ASHLARS - ROUGH, SMOOTH - STORY OF A STONE
We are pleased to present this paper prepared by the eminent Masonic
Scholar, J. Fairbairn Smith, Editor Emeritus of the Detroit Masonic World.
Raised as a "Lewis" at the age of 18, in the lodge at Hawick, Scotland, in 1925,
Bro. Smith has become one of the most respected of Masonic journalists. He is a
"mould stone" from the quarry of Masonic life.
An eminent sculptor was once asked: "How do you carve such beautiful
statues?" He replies, "It is the simplest thing in the world. I ake a hammer and
chisel and from a massive, shapeless rock, I knock off all the stone I do not
want, and there is the statue. It was there all the time."
In every Masonic Lodge room there is, or should be, the Rough Ashlar and the
Perfect Ashlar. These two and the Trestle Board constitute our Movable Jewels.
What is their significance? What do they have to do with Masonry?
In our monitorial work we are taught that the Rough Ashlar "is a stone as
taken from the quarry in its rude and natural state" and that the Perfect Ashlar
"is a stone made ready by the hands of the workman, to be adjusted by the
working tools of the Fellow Craft." The Rough Ashlar was not a stone that was
merely picked up somewhere. It was a stone that has been selected. Some work was
done upon it. It was apparently a good stone. It was a stone that showed good
prospects of being capable of being made into a Perfect Ashlar. If it had not
been a good stone, it would never have been cut out from the quarry.
So it is with our prospective member. He cannot be merely picked up
somewhere. He must be selected. Before he is ready to be initiated some work
must be done upon him. He must stand certain basic tests. He must be apparently
of good material. He must be a man who shows good prospects of being capable of
being made into a good Mason. If he had not been a good man, he should never
have been proposed for membership.
In changing a Rough Ashlar into a Perfect Ashlar, the workman takes away and
never adds to. He chips and chips. He cuts away the rough edges. He removes the
visible flaws, he does not create by chemical means or otherwise, a new
material. He takes that which is already there and develops it into the Perfect
Ashlar.
The stone from which the Venus de Milo was carved by an unknown sculptor of
ancient times, lay since the beginning of time in the rocks of the Island Milo.
A common, unknown workman may have cut a hugh piece of marble from the quarry.
But it took a master artisan to carve out the beautiful statue. It took a good
piece of marble and a skilled artist to produce the Venus de Milo.
Not many operators in Masonry can make a Perfect Ashlar. So there are not
many perfect Masons in our Lodges. In our Ritualistic and other work, we can
take away much of the roughness, remove the sharp points and obliterate the
visible defects. We can produce as good a Mason as there is within our power to
produce. But the essential thing is to have a good material upon which to work.
This statement is applicable to all mankind, but to us as Symbolic Masons, it
is pregnant with meaning, for, was not each one, at the commencement of his
Masonic career, placed in the Northeast corner as an example stone, in the hope
that the stone so placed would, in the fullness of time, be wrought into a thing
of beauty acceptable to the builder?
What does the poet say of the stone? Isn't it strange that Princes and Kings
And clowns that caper in sawdust rings, And common folks like you and me Are
builders for eternity? Each is given a kit of tools, A shapeless mass and a book
of rules: And each must make, ere life is flown; A stumbling block or a stepping
stone.
These are very true words. The kit of tools are those talents with which God
has blessed us to enable us to fulfill our mission in life. We are told in the
Volume of the Sacred Law that one man received five talents, another, two
talents, and yet another, only one talent, so that our duty is for each to
discharge his alloted task to the best of his ability, and help those who have
not been so well blessed as himself. Thus each will be assisted in carving out
the "Grand Design" of being happy and communicating happiness and thereby of
being more "extensively serviceable to his fellow creatures."
The shapeless mass is a man's character, and each one of us is his own
Architect, Builder and Material, and like our predecessors, the Operative
Masons, we each must show our craftsmanship in working out a perfect "Ashlar"
fit to be tried by the square of his own conscience.
The book of rules is the V.S.L. "That great light that will guide us to all
truth, direct our steps in the path of happiness, and thus, point out the whole
duty of man."
Let us pause for a moment and earnestly ask ourselves, which are we
making--stumbling block or a stepping stone? If a man's life is such that he
cannot "join in the grand design of being happy and communicating happiness to
others," then he is a stumbling block, not only to himself, but to all those
with whom he is associated. If that man is a Freemason he should study the
ritual and discover the inner meaning, so that he can learn to perfect his
stone.
Let us trace whence comes this perfect stone. An ancient charge provides that
a mould stone shall be given to a visiting Operative Mason to enable him to
demonstrate his craftsmanship. The stones were selected individual stones from
the quarries to suit the requirement of the material building. As Speculative
Masons, we obtain our mould stones from the quarries of life. Thus, when we
receive an application for admission to our Lodge it is our duty to carefully
scrutinize all the credentials of the applicant from every angle, so that only
approved material is admitted to the Craft.
Freemasonry can and does improve good material, but it cannot make bad
material good. As with the Operative Mason, poor material would have endangered
the material structure. So with us as Speculative Masons, a faulty Ashlar will
endanger the Spiritual temple we are endeavoring to build.
Having found, by the strictest inquiry, that the applicant, or mould stone,
is suitable, we have, by those inquiries, knocked off some of the irregularities
which surrounded him, and after his initiation, he is represented as the "rough
Ashlar," that is, the stone is no longer the mould stone, but it is
approximately a cube which still requires a considerable amount of "dressing"
before the "perfect Ashlar" which is within it can be brought to light, and the
candidate is given him to "knock off rough knobs and evanescence," of his
character.
Later on he finds that, although the common gavel and chisel are suitable for
reducing the roughness they are not capable of achieving perfection. As a
Craftsman he receives another set of working tools, one of which is essential to
perfection, namely, the square, and here he learns that it is only by continual
grinding and many applications of the square that the stone can be brought to a
true die, or cube.
In his capacity as a Craftsman and as a man of the world, he is continually
coming into contact with his fellows and he learns to control his passions and
to recognize the rights of others, with the result that the stone he is working
upon, namely, his character, is gradually taking shape as a perfect Ashlar.
Later, he is called upon to hand his stone over to the Builder, who cuts a
beveled hole at the top, so that the stone can be attached to a lewis and be
hoisted up ready to be placed on the base assigned to it by the Builder. Thus,
he is reminded that the rope, the lewis, and the crane represent the all
sustaining power of God, and that if he has discharged his duty faithfully and
in accordance with the precepts laid down in the V.S.L., he may rest assured
that when his final summons comes he will find that the great Builder will have
prepared a place for him in that "Great Spiritual Temple not made with hands
eternal in the Heavens."
Finally, let us consider this "perfect Ashlar" from a geometric point of
view. Looking at the perfect "Ashlar," as it stands in the Lodge we notice that
it has six equal and exactly similar sides, and that no matter how it is placed
down, on the level, it must stand on one of its faces and present a similar face
to the observer, from any point of view. It is the only geometrical body which
requires no support from its fellows, but when placed in line with similar
cubes, demands it own space, and lines up with the others on top, bottom and
sides.
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