now accepted by present day authorities is it imperative that we

Know the actual height of the pillars to pursue our Masonic studies in what light should we consider them what did the pillars simil lied to Preston to cicott to krump to macki to the old Jewish rabbis what is the author’s interpretation where do you keep the pillars in your Lodge room during the

Time they are not in actual use has such position any particular significance in some jurisdictions we find them at either side of the entrance from the preparation room in others they stand in front of the senior Warden station can you give a reason for either or both of these locations other than for

Convenience how did the pillars impress you when you first saw them what do they mean to you now chapter 35 the Globes what are the two Globes called why are they so calleded describe the Egyptian symbol of the wind Globe what is the objection to the theory that our Globes

Came from Egypt what is the author’s theory of the origin of the Globes why did Preston give the Globes a place in the second degree what do the two Globes represent what science is deal with the Earth what Sciences deal with the heavens in what way can a Mason gain

Enlightenment from this science what two theories have been offered by Masonic Scholars concerning the origin of the Globes how was the first Theory suggested what is the symbol of the wind Globe what did its oval shape suggest or symbolize do you accept this Egyptian

Theory if so why if not why not why does it appear that Preston modified the chaps of the pillars into Globes how is Preston’s Theory verified do you agree with the author that we of today have the same right to interpret the symbols in our own way as did the

Ancients if not why not chapter 36 the ascent I to what extent is the origin of the symbolism of the winding stairs generally known is it essential that we discover the exact facts in order to intelligent ly pursue our present study have there ever been Advanced satisfactory answers concerning the source of the

Symbolism to what extent should discussion of the origin be considered of value do you agree with the contention of early Scholars that there was actually a winding stare of three five or seven steps in Solomon’s Temple what can you offer in support of such contention could the semicircular

Stairway at the gate niker where the Levites chanted the Psalms of degrees have been taken as the Prototype of our winding stairs what is your opinion concerning this Theory what does Sir Charles Warren say concerning the staircase what is the theological ladder when and by whom was it introduced into

The ritual what was the symbolism of the theological ladder have we anything similar to it in our ritual of the present day what does the author say about this interpretation what is the theory of the operative origin of the symbolism can this Theory be dependent upon if not

Why not since the origin of the Winding Stair symbolism cannot be accurately traced how should we view the use of the stairs in our work two dot what does the use of the mystical number suggest to you of what is the Winding Stair as a whole of symbol what is Pike’s Theory

Concerning the number 15 what would happen should our present symbolic arrangement of the winding stairs be changed would would a change be of any material advantage is the use of numbers in symbolism of modern origin can you give a reason for even numbers being used to denote Earthly or human things and odd

Numbers to suggest Divine or Heavenly truths has this always been the case what was the number of the Beast and its interpretation how were ancient temples usually approached why should we feel gratified that the symbolism of odd numbers is retained in Masonry what is the Triad or turnery how was it considered by

Philosophers three how does the author explain the number five of what is the number seven the symbol how was knowledge divided in medieval times what does Gould say about the seven Sciences how can our ritual be made to be of assistance to us in our everyday life what is our most familiar

Explanation of the three steps how does masonry help the individual should a Mason feel that he is being left apart and alone in his Endeavors to improve his physical and spiritual condition what great lesson is revealed to us in the five steps how is the group of seven steps

Interpreted is this teaching a necessity does masonry approve ignorance is the expression I have no time to read or study one of yours how did burrett Franklin Livingstone and others sec Ure their education what grows out of ignorance do you believe that the human race is still progressing what must we avoid in

Measuring progress in what Manner alone can the human race progress what are your answers to the author closing questions chapter 37 the builders I why do you suppose were so many Illusions to the art of architecture Incorporated in our ritual monitorial lectures what was Preston’s idea in the formation of the second

Deegree lecture what advantage has the boy or man of our day over the Masons of Preston’s time what is Morris definition of architecture is a structure erected with a view of catering to physical needs only worthy of being designated as architecture is Morris definition borne out by facts what do the Parthenon and

The colonades at thieves tell us what part did Art play in the Middle Ages to what have the buildings of men always had a reference what is the story of the Tower of Babel two dot what is the secret of masonry’s use of architecture how are masons at present

