THE BUILDER, SEPTEMBER 1918

SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES

BY BRO. OLIVER DAY STREET, ALABAMA

PART II--THE SYMBOLISM OF THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE

THE ceremonies of initiation, passing, and raising, as well as the
lectures explanatory of them, are necessarily brief; want of time
and the danger of over-burdening the candidate require that they
should be so. The Mason, therefore, who relies solely upon what he
sees and hears in the lodge will obtain a very inadequate
conception of Freemasonry. He may and doubtless will be more or
less affected by our ceremonies; it could scarcely be otherwise, so
solemn and impressive are they, but he will fail to discover and
understand some of the greater truths which lie hidden beneath the
surface, and can never become truly speaking a "bright Mason."

Nearly every Masonic symbol or ceremony (like all true allegories)
has two (sometimes more) significations, one literal, the other
symbolical. The literal meaning, usually the more apparent, is
often of great interest, frequently affording striking evidences as
to the origin and antiquity of Freemasonry. But it is the
symbolical or allegorical meaning, usually the more recondite,
which appeals most to the thoughtful mind.

Nor is it unfortunate that the more important lessons are somewhat
veiled from observation. We do not prize what we obtain easily; it
is that for which we have striven or paid a big price which we
value. If, therefore, from beneath the surface of these familiar
ceremonies any of us by our own studies and reflections are enabled
to discover and bring to light truths which have lain somewhat
hidden, the appreciation of them is keener and the impression
produced deeper and more lasting than if they had been open to
superficial observation. For this reason many of the greatest
lessons of Freemasonry are wisely hidden away as prizes for the
studious and the diligent only. The "mysteries" and the "secrets"
of Freemasonry are not synonymous terms; the mysteries continue
such forever even to the Mason who will not study and read. Do you
feel that Masonry is an idle and frivolous thing, unworthy of the
attention of serious men? If so, did you ever reflect whether the
fault was yours or that of the institution? Unless you are sure
that you know what Freemasonry is and what it teaches and what are
its designs and that you thoroughly understand its methods of
teaching withhold your condemnation till you have made it the
subject of a little serious study, because, as observed by an
eminent authority, the character of the institution is "elevated in
everyone's opinion just in proportion to the amount of knowledge
that he has acquired of its symbolism, philosophy and history."

Freemasonry is a many sided subject. There is something in it which
arrests and appeals to the shallowest mind or the most frivolous
moral character. At the same time, there is much in it which has
chained the thought and attention of the world's greatest
intellects and wisest philosophers. It presents many aspects for
study and investigation, either of which will amply repay the
efforts of the intelligent mind and will lead to knowledge not
merely curious, as some suppose, but of the utmost practical value.

I am forced to refer again to one line of thought touched on in the
preceding lecture because I regard it as fundamental to the study
and understanding of any part of Freemasonry. This idea is that
Freemasonry is an elaborate allegory of human life, both
individually and collectively, in all its varied aspects, past,
present, and future; that the lodge represents the world into which
mortal man is introduced, lives, moves, has his being and
eventually dies; that it also represents the place or state of the
redeemed in the life which we believe follows this; that the
lodge-member typifies the individual man; that its organized
membership represents mankind united into human society; that the
ideal lodge-member, ruled by love, wisdom, strength and beauty,
typifies man raised from this state of imperfection to one of
perfection.

Of all the ceremonies of the lodge, the Fellow Craft degree, when
viewed by itself is the most difficult and I believe the least
generally understood. Preston, who wrote the first Monitor tells us
that "such is the latitude of this degree that the most judicious
may fail in an attempt to explain it." In Akin's Georgia Manual we
read that the "splendid beauty of the Fellow Craft degree can be
seen only by the studious eye and that the Master vho would impress
it upon the candidate must store his mind with the history,
traditions and ritualism of this degree."

A flood of light, however, is at once shed upon the subject when we
consider it a part of a human allegory, of which the Entered
Apprentice and Master's degrees are respectively the beginning and
the completion.

Let us then briefly consider it in this manner and endeavor to
reach a clearer understanding of its meaning. That we may the
better perceive just where it falls into the complete scheme, it
will be necessary first to consider for a moment the Entered
Apprentice and Master's degrees.

We are told in the Master's lecture that the Entered Apprentice
represents youth; the Fellow Craft, manhood; and the Master Mason,
old age. A little study will serve to show us how completely this
simile is justified.

