Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor - Rose Croix

to give his opinion on some specific doctrine or ceremony propounded from the Chair.
He may, or he may not, be willing or able to comply with the demand. If the former, he
enlightens the members by his disquisition; and if he declines the task, a alight sign is a
sufficient negative, and the query is transferred to the next in succession, whose absolute
freedom of will is acknowledged by leaving him at full liberty to act as he may feel
disposed.--The Freemason's Treasury, p. 149.
43:1 The Tracing Board combines all the Landmarks of the Degree, and Includes the
essence of its lectures and illustrations. It opens with mortality in its feeblest state; poor
and penniless, and blind and naked; and conducts the pious inquirer to a glorious
immortality.--Historical Landmarks, vol. i. p. 134.
44:1 The candidate is obligated in the east and invested in the west; advances from west
to east by right lines and angles, to typify the necessity of an upright life and wellsquared
actions; and he is subsequently placed in the northeast to receive instruction, as a
corner-stone, from which a superstructure is expected to rise, perfect in its parts and
honorable to the builder.--The Freemason's Treasury, p. 24.
48:1 Among the ancient Israelites, the SHOE was made use of in several significant
ways. To put off the shoes imported reverence, and was done in the presence of God, or
on entering the dwelling of a superior. To unloose one's shoe, and give it to another, was
the way of confirming a contract.--Lexicon.
48:2 DARKNESS among Freemasons is emblematical of ignorance; for as our science
has technically been called "LUX," or light, the absence of light must be the absence of
knowledge. Hence the rule, that the eye should not see until the heart has conceived the
true nature of those beauties which constitute the mysteries of our Order. Freemasonry
has restored Darkness to its proper place, as a state of preparation.--Lexicon.
50:1 It was asserted by Aristotle, that "he who bears the shocks of fortune valiantly and
demeans himself uprightly, is truly good, and of a SQUARE POSTURE, without
reproof."--Historical Landmarks, vol. i. p. 189.
52:1 Every Lodge is furnished with six JEWELS, three of which are movable and three
immovable. The movable jewels, so called because they are not confined to any
particular part of the Lodge. are the rough ashler, the perfect ashler, and the trestleboard.
The immovable jewels are the square, the level, and the plumb. They are termed
immovable, because they are appropriated to particular parts of the Lodge, where alone
they should be found, namely, the square in the east, the level to the west, and the plumb
to the south--Lexicon.
54:1 Each Degree of Masonry contains a course of instruction, in which the ceremonies.
traditions, and moral instruction appertaining to the Degree are set forth. This
arrangement is called a LECTURE. In the Entered Apprentices' Degree, the first section
describes the proper mode of initiation, and supplies the means of qualifying us for our
privileges. and of testing the claims of others The second section rationally accounts for