and of purity and holiness of life, which just at that time and in that place the candidate is most impressively charged to maintain.
THE WORKING TOOLS.
The working tools of an Entered Apprentice are the Twenty-four-inch Guage and the Common Gavel.
The Twenty-four-inch Guage is an instrument used by operative masons to measure and lay cut their work; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of dividing our time. It being divided into twenty-four equal parts, is emblematical of the twenty-four hours of the day, which we are taught to divide into three equal parts; whereby are found eight hours for the service of God and a distressed worthy brother; eight for our usual vocations; and eight for refreshment and sleep. The Common Gavel is an instrument made use of by operative masons to break off the corners of rough stones, the better to fit them for the builder's use; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of divesting our hearts and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of life; thereby fitting our minds as living stones for that spiritual building, that house "not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
This presentation of the working tools of a stone-mason to the candidate must necessarily attract his attention to the fact that there is a connection between the operative art and the speculative science, which connection simply consists in this, that speculative Masonry is the application and sanctification of the working tools and implements, the rules and principles of operative masonry, to the veneration of God and the purification of the heart.
The Operative Masons at Jerusalem, from whom we date our origin, were occupied in the construction of an earthly and material temple, to be dedicated to the service and worship of God—a house in which the mighty Jehovah was to dwell visibly by his Shekinah, and whence he was, by Urim and Thummin, to send forth his oracles for the government and direction of his chosen people.
The Speculative Mason is engaged in the construction of a spiritual temple in his heart, pure and spotless, fit for the dwelling-place of Him who is the author of purity; where God is to be worshiped in spirit and in truth, and whence every evil thought and unruly passion are to be banished, as the sinner and the Gentile were excluded from the sanctuary of the Jewish Temple.
In the symbolic language of Masonry, therefore, the twenty-four-inch guage is a symbol of time well employed; the common gavel, of the purification of the heart.
In the Ancient Mysteries, the first step taken by the candidate was a lustration or purification. The candidate was not permitted to enter the sacred vestibule, or to take any part in the secret formula of initiation, until by water or fire he was emblematically purified from the corruptions of the world which he was about to leave behind. A similar principle exists in Freemasonry where the first symbols presented to the Entered Apprentice are those which inculcate a purification of the heart, of which the purification of the body in the Ancient Mysteries was symbolic.
We no longer make use of the bath or the fountain, because in our philosophical system the symbolism is more abstract; but we present the candidate with the apron, the guage, and the gavel, as symbols, of a spiritual purification. The design is the same, but the mode in which it is accomplished is different.
In former times, before the general use of writing, men were accustomed to avail themselves of any imperishable substance, a memorial of some transaction, the record of which would now be committed to paper or parchment. Hence we find in the primitive Christian Church, that a fish-shaped die was used as a certificate of membership, and was so recognized from town to town and from church to church. Especially was a piece of metal or ivory made use of by the ancients as a token of a pledge of amity. Being broken into two pieces, the host, when he had entertained a stranger who was about to depart, gave the guest one part while he retained the other; and these broken pieces served in all times afterward as a memorial of the pledge of friendship that had been thus inaugurated. It may be that the Masonic custom of asking for the deposit of something of the kind in the Archives of the Lodge as a memorial, may have reference to this custom. The candidate is supposed to be thus giving his pledge of fidelity to the Institution. But the subsequent part of the ceremony would teach him that no material and tangible pledge is really wanted, but that the true pledge of Masonic friendship is deposited in the heart. At a future period, in the next section, an opportunity is taken to exemplify the practical application of the pledge thus made, by an impressive charge on the nature of charity.
SECOND SECTION.
The second section of the first lecture, according to the system prevailing in this country, is occupied with an explanation of the symbolic meaning of the ceremonies that are detailed in the first; without, therefore, a knowledge of the second section, the first becomes barren and insignificant. It must, however, be confessed that many of the interpretations given in this section are unsatisfactory to the cultivated mind, and seem to have been adopted on the principle of the old Egyptians, who made use of symbols to conceal rather than to express their thoughts. Learned Masons have been, therefore, always disposed to go beyond the mere technicalities and stereotyped phrases of the lectures, and to look in the history and the philosophy of the ancient religions, and the organization of the ancient mysteries, for a true explanation of most of the symbols of Masonry, and there they have always been enabled to find this true interpretation. The usual lecture is, however, still preserved as a brief mode of acquiring a general knowledge of the mode of Masonic instruction, and as furnishing sufficient proof of the definition that "Freemasonry is a system of morality vailed in allegory and illustrated by symbols."6
PREPARATION.
There is much analogy between the preparation of tho candidate in Masonry and the preparation for entering the Temple, as practiced among the ancient Israelites. The Talmudical treatise entitled "Beracoth" prescribes the regulation in these words: "No man shall enter into the Lord's house with his staff (an offensive weapon), nor with his outer garment, nor with shoes on his feet, nor with money in his purse."
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Various passages of Scripture are referred to in this section as elucidating the traditions of Masonry on the subject of the Temple.
And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need; and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa; and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.—2 Chron. ii. 16.
And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.—1 Kings vi. 7.
Josephus says: "The whole structure of the Temple was made with great skill, of polished stones, and those laid together so very harmoniously and smoothly, that there appeared to the spectators no sign of any hammer or other instrument of architecture, but as if, without any use of them, the entire materials had naturally united themselves together, so that the agreement of one part with another seemed rather to have been natural, than to have arisen from the force of tools upon them."
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Now
