Hence there is in Speculative Masonry always a progress, symbolized by its peculiar ceremonies of initiation.  There is an advancement from a lower to a higher state—­from darkness to light—­from death to life—­from error to truth.  The candidate is always ascending; he is never stationary; he never goes back, but each step he takes brings him to some new mental illumination—­to the knowledge of some more elevated doctrine.  The teaching of the Divine Master is, in respect to this continual progress, the teaching of Masonry—­“No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of heaven.”  And similar to this is the precept of Pythagoras:  “When travelling, turn not back, for if you do the Furies will accompany you.”

Now, this principle of masonic symbolism is apparent in many places in each of the degrees.  In that of the Entered Apprentice we find it developed in the theological ladder, which, resting on earth, leans its top upon heaven, thus inculcating the idea of an ascent from a lower to a higher sphere, as the object of masonic labor.  In the Master’s degree we find it exhibited in its most religious form, in the restoration from death to life—­in the change from the obscurity of the grave to the holy of holies of the Divine Presence.  In all the degrees we find it presented in the ceremony of circumambulation, in which there is a gradual inquisition, and a passage from an inferior to a superior officer.  And lastly, the same symbolic idea is conveyed in the Fellow Craft’s degree in the legend of the Winding Stairs.

In an investigation of the symbolism of the Winding Stairs we shall be directed to the true explanation by a reference to their origin, their number, the objects which they recall, and their termination, but above all by a consideration of the great design which an ascent upon them was intended to accomplish.

The steps of this Winding Staircase commenced, we are informed, at the porch of the temple; that is to say, at its very entrance.  But nothing is more undoubted in the science of masonic symbolism than that the temple was the representative of the world purified by the Shekinah, or the Divine Presence.  The world of the profane is without the temple; the world of the initiated is within its sacred walls.  Hence to enter the temple, to pass within the porch, to be made a Mason, and to be born into the world of masonic light, are all synonymous and convertible terms.  Here, then, the symbolism of the Winding Stairs begins.

The Apprentice, having entered within the porch of the temple, has begun his masonic life.  But the first degree in Masonry, like the lesser Mysteries of the ancient systems of initiation, is only a preparation and purification for something higher.  The Entered Apprentice is the child in Masonry.  The lessons which he receives are simply intended to cleanse the heart and prepare the recipient for that mental illumination which is to be given in the succeeding degrees.