14 ct Gold
Set of Square and Compasses
This
wonderful set of Square and Compasses was a gift to the
New York based German constitution Pythagoras Lodge number 86 on its
50th Anniversary in 1891,
from sister lodges in New York
State. We believe this Lodge was merged with another Lodge
of German origin/ English Constitution, now a member of the
Grand Lodge of New York State - Trinity Lodge No 12.
As in Operative Freemasonry, the
compasses are used for the admeasurements of the architect's plans, and
to enable him to give those just proportions which will ensure beauty as well
as stability to his work; so, in Speculative Freemasonry, is this important
implement symbolic of that even tenor of deportment, that true standard of
rectitude which alone can bestow happiness here and felicity hereafter. Hence
are the compasses the most prominent emblem of virtue, the true and only
measure of a Freemason's life and conduct. As the Bible gives us
Light on our duties to God, and the square illustrates our
duties to our neighborhood and Brother, so the compasses give that
additional light which is to instruct us in the duty we owe to
ourselves--the great, imperative duty of circumscribing our passions, and
keeping our desires within due bounds. "It is ordained," says the philosophic
Burke, "in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate
passions cannot be free; their passions forge their fetters." Those Brethren
who delight to trace our emblems to an astronomical origin, find in the
compasses a symbol of the sun, the circular pivot representing the body
of the luminary, and the diverging legs his rays. In the earliest rituals of
the eighteenth century, the compasses are described as a part of the
furniture of the Lodge, and are said to belong to the Master. Some change
will be found in this respect in the ritual of the present day. The word is
sometimes spelled and pronounced compass, which is more usually
applied to the magnetic needle and circular dial or card of the mariner from
which he directs his course over the seas, or the similar guide of the airman
when seeking his destination across unknown territory.
The Square is one of the most
important and significant symbols in Freemasonry. As such, it is proper that
its true form should be preserved. French Freemasons have almost universally
given it with one leg longer than the other (like the one pictured above)
thus making it a carpenter's square. American Freemasons, following the
incorrect delineations of Brother Jeremy L. Cross, have, while generally
preserving the equality of length in the legs, unnecessarily marked its surface
with inches; thus making it an instrument for measuring length and breadth,
which it is not. It is simply the trying square of a stone-mason, and
has a plain surface; the sides or legs embracing an angle of ninety degrees, and
is intended only to test the accuracy of the sides of a stone, and to see that
its edges subtend the same angle. In Freemasonry, the square is a symbol of
morality. This is its general signification, and applied in various ways: 1.
It presents itself to the neophyte as one of the Three Great Lights. 2. To the
Fellow Craft as one of his Working-tools. 3. To the Master Mason as the
official emblem of the Master of the Lodge. Everywhere, however, it inculcates
the same lesson of morality, of truthfulness, of honesty. So universally
accepted is this symbolism, that it has gone outside of the Order, and has been
found in colloquial language communicating the same idea. The Square, says
Halliwell, Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, means honest,
equitable, as in "square dealing." To play upon the square is
proverbial for to play honestly. In this sense the word is found in
the old writers. As a Masonic symbol, it is of very ancient date, and was
familiar to the Operative Masons. In the year 1830, the architect, in
rebuilding a very ancient bridge called Baal Bridge, near Limerick, in Ireland,
found under the foundation-stone an old brass square, much eaten away,
containing on its two side surfaces the following inscription, the U being read
as V: I. WILL STRIUE. TO. LIUE.--WITH. LOUE. & CARE.--UPON. THE LEUL.--BY. THE.
SQUARE., and the date 1517. The modern Speculative Freemason will recognize the
idea of living on the level and by the square. This discovery proves,
if proof were necessary, that the familiar idea was borrowed from our Operative
Brethren of former days. The square, as a symbol in Speculative Freemasonry,
has therefore presented itself from the very beginning of the revival period.
In the very earliest catechism of the eighteenth century, of the date of 1725,
we find the answer to the question, "How many make a Lodge?" is "God and the
Square, with five or seven right or perfect Masons." God and the Square,
religion and morality, must be present in every Lodge as governing principles.
Signs at the early period were to be made by squares, and the Furniture
of the Lodge was declared to be the Bible, Compasses, and Square. In all rites
and in all languages where Freemasonry has penetrated, the square has preserved
its primitive signification as a symbol of morality.
