The History of the Masonic Letter ‘G’ The History of the Masonic Letter ‘G’ Did You Know Did You Know
King Solomon’s Temple King Solomon’s Temple
The Third St. John The Third St. John
Famous Freemasons – Bob Monkhouse
Famous Freemasons – Bob Monkhouse
Foreign Countries Foreign Countries
The Allegorical Significance of Lesser Known Working Tools
The Allegorical Significance of Lesser Known Working Tools
The Pencil The Pencil
The Symbolism of the Gloves and Apron
The Symbolism of the Gloves and Apron On Brotherly Love On Brotherly Love
The Back Page – The Lady and the Fork The Back Page – The Lady and the Fork
In this Issue:
CoverStory ‘Geometry’
“Geometry, the first and noblest of the sciences, is the basis upon which the superstructure of Freemasonry is erected.” Excellent paper, well worth the read.
Page 6, ‘Fidelity’
An explanation of the usage of this word!.
Page 10, ‘The History of the Masonic Letter G’
Page 12, ‘Did You Know?’ Questions about the Craft.
Page 14, ‘King Solomon’s Temples’
Page 16, ‘The Third St. John’
Page 17, ‘Bob Monkhouse’ Famous Freemasons.
Page 19, ‘Foreign Countries.’
“9+16=25”, Twenty-ninth in the series.
Page 21, ‘Reflections.’
‘The Allegorical Significance of Lesser Known Working Tools’
Page 23, ‘The Pencil.’
An Original ‘Working Tool.’.
Page 25, ‘The Symbolism of the Gloves and Apron’ .Both important symbols in Freemasonry.
Page 27, ‘On Brotherly Love’
Page 29, ‘The Back Page.’
‘The Lady and the Fork’
In the Lectures website
The article for this month “Love” [link]
Front cover –The image came from “Geometry and Masonry” – Sacred Geometry.
Geometry
I have always been intrigued by what Masonic literature says about Geometry. In Pirtle, for example, it is said that “Geometry, or the application of arithmetic to sensible quantities, is of all the sciences the most important.”
Mathematics has as much to do with philosophy, economics, military strategy, musical composition, artistic perspective, and so on, as it has to do with atomic physics. Because of its virtuosity, anyone well taught in it can love it with the same warmth that a devotee feels for the ballet, fine silver, antiques, or any other adornment of civilization.
Our civilization would scarcely exist without the physical laws and intellectual techniques developed as a by-product of mathematical research. No one can balance his chequebook without applying arithmetic invented by the ancient Mesopotamians and Hindus. No one can build a wall without drawing on techniques of geometric measurement developed by Egyptian mathematicians.
It was Greek pioneers of geometry who conceived the idea that the earth might have the shape of a sphere. Classical mathematics, when rescued from the oblivion of the Dark Ages, helped ignite the adventurous spirit of the era of Columbus.
Today, atomic research draws heavily on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, which in turn utilized abstruse 19th century speculation about geometry. The two pillars of mathematics in antiquity were arithmetic, the science of numbers, and geometry, the science of shapes and spatial relationships. Over the centuries, arithmetic was
augmented by algebra, which provided a shorthand notation for doing arithmetic when unknown quantities were involved.
Since I first gave the Stair Lecture more than forty years ago, and conferred the Fellowcraft Degree in the same year, it has excited my quest, not only for Masonic knowledge, but has increased my wonderment over the attributes of the Almighty.
The lectures on the science of geometry are to me the most beautiful yet devised. Let us go back to what the Master says to the candidate after his admission to the Middle Chamber: “Geometry, the first and noblest of sciences, is the basis upon which the superstructure of Freemasonry is erected.
“Regarding man as a rational and intelligent being, capable of enjoyment and pleasure to an extent limited only by the acquisition of useful knowledge, our Order points him to the study of the liberal arts and sciences and to the possession of knowledge as the most befitting and proper occupation for the Godlike endowments for which he is gifted.
“Indeed, all who frequent our Masonic Temple are charged to labour faithfully in the wide and unbounded field of human improvement, from which they are assured of reaping a most glorious harvest, a harvest rich in happiness to the whole family of man, and in manifestation to the goodness of God. Your attention is especially directed to the science of Geometry, no royal road, ‘tis true, but to one prepared with an outfit it must prove more attractive than palace walks by regal taste adorned.
“The ancient philosophers placed such a high estimate upon this science that all who frequented the groves of the Sacred Academy were compelled to explore its heavenly paths, and no one whose mind was
unexpanded by its precepts was entrusted with the instruction of the young. Even Plato, justly deemed the first of the philosophers, when asked as to the probable occupation of Deity, replied, ‘He geometrizes continually.’
“If we consider the symmetry and order which govern all the works of creation, we must admit that geometry pervades the universe. If, by the aid of the telescope, we bring the planets within the range of our observations, and by the microscope view particles too minute for the eye, unaided to behold, we find them all pursuing the several objects of their creation in accordance with the fixed plan of the Almighty.”
In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas stated a fundamental truth of aesthetics: “The senses delight in things duly proportioned.” St. Thomas was expressing the direct and very often measurable relationship that exists between beauty and mathematics, a relationship that applies to both natural beauty and man’s art.
It appears that nothing in nature is so small or seemingly insignificant that it does not merit a pleasing symmetry, as is evidenced by the simple morning-glory buds, for example, which you will see formed into two trim spirals. Furthermore, there are numberless other examples – the endlessly embellished hexagons of the snowflakes, the lovely geometric spiral of the chambered nautilus, the perfect cubes found in mineral crystals. As for man, himself a remarkably symmetrical creation, he appears to react instinctively to forms which follow rigid geometrical rules – both in what he see around him and in his own creative acts of art and architecture.
Take a diagram of the head of a daisy, for example. It will reveal, upon close
inspection, the double spiralling. There are two opposite sets of rotating spirals which are formed by the arrangement of the individual florets in the head. They are also near-perfect equiangular spirals. If you were to count them, you would find 21 in the clockwise direction and 34 in the counterclockwise direction.
Amid the fascination with mathematics in the Renaissance, painters became more aware of geometry’s vital role in achieving optical perspective – the quality which gives painting a three-dimensional depth. Until then, painting had been primarily “conceptual,” with the most important subject given most prominent treatment. The word “perspective” derives from the Latin “seen through” – reflecting the concept that a picture with optical focus was really a geometrically governed “window space.”
So, to get back to Pirtle, “By Geometry we may curiously trace Nature through her various windings to her most concealed recesses. By it we may discover how the planets move in their respective orbits and demonstrate their various revolutions; by it we account for the return of the seasons and the variety of scenes which each season displays to the discerning eye; by it we discover the power, the wisdom and the goodness of the Grand Artificer of the Universe, and view with delight the proportions which connect the vast machine.
“Numberless worlds are around us, all framed by the same Divine Artist, which roll through the vast expanse and are all conducted by the same unerring law of nature. Is there not more truth than fiction in the thought of the ancient philosopher that God geometrizes continually?
“By geometry, he rounds the dewdrop, points the pyramidal icicle that hangs from thatch-bound roof; bends into a graceful
curve the foaming cataract; paints His bow of beauty on the canvas of a summer shower; assimilates the sugar to the diamond and in the fissures of earth-bound rocks form gorgeous caverns, thick-set with starry gems. By it, He taught the bee to store honey in prismatic cells; the wild goose to range her flight, and the noble eagle to wheel and dart upon its prey, and the wakesome lark, God’s earliest worshipper, to him its mating song in spiral flight. By it, He forms the tender lens of the delicate eye, curves the ruby lips and fashions the swelling breast that throbs in unison with a gushing heart. By it, He paints the cheek of autumn’s mellow fruit, forms in moulds of graceful symmetry the gentle dove, marks the myriad circles on the peacock’s gaudy train, and decks the plumage of ten thousand warblers of His praise that animate the wooded shade.
“By it, He fashions the golden carp, decks the silvery perch, forms all fish of every fin and tribe that course the majestic ocean, cut the placid lake or swim in gentle brook. Yes, more, even the glassy element in which they dwell, when by gentle zephyrs stirred, sends its chasing waves in graceful curves by God’s own finger traced in parallel – above, beneath, around us, all the works of His hands, animate an inanimate, but prove that God geometrizes continually.
“But if man would witness the highest evidence of geometrical perfection, let him step out of the rude construction of his own hands and view the wide, o’er-spreading canopy of the stars, whether fixed as centres of vast systems or all noiselessly pursuing their geometrical paths in accordance with the never-changing laws of nature.
“Nay, more, the vast fields of illimitable space are all formed of an infinitude of circles traced by the compasses of the Almighty Architect, whose every work is set
by the level, adjusted by the plumb and perfected by the square. Do this, my brother, and you must admit with Plato, that God geometrizes continually, and be assured with Job, the He who stretched the earth upon emptiness and fixed the foundation thereof upon nothing, so it cannot be moved, can bind the sweet influence of Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion.”
