From: Freemason in Africa Facebook Page
"Brotherly love?" commented the Old Past Master. "Oh, yes, the lodge is full of it.
It is curious the way it manifests itself, sometimes, but when you dig down deep enough into men's hearts, you find a lot of it." "A lot of them never show it, then," said the Very New Mason. "Oh, no, certainly not! Men don't go around demonstrating their affection like a lot of girls, you know," answered the Old Past Master.
"But you don't have to see a demonstration to know the feeling is there. The trouble with so many young Masons is their misunderstanding of the term 'brotherly love,' though high heaven knows the words are sufficiently easy to understand."
"'Brotherly, ' now, means 'like a brother.' I know a lot of brothers hate each other, but they don't act like brothers. There have been cowardly soldiers, and forsworn ministers, and corrupt judges, but when you say a man is 'like a soldier,' you mean 'brave and true'; when you say he is 'good as a minister' you mean one who 'truly does his honest best.' When you say 'upright as a judge' you mean 'as straight as the best of judges.' And when I say 'brotherly' means 'like a brother,' I mean like a brother who is acting as a good brother likes to act."
"As for 'love' there are more definitions than there are words in my mouth (which are several). But in connection with the 'brotherly' the word means that true affection which first considers the good of the person loved."
"Masonry teaches brotherly love. Many of its scholars are a long way from 100 per cent perfect in their lessons. But a lot could get an 'E' on their report card if the Lodge gave out evidence of scholastic standing!
"For instance, there was B'Jones. That is not his name, but it will serve. B'Jones undertook to do a piece of work for a hospital. It took him a year. At the end of the year his business was in shreds and tatters. He had one of those businesses that needs a man's personal attention." "His attention had gone to his hospital, which, by the way, was built and flourishes, to the everlasting credit of his city. It ought to be called the B'Jones hospital, but it isn't."
"A lot of his brethren in his lodge got to know about B'Jones. They called a meeting, called it the B'Jones meeting, issued stock in the B'Jones association, bought the stock, started B'Jones off all over again, and let him pay them back as he could. All this, without B'Jones ever asking for help.
Brotherly love, my son, in the best meaning of the word."
"There was poor old Smith. Smith, during his lifetime, came to the lodge every night. He wasn't very bright, that Smith. He could't learn the work and had no presence. Couldn't make a speech to save his life, so he never was called on at banquets. He never did anything audible, but he was always on committees and he always passed around refreshments and he attended every funeral, and he was always down ahead of the meeting to see if the room was clean, and if it wasn't, he'd sweep it out."
"He gave the best he had in service. Well, Smith died. Men do, you know; and awful lot have, already. At the funeral, we found out Smith left an invalid wife and two half grown children and no assets. It's the lodge's business to take care of such, and we did it.
But three men in the lodge with more money than ability to keep it to themselves, subscribed enough cash to put the boy through a good business school and the girl through a normal school, so they could earn their own living. Charity? Nonsense! The lodge attended to the 'relief.' The three attended to brotherly love. They just remembered what old Smith was and how he gave, and so they turned to and gave. Actually, Smith did most of the loving. The three just acted in reflex to Smith's loving heart, that so cared for his brethren and his Lodge he was always engaged in brotherly work."
"Do you know Brown? Brown runs a garage. Also, Brown ran a temperature until the doctors took him off to the hospital to cut out his something-or -other. Well, the garage was about to cash in. Garages don't run themselves, and there wasn't any one we could hire to run it. So six brothers of this lodge spent two hours a day each at the place, looking after it. We didn't do a very good job, I'm afraid: Brown says we are the worst garage keepers in the world, but we saved the shop from being wrecked and looted, and Brown thinks Masonry means something.
One reason we did it was because of brotherly love in spirit of the fact that sitting around a cold garage selling gasoline is about the uneasiest apology for loafing I know!" "I could talk all night about it. But what's the use? Those to whom 'brotherly love' is just words won't listen to what I say and those who know what they really mean don't need to hear it."
"Well, I am glad I heard it!" answered the Very New Mason. "Then," went the Old Past Master, "get it firmly fixed in your mind, young man, more than one man has gone into a lodge and curled his lip when he learned that he was supposed to be a brotherly lover, and turned around and wept when he found that he was being loved like a brother by men he didn't know cared what became of him."
"Masonry works miracles all the time, and the commonest of them and the one she works oftenest is teaching hard-hearted citizens to be soft-hearted Masons; teaching men the real meaning of the words 'brotherly' and 'love' until they, too, become teachers."
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The Old Past Master on Failure by Ill Bro Carl H Claudy
"What's troubling you?" asked the Old Past Master of a serious-faced brother who sat down next to him.
"So much I hardly know where to begin to tell it," came the response. "I try to be an optimist, but I can't help feeling that, practically speaking, Masonry is a failure, and it depresses me horribly, because I love it."
"Now that's too bad," said the Old Past Master soberly. "Masonry is a failure, practically speaking! That would depress me, too, because I also love it. In fact, I should think it would depress a great many men."
"Yes it would.... a lot of men love it," said the troubled brother.
"Suppose you explain why it is practically speaking a failure," said the Old Past Master. "If I ought to be depressed because of such a condition I think I ought to know it."
