THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

perfection, not to the formerly operative character of the institution,
(for there never was a time when it was not speculative as well as
operative,) but to its symbolic nature. In the ancient temple, every
stone
was required to be _perfect_, for a perfect stone was the symbol of
truth.
In our mystic association, every Mason represents a stone in that
spiritual temple, "that house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens," of which the temple of Solomon was the type. Hence it is
required that he should present himself, like the perfect stone in the
material temple, a perfect man in the spiritual building. "The symbolic
relation of each member of the Order to its mystic temple, forbids the
idea," says Bro. W.S. Rockwell, of Georgia,[60] "that its constituent
portions, its living stones, should be less perfect or less a type of
their great original, than the immaculate material which formed the
earthly dwelling place of the God of their adoration." If, then, as I
presume it will be readily conceded, by all except those who
erroneously
suppose the institution to have been once wholly operative and
afterwards
wholly speculative, perfection is required in a candidate, not for the
physical reason that he may be enabled to give the necessary signs of
recognition, but because the defect would destroy the symbolism of that
perfect stone which every Mason is supposed to represent in the
spiritual
temple, we thus arrive at a knowledge of the causes which moved the
legislators of Masonry to enact the law, and we see at once, and
without
doubt, that the words _perfect youth_ are to be taken in an unqualified
sense, as signifying one who has "his right limbs as a man ought to
have."[61]
It is, however, but fair to state that the remaining clause of the old
charge, which asserts that the candidate must have no maim or defect
that
may render him incapable of learning the art, has been supposed to
intend
a modification of the word "perfect," and to permit the admission of
one
whose maim or defect was not of such a nature as to prevent his
learning
the art of Masonry. But I would respectfully suggest that a criticism
of
this kind is based upon a mistaken view of the import of the words. The
sentence is not that the candidate must have no such maim or defect as
might, by possibility, prevent him from learning the art; though this
is
the interpretation given by those who are in favor of admitting
slightly
maimed candidates. It is, on the contrary, so worded as to give a
consequential meaning to the word "_that_." He must have no maim or
defect
_that_ may render him incapable; that is, _because_, by having such
maim
or defect, he would be rendered incapable of acquiring our art.