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DUTIES: Be industrious and honest.
FOR REFLECTION: Can you measure your age, not by years, but by good deeds? Does a life well lived prepare one for death?
IMPORTANT SYMBOLS: Branches of acacia, coffin, the Master Hiram.
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The Fifth Degree "Perfect Master" ~ Summary ~ The moral teachings of this degree is that we live in peace with our own conscience and are honored by good people when we perform our duties honestly and diligently. When honesty, diligence, justice and brotherhood do not exist, freedom and independence are meaningless. Masonry values man as a person. |
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The apron is of white lambskin. The lining, border and flap are light green. Two crossed columns with three concentric circles and a golden cube superimposed form the center design of the apron. The outside circle is crimson, the center one blue and the inner one orange. There are two letters upon the top face of the cube; the one on the left black and the other white. The cube represents the finite universe and the three circles symbolize the wisdom, power and beneficence of God; the great trinity of His attributes. The letters are Phoenician and are the first two letters of the ancient name of God. |
The jewel is the compasses, opened to sixty degrees, the points on a graduated arc. Masonic compasses are opened to sixty degrees because this is the number of degrees in each of the three angles of an equilateral triangle, always a symbol of Deity. It is suspended from a broad grass-green watered ribbon worn from the right shoulder to the left hip. This jewel, absent the square, indicates that the candidate is moving away from the earthly and toward the heavenly: "[The Square] ... is an emblem of what concerns the earth and the body; [the Compasses] of what concerns the heavens and the soul" (p. 11). The color of the ribbon symbolizes the attainment of this transition by renewal of virtue.
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Custom and practice
prior to 1935 required the candidate to prepare a last will and testament
while in the preparation room of this degree. Now he may or may
or may not prepare a will. The purpose of
writing a will, or contemplating doing so, is to impress upon the candidate
the uncertainty of life. Death may call at any time and it is the duty of
every Mason to provide for his family and loved ones |
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