What poetry – even if it is written in prose form!
If we declare that God geometrizes continually, we might even consider the cell. Physicians will tell you that even the most primitive cell is an immensely complex and highly integrated piece of biological machinery in which every part plays an indispensable role in the maintenance of life. We talk of the sun, the source of light and life. Cells, however primitive, perceive cosmic forces and respond to them through mechanisms which are not yet understood. To go into this just a little further, there is no life without cells. The microscopic blob of jelly called the cells is a remarkable entity. The most remarkable thing about it is the very fact that it is alive – not with a murky primordial glow, but as fully and vibrantly alive as a tiger in an oak tree.
In a remarkable miniaturization of life’s functions, the cell moves, grows, reacts, protects itself and even reproduces. To sustain this varied existence, it utilizes a tightly organized system of parts that is much like a tiny industrial complex. It has a central control point, power plants, internal communications, construction and manufacturing elements. These basic cell components, common to cells which otherwise vary enormously in size and function.
Let’s take the brain, for example. In the spongy lump which must weigh two pounds
or more, there are massed some nine-tenths of the body’s ten billion nerve cells. The brain is the most compact computer known. Within its convoluted folds is an untidy, microscopic jungle of tangled dendrites and axons which criss-cross one another in a vastly complicated switchboard of interconnected circuits. A single neuron may be in direct communication with as many as 270,000 of its neighbours. Finally, where it exists, life is a product of starlight. All life on earth feeds on radiation coming from a yellow and middle-aged star which we call the sun. The energy of sunlight becomes life through the mediation of plant and animal cells.
The essential operation involved consists of changing energy from one form to another –specifically, transforming radiant energy from the sun into the chemical energy which enable the single cell to thrive and multiply, the tree to flourish, the tiger to stalk its prey, and man to write his history in the stars.
You may be thinking I have wondered far afield, but I have a point in bringing this to your attention. It all relates back to geometry and universal laws, so many of which the most advanced scientists still have not learned.
But let us go back to the Lodge, and perhaps we can arrive at a means of establishing who, how, and what we are.
In speaking of the Letter “G” and all its implications, I always have been duly impressed by the admonition of the Master, in declaring that the Letter “G” is “a perpetual condemnation of profanity, impiety and vice. No brother who has in his heart bowed that emblem can be profane. He will never speak the Name of the Grand Master of the Universe but with reverence, respect and love. He will learn, by studying the mystic meaning of the Letter “G,” to
model his life after the Divine Plan, and, thus instructed, will strive to be like God in the activity and earnestness of his benevolence and the broadness and efficiency of his charity.”
By W. Robert Ellis
Printed in the Masonic Home Journal, June 1968
FIDELITY
"A grain of living FAITH (FIDELITY) though as small as a mustard-seed, is worth a thousand worlds." So wrote John Newton.
Do we, as Freemasons, attach as much importance as the word FIDELITY implies, to our activities within our Lodges and to our daily activities out in the everyday world?
Do we understand the implications of FIDELITY, which, as expressed in the Oxford Dictionary, are those of faithfulness, loyalty to, strict conformity to truth or fact, exact correspondence to the original?
The word FIDELITY comes from the Latin Fidelitatum,~ Fidelis - faithful, from Fidesfaith. Fides (a Roman Goddess) - the deification of good faith and honesty. Many of the oldest Roman deities were embodiments of high ideals. It was the function of FIDES to oversee the moral integrity of the Romans. In the late Roman period, she was called FIDES PUBLICA. (public faith) and was considered the guardian of treaties and other state documents which were placed for safe keeping in her temple. Thus, the Latin FIDES gives meaning of inner attitude, conviction or trust relating man to a supreme God.
We come across the word FIDELITY very early in our Masonic lives. When, after the
Obligation as an Entered Apprentice, the WM instructs the candidate thus: "As a pledge of your FIDELITY and to render this Obligation binding upon you, so long as you shall live, I call upon you to seal it on the V.S.L. once with your lips."
Indeed, that is a serious and important part of the First Degree when we seal our Obligation as a newly initiated Freemason. This word FIDELITY is again used after the Obligation of the Second and Third Degrees as we acknowledge each of these Obligations. That is to say, we ADMIT to the truth to be something i.e., an Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and as a Master Mason.
In the ceremony of the First Degree, the attention of the candidate is again drawn to his vow of FIDELITY, when the words used are – "Your right heel was slip shod" - in allusion to an ancient biblical custom in the ratification of a bargain.
The more we study the question of the candidate's `slipshodness', the more we are likely to believe that this item of the candidate's preparation was not casually introduced, but, on the contrary, possessed very great significance. Un-knotted garments and the unlatched shoe, or missing shoe, carried too much importance in ancient and medieval folklore for any other conclusion to be possible.
It is highly probable that the candidate's slipshod shoe came into masonry chiefly, but not perhaps entirely, from folklore and part of its original purpose was to avert danger from him. Danger of what?
We must assume it to be the danger, or risk, of his violating his Obligation, but we cannot entirely rule out that the risk in mind was that of the candidate failing to be `born again' into a state of true enlightenment. The slipshod condition is usually associated with
two ancient Jewish traditions, the one providing the suggestion that the slipshod condition is a gesture of reverence and the other that it is the confirmation of covenant. With regard to the first of these, the reference is to the well known story of Moses and the burning bush, when Moses received the command 'Draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for whereon thou standeth is holy ground'Exodus: 3 v 2.5.
The poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in her poem 'Aurora Leigh', penned these words"Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees takes off his shoes."
The second of the Jewish traditions is to be found in the Book of Ruth Chapt. IV v 7, which reads as follows:- Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to conform all things, a man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbour, and this was a testimony in Israel. Where we learn that to unloose the shoe and give it to another person, was a gesture of sincerity, of honest intention, a confirmation of a contract that had been made between two parties. The inference to be drawn from this, is that the candidates slipshod condition is in itself a token of fealty or FIDELITY.
At the closing of a Lodge, we again use the word FIDELITY in what I have always considered a very moving and special part of our ceremonies, when the Master addresses the Brethren assembled, with the words "Brethren, nothing now remains but according to ancient custom, to lock up our s..s in the safe and sacred repository of our hearts, uniting in the act – FIDELITY, FIDELITY, FIDELITY - and may God preserve the Craft."
I believe in this part of the ceremony we are again reaffirming our Obligations to the
Craft in general and also our commitment to God; to our neighbours and to ourselves, to maintain the sacred dictates of Truth, of Honour and of Virtue.
We, as members of a Lodge, should give very serious thought to maintaining our own FIDELITY with every aspect of Freemasonry and encourage in our respective Lodges (by our words and actions) all our Brethren, from the newly Initiated, to those Brethren of more senior years as Freemasons, to appreciate the value of FIDELITY to our great organisation as a means of adding strength and beauty to all the good works we are able to accomplish within our Lodges and out in the everyday world.
Albert Pike, in his book Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite', states, "Everything that exists around us, every movement in nature, every counsel of Providence, centres upon one point - the FIDELITY of men."
We need to put our faith in more than God, to our wife and family, to our employer or employees, to our friends, to our Brethren and to the Craft in general. In todays weary world, we need to use this virtue more often to reduce the break up of families and the stresses of daily life. The leading lesson should be FIDELITY to obligation, constancy and perseverance under difficulties and discouragements.
Masonry is engaged in a crusade against ignorance, intolerance, fanaticism, superstition, uncharitable deeds and error. Masonry does not sail a smooth calm sea with a steady breeze, but must meet and overcome many opposing currents, baffling winds and dead calms.
The chief obstacles to the success of Freemasonry are the apathy and faithlessness of her own members and the indifference of the world. We as
Freemasons, must strive to change this apathy and faithlessness within ourselves, so that we can unite in our Lodges to make Freemasonry a stronger and more viable force for good in our communities and throughout this land. We can do this by reassessing our commitment to our FAITH and FIDELITY to the cause of Freemasonry.
There are many symbols of FIDELITY used in Masonic Lodges. The Wands carried by the Deacons are symbols of FIDELITY. The Rod, Mace, Staff or Wand has been traditionally carried as an emblem of high rank or office and was carried by Judges, Heralds and others in authority. The French word for staff or rod is verge, from which is derived the name of a church officer, the Verger, who carried and often still does carry, the Wand of Office preceding a church dignitary. In the Middle Ages, tenants who held their land by the verge, were required, when they came before their lord, to make or renew their tenancy, to approach him holding in their hands a rod as a token of their FIDELITY.
