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

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Chapter 4 - Signs & Symbols
of the Lodge, without having beheld even the form thereof. 453 In the Second
Degree, the cabletow is put twice around the right arm of the candidate, which is
explained in the catechetical question-and-answer dialogue as follows: "To teach
me that as a F. C. I was under a double tie to the fraternity." 454 In the Third
Degree, the cabletow extends three times around the candidate's body, and the
candidate thus explains the thought behind this symbolism: "To teach me that my
duties and obligations became more and more extensive as I advanced in
Masonry." 455 The candidates are freed from the cabletow when they assume new,
spiritual responsibilities - only then, they can let go the old, material bond:
The cable tow is like the cord which joins a child to its mother at birth,
nor is it removed until, by the act of assuming the obligations of the
moral life, a new, unseen tie is woven, uniting us with our race in its
moral effort to build a world of fraternal goodwill. 456
A further significance of the cabletow is the distance a Mason should be
away from his lodge, and also the extent of Masonic charity. Masonry Defined
thus interprets the cabletow's length:
Gaedicke says that, 'according to the ancient laws of Freemasonry,
every brother must attend his Lodge if he is within the length of his
cable tow.' The old writers define the length of a cable tow, which they
sometimes called 'a cable's length,' to be three miles for an Entered
Apprentice. But the expression is really symbolic and, as it was defined
by the Baltimore Convention in 1842, means the scope of a man's
reasonable ability. 457
In the same sense, TRMC states that the cabletow is for the Masons "the
obligation to attend their Lodge, when summoned, if within the distance of three
miles, metaphorically supposed to be the length of a cable tow." 458 In many
Masonic orations, metaphors dealing with the cabletow are used. For example,
Grand Orator Owen Scott from Illinois says in a speech on the mission of a
Mason that "[i]f he has really imbibed the true spirit of our wonderful
brotherhood he will not allow the sun to go down without the relief of every
worthy distressed brother within the length of his cable-tow. [...] Wherever there
is a human sigh, a pain of anguish, a sorrow-stricken heart or a fevered brow this
cable-tow will be found sufficient to reach it." 459
453 Nizzardini (publ.), p. 61.
454 Ibid, p. 125.
455 Ibid, p. 196.
456 Bro. Joseph Fort Newton, in: "The Religion of Masonry," printed in The Master Mason, Sept.,
1925, p. 728.
457 MD, p. 142.
458 TRMC, p. 88.
459 Quoted in Myler, p. 236/237.