Huntsville Lodge No. 364

Toleration, holding that every other man has the same right to his opinion and faith that we have to ours; and liberality, holding that as no human being can with certainty say, in the clash and conflict of hostile faiths and creeds, what is truth, or that he is surely in possession of it, so every one should feel that it is quite possible that another equally honest and sincere with himself, and yet holding the contrary opinion, may himself be in possession of the truth.
Bro. Albert Pike

Introduction

Let us begin by defining the term "Entered Apprentice." As an Entered Apprentice Mason, the first step in your journey to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason has been taken. We are sure that you found your initiation an experience you will never forget. A degree in masonry is not an isolated experience once had and then done with, but is an everenduring privilege.

You can sit in an Entered Apprentice Lodge to observe, to participate in, and to study its ceremonies. Your possession of the degree is a life-long possession which you can continue to enjoy and to enter into as long as you live.

As an Entered Apprentice Mason you therefore are a learner, or beginner, in Speculative Masonry. You have taken the first step in the mastery of our art. Certain things are expected of you.

First, you are expected to show a certain humility. As a learner, you must have guides and teachers, and you must be willing to have them lead you.

Second, you must learn the Lecture of the Degree, so as to prove your proficiency in open Lodge. The purpose of learning the lecture is for you to master it so thoroughly that its lesson will remain with you for life.

Third, you must study and improve yourself in Masonry in all other possible ways. Your Lodge will not be content merely to receive your dues; it requires that you become a real and active member.

Fourth, you will learn the rules and regulations that govern an Entered Apprentice Mason.

As you stood in the northeast corner of the Lodge, you were taught a certain lesson concerning a cornerstone. From that lesson, you should know that you are a cornerstone of the Craft. It is our hope and prayer that you will prove to be a solid foundation as you proceed to the Fellow Craft Degree and then to the Master Mason Degree. Our great Fraternity depends on new members like you to conduct its work in the years to come.

Symbolism in Entered Apprentice (EA) Degree

The symbols, emblems and allegorical ceremonies of the First Degree each have a meaning; taken together, these meanings comprise the teaching of the Degree. Our purpose here is to give you some of the information which will show that every detail of the ritual is filled with a definite significance which each Mason can learn if he applies himself.

The Hoodwink represents the darkness in which an uninitiated man stands as regards his Masonic life; for this reason it is removed at the moment of enlightenment. Its removal makes us aware of goodness, truth, and beauty.

The Cable Tow is a symbol of all those external restraints by which a man is controlled by others, or by forces outside himself. If a man does not keep the law of his own free will, he must be compelled to keep it by compulsion. The removal of the Cable Tow means that when a man becomes the master of himself, he will keep the law as a matter of moral right.

The Lodge is a symbol of the world, initiation means birth, and the Great Pillars signify entrance into a new kind of life. The Sharp Instrument means, among other things, that which is the only real penalty for violating the Obligation.

The Rite of Circumambulation means that the Masonic life is a progressive journey, from station to station of attainment, and that a Mason will always be in search of more light. Approaching the East is significant, because the East is the source of light.

The Altar is the most important article of furniture in a Lodge room and a symbol of that place which the worship of God holds in Masonry - a place at the center, around which all else revolves. The Obligations have in them many literal meanings and as such are the foundations of our disciplinary law. But over and above this, they signify the nature and place of obligation in human life.

The Great Lights are the Holy Bible, the Square, and the Compasses. As a Great Light, the Holy Bible represents the will of God as man understands it; the Square is the physical life of man under his human conditions; the Compasses signify the moral and spiritual life. If a man acts in obedience to the will of God, according to the dictates of his conscience, he will be living in the illumination of the Great Lights and cannot go astray.

The Rite of Salutation in which the candidate salutes each station in turn is, in addition to its function as a portion of the ceremonies, also a symbol of a Mason's respect for and obedience to all duly constituted authorities. The Old Charges state this is a single sentence: "A Mason is a peaceable subject to the Civil Powers wherever he resides or works." The same significance is had by the office of Worshipful Master, who is a symbol as well as the executive officers of the Lodge. As the sun rules the day, he rules and governs his Lodge. His title, "Worshipful", means that he is worthy of reverence, respect, and obedience.

