212 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
212 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX August, 1931 No.8
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POINT WITHIN A CIRCLE
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by: Unknown
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“There is in every regular and well governed Lodge, a certain point
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within a circle, embordered by two parallel perpendicular lines. . .
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. “
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Familiar to every Mason, this ancient symbol is too often considered
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merely as one of many, instead of what it really is, among the most
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illuminating of the entered Apprentice’s Degree.
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It is particularly important not only for its antiquity, the many
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meanings which have been and may be read from it by the student, but
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because of the bond it makes between the old Operative Craft and the
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modern Speculative Masonry we know.
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No man may say when, where or how the symbol began.
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From the earliest dawn of history a simple closed figure has been
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man’s symbol for deity - the circle for some peoples, the triangle
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for others, and a circle or a triangle with a central point, for
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still others. The closed figure, of course, represents the
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conception of Him Who has neither beginning or ending; the triangle
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adds to this the reading of a triune nature. It is to be noted that
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the Lesser Lights form a triangle placed in our Lodges in that
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orientation which expresses Wisdom, Strength and Beauty. In some
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Jurisdictions a Lodge closes with the brethren forming a circle about
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the Altar, which thus becomes the point, or focus of the Supreme
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Blessing upon the brethren.
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Nor must we consider that a reading which is wholly beyond the
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monitorial explanation of the point within a circle is beyond Masonic
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conception. A symbol may have many meanings, all of them right, so
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long as they are not self-contradictory. As the point within a
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circle has had so many different meanings to so many different
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people, it is only to be expected that it have meanings for many
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Masons.
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We find it connected with sun worship, the most ancient of religions;
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ruins of ancient temples devoted both to sun and fire worship are
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circular in form, with a central altar, or “point” which was the Holy
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of Holies. The symbol is found in India, in which land of mystery
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and mysticism its antiquity is beyond calculation. Of its presence
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in many of the religions of the East, Wilford says (Asiatic
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Researches):
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“It was believed in India that at the general deluge everything was
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involved in the common destruction except the male and female
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principles or organs of generation, which were destined to produce a
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new race and to repeople the earth when the waters had subsided from
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its surface. The female principle, symbolized by the moon, assumed
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the form of a lunette, or crescent, while the male principle,
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symbolized by the sun, assumed the form of the lingam (or phallus)
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and placed himself erect in the center of the lunette, like the mast
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of a ship. The two principles in this united form floated on the
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surface of the waters during the period of their prevalence on the
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earth, and thus became the progenitors of a new race of men.”
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This is the more curious and interesting when a second ancient
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meaning of the symbol is considered - that the point represents the
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sun and the circle the universe. Indeed, this meaning is both modern
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and ancient, for a dot in a small circle is the astronomical symbol
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for the sun, and the derivation of this astronomical symbol marks its
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Masonic connection. The Indian interpretation makes the point the
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male principle, the circle the female; the point became the sun and
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the circle the solar system which ancient peoples thought was the
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universe because the sun is vivifying, the life-giving principle, for
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all the lives.
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The two parallel lines, which modern Masonry states represents the
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two Holy Sts. John, are as ancient as the rest of the symbol, and
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originally had nothing to do with the “two eminent Christian Patrons
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of Masonry.” It is a pretty conception, but of course utterly
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without foundation. The Holy Sts. John lived and taught many
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hundreds of years before any Masonry existed which can truly be
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called by that name. If this is distasteful to those good brethren
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who like to believe that King Solomon was Grand Master of a Grand
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Lodge, devised the system and perhaps wrote the ritual, one must
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refute them with their own chronology, for both the Holy Sts. John
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lived long “after” the wise King wrought his “famous fabric.”
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The two perpendicular parallel lines are sometimes thought to have
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been added to the symbol of the point within a circle as a sort of
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diagram or typification of a Lodge at its most solemn moment, the
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point being the brother at the Altar, the circle the Holy of Holies,
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and the two lines the brethren waiting to help bring the initiate to
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light.
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But it is obviously a mere play of fancy; the two lines against the
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circle with the point date back to an era before Solomon. On early
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Egyptian monuments may be found the Alpha and Omega, or symbol of
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God, in the center of a circle embordered by two upright serpents,
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representing the Power and the Wisdom of the Creator.
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Mackey reads into the symbol an analogy to the Lodge by observing
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that as the Master and Wardens represent the sun in three positions
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in the Lodge, and as the Lodge is a symbol of the world (or universe)
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the circle can be considered as representing the Lodge, the point the
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sun at meridian, and the two lines, the Wardens or sun at rising and
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at setting.
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This also seems to many students to be a mere coincidental reading.
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That derivation of the symbol which best satisfied the mind as to
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logic and appropriateness, students found in the operative craft.
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Here is more to encourage than in all the researches into ancient
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religions and the symbolism of men long forgotten.
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Fully to understand just how the point within a circle came into
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Speculative Masonry by way of Operative Craftsmanship, it is
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necessary to have some mental picture of the times in which the
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Craftsmen of the early middle ages lived and wrought.
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The vast majority of them had no education, as we understand the
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word. They could neither read nor write - unimportant matters to
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most, first because there were no books to read, second because there
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was nothing which they needed to write! Skilled craftsmen they were,
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through long apprenticeship and careful teaching in the art of
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cutting and setting stone, but except for manual skill and cunning
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artifice founded on generations of experience, they were without
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learning.
