Officers Manual

OFFICERS MANUAL
2004
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OFFICERS SECTION
(EXERPT FROM)
THE CODE
CHAPTER 59
Duties of Officers of a Lodge
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REG. 59-1 OFFICERS DUTIES.
Each officer of a lodge shall be held personally responsible to the Master and through him, to
the lodge and the Grand Master that his office be filled with dignity, honor, and correctness,
and that its various duties be performed fully, without haughtiness or tyranny, but according to
the diligent desire to exemplify before the world the virtues and sublime morality of Freema-
sonry. In addition to those powers and duties which appertain to every individual Mason, those
which are purely traditional and therefore unwritten, and those which appropriately pertain to
his office, the powers and duties of each officer of a lodge are set out in THE CODE. [58-2; 59-
4.1].
REG. 59-2 MASTER.
Some, but not all, of the powers of the Master of a lodge which are also duties to be performed
by him, or at his direction and under his supervision, are as follows.
1. He may discharge all of the executive functions of his lodge, always subject to the law of
the Grand Lodge.
2. He may expound the law and decide all questions of Masonic law and order, subject to
review by the Grand Master and the Grand Lodge. [8-1; 8-2].
3. He may issue or cause to be issued all summonses or notices which may be required
when the welfare of Masonry, the interest of the lodge, or the rights of a brother de-
mand.
4. He shall take special care that disobedience of a duly served summons be promptly fol-
lowed by discipline unless the offender renders excuse for the offense satisfactory to
the lodge. [45-5; 83-2].
5. He may convene his lodge in emergent communication whenever he deems it neces-
sary. [45-3; 45-5].
6. He may close his lodge at his pleasure, but it shall be closed as provided in Regulation
45-17.
7. He may decide who shall be admitted to the lodge and he may deny admission to a visi-
tor. [50-5; 50-5.7].
8. He shall see that worthy brethren visiting from other lodges have courteous attention and
a welcome to his lodge.
9. He may deny admission to a brother who is disqualified by law to sit in a lodge or who is
under the influence of intoxicants. [74-5; 90-4].
10. He may refuse to entertain a motion. [45-23.20].
11. He may declare the business of a lodge and may prohibit or allow debate. [45-23.20].
12. Except as otherwise provided in Regulation 73-3, he may delay until the next stated
communication only, a ballot on a petition for the degrees or an application for affilia-
tion, advancement, or restoration.
13. He may order a ballot spread outside the regular order of business at a stated commu-
nication. [68-2; 68-14; 73-3; 73-6; 75-8].
14. He may order a vote taken by the customary method, if a ballot is not required by law,
unless two members concur in a demand that it be taken by ballot. [63-3].
15. He may confer a degree or postpone conferring a degree against the wishes of a major-
ity of the members except upon objection to initiation or advancement as provided by
law. [73-3].
16. After having opened his lodge, he may place any capable Master Mason in the East
and permit him to confer any of the degrees, the Master being present. If any regular
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officer is absent, his office should be filled pro tempore. [24-1.1; 45-12.2; 71-15].
17. He may complete unfinished material or business, except as may be otherwise pro-
vided by law. [73-3; 73-4].
18. He may set aside an election of officers for a violation of the law against electioneering
for office. [86-2.14; 86-2.15].
19. He may appoint all appointive officers not otherwise provided for and fill vacancies in
such offices. [54-2]
20. He may discharge any or all members of a committee appointed who fail to, or refuse
to, act and fill any vacancy thus created. [67-9].
21. He may perform such other acts, by ancient usage proper to his office, as shall not be
in contravention of any provision of THE CODE or any law of the Grand Lodge.
22. He shall preserve the charter of the lodge with unfailing care and to deliver it to his suc-
cessor in office. [38-3.1; 40-6; 59-6; 41-8; 38-3.4].
23. He may appoint all committees except as otherwise provided. [Chapter 61].
24. He shall open and preside over the lodge when present, and to make all necessary pro-
visions for the faithful performance of the duty when absent, except that he shall surren-
der the chair to the Grand Master or his representative or the District Deputy Grand
Master, on their official visitations. [45-12; 45-12.1].
25. He may cast the deciding vote in the event of a tie if he has not already voted. [44-7
(Art.22B); 63-16].
26. He shall give Masonic instruction at every communication of his lodge.
27. He shall guard carefully against any infraction of the by-laws of his lodge, the laws of
the Grand Lodge, or the general regulations, usages, and customs of Masonry, and suf-
fer no departure therefrom upon the plea of convenience or expediency except in cases
of emergency, and then only when authorized by a dispensation of the Grand Master.
[76-3.4.A].
28. He shall require every member of the lodge present except the Tyler, to vote upon all
questions of a business nature coming before the lodge unless excused at his own re-
quest by the Master. The Tyler, if a member of the lodge, shall vote in all secret ballots
by balls and cubes, and he shall not be excused therefrom. [63-4; 63-11; Chapter 63].
29. He shall permit no appeal from his decision to be made to the lodge. [59-4; 59-5; 59-
5.4; 45-23.20; 8-3; 8-3.4].
30. He shall make the work and ritual practiced in his lodge conform to the authorized work
adopted by the Grand Lodge and to no other system, and to preserve carefully the Offi-
cial Standard of the Work receipted for by him. [24-5; 24-5.3; Chapter 24].
31. He shall have a copy of THE CODE always available in the lodge room when the lodge
is open.
32. He shall require the members of his lodge to obey a mandate of the Grand Master. Re-
fusal of its members to submit to such decisions, until reversed by the Grand Lodge, is
revolutionary and shall subject the offenders to discipline for unmasonic conduct.
33. He shall read and expound to the lodge the proceedings of the Grand Lodge.
34. He shall sign all orders drawn upon the Treasurer after approval by the lodge. [59-11.3].
35. He shall take command of the other officers and to claim of them at any time advice
and assistance on any business relative to the Craft.
36. He shall see that the proper officers collect and truly keep the moneys of the lodge, see
that the furniture and other valuables are properly cared for, and should the charter be
forfeited or surrendered, to preserve these things subject to the order of the Grand
Lodge. [41-9; 41-1.2].
37. He shall see that the law for collection of dues is fully observed. [77-24].
38. He shall see that the Secretary promptly pays the lodge funds to the Treasurer. The
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Master is justified in removing a Secretary who fails or refuses to do so. [59-12.4].
39. He shall see that the annual returns to the Grand Lodge are made out properly and for-
warded by the Secretary by the time required by the Grand Lodge, and that the amount
due to the Grand Lodge is paid promptly. [Chapter 47].
40. He shall convene his lodge in stated communication at the time prescribed in its by-
laws. [44-7 (Art.8)].
41. He shall convene his lodge upon the official visitation of the Grand Master or his repre-
sentative, extend to him the appropriate courtesies and, when called upon, submit for
his inspection the by-laws and records of the lodge. [13-3.3].
42. He shall see that all unmasonic conduct that comes to his knowledge is dealt with ac-
cording to the laws of the Grand Lodge. [41-10.4].
43. He shall preside at the Masonic burial services of deceased Master Masons. [82-1; 82-
2].
44. He shall represent his lodge in conjunction with the Wardens at all communications of
the Grand Lodge, or appoint his proxy therefor. [3-1.3; 3-3; 3-4; Official Form 43].
45. He shall inspect the ballot box, after requiring it to be inspected by the Wardens, de-
clare the result, and immediately thereafter to destroy the ballot.
46. He shall install his successor in office or cause it to be done. [55-7].
47. He shall declare a petition for the degrees received by the lodge after it has been read
in open lodge, provided, the lodge has jurisdiction over it, and he, or the lodge, has not
refused to entertain it. [65-6].
48. He shall order a petition or application withdrawn and returned if he discovers after it
has been received that the lodge does not have jurisdiction or that the petitioner or ap-
plicant is not mentally or physically qualified. If he is morally disqualified, the petition or
application shall not be withdrawn but shall go to the ballot. [65-6; 65-7; 66-2; 67-4; 67-
6; 75-8; 78-2].
49. He shall see that the place of the Junior Deacon is always filled although this officer
himself may be in the lodge hall but elsewhere temporarily performing his duties. [59-
14.2].
50. He shall see that the East is always filled when the lodge is open. [45-12; 57-8].
REG. 59-3 RESTRICTIONS - MASTER'S POWERS.
The following are some, but not all, of the restrictions on the powers of the Master of a
lodge are as follows.
1. A Master shall have no authority to waive examination of a candidate before ad-

vancement. [72-2].
2. A Master shall have no authority to levy an assessment against the members of his
lodge.
3. A Master shall not ignore or refuse to accept an objection to initiation or advance-
ment as provided by law. [59-2.17; 73-3].
4. A Master shall not have the right to demand of a member of a Committee of Investi-
gation, on a petition for degrees or an application for membership, his reasons for
his report. [67-11].
5. A Master shall not have the right to demand of a member his reasons for making an
objection to the initiation of a candidate, or for objecting to the presence of a visiting
Mason. [50-5.9; 73-3.5].
6. A Master shall have no authority to order another secret ballot on a petition for de-
grees, an application for affiliation, advancement, or restoration, or any subject mat-
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ter that may be submitted to the secret ballot after the ballot has been closed and
declared, except as provided in Regulation 68-8, even if he believes a mistake has
been made in the original ballot. He shall report the matter fully to the Grand Master
and be governed by his orders. [68-3.18].
REG. 59-4 MASTER ACCOUNTABLE.
In the exercise of his powers and prerogatives a Master is at all times accountable to
the Grand Master and to the Grand Lodge for any abuse thereof. [59-5.4; 8-3; 8-3.4].
1. For the neglect or violation of any duty imposed by law upon the Master of the lodge
he shall be subject to reprimand, removal from office suspension, or expulsion. [59-
1; 66-7; 75-11.1; 90-7; 90-7.2; Chapter 58].
2. So long as he is within the jurisdiction of the lodge, whether it is in session or not,
the Master may issue an order and perform such official acts as are permitted by
law.
REG. 59-5 APPEAL FROM THE MASTER.
An appeal cannot be taken to the lodge from a Master's decision.
1. An appeal may be taken to the Grand Master or to the Grand Lodge from a Master's
decision. [59-5.4; 59-2.29; 45-23.20; 8-3.4].
2. When the Master has announced a ruling of the Grand Master to his lodge, there shall
be no appeal from the ruling on the ground that it is the Master's decision.
3. An appeal may be taken to the Grand Lodge from the Grand Master's decision.
4. An appeal cannot be made to the Grand Master, or the Grand Lodge, from a ruling of
a Master prohibiting debate on a question before the lodge since he has power to
allow, prohibit, or limit debate.
5. The Master is accountable to the Grand Master and the Grand Lodge for his abuse of
this power, therefore, a member feeling that the Master of his lodge has abused such
power may prefer charges against him to the Grand Master. [59-4; 59-5; 59-2.29;8-3].
REG. 59-6 CHARTER OF THE LODGE.
The Master of the lodge is especially charged with the safe keeping of the charter of his
lodge, and he must actually and physically deliver the same to his successor at the time
of his successor's installation, and a record must be made thereof in the minutes of the
communication of the lodge. This regulation applies also to the legal substitute for said
charter. [38-3.4; 59-2.22].
REG. 59-7 MASTER NOT EXCLUDED.
The Master shall not be excluded for nonpayment of dues or for other offenses during
his term of office except as provided in THE CODE. [77-15].
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REG. 59-8 ABSENT OFFICER.
An officer of a Masonic lodge who habitually absents himself from the meetings of his
lodge lays himself open to censure and shall be liable to suspension from his office.
[58-1].
REG. 59-9 SENIOR WARDEN.
The duties of the Senior Warden shall be as follows.
1. He shall take charge of the Craft during the hours of labor in the absence of the
Master.
2. He shall represent the lodge in conjunction with the Master and Junior Warden at
all communications of the Grand Lodge or to appoint his proxy therefor. [3-1.3; 3-
3; 3-4].
3. He shall succeed to and exercise all the powers of the Master in the event of his
absence. [45-5].
4. The Master shall be considered absent, so as to justify a Warden or a Past Master
in acting as Master, when he is not present at a communication of the lodge, ei-
ther stated or emergent, or when he is absent from the jurisdiction, or is mentally
or physically unable to do official acts when necessity therefor arises. [59-10.4].
5. The member qualified and acting as Master shall have the same powers and he is
held to the same accountability as the lawful Master of the lodge during the time
he shall be lawfully acting as such, and no longer.
6. A Warden shall not call an emergent communication of his lodge while his supe-
rior officer is within the territorial jurisdiction thereof and is able to authorize the
call, but a Warden acting in the absence of the Master has the same power and
authority as the Master. [45-3; 45-5].
7. When acting as Master, he shall sign official documents Senior Warden, but add-
ing thereto Acting Master. [45-12; 57-8].
REG. 59-10 JUNIOR WARDEN.
The duties of the Junior Warden shall be as follows.
1. He shall superintend the Craft during the hours of refreshment.

2. He shall take cognizance of all complaints of any unmasonic conduct and bring
the same before the lodge, or to prefer charges therefor, provided that his failure
to act shall not bar any brother from bringing a complaint directly before the
lodge or preferring charges as provided by law.
3. He shall represent the lodge personally or by regularly appointed proxy in con-
junction with the Master and Senior Warden at all communications of the Grand
Lodge. [3-1.3; 3-3; 3-4].
4. He shall succeed to and exercise all the powers of the Master in the absence of
the two officers above him. So far as practicable the provisions of Regulation 59-9
shall apply when the Junior Warden acts as Master.
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REG. 59-11 TREASURER.
The duties of the Treasurer shall be as follows.
1. He shall receive and safely keep all moneys and property of every kind of his
lodge which shall be placed in his hands by the Secretary, or by order of the
lodge, and to give proper receipt therefor.
2. He shall keep all moneys received by him on behalf of the lodge as a fund entirely
separate and distinct from all other funds under his control. If such moneys are
deposited in a bank, the account shall be in the name of the lodge. He shall not
use or lend lodge funds nor mingle them with his own or with any other money,
but shall hold them separately so that they shall be subject to the order of the
lodge at all times. Failure or refusal to comply with this subdivision shall be a Ma-
sonic offense.
3. He shall disburse or transfer the funds of the lodge or any part thereof only with
the consent of the lodge upon the order of the Master duly attested by the Secre-
tary. [59-2.34].
4. He shall keep a book, or books, which shall contain a correct statement of re-
ceipts and disbursements on account of the lodge. He shall make a complete
statement of his account with the lodge annually or as often as he may be di-
rected by the lodge or ordered by the Master and deliver it to the Master. [44-7
(Art.5)].
5. He shall make reports to the lodge of its receipts, disbursements, and financial
condition, as the law and as the lodge or the Master may require. [44-7 (Art.5)].
6. He shall demand that the Secretary promptly pay over to him the lodge money and
on failure of the Secretary to do so, to report the matter to the lodge at once. [59-
12.4].
7. He shall give surety bond in such sum and upon such conditions as the lodge
may require. On his failure to execute and deliver a proper bond when required,
the Master shall declare the office of Treasurer vacant and by dispensation of the
Grand Master, proceed to hold another election to select another brother as
Treasurer. [55-6].
8. He shall deliver promptly to his successor in office all the funds of the lodge to-
gether with all the books, vouchers, records, and other property having any refer-
ence to the financial business of the lodge, or to deliver to an appointed commit-
tee, or to a designated representative of the lodge, the temporary custody of the
books and property of the lodge, when the lodge, for ample cause and by two-
thirds majority vote at a stated communication, directs him to do so.
9. He shall perform such other duties pertaining to his office as the law requires or
the lodge at any time may direct.
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REG. 59-12 SECRETARY.
The duties of the Secretary shall be as follows. [44-7 (Art.6)].
1. He shall record all the proceedings of the lodge and all reports proper to be writ-
ten. [62-1; 62-2].
2. He shall read the minutes of each communication to the lodge and see that they
are approved before the lodge is closed. [44-7 (Art. 21; 1A-M); 45-21; 62-1.1.A; 62-
2; 45-23.1].
3. He shall prepare and transmit to the Grand Lodge or the Grand Master a copy of
such portions of his record as he may be directed.
4. He shall collect and receive all moneys due the lodge giving receipt therefor. The
receipt for dues shall be on the form prescribed by the Grand Secretary.
5. He shall pay to the Treasurer, within fifteen days after receipt thereof, all such
moneys and take his receipt for the same. [59-2.38; 77-7; 77-7.2].
6. He shall make to the lodge, as its by-laws direct or as otherwise required, a report
of its work, of the condition of its accounts with its officers and members, and of
all other matters relating to its finances or business which may be under his care.
[44-7 (Art.6)].
7. He shall keep a cash book and ledger and deliver the same, with all other books,
records, and property pertaining to his office to his successor.
8. He shall keep the seal of the lodge and to affix the same with his attestation to all
papers issued under authority of the lodge or by order of the Master, and in obedi-
ence to the requirements of THE CODE, to deliver the seal to his successor in of-
fice. [Chapter 46].
9. He shall preserve carefully the by-laws of the lodge, THE CODE, the vocabulary,
published Proceedings, and Ceremonials of the Grand Lodge. To post promptly
all amendments to THE CODE in the lodge's copy of THE CODE. [24-5.1; 24-5.3;
26-3.14].
10. He shall notify any member of the lodge who may have been excluded, sus-
pended, expelled, or restored, immediately after the action of the lodge or the
Grand Lodge. [77-20.4; 78-2.3; Chapters 100; 101].
11. He shall study the rules and forms prescribed by the Grand Lodge and to keep
records, books, and other papers in accordance therewith.
12. He shall issue notices of the communications of the lodge, under direction of the
Master. [45-3.1; 45-4].
13. He shall issue summonses when directed by the Master or by the lodge. [87-13.2;
Chapter 83].
14. He shall keep an account with each member and promptly collect all dues.
15. He shall prepare annually at the close of his term of office a balance sheet of all
accounts of the members, to furnish an official statement of his own account
with the lodge, and to deliver all such documents to the Master. [44-7 (Art.6;1)].
16. He shall file promptly the annual returns required by Chapter 47 and remit to the
Grand Secretary the dues and other indebtedness of his lodge to the Grand
Lodge.
17. He shall file such further reports as may be required by the Grand Lodge or the
Grand Secretary. [16-1.19; 20-1.4; Official Form 49].
18. He shall report to the Grand Secretary and to the District Deputy Grand Master of
his district, not later than January fifteenth, the names and addresses of the offi-
cers of his lodge elected and appointed. A report shall be made regardless of
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whether there was an election or not. [59-12.31].
19. He shall report to the Grand Secretary within five days after each stated commu-
nication transactions if any, at such stated communication under each of the
following subjects, giving the full name of each: [75-10; Official Form 49].
A. Each petition for the degrees received and each petitioner for the degrees
elected,
B. Each petitioner for the degrees rejected,
C. Each application for affiliation received and each applicant for affiliation
elected, [75-10]
D. Each applicant for affiliation rejected,
E. Each member who died since the last stated communication and the date
thereof,
F. Each member excluded, suspended, or expelled, the date thereof, the cause
therefor, and the period of such suspension,
G. Each member demitted, and [77-3]
H. Each member restored to membership and the date thereof. [78-2.3; 101-9].
The Grand Secretary from time to time may prescribe a form of report to be
used in connection with this division and may take from or add other subjects
not included herein. [16-1.18].
20. He shall transmit promptly to the Grand Lodge Committee on By-laws of Subor-
dinate Lodges copies of all by-laws and amendments thereof adopted by his
lodge as provided in Regulation 44-7 (Article 24). [34-15; 43-10].
21. He shall submit his books and accounts to an examination whenever required to
do so by the Master of his lodge or the Grand Lodge.
22. He shall give surety bond in such sum and upon such conditions as the lodge
may require. On his failure to execute and deliver a proper bond when required,
the Master shall declare the office of Secretary vacant, and by dispensation of
the Grand Master shall proceed to hold another election to select another brother
as Secretary. [55-6].
23. He shall label and file for preservation all petitions and documents of every char-
acter on the business of the lodge and keep the same in some safe and secure
place and deliver them only by order of the lodge unless otherwise provided in
THE CODE. [67-5].
24. He shall present promptly to the lodge all official communications from the
Grand Master or the Grand Secretary which require action by his lodge, or which
should be read in open lodge as information or instruction.
25. He shall answer immediately all official communications or inquiries that require
report or information from the Secretary without action of his lodge.
26. He shall draw all orders or warrants on the Treasurer for the payments of money
when authorized to do so by the lodge.
27. He shall perform these and such other duties as are required of him by the law of
the Grand Lodge or his lodge, and as the Master or the lodge may order.
28. The minutes of the lodge at the next stated communication shall bear record of
mailing of any demit issued by the lodge to the Grand Secretary, and the date
thereof.
29. The Secretary shall add at the end of the minutes of any emergent communica-
tion called for the purpose of conducting a Masonic burial a certificate to the ef-
fect that the brethren did receive the body and did inter the same with a Masonic
burial ceremony.
30. In the event a lodge desires to have open Installation of Officers the Secretary
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shall add at the end of the minutes a certificate to the effect that the officers of
the lodge were duly installed, unless otherwise noted, including the names of the
installing officers, and that the charter, constitution and by-laws were delivered
to the master during the installation.
31. Every Secretary shall, within fifteen days after the annual installation, transmit to
the Grand Secretary, and to the District Deputy Grand Master a duly certified list
of the names of the newly installed officers with the dates of their election and
installation, and the name and title of the installing officer. [59-12.18].
REG. 59-13 SENIOR DEACON.
The duties of the Senior Deacon shall be as follows.
1. He shall act as the messenger of the Master in the active duties of the lodge.
2. He shall give fraternal attention to visiting brethren.
3. He shall receive and conduct candidates in the three degrees of Masonry.
4. He shall perform such other duties as the usage and customs of the Craft may require
or the Master may order.
REG. 59-14 JUNIOR DEACON.
The duties of the Junior Deacon shall be as follows.
1. He shall act as messenger of the Senior Warden in the active duties of the lodge.
2. He shall have special care that the lodge is secure. [59-2.49].
3. If the Junior Deacon cannot personally vouch for each person in the lodge room as a
Master Mason at the time the lodge is being purged, he shall proceed forthwith in the
proper manner to satisfy himself to that effect. Failure to perform this important duty
fully and properly shall be a serious Masonic offense. [50-4; Chapter 51].
4. He shall perform such other duties as the usage and customs of the Craft may require
or the Master may order.
REG. 59-15 STEWARDS.
The duties of the Stewards shall be as follows.
1. They shall perform such duties agreeable to the usage of the Craft and pertaining to
their offices as may be required by the ritual, the Junior Warden, or the Master.
2. They shall provide for the comfort of the brethren.
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REG. 59-16 TYLER.
The duties of the Tyler shall be as follows.
1. To guard the entrance of the lodge, to report all brethren to the Junior Deacon for ad-
mission, to announce the name of each visiting brother and the name, number and
location of his lodge; to see that each brother who enters is duly qualified, vouched
for, and properly clothed; to be subject to the direct orders of the Master, and to keep
a register of visiting brethren. [51-3; 62-1; 62-1.7].
2. To have charge, subject to the direct order of the Master, of the furniture, jewels, and
other property of the lodge.
3. To have special care to insure cleanliness in the hall and anterooms.
4. To serve notices, summonses, citations, or other documents issued under authority
of the Master and the lodge when ordered unless otherwise provided. [51-3; 51-3.2;
83-3].
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ADDITIONAL MATERIALS FOR OFFICERS
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Check List for the Entered Apprentice Degree
The Junior Warden shall be responsible for casting and conferring the 1st degree and
schedule at least one practice.
The Junior Deacon shall be responsible setting up the lodge and double checking that all of
the paraphernalia is in place.
The Secretary shall inform the petition signers of date and time for the degree and give ad-
vance instructions to candidate (re: fees, dress, reporting time, etc.)
(1) Cast
Master
Senior Warden
Junior Warden
Senior Deacon
Junior Deacon
Chaplain
Secretary
Treasurer
Senior Steward
Junior Steward
Tyler
Apron Lecture
Working Tools
Secret Lecture
Slide Lecture
Charge
(2) Paraphernalia
Officers Aprons & Jewels

Wardens Columns
Gavels and blocks (E, W & S)
Deacons & Stewards Staffs
Bible on altar (w/square, compasses, marker at Ruth 4)
Three altar lights (test)
Knock blocks on floor (E, W & S)
Receiving tool (near the preparation room door)
New leather apron for the Candidate (near the altar on North side of lodge)
Working tools in the East
Hoodwink, shoe, apparel, cable tow (in preparation room)
Glass of water (in East for Lecturer)
Name cards (Complete name to SD, JW, SW, Master, & Stewards)
Slide Projector, Remote, Degree Slides & Screen (extra bulb)
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Check List for the Fellowcrafts Degree
The Senior Warden shall be responsible for casting and conferring the 2nd degree and
schedule at least one practice.
The Senior Deacon shall be responsible setting up the lodge and double checking that all
of the paraphernalia is in place.
The Secretary shall inform the candidate (re: dress, reporting time, etc.)
(1) Cast
Master
Senior Warden
Junior Warden
Senior Deacon
Junior Deacon
Chaplain
Secretary
Treasurer
Senior Steward
Junior Steward
Tyler
Working Tools
Staircase Lecture
“G” Lecture
Charge
(2) Paraphernalia

Wardens Columns
Bible on altar (w/square, compasses, marker at Amos 7)
Working tools in the East
Floor canvas for Staircase Lecture
Wages [Corn, Wine, Oil] (in East)
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Check List for the Master Masons Degree
The Master shall be responsible for casting and conferring the 3rd degree and schedule at
least one practice. The Master should arrange for presentation of Bible and any gifts.
The Junior Warden shall be responsible setting up the lodge and double checking that all of
the paraphernalia is in place.
The Secretary shall inform the candidate (re: dress, reporting time, etc.) and inquire of candi-
date as to Masonic friends/relatives to attend.
(1) Cast – First Section
Master
Senior Warden
Junior Warden
Senior Deacon
Junior Deacon
Chaplain
Secretary
Treasurer
Senior Steward
Junior Steward
Tyler
Working Tools
Secret Lecture
Slide Lecture
Charge
Bible Presentation
(2) Paraphernalia