The troubled brother looked up suspiciously, but the grave face in front of him wore no smile. If the old eyes twinkled they were hidden by solemn lids from the penetrating glance of the troubled brother.
"Well, it's this way," he began. "Masonry teaches brotherhood. Naturally, your brother is a man on whom you can depend; he is worthy of trust. One believes in one's brother. One backs his note and expects to be paid; one is willing to trust one's wife, one's life, one's good name, to a real brother.
"But there are a good many men who are Masons that I know are not worthy of my trust, merely because they are Masons. They are my brethren because I have sworn with them the same obligations and professed the same faith. But I do not think I could trust them with that which is of value to me, and I know they wouldn't trust me with what is of value to them. I don't mean they are not good men, but I don't feel that my Masonic bond is strong enough to give me the complete trust which a real brotherhood should provide and I don't think they feel it either.
"If I were in a strange city and a man came up to me and wanted to borrow two dollars and pointed to a Masonic pin as the reason, I wouldn't lend it to him. And if I walked into a strange bank and tried to cash a check for twenty dollars on the strength of my Masonic pin, I wouldn't get it."
"A pin, you know," put in the Old Past Master, "is not real evidence of being a Mason!"
"No, but even if I could convince the banker I really was a Mason he wouldn't cash my check without identification. And I wouldn't give money to a stranger even if I knew he was a Mason, because....well, because my brotherhood hasn't struck deep enough, I guess. And so it seems to me that practically speaking, Masonry is a failure."
"And yet you say you love it!" sorrowed the Old Past Master. My brother, you have, in the language of the street, got hold of the wrong dog.
"Now let me talk a minute. Your blood brother is a man you love. You were children together, you fought with him and for him. You shared his joys and sorrows. You learned him, through and through. If you love him and trust him, it is not because of your mutual parentage, but because of your association. Two boys are not blood brothers, but raised as brothers, may have the same tender love and trust. It isn't the brotherhood of the flesh, but the brotherhood of spirit, that makes for love and trust.
"You complain because you don't have that feeling for a stranger. Had you been parted from your blood brother at birth, and never seen nor heard of him until he met you on the street and demanded money while offering proof of his blood relationship, would you trust him without knowing the manner of man he had come to be? Merely because he was a blood relative wouldn't mean he was the type of man you are. He might have become anything during these years of separation.
"Now, my brother, when you became a Mason you assumed a tie of brotherhood with all the other Masons of the world. But you did not assume any obligation to make that tie of brotherhood take the place of all the virtues which are in the Masons of the world, or the virtues possessed by the profane. If you are a true Mason you will extend Masonic brotherhood, practically, to those Masons who hold out the brotherly hand to you; which means those men who are able and willing to prove themselves brothers and Masons, not merely those who belong to lodges and wear pins.
"The world is one big compromise, my brother, between things as they are and things as we would like to have them. You would like to be rich, and you compromise by getting what you can. You would like to be famous, and you compromise by being as well known as you can and doing the best you can to deserve fame. You would like to be the most highly skilled man in your profession, but you have to compromise with perfection on the one hand, and the need of earning a living on the other. As a Mason, you would like to trust on sight every Mason in the world, but you have to compromise with this fact that all Masons are human beings first and Masons afterwards, and human beings are frail and imperfect.
"Masonry makes no man perfect. It merely holds out one road by which a man may travel towards the goal of spiritual perfection more easily and with more help than by other roads. It had no motive power to drive men over that road; but it smooths the way and points the path. The travel is strictly up to the individual brother.
"If you trust those whom you know travel that path, they will trust you....and Masonry will be, practically speaking, for you both a success. If you travel with your eyes open, you will see many who fall by the wayside, not because the way is plain and smooth, but because they are too weak to travel it. That is the fault, not of the road, but of the traveler.
"And so, my brother, Masonry cannot be a failure, because men fail as Masons. As well say the church is a failure because an evil man goes to it; as well call Christ a failure because all men are not Christians. The failure is in the man, not in the beautiful philosophy which is Masonry."
"And I," said the troubled brother, "Am a failure now because I have failed to understand. But not in the future, thanks to you."
Quoted from a series of Masonic writings of the Old Past Master series by Ill Bro Carl H Claudy, 33rd degree, PGM, c1924.
"So much I hardly know where to begin to tell it," came the response. "I try to be an optimist, but I can't help feeling that, practically speaking, Masonry is a failure, and it depresses me horribly, because I love it."
"Now that's too bad," said the Old Past Master soberly. "Masonry is a failure, practically speaking! That would depress me, too, because I also love it. In fact, I should think it would depress a great many men."
"Yes it would.... a lot of men love it," said the troubled brother.
"Suppose you explain why it is practically speaking a failure," said the Old Past Master. "If I ought to be depressed because of such a condition I think I ought to know it."
The troubled brother looked up suspiciously, but the grave face in front of him wore no smile. If the old eyes twinkled they were hidden by solemn lids from the penetrating glance of the troubled brother.
