The Fellow Craft - Lafayette Lodge No. 16

The
Fellow Craft
Authorized by
Grand Lodge A. F. & A. M. of Kansas
CompUed and Distributed by
Committee on Masonic: Educ:ation
BOOK NO. THREE
Appreciation
We express to the Committees on Masonic Education of the Grand Lodges of
Iowa and Indiana. our grateful appreciation for permission to use most of the
material in this series of Instruction
Booklets. The idea was originated in
Iowa but we have largely used the booklet as revised by the Indiana brethren
for we feel that its wording is better
adapted to the work in our Grand Jurisdiction.
-Committee on Masonic
Education Grand Lodge
A.F. & A.M. of Kansas.
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The Fellow Craft
Foreword
It is hoped that being passed to the
Fellow Craft degree you found in the
ritual and lectures of this degree a further revelation of Masonry's character
and purpose.
The First Degree made its principal
appeal to the conscience: Th~ Second
addresses itself to the mind: It emphasized the philosophy of Masonry. its
great teachings, and its profound concern
for education, enlightenment and culture.
In the following pages you will find added interpretation of its symbols. the derivation of the term "Fellow Craft", and
your own newly achieved position in the
Lodge helpfully discussed.
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"Fellow Craft" is one of the large number
of terms which have a technical meaning
peculiar to Freemasonry and are seldom
found elsewhere. In the period of Operative
Masonry a "craft" was an organization of
skilled workers in some trade or calling. A
"fellow" meant one who held membership in
such a craft. obligated to the same duties
and allowed the same privileges as all other
members. One of our present day defininons of "fellow" is: an equal.
In Freemasonry the term "Fellow Craft"
possesses two separate meanings. one of which
we may call the Operative meaning. the other.
the Speculative.
Operative
Fellow
Crafts
In the Operative period Freemasons were
skilled workmen engaged as architects and
builders. This is the time of the "Cathedral
Builders" dealt with in THE ENTERED APPRENTICE. During this period skilled workmen were organized into a craft. the general
form of which was called a "guild". This guild
had officers. laws. rules. regulations and
customs peculiar to it. and its regulations were
binding on all members.
The guild divided its membership into two
grades. the lower of which. composed of ap3
prentices was explained to you in the preceding booklet. When an apprentice finished his
long period of apprenticeship he stood an
examination. If his record was good, and he
could prove his proficiency under test, and the
members voted in his favor, he was made a
full member of the Craft. He then had the
same duties, rights and privileges as all the
others-he was their equal, and he was then
called a "Fellow of the Craft."
Speculative
Fellow
Crafts
Now that the Craft is no longer Operative,
the term possesses a very different meaning,
although it is still used in its original sense in
certain parts of the Ritual.
Operative Freemasonry began to decline
about the time of the Reformation in the sixteenth century when lodges became few in
number and small in membership. A few of
the Lodges in England began to admit into
membership men who had no intention of
practicing Operative Masonry, but who were
attracted to it by the Craft's antiquity or for
social reasons. These men were called Speculative Masons.
By the beginning of the eighteenth century
these Speculative Masons had so increased in
numbers that they were in the majority. Thus
it was that during the first quarter of that
century, the Craft was completely transformed
into the Speculative Fraternity which we now
have.
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Although they adhered as closely as possible to the old customs which had prevailed in
the Operative Craft, there were some radical
changes made. One of the most important
of these was to abandon the old rule of dividing the members into two grades or degrees
and to adopt the new rule of dividing them
into three. The second grade became known
as the Fellow Craft Degree, and the third
eventually became the Master Mason Degree.
You are now known to us as a Fellow Craft.
This term is also given as the name of the
Second Degree, and refers to the ritualistic
ceremonies and other content of that degree,
to a member of it, and to a Lodge when opened on it. Since you have passed through
these ceremonies and assumed the obligations
therein contained and have been registered
as a Fellow Craft upon the books of the Lodge,
you have acquired certain rights and privileges. An explanation of some of these is the
purpose of this booklet.
