DORMER MASONIC STUDY CIRCLE #6

"THE DEEPER SYMBOLISM OF FREEMASONRY"

"By Symbols is man guided and commanded, made happy, made wretched.
He everywhere finds himself encompassed with symbols recognised as
such or not recognised; the Universe is but one vast symbol of God;
nay, if thou wilt have its, what is man himself but a symbol of
God; is not all that he does symbolical; a revelation to sense of
the mystic God-given force that is in him; a Gospel of Freedom,
which he, the Messiah of nature, preaches, as he can, by word and
act? Not a Hut he builds but is the visible embod iment of a
Thought; but bears visible record of invisible things; but is, in
the transcendental sense, symbolical as well as real."

Thomas Carlyle,  "Sartor Resartus".

In the midst of these days of horror through which the peoples of
the Earth are passing there is arising from out of the stricken
nations an insistent cry for new ideals of life.  The old
conceptions have been weighed in the balance and found lamentably
wanting; hence the eyes of millions are even now looking for
something new (perhaps for signs and wonders) that will give them
some vital ideal, some now conception of life to guide them daring
the dispensation which it is becoming obvious must eventually em
erge from the present world-chaos. A repetition of the old orthodox
conceptions can no longer satisfy, for an ever increasing number
are coming to recognise clearly that the only remedy for the
present ills is to be found in the recovery of the soul of man, in
an uprising of the human spirit to assert the true values of life
and to recapture such control of its material aspects as will make
them subserve spiritual ends. Indeed, beneath all the perturbation
of this present crisis there is the undertone of lo nging for
spiritual deliverance, and thus the cry goes up for "a new heaven
and a new earth", in which righteousness shall dwell.

Now, it is significant that one aspect of the Divine LAw is that
there can be no longing for the ideal born in the human heart that
is not a reflection of a Divine Reality which the soul dimly senses
as truth. Whence it follows that there cannot be a soul-cry or a
sincere demand for righteousness, peace and harmony, that will not
bring its own fulfilment in due season. But, humanity has so much
to learn before it can acquire the Divine point of viev, and does
it so slowly and painfully, that, among the mass , the
transformative progress is almost imperceptible. The necessary
learning, of course, implies much more than the formulation of
intellectual concepts and the enunciation of doctrine concering
Righteousness and the Kingdom of God; it is an education that must
so completely possess one's being and actuate one's conduct that to
know the laws of the Divine Kingdom and to do them are inseparable.
From the Christian revelation the Western world already knows t he
laws, and has been told something of the natur e of the Kingdom of
God, but, that its conduct does not keep pace with its available
information needs no argument. It prefers to rely upon its own
standard - that of its natural reason and judgment; and all the
time a contrary, a higher standard, is being offered for its
acceptance; a Divine Idea, transcending the primary conceptions we
form is ever enticing the human mind away from its own standard
towards a loftier one. There are, then, two standards entirel y
contrary one to the other - that of the kingd oms of this world and
the natural reason which prevails therein, and that of the Kingdom
of God and the mystical consciousness, and the present world-war
may be summed up as a struggle between alternatives. As the record
of human evolution unquestionably demonstrates, each high
conception of the natural mind comes, sooner or later, to be
undercut and surpassed by a loftier one offered by the Divine law.
To illustrate this fact by the use of Masonic imagery, the temple
of the human mind is constantly being destroyed that a better one
may be reared upon its site, and, as we are assured in the V. of
the S.L., the Great Architect declares, "The glory of the latter
house shall be greater than of the former" (Haggai 2, verse 9).
Who, therefore, can doubt that the crucial nature of the present
conflict and crisis is, in its inwardness, a terrific struggle for
the supremacy upon this earth of the Divine law over our primary
instincts and human reason and the unseen powers that d ominate
than. Because this is so, the crisis has provoked - as doubtless it
was intended to provoke - in numberless minds, a perplexity
originating in the very opposition of standards of which we are
speaking. As one's private knowledge, the pages of the press, and
public utterances indicate, how many consciences are being stirred
today to reflect upon the rightness or wrongness of war; upon the
problem of personal duty; upon the right attitude of mind towards
our national enemies; and upon the proper direction of thought and
prayer in regard t o victory and the ultimate outcome? Now this
perplexity could never arise at all had we made the transition we
are called upon to make from the standard of this world to that of
the Kingdom of God.  Until the latter standard is attained, until
it has possession of the personal life as completely as the former
now dominates it, we are all "under the law"; we are in bondage to
powers beyond our control, and we may well reflect upon the
significant words of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Gal atians,
"But as the n he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that
was born after the Spirit, even so it is now" (Chapter 4, verse
29). The mystics alone, of whatever time and country, have known
and followed the higher law, for only those whose consciousness has
grown to mystical stature can truly know and follow it, but,
nevertheless there are many members of our Craft who are genuinely
preparing for initiation, and these must be up and doing, ready to
spread the glad message of cheer and comfort to their Brethren, t
hat is found in a realisation of the Mystic Life.