The introduction or first admission of the Entered Apprentice
candidate into the lodge, therefore, typifies the entrance of man
upon the world's stage of action or in other words, the birth of
the child into this life. The distinguished Masonic scholar, Dr.
Mackey, says that the Entered Apprentice is a "child in Masonry"
and we read in many Monitors that "the first or Entered Apprentice
degree is intended symbolically to represent the entrance of man
into the world in which he is afterwards to become a living and
thinking actor. In English working the candidate is reminded that
his admission into the Entered Apprentice lodge "in a state of
helpless ignorance was an emblematical representation of the
entrance of all men on this their mortal existence." (1)

The preparation of the candidate and the plight in which he is
admitted an Entered Apprentice strikingly symbolizes the helpless,
destitute, blind and ignorant condition of the newly born babe.
Yea, it is even certain that there are features preserved in
Masonic symbolism which allude to that part of life preceding even
birth and which hint at the phenomena of coition, generation,
conception and gestation of the child in its mother's womb. These
things rightly considered are as much a part and as pure and holy
a part of a human life as birth or death, and could no more be
omitted from any complete representation of it. Let no one,
therefore, imagine that he has found anything impure in Freemasonry
because he has discovered in it symbols and ceremonies which once
undoubtedly bore phallic significations.

We may, therefore, say that the Masonic system epitomizes
allegorically the life of man from the moment he is begotten
through every stage of existence, conception, gestation, birth,
infancy, childhood, youth, manhood, old age, death, the
resurrection and everlasting life. Did any greater theme ever
engage the attention of any society? Anything that pertains to any
of these great subjects and which tends to strengthen, to elevate
or to ennoble the human mind and character is properly a part of
Freemasonry.

The first important lesson impressed upon the candidate after his
entrance into the lodge is intended to signify to us that the very
first idea that ought to be instilled into the mind of the child is
a reverence and adoration for the Deity, the great and
incomprehensible author of its existence. From beginning to the
end, the Entered Apprentice degree is a series of moral lessons.
This is a hint so broad that one need not be wise in order to
understand that the moral training and education of the child
should precede even the development and cultivation of its
intellect. How many parents and teachers fail just at this point!
They polish and adorn the minds of their children and pupils with
great diligence at the same time neglecting their moral training,
and when too late find that often they have made of them smart
criminals.

The placing of the young Entered Apprentice in the northeast corner
of the lodge in imitation of the ancient custom of laying the
corner stone of a building in the northeast corner, signifies that
as an Entered Apprentice he has but laid the foundation whereon to
build his future moral edifice, that of life and character. It
aptly and fully symbolizes the end of the preparatory period and
the beginning of the constructive period of human life.

The admonition there given him is to the effect that, having laid
the foundation true, he should take care that the superstructure is
reared ill like manner; in other words, that his life, his moral
temple be kept in harmony with the moral precepts which have been
given him in the Entered Apprentice degree.

This likening of the human body to a temple of God is an ancient
metaphor. Jesus' employment of it in speaking of his own body was
but in keeping with a common practice among Jewish writers and
teachers of his time. It immensely dignifies the physical body of
man and teaches that, when kept clean both in the literal and the
moral sense, it is a fit place for even Diety himself to dwell.

This body so powerfully and yet so delicately contrived that often
apparently slight causes produce death, we have no right to defile
or abuse with any kind of excess. No mechanism was ever so
delicately adjusted and no careful engineer would ever think of
putting even too much oil upon a fine piece of machinery. Yet
excessive indulgence in food, drink, or other appetites works far
greater injury to our bodies.

The lesson is that we have no more right to defile or abuse our
bodies than had the Jew to defile the Temple of God upon Mount
Moriah.

In the Third degree the matter pressed upon our attention are the
closing years of life, death and the vast hereafter. The xii
chapter of Ecclesiastes, the most beautiful and affecting
description of old age in all literature, is introduced. We are
also told that the events it celebrates occurred just before the
completion of the Temple, which is but a figurative way of saying
that the period of life symbolized by the Master's degree is that
just preceding its close, just before the completion of the moral
and spiritual temple. (2) It is, therefore, with the greatest
propriety that the Master's degree is said to represent old age.

If then the Entered Apprentice represents childhood and youth, and
the Master Mason old age, the Fellow Craft degree should, in order
to complete the allegory, represent middle life and its labors, and
this is precisely what it does with the greatest beauty and
consistency.