The Apron is at once the emblem of purity and the badge of a Mason.

The Lesson of Charity is to impress upon the candidate the importance of showing compassion toward his fellow man.

The Working Tools represent those moral and spiritual virtues which should govern our conduct.

The Northeast Corner is traditionally the place where the cornerstone of a building is laid. When the Apprentice is made to stand there, it is because he is the cornerstone of the future Craft.

The Entered Apprentice is himself a symbol, one of the noblest in the whole emblematic system of the Craft. He represents youth, typified by the rising sun; but beyond that, he represents educated youth, youth willing to submit itself to discipline and to seek knowledge in order to learn the great Art of Life.

Scriptures from the Entered Apprentice Degree

Psalm 133, quoted in its entirety, is the opening scripture for Freemasonry. The Psalm is taken from the "Wisdom Psalms" and was one of the Psalms, or songs, that the worshippers sang as they walked up the mountain to Jerusalem and the Temple. It was engraved upon the memory of every loyal Jew, for its meaning was to bind all the people tightly in the bonds of love and loyalty.

This Psalm begins with the characteristic word of introduction, "Behold!" In other words, "Listen, take heed, this is greatly important." The word "Behold!" had the same power as that other very familiar phrase, "Thus saith the Lord!".

Behold! How good and pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity.

This Psalm was written after the Jews had returned from their Babylonian captivity and they had returned with foreign wives, foreign ideas, and a very loose hold upon God. They all needed to draw close together for national strength, for closer religious ties, for strict observance of the laws of God. Family life had deteriorated under their captivity and many of the Jews who returned to Palestine had been born in Babylon and had no familiar ties to their real homeland.

In the olden days brethren dwelt in close proximity; they lived as close to their birthplace as possible; they lived under the influence of the larger family, or clan, or tribe. They had a closeness; they felt a closeness; they had a very high and very deep sense of loyalty to all the brethren. These attributes had been broken down in captivity, and the call was to remember "How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Therefore, it was necessary to bring a reminder of the glory of the past and the advantage of the future if men would live and act as brothers.

The writer of this Psalm then brought up a reminder of a past custom. A host would anoint his guest with the perfumed oil of anointing that would fill the house with its scent. Turning to the historical Aaron, the writer reminds his readers of the beard of Aaron and his beautiful priestly robes. Aaron typified the "Called of God man," .."The man separated of God" for a special task. Aaron was anointed for his priestly office in a beautiful ceremony before the massed people. If brothers will dwell together in unity it is like this:

It is like the precious ointment upon the head,
That ran down upon the beard,
Even Aaron's beard,
That went down to the skirts of his garments.

This oil of perfume, this oil of anointing, gave forth a scent that all could be conscious of and all would be impressed. "Brethren in unity" brings a consciousness of the perfume of peace and strength. But there was something more.

Palestine was a harsh land of little rainfall, many rocks, hot sun, little fertile soil, and many droughts. The mountains were upon every hand, dry, barren, and all but hospitable. But there was something about the mountains that appealed. When brothers dwell in unity, it is as the freshness of the dew upon those mountains:

As the dew of Hermon.
And as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even
Life forevermore.

Brothers in unity refresh each other for there is strength in unity and the brotherly spirit is beautiful, refreshing, and restoring. And when unity is established then there is the blessing of the Lord God. Only in unity, implies the writer of the Psalm, where the spirit of brotherhood prevails, may the Lord give His blessing forevermore.

Freemasonry is 'veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols' because these are the surest way by which moral and ethical truths may be taught. It is not only with the brain and with the mind that the initiate must take Freemasonry but also with the heart.
Bro. C. H. Claudy

Man's action are the picture book of his creeds.
Bro. Ralph Waldo Emerson

You have just been raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason.

It is indeed a "sublime" degree, which a man may study for years without exhausting. In the First and Second Degrees you were surrounded by the symbols and emblems of architecture. In the Third Degree you found a different order of symbolism, cast in the language of the soul --- its life, its tragedy, and its triumph.

To recognize this is the first step in interpretation of this sublime and historic step in so-called "Blue Lodge" Masonry. The second point is to recognize that the Third Degree has many meanings. It is not intended to be a lesson complete, finished, or closed.

