MANUAL OF FREEMASONRY - Masonic High Council the Mother ...

MANUAL OF FREEMASONRY 33
Q. How many principal points are there in Masonry ?
A. Four.
Q. To what do they refer ?
A. To the ceremony of initiation, are denominated from so
many parts of the human body, and are called Guttural, Pectoral,
Mental, and Pedal.
Q. To what do they further allude ?
A. To the four cardinal virtues—Temperance, Fortitude,
Prudence, and Justice.
Q. To which of those virtues does the Guttural allude ?
A. Temperance, which demands such a cautious habit of
restraint as may be necessary to preserve us from the risk of
violating our obligation and incurring its penalty.
Q. To which the Pectoral ?
A. The Pectoral more particularly refers to the virtue of
fortitude, which is equally necessary to defend our hearts
against the powerful influence of allurements to terrors, that
might prevail over our weakness, and, by extorting from us
the secrets of Masonry, would plant an eternal torment in our
conscience.
Q. To which the Mental ?
A. The Mental reminds us of that deliberate and steady
prudence which ought to guide our actions, forbidding us to
seal with the sacred pledge of our right hand what the heart
has not sanctioned with its approbation.
Q. To which the Pedal ?
A. The Pedal is the point on which we receive the first
great recommendation of the Master, ever to continue, as we
then appeared, upright men and Masons. It therefore denotes
the duty of universal justice, which consists in doing to others
as we would they should do un to us.
Q. I will thank you to illustrate Temperance.
A. Temperance is more peculiarly the virtue of prosperity, as
it guards the soul against. those insidious allurements by
which its nobler feelings are too often corrupted. But her influence
is not confined to the hour of prosperity alone : she
forms the mind to a general habit of restraint over its appetites,
its passions, and even its virtues ; any of which, if al-
lowed to acquire exclusive influence over the soul, would
concentrate the faculties in a single point, absorb its feelings,
and confine its energies, insensibly producing intolerance of