A HIEROGLYPHIC MORAL SYSTEM

You have heard how it is that we emphasise the distribution of Spiritual

Force and how we secure the idea of ascending to higher levels by

progressively opening up from one degree to another and exposing in each

a "Tracing Board." So in this Degree it is the I.P.M. who finally seals the

opening by placing the Sq. and Cs.

The W.M. still represents the "Rising Sun" coming from the "E." In the Indian

ritual he is Brahma, the Creator and Rising Sun. In Egyptian he is Horus -

Originator - Original Father. SPIRIT.

The S.W. - setting Sun. Shiva - the destroyer - or TRANSMUTER for ever -

whose caste mark is a Horizontal Line, the S.W.'s jewel. The J.W. the Sun

at the Meridian - the sunny side, he is Vishnu the Preserver during Life -

and is associated with Water and Corn - whose caste mark is a

Perpendicular Line mentioned in the olden days as representing Falling

Rain - the jewel of the J.W.

The upright Line - rectitude - which pulls to right and left the presses and

represses of Life - it being our duty to keep this line perfectly erect.

The co-operation of these three principal officers must act together in all

degrees if any progress is to take place in our work.

In the earliest of the nature and sun cults they represented the three

agricultural seasons.
The S. and J.D.s are still the messengers, and the I.G. under the control of

the J.W. the connecting link with the outer Guard. The world of the SPIRIT

(the Lodge) with the outside material world.

So we are in the world of the Spirit on a higher plane where the intellectual

faculties are to be paramount - and these seven officers will carry the

Candidate up on to this level working together to that end.

Who Comes Here? A Brother who has taken the first step in Masonry, out

of the darkness towards the Light, from dim instinct into dawning insight,

from the chaos of the senses into the ordered beauty of moral law; spiritual

relations, and righteous purpose; a seeker who has found in the Lodge the

ground plan of a Temple, vast and slowly rising, whereon he would be a

builder, making his life a living stone, shaped and polished by the Master

of all good work; an Apprentice in the knowledge of God and the service

of man, who fain would be a just and upright man.

What Came You Here To Do? To discover myself, and how to rule and use

the strange powers within my nature; to improve myself in the art of

Masonry, by which the Rough Ashlar of youth is wrought into the Perfect

Ashlar of manhood, noble and true; to learn to live with love and care upon

the Level, by the Plumb and Square; to master my passions; and win the

high promise of a character established in strength and wisdom; to find the

meaning of my life and its fulfilment in a Beloved Community, a Brother and

Builder, faithful, fearless and free.

What Do You Most Desire? To walk in the light, to know the truth, to live in
the glory of an illumined world; to ascend the Winding Stair of knowledge

to wider outlooks and the great freedoms of the mind; to be taught the

liberal arts and the seven sciences of man, and how to play Divine Music

on the harp of the senses; to enter the chambers of Imagery where the

symbols of God hallow our mortal life, casting over its neering days and

fleeting hours an august memory and an eternal hope - to find balm for my

sorrow and solace for my seven solitudes.

Enter And Fear No Evil! The Lodge is the House of Light, its centre an Altar,

its roof the sky, reflecting on earth the law and rhythm of the heavens.

Here Nature and Revelation unite, and law and love are joined, giving us

a gleam of white light to guide us in the dim country of the world. Here

gather men seeking the good life, keepers of old and simple symbols, and

a wisdom tried by time and found to be true. Follow, and thou shalt find

what thou art ready and worthy to know, if thou hast humility to learn and

valour to make adventure.

An Apprentice in his search for Light must start from the North with the

Easter sun in the East and travel by way of the South to the West and back

into darkness. He again comes to the North in the East and passes

through the same course again and again in his development. Obstacles

are met by the Candidate in his progress, so similar that they seem

identical. The little occurrences of life may seem unimportant but they

determine whether we will be permitted to advance. The Candidate must

have been well and worthily qualified.

Advancing By Regular Steps On The Square. According to the old books

and pictures the black and white chequered pavement when laid in a

church or cathedral symbolised the eternity of the world, in contrast to

which a man, as he walked across the earth, was very humble and very

transient. The midway is the Fellow Craft period of life, when the soul

passes through the ordeal of its Second Degree. In an old tradition "When

one finds himself among eighty thousand Fellowcrafts, a bearer of burdens

or a hewer in the mountains, it is little wonder if he despairs of his old

hopes and his old ideals."

Nevertheless, it is then if ever that a man becomes a man, worthy in the

eyes of God to be entrusted with responsibilities, for, as the beautiful lesson

of our Fellowcraft Degree has it, there is a Middle Chamber to be entered

after one has climbed the wearisome winding stairs. The wages are not

what one expected in youth, but they are better, if one has been a faithful

worker, courage, endurance, fidelity, patience, these are the rewards in

which, after they are once gained, a man finds more happiness than in

wreaths or garlands, this is what a Fellowcraft should know, the need, the

nature, and the purpose of education, the sum total of the influences that

bridge this gap between helplessness and maturity is education, the

conscious shaping of the processes of growth, the purposive direction of

experience towards the end of a fully developed manhood that is the grand

end and goal of every Mason who must needs be "enflamed with the study

of learning and the admiration of virtue, stirred with the highest hopes."

It is with certain satisfaction and joy that we find these signs or symbols

which point out the right road to travel and mark our moral and spiritual

progress - much the same as the signs along the road marked out on the
pilgrims' progress in olden times.

A hieroglyphic moral system taught in ancient times by emblems and

allegorical figures and having the four great ideas - a belief in one God, a

life after death, a symbolical idea of building a glorious spiritual Temple,

and the task of seeking after something which was lost.

For our work in times borders on eternity. To study the sublime doctrine

taught in the olden times by the virtuous and the great and to learn to walk

in their shining footsteps. Such is he about to do.

He has to pass the test of the questions - a review of his first entry - Where,

How, When, What, and the Perfect p .... s of his entrance.

Of. At and On.

In the olden days he was required to repeat his obligation and to answer

as many as 70 questions.

In an old ritual the Master in opening a Lodge asks of the J.W. "How do

you demonstrate the proof of your being a F. to others?"

Our Brother knows of the L.H. Pillar of "Space and Creation" and has now

passed between the two, learning of the R.H. Pillar of "Time and

Regeneration" on to the "Path of Life."

The construction of these two pillars you know so well from the Tracing
Board and the description of them in the talk on the Ceremony of Initiation,

being the signs of