THE BUILDER APRIL 1916

BUILDING DESIGNS

BY BRO. ASAHEL W. GAGE, ILLINOIS

WE often heal that Masonry enables those who understand it to
travel in foreign countries. It is certainly true that an
intelligent study of Masonry draws the individual out of his own
small sphere and, by giving him a broader view, enables him to
travel in those distance realms of thought, where no discordant
voices mar the harmony of eternal law. In every man's mind there
exists a universe so grand that it is in reality a reflection of
the great plans of the Grand Architect of the Universe. Masonry
leads the way and unfolds the wondrous mysteries. It is in this
higher psychological sense that Masonry enables those who follow
its precepts to travel in foreign countries.

WAGES

We also learn that Masonry enables the traveler to work and receive
master's wages and he thereby the better enabled to support himself
and family and contribute to the relief of the worthy distressed.
By wages, however, is meant not alone returns of a purely financial
nature. By studying the Masonic system of symbolism, the Mason
learns to read the laws of Nature and apply them for his
betterment. It makes him of more value to the world and his
fellowmen and being of more value, he receives more for his
services. The unfailing law of compensation, the All Seeing Eye,
prevades the innermost recesses of the human heart and rewards
according to merit. It is in this way that the Master Mason works
and receives Master's wages.

A MASTER MASON?

The teachings of Masonry are not disclosed, its secrets cannot be
extorted, no man can receive them until he is prepared for them.
The taking of the Master Mason's obligations does not make a Master
Mason. Masonry points to the Bible as the Great Light for guidance
and to the Arts and Sciences as of value in themselves and in their
suggestions of the great force that is back of them. A conception
of this force, an ability to study by symbol, to prove the unknown
by the known, with the same exact conclusiveness that the
geometrician proves the unknown problem by the axiom and the proven
proposition makes the individual a Master Mason.

STUDY

The admonition to travel in foreign countries, work and receive
Master's wages is an admonition limited only by the industry and
ability of the individual.

SPECIFICATIONS OF SUPPLEMENTAL WORK AFTER TAKING FIRST DEGREE
I. KINGS



CHAPTER V.

2. And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying

5. And behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the
Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto David my father, saying, Thy
son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an
house unto my name.

6. Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of
Lebanon, and my servants shall be with thy servants; and unto thee
will I give hire for thy servants, according to all that thou shall
appoint for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can
skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians.

8. And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things
which thou sentest to me for, and I will do all thy desire
concerning timber of cedar and concerning timber of fir.

9. My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea; and
I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shall
appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged there, and thou
shall receive them, and thou shalt accomplish my desire in giving
good for my household.

15. And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens,
and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains.

16. Besides the chief of Solomon's officers which were over the
work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people
that wrought in the work.

CHAPTER VI

2. And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord the length
thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty
cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits.

7. And the house, when it was in building, was build of stone made
ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither
hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it
was in building.

8. The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the
house; and they went up with winding stairs into the middle
chamber, and out of the middle into the third.

19. And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there
the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

20. And within the oracle was a space of twenty cubits in length,
and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height; and
he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was
of cedar.

38. And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, (which is the
eighth month) was the house finished throughout all the parts
thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven
years in building it.


SPECIFICATIONS OF SUPPLEMENTAL WORK AFTER TAKING SECOND DEGREE
I KINGS

CHAPTER VII.

13. And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre

14. He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali and his father
was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass, and he was filled with wisdom
and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he
came to King Solomon, and wrought all his work.

15. For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high
apiece; and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them
about.

16. And he made two chapiters of molton brass, to set upon the tops
of the pillars; the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and
the height of the other chapiter was five cubits.

17. There were nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for
the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the
one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter.

18. So he made the pillars, and there were two rows round about
upon the one net work, to cover the chapiters that were upon the
top of the pillars; and so did he for the other chapiter.

19. And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars in the
porch were of lily work, four cubits

20. And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also
above, over against the belly which was by the net work; and the
pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other
chapiter.

21. And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple; and he
set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin; and he
set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.

22. And upon the top of the pillars was lily work; so was the work
of the pillars finished.

46. In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the
clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan.



SPECIFICATIONS OF SUPPLEMENTAL WORK AFTER TAKING THIRD DEGREE 
II. CHRONICLES

CHAPTER II.

