Twenty Questions

  1. A Demit (or Dimit) is:
    1. A funeral ode
    2. A dispensation
    3. A certificate of honourable withdrawal
    4. A paid up dues card
  2. A Cowan is:
    1. A cowardly Mason who sells his secrets
    2. An uninstructed Mason
    3. An eavesdropper
    4. A writer of Masonic exposes
  3. The oldest document in Freemasonry is:
    1. The Cooke Manuscript
    2. The Regius Manuscript
    3. The Constitution of the Mother Grand Lodge
    4. The Natural History of Staffordshire
  4. A Tenet is:
    1. A moral saying
    2. A religious doctrine
    3. A principle held true without proof
    4. A word of assent
  5. Masonically, Profane means:
    1. Blasphemous, irreligious
    2. In favour of the church
    3. Without the temple, uninitiated
    4. Professing without practising
  6. A Hecatomb is:
    1. A form of beehive
    2. A hundred head of cattle
    3. A measure of grain
    4. A sum of money
  7. The number Three appearing so often in Freemasonry:
    1. Represents the trinitarian doctrine
    2. Refers to the triangle symbol of Deity
    3. Refers to the three degrees
    4. Refers to the three Great Lights and the three Lesser Lights
  8. "ABIF" means:
    1. The leader
    2. The architect
    3. My father
    4. Son of a member of the tribe of Naphtali
  9. Who were "The Four Crowned Martyrs"?
    1. Twelfth Century Masons tortured by Phillip the Fair
    2. Members of the Roman Collegia, martyred for Masonry
    3. Victims of English rural intolerance
    4. Masons burned at the stake in Salem, Massachusetts
  10. Blue Lodges are so called because:
    1. Universality is symbolized by the blue clouded canopy, also a symbol of truth
    2. Early Masonic costumes were of blue
    3. Goose and Grid Iron Tavern, meeting place of early London Lodge, was painted blue
    4. Referring to the blue color in the Union Jack
  11. The Third Degree as we know it is:
    1. About five hundred years old
    2. About two hundred years old
    3. Ancient beyond knowledge
    4. An American addition
  12. The best known Encyclopedia of Freemasonry is:
    1. Mackey's
    2. Pike's
    3. Kenning's
    4. McKenzie's
  13. The Cornucopia is the Steward's symbol because:
    1. Stewards anciently carried refreshments into the Lodge
    2. It is a symbol of plenty
    3. It was carried by the King's Stewards in early coronations
    4. The Lord High Steward of England is so symbolized at the trial of a Peer
  14. Corner Stones are laid in the Northeast corner because:
    1. The strongest winds blow from the Northeast and the greatest strength must be there to resist
    2. It is the halfway point between darkness of North and light of East thus symbolizing a beginning
    3. The first cornerstone ever laid by Masons was laid in the Northeast corner
    4. Masonry first came to the United States in the Northeast part of the country.
  15. Hele (Masonically pronounced "Hail", but correctly "Heel") means:
    1. To hail, as in salute
    2. To cover or conceal
    3. To cure, to heal
    4. To bring to terms, as a dog is "brought to heel"
  16. It is true that Pythagoras:
    1. Was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason
    2. Was initiated into several orders of priesthood
    3. Sacrificed a hecatomb
    4. Discovered the 47th Problem of Euclid
  17. A Pilaster is:
    1. A small column
    2. An unusually large column
    3. A right angled columnar projection
    4. The capstone of a pillar
  18. What is the Due Guard
    1. The next guard on shift
    2. A penal sign
    3. A sign of respect to visitors
    4. A salute to a Worshipful Master
  19. Why is a Master addressed as Worshipful
    1. Because he has the same powers as a judge
    2. As a token of great respect
    3. Because he is also the religious leader of the Lodge
    4. Because our legendary first Master was a King before whom all knelt in respect
  20. When is an Apprentice — "Entered"?
    1. After he has served a term of apprenticeship
    2. When the Worshipful Master permits him to come into the Lodge for the first time
    3. When his name is entered into the books of the Lodge following the first degree
    4. When his petition has received a favourable ballot

This paper was prepared by R.W. Bill Marks, Woodlawn Lodge No. 131, and has been used at numerous lodges of instruction in Nova Scotia. It was donated to the Board of Masonic Education on June 13, 1990. Article no. 17B

ANSWER SHEET

1. (c) A demit (dimit) is a certificate of honorable withdrawal.

