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The title of this Section
is “To Talk of Many Things.” It is therefore not to be regarded as a
final and ultimate statement concerning any subject that we choose to
discuss. If any reader of the magazine wishes to put forward more
information or a fresh thought on the subject, his comments would be
welcomed by the Editor.
A question that occasionally arises concerns the use of the 47th
Proposition of Euclid’s first book as part of the Past Master’s jewel.
The idea of a jewel for a Past Master appears to have arisen in the
middle of the 18th century. The exposure Three Distinct Knocks of April,
1760 contains on the page illustrating the plan of the lodge and
locations of the officers has the following “The Pass Master hath the
Compasses and Sun with a line of Cords, about his Neck, viz. 65
degrees.” Jachin and Boaz of 1762 has “Pass Master, with the Sun and
Compasses, and a string of Cords.” Similar wording also appears in
another exposure Mahhabone of 1766. A number of portraits of Masons in
the 18th century show them wearing jewels that bear a resemblance to
those descriptions. Although these seem to have been worn as jewels
there was no official sanction of them It was not until May, 1814 that
an official permission to wear a Past Masters’ jewel was granted and, in
the announcement, it was described as “The Square within a Quadrant.”
We now have to move backwards in time to1723 when Anderson’s
Constitutions was published. In the frontispiece a diagram of the 47th
Proposition is inscribed on the flooring between the feet of the Duke of
Wharton and the Duke of Montagu.
The Proposition also appeared in Smith’s Pocket Companion of 1735 and
again in a 1752 edition as well
as in Multa Paucis, 1764. Now we fast forward to 1815 |
and the first Book of
Constitutions after the Union, in which a jewel is prescribed for the
Past Master: “The square and diagram of the 47th prop. 1st B of Euclid,
engraved on a silver plate pendent within it.” It seems, however, that
this official jewel was slightly changed in that the square today
appears more like a sector.
The evidence as to the
reason for choosing the 47th proposition is obscure, but the history as
related in Anderson’s Constitutions of 1723 includes the following: “But
his Scholar, the Greater Pythagoras, proved the Author of the 47th
Proposition of Euclid’s first Book which, if duly observed is the
Foundation of all Masonry, sacred, civil and military.” It would seem
therefore that Masons felt that Masonry and Geometry were synonymous and
Anderson probably felt that the 47th Proposition epitomized Geometry and
therefore Masonry.
Another item about which to talk is the words “time immemorial.” The
definition used in Masonry is time in the distant past or beyond memory
or record. A second definition is a legal one, which is given as before
legal memory. In England this is fixed by Statute as prior to 1189 the
beginning of the reign of Richard I.
Some questions appear to be of lesser importance than others, but they
are all useful additions to our store of knowledge. Such is the next
subject which, although of no great impact, illustrates that some of the
things we do in Masonry today possess a long history. The method of
expressing assent in a lodge is by extending the right arm parallel to
the floor. The earliest reference to a voting procedure is found in
Anderson’s Constitutions, 1738 which gives: “The Opinions or Votes of
the Members are always to be signified by each holding up one of his
Hands.” |