1. And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the
Lord, and an house for his kingdom.

3. And Solomon sent to Huram, the King of Tyre, saying, As thou
didst deal with David my father, and didst send him cedars to build
him an house to dwell therein, even so deal with me.

4. Behold, I build an house to the name of the Lord my God, to
dedicate it to Him, and to burn before Him sweet incense, and for
the continual shew bread, and for the burnt offerings morning and
evening, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn
feasts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance for ever to
Israel.

5. And the house which I build is great; for great is our God above
all gods.

6. But who is able to build Him an house, seeing the heaven, and
heaven of heavens, cannot contain Him ? who am I then, that should
build Him an house, save only to burn sacrifices before Him?

7. Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and in
silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and
blue, and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that are
with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David, my father did
provide.

8. Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of
Lebanon, (for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in
Lebanon) and behold, my servants shall be with thy servants.

10. And behold, I will give thy servants, the hewers that cut
timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty
thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and
twenty thousand baths of oil.

11. Then Huram, the King of Tyre, answered in writing, which he
sent to Solomon, because the Lord hath loved his people, he hath
made king over them.

12. Huram said moreover, Bessed be the Lord God of Israel, that
made heaven and earth, who hath given to David the king a wise son,
endued with prudence and understanding, that might build an house
for the Lord, and an house for His kingdom.

16. And we will cut wood from Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need,
and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa, and thou
shall carry it up to Jerusalem. 

CHAPTER III.

1. Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem
in Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David, his father, in
the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan
the Jebusite.

3. Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the
building of the house of God: The length by cubits after the first
measure was three score cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.

8. And he made the most holy house, the length whereof was
according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the
breadth thereof twenty cubits, and he overlaid it with fine gold,
amounting to six hundred talents.

15. Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five
cubits high, and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them
was five cubits.

16. And he made chains, as in the oracle, and put them on the heads
of the pillars; and he made an hundred pomegranates, and put them
on the chains.

17. And he reared up the pillars before the temple, one on the
right hand, and the other on the left, and he called the one on the
right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.


BEECHER ON BURNS

(An unknown friend who signs only his initials writes to say that
several years ago he read in the Brooklyn Eagle the report of an
address on "Beecher as a Lecturer," by Dr. Hillis, in which was
quoted an extract from a little known, unpublished lecture by Mr.
Beecher on Robert Burns. He is kind enough to send us the excerpt,
and we can only say that if the whole lecture was of a piece with
this passage, it is a great pity that it was never published in
full. The passage, which we believe our readers will very much
appreciate, is as follows:)

His one nature carried enough for twenty common men of force and of
feeling. He never trickled drop by drop prudentially; he gushed. He
never ran a slender thread of silver water; he came down booming
like one of his own streams, which, when a shower has fallen,
rushes down the mountain. All parts of his nature were subject to
this same, sudden overflow. He thought as dragons charge, he felt
love as prairies feel autumnal fires. No man can form an estimate
either of the good or bad that was in him who has not studied
Burns' heart, whose tides were deep as the oceans and sometimes as
tempestuous. There was more put into the making of Burns than any
man of his age. That which he had given forth by no means expressed
the whole of what he was. A great deal of his nature lay like undug
treasure and like unpolished gold. His letters were as wonderful as
his poems, and his conversation richer than either. While that half
idiot Boswell was picking up every stray acorn that fell from that
rough, rugged oak, old Doctor Johnson, how much better would it
have been if some Ariel had hung upon the lips of Burns, and
recorded the flowers of his inspired eloquence! Now his spirit
walks crowned with praises and wreathed with loving sympathies all
over the habitable globe. And if every man within these twenty four
hours the world around, who should speak the word of Burns with
fond admiration were ranked as his subject, no king on earth would
have such a realm; and if such an one should change a feeling into
a flower and cast it down to memory, a mountain would rise, and he
should sit upon a throne of blossoms, now at length without a
thorn.


A CREDO

Just to be good: to keep life pure from degrading elements, to make
it constantly helpful in little ways to those who are touched by
it, to keep one's spirit always sweet, and avoid all manner of
petty anger and irritability--that is an ideal as noble as it is
difficult.
-- Edward Howard Griggs.

