SYMPOSIUM OF PAPERS CONTRIBUTED BY MEMBERS OF
THE CIRCLE
(PART EIGHT)


INTRODUCTION

by

Wor.Bro. R.A.L. Harland, P.M.,  Lodge  No.  1679
President of the Circle

It is my privilege as President of the Circle to introduce to
members the eighth part of the excellent symposium of Papers
contributed in response to the invitation issued by the Governing
Council, as follows:-


"WALTER LESLIE WILMSHURST 1867-1939"

by

W.Bro. Major A. Cathcart Bruce, P.G. Steward,
P.M., The Lodge of Living Stones, No. 4957



"THE SYMBOLISM OF THE PAST MASTER'S JEWEL"

by

W.Bro. C.G. Nicholas, L.G.R., P.M., Bloomsbury Rifles Lodge, No. 
2362  

I would particularly draw the attention of members of the Circle to
the excellent contribution by W.Bro. Major A. Cathcart Bruce who
was closely associated with the late W.Bro. W.L. Wilmshurst,
affectionately known as W.L.W., the revered Masonic teacher upon
whose work Dormer was encouraged to promulgate the spiritual aspect
of Freemasonry for the benefit of the Craft in general. I would
likewise commend the Paper by W. Bro. C.G. Nicholas, an old and
valued friend of myself and the Circle, for his exposition of the
symbolism of the Past Master's Jewel which I am sure students will
find most instructive.  Both of these Papers are welcome additions
to our symposium, and I trust will be carefully studied in relation
to the aims and ideals of the Circle.

R.A.L. Harland,
President.

"WALTER LESLIE WILMSHURST 1867-1939"

by

W.Bro. Major A. Cathcart Bruce, P.G. Steward,

P.M., The Lodge of Living Stones, No. 4957

... "He filleth the hungry with good things "...

The world is the richer because W.L. Wilmshurst passed through it
once again leaving the abiding imprint of his wisdom - the greater
part esoteric - together with the impact of his spiritual vision,
upon all with whom he came into contact.  Whilst living in what he
once described as this "terrestrial miasma" and partaking of its
joys and sorrows, he recognised them for what they are, steps on
the way to further effort.  He was one of the world's greatest
Freemasons, a deep mystic, and a most "gentyle parfait Knight". 
His vital and illuminating exposition of the inner content of
Freemasonry mark him out as one of the forerunners of our modern
days.

Wilmshurst or W.L.W. as he was so often known was born on June
22nd, 1867, at Chichester in Sussex. His family came to England
from the Harz mountains in Germany, via Paris, in the reign of
Henry VIII.  They were bankers and jewellers.

It is recorded that at a very early age he showed instinctive
recognition and interest in what was to become his great works for
his generation, the unveiling of the true purpose and meaning of
Freemasonry.

When a boy, he passed daily on his way to school the window of a
shop filled with strange things, fascinating to his child's mind. 
He became so deeply affected by what he thus frequently saw through
the magic window that he consulted his uncle, who told him he would
have to wait till old enough to become a Freemason as none other
could know or explain their meaning.

The pattern of his life and the development of his many talents
began to show when he was a teenager, for he was intellectually
head and shoulders above boys of his own age and he gave early
promise of undoubted literary gifts.  On leaving school in 1882, it
was decided that he was best fitted for a legal career and so
willy-nilly he spent months studying in London.  Whilst there he
made frequent visits to the theatre for he was always fond of the
drama and he also spent much of the little leisure he had in art
galleries and museums and especially attending concerns, for music
meant much to him.  He was ever a devotee of nature in all her
moods, from whose quiet depths no doubt he drew much inspiration. 
Recreation for him ever spelt re-creation.

Eventually he became articled to a solicitor, a friend of the
family, in Huddersfield, where he was to labour with distinction at
his profession until his death.  It was in such surroundings -
scarcely conducive to things of the spirit one would imagine - that
he was to give forth over the years so much with regard to the
hidden things of the inner life of regeneration, and above all the
arcana of Freemasonry.  His was a soul steeped in an immense
understanding of symbology and metaphor, and his ardent devotion to
music showed itself perhaps especially in his work for and with the
Huddersfield Choral Society.  He was an authority on Handel's
Messiah on which he broadcast more than once.