Wages
or Responsibilities
One of the first privileges of the Operative
Fellow Craft was to receive wages. As an
apprentice he had been completely at the
mercy and will of his Master. He did not
work for a wage, nor did he need one. He
worked to learn, and when he had finished
his learning and graduated into an "equal"
or a Fellow of the Craft, his whole outlook
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on life changed. He grew up. His labor entitled him to a wage, and since he was to receive wages and become self reliant, he had
to assume responsibilities.
wages of life are allegorical and sometimes
difficult to define, but the esteem of one's
brother is sometimes more valuable than any
earthly wage that might be received.
An
Interpretation
of the Ritual
Second Oeg ree
of the
So it is with you as a Speculative Fellow
Craft. You were told that Masonry is a progressive science, and that as you advanced
or progressed, your duties and obligations
would correspondingly increase. Isn't that
true of life? As a child, you had no worries,
few responsibilities and not too much was
expected of you. Your mistakes were quickly excused because you didn't know better.
Then as you grew in years and wisdom, you
gradually assumed increased responsibilities
and a great deal more was expected of you.
Think back now upon your obligations as an
Entered Apprentice and then as a Fellow
Craft. Do you not see that a great deal more
is expected of you? Again how true this is
of life! Man seems to grow in stature according to the responsibilities which he assumes, and as he becomes more mature in
his habits and thinking he develops a philosophy by which he lives. If his pattern of living is what it should be, he will endear himself to his associates and his fellows. The
As a Fellow Craft you stand as one in the
prime of life. No doubt you are familiar with
the three stages of manhood: youth, adulthood or manhood, and age. The three degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry symbolize
these three stations in the life span of man.
The Entered Apprentice represents youth
standing at the portals of life, his eyes on the
rising sun. The Master Mason is the man
of years, already on the further slope of the
hill with the setting sun in his eyes. The
Fellow Craft is a man in the prime of lifeexperienced, strong, resourceful, able to bear
the heat and burden of the day.
The man in his middle years carries maximum responsibilities. It is he upon whom
a family depends for support. He is the Atlas on whose shoulders rest the burdens of
business. By his skill and experience the
arts are sustained. To his keeping are entrusted the destinies of state.
It is said that in the building of his Temple,
King Solomon employed eighty thousand
Fellow Crafts or hewers on the mountains
and in the quarries. The description is sug-
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gestive. for it is by men in the Fellow Craft
period that the hewing is done on the mountains or in the quarries of life.
.
The Fellow Craft walks in the full, uncolored light of noon. Everything stands starkly
before him in its most uncompromising reality. If he were elated by boyish illusions
of the ease of life and the sufficiency of his
strength a little while ago, those illusions have
now vanished in the heat of the day. After
a few more years he will become mellow
and resigned. But at high noon, this time
has not yet come. It is for him to bend his
back and bear the load.
What does the Second Degree say to the
Fellow Craft. whether in Masonry or in the
world at large? The answer brings us to a
second great idea, namely that the Fellow
Craft must so equip himself that he will
prove equal to the tasks which will be laid
upon him.
What is that equipment? The degree gives
us at least three answers.
Equipment
of a Fellow
Craft
j
)
intended as a dissertation on either physiology or phychology. It is symbolic and repsents what a man learns through seeing.
touching. tasting, hearing and smelling-in
short, immediate experience. A man garners such experience only with the passage
of time. Each day he comes into contact
with facts. What he learns one day must be
added to the next. and so on from year to
year, until at last, through his senses, he
comes to understand the world in which he
lives, how to deal with it, how to master it.
2. EducatIon
}
The second answer is the necessity of education. An individual's possible experience
is limited. Could we learn of life only that
which comes by our senses, we would be poorly equipped to deal with its complexities and
responsibilities! To our store of hard-won
experience we add the experience of others.
We extend our own by the information of
countless men brought to us through many
channels. Our own knowledge must be supplemented by the knowledge of mankind.