Interested in building is the use of Builder tools as symbols of modern origin is such symbolism to be found in the Bible can you quote illustrations are simile in use at the present day name some of them in what sense do we usually speak of a builder a

Destroyer is there a connection between the present day mission of masonry and the language of architecture from what source do we derive our Masonic institution of the present day is a Mason and architect why what manner of a structure is each individual Mason engaged in the building do you agree with the author’s

Assertion that masonry is a World Builder if so why if not why not when will masonry’s work be completed chapter 38 the five senses I what part of the ceremonies or lectures most impressed you on the night you took your second degree how were you impressed by the lecture on the five

Senses how have you expressed or carried out your impressions have you ever given the matter any further thought have you mized your five senses what thought have you gained from the AU short discourse on the part played by the senses in a man’s life what is the underlying idea of the

Series of paintings in the Congressional library at Washington mentioned by the author in what direction should our senses be trained two dot how does the author interpret the sense of feeling the sense of tasting the sense of smelling the sense of hearing the sense of seeing three dot can you give a

Different interpretation of any or all of these senses what important lesson has the author endeavored to emphasize in the present chapter what new understandings have you gained from the forgoing pages chapter 39 the liberal arts and sciences I how many branches of learning were taught in the schools of the Middle

Ages what were these two groups called what is the meaning of Trivium quadrivium what branches comprise these two groups what does Condor say about the London Society of Masons what was the ahiman reason when was our oldest Ms written what was Preston’s purpose for the second degree

What have the liberal arts and sciences to do with Masonic light what did scholars of the Dark Ages study who were the humanists two dot how do the liberal arts and sciences improve Us in social intercourse how does education help a man to he a better Lodge member how does Enlightenment make for

Brotherhood chapter 40 the Ephram itish war and corn wine and oil have you ever heard a satisfactory explanation for the connection of the use of a sheath of grain with the war between jeffa and the ephraimites if so what is it what was the cause of the amones war who was

Jeffa how did he intercept his enemies how did the custom originate of placing gifts on altars to appease the Gods in Early Times how was the nature of the gifts determined whence originated the present day custom of depositing records and valuables in the cornerstones of buildings what is the author’s

Interpretation of the symbolism of corn wine and oil can you give a different interpretation chapter 41 the letter g i dot before reading the article on the letter G by the author what was your conception of its symbolic meaning did you accept the ritualistic explanation as authentic and final or

Had you at any time subsequent to receiving your second degree investigated the subject from other sources if so what conclusions did you reach did the Masons of the 18th century know why the letter G was adopted as a Masonic symbol are Masonic students of the present day agreed upon the subject

What is said about it in the article in macky’s encyclopedia names several interpretations of the symbol AS quoted by the author what are two of the most common theories what branch of the Sciences was given the greatest prominence in the old constitutions of masonry what is a reasonable explanation

For this how are the confused explanations of the symbol by 18th century writers accounted for two how did the letter G ever come to stand for deity what was the cabala around what did the symbolic system of the cabala center what restrictions were placed upon the real name of God by the ancient

Jewish people what was the result of these restrictions what symbol did the cabalists adopt for the Lost name of deity in what Manner is the letter G supposed to have been substituted for the Hebrew yach three when will men have learned the secret of the letter G

Chapter 42 an introduction to the third step I dot in a study of the third step shall we expect to find architectural symbolism as in our preceding studies in what terms were the teachings in first and second steps given to us of what will our new studies treat who

Originated our third degree and when have these questions ever been satisfactorily answered how many degrees were there at the beginning of the Grand Lodge period what were they why was the old Apprentice degree divided into two parts when was this division made did this change meet with unanimous approval was

The new degree universally worked immediately after the division why was the new degree so slow to meet with universal approval was it welcomed by Masons outside of London who is believed to have been responsible for the introduction of this new material two dot what was the new material introduced between 1723 and

1738 why does the author not believe that it was the hyam abff legend what is the author’s Theory concerning the substance of this Legend give his answer to the question who imported the new material was the third degree as elaborate from the first as it is now is

It worked uniformly in all countries in all Grand jurisdictions in the United States if you receive the degree in another state than the one in which you now reside State for the benefit of the other members of your study Club some of of the details in which the work as you