His love of nature was intense as with all seers (seers), and
visits to the peaceful Yorkshire dales were a chief delight
latterly whenever he could tear himself away for a day from not
only the ever increasing pressure and tension of his legal
profession, but also the enormous amount of literary work and
correspondence with regard to Freemasonry and allied subjects with
which he had to cope. He never used a typewriter and wrote all by
his own hand.  During the years just prior to World War II, many
Sunday afternoons were spent walking and talking by the green
pastures and still waters of Fountains Abbey near Ripon and for his
friends the timeless hours became steeped and irradiated by all
that Euripides in his Hippolytus implied by "the apples and the
singing and the gold."

W.L.W. was not only a man of letters but a poet, as witness his
representation in the Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse (1916). 
A book of his poems, hard to come by, is entitled The Way to the
East (1939).  The dedication is typical: "Dedicated to the Most
High, this piece of Architecture is offered to my Masonic Brethren
and Companions throughout the Universe."

These words are quoted from the Foreword:

"... In these days of rapid world change, change is invading the
Masonic mind and the long concealed primary significance of the
system, its deeper vital and fundamental implications are at last
beginning to be recognised ... the mystical Building craft can and
seems predestined to become - a drag-net for the skies - and a
universal basis of practical brotherhood and spiritual guidance for
those who seek experience and initiation on the eternal Mysteries."

and again from A Song of Degrees:

"I will make my way and rejoice
To climb the hill of the Lord
In search of the long lost word
And the sound of a still small voice."

A Born Teacher

But whether through prose or the spoken word he was ever able to
give of his "oil" to others in a manner easily understood and in
simple language.  He could explain the deepest truths by means of
symbols taken from the everyday things of life; a rare gift.  On
one occasion at supper, while coffee was being prepared, he looked
up with one of his puckish smiles and said: "I see you are an
alchemist." He then proceeded to tell how to "volatilize the fixed"
and of how eventually a new confection is distilled from the mixing
of diverse tinctures or ingredients.  A spiritual lesson indeed and
all from a coffee machine!

He was a born teacher, although he was ever the first to deny it or
indeed that he professed to teach anything to anyone.  As he
himself said, he was no Guru, just a man who had perhaps a little
more experience than his hearer and had dug things out for himself,
as he ever urged us all to do.  He was a practical mystic and his
book on Christian mysticism Contemplations should be in every
thinker's library.  He had a profound knowledge and understanding
of world religions, for he knew there were other sheep not of the
Christian fold but nevertheless the shepherd was one.  Amongst his
writings was - Chief Scripture of India (the Bhagavad Gita), widely
acclaimed as a unique interpretation to the Western world of one of
the greatest esoteric teachings from the East.

Yet in spite of his outpourings into many vessels, his magnum opus
to countless others throughout the world was his exposition of the
real purport of modem Freemasonry, and the giving forth of a true
body of teaching and practice concerning the supra-natural purpose
of the Royal Art. His two outstanding books are his abiding
monument: The Meaning of Masonry and The Masonic Initiation.

The physical vehicle of Freemasonry has been slowly perfected over
the years, now the cup is ready - but who could and would dare to
fill it with the wine of the spirit, destined to be a veritable
Holy Grail in the new age? Of the Order's three great principles,
namely Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth, the first two are
reasonably and adequately catered for, indeed in danger of
overstress, so that the Craft drifts into being largely a social
and charitable organisation.  Truth, the greatest of the three was
and still is neglected.  A wise and dedicated disciple was needed
and since we are never left without witness, W.L.W. not only could
but did fill the bill.  He pointed out that the be-all and the
end-all of Freemasonry was not the often meaningless repetition of
ritual, but the regeneration of our brethren, whether within or
without our Order.

"... Throw wide open the shutters of your minds and imagination.
Learn to see in Masonry something more than a parochial system
enjoining elementary morality, performing perfunctory and
meaningless rites and serving as an agreeable accessory to social
life.  Look to find it in a living philosophy ... realise that its
secrets, which are many and valuable, are not upon the surface ...
that its mysteries are eternal ones that treat of the Spirit ... "

(from The Meaning of Masonry.)

Know thyself - the Kingdom is within - you my brother are the Lodge
of which the material temple is but a symbol - thus and thus spoke
and wrote W.L.W. - a voice crying in the wilderness makes straight
the Path - Masonry is not of this world.  But as well he knew, many
are the Thyrsus bearers, few as yet the Bacchoi.

