The Mysteries of Free Masonry eBook

William Morgan
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 425 pages of information about The Mysteries of Free Masonry.

The Mysteries of Free Masonry eBook

William Morgan
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 425 pages of information about The Mysteries of Free Masonry.
the next thing that we come to is a long, winding staircase, with three, five, seven steps, or more.  The three first allude to the three principal supports in Masonry, viz., wisdom, strength, and beauty; the five steps allude to the five orders in architecture, and the five human senses; the five orders in architecture are the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite; the five human senses are Hearing, Seeing, Feeling, Smelling, and Tasting; the three first of which have ever been 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.  The seven steps allude to 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 this, and many other reasons, the number seven has ever been held in high estimation among Masons.”  Advancing a few steps, the Senior Deacon proceeds, “Brother, the next thing we come to is the outer door of the middle chamber of King Solomon’s Temple, which is partly open, but closely tyled by the Junior Warden” [It is the Junior Warden in the South who represents the Tyler at the outer door of the middle chamber of King Solomon’s Temple], who, on the approach of the Senior Deacon and candidate, inquires, “Who comes here?  Who comes here?” The Senior Deacon answers, “A Fellow Craft Mason.”  Junior Warden to Senior Deacon, “How do you expect to gain admission?” A.  “By a pass, and token of a pass.”  Junior Warden to Senior Deacon, “Will you give them to me?” [The Senior Deacon, or the candidate (prompted by him), gives them; this and many other tokens, or grips, are frequently given by strangers when first introduced to each other.  If given to a Mason, he will immediately return it; they can be given in any company unobserved, even by Masons, when shaking hands.  A pass, and token of A pass; the pass is the word Shibboleth; the token, alias the pass-grip, is given, as before described, by taking each other by the right hand, as if shaking hands, and placing the thumb between the forefinger and second finger, at the third joint, or where they join the hand, and pressing it hard enough to attract attention.  In the Lecture it is called a token, but generally called the pass-grip.  It is an undeniable fact that Masons express themselves so differently, when they mean the same thing, that they frequently wholly misunderstand each other.]

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The Mysteries of Free Masonry from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.