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.]