Page 73 - LESTER'S LOOK TOTHE EAST

remembering that we are traveling upon the Level of Time to that
undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns.

You will now be reconducted to the place from whence you came, and
there be re-invested of what you were divested; after which, agreeable
to an ancient custom in all regular and well governed Lodges of Fellow
Crafts, it will be necessary that you make a regular ascent up a flight of
winding stairs, consisting of three, five and seven steps, into a place
representing the middle chamber of King Solomon's Temple, there to
receive further instruction relative to the wages of a Fellow Craft, which
are corn, wine and oil, emblematical of peace, unity and plenty.

The candidate is now conducted to the altar, where he is instructed to
salute the Master; he is then taken to the preparation room, and placed
in the charge of Stewards, where he resumes his regular apparel.

While he is thus occupied, the columns, which represent the pillars of
the porch of King Solomon's Temple, are placed upright near the door of
the preparation room, so as to leave a space of about four feet between
the columns. A floor-cloth, on which are represented the three, five and
seven steps, is laid on the floor, so as to lead from the columns around
the altar, and up to the Junior Warden's station in the South. When the
candidate returns to the Lodge, the Senior Deacon meets him at the
door of the preparation room, and placing him between the columns,
says:

S.D. to Candidate. My brother, you were informed by the Worshipful
Master that, agreeable to an ancient custom in all regular and well-gov-
erned Lodges of Fellow Crafts, it is necessary that you make a regular
ascent up a flight of winding stairs, consisting of three, five and seven
steps, into a place representing the middle chamber of King Solomon's
Temple, there to receive further instruction relative to the wages of a
Fellow Craft, which are corn, wine and oil, emblematical of peace, unity
and plenty.

In pursuance of his orders, I proceed to conduct you to the middle
chamber.

There are two kinds of Masonry, operative and speculative.

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 whence will result a due proportion and a just
correspondence in all its parts. It furnishes us with dwellings and
convenient shelter 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 sundry 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 beneficent purposes.

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