FURNITURE OF THE LODGE. Every well-regulated Lodge is furnished with the Holy Bible, the Square, and the Compasses. These constitute the furniture of the Lodge— being the three Great Lights of Masonry. The first is designed to be the guide of our faith; the second to regulate • our actions; and the third to keep us within proper bounds with all mankind.
G.
vm, This letter is deservedly regarded as one o• the IA most sacred of the Masonic emblems. Where it is used, however, as a symbol of Deity, it must be ,;\ ;\\ remembered that it is the Saxon representative of the Hebrew Yod and the Greek Tau—the initial letters of the name of the Eternal in those languages. This symbol proves that Freemasonry always prosecuted its labors with reference to the grand ideas of Infinity and Eternity By the letter G—which conveyed to the minds of the brethren, at the same time, the idea of God and that of Geometry—it bound heaven to earth, the divine to the human, and the infinite to the finite. Masons are taught to regard the Universe as the grandest of all symbols, revealing to men, in all ages, the ideas which are eternally revolving in the mind of the Divinity, and which it is their duty to reproduce in their own lives and in the world of art and industry. Thus God and Geometry, the material worlds and the spiritual spheres, were constantly united in the speculations of the ancient Masons. They, consequently, labored earnestly and unweariedly, not only to construct cities, and embellish them with magnificent edifices, but also to build up a temple of great and divine thoughts and of ever-growing virtues for the soul to dwell in. The symbolical letter G * * * " That hieroglyphic bright, Which none but craftsmen ever saw," and before which every true Mason reverently uncovers, and bows his head—is a perpetual condemnation of profanity, impiety and vice. No brother who has bowed before that
emblem can' be profane. He will never speak the name of the Grand Master of the Universe but with reverence, respect and love. He will learn, by studying the mystic meaning of the letter G, to model his life after the divine plan; and, thus instructed, he will strive to be like God in the activity and earnestness of his benevolence, and the broadness and efficiency of his charity. "The letter G occupies a prominent position in several of the degrees in the American system; is found in many of the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish rite; in Adonbiramite Masonry; and, in fact, in every one of the many systems in which the people of the sixteenth and seventeenth centu ries were so prolific in manufacturing. Wherever we find this recondite symbol in any of the Masonic rites, it has the same significance—a substitute for the Hebraic jod, the initial letter of the Divine name, and a monogram ft at expressed the Uncreated Being, principle of all things; and, inclosed in a triangle, the unity of God. recognize tne same letter G in the Syriac Gad, the Swedish Gud, tne Gern.an Gott, and the English God—all names of the Deity, and all derived from the Persian Goda, itself derived from the absolute pronoun signifying himself. The young Fellow Craft is the representative of a student of the sciences, and to him the letter G* represents the science of Geometry."