Received it differs from that of the jurisdiction where you now live what is the possibility of our learning the full details concerning the origin and early working of the degree in the very near future do we have record of similar Legends in existence before our present Masonic system was

Established can you cite some of them what is the purpose of this degree what is its secret chapter 43 the vital parts of the breast I Dot at the time you received your third degree what particular impression did the method of reception make upon you did you look

Upon this particular part of the ceremony as simply a matter of routine or did you Endeavor to think out for yourself the true meanings of the words friendship morality and Brotherly Love Can a man who lives a secluded life apart from his fellows be said to know the true meaning of

Happiness has the Friendship of fellow members of your own Lodge and those of other lodges with whom you have come into close contact been a help to you since you became a member of the fraternity has this friendship caused you to change your opinion of any of the

Fellow members of your own Lodge with whom you had but a speaking acquaintance prior to your becoming a Mason has your own mind been broadened by such friendships two what is your conception of the word morality has this word been misused is a system of morality necessary to the advancement of the

Human race why what is the derivation of the word morality what was probably the sense in which it was first used what has it become to mean in Christian times what is righteousness give a few concrete examples of which you may have knowledge what is right how can Brotherhood be

Possible Among Us Men asks the author what is his solution what is your idea as to how it may be accomplished chapter 44 The Golden Bowl and the silver cord I read the chapter from The Book of Ecclesiastes on the Golden Bowl and silver cord what is the oldtime

Interpretation of this chapter give in your own words the author’s interpretation two dot what does death mean to you in what way does trust in TS g a o t destroy in us the fear of death chapter 45 that which was lost one dot what is the master symbol of blue Lodge

Symbolism why should we be cautious in our endeavors to ascertain the origins of the symbolism of the Lost word how were brethren in the early days of masonry sometimes made Masons have our researchers yet been able to discover what the Lost word was what would those who hold to the theory

That the Royal Arch word is the Lost word lead us to believe is there any evidence to prove Beyond a doubt that this word was really the Lost word two do you agree with the author that the Lost word was never a component part of the blue Lodge work which was later

Taken away from the blue Lodge and transplanted into the Royal Arch degree if so what are your grounds for so agreeing if not what are your reasons for disagreeing with him what is the legend of the tetradon what was the custom among the Jewish people relative to pronouncing

The name of deity how was the use of the name restricted what finally became the penalty inflicted upon one who spoke the name aloud what further restrictions were placed upon the use of the name how was the name spelled when and in what Manner did the true pronunciation of the

Name become wholly lost what did this result in after the Exile was ended what did the priests and scribes have left upon which to base their search what were the vowels of the word three dot of what did the tetraden become the center and how did the search for the word

Spread did the form of the legend always remain the same what various forms did it take four has the symbolic idea centered in the search for the Lost word been confined to masonry alone do we find it in modern literature chapter 46 the Trel I have some brother recite the

Monitorial lecture on the Trel as the working tool of the Master Mason why is the Trel most appropriate to the Master Mason degree what are the working tools of an Entered Apprentice and their uses what are the working tools of a fellow craft and their

Uses what is the function of a trowel in the hands of a Master Mason why is the trowel most symbolic in the work of temple building two of what power may we consider the trowel to be a symbol what do we say of men who lack unity in their

Makeup whence came the word character what is its present day meaning what may a man who lacks character do to better himself what can he use to accomplish this end how did the Builders of ancient times lay out their building designs how and by whom was the degree

Work laid out in early English lodges what was the duty of the youngest Entered Apprentice after the conclusion of the ceremony how was the plan of work later displayed what is the tracing Board of a degree are the tracing Boards of the several degrees represented in your

Lodge how of what is the tracing board a symbol three dot how would you answer the author’s question what is the force that can unite individual Masons into a unified and harmonious order what is it that ties you to your fellow Masons what is your conception of the

Brotherhood of Man chapter 47 the hamic legend I dot who was Edwin booth what is his opinion of the hamic legend give your own opinion on the legend in your own words are Masonic authorities agreed as to its origin and interpretation two dot what have Pike and Viber to say of its introduction

