FELLOWCRAFT LECTURE

By Operative Masonry, we allude to a proper application of the useful rules of architecture,

whence a structure will derive figure, strength and beauty, and from which will result a due
proportion and just correspondence in all its parts. It furnishes us with dwellings and convenient
shelters from the vicissitudes and inclemencies of the seasons; and, while it displays the effects
of human wisdom as well in the choice as in the arrangement of the several materials of which an
edifice is composed, it demonstrates that a fund of science and industry is implanted in man for
the best, most salutary and most beneficent purposes.

By Speculative Masonry, we learn to subdue the passions, act upon the Square, keep a tongue of
good report, maintain secrecy, and practice Charity. It is so far interwoven with religion as to lay
us under obligations to pay that rational homage to the Deity which at once constitutes our duty
and our happiness. It leads the contemplative Mason to view with reverence and admiration the
glorious works of the Creation, and inspires him with the most exalted ideas of the perfections of
his divine Creator.

Our ancient brethren were both operative and speculative Masons; we are speculative only. They
wrought at the building of King Solomon's Temple, and other stately edifices. They worked six
days in the week, but did not labor on the seventh, for in six days God created the heaven and the
earth, and rested upon the seventh day.

The seventh, therefore, our ancient brethren consecrated as a day of rest from their labors;
thereby enjoying frequent opportunities to contemplate the glorious works of the Creation, and to
adore their Great Creator. They received wages in the Middle Chamber of King Solomon's
Temple, and on the way passed through a long aisle of porch, at the entrance of which two
brazen pillars were set up, of which we here have a representation.
That on your left was called Boaz and denoted strength; this on your right was named Jachin and
signified to establish. Taken together, they allude to a promise made by God to David: "In strength
will I establish this man's house and kingdom forever."

The pillars which these represent, were cast in the clay grounds of the plains of Jordan between
Succoth and Zeredatha, where all the holy vessels of King Solomon's Temple were cast by Hiram
Abif, a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali. They were of molten brass and were hollow, and the
better to withstand conflagration and inundation, were cast a hand's breath in thickness.

They were five and thirty cubits high, twelve in circumference or four in diameter, and were
surmounted by chapiters of five cubits each, making in all forty cubits in height. These chapiters
were ornamented with net-work, lily-work and pomegranates, denoting unity, peace and plenty.
The net-work from the intimate connection of its several parts denoted unity; the lily, from its
purity, and the retarded situation of its growth, denoted peace; and the pomegranates from the
exuberance of their sides denoted plenty.
These chapiters were surmounted by pommels of balls representing globes. Their principal use,
besides serving as maps to distinguish the outward parts of the earth and the situation of the fixed
stars, is to illustrate and explain the phenomena arising from the annual revolution of the earth
around the sun, and its diurnal rotation upon its own axis.
They are valuable instruments for improving the mind and giving it the most distinct idea of any
problem or proposition, as well as for enabling it to solve the same.
Contemplating these bodies, we are inspired with a due reverence for the Deity and His works,
and are induced to encourage the studies of astronomy, geography, navigation, and the arts
dependent upon them, by which society has been so much benefited.
The next thing to which your attention is directed, is a representation of a flight of winding stairs,
consisting of three, five, and seven steps.

We will make an advance. (Sr. Deacon advances and with rod in pass stops candidate.)

This brings us to the three steps. The number three alludes to the three great lights of Masonry,
the three degrees of Masonry, and the three principal office of the Lodge, the WM, Sr. and Jr.
Wardens, who represent in the Lodge the three great pillars of Masonry. Wisdom, Strength, and
Beauty; it being necessary, as you have already been informed, that there be Wisdom to contrive,
Strength to support, and Beauty to adorn all great and important undertakings.

We will make again an advance. (Done as above.)

This brings us to the five steps. The number five allude to the five orders in architecture. By order
in architecture is meant a system of all the members, proportions and ornaments of columns and
pilasters; or, it is a regular arrangement of the projecting parts of a building, which united with
those of a column, form a beautiful, perfect, and complete whole.

From the first formation of society, order in architecture may be traced. When the rigor of seasons
first obliged men to contrive shelter from the inclemency of the weather, we learn that they first
planted trees on end, and then laid others across to support a covering. The bands which
connected those trees at top and bottom are said to have given rise to the idea of the base and
capital of pillars: and from this simple hint originally proceeded the more improved art of
architecture.

The five orders are thus classed: the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. The
ancient and original orders of architecture, esteemed by Masons, are no more than three – the
Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian - which were invented by the Greeks.
To these the Romans added two; Tuscan, which they made plainer than the Doric, and the
Composite, which was more ornamental, if not more beautiful than the Corinthian. The first three
orders alone, however, show invention and particular character, and essentially differ from each
other: the two others having nothing but that which is borrowed, and differing only accidentally.

The Tuscan is the Doric in its earliest state, and the Composite is the Corinthian enriched with the
Ionic. To the Greeks, therefore, and not to the Romans, we are indebted for what is great,
judicious and distinct in architecture. The number five alludes to the five senses of human nature:
- hearing, seeing, feeling, smelling, and tasting. The first three are particularly essential to
Masons: for by hearing, we hear the word S_____; by seeing, we see the sign (gives), and by
feeling, we feel the grip (gives), whereby one brother Mason may know another in the dark as well
as in the light.

We will make another advance (done as above).

This brings us to the seven steps. The number seven alludes to the seven liberal arts and
sciences: - Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music and Astronomy. Of these,
Geometry is the only most esteemed among Masons.

GEOMETRY Treats of the powers and properties of magnitudes in general; where length,
breadth, and thickness are considered; from a point to a line, from a line to a superfice, and from
a superfice to a solid. A point is the beginning of all geometrical matter. A line has length, without
breadth of thickness. A superfice has length and breadth, without thickness. A solid has length,
breadth and thickness.
By this science the architect is enabled to construct his plans and execute his designs; the
general, to arrange his soldiers; the engineer, to mark out grounds for encampments: the
geographer, to give us the dimensions of the world and all things therein contained, to delineate
the extent of seas, and to specify the divisions of empires, kingdoms, and provinces.
By it, also, the astronomer is enabled to make his observations and to fix the duration of times
and seasons, years and cycles. In line, Geometry is the foundation of architecture and the root of
mathematics.

We will now make one more advance (done as before).

This brings us to a place representing the outer door of the middle Chamber of King Solomon 's
Temple, which we will find part opened but closely guarded by the Jr. Warden who will demand of
you the pass and token of the pass of a FCM, where he will grant you admission.
(If more than one candidate, gives pass to nearest one first, reverse when giving token) S____ is
the pass, this is the token.