The first is that the Fellow Craft must gain
experience from contact with the realities of
life. You will recall what was stated about
the Five Senses. Needless to say. that portion of the Middle Chamber Lecture was not
In the days when Masons were actual
builders of great and costly structures, the
Apprentice was a mere boy, ten to fifteen
years of age, scarcely knowing one tool from
another, ignorant of the secrets and arts of
the builders. Yet, after seven years he was
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1. Experience
able to produce his "master piece" and perform any task to which the Master might
appoint him. How was this miracle accomplished? Not by his unaided efforts, but by
the wise and patient guidance of accomplished Masons, and their imparting to him
what they had been years in acquiring.
Such is education, symbolized in the Second
Degree, by the Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Perhaps you were somewhat nonplussed to
hear what was said about Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music,
and Astronomy. Perhaps you wondered
what such schoolroom topics had to do with
Masonry. Now you begin to see the connection. The explanation of these subjects was
not intended as an academic lecture. IJke so
much else in the degree, these matters are
symbols, signifying all that is meant by education-our training by others in skill and
knowledge to perform or to understand certain tasks.
3.
gives us awareness of the world at points of
immediate contact and competence for special tasks in the arts, protesstons, callings,
and vocations. But a man's life is not confined to these considerations. He is not by
day and night engaged in the same task;
life is richer than that! It is compounded of
all manner of things: a great variety of experiences; a constant succession of situations;
a never-ending list of problems. The highway is crowded with people of varied reactions, emotions, characteristics, and behavior. The world is infinitely greater than
what each of us now sees, hears, or feels; it
is far more complex than our daily tasks.
The Middle Chamber, which is so conspicuous in the Second Degree, has many meanings. Among others, it is a symbol of wisdom. By the experience of the Five Senses,
through the knowledge gained of the Liberal
Arts and Sciences, the candidate is called
to advance, as on Winding Stairs, to that
balanced wisdom of life in which the senses,
emotions, intellect, character, work, deeds,
habits, and the soul of a man are knit together in unity, balance, and poise.
Symbols
Wisdom
The third answer suggested here is of more
importance than either of the others. It
may be expressed by the word wisdom. Wisdom goes beyond knowledge. The latter
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and Allegories
The most outstanding symbol in the Degree
of Fellow Craft is the Flight of Winding
Stairs. In the Book of Kings we read: "They
went up with winding stairs into the middle
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chamber." We go up "with winding stairs"
into "The Middle Chamber of King Solomon's
Temple." Also we travel up the winding
stairs of life and arrive, if we climb steadfastly, at the middle chamber of existence,
which is removed from infancy and youth by
the steps of knowledge and experience.
There is a symbolism in the fact that the
stairway winds.
The Winding Stairs
The winding stairway is one which tries a
man's soul. He must approach it with faith.
Nothing is clear before him but the next step.
He must believe that there is a top; that if
he but climb long enough he will reach a
Middle Chamber, a goal, a place of light.
Thus the Winding Stair and the Middle Chamber are symbols of life and manhood. No
man can see what he will become. As a
boy he may have a goal, but he may arrive
at other Middle Chambers than the one he
visualized when he started the ascent. A
man cannot know whether he will ever live
to climb all the stairs. The Angel of Death
may stand but around the corner of the next
step. Yet in spite of a lack of knowledge of
what is at the top; in spite of the: fact that
a Flaming Sword may bar his ascent, man
keeps on climbing. He climbs in confidence
that there is a goal, and that he shall reach
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it. And if perchance he does not, a Mason
has faith that if he never sees the glory of
the Middle Chamber in this life, a lamp is
set to guide him to one beyond his mortal
gaze, to the one set in the house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens.
We are taught that we should use the five
senses that God has given us to climb the
seven steps of the stairway which we designate as the seven Liberal Arts and Sciences.
When we rise by Grammar and Rhetoric, we
must consider that they mean not only language, but all methods of communication.
