aspirants of the ancient Mysteries), we are informed that they were
transported to the site of the edifice on Mount Moriah, and were there
placed in the hands of another class of workmen, who are now technically
called the Fellow Crafts, and who correspond to the Mystes, or those who
had received the second degree of the ancient Mysteries. At this stage of
the operative work more extensive and important labors were to be
performed, and accordingly a greater amount of skill and knowledge was
required of those to whom these labors were intrusted. The stones, having
been prepared by the Apprentices[60] (for hereafter, in speaking of the
workmen of the temple, I shall use the equivalent appellations of the more
modern Masons), were now to be deposited in their destined places in the
building, and the massive walls were to be erected. For these purposes
implements of a higher and more complicated character than the gauge and
gavel were necessary. The _square_ was required to fit the joints with
sufficient accuracy, the _level_ to run the courses in a horizontal line,
and the _plumb_ to erect the whole with due regard to perfect
perpendicularity. This portion of the labor finds its symbolism in the
second degree of the speculative science, and in applying this symbolism
we still continue to refer to the idea of erecting a spiritual temple in
the heart.

The necessary preparations, then, having been made in the first degree,
the lessons having been received by which the aspirant is taught to
commence the labor of life with the purification of the heart, as a Fellow
Craft he continues the task by cultivating those virtues which give form
and impression to the character, as well adapted stones give shape and
stability to the building. And hence the "working tools" of the Fellow
Craft are referred, in their symbolic application, to those virtues. In
the alphabet of symbolism, we find the square, the level, and the plumb
appropriated to this second degree. The square is a symbol denoting