WISDOM, STRENGTH AND BEAUTY

Talk No.15

Peter Taylor is a Past Master of Lodge Albert No.448 and Discovery No.1789

First delivered by Peter at Lodge Albert Lochee 448 on the 30th September 2010

From the moment we first stood in the northeast corner of the Lodge as Entered Apprentice masons, we have been taught that it is necessary that there should be "wisdom to contrive, strength to support and beauty to adorn all great and important undertakings."
These are the three great supports of masonry.
We know that wisdom represents the East and the Master of the Lodge and is symbolized by the Ionic column as it combines the beauty of the Corinthian with the strength of the Doric. Solomon is represented in speculative masonry as the type, or representative of wisdom due to the character given him in the First Book of Kings (chapter four, verses 30 to 32). "Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country and all the wisdom of Egypt, for he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman and Chacol and Darda, the sons of Mahol and his fame was in all the nations round about."
Strength is represented in the symbolic lodge by the Senior Warden and the Doric column as it is the most massive column in all the orders of architecture. Hiram of Tyre becomes the Archetype for strength because of the assistance he rendered by providing the men and materials needed for constructing the temple.

Beauty we are told is represented by the Junior Warden as he symbolizes the meridian sun, "the most beautiful object in the heavens", and by the Corinthian column as it is the most beautiful of the ancient orders of architecture. The archetype becomes Hiram Abiff, the widow's son, due to the great debt owed him for his skill in decorating the temple.
The understanding of the three great supports of masonry is essential to the lectures of the symbolic lodge and is repeated in each of the degrees. This repetition is done to impress upon us the importance of these attributes, but is there a deeper meaning?
We can extrapolate from our experience that in a "Blue Lodge" the Master, Senior and Junior Wardens are the triumvirate powers that must always be present to operate the lodge and that the Master "thinks", the Senior Warden "acts" and the Junior Warden "keeps the peace and harmony".
These duties are spelled out in the powers given each of the officers by the constitutions and by-laws of the Grand Lodge and whereby the Master is the undisputed ruler of His lodge and subject only to Masonic rules and regulations and the Grand Master or Grand Lodge, and he rules and governs with absolute authority reflecting the wisdom which shines from the "volume of Sacred Law" placed upon the Masonic altar.

The Junior Warden takes charge of the Craft during refreshments and during Masonic trials where he acts as the lodge prosecutor. He governs the festivities of the lodge when it is free from labour so that the preservation of harmony and order may be secured, thus creating the beauty of the Masonic society.
The jewels worn by the principal officers in the lodge and their stations in the lodge illustrate wisdom, strength and beauty. The square of morality in the east, the level of equality in the in the west and the plumb of rectitude in the south, denote the close relationships of this triangle of leadership. However if we again look more closely we find even more of the mystery unfolds.
The ancients who began this system knew that the strongest structural design was based in the triangle. It has the greatest of strength due to the sum of its three sides. They were also deeply aware of its mystical powers from the number three.
By placing this perspective in our symbolic lodge, we see the Master, Senior and Junior Wardens as one units; each supported by the others in their respective duties. It is essential that they react and interact with each other constantly as friends and brothers linked together by their commitment to the lodge and their offices. They are not separate, but a trinity of leadership and this brings us to the final esoteric understanding of wisdom, strength and beauty, for if we search the words themselves we see a pattern form which is quite unexpected and uniquely spiritual.

The Hebrew word DABAR means wisdom, the Hebrew word OZ means strength and the Hebrew word GOMOR means beauty.
The Hebrews gave great significance not only to their words but also to the letters that formed them.
If we take the first letter of each of the former words we find that the Hebrew letter "D" in DABAR, corresponding to the fourth letter of the western alphabet, is {Hebrew letter graphic of the letter Dalet} signifying the door of life. The representation of this in it's original hieroglyph was probably {graphic of a simple rectangle, as a door frame} and typified by the Greeks as the opening of a tent in the DELTA illustration {graphic of the letter DELTA}.
The letter "O" from OZ corresponds with the fifteenth letter of the {western} alphabet and was called by the Hebrews and the Phoenicians "AYN", that is "eye" and was illustrated in the primitive form of the Phoenician letter as a rough picture of an eye or a circle with a dot in the center. The Hebrew letter {graphic of the Hebrew letter Ayin} represents "O" and is the hieroglyph of a plant (one might conjecture a sprig of acacia, owing to its abundance in that area.) as well as at times, the circle of an eye.

The letter "G" in the Hebrew word GOMER corresponds to the 7th letter of {our western} alphabet and is associated with the third sacred name of God in Hebrew, "GHADOL" or in Latin, "magnus" or mighty.

If we take the words Wisdom, Strength and Beauty in Hebrew and use the first letter of each we have:

D = DABAR = Wisdom

O = OZ = Strength

G = Gomer = Beauty

If we look closely we can see how "masonry conceals her secrets from those not yet ready to receive them" for by reversing the order of the letters we find the name of the Supreme Architect of the Universe.
It is a "singular coincidence and worthy of thought" that this should occur and "presents almost the reason that can reconcile a Freemason to use the initial "G" in it's conspicuous suspension in the Centre of the lodge.
We have now unearthed the true understanding that the metaphorical supports of Freemasonry, represented by the Hebrew letters signifying the "three names of God", the "all seeing eye" or evergreen sprig (sprig of acacia, if you will) and the "door to life" is in reality the Deity Himself and to truly succeed in our labours in the lodge and also when in the world we must have His wisdom to contrive, His strength to support us and His beauty to enable us to adorn all great and important undertakings.

Peter Taylor 2010.