RULE AND GUIDE
The memorial address given in honor of their deceased Brethren by Most
Worshipful Brother Geoffrey M. Davies, PGM, at the 107th Annual Communication of
the Grand Lodge of Manitoba in 1982, was based upon "The Master's Blueprint," by
the late Brother and Rabbi Sheldon Gordon of Ionic Lodge No. 186, Duluth,
Minnesota. It is with pleasure we share it with you as a Short Talk Bulletin .
In an ancient collection of Jewish literature appeared a statement by a
teacher who lived some 2000 years ago, who was not very well known, and about
whose real identity there appears to be some doubt. With reference to the
parchment scrolls of the Holy Bible, he said: "Turn it and turn it again for
everything is in it. And contemplate it and grow gray and old over it and stir
not from it for you can have no better rule than it. " What this almost
anonymous teacher said some 2000 years ago is of deep meaning in Masonry, for he
described one of the Great Lights of Freemasonry-the Holy Bible which is our
rule and guide of faith.
Our ritual makes great use of Holy Scripture and, of course, the Bible
itself plays a vital and dynamic role in the work and thought of Masonry. If we,
as Masons follow the admonition and guidance of this teacher to turn to the
Bible and turn to it again, we will find many concepts which give us a deeper
insight into the great teachings of Masonry and correspondingly, we will find
that the wisdom of Masonry adds another dimension of meaning to many passages of
the Sacred Text. A great teacher of Judaism once described the Bible as being
God's blueprint in the creation of the world. let us, then, as builders consult
the Master's blueprint.
There is a very natural tendency for the individual Freemason, once he has
achieved the sublime degree of a Master Mason, to pay little attention to the
insights and teachings of the two initial degrees through which he reached at
great height. As Shakespeare says in Julius Caesar, "But 'tis a common proof
that lowliness is young ambition's ladder where to the climber upward turns his
face. But when he once attains the upwards rounds, he then unto the ladder turns
his back, looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees by which he did as
cend." But our degrees are closely interconnected and mutually supporting one
building on, and incomplete without the other.
Much is said in the Bible of the construction of Solomon's Temple, the
magnificent edifice . . .rivalling and perhaps surpassing the architectural
wonders of all history. The Bible also records a humble construction which had,
in the realm of the spirit, a significance at least as great as that of
Solomon's Temple. . .When Moses returns to the people, having stood at Sinai's
heights, he is told by God to construct an altar for Him, of simple and pure
unhewn stone. The foundations of that altar are to be made of rock upon which no
iron has come. In the lodge, the E.A. is the unhewn stone, the rock upon whose
surface no iron has yet come, and we would do well to remember the great meaning
of this for Masonry and to impart to our Brothers of the First Degree the high
and noble level which they have attained, and what it is we expect of them. It
is the Bible which gives us this insight. The unhewn stone of the altar built by
Moses represents the foundation of the lodge.
In the Entered Apprentice Degree, we are urged to the great task of moral
improvement and betterment, to learn to subdue our passions that we may emerge
the better man, indeed the better servant of God. David on his death bed, giving
his son Solomon a father's final word of guidance, turned to the building of the
great temple, the House of the Lord. It is written, "And David said to Solomon:
My son, as for me, it was in my heart to build a house unto the name of the Lord
My God, but the word of the Lord came to me saying, 'Thou has shed blood
abundantly and hast made great wars. Thou shalt not build a house unto my name
because thou has shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.'" (I Chro. 22:7)
Notwithstanding David's great attributes as a singer of psalms, the shepherd who
could see so clearly the shepherding love of God for man, he was also a man of
violence, of bloodshed, quick to indulge his appetites and his passions. Thus
God forbid such a one who was unable to subdue and refine himself, to build His
temple. In this great building work, this Temple of Solomon, at its very
inception, we find further illumination of the great Masonic teaching which
urges us to refine ourselves and to learn to subdue our passions". . .that
we may be enabled the better to show forth His glory and contribute to the hap
piness of mankind."
The Fellowcraft Degree is likewise heightened in significance and deepened
in meaning by the Volume of the Sacred Law. The Operative Fellowcraft was
instructed in the science of the builder and was entrusted with the working
tools which required care and diligence, selectivity and refinement in their
use. We, as Speculative Masons, expect of the Fellowcraft a degree of
proficiency in the builder's art, whether that be the physical building of the
operative mason or the spiritual and moral uplifting of the Speculative Mason.
Again, turning to the V.S.L., the Book of Exodus tells us of the construction
of a sanctuary in the wilderness during the period when the Children of Israel
wandered about in the Sinai Peninsula preparing themselves for their ultimate
entry into the Promised Land. And we read, "and the Lord spoke unto Moses
saying, 'See I have called by name Bezalel. . .of the tribe of Judah, and I
have filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom and in understanding and in
knowledge and in all manner of workmanship, to devise skillful works; to work in
gold and in silver and in brass and in cutting of stones for setting and in the
carving of wood to work in all manner of workmanship. ' " (Ex. 31:1-6)
Bezalel was appointed as Moses' deputy in the construction of the sanctuary.