There are many interpretations of the Degrees. But most essentially, it is a drama of the immortality of the soul, setting forth the truth that, while a man withers away and perishes, there is that in him which perishes not.

That this is the meaning most generally accepted by the Craft is shown by our habits of language. We say that a man is initiated an Entered Apprentice, passed to the degree of Fellowcraft, and raised to the sublime degree ofMaster Mason. By this it appears that it is the raising that most Masons have found to be the center of the Master Mason Degree.

By this it appears that it is the raising that most Masons have found to be the center of the Master Mason Degree. Evil in the form of tragedy is set forth in the drama of the Third Degree. Here is a good and wise man, a builder, working for others and giving others work, the highest we know, as it is dedicated wholly to God.

Through no fault of his own, he experiences tragedy from friends and fellow Masons. Here is evil pure and simple, a complete picture of human tragedy. How did the Craft meet this tragedy?

The first step was to impose the supreme penalty on those who had possessed the will of destruction and therefore had to be destroyed lest another tragedy follow. The greatest enemy man has makes war upon the good; to it no quarter can be given.

The next step was to discipline and to pardon those who acted not out of an evil will, but one of weakness. Forgiveness is possible if a man himself condemns the evil he had done, since in spite of his weakness he retains his faith in the good.

The next step was to recover from the wreckage caused by the tragedy whatever value it had left undestroyed. Confusion had come upon the Craft; order was restored. Loyal Craftsmen took up the burdens left by traitors. It is in the nature of such tragedy that the good suffer for evil and it is one of the prime duties of life that a man shall toil to undo the harm wrought by sin and crime, else in time the world would be destroyed by the evils that are done in it.

But what of the victim of the tragedy? Here is the most profound and difficult lesson of the drama. It is difficult to understand, difficult to believe if one has not been truly initiated into the realities of the spiritual life.

Because the victim was a good man, his goodness rooted in an unvarying faith in God, that which destroyed him in one sense could not destroy him in another. The spirit in him rose above the evil; by virtue of it he was raised from a dead level to a living perpendicular.

Symbolism in the Master Mason Degree.

In your experience with the ritual you have learned that every detail in the ceremonies of initiation is full of meaning. In the Third Degree are the deepest secrets and the most profound teachings of our Fraternity.

You passed through the degree in one night. To understand it will require many nights. In the paragraphs that follow we can give you but a few hints, in the hope that they may inspire you to study the Degree for yourself.

The symbolism of the First and Second degrees centers around the art of architecture. Its purpose is to teach you, in the First, to be a builder of yourself; in the Second, a builder of society. In the Third Degree, this symbolism takes another form. Although its background continues to be architecture and its action takes place in and about the Temple, it is a spiritual symbolism of life and death. Principally, it teaches Immortality.

If a man permits himself to be buried under the rubbish of sins and passions, it is possible, if he has learned the secret of the spiritual life and with the help of his God, to rise again into a new life. This note is struck in the Scripture reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes, which pictures a man, once flushed with the health and strength, brought tottering by old age to the brink of the grave. This, the Chapter tells us, will become a light burden to him who has learned to trust God.

The working tools of the degrees are all the implements of Masonry, but more especially the trowel by which we spread the cement of brotherly love. But brotherly love itself has its source and seat in the soul. To love a man above his sins, to cherish him in spite of his faults, to forgive him in all sincerity is possible only as we live in the spiritual life, our souls purged of selfishness.

The tragedy of Hiram Abif is the climax of the degree. It is indeed the climax of all the ceremonies of Freemasonry. Next in importance is the allegorical search for That Which was Lost.

This has an historical background. To the early Jewish people, the name of God was held in extreme reverence. This holy name was never pronounced above a whisper. After a while, only the Priests were permitted to use it. Finally, only the High Priest and then only when alone in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement.

During some national calamity, perhaps at the time of the Babylonian captivity, the High Priest perished before he had opportunity to pass it on to his successor. In this way was the name lost. All this appears in our ritual in the form of an allegory. A word was possessed; the Word was lost

Of the emblems of the Third Degree, one after another is set before us, apparently in no given order, and each with only a hint of what it signifies. Yet each stands for some great idea or ideal, necessary throughout our lives.