Candles are symbols of FIDELITY. They are symbols with a long and attractive history. Their physical light is the emblem of the spiritual. The burning candle at the medieval altar and shrine carried with it the idea of consecration, of ME MAKING AND KEEPING OF VOWS, of gratitude for mercies which had been vouchsafed. It is easy to see that the lodge custom of burning three candles - particularly three – is originally of religious significance and has come from church and guild, whatever the modern masonic interpretation may or may not be. May they remain as symbols of FIDELITY.
The colour blue also has a symbolism with the word FIDELITY. Universally blue denotes immortality, eternity, chastity, FIDELITY. Pale blue, in particular, represents prudence and goodness.
The rough Ashlar, which is placed at the north-east corner of the lodge-room where the apprentice freemason is given the charge in the north-east and where his feet are placed touching the stone, could be associated with the ancient folk-lore belief, associating the virtue of FIDELITY with certain stones.
At the ceremony of consecrating a new lodge, the consecrating officer and those assisting, to the accompaniment of suitable prayers, scripture readings and addresses, scatters corn (the symbol of plenty), pours wine (the symbol of peace and unanimity) and sprinkles salt (the symbol of FIDELITY and friendship).
You can see from the foregoing that FIDELITY plays a very important part in our masonic life. It is interesting to note some legal implications of FIDELITY.
FIDELITY BONDS are written to cover the obligee, usually an employer, against loss from dishonest acts of employees.
FIDELITY BONDS are usually written on a continuous basis - that is, they are effective until cancelled and have no expiration date. The penalty of the bond, that is, the maximum amount payable for any one loss, is unchanged from year to year. Major types of surety bonds (FIDELITY BONDS) are Contract Construction bonds, which are written to guarantee the performance of contractors on building projects. Bonds are particularly important in this field, because of the general practice of awarding commercial building contracts to the lowest bidder, who may promise more than can actually be performed.
Defender of the faith - Latin Fidei Defensor - a title belonging to the Sovereign of England. The title was first conferred by Pope Leo X on Henry VIII (October 11, 1521). This was deprived when Henry broke
with the papacy. Parliament restored it to the King in 1544 and it is still used. Coinage is still marked FID DEF, or letters FD and has been so from George I's time.
During the Second World War, Winston Spencer Churchill as P.M., called on all British people to have Faith (FIDELITY) in their cause in the fight against the common enemy and his were very stirring calls which inspired the whole nation to stand fast in the faith, that they would indeed win against terrible odds.
By W.Bro. R. N. Hind, PCID, Junior Warden.
An Address Delivered to the Hawke’s Bay Research Lodge No.305 1st May 2000. Sourced from; The Newsletter of the Northern Division – Freemasons New Zealand, Volume 3; No 3. 08 April 2022
What is Masonry?
It's not a sign or handshake, a hall where tilers sit, It's not a guarded building, where passwords will admit, It's not a place of symbols, which Wardens oft display, It's not a lodge of members, who meet in white array.
It is the home of justice, of liberty and truth, Of loyalty to country, of sympathy for youth, Of succour for a brother, of gentleness and cheer, Of tolerance for neighbours, whose life is often drear.
THE HISTORY AND SYMBOLISM OF THE MASONIC LETTER ‘G’
Many people may have seen the letter G from somewhere, maybe seen it from Masonic lodges, or maybe in some masonic jewellery worn by other people, or even on some bumper stickers. Many people hold the view that the letter G is associated with Freemasonry. Throughout the world, we can commonly see the letter G nestled in the centre of the square and compass. Some may wonder what is the charm of the letter G, and how it becomes a Freemasonry symbol, so, let us dive deeper and learn more about the charming Masonic letter G.
The ancient origins
Early versions of the letter G can be found in a number of ancient languages, including Aramaic, Phoenician, Syriac, Greek, and Hebrew. In various languages, examples of the letter include:
Hebrew: Gimel
Phoenician: Gamma
Aramaic: Gammal
Syriac: Gamal/Gomal
Greek: Gamma
Gimel is a notable Hebrew letter that is designated with the number three and occurs as the third letter in the alphabet. The number three has been associated with God or the Master Architect throughout history.
When the letter G was added to the square and compasses is still a mystery. There is now no symbol that is more instantly recognizable and strongly connected to Freemasonry. It also serves as a reminder that God keeps an eye on us and directs us
when we make an effort to live a morally upright life. Many Freemasons will choose to wear a masonic ring as a reminder to themselves.
Theories about the letter G
The significance of the letter “G” in Freemasonry has given rise to a number of ideas, most of which are based on its symbolic and historical background. Freemasons frequently believe that the letter “G” stands for God, the Supreme Designer of the Universe. This supports one of Masonry’s core concepts, the belief in a Supreme Being, and alludes to the heavenly presence guiding their deeds.
Another widely accepted idea is that the letter ‘G’ stands for geometry. Many people consider it to be the fundamental science of both architecture and masonry. Additionally, this letter has connections to various alphabets, including Hebrew. It is known as Gimel or Gheemel, and in Arabic, where it is ranked fifth. These interpretations represent numerous cultural influences within the history of Freemasonry while making significant contributions to Masonic symbolism and rituals.
Interpretation of the Masonic letter ‘G’
In Freemasonry, the meaning of the letter “G” has changed over time. Initially, the letter “G” stood for both God and Geometry, highlighting both the divine elements of Masonic labor and the significance of math and science in design. The meanings of “G,” however, changed as Freemasonry advanced. Some Freemasons connected it to names for God, such as the Hebrew letters YHWH or Jehovah. It supports the idea that decisions were made with divine approval. Others connected their knowledge to historical characters like John the Evangelist to give a more personal touch. Additionally, the positioning of the letter “G” within Masonic symbols like the Square and
Compass altered as different Freemasonry jurisdictions and branches established their rituals. Based on the members’ experiences within their own branches, this diversity further enhanced the understanding of the letter “G.”
This development demonstrates that Freemasonry allows for individual interpretation and advancement in understanding its symbolism.
In addition to the interpretation of the letter “G,” Freemasonry has undergone other changes. It has undergone a decline in membership, greater diversity efforts, modernization of rituals, a stronger emphasis on community service, and increased international cooperation between various jurisdictions. These changes have an effect on Freemasonry. And these changing meaning of the letter “G” has provoked discussions among Freemasons all over the world.
Scholarly research has also looked into potential linkages to other languages that have a connection to architecture or the divine. For instance, Gimel or Gheemel in Hebrew denotes several benefits from God, adding still more level to the intricate symbolism of Freemasonry.
Freemasonry adapts while maintaining its essential principles in the face of these changes. The ‘G’ interpretation’s evolution demonstrates how various varieties can coexist.
How did the letter “G” become a symbol in Freemasonry
One of the oldest fraternal groups in the world is Freemasonry. It brings together men of excellent character who, despite coming from various social, racial, or religious backgrounds, have a conviction in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of humanity. Through the system of degrees,
symbols, and fellowship opportunities, Freemasonry provides an approach or blueprint for the good man to further develop his character and acts.
Throughout history, Freemasonry has given men the opportunity to connect with other like-minded individuals and live their lives to the fullest. Unique among contemporary organizations is this emphasis on the allround growth and well-being of the individual. The Masonic Lodge has served as the starting point for Masonic education for centuries, teaching the principles and skills necessary for enlightenment, selfimprovement, and living a higher purpose.
The development of Freemasonry even let the average person learn to recognize some Masonic symbols in their daily lives. The square and compasses stand out as being unmistakably Masonic, even to individuals who are not members of the order. Although this image can be seen all over the world with minor modifications, it is most prevalent with the letter G tucked neatly into its centre.
Around 1850, the letter G first appeared frequently in the centre of the American Square and Compasses, and by the end of the Civil War, most American Lodges had adopted it as their standard. In Masonic Rituals within the Lodge, the letter “G” has its own unique meaning that is unrelated to the Square and Compasses.
The Symbolism of the Masonic Letter G
Letter G is a famous symbol of Freemasonry, it has a profound meaning like the eye of providence and square and compass to the Freemasons. Depending on the situation, the letter might symbolize a variety of words with distinct meanings.
Geometry
The letter G has many different meanings inside the fraternity. For starters, it stands
for geometry, the mathematical subject that forms the basis of stonemasonry and the cornerstone of Freemasonry. In fact, the lessons of Freemasonry are informed by geometrical ideas and equipment used by medieval stonemasons. Members of the craft apply geometric law to their lives to direct their work and improve themselves through metaphor and allegory. Wearing a masonic letter G pendant to remind yourself of it.
