The Tyler’s Sword

Lecture by WM Deidric S. Cave, DBA

In Symbolic Masonry, the Tiler or Tyler is a Master Mason whose duty it is to challenge all those who approach the Lodge Room door and verify that all who enter are Masons who are duly qualified. To be duly qualified, a Mason must have been advanced through the proper degree of work for the meeting, be current with his dues, be clad in the proper apron, and have permission of the Master to enter.

In ancient stonemason guilds, Tilers guarded the door against eavesdroppers and cowans. They still serve this function today. The Tiler’s Sword is symbolic of a need in the days when this instrument was the principle means of offense or defense. It may have been used by ancient stonemason guilds to protect the secrets of the master builder from the cowan, an ignorant mason that could be hired to build walls of loose stones without mortar or cement because they were not yet apprenticed to a Master Mason and had no right to attend or vote at secret guild meetings; or, an eavesdropper, a common person looking to overhear the master builder secrets.

In a typical Lodge today, the Tiler sits outside the Lodge Room door in a Tiler’s room, armed with a symbolic sword resting at his side or mounted on the wall. The Sword is a symbol of the Tiler’s authority to protect the lodge from imposters. The Tiler’s Sword should act as a reminder of moral lessons. It should admonish all of us to “set a guard at the entrance of our thoughts, to place watch at the door of our lips, and to post a sentinel at the avenue of our actions, thereby excluding every unqualified and unworthy thought, word, or deed, and preserving consciences void of offense towards God and towards man.

Coincidently, the Tiler has not been armed with a sword through all of Masonic history. In early Freemasonry, the Tiler was “armed with the proper implement of his office,” which was appropriately, a trowel used for setting tiles.