"Well, it's this way," he began. "Masonry teaches brotherhood. Naturally, your brother is a man on whom you can depend; he is worthy of trust. One believes in one's brother. One backs his note and expects to be paid; one is willing to trust one's wife, one's life, one's good name, to a real brother.
"But there are a good many men who are Masons that I know are not worthy of my trust, merely because they are Masons. They are my brethren because I have sworn with them the same obligations and professed the same faith. But I do not think I could trust them with that which is of value to me, and I know they wouldn't trust me with what is of value to them. I don't mean they are not good men, but I don't feel that my Masonic bond is strong enough to give me the complete trust which a real brotherhood should provide and I don't think they feel it either.
"If I were in a strange city and a man came up to me and wanted to borrow two dollars and pointed to a Masonic pin as the reason, I wouldn't lend it to him. And if I walked into a strange bank and tried to cash a check for twenty dollars on the strength of my Masonic pin, I wouldn't get it."
"A pin, you know," put in the Old Past Master, "is not real evidence of being a Mason!"
"No, but even if I could convince the banker I really was a Mason he wouldn't cash my check without identification. And I wouldn't give money to a stranger even if I knew he was a Mason, because....well, because my brotherhood hasn't struck deep enough, I guess. And so it seems to me that practically speaking, Masonry is a failure."
"And yet you say you love it!" sorrowed the Old Past Master. My brother, you have, in the language of the street, got hold of the wrong dog.
"Now let me talk a minute. Your blood brother is a man you love. You were children together, you fought with him and for him. You shared his joys and sorrows. You learned him, through and through. If you love him and trust him, it is not because of your mutual parentage, but because of your association. Two boys are not blood brothers, but raised as brothers, may have the same tender love and trust. It isn't the brotherhood of the flesh, but the brotherhood of spirit, that makes for love and trust.
"You complain because you don't have that feeling for a stranger. Had you been parted from your blood brother at birth, and never seen nor heard of him until he met you on the street and demanded money while offering proof of his blood relationship, would you trust him without knowing the manner of man he had come to be? Merely because he was a blood relative wouldn't mean he was the type of man you are. He might have become anything during these years of separation.
"Now, my brother, when you became a Mason you assumed a tie of brotherhood with all the other Masons of the world. But you did not assume any obligation to make that tie of brotherhood take the place of all the virtues which are in the Masons of the world, or the virtues possessed by the profane. If you are a true Mason you will extend Masonic brotherhood, practically, to those Masons who hold out the brotherly hand to you; which means those men who are able and willing to prove themselves brothers and Masons, not merely those who belong to lodges and wear pins.
"The world is one big compromise, my brother, between things as they are and things as we would like to have them. You would like to be rich, and you compromise by getting what you can. You would like to be famous, and you compromise by being as well known as you can and doing the best you can to deserve fame. You would like to be the most highly skilled man in your profession, but you have to compromise with perfection on the one hand, and the need of earning a living on the other. As a Mason, you would like to trust on sight every Mason in the world, but you have to compromise with this fact that all Masons are human beings first and Masons afterwards, and human beings are frail and imperfect.
"Masonry makes no man perfect. It merely holds out one road by which a man may travel towards the goal of spiritual perfection more easily and with more help than by other roads. It had no motive power to drive men over that road; but it smooths the way and points the path. The travel is strictly up to the individual brother.
"If you trust those whom you know travel that path, they will trust you....and Masonry will be, practically speaking, for you both a success. If you travel with your eyes open, you will see many who fall by the wayside, not because the way is plain and smooth, but because they are too weak to travel it. That is the fault, not of the road, but of the traveler.
"And so, my brother, Masonry cannot be a failure, because men fail as Masons. As well say the church is a failure because an evil man goes to it; as well call Christ a failure because all men are not Christians. The failure is in the man, not in the beautiful philosophy which is Masonry."
"And I," said the troubled brother, "Am a failure now because I have failed to understand. But not in the future, thanks to you."
Quoted from a series of Masonic writings of the Old Past Master series by Ill Bro Carl H Claudy, 33rd degree, PGM, c1924.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Of acts and intentions
"Before the throne of the Almighty, man will be judged not by his acts but by his intentions. For God alone reads our hearts."
Mohandas Gandhi
------------------------
"This saying by Mohandas Karamchand Ghandi (aka Mahatma Ghandi) alludes to the universality of the Godhead that Freemasonry espouses. Christians readily relate to this but little do they realize that its author, Mohandas, was never a Christian.
When [we were] asked "In whom do you put your trust?" we readily answered 'in God' and to this Supreme Being we join Ghandi in claiming that "God alone reads the hearts."
Once again, Bro. Cris, thank you for sharing your QOD. Travel light and always ...
By the Square,
The Rev. Bayani D. Rico, PM
Mission Lodge 169, San Francisco, CA
-----------------------
"And although our thoughts, words, and actions may be hidden from the eyes of man, yet that All-seeing Eye, whom the sun, moon and stars obey, and under whose watchful care, even comets perform their stupendous revolutions, pervades the innermost recesses of human Heart, and will reward us according to our merits".
The Monitor
----------------------
Mohandas Gandhi
------------------------
"This saying by Mohandas Karamchand Ghandi (aka Mahatma Ghandi) alludes to the universality of the Godhead that Freemasonry espouses. Christians readily relate to this but little do they realize that its author, Mohandas, was never a Christian.
