The Due Guard Not every Masonic jurisdiction in the world uses the “Due Guard” as we in the U.S. know it. While Freemasonry is said to be universal, we all know that there are some slight differences in ritual and custom among all the Grand Lodges in the world.  However interesting these slight differences are to know about and to understand, it is even more important to understand that these slight differences are just that – slight.  Freemasonry is Freemasonry and despite our differences we are Brothers who can learn from each other.  The following article is by Brother Bernard E. Jones in his book Freemason’s Guide and Compendium.  This book has been reprinted many times in the last 50 years, and is currently available under the ISBM #’s of 13-978-1-58182-560-2 & 1-58182-560-9.  Click here for Amazon link to purchase the book. The Following Discussion on the Due Guard is Presented by Bernard E. Jones Still surviving in a very few English lodges, in most Irish lodges, and in lodges throughout the U.S. is the Due Guard, which was no doubt in use in the English lodges of the early eighteenth century, and is very likely to have been inspired by, or borrowed from, operative practice.  Lodges in the American system often lay as much emphasis in their ceremonies on the Due Guard as they do on the sign or signs of the degree. In general, the Due Guard relates to the attitude of the Candidate at the time of taking the Obligation in any one of the degrees. It is a sign in itself, but its real purpose can be compared with that of the keeper-ring, which serves as a protection against the loss of the wedding ring. The Due Guard is just that—a keeper, a protection against the accidental loss or betrayal of the real sign of the degree, because any invitation to give that sign is immediately countered by a demand for the Due Guard. Thus, without the Due Guard from one Brother, the sign of the degree will not be vouchsafed by another. Every separate rite in the American system appears to have its own individual Due Guard, although in the Irish system the Due Guard is only known in the First and Third of the Craft Degrees, an indication, perhaps, that both of the Due Guards belonged originally to the old First and Second Degrees before their rearrangement and the addition of the Third. The old French term Dieu for 'God' was known in early English literature, and there may be a relation between the two terms, although it seems that the word 'Due' is used in a most obvious way as meaning ‘correct,’ or ‘proper’ in the sense of the term ‘due form.’ The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs (1935) gives a number of references. We are told, for example, that a ‘beck’ or ‘becke’ (a ‘bow’ or a ‘nod’) is as good as a ‘Dieu Gard,’ and that the old French dieu vous garde (‘God keep you’) was a polite salutation of the year 1538. ‘Dieugard’ (sometimes spelt ‘Dew Guard’) was Middle English for the same salutation.