of the Master Mason Degree
In your experience with the ritual you have learned that every detail in the ceremonies of initiation is full of meaning. In the Third Degree are the deepest secrets and the most profound teachings of our Fraternity.
You passed through the degree in one night. To understand it will require many nights. In the paragraphs that follow we can give you but a few hints, in the hope that they may inspire you to study the Degree for yourself.
The symbolism of the First and Second degrees centers around the art of architecture. Its purpose is to teach you, in the First, to be a builder of yourself; in the Second, a builder of society. In the Third Degree, this symbolism takes another form. Although its background continues to be architecture and its action takes place in and about the Temple, it is a spiritual symbolism of life and death. Principally, it teaches Immortality.
The working tools of the degrees are all the implements of Masonry,
but more especially the trowel by
which we spread the cement of brotherly love. But brotherly love itself
has its source and seat in the soul. To love a man above his sins, to
cherish him in spite of his faults, to forgive him in all sincerity is
possible only as we live in the spiritual life, our souls purged of
selfishness.
The tragedy of Hiram Abif is
the climax of the degree. It is indeed the climax of all the ceremonies
of Freemasonry. Next in importance is the allegorical search for That
Which was Lost. This has an historical
background. To the early Jewish people, the name of God was held in
extreme reverence. This holy name was never pronounced above a whisper.
After a while, only the Priests were permitted to use it. Finally, only
the High Priest and then only when alone in the Holy of Holies on the
Day of Atonement. During some national calamity, perhaps at the time of
the Babylonian captivity, the High Priest perished before he had
opportunity to pass it on to his successor. In this way was the name
lost. All this appears in our ritual in the form of an allegory. A word
was possessed; the Word was lost.
Of the emblems of the Third Degree, one after another is set before
us, apparently in no given order, and each with only a hint of what it
signifies. Yet each stands for some great idea or ideal, necessary
throughout our lives. Each of them is a master of truth. In the Three
Pillars we have the three great ideas of Widsom,
Strength, and Beauty. The Three Steps remind
us that youth, manhood, and age is each a unity in itself, each
possessing its own duties and responsibilities with each calling for its
own philosophy.
The Pot of Incense teaches that to be pure and blameless in our inner
lives is more acceptable to God than anything else. The
Book of Constitutions is the emblem of law and
reminds us that our moral and spiritual character is grounded in law and
order as much as in government or nature. It teaches that no man can
live a satisfactory life who lives lawlessly. The Sword pointed to the
naked heart discovers that one of the most rigorous of these laws is
justice, and that if a man be unjust in his heart, the inevitable
results of injustice will find him out.
The All-Seeing Eye shows
that we live and move and have our being in God. That we are constantly
in His Presence, wherever or whatever we are doing. The Anchor and Ark
stand for that sense of security and stability of life grounded in Truth
and Faith. The 47th Problem of Euclid is an emblem of the arts and
sciences. By them we are reminded that next to sinfulness the most
dangerous enemy of life is ignorance. In the Hour Glass we have the
emblem of the transitoriness of life; no man lives forever in this
world. The Scythe reminds us that passing time will bring an end to our
lives as well as our work and if we are to become what we ought to be,
we must not delay.