Wardens Columns
Bible on altar (w/square, compasses, marker at Ecclesiastes 12)
Working tools (E)
Slide Projector, Remote, Degree Slides & Screen (extra bulb)
Roll Call-Muster list and bell (Secretary's desk)
White gloves, 12-pairs (Prep room, for Fellow Crafts) and Costumes
Square and Sprig of Acacia (W)
24-inch gauge (S)
Canvas and Setting Maul (NE corner)
18
Check List for the Master Masons Degree (continued)
(3) Cast – Second Section
King Solomon
Hiram King of Tyre
Senior Deacon
Junior Deacon
Secretary
Chaplin
Tyler
#1 Ruffian
#2 Ruffian
#3 Ruffian
#1 Fellowcraft
#2 Fellowcraft
#3 Fellowcraft
#4 Fellowcraft
#5 Fellowcraft
#6 Fellowcraft
#7 Fellowcraft
#8 Fellowcraft
#9 Fellowcraft
#10 Fellowcraft
#11 Fellowcraft
#12 Fellowcraft
#1 Searcher
#2 Searcher
#1 Canvas Committee
#2 Canvas Committee
#3 Canvas Committee
#4 Canvas Committee
#5 Canvas Committee
#6 Canvas Committee
19
Suggested Duties for Lodge Officers
Lodge officers set the tone for the entire Lodge. They set it by their conduct, their dress, their atten-
dance, their enthusiasm, their proficiency in the ritual and their attitude. Each officer should convey the
seriousness, the beauty and the honor of Masonry as well as its fun and fellowship. The duties dis-
cussed in this letter and its enclosure are guidelines to achieve these goals.
Below is an outline of the suggested duties for the Worshipful Master and each of the other officers.
They should be adapted as the Master sees fit.
Duties of All Officers
Certain duties are common to all officers. They should strive to make the Lodge a friendly place. They
should greet all members and visitors personally. They should make everyone feel welcome. Their
wives and families should be involved in the social life of the Lodge. They should help the committees of
the Lodge in staging the Lodge’s, events. They should be prepared in ritual. The officer in charge
should assign a prompter. The prompter for the evening should be announced. Often, it is the Brother
seated in the Senior Warden's station, if proficient in the work of all of the officers and so advised in ad-
vance.
Advancement
The officers should periodically fill the station next in line. They should be prepared to advance by the
middle of the year.
Officer Line
There is no official line in a Lodge. Every Master Mason in your Lodge who is in good standing and
whose dues are current is eligible for any office. However, most Lodges establish an unofficial line that
their officers follow as they progress from station to station. This outline of suggested officer duties as-
sumes a line of progression as follows:
Junior Steward
Senior Steward
Junior Deacon
Senior Deacon
Junior Warden
Senior Warden
Worshipful Master
This line of progression and the respective duties of their positions will prepare the officer for the admin-
istrative position of Worshipful Master as he progresses through the line. However, no matter which sta-
tion an officer holds, he has an assigned duty that provides challenges and experiences that prepare
him to hold the office of Worshipful Master some day.
20
WORSHIPFUL MASTER
To prepare the Lodge's annual plan.
To prepare the Lodge's annual budget.
To prepare the Master's Trestleboard articles.
To ascertain the date for the Inspector's official visit.
To appoint the members of the Investigating Committee as required.
To be responsible for all Lodge committees.
To attend the Annual Communication of Grand Lodge.
To prepare an agenda for each Stated Meeting.
To appoint the committees for the Lodge.
To visit a sick or disabled brother and the newly widowed wife of a deceased member.
To welcome all visitors to the Lodge.
To deliver the welcome to the newly raised brother at the conclusion of the Third Degree.
To lend an understanding ear to the Brethren of the Lodge.
RITUAL ‑ IMPLIED:
To learn the ritual for conducting Stated Meetings.
To learn the ritual for receiving Grand Lodge representatives (Grand Master, DDGM, DDGL, etc.).
To conduct degree practices for officers of the Lodge
To notify the Secretary of the date of initiation for newly elected candidates.
To take charge of all Third Degrees.
SENIOR WARDEN
To be responsible for the coaching of all candidates
To select qualified candidate coaches.
To prepare the Senior Warden's Trestleboard articles.
To prepare the calendar for his year as Master, arrange for facility reservations and set goals for his
year.
To prepare an estimated budget for his year as Master (based upon his planned calendar).
To consider officer appointments for his year as Master and to ask men if they will serve.
To consider committee chairmen and member appointments for his year as Master and to ask men if
they will serve.
To attend all Lodge functions (Stated and Special Meetings, Lodge social events and other Lodge func-
tions).
To plan the Lodge's next Installation.
RITUAL IMPLIED:
To learn the work of the Third Degree and the ritual required to be qualified as Master.
To be qualified to give the work of the Senior Warden in all three degrees.
21
To take charge of all Second Degrees. and
To attend all degree practices designated by the Master.
RITUAL ‑ SUGGESTED:
To examine all candidates to see if they are properly prepared. and
To review all signs, tokens and words of the preceding degree (s) of all Second and Third Degree candi-
dates prior to the start of the degrees.
JUNIOR WARDEN
To be responsible for all dinners held at the Lodge.
To keep itemized receipts for all dinner expenditures and records of all transactions.
To keep attendance records for all dinner functions.
To work with the Stewards Committee at all dinner functions.
To prepare a summary of monthly bills and present them to the Secretary at least one week prior to the
Stated Meeting.
To prepare the Junior Warden's Trestleboard articles.
tions).
To begin to plan the calendar for his year as Master.
To begin considering officer appointments for his year as Master.
To begin considering committee chairmen and member appointments for his year as Master. and
To begin collecting articles and information for use in Trestleboard articles during his year as Master.
RITUAL IMPLIED:
To learn the work of the Second Degree and the ritual required to be qualified as Senior Warden.
To be qualified to give the work of the Senior Warden in the Second Degree.
To be qualified to give the work of the Junior Warden in all three degrees.
To take charge of all First Degrees.
TREASURER
tions).
SECRETARY
tions).
SENIOR DEACON
To personally greet and "host" visitors and properly introduce them in the Lodge room.
To attend the Annual Communication of Grand Lodge, if possible.
22
tions).
RITUAL IMPLIED:
To learn the work of the First Degree and the other ritual required to be qualified as Junior Warden.
To be responsible for the Fellowcraft degree team in the second section of the Third Degree.
To notify the Fellowcraft degree team in advance of all Third Degrees and see that qualified members
are present to take every part.
To know the Tylers oath.
JUNIOR DEACON
To assist the Tiler in setting up and tearing down the Lodge room for all Stated and Special Meetings.
To attend the Annual Communication of Grand Lodge, if possible. and
tions).
RITUAL IMPLIED:
To learn the work of the Senior Deacon in all Degrees.
To be qualified to give the work of the Junior Warden in the first section of the First Degree.
SENIOR STEWARD
To be responsible for the Stewards Committee for all dinners and all degrees. The Stewards Committee
should consist of the Junior Steward and additional Masons.
To be responsible for providing refreshments after all degrees (setting up the tables. acquiring, prepar-
ing and serving refreshments as necessary, i.e. making coffee, etc.).
To keep itemized receipts for all refreshment expenditures (coffee, pies, donuts, etc., paper goods, and
other staples as required).
To turn over all receipts to the Junior Warden monthly (to be submitted with the Junior Warden's receipts
to the Secretary at least one week prior to the Stated Meeting).
tions).
RITUAL IMPLIED:
To learn the work of the Junior Deacon in all three degrees.
To learn the work of the Senior Deacon in the first section of the First Degree.
23
JUNIOR STEWARD
To serve on the Stewards Committee for all dinners and refreshments after all degrees.
To be responsible for the Stewards Committee in the absence of the Senior Steward. and
tions).
RITUAL ‑ IMPLIED:
To learn the work of the Senior Steward in all Degrees.
To learn the work of the Junior Deacon in the first section of the First Degree.
To learn the charges for all three degrees.
To know how to properly prepare candidates in all degrees.
CHAPLAIN
To offer devotions at all dinner meetings and other Lodge functions as requested by the Master.
tions).
tions).
RITUAL ‑ IMPLIED:
To attend all degree practices when requested by the Master.
TILER
To be responsible for setting up and tearing down the Lodge room for all Stated and Special Meetings
(before meeting: arrive early, unlock door, turn on Masonic sign, set up Lodge early so that meeting can
start on time, properly lay out paraphernalia for scheduled degree including candidate paraphernalia and
set out jewels for Master in proper order) (after meeting: break down Lodge, put away paraphernalia,
turn off lights and lock door).
To receive all visitors and assist them in filling out visitor cards.
To notify the Senior Deacon of all visitors and provide him with a card containing their names suitable to
be used for introductions (include their titles, and the name and location of their Lodges).
tions).
RITUAL IMPLIED:
To know how to properly prepare candidates for all degrees.
CANDIDATE'S COACH
To keep a list of all candidates, record their progress in learning the Catechism of all degrees and report
the same to the Master. To examine the candidates prior to their giving the Catechism in open Lodge
and to insure that the candidate is proficient.
24
Tips for the Master
A. Officer Meetings
1. Immediately after your election as Master of your lodge, and before your installation, call together
your officers and give each officer a copy of the Lodge Program for the year: the result of your ear-
lier officer planning meetings. This will enable your officers to block out the necessary dates on the
lodge calendar and plan their schedule for the best cooperation. If you have not planned your year’s
work, you must do that immediately. Remember, it is a team effort; all officers help with the planning.
2. Lay out for each officer the responsibility delegated to him, even though you may feel that the officers
know the “general custom” in your lodge. A written sheet of responsibilities is very important, if not
essential Have him refer to his installation obligation and charge.
3. At least once a month after your installation have your officers meet with you and check the Lodge
Program to see that you are on course and that each officer is fulfilling his responsibilities. Also, con-
sider any criticism or suggestions that may have come to your attention. The officer meeting after a
stated communication is not usually satisfactory You do not want or need to feel rushed.
4. Remember, there are three key words for every Master: plan, communicate, follow-up.
B. Conducting the Stated Communication

1. Check with whoever sets up the lodge to see that everything you need is in place. Needed items will
vary according to the type of meeting. For instance, it is embarrassing during degree work to find
that some item needed is still in the closet and everything stops while the needed item is secured.
2. Shake hands with your own lodge brethren and visiting brethren. Be sure to get the visiting brother’s
name, title, and home lodge — correctly.
3. Check with the lodge secretary and see that both of you know the order of business that you will fol-
low, and every item known to either of you that will be on the agenda. Some lodges make a typed
Order of Business. This is a very fine procedure. Do not read the Order of Business in the Bahnson
Manual if there are no reports from some committees. The alert Master will know before the meeting
if there is correspondence to be read, and if there are committee reports to be given.
4. Begin on time. Being late is a habit. If an officer is not present, use a “pro tem.” This may help to cure
the late habit. Members, too, will soon know that when the clock shows the proper hour, the gavel
falls.
5. Speak slowly, loudly, and clearly. Remember, the brother in the far corner wants to know what is go-
ing on, as well as does the man at the altar or on the dais. There is nothing that will as quickly lose
the attention of the brethren as mumbled words, unclear, and too softly spoken.
6. Move immediately from one item to another on your agenda. Do not stop between items to see what
is next. This can be avoided by good preparation.
7. Some brethren, perhaps most, like to be recognized. Work out a form of recognition that does not
drag interminably.
8. Learn the proper tides of those most likely to visit your lodge. For instance, learn whether to say
“Senior Grand Warden” or “Grand Senior Warden.” The little things reveal whether or not you have
done your homework.
25
9. You, as Master, have the gavel, and if discussion on a subject seems to be getting out of hand, gra-
ciously rap the brother down. Do not allow discussion of forbidden subjects, such as sectarian or
political partisanship, in your lodge meetings.
10. When you are through with the meeting, close. Do not kill time simply because it is still early.
11. Plan, so that there is time for refreshments and fellowship. Many brethren will say that the fellowship
hour is the best part of the meeting.
12. If your regular communication is not concluded by nine or nine-thirty, you are probably not very well
organized.
C. Courtesies Due A Visiting Speaker or Program Personality

1. If the guest is from out of town and is coming by air or car, have someone meet him. If staying over-
night, provide for his room and meals.
2. Assign a brother to escort the guest, to introduce him to the brethren.
3. After the meeting, escort the guest to the place of refreshments.
4. When the guest is ready to leave, escort him to his car, motel, or plane.
5. Many lodges present every visiting program personality with some small token of appreciation.
6. If the guest is coming from any distance, either by car or other transportation, at least offer to reim-
burse his expenses. The fact that your lodge wants to enjoy his talent or expertise probably means
that other lodges have also invited him to be their guest. Over a period of time this may become a
financial burden. A brother is under no obligation, other than brotherly love and the length of his ca-
ble tow, to visit your lodge at his own expense. Show that you recognize this.
7. When he returns to his home, send him an official note of thanks for his visit.
8. Remember, these courtesies are due a guest whether or not his visit was a success.
9. Two excellent sources for the Senior Warden’s preparation to be Master of his lodge are these:
The Master’s Book, Carl H. Claudy (The Temple Publishers, Washington, DC)
Key to Freemasonry’s Growth, Allen E. Roberts (Macoy Publishing and Ma-
sonic Supply Co., Inc., Richmond, Virginia)
26
Tips for the Senior Warden
The Principles of Planning
Skillful leadership requires good planning. Poor performance is usually the result of poor planning, often-
times, no planning at all. The Senior Warden who fails to plan for his year in the East usually is Master in
name only.
The objective of the Masonic Fraternity is “to make good men better,” to propagate the principles of the
Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of God — in one’s self, in his community, and in society in
general. This is the Fraternity’s reason for being, its desired ultimate objective. Obviously, this is a
growth process; one gets there by degrees. Some goals are short-range; achieved in a year or less,
sometimes longer.
The Senior Warden’s objective, then, may very well be to call an officer planning meeting now to create
a program of work for next year that will enable the brethren to grow in Masonic knowledge, spirit, and
activity How will he do it? He will plan for it; he will set short-range and long-range goals. For instance:
1. To increase regular attendance at stated communications by twenty percent. Clarify, twenty percent
of average attendance now?
2. To have four to six excellent Masonic education programs during the year.
3. To improve the proficiency in degree work.
4. To see that every candidate for the degrees in Masonry is well informed as to the history philosophy,
and purpose of the Order.
5. To create a deeper sense of friendship and brotherly love.
There will, of course, be other goals, depending on the sensitivity of the officers to the needs within the
lodge fellowship.
Keep in mind that a goal can be achieved only by coordinating and harmonizing the total lodge program.
One of the best ways to achieve this is to have regular monthly, at least quarterly, officer planning meet-
ings. The meeting would include the lodge line officers and any committee chairman, or h committee,
whose work may be relevant to the total program. Through this medium the lodge calendar could be
cleared, programs coordinated, and as signments made. Each brother would know what the other breth-
ren are doing, and when they are doing it. It is an effective way to avoid misunderstanding and conflict
within the Craft.
There are questions the Senior Warden will be asking:

1. How may we involve the greatest participation by the brethren in our lodge activities?
2. What methods are we going to use to accomplish our objectives and goals?
3. ‘What resources — persons, facilities, materials — are we going to need?
4. How are we going to maintain an effective effort toward achievement of our goals? What about moti-
vation?
Working through these questions calls for specific planning. Early in the latter half of his tenure in the
West the Senior Warden should meet with next year’s prospective officers and simply talk about some of
these things. During the last three months of his year in the West he could then meet with them again, to
set specific objectives and goals, actually fill in the lodge’s work calendar for his year in the East.
Consider the steps in the planning process. This procedure is useful for the Senior Warden planning for
his year in the East or for the chairman of a committee planning to meet his assignment.
27
1. Discover the facts. What are the present circumstances and challenges in the lodge? What does this
lodge need? What has been done in the past? Did it fail or succeed, and why?
2. Define goals. On the basis of present needs set objectives and goals. Be specific. What do you want
to accomplish? Be realistic. ‘What can be accomplished during the next year? For instance, how
long will it take to increase attendance by twenty percent?
3. Devise strategy. What course of action will you take to reach your goals? Your plans in all probability
will not be perfect. They are blueprints or guidelines to work by. You will need personnel, facilities,
and materials. For instance, will you appoint an attendance committee? If so, what will they have to
work with: telephone, cards, stationery stamps?
4. Designate assignments. Who is dependable? Who will be the very best brother to head the atten-
dance committee? Check “member information” forms. ‘Will he enlist others to work with him or will
you appoint them? Be understanding, encourage and counsel when problems arise or progress is
slow.
5. Determine standards of evaluation. In the case of a goal of twenty percent increase in average atten-
dance, evaluation is rather simple. But in the event of failure, discover and analyze the reasons. In
like manner, if success is achieved, how did it happen? Who is to receive credit, praise, or apprecia-
tion? One can gather valuable information for future projects by evaluating successes and failures.
Some programs and projects require constant, or at least periodic, evaluation of progress and ac-
complishment.
As is often said, “Plan your work, then work your plan.”
28
Tips for the Junior Warden
Motivating Involvement
In most any organization it can be said that “Only a few do all the work.” It is also true of the Masonic
Fraternity. Many lodges are suffering from lack of involvement. One of the greatest needs in the Frater-
nity is to discover and enlist brethren who are willing to become involved in the total life of the local
lodge.
Involvement is the result of motivation. Motivation is,
more and more, becoming one of the finer arts in human relations. Consider some of the principles of
motivation and involvement.
1. Choose an approach to leadership. On one end of the spectrum is the autocrat. He considers his way
to be the only right way. He is bossy and needs to dominate the brethren. This kind of leadership
antagonizes the brethren. They will then assume no responsibility, thus leaving all the work to the
leader.
On the other end of the spectrum is the laissez-faire leader. He does nothing and allows the breth-
ren to wander in whatever direction they choose. The result is conflict and frustration due to lack of
achievement.
Somewhere between these two extremes is the democratic leader. He has learned to become an
active member of the lodge and con tributes his share of the work. He is responsible and depend-
able. He helps to formulate goals and stimulates the brethren to move toward achievement of those
goals. He is open to new ideas and attitudes. He does not force his ideas on the brethren, but is will-
ing to accept the lodge’s decision.
This kind of leadership is important to any group, but especially to the Masonic Fraternity where only
a limited number may become line officers. If the principles of Freemasonry are to pro duce effective
change in the brethren, and thus in society, the Masonic leader must be one whose concern is that
every brother fulfill his potential. The democratic leader motivates involvement.
2. The democratic leader is one who will share his leader ship responsibilities through delegation. “This
station is too big for one person. I need and want your assistance.” This is not simply an easy way to
give away one’s responsibility; nor is delegation an easy way to avoid problems. Delegation is a
means of extending the work of the leader, a means of teaching and developing new leaders. The
one who delegates must be able and willing to provide counsel, encouragement, and specific help
for the brother to whom work has been assigned.
The leader who delegates must keep in touch with the brother to whom he has delegated responsibil-
ity Define clearly the assignment. Ask for periodic progress reports. Evaluate the final achievement.
3. You may remember what it was, or who it was, who motivated you to seek membership in the Frater-
nity. Whatever it was, or whoever it was, it elicited a favorable response in your inner being. Once in
the lodge, there are various sources of motivation.
a. A climate of warmth, love, and concern as opposed to coldness and an impersonal, duty-bound
appeal.
b. High standards of performance create a high level of aspiration.
c. Guidance, friendship, and consultation reassure a brother in his assigned work.
d. Clarity of goals can aid in morale; confusion of goals results in frustration and apathy.
e. Preparation should always precede expected performance.
f. Recognition of achievement should always be given. Praise for accomplishments inspires one to
29
assume further responsibility.
4. Controversy and conflict sometimes develop among the brethren. There is invariably a cause. The
effective leader will not shun controversy, but he will attempt to minimize its harmful effects. The
leader should always focus on the issue and points of agreement rather than on personalities. Allow
the brethren to develop a solution. Move on to new goals and avoid mention of old problems.
30
Claudy Books
Entered Apprentice
Fellowcraft
Master Mason
The Master’s Book
31
32
INTRODUCTION TO FREEMASONRY
ENT ERE D A P P RE NT ICE

By CARL H. CLAUDY
SOURCE
Seers seek for Wisdom's flowers in the mind
And write of symbols Many a learned tome.
(Grow roses still, though rooted in black loam.)
The mystic searches earth till eyes go blind
For soul of roses, yet what use to find
A spirit penned within a catacomb?
Nay, all they learn is weightless as sea-foam
That drifts from wave to wave upon the wind.
In rushes Cap and Bells. How very doll
The ways of students and the foolish books!
He finds no secrets of Freemason's art
In mind nor rose nor tomb nor musty scroll;
Where no wit is, where all loves are, he looks
And reads their hidden meaning in his heart.
FOREWORD
FREEMASONRY'S greatest problems are lack of interest in its teachings and
attendance at communications. Many plans have been devised by Masonic leaders to
stimulate interest and increase attendance, but few such efforts are more than temporarily
effective.
The initial appeal of the Ancient Craft is as strong today as it has ever been.
Freemasonry attracts as good men now as in the past. But in the absence of a concerted
effort to teach quickly what in a more leisurely age could be spread over many years, the
Institution often fails to hold the interest of the new brother against the many attractions of
modern life.
Habits of lodge attendance and interest in the Fraternity should be created while the first
enthusiasm is high; moreover, every candidate has an inherent right to understand the reality
of our rites, the meaning of our mysteries, the truth of our tenets, and the significance of our
symbols.
Many lodges attempt to intrigue the new brother with books. Some books are
forbiddingly large; others are too learned; others assume that the reader has a knowledge
which he does not possess. Some books are dull with many facts and no vision, while others
are too specialized or confined to one viewpoint. These three volumes are different. Written
by a brother with long experience as a Masonic speaker and writer, they have a simple manner
of presentation, a plain statement of facts, a spiritual interpretation of Masonic teachings and
visualize the vital reality behind the allegory and the symbol.
These books answer the simple elementary inquiries of the new brother to whom all the
Craft is strange. They will make many an older Mason sit up in astonishment that what he
thought obvious and uninteresting is so vividly alive. The author handles a heart-searching
body of Masonic truth in a way so informative and so interesting, yet so touching and so
tender, that the influence of these books when presented to and read by candidates must be
vast and permanent.
After years of activity in the Craft, culminating in service as Grand Master, I am
33
convinced that the most effective way to encourage interest and understanding is to begin at
the beginning, that is, with the Entered Apprentice at the very threshold of his Masonic career.
For this purpose, I know of no other books which even attempt what these are destined to
accomplish, and I appreciate the honour of writing this brief Foreword at the invitation of the
publishers.
For the brother old in the Craft who will read them, a revelation awaits. For the initiate,
here is wisdom, strength and beauty. For all, the Ancient Craft is here set forth in an
unforgettable trilogy of books which not only tell the facts but forget not the vision; which not
only describe the form but also reveal the spirit of Freemasonry.
The author is to be commended for the undertaking and complimented on the
achievement.
HOWARD R. CRUSE, P.G.M. New Jersey August 17, 1931.
ENTERED APPRENTICE
At your leisure hours, that you may improve in Masonic knowledge, you are to converse
with well-informed brethren, who will always be as ready to give, as you will be ready to
receive, instruction.
These words from the Charge to an Entered Apprentice set forth the purpose of the
three little books, of which this is the first: to give to the initiate, in his leisure hours, some
"instruction" and information about the Fraternity not wholly imparted in the ceremonies of
initiation.
These volumes are intended as simple introductions to the study of the Ancient Craft;
the interested Freemason will look further, for other and longer books; the uninterested will not,
perhaps, read all of these! Had completeness been the aim, these little books might have
become forbiddingly large.
No more has been attempted than to give some Masonic light on some of the history,
jurisprudence, symbols, customs, and landmarks of the Order, by the rays of which any initiate
may readily find his way down the path of Masonic learning which leads to the gate of truth.
These books are far more gateways than guides to the foreign country of Freemasonry.
However elemental they may be to the Masonic student, if their very simplicity leads those
Entered Apprentices, Fellowcrafts, and newly raised Master Masons for whom they were
written to seek more Masonic light, their purpose will have been served and their preparation
well worth the time and effort spent upon them.
DEFINITION
Freemasonry is a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by
symbols.
This definition of the Ancient Craft means much more to the well-informed Freemason
than to the initiate, to whom it can convey but little. Naturally, he wants to know "Why
Freemasonry? Why is it veiled? Why illustrated with symbols?"
Masons are "Free and Accepted" for reasons which are to be found in the early history
of Freemasonry.
34
EARLY HISTORY
Many of Freemasonry's symbols and teachings go back to the very childhood of the
race. Through these, a direct relationship may be traced, in mind, heart, and ideal, if not in
written document, to such diverse ages and places as China four thousand years ago, the
priesthood of ancient Egypt, and the Jews of the Captivity. But for purposes of understanding
the genesis of the word "free" as coupled with "Mason," it will suffice to begin with the Roman
Collegia: orders or associations of men engaged in similar pursuits. Doubtless, their formation
was caused by the universal desire for fellowship and association, particularly strong in Rome,
in which the individual was so largely submerged for the good of the empire, as well as by
economic necessity, just as labour unions are formed today.
These Collegia speedily became so prominent and powerful that Roman emperors
attempted to abolish the right of free association. In spite of edicts and persecutions, some of
the Collegia continued to exist.
The Colleges of Architects, however, were sanctioned for a time even after others were
forbidden. They were too valuable to the state to be abolished or made to work and meet in
secret. They were not at this time called Freemasons, but they were free - and it is the fact
and not the name which is here important. Without architects and builders Rome could not
expand, so the Colleges of Architects were permitted to regulate their own affairs and work
under their own constitutions, free of the restrictions which were intended to destroy other
Collegia.
Then, as now, three were necessary to form a College (no Masonic lodge can meet with
less than three); the College had a Magister or Master, and two Wardens, There were three
orders or degrees in the College which, to a large extent, used emblems which are a part of
Freemasonry. Roman sarcophagi show carvings of a square, compasses, plumb, level, and
sometimes columns.
Of the ceremonies of the Collegia we know little or nothing. Of their work we know
much, and of their history, enough to trace their decline and fall. The Emperor Diocletian
attempted to destroy the new religion, Christianity, which threatened so much which seemed to
the Romans to make Rome, Rome. Many members of the Colleges of Architects were
Christians. Since these associations had taught and believed in brotherhood, when there
came a Carpenter who taught brotherhood because of a common Father, the m embers of the
Colleges of Architects took His doctrine, so strangely familiar, for their own.
Persecution, vengeance, cruelty followed; this is not the place to go into the story of the
four Masons and the apprentice who were tortured to death, only to become the four crowned
martyrs and patron saints of later builders and the Masons of the Middle Ages. Suffice it that
the Colleges of Architects were broken up and fled from Rome.
Comes a gap which is not yet bridged. Between the downfall of Rome and the rise of
Gothic architecture we know little of what happened to the builders' Collegia. It is here that we
come to the fascinating story of the Comacines. Some of the expelled builders found refuge
on the island of Comacina in Lake Como and, through generation after generation, kept alive
the traditions and secrets of their art until such time as the world was again ready for the
Master Builders. All this is most interestingly set forth in several books, best known of which is
Leader Scott's Cathedral Builders; The Story of a Great Masonic Guild. The author says that
the Comacine Masters "were the link between the classic Collegia and all other art and trade
guilds of the Middle Ages. They were Freemasons because they were builders of a privileged
class, absolved from taxes and servitude, and free to travel about in times of feudal bondage."
During the Middle Ages and the rise of Gothic architecture, we find two distinct classes
of Masons. The Guild Masons, who, like the Guild carpenters or weavers or merchants, were
local in character and strictly regulated by law, and the Freemasons, who traveled about from
city to city as their services were needed to design and erect those marvelous churches and
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cathedrals which stand to-day inimitable in beauty. It may not be affirmed as a proved fact that
the Freemasons of the Middle Ages were the direct descendants through the Comacine
Masters of the Colleges of Architects of Rome, but there is too much evidence of a similar
structure, ideal, and purpose, and too many similarities of symbol, tool, and custom, to dismiss
the idea merely because we have no written record covering the period between the expulsion
from Rome and the beginning of the cathedral-building age.
However this may be, the operative builders and designers of the cathedrals of Europe
were an older Order than the Guild Masons; it is from these Freemasons - free of the Guild and
free of the local laws -that the Freemasonry of to-day has come. Incidentally, it may be noted
that the historian Findel finds that the name Freemason appears as early as 1212, and the
name occurs in 1375 in the history of the Company of Masons of the City of London.
The history of the Freemasons through the cathedral-building ages up to the
Reformation and the gradual decline of the building art needs volumes where here are but
pages. But it must be emphasized that the Freemasons were far more than architects and
builders; they were artists, the leaders, the teachers, the mathematicians and the poets of their
time. In their lodges, Speculative Masonry grew side by side with their operative art. They
were jealous of their Order and strict in their acceptance of Apprentices; strict in admitting
Apprentices to be Fellows of the Craft, requiring seven years of labour of an Apprentice before
he might make his "Master's Piece" to submit to the Master and Wardens of his lodge, when,
happy, he might become a Fellow and receive "the Mason Word."
In an age when learning was difficult to get and association with the educated hardly to
be had outside of the church, it was but natural that thoughtful and scholarly men should desire
membership among the Freemasons. Such men, however, would not want to practice
operative masonry, or serve a seven years' apprenticeship. Therefore a place was made for
them by taking them in as accepted Masons; that is, accepted as members having something
to offer and desiring to receive something from the lodge, but distinguished from the operative
Freemasons by the title accepted.
It is not possible to say when this practice began. The Regius Poem, (1) the oldest
document of Free-Masonry (1390), speaks of Prince Edward (Tenth Century) as: "Of
Speculatyfe he was a Master."
Desiring to become architects and builders, ecclesiasts joined the order. Lovers of
liberty were naturally attracted to a fellowship in which members enjoyed unusual freedom.
Through the years, particularly those which saw the decline of great building and the coming of
the Reformation, more and more became the Accepted Masons and less and less the
operative building Freemasons. Of forty-nine names on the roll of the Lodge of Aberdeen in the
year 1670, thirty-nine were those of Accepted Masons. Hence, our title - Free and Accepted
Masons, abbreviated F. & A.M. There are variations in certain jurisdictions, (2) such as F. and
A. M. (Free and Accepted Masons), A.F. & A.M. (Ancient Free and Accepted Masons), etc.,
the origin of which the student may find in the history of Freemasonry of the Grand Lodge era.
(1) Halliwell Manuscript, the oldest of the written Constitutions, transcribed in 1390,
probably from an earlier version. Called Halliwell because first published in 1840 by James O.
Halliwell, who first discovered its Masonic character. Prior to that date it was catalogued in the
Royal Library as A Poem of Moral Duties. Called the Regius Poem partly because it formed
part of Henry VIII's Royal Library and partly because it is the first and therefore the kingly or
royal document of the Craft.
(2) Jurisdiction: the territory and the Craft in it over which a Grand Lodge is sovereign. In
the United States are forty-nine; one for each state and the District of Columbia. Used as a
brevity; thus, the Masonic jurisdiction of New Jersey means "all the Masonry, lodges, Masons
in the State of New Jersey over which rules the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and
Honourable Society of Free and Accepted Masons for the State of New Jersey." The word also
36
means the territorial boundaries to which the right of a lodge to accept petitions extends.
ALLEGORY AND SYMBOLS