Although the candidate for the Fellow Craft degree is to be
regarded as a seeker after knowledge, yet the first section of this
degree consists chiefly of a reiteration of the moral teachings of
the First degree. This is to remind the young man as he is about to
enter upon the serious labors and struggles of life that virtue is
to be always the first consideration, that no knowledge, no success
which is purchased at the sacrifice of morals, honor or integrity
is to be prized. This lesson is repeated more than once in the
course of this degree, admonishing us that, no matter how engrossed
in the affairs of life we may become, we should never suffer the
allurements of coveted gains to seduce us from the pathway of
strict rectitude and justice.

Although thus reiterating and emphasizing the moral precepts of the
First degree, the Fellow Craft degree is as distinctly intellectual
in its purpose and spirit as the Entered Apprentice is moral. The
great theme of the Second degree is the attainment of knowledge,
the cultivation of the mind and the acquisition of habits of
industry. (3) This feature becomes prominent in the second section
of this degree. Preston, who, as already observed, wrote what might
he termed the first Monitor, says that while the First degree is
intended "to enforce the duties of morality," the Second
"comprehends a more diffusive system of knowledge." We read in
Simon's Monitor that "the Entered Apprentice is to emerge from the
darkness to light; the Fellow Craft is to come out of ignorance
into knowledge." Dr. Mackey expresses it thus: "The lessons the
Entered Apprentice receives are simply intended to cleanse the
heart and prepare the recipient for that mental illumination which
is to be given in the succeeding degree," and further he says, "The
candidate in the Second degree represents a man starting forth on
the journey of life with the great task before him of
self-improvement," and that the result is to be the development of
all his intellectual faculties and the acquisition of truth and
knowledge. In England, the candidate is informed that while in the
Entered Apprentice degree "he made himself acquainted with the
principles of moral truth and virtue, he is in the Fellow Craft
degree permitted to extend his researches into the hidden mysteries
of nature and science," and that he is "led in the Second degree to
contemplate the intellectual faculty and to trace it from its
development, through the paths of heavenly science, even to the
throne of God himself." Brother J. W. Horsely, Rector of St.
Peter's Cathedral, London, thus expresses the idea: "Generally,
therefore, we may say that the Third degree represents and enforces
the blessedness of spiritual life and the duty of progress therein,
as the Second degree performs the same office for the intellectual
life, and the first for the moral life." (4)

THE JEWELS OF A FELLOW CRAFT

The very means of gaining admission into a Fellow Craft lodge* * *,
alluding to the three jewels of Fellow Craft, are made to typify
the processes of communicating, acquiring and preserving knowledge.
"The attentive ear receives the sound from the instructive tongue
and the mysteries of Freemasonry (as indeed all other knowledge)
are safely lodged in the repository of faithful breasts."

THE WORKING TOOLS

The plumb, square, and level were the appropriate tools of the
operative Fellow Craft Mason. To the Master or Overseer fell the
duty of superintendence, to the Entered Apprentice that of
gathering and rough hewing of the materials, but to the Fellow
Craft fell the labor of actual construction. This involved the
laying of level foundations and courses, the erection of
perpendicular walls and the bringing of the stones to perfectly
rectangular shape. These labors necessitated the constant use by
the operative Fellow Craft Mason of the plumb, square and level.
Their operative uses very appropriately symbolize the analogous
processes in the building of human character. This symbolical
application of these implements of the builder is by no means
recent; it dates back even among the Chinese more than 700 years
before Christ. Five hundred years before Christ what we call the
Golden Rule was by the Chinese called "the principle of acting on
the square." Mencius, the great Chinese philosopher, who lived in
the third century before Christ, teaches that men should apply the
square and level to their lives, and speaking figuratively says
that he who would acquire wisdom must make use of the square and
compasses.

BOAZ AND JACHIN

Solomon, in accordance with the common practice of his day, placed
two immense and highly ornate pillars or columns at the entrance of
his temple. It is well known that King Hiram did the like for the
great temple to Melcarth erected by him at Tyre. Many other
instances might be cited. Whence originated this custom has been a
matter for much speculation. We have seen what was the ancient
conception of the form of the earth. To their world the Strait of
Gibraltar appeared to be a veritable door of entry. On either side
of this entrance rose two enormous rock promotories, Abyla and
Calpe, (now called Gibraltar and Ceuta) which completely commanded
egress and ingress and are familiarly known as the Pillars of
Hercules. They were believed by the ancients to mark the western
boundary of the world, Many have seen in these two vast columns of
stone, set by nature to the entrance of the then known world, the
counterparts of the pillars so often set by the ancients at the
entrance to their temples, which were to them, as the lodge is to
us, symbols of the world.