When [we were] asked "In whom do you put your trust?" we readily answered 'in God' and to this Supreme Being we join Ghandi in claiming that "God alone reads the hearts."
Once again, Bro. Cris, thank you for sharing your QOD. Travel light and always ...
By the Square,
The Rev. Bayani D. Rico, PM
Mission Lodge 169, San Francisco, CA
-----------------------
"And although our thoughts, words, and actions may be hidden from the eyes of man, yet that All-seeing Eye, whom the sun, moon and stars obey, and under whose watchful care, even comets perform their stupendous revolutions, pervades the innermost recesses of human Heart, and will reward us according to our merits".
The Monitor
----------------------
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Excerpt: Dare We Be Masons?
"The danger in an organization such as ours is that, while it begins with ideals and principles, the organization may become the greatest enemy to those ideals and principles.
Some person has imagined a conversation between the devil and some angels. The angels proudly told the devil that a way had been found to defeat him. When he asked how it would be done, they told him that God was going to give men lofty ideals and challenging principles to be proclaimed to the world.
The devil just laughed, and told them that he could not be defeated that way, for all he would have to do would be to institutionalize the ideals and the principles, and it would only be a matter of time until men would forget the ideals and principles as they tried to keep the institution alive.
As I once heard a friend of mine explain, "first the idea creates the organization, then the organization chokes the idea." We can become so concerned about keeping an organization alive that we forget the ideas and ideals that give it birth. We begin by having a great ideal force our thinking and acting into new channels, and we end by serving an organization. Freemasonry must be a force to be used, and not a form to be served."
-- M.W. Bro. Rev. Dr. Thomas Sherrard Roy, PGM (1951-3) GLMA: Dare We Be Masons? 1966
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Masonic Snobs by Bro Bliss Kelly, MPS [Okl]
Reposted from a recent email newsletter by Bro Ed Halpaus.
Original article appeared on the August 1960 issue of the Philalethes Society.
The Philalethes Society [or the Masonic Philalethes Society - MPS] is an international Masonic research society. The name is "derived from two Greek words, philos and alethes. It means lover of truth [Fiat Lux]. The Philalethes Society was founded on October 1, 1928, by a group of Masonic Students. It was designed for Freemasons desirous of seeking and spreading Masonic light.
In 1946 The Philalethes Magazine was established to publish articles by and for its members. The sole purpose of this Research Society is to act as a clearing house for Masonic knowledge. It exchanges ideas, researches problems confronting Freemasonry, and passes them along to the Masonic world.
Its membership consists of Members and 40 Fellows who are Master Masons in good standing in a Regular Masonic Lodge anywhere in the world. Today the Society has members within 185 Regular Grand Lodges."
----------------------
Masonic Snobs by Bro Bliss Kelly, [MPS, Okla].
In a Masonic Lodge all ranks are leveled and all distinctions donnish [banish?]. The general and the private are equals within the sacred walls of the Lodge, and the laborer, the professor, the mechanic and the industrialist, the common man and the famous meet upon that level which only Masons can truly understand.
Masonry has prided itself, that it regards no man for his worldly wealth or honors and that it is the internal and not the external qualifications of a man which should recommend him to be made a Mason.
These principles are impressed upon every candidate many times as he passes through the ritual of the degrees. If any one thing may be said to be stressed more than any other it is this insistence upon equality. It is also said that every man should be accorded that respect which is due him because of his achievements, but no true Mason expects anything more than respect from other Masons.
Why, then, are there some Blue Lodges which require all officers to appear at all communications dressed in formal clothing? Does this tend to promote the idea of equality? Does it create a desire to attend Lodge on the part of those who do not have (or want) formal attire? Or, does it make him feel out of place or on a lower level than those who strut in tuxedos?
When an officer of such a Lodge is asked such questions he explains formal dress adds dignity and impressiveness to the ritualistic work and proceedings of the Lodge.
This may be true but what kind of dignity? The stonemason who observes the judges of a supreme court, clothed in black robes and sitting in high-backed chairs upon elevated benches, is impressed with the dignity of the court. But is there any equality there? These judges have the power to take away his property, his wife, his children even his life.
There are those who would go to the other extreme. Recently, on a hot summer day, an Entered Apprentice degree was being conferred by a team without coats and a man who presided in the East wearing a battered straw hat and a wad of tobacco in his cheek, with no tie and his shirt unbuttoned at the neck. The candidate was not impressed; in fact, he never returned to receive the other degrees.
Contrasting this was a Master Mason degree conferred in a country Lodge which had the ancient pot-bellied stove for heat no carpets and painted boxes for pedestals and an altar. Yet, the proceedings were highly dignified. The team was composed of two farmers, one merchant, a lawyer, a rural mail carrier, a teacher and a certificate teacher of the work. It was impossible to determine, from appearances or actions, the occupations of any of them: The rural mail carrier, a teacher and Master: The candidate was almost overwhelmed with the great lessons of the degree, expressing a desire to begin working in the Lodge as soon as he could prepare himself.
