Question--We have been saying a good deal about a Lodge, I want to
know what constitutes a Lodge? Answer--A certain number of Free and
Accepted Masons, duly assembled in a room or place, with the Holy
Bible, Square and Compass, and other Masonic Implements, with a
charter from the Grand Lodge, empowering them to work.
Q. Where did our ancient brethren meet before Lodges were erected? A.
On the highest hills, and in the lowest vales.
Q. Why on the highest hills and in the lowest vales? A. The better to
guard against cowans and enemies either ascending or descending, that
the brethren might have timely notice of their approach, to prevent
being surprised.
Q. What is the form of your Lodge? A. An oblong square.
Q. How long? A. From East to West.
Q. How wide? A. Between North and South.
Q. How high? A. From the surface of the earth to the highest heavens.
Q. How deep? A. From the surface to the centre.
Q. What supports your Lodge? A. Three large columns or pillars.
Q. What are their names? A. Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty.
Q. Why so? A. It is necessary there should be wisdom to contrive,
strength to support, and beauty to adorn, all great and important
undertakings; but more especially this of ours.
Q. Has your Lodge any covering? A. It has; a clouded canopy, or
starry-decked heaven, where all good Masons hope to arrive.
Q. How do you hope to arrive there? A. By the assistance of Jacob's
ladder.
Q. How many principal rounds has it got? A. Three.
Q. What are their names? A. Faith, Hope, and Charity.
Q. What do they teach? A. Faith in God, hope in immortality, and
charity to all mankind.
Q. Has your Lodge any furniture? A. It has; the Holy Bible, Square,
and Compass.
Q. To whom do they belong? A. The Bible to God; the Square to the
Master; and the Compass to the Craft.
Q. How explained? A. The Bible to God, it being the inestimable gift
of God to man for his instruction, to guide him through the rugged
paths of life; the Square to the Master, it being the proper emblem
of his office: the Compass to the Craft; by a due attention to which
we are taught to limit our desires, curb our ambition, subdue our
irregular appetites, and keep our passions and prejudices in due
bounds with all mankind, but more especially with the brethren.
Q. Has your Lodge any ornaments? A. It has; the Mosaic, or checkered
pavement; the indented tressel; that beautiful tesselated border which
surrounds it, with the blazing star in the centre.
Q. What do they represent? A. The Mosaic, or checkered pavement,
represents this world; which, though checkered over with good and
evil, yet brethren may walk together thereon and not stumble; the
indented tressel, with the blazing star in the centre, the manifold
blessings and comforts with which we are surrounded in this life, but
more especially those which we hope to enjoy hereafter; the blazing
star, that prudence which ought to appear conspicuous in the conduct
of every Mason, but more especially commemorative of the star which
appeared in the East to guide the wise men to Bethlehem, to proclaim
the birth and the presence of the Son of God.
Q. Has your Lodge any lights? A. It has; three.
Q. How are they situated? A. East, West, and South.
Q. Has it none in the North? A. It has not.
Q. Why so? A. Because this and every other Lodge is, or ought to be, a
true representation of King Solomon's Temple, which was situated North
of the ecliptic; the Sun and Moon, therefore, darting their rays from
the South, no light was to be expected from the North; we, therefore,
Masonically, term the North a place of darkness.
Q. Has your Lodge any jewels? A. It has; six; three movable and three
immovable.
Q. What are the three movable jewels? A. The Square, Level, and Plumb.
Q. What do they teach? A. The Square, morality; the Level, equality;
and the Plumb, rectitude of life and conduct.
Q. What are the three immovable jewels? A. The rough Ashlar, the
perfect Ashlar, and the Tressel-Board.
Q. What are they? A. The rough Ashlar is a stone in its rough and
natural state; the perfect Ashlar is also a stone, made ready by the
working tools of the Fellow Craft to be adjusted in the building; and
the Tressle-Board is for the master workman to draw his plans and
designs upon.
Q. What do they represent? A. The rough Ashlar represents man in his
rude and imperfect state by nature; the perfect Ashlar also represents
man in that state of perfection to which we all hope to arrive, by
means of a virtuous life and education, our own endeavors, and the
blessing of God. In erecting our temporal building, we pursue the
plans and designs laid down by the master workman on his
Tressle-Board: but in erecting our spiritual building, we pursue the
plans and designs laid down by the Supreme Geometrician of the
Universe, in the Book of Life, which we, Masonically, term our
spiritual Tressle-Board.
Q. Who did you serve? A. My Master.
Q. How long? A. Six days.
Q. What did you serve him with? A. Freedom, Fervency, and Zeal.
Q. What do they represent? A. Chalk, Charcoal, and Earth.
Q. Why so? A. There is nothing freer than chalk, the slightest touch
of which leaves a trace behind; nothing more fervent than heated
charcoal; it will melt the most obdurate metals; nothing more zealous
than the earth to bring forth.
Q. How is your Lodge situated? A. Due East and West.
Q. Why so? A. Because the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West.
Q. A second reason? A. The gospel was first preached in the East and
is spreading to the West.
Q. A third reason? A. The liberal arts and sciences began in the East
and are extending to the West.
Q. A fourth reason? A. Because all the churches and chapels are, or
ought to be, so situated.
Q. Why are all churches and chapels so situated? A. Because King
Solomon's Temple was so situated.
Q. Why was King Solomon's Temple so situated? A. Because Moses, after
conducting the children of Israel through the Red Sea, by divine
command, erected a tabernacle to God, and placed it due East and West,
which was to commemorate, to the latest posterity, that miraculous
East wind that wrought their mighty deliverance; and this was an exact
model of Solomon's Temple; since which time, every well regulated and
governed Lodge is, or ought to be, so situated.
Q. To whom did our ancient brethren dedicate their Lodges? A. To King
Solomon.
Q. Why so? A. Because King Solomon was our most ancient Grand Master.
Q. To whom do modern Masons dedicate their Lodges? A. To St. John the
Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.
Q. Why so? A. Because they were the two most ancient Christian patrons
of Masonry; and, since their time, in every well-regulated and
governed Lodge there has been a certain point within a circle, which
circle is bounded on the East and the West by two perpendicular
parallel lines, representing the anniversary of St. John the Baptist
and St. John the Evangelist, who were two perfect parallels, as well
in Masonry as Christianity, on the vertex of which rests the Book of
the Holy Scriptures, supporting Jacob's Ladder, which is said to reach
the watery clouds, and, in passing round this circle, we naturally
touch on both these perpendicular parallel lines, as well as the Book
of the Holy Scriptures; and while a Mason keeps himself thus
circumscribed, he cannot materially err.