Promoting the Fraternity across the World
I have often wondered at parts of our ritual which have no ready explanation, nor any forthcoming, and which are routinely committed to memory and recited when called upon to do so. One such is “The Perfect Points of Entrance” that demonstrate proof of being a Freemason.
For centuries Masonic historians have been puzzled by the motives for, and the purpose of, the formation of the craft of freemasonry, both in its operative, and speculative form, and whilst endeavouring to investigate the mysteries surrounding the formation of our order, it seems that the riddle actually forms itself into three distinct questions
As Masons, we are all introduced during our ritual lectures to the Masonic symbol of the Point Within a Circle, and instructed in its’ allusion. The most interesting thing to me during my own such introduction was that the figure representing this symbol contained not only a point within a circle, but also two straight vertical lines touching the sides of the circle. It was explained during the ensuing lecture that these lines represented the two Holy Saints John, namely John the Baptist, and John the Evangelist. This struck me as peculiar to say the least, and I have been trying to figure out this peculiarity ever since.
there has been very little agreement among our scholars either as to its (the letter ‘G’) origin or to its meaning. Usually, we can hit upon the manner in which a symbol was introduced into the Ritual by studying the records of the early eighteenth century in England, at which time and place the Ritual was cast in its modern form, but such a study cannot help us here because the eighteenth century Masons were themselves confused about the matter
The need for this further essay was first made apparent to me when—in my capacity as Secretary of the Lodge and Editor of the Transactions—I began to receive inquiries from Brethren as far away as Vancouver and Singapore, asking for materials and information which might help them to complete their own papers on Kipling, and I found, to my surprise, that while our library contains a great deal of relevant material, there has never been a paper on Kipling in our Transactions.
