Masonic Matters
February 10, 2005
Broached Thurnel & the Ashlars
Our good Brother Dr. George Oliver in his Dictionary of Symbolical
Masonry tells us that the Broached Thurnel was one of the original
Immoveable Jewels, and was used for the Entered Apprentice to learn to
work upon. In the early part of the 18th Century the Immoveable Jewels
of the Lodge were said to be "the Tarsel Board, the Rough Ashlar, and
the Broached Thurnel." The explanation of these "immovable jewels" was
that "The Rough Ashlar was for the Fellow Crafts to try their Jewels on,
and the Broached Thurnel for the Entered Apprentice to learn to work
upon." i The Broached Thurnel has the form of a little square turret
with a spire springing from it. Broach or Broche is an old English term
for a spire." Thurnel is from the old French tournelle, meaning a turret
or little tower. So the Broached Thurnel we're speaking of here is a
Pointed Cubical Stone.
The Broached Thurnel was a model on which the Entered Apprentice might
learn the principles of Operative Masonry because it had on it the forms
of the Square, Triangle, Cube, and the Pyramid.
Brother Clegg in his edition of Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of
Freemasonry says that on an inspection of an Entered Apprentice tracing
board, where the Broached Thurnel is depicted, there can be seen three
symbols on it: the Trestle Board, the Rough Ashlar, (much as we see them
today depicted,) and a Cubical Stone with a pyramidal apex. This is the
Broached Thurnel.
The Broached Thurnel mentioned by Brother & Dr. Oliver, and which can be
seen on some very old tracing boards of the Entered Apprentice is a
Pointed Cubical Stone. It is pictured sometimes with an Ax inserted in
the apex, and this is known by our early French Brethren as the Pierre
Cubique.ii
Today in Freemasonry, according to some sources, the Broached Thurnel
has been replaced by the Perfect Ashlar. Speculative Freemasonry has
taken the Ashlar in two different states, (the rough and the perfect,)
as symbols in the first degree. All Freemasons are familiar with the
explanation of the Rough and Perfect Ashlar that is given in the lecture
of the First Degree.
Once the Rough Ashlar has been worked on and has been made ready, or in
other words made perfect, for its final resting place in the structure
it is then known as the Perfect Ashlar. The form of a Perfect Ashlar is
said to be a cube because the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle and of
Solomon's Temple were cubical in shape, and the Prefect Ashlar is a
symbol of the summum bonum of Freemasonry, because everything else in
Freemasonry leads up to it.iii
In order to understand the further symbolism of the Perfect Ashlar we
need to remember the original term as it came into Speculative
Freemasonry from Operative Masonry. It is perfect only because it is
completely adapted to its purpose; that is to exactly fit into its place
in the building and act as a binder for the other stones. It has two
faces to be exposed and both must be absolutely upright. It does not
have one standard for the world and another for home; the same fair
face, square and true, is presented to both the world and the Lodge. It
teaches that we should not have one code of morals for one place and
another for another. Right and justice are the same no matter where we
are and no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in.
In Freemasonry there is a slogan we like to use that says, "We make good
men better," which means we only accept good men into our ranks. We
don't accept bad men and then try to improve them, we start with good
resources; good men. The same is true of the Ashlar to make a Rough
Ashlar perfect the nature of the stone has not changed; the workmen
cannot take a poor or flawed stone and make it perfect. They may be able
to make it smooth, but they cannot change the nature of the stone.
When the work is completed and the Ashlar has been made perfect and
ready to be fitted, the litter, dust, chips, and tools are all cleared
and put away, and nothing visible is left on how the stone became what
it then is.iv This should teach us that the symbols of Freemasonry are
the tools we use to form ourselves into perfect, or better, living
stones to be fitted for that house not made with hands eternal in the
heavens.
"Masonry is not an end in and of itself. We strive to form a perfect man
and Masonry is but a means to that end."v Freemasons are as concerned
for their Brothers welfare as with their own, and when this is uppermost
in our hearts and minds our work can be said to be good work; true work;
square work. |