Freemasonry is "veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols" because these are the
surest ways by which moral and ethical truths may be taught. It is not only with the brain and
the mind that the initiate must take in Freemasonry but also with the heart.
Mind speaks to mind with spoken or written words. Heart speaks to heart with words
which cannot be written or spoken. Those words are symbols; words which mean little to the
indifferent, much to the understanding.
The body has its five senses through which the mind may learn; the mind has also
imagination. That imagination may see farther than eyes and hear sounds fainter than may be
caught by ears. To the imagination symbols become plain as printed words to the eye.
Nothing else will do; no words can be as effective (unless they are themselves symbols); no
teachings expressed in language are as easily learned by the mind as those which come via
the symbol through the imagination. Take from Freemasonry its symbols and but the husk
remains, the kernel is gone. He who hears but the words of Freemasonry misses their
meaning entirely.
THE LODGE
During the ceremonies of initiation the Entered Apprentice is informed what a lodge is.
In other than the words of the ritual a Masonic lodge is a body of Masons warranted or
chartered as such by its Grand Lodge and possessing the three Great Lights in Masonry.
The lodge usually (1) comes into being when a certain number of brethren petition the
Grand Master, who, if it is his pleasure issues a dispensation which forms these brethren into a
provisional lodge, or a lodge under dispensation, familiarly known as U.D. The powers of the
U.D. lodge are strictly limited; it is not yet a "regularly constituted lodge" but an inchoate sort of
organization, a fledgling in the nest. Not until the Grand Lodge has authorized the issuance of
the warrant does it assume the status of a "regular" lodge, and not then until it is consecrated,
dedicated, and constituted by the Grand Master and his officers, or those he delegates for the
ceremony. The warrant of the new lodge names its first Worshipful Master, Senior Warden,
and Junior Warden, who hold office until their successors are duly elected and installed.
Lodge officers are either elected or appointed. In some lodges in some jurisdictions all
officers in the "line" are elected. In others only the Master, Senior and Junior Wardens,
Secretary and Treasurer are elected, the others being appointed. The term of office is one
year, but nothing prevents re-election of a Master or Wardens. Indeed, Secretaries and
Treasurers generally serve as long as they are willing; a lodge almost invariably re-elects the
same incumbents year after year to these places. These officers become the connecting links
between different administrations, which practice makes for stability and smooth running. (1)
The oldest lodges in a Grand Lodge existed prior to its formation and came into being from a
warrant or charter from some other Grand Lodge, or, in some few instances of very old lodges,
merely by brethren getting together and holding a lodge under "immemorial custom." Thus,
Fredericksburg Lodge of Virginia, in which Washington received his degrees, had no warrant
until several years after its formation. In the absence of the Master the Senior Warden
presides and has for the time being the powers and duties of the Master; in his absence the
same devolve upon the Junior Warden. All lodges have an officer stationed "without the door
with a drawn sword in his hand." He is the Tiler and his duties are to keep off "cowans and
37
eavesdroppers." In operative days the secrets of the Freemasons were valuable in coin of the
realm. The Mason who knew "the Mason Word" could travel in foreign countries and receive a
Master's wages. Many who could not or would not conform to the requirements tried to
ascertain the secrets in a clandestine manner. The eavesdropper - literally, one who attempts
to listen under the eaves, and so receives the droppings from the roof - was a common thief
who tried to learn by stealth what he would not learn by work. The cowan was an ignorant
Mason who laid stones together without mortar or piled rough stone from the field into a wall
without working them square and time. He was a Mason without the word, with no reputation;
the Apprentice who tried to masquerade as a Master.
The operative Masons guarded their assemblies against the intrusion of both the thief
and the half-instructed craftsman. Nothing positive is known of the date when the guardian of
the door first went on duty. He was called a Tiler or Tyler because the man who put on the
roof or tiles (tiler) completed the building and made those within it secure from intrusion;
therefore, the officer who guarded the door against intrusion was called, by analogy, a Tiler.
Lodges are referred to as Symbolic, Craft, Ancient Craft, Private, Particular,
Subordinate, and Blue, all of which names distinguish them from other organizations, both
Masonic and non-Masonic. The word "subordinate" is sometimes objected to by Masonic
scholars, most of whom prefer other appellations to distinguish the individual Master Mason's
lodge from the Grand Lodge. All Masonic lodges of Ancient Craft Masonry are "Blue Lodges"
blue being the distinctive Masonic colour, from the blue vault of heaven which is the covering
of a symbolic lodge, and which embraces the world, of which the lodge is a symbol.
To such an organization, a man petitions for the degrees of Freemasonry. If the lodge
accepts his petition, a committee is appointed to investigate the petitioner. The committee
reports to the lodge whether or not, in its opinion, the petitioner is suitable material out of which
to make a Mason. The statutory time of a month having elapsed and all the members of the
lodge having been notified that the petition will come up for ballot at a certain stated
communication (Masonic word for "meeting"), the members present ballot on the petition.
The ballot is secret and both the laws and the ancient usages and customs surrounding
it are very strict. No brother is permitted to state how he will ballot or how he has balloted. No
brother is permitted to inquire of another how he will or has balloted. One black cube (negative
ballot) is sufficient to reject the petitioner. The secrecy of the ballot and the universal (in this
country) requirement that a ballot be unanimous to elect are two bulwarks of the Fraternity.
Occasionally both the secrecy and the required unanimity may seem to work a hardship, when
a man apparently worthy of being taken by the hand as a brother is rejected, but no human
institution is perfect, and no human being acts always according to the best that is in him. The
occasional failure of the system to work complete justice must be laid to the individuals using it
and not to the Fraternity. More will be said later in these pages on the power of the ballot, its
use and abuse; here it is sufficient to note one reason for the secret and unanimous ballot by
which the petitioner may be elected to receive initiation. Harmony - oneness of mind, effort,
ideas, and ideals - is one of the foundations of Freemasonry. Anything, which interferes with
harmony, hurts the institution. Therefore it is essential that lodges have a harmonious
membership; that no man be admitted to the Masonic home of any brother against that
brother's will. Having passed the ballot, the petitioner in due course is notified, presents
himself and is initiated.
ENTERED APPRENTICE
He then becomes an Entered Apprentice Mason. He is a Mason to the extent that he is
called "brother" and has certain rights; he is not yet a Mason in the legal Masonic sense.
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Seeing a framework erected on a plot of ground we reply to the question, "What are they
building?" by saying, "A house." We mean, "They are building something which eventually will
be a house." The Entered Apprentice is a Mason only in the sense that he is a rough Ashlar (1)
in process of being made into a perfect Ashlar.
The Entered Apprentice is the property of the lodge; he can receive his Fellowcraft and
Master Mason degrees nowhere else without its permission. But he does not yet pay dues to
the lodge, he is not yet permitted to sign its by-laws, he can enter it only when it is open on the
first degree, he cannot hold office, vote or ballot, receive Masonic burial, attend a Masonic
funeral as a member of the lodge, and has no right to Masonic charity. He has the right to ask
his lodge for his Fellowcrafts degree. He has the right of instruction by competent brethren to
obtain that "suitable proficiency" in the work of the first degree, which will entitle him to his
second degree if the brethren are willing to give it to him. The lodge asks very little of an
Entered Apprentice besides the secrecy to which his obligation bound him and those
exhibitions of character outlined in the Charge given at the close of the degree. It requires that
he be diligent in learning and that so far as he is able he will suit his convenience as to time
and place to that of his instructors.
Inasmuch as the Rite of Destitution is taught the initiate in the first degree, he may
naturally wonder why an Entered Apprentice has not the right to lodge charity if he needs it.
Individual Masonic charity he may, of course, receive, but the right to the organized relief of the
lodge, or a Grand Lodge, belongs only to a Master Mason. This is Masonic law; Masonic
practice, in the spirit of brotherly love, would offer any relief suddenly and imperatively needed
by an initiate -for that is Freemasonry.
(1) Ashlar; a building stone.
"SUITABLE PROFICIENCY"
In the Middle Ages operative apprentices were required to labour seven years before
they were thought to know enough to attempt to become Fellows of the Craft. At the end of
the seven-year period an apprentice who had earned the approbation of those over him might
make his Master's Piece and submit it to the judgment of the Master and Wardens of his
lodge. The Master's Piece was some difficult task of stone cutting or setting. Whether he as
admitted as a Fellow or turned back for further instruction depended on its perfection.
The Master's Piece survives in Speculative Masonry only as a small task and the seven
years have shrunk to a minimum of one month. Before knocking at the door of the West Gate
for his Fellowcrafts Degree an Entered Apprentice must learn "by heart" a part of the ritual and
the ceremonies through which he has passed. Easy for some, difficult for others, this is an
essential task. It must be done, and well done. It is no kindness to an Entered Apprentice to
permit him to proceed if his Master's Piece is badly made.
As the initiate converses with well-informed brethren, he will learn that there are literally
millions of Masons in the world - three millions in the United States. He does not know them;
they do not know him. Unless he can prove that he is a Mason, he cannot visit in a lodge
where he is not known, neither can he apply for Masonic aid, nor receive Masonic welcome
and friendship. Hence, the requirement that the Entered Apprentice learn his work well is in
his own interest. But it is also of interest to all brethren, wheresoever dispersed, that the
initiate know his work. They may find it as necessary to prove themselves to him as he may
need to prove himself to them. If he does not know his work, he cannot receive a proof any
more than he can give it.
It is of interest to the lodge that the initiate know his work well. Well-informed Masons
may be very useful in lodge; the sloppy, careless workman can never be depended upon for
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good work. Appalled at the apparently great feat of memory asked, some initiates study with
an instructor for an hour or two, find it difficult, and lose courage. But what millions of other
men have done, any initiate can do. Any man who can learn to know by heart any two words
can also learn three; having learned three he may add a fourth, and so on, until he can stand
before the lodge and pass a creditable examination, or satisfy a committee that he has learned
enough to entitle him to ask for further progress. The initiate should be not only willing but
enthusiastically eager to learn what is required because of its effect upon his future Masonic
career. The Entered Apprentice who wins the honour of being passed to the degree of
Fellowcraft by having well performed the only task set him goes forward feeling that he is
worthy. As Speculative Freemasonry builds only character, a feeling of unworthiness is as
much a handicap in lodge life as a piece of faulty stone is in building a wall.
But the most important reason for learning the work thoroughly goes farther. It applies
more and more as the Fellowcrafts Degree is reached and passed and is most vital after the
initiate has the proud right to say, "I am a Master Mason."
RITUAL
One of the great appeals of Freemasonry, both to the profane (1) and to Masons, is its
antiquity. The Order can trace an unbroken history of more than two hundred years in its
present form (the Mother Grand Lodge was formed in 1717), and has irrefutable documentary
evidence of a much longer existence in simpler forms.
Our present rituals - the plural is used advisedly, as no two jurisdictions are exactly at
one on what is correct in ritual -are the source books from which we prove just where we
came from and, to some extent, just when. If we alter our ritual, either intentionally or by poor
memorization, we gradually lose the many references concealed in the old, old phrases which
tell the story of whence we came and when.
Time is relative to the observer; what is very slow to the man may be very rapid to
nature. Nature has all the time there is. To drop out a word here, put in a new one there,
eliminate this sentence and add that one to our ritual seems to be a minor matter in a man's
lifetime. Yet if it is continued long enough - a very few score of years - the old ritual will be
entirely altered and become something new. We have confirmation of this. Certain parts of
the ritual are printed. These printed paragraphs are practically the same in most jurisdictions.
Occasionally there is a variation, showing where some committee on work has not been afraid
to change the work of the fathers. But as a whole the printed portion of our work is
substantially what it was when it was first brought to this country more than two hundred years
ago.
The secret work is very different in many of our jurisdictions. Some of these differences
are accounted for by different original sources, yet even in two jurisdictions which sprang from
the same source of Freemasonry, and originally had the same work, we find variations,
showing that mouth-to-ear instruction, no matter how secret it may be, is not wholly an
accurate way of transmitting words.
If in spite of us alterations creep in by the slow process of time and human fallibility, how
much faster will the ritual change if we are careless or indifferent? The farther away we get
from our original source, the more meticulously careful must trust-worthy Masons be to pass
on the work to posterity exactly as we receive it. The Mason of olden time could go to his
source for re-inspiration - we cannot.
Ritual is the thread which binds us to those who immediately preceded us, as their ritual
bound them to their fathers, our grandfathers. The ritual we hand down to our sons and their
sons' sons will be their bond with us, and through us with the historic dead. To alter that bond
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intentionally is to wrong those who come after us, even as we have been wronged when those
who preceded us were careless or inefficient in their memorization of ritual.
The Entered Apprentice, then, should not be discouraged if the ritual "comes hard." He
should fail not in the task nor question that it is worth while, for on what he does and on the
way in which he does it depends in some measure the Freemasonry of the future. As he does
well or ill, so will those who come after him do ill or well.
(1) Masonically, from pro and fanum, meaning, "Without the temple." To a Mason a
profane is one not a Mason; the profane world is all that is not in the Masonic world. The word
as used by Masons has no relation to that used to describe what is irreligious or blasphemous.
"FREE WILL AND ACCORD"

Though he knows it not the petitioner encounters his first Masonic symbol when he
receives from the hands of a friend the petition for which he has asked. Freemasons do not
proselyte. The Order asks no man for his petition. Greater than any man, Freemasonry
honours those she permits to knock upon her West Gate. Not king, prince, nor potentate;
president, general, nor savant can honour the Fraternity by petitioning a lodge for the degrees.
Churches send out missionaries and consider it a duty to persuade men to their
teachings. Commercial organizations, Boards of Trade, Chambers of Commerce, Life
Insurance Associations, and so on, attempt to win members by advertising and persuasion.
Members are happy to ask their friends to join their clubs. But a man must come to the West
Gate of a lodge "of his own free will and accord," and can come only by the good offices of a
friend whom he has enlisted on his behalf.
The candidate obligates himself for all time: "Once a Mason, always a Mason." He may
take no interest in the Order. He may dimit, (1), become unaffiliated, (2) be dropped N.P.D.,
(3) be tried for a Masonic offense and suspended or expelled, but he cannot "unmake" himself
as a Mason, or ever avoid the moral responsibility of keeping the obligations he voluntarily
assumes.
If a man be requested to join or persuaded to sign a petition, he may later be in a
position to say, "I became a Mason under a misapprehension. I was over-persuaded. I was
argued into membership," and might thus have a self-excusing shadow of a reason for failure
to do as most solemnly agrees.
But no man does so join unless he signs a false statement. He must declare in his
petition, and many times during his progress through the degrees, that the act is "of my own
free will and accord." Not Only must he so declare, but he must so swear. Freemasonry gives
her all - and it is a great gift - to those she accepts. But she gives only to those who honestly
desire the gift. He who is not first prepared to be a Freemason in his heart, that is, of his own
free will and accord, can never be one.
(1) Dimit, also spelled demit. Masonic lexicographers quarrel as to which is correct.
Dimit from the Latin dimitto, to permit to go, is probably more used than demit, from the Latin
demittere, meaning to let down from an elevated position to a lower one; in other words, to
resign. However spelled, in Freemasonry it signifies both the permission of the lodge to have
to join another lodge, and the paper containing that permission.
(2) Unaffiliated: a Mason who belongs to no lodge. After he has taken his dimit, a Mason
is unaffiliated until again elected a member of some lodge. A brother dropped N.P.D. is
unaffiliated. A man made a Mason "at sight" (done only by a Grand Master) is unaffiliated until
be joins some lodge. The state of unaffiliation is Masonically frowned upon, since an
unaffiliated brother contributes nothing to the Fraternity to which he is bound.
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(3) N.P.D.: short for Non Payment of Dues.
INITIATION
"Initiation is an analogy of man's advent from prenatal darkness into the light of human
fellowship, moral truth, and spiritual faith."(1)
From the Latin initium; a beginning, a birth, a coming into being. It is a very common
human experience. We are initiated into a new world when we first go to school; adolescence
is initiation into manhood or womanhood; we undergo an initiation when we plunge into
business or our professions; marriage is an initiation into a new experience, a new way of
living, a new outlook on life; the acceptance of a religious experience is an initiation; a new
book may initiate us into a new interest. Initiation is everywhere and in one or another form
comes to every man.
Masonic initiation may, but does not necessarily, come to those who seek, are
accepted, and receive the degrees. Many refuse the results of initiation. The school-boy who
will not study, the man who will not work, the reader who is not interested in his book, the
churchgoer to whom the service is but an empty form to be gone through once a week
because "it is the thing to do" - these gain nothing from such initiations. The candidate who
sees in the Masonic initiation of the Entered Apprentice Degree only a formal and dignified
ceremony designed to take up an evening and push him one step forward toward membership
in the Order refuses to accept his initiation.
Neither lodge nor brethren can help this. If a man will not accept what is offered, if his
understanding is so dull, his mind so sodden, his imagination so dead that he cannot glimpse
the substance behind the form, both be and the lodge are unlucky. That the majority of
initiates do receive and take to themselves this opportunity for spiritual rebirth is obvious,
otherwise the Order would not live and grow, could not have lived through hundreds - in some
form, thousands - of years. He is a wise initiate who will read and study that he may receive all
of that for which he has asked. The lodge puts before him the bread of truth, the wine of belief,
the staff of power, and sets his feet upon the path that leads to Light . . . but it is for him to eat
and drink and travel the winding path of initiation which at long last leads to the symbolic East.
(1) Howard B. Cruse.
THE LODGE AS A SYMBOL

The lodge is a symbol of the world. Its shape, the "oblong square" is the ancient
conception of the shape of the world. The Entered Apprentice is taught its dimensions, its
covering, its furniture, its lights, its jewels, and will learn more of it as a symbol as he proceeds
through the degrees. Although a symbol of the world, the lodge is a world unto itself; a world
within a world, different in its customs, its laws, and its structure from the world without. In the
world without are class distinctions, wealth, power, poverty, and misery. In the lodge all are on
a level and peace and harmony prevail. In the world without most laws are "thou shalt not" and
enforced by penalties. In the lodge the laws are mostly "thou shalt" and compulsion is seldom
thought of and as rarely invoked. Freemasons obey their laws not so much because they must
as because they will. In the world without men are divided by a thousand influences: race,
business, religious belief, politics. In the lodge men are united in the common bond of three
fundamental beliefs: the Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man and the immortality of the
soul, and all the sweet associations which spring therefrom. In the world without men travel
many roads to many goals; in the lodge the initiate does as all others who have gone this way
42
before him, and all, youngest Entered Apprentice and oldest Past Master, travel a common
way to an end which is the same for all.
PREPARATION
Often it seems queer to the candidate. How should it not, when he receives his
explanations afterwards and not before? When the Entered Apprentice Degree is concluded,
the initiate who has ears to hear knows some of the reasons for the manner of his preparation
and reception, although he should read not only this but larger books which will amplify these
instructions to his betterment. He may well begin with the Book of Ruth, in which he will find
much illumination "concerning their manner of redeeming and changing."
But the Rite of Discalceation, (1) as it is called, has another significance than that of
giving testimony of sincerity of intentions. These are sufficiently important; a candidate for the
Entered Apprentice Degree who is not sincere will have a very disagreeable time in
Freemasonry. But the hidden meaning of the rite is perhaps even more important than the
explained meaning. Here the initiate must possess his soul in patience. He is not yet wholly
admitted to the temple, which is Freemasonry. He is not permitted to do as Master Masons do,
or to know what Master Masons know. For the whole Masonic significance of the Rite, he
must wait until it is his privilege to receive the Sublime Degree of Master Mason.
It should not come as a surprise that a special preparation for initiation is required. The
soldier's uniform allows his greatest freedom of action. The bridegroom dresses in his best.
The knight of old put on shining Armour when going into battle. Men prepare in some way, to
the best of their ability, for any new experience. Preparation for Masonic initiation is wholly a
symbolic matter, but with deeper meanings and greater than are apparent on first
acquaintance.
(1) From the Latin discalceatus, unshod.
CIRCUMAMBULATION
This mouthful of a word, meaning literally "walking around," is not only the name of a
part of a degree but also of a symbol. The candidate is conducted around the lodge room for a
reason later explained, but the inner meaning of this ceremony is hidden. Its deep significance
unites the initiate not only with all who have gone this way before in a Masonic lodge, but with
those uncounted millions of men who for thousands of years have made of circumambulation
an offering of homage to the Unseen Presence.
Among the first religions were sun and fire worship. Prehistoric man found God in
nature. Thunder was His voice; lightning was His weapon; wind was His breath; fire was His
presence. The sun gave light and heat; it kept away the wild beasts; it grew the crops; it was
life itself. Fire gave light and heat and prepared the food - it, also, was life itself. Worship of the
sun in the sky was conducted symbolically by worship of fire upon piles of stones which were
the first altars.
Man is incurably imitative. The small boy struts with his father's cane; the little girl puts
on her mother's dress to play grown up; the valet imitates the master; the clerk imitates his
manager. Early man imitated the God he worshipped. Heat and light he could give by fire, so
lighting the fire on the altar became an important religious ceremony. And early man could
imitate the movements of his God.
The sun seems to move from east to west by way of the south. Early man circled altars,
on which burned the fire, which was his God, from east to west by way of the south.
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Circumambulation became a part of all religious observances; it was in the ceremonies of
ancient Egypt; it was part of the mysteries of Eleusis; it was practised in the rites of Mithras
and a thousand other cults, and down through the ages it has come to us.
When the candidate first circles the lodge room about the altar, he walks step by step
with a thousand shades of men who have thus worshipped the Most High by humble imitation.
Thus thought of circumambulation is no longer a mere parade but a ceremony of significance,
linking all who take part in it with the spiritual aspirations of a dim and distant past.
A further significant teaching of this symbol is its introduction to the idea of dependence.
Freemasonry speaks plainly here to him who listens. Of this Newton (1) has beautifully written:
From the hour we are born till we are laid in the grave we grope our way in the dark, and none
could find or keep the path without a guide. From how many ills, how many perils, how many
pitfalls we are guarded in the midst of the years! With all our boasted wisdom and foresight,
even when we fancy we are secure, we may be in the presence of dire danger, if not of death
itself.
Truly, it does not lie in man to direct his path. and without a true and trusted friend in
whom we can confide, not one of us would find his way home. So, Masonry teaches us,
simply but unmistakably, at the first step as at the last, that we live and walk by faith, not by
sight; and to know that fact is the beginning of wisdom. Since this is so, since no man can find
his way alone, in life as in the lodge we must in humility trust our Guide, learn His ways, follow
Him and fear no danger. Happy is the man w ho has learned that secret.
(1) Dr. Joseph Fort Newton: an Episcopal minister whose golden pen has given to
Freemasonry The Builders, The Men's House, The Religion of Masonry, Short Talks on
Masonry, and whose vision and inspiration are a power in the Masonic world.
UNITY
In an Entered Apprentice's Lodge, the 133rd Psalm is read - sometimes sung - during
the course of the degree:
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like
the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard; that
went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended
upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for
evermore.
Unity is an essential of a Masonic lodge. Unity of thought, of intention, of execution. It
is but another word for harmony, which Freemasons are taught is the strength and support of
all well regulated institutions, especially this of ours. Dew is nature's blessing where little rain
falls; the dew of Hermon is proverbially heavy. Israel poured precious ointments on the heads
of those the people honoured; that which went down to the skirts of his garments was evidently
great in quantity, significant of t he honour paid to Aaron, personification of high priest-hood,
representative of the solidity of his group. The whole passage is a glorification of the beauty of
brotherly love, which is why it was anciently selected to be a part of the Entered Apprentice's
Degree, in which the initiate is first introduced to that principal tenet of the Fraternity.
SECRECY
In the true sense of the words Freemasonry is not a secret society but a society with
secrets. A secret society is one the members of which are not known; a society which exists
without common knowledge. Freemasonry is well known. Men proudly wear the emblem of the
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Order on coat and watch charm and ring. Many Grand Lodges publish lists of their members.
Many Grand Lodges maintain card indexes of all members in the jurisdiction so that it is easy
to ascertain whether or not a man is a Mason. Grand Lodges publish their Proceedings, a
Masonic press caters to the Masonic world, and thousands of books have been written about
Freemasonry. Obviously, it is not the society which is secret.
The initiate takes an obligation of secrecy; if he will carefully consider the language of
that obligation, he will see that it concerns the forms and ceremonies, the manner of teaching,
certain modes of recognition. There is no obligation of secrecy regarding the truths taught by
Freemasonry, otherwise such a book as this could not lawfully be written. Sometimes the
question is asked by a profane, "Why have any secrets? If what you know and teach is worth
so much, why not give it to the world?"
Secrecy is a common fact of everyday life. Our private affairs are ours, not to be
shouted from the housetops. Business secrets are often of value in proportion to the success
of keeping them. Diplomacy is necessarily conducted in secret. Board meetings of companies,
banks, business houses, are secret. A man and his wife have private understandings for no
one else to know. The lover tells the secrets of his heart to but one ear.
From all of us some things are secret and hidden that might be open and known - if we
had the wit or would take the trouble to learn. Fine music is a secret from the tone deaf.
Mathematics are a secret from the ignorant. Philosophy is a secret from the commonplace
mind. Freemasonry is a secret from the profane - and for the same reasons! The secrecy of
Masonry is an honourable secrecy; any good man may ask for her secrets; those who are
worthy will receive them. To give them to those who do not seek, or who are not worthy, would
but impoverish the Fraternity and enrich not those who received them. It is sometimes
suggested that Freemasonry pretends to possess valuable secrets merely to intrigue men to
apply for them through curiosity. How mistaken this is understood by every Freemason. He
who seeks Freemasonry out of curiosity for her secrets must be bitterly disappointed. In
school, the teacher is anxious to instruct all who seek the classroom in the secrets of
geometry, but not all students wish to study geometry and not all who do have the wit to
comprehend. Freemasonry is anxious to give of he r secrets to worthy men fit to receive them
but not all are worthy, and not all the worthy seek.
PENALTIES
Freemasonry bas been aptly described as "the gentle Craft." Its teachings are of
brotherly love, relief, truth, love of God, charity, immortality, mutual help, and sympathy. To the
initiate, therefore, the penalty in his obligation comes often with a shock of surprise and
sometimes consternation.
Let it be said with emphasis: the penalties are wholly symbolic. The small boy uses the
expression "By golly," keeping alive an ancient Cornish oath in which goll or the hand, uplifted,
was offered as a sacrifice if what was said was not the truth. In our courts of law we say, "So
help me, God," in taking the oath to tell the truth. But the small boy does not expect his hand
to be cut off if he happens to fib, nor is the penalty for perjury such that only God may help him
upon whom it is inflicted.
Masonic penalties go back to very ancient times; to years when punishments were cruel
and inhuman, often for very small offenses. Throats were cut, tongues torn out, bodies cut in
half, hooks struck into breasts and the body torn apart; men were dismembered for all sorts of
offenses which seem to us much too trivial for such extreme punishments; looting a temple,
stealing a sheep, disclosing the king's secrets, etc.
Other punishments of the Middle Ages were based on religious fears. To be buried in
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unconsecrated ground was a terrible end for ignorant and superstitious people who believed
that it meant eternal damnation. Similarly, to be interred in land which was no man's property -
between high and low water mark - was symbolical of spiritual death.
These and other horrible penalties were inflicted by law, by various peoples, at various
times. That the legal penalties for certain civil crimes were incorporated in Masonic obligations
seems obvious. But that they ever meant or were ever intended to mean any death but a
symbolic one is simply not so. The yokel who cries "May God strike me dead if this is not so"
does not mean that he wishes to die; but he says that he believes be will be worthy of death if
he lies. It is in such a way that the Masonic penalties are to be understood; the Entered
Apprentice states his belief that he would merit the penalty of his obligation if he failed to keep
it. The only punishments ever inflicted by Freemasons upon Freemasons are reprimand,
suspension (definite and indefinite), and expulsion from the Fraternity. The initiate who
violates his obligation will feel the weight of no hand laid upon him. He will suffer no physical
penalties whatever. The contempt and detestation of his brethren, their denial of the privileges
of Freemasonry to the foresworn, are the only Masonic penalties ever inflicted.
THE GREAT LIGHTS

There are three - the Holy Bible, the Square, and the Compasses. (1)The Holy Bible is
always referred to as "The Great Light" or "The Great Light in Masonry," in this country which
is predominantly Christian. The practice may be and often is different in other lands. What is
vital and unchangeable, a Landmark of the Order (a further discussion of Landmarks is given
later, see pages 159-163) is that a Volume of the Sacred Law be open upon the Masonic altar
whenever the lodge is open. A lodge wholly Jewish may prefer to use only the Old Testament;
in Turkey and Persia the Koran would be used as the V.S.L. of the Mohammedan; Brahmins
would use the Vedas. In the Far East where Masonic lodges have members of many races and
creeds it is customary to have several holy books upon the altar that the initiate may choose
that which is to him the most sacred. The Holy Bible, our Great Light in Masonry, is opened
upon our altars. Upon it lie the other Great Lights - the Square and the Compasses. Without
all three no Masonic lodge can exist, much less open or work. Together with the warrant from
the Grand Lodge they are indispensable.
The Bible on the altar is more than the rule and guide of our faith. It is one of the
greatest of Freemasonry's symbols. For the Bible is here a symbol of all holy books of all
faiths. It is the Masonic way of setting forth that simplest and most profound of truths which
Masonry has made so peculiarly her own: that there is a way, there does run a road on which
men "of all creeds and of every race" may travel happily together, be their differences of
religious faith what they may. In his private devotions a man may petition God or Jehovah,
Allah or Buddha, Mohammed or Jesus; he may call upon the God of Israel or the Great First
Cause. In the Masonic Lodge he hears humble petition to the Great Architect of the Universe,
finding his own deity under that name.
A hundred paths may wind upward around a mountain; at the top they meet.
Freemasonry opens the Great Light upon her altar not as one book of one faith, but as all
books of all faiths, the book of the Will of the Great Architect, read in what language, what
form, what shape we will. It is as all-inclusive as the symbols which lie upon it. The Square is
not for any one lodge, any one nation, any one religion - it is for all Masons, everywhere, to all
of whom it speaks the same tongue. The Compasses circum scribe the desires of Masons
wheresoever dispersed; the secret of the Square, held between the points of the Compasses
(see page 58) is universal.
Countless references in our ritual are taken from the Old Testament. Almost every
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name in a Masonic lodge is from the Scriptures. In the Great Light are found those simple
teachings of the universality of brotherhood, the love of God for his children, the hope of
immortality, which are the very warp and woof of Freemasonry. Let it be emphasized; these
are the teachings of Freemasonry in every tongue, in every land, for those of every faith. Our
Great Light is but a symbol of the Volume of the Sacred Law . Freemasonry is no more a
Christian organization than it is Jewish or Mohammedan or Brahmin. Its use of the collection
of sacred writings of the Jews (Old Testament) and the Gospels of the New Testament as the
Great Light must not confuse the initiate so that he reads into Freemasonry a sectarian
character which is not there.
This is so well understood that it needs emphasis only for the novice. To give him
specific facts as well as assertion: the Bible is first mentioned as a Great Light in Masonry
about 1760, whereas the first of the Old Charges (one of the foundation stones on which rest
the laws of Freemasonry, first published in 1723, but presumably adopted by the Mother Grand
Lodge at its formation in 1717) reads in part as follows (spelling modernized): Mason is
obliged by his tenure to obey the moral law; and if he rightly understands the art, he will never
be a stupid atheist, nor an irreligious libertine. But though in ancient times Masons were
charged in every country to be of the religion of that country or nation, whatever it was, yet 'tis
now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that religion in which all men agree, leaving
their particular opinions to themselves; that is, to be good men and true, or men of honour and
honesty, by whatever denominations or persuasions they may be distinguished; whereby
Masonry becomes the center of union and the means of conciliating true friendship among
persons that must have remained at a perpetual distance. Perhaps never before has so short
a paragraph had so profound an effect, setting forth the non-sectarian, non-doctrinal character
of Freemasonry, making religion, not a religion, the important matter in the Ancient Craft.
(1) "Compass" in six jurisdictions.
CABLE TOW
In old rituals, this was originally "cable rope." Our cable tow probably comes from the
German "Kabel tau." The cable tow is symbolic of that life cord by which the infant receives life
from his mother. Symbolically the cable tow is the cord by which the Masonic infant is
attached to his Mother Lodge. When a baby is born, the physical cord is severed but never the
knife was ground, which can cut the spiritual cord, which ties a man to his mother. In the
Entered Apprentice Degree, the physical restraint of the cable tow is removed as soon as the
spiritual bond of the obligation is assumed but never the means has be en made by which to
cut the obligation, which binds a man to his Mother Lodge and the gentle Craft. Expulsion
does not release from the obligation; unaffiliation does not dissolve the tie; dimitting and joining
another lodge cannot make of the new lodge the Mother Lodge. The cable tow has further
significance in the succeeding degrees which will be discussed later.
THE LESSER LIGHTS