But in order to convince others we must first prove by experience
and expression in our own lives that living the Mystic Life is a
practical possibility. For the majority still think that mysticism
and practicability are like the opposite ends of a magnet, whereas
in reality they form the central point both blend. We must
therefore demonstrate to the Brethren of our Order in particular,
and to the world in general, that the Mystic Life does bring to the
heart and into the life of every devoted follower a ne w heaven in
which dwelleth righteousness, the righteousness of inspiring
ideals, noble deeds, great sacrifices and love for all Earth's
children, giving the ability to share righteousness with others,
thus creating new earth conditions for those who enter into the
realisation. In past ages mankind-sought retirement from the world
in an effort to create the new heaven within himself, but we are
not a Monastic Order, and the modern Freemason is taught tha t to
be practical he must seek his heaven in the very m idst of the
turmoil of life wherever the Great Law has placed him, and bring it
forth, not only within himself, but also within his environment so
that others may benefit by it; this is the ideal manifestation of
the Masonic life.

Since it is perfectly true that the inner urge of the Mystic Life
keeps us all striving for its expression in one way or another,
this Paper is an effort to explain in terms of the deeper symbolism
of Freemasonry, to those Brethren who are willing and ready to
listen, just for what they are more or less blindly seeking and how
they can attain it; for both the end and the means to its
attainment should be known if we are to work effectively and
efficiently.

It must be freely admitted that a Candidate proposing to enter
Freemasonry today has seldom formed any definite idea of the nature
of what he is engaging in, and that even after his admission he
usually remains quite at a loss to explain satisfactorily what
Freemasonry is and for what purpose the Order exists. He finds, as
we know, that it is "a system of morality, veiled in allegory and
illustrated by symbols", but such explanation, whilst undoubtedly
correct, is only partial and does not effectively enlig hten him.
For this resoon we find that for many members of the Craft, to be a
Freemason implies merely connection with a body which seeks to be
something combining the functions of a social club and a benefit
society.  The majority discover, of course, a certain religious
element in it, but as they are warned that religious discussion,
which means, be it noted, sectarian religious discussion, is
forbidden in the Lodge, they infer that Freemasonry is n ot a
religious institution, and that its teachings are i ntended to be
only secondary and supplemental to any religious tenets they may
happen to hold. One sometimes hears it remarked that Freemasonry is
"not a religion", which in a sense is quite true; and sometimes
that it is a supplementary religion, which is quite untrue. The
actual position is that under the conditions of life imposod by our
present imperfect world, Freemasonry fulfils a function which no
merely formal system of religion can fulfil; it prov ides a
sanctuary of refuge to which men of many reli gions may safely
retire, there to find a common ground of fellowship, protected by
the laws of the Order.  For this reason in some Lodges the
Candidate makes his first entrance to the Lodge room amid the clash
of swords and the sounds of strife, to intimate to him that he is
leaving the confusion and jarring of the religious sects of the
exterior world, and is passing into a Temple wherein the Brethren
dwell together in unity of thought in regard to the basal tr uths
of life, truths which can permit of no di ffernce or schism. To
state things briefly; Freemasonry offers us, in dramatic form and
by means of a dramitic ceremonial, a philosophy of the spiritual
life of man and a chart or diagram of the process of regeneration.
This philosophy is not only consistent with the doctrine of every
religious system taught outside the ranks of the Order, but it is
also explains and elucidates the fundamental doctrines common to
every religious system in the world, whether past or present.
Allied with no external religious system, Freemasonry is yet a
synthesis, a concordat for men of every races, of every creed of
every sect, and its foundation principles being common to them all,
admit of no variation - "As it was in the beginning; so it is now
and ever shall be". Hence every Master of a Lodge is called upon to
give his "unqualified assent" to the Regulation which stipulates
that, "it is not within the power of any man or body of men to make
innovation in the body of Masonry", since the "b ody of Masonry"
(i.e. its substant ial doctrine) already contains a minimum, and
yet a sufficiency, of truth which none may add to nor alter, and
from which none may take away; and as the Order accords perfect
liberty of opinion to all men, the truths it has to offer are
entinely "free to" Candidates according to their capacity to
assimilate them, whilst those to whom they do not appeal, are
equally at liberty to be "free from" them.