Each of them is a master of truth. In the Three Pillars we have the three great ideas of Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty. The Three Steps remind us that youth, manhood, and age is each a unity in itself, each possessing its own duties and responsibilities with each calling for its own philosophy.

The Pot of Incense teaches that to be pure and blameless in our inner lives is more acceptable to God than anything else.

The Book of Constitutions is the emblem of law and reminds us that our moral and spiritual character is grounded in law and order as much as in government or nature. It teaches that no man can live a satisfactory life who lives lawlessly.

The Sword pointed to the naked heart discovers that one of the most rigorous of these laws is justice, and that if a man be unjust in his heart, the inevitable results of injustice will find him out.

The All-Seeing Eye shows that we live and move and have our being in God. That we are constantly in His Presence, wherever or whatever we are doing.

The Anchor and Ark stand for that sense of security and stability of life grounded in Truth and Faith.

The 47th Problem of Euclid is an emblem of the arts and sciences. By them we are reminded that next to sinfulness the most dangerous enemy of life is ignorance.

In the Hour Glass we have the emblem of the transitoriness of life; no man lives forever in this world.

The Scythe reminds us that passing time will bring an end to our lives as well as our work and if we are to become what we ought to be, we must not delay.

Scriptures form the Master Mason (MM) Degree.

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,
while the evil days come not nor the years draw nigh,
when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them.
Ecclesiastes, Chapter 12: 1-7

The lesson here conveyed: Think who made you and for what purpose you were made. Reflect, that a sentient being, you were molded by the hand of God and to him made responsible for the proper use of the faculties with which you have been endowed, for the proper employment of the years, and the acceptance of the opportunities offered during the period of active, vigorous manhood.

While the evil day come not, nor the years draw nigh,
when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them.

The grievance of old age, the days of sorrow, the years of pain, when the natural decay of the faculties brings the "ills that flesh is heir to" and ushers in the years of mental and physical decrepitude, when there is no longer any pleasure in life.

While the Sun, or the light, or the Moon,
or the Stars be not darkened,
nor the clouds return after the rain.

And as the Ecclesiastic continues the imagery, picturing the abiding and increasing infirmities of age, defer not the duties of life to intend accomplishment.

In the days when the keepers of the house shall tremble,
And the strong men shall bow themselves.

When the hands and arms that guard and protect this tenement of clay are palsied with old age and we are no longer firm and erect.

And the grinders cease because they are few,
And those that look out of the windows be darkened.
And the doors shall be shut in the streets.

The teeth now few in number and the eyes which are the windows through which the soul of man looks out are now curtained by the shadow of declining years. The ears lose their activities in old age.

When the sound of the grinders is low,
And he shall rise up at the voice of the birds,
And all the daughters of music shall be bought low.

The pressing of food upon the toothless gums; The soundness of slumber no longer his, the old man sleeps lightly and rises from restless couch at the crowing of the cock at dawn; The daughters of music are the organs of speech.

Also, when they shall be afraid of that which is high,
and fear shall be in the way.
And the almond tree shall flourish,
And the grasshopper shall be a burden,
and desire shall fail.

When the dizziness of old age prevents the mounting to high places; The silver hair of old age; no longer able to sustain the lightest weight and sensual desire no longer occurs.

Because man goeth to his long home,
And the mourners go about the streets.

That undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns; Those who sorrow at his death.

Or even the silver chord be loosed,
or the golden bow be broken.
Or the pitcher be broken at the fountain,
or the wheel broken at the cistern.

The golden bowl, the head, the silver chord, the spinal column which supports it. Golden and Silver denote the preciousness of man's life and nature. The wheel the heart, the pitcher the great vessels which pour blood into the arterial system.

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was,
and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action.
John the Apostle

Freemasonry has many unexplained mysteries in its ritual, one of which is the reference to the “Holy Saints John.” It comes in the monitorial lecture of the Entered Apprentice degree. Candidates are told that Masonic lodges are dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. Together, they represent the patron saints of Freemasonry. It was a common custom in the Middle Ages for craftsmen to place themselves under the protection of some saint of the church.

To this day, Masons all around the world continue to recognize these two figures as the patron saints of Freemasonry. In fact, the closest thing we have to a Masonic holiday are the feast days of the two saints. St. John the Baptist’s feast day is celebrated in the summer (June 24), and St. John the Evangelist’s is in winter (December 27). Masons and Masonic lodges mark these days with their own celebratory dinners or other events. They are two of the most important dates on the fraternal calendar.

