A Story of Stone

As newly made Masons, we are first introduced to the Ashlars in the E.A. Lecture.
“The Rough Ashlar is a stone as taken from the quarry in its rude and natural state. The Perfect Ashlar is a stone made ready by the hands of the workmen, to be adjusted by the working tools of the fellow craft… …By the Rough Ashlar we are reminded of our rude and imperfect state by nature; by the Perfect Ashlar, of that state of perfection at which we hope to arrive by a virtuous education, our own endeavors, and the blessing of deity.”

The Rough Ashlar was not a stone that was merely picked up somewhere. It was a stone that has been selected. Some work was done upon it. It was apparently a good stone. It was a stone that showed good prospects of being capable of being made into a Perfect Ashlar. If it had not been a good stone, it would never have been cut out from the quarry.
So it is with our prospective member. He cannot be merely picked up somewhere. He must be selected. Before he is ready to be initiated some work must be done upon him. He must stand certain basic tests. He must be apparently of good material. He must be a man who shows good prospects of being capable of being made into a good Mason. If he had not been a good man, he should never have been proposed for membership.
In changing a Rough Ashlar into a Perfect Ashlar, the workman takes away and never adds to. He chips and chips. He cuts away the rough edges. He removes the visible flaws, he does not create by chemical means or otherwise, a new material. He takes that which is already there and develops it into the Perfect Ashlar.
Not many operators in Masonry can make a Perfect Ashlar. So there are not many per-fect Masons in our Lodges. In our Ritualistic and other work, we can take away much of the roughness, remove the sharp points and obliterate the visible defects. We can pro-duce as good a Mason as there is within our power to produce. But the essential thing is to have a good material upon which to work.
Freemasonry can and does improve good material, but it cannot make bad material good. As with the Operative Mason, poor material would have endangered the material structure. So with us as Speculative Masons, a faulty Ashlar will endanger the Spiritual temple we are endeavoring to build.
Lastly, consider that even a Perfect Ashlar, alone, is still just a stone. Operatively it takes many stones to build a lodge. Speculatively, the same can be said. We are the building blocks of our lodge. It’s time to put the pieces together. In these strange and difficult times, we stand together, lean on and support each other. We derive our strength from our structure and numbers.
I am the first WM of USS NJ #62, raised in USS NJ #62. The rest of the line of officers were all raised in USS NJ #62. Trimble, Universal and Ionic are the foundation of this new lodge, but this is a new lodge, and we have to build it, together. Your lodge needs you.

F&S

Robert Hudgins, WM
USS NJ Lodge #62 F. & A.M.