The traditional title of the Ceremony of reception or admission
into Freemasonry (i.e. INITIATION), is derived from the Latin
"initium" meaning "entrance into" or "a new beginning," and
participation in the ceremonial rite signifies that the Candidate
is preparing to break away from an old order and method of life and
enter upon a new one of larger self-knowledge, deepened
understanding and intensified virtue. In other words, the First
Degree Ceremony of our Masonic Order is designed for the express
purpose of introduciig men to the first stage of a system of
knowledge and self-discipline which, if faithfully followed up,
will necessarily involve a transition from the ordinary natural
state and standard of living towards what is known as the
regenerate state, with its correspondingly higher standard. Such a
transition, as the Ceremony of the Third Degree so dramatically
illustrates, implies a turning away from the ideals of the outer
world in the conviction that those ideals are fallacies of the
sense s and ar e but substitutional images for the Reality that
underlies them. Here is the evidence for the Mystical Quest in
Freemasonry, for it is in this sense that Master Masons, in
possession of only the "substitited secrets", are are pledged to
the keen and undivertible search for "that which is lost", and by
means of the course of self-discipline which the teaching
inculcates, facilitate the recovery of the "genuine secrets" that
lie buried or hidden at the "centre" or innermost part of the soul.
Th e whole purpose of the Craft instruction is to declare the way
by which that "centre" may be found within ourselves, and this
teaching is embodied in the disciplines and ordeals delineated in
the Third Degrees. Our Masonic doctrine of the Centre or, in
alternative terms, the Christian axiom that "the Kingdom of Heaven
is within" - is admirably set forth in the words of the poet
Browning:-

"Truth is within ourselves, it takes no rise From outward things,
whate'er you may believe, There is an inmost centre in ourselves
Where truth abides in fullness; and to know Rather consists in
finding out a way Whence the imprisoned splendour may escape Than
by effecting entrance for a light Supposed to be without",

If the attainment of actual Initiation, as distinct from ceremonial
advancement and nominal Mastership, is the main object of the
Craft, we Freemasons are obviously required to develop special
qualifications of mind and intention, for in order to be "properly
prepared" Candidates, we must indeed be, as the word "CANDIDUS"
itself means, "WHITE MEN", i.e. white within, even as we have been
symbolically invested without with the Badge of our Order, a white
Lambskin, the ancient emblem of purity and innocence, and also wear
white gloves in token of our fidelity. Let us not forget that in
addition to the traditional form of our preparation, which took
place in "a convenient room adjoining the Lodge," we have each
testified that we were "first prepared to be made a Freemason" in
our own hearts. This is the true explanation of the reason why as
Fellowcraftsmen we greet, the Worshipful Master after his
Installation with the age-old mystic sign of BREAST, HAND, BAD GE,
for this salutation, as we learn in the Second Deg ree, is the
"HAILING SIGN", and with it we acclaim one who is representative of
a "Master" of the Science, while, in the words of an old Masonic
Ode, we pray:-

"May wisdom from on high Bind fast our mystic tie, So moto it be.
May we united stand, And join throughout the land, With Apron,
heart and hand, So moto it be".

Neither should we overlook the fact that the "Hailing Sign" is
otherwise described as the "Sign of PERSEVERANCE", because as such
it has always been associated with the aspirant for "LIGHT", who,
like Joshua, is "fighting the battles of the Lord", and prays
"fervently to the Almighty that He will be pleased to continue the
Light of day, until he has completed the overthrow of his enemies".
Perseverance in the work of the Masonic life is the duty of every
Brother, for on his admission he is required to "seri ously declare
upon his honour", that he will "steadily persevere", and that, "if
admitted, will ever afterwards act and abide by the ancient usages
and established customs of the Order"