Uninitiated Initiates

Here was a Forerunner indeed.  In this new Aquarian age, when the
water-pots are being filled, many groups are working one way or
another for the eventual restoration of the mysteries: an
increasing number of aspirants and world servers believe that such
will gradually come to full physical plane manifestation.  In this
important phase of the Plan, Freemasonry has surely a leading part
to play so that by an inner gift of grace, real initiation as
opposed to the present generally symbolic one will again be
possible.  W.L.W. wished to do away with the paradox of uninitiated
Initiates, through that pattern of the ageless wisdom exemplified
by the architectural symbology of Freemasonry and to re-assert the
eternal verities temporarily veiled up to now from all but a
handful of Brethren.

"... a regrouping and a redistribution of energy is taking place
... a new group consciousness - the Masonic consciousness - has
been in the process of formation ... when the time ripens the
Mysteries as a science of life, and an art of so living as to
qualify for attaining ultra-natural life will come to be restored."

(from The Masonic Initiation.)

W.L.W. was a Forerunner therefore in that he dug the first trench,
cut the first channel - indeed he was the channel - to guide the
advancing trickle, herald of the incoming flood.  No one realized
better than he that which would eventuate would at first be but a
pale shadow of what was destined one day to come - but he also
knew, as others do today, that the tide is irresistibly coining in,
though at the moment it only laps around the feet.

His was a soul filled with the wonder of wisdom, strength and
beauty.  He had "heard a sound as of a silver horn from over the
hills". To us who still do but clamour at the gate he would whisper
the password and teach us how to knock when - as ever promised -
the everlasting doors would open of themselves.

"Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord is sill a
Candidate's perfect introit.

He set the example of what all Masters of Lodges should be, both
High Priest and King and humbly laboured to set his brother's feet
on that Path "which no fowl knoweth and the vulture's eye hath not
seen" - though he once wrote - "don't be cocksure any of us are on
the Path at all!"

On December 16th, 1927, he founded, consecrated and became the
first Worshipful Master of The Lodge of Living Stones: Leeds No.
4957 under the English Constitution, which Lodge he inspired and
guided till his death.  Today the Lodge follows his ideals, which
can be said to be the finding of the glory at the end of the
rainbow and the offering of its members, in so far as they are
worthy to be used in the building of that temple not made with
hands, dedicated to the glory of the Most High and in faith that
they have the blessing of the Grand Lodge Above.  The Lodge strives
to serve as a group.  Along with other similarly motivated groups
and a growing body of brethren scattered over the world it
endeavours to work from the centre and not the circumference.  As
W.L.W. taught, we Freemasons belong to a system capable of
producing real initiation if the craft as a while but knew it.

He was elected President of the Masonic Study Society in London in
October, 1937, and his then Presidential address was something long
to ponder over and study.  He emphasized that our rituals are a far
greater system of spiritual doctrine than is popularly supposed and
that fruition will come but we must sit under our own fig tree and
gather the fruits therefrom: that we must look forward and not back
and so endeavour to cooperate with the divine Plan in spite of our
muddy vesture of decay - nay indeed use it as the necessary fulcrum
to higher things.

"... the deplorable perversion and materialisation of the true
Masonic intention has been both an inevitable and a necessary
prelude to a spiritual efflorescence which in due course will
manifest itself and of which the beginnings are already
perceptible."  
(from The Masonic Initiation.)

In a word W.L.W. said - "in all essentials, though in less
elaborate ways, the Craft presents the same graded path to the
heights as that taught at Eleusis, Thebes, or other great centres
of initiation".

He died on July 19th, 1939, in a manner he would have wished, for
he suddenly collapsed in the street shortly after coming from the
installation of H.R.H. the late Duke of Kent as Grand Master of the
United Grand Lodge of England.  He passed on, as it were, Masonic
business.

In conclusion some lines by the late John Drinkwater, appear to be
eminently applicable to those of us who are left here behind for a
while and who wish to serve the Great Architect and our Brethren in
Freemasonry:

"May you that watch and we that serve so grow
In wisdom as adventuring we go
That some unwavering light from us may shine
We have the challenge of the mighty line
God grant us Grace to give the countersign."

(In addition to brief quotations from Wilmshurst's Masonic
publications, the author has received permission to quote from The
Life and Work of W.L. Wilmshurst, privately published in 1954.  He
gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to Miss Wilmshurst and to
The Lodge of Living Stones.)