Permission granted a member to terminate his membership and/or the paper representing that permission. In nearly all Grand jurisdictions obtaining a demit is a formality; a lodge is obliged to grant a demit to him who asks it provided he is in good standing and no charges have been or are about to be preferred against him. The theory is that as he joined the lodge of his own free will and accord, he should have the right to leave it in the same way. In some Grand jurisdictions a member may receive a demit only to join another lodge or to move from his Grand Jurisdiction to another.

Source: One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry, The Masonic Service Association

2. (b) A cowan is an uninstructed mason.

"Cowan" is an old Scottish word meaning an ignorant mason who put stones together without mortar or piled rough stones from the field into a wall without working them square and true. He is a Mason without the Word; the Apprentice who tries to masquerade as a Master. A cowan could be represented by a Fellowcraft or Entered Apprentice attempting to enter a Master Mason's lodge or the one-time member in good standing who has been suspended or expelled — these infrequently try to pass the tyler.

Source: One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry, The Masonic Service Association

3. (b) The oldest document in Freemasonry is the Regius Manuscript.

Sometimes called the Halliwell Document it is loosely speaking the oldest "Manuscript Constitutions" of Freemasonry. Dated approximately A.D. 1390 it is in old Chaucerian English, difficult to read without translation. It is preserved in the British Museum.

Source: One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry, The Masonic Service Association

4. (c) A tenet is a principle held without proof.

Tenet — A doctrine, principle, belief or opinion held as true. From the Latin (tenet) — he holds — the third person singular of (tenere) — to hold.

Source: The World Book Dictionary.

5. (c) Masonically, profane means — without the Temple, uninitiated

Profane, masonically means "not a Mason" — it comes from the Latin — pro — meaning before and — fanum — meaning, a temple. Masonically, profane is one "outside the Temple", uninitiated. The word has no reference to "profanity" in the modern sense of taking the name of God in vain.

Source: One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry, The Masonic Service Association

6. (b) A hecatomb is a hundred head of cattle.

An ancient Greek word. Pythagoras is stated to have "sacrificed a hecatomb" upon discovering "the forty- seventh problem of Euclid". The ritual here is not factual. Pythagoras was known to be poor and could hardly have possessed a hundred head of cattle. He was a vegetarian and reverenced animal life; he would not have killed one cow let alone a hundred, to celebrate his "discovery".

Source: One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry, The Masonic Service Association

7. (b) The number three appearing so often in Freemasonry refers to the triangle symbol of Deity.

Three is the numerical symbol of the equilateral triangle, which is man's earliest symbol for God. It was the "most sacred number" at the dawn of civilization. Evidently, the ritual makers of an early age believed there should be a symbolism as well as object in the teachings of Masonry regarding the FATHERHOOD OF GOD to instruct that He is present at all times in every ceremony and meeting.

Source: One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry, The Masonic Service Association

8. (c) ABIF means, my father

The word ABIF is translated both "his father" and "my father" with the word father used in these senses as patriarch, a teacher, a source of wisdom, and not the actual father of a family. Hiram Abif — "Hiram my father" is thus a title of honor and respect.

Source: One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry, The Masonic Service Association

9. (b) The Four Crowned Martyrs were members of the Roman Collegia, martyred for Masonry

During the reign of Emperor Diocletan (A.D. 284-305) four Master Masons and one Entered Apprentice suffered atrocious deaths in the persecution of the Christians, and the "four crowned martyrs" (Quattour Coronati) became in later centuries the patron saints of Masons in Germany, France and England. In London, England, the supreme lodge of research for the entire Craft bears this name.

Source: One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry, The Masonic Service Association

10. (a) Blue Lodges are so called because universality is symbolized by the blue clouded canopy, also a symbol of truth.

Some Masonic scholars think that as blue has, from ancient Biblical times, been associated with truth, with Deity, with wisdom and hope that blue came into Masonry as its color by natural association. Others believe that as our ancient brethren met on hills and in vales, over which the blue vault of heaven is a ceiling, that blue, the color of the sky, is that of all celestial attributes for which Masons strive.

Source: One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry, The Masonic Service Association

11. (b) The THIRD DEGREE as we know it is about two hundred years old.

In 1716, the representatives of four lodges met in the Apple Tree Tavern in London, England, and decided to form a Grand Lodge for London. They did so on June 24, 1717, at the Goose and Gridiron Tavern. They created a code and Constitution and the Old Charges. Much of that work was done by the Rev. J. Theophilius Desaguliers, a Church of England clergyman of Huguenot descent and Dr. James Anderson, a Presbyterian. In 1719, Desaguliers became Grand Master and in 1720, he was succeeded by George Payne. The THIRD DEGREE was perfected about 1720-1721 by Desaguliers and the Legend of the Temple introduced.