Great Architect of the Universe
Having a declared belief in a deity is one of the fundamental prerequisites for joining the Masons. It is commonly accepted that the letter G in the context of Freemasonry refers to God because this conviction is important to understand and appreciate the principles taught by the brotherhood. We allude to the “Architect of the Universe” in the reverence of the lodge room since our brotherhood accepts men from all religions and social backgrounds. Freemasons are supposed to be reminded by the letter G that all of their lives and deeds are carried out in the presence of God, The Grand Architect. During the Second Degree’s Tracing Board lesson, this allusion to this G’s significance is made very obvious and verified.
Conclusion
Letter G has a sufficient and attractive meaning. Although different people have their own interpretation, the core value is the same - we should do the right things, and become a better man to make the world a better place to live, which is the creed of Freemasonry. No matter whether you are a Freemason or not, the letter G can bring some to you.
The letter G article was written by an American Lady Freemason to whom we give thanks.
DID YOU KNOW?
Question: Why do some rituals give the names of the three ruffians in the M.M. degree and others do not?
Answer: While the main elements of the M.M. degree are broadly similar in most jurisdictions, there are many variations, notably in the manner of presentation. In England, where we have many well known 'workings' which differ from each other only in minor details, the legend is solemnly recited, the ruffians are mentioned but not named, and the Candidate is 'out of action' for only a brief moment.
In the USA, Ireland and some other jurisdictions, the main body of the ceremony is played as a drama. The whole of the legend that we recite is en-acted, and the Brethren who play the parts of the ruffians bear the names which are the subject of this question.
The earliest evidence I have been able to trace on the appearance of those names in the ritual is an English exposure, 'Three Distinct Knocks', first published 1760. It was a very popular publication, frequently reprinted, and it claimed to represent the working of the rival Grand Lodge, the 'Antients', established in England in 1751. In that Text, the story is told in the form of question and answer, with copious notes detailing the parts played by each of the characters, and the three ruffians are named. All the materials are included which would enable that story to be played as a drama, but the text is not laid out in that form and I cannot find any evidence to show that the 'drama' form was ever used in English Lodges.
The 'Antients' Grand Lodge was established mainly by Irish immigrants and their ritual
was probably influenced to some extent by Irish usage. It seems likely that the dramatic presentation, including the named ruffians, was imported into the USA from Ireland, but the actual origin of that method of presentation had not yet been proved.
Question: Who discovered, designed or invented Masonry?
Answer: No one man, any more than any one man discovered, designed or invented democracy, or philosophy, or science, or any one government. Freemasonry is the result of growth. Many Masons had a part in it; it has taken to itself teachings from many religions, philosophies, systems of knowledge and symbols.
The most generally accepted orthodox belief as to those who “began” Freemasonry is that the Craft is a descendent of Operative Masons. These Operatives inherited from unknown beginnings, of which there may have been several and were probably many, practices and some form of ritual. Speculative Masonry, reaching back through Operative Masonry, touches hands with those who followed unknown religions in which, however, many of the Speculative principles must have been taught by the use of symbols as old as mankind and therefore universal, and not the product of any one people or time.
Question: What are “A Master’s Wages”?
Answer: According to the ritual, corn, wine and oil are symbolic of the payment a Freemason earns today by “good work, true work, square work.” “A Masters Wages” may be the same, may be different, for every brother. They are the friendships formed through Freemasonry; the consciousness of unselfish work; taking part in movements and actions for betterment of the condition
of neighbours, inherent in learning and in making it possible for other men to learn that men of widely different beliefs, convictions, circumstances, education, skills and character may live and work, play and love together in peace and happiness. A master’s Wages are intangible, but the more real because any brother may earn as much as he will.
“I worked for menial’s wages
Only to learn, dismayed
A wage I asked of Lodge Lodge would have paid.”
This is a paraphrase indicating that there is no limit to the Master’s Wages any brother may receive, except that which he may put upon himself.
Question: Why do Masons wear apron?
Answer: The use of the apron is extremely old, not, as with the operative Masons, as a protector of clothing and body against tools and stone, but as a badge of honour. It was so used by the priests of Israel, by candidates for the mysteries of Mithras in Persia, by the ancient Japanese in religious worship. Ethiopia knew aprons as did Egypt. In all times and climes, it has been a badge of distinction. It is as such that a Mason wears it. The material of the Masonic apron lambskin is a symbol of innocence, as the lamb has always been.
Colour and material are important in its symbolism but Masonry admits the “symbol of the symbol” as, for instance, an electric light in place of a candle. Hence a Mason has more than once been “properly clothed” when the lambskin aprons of the lodge were all in use and he came through the tiled door clad in a white handkerchief!
The Questions and answers from ‘Did you Know’ were collected from various constitutions across the world, and in no way reflect the views or thoughts of the editor and or his Lodge or Mother Constitution.
KING SOLOMON’S TEMPLE
by Bro. Tom G. Winning
In the First Degree you discovered that King Solomon's Temple was an outstanding feature of its symbolism; in the Third Degree you will find that much of the action takes place within or about it; but it is in the Second Degree, which you are now studying, that it looms largest, therefore it is fitting that at this time you be given some indication of its meaning in Masonry.
The Temple built by King Solomon, afterwards twice rebuilt and twice destroyed, has a larger place in human history than any other building. For three thousand years the building itself, or the memory of the building, has stood at the centre of the Jewish religion and traditions. It has always had an almost equally central place in the Christian religion, both in the Old and the New Testaments. Also, because it makes use of the Old Testament, and because King Solomon is so prominent a figure in its traditions, the Temple has a large place in Mohammedanism. Thus it is a central feature of great historic importance in the three principal religions of the Western World.
But this is not all! Both as a building and as the centre for a cluster of ideas and traditions, Solomon's Temple has a place outside our religions comparable to that held by no other structure; it appears and reappears in countless forms and often underneath many disguises, in folk lore, mythology, literature, music, painting, sculpture, architecture, and theology.
Time does not permit me to review the facts concerning this place of the Temple in world life; I must confine myself to it as the central
feature in our Masonic system of ritual and symbolism. To make all the more impressive how central it is, let me remind you of a few details.
Mount Moriah, the hill on which the Temple was builded, appears in our symbolism. So does the Porch across which the Temple was approached; to be ' on the Porch ' is a phrase used to describe a candidate awaiting initiation. The two Great Pillars, J. . . and B. . ., stand one on each side of the inner door of the Lodge-room. The Altar of the Lodge is a representation of the Altar of the Temple. The Sanctum Sanctorum stands at the centre of the Middle Chamber Lecture of the Second Degree. It is approached by Three, Five and Seven steps, as it was in the Temple. King Solomon, and Hiram Abiff, the builder of the Temple, are the principal characters of the Third Degree. Our Lodge is called a quarry in commemoration of the quarries from which Solomon's craftsmen hewed their stone.
In Masonry however—and this is the point that needs first to be emphasised—both as a building and as a chapter out of history, Solomon's Temple is used as a symbol; or rather, I had better say, a system of symbols. We are not interested in its history or architecture as such; it matters not at all if the Ritual says certain things about it that cannot be verified by the records because our Ritual is intended to teach, not history, but certain moral and spiritual truths.
What, then, are these truths?
Freemasonry was founded centuries ago, as you have already learned, by the Operative Masons. They were builders of structures of stone and wood, trained craftsmen working with their hands in the quarries and on the scaffolds, and the great purpose of their art was to shape and set stone so that the design laid down on the trestle board would stand
embodied, in every part and detail, before the eye.
In the course of time this Operative Craft developed into a Speculative Fraternity. Masons ceased to be builders of wood and stone and became builders of men, architects of human life.
What kind of human life should Masonry build? Life is a stuff that may be shaped in many forms. What form would Masonry have it take? The answer, like all of Masonry's answers, is stated in the terms of symbolism: it shall be human life as pictured symbolically by the Temple that Solomon built on Mount Moriah.
That Temple was built by a king able to command thousands of workmen, rich enough to purchase the finest of materials brought from the ends of the earth, a wise king who knew exactly what he was doing and why. So should a man be a king over himself, in the building of his life, using his five senses and all his faculties as his workmen, selecting out of the quarries of his nature only such materials as a king would use, and wise enough to plan his life aright.
King Solomon called to his assistance the most expert builder he could find, Hiram Abiff, who was also a skilled worker in brass and in the precious metals. So also should a man call into the building of his life only the best influences and the noblest of teachers, such as understand life and know how to shape it to the ends of goodness, beauty and truth.
At the centre of Solomon's Temple was a Holy of Holies, or Sanctum Sanctorum; this was not an architectural device, or a thing done for display, but that about which the Temple was built, its purpose as a structure, the centre according to which all else was designed. Similarly there must be a Holy of
Holies at the heart of a man, in his soul, in his conscience; principles and ideals such that he would prefer death to having them profaned by evil.
Solomon's Temple was dedicated to God. By the dedication of a building is meant the purpose to which it is set aside and devoted —the one reason for its being. So must a man dedicate himself to God, make it his will to do God's will, make it his work to do God's work, lest he miss his calling as a man and become only an animal.
