THE FREEMASON'S SQUARE

M.W. Bro.  A.O. Aspeslet, PGM



Albert G. Mackey in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry(4) writes,
"The square and compasses have been so long and universally
combined to teach us, as says an early ritual, 'to square our
actions and to keep them in due bounds'.  They are seldom seen
apart but are so kept together as two great lights that they have
come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master
Mason.

The square is the second mentioned of the three great lights of
Masonry.  It is the jewel of the W.M., the highest office in the
Lodge.  The square has a special significance in the F.C. degree. 
The F.C. Lodge is opened on it, the candidate is received on it
and he is obligated within it.  It should also be noted that the
square is on of the working tools in the 2nd degree, which degree
symbolizes manhood.  The square is properly applied to building
as without it there would be very little rhyme or reason to the
building.

What then is a square? Simply put a square consists of two lines
which when joined form a perfect 90 degrees.  When we look around
us Masonically the square is usually plain and the two arms are
of equal length.  However, at times we will see a square with one
arm longer than the other.  Then, too, we sometimes see squares
that are marked off in inches, thus making it a measuring tool. 
The question then arises: what is the correct form of the Mason's
square?

While it is true that most squares seen today in Freemasonry have
arms of equal length, it appears that this was not always so. 
Bro.  Sydney D. Klein F.L.S. F.R.A.S. in his paper to A.Q.C.
writes,(2) "We have seen that 2300 years ago the highest thinkers
of the Greek age or reason considered geometry as the foundation
of all knowledge, even including the knowledge of the G.A.O.T.U."
In this same paper he points out that the Greek word for the
square was 'Gnomon' from which he says the word for knowledge was
derived.  He suggests also that the Greek letter gamma "X" was
the primitive form designating the square in ancient times.  The
Greek letter Gamma has one side longer than the other.

Much is made of the 47th problem of Euclid in our rituals.  It is
from this problem that we find that if you have a triangle in
which the sides are in the  ratio 3:4:5 than the angle contained
by the sides 3:4 equals 90 degrees.  By using this problem as a
bench mark then, the square would be one in which the two arms
would be in the ratio 3:4 meaning that one arm would be longer
than the other, most nearly approximating that of the Greek
letter Gamma.

A.Q.C. Vol VI shows a picture of old chairs of a lodge in
Coventry, England with squares on them with one arm longer than
the other.  Further in A.Q.C. Vol XIV one may observe an Old
English and Modern English P.M.s jewels.  The former has one arm
longer than the other and it is suspended in the form of a
hangman's gibbet, from the short arm is suspended the 47th
problem of Euclid. The modern English P.M.s jewel is very much
similar to that used in this Jurisdiction.  Colin Dyer(5) says
that the hangman's gibbet type of square with the 47th problem of
Euclid came into use about 1820 and continued into the 1830s.

Colin Dyer, in Symbolism in Craft Freemasonry, (6) tells us that,
"Bro. J.P. Bellat, one time Deputy Provincial G.M. of North and
East Yorkshire, recovered a very curious relic in the form of an
old brass square containing the inscription:

'I will striue to liue with love and care, upon the leuel by the
sqvare.

This square was found under the foundation of an ancient bridge
near Limerick, in 1830, and the date on the square is 1517. 
Unfortunately he makes no comment as to the length of the arms. 
It is mentioned here only because it shows that the teaching of
our old operative brethren was identical to our speculative
application of the working tools.

In modern Freemasonry, as we know it, the square remains a symbol
of morality, truthfulness and of honesty.  Nowhere in the Craft
degrees is it recognized as a measuring tool.  As the 2nd degree
lecture describes it, the square teaches us to regulate our lives
and actions by the Masonic rule and line and to correct and
harmonize our conduct by the principles of morality and virtue.

The square was used by our ancient operative brethren to adjust
their work, (i.e. to ascertain where and how to apply the mallet
and the chisel); the rule is for measurement.  Thus the trying
square of the stonemason need only have two arms at an angle of
90 degrees, intended only to test the accuracy of the sides of
the stone, to assure that they were all at the proper angle fit
for the builder.

In view of the above, it would appear that whether the square we
use has one arm longer than the other, or the arms are of equal
length matters little.  But as it was not intended to be a
measuring tool it would be wrong to mark it off in inches.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"A.Q.C.", Vol. 6, 1893, facing p. 146.

"A.Q.C.", Vol. 10, 1897, p. 92.

"A.Q.C.", Vol. 14, 1901, p. 27.

Mackey, Albert, G., Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 708.

Dyer, Colin, Symbolism in Craft Freemsasonry, p. 163.

Ibid., p. 164.



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