The Volume of the Sacred Law
Why this matters
The book on the altar is always open. Always. Before the Lodge can be called to labor, somebody has to turn to a specific page and lay the square and compasses across it. In an American Lodge that book is almost always a Bible. In a Lodge meeting on a foreign station with members of different faiths, it may also be a Torah, a Quran, a Bhagavad Gita, a Granth Sahib, set side by side. The published rule is not which book; the published rule is that the Lodge meets only when some book of sacred writ is present and open.
The Volume of the Sacred Law is the published center of the altar and the published basis for every obligation a Mason takes. Knowing what is required (an open book of sacred writ) and what is left to each candidate (which book) is the difference between thinking Masonry is a Christian club and understanding that it is a fraternity built on the published premise that a man's faith in something larger than himself is the foundation of his word.
What this chapter is
The book of sacred writ that rests open on every Masonic altar: what it is, what it represents, and why it furnishes a Lodge.
How to practise it
A lesson walks the same seven steps every time. Read the intro, study the material, then drill it through Quick Fire, Matchup, Sequence, Flashcards, and the Mix capstone. Each step opens to the next; no choices to make in the middle of the work.
What if · take it further ▸
Sit with this
- What is the difference between requiring a specific holy book on the altar and requiring an open book of sacred writ of some kind? The published rule chose the second. As you read, ask what that choice does, and what it deliberately does not do.
- Anderson's Constitutions of 1723 changed the language from the older Christian formulation to a published rule of belief in 'that religion in which all men agree.' Look up the actual wording. It is short, and it is the hinge on which modern Masonic universality turns.
Connect to
- The Three Great Lights
The Three Great Lights. The VSL is the first of the three.
- Universality of the Craft
Universality of the Craft. The published VSL rule is one reason regular Masonry can travel between religions.
- The Antient and Modern Split
The Antient and Modern Split. Both sides agreed on the VSL even where they disagreed on much else.