The Mysteries of Free Masonry: Containing All the Degrees of the Order Conferred in a Master's LodgeMorgan, William
Religion
The Mysteries of Free Masonry: Containing All the Degrees of the Order Conferred in a Master's Lodge
Morgan, William
Freemasonry -- United States -- Rituals
staircase, with three, five, seven steps, or more. The three first
allude to the three principal supports in Masonry, viz., wisdom,
strength, and beauty; the five steps allude to the five orders in
architecture, and the five human senses; the five orders in
architecture are the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite;
the five human senses are Hearing, Seeing, Feeling, Smelling, and
Tasting; the three first of which have ever been highly essential
among Masons: Hearing, to hear the word; Seeing, to see the sign; and
Feeling, to feel the grip, whereby one Mason may know another in the
dark as well as in the light. The seven steps allude to the seven
sabbatical years; seven years of famine; seven years in building the
temple; seven golden candlesticks; seven wonders of the world; seven
planets; but more especially the seven liberal arts and sciences,
which are Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and
Astronomy; for this, and many other reasons, the number seven has ever
been held in high estimation among Masons." Advancing a few steps,
the Senior Deacon proceeds, "Brother, the next thing we come to is the
outer door of the middle chamber of King Solomon's Temple, which is
partly open, but closely tyled by the Junior Warden" [It is the Junior
Warden in the South who represents the Tyler at the outer door of the
middle chamber of King Solomon's Temple], who, on the approach of the
Senior Deacon and candidate, inquires, "Who comes here? Who comes
here?" The Senior Deacon answers, "A Fellow Craft Mason." Junior
Warden to Senior Deacon, "How do you expect to gain admission?" A. "By
a pass, and token of a pass." Junior Warden to Senior Deacon, "Will
you give them to me?" [The Senior Deacon, or the candidate (prompted
by him), gives them; this and many other tokens, or grips, are
frequently given by strangers when first introduced to each other. If
given to a Mason, he will immediately return it; they can be given in
any company unobserved, even by Masons, when shaking hands. A PASS,
AND TOKEN OF A PASS; the pass is the word SHIBBOLETH; the token, alias
the pass-grip, is given, as before described, by taking each other by
the right hand, as if shaking hands, and placing the thumb between the
forefinger and second finger, at the third joint, or where they join
the hand, and pressing it hard enough to attract attention. In the
Lecture it is called a token, but generally called the pass-grip. It
is an undeniable fact that Masons express themselves so differently,
when they mean the same thing, that they frequently wholly
misunderstand each other.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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