The first objects that engage the attention of the Fellow Craft on
his way to the Middle Chamber are the representatives of these
pillars at the entrance to Solomon's Temple. In addition to the
explanation given in the lodge, they undoubtedly have also an
allusion to the two legendary pillars of Enoch upon which tradition
tells us all the wisdom of the ancient world was inscribed in order
to preserve it "against inundation and conflagrations." Standing at
the very threshold of Solomon's Temple, as well as of the Fellow
Craft lodge, they admonish us that after a proper moral training
the acquisition of wisdom is the next necessary preparation for a
useful and successful life. (5) Their names, Boaz and Jachin,
possess also a moral signification, meaning together that "in
strength God will establish His house." Symbolically applied to the
candidate, they mean that God will firmly establish the moral and
spiritual edifice of the just and upright man.

THE GLOBES

The idea that the globes upon the two brazen pillars represent the
globes celestial and terrestrial is certainly modern. The globular
form of the earth was unknown to the ancients. Except to a few
profound thinkers like Plato, the conception of the earth as a
sphere was utterly foreign. Not until about the time of the
discovery of America did this fact become generally understood.

Moreover, the Bible, at least in English translations, says nothing
of any globes upon the pillars, but distinctly states that there
were "made two chapiters of molten brass to set upon the tops of
the pillars," and that "upon the tops of the pillars was
lily-work." 1 Kings vii, 16, 22. The more recent revisions of the
Bible call the "chapiters" by their more familiar name of
"capitals." The learned Jewish Rabbi, Solomon Jehudi, speaks of
them as "pommels," a word signifying a globular ornament. It is
well known that many of the architectural features and ornamental
designs of Solomon's Temple were borrowed from the Egyptians. The
so-called "lily-work" was unquestionably some form of water-lily or
lotus pattern of ornamention so common in ancient architecture and
which even now is employed in conventionalized forms nearly
everywhere. It sometimes assumes the form of the lotus leaf, at
others of the full blown blossom, and at others still of the bud.
Our common "egg and dalt" pattern is a development therefrom.

At the time of Solomon, one of the most frequent and at the same
time one of the most beautiful of the lotus or water-lily designs
was the lotus-bud capital, which often assumed an egglike or oval
shape. It is accurately indicated by the word "pommel," and indeed
this term is employed in some of our Masonic Monitors in lieu of
the term "globes." There seems little reason to doubt that the two
Brazen Pillars were columns of the Egyptian style with the
lotus-bud capitals. Their great diameter as compared to their
height (about six diameters) is another strong evidence of their
Egyptian derivation. Furthermore, we know that winged globular
ornaments, sometimes of immense size, were extensively employed by
the Egyptians in adorning the entrances to their temples.

The lotus or water-lily was the sacred plant of the Egyptians and
among other things signified "Universality." The conclusion,
therefore, seems reasonable that, if there was anything like globes
on the two Brazen Pillars, they were not true globes of the earth
and of the heavens, but representations of the lotus-bud. If so,
though the symbol has not been accurately perpetuated, the
symbolism has.

There is another ancient conception to which the idea of globes
upon the pillars may be related. From remotest times men must have
observed that numerous forms of life proceeded from an egg. This
observation gave rise to the belief which we know to have been
widely disseminated in ancient times, and which modern science has
almost completely confirmed, that life in every form proceeds from
an egg. This supposed universal source of life became to the
ancients the symbol of the source of things universal. In other
words, the egg was the symbol of the Universal Mother. It is easily
perceivable that to a people entertaining these ideas, globes or
eggs mounted upon columns would convey the idea of universality.

LILY-WORK

In addition to the lotus capitals, no doubt the two pillars were,
in keeping with the universal custom of the time, further
ornamented with various forms of the lotus or water-lily design.
The familiar token of peace with us is the palm branch, but to the
Egyptian and the Jew this office was fulfilled by the lotus or
water-lily. It is, therefore, with precise accuracy that we say
that the lotus, or Egyptian water-lily, (an entirely different
plant from our lily,) denotes peace.