When an initiate is first brought to light, the radiance comes from the three Lesser
Lights, which form a triangle about or near the altar. Lesser Lights are lit when the lodge is
opened and the altar arranged and extinguished when the lodge is closed and the Great Lights
displaced. Something - not very much - is said of them in the ritual. They form one of those
symbols in Freemasonry . . . of which there are so many! . . . which the individual brother is
supposed to examine and translate for himself, getting from it what he can and enjoying what
47
he gets in direct proportion to the amount of labour and thought he is willing to devote to the
process of extracting the meaning from the outer covering.
In some jurisdictions, the Lesser Lights are closely about the altar: in others, one is
placed at each of the stations of do three principal officers. In some lodges the three Lesser
Lights form a right, in others an equilateral, in others an isosceles triangle. What is uniform
throughout the Masonic world is the triangular formation; what is different is the shape and size
of the triangle. Of course, it is not possible to place three lights to form anything else but a
triangle; they cannot be made to form a square or a star. Hence, the natural question: why are
there three Lesser Lights and not two or four or more?
There is "three" throughout Ancient Craft Masonry. The first of the great Sacred
Numbers of the Ancient Mysteries, three was the numerical symbol of God, but not because
God was necessarily considered as triune. While many religions of many ages and peoples
have conceived of Divinity as a trinity, the figure three as a symbol of God is far older than any
Trinitarian doctrine. The triangle, like the circle, is without beginning or ending. One line, or
two lines, have ends. They start and finish. Like the square or the five or more sided figure, the
triangle has no loose ends. And the triangle is the first of these which can be made; as God
was always considered as first, and also as without either beginning or ending, the triangle
itself soon became a symbol of Deity.
Ancient peoples made much of sex. Their two greatest impulses were self-preservation
and mating. Their third was protection of children. So powerful were these in primal man that
not all his civilization, his luxury, his complicated and involved life, have succeeded in removing
them as the principal main-springs of all human endeavour. It was natural for the savage
worshipper of a shining god in the sky to think he, too, required a mate, especially when that
mate was so plainly in evidence. The Moon became the Sun's bride by a process of reasoning
as plain as it was childlike. Father, mother . . . there must be a child, of course. That child was
Mercury, the nearest planet to the sun, the one the god kept closest to him. Here we have the
origin of the three Lesser Lights; in earliest recorded accounts of the Mysteries of Eleusis (to
mention only one) we find three lights about the holy place, representing the Sun, the Moon,
and Mercury.
The Worshipful Master rules and governs his lodge as truly as the Sun and Moon rule
and govern day and night. There can be no lodge without a Worshipful Master; he is, in a very
real sense, the lodge itself. There are some things he cannot do that the brethren under him
can do. But without him the brethren can do nothing, while without the brethren's consent or
even their assistance, he can do much. As one of the principal functions of the Worshipful
Master is to give "good and wholesome instruction" to his lodge, the inclusion of one light as
his symbol is but a logical carrying out of that Masonic doctrine which makes the East the
source of Masonic light to the brethren.
By the light of the Lesser Lights the Entered Apprentice is led to see those objects
which mean so much to a Mason, the Great Lights; the inestimable gift of God to man as the
rule and guide for his faith and practice, the tools dedicated to the Craft and to the Master, the
Alpha and Omega of Freemasonry. Light alone is not enough; light must be used! Here, too, is
symbolism which it is well to muse upon.
As the lodge as a whole is a symbol of the world, so should a Mason's heart be to him
always a symbol of the lodge. In it he should carry ever what he may remember of the Great
Light and with spiritual compasses lay out his work; with spiritual square, square both work and
actions toward all mankind, "more especially a brother Mason." Therefore must he carry also
in his heart three tiny Lesser Lights, by the light of which he uses his spiritual lodge
furnishings. If he lights these from the torch of love and burns one for friendliness, one for
helpfulness and one for godliness, he will be truly an initiate in the real sense of that term, and
about the altar of Freemasonry find a new satisfaction in the new meanings which the three
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Lesser Lights will, with silent light and soft, imprint upon his heart.
DUE GUARD
Mackey (1) states, "A mode of recognition which derives its name from its object, which
is to duly guard the person using it." Other commentators have seen it as derived from the
French "Dieu Garde"- God guard me. The origin of the Third Perfect Point is taught in the
degree. Its use, in salute, is a silent way of saying to all present, "I remember my obligation; I
am conscious of the penalty of its violation; I forget not my duty."
The initiate uses it first in a salutation to the Wardens, a ceremony the significance of
which should never be forgotten. The government of a Masonic lodge is tripartite; it is in the
hands of a Master and two Wardens. By this ceremony, the Entered Apprentice admits their
authority, submits himself to their government under the Master, and agrees to abide by their
setting mauls when it is proper for them to use them. The Due Guard is given by an Entered
Apprentice on entering and retiring, that he may never forget the significance of his position
when he took upon himself that obligation which gave him the title, Brother.
(1) Albert Gallatin Mackey: one of the greatest students and most widely followed
authorities the Masonic world has known. His Encyclopedia of Freemasonry is a standard
work; his Jurisprudence and his Symbolism, if materially added to and changed since his time,
are yet foundation works. His History is exhaustive; his List of Landmarks, if often superseded
in these more modern days, first reduced the vexed question to proportions in which it might be
grasped by the average Masonic mind. The Entered Apprentice who pursues his studies in
Freemasonry may do much worse than consult the great Master of Freemasonry.
THE LAMBSKIN APRON

More ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, more honourable than the Star
and Garter ...In these words the ritual seeks to impress upon him who has been invested with
the white lambskin apron its value and its importance. The Order of the Golden Fleece was
founded by Philip, Duke of Burgundy, in 1429. The Roman Eagle was Rome's symbol and
ensign of power and might a hundred years before Christ. The Order of the Star was created
by John II of France in the middle of the Fourteenth Century. The Order of the Garter was
founded by Edward III of England in 1349 for himself and twenty-five Knights of the Garter.
It is commonly supposed that the apron became the "badge of a Mason" because
stonemasons wore aprons to protect their clothing from the rough contact of building material.
But the apron is far, far older than Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, than the Star or Garter,
than the stonemasons of the Middle Ages - aye, older than the Comacine Masters, the
Collegia of Rome, the Dionysian Artificers who preceded them. The Hebrew prophets wore
aprons and the high priests were so decorated. In the mysteries of Egypt and of India aprons
were worn as symbols of priestly power. The earliest Chinese secret societies used aprons;
the Essenes wore them, as did the Incas of Peru and the Aztecs of Mexico.
Throughout the Old Testament are references to lambs, often in connection with
sacrifices, frequently used in a sense symbolic of innocence, purity, gentleness, weakness, a
matter aided by colour, which we unconsciously associate with purity, probably because of the
hue of snow.
This association is universal in Freemasonry, and the initiate should strive to keep his
apron white and himself innocent. His badge of a Mason should symbolize in its colour the
purity of his Masonic character; he should forever be innocent of wrong toward all but "more
49
especially a brother Mason."
With the presentation of the apron the lodge accepts the initiate as worthy. It entrusts to
his hands its distinguishing badge. With it and symbolized by it comes one of the most
precious and most gracious of gifts: the gift of brotherhood. Lucky the Entered Apprentice who
has the wit to see the extent and the meaning of the gift; thrice lucky the lodge whose initiates
find in it and keep that honour, probity and power, that innocence, strength, and spiritual
contact, that glory of unity and oneness with all the Masonic world which may be read into this
symbol by him who hath open eyes of the heart with which to see. In the words of the Old
Dundee Lodge'- Apron Charge:
It is yours to wear throughout an honourable life, and at your death to be placed upon
the coffin which shall contain your mortal remains and with them laid beneath the silent clods
of the valley. Let its pure and spotless surface be to you an ever-present reminder of a purity
of life and rectitude of conduct, a never-ending argument for nobler deeds, for higher thoughts,
for greater achievements. And when at last your weary feet shall have come to the end of their
toilsome journey, and from your nerveless grasp shall drop the working tools of life, may the
record of your thoughts and actions be as pure and spotless as this emblem . . .For thus, and
thus only, may it be worn with pleasure to yourself and honour to the Fraternity.
(1) Of Scotland
"THE GREATEST OF THESE"

The Entered Apprentice practices the Rite of Destitution before he hears the beautiful
words of the lecture descriptive of the three principal rounds of Jacob's ladder: "the greatest of
these is charity; for faith is lost in sight, hope ends in fruition, but charity extends beyond the
grave, through the boundless realms of eternity." But he may reflect upon both at once and
from that reflection learn that Masonic giving to the destitute is not confined to alms. Putting a
quarter in a beggar's hand will hardly extend beyond the grave through the boundless realms
of eternity!
Masonic charity does indeed include the giving of physical relief; individual Masons give
it, the lodge gives it, the Grand Lodge gives it. But if charity began and ended with money, it
would go but a little way. But Pal said: "And although I bestow all my goods to feed the poor
and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." If the charity of Freemasonry meant only the
giving of alms, it would long ago have given place to a hundred institutions better able to
provide relief.
The charity taught in the lodge is charity of thought, charity of the giving of self. The
visit to the sick is true Masonic charity. The brotherly hand laid upon a bowed shoulder in
comfort and to give courage is Masonic charity. The word of counsel to the fatherless, the tear
dropped in sympathy with the widowed, the joyous letter of congratulation to a fortunate
brother, all are Masonic charity - and these, indeed, extend beyond the grave.
Often an Entered Apprentice believes that the Rite has taught him that every Mason
must give a coin to every beggar who asks, even though they line the streets and need as
many dimes as a pocket will hold. Such is not the truth. The Mason gives when he meets
anyone "in like destitute condition." It is left for him to judge whether the appeal is for a need
which is real or one assumed. In general all calls for Masonic charity should be made through
the lodge; machinery is provided for a kindly and brotherly investigation, after which lodge or
Grand Lodge will afford relief. Individual charity is wholly in the control of the individual
brother's conscience.
But no conscience need control that larger and finer giving of comfort and counsel, of
joy and sadness, of sympathy and spiritual help. Here the Mason may give as much as he will
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and be not the poorer but the richer for his giving. He who reads the Rite of Destitution in this
larger sense has seen through the form to the reality behind and learned the inner significance
of the symbol.
NORTHEAST
Cornerstones are laid in the Northeast Corner because the Northeast is the point of
beginning; midway between the darkness of the North and the light of the East. The Entered
Apprentice lays his Masonic Cornerstone standing in the Northeast corner of the lodge,
midway between the darkness of profane ignorance and the full light of the symbolic East.
Here, if indeed he be a man of imagination and no clod, he receives a thrill that may
come to him never again - save once only - in Masonry. For here he enters into his heritage as
an Entered Apprentice. All that has gone before bas been queer, mysterious, puzzling, almost
mind-shocking, devastating with its newness and its differences from the World he knows.
Now he stands "a just and upright Mason" to receive those first instructions which, well studied,
will enable him to understand what has been done with and to him as to all who have gone this
way before. Never again will he stand here, an Entered Apprentice - a man receives the
degree but once. Never, therefore, should he forget that once he stood there, nor how he
stood there, nor why. And if, momentarily, memory leaves him, let him look in the Great Light
and read (Ezekiel ii,1-2): And God said unto me, Son of Man, stand upon thy feet and I will
speak unto thee. And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my
feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.
No man stands in the Northeast Corner with his heart open but hears that Voice which
thundered to the prophet of old.
WORKING TOOLS
The Entered Apprentice receives from the hands of the Master two working tools. The
Twenty-four Inch Gauge is well explained in the ritual, but the significance of one point is
sometimes overlooked. The Entered Apprentice is taught that by the Twenty-four Inch Gauge
he should divide his time: "Eight hours for the service of God and a distressed worthy brother;
eight for the usual vocations, and eight for refreshment and sleep."
There is no time to be wasted. There is no time to be idle. There is no time for waiting.
The implication is plain; the Entered Apprentice should be always ready to use his tools. He
should recall the words of Flavius to the workman in Julius Caesar, "Where is thy leather apron
and thy rule? What does thou with thy best apparel on?" Freemasonry is not only for the lodge
room but for life. Not to take the Twenty-four Inch Gauge into the profane world and by its
divisions number the hours for the working of a constructive purpose is to miss the practical
application of Masonic labour and Masonic charity.
The Common Gavel, which "breaks off the corners of rough stones, the better to fit them
for the builder's use" joins the Rough and Perfect Ashlars in a hidden symbol of the Order at
once beautiful and tender. The famous sculptor and ardent Freemason, Gutzon Borglum,
asked how he carved stone into beautiful statues, once said, "It is very simple. I merely knock
away with hammer and chisel the stone I do not need and the statue is there - it was there all
the time."
In the Great Light we read: "The kingdom of heaven is within you." We are also there
taught that man is made in the image of God. As Brother Borglum has so beautifully said,
images are made by a process of taking away. The perfection is already within. All that is
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required is to remove the roughness, the excrescences, "divesting our hearts and consciences
of all the vices and superfluities of life" to show forth the perfect man and Mason within. Thus,
the gavel becomes also the symbol of personal power.
The Common Gavel has in every lodge a still further significance; it is the symbol of the
authority of the Worshipful Master. Later the initiate will learn of the great extent of the power
vested in the Master of a lodge; sufficient now to say that the wise Master uses his power
sparingly and never arbitrarily. While the peace and harmony of the Craft are maintained, he
need not use it except as the ritual or custom of presiding in the lodge requires. If he so use it
will be respected and its possessor w ill be venerated.
The Master always retains possession of the gavel and never allows it beyond reach.
He carries it with him when he moves about the lodge in process of conferring a degree.
When the lodge is in charge of the Junior Warden at refreshment (1) it is the Junior Warden
who uses a gavel to control the lodge. The gavel is the Master's symbol of authority and
reminds him that although his position is the highest within the gift of the brethren, he is yet but
a brother among brethren. Holding the highest power in the lodge he exercises it by virtue of
the commonest of the working tools.
Like all great symbols, the gavel takes upon itself in the minds of the brethren
something of the quality of the thing symbolized. As we revere the cotton in stripes and stars
which become the flag of our country; as we revere the paper and ink which become the Great
Light in Masonry, so, also, do Freemasons revere the Common Gavel which typifies and
symbolizes the height of Masonic authority - the majesty of power, the wisdom of Light which
rest in and shine forth from the Oriental Chair.
(1) Masonic word for "at ease," meaning "not at work, but not closed."
IMMOVABLE JEWELS
No symbol in all Freemasonry has the universal significance of the Square. It is the
typical jewel; the emblem known the world over as the premier implement of the stone worker
and the most important of the Masonic working tools. Every schoolboy learns that an angle of
ninety degrees is a right angle. So common is the description that few - even few Masons -
pause in busy lives to ask why. The ninety-degree angle is not only a right angle, but it is the
right angle - the only angle which is "right" for stones which will form a wall, a building, a
cathedral. Any other angle is, Masonically, incorrect.
About the symbolism of the Square is nothing abstruse. Stonemasons use it to prove
the Perfect Ashlars. If the stone fits the square, it is ready for the builder's use. Hence the
words "try square" and hence, too, the universal significance of the word "square," meaning
moral, upright, honourable, fair dealing.
Five centuries before the Christian era - to mention only one ancient use of the Square
as an emblem of morality - a Chinese author wrote a book called The Great Learning. In it is
the negative of the Golden Rule, that a man should not do unto others that which he does not
wish others to do unto him. And then the Chinese sage adds, "This is called the principle of
acting on the Square."
The initiate walks around the lodge turning corners on the square. On the altar is again
the Square. He sees the Square hung about the neck of the Master - particularly is the Square
the jewel of the Master, because from him must come all Masonic light to his brethren, and his
teachings must be "square." The Square shares with the Level and the Plumb the quality of
immovability in the lodge, meaning that as it is always the jewel of the Master, so is it
immovably in the Symbolic East. An emblem of virtue , it is always in sight of the brethren in
the lodge; for him who carries his Masonry into his daily life, it is forever in sight within, the try
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square of conscience, the tool by which he squares his every act and word.
The Level and the Plumb are the other Immovable Jewels; the Level worn by the Senior
Warden in the West, the Plumb by the Junior Warden in the South. While Square, Level and
Plumb are Immovable Jewels and as such belong to all three of the degrees of Ancient Craft
Masonry; while all are always worn by the three principal officers and all are first seen and
noted in the Entered Apprentice's Degree, they have a further significance in the second or
Fellowcrafts Degree and the Plumb has an especial significance in that ceremony.
NORTH, PLACE OF DARKNESS

The reference to the ecliptic has puzzled many a brother who has not studied the
elements of astronomy. The earliest astronomers defined the ecliptic as the hypothetical
"circular" plane of the earth's path about the sun with the sun in the "center."
As a matter of fact the sun is not in the center and the earth's path about the sun is not
circular. The earth travels once about the sun in three hundred and sixty-five days and a
fraction, on an elliptic path; the sun is at one of the foci of that ellipse. The axis of the earth,
about which it turns once in twenty-four hours, thus making a night and day, is inclined to this
hypothetical plane by 23 1/2 degrees. At one point in its yearly path the North Pole of the earth
is inclined toward the sun by this amount. Halfway farther around its path the North Pole is
inclined away from the sun by this angle. The longest day in the northern hemisphere - June
21 - occurs when the North Pole is most inclined toward the sun.
Any building situated between latitudes 23 1/2 north and 23 1/2 south of the equator will
receive the rays of the sun at meridian (noon) from the north at some time during the year.
King Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem, being in latitude 31 degrees 47 seconds north, lay
beyond this limit. At no time in the year, therefore, did the sun or moon at meridian "dart its
rays into the northerly portion thereof."
As astronomy in Europe is comparatively modern some have argued that this reason for
considering the North, Masonically, as a place of darkness, must be also comparatively
modern. This is wholly mistaken - Pythagoras (to go no further back) recognized the obliquity
of the world's axis to the ecliptic, as well as that the earth was a sphere suspended in space.
While Pythagoras (born 586 B.C.) is younger than Solomon's Temple, he is almost two
thousand years older than the beginnings of astronomy in Europe.
POINT WITHIN A CIRCLE

There is in every regular and well-governed Lodge, a certain point within a circle,
embordered by two perpendicular parallel lines. . . .
It is among the most illuminating of the Entered Apprentice's symbols and is important
not only for its antiquity, and many meanings which have been read from it, but because of the
bond it makes between the old operative stone setter's art and the Speculative Masonry we
know. No man may say when, where, or how the symbol began. From the earliest dawn of
history, a simple closed figure has been man's symbol for Deity - the circle for some peoples,
the triangle for others, and a circle or a triangle with a central point for still others. In some
jurisdictions, a lodge closes with brethren forming a circle about the altar, which thus becomes
the point or focus of the Supreme Blessing upon the brethren.
A symbol may have many meanings, all of them right, so long as they are not self-
contradictory. As the point within a circle has had so many different meanings to so many
different people, it is natural that it have many meanings for Masons.
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It is connected with sun worship, the most ancient of religions; ruins of ancient temples
devoted both to sun and to fire worship are circular in form with a central altar or point which
was the Holy of Holies. The symbol is found in India in which land of mystery and mysticism its
antiquity is beyond calculation. In ancient meaning, the point represents the sun and the circle
the universe. This is both modern and ancient, as a dot in a small circle is the astronomical
symbol for the sun.
The two parallel lines, which in modern Masonry represent the two holy Sts. John are
as ancient as the rest of the symbol, but originally had nothing to do with the "two eminent
Christian patrons of Masonry." They date back to an era before Solomon. On early Egyptian
monuments may be found the Alpha and Omega or symbol of God in the center of a circle
embordered by two perpendicular, parallel serpents representing the Power and the Wisdom
of the Creator.
This is not only a symbol of creation but is fraught with other meanings. When man
conceived that fire, water, the sun, the moon, the stars, the lightning, the thunder, the
mountains and rivers did not each have a special deity, that in all this universe there was but
one God, and wanted to draw a picture of that conception of unity, the only thing he could do
was to make a point. When man conceived that God was eternal, without beginning and
without ending, from everlasting to everlasting, and desired to draw a picture of that conception
of eternity, he could but draw a circle that goes around and around forever. When man
conceived that the Master Builder did not blow hot and cold, that he was not changing, fickle
and capricious, but a God of rectitude and justice, and needed to picture that conception of
righteousness, he drew straight up and down parallel lines. So, this symbol stands for the
unity, the eternal life, and the righteousness of God.
That derivation of the symbol, which best satisfies the mind as to logic and
appropriateness students find in the operative craft. The tools used by the cathedral builders
were the same as ours to-day; they had gavel and mallet, setting maul and hammer, chisel and
trowel, plumb and square, level and twenty-four inch gauge to "measure and lay out their
work." The square, the level, and the plumb were made of wood - wood, cord, and weight for
plumb and level; wood alone for square.
Wood wears when used against stone and warps when exposed to water or damp air.
The metal used to fasten the two arms of the square together would rust and perhaps bend or
break. Naturally, the squares would not stay square indefinitely but had to be checked up
constantly for their right-angledness. The importance of the perfect right angle in the square
by which the stones were shaped can hardly be overestimated. Operative Masonry in the
cathedral-building days was largely a matter of cut and try, of individual workmen, of careful
craftsmanship. Quantity production, micrometer measurement, interchangeable parts had not
been invented. All the more necessary then that the foundation on which all the work was
done should be as perfect as the Masters knew how to make it. Cathedral builders erected
their temples for all time - how well they built a hundred glorious structures in the Old World
testify. They built well because they knew how to check and try their squares.
Draw a circle - any size - on a piece of paper. With a straight edge, draw a line through
its center. Put a dot on the circle anywhere. Connect that dot with the line at both points
where it crosses the circle. Result, a perfect right angle. Draw the circle of what size you will;
place the dot on the circumference where you will; if the lines from the dot meet the horizontal
line crossing the circle through its center, they will form a right angle. This was the operative
Master's great secret - knowing how to "try the square." It was by this means that he tested
working tools; did he do so often enough it was impossible either for tools or work "to materially
err." From this also comes the ritual used in the lodges of our English brethren where they
"open on the center."
The original line across the center bas been shifted to the side and become the "two
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perpendicular parallel lines" of Egypt and India, and our admonitions are no longer what they
must once have been; ... "while a Mason circumscribes his square within these points, it is
impossible that it should materially err." But how much greater becomes the meaning of the
symbol when we see it as a direct descent from an operative practice! Our ancient brethren
used the point within a circle as a test for the rectitude of the tools by which they squared their
work and built their temporal buildings. In the Speculative sense, we use it as a test for the
rectitude of our intentions and our conduct, by which we square our actions with the square of
virtue. They erected Cathedrals - we build the house not made with bands. Their point within
a circle was operative - ours is Speculative. But through the two - point in a circle on the
ground by which an operative Master secretly tested the squares of his fellows - point within a
circle as a symbol by which each of us may test, secretly, the square of his virtue by which he
erects an Inner Temple to the Most High - both are Masonic, both are beautiful. The one we
know is far more lovely that it is a direct descendant of an operative practice the use of which
produced the good work, true work, square work of t he Master Masons of the days that came
not back.
Pass it not lightly. Regard it with the reverence it deserves, for surely it is one of the
greatest teachings of Masonry, concealed within a symbol which is plain for any man to read
so be it he has Masonry in his heart.
LODGE OF THE HOLY SAINTS JOHN

