The investiture with the gloves is very closely connected with the
investiture with the apron, and the consideration of the symbolism of the
one naturally follows the consideration of the symbolism of the other.
In the continental rites of Masonry, as practised in France, in Germany, and in other countries of Europe, it is an invariable custom to present the newly-initiated candidate not only, as we do, with a white leather apron, but also with two pairs of white kid gloves, one a man's pair for himself, and the other a woman's, to be presented by him in turn to his wife or his betrothed, according to the custom of the German masons, or, according to the French, to the female whom he most esteems, which, indeed, amounts, or should amount, to the same thing.
There is in this, of course, as there is in everything else which pertains to Freemasonry, a symbolism. The gloves given to the candidate for himself are intended to teach him that the acts of a mason should be as pure and spotless as the gloves now given to him. In the German lodges, the word used for acts is of course handlungen, or handlings, "the works of his hands," which makes the symbolic idea more impressive.
Dr. Robert Plott--no friend of Masonry, but still an historian of much
research--says, in his "Natural History of Staffordshire," that the
Society of Freemasons, in his time (and he wrote in 1660), presented their
candidates with gloves for themselves and their wives. This shows that the
custom still preserved on the continent of Europe was formerly practised
in England, although there as well as in America, it is discontinued, which is, perhaps, to be regretted.
But although the presentation of the gloves to the candidate is no longer
practised as a ceremony in England or America, yet the use of them as a
part of the proper professional clothing of a mason in the duties of the
lodge, or in processions, is still retained, and in many well-regulated
lodges the members are almost as regularly clothed in their white gloves
as in their white aprons.
The symbolism of the gloves, it will be admitted, is, in fact, but a
modification of that of the apron. They both signify the same thing; both
are allusive to a purification of life. "Who shall ascend," says the
Psalmist, "into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy
place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart." The apron may be said
to refer to the "pure heart," the gloves to the "clean hands." Both are
significant of purification--of that purification which was always
symbolized by the ablution which preceded the ancient initiations into the
sacred Mysteries. But while our American and English masons have adhered
only to the apron, and rejected the gloves as a Masonic symbol, the
latter appear to be far more important in symbolic science, because the
allusions to pure or clean hands are abundant in all the ancient writers.
"Hands," says Wemyss, in his "Clavis Symbolica," "are the symbols of human
actions; pure hands are pure actions; unjust hands are deeds of
injustice." There are numerous references in sacred and profane writers to
this symbolism. The washing of the hands has the outward sign of an
internal purification. Hence the Psalmist says, "I will wash my hands in
innocence, and I will encompass thine altar, Jehovah."
In the ancient Mysteries the washing of the hands was always an
introductory ceremony to the initiation, and, of course, it was used
symbolically to indicate the necessity of purity from crime as a
qualification of those who sought admission into the sacred rites; and
hence on a temple in the Island of Crete this inscription was placed: "Cleanse your feet, wash your hands, and then enter."
Indeed, the washing of hands, as symbolic of purity, was among the
ancients a peculiarly religious rite. No one dared to pray to the gods
until he had cleansed his hands. Thus Homer makes Hector say,--
[Greek: "Chersi\ d' a)ni/Ptoisin Dii\+lei/bein A(\zomai."]--Iliad, vi. 266.
"I dread with unwashed hands to bring
My incensed wine to Jove an offering."
In a similar spirit of religion, Æneas, when leaving burning Troy, refuses
to enter the temple of Ceres until his hands, polluted by recent strife, had been washed in the living stream.
"Me bello e tanto digressum et cæde recenti, Attrectare nefas, donec me flumine vivo Abluero."--Æn. ii. 718.