The Mysteries of Free Masonry Part 5

Q. Where did they work? A. At the building of King Solomon's Temple, and many other Masonic edifices.

Q. How long did they work? A. Six days.

Q. Did they not work on the Seventh? A. They did not.

Q. Why so? A. Because in six days G.o.d created the heavens and the earth, and rested on the seventh day; the seventh day, therefore, our ancient brethren consecrated as a day of rest from their labors; thereby enjoying more frequent opportunities to contemplate the glorious works of creation, and adore their great Creator.

Q. Did you ever return to the sanctum sanctorum, or holy of holies, of King Solomon's Temple? A. I did.

Q. By what way? A. Through a long porch, or alley.

Q. Did anything particular strike your attention on your return? A.

There did; viz.: Two large columns, or pillars, one on the left hand, and the other on the right.

Q. What was the name of the one on the left hand? A. BOAZ, to denote strength.

Q. What was the name of the one on the right hand? A. JACHIN, denoting establishment.

Q. What do they collectively allude to? A. A pa.s.sage in Scripture, wherein G.o.d has declared in his word, "In strength shall this house be established."

Q. What were their dimensions? A. Eighteen cubits in height, twelve in circ.u.mference, and four in diameter.

Q. Were they adorned with anything? A. They were; with two large chapiters, one on each.

Q. Were they ornamented with anything? A. They were; with wreaths of net work, lily work, and pomegranates.

Q. What do they denote? A. Unity, Peace, and Plenty.

Q. Why so? A. Net work, from its connection, denotes union; lily work, from its whiteness and purity, denotes peace; and pomegranates, from the exuberance of its seed, denotes plenty.

Q. Were those columns adorned with anything further? A. They were; viz.: Two large globes, or b.a.l.l.s, one on each.

Q. Did they contain anything? A. They did; viz.; All the maps and charts of the celestial and terrestrial bodies.

Q. Why are they said to be so extensive? A. To denote the universality of Masonry, and that a Mason's charity ought to be equally extensive.

Q. What was their composition? A. Molten, or cast bra.s.s.

Q. Who cast them? A. Our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff.

Q. Where were they cast? A. On the banks of the river Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zaradatha, where King Solomon ordered these and all other holy vessels to be cast.

Q. Were they cast solid or hollow? A. Hollow.

Q. What was their thickness? A. Four inches, or a hand's breadth.

Q. Why were they cast hollow? A. The better to withstand inundations or conflagrations; were the archives of Masonry, and contained the const.i.tution, rolls, and records.

Q. What did you next come to? A. A long, winding staircase, with three, five, seven steps, or more.

Q. What does the three steps allude to? A. The three princ.i.p.al supports in Masonry, viz., Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty.

Q. What does the five steps allude to? A. The five orders in architecture, and the five human senses.

Q. What are the five orders in architecture? A. The Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite.

Q. What are the five human senses? A. Hearing, Seeing, Feeling, Smelling, and Tasting; the first three of which have ever been deemed highly essential among Masons: Hearing, to hear the word; Seeing, to see the sign; and Feeling, to feel the grip, whereby one Mason may know another in the dark as well as in the light.

Q. What does the seven steps allude to? A. The seven sabbatical years; seven years of famine; seven years In building the temple; seven golden candlesticks; seven wonders of the world; seven planets; but more especially the seven liberal arts and sciences, which are Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy; for these, and many other reasons, the number seven has ever been held in high estimation among Masons.

Q. What did you next come to? A. The outer door of the middle chamber of King Solomon's Temple, which I found partly open, but closely tyled by the Junior Warden.

Q. How did you gain admission? A. By a pa.s.s, and token of a pa.s.s.

Q. What was the name of the pa.s.s? A. s.h.i.+BBOLETH.

Q. What does it denote? A. Plenty.

Q. Why so? A. From an ear of corn being placed at the water-ford.

Q. Why was this pa.s.s inst.i.tuted? A. In consequence of a quarrel which had long existed between Jephthah, Judge of Israel, and the Ephraimites, the latter of whom had long been a stubborn, rebellious people, whom Jephthah had endeavored to subdue by lenient measures, but to no effect. The Ephraimites being highly incensed against Jephthah, for not being called to fight and share in the rich spoils of the Ammonitish war, a.s.sembled a mighty army, and pa.s.sed over the river Jordan to give Jephthah battle; but he, being apprised of their approach, called together the men of Israel, and gave them battle, and put them to flight; and to make his victory more complete, he ordered guards to be placed at the different pa.s.ses on the banks of the river Jordan, and commanded, if the Ephraimites pa.s.sed that way, that they should p.r.o.nounce the word s.h.i.+BBOLETH; but they, being of a different tribe, p.r.o.nounced it SIBBOLETH, which trifling defect proved them spies, and cost them their lives; and there fell that day, at the different pa.s.ses on the banks of the river Jordan, forty and two thousand. This word was also used by our ancient brethren to distinguish a friend from a foe, and has since been adopted as a proper pa.s.s-word, to be given before entering any well-regulated and governed Lodge of Fellow Craft Masons.

Q. What did you next discover? A. The inner door of the middle chamber of King Solomon's Temple, which I found partly open, but closely tyled by the Senior Warden.