Then there are those Lodges whose members seem to think they are superior in some way to members of other Lodges, and want to convert their meeting places into country clubs or town clubs, hoping to attract "high class" men as members. Is this Masonry, or merely a means of indirectly soliciting members? Can one Masonic Lodge be "better" or more "high class" than any other?
These are challenging questions in this fast-changing world, and merit serious discussion. Many believe that the attitude of the Masonic Fraternity should change to meet these conditions; that the mere recital of ritual is not attractive enough to bring rank-and-file members to Lodge meetings, and insist that something more must be offered.
Fraternization with other members at Lodge meetings, usually mentioned as a central attraction, has little to offer. The active workers and officers are too busy for anything more than friendly greetings and the others are mostly old men whose minds dwell in the past. What is there to do besides sit in uncomfortable chairs and watch incompetent degree teams stumble and falter in conferring the work?
Most Lodges have tried socials and evenings of entertainment for members and their families. Attendance is seldom good, and so very few of these are planned.
Some Lodges are now planning to build recreation and entertainment facilities around a centrally located Lodge hall. Some plan to add a golf course, swimming pool and other facilities where members and their families may enjoy themselves or the families can amuse themselves while members are attending Lodge meetings.
What would be the cost of all these things, and how high would dues and assessments have to be to pay for all this? Would this attract the well-to-do who could afford such luxuries and drive away the common man?
Wouldn't this make greater Masonic snobs out of the members of such Lodges?
After all, Masonry must be kept upon the level of equality and Masons must meet upon that level: otherwise, it will deteriorate into a social fraternity and lose its identity as Masonry, ancient and unchanging.
True Masonry needs nothing more than its landmarks and its ritual to make it attractive to every good man, when it is properly viewed. The difficulty seems to be that we expect Masonry to be all things to all men. It was never intended to be that.
When Masonry has conferred its degrees and taught its members the sublime principles for which it stands, it has laid that foundation upon which to build a righteous life, and its work is finished. From there on, it is up to the individual members to practice brotherly love, relief and truth, acting upon the plumb of rectitude, meeting upon the level of equality and parting upon the square of virtue and morality.
In that case there can be no Masonic snobs.
------------------------
This article by Bro Kelly; which was written more than half a century ago, is still true today as it is when it was first written in the 60's. Reaslistically, class distinctions can not be banished altogether - there were several political "philosophers" [Lenin and Mao, to name a few] who have tried to create such classless society but failed. It seems no amount of laws could and can dictate how human beings act. People will find ways to corrupt laws and find loopholes to circumvent for their own selfish ends.
Thus the way of Masonry - changing its adherents one at a time in their hearts. Teaching them that this world might not be perfect but we need to strive to be as upright as best as we could - not only towards our brethren, their widows and orphans but towards all mankind. And what better way to start the process but within ourselves [in our hearts]; in our Lodges and churches, and our community. Beginning with ourselves and day to day actions and hopefully by setting a good example we can convince others the way of Masonry.
As enunciated by Bro Joseph Fort Newton in his book, "The Builders" -
"... when Masonry, instead of identifying itself with particular schemes of reform, and thus becoming involved in endless turmoil and dispute, estranging men whom she seeks to bless, devotes all her benign energy and influence to ennobling the souls of men, she is doing fundamental work in behalf of all high enterprises. By as much as she succeeds, every noble cause succeeds; by as much as she fails, everything fails! By its ministry to the individual man--drawing him into the circle of a great friendship, exalting his faith, refining his ideals, enlarging his sympathies, and setting his feet in the long white path--Masonry best serves society and the state."
Original article appeared on the August 1960 issue of the Philalethes Society.
The Philalethes Society [or the Masonic Philalethes Society - MPS] is an international Masonic research society. The name is "derived from two Greek words, philos and alethes. It means lover of truth [Fiat Lux]. The Philalethes Society was founded on October 1, 1928, by a group of Masonic Students. It was designed for Freemasons desirous of seeking and spreading Masonic light.
In 1946 The Philalethes Magazine was established to publish articles by and for its members. The sole purpose of this Research Society is to act as a clearing house for Masonic knowledge. It exchanges ideas, researches problems confronting Freemasonry, and passes them along to the Masonic world.
Its membership consists of Members and 40 Fellows who are Master Masons in good standing in a Regular Masonic Lodge anywhere in the world. Today the Society has members within 185 Regular Grand Lodges."
----------------------
Masonic Snobs by Bro Bliss Kelly, [MPS, Okla].
In a Masonic Lodge all ranks are leveled and all distinctions donnish [banish?]. The general and the private are equals within the sacred walls of the Lodge, and the laborer, the professor, the mechanic and the industrialist, the common man and the famous meet upon that level which only Masons can truly understand.
Masonry has prided itself, that it regards no man for his worldly wealth or honors and that it is the internal and not the external qualifications of a man which should recommend him to be made a Mason.
These principles are impressed upon every candidate many times as he passes through the ritual of the degrees. If any one thing may be said to be stressed more than any other it is this insistence upon equality. It is also said that every man should be accorded that respect which is due him because of his achievements, but no true Mason expects anything more than respect from other Masons.