Dedication, solemnly setting apart for some sacred purpose, is a ceremony too ancient
for its beginnings to be known. Just where Masons left off dedicating their lodges to King
Solomon cannot be stated historically; traditionally, as the first Temple was dedicated to King
Solomon and the Second Temple to Zerubbabel, Masonry was first dedicated to Solomon,
then to Zerubbabel, and finally, after Titus destroyed the Second Temple, to the Holy Sts.
John.
But we do know that the dedication is very ancient; documentary evidence connects the
name of St. John the Evangelist with Masonry as early as 1598. The connection must be far
older; indeed, if we need further evidence of the possibility of the Comacine Masters having
been the progenitors of the operative Freemasons we may find it in the frequent dedication of
Comacine churches to one Saint John or the other. The whole island of Comacina is
dedicated to St. John the Baptist and an annual festival and midsummer pageant are observed
in his honour to this day.
St. John's Day in summer (June 24), and St. John's Day in winter (December 27) were
adopted by the Church in the Third Century, after failure to win pagans from celebrating these
two dates as the summer and winter solstices; that is, the beginning of summer and the
beginning of winter. Not able to destroy the pagan festivals a wise diplomacy gave them new
names and took them into the Church!
It was the custom for the Guilds of the Middle Ages to adopt saints as patrons and
protectors, usually from some fancied relation to their trades. The operative Masons were but
one among many Guilds which adopted one Saint John or the other; Masons adopted both as
(explained in an old ritual), "One finished by his learning what the other began by his zeal, and
thus drew a second line parallel to the former."
Whatever the reason and whenever the date, Freemasons of to-day come from "the
Lodge of the Holy Sts. John of Jerusalem," meaning that we belong to a lodge dedicated to
those Saints, whose practices and precepts, teachings and examples, are those all
Freemasons should try to follow.
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THE PRINCIPAL TENETS
The Entered Apprentice receives a monitorial explanation of these, which is both round
and full, but neither full nor round enough to instruct him wholly in these three foundation
stones of the Ancient Craft. Nor can he receive that roundness and fullness of explanation by
words alone. He must progress through the degrees, attend his lodge, see the Fraternity in
action, fully to understand all that Freemasonry means by Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth.
But a word or two may clear away some possible misapprehensions. Brotherly Love is
not a sentimental phrase. It is an actuality. It means exactly what it says; the love of one
brother for another. In the everyday world brothers love one another for only one reason. Not
for blood ties alone; we have all known brothers who could not "get along" together. Not
because they should, not because it is "the thing to do," but simply and only because each acts
like a brother.
Freemasonry has magic with which to touch the hearts of men but no wizardry to make
the selfish, unselfish; the brutal, gentle; the coarse, fine; the bad, good. Brotherly Love in
Freemasonry exists only for him who acts like a brother. It is as true in Freemasonry as
elsewhere that "to have friends, you must be one."
The Freemason who sees a Square and Compasses upon a coat and thinks, "There is
a brother Mason, I wonder what he can do for me," is not acting like a brother. He who thinks,
"I wonder if there is anything I can do for him," has learned the first principle of brotherhood.
"You get from Freemasonry just what you put into it" has been so often said that it has become
trite - but it is as true now as when first uttered. One may draw checks upon a bank only when
one has deposited funds. One may draw upon Brotherly Love only if one bas Brotherly Love
to give.
The Entered Apprentice is obligated in a lodge which wants him; all its members are
predisposed in his favour. They will do all in their power to take him into the Mystic Circle. But
the brethren cannot do it all; the Entered Apprentice must do his part. Luckily for us all the
Great Architect so made his children that when the heart is opened to pour out its treasures, it
is also opened to receive.
The Entered Apprentice learns much of Relief; he will learn more if he goes farther.
One small point he may muse upon with profit; these words he will often hear in connection
with charity, "more especially a brother Mason." St. Paul said (Galatians vi, 10), "As we have
therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the
household of faith." Freemasonry has no teachings that a Mason should not contribute to
other charities. The continually insistent teaching of charity through all the three degrees,
especially the Entered Apprentice's Degree excludes from charity no one.
Without dependence societies, nations, families, congregations, could not be formed or
exist. But the very solidity of the group, predicated upon mutual dependence, also creates this
idea of distinction in relief or friendship or business as between those without and those within
the group. This feeling is universal. The church gives gladly to all good works but most happily
to relieve those "who are of the household of faith." Our government considers the welfare of
its own nationals before that of the nationals of other governments. The head of a family will
not deny his own children clothes to put a coat upon the back of the naked child of his
neighbour. Those we know best, those closest, those united in the tightest bonds come first,
the world over, in every form of union.
Naturally, then, a Mason is taught that while in theory for all, in practice charity is for
"more especially a brother Mason." The final design of Freemasonry is its third principal tenet -
the imperial truth. In some aspects truth seems relative, because it is not complete. Then we
see it as through a glass, darkly. But the ultimates of truth are immutable and eternal: the
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Fatherhood of God; the immortality of the soul.
As two aspects of the same object may seem different to different observers, so two
aspects of truth may seem different. It is this we must remember when we ask, "What is truth
in Freemasonry?" It is the essence of the symbolism which each man takes for himself,
different, as men are different, greater as perception and intelligence are greater, less, as
imagination and understanding are less. We are told, "On this theme we contemplate" - we
think of the truths spread before us and understand and value them ac cording to the quality of
our thinking. Doubtless that is one reason for the universal appeal of Freemasonry; she is all
things to her brethren and gives to all of us of her Truth in proportion to our ability to receive.
RESUME
In the Entered Apprentice's Degree the initiate is taught the necessity of a belief in God;
of charity toward all mankind, "more especially a brother Mason"; of secrecy; the meaning of
brotherly love; the reasons for relief; the greatness of truth; the advantages of temperance; the
value of fortitude; the part played in Masonic life by prudence, and the equality of strict justice.
He is charged to be reverent before God, to pray to Him for help, to venerate Him as the
source of all that is good. He is exhorted to practice the Golden Rule and to avoid excesses of
all kinds. He is admonished to be quiet and peaceable, not to countenance disloyalty and
rebellion, to be true and just to government and country, to be cheerful under its laws. He is
charged to come often to lodge but not to neglect his business, not to argue about
Freemasonry with the ignorant but to learn Masonry, from Masons, and once again to be
secret. Finally, he is urged to present only such candidates as he is sure will agree to all that
he has agreed to.
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58
FELLOWCRAFT
By CARL H. CLAUDY
Music
As battle-weary men long for the sea
Like tired children, seeking Mother's breast,
And in its restless endlessness find rest,
Its crashing surf a soothing systole;
As seeks the storm tossed ship the harbor's lee,
So mariners upon life's deep, hard-pressed
To weather boiling trough and mounting crest,
Steer for the shelter of Freemasonry.
Her ancient waves of sound lap on the strand,
A melody more God's than man's. We hear,
Like gentle murmurs in a curved seashell
Which whispers of some far off wonderland
Where lightning flashes from blue skies and clear,
The rolling thunder of the ritual.
FELLOWCRAFT
As the Entered Apprentice Degree as a whole is symbolic of infancy and youth, a period
of learning fundamentals, a beginning, so the Fellowcraft Degree is emblematic of manhood.
But it is a manhood of continued schooling; of renewed research; of further instruction.
The Fellowcraft has passed his early Masonic youth, but he lacks the wisdom of age which he
can attain only by use of the teachings of his first degree, broadened, strengthened, added to,
by those experiences which come to men as distinguished from children.
Of the many symbols of this degree three stand out beyond all others as most beautiful
and most important. They are the brazen Pillars; the Flight of Winding Stairs as a means of
reaching the Middle Chamber by the teachings of the three, the five, and the seven steps; and
the Letter "G" and all that it means to the Freemason.
Very obviously the Fellowcraft Degree is a call to learning, an urge to study, a
glorification of education. Preston, (1) to whom we are indebted for much of the present form of
this degree, evidently intended it as a foundation for that liberal education which in its classic
form was so esteemed by the educated of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century England. The
explanations of the Five Orders of Architecture, the Five Senses and the Seven Liberal Arts
and Sciences no longer embrace the essentials of a first-class education, but think not less of
the degree on that account, since it is to be understood symbolically, not literally, as the great
Masonic scholar may have intended.
While the degree contains moral teaching and a spiritual content only surpassed by that
of the Sublime Degree, as a whole it is a call to books and study. If the Fellowcraft takes that
to mean Masonic books and Masonic study he will find in this degree the touchstone which will
make all three degrees a never-ending happiness for their fortunate possessor.
Certain differences between this and the preceding degree are at once apparent. The
Entered Apprentice about to be passed is no longer a candidate - he is a brother. In the first
degree the candidate is received with a warning; in the second, the brother to be passed is
received with an instruction. In the first degree the cable tow was for a physical purpose; here
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it is an aid, an urge to action, a girding up, a strengthening for the Masonic life to come. The
circumambulation of the Fellowcraft is longer than that of the Apprentice: journey through
manhood is longer than through youth. The obligation in the Entered Apprentice Degree
stresses almost entirely the necessity for secrecy; in the Fellowcraft Degree secrecy is indeed
enjoined upon the brother who kneels at the altar, but be also assumes duties toward his
fellows and takes upon himself sacred obligations not intrusted to an Entered Apprentice. He
learns of the pass, and he is poor in spirit indeed who is not thrilled to observe the slowly
opening door which eventually will let in the whole effulgent Light of the East, typified by the
position of the Square and Compasses upon the Volume of the Sacred Law.
A degree to muse upon and to study; one to see many, many times and still not come to
the end of the great teachings here exemplified. Alas, too many brethren regard it as but a
necessary stepping-stone between the solemnities of the Entered Apprentice's Degree and the
glories of the Sublime Degree of Master Mason. Stepping-stone it is, indeed, but he uses it
with difficulty and is assisted by it but little who cannot see behind its Pillars a rule of conduct
for life; who cannot visualize climbing the Winding Stairs as the pilgrimage we all must make;
to whom the Middle Chamber is only a chamber in the middle and for whom the Letter "G" is
but a letter.
(1) William Preston, born 1742, died 1818. A most eminent Freemason of England who
lived and labored during the formative Grand Lodge period. He was initiated in 1762. Later he
became the Master of several lodges and was so interested in Freemasonry that he studied it
deeply and wrote Illustralions of Masonry, a book to which historians and Masonic antiquarians
are deeply indebted. After careful investigation he wrote the lectures of the several degrees,
encouraged by the Grand Lodge, and later became its Deputy Grand Secretary. The
Prestonian work used in the United States was modified and changed by Thomas Smith Webb,
born 1771, died 1819. He was elected Grand Master in Rhode Island in 1813, but is best
known for his Freemasons Monitor, or Illustrations of Masonry. Much of the printed ritual in
United States jurisdictions is the same, or but little changed, from that first printed by Webb in
1797.
CABLE TOW
The Fellowcraft wears it so that it may be an aid to his journey; by it a brother may
assist him on his way. He also learns in this degree that a cable tow is more than a rope; it is
at once a tie and a measurement.
How long is a cable tow? Thousands have asked and but a few have attempted to
reply. In much older days it was generally considered to be three miles; that was when a
brother was expected to attend lodge whether he wanted to or not if within the length of his
cable tow.
Now we have learned that there is no merit in attendance which comes from fear of
fines or other compulsion. The very rare but occasionally necessary summons may come to
any Fellowcraft. When it comes, he must attend. But Freemasonry is not unreasonable. She
does not demand the impossible, and she knows that what is easy for one is hard for another.
To one brother ten miles away a summons may mean a call which he can answer only with
great difficulty. To another several hundred miles away who has an airplane at his command it
may mean no inconvenience.
Long before airplanes were thought of or railroad trains were anything but curiosities, it
was determined (Baltimore Masonic Convention, 1843) that the length of a cable tow is "the
scope of a brother's reasonable ability." Such a length the Fellowcraft may take to heart. Our
gentle Fraternity compels no man against his will, leaving to each to determine for himself what
is just and right and reasonable - and brotherly!
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SPURIOUS
The use of two words in the Fellowcrafts Degree is a relic of antiquity and not a modern
test to determine whether or not a Mason heles (1) the true word of a Fellowcraft. We have
more accurate ways of knowing whether or not a would-be visitor comes from a legitimate or
clandestine lodge (2) than his knowledge of ritual.
There are clandestine or spurious Masons, but they are not difficult to guard against.
What all Fellowcrafts must be on watch to detect is any quality of spuriousness in their own
Freemasonry. For there is no real Freemasonry of the lips only. A man may have a pocket full
of dues cards showing that he is in good standing in a dozen different Masonic organizations;
may be (although this is rare) a Past Master, and still, if he has not Freemasonry in his heart,
be actually a spurious Mason.
Freemasonry is neither a thing nor a ritual. It is not a lodge nor an organization. Rather
is it a manner of thought, a way of living, a guide to the City on a Hill. To make any less of it is
to act as a spurious Mason. If the lesson of the pass as communicated in the degree means
this to the Fellowcraft, then indeed has he the lesson of this part of the ceremony by heart.
(1) Hele: Masonically, rhymes with "fail." Often confused with "hail," a greeting or
recognition. Hele (pronounced "hail") is to cover, to conceal. Is cognate with "cell," "hull,"
"hollow," "hell" (the covered place). In old provincial English, a "heler" was one who covered
roofs with tiles or slates. Compare "tiler."
(2) Clandestine: other than recognized, not legitimate. A few clandestine Grand Lodges
and subordinate bodies still exist in this country, organizations calling themselves Masonic but
without descent from regular lodges or Grand Lodges, and without recognition by the Masonic
world.
GRAND LODGE
Every initiate should know something of the Grand Lodge, that august body which
controls the Craft.
Before a Craft lodge can come into existence now there must be a Grand Lodge, the
governing body of all the particular lodges, to give a warrant of constitution to at least seven
brethren, empowering them to work and to be a Masonic lodge.
The age-old question which has plagued philosophers: did the first hen lay the first egg,
or did the first egg batch into the first hen, may seem to apply here, since before there can be
a Grand Lodge there must be three or more private lodges to form it! But this is written of
conditions in the United States today, not of those which obtained in 1717, when four individual
lodges in London formed the first Grand Lodge.
Today no regularly constituted lodge can come into being without the consent of an
existing Grand Lodge. Most civilized countries now have Grand Lodges; the great formative
period of Grand Lodges - the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries - is practically over.
The vast majority of new lodges which will grow up as children of the mother will not
form other Grand Lodges for themselves. It is not contended that no new Grand Lodges will
ever be formed but only that less will come into being in the future than have in the past. (1)
The Grand Lodge, consisting of the particular lodges represented by their Masters,
Senior and Junior Wardens, and sometimes Past Masters, as well as the officers, Past Grand
Masters and Past Grand Officers of the Grand Lodge, is the governing body in its jurisdiction.
In the United States jurisdictional lines are coincident with state lines. Each Grand Jurisdiction
is supreme unto itself; its word on any Masonic subject is Masonic law within its own borders.
A Grand Lodge adopts a constitution and by-laws for its government which is the body
of the law of the Grand Judisdiction, which, however, rests upon the Old Charges and the
Constitutions which have descended to us from the Mother Grand Lodge. The legal body is
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supplemented by the decisions made by Grand Masters, or the Grand Lodge, or both, general
regulations, laws, resolutions and edicts of the Grand Lodge, all in accord with the "ancient
usages and customs of the Fraternity."
In the interim between meetings of a Grand Lodge the Grand Master is the Grand
Lodge. His powers are arbitrary and great but not unlimited. Most Grand Lodges provide that
certain acts of the Grand Master may be revised, confirmed or rejected by the Grand Lodge as
a check upon any too radical, moves. But a brother rarely becomes a Grand Master without
serving a long and arduous apprenticeship. Almost invariably he has been Master of his own
lodge and by years of service and interest demonstrated his ability and his fitness to preside
over the Grand Lodge. The real check against arbitrary actions of a Grand Master is more in
his Masonry than the law, more in his desire to do right than in the legal power compelling him
to do so.
Most Grand Lodges meet once a year for business, election, and installation of officers.
Some Grand Lodges (Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, for instance) meet in quarterly
communications. All Grand Lodges meet in special communications at the call of the Grand
Master.
The Grand Lodge receives and disburses certain funds; these come as dues from the
constituent lodges, from gifts and bequests, from special assessments, etc. The funds are
spent as the Grand Lodge orders; upon charity, the maintenance of the Home, the expenses of
the Grand Lodge, maintaining a Grand Secretary and his office and staff, publication of
Proceedings, educational work, etc.
Most Grand Lodges also publish a manual or monitor of the non-secret work of the
degrees which may or may not also contain the forms for various Masonic ceremonies such as
dedication of lodge halls, cornerstone laying, funeral service, etc. Most Grand Lodges also
publish a Digest or Code, which contains the constitution, by-laws, and regulations of the
Grand Lodge, and the resolutions, edicts, and decisions under which the Craft works. The
interested Mason will procure these at his earliest convenience that he may be well informed
regarding the laws and customs of his own jurisdiction.
(1) When and if a forty-ninth State is admitted to the Union, doubtless it will have its own
Grand Lodge.
WORKING TOOLS
The working tools of a Fellowcraft are the Plumb, the Square, and the Level. The
Entered Apprentice has learned of them as the Immovable Jewels, but in the Fellowcraft's
Degree they have a double significance. They are still the Jewels of the three principal
officers, still immovably fixed in the East, the West, and the South, but they are also given into
the hands of the Fellowcraft with instructions the more impressive for their brevity.
The tools represent an advance in knowledge. The Entered Apprentice received a
Twenty-four Inch Gauge and a Common Gavel with which to measure and lay out a rough
ashlar and chip off its edges to fit a stone ready for the builders' use. But that is all he may do.
Not with gauge or gavel may be build; only prepare material for another. He is still but a
beginner, a student; to his hands are intrusted only such tasks as if ill done will not materially
affect the whole.
The Fellowcraft uses the Plumb, the Square, and the Level. With the Square he tests
the work of the Apprentice; with the Level he lays the courses of the wall he builds; with the
Plumb he raises perpendicular columns. If he use his tools aright he demonstrates that he is
worthy to be a Fellow of the Craft and no Apprentice; that he can lay a wall and build a tower
which will stand.
Hence the symbolism of the three tools as taught in the monitorial work. The Plumb
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admonishes us to walk uprightly; that is, not leaning over, not awry with the world or ourselves,
but straight and square with the base of life on which we tread. We are to square our actions
by the Square of Virtue. Every man has a conscience, be it ever so dead; every Freemason is
expected to carry the conscience of a Fellowcraft's Square of Virtue in his breast and build no
act, no matter bow small, which does not fit within its right angle.
The operative Fellow of the Craft builds his wall course by course, each level and
straight. We build upon the level of time, a fearsome level indeed. The Fellow of the Craft
whose wall stands not true on a physical level may take down his stones, retemper his mortar
and try again. But the Freemason can never unbuild that which is erected on the level of time;
once gone, the opportunity is gone forever. Omar said, "The moving finger writes, and having
writ, moves on." The poet Oxenham phrased it ... "No man travels twice the great highway
which winds through darkness up to light, through night, to day."
Therefore does it behoove the Fellowcraft to build on his level of time with a true Plumb
and a right Square. In its interweaving of emblem with emblem, teaching with teaching,
symbol with symbol, Freemasonry is like the latticework atop the Pillars in the Porch of King
Solomon's Temple, the several parts of which are so intimately connected as to denote unity.
Here the Plumb as a Jewel, the Plumb as a working tool of the Fellowcraft, and the Heavenly
Plumb in the hand of Jehovah, as told in Amos vii, are so inextricably mingled that while
references to them occur in different parts of the degree, symbolically they must be considered
together.
"AMOS, WHAT SEEST THOU?"

Thus he showed me; and behold the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb line, with
a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, a
plumb line. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel;
I will not again pass by them any more.
This passage from the Great Light is as much a part of the ritual of the Fellowcraft's
Degree as the 133rd Psalm is of the Entered Apprentice's Degree, and has the same intimate
connection with the teachings of this ceremony. The vital and important part is this: the Lord
set a plumb line in the midst of his people Israel. He did not propose to judge them by a plumb
line afar off in another land, in high heaven, but here - here in the midst of them. This is of
intense interest to the Fellowcraft Mason, since it teaches him how he should judge his own
work - and, more important, how he should judge the work of others.
Presumably, plumb lines hang alike. Presumably all plumbs, like all squares and all
levels, are equally accurate. Yet a man may use a tool thinking it accurate which to another is
not true. If the tool of building and the tool of judging be not alike either the judgment must be
inaccurate or the judge must take into consideration the tool by which the work was done.
By the touch system, a blind man may learn to write upon a typewriter. If a loosened
type drops from the type bar when the blind man strikes the letter "e" he will make but a little
black smudge upon the paper. It is perfectly legible; in this sentence every "e" but one has
been smudged. Would you criticize the blind man for imperfect work? He has no means of
knowing that his tool is faulty. If you found the smudges which stand for the letter "e" in the
right places, showing that he had used his imperfect machine perfectly, would you not consider
that he had done perfect work? Aye, because you would judge by a plumb line "in the midst" of
the man and his work. If, however, the paper with the smudged letters "e" were judged by one
who knew nothing of the workman's blindness, nothing of his typewriter, one who saw only a
poor piece of typing, doubtless he would judge it as imperfect.
The builders of the Washington monument and the Eiffel Tower in Paris both used
plumb lines accurate to the level of the latitude and longitude of these structures. Both are at
right angles with sea level. Yet to some observer on the moon equipped with a strong
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telescope these towers would not appear parallel. As they are in different latitudes they rise
from the surface of the earth at an angle to each other.
Doubtless he who engineered the monument would protest that the monument to
Washington was right and the French engineer's tower wrong. The Frenchman, knowing his
plumb was accurate, would believe the monument crooked. But the Great Architect, we may
hope, would think both right knowing each was perfect by the plumb by which it was erected.
The Fellowcraft learns to judge his work by his own plumb line, not by another's; if he
erects that which is good work, true work, square work by his own working tools - in other
words, by his own standards - he does well. Only when a Fellowcraft is false to his own
conscience is he building other than fair and straight.
CORN, WINE AND OIL

The wages, which our ancient brethren received for their labors in the building of King
Solomon's Temple are paid no more. We use them only as symbols, save in the dedication,
constitution, and consecration of a new lodge and in the laying of cornerstones, when once
again the fruit of the land, the brew of the grape and the essence of the olive are poured to
launch a new unit of brotherhood into the fellowship of lodges; to begin a new structure
dedicated to public or Masonic use.
In the Great Light are many references to these particular forms of wealth. In ancient
days the grapes in the vineyard, the olives in the grove and the grain of the field were not only
wealth but the measure of trade; so many skins of wine, so many cruses of oil, so many
bushels of corn were then as are dollars and cents to-day. Thus when our ancient brethren
received wages in corn, wine, and oil they were paid for their labors in coin of the realm.
The oil pressed from the olive was as important to the Jews in Palestine as butter and
other fats are among Occidentals. Because it was so necessary and hence so valuable it
became an important part of sacrificial rites.
Oil was also used not only as a food but for lighting purposes within the house, not in
the open air where the torch was more effective. Oil was also an article of the toilet; mixed
with perfume it was used in the ceremonies of anointment and in preparation for ceremonial
appearances. The "precious ointment which ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard"
was doubtless made of olive oil suitably mixed with such perfumes and spices as myrrh,
cinnamon, galbanum and frankincense. Probably oil was also used as a surgical dressing;
nomadic peoples, subject to injuries, could bardly avoid knowledge of the value of soothing oil.
The corn of the Old Testament is not the corn we know. In the majority of the uses of
the word a more understandable translation would be "grain." The principal grains of the Old
Testament days were barley and wheat and "corn" represents not only both of these but all the
grains which the Jews cultivated.
An ear of grain has been an emblem of plenty since the mists of antiquity shrouded the
beginnings of mythology. Ceres, goddess of abundance, survives to-day in our cereals. The
Greeks called her Demeter, a corruption of Gemeter, our mother earth. She wore a garland of
grain and carried ears of grain in her hand.
The Hebrew Shibboleth means both an ear of corn and a flood of water. Both are
symbols of abundance, plenty, wealth.
Scarcely less important to our ancient brethren than their corn and oil was wine.
Vineyards were highly esteemed both as wealth and as comfort - the pleasant shade of the
vine and fig tree was a part of ancient hospitality. Vineyards on mountain sides or hills were
most carefully tended and protected against washing by terraces and walls, as even to-day
one may see on the hillsides of the Rhine. Thorn hedges kept cattle from the grapes. The
vineyardist frequently lived in a watchtower or hut on an elevation to keep sharp look out that
neither predatory man nor beast took his ripening wealth.
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Thus corn, wine, and oil were the wages of a Fellowcraft in the days of King Solomon.
Freemasons receive no material wages for their labors, but if the work done in a lodge is paid
for only in coin of the heart such wages are no less real. They may sustain as does the grain,
refresh as does the wine, give joy and gladness as does the oil. How much we receive, what
we do with our wages, depends entirely on our Masonic work. Our ancient brethren were paid
for their physical labors. Whether their wages were paid for work performed upon the
mountains and in the quarries, or whether they received corn, wine, and oil because they
labored in the fields and vineyards, it was true then and it is true now that only "in the sweat of
thy face shalt thou eat bread." To receive the Masonic equivalent of the ancient corn, wine,
and oil, a brother must labor. He must till the fields of his own heart or build the temple of his
own house not made with hands. He must give labor to his neighbor or carry stones for his
brother's temple.
If he stand and wait, and watch and wonder, he will not be able to ascend into the
Middle Chamber where our ancient brethren received their wages. If he works for the joy of
working, does his part in his lodge work and takes his place among the laborers of
Freemasonry, he will receive corn, wine, and oil in measures pressed down and running over
and know a fraternal joy as substantial in fact as it is ethereal in quality; as real in his heart as it
is intangible to the profane world.
For all Fellowcrafts - aye, for all Freemasons - corn, wine, and oil are symbols of
sacrifice, of the fruits of labor, of wages earned.
THE TWO PILLARS

And King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. He was a widow's son of the
tribe of Naphtali, (1) and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was filled with
wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to King
Solomon, and wrought all his work. For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits (2) high
apiece; and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about....
And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple; and he set up the right pillar, and
called the name thereof Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.
And upon the top of the pillars was lily work; so was the work of the pillars finished. (I Kings vii,
13-22.)
From the dawn of religion the pillar, monolith or built-up, has played an important part in
the worship of the Unseen. From the huge boulders of Stonehenge, among which the Druids
are supposed to have, performed their rites, through East Indian temples to the religion of
ancient Egypt, scholars trace the use of pillars as an essential part of religious worship;
indeed, in Egypt the obelisk stood for the very presence of the Sun God himself. It is not
strange, then, that Hiram of Tyre should erect pillars for Solomon's Temple. What has seemed
strange is the variation in the dimensions given in Kings and Chronicles; a discrepancy which
is explained by the theory that Kings gives the height of one and Chronicles of both pillars
together.
Of the ritualistic explanation of the two brazen pillars it is not necessary to speak at
length, since the Middle Chamber lecture is quite satisfyingly explicit regarding their ancient
use and purpose. But their inner symbolic significance is not touched upon in the ritual; it is
one of the hidden beauties of Freemasonry left for each brother to hunt down for himself. It is
a poor symbol that has but one meaning. Of the many interpretations of the Brazen Pillars,
two are here selected as vivid and important.
The ancients believed the earth to be flat and that it was supported by two Pillars of
God, placed at the western entrance of the world as then known. These are now called
Gibraltar, on one side of the Strait, and Ceuta on the other. This may account for the origin of
the twin pillars. However this may be the practice of erecting columns at the entrance of an
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edifice dedicated to worship prevailed in Egypt and Phoenicia, and at the erection of King
Solomon's Temple the Brazen Pillars were placed in the porch thereof.
Some writers have suggested that they represent the masculine and feminine elements
in nature; others, that they stand for the authority of Church and State, because on stated
occasions the high priest stood before one pillar and the king before the other. Some students
think that they allude to the two legendary pillars of Enoch, upon which, tradition informs us, all
the wisdom of the ancient world was inscribed in order to preserve it from inundations and
conflagrations. William Preston supposed that, by them, Solomon had reference to the pillars
of cloud and fire which guided the Children of Israel out of bondage and up to the Promised
Land. One authority says a literal translation of their names is: "In Thee is strength," and, "It
shall be established," and by a natural transposition may be thus expressed: "Oh, Lord, Thou
art almighty and Thy power is established from everlasting to everlasting."
It is impossible to escape the conviction that in meaning they are related to religion, and
represent the strength and stability, the perpetuity and providence of God, and in Freemasonry
are symbols of a living faith. Faith cannot be defined. The factors of mightiest import cannot
be caught up in speech. Life is the primary fact of which we are conscious, and yet there is no
language by which it can be fenced in. No chart can be made of a mother's love; it is deeper
than words and reads in little, common things a wealth that is more than golden.
While we cannot define, we can recognize the power of faith. It generates energy. It is
the dynamics of elevated characters and noble spirits, the source of all that bears the impress
of greatness. And we can realize its necessity. Without faith it would be impossible to transact
business. "It spans the earth with railroads, and cleaves the sea with ships. It gives man
wings to fly the air, and fins to swim the deep. It creates the harmony of music and the whir of
factory wheels. It draws man up toward the angels and brings heaven down to earth." By it all
human relationship is conditioned. We must have faith in institutions and ideals, faith in
friendship, family and fireside, faith in self, faith in man, and faith in God.
Freemasonry is the oldest, the largest, and the most widely distributed fraternal Order
on the face of the earth to-day by reason of its faith in God. At one end of the Second Section
of the Fellowcraft Degree are the Two Brazen Pillars - a symbol of that faith; at its other end is
the Letter "G", a livig sign of the same belief.
But there is another interpretation of the symbolism. The Entered Apprentice in process
of being passed to the degree of Fellowcraft passes between the pillars. No hint is given that
he should pass nearer to one than to the other; no suggestion is made that either may work a
greater influence than the other. He merely passes between.
A deep significance is in this very omission. Masons refer to the promise of God unto
David; the interested may read Chapter vii of II Samuel for themselves, and gather that the
establishment promised by the Lord was that of a house, a family, a descent of blood from
David unto his children and his children's children.
The pillars were named by Hiram Abif; those names have many translations. Strength
and establishment are but two; power, and wisdom or control, fit the meaning of the words as
well.
Used to blast stumps from fields dynamite is an aid to the farmer. Used in war it kills
and maims. Fire cooks our food and makes steam for our engines; fire also burns up our
houses and destroys our forests. But it is not the power but the use of power which is good or
bad. The truth applies to any power; spiritual, legal, monarchial, political, personal. Power is
without either virtue or vice; the user may use it well or ill, as he pleases.
Freemasonry passes the brother in process of becoming a Fellowcraft between the
pillar of strength - power; and the pillar of establishment - choice or control. He is a man now
and no minor or infant. He has grown up Masonically. Before him are spread the two great
essentials to all success, all greatness, all happiness.
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Like any other power - temporal or physical, religious or spiritual - Freemasonry can be
used well or ill. Here is the lesson set before the Fellowcraft; if he like David would have his
kingdom of Masonic manhood established in strength he must pass between the pillars with
understanding that power without control is useless, and control without power, futile. Each is
a complement of the other; in the passage between the pillars the Fellowcraft not only has his
feet set upon the Winding Stairs but is given - so he has eyes to see and ears to hear - secret
instructions as to how he shall climb those stairs that he may, indeed, reach the Middle
Chamber. He shall climb by strength, but directed by wisdom; he shall progress by power, but
guided by control; he shall rise by the might that is in him, but arrive by the wisdom of his heart.
So seen the pillars become symbols of high value; the initiate of old saw in the obelisk
the very spirit of the God he worshiped. The modern Masonic initiate may see in them both the
faith and the means by which be may travel a little further, a little higher toward the secret
Middle Chamber of life in which dwells the Unseen Presence.
(1) Pronounced Naf'tal-i.
(2) A cubit is approximately 18 inches. Also he made before the house two pillars of
thirty and five cubits high, and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.
And he made chains, as in the oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars and made an
hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains. (II Chronicles iii, 15-16.)
THE GLOBES
The "world celestial and the world terrestrial" on the brazen pillars were added by
comparatively modern ritual makers. Solomon knew them not, although contemporaries of
Solomon believed the earth stood still while a hollow sphere with its inner surface dotted with
stars revolved about the earth. The slowly turning celestial sphere is as old as mankind's
observations of the starry decked heavens.
It is to be noted that both terrestrial and celestial spheres are used as emblems of
universality. This is not mere duplication for emphasis; each teaches an individual part of
universality. What is called universal on the earth - as for instance the necessity of mankind to
breathe, drink water and eat in order to live - is not necessarily universal in all the universe.
We have no knowledge that any other planet in our solar system is inhabited - what evidence
there is is rather to the contrary. We are ignorant of any other sun which has any inhabited
planets in its system. If life does exist in some world to us unknown, it may be entirely different
from life on this planet. A symbol of universality which applied only to the earth would be a
self-contradiction.
Real universality means what it says. It appertains to the whole universe. A Mason's
charity of relief to the poor and distressed must obviously be confined to this particular planet,
but his charity of thought may, so we are taught, extend "through the boundless realms of
eternity."
The world terrestrial and the world celestial on our representations of the pillars, in
denoting universality, mean that the principles of our Order are not founded upon mere earthly
conditions and transient truths, but rest upon divine and limitless foundations, coexistent with
the cosmos and its Creator.
THE WINDING STAIRS