Every Masonic Lodge may be accurately described as a place of
re-birth, and for this reason it is known to those who have been
initiated in it as the "Mother" from whom they received their
Masonic life. This fact is intimately related with the ritual
instruction that the admission of every member of the Order is, "an
emblematical representation of the entrance of all men on this
their mortal existence". Birth and re-birth, what is thereby
signified? Let us consider the Masonic teaching and symbolism from
the point of view of the "relative dependence of its several
parts." There are three persistent questions which continually
present themselves to every thinking mind - WHAT AM I?, WHENCE COME
I? WHITHER AM I DIRECTING MY COURSE?, and to these Freemasonry
offers emphatic and enlightening answers. Each of us, we are
instructed, has come from the mystical "East", that eternal souroe
o f all life and light, and our life here on earth is d escribed as
being spent in the "West", that is, in a world which is the very
antipodes of our original home, and under conditions of existence
as far removed from those from which we came to and which we came
to and which we are returning, as is West from East in our ordinary
computation of space.  Hence every Candidate upon his admission is
placed, in a state of darkness, in the West of the Lodge. Thereby
he is repeating symbolically the incident of h is actual birth into
this world as a blind and helpless babe, and through which in his
early years, not knowing whither he was going, after many stumbling
and irregular steps, after many tribulations and adversities
incident to human life, he may at length ascend, chastened by
experience, to larger life in the eternal East. The Instruction
Lectures also embody this teaching in order to amplify the
symbolism of the Initiation Ceremony, and accordingly in the First
Section of the First Lecture the question is asked, "As a Freemas
on whence come you?"; the answer in this case coming from an
Apprentice (i.e. from the natural man of undeveloped knowledge) is,
"From the West", since such a man supposes that his life has
originated in this world, But, on turning to the Master Degree
(First Section, Third Lecture), we find that the question is
otherwise put, "As a Master Mason whence came you?", and the answer
here is emphatic, "From the East", for by this time the Candidate
has progressed and is deemed to have so enlarged his knowledge as
to realise that the primal source of life is not in this world;
that existence on this planet is but a transitory journey, spent in
search of the "genuine secrets", the ultimate realities of life,
and that he must return from this temporary world of "substituted
secrets" to that "East" from which he originally came. And further,
as the admission of every Candidate into -a  Masonic Lodge
presupposes his prior existence in the popular world without the
Lodge, so the Masonic doctrine presupposes that every soul born
into this world has lived in, and has come hither from an anterior
state of life. But, upon entering this world, the soul must needs
assume material form, and therefore it takes upon itself a physical
body to enable it to enter into relations with the physical world.
As we should be well aware, in the Craft system, the physical form
with which we have been invested by the Creator upon our entrance
into this world, and of which we shall divest o urselves when we
leave the Lodg e of this life, is reprepented by the Masonic Apron.
It is by means of this eloquent symbolism that we are intended to
discern that our body of mortality is the real "badge of innocense"
and the common "bond of friendship", with which the Great Architect
has been pleased to invest us all; this, the human body, is the
badge which is "more ancient and more honourable than any other
Order in existence"; and although it is but a body of humiliation
compared with that body of incorruption, which w e learn from th e
V. of the S.L., is the promised inheritance of him "who endures to
the end" (see 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verses 43-58); let us
never forget that if we never do anything to disgrace the badge of
flesh with which God has endowed us, that badge will never disgrace
us. The Masonic Apron is unquestionably one of the most valuable
symbols associated with our Speculative Order, and when it is first
worn as an Apprentice it is of pure white lambs kin; an emblem of
that purity which we always connect with the la mb and the new born
child. In the first Degree it is worn with the flap raised, when it
is a five-cornered badge, indicating the five senses, by means of
which we enter into relations with the physical world around us,
and thus constituting our "five points of fellowship" with the
material world. But, indicating also by the triangular portion
above, in conjunction with the quadrangular portion below, that
man's nature is a combination of soul and body; the thr ee-sided
emblem at the top added to the four-sid ed emblem beneath also
making seven, the perfect number, for as declared in the worlds of
an ancient Hebrew doctrine with which Freemasonxy is closely allied
(the Kabbalah), "God blessed and loved the number seven more than
all things under His throne", by which it is meant that man, the
seven-fold being, is the most cherished of all the Creator's works.
For the same reason a Masonic Lodge has seven ceremonial Officers,
three principal and four subordinate, and a Lodg e to be perfect
requires the presence of seven Brethren, thereby signifying that
the individial man, in virtue of his seven-fold constitution, in
HIMSELF constitutes the "perfect Lodge", if he will but "know
himself" and analyse his own nature. Thus while "five" can "hold a
Lodge", i.e. a man can be a man and live his life as a five-fold
being, yet he must always remember that this is but a stage of
growth, a place of incompleteness, and that he must ultimately
prepare and add two more members (principles or powers) to hi s
"Lodge", ere he can be a true Master.

