Verse 2. While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain. While you are young enough to see the light of God in the day or night, before old age and the trails of light make you unable to see that light anymore.

Verse 3. In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened. When the hands shake, when men are no longer able to stand tall under the burden of the years, when men can no longer chew their food because their teeth have fallen out, and they can no longer see because old age has left them blind.

Verse 4. And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and the daughters of music shall be brought low; When your hearing goes bad and the sounds of life are shut out and the only things you can here are loud noises

Verse 5. Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goeth to his long home and the mourners go about the streets: When the body is feeble and man is afraid to get up because he might fall back down, the hair has all turned gray, the weight of his own body is a burden to lift, and the desire to live is gone. Then man goes to his grave and his friend go on about their lives.

Verse 6. Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. No matter what you call it dead is d e a d.

Verse 7. Then shall the dust return to the earth a as it was; As it was; and the spirit shall return unto GOD who gave it. The body shall return to the dust of the earth from wince it came and the spirit shall return back to GOD who gave it

Verse 8. Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity. Simply said vanity is useless in the eyes of GOD, because the truth is that man does nothing without the help of GOD.

Verse 9. And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge, yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. If the preacher is wise he will teach people the truth and straighten out all false popular sayings.

Verse 10. The preacher sought to find our acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth. A preacher should seek out the truth and research it to make sure it is the truth before he Passes it on.

Verse 11. The words of the wise are as goals, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. The one shepherd is Jesus Christ and his teachings are the nails you should use to build your life on if your goal is to go to heaven.

Verse 12. And further, by these, my son, be admonished or making many books there is no end; and much study is awareness of the flesh. Be weary of waiting books, because you could end up waiting books until you are old and tired. Finding out that you have let life pass you by.

Verse 13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. Bottom line, try to live your life as Jesus Christ lived his.

Verse 14. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. When you die, you will be judged by every thought and action you made from the time of your birth, until the time of your death.

The Three Steps Youth:

In our youth we should be learning the lessons of The Supreme Architect of the Universe as told to us in his Holy Whitings. Manhood: As men we should be living our lives as shown to us by His Son Old-age: As old men we should be living in peace with the knowledge that we lived our lives as men of God and the Supreme Architect has an eternal home made in Heaven for us as our final resting place.

The Pot Of Incense Symbolizes man, the pot being the physical body, the Incense being the mind of man, and when they are lit, the heat given off being the spirit of man as given to him by God.

The Beehive Symbolizes unity of purpose, with just one leader, for life and just one goal, the betterment of the hive. Each Grand Lodge should be as the Beehive, with a unity of purpose, with just one Leader, and just one goal, the betterment of the order. The fact is in most Grand Lodges, the only similarity to the Beehive is that they have only one Leader.

Today all Grand Lodges have one Grand Master, but most of them have members who want to become Grand Masters, this in itself divides the unity of purpose. Now you have those Grand Masters that are trying to get reelected, those Grand Masters that are not eligible for reelection, and those members that are trying to become Grand Masters. Now the main goal of our members becomes getting the man they want for Grand Master elected and the goal of the betterment of the order is put aside or even forgotten about.

The Anchor And Ark

The Anchor is an emblem of Jesus Christ who gave his life to ensure us a safe harbor to find rest in. The Ark is an emblem of God, that divine ark that carries us through a lifetime of trials and tribulations, and finally to our Heavenly home.

The 47th Problem of Euclid Is commonly excepted to represent the physical body, the psyche, and the spiritual, and this figure being the complete man. Let us just suppose the 47th problem of Euclid represented the life spirit, the human spirit, and the divine spirit. The life spirit being Friendship, the human spirit being Morality, and the divine spirit being Brotherly Love. This figure could represent the perfect man.

The Hour Glass Is an emblem of human life. Like the hour glass, when the first grain of sand falls it is a fact that the last grain of sand will fall too. When man is born it is a fact that he will also die. The difference being that man has control over how he lives his life and the sand only falls down.

The Sword Reminds us that we should be ever watchful and guarded in our thoughts, words, and actions, because all of these will be recorded in the Great Book of Life, that all men are judged by when" they die.

The Scythe Is used as an emblem of Death but it is in reality an emblem of transition from one life to another. Because as this mortal life comes to an end it brings with it the beginning of a spiritual life.

Conclusion As Jesus Christ had his Judas among His disciples, so does Masonry have its Judas among its members. Just as Judas thought his beliefs were better than Jesus' teachings so today many Masons believe that their beliefs are better than the teachings of Free Masonry. The Bible tells, us in the end Judas learned that the lessons of God were the only true lessons to be learned and as it was then so it is still so today.

The third degree teaches three main lessons:

1. That all men will die.

2. That we should all live our lives according to the teachings of the Supreme Architect of the Universe.

3. A firm belief that if we do #2 we will live again in that heavenly home made for us by our Father in Heaven.