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LECTURE XXIX.

THE FURNITURE.

"Bible, compass, and square

As our ensigns we wear,

The bright symbols of wisdom profound;
And, while these are our guide,

Every mystery beside

As a foil to our art will be found."

-MASONIC SONG. "May every Brother steer his course through the world by the three great lights of Masonry."-SECTIONAL CHARGE.

WHEN a person builds a house for his own residence, the first consideration after it is finished is, how it may be furnished to the best advantage. For this purpose he takes counsel with himself, and exercises due deliberation on a matter of such vital importance. It is not the work of a moment. Plans are formed and laid aside. Others succeed and prove equally unsatisfactory. Time passes on and the final decision still looms in the distance. He calls in the assistance of his friends with little profit. Each has some favourite crotchet of his own, and their opinions do not coalesce. At length he does what any sensible man would have done in the first instance. He applies to his upholsterer, and placing the matter in his hands, with a carte

blanche, the difficulty ceases, and the house is speedily fit for the residence of its owner.

How different from all this is the furnishing of a Mason's Lodge. It needs no personal anxiety-no consultations with friends-no professional aid. All the furniture technically required is the same in every Lodge in the universe, and consists of a triad of articles simple in themselves but containing an abundance of moral references to the faith and practice of a virtuous man during his preparation for another and a better world. And on that account we term this important triad the Great Emblematical Lights of Masonry which point the way to heaven. It will not, therefore, excite any wonder that this triad is highly prized by the fraternity as an unalterable Landmark. However opinions may vary respecting some other parts of the system, as men differ in their interpretation of certain passages of Scripture, the furniture of the Lodge admits of no diversity of exposition. Its object and design are so clearly defined as to be incapable of mistake or perversion. It may always be seen in the East, the seat of Wisdom, placed on an altar as a significant representative of the Shekinah in the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. Here the candidate seeks the Light and finds it; and its first bright rays rest on these glorious emblems of mental illumination which he is taught to venerate as the embodiment of all that is great and good. Does he want instruction to guide his path through the devious wilderness of the world, it is abundantly supplied by the furniture of a Mason's

Lodge? Does he seek for faith, hope, and charity -does he lack wisdom, strength, or beauty-does he long after the practice of temperance, fortitude, prudence, and justice—they are to be found there if anywhere? They will enlighten his dark mind, supply him with rules of practice adapted to all states of existence, and furnish those helps which every step in the progress of life demands. In a word, as was expressed in the Prestonian Lecture, they give real and intrinsic excellency to man, and render him fit for the duties of society. They strengthen his mind against the storms of life, pave the way to peace, and promote domestic happiness. They meliorate the temper and improve the understanding; are company in solitude, and give vivacity, variety, and energy to social conversation. In youth they govern the passions and employ usefully our most active faculties; and in age, when sickness, imbecility, and disease have benumbed the corporeal frame, and rendered the union of soul and body almost intolerable, they yield an ample fund of comfort and satisfaction. And hence, whoever cultivates this science and acts agreeably to the character of a Mason, has within himself the spring and support of every social virtue; a subject of contemplation that enlarges the mind, and expands all its powers; a theme that is inexhaustible, ever new, and always interesting.

The first great Light contributes its aid to make the Lodge just, because it is the primary and supreme grand archive of Masonry, from the threefold nature of its contents; viz., law—prophets—gospel, includ

ing that Divine history which was transmitted by Moses, the traditionary Grand Master of the Lodge of Israel in the wilderness. The writings of the prophets and apostles there recorded direct us in the way of holiness, by exhibiting the eminent virtues of holy men of old, as shining examples to ourselves; and show the necessity of loving and fearing God as the beneficent Author of all wisdom and goodness, and of doing to our Brethren as we would have them do to us. In a word, this holy volume inspires us with spiritual discernment, and enables us to obtain the blessing of a quiet conscience in this transitory life, with a hopeful assurance of celestial bliss in the world to come.

The square and compasses when united are intended to regulate our lives and actions, as the volume of the sacred law regulates our faith. The compasses, being the chief instrument made use of in the formation of all architectural plans and designs, are appropriated to the Grand Master as the chief ruler and governor of the Craft, under whose patronage our laws are judicially enforced and implicitly obeyed by the fraternity. The square is appropriated to the whole Craft, because as every initiated Brother was obligated within it so is he exhorted to consider himself for ever bound to act thereon.

These Great Lights bear a reference to the three moral duties; for the Bible is the grand depository of faith in God, the square directs us in our duty to our neighbour, and the compasses refer to ourselves. The three degrees are also pointed out by the same

triad, the first being a system of morals contained in the holy Bible. The square is the instrument by which the Fellow-craft is proved, and the third degree is denoted by the compasses; that being the only instrument which describes a perfect figure with a circumference equi-distant in all its parts from the common centre. This minute method of examining a symbol or series of symbols may appear to the undiscriminating Brother a refinement of interpretation that the circumstances scarcely warrant. But the doctrine of progress speaks a different language; and not only justifies, but absolutely commands such an analysis as may exhibit a full and particular view of every point, part, and secret; and briefly, though rationally, illustrate them by such apposite explanation as may afford a clear and unobjectionable solution of the mystery. Hence it becomes the duty of every Masonic expositor to scan his subjects with the eye of a critic. He must look at them from every point of view. A bald and disjointed elucidation is unsatisfactory and worse than none. Either do the work well or omit it altogether. support could Freemasonry expect to obtain in these enlightened times, if it continued to be the namby pamby thing which presented itself to the public eye towards the close of the seventeenth century? It would not be tolerated. And, therefore, improvements out of number have been suggested, many of which have received the sanction and concurrence of the authorities, and now form part of the system.

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