The skills which were his indicate that he may serve us as a model and a
prototype of the F.C. degree. He is not to make the sanctuary on his own, he has
yet to achieve the Master's status, for he works under Moses, but he has reached
a significant level of his development as a human being and as a skilled artisan
and is therefore prepared to build a sanctuary, a place, a dwelling for God and
for man. Now it is important for us to pay careful attention to the words of
scripture which describe Bezalel, for the key notion here us not merely that he
has achieved wisdom and knowledge, but the manner in which he has achieved this
understanding. "And I have filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom and in
understanding and in knowledge." We must never forget that our skills and our
knowledge, our understanding and our insight, while refined by dedicated
teachers within the great fraternity of life--and for us within the sacred
halls of the Blue Lodge--stem ultimately from the gracious endowment of God.
Knowledge is itself a sacred trust and responsibility. The wisdom, the skill
to build, challenges us to build something worthy of the divine imprint, that we
may earn wages celestial as well as earthly.
And so we come to the sublime degree of Master Mason. In the Book of Genesis,
we are afforded an interesting insight into the theme found in the climax of our
Hiramic drama when one is raised to that sublime degree and when we concern
ourselves with the great Lost Word. Much as been written on this subject within
and beyond the confines of our Fraternity. Its symbolism is a deep and
meaningful one. Many have been the scholars who have attempted to determine
its origin. In the Book of Genesis, we are told that Jacob spent a lone night by
the Ford of the River Jabbok. Jacob wrestled with an angel and said, "Let me go
for the day breaketh." And he said, "I will not let thee go except thou bless
me." And he said unto him, "What is thy name?" And he said, "Jacob." And he
said, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel, for thou has striven
with God and with men and hast prevailed." And Jacob asked him and said, "Tell
me, I pray thee, thy name." And he said, "Wherefore is it that thou dost ask
after my name? And he blessed him there. " (Gen. 32:26-30) The name, two names,
play a great role in this drama. The name which Jacob can never learn, the name
of the Angel, the name of God; and the name which is conferred on him as he is
reborn.
The Hebrew word for Israel is made up of two parts, the first coming from a
verb which means to wrestle, to struggle; and the second, coming from one of the
names of God; as it is explained that Jacob has striven with God and with man
and has prevailed. Now there is a concept here which is of great meaning to us
as Master Masons. The word which we seek and its great secret will never come to
us through idle speculation. We must confront life, strive with it, and force it
to yield us its blessing even as did the great Patriarch Jacob. Our strength
will lie in deeds of morality and righteousness, our tools, the skills of our
Craft. Thus, the means of achieving and recovering the Lost Word--the meaning of
the Lost Word--is to strive with life with vigor, with firmness, and with purity
of intent.
We speak, in Masonry, of the quest for light, by which we mean understanding.
We know that the creation of light was the first great act of God as recorded in
the Bible. And the continuing source of light is God. As the Psalmist reminds
us: "Thou coverest thyself with light as with a garment, who stretcheth out the
heavens like a curtain." (Psalm 104) It is the light from that celestial source
which gives significance to our work as Masons. It guides and directs us in our
labors as builders and designers of a better world. But as we strive for this
better world, let us remember what was taught in the lovely Song of Solomon,
preserved in the Book of Psalms, "Except the Lord build the house, they labor
in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in
vain." (Psalm 127)
Building with God, the true Master of our Craft, building under His guidance
and with His light, is the purpose of Masonry. And if we so build, if we rear up
and erect such as sanctuary for His spirit and for our brothers as was said of
the great work of Moses, "For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle."
(Ex. 40:38)
The spirit of God inhabited that abode. If our Masonic work is truly
dedicated, that spirit will inhabit the structure which we erect. This is our
goal--that we may build a sanctuary by our deeds in which God may dwell. Then we
may be sure that in the end of our days, we shall find our abode in that house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
MASONRY IN THE HOLY BIBLE where to Find it
Entered Apprentice Psalm 133 Psalm 161 Ist Kings 7 21 Ist Kings 6 7 Ist
Chron. 22 2nd Chron. 3 Isaiah 9 2 Ruth 4 7 8 Ruth 2 I Ruth 4 18 22
Fellow Craft Exodus 17 9 11 Ruth4-7-21 -22 Ist Kings 7 21 2nd Kings 23
17 Judges 1217 Samuel 1217 2nd Chron. 2 15 Amos 7 7 Exodus 17 11 I
st Kings 6 8 Ezek. 40 22 Ezek. 44 5
Master Mason Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 Gen. 4 22 I st Kings 6 8 Ist Kings 7
13 14 I st Kings 3 30 Psalm 10 ~ 12 Job 141-2-5-7 Ezek. 816 Ezek. 11 I
Ezek. 40 20 Ezek.441 -5
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