Why, then, are there some Blue Lodges which require all officers to appear at all communications dressed in formal clothing? Does this tend to promote the idea of equality? Does it create a desire to attend Lodge on the part of those who do not have (or want) formal attire? Or, does it make him feel out of place or on a lower level than those who strut in tuxedos?
When an officer of such a Lodge is asked such questions he explains formal dress adds dignity and impressiveness to the ritualistic work and proceedings of the Lodge.
This may be true but what kind of dignity? The stonemason who observes the judges of a supreme court, clothed in black robes and sitting in high-backed chairs upon elevated benches, is impressed with the dignity of the court. But is there any equality there? These judges have the power to take away his property, his wife, his children even his life.
There are those who would go to the other extreme. Recently, on a hot summer day, an Entered Apprentice degree was being conferred by a team without coats and a man who presided in the East wearing a battered straw hat and a wad of tobacco in his cheek, with no tie and his shirt unbuttoned at the neck. The candidate was not impressed; in fact, he never returned to receive the other degrees.
Contrasting this was a Master Mason degree conferred in a country Lodge which had the ancient pot-bellied stove for heat no carpets and painted boxes for pedestals and an altar. Yet, the proceedings were highly dignified. The team was composed of two farmers, one merchant, a lawyer, a rural mail carrier, a teacher and a certificate teacher of the work. It was impossible to determine, from appearances or actions, the occupations of any of them: The rural mail carrier, a teacher and Master: The candidate was almost overwhelmed with the great lessons of the degree, expressing a desire to begin working in the Lodge as soon as he could prepare himself.
Then there are those Lodges whose members seem to think they are superior in some way to members of other Lodges, and want to convert their meeting places into country clubs or town clubs, hoping to attract "high class" men as members. Is this Masonry, or merely a means of indirectly soliciting members? Can one Masonic Lodge be "better" or more "high class" than any other?
These are challenging questions in this fast-changing world, and merit serious discussion. Many believe that the attitude of the Masonic Fraternity should change to meet these conditions; that the mere recital of ritual is not attractive enough to bring rank-and-file members to Lodge meetings, and insist that something more must be offered.
Fraternization with other members at Lodge meetings, usually mentioned as a central attraction, has little to offer. The active workers and officers are too busy for anything more than friendly greetings and the others are mostly old men whose minds dwell in the past. What is there to do besides sit in uncomfortable chairs and watch incompetent degree teams stumble and falter in conferring the work?
Most Lodges have tried socials and evenings of entertainment for members and their families. Attendance is seldom good, and so very few of these are planned.
Some Lodges are now planning to build recreation and entertainment facilities around a centrally located Lodge hall. Some plan to add a golf course, swimming pool and other facilities where members and their families may enjoy themselves or the families can amuse themselves while members are attending Lodge meetings.
What would be the cost of all these things, and how high would dues and assessments have to be to pay for all this? Would this attract the well-to-do who could afford such luxuries and drive away the common man?
Wouldn't this make greater Masonic snobs out of the members of such Lodges?
After all, Masonry must be kept upon the level of equality and Masons must meet upon that level: otherwise, it will deteriorate into a social fraternity and lose its identity as Masonry, ancient and unchanging.
True Masonry needs nothing more than its landmarks and its ritual to make it attractive to every good man, when it is properly viewed. The difficulty seems to be that we expect Masonry to be all things to all men. It was never intended to be that.
When Masonry has conferred its degrees and taught its members the sublime principles for which it stands, it has laid that foundation upon which to build a righteous life, and its work is finished. From there on, it is up to the individual members to practice brotherly love, relief and truth, acting upon the plumb of rectitude, meeting upon the level of equality and parting upon the square of virtue and morality.
In that case there can be no Masonic snobs.
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This article by Bro Kelly; which was written more than half a century ago, is still true today as it is when it was first written in the 60's. Reaslistically, class distinctions can not be banished altogether - there were several political "philosophers" [Lenin and Mao, to name a few] who have tried to create such classless society but failed. It seems no amount of laws could and can dictate how human beings act. People will find ways to corrupt laws and find loopholes to circumvent for their own selfish ends.
Thus the way of Masonry - changing its adherents one at a time in their hearts. Teaching them that this world might not be perfect but we need to strive to be as upright as best as we could - not only towards our brethren, their widows and orphans but towards all mankind. And what better way to start the process but within ourselves [in our hearts]; in our Lodges and churches, and our community. Beginning with ourselves and day to day actions and hopefully by setting a good example we can convince others the way of Masonry.
As enunciated by Bro Joseph Fort Newton in his book, "The Builders" -
"... when Masonry, instead of identifying itself with particular schemes of reform, and thus becoming involved in endless turmoil and dispute, estranging men whom she seeks to bless, devotes all her benign energy and influence to ennobling the souls of men, she is doing fundamental work in behalf of all high enterprises. By as much as she succeeds, every noble cause succeeds; by as much as she fails, everything fails! By its ministry to the individual man--drawing him into the circle of a great friendship, exalting his faith, refining his ideals, enlarging his sympathies, and setting his feet in the long white path--Masonry best serves society and the state."
Friday, May 1, 2009
Grand Lodge Is Not Separate Entity by Elbert Bede, M.P.S.
