There are three working tools associated with each Blue Lodge degree, for a total of nine ish. Many of the working tools are associated with an office in Blue Lodge, which you can read more about here. A gauge is just another word for ruler. The 24 inch ones are the kind that you usually now made out of metal, often used for drafting plans in stone masonry. We decided that a lot can fit under the service of God umbrella. Here however, it refers to a type of hammer rather than an instrument to gain order in a court room.
There are lots of different looking gavels out there, but the common gavel has a part of it that comes to a point, used in stone masonry for cutting the edges off of bricks and stones. For the majority of Lodges in the US, this is left out. The stone mason uses the chisel to remove flaws from, and beautify a stone or gem, showing its inner beauty. In operative masonry, it is used to make clean corners and work, and to help make sure that everything is well, square.
This is one of the symbols most widely associated with Freemasonry, and with its simple shape, and simple but powerful lesson, it is easy to see why. The level is the second working tool of the Fellowcraft degree. Operative masons and others use a level to test the horizontals of an object, to make sure that it is smooth, even, or, well, level.
In speculative Masonry, the lessons for the level differ a bit depening on where you are. Hard to pick just one of those lessons. Also, please know that within Freemasonry, the level symbol used appears much different from the level you may use to hang a picture in your living room. Okay, so, I had to look this one up. The third working tool of the Fellowcraft degree is a plumb, often called a plumb line in both forms of masonry.
Apparently operative masonry also calls it a plumb bob. The lesson of the plumb line is for the canidate to be reminded to live a life that is upright, honest and just. An operative mason will use a trowel to spread cement between layers of brick.
In some jurisdictions, this is taught as the only working tool for a Master Mason; in others the three below are used instead. You know it, you love it, the pencil. Obviously used by operative masons for marking down any number of things. They share the knowledge they have learned in their progress through the three degrees, and their lives are thereby improved in physical, moral, and spiritual ways. They are united by brotherly love and friendship.
Great ideas enrich the mind and common experiences inspire the spirit, but it is the warm camaraderie and fellowship that draws men together and opens the door to friendships that last a lifetime.
Thus, it is fitting that the final working tool presented to the Master Mason is the trowel to spread the cement of Brotherly Love and Friendship. Looking to explore the history behind more common Masonic symbols? We invite you to read our educational blogs on Masonic Coins , Operative vs. Speculative Masons , and the Cornerstone. A few Masonic working tools, including a compass, level, and square. Posts you may like:. Irving Berlin.
Thomas Cole. As the workman, with the aid of a chisel gives form and regularity to the shapeless mass of stone, so education by cultivating ideas and polishing rude thoughts transforms the ignorant savage into the civilised being. The Chisel furthermore demonstrates the advantages of discipline. The mind like the diamond in its original state is unpolished, but by grinding away the external coat we are enabled to discover the latent beauty of the stone. Thus education discovers the latent beauties of the mind, and draws them forth to range over the field of matter and space in order to display the summit of human knowledge, our duty to God and man.
After drawing the candidate's attention to the Chisel, we then exhort him to make a daily advancement in Masonic knowledge. He is then ready for the Second Degree.
The tools of the Fellowcraft -- the Square, Level and Plumb Rule are amply explained in a previous chapter, so I will here content myself with several additional remarks.
The Square, of course, is one of the most important tools in Freemasonry for, besides being the first working tool in the Second Degree, it is also the Second Great Light. The true Level is the surface of a fluid at rest, and we shall find the true Freemason when we find a man who has passions and desires like our own, but who is master of his own soul, who can endure the worst calamities of misfortune and not become bitter, and who can meet the greatest good fortune and still keep his feet on the ground; as Rudyard Kipling said: "and treat those two impostors just the same".
Men differ in nature, heredity and opportunity, but above all, in the ability to make full use of their talents or to overcome their disabilities. We can all, however, do our best with what means we have; the greater a man's wealth, or the greater his intelligence and ability, then the greater his responsibility.
We must work with the full length of our cable tow. So Masonry teaches us equality of regard. On the floor of the Lodge all men are equal and brothers - equal in our regard, and brothers in the great brotherhood of man.
The Plumb Rule is the emblem of integrity, and with the man of integrity we can entertain no doubt. We know how he will act, and what he will do, because he stoops to nothing mean or petty, a debt of a few cents is just as sure to be paid as one of a thousand dollars; where his attendance is expected there he will be. The man of integrity is ruled by duty and loyalty, and will never take an unfair advantage.
The Plumb Rule consists of a weight hanging freely at the end of a line; the principle that actuates it is the influence of gravity. No matter where it is placed, it always points to the centre of the earth. So it is in the spiritual world, but here it points unerringly to God. A man of integrity does not envy the wealth, the power, or the intelligence and good fortune of another, nor does he despise those less fortunate than himself.
He harbours no avarice, injustice, malice, revenge, nor an envy and contempt of mankind, but holds the scales of justice with equal poise. In the Third Degree, the Skirret is an implement which acts on a centre pin, whence a line is drawn to mark out the ground for the foundation of the intended structure. Symbolically, the Skirret points out that straight and undeviating line of conduct laid down for our pursuit in the Volume of the Sacred Law; and so to "square", "level" and "upright" we must add "straight".
We can easily be tempted to take an easier path and so forsake the straight, perhaps at first just a little, but that "little" can become a habit. To keep on the straight requires restraint, which is rarely easy. A criminal usually begins with a small theft or perhaps just a lie, just something small, but it is that "little" that leads a long way round. A lie often requires another, till we find that we have strayed a long way from the truth.
As Shakespeare said: "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive. The straight path may lead uphill, or it may lead down the valley; it may cross the grass in the meadow, or it may follow that stony path on the side of the hill, where the sharp edges cut our feet and each step is stained with blood; but it will lead the shortest way to the rest that should come to the traveller.
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