You will see by this that Masonry's conception of human life is a spiritual ideal —not ideal in the sense of something remote, unattainable, too fine for daily existence, but ideal in the sense of plan and purpose. Masonry sees the life of the senses as something fine and noble, never to be despised; it sees in the skilled hand and trained faculties a value without which there could be no civilisation; it sees in the powers of the mind a splendour by which the world is irradiated; it sees in the four-square moral character a power without which all existence would become degraded into something impossible to endure; but over and above these it sees the spiritual life as that under which, and for which, all these other virtues and powers exist and to which they must be dedicated unless they are to become forces of death and evil, like those ruffians you will encounter in the Third Degree, who, because they played false to their dedication, became powers of destruction.
By the soul is meant that in a man by which he regulates and controls all else—his body, his moral actions, his mental work, his feelings, his habits, his conduct—it is the grasp he has on himself as a whole and of life as a whole. At one time Solomon's Temple was a mere mass of unshaped material lying in loose piles along the side of
Mount Moriah; then this material was given shape and meaning by art; at the end it ceased to be merely a building at all and became the sign and embodiment of the spiritual life of a people because of its dedication. By this Masonry teaches us that the raw materials of our own nature, feelings and passions, appetites, instincts, sense, facilities, physical limbs and organs, may be art be so shaped, and by consecration to the highest be so dedicated, that the whole man will be transformed, not unworthy to feel that after using his five senses, and laboriously climbing the Winding Stairs, he is entitled to enter the Holy of Holies.
This is one of a series of papers prepared for use by T.G. Winning in lodges when no ceremonial work is planned. It is taken from the Grand Lodge of Scotland Year Book, 1977.
THE THIRD ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM
Masons around the world observe St. John the Baptist Day, traditionally celebrated on June 24th, and the feast of St. John the Evangelist, on December 27th. Together, these two revered figures in Masonry are said to comprise the “Holy Saints John of Jerusalem” referred to in Masonic ritual and lore. But, there was a third Saint John, the example of whose life also merits emulation by members of our gentle Craft.
He was St. John the Almoner (also known as John the Merciful and John the Almsgiver). He was the son of the governor of the island of Cyprus, and was born on that island in the sixth century A.D. Of noble descent, as a young man he was married and had children, but they died, after which he entered upon a life of Christian service and charity. He was elected Patriarch of Alexandria, and has
been canonized by both the Greek and Roman Catholic churches. His festival is observed on November 11th and January 23rd , respectively.
Some Masonic historians have suggested that St. John the Almoner was originally intended as the patron saint of the original Knights Templar. Leaving his native country and renouncing his royal birthright he went to Jerusalem to help, aid and assist early pilgrims. He founded a hospital and organized a fraternal society dedicated to attending to sick and wounded Christians, and to offering aid and comfort to those who visited the Holy Sepulcher, burial place of Jesus Christ.
According to Mackey’s Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry: “These noble and charitable acts recommended this St. John as worthy to become the patron of a society whose only object is charity, while he exposed his life a thousand times in the cause of virtue. When death, at last, overtook him in the midst of his labours, he left the example of his virtues to the brethren, who made it their duty to endeavour to imitate him. Rome canonized him under the name of St. John the Almoner, or St. John of Jerusalem, and early Masons, whose temples had been destroyed by barbarians and which he had caused to be rebuilt, revered him.”
Some Templar-style orders throughout the world still include references to the account of St. John the Almoner’s great charity to the poor. His extraordinary attribute of charity is reflected in his lifetime of service to the less fortunate, as well as in his establishment of hospitals for the relief of pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land.
Another ‘nugget from the quarry of Freemasonry’. By Douglas M. Messimer, PM Tuckahoe Lodge 347, from his series of articles dated 1/12.
The first time that Bob Monkhouse appeared on television, at the age of 19, he said, "No one watched it, not even the cameramen." But a career over five decades as a comedian, actor and presenter of game shows ensured him a place as one of the alltime favourite icons of British entertainment television, respected as an elder statesman of comedy even by a new generation of university-educated "alternative" comedians.
Born Robert Alan Monkhouse in Beckenham, Kent, in 1928, the son of Wilfred Monkhouse, chief accountant at Phoenix Assurance and chairman of the family custard firm, Monk and Glass, and his wife Dorothy.
Bob Monkhouse remembered his mother hugging him only once, during an air-raid in
1944. His father, after once seeing the chubby and unsporty young Robert naked after a bath, hit him with such force that he needed stitches. Wilfred told his wife that the boy had hurt himself on his bike and Robert, rather than resent this lie, cherished it as "sharing a male secret" with his father.
Wilfred Monkhouse once took a thrilled and surprised Robert for an unprecedented day out. Father and son went shopping for a fishand-chip lunch and then to the cinema. When he got back, Robert heard his mother ask his father if he would take him out again one day. Wilfred replied that he had done as she had asked him, and would do no more. No wonder that, when young Bob's kind and affectionate grandfather John Monkhouse died, the boy was so distressed that he could not speak for three months and developed a stammer.
Bob became interested in comedy at a very early age, he later said it began on Easter Monday in 1934 when he was aged 6, he was taken to see George Formby at the cinema and he began to make up jokes. When he was 12, he sent some sample jokes to a 1930’s local comedian, “My father was ruined by hard drink - he sat on an icicle," He received a reply, “Please do not send me anymore of this nonsense.”
The young Monkhouse turned his attention to drawing cartoons and short stories for children’s comics, such as the Dandy and the Beano. This led to him writing pulp books (‘Harlem Hotspots’) for troops in the second World War, he produced 30 over a period of 18 months, and on his 16th birthday he sold jokes to the famous Max Miller for 5 shillings (25p), who was Britain’s top comedian at the time.
In 1947 Bob was called up for National Service with the RAF. On completing his 2 years, he won a contract with the BBC after
his unwitting RAF Group captain signed a letter that Monkhouse had written telling the BBC he was a war hero and that the corporation should give him an audition.
Monkhouse began his adult career as a scriptwriter for radio comedy in partnership with Denis Goodwin. Aside from performing as a double act, Monkhouse and Goodwin wrote for well known comedians such as Arthur Askey, Jimmy Edwards, Ted Ray and Max Miller. In addition, they were gag writers for American comedians including Bob Hope, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, supplying jokes for their British tours. The partnership broke up in 1962.
In 1956, Bob hosted his first game show, “Do you trust your Wife?” He would go on to host over 30 quiz shows on British television. Then in 1958 he began appearing in comedy films, including the first Carry On film, “Carry On Sergeant.” This led to many more films and jobs as a TV presenter.
Monkhouse was a respected stand-up comedian, known for his talent at ad-libbing. He became much in demand as an afterdinner speaker, but his style of comedy fell out of favour in the 1980’s reinventing himself again the 1990’s when he became one of TV’s most popular entertainers. In fact, a daily newspaper conducted a poll in which Bob Monkhouse was voted the third most popular performer on television. A week later, the same paper held another poll to discover which TV performers readers most hated. Bob Monkhouse headed the list.
In his later years, Monkhouse was probably better known for hosting television quiz shows than for being a comedian. One of his biggest successes was The Golden Shot from July 1967 until January 1972 and again from July 1974 to April 1975. This was broadcast live for 52 weeks a year and drew up to 17 million viewers.
Bob had an encyclopedic knowledge of jokes and one-liners, and kept all the jokes hand written in two battered red ring-binder books in which he had worked over 25 years on future jokes and routines and which he always kept at night in a briefcase at his bedside, in case of fire. These were stolen in 1995 and he offered a reward of £10,000 for their return, he was reunited with them the following year.
Aside from comedy, Monkhouse was also a film buff (he appeared in a dozen films himself) and had a private collection of movies, which on one occasion led him into trouble. In 1978, he was arrested for conspiracy to defraud film companies by illegally importing films for his collection. The police seized his 1,800 films, but Monkhouse was later acquitted of all charges at the Old Bailey. He nevertheless lost the greater part of his collection because he would have had to go to court in order to establish his right to each film individually.
Bob Monkhouse was married twice, firstly to Elizabeth Thompson on 5 November 1949. The couple separated in 1967 and divorced in 1972. Bob’s mother did not approve of Elizabeth and she wore mourning black to the wedding, Bob and his mother didn’t speak for 20 years!
His second marriage, to Jacqueline Harding, lasted until his death. He had three children from his first marriage, but only his adopted daughter, Abigail, survived him.
His eldest son, Gary Alan, who had cerebral palsy, lived at Naish farm house, a residential home for the disabled in Christchurch Road, New Milton, Hampshire. He went to Saint Michael's School in Pinner and died in Braintree, Essex, in 1992, aged 40. Monkhouse was an avid campaigner for the disabled. His other son, Simon, a stand-up poet, from whom he
had been estranged for 13 years, died aged 46 from a heroin overdose in a hotel in northern Thailand in April 2001.