THE NET-WORK

The net work which adorned the capitals or chapiters of the pillars
might be more familiarly described as "lattice-work." Curious
specimens of this ornamentation are found in ancient and medieval
architecture, particularly in that of the Magistri Comacini, or
Comacine Masters of Northern Italy. Many of these are of the most
beautiful and intricate designs and without either beginning or
end. A more appropriate emblem of unity than these could not be
conceived.

It is interesting to note in this connection, that recently a
woman, and of course a non-Mason, Mrs. Baxter, writing under the
nom de plume of Leader Scott, has in her splendid book, "The
Cathedral Builders, adduced much evidence to prove that our modern
Freemasonry is derived from these same Magistri Comacini, and
through them from the Collegia Fabrorum, or Colleges of Builders,
of the pre-Christian Roman era. To my mind, one of the strongest of
these evidences is the common possession and employment of this
net-work ornamentation.

This tracing of our society back to the Roman Building Societies of
the eighth century before Christ, (if it can be sustained,) carries
us back to the time when we know that building societies were
common not only in Rome, but in Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, and
Palestine. Indeed, it is impossible to explain the erection of such
architectural wonders as the great pyramids and temples of Egypt,
Asia, Greece and Rome, without supposing the existence at that time
of building societies, or associations of architects, embracing
within themselves the most brilliant intellects and skillful
workmen, not only then living, but whose superior the world has
never since seen; in other words, precisely such a society as our
traditions teach built King Solomon's Temple. Evidences of ancient
history point to the existence of such a brotherhood, known as the
Dionysian Architects, at Tyre, the home of the two Hirams at the
time of the building of the Temple and it was to this place,
according to Scripture, that Solomon sent when he wanted artisans
competent to carry out his great design.

THE POMEGRANATE

The pomegranate, which also adorned the capitals of the pillars, is
a symbol of great antiquity, but its meaning seems to have been
sacredly guarded. Pausanias, who wrote about 160 A. D., calls it
aporreto teros logos,--i. e. a forbidden mystery. Ancient deities
were often depicted holding this fruit in their hands and this,
Achilles Statius, Bishop of Alexandria, says "had a mystical
meaning." The Syrians at Damascus anciently worshipped a god whom
they called "Rimmon," and this we know to be the Hebrew word for
pomegranate.

Cumberland, Bishop of Peterborough, a most learned antiquarian,
guessed that on account of the great number of its seeds a
pomegranate in the hand of a god denoted fruitfulness or fecundy.
This corresponds closely enough with the meaning that we, as Masons
attach to it,--that of plenty.

OPERATIVE AND SPECULATIVE MASONRY

The candidate is informed that there are two kinds of Masonry,
operative and speculative; the one, the erection of material
edifice to shelter us from the inclemencies of the seasons; the
other, the building of that moral, religious and spiritual edifice,
human life and character, that house not made with hands eternal in
the heavens. He is reminded of the historical fact that our ancient
brethren wrought in both kinds of Masonry, but we work in
speculative only. With this distinction in mind, the candidate is
expected to be able to grasp the allegorical meanings of the
succeeding ceremonies.

THE WINDING STAIRS

In the Winding stairs an architectural feature of Solomon's Temple
is seized upon to symbolize the journey of life. It is not a placid
stream down which one may lazily float, it is not even a straight
or level pathway along which one may travel with a minimum of
exertion; it is a devious and tortuous way, requiring labor and
effort for its accomplishment. This is appropriately symbolized by
a winding stairway. It teaches us that our lives should be neither
downward nor on a dead level, but, although difficult, progressive
and upward.

SCIENCE OF NUMBERS

The Winding stairs consist of 3, 5 and 7 steps, numbers which among
the ancients were deemed of a mysterious nature. This introduces us
to what is to us one of the most curious bodies of learning of the
ancient world, what is known as their Science of Numbers, many
fragments of which are scattered throughout Masonry. It is
exceedingly difficult for the modern mind to get any grasp whatever
upon what is meant by this so called science, so highly speculative
was it. It does not allude as its name might seem to indicate, to
any of the mathematical sciences, or anything akin to them. It was
a system of moral science or philosophy, wherein numbers were given
symbolical meaning and the letters of the alphabet were given
numerical values; whence words were supposed to have certain occult
significations according to the sums or multiples of the numerical
equivalents of its letters. The elaboration of this idea was
productive of what is known as the Hebrew Kabala. Pythagoras is
reputed to have introduced this school among the Greeks and
according to Aristotle he taught that "Number is the principle of
all things and that the organization of the Universe is an harmonic
system of numerical ratios." (6) To illustrate, the soul was made
to correspond to the number 6, and 7 was the counterpart of reason
and health.