It is something approaching a universal practice among Masons to erroneously speak of Grand Lodge as a separate entity; as though it were something apart from the Lodges from which it derives revenues for its support and upon which it imposes rules and regulations. I sense two reasons for this mistaken conception.
Within my memory it was the common practice to designate Lodges as "subordinate" and to speak of them as such. Some Grand Lodge codes may yet designate Lodges as subordinate. The Oregon code formerly used that expression. Happily, however, the inaccurate word has been replaced, or is being replaced in all codes by the more accurate "constituent," or reference is made to "Lodges," without any qualifying adjective, yet the idea expressed by "subordinate" still prevails among the greater number of the Brethren.
As a matter of fact, the Lodges, instead of being subordinate, control the operation of Grand Lodge. It is true that its officers, committee members and past elective officers, the last named usually being Past Grand Masters, are members of Grand Lodge; but every officer, every committee member and every past elective officer might be present in his capacity as such and yet Grand Lodge could not be opened. The representatives of a specified number of Lodges (seven seems to be universal) must be registered and present before the Grand Master may sound his gavel. No legislation may be enacted, no change in any law, rule or regulation may be made, no Grand Lodge officer may be elected or installed unless the representatives of the required number of Lodges remain present to maintain a quorum and the number required for a quorum was fixed by the representatives of the Lodges while assembled as a Grand Lodge. The officers, committee members and past elective officers are powerless to proceed as a Grand Lodge unless the representatives of the Lodges make it possible for them to do so. In my opinion, it might with more truth be said that Grand Lodge is subordinate to the constituent Lodges than that the Lodges are subordinate to the Grand Lodge.
After Grand Lodge has been legally opened, each constituent Lodge is entitled to three votes if it has any representative whatsoever present, while officers, committee members and past elective officers have only one vote each. The constituent Lodges, therefore, have a great preponderance in voting power, and their representatives not only may control the acts of Grand Ledge, but are responsible for whatever laws, rules and regulations may be in the code for enforcement by the Grand Lodge or by the Grand Master.
It is true that the Grand Master, except for the few days of each year when his Grand Lodge is in session, is actually the Grand Lodge and rules the Fraternity in his jurisdiction, but he does that wholly through powers given him by representatives of the Lodges while assembled as a Grand Lodge, or through lack of restraint placed upon powers inherent in the office by ancient custom; but the Grand Master completes his term in office by reporting his acts and decisions to the assembled representatives of the Lodges, who may nullify anything the Grand Master has done while acting as the Grand Lodge. Happily, nullification of the acts of a Grand Master is not common.
Showing further the powers of the representatives of the Lodges, there is no appeal from their decisions when acting as the preponderant force in Grand Lodge; not even if they should illegally override the provisions of the code which they have themselves enacted .
A second reason why Grand Lodge has been pictured as a separate entity, as something apart from the Lodges, is that representatives of Lodges have so frequently played such a small part in Grand Lodge communications. Usually the representatives of Lodges are persons unaccustomed to giving voice to their ideas before such an assemblage as a Grand Lodge. The result often has been that officers and Past Grand Masters, accustomed to participation in Grand Lodge proceedings and to expressing themselves in assemblies, have seemed to take the proceedings out of the hands of the representatives of the Lodges. This has been, not because the officers and Past Grand Masters wished to play that part, but because the representatives of the Lodges hesitated to take the part that was theirs to take.
In Oregon, all Grand Masters of at least the last half dozen years have informed the assembled delegates, as soon as Grand Lodge had been opened, that they were the Grand Lodge, have urged them to participate and have given them every opportunity to do so. Representatives of the Lodges have followed that advice to such an extent that a new and healthful feeling toward Grand Lodge has developed.
Inasmuch as representatives of the Lodges may control the acts of any session of Grand Lodge, have power to enact any legislation they may desire and to defeat any legislation which they disapprove, and are responsible for the election of those who carry on the business of Grand Lodge for them, they should realize that any criticism offered by them of any action taken by the Grand Lodge of which they are a part is, in fact, criticism of themselves for having failed to exercise their prerogatives in accordance with the desires of the Brethren whom they represented.
Grand Lodge is not a separate entity. It is composed of constituent Lodges which, through their representatives are responsible for it and all its acts.
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Bro Elbert Bede - Editor and publisher of several periodicals. Born June 28, 1881. Retired in 1936, moving to Portland, Oregon where he purchased the Masonic Analyst, changing its name to Oregon Mason in 1938 and later to Oregon Freemason.
Raised in Chicago Lodge No 271, North Branch, Minnesota and later affiliated with Ashlar Lodge No 209 of Portland, Oregon. Raised in Cisago Lodge 232, Illinois. Member of Cottage Grove Lodge No 51, Oregon.
Bro Elbert Bede was editor of the Oregon Mason for many years. He was also an accomplished speaker, and in 1945 a number of his 3-5 –7 Minute talks were published together as a book; it seems to have weathered the years well. After his death thirty more of his talks were collected; and are published for the first time. They are not intended to be brilliant papers on Masonic education, or glittering gems of oratory, but just simple thoughtful addresses for the banquet hour. They have a distantly American flavor; but, if finding words doesn’t come easy to you, some of Bede’s talks could be adapted for use as well. For example, he has good thoughts on “Interpreting our Symbols.” “The Hour of Refreshment,” and “Why not Organize for Public Service?”