Into our ritual when does g believe it to have been made a part of our ceremonies are other Masonic scholars in agreement with these Brethren what do McBride and Newton have to say on the subject three dot how was the leg accepted by 18th century writers was

Their position held to by later writers what are we to infer from findings of more recent times had the Jews a tradition of the grandmaster’s death can we deny positively that the legend is not historically true what is the belief of other writers who do not agree with

The historical Theory when do they believe the drama to have had its Inception what are the assertions of speth and Marx for DOT is there any good evidence to support the Templar Theory what were the theories Advanced by speth Carr Pike and others what is the author’s Theory does this Theory seem

Logical to you V Dot do all writers agree as to the interpretation of the legend how many theories were offered by Oliver what were they what were some other theories Advanced what is the author’s present day interpretation after re aing the third degree how did you interpret the drama

Chapter 48 eternal life I what does the author consider to be the central idea of the legend of the third degree in what respect does the term eternal life differ from future life immortality Resurrection two dot what is the author’s definition of eternal life how would you define it what are the two

Component parts of human nature three dot what group of our activities has reference to the body what is man’s Spirit why is this Spirit Eternal what is the principal fault of many of us what is the result of this fault what is the remedy for this condition why is the

Lost word the symbol of eternal life for DOT do you agree with the author’s conception of the raising if not wherein do you differ from him a general question is it necessary for us to seek outside of our blue Lodge ritual for the Lost word if so why has the present

Study Club lesson given you a new conception of the legend of the third degree and opened up any new thoughts on the subject if so what are they a general question chapter 49 the Lion’s Paul I what does the article in macky’s encyclopedia have to say concerning the

Lion’s Paul what is the substance of macky’s article on the lion of the tribe of Judah why has the lion always been a favorite subject with symbolists what was the symbolism of the lion among early peoples in India of what was it a symbol to the Nile

Dwellers give an example of the use of the lion symbolism in Egyptian sculpture how does Harrison describe the raising of Osiris two what was the krux and Sada or aned cross originally in what Manner did it develop into the symbol of Life what did Albert

Pike see in the krux and SADA three dot how was the lion as a symbol used by the Jews whence is it supposed that the commy Masters derived their habitual use of the Lion in their cathedral building what has leader Scott to say concerning the lion in architecture what is the author’s Theory

As to how the symbolism of the lion’s paw came into masonry for DOT what power did the people of the cathedral building period believe the lionist to possess of what was this a symbol to them of what did the early Freemasons consider the Lion a symbol is there any difference

Between the real meaning of the symbolism of the lion’s paw as interpreted by Albert Pike and as interpreted by leader Scott does the symbol refer to a raising in this life or in a future life chapter 50 the emblems I dot recite the monitorial lecture on the Weeping virgin Monument was the

Weeping virgin Monument known to the ritual of the 18th century is it now generally found in European systems and in all American jurisdictions is there a brother present from a jurisdiction where this emblem does not appear in the monitor of his mother jurisdiction by whom is the emblem

Supposed to have been invented who was Jeremy cross what is the tradition as to where cross borrowed the emblem what is another theory how should we view this emblem in the light of such meager information concerning its origin as we now possess two dot recite the monoral lecture describing the Temple of

Solomon where was the temple erected for what other things was the hill on which the temple was erected noted in Hebrew tradition how was the hill described by the muhammadans what great event in the life of Muhammad is claimed by him to have occurred there what influence did the temple have on

The Legends history and traditions of the people of Early Times until how long ago was it the general belief that our present day Masonic organization was formed at the time of the building of the temple after receiving your degrees did you believe this to be a fact a

General question what sort of marks have been discovered on the original Foundation stones of the temple are we certain of an actual historical connection between the Phoenicians and our present or organization how is the masonry of today interested in the temple Legend how did the temple find its way into our Masonic

System what is vibert’s contention what was the theory of it having been adopted in 1724 what is the position of Johnston and rylands on the subject what is brother weight’s Theory how does the author compare our work with the building of the temple in what Manner did the temple differ from our present

Day houses of work Worship in what Manner did it differ from other temples what is our object in building a spiritual Temple three dot recite the monoral lecture on the pot of incense why was incense burned in ancient days what is the reason for using it today of what is incense an