The numbers 3, 5 and 7 had many meanings among the Jews which are
not elucidated in the lodge. The preservation in our ritual of
hints of this learning of a past age is now chiefly valuable to us
as a proof of the antiquity of Masonic symbolism. (7)

THE THREE STEPS

Adopting the method of these ancient worthies but varying the
meaning, we make the number 3 to allude to the organization of our
Society with its three degrees and its three principal officers.
Among the earliest realizations of every man is that no man lives
to himself alone; that he is dependent upon his fellow creatures
and they upon him; that he owes them and they owe him mutual aid,
support and protection; that to secure these advantages some must
rule and some must at least temporarily obey; that there must be
classes and that progress from one class to another must depend
upon proficiency in the former. This state of mutual obligation and
mutual dependance of men upon one another we call Society. The
Three steps, alluding to the three degrees and the division of our
society into those who govern and those who obey, leads to the
ideas of organization and subordination in the lodge. We have seen
that the lodge symbolizes the world; so its organization symbolizes
that of the world into society and governments. Dr. Mackey says
"that the reference to the organization of the Masonic institution
is intended to remind the aspirant of the union of men into society
and the development of the social state out of the state of nature.
He is thus reminded in the very outset of his journey of the
blessings which arise from civilization and of the fruits of virtue
and the knowledge which are derived from that condition. In the
allusion to the affairs of the lodge and the degree of Masonry as
explanatory of the organization of our own society, we clothe in
symbolic language," says Dr. Mackey, "the history of the
organization of society" in general. (8) This feature is brought
out prominently in many Monitors.

No representation of the pathway to knowledge would of course be
complete without some allusion to the means by which it is to he
acquired. Thus are the allusions to the five senses of human nature
to be understood. A moment's reflection will prove to us that
through them we gain all our knowledge and that without them we
could learn nothing. What wonderful and noble faculties and yet how
seldom even thought of by us and how little appreciated and
understood! No nobler or more interesting subjects for study exist
in all the realms of nature than hearing, seeing, feeling,
smelling, and tasting. What a truly marvelous organ is the eye,
which can without contact make us sensible of the presence, the
form and the color of objects at a distance and through which we
obtain our knowledge and appreciation of all that is beautiful in
nature. The senses of hearing and feeling are scarcely less
wonderful and are equally important. A little reflection will also
furnish us with additional reasons to those given in the lodge why
hearing, seeing and feeling are most revered by Masons. They are in
every way the most important. Consider for a moment the relatively
small part of our knowledge that comes through tasting and
smelling, and how utterly useless these two senses were to our
ancient brethren in their operative labors. Then consider again how
helpless a human creature would be who possessed neither hearing,
seeing or feeling. Helen Keller is rightly considered a marvel, yet
she is bereft of only two of these, hearing and seeing. Deprive her
of her finely attenuated sense of feeling and it would have been
impossible for her to have made any progress whatever in knowledge.
Commenting on this part of the ritual, Thomas Smith Webb says, "To
sum up the whole of this transcendant measure of God's bounty to
man, we shall add that memory, imagination, taste, reasoning, moral
perception and all the active powers of the soul present a vast and
boundless field for philosophical disquisition which far exceeds
human inquiry." We could have none of these without the five
senses, and they are, therefore, introduced as symbols of
intellectual cultivation. (9)

The disquisition upon the five senses of human nature which appears
in our American Monitors may be found in the English Monitors also
which preceded the revision of Dr. Hemming in 1813. He eliminated
all reference to them and they are still missing from authorized
English "work." We feel that in some way Dr. Hemming must surely
have failed to catch the meaning of this part of our symbolism. Dr.
George Oliver, an eminent and learned English Mason, deplores the
omission and says that it ought by all means to be restored.

Having thus indicated to the candidate something of the importance
and the means of acquiring knowledge, the proper fields of study
and investigation are next pointed out.