Bob was diagnosed with prostate cancer in September 2001, and he died from this illness at his home on 29 December 2003 aged 75. His widow, Jacqueline, suffered a heart attack and died in Barbados on 28 March 2008
In the summer of 2003 with his health failing fast, Bob performed his last show, in front of an audience of comedians. It was an absolute masterclass in comedy, and showed the genius that he was. The show was broadcast on national TV later that year.
A tireless fundraiser for charity, he raised money for cerebral palsy, he was a member of the Grand Order Water Rats helping them to raise money for charity. After one charity dinner, he handed over his own donation to the charity. Only afterwards did the organiser realise that the cheque exactly matched Bob's fee for the night.
Bob Monkhouse was also a Freemason, he joined Chelsea Lodge No. 3098 in London, better known as the Show business Lodge.
This article by the editor of the SRA76 magazine has been compiled from a Variety of sources freely available on the internet, some of which are;
Wikipedia
UK Gameshows
British Comedy Guide
And many others.
9+16=25
THE Forty-seventh Problem of Euclid is older than Pythagoras. The Sublime Degree of Master Mason, as we know it, is younger than Pythagoras by many hundreds of years. Our rituals are accurate in neither date nor fact; and yet the Forty-seventh Problem is one of the most beautiful symbols of Freemasonry most filled with meaning.
For the benefit of those who may have forgotten their geometry days, the Fortyseventh Problem is here simply stated; in any right angle triangle, the sum of the squares of the two sides is equal to the square of the hypotenuse. This is demonstrably true regardless of the length of either side. But in the Problem as diagrammed in the lodge, and for simplicity's sake, it is usually shown with sides the proportions of which are as three, and four, units, when the hypotenuse, or longest side of the triangle, will be as five units.
If one draws upon paper a line three inches long, and at right angles to it, and joined to one end, a line four inches long, then the line connecting the two ends will be five inches long.
The square of 3 is 9. The square of 4 is 16. The sum of 9 and 16 is 25. The square root of 25 is 5.
We are taught but little about this Problem in our rituals, and, as stated, much of what we are taught is wrong! We are instructed that it was invented by Pythagoras, that he was a Master Mason, that he was so delighted with his invention that he exclaimed "Eureka" (I have found it!), that he sacrificed a hecatomb, and that the Problem "teaches Masons to be general lovers of the arts and sciences."
Why so great and awe-inspiring a symbol should receive so little attention is not our problem. Perhaps it is because the fathers of the ritual thought it beyond the grasp of many and so better left for the individual to follow if he would. Certain it is that he who will think on this problem will find a rich reward.
How came this wonder to be? What is the magic of 3 and 4 and 5? (or 6 and 8 and 10, or 36 and 64 and Too, or any other set of numbers of the same relation). Why is the sum of the squares of the two lesser always equal to the square of the greater? What is the mystery which always works out, that no matter what the length of any two lines, so be it they are at right angles, the line joining their free ends will have a square equal to the sum of the other two squares? If one line be 7.6954 inches long, and the other 19 miles and 573.5732 feet long, the sum of the squares of these numbers will be the square of the length of the line joining their free ends, if, and only if, the two lines are at right, or ninety degree, angles.
With this certainty, man reaches out into space and measures the distance of the stars! With this knowledge, he surveys his land, marks off his boundaries, constructs his railroads and builds his cathedrals. When he digs a tunnel through a mountain, it is the Forty-seventh Problem of Euclid by which he measures, so that two parties digging towards each other meet in the centre of the
mountain, having dug a straight tunnel. With this knowledge man navigates the ocean, and goes serenely and with perfect confidence upon a way he cannot see, to a port he does not know; more, with this problem he locates himself in the middle of the ocean so that he knows just how far he has come and whither he goes!
If we put down the squares of the first four digits, thus: 4, 9, 16, we can see that by subtracting each square from the next one we get 3, 5, 7, which are the steps in Masonry, the steps in the Winding Stair, the brethren which form Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason Lodges, which are, in other words, the sacred numbers.
They have been sacred numbers from the dawn of history. Always they have held meanings for those who attached a significance of spiritual import to mathematics. Always they have been symbols of the interrelation of science, knowledge, exploration, building; and God, religion, worship and morality.
The writer is well aware of his presumption in attempting to read a symbol which so great an authority as Albert Pike said had an unknown meaning (Page 789, "Morals and Dogma"). Yet if no man presumes, from whence can individual progress come? The same great authority declared it the inalienable privilege of any Mason to interpret the symbols of Masonry for himself. Therefore, a reading is here dared!
So far as we know ... and while we cannot prove it by mathematics the strongest of circumstantial evidence leads us to believe it ... the fundamentals of science, which means the fundamentals of mathematics, are true not only in this world, but in all worlds. Our finite minds cannot think of a world or a universe in which two and two make other
than four, or in which the relation of the circumference of a circle to its diameter is other than x 3.141659 plus. It is axiomatic to us that if the sum of the squares of the two sides of a right-angled triangle are equal to the square of the hypotenuse is a truth here, it is a truth everywhere.
This particular mathematical truth is so perfect, so beautiful, so inevitable and so fitting to the art and science of Freemasonry, the founders of our beloved Order must have chosen it from many others as a symbol of the universality of law, and therefore of the Law Maker. To the writer, and to many others, "the Forty-seventh Problem of Euclid not only teaches us to be general lovers of the arts and sciences, but to bow our heads in reverence at the perfection and the beauty, the universality and the infinite extension, of the laws of the Great Law Giver.
The Forty-seventh Problem of Euclid, properly considered, is at once a symbol of the perfection of Deity, the beauty of natural law, and the wonder of science, which no man may fully explain. Perhaps that is what Pike meant when he said it had no meaning we could read. It has no "reason why" that we can find; for, reduce it to geometry though we will, show on paper that it must be so, we still have the ancient and eternal question before us, as hard to answer as the child's query as to why twice two is four, and not three, or five ... why ... why ... why?
The Forty-seventh Problem of Euclid is a symbol of the magnificence, and the unknowability of Deity, while testifying to His universality, the simplicity of His truths, and the wonders of His heavens and His earth.
THE ALLEGORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE LESSER KNOWN WORKING TOOLS
We as Masons deal with a large number of working tools that have transcended the ages from the original operative masons. These craft guilds from whom we have speculatively taken our roots and from whom our foundations have been established employed many instruments we currently refer to in our Ritual and our educational material we present.
Tools such as the level, plumb rule, square, compasses, gavel, chisel, and 24-inch gauge are all relatively familiar to us. There are some however that are not so familiar and still others that have just returned to prominence.
The Lewis is one example of an obscure instrument once used in the construction of walls to assist workers in the placement of large sections with accuracy and precision and to assist in securing those sections of walls in their proper place.
We now employ this tool as a representation of the chain of brotherhood passed down from father to son spanning the generations in Masonry. It represents the tie that binds and the culmination of values that a man can instil in his children and the ultimate respect that the son has for the values his father has taught. It fulfils that wish referred to in the general charge at installation that our children’s children may celebrate the annual recurrence of that auspicious solemnity.
This is the twenty-ninth article in our regular feature, ‘Foreign Countries,’ each month we will publish in the magazine one of these pieces by Carl Claudy.
There is however one particular tool that still exists today and is widely used by
operative masons that has seemingly been overlooked in our Ritual but not in some of our lesser practised ceremonies.
I refer to the trowel which is used by operative masons to spread the mortar which binds stones together to form a solid wall. This trowel is also used to scrape away the unwanted or excess material that could in time break off and weaken the structure, leaving it open to further damage from weather and eventual collapse.
Eighteenth Century Irish Lodges used a trowel as a pointed stabbing weapon used by the Tyler or Inner Guard.
The trowel has been used for different purposes in the rituals of other Masonic jurisdictions. Entered apprentices were presented with a silver trowel in old English ritual as an allegorical lesson about filling the cracks in a lodge so no sound could escape from nor prying eye could see in.
Both of the above illustrations point out the usefulness of the trowel as a tool to protect the privacy and solitude of the lodge from outside influences.
In our jurisdiction, the trowel is employed by Speculative Masonry in the ceremony of laying a foundation or corner-stone of a building. Masonry has over the years been involved in many such ceremonies in conjunction with churches, libraries, museums, schools, hospitals, town halls and other public buildings.
Some older rituals of other Grand Jurisdictions allegorically employ the trowel as a layers tool used to spread the cement that binds the stones together. They morally refer to it as the tool that is used to spread the cement of brotherly love and affection.