Emblem in both the Old and New Testament how is incense used in masonry of today what should we bear in mind regarding the symbol for for do recite the monoral lecture on the Beehive of what was the be an emblem to the Hindus what may be believed to be

The origin of the custom of using the bee as a symbol of immortality why did Napoleon adopt the bee as his Royal emblem how was the bee symbolism used by the Greeks and some of their modern imitators how did the Beehive come to be used in Christian

Symbolism why did the Egyptians call the bees an obedient people how did does the Beehive symbolize a lodge of Masons are there any drones in the hive of masonry can you suggest how these drones might be transformed into workers chapter 51 the emblems continued I recite the monitorial

Lecture on the book of constitutions guarded by the Tyler sword were written constitutions known to operative Freemasons in the 11th to 15th centuries how were the tradition traditions and charges communicated to the candidate in those times what is supposed to have been the gradual evolution of these traditions and

Charges what is the oldest manuscript of the old charges in what form was it written what is the next oldest copy to whom are we indebted for our present collection of these old documents how many copies of these have been collected and preserved what happened to a number of

The old charges that were in the hands of Masons at the beginning of the 18th century when was one of the first attempts made to collate them who made the first digest of these old manuscript constitutions shortly after the formation of the Grand Lodge of England in what light is Dr Anderson’s work

Looked upon at the present day two what symbolical interpretation may be placed upon the book of constitutions three what is the symbolical significance of the book of constitutions guarded by the Tyler sword what is the origination of the word Tyler and when was that office first created what is one theory of the

Derivation of the word what is another theory of what should the Tyler be a reminder whence was the word Cowen derived what is supposed to have been the original meaning of the word in what other sense was the word used when was the term introduced into English

Masonry by whom was it supposed to have been introduced what is its present day literal meaning is it the Tyler’s duty alone to keep off cowens for DOT recite the monitorial lecture on the sword pointing to a naked heart what is macky’s theory of the origin of the

Symbol of the sword pointing to a naked heart how is it presumed to have come into our ritual of what is the heart a symbol in this instance the sword what was one of the early beliefs concerning God what did the term morality mean in those days how is the moral law

Interpreted by Masons of the present day chapter 52 the emblems continued I dot recite the monitorial lecture on the anchor and Arkansas is the anchor an arc symbol a modern or an old one what does the anchor typify of what was it a symbol among early Christians how was it displayed in those

Early times what does say of it two dot is the symbolism of the Ark as well known as that of the anchor what symbolic significance did Lawrence dermit attach to it what did it symbolize to the hermeticist was the symbol used in the ancient mysteries in what Manner three dot of

What was the ark a symbol to the early Christians why what does the Ark mean to us as Masons chapter 53 the EMP emblems continued I dot recite the monitorial lecture on this emblem why should the emblem be one of particular importance to Masons what prominence did Dr Anderson

Attach to it is our monitorial lecture on the emblem generally accepted as accurate in all details why is its alleged Discovery by Pythagoras doubtful what is the argument of those who defend the monitorial interpretation which of the two views given in the chapter do you believe the most

Convincing what is a hecome two dot what does dianus lardner say on the subject the Encyclopedia Britannica brother JF Thompson what might be added to Brother Thompson statement three dot in what Manner is the proposition a symbol of Brotherhood how did the Egyptians use the problem to portray the principle of

The perfect how is this symbolism displayed in the three lesser lights for DOT was a knowledge of the principle of the 47th proposition vital to the existence of early operative masonry why why is the triangle of symbolism of importance to present day masonry chapter 54 conclusion I dot recite the monitorial

Lecture on The Hourglass in what Manner was The Hour Glass symbol commonly used by operative Masons is the emblem a modern one how was it used in funeral ceremonies in early days what is the lesson we should learn from this emblem two dot recite the monitorial lecture on the side three

Have you any answers to the questions asked by the author in this section of his chapter for DOT recite the ritualistic lecture on these emblems v dot what does the first degree symbolize the second what does the drama of the third degree symbolize did you realize the symbol of the hamic

Legend the night you were raised was its meaning entirely clear to you at that time or did you have to study it out later

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