To each of us also from our birth have been given "three lesser
lights", by means of which the lodge within ourselves may be
illumined. The "Sun" symbolises our spiritual consciousness (the
higher aspirations and emotions of the soul), while the "Moon"
betokens our reasoning and intellectual faculties, which in the
same manner as the moon reflects the light of the sun in physical
nature, should reflect the light coming from the higher spiritual
faculty and transmit it into our daily conduct. The "Master of the
Lodge" is a symbolical phrase denoting the will-power of man, which
should enable him to be master of his own life, and control his
actions, even as the stroke of the Master's gavel controls the
Lodge and calls to order the Brethren under his direction. By the
assistance of these "lesser lights," we are enabled to perceive
what is, symbolically, called the "form of the Lodge," i.e. the way
in which our human nature has been composed and constituted, the
length, breadth, heighth and depth of our being. By them too, we
may perceive how Wisdom, Strength and Beauty have been em ployed by
the Almi ghty Atchitect, like three grand supporting pillars, in
the structure of our organism. Finally, with the aid of the "lesser
lights" we may discover that there is a mystical ladder "of many
rounds or staves" or, alternatively, that there are innumerable
path or methods by means of which men are led upwards to the
spiritual Light encircling us all, and in which we live, move and
have our being.  The three principal ones are Faith, Hope and
Charity, the greatest of these being Charity or Love which co
mprehends them all and brings us nearest to heavon; hence we are
instructed that "the Freemason who is in possossion of this virtue
in its most ample sense may justly be deemed to have attained the
summit of his profession", that summit being God Himself, whose
name is LOVE.  The Masonic Knights of Kadosh symbolise the Masonic
ideals of the relations between God a man by a double ladder having
seven steps of ascent and seven stops of descent; the former are
called "Ohed Eloah", or "Love of God", while the latter are termed
"Oheb Kerobo", or "Love of thy Neighbour", These ladders therefore
symbolibe that to give true brotherly love to your neighbour you
must first ascend in love to God.  A more familiar form of this
symbolism is that known to the Craft as "Jacob's Ladder", which is
depicted on the T.B. of the First Degree.  The emblems displayed on
"Jacobis Ladder" correspond to the stages in the ascent of the soul
from Earth to Heaven (i.e. from the material to the spiritual
world), and refer to the Three Degrees of C raft Freemasonry. On
the lowest rung is the Cross, a variant of the Square, which, as
the sign of Earth is appropriately placed at the foot of the
ladder; it is a symbol of the active Faith that leads the aspirant
to take the first "regular stop".  Midway in the ascent, the "Light
from above" begins to dawn upon the Candidate, and a segment of the
circle, which is a celestial sign, now appears, and he is inspired
by the hope of attaining the goal; the emblem now t akes shape of
an Anchor, which is the symbol of Hope. But when the summit is at
length reached the position of the elements of the emblem is
reversed; the sign now assumes the shape of a Cup, the curve of the
bowl being supported by the Cross as a handle. This is the
loving-cup of Charity, the consummation of all the virtues, the
token of loving kindness and tender mercy, whereby earthly power
becomes likest God. It is tho sacremental Chalice of the Holy
Grail.


During the Ceremony of Initiation, it is after investiture with the
Apron that the Candidate is placed in the N.E., corner of the
Lodge. Thereby, he is intended to learn that at the moment of his
birth into this world the foundation-stone of his spiritual life
was duly and truly laid and implanted within himself; he is how
charged to develop it, and on that foundation "raise a
superstructure, perfect in all its parts". At this stage, also, as
representing the commencement of his active progress, the Candida
te is shown two paths which are open to him.  One of these is the
path of light (leading to the E.), and the other is a path of
darkness (signified by the N.), and the N.E. corner is the
symbolical dividing place between the two. In symbolical language
the N. always represents the place of imperfection and
undevelopment, and for this reason the Masonic tradition allots the
seats of the junior members of the Craft to the columns in the
North. Thus the Initiate placed in the N.E., corner stands
literally at the cross-way or parting of the ways,  for on the one
side of him i s the symbolical path that leads to the perpetual
light in the East, into which he is encouraged to proceed, and on
the other is the path of spiritual obscurity and ignorance, the
North, into which it is possible for him to remain or relapse. The
Candidate, of course, ceremonially elects to "advance towards the
E. by the proper steps," and each stage or degree is a dramatic and
comprehensive portrayal of the special qualifications necessary for
the actual attainment of the grade.