Click on the link below to view a pdf version of a Powerpoint presentation on St. John the Evangelist or download a pptx version of the original Powerpoint presentation.

View or download pdf file: St. John the Evangelist

Download a copy of the Powerpoint 2019 presentation

They earn the meed of honest toil, Wages of Corn, and Wine, and Oil.
Bro. Rob Morris

Corn, wine, and oil are the Masonic elements of consecration. The adoption of these symbols is supported by the highest antiquity. Corn, wine, and oil were the most important productions of Eastern countries; they constituted the wealth of the people, and were esteemed as the supports of life and the means of refreshment David enumerates them among the greatest blessings that we enjoy, and speaks of them as “wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart” (Psalm civ., 15).

In devoting anything to religious purposes, the anointing with oil was considered as a necessary part of the ceremony, a rite which has descended to Christian nations. The tabernacle in the wilderness, and all its holy vessels, were, by God’s express command, anointed with oil; Aaron and his two sons were set apart for the priesthood with the same ceremony ; and the prophets and kings of Israel were consecrated to their offices by the same rite.

Hence, Freemasons’ Lodges, which are but temples to the Most High, are consecrated to the sacred purposes for which they were built by strewing corn , wine, and oil upon the Lodge, the emblem of the Holy Ark. Thus does this mystic ceremony instruct us to be nourished with the hidden manna of righteousness, to be refreshed with the Word of the Lord, and to rejoice with joy unspeakable in the riches of divine grace. “Wherefore, my brethren,” says the venerable Harris (Discourse iv, 81), “wherefore do you carry corn, wine, and oil in your processions, but to remind you that in the pilgrimage of human life you are to impart a portion of your bread to feed the hungry, to send a cup of your wine to cheer the sorrowful, and to pour the healing oil of your consolation into the wounds which sickness hath made in the bodies, or afflictions rent in the heart, of your fellow-travelers?” calendar. From Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry

Click on the link below to view a pdf version of a Powerpoint presentation on Corn, Wine, and Oil or download a pptx version of the original Powerpoint presentation.

View or save a pdf version of Corn, Wine, and Oil.

The Masonic system represents a stupendous and beautiful fabric, founded on universal purity, to rule and direct our passions, to have faith and love in God, and charity toward man.
Bro. William Howard Taft

A Masonic calendar is based upon the date of an event or a beginning. Craft Masons and different appendant bodies within Freemasonry utilize different Masonic calendars to celebrate an historical inception date such as the creation of the world or an historical event specific to that Masonic order or body.

These dates are used upon official Freemason documents. The historical dates are symbolic of new beginnings, and should not be misconstrued as Freemasons believing that there was a Masonic lodge in the Garden of Eden. Symbolically, they connect the creation of physical light in the universe with the birth of Masonic spiritual and intellectual light in the candidate. The only idea intended to be conveyed is that the principles of Freemasonry are as old as the existence of the world. It is the spirit of the institution of Freemasonry which brings a candidate from intellectual darkness to intellectual light.

Each of the "Mason" calendars begin with the word, Anno. In the Latin language, Anno means "In the Year of." The English word, annual, is derived from the Latin word, anno.

View or save a pdf version of Masonic Calendars.

The Society adopted the Temple of Solomon for its symbol, because it was the most stable and the most magnificent structure that ever existed, whether we consider it foundation or suerstructure; so of all the societies men have invented, no one was ever more firmly united, or better planned, than the Masons . . .
Bro. George Oliver, D.D.

For many years there had not been a suitable house for the Ark of the Covenant wherein were placed the two tablets of stones outlining the Ten Commandments given to Moses by God, an omer of manna and the rod of Aaron. Bezaleel and Aholiab were made "wise hearted to build the tabernacle and all the furniture including the Ark". This Ark had been made from acacia wood (shittim) and lined inside and out with pure gold. Four gold rings were affixed to the outside through which were inserted two carrying poles. These poles had been fashioned from acacia wood and covered in pure gold. Across the golden lid of the Ark, called the Mercy Seat two cherubim faced each other. The Ark measured 4 feet 4 inches by 2 feetft 7 inches. During the long period of wandering in the Sinai desert, the People of Israel kept The Ark of the Covenant in a special tent called the Tabernacle, made according to precise dimensions and specifications contained in the Book of Exodus.

