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

432
Chapter 7 - Rituals
Lodge, after having seen the wages distributed and the "working plans deposited
in a place of safety" (p. 52).
Finally, the Worshipful Master or the Chaplain sums up the purpose of the
order, referring to the spiritual temple of humanity, by expressing his gratitude to
the G.O.O.T.U., "for favours already received, and as the stone, rejected of the
builders, possessing merits to them unknown, became the head of the corner, so
may we by patient continuance in well doing, be built up as living stones into a
spiritual house, meet for His habitation." (p. 53)
Then, the Worshipful Master gives the peculiar knocks with his left hand, and
closes the Lodge. The Inner Guard knocks on the door accordingly, which is
answered by the Tyler outside.
Before closing this chapter, a peculiar ceremony of Christian character will
be mentioned that is described in Richardson's and Duncan's rituals from the late
1800s, but which does not figure any more in several modern Mark rituals. 1328
This ceremony follows directly after the candidate has received his degree. It is
the sixth hour of the sixth day of the week, and the procedure of paying the
wages takes place at the Master's seat in the East. The brethren ask one another
how much they have got, and the answer is "a penny," when the candidate also
replies that he has received a penny. Suddenly, "all the brethren pretend to be in
a great rage, and hurl their pennies on the floor with violence, 1329 " because they
are dissatisfied with the manner of paying the craft, for they have borne the
burden of the day, whereas the young craftsman, the candidate, has just passed
the square and received as much as they. The Right Worshipful Master reads to
them Matthew, xx. 1-16, the parable of the vineyard, and sums up the tenet of
Masonry, i.e. equality, with the moral of the Biblical passage: "I will give unto
this last, even as unto thee. [...] So the last shall be first, and the first last [...]."
Hereupon, the brethren are picking up their pennies and are content with what
they have.
This scene does not figure in the English Mark ritual which was employed
for this section. The parable strictly speaking has nothing to do with the erection
of the temple, but - while the androgynous orders draw so many of their
characters and ceremonies from the Bible - is well-matched with the procedure
of "paying a Master's wages," stressing the figure of speech that Masons "meet
upon the level, and part upon the square," i.e. that they are all equal. The penny
which they all receive is the symbolic reward which awaits them in heaven, and
the Great Overseer of the Universe does not distinguish those who have worked
in the quarries, i.e. in Masonry, a little bit longer than the rest.
1328 Cf. The 'Standard' Ritual of Scottish Freemasonry, 1950, and Mark Rituals, No.1, Ceremony of
Advancement, 1920.
1329 Duncan, p. 173.