The step of Logic means a knowledge not
only of all methods of reasoning, but of all
reasoning which logicians have accomplished.
When we ascend by Arithmetic and Geometry, we must visualize all science. The step
denominated Music means not only sweet and
harmonious sounds, but all beauty, poetry,
art, nature and loveliness of whatever kind.
As for the seventh step of Astronomy, surely
it not only suggests the study of the solar
system and the stars, but that they symbolize a supreme creative power and wisdom, without which the universe could not
exist.
You recall the prominence which was giv13
en the Letter G. It may be considered as
having a double interpretation: (1) as being
the first letter of our name tor the Deity in
whose existence all Masons have professed
belief. the continued expression of which is
symbolized by the presence of the Volume of
the Sacred Law upon the altar; (2) as being
the initial of Geometry. regarded as the basic
science of Operative Masonry. now symbolizing to Speculative Masons the unchanging
natural laws which govern the whole material universe. Together they symbolize that
attribute of God revealed to us through Geometry: God as the great Intelligence of the
Universe. This is consistent as the entire
degree makes its appeal to the intellect.
Fellow Craft Represents Manhood
Again the Fellow Craft represents manhood in its most splendid conception and its
greatest responsibility. The days of his disillusionment are past; he faces facts. not
fancies. He understands the immensity of
the tasks before him and approaches them
with the joy of one who is competent and
resolved to conquer. His family depends upon him for support. The business world looks
to him for judgment and guidance. The
community needs his aid and advice in promoting the moral and spiritual welfare of its
people. He is a patron of the arts and sciences. He has faith in God and believes that
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the
Lord..• He is untiring in his zeal to promote
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religion. freedom. and justice. There stands
the Fellow Craft strong in body, soul, and
spirit. and competent to cope with all of
life's realities.
Masonry's Methods
While you, as a Fellow Craft, have yet to
reach the climax of your journey in SymboliC
Masonry, you have perhaps discovered that
Freemasonry has a certain method of teaching that is its very own.
It is totally unlike the system employed in
the schools, for instead of using teachers and
text books and lessons, and endeavoring to
expound its teachings directly. Freemasonry
teaches with ritual, symbols and allegory.
This method is not so easy as that of the
school room, but it has certain definite advantages. It makes a Mason study and learn
for himself. It forces him to search out the
truth, and compels him to take the initiative
so that the very act of learning is of educational value.
The purpose of secrecy is not to keep a
candidate in the dark. but to stimulate him
to see the Light, or Truth. The symbols and
emblems do not conceal the teaching; they
reveal it but in such a manner that a man
must find it for himself. Only when a man
finds truth for himself is he likely to 'keep it
as a permanent possession.
Duties of a Fellow Craft
Freemasonry is too extensive to be exempli15
fied in a ritual or to be presented in one
evening. It is not expected that one can
learn Freemasonry in many evenings.
One degree follows another. and the memo
bers of each degree stand on a different level
of rights and duties. This does not mean the
Masonry presented in the First. or in the
Second Degrees. so far as its nature and
teachings are concerned. is less important
or less binding than that presented in the
Third Degree. All that is taught in the F)rst
and Second Degrees belong as vitally to
Freemasonry as that which is taught in the
Third. While there is a subordination in the
grades of membership. there certainly is no
subordinate of the Masonry presented in
each grade or degree.
As a Fellow Craft you can sit in either a
Lodge of Entered Apprentices or of. a Fellow
Crafts. but not of Master Masons. Do not
let this restriction cause you to look upon the
Fellow Craft Degree as a mere stepping stone
to the Third. Freemasonry gave to you one
part of its teachings in the First. another in
the Second. and in the Third it will give you
yet another. but it is always Freemasonry.
Therefore, we urge upon you the same studious attention to your duties and responsibilities while you are a Fellow Craft that
you doubtless expect to give when you are a
Master Mason. Remember that to these
duties you are bound by the most sacred
ties.
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