 
"THE SYMBOLISM OF THE PAST MASTER'S JEWEL"
by
W.Bro. C.G. Nicholas, L.G.R., P.M.,, Bloomsbury Rifles Lodge, No.
2362


The real secrets of Freemasonry are concealed in its signs, symbols
and jewels and only partially explained in the superficial reading
of its ritual.  They are quite safe from violation by virtue of the
fact that they are only capable of being fully understood by those
minds that have become sufficiently pure and spiritualised to
apprehend and interpret them.  They are universal and ageless and
are to be found in all religions, philosophical systems and
mythologies of whatever time or place in the world.  Our
archaeologists continue to uncover more ancient cities and discover
traces of extinct civilisations and in every discovery they find
these very same Masonic marks, signs and symbols engraven or carved
on temples, palaces and buildings, or painted on murals, thereby
proving that they must have had the same meaning for all the
peoples for which they were delineated.

Our rituals and ceremonies portray the Drama of the Soul and
indicate the obligatory Path to Perfection which has to be trod by
every Human Soul.  The principal stages of our journey are marked
by the degrees.  The first degree is that of catharsis or
purification, its symbol being the rough ashlar hewn from the
quarry or universal substance as most of us are at this stage.  The
second degree develops the moral and intellectual faculties and is
depicted by the perfect ashlar, which has been shaped by the
working tools.  In the third degree is undergone that figurative
death of the lower mortal man or the personality, then only can the
Soul be raised as the higher immortal man, the Individuality or
Spiritual Ego.  St. Paul says, 1st Corinthians, chapter 15, verse
42, "There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body; it is
sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption". The Indian
Brahmins speak of the "Twice-born", the Egyptians spoke of the
"Osirified Man". The soul of man is a - "Living Stone" and is only
then fitted to be built into that great Temple of Perfect Humanity
otherwise known as the Temple of God.

The means of overcoming obstacles on this Path to Perfection by
transmuting selfish and material interests and tendencies into
altruistic and spiritual attributes are likewise laid down for our
instruction in the Masonic Ritual, by means of the working tools
and proper working instruments.  In the Charge after Initiation we
are adjourned to make a daily advancement in Masonic knowledge. 
This knowledge is obtained, not only by deep study but by Right
thoughts and actions, as Freemasonry is a way of life and "he who
lives the Law" becomes the Law.  Fortunate is the man whose
intuition is sufficiently developed to enable him to acquire Wisdom
and receive Divine Grace.  Such, however is the destiny possible to
every Human Soul.

To appreciate this preamble better, let us select one particular
illustration and examine a symbol which we see worn at all Lodge
meetings, i.e. The Past Master's jewel which is presented to every
Master of a Lodge after he has completed his year of office to
denote his attainment and superiority in the Craft.  This symbol is
a Master's Square with the 47th Proposition of Euclid appended; the
latter being placed in a frame adorned by ears of corn.  The ear of
corn itself is a symbol of the sow.
 
 The 47th Proposition of Euclid demonstrates the proof that in
every right-angled triangle, the sum of the squares on the two
sides is equal to the square on the hypotenuse.  The measurements
of the triangle in the Past Master's jewel is the traditional 3 -
4 - 5 and the lines of the proof of the above proposition are shown
on the completed symbol. 

We will first investigate the practical side of this symbol and
afterwards give an indication of its Spiritual meaning.  In ancient
times, one of the prime secrets of Operative Guild Masonry was that
the Master of a Lodge of its order carried a rod measuring three
units; the Senior Warden carried a similar rod measuring four units
and the Junior Warden carried a rod measuring five units.  When
these three rods were joined together by the Master and the two
Wardens they formed a right-angled triangle.  When a temple or
public building was to be constructed, the King or Ruler, on a date
arranged and with the proper ceremony, laid the centre stone and
with a centre-punch made the centre mark on the stone remarking,
"there is the centre of the structure, work ye to it". The ancient
buildings were usually constructed in one of three forms. (1)
Square, (2) Oblong 2 to 1, (3) Oblong 3 to 1. If the building
required to be square or to have a square base as in the case of
the pyramid, the King decided on the size and gave the distance
measured from the centre to each of the four corners, B-C-D-E.  The
length of the sides followed as a matter of course but it was not
considered in the laying out which was simply based on the centre
and four corner points.  The three Master Masons by means of their
3 - 4 - 5 rods would then from the centre struck by the King, form
four right-angled triangles and place the "pegs" to mark the
position of the corners.  As the pegs would probably be moved or
disturbed, the ancient Masons as long ago as the days of Babylon
adopted land-marks.  They saw in those early days that if the pegs
at the corners were moved the whole of the setting thus far would
have to be repeated; therefore they adopted land-lines which
extended to a considerable distance beyond the actual site of the
structure.  The land-marks were pegs stuck into the ground at such
a distance that they would not be disturbed and it was the duty of
every Guild Mason to take great care that these ancient land-marks
of the Order were carefully preserved; in fact, in the days of King
Solomon it was death to move a Free Mason's land-mark or land-line. 
Note that in the case of a square building, the four angles must
each measure 90 degrees or the fourth part of a circle.  In the
case of oblong buildings built in the proportion of two to one, the
ancient Mason used the same five point system but the angle between
the diagonal lines at the centre of a building having its length
equal to twice its width is 53 degrees 48 minutes as shown, and the
53 degree 48 minutes degree of the Master's Square was used for
this purpose.  All ancient temples in all parts of the world were
constructed with the main hall or nave three times as long as the
width or in the three to one proportion and the height of the wall
was half the length.  The 36 degree 52 minutes angle of the
Master's Square was used in this instance.  Such is the practical
use of the Master's Square made by our Ancient Brethren.