The First Degree is the stage of preparation, self-discipline and
purification, and it therefore corresponds with that symbolical
cleansing accorded in the sacrament of Baptism, for the
administration of which Rite two sponsors are necessary; the
Constitutions of our Order likewise require a Proposer and Seconder
before a Candidate can be approved for Initiation.  After
purification come contemplation and enlightenment, and these are
the special subjects of the Second Degree.  The inward development
which t he Secend Degree symbolises is typified by the lowering of
the triangular flap of the Apron, which indicates that the higher
nature has descended into and is now permeating the lower, and by
the appearance of some elenents of blue, the colour symbolical of
the soul or the spirituality of man. The Ceremony of Passing is the
equivalent to the Rite of Confirmation. It should be noted that the
aspirant who is deemed to have attained proficiency in the work of
self-perfecting to which the F.C., grade all udes, ha s now passed
away from the N. side of the Lodge, the side of darkness and
imperfection, and stands on the S.E., side in the meridian sunlight
of moral illumination, but is yet still far removed from that
fuller realisation of himself and of the mysteries of his own
nature which it is for the spititual adept or Master Mason to
attain. Before that attainnent can be reached there remains for him
"that last and greatest trial by which means alone" he can ent er
into the great consolations and make acquaintance w ith the supreme
realities of existence.  Now, if the details of the Raising
Ceremony are followed closely, it will emerge that although
distinct reference to the death of the body is made, yet such death
is obviously intended to be merely symbolical of another kind of
death, since the Candidate is eventually restored to his former
worldly circumstances and material comforts, and his earthly
Masonic career is not represented as coming to a close at this sta
ge. All that has happened in the Third Degree is tha t the
Candidate has symbolically passed through a great and striking
change, the regeneration of his whole nature, and it is graphically
illustrated to him that it is over the grave, not of the dead body,
but of the lower self, that the aspirant must walk before he can
attain to the heights.  What is meant, is that complete
self-sacrifice and self-crucifixion, as all religions teach, are
essential before the soul can be raised in glory from "a figurative
death to a reunion with the companions of its former toils." It is
therefore decreed that the soul must voluntarily and consciously
pass through a state of utter helplessness from which no earthly
hand can rescue it, and indeed a state from which any attempt to
raise by means of the succouring human hand will definitely "prove
a slip"; until at length Divine Help Itself descends from the
Throne above and, with the "lion's grip" of almighty power, raises
the faithful and regenerated soul to union with itself in an
embrace of reconciliation and at-one-ment.  In all the schools of
the Mysteries, as well as in all the great religions of the world,
the attainment of the spiritual goal enacted in the drama of the
Third Degree is taught under the veil of a tragic episode, and in
each there is a Master whose death the aspirant is instructed he
must imitate in his own person.  The Masonic prototype is, of
course, "our Master Hiram Abiff", but it must be clearly understood
that there is no historical basis whatever for the legendary
account of his death; the entire story is symbolical and was
purposely invented and adepted for the instruction of our
Speculative Order. As evidence of this statement, if the Masonic
legend of the "death of the Master" is closely examined it cannot
fail to be perceived how obvious is the correspondence between this
story and the record of that great pageant of Mastership is
contained in the V. of the S.L.,; in the one case the Master is
represented as being crucified between two thieves, in the other he
is done to death between two villains. In the one case appear the
penitent and impenitent thief; in the other we have the
conspirators who make a voluntary confession of their guilt and are
pardoned,and the others who are found guilty and "sentenced to that
death which the heinousness of their crime so justly merited;"
whilst the moral and spiritual lessons deducible from the s tories
exactly correspond.  Furthe r, as every Christian is taught that in
his own life he must imitate the life and death of his Master, so
every Freemason is instructed that he is "made to represent one of
the brightest characters recorded in the annals of Freemasonry";
but in view of the fact that the annals of Freemasonry are
contained in the V. of the S.L., and not elsewhere, it is not
difficult to discern who the character is to whom the allusion is
made. Freemasons will do well to reflect upon those signifi cant
words of that great aut hority and Initiate of the Mysteries, St.
Paul, who affirms that we can only attain to the Master's
resurrection by "being made conformable unto his death," and that
it is in virtue of that conformity, in virtue of being made
individually to imitate the Grand Master in His death, that we are
made worthy of certain "points of fellowship with Him"; for the
five points of fellowship" of the Third Degree are the "five
wounds" of the Crucifixion.  The three years' Ministry of the
Christia n Master are shown to en d with His death and
resurrection, and these are comparable with the Three Degrees of
the Craft system, which also end in the mystical death of the
Masonic candidate and his subsequent raising or resurrection.  It
is also important to note that in the fifth chapter of the
Revelation of St. John the Divine, the Patron Saint of the Craft,
the Christian Master is symbolically called "the Lion of the tribe
of Juda," for it is with the "lion's grip" that every Candidate in
the T hird Degree is "raised from the to mb of transgression." To
typify the advance by the Candidate at this stage of his
development the Apron now assumes greater elaborateness.  It is
garnished with a light blue border and rosettes, indicating that a
higher than the natural light now permeates his being and radiates
from his person, and that the wilderness of the natural man is now
blooming as the rose, in the flowers and graces incident to his
regenerated nature, whilst upon either side of the Apron are two
columns of light descending from abo ve, and terminating in the
seven-fold tassels which typify the seven-fold prismatic spectrum
of the supernal light.  Scriptural Authority for the symbolism of
the "blue border" will be found on reference to the V. of the S.L.,
Book of Numbers, Chapter 15, verse 38, "and that they put upon the
fringe of the borders a ribband of blue." The candidate is now Lord
of himself, the true Master Mason, able to govern that Lodge which
is within himself; and as he has passed throug h the three degrees
of purifying and self-perfecting, and squared, levelled, and
harmonised his triple nature of body, soul and spirit, he is now in
possession of "those qualifications which are essential in every
candidate for the "Mastert's Chair".  Hence, on attaining the
Mastership of the Lodge, and after receiving "the benefit of
Installation", the Master Mason wears upon his Apron the triple
Tau, which comprises the form of a Level, but which is also the
Hebrew form of the Cross; the three Crosses upon the Apron of the I
nstalled Master a re therefore in correspondence with the three
Crosses upon Calvary.