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This was not true of the leaders - or, as we would call them - the
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Masters. The great Cathedrals of Europe were not planned and
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overseen by ignorance. There, indeed, knowledge was power, as it is
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now, and the architects, the overseer, the practical builders, those
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who laid out the designs and planned the cutting and the placing of
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the stones - these were learned in all that pertained to their craft.
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Doubtless many of them had a knowledge of practical and perhaps of
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theoretical mathematics.
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Certain parts of this theoretical knowledge became diffused from the
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Master Builders through the several grades of superintendents,
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architects, overseer and foreman in charge of any section of the
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work. With hundreds if not thousands of men working on a great
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structure, some sort of organization must have been as essential then
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as now. And equally essential would be the overseeing of the tools.
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Good work cannot be done with faulty instruments. A square and
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upright building cannot be erected with a faulty square, level or
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plumb!
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The tools used by the cathedral builders must have been very much
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what ours are today; they had gavel, mallet, setting maul and hammer;
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they had chisel and trowel as we have. And of course, they had
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plumb, square, level and twenty-four inch gauge to “measure and lay
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out their work.”
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The square, the level and the plumb were made of wood - wood, cord,
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and weight for the plumb and level; wood alone for the square.
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Wood wears when used against stone. Wood warps when exposed to water
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or damp air. The metal used to fasten the two arms of the square
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together would rust and perhaps bend or break. Naturally, the
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squares would not indefinitely stay square. Squares had constantly
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to be checked for the right-angledness. Some standard had to be
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adopted by which a square could be compared, so that, when Operative
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Masons’ squares were tried by it they would not “materially err.”
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The importance of the perfect right angle in the square by which
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stones were shaped can hardly be over estimated. Operative Masonry
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in the Cathedral building days was largely a matter of cut and try,
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of individual workmen, or careful craftsmanship. Quality production,
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micrometer measurement, interchangeabilty of parts were words which
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had not yet been coined; ideas for which they stand had not even been
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invented. All the more necessary, then, that the foundation on which
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all the work was done should be as perfect as the Masters knew how to
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make it. Cathedral builders erected their temples for all time - how
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well they built, a hundred glorious structures in the Old World
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testify. They built well because they knew how to check and try
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their squares!
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Today any school boy knows the simple “secret of the square” which
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was then the closely guarded wisdom of the Masters alone; toady any
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school boy can explain the steam engine which was a wonder two
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hundred years ago, and make and use a wireless which was a miracle
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scarce ten years gone by. Let us not wonder that our ancient
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Operative brethren thought their secret of a square so valuable; let
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us rather wonder that in time in which the vast majority of men were
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ignorant of mathematics, so many must have known and appreciated this
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simple, this marvelous, geometrical secret.
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Lay out a circle - any size - on a piece of paper.
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With a straight edge draw a line across through its center. Put a
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dot on the circle, anywhere. Connect that dot with the line at both
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points where it crosses the circle. Results - a perfect right
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triangle.
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Draw the circle of whatever size you will; place a dot on the
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circumference where you will, it makes no difference. So be it. So
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be it the lines from the dot meet the horizontal line crossing the
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circle through its center and they will form a right angle.
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This was the Operative Mason’s secret - knowing how “to try his
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square.” It was by this means that he tested the working tools of
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the Fellows of the Craft; he did so often enough, and it was
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impossible either for their tools or their work “to materially err.”
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From this, also, comes the ritual used in the lodges of our English
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brethren, where they “open on the center.” Alas, we have dropped the
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quaint old words they use, and American Lodges know the “center” only
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as the point within a circle. The original line across the center
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has been shifted to the side and became the “two perpendicular
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parallel lines” of Egypt and India and our admonitions are no longer
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what they must have once been; . . . “while a mason circumscribes
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his “square” within these points, it is impossible that “it” should
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materially err.”
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Today we only have our Speculative meaning; we circumscribe our
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desires and our passions within the circle and the lines touching on
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the Holy Scriptures. For Speculative Masons who use squares only in
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the symbolic sense such an admonition is of far greater use than
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would be the secret of the square as was known to our ancient
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brethren.
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But - how much greater becomes the meaning of the symbol when we see
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it as a direct descent from an Operative practice! Our ancient
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brethren used the point within a circle as a test for the rectitude
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of the tools by which they squared their work and built their
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temporal buildings. In the Speculative sense, we used it as a test
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for the rectitude of our intentions and our conduct, by which we
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square our actions with the square of virtue. They erected
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Cathedrals - we build the “House Not Made With Hands.” Their point
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within a circle was Operative - our is Speculative!
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But through the two - point in a circle on the ground by which an
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Operative Master secretly tested the square of his fellows - point
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within a circle as a symbol by which each of us may test, secretly,
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the square of his virtue by which he erects an Inner Temple to the
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Most High - both are Masonic, both are beautiful. The one we know is
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far more lovely that it is a direct descendant of an Operative
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practice the use of which produced the good work, true work, square
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work of the Master Masons of the days that come not back.
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Pass it not lightly. Regard it with the reverence it deserves, for
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surely it is one of the greatest teachings of Masonry, concealed
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within a symbol which is plain for any man to read, so be it he has
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Masonry in his heart.
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