Free Masonry - The Masonic Trowel

DEATH OF THE GRAND MASTER. 107
are thy traditions, O Free Masonry J And this is the exhibition
of " an instance of virtue, fortitude, and integrity,
unparalleled in the history of man/ 1 (Masonic Chart)
"An instance of virtue, fortitude, and integrity, seldom
equalled, and never excelled, in the history of man !" (Mas.
Monitor.)
u Hail, mysterious! hail, glorious Masonry!
" That makes as ever great and free."—F. M. L. p. 352.
The manner of first receiving the master's grip, and the
accompanying five points of fellowship, is easily recollected
by every master mason; and when it is considered that the
first performers of this singular ceremony, were no less
persons than Solomon, king of Israel, and the corpse of a
man now 14 or 15 days dead, a corpse so far changed that
the fellow crafts who opened the grave were compelled, on
first coming to the body, to give a significant sign of its mortified
state, the most credulous must see that the tradition
smells of falsehood, and is utterly shocking to common
sense.
u Mortua quin etiam jungebat corpora vivis,
«* Componens rnanibusque maims, atque oribus ora
44 Complexuin misero."--w£n. viii.436.
41 The living and the dead, at his command,
44 Were coupled race to race, and hand to hand*"—Drydm.
Yet it has been repeated for years, and will be repeated
for years to come, by men of understanding, to curious
novices, with perfect gravity, and with solemn and reiterated
" assurances of its undeniable truth !"* It may, however,
be hoped there will in future be some choking, when
they give to the candidate the lion's paw and the five
points of feUoioship.
Such are the u incongruities" of the historical tradition
belonging to the sublime degree of master mason ; enough,
it must be confessed, to justify the " embarrassment 11 of our
*Dalcho,p.44.