Briefly to sum up the import of the teaching of the three Craft
Degrees, it is clear, that from grade to grade the Candidate is
being led from an old to an entirely now quality of life.  He
begins his Masonic career as the natural man "in a state of
darkness", and he ends it by becoming, through its discipline, a
regenerated perfected man. In order to attain this transmutation,
this metamorphosis of himself, he is first taught to "learn to rule
and subdue his passions"; then to purify and develop his mental
nature, "to contemplate the intellectual faculties, and to trace
them in their development, through the paths of Heavenly science;"
and finally, by utter surrender of his old life and by losing his
soul to save it, ("endue him with such fortitude that in the hour
of trial he fail not, but, passing safely under Thy protection
through the valley of the shadow of death, he may finally rise from
the tomb of transgression"), he rises from the dead a Master, a
"just, upright and free man" made perfect, with larger
consciousness and enhanced faculties, an efficient instrument for
use by the Great Architect in His plan for rebuilding the Temple of
fallen humanity, and capable of initiating other men to a
participation "in the mysterious secrets" of the same great work.
Fre emasonry is, therefore, by mean of a series of dramatic
representations, intended to furnish those, who care to discover
its purport and take advantage of the hints it throws out in
allegorical form, with an exanple and explicit instructions to
accelerate a return to that mystical "East" whence we came. In this
connection the message of the Third Degree is emphatic and
arresting; it declares that the human soul has fallen from a former
high estate, and has become so deeply involutionised in the
limitati ons of phenom enal existance that it has now lost
awareness of its own grandeur, and is suffering grievous inhibition
and disord of its inherent faculties.  But, the importance of the
Masonic tradition lies in the fact that it proclaims that, "that
which is lost" was, within the Divine Providence, destined to be
found, to be gradually redeemed from the evil consequences
resulting from the "Fall", and ultimately to be restored to even
greator grandeur. The philosophic basis of the Masonic system lea
ds us to recognise clea rly that, in the course of our evolutionary
re-creation through the ages, we have in some measure recovered
from our disorder and loss of faculty, although it is stressed that
we still fall far short of perfection and the possession of our
full powers.  The extent of our recovery is, as the Craft system
indicates, to be measured by the present average standard of racial
consciousness. This is mainly sensuous, for human knowledge is
substantially, dependent upon, and limited by, the e vidence
brought to the m ind by the five senses For this reason Man, in the
present age, and in his present imperfectly developed state, is
symbolised in Freemasonry by the number Five and by the
five-pointed star. The five senses and their co-ordinating
instrument, the natural mind, useful and necessary working tools as
they are for temporal purposes and for use in the search for higher
Truth, are nevertheless not organs of true knowledge at all. They
are, in fact, only temporary substitutions for corresponding tr
anscandental facu lties now lost to us, but which, it is promised,
"time or circumstances" will restore to us.  The time, Brethren,
for their restoration in now; those circumstances are present
today; they exist whenever an individual is sufficiently prepared
to receive the "genuine secrets" of his being in exchange for the
"substituted" ones. We must never forget that the real Initiate is
one in whom the restitution of those "genuine secrets" has taken
place; he is one, who; "by the help of God" and by his own patience
and industry, has outstripped the slow evolutionary progress of the
race, and has, in the familiar words of the Psalmist, become
"anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows." Many today
desire initiation into the mysteries, but it is decreed that no
soul ever passes the Great Initiation in his outer co nsciousness
until he had first found the Mysteries within himsel f; until he
had learned to withdraw his consciousness from reacting to the
outer happenings of life, and learned to live in close and intimate
contact with the Mystic Life in that inner chamber of the soul, the
"Sanctum Sanctorum" where the Master stands with outstretched arms
before the altar of the Most High - from which flow the hidden
streams of all life - crying, "Come unto me and rest in peace."
Here, in the inner shrine must we seek for the power t hat shall
enable us to manifest the Mystic Life for i t is laid down for our
instruction in the V. of the S.L., "When thou prayest, enter into
thy closet and when thou hast shut thy door (i.e. shut out all
vibrations of the outer life) pray to thy Father which is in secret
(the Higher Self); and thy Father which seeth in secret (our inner
motives) shall reward thee openly." That is to say, He will enable
us to manifest our inner ideals openly in our outer life. And this
is the only reward that the true Freemason shou ld expect, and the
greatest boon that can be given to him.

