The Address to the Brethren: Freemasonry

Part 1: Freemasonry - It's Teachings - Canadian Work, British Columbia

Moderator's Introduction: This "address" or Charge to the Brethren of a Lodge is given after the installation of officers of such lodge. I first heard of this in an Australian Installation of Officers, which for the most part is a closed and tyled lodge in the 1st Degree. In Canada, this is mostly in the 2nd Degree. Unlike in the Philippines, the norm is a Public Installation or open to the general public.

As in most Canadian and Australian Lodges, there is part of the installation of the Worshipful Master wherein all those who are not sitting Masters or Past Masters must retire. In some jurisdiction, they call this the "4th Degree", as only sitting Master and Past Masters are privy to this.

I believe in the Philippines this "degree" or the Master's Word or whatever signs are given during the Grand Lodge's Annual Communication. In some Jurisdictions, it is given in a district level communication of Worshipful Masters. As I am not a Past Master or a sitting Master, I do not know. But I know for sure that non PM or WM are retired and after the "ceremony" are welcomed back into the tyled lodge and given the following "Charge" or address.


"Brethren, such is the nature of our Institution, that while some must, of necessity, rule and teach, so others must, of course, learn, submit and obey. Humility in both is an essential duty. The Brethren elected and appointed to assist in the government of the lodge are too well acquainted with the principles of Freemasonry and the rules of propriety to exceed the power with which they are entrusted, and you are of too generous a disposition to envy their preferment. I, there, shall trust that we have but one aim, to please each other and unite in the grand design of being happy and communicating happiness.

Masonry, my brethren, according to the general acceptance of the term, is an art, founded on the principles of Geometry, and directed to the service and convenience of mankind, but Freemasonry, embracing a wider range, and having a nobler object in view, namely the cultivation and improvement of the human mind, may with more propriety be styled a science, inasmuch as availing itself of the terms of the former, it inculcates the principles of the purest morality, though its lessons are chiefly veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. To draw aside this veil, therefore, or more properly speaking, to penetrate through it, is the object of rulers in Freemasonry, and by a careful and appropriate attention to them, we may hope ultimately to become acquainted with all its mysteries.

Freemasonry, from its origin to the present time, in all its vicissitudes, has been the steady and unvarying friend of man. It has (in the language of an eloquent brother) gone forth from age to age; the constant messenger of peace and love; never weary, never forgetful of its holy mission, patiently administering to the relief of want and sorrow, and scattering with unsparing hands, blessings and benefits to all around. It comforts the mourner, it speaks peace and consolation to the troubled spirit, it carries relief and gladness to the habitations of want and destitution, it dries the tears of the widow and orphan, it opens the source of knowledge, it widens the sphere of human happiness, it even seeks to light up the darkness and gloom of the grave by pointing to the hopes and promises of a better life to come.

All this Freemasonry has done and is still doing. Such is Freemasonry, and such as its mission; and we should never forget, while enjoying its benefits and appreciating its value, the duties we owe to the order; for there is no right without a parallel duty, no liberty without the supremacy of the law, no high destiny without earnest perseverance, and no real greatness without self-denial."

End of Part 1