Is Freemasonry a Total Moral Philosophy?

Part 2 - Is There an Allegory in the North East Charge?

By RWorBro JDF Black PDGM (UGLV)

In an earlier short talk, titled "An allegory in Freemasonry", a case was presented to suggest that the ritual associated with the opening of the Lodge conceals an allegory which has great significance to us as Freemasons. Now let us see if there might be an allegory of similar significance concealed in the ritual associated with the 'North East Charge'.

To determine whether or not this is likely, we need to examine the Charge to find whether there are anomalies discrepancies or inconsistencies that might lead us to the conclusion that the description and explanation attributed to Charity might, in reality more precisely fit another object, and if so, to identify the other object.

Superficially, it seems incredible that such a narrow and selfish interpretation of financial charity as portrayed in the North East Charge could ever have been considered as a possible means of conveying the significance of Masonic charity to our candidates in Freemasonry, so why is it there?

At first glance the North-East Charge appears to be no more than an emotive appeal to the candidate to exercise financial charity towards our indigent brethren. But is it only that? Let us examine each part of the charge as it unfolds.

In the introduction the candidate is told that he has been placed in the Northeast part of the lodge to represent the foundation stone of a building. He is then charged to erect a superstructure, obviously intended to be the Temple of his life, perfect in all its parts and honourable to the builder. In this context, one must enquire why financial Charity was chosen as the virtue to be cited as an example of the building blocks to be used in the construction of the temple rather than temperance, prudence, fortitude, justice, truth, tolerance or any of the multitude of other virtues that form the building blocks of a good life. This question is particularly relevant as the brother delivering the Charge is already well aware that the candidate is in no position to be able to satisfy any desire he may have to meet such an emotional appeal. Certainly, on face value, the inability of the candidate to be able to respond to this appeal in a material way reinforces the claim in the ritual that the test was designed to establish a principle, rather than raise funds for charity, but the crude and embarrassing way in which the test is applied suggests that it is far more than that. Such a proposition is supported by the second stated reason for the test -"to evince to the brethren that you had neither money nor metallic substances of value about you, for if you had, the ceremony of your initiation thus far must have been repeated. There would seem to be three intriguing features to this statement. 1 The use of the phrase "to evince to the brethren"; 2 The use of the word metallic; and 3 The combined phrases "metallic substances of value" and "the ceremony of your-initiation thus far must have been repeated.

Let us now examine each of these features in turn.

1 Use of the phrase "to evince to the brethren" infers that the indigence or non-indigence of the candidate is of significance only if it is known to the brethren. This is surely an anomaly which we shall return to a little later.

2 Why use the word "metallic" - as a qualifying adjective to describe any substance of value which the candidate is not to possess since that word is not used when the Junior Deacon makes his enquiry of the candidate. The same discrepancy appears in the 'Questions before Passing'; where the candidate is required to answer the relevant question with 'I was divested of all money and metallic substances of value ... etc

Surely this is another anomaly, or at least a gross inconsistency and it brings us to the third intriguing feature of this statement.

3 Why should it be necessary for the ceremony of initiation to be repeated only if the candidate had metallic ' substances of value about him. Why specifically metallic and not just any substance of value? A very good case could be presented for the ceremony to be repeated if the candidate had any substance of value about him at the time this appeal is made since he is informed that the third reason for the test was to remind him that "should you, at any future time, meet a brother in distress who might solicit your assistance, you will remember those peculiar moments when you were admitted into Freemasonry, poor and penniless, and cheerfully embrace the opportunity of practicing towards him, that virtue you now profess to admire."

However, within the ritual, there is no evidence of such a neat connection between the second and third reasons given for the test. As far as the ritual is concerned, the candidate could have his pockets full of diamonds, rubies, sapphires or any other non-metallic gems and the ceremony of his initiation up to that point would not have needed to have been repeated, but if he had had just a spec of gold, silver, platinum, tin or other metal of value about him, it would have. - No explanation of this anomaly is given in the remainder of the North-East Charge. However, in the "Reasons for Preparation" which is a charge peculiar to the ritual of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria, but is not universally present in rituals used under other Constitutions, it is stated that the reason the candidate was deprived of all money and metallic substances of value..." had reference to the building of King Solomon's temple, for it is upon the circumstances surrounding the erection of that edifice that our ceremonies are chiefly based."

This statement changes the whole concept of the North-East Charge from an emphasis on charity to an allegorical connection between the edifice we are encouraged to build within our lives to the Glory of God and the building of that material Temple erected to the Glory of God so many years ago by that wise and mighty Prince, King Solomon. In this context, it now seems clear that the principal aim of the Charge is to ensure that the candidate has no metallic substance about him so that, just as at the building site of King Solomon's Temple there was not heard the sound of any hammer or other implement of iron, no metallic sound or, in modern terms, no static or discordant noise, should be heard as the candidate constructs the Temple of his life. To achieve this end, just as the stones were "prepared in the quarry and the timber in the forest" to avoid discordant sounds on the construction site of King Solomon's Temple, so should the candidate ensure that the potentially disruptive and discordant facets of his character (the metallic substances) are eliminated before he incorporates the desirable elements into the edifice of his life.

We now return to the apparent anomaly which implied that the indigence or non-indigence of the candidate is of significance only if it is known to the brethren. In Part 1 of this series of lectures, it was suggested that in an allegoric concept, the Master. Senior Warden and Junior Warden of the lodge represented the head, the heart and the hands of a man. To complete the picture of a man, we require a body. Again, in the allegoric sense, it is suggested this is provided by all the brethren in the body of the lodge. It is, therefore, as each of us as individuals, as total beings (head, heart, hands and body) become aware that we have allowed some discordant element to be incorporated into the temple of our lives, we are reminded that it is always open to us to, as it were, repeat the ceremony of our initiation and thereby take the opportunity of eliminating those undesirable elements, the metallic substances, before we continue the construction of the moral temple of our lives. In other words, it is never too late to start again.

Whether or not you agree with this interpretation of the First Degree ceremony is somewhat immaterial, what is important is that we should all examine our ritual to find anomalies that might suggest we are dealing with an allegory and then endeavour to find a non-sectarian interpretation of that allegory to our own satisfaction.

Is Freemasonry a Total Moral Philosophy?

By RWBro. JDF Black, PDGM

Paper in five parts

< Introduction | < Part One | ^ Part Two | > Part Three | > Part Four | > Part Five