Although King David had received from God the plans for the Holy House, and although he coveted the special honour and distinction of being the architect and creator, we learn in the M.E.M. Degree that God refused him. In point of fact, David was refused because his hands were covered in the blood of his enemies. By the time his son, Solomon, had assumed the throne, there was peace on all his borders and he had no enemies. He could begin the Holy work without interruption and focus all his energies and attention on it. His father had conquered the area known as Jebus in 1,000 B.C. David had established it as a capital city and renamed it Jerusalem. Here it was, on Mount Moriah, that Abraham had been prepared to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, to the Lord. Consecrated as Holy ground, it was the logical choice for the Temple site.

Solomon contracted with King Hiram of Tyre to receive Cedar,- which is still world renowned today- Cypress and Juniper logs from the mountainous forests of Lebanon. Cedars of Lebanon was of especially good quality, solid, not many knots, and of a deep rich, reddish colour. They could sometimes reach a height of well over a 100 feet. They are now extremely rare. (Hiram) "And we shall cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as Thou shalt need....floats by sea to Joppa".

What we do not realize from this passage is that once the wood was cut, it had to be taken down the mountain side to the coast. This would have been an awesome task in itself because the distance was some 15 miles N. of Tyre. They rolled it down the mountainside and when it was on level ground, they pulled it to the coast by teams of oxen. There, the logs were bound together in rafts using very strong rope and floated down to Joppa, (today known as Tel Aviv). This was a further distance of about 90 miles. Joppa's harbour was formed by a low ledge of rocks about 330 ft. from the coast. The north end being open and shallow is probably where the log rafts were accessed. The city of Joppa was situated on a rocky hill rising to a height of about 115 ft. From the coast of Joppa it was ANOTHER 35 miles to Jerusalem. A new road laid by King Solomon, enabled them to transport the cedar logs to Jerusalem. In exchange for the wood and 30,000 labourers from Tyre, each year Hiram received from Solomon the following: 2,000 tons of wheat; 2,000 tons of barley; 400,000 liters of wine; and 400,000 liters of olive oil.

There were immense number of Masons involved in building the Temple. More accurately, there were 70,000 Entered Apprentices in the rock quarries, 80,000 Fellowcrafts who quarried rock out of the mountains and cut and polished them into perfect ashlars, and 30,000 who cut wood out of Lebanon. Additionally, there were 3300 overseers of the work and 550 chief overseers, making a combined labour force of about 183,850, Adoniram being one of the chief overseers. Solomon also contracted from Hiram, King of Tyre, a "man cunning to work in wood, gold, silver, brass, iron, glass, purple, crimson and blue and an engraver". This man was Hiram Abiff. In the Book of Kings in the Bible, he is referred to as Hurum, the widow's son.

About 3000 B.C. the Egyptians had opened up copper mines in the Sinai peninsula, so the Phoenicians were very familiar with its practical uses. They had discovered that by refining copper and tin together, they could get bronze. The Jordan Valley was some 60 miles N.E. of Jerusalem. Two massive pillars for the porch of the temple were to be fashioned by Hiram Abiff. It must have been an awesome task of getting these massive bronzed (brazen) pillars back to Jerusalem. The pillars were at least 30 ft. high, each nearly 20 ft around. (The dimensions of these pillars differs depending on which researcher one selects). Each pillar was adorned with capitals of cast bronze formed in the shape of lilies, which had a thickness of almost three inches. Each capital was about 7 1/2ft high. A network of seven interwoven chains decorated the capitals. Hiram Abiff made pomegranates in two rows above the bowl-shaped part next to the network. The pomegranates totalled two hundred for each pillar. These pillars were cast in bronze in the clay grounds of the Jordan, formed hollow and made of molten brass. The reason for them being hollow was to store the ancient records and the valuable writings pertaining to the historic past of the Jewish people. Boaz, the left-hand pillar, stood to the south representing the land of Judah and signifying strength; Jachin stood to the north representing the land of Israel, signifying God will establish and when united by the lintel of Yahweh, the two provided stability.