Famous for his masonic books, 3-5-7 Minute Talks on Freemasonry, 5-15 Minute Talks and 1st Landmarks of Freemasonry (1954).
As researched from various web sites. [MCBJ, Moderator]
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Article above first appeared in the May 1946 Issue of the Philalethes.
Reposted by Ed Halpaus in [Corinthian] More Light #222 - Grand Lodge.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Life's Working Tools
In my usual wanderings on the net, I found this article. As I have a memory of a gold fish, I copied the same and reposted it here to remind me of what these tools are.
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"WORKING TOOLS OF AN ENTERED APPRENTICE ARE THE TWENTY FOUR INCH GAUGE AND COMMON GAVEL
The twenty-four inch gauge is an instrument made use of by operative Masons to measure and lay out their work; but we as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of rightly dividing our time. It being divided into twenty-four equal parts, is emblematical of the twenty-four hours of the day, which we are taught to divide into three equal parts; whereby we find eight hours for the service of God and a distressed worthy Brother; eight hours for our usual vocations; and eight hours for refreshment and sleep.
THE COMMON GAVEL
The common gavel is an instrument made use of by operative Masons to break off the corners of rough stones, the better to fit them for the builder's use; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of divesting our minds and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of life; thereby fitting our bodies, as living stones, for that spiritual building - that house not made with hands - eternal in the heavens."
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"WORKING TOOLS OF A FELLOW CRAFT ARE THE PLUMB, SQUARE, AND LEVEL
The Plumb is an instrument made use of by operative Masons to raise perpendiculars; The Square to square their work, the Level to lay horizontals. But we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of them for more noble and glorious purposes. The Plumb admonishes us to walk uprightly in our several stations before God and Man; Squaring our actions by the Square Of Virtue and morality ever remembering that we are traveling upon the level of time to that undiscovered country, from whose bourne no traveler returns."
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"The working tools of a Master Mason are all the implements of Masonry indiscriminately, but more especially the Trowel. The Trowel is an instrument made use of by operative Masons to spread the cement which unites a building into one common mass; but we as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of spreading the cement of brotherly Love and Affection, that cement which unites us into one sacred band, or society, of friends and Brothers, among whom no contention should ever exist, but that noble contention, or rather emulation, of who best can work and best agree."
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In my Masonic cathechisms, I've been required to memorize the above - the best way and the first important step towards internalizing the same and hopefully, putting them into practice in my daily life towards not only my Brothers in Masonry; but more importantly towards all mankind. Not to boasts of my righteousness nor to flaunt air of superiority; but to "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." [Matthew 5:16, also adopted in the Order of DeMolay ritual.]
Thanks to Holdenville Masonic Lodge No. 123 A.F. & A.M. for the article.
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"WORKING TOOLS OF AN ENTERED APPRENTICE ARE THE TWENTY FOUR INCH GAUGE AND COMMON GAVEL
The twenty-four inch gauge is an instrument made use of by operative Masons to measure and lay out their work; but we as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of rightly dividing our time. It being divided into twenty-four equal parts, is emblematical of the twenty-four hours of the day, which we are taught to divide into three equal parts; whereby we find eight hours for the service of God and a distressed worthy Brother; eight hours for our usual vocations; and eight hours for refreshment and sleep.
THE COMMON GAVEL
The common gavel is an instrument made use of by operative Masons to break off the corners of rough stones, the better to fit them for the builder's use; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of divesting our minds and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of life; thereby fitting our bodies, as living stones, for that spiritual building - that house not made with hands - eternal in the heavens."
-------------------------
"WORKING TOOLS OF A FELLOW CRAFT ARE THE PLUMB, SQUARE, AND LEVEL
The Plumb is an instrument made use of by operative Masons to raise perpendiculars; The Square to square their work, the Level to lay horizontals. But we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of them for more noble and glorious purposes. The Plumb admonishes us to walk uprightly in our several stations before God and Man; Squaring our actions by the Square Of Virtue and morality ever remembering that we are traveling upon the level of time to that undiscovered country, from whose bourne no traveler returns."
-------------------------
"The working tools of a Master Mason are all the implements of Masonry indiscriminately, but more especially the Trowel. The Trowel is an instrument made use of by operative Masons to spread the cement which unites a building into one common mass; but we as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of spreading the cement of brotherly Love and Affection, that cement which unites us into one sacred band, or society, of friends and Brothers, among whom no contention should ever exist, but that noble contention, or rather emulation, of who best can work and best agree."
-------------------------
In my Masonic cathechisms, I've been required to memorize the above - the best way and the first important step towards internalizing the same and hopefully, putting them into practice in my daily life towards not only my Brothers in Masonry; but more importantly towards all mankind. Not to boasts of my righteousness nor to flaunt air of superiority; but to "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." [Matthew 5:16, also adopted in the Order of DeMolay ritual.]
Thanks to Holdenville Masonic Lodge No. 123 A.F. & A.M. for the article.
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