When we are through with the sorrows of war, the cataclysmic
changes of the Earth's surface and the disasters which may be
expected to descend upon humanity as the result of the great
changes due to the incoming cycle (i.e. under the Sign of Aquarius
see Paper, "Freemasonry and the message of Aquaria"), we will begin
to realise that there is another and deeper world of consciousness
whose changes, although marked and definite, are nevertheless of
quite a different character. It is this inner world into whic h our
consciousness has been born that is destined to manifest in the New
Era as it never did before, throwing all the happenings of the
outer world into their proper perspective.  We may therefore
predict with confidence that ere long, as men mark time, there will
sweep over the consciousness of all who are ready, awakened, and
eager to receive it, an outpouring of the graciousness of the love
of God toward man. This may not be noticeable at onc e in the outer
world for there will still be many inharmonious conditions to face,
but nevertheless it will occur, not only in the inner lives of
individuals, but also in the inner mystical lives of the nations.
Hence, those of our Craft who earnestly desire to break through the
hampering bonds of misconception that separate us from our
brotherman, must awaken and pray without ceasing that we may light
within our hearts the Lamp of Truth and Wisdom, and be waiting to
go forth "to impart light and-instruction to the Breth ren",
Furthermore, the Masonic Order with its al l-inclusive, cosmic
philosophy, its devotional exercises and its personal help for each
Brother, is especially prepared to gather in from the highways and
byways all who will listen to the call, feed their hungry hearts
with the Bread of Life, and quench their thirst with the Wators of
Life, of which those who eat and drink shall hunger and thirst no
more.

"Cheerfully we bear life's burdens When we stand by one another,
And our joys are multiplied If we share them with a brother."

SO MOTE IT BE.