Like so much else in Freemasonry the Middle Chamber is wholly symbolic. It seems
obvious that Solomon the Wise would not have permitted any practice so time wasting and
uneconomic as sending many thousand workmen up a flight of stairs to a small Middle
Chamber to receive corn, wine, and oil which had to be brought up in advance, only to be
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carried down in small lots by each workman as he received his wages.
If we are to accept the Scriptural account of the Temple as accurate, there actually were
winding stairs. "And they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber" is stated in I
Kings. That the stairs had the three, five, and seven steps by which we rise is not stated in the
Scriptures. Only in this country have the Winding Stairs fifteen steps. In older days the stairs
had but five, sometimes seven steps. Preston had thirty-six steps in his Winding Stairs in a
series of one, three, five, seven, nine, and eleven. But this violated a Pythagorean principle -
and Freemasonry has adopted much in its system from the science of numbers as exemplified
by Pythagoras as the Fellowcraft will discover when - if - he receives the Sublime Degree.
The great philosopher Pythagoras taught that odd numbers were more perfect than
even; indeed, the temple builders who wrought long before Pythagoras always built their stairs
with an odd number of steps, so that, starting with the right foot at the bottom the climber might
enter the sacred place at the top with the same foot in advance. Freemasonry uses only odd
numbers, with particular reliance on three: three degrees, three principal officers, three steps,
three Lesser Lights, and so on. Hence the English system later eliminated the number eleven
from Preston's thirty-six, making twenty-five steps in all.
The stairs as a whole are a representation of life; not the physical life of eating, drinking,
sleeping and working, but the mental and spiritual life, of both the lodge and the world without;
of learning, studying, enlarging mental horizons, increasing the spiritual outlook. Freemasons
divide the fifteen steps into three, referring to the officers of a lodge; five, concerned with the
orders of architecture and the human senses; and seven, the Liberal Arts and Sciences.
THE NUMBER THREE

The first three steps represent the three principal officers of a lodge, and - though not
stated in the ritual - must always refer to Deity, of which three, the triangle, is the most ancient
symbol.
Their principal implication here is to assure the Fellowcraft just starting his ascent that
he does not climb alone. The Worshipful Master, Senior, and Junior Wardens are themselves
symbolic of the lodge as a whole, and thus (as a lodge is a symbol of the world) of the Masonic
world - the Fraternity. The Fellowcraft is surrounded by the Craft. The brethern are present to
help him climb. In his search for truth, in his quest of his wages in the Middle Chamber, the
Fellowcraft is to receive the support and assistance of all in the Mystic Circle; surely an
impressive symbol.
If we examine a little into the powers and duties of the Worshipful Master and his
Wardens, we may see how they rule and govern the lodge and so by what means they may
aid the Fellowcraft in his ascent.
WORSHIPFUL (1) MASTER

The incumbent of the Oriental Chair has powers peculiar to his station which are far
greater than those of the president of a society or the chairman of a meeting of any kind.
President and chairman are elected by the body over which they preside and may be removed
by that body. A Master is elected by his lodge but can be removed only by the Grand Master
(or his Deputy acting for him) or Grand Lodge. The presiding officer is bound by the rules of
order adopted by the body and by its by-laws. A lodge cannot pass by-laws to alter, amend, or
curtail the inherent powers of a Master.
Grand Lodges so differ in their interpretation of some of the "ancient usages and
customs" of the Fraternity that what applies in one jurisdiction does not necessarily apply in
another. But certain powers of a Master are so well recognized that they may be considered
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universal.
The Master may congregate his lodge when he pleases and for what purpose he
wishes, provided it does not interfere with the laws of the Grand Lodge. For instance, he may
assemble his lodge at a special communication to confer degrees, at his pleasure; but he must
not disobey that requirement of the Grand Lodge which calls for proper notice to the brethren,
nor may a Master confer a degree in less than the statutory time following a preceding degree
without a dispensation from the Grand Master.
The Master has the right of presiding over and governing his lodge, and only the Grand
Master or his Deputy may suspend him. He may put any brother in the East to preside or to
confer a degree; he may then resume the gavel at his pleasure - even in the middle of a
sentence! But when he has delegated authority temporarily the Master is not relieved from
responsibility for what occurs in his lodge.
It is the Master's right to control lodge business and work. It is in a very real sense his
lodge. He decides all points of order and no appeal from his decision may be taken to the
lodge. He can initiate and terminate debate at his pleasure and can propose or second any
motion. He may open and close the lodge at his pleasure, except that he may not open a
stated communication earlier than the hour stated in the by-laws. He is responsible only to the
Grand Master and the Grand Lodge, the obligations he assumed when he was installed, (2) his
conscience, and his God.
The Master has the right to say who may enter and who may leave the lodge room. He
may deny a visitor entrance; but he must have a good and sufficient reason, otherwise his
Grand Lodge will unquestionably rule such a drastic step arbitrary and punish accordingly. Per
contra, if he permits the entry of a visitor to whom some member has objected, he may also
subject himself to Grand Lodge discipline. In other words his power to admit or exclude a
visitor is absolute; his right to admit or exclude a visitor is hedged about by the pledges he
takes at his installation and the rules of his Grand Lodge.
A very important power of a Master is that of appointing committees. No lodge may
appoint a committee. The lodge may pass a resolution that a committee be appointed, but the
selection of that committee is an inherent right of the Master. He is ex officio a member of all
committees he appoints. The reason is obvious; he is responsible to the Grand Master and
the Grand Lodge for the conduct of his lodge. If the lodge could appoint committees and act
upon their recommendations, the Master would be in the anomalous position of having great
responsibilities, but no power to carry out their performance.
Only the Master may order a committee to examine a visiting brother. It is his
responsibility to see that no cowan or eavesdropper comes within the tiled door. Therefore it is
for him to pick a committee in which he has confidence. So, also, with the committees which
report upon petitioners. He is responsible for the accuracy, the fair-mindedness, the speed
and the intelligence of such investigations. It is, therefore, for him to say to whom shall be
delegated this necessary and important work.
It is generally, not exclusively, held that only a Master can issue a summons. In a few
jurisdictions the lodge members present at a stated communication may summons the whole
membership.
If he keeps within the laws, resolutions, and edicts of his Grand Lodge on the one hand,
and the Landmarks, Old Charges, Constitutions and ancient usages and customs on the other,
the power of the Worshipfill Master is that of an absolute monarch. His responsibilities and his
duties are those of an apostle of Light!
(1) Worshipful: greatly respected. The Wycliffe Bible (Matthew xix, 19) reads:
"Worschip thi fadir and thi modir." The Authorized Version translates "worschip" to "honor" -
"honor thy father and thy mother." In parts of England to-day one hears the Mayor spoken of
as Worshipful, the word used in its ancient sense, meaning one worthy, honorable, to be
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respected. "Worshipful" as applied to the Master of a lodge does not mean that we should bow
down to him in adoration as when used in its ecclesiastical sense. We "worship" God, but not
men. Our Masters in being called "Worshipful" are but paid a tribute of respect in the language
of two or more centuries ago.
(2) Officers are seated in their chairs and assume the powers of their offices by a
ceremony of installation, following election or appointment.
THE WARDENS
Wardens are found in all bodies of Masonry, in all rites, in all countries. Its derivation
gives the meaning of the word. It comes from the Saxon weardian, to guard, to watch. In
France the second and third officers are premier and second Surveillant; in Germany erste and
zwite Aufseher; in Spain primer and segundo Vigilante; in Italy primo and secondo
Sorvegliante, all the words meaning one who overlooks, watches, keeps ward, observes.
Whether the title came from the provision of the old rituals that the Wardens sit beside
the two pillars in the porch of the temple to oversee or watch, the Senior Warden the
Fellowcrafts and the Junior Warden the Apprentices, or whether the old rituals were developed
from the custom of the Middle Ages Guilds having Wardens (watchers) is a moot question.
In the French Rite and the Scottish Rite both Wardens sit in the West near the columns.
In the Blue Lodge the symbolism is somewhat impaired by the Junior Warden sitting in the
South, but is strengthened by giving each Warden, as an emblem of authority, a replica of the
column beneath the shade of which he once sat. The column of the Senior Warden is erect,
that of the Junior Warden on its side, while the lodge is at labor. During refreshment the
Senior Warden's column is laid prostrate while that of the Junior Warden is erected, so that by
a glance at either South or West the Craft may know at all times whether the lodge is at labor
or refreshment.
The government of the Craft by a Master and two Wardens cannot be too strongly
emphasized. It is not only the right but the duty of the Senior Warden to assist the Worshipful
Master in opening and governing his lodge. When he uses it to enforce orders, his setting
maul or gavel is to be respected; he has a proper officer to carry his messages to the Junior
Warden or elsewhere; under the Master he is responsible for the conduct of the lodge while at
labor.
The Junior Warden's duties are less important; he observes the time and calls the lodge
from labor to refreshment and refreshment to labor in due season at the orders of the Master.
It is his duty to see that "none of the Craft convert the purposes of refreshment into
intemperance and excess" which doubtless has a bibulous derivation, coming from days when
refreshment meant wine. If we no longer drink wine at lodge, we still have reason for this
charge upon the Junior Warden, since it is his unpleasant duty, when ordered by the Master or
Grand Master, because he supervises the conduct of the Craft at refreshment, to prefer
charges against those suspected of Masonic misconduct.
Only Wardens (or Past Masters) may be elected Master. This requirement (which has
certain exceptions, as in the formation of a new lodge) is very old. The fourth of the Old
Charges reads:
No brother can be a Warden until he has passed the part of a Fellowcraft; (1) nor a
Master, until he has acted as Warden; nor Grand Warden, until he has been Master of a
Lodge; nor Grand Master, unless he bas been a Fellowcraft before his election.
The Warden's is a high and exalted office; his duties are many, his responsibilities
great; his powers only exceeded by those of the Master.
(1) At the time of the formation of the Mother Grand Lodge in London (1717) the
Fellowerafts formed the body of Masonry, as Master Masons do today.
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THE NUMBER FIVE
Five has always been a sacred and mystical number; Pythagoras made of it a symbol of
life, since it rejected unity by the addition of the first even and the first odd number. It was
therefore symbolic of happiness and misery, birth and death, order and disorder - in other
words, life as it was lived. Egypt knew five minor planets, five elements, five elementary
powers. The Greeks had four elements and added ether, the unknown, making a cosmos of
five.
Five is peculiarly the number of the Fellowcraft's Degree; it represents the central group
of the three which form the stairs; it refers to the five orders of architecture; five are required to
hold a Fellowcraft's Lodge; there are five human senses; geometry is the fifth science, and so
on.
In the Winding Stairs the number five represents first the five orders of architecture.
ARCHITECTURE
Here for the first time the initiate is introduced to the science of building as a whole. He
has been presented with working tools; he has had explained the rough and perfect ashlars,
he has heard of the house not made with hands; he knows something of the building of the
Temple. Now he is taught of architecture as a science; its beginnings are laid before him; he is
shown how the Greeks commenced and the Romans added to the kinds of architecture; he
learns of the beautiful, perfect and complete whole which is a well-designed, well-constructed
building.
Here is symbolism in quantity! And here indeed the Fellowcraft gets a glimpse of all that
Freemasonry may mean to a man, for just as the Freemasons of old were the builders of the
cathedrals and the temples for the worship of the Most High, so is the Speculative Freemason
pledged to the building of his spiritual temple.
Temples are built stone by stone, a little at a time. Each stone must be hewn from the
solid rock of the quarry. Then it must be laid out and chipped with the gavel until it is a perfect
ashlar. Finally it must be set in place with the tempered mortar which will bind. But before any
stone may be placed, a plan must come into existence; the architect must plan his part. As the
Fellowcraft hears in the degree:
A survey of nature, and the observation of her beautiful proportions, first induced man to
imitate the divine plan, and to study symmetry and order. This gave rise to society, and birth to
every useful art. The architect began to design, and the plans which he laid down, improved
by time and experience, have led to the production of works which are the admiration of every
age.
So must the Fellowcraft, studying the orders of architecture by which he will erect bis
spiritual temple, design the structure before he commences to build.
There are five orders of architecture, not one. There are many plans on which a man
may build a life, not one only. Freemasonry does not attempt to distinguish as between the
Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian as to beauty or desirability. She does suggest that the Tuscan,
plainer than the Doric, and the Composite, more ornamental though not more beautiful than
the Corinthian, are less reverenced than the ancient and original orders. Freemasonry makes
no attempt to influence the Fellowcraft as to which order of life building he shall choose. He
may elect the physical, the mental, the spiritual. Or be may choose the sacrificial - "plainer
than the Doric" or the ornamental, which is "not more beautiful than the Corinthian."
Freemasonry is concerned less with what order of spiritual architecture a Fellowcraft chooses
by which to build than that he does choose one; that he build not aimlessly. He is bidden to
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study symmetry and order.
Architecture is perhaps the most beautiful and expressive of all the arts. Painting and
sculpture, noble though they are, lack the utility of architecture and strive to interpret nature
rather than to originate. Architecture is not hampered by the necessity of reproducing
something already in existence. It may raise its spires untrammeled by any nature model; it
may fling its arches gloriously across a nave and transept with no similitude in nature to
hamper by suggestion. If his genius be great enough, the architect may tell in his structure
truths which may not be put in words, inspire by glories not sung in the divinest harmonies.
So may the builder of his own house not made with hands, if he choose aright his plan
of life and hew to the line of his plan. So, indeed, have done all those great men who have led
the world; the prophets of old, Pythagoras, Confucius, Buddha, Shakespeare, Milton, Goethe,
Washington, Lincoln ...
THE FIVE SENSES

If the Fellowcraft, climbing his three, five, and seven steps to a Middle Chamber of
unknown proportions, containing an unknown wage, is overweighted with the emphasis put
upon the spiritual side of life, he may here be comforted.
Freemasonry is not an ascetic organization. It recognizes that the physical is as much a
part of normal life as the mental and spiritual upon which so much emphasis is put.
The Fellowcraft Degree is a glorification of education, the gaining of knowledge, the
study of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences and all that they connote. Therefore it is wholly
logical that the degree should make special reference to the five means by which man has
acquired all his knowledge; aye, by which he will ever acquire any knowledge.
All learning is sense-bound. Inspiring examples have been given the world by
unfortunates deprived of one or more senses. Blind men often make as great a success as
those who see; deaf men often overcome the handicap until it appears nonexistent. Helen
Keller is blind, deaf, and was dumb as well; all that she has accomplished - and it would be a
great accomplishment with all five senses - has been done through feeling and tasting and
smelling.
But take away all five senses and a man is no more a man; perhaps his mind is no more
a mind. With no contact whatever with the material world he can learn nothing of it. As man
reaches up through the material to the spiritual, he could learn nothing of ethics without contact
with the physical.
If there are limits beyond which human investigations and explorations into the unknown
may not go, it is because of the limitations of the five senses. Not even the extension of those
senses by the marvelously sensitive instruments of science may overcome, in the last analysis,
their limits.
Some objects are smaller than any rays we know except X-rays. If it were possible to
construct a microscope powerful enough to see an atom, the only light by which it could be
seen would be X-rays. But the very X-rays which would be necessary to see it would destroy
the atom as soon as they struck it. In our present knowledge, then, to see the atom is beyond
the power of human senses. If anything is beyond the power of eyes, even if aided by the
greatest magnification, then there must be truths beyond the power of touch and taste and
smell and hearing, regardless of the magnification science may provide.
Except for one factor! Brute beasts hear, see, feel, smell, and taste, as do we. But they
garner no facts of science, win no truths, formulate no laws of nature through these senses.
More than the five senses are necessary to perceive the relation between thing and thing, and
life and life. That factor is the perception, the mind, the soul or spirit, if you will, which
differentiates man from all other living beings.
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If the Fellowcraft's five steps, then, seem to glorify the five senses of human nature, it is
because Freemasonry is a well-rounded scheme of life and living which recognizes the
physical as well as the mental life of men and knows that only through the physical do we
perceive the spiritual. It is in this sense, not as a simple lesson in physiology, that we are to
receive the teachings of the five steps by which we rise above the ground floor of the Temple
to that last flight of seven steps which are typical of knowledge.
THE NUMBER SEVEN

Most potent of numbers in the ancient religions, the number seven has deep
significance. The Pythagoreans called it the perfect number, as made up of three and four, the
two perfect figures, triangle and square. It was the virgin number because it cannot be
multiplied to produce any number within ten, as can two and two, two and three, and two and
four, three and three. Nor can it be produced by the multiplication of any whole numbers.
Our ancient ancestors knew seven planets, seven Pleiades, seven Hyades, and seven
lights burned before the Altar of Mithras. The Goths had seven deities: Sun, Moon, Tuisco,
Woden, Thor, Friga, and Seatur or Saturn, from which we derive the names of the seven days
of our week. In the Gothic mysteries the candidate met with seven obstructions. The ancient
Jews swore by seven, because seven witnesses were used to confirm, and seven sacrifices
offered to attest truth. The Sabbath is the seventh day; Noah had seven days' notice of the
flood; God created the heaven and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh day; the
walls of Jericho were encompassed seven times by seven priests bearing seven rams' horns;
the Temple was seven years in building, and so on through a thousand references.
It is only necessary to refer to the seven necessary to open an Entered Apprentice's
lodge, the seven original officers of a lodge (some now have nine or ten or even more) and the
seven steps which complete the Winding Stairs to show that seven is an important number in
the Fraternity.
THE SEVEN LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

In William Preston's day a liberal education was comprised in the study of grammar,
rhetoric and logic, called the trivium, and arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy, called
the quadrivium. Preston endeavored to compress into his Middle Chamber lecture enough of
these to make at least an outline available to men who might otherwise know nothing of them.
In our day and times grammar and rhetoric are considered of importance, but in a
secondary way; logic is more or less swallowed up as a study in the reasoning appropriate to
any particular subject; arithmetic, of course, continues its primary importance; but from the
standpoint of science, geometry and its offshoots are still the vital sciences of measurement.
Music has fallen into the discard as part of a liberal education; it is now one of the arts, not the
sciences, and astronomy is so interrelated with physics that it is hard to say where one leaves
off and the other begins. As for electricity, chemistry, biology, civics, government, and the
physical sciences, they were barely dreamed of in Preston's day.
So it is not actually but symbolically that we are to climb the seven steps. If the author
may venture to quote himself: (1) William Preston, who put so practical an interpretation upon
these steps, lived in an age when these did indeed represent all knowledge. But we must not
refuse to grow because the ritual has not grown with modern discovery. When we rise by
Grammar and Rhetoric, we must consider that they mean not only language, but all methods of
communication. The step of Logic means a knowledge not only of a method of reasoning, but
of all reasoning which logicians have accomplished. When we ascend by Arithmetic and
Geometry, we must visualize all science; since science is but measurement, in the true
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mathematical sense, it requires no great stretch of the imagination to read into these two steps
all that science may teach. The step denominated Music means not only sweet and
harmonious sounds, but all beauty - poetry, art, nature, loveliness of whatever kind. Not to be
familiar with the beauty which nature provides is to be, by so much, less a man; to stunt, by so
much, a starving soul. As for the seventh step of Astronomy, surely it means not only a study
of the solar system and the stars as it did in William Preston's day, but also a study of all that is
beyond the earth; of spirit and the world of spirit, of ethics, philosophy, the abstract - of Deity.
Preston builded better than he knew; his seven steps are both logical in arrangement and
suggestive in their order. The true Fellowcraft will see in them a guide to the making of a man
rich in mind and spirit, by which riches only can true brotherhood be practiced.
(1) "Foreign Countries," 1925.
THE STAIRS WIND

Finally consider the implications of the winding stairs, as opposed to those which are
straight.
The one virtue which most distinguishes man is courage. It requires more courage to
face the unknown than the known. A straight stair, a ladder, hides neither secret nor mystery
at its top. But the stairs which wind hide each step from the climber; what is just around the
corner is unknown. The winding stairs of life lead us to we know not what; for some of us a
Middle Chamber of fame and fortune; for others, one of pain and frustration. The Angel of
Death may stand with drawn sword on the very next step for any of us. Yet man climbs.
Man has always climbed; he climbed from a cave man savagery to the dawn of
civilization; Lowell's ...brute despair of trampled centuries, Leapt up with one hoarse yell and
snapped its bands; Groped for its right with horny, callous hands And stared around for God
with bloodshot eyes, was a climbing from slavery to independence, from the brutish to the
spiritual. Through ignorance, darkness, misery, cruelty, wrong, oppression, danger, and
despair, man has climbed to enlightenment. Each individual man must climb his little winding
stairs through much the same experience as that of the race.
Aye, man climbs because he has courage; because he has faith; because he is a man.
So must the Freemason climb. The winding stairs do lead somewhere. There is a Middle
Chamber. There are wages of the Fellowcraft to be earned.
So believing, so, unafraid, climbing, the Fellowcraft may hope at the top of his winding
stairs to reach a Middle Chamber, and see a new sign in the East ...
LETTER "G"
Its first reference is to the first and noblest of the sciences, geometry. Geometry, the
fifth of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences, and astronomy, the seventh science, are so much
a part of each other that it is difficult to consider them separately; indeed, the ritual of the letter
"G" is as much concerned with the study of the heavens as of the science of measurement
alone. We hear: By it we discover the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of the Grand
Artificer of the Universe and view with delight the wonderful proportions of this vast machine.
By it we discover how the planets move in their respective orbits and demonstrate their various
revolutions.... Numberless worlds are around us, all framed by the same Divine Artist, which
roll through the vast expanse, controlled by the same unerring law.
It is difficult to visualize the vital importance of the heavens to early men. We can hardly
conceive of their terror of the eclipse and the comet or sense their veneration for the Sun and
his bride, the Moon. We are too well educated. We know too much about "the proportions
which connect this vast machine." The astronomer has pushed back the frontiers of his
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science beyond the comprehension of most of us; the questions which occur as a result of
unaided visual observations have all been answered. We have substituted facts for fancies
regarding the sun, the moon, the solar system, the comet, and the eclipse.
Pike (1) says:
We cannot, even in the remotest degree, feel, though we may partially and imperfectly
imagine, how those great, primitive, simple-hearted children of Nature felt in regard to the
Starry Hosts, there upon the slopes of the Himalayas, on the Chaldean plains, in the Persian
and Median deserts, and upon the banks of the great, strange river, the Nile. To them the
Universe was alive - instinct with forces and powers, mysterious and beyond their
comprebension. To them it was no machine, no great system of clockwork; but a great live
creature, in sympathy with or inimical to man. To them, all was mystery and a miracle, and the
stars flashing overhead spoke to their hearts almost in an audible language. Jupiter, with its
kingly splendors, was the emperor of the starry legions. Venus looked lovingly on the earth
and blessed it; Mars with his crimson fires threatened war and misfortune; and Saturn, cold
and grave, chilled and repelled them. The ever-changing Moon, faithful companion of the Sun,
was a constant miracle and wonder; the Sun himself the visible emblem of the creative and
generative power. To them the earth was a great plain, over which the sun, the moon and the
planets revolved, its servants, framed to give it light. Of the stars, some were beneficent
existences that brought with them springtime and fruits and flowers - some, faithful sentinels,
advising them of coming inundation, of the season of storm and of deadly winds; some heralds
of evil, which, steadily foretelling, they seemed to cause. To them the eclipses were portents
of evil, and their causes hidden in mystery, and supernatural. The regular returns of the stars,
the comings of Arcturus, Orion, Sirius, the Pleiades, and Aldebaran, and the journeyings of the
Sun, were voluntary and not mechanical to them. What wonder that astronomy became to
them the most important of sciences; that those who learned it became rulers; and that vast
edifices, the Pyramids, the tower or temple of Bel, and other like erections elsewhere in the
East, were builded for astronomical purposes? - and what wonder that, in their great childlike
simplicity, they worshiped Light, the Sun, the Planets, and the Stars, and personified them, and
eagerly believed in the histories invented for them; in that age when the capacity for belief was
infinite; as indeed, if we but reflect, it still is and ever will be?
Anglo-Saxons usually consider history as their history; science as their science; religion
as their religion. This somewhat naive viewpoint is hardly substantiated by a less egoistic
survey of knowledge. Columbus' sailors believed they would fall off the edge of a flat world,
yet Pythagoras knew the earth to be a ball. The ecliptic was known before Solomon's Temple
was built; the Chinese predicted eclipses long, long before the Europeans of the Middle Ages
regarded them as portents of doom!
Astronomical lore in Freemasonry is very old. The foundations of our degrees are far
more ancient than we can prove by documentary evidence. It is surely not stretching credulity
to believe that the study which antedates geometry must have been impressed on our Order,
its ceremonies and its symbols, long before Preston and Webb worked their ingenious
revolutions in our rituals and gave us the system of degrees we use to-day in one form or
another.
The astronomical references in our degrees begin with the points of the compass; East,
West, and South, and the place of darkness, the North. We are taught why the North is a
place of darkness by the position of Solomon's Temple with reference to the ecliptic, a most
important astronomical conception. The sun is the Past Master's own symbol; our Masters rule
their lodges - or are supposed to! - with the same regularity with which the sun rules the day
and the moon governs the night. Our explanation of our Lesser Lights is obviously an
adaptation of a concept which dates back to the earliest of religions; specifically to the
Egyptian Isis, Osiris, and Horus, represented by the sun, moon, and Mercury.
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In circumambulation about the altar we traverse our lodges from East to West by way of
the South as did the sun worshipers who thus imitated the daily passage of their deity through
the heavens.
Measures of time are astronomical. Days and nights were before man and
consequently before astronomy but hours and minutes are inventions of the mind, depending
upon the astronomical observation of the sun at meridian to determine noon and consequently
all other periods of time. The Middle Chamber work gives to geometry the premier place as a
means by which the astronomer may fix the duration of time and seasons, years and cycles.
Observing that the sun rose and set our ancient brethren easily determined East and
West, although as the sun rises and sets through a variation of 47 degrees north and south
during a six months' period the determination was not exact.
The earliest Chaldean star gazers, progenitors of the astronomers of later ages, saw
that the apparently revolving heavens pivoted on a point nearly coincident with a certain star.
We know that the true north diverges from the North Star one and a half degrees, but their
observations were sufficiently accurate to determine a North - and consequently East, West,
and South.
A curious derivation of a Masonic symbol from the heavens is that universally
associated with the Stewards, the cornucopia. According to the mythology of the Greeks
which goes back to the very dawn of civilization, the god Zeus was nourished in infancy from
the milk of the goat, Amalthea. In gratitude the god placed Amalthea forever in the heavens as
a constellation, but first he gave one of Amalthea's horns to his nurses with the assurance that
it would forever pour for them whatever they desired. The horn of plenty, or the cornucopia, is
thus a symbol of abundance. The goat from which it came may be found by the curious
among the constellations under the name of Capricorn. The Tropic of Capricorn of our school
days is the southern limit of the swing of the sun on the path which marks the ecliptic, on which
the earth dips first its north, then its south pole toward our luminary. Hence there is a
connection, not the less direct for being tenuous, between our Stewards, their symbol, the
lights in the lodge, the place of darkness, and Solomon's Temple.
Of such curious links and interesting bypaths is the connection of astronomy with
geometry and the letter "G," the more beautiful when we see eye to eye with the Psalmist:
"The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handiwork."
(1) Albert Pike: born 1809, died 1891. One of the greatest geniuses Freemasonry has
ever known. It is said of him that "he found Scottish Rite Masonry in a hovel and left it in a
palace." He was a mystic, a symbolist, a teacher of the hidden truths of Freemasonry. To him
the world of Freemasonry owes a debt of incalculable size. Poet, Freemason, philosopher, his
genius had a profound effect upon the Craft in general, and the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite
of Freemasonry in particular.
"GOD IS ALWAYS GEOMETRIZING"

So said Plato twenty-three centuries ago. It is merely an accident of the English
language that geometry and God begin with the same letter; no matter what the language or
the ritual, the initial of the Ineffable Name and that of the first and noblest of sciences are
Masonically the same.
"But that is secret!" cries some newly-initiated brother who has examined his printed
monitor and finds that the ritual concerning the further significance of the letter "G" is
represented only by stars. Aye, the ritual is secret, but the fact is the most gloriously public
that Freemasonry may herald to the world. One can no more keep secret the idea that God is
the very warp and woof of Freemasonry than that He is the essence of all life. Take God out of
Freemasonry and there is, literally, nothing left; it is a pricked balloon, an empty vessel, a
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bubble which has burst.
The petitioner knows it before he signs his application. He must answer "Do you
believe in God?" before his petition can be accepted. He must declare his faith in a Supreme
Being before he may be initiated. But note that he is not required to say, then or ever, what
God. He may name Him as he will, think of Him as he pleases; make Him impersonal law or
personal and anthropomorphic; Freemasonry cares not.
Freemasonry's own especial name for Deity is Great Architect of the Universe. She
speaks of God rarely as if she felt the sacredness of the simple Jewish symbol - the Yod -
which stood for JHVH, that unpronouncable name we think may have been Jehovah. But God,
Great Architect of the Universe, Grand Artificer, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge Above,
Jehovah, Allah, Buddha, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, or Great Geometer, a symbol of the
conception shines in the East of every American Masonic lodge, as in the center of the canopy
of every English lodge.
Secret? Aye, secret as those matters of the heart which may not be told are secret. Let
him who loves his wife or his child more than he loves aught else upon the earth try to explain
in words just how he loves, and he will understand just what sort of a secret this is. All the
world may know that he loves; how he loves, how much he loves, there are no words to tell.
All the world may know that the symbol of Deity shines in the East of a Masonic lodge;
only the true Freemason, who is actually a Mason in his heart, as well as in his mind, may
know just how and in what way the Great Architect is the very essence and substance of the
Ancient Craft.
The symbol of Deity bas always been a part of all houses of initiation. In the Egyptian
mysteries it was the Sun God's symbol, Ra. The Greeks considered the number five to be the
symbol of man's dependence upon the Unseen; from five also came the Pentalpha or five-
pointed star. The imaginative will easily see here a connection with the Fellowcraft's Degree in
which five is especially the symbolic number. Plutarch tells us that in the Greek mysteries the
symbol of God was made of wood in the first, of bronze in the second, and of gold in the third
degree, or step, to symbolize the refinement of man's conception of Deity as he progressed
from the darkness of ignorance to the light of faith in some one of many forms of belief in God.
Freemasonry uses a much more tender and beautiful symbolism. In modern and costly
temples the letter "G" may be of crystal, lighted behind with electric light. In some country
lodge it may be cut from cardboard and painted blue, illuminated if at all with a tallow dip. A
Western lodge meets yearly on the top of a hill in a forest, and nails to a tree cut branches in
the form of a rough letter "G." Freemasonry's symbolism is not of the material substance of the
letter, but its connection with geometry, the science by which the universe exists and moves
and by which the proportions which connect this vast machine are measured.
Aye, God is always geometrizing. Geometry is particularly His science. Freemasonry
makes it especially the science of the Fellowcraft's Degree and couples it with the symbol of
the Great Architect of the Universe. No teaching of Freemasonry is greater; none is simpler
than this. The Fellowcraft who sees it as the very crux and climax of the degree, the reality
behind the form, has learned as no words may teach him for what he climbed the Winding
Stairs, and the true wages of a Fellowcraft which he found within the Middle Chamber.
HISTORY - THE GRAND LODGE PERIOD