THE FIVE ORDERS IN ARCHITECTURE

The five steps are said to allude further to the five orders in
architecture, the Tuscan, the Doric, the Ionic, the Corinthian and
the Composite. Their origins and their relative merits are pointed
out, and we are told something of architecture in general. We would
naturally expect something on this subject in a society derived
from one of actual builders and architects, and here we have an
internal evidence of the great age of Freemasonry. This is a
flotsam which has been wafted to us down the stream of time from
that remote period when Freemasonry w as an organization of
operative Masons. To our speculative society it typifies all the
other useful arts and serves to convey to the intelligent mind the
truth that architecture considered as one of the fine arts is a
subject well worthy of our study. It is through architecture that
every great people have left the enduring records of their fame.
Books perish and decay, but from their buildings, which still
remain, we know for a certainty of the great nations of antiquity.
George Moller, in his charming essay on Gothic Architecture, speaks
of these architectural remains as "documents of stone" and declares
that they "afford to those who can read them the most lively
picture of centuries that have lapsed." (10)

THE SEVEN LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

Other fields of study are said to consist of the seven liberal arts
and sciences and are enumerated as grammar, rhetoric, logic,
arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. In our Fellows Craft's
charge we are recommended to study "the liberal arts and sciences
which tend so effectually to polish and adorn the mind." In England
("Emulation Working,") the candidate is informed that he "is
expected to make the liberal arts and sciences his future study,
that he may 'the better be enabled to discharge his duties as a
Mason, and estimate the wonderful works of the Almighty." (11)

It is, of course, obvious at a glance that these seven subjects
enumerated above by no means exhaust the fields of knowledge now
open to man, but the time once was when they did. And herein is
another incontestible evidence of the great age of Freemasonry and
its ceremonies. I cannot do better than quote Dr. Mackey again. He
says that in the seventh century, that is to say 1300 years ago,
"these seven heads were supposed to include universal knowledge. He
who was master of these was thought to have no need of a precepter
to explain any books or to solve any questions which lay within the
compass of human reason; knowledge of the trivium (as grammar,
rhetoric and logic were then denominated,) having furnished him
with the key to all language, and that of the quadrivium
(arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy) having opened to him
the secret laws of nature." At a period, says Dr. Mackey "when few
were instructed in the trivium and very few studied the quadrivium,
to be master of both was sufficient to complete the character of a
philosopher."

The term trivium means the three ways or paths, and quadrivium the
four ways or paths to knowledge. Hence it is with the greatest
propriety that it is said that we are taught in the Fellow Craft
degree to explore the paths of heavenly science. (12)

There is another interesting feature of the total number of steps
of the Winding Stairs, fifteen in all. This was an important symbol
among the Jews, because it was the sum of the numerical equivalents
of the Hebrew letters composing the word J A H--one of the names of
Deity.

It will also be noted that the number of each series of steps,
three, five and seven, as well as the total number of steps,
fifteen, is odd. As we have seen, odd numbers were by the ancients
regarded with greater veneration than were even numbers. Vitrivius,
the great Roman architect, who flourished just before Christ,
states that the ancient temples were always approached by an odd
number of steps. The reason, he says, was that commencing with the
right foot at the bottom, the worshipper would find the same foot
in advance when he entered the temple, and that this was considered
a favorable omen. The thoughtful Mason cannot fail to be struck
with the coincidence here indicated.

GEOMETRY

Preeminence is given by our ritual to the science of Geometry. This
now appears strange, but if we regard its history we will cease to
be surprised. It and its allied branches, (trigonometry,
architecture and astronomy), was the only exact science known to
the ancients, but the perfection to which they had reduced it is
even now constantly surprising us. By it all mathematical
calculations were made. Arithmetic and algebra were then unknown.
The astonishing results obtained by them from an application of
geometrical processes were well calculated to impress the mind. As
the only exact science known to them, it was the most appropriate
emblem of moral perfection, in an age when everything had its
symbol. We accordingly read in our Masonic Monitors that of the
seven liberal arts and sciences, "Geometry is the most revered by
Masons"; that "it is the foundation of architecture and the root of
mathematics"; that it is "the first and noblest of sciences"; that
it is "the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry is
erected"; that by it "we may curiously trace nature through her
various windings to her most concealed recesses"; and "discover the
power, the wisdom and the goodness of the Grand Artificer of the
Universe"; that "Geometry or Masonry, originally synonymous terms,
being of a divine and moral nature, is enriched with the most
useful knowledge"; that "while it proves the wonderful properties
of nature, it demonstrates the more important truths of morality."

