The Badge of a Mason




By Bro. JOHN RODGERS MAGILL

The Master Mason - October 1926

"TO him who in the love of Nature holds communion with her
visible forms," sang William Cullen Bryant in Thanatopsis, "she
speaks a various language." Paraphrasing, we might say: To him
who in the love of Masonry holds communion with her mystic lore
she speaks a various language."

The language of Masonry is symbolism. It at once preserves her
mysteries inviolate from the profane and indelibly stamps them
upon the minds and hearts of those members of the Craft who are
earnestly seeking f or light. The very word badge is full of mystic
meaning. The dictionary says that a badge is a mark, sign, token or
symbol to denote the occupation, allegiance, association or
achievements of the person by whom it is worn.

What, then, is the Badge of a Mason?

The uninitiated will doubtless reply that it is the square and
compasses. As illustrative of the extent to which these instruments
are known as symbols of Masonry, it will be recalled that in 1873
the Commissioner of Patents denied the application of a flour
manufacturer for permission to use them as a trade-mark. He gave
as his reason the fact that "there can be no doubt that this device,
so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established
mystic significance, universally recognized as existing. Whether
comprehended or not, is not material to the issue." And we know
that this device is appropriately so worn and employed by
members of this great Fraternity, for it is the proper Masonic
emblem of their profession.

But we know that the Badge of a Mason is not some device
wrought in precious metals, set perhaps with costly jewels. To us
the simple Lamb Skin, or White Leather Apron, the emblem of
innocence, is the distinguished Badge of a Mason.

THE apron is the oldest article of apparel of which we have any
record. We are told that our first parents made for themselves
aprons of fig leaves when they were in the Garden of Eden. Some
of us believe in the story literally, while in this day of modernism
some may perhaps regard it as merely a beautiful allegory. But
however we may accept it, we should not fail to grasp one great
truth that it teaches - that the obligation to work accompanies the
wearing of the apron.

Aside from the Scriptural story of the Garden of Eden, there are
evidences without number as to the antiquity of the apron.
Archeologists delve back into the remote periods of time before the
written history of man began and bring to light from far beneath
the soil crude carvings and engravings showing man clad in aprons
of various materials and patterns. Later, when records begin to
assume al more systematic form, we find history replete with
references to the apron. From this information we learn that this
humble garment of the working man has been used as a mystic
symbol or vesture by' practically all the peoples of the earth from
the earliest times. It appears in various forms - sometimes very
similar to its lowly prototype, in some cases transformed into a
girdle, and again we find it elaborated into a robe.

A girdle formed a part of the investure of the Israelitish priesthood.
The Jewish sect of the Essenes clothed its novices with white
robes. In Persia the candidate for admission into the Mysteries of
Mithras was invested with a white apron. A girdle, called the
"Sacred Zennar," was substituted for the apron in the initiations
practiced in Hindustan. I certain rites of initiation practiced by the
Japanese, the candidate is invested with a white apron. In the
Scandinavian Rites a white shield was used instead of an apron,
prompted, it has been suggested, by the martial spirit of the people,
but it was accompanied by a charge similar to that of the Masonic
apron.

Throughout the ages the apron has been an honorary badge of
distinction, and by its variations the wearer's degree of preferment
has been made known to the world. In the Jewish priesthood the
superior orders wore elaborately decorated and richly ornamented
girdles, while the inferior priests wore plain white. The Indian,
Jewish, Egyptian, Persian and Ethiopian aprons are said to have
been equally superb, though each was dissimilar in design from the
others.

WHILE in primitive times the apron was used as an ecclesiastical
rather than a civil decoration, yet it sometimes served as a national
emblem. The royal standard of Persia, for instance, was originally
an apron. However, the more common use of the apron was in
connection with the worship of a supreme being, it having been
used in this manner by practically every people of the ancient
world.

The Masonic apron as we have it today was handed down to us
from the builders of the Pyramids of Egypt, to whom we are
indebted for much of our symbolism. It is not mere empty verbiage
when we are told that geometry, the first and noblest of the
sciences, is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry is
erected. Through this science we are enabled to interpret the
symbolism of the ancients and to discern that the mysteries upon
which this great superstructure was erected were hoary with age
when Hiram Abiff began his apprenticeship. By its aid we find that
the knowledge of these mysteries existed not only in the old world,
but on the American continents as well. The museums of this
country are full of geometrical evidence connecting the aborigines
of the American continents with the ancient old-world worshipers
of Jehovah, the Great Architect. Many of the American
cliff-dweller pictures in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute
are of a Masonic nature, and much of a Masonic significance is to
be found in the Peruvian collection of the American Museum of
Natural History in New York City.