The introductory address to the First Lecture of the Craft Lectures
commences with the words "Brethren, Masonry, according to the
general acceptance of the term, is an art founded on the principles
of Geometry, and directed to the service and convenience of
mankind.  But Freemasonry embracing a wider range, and having a
more noble object in view, namely the cultivation and improvement
of the human mind, may with more propriety, be called a science
although its lessons for the most part are veiled in allegory and
illustrated by symbols, inasmuch as, veiling itself under the terms
of the former, it inculcates the principles of the purest
morality". We should understand the word Morality in the sense of
the old Morality plays which conveyed spiritual teachings, rather
than confining its meaning to refer only to customs and ethics
although these too are very important and necessary.  In Proverbs
4th chapter, verse 4, we read, "Wisdom is the principle thing,
therefore get Wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding".
Pythagoras, the meaning of which name is Father Teacher, says, "God
geometrises". So now to interpret the spiritual meaning of our
symbol; the side of the triangle measuring three units represents
Spirit, the Supreme Triad, the side measuring four units represents
Matter. the lower quartemery, and if the conjoining angle is a
right-angle of 90 degrees, the hypotenuse measures five units
representing Self-conscious Man.  Man as a composite being
comprises seven principles.  The right angle represents the equal
balance of spiritual and physical forces so that neither shall
bring detriment to the other.  The perpendicular stands for the
spiritual.  The horizontal or physical conditions lie continually
along the same plane, never rising above it nor can it fall below
it, for should it do one or the other it ceases to be perfect
physical.  The perpendicular rising out of the physical plane at
every point of its progress, is constantly changing its position,
growing upward and out of the physical environment beneath which it
does not penetrate: it meets the physical at the point of contact
only.  The hypotenuse represents the bond of union which connects
the physical and spiritual on the opposite ends of the line; the
extreme points of the perpendicular and the horizontal coalescing
with the extreme points of the hypotenuse, represent body, soul and
Spirit which are but manifestations of the Divine Power and
Presence.  St. Paul says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your
Father which in Heaven is perfect ".

A square is the symbol of perfection.  It has four equal sides and
four equal angles of 90 degrees.  This makes four equal perfection,
360 degrees or a whole circle.  That which is perfect must be real
and the real must be the Infinite Perfect One.  The perfect Supreme
Intelligence is represented by the square described on the
hypotenuse.  The square described on the perpendicular shows forth
the Perfect Spirit, while that on the horizontal stands for the
perfect physical.  Because manifestation exists as physical, it
does not follow that it is imperfect.  Consequently, the Square on
the hypotenuse or Divine Perfect is equal to both the
manifestations of Itself, the Perfect Spiritual and the Perfect
Physical.  Not until they return into Itself will their equality,
each to each be manifest.

Brethren this short and partial explanation of the meaning of only
one of our symbols should enable us to have some appreciation of
the inestimable knowledge that is epitomised in the priceless
jewels enshrined in the chalice of Freemasonry.  The mystery of
Man, the mystery of the Universe and the true understanding of
Man's relationship with God are concealed therein.  A veritable
feast of Wisdom is placed before us and it is entirely up to each
of our brethren how much he will partake of the Divine repast.  May
you find an ever increasing and deepening interest in following our
Ritual and quietly contemplating the jewels during the unfolding of
the degrees during our ceremonies.