It cannot be denied that to the present generation and in our
present state of learning, Geometry is nothing of the kind. To
anyone except a Freemason, and to the great majority of them, the
idea that Geometry inculcates moral truth is utterly foreign and
incomprehensible. Those members of the craft who have ever thought
of the matter at all, as a rule look upon these expressions as
crude extravagances, as distorted attempts to attach a speculative
meaning to a science or an art which had never properly borne any
other than a practical signification. We are not surprised, it is
true, to find still incorporated in our system these inheritances
of a past age and simply tolerate them as such without any serious
attempt to ascertain their meaning or to measure their
significance.

While, as stated, Geometry does not at present enjoy any such an
enviable distinction among the sciences as that claimed for it in
our Masonic ritual, yet the time once was when it was precisely so
regarded by the wisest of men on earth. (13)

What then is the significance of these ideas of a past age in our
Masonic system ? It seems to me to afford the strongest internal
evidence of the great age of our Masonic ritual and symbolism. (14)

The seven liberal arts and sciences, as thus enumerated in the
lodge, are not now to be understood literally, but rather as a
symbol of what they once were in fact, namely, the entire domain of
human knowledge and research. No one man is, of course, expected to
cultivate the whole of this vast field, but this part of the
ceremony of passing urges upon us the importance and the duty of
constantly applying our minds to the attainment of wisdom in some
of its forms. We have no right to be idle. It is a sin against God,
ourselves and society.

Contemplate the despicable figure of the habitual loafer who sits
on the curbstone or whittles away his days, telling anecdotes which
could not be repeated in respectable society. Listen to the "loud
laugh of his vacant mind," see what a large share of his time, that
most priceless gift of God, he wastes in indolence or in the
pursuits that are either unprofitable or positively hurtful. Is it
any wonder that so many men fail in life and that the progress of
the race as a whole is so exceedingly slow ? What a multitude of
drones there are in the hive who are not only to be fed and clothed
by the industrious, but who are positive hindrances and stumbling
blocks in the way of those industrious ones who would progress.
Note how almost invariably you find the idler on the wrong side of
every question that arises in his community. See how he resents
with bitterness the prosperity of his moral and industrious
neighbor and falls into a habit of chronic antagonism to him. They
will not work; fed and clothed they must be; if they cannot
dead-beat a living, they turn to crime in order to get it. What a
great lesson then is here taught by Masonry! Whatever others may
be, Masons have no right to be idlers and loafers. It is our God
given privilege and our solemn duty to work, work, work, not
because a night is coming when man's work is done, but that we may
be able to do better work and more work in that brighter day that
all good Masons expect to see when this life has passed away.

THE WAGES OF A FELLOW CRAFT

In the Middle Chamber we are informed what the wages shall be to
the faithful Craftsman who has observed the moral and the divine
law and wasted not his time in idleness or vice. We are told that
they shall be corn, wine and oil. Such was literally true to our
ancient operative brethren, as our old documents abundantly prove.
With us, of course, they are not received in the realistic sense,
but emblematically. From a remoteness of time when the memory of
man runneth not to the contrary, the spica, or ear of corn, has
symbolized plenty; wine has symbolized health; and oil has
symbolized peace.

The faithful Fellow Craft is, therefore, assured that his wages,
his reward, shall be plenty, not mere sufficiency but plentitude to
supply all his physical, moral and spiritual wants; health of body,
mind and soul; peace in this life, in the hour of death, and in the
life to come. Are not these wages worthy of the laborer? Verily, do
they not include all things that can in any wise contribute to our
real comfort and happiness?

Idleness and vice surely lead to their opposites, poverty, disease
and despair.

While I have by no means exhausted the subject this, my brethren,
is briefly the meaning and purpose of the Fellow Craft degree, and,
if you do not already, I am sure that a little study and reflection
will lead you to agree with me that in beauty and purity and
loftiness of conception this degree is worthy to keep company with
those splendid degrees of Entered Apprentice and Master Mason.

(1) Mackey's Symbolism, p. 307.
(2) Idem.
(3) Idem.
(4) Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. XII. p. 2.
(5) Mackey's Symbolism, p. 219.
(6) Univ. Cyc., vol. 9, p. 560.
(7) Mackey's Symbolism, pp. 219, 225.
(8) Idem, p. 221.
(9) Idem, p. 222.
(10) Mas. Mag. vol. 6, p. 427; Mackey's Symbolism, pp. 222, 223.
(11) Yarker's Arcane School, p. 118.
(12) Mackey's Symbolism, pp. 223, 224.
(13) Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. X, p. 82, Freeman, vol. XLVIII,
p. 417.
(14) Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. V, p. 168.
