The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 4 - Signs & Symbols 141
4.2 Working Tools of the Different Degrees
A man passing by where a massive building was being erected observed
men working in stone. To three of the workmen he addressed the
question, 'What are you doing?' One replied, 'I am earning a day's wage.'
Another said, 'I am shaping this stone.' But the third answered, 'I am
building a temple.' 391
Of the three stonemasons mentioned in the philosophical quotation above,
only the third one has a vision - he sees a temple in the stone. The orator from
whose speech this fable was taken adds that many Masons are like these
workmen - they are skilled in ritualistic work and lectures, but lack the
perception of a profound truth behind them, which is expressed by signs and
symbols.
In this chapter, the meaning of the Masonic working tools will be explained,
which are borrowed from the operative craft of stonemasonry. In Freemasonry,
the symbol is a material object which expresses and impresses a moral truth. In a
figurative sense, Freemasons are builders. In comparison with their operative
predecessors, who used perishable bricks and stones, the Freemasons employ
living stones to erect the "Temple of Humanity," and, in their language, "cement
those stones with brotherly love." They use implements of the operative art that
have acquired a symbolic meaning: "Hence they are called the working-tools of
the degree." 392 Different working tools are assigned to the three degrees of
Masonry. The following evaluation will show why this is the case.
4.2.1 The Square & the Compass
The most popular symbol that everyone associates with Freemasonry is the
combination of the square and the compass. Often, we encounter the letter G in
the center of this double symbol, which obviously was a late addition: "[...] as
late as 1873, that letter in the symbol was unusual. The G was evidently added
by some jeweler [...] and the idea quickly took hold and became very popular
[...]." 393
The square and the compass have an antithetic meaning: in almost every
tradition, the set square is associated with the geometric square, the Earth and
matter; whereas the compass (or compasses) denote(s) the circle, Heaven and the
spirit. Such is also the case in Freemasonry. The compass has two points, that are
given the following Masonic interpretation by Bro. Joseph Fort Newton: "Of the
391 Quoted from a speech by Bro. Robert P. McColloch before the Grand Lodge of A.F. & A.M. of
Kansas, Feb. 24, 1926; cited in Myler, p. 78.
392 MD, p. 673.
393 CME, p. 631. The "G" denotes "geometry" or "God."