THE BUILDER APRIL 1917

THE PERFECT ASHLAR 
BY BRO. H. A. KINGSBURY, MASSACHUSETTS

Kingsbury, Harold A.; born, Westfield, Mass., August 27, 1882; graduate in
Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass.,
1907; graduate in Law, National University, Washington, D. C., 1910; graduate
in Patent Law, George Washington University, Washington, D. C., 1911; Member
of Bar of District of Columbia; Member of Bar of Supreme Court of United
States; Assistant Examiner U.S. Patent Office, 1908-1912;
at present, Assistant Patent Counsel, The New Departure Mfg. Co.,
Bristol, Connecticut; Washington Centennial Lodge No. 14,
Washington, D. C.; Mount Vernon Chapter No. 3, Washington, D. C.;
Scottish Rite Bodies, 4d to 18d, Springfield, Mass.; 19d to 32d,
Massachusetts Consistory, Boston, Mass.

IN the case of many of the symbols used in Masonry it almost seems
as though the ritual writers must have followed the rule, "The
importance to be given a symbol in the ritual should be inversely
proportional to the real importance of that symbol."
Particularly does this rule seem to have been applied to the case
of one of the Jewels of the Lodge--the Perfect Ashlar or Perfect
stone Cube. For this symbol, though casually dismissed with but
two or three brief sentences in the monitorial instructions, is,
in reality, of very considerable importance and interest and
deserving of the careful attention of the Mason.

The Perfect Ashlar is one of a group of three Jewels. Thus the
symbol calls the Mason's attention to one more of the many (not
less than twenty) references, in Craft Masonry, to the number
Three - the most significant of all the numbers (unless it be
Seven) held in veneration in nearly every ancient system of
religious philosophy, and even having, in some of those systems,
notably that of Plato, the importance of a symbol of Deity.

Stone, the material of the Perfect Ashlar, was considered of great
importance in many of the ancient religions and, indeed, in some
was worshiped. Stone worship existed among the early American
races. There is good reason for believing that the Peruvians
worshiped stones, as the protectors of their crops. The Greeks
originally used unhewn stones to represent their deities. The
Thebans represented the god Bacchus by a stone. In the Kaaba at
Mecca is a stone, Hajar al Aswad, which was worshiped by the
ancient Arabians and which present-day Mohammedans regard with
veneration. The Druids represented their gods by stones.

Stone is so evidently the symbol of Permanency, Faith and Trust
that it seems almost unnecessary to cite examples here. But any
one familiar with his New Testament will recall the incident of
the giving of the name Cephas, or Peter, meaning a stone, to
simon, who stood for the permanency, faith and truth of the Early
Christian Church, and will recall that Christ said, "Thou art
Peter and on this rock I will build my Church."

The cubical form of-the Perfect Ashlar serves to further identify
it as the symbol of Permanency, Faith and Truth as the Cube, from
the time of the Ancients has had this significance. We have an
example of it in Revelations (XXI, 16) where the New Jerusalem is
described as having its length, breadth and thickness equal, each
to the other, giving, of course, a cubical form to the city.

The fact that Masonry uses a hewn, rather than an unhewn stone,
for symbolizing Truth, furnishes an interesting example of the
ways in which the introduction of (comparatively) self-evident
conceptions derived from Operative Masonry has worked, in some
instances, curious changes in the more abstruse symbolistic
systems which Masonry has, apparently, inherited from the Hebrews
and the Egyptians. That is, in the Masonic system, following at
this point suggestions from Operative Masonry, the hewn and
perfect condition of the Perfect Ashlar is understood to emphasize
and make yet stronger the symbol's reference to Truth, whereas in
the symbolistic systems of the Hebrews and the Egyptians a rough,
unhewn cubical stone was considered to symbolize Truth and a
perfect, hewn stone was understood to symbolize Falsehood.

However interesting and important the various other symbolic
significances of the Cube may be, the symbolic suggestion that
perhaps most concerns the Mason of today, and particularly the
American Mason of today, is this:--The Cube is the symbol of the
state and it is placed in the Masonic Lodge to constantly remind
the Mason, of the State, or political structure, of which he forms
a part, and to recall him to those duties which he, a citizen,
owes to that State.

If one views a cube with his eyes slightly above the top of it,
and opposite one of its vertical edges, he will find that, as
indicated in the figure, there are three faces visible, and three
invisible, to him. The three visible faces symbolize the three
departments of the State, the Legislative, which makes the laws,
the Judicial which interprets them, and the Executive which
executes them. The three invisible faces symbolize the invisible
soul of the State, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. As these
three invisible faces are necessary to complete and make stable
the Cube so are Liberty, Equality and Fraternity necessary to
complete and make stable the State.

The Perfect Ashlar, in its character of a symbol of the State,
represents an ideal to be striven for--the perfect State has not
yet been finally developed. But, upon his first entrance into
Masonry, the Mason is presented with Working Tools with which to
shape and to gauge his work--the Gavel, symbolizing Force, and the
Gauge, symbolizing Rule or Law. And the Perfect Ashlar reminds the
Mason that his entered apprentice's Working Tools are given him to
use and that it is for him, a citizen, to apply them, using Force,
properly held in restraint by Rule or Law, to, so far as in him
lies, make his ashlar a Perfect Ashlar and his state a perfect
State.