A reference is made in our own ritual of “cementing and adorning our order with
every social and moral virtue”. That social virtue of brotherhood and affection ranks highly in the fundamental principles of the order and is the first mentioned of those principles.
We as Masons regard the tiled recesses of our meeting rooms as a retreat of brotherhood and affection and we admonish our newest brethren to keep all feelings and activities out of our lodges that might have a tendency to interrupt this quietude we share.
Human nature however is such that our thoughts and attitudes do not always support the very principles we try to emulate. Our thoughts and feelings are certainly our own and if not verbalized certainly do no outward harm, but we need to try and temper our criticism of others and if verbalization is necessary, we should deliver it with a positive spin so as not to insult or offend and weaken that cement in the process.
We are to admonish with friendship and reprehend with mercy, but the reception of those thoughts or ideas may quite often be taken in the wrong context. Admonishments even if delivered with the best of care may be construed as undue criticism or as I have heard from time to time “those know it alls in the dark blue vestments just will not leave me alone”.
We all hope that our attempts to correct the work of others will be taken in a constructive way and hopefully the majority of our less experienced brethren will accept that as such, but we as the more experienced craftsmen need to temper our admonishments so as not to be regarded as the proverbial know-it-all.
We need to pick and choose carefully those battles we need to win and select the method by which we convey that message wisely and mercifully.
We also need to learn to recognize those areas where a truly valiant effort has been made and commend our brethren for the attempt even though in our minds the work may not have been up to the standards we would set for ourselves.
Remember also brethren the old adage that for every finger we point there are at least three others pointing back at us. We need to ensure that our own house is in order before attempting to set the home of others on the straight and narrow.
Let us then use our trowel wisely to promote and appreciate the efforts of our brethren and to work diligently to spread that binding cement of friendship and brotherly love.
The value of the trowel as a Masonic working tool can certainly be seen in the lessons of virtue and brotherly love that it has the potential to symbolize and those lessons need to be practiced and perfected by all of us.
This is from our Regular feature of articles under the title, “Reflections.” Articles from all around the world from a variety of Constitutions and authors and adapted to use in SRA76. By R.W. Bro. Harold J. Johnson, D.D.G.M. Oct. 12, 2007
THE PENCIL
The origin of all the working tools in Craft Masonry, can be logically traced to three instruments – the stick; the stone; and the reed or leather cord.
The Pencil has changed but little throughout the ages, and its derivation from the stick is undoubted. Before man could write, he could draw and to this day we have preserved for us the work of the hunter artist of the early middle stone age.
The Pencil has always been a means of passing on a thought and has contributed in no small measure to the advancement of civilization. Indeed those parents and Grandparents here tonight, no doubt have or remember drawings stuck on the fridge, which while not in the least bit artistic, are extremely precious to us. Without the pencil little could have been accomplished. Every man, woman or child must at one time or another have handled one, and put it to some practical use. Just think of it, with the pencil the life and actions of all mankind has been recorded in one form or another.
In medieval times the Master Mason usually would be provided with only a description
of the required sizes and layout of a building that he was required to construct. More often than not, the details would be developed progressively with input from the owner over many years of construction. Thus another very important duty of the Master Mason was to prepare layout plans of the building, for the owner’s approval, from which the Master Mason would then prepare detailed designs, and working drawings. The Master Mason would also prepare detailed drawings for the most important components of the structure, even to the extent of detailing the designs of the windows and the symbolic decorations, incorporated in most ecclesiastical buildings. As the pencil and compasses were essential implements used by the Master Mason of an operative lodge, when preparing designs and drawings, it was appropriate to include them with the skirret and line as the working tools of a Master Mason in a speculative lodge.
The Pencil is the second working tool in the, NSW, the Scottish and Emulation rituals. It is the first mentioned in the Irish Ritual. Both ours and the Irish Rituals teach us that the pencil is to remind us that our words and actions are being observed and recorded by the Almighty before whom we must render an account of our conduct through life. The Scottish Ritual mentions that the pencil teaches us that the building up of our lives and characters must be according to the perfect example or plan that has been provided by the Almighty Architect. The pencil, like the quill in olden times and the pen in modern times, is also a symbol of learning and knowledge. Writing is a visible expression of the human intellect. The pencil is also a symbol of the law of God that is laid down for us in the sacred writings.
As the pencil is used by the skilful architect to delineate the intended structure faithfully
and accurately, so it should remind us of our responsibilities as individuals, always bearing in mind that our thoughts, words and actions are all recorded by the Most High, who, will assuredly hold us responsible for our behaviour. The symbolism of the pencil is not restricted to Freemasonry. From ancient times the pen and the tablet have been symbols of the Holy Spirit and writing has represented the divinely inspired scriptures.
In the French Rite “to hold the Pencil,” is to discharge the functions of a Secretary during the Communication of a Lodge.
The Pencil also represents flexibility. Unlike words written in ink, the pencil allows what is written never to remain permanent. Whatever mistakes we’ve made in our past can be erased. If the pencil’s point becomes dull, it can be simply re-sharpened and reused. More than two-thirds of the time the eraser is used up before the pencil. Life is sometimes filled with a greater amount of inaccuracies and disappointments than gratifying progress. But, remember that you will never learn the greatest lessons by the things that go right. The G.A.O.T.U.’s school of preparation includes some strange classes. If all we ever had was sunshine, we would have to live in the desert. He understands that there are seasons of life.
THE PENCIL – 2020 by Bro Ross Partridge Dip. M. Ed., and Copied from “The Educator”
The SYMBOLISM of the GLOVES and APRON
There is in the wearing of Craft Clothing, as in everything else pertaining to Freemasonry, a symbolism. Briefly, white gloves are symbolical of clean hands, and are complementary to the lambskin apron, the symbol of a pure heart. These two are of equal importance and are really inseparable.
White Gloves
The custom of wearing white gloves is of great antiquity. In the Christian Churches from the earliest times, white linen gloves were always worn by Bishops and Priests when in performance of their ecclesiastical functions. The Bishops always wore a thin plate of gold, called "a tassel" on the back of their gloves to denote their high ecclesiastical rank. The gloves worn by the clergy indicated that their hands were clean and not open to bribery.
In an indenture of covenants made in the reign of Henry VI between the churchwardens of a parish in Suffolk and a company of Freemasons, the latter stipulate that each man should be provided with a pair of white gloves and a white apron.
While we have no written proof, as far as I know, that our ancient Operative Brethren did moralise on the white gloves and apron after the manner of the working tools, there is nothing to show that they did not.
Dr. Robert Plot, a non-mason, states in his "Natural History of Staffordshire", 1686, that "the Society of Freemasons presented their candidates with white gloves for themselves and their wives."
In the general regulations of George Payne approved by the Grand Lodge in London in
1721, Article 7 reads: "Every new brother at his making is decently to cloath the Lodge, that is, all the brethren present, . . . . " By 'clothing the Lodge' is meant furnishing all the brethren present with white aprons and gloves.
In Count Tolstoy's well-known novel "War and Peace", it states that "the newlyobligated brother was then invested with a white apron, and received a trowel and three pairs of white gloves, two pairs for himself and one pair for the lady he most esteemed, after which the Master explained their symbolic meaning to him."
In the Netherlands ritual the presentation of white gloves is still retained. The candidate for initiation is taken upon three journeys; after the second journey his hands are dipped in a basin of water, and a reference made to the necessity of "clean hands" and purity of heart and life as an essential prerequisite to Initiation. On the completion of the third journey he takes the Ob., after which he is led to the West, where he is invested with a white apron, and is given a pair of white gloves, which he is directed to hand to her whom he considers most worthy to receive them from the hands of a Freemason.
I do not know when the presentation of white gloves ceased to be the general custom, but the wearing of them as part of the proper clothing of a brother is still retained in many Constitutions,
To-day, a Supreme Court Judge is presented with a pair of white gloves if there is a maiden session. This indicates "clean actions" or freedom from crime in that particular city. This is a very old custom, for anciently, judges were not allowed to wear gloves on the bench; so to give a judge a pair of gloves symbolised that he need not take his seat.
Undoubtedly, the use of white gloves in Freemasonry is a symbolic idea handed down to us through the ancient and universal language of symbolism, and, like the apron, is intended to denote purity of life and action.
The White Lambskin Apron
In the Masonic apron two things are essential for the preservation of its symbolic character, its colour and the material. Its colour must be white, because that colour denotes Purity, Simplicity and Candour, Innocence, Truth and Hope. The Ancient Druids, and the Priests generally of antiquity, used to wear white vestments when they officiated in any sacred service. The white lambskin apron is, to us, a constant reminder of that purity of life and rectitude of conduct, of higher thoughts and nobler deeds, which are the distinguishing character of a Free and Accepted Mason.