The formation of the Mother Grand Lodge in London, in 1717, which profoundly affected
Freemasonry, is shrouded in mystery, clouded in the mists of time, and as extraordinary as it
was important.
The Freemasons of those far-off days could have had no idea of the tremendous issues
which hung upon their actions nor dreamed of the effect of their union. Had they even
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imagined it, doubtless they would have left us more records, and we would not now have to
speculate on matters of history the very causes of which are - in all probability - never fully to
be kmown to us.
One of the causes which led to the sudden coming to life of the old and diminishing
Fraternity was the Reformation. During its operative period Freemasonry had been if not a
child of the Church at least its servant, working hand in hand with it. Our oldest document - the
Halliwell Manuscript or Regius Poem, dated 1390 - invokes the Virgin Mary, speaks of the
Trinity and gives instructions for observing Mass! But the same influences which produced the
Reformation worked in Freemasonry and by 1600, according to the Harleian Manuscript, (1)
the Order had largely severed is dependence upon the Church and become a refuge for those
who wished to be free in thought as well as for Freemasons. It was still Christian - almost
aggressively Christian - in its teachings. Not for another hundred years or more and then only
partially did it rid itself of any sectarian character whatever and become what it is to-day, a
meeting ground for "men of every country, sect and opinion," united in a common belief in the
Fatherhood of God, the brotherbood of man, and the hope of immortality.
Seventeen hundred and seventeen is the dividing line between before and after;
between the old Freemasonry and the new; between a Craft which was slowly expiring and
one which began to grow with a new vitality; between the last lingering remains of operative
Masonry and a Craft wholly Speculative.
Just what were the causes of the events which led up to the formation of the first Grand
Lodge we do not know. We can only guess. No minutes of the Mother Grand Lodge were
kept during its first six years. The Constitutions and Old Charges, first published in 1723, were
republished fifteen years after. In this second edition of 1738 is a meager record of the first
meetings of the Grand Lodge, so brief and so skeletonized that there is space for it in such a
link book as this. In the yellowed pages of this old and precious book of which a few copies
still remain we read (letters modernized)
King George I entered London most magnificently on 20 Sept., 1714, and after the
Rebellion was over 1716 A.D., the few Lodges at London finding themselves neglected by Sir
Christopher Wren, thought fit to cement under a Grand Master as the Center of Union and
Harmony, viz., the Lodges that met,
1. At the Goose and Gridiron Alchouse at St. Pauls Church-yard.
2. At the Crown Alehouse in Parker's-Lane, near Drury-Lane.
3. At the Apple-Tree Tavern in Charles-street Covent Garden.
4. At the Rummer and Grapes Tavern in Channel-Row, Westminster.
They and some old Brothers met at the said Apple-Tree, and having put in the chair the
oldest Master Mason (now the Master of a Lodge) they constituted themselves a Grand Lodge
pro Tempore in due form, and forthwith revived the Quarterly Communication of the Officers of
Lodges (called the Grand lodge) resolved to hold the Annual Assembly and Feast and then to
chuse a Grand Master from among themselves, till they should have the Honor of a Noble
Brother at their Head.
Accordingly on St. John Baptist's Day, in the 3d year of King George I. A.D. 1717 the
Assembly and Feast of the Free and accepted Masons was held at the foresaid Goose and
Gridiron Ale-house.
Before Dinner, the oldest Master Mason (now the Master of a Lodge) in the Chair,
proposed a List of proper Candidates; and the Brethren by a Majority of Hands elected Mr.
Anthony Sayer Gentleman, Grand Master of Masons - Capt. Joseph Elliot, Mr. Jacob Lamball,
Carpenter, Grand Wardens - who being forthwith invested with the Badges of Office and power
by the said oldest Master, and installed, was duly congratulated by the Assembly who paid him
the Homage.
Sayer Grand Master commanded the Masters and Wardens of Lodges to meet the
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Grand Officers every Quarter in Communication at the place he should appoint in his
Summons sent by the Tyler.
N.B. It is called the Quarterly Communication, because it should meet Quarterly
according to ancient Usage. And when the Grand Master is present it is a Lodge in Ample
Form; otherwise, only in Due Form, yet having the same authority with Ample Form.
Probably other lodges existed in London at the time; whether they refused to join the
historic four or were not invited we do not know. We know little about these original four
lodges. The Engraved list of Lodges was published in 1729 in which the Goose and Gridiron
Number 1 (afterwards the Lodge of Antiquity) is said to have dated from 1691. When William
Preston became its Master the lodge was involved in a controversy with the Grand Lodge - but
that is too special an event to consider in so broad a sketch as this.
Lodge number two of the original four lodges, which met at the Crown, Parker's-Lane,
was struck from the roll in 1740. The first Grand Master of this Mother Grand Lodge, Anthony
Sayer, Gentleman, came from lodge number three - the Apple-Tree Tavern Lodge; we know
little more of it. These three lodges were small, and at least as much operative as
Speculative. But the fourth lodge, which met at the Rummer and Grapes Tavern in Channel
Row, Westminster, was not only the largest (seventy members) but the most Speculative and
with the highest type of membership. It mothered not only men of high social rank, lords,
counts and knights, but also Dr. Desaguliers (2) and James Anderson, (3) two brethren who
had a great deal to do with the revival, especially Anderson, to whom we are indebted for
much.
In our perspective a Grand Lodge is as much a necessary part of the existing order of
things as a State or Federal Government. In 1717 it was a new idea, accompanied by many
other new ideas. Some brother or brethren saw that if the ancient Order were not to die, it
must be given new life through a new organization. Doubtless they were influenced by Mother
Kilwinning Lodge (4) of Scotland which had assumed and exercised certain motherly functions
in regard to her daughter lodges, all of which had Kilwinning as a part of their name and,
apparently, of their obedience.
The newly formed Grand Lodge went the whole way. It proposed to, and did, take
command of its lodges. It branched out beyond the jurisdiction originally proposed "within ten
miles of London" and invaded the provinces. It gave enormous powers to the Grand Master. It
prohibited the working of the "Master's Part" in private lodges, thus throwing back to the
ancient annual assemblies(5)." It divided the Craft into Entered Apprentices and Fellowcrafts.
It resolved "against all politics as what never yet conduced to the welfare of the lodge nor ever
will." This was a highly important declaration at a time when every organization in England was
taking part in politics, especially in the Jacobite struggle against the House of Hanover.
Indeed, a Grand Master, the Duke of Wharton (1722) turned against the Grand Lodge and the
Fraternity when it refused to lend itself to his political aspirations and sponsored the
Gormogons, a caricature organization which tried to destroy Freemasonry by ridicule. Luckily
for us all, ridicule, powerful weapon though it is, never in the long run prevails against reality.
The Gormogons, like other and later organizations, such as the Scald Miserable Masons, (6)
had its brief day and died - and Freemasonry throve and grew.
This was of unparalleled importance; it was one of the factors which led to the formation
of other Grand Lodges and dissension in Freemasonry, but as it was distinctly right and
founded modern speculative Freemasonry on the rock of non-sectarianism and the
brotherhood of all men who believe in a common Father regardless of His name, His church, or
the way in which He is worshiped, it won out in the end and became what it is to-day, a
fundamental of the Craft.
Between 1717 and 1751 the Craft spread rapidly, not only in England, but on the
Continent, and in the Colonies, especially Colonial America, where time and people, conditions
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and social life provided fallow ground for the seeds of Freemasonry. But in spite of a new life,
and wise counsels of brethren who restricted the acts if not the power of the new Grand Lodge,
all was not plain sailing. Dissensions appeared. Causes of friction, if not numerous, were
important and went deep. The religious issue was vital; doubtless it seemed to the older
Masons then as radical a step as it seemed to us when the Grand Orient of France (7) took the
V.S.L. from the altar. In the 1738 edition of the Constitutions we find the article "Concerning
God and religion" altered to read, "In ancient times the Christian Masons were charged to
comply with the Christian usages of each country where they traveled and worked."
Another cause for dissension was the Grand Lodge's strong hand regarding the making
of Masons. Too many lodges were careless; too many private groups of Masons assumed the
right to assemble as a lodge and make Masons of their friends; too much laxity existed as to
fees and dues and the payment of charity to the Grand Lodge. To check these practices the
Grand Lodge changed some words in the degrees - doubtless our "spurious Mason" clauses
come from this - and this caused the same reaction then as an attempt by modern brethren to
change or rearrange our present ritual would produce.
Probably the religious issue did not cause a major part of the trouble, but it provided a
constant source of irritation. Then as now many clergymen were Speculative Masons. To-day
enlightened clergymen do not see in the absence of mention of the Carpenter of Nazareth in a
lodge any denial of Him, any more than a Jewish Rabbi sees in the absence of mention of
Jehovah, or a Buddhist sees in the absence of mention of Buddha, a denial of those deities.
Then, however, many clergymen insisted upon a Christian tinge to the Masonic ceremonies,
and while the quarrel would hardly have come from this alone, it was a contributing cause.
In 1738 the Grand Lodge sanctioned the making of the "Master's Part" into what we
know as the Third Degree. This had been going on for years - no one knows how many - but
not by permission of Grand Lodge. Sanctioning it was to many brethren an "alteration of
established usage" and the customs of "time immemorial." It proved another blow struck at
unity.
All these and other matters fomented dissension which came to a head in 1751 when a
rival Grand Lodge was formed. It came into being with a brilliant stroke, for it chose the name
"The Most Antient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons."
Calling itself "Antient" and the older body "Modern" at once enlisted the support of
hundreds of brethren who did not look beneath the surface to learn which was really which. So
we have this peculiar and confusing terminology; the original, the older, the more ancient
Grand Lodge was called the "Modern" Grand Lodge, and the newer and rebellious body was
called "Antient." (8)
The curious story of the rise of this Antient Grand Lodge should be read by every
Freemason, for it has had a tremendous effect upon the Craft. We can afford to be charitable
to those who believed they were engaged in a revolution, not a rebellion. This country was
born out of what we call the Revolution, which to the Royalists of 1776 was the Rebellion.
The Antients were extremely fortunate in having one Laurence Dermott secede from the
Moderns with them. Dermott was a fighting Irishman, a brother heart and soul in the Fraternity,
and if some of his actions seem a little questionable to us, he has to his credit the success of
the movement. In 1771 when the Duke of Atholl became Grand Master the Antients had
almost two hundred lodges on the roll.
Dermott kept the religious issue alive; by implication he made the Moderns seem anti-
religious. He kept the Antients a Christian body and wrote distinctively Christian sentiments
and references into its Constitutions and its documents whenever be could get them adopted.
Meanwhile other Grand Lodges arose; they were not very important and never grew
very large, but they belong in the story of Freemasonry; the "Grand Lodge of All England,"
"The Grand Lodge of England South of the River Trent," "The Supreme Grand Lodge" all made
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their bids for recognition, lived their little day and passed on, each leaving its trace, its
influence, but unable to contend against the Antients and the Moderns.
The benefits which came from the clash seem to-day to be greater than the evils. Then
Freemasons saw only harm in the rivalry which split the Fraternity. Now we can see that
where one Grand lodge established lodges on war-ships, the other retaliated with Army lodges
which carried Freemasonry to far places; where one body started a school for girls, the other
retorted with a school for boys - both still in existence, by the way - where one Grand Lodge
reached out to the provinces, the other cultivated Scotland and Ireland. Both worked
indefatigably in the American Colonies.
The heart burnings, the jealousies, the sorrows and the contests between Antients and
Moderns, if they exhibited less of brotherly love than the Fraternity taught, were actually spurs
to action. Without some such urge Freemasonry could hardly have spread so fast or so far.
As the United States became a much stronger and more closely welded union after the
cleavage of 1361-65, so Freemasonry was to unite at last in a far greater, stronger and more
harmonious body when the two rival Grand Lodges came together, composed their
differences, forgot their rivalries, and clasped hands across the altar of the United Grand
Lodge.
The reconciliation is as astonishing and mysterious as the discord. We can see that the
death of Dermott, who was gathered to his fathers in 1791, fighting for the Antients to the last,
removed one cause of difference between the two Grand Lodges; we can understand that as
the Antients had grown in power and prestige not only in England but in the Colonies until they
outnumbered the Moderns in both lodges and brethren, the Moderns might well have thought
that union would be a life saver; we can comprehend that time heals all differences and that
what had seemed important in 1751 in fifty years had dwindled in vitality.
But what is amazing to this day is that after the difficult period, when overtures were
made, refusals recorded, committees appointed and differences finally composed, the Antient
Grand Lodge, in accepting the idea of reconciliation, receded from almost all the positions for
which it had fought so long! It was as if the spirit of combat, so alien to the gentle genius of
Freemasonry, had worn itself out and brethren became as eager to forgive and forget and
compromise as they had previously been strong to resist and to struggle.
Whatever the spirit which caused it, the final reconciliation took place in Freemasons'
Hall in London, on St. John's Day, December 27, 1813. The two Grand Lodges filed together
into the Hall; the Articles of Union were read; the Duke of Kent retired as Grand Master in favor
of the Duke of Sussex, who was elected Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge.
Two matters must be stressed: the second of the, Articles of Union reads: "It is declared
and pronounced that pure ancient Masonry consists of three degrees and no more; viz., those
of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellowcraft and the Master Mason (including the Supreme Order
of the Holy Royal Arch)."
In 1815 a new Book of Constitutions proclaimed to all the world forever the non-
sectarian character of Freemasonry in this Charge concerning God and religion:
"Let a man's religion or mode of worship be what it may, he is not excluded from the
Order, provided be believes in the glorious Architect of heaven and earth, and practice the
sacred duties of morality."
Newton says of this:
Surely that is broad enough, bigh enough; and we ought to join with it the famous
proclamation issued by the Grand Master, the Duke of Sussex, from Kensington Palace, in
1842, declaring that Masonry is not identified with any one religion to the exclusion of others,
and men in India who were otherwise eligible and could make a sincere profession of faith in
one living God, be they Hindus or Mohammedans, might petition for membership in the Craft.
Such in our own day is the spirit and practice of Masonic universality, and from that position,
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we may be very sure, the Craft will never recede.
(1) Harleian Manuscript: dated about the middle of the Seventeenth Century and
originally the property of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford.
(2) John Theophilus Desaguliers, LL.D. F.R.S., born 1683, died 1744, sometimes called
the Father of Modern Speculative Masonry. He was the third Grand Master of the first Grand
Lodge and thrice afterwards Deputy Grand Master. He is credited with having been the
inspiration of Anderson, and to have supplied much of the material from which Anderson wrote
his "Constitution."
(3) James Anderson, Father of the first printed Constitutions, 1723, which contains the
Old Charges, the General Regulations, and a fanciful, fascinating, but wholly erroneous history
of Freemasonry.
(4) Kilwinning: a small town in Scotland which tradition states is the birthplace of
Freemasonry in the land of heather, as is York the seat of the first General Assembly of
Freemasons in England. Kilwinning Lodge - Mother Kilwinning by affection and common
consent - at one time seceded from the Mother Grand Lodge, during which period she
chartered various lodges as of "inherent right," including; one in Virginia in 1785.
(5) Assembly: sometimes called General Assembly, or Yearly Assembly. The word
seems to denote a meeting of Masons in the ancient operative days equivalent to a modern
lodge. The York Manuscript No. 1, dated approximately 1600, says: "Edwin procured of ye
King his father a charter and commission to holde every yeare an assembly wheresoever they
would within ye realm of England." In the Harleian Manuscript, 1660, it is set forth that: "...
every Master and Fellow come to the Assembly, if it be within five miles shout him, if he have
any warning."
Finally the Grand Lodge erased the ancient Charge "to be true to God and Holy Church"
and substituted the Charge already quoted.
(6) Scald Miserables: mock Masons wbo paraded in London in 1741. Many such mock
Masonic processions were formed by enemies of the Order - often men who had been denied
acceptance. Of little importance then, and none now, except that the Masonic disinclination to
take part in public processions - dedications, cornerstone layings and funerals excepted -
comes from the mock Masonic processions which imitated the ancient "March of Procession"
of Masons in London in the early years of the Grand Lodge.
(7) Grand Orient of France: a body once Masonic which is without recognition by the
Grand Lodges of England, the United States, and most of the other nations. It removed from
its Constitutions a paragraph affirming the existence of the Great Architect of the Universe.
Withdrawal of recognition by the United Grand Lodge of England followed immediately (1878)
and ever since the Grand Orient bas been clandestine to practically all the Masonic world.
(8) United States Grand Lodges style themselves under several different abbreviations:
F. and A.M.; A.F. and A.M., and variations using the Ampersand (&) in place of the word
"and." The District of Columbia still uses F.A.A.M., meaning Free and Accepted Masons, in
spite of the possible confusion as to whether the first A stands for "and" or "ancient." The
variations are accounted for by differences in origins, some Grand Lodges coming into being
with lodges which held under the "Ancients," and some from the "Moderns," and by variations
due to the errors which are seemingly ineradicable in "mouth-to-ear" instruction. Whether
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Free, Ancient and Accepted Masons; Ancient Free
Masons, or any other combination of the words, all United States Grand Lodges are "regular,"
tracing descent either mediately or immediately to the United Grand Lodge of England and
recognized by her.
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MASTER MASON
By CARL H. CLAUDY
THE ROAD
So many men before thy Altars kneel

Unthinkingly, to promise brotherhood;
So few remain, humbly to kiss thy rood
With ears undeafened to thy mute appeal;
So many find thy symbols less than real,
Thy teachings mystic, hard to understand;
So few there are, in all thy far flung band
To hold thy banner high and draw thy steel
And yet . . . immortal and most mighty, thou!
What hath thy lore of life to let it live?
What is the vital spark, hid in thy vow?
Thy millions learned as thy dear paths they trod,
The secret of the strength thou hast to give:
"I am a way of common men to God."
THE SUBLIME DEGREE OF MASTER MASON