For instance, in the design of the ancient ceremonial cloaks, or
ponchos, of the Peruvians, we find the Pythagorean Triangle, the
basis of the Forty-seventh problem of Euclid. This was the sacred
triangle of the Egyptians, the symbol of their "Sun-God," who was
known as the "Eye of Heaven." This figure is the original of the
Egyptian amulet, the "Eye of Horus," known to us Masons as the
"All-Seeing Eye" whom the sun, moon, and stars obey. Two of
these triangles, placed back to back, form the flap of our Masonic
apron.

Perhaps the greatest surprise that comes to us as we investigate
these prehistoric peoples of our own hemisphere lies in the fact
that the stone statues of the Sun-God of the ancient American
Mayas, found on the sites of the ruined cities of Yucatan, always
show that deity clothed in an apron very similar to that used by this
great Fraternity.

TWO things are necessary to the preservation of the symbolic
character of the Badge of a Mason - its color and its material.

A Mason's apron should be white, pure and spotless, which color
has always been a symbol of purity to all peoples.

It must be White Lamb Skin. The lamb has always been
recognized as an emblem of innocence, and we are told in the first
degree that by the lamb skin the Mason is reminded of that purity
of life and rectitude of conduct which is so essentially necessary to
his gaining admission to the Celestial Lodge above, where the
Supreme Architect of the Universe forever presides.

The apron is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end,
of a Mason's connection with the terrestrial lodge, being presented
to him upon his entrance into the Fraternity and deposited in his
grave when he takes his dimit to the Celestial Lodge above.

This emblem of innocence and purity, is the Badge of a Mason -
more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle; and, when
worthily worn, more honorable than the Star and Garter, or any
other order that could be conferred upon you at this or any future
period.

The Operative Mason wears his apron to protect his clothing from
soil or damage incident to his calling; but we, as Speculative
Masons, are taught to wear it for a more noble and glorious
purpose: that its pure and spotless surface may be to us an ever
present reminder of a purity of life and conduct, a never ending
argument for nobler deeds, for higher thoughts, for greater
achievements.

"The Lamb Skin is an emblem of innocence and the Badge of a
Mason." When we received it we were charged to wear it with
pleasure to ourselves and honor to the Fraternity. What a precious
privilege; what a great responsibility! Yet the two are inseparable,
for we can wear the apron with pleasure to ourselves only when we
wear it with honor to the Fraternity. And the pleasure of wearing
the apron lies not in idle display, but in wearing it as an emblem of
the pure and spotless heart which should be the goal of every
Mason, bearing ever in mind that we have in our keeping the honor
and reputation of this great Fraternity. We make our profession
openly and the world is watching us; let us then preserve this
badge unspotted and unsullied, thus wearing it with honor to the
Fraternity.

Wear worthily this thy Masonic badge,
While still thy body toils to build thy soul
A mansion bright, beyond the gates of death,
No edifice that crumbles back to clay,
But a glorious house eternal in the skies.

TO every true member of the Craft the apron should be a constant
reminder of his duty and privilege to worship according to the
dictates of his conscience that God in whom he professed belief
before he was admitted to this Order. Of a truth, Masonry is
religious, but it does not seek to displace religion. On the contrary,
it admonishes its members to pay their devotions to their Creator.
The flesh is weak and temptations are many. Without belief in
prayer and faith in God no Mason could hope to live a life even
approximating that typified by his Badge.

BUT the apron is something more than an emblem of innocence
and purity - it has yet another meaning, one more obvious, yet
often lost sight of. We have seen that it was worn by the Operative
Mason while engaged in his occupation. The apron is, therefore, a
symbol of service. When we donned the Masonic apron we thereby
assumed an obligation to work. Then we became Master Masons
that we might receive Master's wages, not the wages of a beginner
or apprentice; and to receive the wages of a Master we must do the
work of a Master, otherwise we shall receive little when we appear
before the Senior Warden in the Grand Lodge above and ask for
our wages, if any be due.

We very appropriately wear the apron when we attend the funeral
of a brother, for we are thus reminded that there shall come a time
when our own weary feet shall come to the end of their toilsome;
journey, and from our grasp shalt drop the working tools of life.
And on these sad occasions we look upon the snow-white surface
of the Lamb Skin and feel renewed within us the hope that when
our spiritual bodies shall stand naked and alone before the Great
White Throne, it shall be our portion to hear from Him who sitteth
as the Judge Supreme, the welcome words: "Well done, good and
faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."