Source: The Origins of Freemasonry, R. V. Harris, P.G.M., November 11, 1945

12. (a) The best known Encyclopedia of Freemasonry is Mackey's.
 
13. (b) The Cornucopia is the Steward's symbol because it is a symbol of plenty.

In the early days the functions of the Stewards were to provide "plenty of refreshment". According to Greek mythology, which goes back to the very dawn of civilization, the god Zeus was nourished in infancy from the milk of the goat Amalthea. In gratitude the god placed Amalthea forever in the heavens as a constellation, but first he gave one of Amalthea's horns to his nurses with the assurance that it would forever pour whatever they desired! The "horn of plenty" or the cornucopia, is thus a symbol of abundance.

Source: Pocket Encyclopedia of Masonic Symbols, Masonic Service Association

14. (b) Corner stones are laid in the Northeast corner because it is the halfway point between the darkness of the North and the light of the East, thus symbolizing a beginning.

Those who build have left the "darkness" in which there is no building, and progressed toward the "light" to lay a foundation stone — a place, by which its position symbolizes movement away from blackness into day.

The symbolism of the Northeast corner in the Entered Apprentice degree is taken from this ancient custom of laying the cornerstone in the Northeast corner. He who stands there in lodge "a just and upright Mason" is himself a cornerstone of the lodge which will be! A lodge is erected not only by, but upon, her sons. The Entered Apprentice of today is the veteran Mason and lodge member of tomorrow.

Source: One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry, The Masonic Service Association

15. (b) "Hele" means to cover or conceal.

"Hele" is an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning to cover or conceal. "Hele and Conceal" is one of the many word pairs in the ritual which go back to the growth of the English language, when two words were often used to ensure that the hearer understood the meaning of at least one. Other examples in Masonic ritual are "duly and truly", "worthy and well-qualified" and "free will and accord".

Source: One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry, The Masonic Service Association

16. (b) It is true that Phythagoras was initiated into several Orders of Priesthood.

The ritual is not factual when discussing the Forty- seventh Problem in the symbolism of the Master's Carpet Lecture. Phythagoras could hardly have been raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason as this did not take even an ancient and simple form until centuries after he died. Phythagoras was poor and could hardly have possessed a hecatomb (a hundred head of cattle). He was a vegetarian and reverenced animal life; he would not have killed one cow, let alone a hundred, to "celebrate" his discovery. It was Euclid who made the properties of a right-angled triangle his forty-seventh problem, even though the principles involved were apparently known to ancient mathematicians long before Pythagoras or Euclid.

Source: One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry, The Masonic Service Association

17. (c) A pilaster is a right-angled columnar projection.

The dictionary defines a pilaster as a flat rectangular pillar having a capital and base, forming part of a wall.

18. (d) The DUE GUARD is a salute to a Worshipful Master.

It is universally used as a salute to the Master before the Altar and to the Wardens during the conferring of a degree. Masonic authorities are not in complete agreement as to the derivation of the words although they unite as to what the words signify. Mackey thinks the words mean "to duly guard against". Other authorities are convinced that the phrase has a French derivation coming from "Dieu Garde" — God guard (you and me).

Source: One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry, The Masonic Service Association

19. (b) A Master is addressed a Worshipful as a token of great respect.

The word "worchyppe" or "worchyp" is Old English and means greatly respected. In the Wycliffe Bible "Honor they father and thy mother" appears as "Worchyp thy fadir and thy modir". English and Canadian Mayors are still addressed "Your Worship". Worshipful, therefore, in modern Masonry continues an ancient word meaning, "greatly respected".

Source: One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry — The Masonic Service Association

20. (c) An Apprentice is "Entered" when his name is entered into the books of the lodge following the first degree.

In the Middle Ages, to become an operative freemason a young lad had to serve a seven year apprenticeship before he might ask to be permitted to make and submit to his superior his "Master's Piece" and be admitted as a "Fellow of the Craft". Before he could serve his time he had to prove himself! Therefore, he served a period of time as an Apprentice. If at the end of that period he had shown himself possessed of the necessary qualifications of industry, character, decency and probity he was "entered on the books" of the Craft and became an "Entered Apprentice".

Originally, an Apprentice was not a member of the Masonic Craft, even after being entered on the books of the lodge; not until he had passed his apprenticeship and had been accepted as a Fellow was he a Craftsman. This practice gradually gave way to the modern idea and by 1717, Apprentices initiated in lodges formed the bulk of the Craft.

Source: One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry, The Masonic Service Association