The greatest of these is Charity; for our Faith may be lost in sight; Hope ends in fruition; but Charity extends beyond the grave, through the boundless realms of eternity.
The Lodge continues throughout this degree to be presented to the initiate as a symbol of the world, and hence its covering is figuratively supposed to be the "clouded canopy" on which the host of stars is represented. If the Lodge represent the world, then its covering must be represented by the blue vault of heaven.
The mystical ladder which is here referred to, is a symbol that was widely diffused among the religions of antiquity, where, as in Masonry, it was always supposed to consist of seven steps, because seven was a sacred number. In some of the Ancient Mysteries, the seven steps represented the seven planets, and then the sun was the topmost; in others they represented the seven metals, and then gold was the topmost; in the Brahminical mysteries they represented the seven worlds which constituted the Indian universe, and then the world of Truth was the highest. The seven steps of the Masonic ladder are Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, Justice, Faith, Hope, and Charity; that is, the four cardinal and the three theological virtues. Now, as charity is love, and as the sun represents Divine Love, and as also the astronomical sign of the sun is gold, and as truth is the synonym of God, it is evident, that the topmost round in all these ladders, whether it be the sun, or gold, or truth, or charity, conveys exactly the same lesson of symbolism, namely, that the Mason, living and working in the world as his Lodge, must seek to raise himself out of it to that eminence which surmounts it, where alone he can find Divine Truth.
