The Three Working Tools
Click each tool to learn its operative and speculative meanings.
The 24-inch Gauge
Operative: To measure our work.
Speculative: Represents the twenty-four hours of the day: part in prayer to Almighty God, part in labour and refreshment, and part in serving a friend or Brother in time of need.
The Common Gavel
Operative: To knock off all superfluous knobs and excrescences.
Speculative: Represents the force of conscience, which should keep down all vain and unbecoming thoughts, so that our words and actions may ascend unpolluted to the Throne of Grace.
The Chisel
Operative: To further smooth and prepare the stone and render it fit for the hands of the more expert workman.
Speculative: Points out to us the advantages of education, by which means alone we are rendered fit members of regularly organised Society.
Complete Script
I now present to you the working tools of an Entered Apprentice Freemason: they are the 24-inch Gauge, the common Gavel, and Chisel.
The 24-inch Gauge is to measure our work, the common Gavel to knock off all superfluous knobs and excrescences, and the Chisel to further smooth and prepare the stone and render it fit for the hands of the more expert workman.
But, as we are not all operative Masons, but rather free and accepted or speculative, we apply these tools to our morals.
In this sense, the 24-inch Gauge represents the twenty-four hours of the day, part to be spent in prayer to Almighty God, part in labour and refreshment, and part in serving a friend or Brother in time of need, without detriment to ourselves or connections.
The common Gavel represents the force of conscience, which should keep down all vain and unbecoming thoughts which might obtrude during any of the aforementioned periods, so that our words and actions may ascend unpolluted to the Throne of Grace.
The Chisel points out to us the advantages of education, by which means alone we are rendered fit members of regularly organised Society.
Question 1
Match the Tools to Their Meanings
Click a tool on the left, then click its matching speculative meaning on the right.
Tools
Speculative Meanings
Practice Mode
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Word Order Challenge
Click words to arrange them in the correct order.
Your Learning Progress
Study Tips
1. Remember the Pattern: 24-inch Gauge = Time (24 hours), Gavel = Conscience, Chisel = Education.
2. The Three Parts of the Day: Prayer to Almighty God, Labour and refreshment, Serving a friend or Brother.
3. Key Phrases: "Superfluous knobs and excrescences", "Throne of Grace", "Regularly organised Society".
4. Operative to Speculative: Each physical building tool has a moral teaching application.