Question--Have you ever worked as a Fellow Craft Mason? Answer--I
have, in speculative; but our forefathers wrought both in speculative
and operative Masonry.
Q. Where did they work? A. At the building of King Solomon's Temple,
and many other Masonic edifices.
Q. How long did they work? A. Six days.
Q. Did they not work on the Seventh? A. They did not.
Q. Why so? A. Because in six days God created the heavens and the
earth, and rested on the seventh day; the seventh day, therefore, our
ancient brethren consecrated as a day of rest from their labors;
thereby enjoying more frequent opportunities to contemplate the
glorious works of creation, and adore their great Creator.
Q. Did you ever return to the sanctum sanctorum, or holy of holies, of
King Solomon's Temple? A. I did.
Q. By what way? A. Through a long porch, or alley.
Q. Did anything particular strike your attention on your return? A.
There did; viz.: Two large columns, or pillars, one on the left hand,
and the other on the right.
Q. What was the name of the one on the left hand? A. BOAZ, to denote
strength.
Q. What was the name of the one on the right hand? A. JACHIN, denoting
establishment.
Q. What do they collectively allude to? A. A passage in Scripture,
wherein God has declared in his word, "In strength shall this house be
established."
Q. What were their dimensions? A. Eighteen cubits in height, twelve in
circumference, and four in diameter.
Q. Were they adorned with anything? A. They were; with two large
chapiters, one on each.
Q. Were they ornamented with anything? A. They were; with wreaths of
net work, lily work, and pomegranates.
Q. What do they denote? A. Unity, Peace, and Plenty.
Q. Why so? A. Net work, from its connection, denotes union; lily work,
from its whiteness and purity, denotes peace; and pomegranates, from
the exuberance of its seed, denotes plenty.
Q. Were those columns adorned with anything further? A. They were;
viz.: Two large globes, or balls, one on each.
Q. Did they contain anything? A. They did; viz.; All the maps and
charts of the celestial and terrestrial bodies.
Q. Why are they said to be so extensive? A. To denote the universality
of Masonry, and that a Mason's charity ought to be equally extensive.
Q. What was their composition? A. Molten, or cast brass.
Q. Who cast them? A. Our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff.
Q. Where were they cast? A. On the banks of the river Jordan, in the
clay ground between Succoth and Zaradatha, where King Solomon ordered
these and all other holy vessels to be cast.
Q. Were they cast solid or hollow? A. Hollow.
Q. What was their thickness? A. Four inches, or a hand's breadth.
Q. Why were they cast hollow? A. The better to withstand inundations
or conflagrations; were the archives of Masonry, and contained the
constitution, rolls, and records.
Q. What did you next come to? A. A long, winding staircase, with
three, five, seven steps, or more.
Q. What does the three steps allude to? A. The three principal
supports in Masonry, viz., Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty.
Q. What does the five steps allude to? A. The five orders in
architecture, and the five human senses.
Q. What are the five orders in architecture? A. The Tuscan, Doric,
Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite.
Q. What are the five human senses? A. Hearing, Seeing, Feeling,
Smelling, and Tasting; the first three of which have ever been deemed
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.
Q. What does the seven steps allude to? A. 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 these, and many other reasons, the number seven has ever been held
in high estimation among Masons.
Q. What did you next come to? A. The outer door of the middle chamber
of King Solomon's Temple, which I found partly open, but closely tyled
by the Junior Warden.
Q. How did you gain admission? A. By a pass, and token of a pass.
Q. What was the name of the pass? A. SHIBBOLETH.
Q. What does it denote? A. Plenty.
Q. Why so? A. From an ear of corn being placed at the water-ford.
Q. Why was this pass instituted? A. In consequence of a quarrel which
had long existed between Jephthah, Judge of Israel, and the
Ephraimites, the latter of whom had long been a stubborn, rebellious
people, whom Jephthah had endeavored to subdue by lenient measures,
but to no effect. The Ephraimites being highly incensed against
Jephthah, for not being called to fight and share in the rich spoils
of the Ammonitish war, assembled a mighty army, and passed over the
river Jordan to give Jephthah battle; but he, being apprised of their
approach, called together the men of Israel, and gave them battle, and
put them to flight; and to make his victory more complete, he ordered
guards to be placed at the different passes on the banks of the river
Jordan, and commanded, if the Ephraimites passed that way, that they
should pronounce the word SHIBBOLETH; but they, being of a different
tribe, pronounced it SIBBOLETH, which trifling defect proved them
spies, and cost them their lives; and there fell that day, at the
different passes on the banks of the river Jordan, forty and two
thousand. This word was also used by our ancient brethren to
distinguish a friend from a foe, and has since been adopted as a
proper pass-word, to be given before entering any well-regulated and
governed Lodge of Fellow Craft Masons.
Q. What did you next discover? A. The inner door of the middle chamber
of King Solomon's Temple, which I found partly open, but closely tyled
by the Senior Warden.
Q. How did you gain admission? A. By the grip and word.
Q. How did the Senior Warden dispose of you? A. He ordered me to be
conducted to the Worshipful Master in the East, who informed me that I
had been admitted into the middle chamber of King Solomon's Temple for
the sake of the letter G.
Q. Does it denote anything? A. It does; DEITY--before whom we should
all bow with reverence, worship, and adoration. It also denotes
Geometry, the fifth science; it being that on which this degree was
principally founded.
Thus ends the second degree of Masonry.
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