Free Masonry - The Masonic Trowel

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104 SUBLIME DEGREE OV MASTER MASON.
! CHAPTER. XVII.
The Inglorious Death of our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff\
» O Desdemona! Dwdemona! Dead?
" Dead ?—Oh! Oh! Oh!"— Othello.
IT is well known, that at the time we speak of, only
three! Master Masons blessed the earth; (the 3600 ancient
masters and mark masters, being but a part of the sic tmpar
*tftt, are not wanted now;) to these three alone the .
master's word was known. I think there were 80,000 fellow
crafts employed upon the temple; my brethren will
correct me if I am wrong. Certain of these took the bold
resolution of extorting from the third man under the whole
heavens, a man of piety, mercy, and integrity, what did not
belong to them; and these daring ones were stimulated to
the nefarious deed by the fear of not regularly receiving
the pay and emoluments of masters after leaving Jerusalem
to travel in foreign parts.
Their leading motive at first appears singular; they could
not find means to be contented with a pay inferior to that
of princes! And how did they propose to secure that pay ?
Being about to travel in foreign parts, they thought to
make sure of master's pay, could they but obtain the mas*
ter's word; that ineffable word that had been handed down
through successive ages by tradition^ and was still visible in
the temple in the time St. Jerome flourished ; the Shibboleth
of Free Masonry, that blazed out upon the triangle in the
dark vault, so soon as the man's lamp was extinguished. A
wonderful name, known only to Solomon and the two Hirams
; and yet it would help the fellow crafts travelling into
foreign parts, to obtain master's wages f This is truly Free
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