So when I go to Masonic Pathways, there are three five and seven steps on the front porch.
I do well remembering the Three and Five step lectures, but fall short on the seven. Must be old age.
Grammar teaches the proper arrangement of words according to the idiom or dialect of any particular people, and that excellence of pronunciation which enables us to speak or write a language with accuracy, agreeably to reason and correct usage.
Rhetoric teaches us to speak copiously and fluently on any subject, not merely with propriety, but with all advantages of force and elegance, wisely contriving to captivate the hearer by strength of argument and beauty of expression, whether it be to entreat or exhort, to admonish or applaud.
Logic teaches us to guide our reason discretionally in the general knowledge of things, and directs our inquiries after truth. It consists of a regular train of argument, whence we infer, deduce and conclude according to certain premises laid down, admitted or granted, and in it are employed the faculties of conceiving, judging, reasoning and disposing, all of which are naturally lead on from one gradation to another till the point in question is finally determined.
Arithmetic teaches the powers and properties of numbers, which is variously affected by letters, tables, figures and instruments. By this art, reason and demonstrations are given for finding out any certain number whose relation or affinity to another is already known or discovered.
Geometry, or the fifth science, is the one which Masonry is more particularly founded. Geometry treats of the powers and properties of magnitudes in general, where length, breadth and thickness are considered. From a point to a line, from a line to a superficies, and from a superficies to a solid. A point is a dimensionless figure, or an indivisible part of space. A line is a point continued, and a figure of one capacity, namely length. A superficies is a figure of two dimensions, namely length and breadth. A solid is a figure of three dimensions, namely length, breadth and thickness. By this science the architect is enabled to construct his plans and execute his designs, the general to arrange his soldiers, the engineer to mark out ground for encampments, the geographer to give us the dimensions of the world and all things therein contained, to delineate the extent of seas, and specify the divisions of empires, kingdoms and provinces. By it also, the astronomer is enabled to make his observations and to fix the duration of times and seasons, years and cycles.
In fine, geometry is the foundation of architecture and the root of mathematics.
Music teaches the art of forming concords, so as to compose delightful harmony by a mathematical and proportional arrangement of acute, grave and mixed sounds. This art, by a series of experiments, is reduced to a demonstrative science with respect to tones and the intervals of sound. It inquires into the nature of concords and discords, and enables us to find out the proportion between them by numbers.
Astronomy is that Divine art by which we are taught to read the wisdom, strength and beauty of the Almighty Creator in those sacred pages, the Celestial hemisphere. Assisted by astronomy we can observe the motions, measure the distance, comprehend the magnitudes and calculate the periods and eclipses of the heavenly bodies. By it we learn the use of the globes, the systems of the world and the preliminary law of nature. While we are employed in the study of this science, we must perceive unparalleled instances of wisdom and goodness, and through the whole creation trace the glorious Author by His works.
For this and many other reasons the number seven is held in high esteem among Masons.