The Material
The material must be lambskin, as our ritual informs us the "lamb has been from time immemorial an emblem of purity and innocence." Yes, Brethren, the dead lamb whose skin we now wear was pure and innocent, but its purity was physical, ours must be spiritual. To provide each of us with an apron, a lamb's life had to be sacrificed. We too must sacrifice a life if we would worthily wear this badge. We must kill self, for selfishness is the cause of all sins. Yes, we must give up every selfish propensity which may injure others. We must dedicate and devote our lives to His service, and endeavour to become more extensively serviceable to our fellow creatures. The lamb's sacrifice entailed "death" ours ~ the most supreme ~ demands a "life", a life of self-sacrifice spent in the service of others, and that service to be given freely, without any thought of reward
or recognition. Remember: It is not how we die, but how we live that counts.
The Investiture
The presentation of the apron signifies that the Lodge has accepted us as a worthy brother. It now entrusts to our care its distinguishing badge and with it, and symbolised by it, comes one of the most precious and gracious gifts, the gift of brotherhood, a brotherhood founded upon the Fatherhood of God. Remember, this brotherhood is dependant upon the manhood of the brother.
The apron is Freemasonry's first and last material and tangible gift to its members. It is also the first emblem that is explained to them. No other gift that mere man can bestow can equal it in honour and dignity, now or in the future.
It is also the Badge of Equality, for Freemasonry regards the man, not his rank, or social or financial position. Freemasonry ordains that all its members shall be clothed alike. The lambskin apron is the clothing in which Freemasonry dresses up. We stand before God and man equal with one another and whatever may be our future advancement in the Craft, with the lambskin apron we never part; it follows us into the grave, when all are equal in His sight.
Investiture Charge
During the presentation the brother is informed that this badge "is more ancient than the golden fleece," etc. These words are used simply to impress upon the newlymade brother the value and importance of the lambskin as a universal and age old symbol. It does not claim that the Masonic apron is more ancient that the orders mentioned, but that the symbolic apron generally, is far, far older than the oldest order in existence. We know that centuries
before the birth of speculative masonry, the Hebrew prophets wore aprons, and the High Priests were so decorated. In the mysteries of Egypt and India aprons were worn as symbols of priestly power.
The statement that our apron "is more honourable than the garter." etc., at first appears to be a bold and sweeping one to make. Yet it is true, but only when it is worn in strict compliance with the qualifying conditions mentioned in the funeral service. "When worthily worn it is more honourable," etc. Yes, brethren, what can be more honourable than a life well spent in acts of piety and virtue, a life governed by the three grand principles upon which our order is founded, B~ L~, R and T~? What can be more dishonourable than to clothe ourselves with this bond of friendship whilst entertaining feelings of animosity against a brother? We cannot plead ignorance, for the advice and instruction given in the charge after investiture are clear and distinct. If we ignore that advice we disgrace ourselves and not the badge.
In conclusion, I need scarcely remind you that we, as Free and Accepted Masons, make no claim to having attained to a state of perfection. Nevertheless perfection must be the constant aim of those who are privileged to wear the lambskin apron and the white gloves of the Craft.
By Bro. L. Tustain PM
Presented 24th June, 1948
Published in Selected Papers, Vol.2
United Masters Lodge, No. 167, Auckland, N.Z.
Sourced from ‘The Masonic Trowel’
ON BROTHERLY LOVE
As we are in the month of February and Valentine’s Day is around the corner, I felt an appropriate piece of education would centre on love, brotherly love specifically. As one of the tenets of Masonry, it is something that we should all constantly strive for.....but what exactly does brotherly love look like? How to we express it? Why are there so many ‘fraternal’ orders in the world which attempt to teach a similar lesson?
Like all things in Masonry the true meaning of brotherly love is something that is defined within each of us. Some of us have biological siblings, so we have a certain understanding of what it is to love a brother, but the relationships we have and develop with our masonic brethren are different still. The feeling that we get walking into a lodge surrounded by like-minded people is something that is difficult to describe and it is not something that is immediately evident to the new mason. From my own personal experience, I can attest to the fact that initially, it’s not something that I was accustomed to. Over time, however, I have come to my own understanding of what brotherly love is and how it fits into my life.
My Masonic brethren are people I know I can turn to, people who I know I can trust, and to whom I endeavour to offer the same. But moreover, to me, the greater lesson of brotherly love to is not confined the people within this room or within the craft. Brotherly love, to me, refers to us all as human beings. While there is, undoubtedly a special connections and fraternal bond that I will always share with other Masons, my
brotherly love extends to the human race as a whole. To me, the brotherly love we speak of within our fraternity is two-fold. Firstly, the way I associated with, and the special bond I share with members of the Craft: that unique connection we have as people striving for the same things and trying to better ourselves by and through the lesson of Freemasonry. Secondly, it also refers to the ongoing endeavour to look at humanity as a whole through the eyes of a brother; that is, to treat our fellow man, as we would a brother, to love him, and to care for him as we would a member of our own family, for in the end, our collective humanity is our deepest bond. "The Golden Rule or law of reciprocity is the principle of treating others as one would wish to be treated oneself. It is a maxim of altruism seen in many human religions and human cultures".
To say that thinking of others, especially veritable strangers, as brothers is easy would be a falsehood. We don’t always agree with people. We have disagreements and arguments; but don’t we disagree and argue with our families at home as well? Accepting and instilling brotherly love on others is not always natural, nor is it always easy, but it is always worth striving for, whether in Lodge, or outside the tyled recesses of our Temples.
This Paper dated February 1, 2017 was by Bro. Jason Solomon, Ionic Lodge #526, Ottawa and sourced from their website.
THE MYSTERY IN MASONRY
We are given many puzzles to ponder: Which came first; the chicken or the egg? If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it still make a sound? Why does the sun rise every morning? [Such questions have entered into our consciousness to the point where we can make humorous variations, such as 'If a man speaks in the forest and his wife is not there to hear him, is he still wrong?']
Now, certainly, each of those questions has an answer. For example, take the tree. Any impact causes vibrations in the air. The vibrations are present whether there is anyone to hear, or not. 'Sound' is our word for the effect that those vibrations have on our ear drums. So, no, if no one is there to hear the vibrations, there is no sound.
But knowing the answer means you lose the flavour, the joy, the appeal of the puzzle. If the next sunrise you see only causes you to realize that the earth is still rotating, then you have lost some of the charm of the mystery.
Masonry is like that. Sure, we can tell about our organization, and explain its rules and procedures, but we do the Order a disservice if we allow anyone think that 'that is what it is all about.
“Brethren, Brotherhood is undeniably something we have to work at, but the reward is undeniablywellworththeeffort”.
We must also express the flavour – our personal pleasure in belonging. It is the warmth of the brotherhood; the satisfaction of being part of something wholesome and moral; and the pride of being included in a somewhat special (secretive and mysterious) organization
“If a mason entered the room, would anyone know? I would, if he shook my hand.”
THE BACK PAGE
A Woman and a Fork
There was a young woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. So as she was getting her things "in order" she contacted her pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes.
She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what Scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. Everything was in order and the Pastor was preparing to leave when the young woman suddenly remembered something very important to her.
"There's one more thing" she said excitedly.
"What's that?", came the Pastors reply.
"This is very important" the young woman continued, "I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand",
The Pastor stood looking at the young woman not knowing quite what to say.
"That surprises you doesn't it?" the young woman asked.
"Well to be honest I am puzzled by the request" said the Pastor.
The young woman explained, "my Grandmother once told me this story, and from there on out, I have always done so. I have also always tried to pass along its message to those I love and those who are in need of encouragement".
"In all my years of attending church socials and dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared; someone would inevitably lean over and say 'keep your fork'. It was my favourite part because I knew that something better was coming, like velvety chocolate cake or deep dish apple pie. Something wonderful and with substance! So, I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder 'what's with the fork?'. The best is yet to come".
The Pastors eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the young woman good-bye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death. But he also knew that the young woman had a better grasp of Heaven than he did.
She had a better grasp of what heaven would be like than many people twice her age, with twice as much experience and knowledge. She KNEW that something better was coming.
At the funeral people were walking by the young woman's casket and they saw the pretty dress she was wearing and the fork placed in her right hand. Over and over, the Pastor heard the question "what's with the fork?" and over and over he smiled.
During his message, the Pastor told the people of the conversation he had with the young woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolised to her. The Pastor told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork and told them that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either.
He was right. So the next time you reach down for your fork, let it remind you ever so gently, that the best is yet to come..!
Friends are a very rare jewel indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us.
Show your friends how much you care.
Remember to always be there for them, even when you need them more.
For you never know when it might be their time to "keep their fork"
Cherish the time you have, and the memories you share ... being friends with someone is not an opportunity but a sweet responsibility.