Q. How did you gain admission? A. By the grip and word.

Q. How did the Senior Warden dispose of you? A. He ordered me to be conducted to the Wors.h.i.+pful Master in the East, who informed me that I had been admitted into the middle chamber of King Solomon's Temple for the sake of the letter G.

Q. Does it denote anything? A. It does; DEITY--before whom we should all bow with reverence, wors.h.i.+p, and adoration. It also denotes Geometry, the fifth science; it being that on which this degree was princ.i.p.ally founded.

Thus ends the second degree of Masonry.

THE THIRD, OR MASTER MASON'S DEGREE.

The traditional account of the death, several burials, and resurrection of Hiram Abiff, the widow's son (as hereafter narrated), admitted as facts, this degree is certainly very interesting. The Bible informs us that there was a person of that name employed at the building of King Solomon's Temple; but neither the Bible, the writings of Josephus, nor any other writings, however ancient, of which I have any knowledge, furnish any information respecting his death. It is very singular that a man so celebrated as Hiram Abiff was, and arbiter between Solomon, King of Israel, and Hiram, King of Tyre, universally acknowledged as the third most distinguished man then living, and in many respects, the greatest man in the world, should pa.s.s off the stage of action, in the presence of King Solomon, three thousand, three hundred grand overseers, and one hundred and fifty thousand workmen, with whom he had spent a number of years, and neither King Solomon, his bosom friend, nor any other among his numerous friends, even recorded his death, or anything about him.

A person who has received the two preceding degrees, and wishes to be raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason, is (the Lodge being opened as in the preceding degrees) conducted from the preparation room to the door (the manner of preparing him is particularly explained in the Lecture), where he gives three distinct knocks, when the Senior Warden rises and says, "Wors.h.i.+pful, while we are peaceably at work on the third degree of Masonry, under the influence of humanity, brotherly love, and affection, the door of our Lodge appears to be alarmed." The Master to the Junior Deacon, "Brother Junior, inquire the cause of that alarm." The Junior Deacon then steps to the door and answers the three knocks that have been given by three more (the knocks are much louder than those given on any occasion, other than that of the admission of candidates in the several degrees); one knock is then given without, and answered by one from within, when the door is partly opened, and the Junior Deacon asks, "Who comes there?

Who comes there? Who comes there?" The Senior Deacon answers, "A worthy brother, who has been regularly initiated as an Entered Apprentice Mason, pa.s.sed to the degree of a Fellow Craft, and now wishes for further light in Masonry, by being raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason." Junior Deacon to Senior Deacon, "Is it of his own free will and accord he makes this request?" A. "It is."

Junior Deacon to Senior Deacon, "Is he worthy and well qualified?" A.

"He is." Junior Deacon to Senior Deacon, "Has he made suitable proficiency in the preceding degree?" A. "He has." Junior Deacon to Senior Deacon, "By what further rights does he expect to obtain this benefit?" A. "By the benefit of a pa.s.s-word." Junior Deacon to Senior Deacon, "Has he a pa.s.s-word?" A. "He has not, but I have it for him."

Junior Deacon to Senior Deacon, "Will you give it to me?" The Senior Deacon then whispers in the ear of the Junior Deacon, "TUBAL CAIN."

Junior Deacon says, "The pa.s.s is right; since this is the case, you will wait till the Wors.h.i.+pful Master be made acquainted with his request, and his answer returned." The Junior Deacon then repairs to the Master, and gives three knocks, as at the door; after answering which, the same questions are asked and answers returned, as at the door; when the Master says, "Since he comes endued with all these necessary qualifications, let him enter this Wors.h.i.+pful Lodge in the name of the Lord, and take heed on what he enters." The Junior Deacon returns to the door and says, "Let him enter this Wors.h.i.+pful Lodge in the name of the Lord, and take heed on what he enters." In entering, both points of the Compa.s.s are pressed against his naked right and left b.r.e.a.s.t.s, when the Junior Deacon stops the candidate and says, "Brother, when you first entered this Lodge, you was received on the point of the Compa.s.s pressing your naked left breast, which was then explained to you; when you entered it the second time, you were received on the angle of the Square, which was also explained to you; on entering it now, you are received on the two extreme points of the Compa.s.s pressing your naked right and left b.r.e.a.s.t.s, which are thus explained: As the most vital points of man are contained between the two b.r.e.a.s.t.s, so are the most valuable tenets of Masonry contained between the two extreme points of the Compa.s.s, which are 'Virtue, Morality, and Brotherly Love.'" The Senior Deacon then conducts the candidate three times regularly around the Lodge. [I wish the reader to observe, that on this, as well as every other degree, the Junior Warden is the first of the three princ.i.p.al officers that the candidate pa.s.ses, traveling with the Sun, when he starts around the Lodge, and as he pa.s.ses the Junior Warden, Senior Warden, and Master, the first time going around, they each give one rap; the second time, two raps; and the third time, three raps. The number of raps given on those occasions are the same as the number of the degree, except the first degree, on which three are given, I always thought improperly.] During the time the candidate is traveling around the room, the Master reads the following pa.s.sage of Scripture, the conductor and candidate traveling, and the Master reading, so that the traveling and reading terminates at the same time:

"Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them: while the Sun, or the Moon, or the Stars be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain; in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, and the doors shall be shut in the streets; when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low. Also, when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the gra.s.shopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail, because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets. Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth, as it was; and the spirit return unto G.o.d who gave it."