King Solomon began construction of the Temple in the year 957 B.C. during the 4th year of his reign. The Temple was built due east and west and was surrounded with high walls built of stone and timber. A vast retaining outer wall spanned 750 ft X 500 ft. Inside this was an inner court which extended from the Temple about 209 ft on all sides. The method used to build the walls was to place 3 rows of stone and follow that up with a row of interlocking cedar beams. This provided a sort of elasticity as a safeguard against the earth tremors which were prevalent in that area. For seven years Jerusalem was filled with busy workers engaged in leveling the chosen site, building vast retaining walls, laying broad foundations, shaping the heavy timbers brought from the Lebanon forests, and erecting the magnificent sanctuary. At the same time, the manufacture of the furnishings for the Temple was steadily progressing under the leadership of one Hiram Abiff.

Click on the link below to view a collection of drawings and models of what the Temple may have looked like.

View various conceptual drawings and models of King Solomon's Temple and citadel.

If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
Bro. Benjamin Franklin

Freemasonry is divided by Masonic writers into two branches, an Operative Art and a Speculative Science. The Operative Art is that which was practiced by the Stone-Masons of the Middle Ages. The Speculative Science is that which is practiced by the Freemasons of the present day. The technicalities and usages of the former have been incorporated into and modified by the latter. Hence, Freemasonry is sometimes defined as a Speculative Science founded on an Operative Art.

Freemasonry, in its character as an Operative Art, is familiar to everyone. As such, it is engaged in the application of the rules and principles of architecture to the construction of edifices for private and public use, houses for the dwelling-place of man, and temples for the worship of the Deity. It abounds, like every other art, in the use of technical terms, and employs, in practice, an abundance of implements and materials which are peculiar to itself. This Operative Art has been the foundation on which has been built the Speculative Science of Freemasonry.

"It is well established that Societies of Operative Masons existed in England, France, and Italy during the Middle Ages and built the Churches, Bridges, and Cathedrals which still adorn those countries. In days when writing was confined to the clerics and diplomas were unknown, it was the readiest solution of the difficulty of an unknown man testifying he was. a skilled and accredited craftsman, to have a system of passwords and signs which enabled him to prove he had been regularly taught his trade and was no cowan or pretender."

"These ancient Operative Masons of the Middle Ages, both in England and on the Continent, had their regular procedure by which a lad was admitted as an apprentice, taught his work, and subsequently became entitled to practise his trade."

These words are quoted from a c. 1911 publication by Thomas Carr, M.D., a Honorary Member of the Guild of Operative Free-Masons. In this book, he presents "THE RITUAL OF THE OPERATIVE FREE MASONS" as practiced by an operative lodge in Bardon Hill, Leicestershire. The Lodge claims The ritual of the “Operative Free Masons', as presented by Carr, is a true and accurate account of the ceremonies practiced by this Lodge, and that the “tradition which has been handed down to us is that "these ceremonies have been so practised from time immemorial."

Utilizing other research sources, along with the writings of Carr, George Thornburgh, et.al, the old operative Indentured Apprentice degree has been recreated. For Masonic scholars, it is a fascinating read that will give great insight into the specuative degree of Entered Apprentice Masons as conferred today. Click on the link below to view or save a pdf version of The old Apprentice First Degree of the Operatives Ritual 1° Indentured Apprentice

The old Apprentice Degree of the Operatives Indentured Apprentice

At the end of seven years the apprentice applies to be made free of his Bond. An application has to be posted, once again, at the entrance of the Stone Yard Quarry or Works.

The 2nd degree of the Operatives Fellow of the Craft

One of the most well known expose's from the 18th century was published by one Samuel Prichard in 1730 at London entitled Masonry Dissected. In the title page of his pamphlet, he states that his treatise "being a universal and genuine description of all its branches from the original to his present time as it is delivered in the constituted regular lodges . . .". Prichard claims to be a former member of a regular lodge although he does not name the lodge.

Prichard publishes the lectures of the c. 1730 three degrees because it appears he is upset in having to pay dues to his lodge quarterly and feels that his degree fees should have been sufficient. Anyway, read for yourself. The pamphlet does give us a fascinating look at what the early degrees of the newly formed Grand Lodge of England may have looked like.

Masonry Dissected by Samuel Prichard 1730