Similarities exist in all the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry. Each has an entry, a reception, a
circumambulation, an obligation, a bringing to light. Each discovers certain symbols to the
initiate and, in demonstration and in lecture, gives him the key by which he may unlock the
door behind which he will find their meaning.
In its Second Section the Sublime Degree departs from the familiar. Instead of being
concerned with moral principles and exhortations, as is the first degree, or with architecture
and learning, as is the second, it answers the cry of Job, "If a man die, shall he live again?"
The degree delves into the deepest recesses of a man's nature. While it leads the initiate into
the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Temple, it probes the Holy of Holies of his heart.
As a whole the degree is symbolical of that old age by the wisdom of which "we may enjoy the
happy reflections consequent on a well-spent life, and die in the hope of a glorious
immortality."
But it is much more than that. It is at once the universal and yearning question of man
throughout all ages and its answer. To teaches no creed, no dogma, no religion; only that there
is a hope of Immortality; there is a Great Architect by whose mercy we may live again, leaving
to each brother his choice of interpretations by which he may read the Great Beyond.
It teaches of the power - and the powerlessness - of evil. For those who are happy in a belief in
the resurrection of the physical body, the Sublime Degree has comfort. For those whose hope
is in the raising only of that spiritual body of which Paul taught, the degree assures of all the
longing heart can wish.
When the lesson of the greatest hope and the dearest wish of all mankind is made manifest,
the Sublime Degree turns to this life and this brotherhood, and in the symbolism of the Lion,
the exposition of the Five Points of Fellowship, the means by which a Mason may claim all that
a man may from his brother, and the Word, ties together the Hiramic Legend and daily living in
a manner which no thoughtful man may see and hear without a thrill, a way at once awe-
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inspiring and heartening, terrible but beautiful, sternly uncompromising yet strangely
comforting.
It is because the degree is all this - and more, much more, which cannot be put into words -
that it means so much to those of whom it becomes a part. The ceremony is not of the earth,
earthy, but of that land of the inner life, that home of the spirit where each man thinks the
secret thoughts he tells never - never.
Pull the flower to pieces; remain the petals, a perfume, but no rose. Play the symphony,
isolated note by note; sound is heard, but no music. Every word Milton wrote is in the
dictionary but great poems may not there be found.
So of any written account of this degree; we may write of its symbols, analyze its legend, tell of
its meaning, but we pronounce but words without a rhyme, make a flower of wax, a song
muted. The best we may do is to point out a path up the high mountain of spiritual experience
which is the Sublime Degree, that he who climbs may see it with a new view - and clearer
eyes.
"REMEMBER NOW THY CREATOR . . ."
Of all the quotations, allusions, facts, and names taken from the Great Light and made a part
of the Masonic ritual none has a more secure place in the hearts of the brethren than the first
seven verses from Ecclesiastes xii:
Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy Youth, while the evil days come not, nor the
years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. While the sun, or the light,
or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: In the day when
the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the
grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, and
the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise
up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low: Also when
they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, when the almond tree
shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth
to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or
the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the
cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God
who gave it.
Of the two favourite interpretations of Biblical commentators one makes this dramatic passage
a description of old age and senile decay; the other, a reference to the seldom experienced
and much feared thunderstorm in Palestine.
The first gives advice to remember the Creator before the eyes begin to go blind, the hands
begin to tremble, the legs to weaken, the teeth to drop out; before the old man is frightened at
every little sound, even the voice of a bird, before his voice ceases to be musical; before "the
almond tree shall flourish" - that is, the hair whiten like the almond tree in bloom - and so tiny a
weight as that of a grasshopper be burdensome; before the silver cord (spinal marrow) be
loosed or the golden bowl (heart) be broken and so on.
Whether or not the writer of this passage possessed a sufficient knowledge of anatomy to refer
to the spinal cord, heart, internal organs, and brain as the "silver cord," the "golden bowl," the
"pitcher," and the "wheel," is problematical. The storm interpretation is not open to such an
objection; the little mills with which women ground corn would soon cease in the face of the
feared thunder; the women in the houses would draw away from the windows and shut them
and also the doors, but there is some difficulty in fitting the grasshopper and the almond tree
into this analogy.
Read it how you will, the majestic and awe-inspiring poetry rings here the solemn warning with
a shake of the heart and a shiver up the back.... Remember now thy Creator . . . now, before
the fearsome storms of life, or the decay of old age is upon you; wait not until "fears are in the
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way" to cry for help to the Almighty. Delay not until toothless, sightless, white-haired age asks
for help from on high because there is no help left on earth! Remember now thy Creator, while
limbs are strong and desire ardent, while life pulses redly and the world is all before . . .
No man thinks of his Master Mason's degree but hears again in his heart at least the beginning
and ending of this sermon in poetry: "Remember now thy Creator, in the days of thy youth; . . .
then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it
" The solemn strokes on the bell which is Ecclesiastes and the heart-gripping drama of the
Legend of Hiram Abif are never to be known apart by him who has met them together.
THE HIRAMIC LEGEND
Learned students have attempted to fix the date - as if dates mattered! - when the Hiramic
Legend first made its appearance in Freemasonry. Their conclusions are more negative than
positive, and none has gone behind the fact that in one form or another the Hiramic Legend is
among the oldest as it is among the dearest myths of the human race. One may agree that
documentary evidence does not put the legend of the martyred master workman into the third
degree prior to 1725 and still see in it a recasting of the race-old drama of man's hope for
immortality.
A dozen or more suggestions have been made by Masonic students as to what the legend
means. Some take it literally even though the Old Testament says nothing of the death of that
Hiram which Solomon fetched out of Tyre who "wrought all his work." Others believe it is
another way of telling the story of Isis and Osiris - itself a legend which could hardly have been
foisted on the people full born from the brain of some clever priest but must have been an
heritage from the Hyksos, or even earlier inhabitants of Egypt. Fancifully, some see in it a
modern version of the death of Abel at the hands of Cain, and of course thousands visualize it
as the death and resurrection of the Man of Galilee.
Search the Great Light; you will find no account of the tragedy of Hiram Abif. You will learn of
Hiram, or Huram. If you delve deeply enough in Hebrew you will learn that "Abif" means "his
father" which may indicate another Hiram, a son. Modern scholarship translates Hiram Abif as
"Hiram, my father" meaning a Hiram looked up to, venerated, given a title of honour, as the
father of a tribe, the father of an art, the father of the sacred vessels of the Temple. But of the
Three, the tragedy, and the Lost Word, the Old Testament is silent.
Nor will you find in secular history any account of the drama of Hiram. For its truth you must
delve into the myths and legends and fairy stories in which the race has half concealed, half
revealed, those truths which do not bear telling in plain words.
Is there a Santa Claus? For six years old there is. For his elders Santa Claus is a means of
telling a beautiful truth in terms which six years old can understand. Is the legend "true"? What
is meant by "true" ? If the translation of "true" is "historically accurate," obviously neither Santa
Claus nor Hiram Abif is "true." But if "true" means "containing a great truth," then both the myth
of the Yuletide Saint and the Legend of the Master Builder are true in the most real sense.
Raised to the Sublime Degree, many men see in the living, the dying and the raising of the
Master only a literal drama, designed to teach the virtues of fortitude and inflexible fidelity. For
those whose ears hear only the melody and are deaf to harmonies, for those whose eyes are
so blinded by the sunset as not to see the colors, this is good enough.
Yet any literal interpretation of the legend and our ceremony which exemplifies it misses its
heart.
The Legend of Hiram Abif is at once the tragedy and the hope of man; it is virtue struck down
by error, evil, and sin, and raised again by truth, goodness, and mercy. It is the story of the
resurrection of that "which bears the nearest affinity to that supreme intelligence which
pervades all nature." It is the answer to Job. It is at once the beginning of the even more
sacred legend - of that which was lost - and the assurance that at long last he who seeks shall
find.
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How long is a rope? A silly question! It can be answered, presumably, if one can find one end
and measure it to the other. Suppose the rope has only one end? Sillier and sillier! But if two
ends are true of a rope, are they true of space and time and eternity? If time has a beginning, it
has an ending. If space commences somewhere, there also will be its end to be found. If
eternity has a beginning, it is not eternal!
Here is the shock, the surprise, and the glory of the third degree. It presents us with eternity in
the midst of life. It pushes back the confines of our little dimensions, our tiny measurements of
time, our small comprehension of space and shows us that we enter eternity at neither birth
nor death. We have always been in eternity if we are in it at all. Hiram Abif was gathered to his
fathers when the selfishness and sin of misguided men struck him down. But they were
powerless against the Paw of the Lion and the might of Freemasonry. Each of us is born, lives
his short life and, wearing his little white apron, is laid where our forefathers have gone before
us. The drama of the third degree assures us that the life from birth to death and including both
is but an episode, a single note in the great symphony.
The Hiramic Legend is the glory of Freemasonry; the search for that which was lost is the glory
of life.
Never may we find it here. You shall gaze through microscope and telescope and catch no
sight of its shadow. You shall travel in many lands and far and see it not. You shall listen to all
the words of all the tongues which all men have ever spoken and will speak - the Lost Word is
not heard. Were it but a word, how easy to invent another! But it is not a word, but The Word,
the great secret, the unknowableness which the Great Architect sets before his children, a will
o' the wisp to follow, a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Never here is it to be found, but
the search for it is the reason for life.
The Sublime Degree teaches that in another life it may be found.
That is why it is the Sublime Degree.
THE SANCTUM SANCTORUM
In the Entered Apprentice's and Fellowcraft's degrees the altar is the place of obligation. Here
in due form the initiate takes upon himself those duties and offers those promises which make
of the candidate an Entered Apprentice, which pass the Entered Apprentice to the degree of
Fellowcraft.
In the Master Mason's degree the altar is more - much more. It now becomes the Masonic
Holy of Holies, which the Great Light teaches us was the center and heart of both the
Tabernacle in the Wilderness and the Temple of Solomon. In the Holy of Holies was the Ark of
the Covenant, over which the Shekinah, the very spirit of God Himself, glowed in a radiance
too bright for mortal eyes.
Let him who reads remember the Rite of Discalceation as it was in the preceding degrees and
compare it with that practised here. As he reflects on the symbolism of the altar in the Sublime
Degree, he will understand why it is different. Exodus iii, 4 and 5 help:
... God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here
am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place
whereon thou standest is holy ground.
In the East the worshipper removes his shoes that the Temple be not defiled. The Rite of
Discalceation does not proclaim that the Masonic initiate will defile the Temple of
Freemasonry, but that he is thus made to recognize that "the place whereon thou standest is
holy ground" - a place not to be approached as are other places, but one into which one walks
as set forth in the prayer book, "reverently, discreetly advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of
God."
Some things may not be written; not so much that it is forbidden as that they are not to be
expressed in words. Kneeling before the altar of the Great Architect of the Universe to offer
petition for himself, alone with his Maker, the Freemason is himself a symbol of that strange
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relationship which all feel and none may speak; that oneness with infinity by which he whose
heart is quickened may understand - as much as it may be understood - the Fatherhood of
God and the brotherhood of man.
THE LION
The lion is one of Freemasonry's most powerful and potent symbols both in the Lion of the
Tribe of Judah and the paw of the lion.
Judah was symbolized as a lion in his father's deathbed blessing. The lion was upon the
standard of the large and powerful tribe of Judah. "Lion of the Tribe of Judah" was one of
Solomon's titles. Christian interpretation of the phrase springs from Revelation (v, 5), Behold,
the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose
the seven seals thereof.
The idea of a resurrection is curiously interwoven with the lion. In the Twelfth Century, one
Philip de Thaun stated: "Know that the lioness, if she bring forth a dead cub, she holds her cub
and the lion arrives; he goes about and cries, till it revives on the third day."
Thus the strong lion of Judah
The gates of cruel death being broken
Arose on the third day
At the loud sounding voice of the father. (1)
But the lion was connected with the idea of resurrection long before the Man of Galilee walked
upon the earth. In ancient Egypt as we learn from the stone carvings on the ruins of temples a
lion raised Osiris from a dead level to a living perpendicular by a grip of his paw; the carvings
show a figure standing behind the altar, observing the raising of the dead, with its left arm
uplifted and forming the angle of a square.
The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, considered as signifying a coming redeemer who would spring
from the tribe, or meaning the King of Israel who built the Temple, or symbolizing the Christ,
must not be confused with the mode of recognition so inextricably mingled with the Sublime
Degree, teaching of a resurrection and a future life.
Unquestionably the Israelites absorbed much of Egyptian belief during the Captivity, which
may account both for the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and our own use of the paw.
FIVE POINTS OF FELLOWSHIP
The Five Points of Fellowship contain the essence of the doctrine of brotherhood.
In the Old Constitutions as explained in the Halliwell or Regius manuscript are fifteen
regulations called points. The old verse runs:
Fifteen artyculus there they soughton
And fifteen poyntys there they wrogton.
Phillip's New World of Words, published in 1706 defines point as "a head or chief matter." An
operative Mason "points" the wall by filling in the chinks left in laying bricks or stone, thus
completing the structure.
Our Five Points of Fellowship are not allied to these, except as they are reflected in the word
"points." We also find this relationship in the Perfect Points of Entrance, once called Principal
Points.
A change was made in the symbolism of the Five Points in 1843, at the Baltimore Masonic
Convention. Prior to that time the Five Points were symbolised by hand, foot, knee, breast, and
back. After 1843 the hand was omitted and the mouth and ear tacked on as the fifth. Mackey
believed that "The omission of the first and the insertion of the last are innovations and the
enumeration given ... is the old and genuine one which was originally taught in England by
Preston and in this country by Webb."
Such curiosities of ritual changes, though interesting, are more for the antiquarian than the
average lodge member. Most of us are more concerned with a practical explanation of the Five
Points as they have been taught for more than a hundred years.
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A man goes on foot a short distance by preference; for a longer journey he boards a street car,
rides in an automobile, engages passage on a railroad or courses through the air in a plane.
Service to our brethren on foot does not imply any special virtue in that means of
transportation. The word expresses the willingness of him who would serve to go at
inconvenience and with difficulty, if necessary.
We assist our brethren when we can; also we serve them. The two terms are not
interchangeable. We cannot assist a brother without serving, but we may serve him without
assisting him. A wholly negative action may be a service; suppose we have a just claim against
him and because of our fraternal relations we postpone pressing it. That is true service, but not
active assistance, such as we might render if we gave or loaned money.
How far should we go on foot to render service? Nothing is said in the ritual but the cable tow
is elsewhere used as a measure of length. Our own conception of brotherhood must say how
far we travel to help our brother. To petition at the altar of the Great Architect of the Universe
before engaging in any great or important undertaking is sound Masonic doctrine. We name
the welfare of our brethren in our petitions because we love them; knowing our own need of
their prayers, we realize their need of ours.
Anciently it was written Laborare est orare - to labour is to pray. If indeed labour is prayer, then
to pray for our brethren we may labour for them, which at once clarifies the Second Point and
makes it a practical, everyday, do-it-now admonition. To work for our brother's welfare is in the
most brotherly manner to petition the Most High for him.
We often associate something less than proper with the idea of a secret. "He has a secret in
his life"; "he is secretive"; "he says one thing but in his secret heart he thinks another" seem to
connote some degree of guilt with what is secret. We keep our brother's secrets, guilty or
innocent, but let us not assume that every secret is of a guilty variety. He may have a secret
ambition, a secret joy, a secret hope - if he confide these to us, is our teaching merely to refuse
to tell them or to keep them in the fine old sense of that word - to hold, to guard, to preserve?
The Tiler stands watch and ward not to keep the door from others, but to see that none uses it
improperly. Thus are we to keep the secret joys and ambitions of our brother close in our
hearts until he wants them known, but also, by sympathy and understanding, help him to
maintain them. "Do you stumble and fall, my brother? My hand is stretched out to prevent. Do
you need aid? My hand is yours - use it. It is your hand for the time being. My strength is united
to yours. You are not alone in your struggle - I stand with you on the Fourth of the Five Points
and as your need may be, so, Deo volente, will be my strength for you."
So must we speak when the need comes. It makes no difference in what way our brother
stumbles; it may be mentally; it may be spiritually; it may be materially; it may be morally. No
exceptions are noted in our teachings. We are not told to stretch forth the hand in aid if, and
perhaps, and but! Not for us to judge, to condemn, to admonish ... for us only to put forth our
strength unto our falling brother at his need without question and without stint.
For of such is the Kingdom of Brotherhood.
More sins are committed in the name of the Fifth of the Five Points than in the name of Liberty!
Too often we offer counsel when it is not advice but help that is needed. Too often we
admonish of motes within our brother's eye when our own vision is blinded by beams.
Reread here Amos vii in the Fellowcraft's Degree.
"In the midst of my people Israel" - not in the faraway land; not across the river; not up on the
mountain top, but in the midst of them, close to them, an intimate personal individual plumb
line! So are we to admonish our brother; not by the plumb, the square, the level we are each
taught to carry in our hearts, but by his plumb, his square, his level. If he build true by his own
tools, we have no right to judge him by ours. He may differ from us in opinion; he may be
Republican where we are Democrat, Methodist where we are Baptist, Protectionist where we
are Free Trade - we must not judge him by the plumb line of our own beliefs. When we see a
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brave man shrinking, a virtuous man abandonings himself to vice, a good man acting as a
criminal - then is his building faulty judged by his own plumb line, and we may heed the Fifth of
the Five Points and counsel and advise him to swing back true to his own working tools. So
considered, these teachings of Masonry, concerned wholly with the relations of brother to
brother become a broad and beautiful band of blue - the blue of the Blue Lodge - the true blue
of brotherhood.
THREE GRAND PILLARS
In the Entered Apprentice's Degree we learn of Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty.
In the Fellowcraft's Degree we hear of the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian Columns.
In the Master Mason's Degree we hear again of the Three Grand Pillars.
In each degree as we progress more and more toward the East from whence comes Masonic
Light we discover more interesting meanings of the supports of a lodge. It would take pages
where here are but paragraphs even to list the references to wisdom in the Great Light, the
word occurs in the Bible two hundred and twenty-four times! For Masons, however, perhaps
the most illuminating passages regarding wisdom come from Proverbs (ii 2; iii 13, 14; viii 11).
Solomon said:
Incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding. Happy is the man that
findeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better
than the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof than fine gold. For wisdom is better than
rubbies and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
Knowledge is cognizance of facts. Wisdom is the strength of mind to apply its knowledge. A
Mason may know every word of our ritual from the beginning of the Entered Apprentice's
Degree to the final words of the Sublime Degree of Master Mason and still have no wisdom,
Masonic or otherwise. Many a great leader of the Craft has been a stumbling, halting ritualist,
yet possessed in abundance a Masonic wisdom which made him a power for good among the
brethren. Knowledge comes from study; wisdom from experience and reflection. Knowledge
may be the possession of the criminal, the wastrel, the "irreligious libertine," and the atheist.
Wisdom comes only to the wise, and the wise are ever good. The first of the Three Grand
Pillars which support our Institution should be to every Mason a symbol of the real need to
become wise with the goodness of Masonry, skilled in the arts of brotherhood, learned in the
way to the hearts of his brethren. If he know not and ask, "How may I gain Masonic wisdom?"
let him find the answer not in the ritual, important though it is; not in form and ceremony,
beautiful though they are with the strength of repetition and age - let him look to the Five Points
of Fellowship, for there is the key to all real wisdom concerning the brotherhood of man.
The second of our Grand Pillars, without which nothing endures, even when contrived by
wisdom and adorned by beauty, we know in two forms in our daily lives. First, the strength
which lies in action power, might - the strength of the arm, the engine the army. Second, that
other, subtler strength which is not the less strong for being passive the strength of the
foundation which endures, the strength of the principles my which we live, individually,
collectively, nationally - Masonically, It is the second form of strength with which the
Speculative Mason is concerned. Freemasons build no temporal buildings. We do lay the
cornerstone of the public building in the Northeast Corner, but the action is symbolic, not
practical. The operative Mason who sets the stone for the Grand Master would place it as
strongly in the building without our ceremony as with it. Our building is with the strength which
endures in hearts and minds rather than that which makes the sundry "materials of which an
edifice is composed" to do man's will. The Freemason constructs only the spiritual building; his
stone is his mind, mentally chipped by the common gavel to a perfect ashlar. The strength by
which he establishes his kingdom is not a strength of iron but a strength of will; his pillars
support not a wall to keep out cowans and eavesdroppers but a character proof against the
intrusion of "the vices and superfluities of life."
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Beauty is represented in a Masonic lodge by the Corinthian column, most beautiful of the
ancient orders of architecture; by the Junior Warden who observes the sun at meridian when
the day is most beautiful; by Hiram Abif, who beautified and adorned the Temple. We are
taught that it is as necessary that beauty adorn all great and important undertakings as that
wisdom contrive or strength support them. In the story of Solomon's Temple in the Great Light
we find detailed descriptions of what was evidently, to those who went into details of its
construction, the most beautiful building possible for the engineering skill, the wealth and the
conception of the people of Israel. Artists dispute and philosophers differ about what is beauty.
All of us have our individual conceptions of what constitutes it. As no two men are agreed as to
what is beautiful in a material sense, the Masonic conception of beauty cannot be of material
beauty. Its symbol of beauty - the sun at meridian - is actually too blinding to see. If we think
the sun beautiful, it is for what it does for us, rather than for what it is.
The Masonic Pillar of Beauty, then, must be the symbol of an inward loveliness, a beauty of the
mind, of the heart; a beauty of the spirit. Our Corinthian column is to us not merely the support
of a building but that which upholds a character. Our Junior Warden represents not only the
beauty of the sun at meridian, but the illumination by which a life is made beautiful. Hiram Abif
is to us not only an exemplary character but an ideal to follow, a tradition to be preserved, a
glory for which we may strive. A man may keep every law, go to church three times on a
Sunday, belong to our Order, subscribe to every charity and still be mean of spirit, unhappy to
live with, selfish, inconsiderate, disagreeable. Such an one has not learned the inward
meaning of the Pillar of Beauty. He has never stood symbolically in the South. For him the sun
at meridian is but the orb of day at high noon and nothing more.
But for the real Mason, who takes lessons of the Three Grand Pillars to heart, beauty is as
much a lamp to live by as are wisdom and strength. He finds beauty in his fellow man because
his inner self is beautiful. His house not made with hands is glorious before heaven, not
because in imitation of Solomon he "overlaid also the house, the beams, the post and the walls
thereof and the doors thereof, with gold" but because it is made of those stones which endure
before the Great Architect - unselfishness, and kindness, and consideration, and charity, and a
giving spirit; of brotherhood genuine because it springs from the heart. For these things
endure. Material things pass away. The Temple of Solomon is but a memory. Scattered the
stones, stolen the gold and silver, destroyed the lovely vessels cast by Hiram Abif. But the
memory, like the history of the beauty and the glory which was Solomon, abide unto this day.
So shall it be with our house not built with hands, so be it we build with the beauty which
Masons teach.
THE BOOK OF CONSTITUTIONS, GUARDED BY THE TILER'S SWORD
Before the door of all lodges stands a Tiler "with a drawn sword in his hand." Customarily it is a
straight blade; such a shining shaft of steel as was carried by knights of olden time. According
to Mackey it should have a snake-like shape in allusion to the "Flaming sword which was
placed at the east of the Garden of Eden which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of
life."
"The Book of Constitutions, guarded by the Tiler's sword," is a comparatively modern symbol;
its introduction has been traced to Webb, about 1800.
It reminds us to be "ever watchful and guarded in our words and actions, particularly when
before the enemies of Masonry, ever bearing in remembrance those truly Masonic virtues,
silence and circumspection." But the Book of Constitutions is not a secret work. It was first
ordered printed by the Mother Grand Lodge, and a few original copies as well as uncounted
reprints of the Old Charges and the General Regulations of 1723 are in existence to be seen
by Mason and profane alike. Obviously neither silence nor circumspection regarding this
particular Masonic volume is necessary. Some read into Webb's symbol the thought that it
expresses the guardianship of constitutional government by the Masonic Fraternity but this
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seems rather far-fetched. It is easier to think that the Tiler's sword admonishes us to brook no
changes in our ancient landmarks, to be guarded lest our words and actions bring the
foundation book of Masonic law into disrepute before the enemies of Masonry, applying to the
Book of Constitutions as well as to the secrets of Freemasonry "those truly Masonic virtues,
silence and circumspection." The second edition of Anderson's Constitutions sets forth that in
1731 the Grand Master, the Duke of Norfolk, presented to the Grand Lodge of England
the old trusty sword of Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, that was worn next by his
successor in war, the brave Bernard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, with both their names on the
blade, which the Grand Master had ordered Brother George Moody (the king's sword cutler) to
adorn richly with the arms of Norfolk in silver on the scabbard, in order to be the Grand
Master's sword of state in the future.
Early prints of lodge meetings on the Continent show the sword in use in the ceremonies; in
this country the sword was never worn in the lodge room even during that era when a sword
was as much a necessary article of a gentleman's dress as shoes or gloves. It was deemed
then as now incompatible with meeting upon the level. Either as a weapon which made its
possessor stronger than the man who was unarmed, or as a badge of rank, the sword has no
place in the lodge, except that it is usually presented to the Tiler in the lodge at opening. It is
almost universal for the Tiler to request military men in uniform to leave their swords without
the lodge before entering. This custom, comparatively little known in this country because few
military men in times of peace go to lodge in full uniform, was often broken during the war
when soldiers clanked up and down lodge rooms with their arms at their sides. But it is as
Masonically inconsistent to wear a sword in lodge as to appear therein without an apron.
The Tiler's sword is wholly symbolic; whether it was always so is a matter lost in the mists
which shroud ancient history. The Tiler of the operative lodge may well have been armed with
a sword for actual defense against the cowan, who wanted the word and the secret of the
square without the necessity of serving a long period as an Apprentice and labouring to
produce a satisfactory Master's Piece. The modern Tiler keeps off the cowan and the
eavesdropper by the simple process of refusing to admit those he does not know; if they still
desire to enter the tiled door, they must either be vouched for or request a committee. The
Tiler's sword is but the emblem of his authority, as the gavel is the symbol of that possessed
by the Master.
No symbol in Freemasonry but is less than the idea symbolized. The Volume of the Sacred
Law, the letter "G," the Square, the Compasses, all symbolize ideas infinitely greater than
paper and ink, a letter formed of electric lights or carved from wood, a working tool of metal.
The Tiler's sword has a much greater significance than its use as a defense against invasion of
privacy. The eavesdropper from without is no longer feared. The real eavesdropper is the
innocent profane who is told more than he should by the too enthusiastic Mason. In the
monitorial charge to the Entered Apprentice we hear, "neither are you to suffer your zeal for
the Institution to lead you into argument with those who, through ignorance may ridicule it."
The admonition of the Book of Constitutions guarded by the Tiler's sword applies here.
Constructively if not actively every profane who learns more than he should of esoteric
Masonic work is an enemy.
Let us, then, all wear a Tiler's sword in our hearts; let us set the seal of silence and
circumspection upon our tongues; let us guard the West Gate from the cowan as loyally as the
Tiler guards his door.
Only by such use of the sword do we carry out its symbolism. To Masons the sword is an
emblem of power and authority, never of blood or wounds or battle or death. Only when
thought of in this way is it consistent with the rest of the symbols of our gentle Craft, winning
obedience to the mandates of the Tiler by brotherly love, an infinitely stronger power than
strength of arm, point of weapon or bright and glittering steel.
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THE ALL-SEEING EYE
This is one of the oldest and most widespread symbols denoting God. We find it in Egypt, in
India, and in the Old Testament. The Open Eye of Egypt represented Osiris. In India Siva is
represented by an eye. In the Old Testament we read of the "eyes of Jehovah."
Omniscience and omnipresence are rather forbidding words; the All-Seeing Eye expresses in
familiar syllables a thought easily comprehended by ignorant and wise alike. The conception of
a sleepless Eye which sees not only material but spiritual things; which watches not only
externals but the "inmost recesses of the human heart" has that pictorial and imaginative
appeal which visualizes to the most matter-of-fact the power and the universality of the Great
Architect.
We are taught of it as the "All-Seeing Eye whom the sun, moon, and stars obey and under
whose watchful care even comets perform their stupendous revolutions." In this astronomical
reference is a potent argument for extreme care in the transmission of ritual unchanged from
mouth to ear and the necessity of curbing well-intentioned brethren who wish to "improve" the
ritual.
The word "revolution," printed in the earliest Webb monitors, fixes the astronomical references
as comparatively modern conceptions. Tycho Brahe, progenitor of the modern maker and user
of fine instruments among astronomers, whose discoveries have left an indelible impress on
astronomy, did not consider comets as orbital bodies. Galileo thought them "emanations of the
atmosphere." Not until the Seventeenth Century was well under way did a few daring spirits
suggest that these celestial portents of evil, these terrible heavenly demons which had inspired
terror in the hearts of men for uncounted generations, were actually parts of the solar system,
and that many if not most of them were periodic, returning again and again; in other words,
that they revoked about the sun.
Obviously this passage of our ritual cannot have come down to us by a word-of-mouth
transmission from an epoch earlier than that in which men first believed that a comet was not
an augury of evil but a part of the solar system, a body which engaged not in irresponsible
evolutions but law-controlled revolutions. Here the change of a single letter would destroy an
approximate date-fixing reference.
THE 47TH PROBLEM OF EUCLID
Except the All-Seeing Eye, this emblem contains more real food for thought than any other in
the lecture of the Sublime Degree. Yet the 47th problem of Euclid generally gets less attention
and certainly less understanding than all the rest. The paragraph relating to Pythagoras in our
lecture is condensed from one in the Thomas Smith Webb Monitor which appeared at the
close of the Eighteenth Century.
Unabbreviated, it reads:
The 47th problem of Euclid was an invention of our ancient friend and brother, the great
Pythagoras, who, in his travels through Asia, Africa, and Europe, was initiated into several
orders of priesthood, and raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason. This wise
philosopher enriched his mind abundantly in a general knowledge of things, and more
especially in Geometry, or Masonry. On this subject he drew out many problems and
theorems, and, among the most distinguished, he erected this, when, in the joy of his heart, he
exclaimed Eureka, in the Greek language signifying, "I have found it," and upon the discovery
of which he is said to have sacrificed a hecatomb. It teaches Masons to be general lovers of
the arts and sciences.
In a sense that Pythagoras was a learned man, a leader, a teacher, a founder of a school, a
wise man who saw God in Nature and in number, be was a "friend and brother." That be was
"initiated into several orders of priesthood" is history. That he was "raised to the Sublime
Degree of Master Mason" is an impossibility, as the third degree as we know it is not more
than three hundred years old at the very outside. Pythagoras travelled but probably his
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wanderings were confined to the countries bordering the Mediterranean. He did go to Egypt,
but it is doubtful that he got much farther into Asia than Asia Minor. He did indeed "enrich his
mind abundantly" in many matters and particularly in mathematics. That he was the first to
"erect" the 47th problem is possible but not proved; at least he worked with it so much that it is
sometimes called "the Pythagorean problem." If he did discover it, he might have exclaimed
"Eureka," but that he sacrificed a hecatomb - a hundred head of cattle - is entirely out of
character, since the Pythagoreans were vegetarians and reverenced all animal life.
In Pythagoras' day (586-506 B.C.) the 47th problem was not so called. It remained for Euclid of
Alexandria two hundred years later to write his books of geometry, of which the 47th and 48th
problems form the end of the first. Either Pythagoras did discover the Pythagorean problem, or
if it was known prior to his time, it was used by him, so that Euclid, recording in writing the
science of geometry as it was then known, merely availed himself of the mathematical
knowledge of his era. At the close of his first book Euclid states the 47th problem - and its
correlative 48th - as follows:
(47th) In every right angle triangle the square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the
squares on the other two sides.
(48th) If the square described on one of the sides of a triangle is equal to the square described
on the other sides, then the angle contained by these two sides is a right angle.
This sounds more complicated than it is. Of all people Masons should know what a square is: a
right angle, the fourth of a circle, an angle of ninety degrees. For the benefit of those who have
forgotten their school days, the "hypotenuse" is the line which makes a right angle into a
triangle by connecting the ends of the two lines which form it.
For illustrative purposes let us consider that the familiar Masonic square has one arm six
inches long and one arm eight inches long. A square erected on the six-inch arm will contain
square inches to the number of six times six, or thirty-six square inches. The square erected on
the eight-inch arm will contain square inches to the number of eight times eight, or sixty-four.
The sum of sixty-four and thirty-six square inches is one hundred square inches.
According to the 47th problem the square which can be erected upon the hypotenuse, or line
joining the six- and eight-inch arms of the square, should contain exactly one hundred square
inches. The only square which can contain one hundred square inches has ten-inch sides,
since ten, and no other number, is the square root of one hundred.
This is provable, mathematically, but it is also demonstrable with an actual square. The curious
need only lay off a line six inches long, at right angles to a line eight inches long, connect the
free ends by a line (the hypotenuse) and measure the length of that line to be convinced - it is,
indeed, ten inches long.
This is the famous 47th problem. It is the root of all geometry. It is behind the discovery of
every mathematical unknown from two known factors. It is the very cornerstone of
mathematics.
The engineer who tunnels from both sides through a mountain uses it to get his two shafts to
meet in the center. The surveyor who wants to know how high a mountain may be ascertains
the answer through the 47th problem. The astronomer who calculates the distance of the sun,
the moon, the planets, and who fixes "the duration of times and seasons, years, and cycles,"
depends upon the 47th problem for his results. The navigator travelling the trackless seas uses
the 47th problem in determining his latitude, his longitude, and his true time. Eclipses are
predicted, tides are specified as to height and time of occurrence, land is surveyed, roads run,
shafts dug, bridges built, with the 47th problem to show the way.
It is difficult to show why it is true; easy to demonstrate that it is true. Why is two added to two
always four and never five or three? Only because we call the product of two added to two by
the name of "four." If we expressed the conception of "fourness" by some other name, then two
plus two would be that other name. But the truth would be the same, regardless of the name.
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So it is with the 47th problem of Euclid. The sum of the squares of the sides of any right angle
triangle - no matter what their dimensions - always exactly equals the square of the line
connecting their ends - the hypotenuse. One line may be a few inches long, the other several
miles long; the problem invariably works out both by actual measurement upon the earth and
by mathematical demonstration.
It is impossible for us to conceive a place in the universe where two added to two produces five
and not four. We cannot conceive of a world, no matter how far distant among the stars, where
the 47th problem is not a true fact, meaning absolute - not dependent upon time or place or
world or even universe. Truth, we are taught, is a divine attribute and as such is coincident with
Divinity, omnipresent.
It is in this sense that the 47th problem "teaches Masons to be general lovers of the arts and
sciences." With the 47th problem man reaches out into the universe, measures distances of
the greatest magnitude, describes the whole framework and handiwork of nature. With it he
calculates the orbits and the positions of those numberless worlds about us, and reduces the
chaos of ignorance to the law and order of intelligent appreciation of the cosmos. With it he
instructs his fellow-Masons that the great book of Nature is to be read through a square.
Considered thus, the "invention of our ancient friend and brother, the great Pythagoras,"
becomes one of the most impressive, as it is one of the most important, of the emblems of all
Freemasonry, since it is a symbol of the power, the wisdom and the goodness of the Great
Architect of the Universe.
He who understands the truth behind the 47th problem sees a new meaning to the reception of
a Fellowcraft and understands better why a square teaches morality and is dedicated to the
Master.
SPRIG OF ACACIA
If the All-Seeing Eye is the most ancient and the 47th Problem of Euclid the grandest of the
emblems of the Master Mason's Degree, the Sprig of Acacia holds the greatest comfort. Not
even the Anchor and Ark as symbols of hope speak to Masons as does the simple sprig of
evergreen "which once marked the temporary resting place of the illustrious dead."
Acacia was a symbol long before Freemasonry existed. It is the shittim wood of the Old
Testament, the erica or tamarisk at the foot of which the body of the dead Osiris was cast
ashore so that, when found, it would rise again.
The Jews have always considered shittim a sacred wood; a symbol of life. Logs of it used in
houses sprout long after the tree is destroyed that the beam be made. Everyone is familiar with
the evergreen which does not seem to die in cold weather, as do less hardy trees which shed
their leaves and sleep through the winter.
Shittim wood was used to construct the table of shewbread, the Tabernacle, the Ark of the
Covenant, the sacred furniture of the Temple. Of its boughs, so it has been said, was woven
the crown of thorns which the Nazarene wore ...
But if Freemasonry did not make it a symbol, we adopted it as symbolic of our own special Rite
and beliefs.
Acacia marked the spot where lay all that was mortal of the Widow's Son. Raised from a dead
level to a living perpendicular in the very shade of the acacia, how should the plant not stand
for immortality, a life to come, the most blessed hope of man?
In the stately prayer in the Master Mason's Degree we hear, "For there is hope of a tree, if it be
cut down, that it will sprout again -" Later we learn of man who "cometh forth as a flower and is
cut down" by the scythe of time which gathers him "to the land where his fathers have gone
before him."
Where is that land?
Uncounted millions have asked. Freemasonry's reply is that glorious immortality symbolized by
the Sprig of Acacia. Its reality is attested by every hope of every man born of woman since the
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first infant cried the birth cry.
The Sprig of Acacia has another equally beautiful implication, besides that of certainty of
spiritual survival. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
The Sprig of Acacia is not only the emblem of a future life but of faith.
It matters little what faith that it. It is the existence of some faith which is important; the
certainty of things not seen. The Mason may be Methodist, Baptist, Spiritualist, Universalist,
Unitarian, Trinitarian, Mohammedan, or Brahmin! He may believe in the orthodox future life of
golden streets and milk and honey; his faith may send him to a whole realm of seven planets
which with the esoteric Buddhist he must visit in turn; he may believe in the successive planes
of Spiritualism or the Nirvana of the Orient - the Sprig of Acacia is at once a symbol of the
immortality taught by his faith and of the faith itself.
We cannot prove immortality any more than we can prove God. Proof is the result of logic, and
logic is a process of the mind. Faith is the product of a process of the heart. We cannot reason
ourselves into or out of love; we cannot reason ourselves into or out of faith.
The Sprig of Acacia proves nothing - nor tries to. It means everything to him who has the faith.
It is Freemasonry's attestation to her children of the certainty with which she regards her trinity
of truths:
There is no Plan without a Planner.
That Which Was Lost will at long last be found.
Divine life which is ours can no more die than can Divinity.
The phraseology is the author's. The teachings are Freemasonry's. Their symbol is the little
green sprig which Freemasons drop with their tears on the body of a deceased brother in full
faith that - where and how we presume not to say, leaving it wholly to the Eye which sees and
the Everlasting Arms which enfold - he, even as we, shall live again.
THE LAWS OF FREEMASONRY
Master Masons are obligated to abide by the laws, resolutions, and edicts of the Grand Lodge,
the bylaws of the particular lodges of which they are members, and to maintain and support
the Landmarks and the ancient usages and customs of the Fraternity.
The written laws, based on the General Regulations and the Old Charges first printed in 1723,
are the Constitution and by-laws of the Grand Lodge, its resolutions, regulations, and edicts,
and the by-laws of the particular lodge. The Ancient Landmarks are written in some
jurisdictions; in others they are a part of the unwritten law.
The General Regulations as set forth in Anderson's Constitutions were adopted shortly after
the formation of the Mother Grand Lodge in England. Unquestionably they embodied the laws
of Masonry as they were known to the four old lodges which formed the first Grand Lodge and
hence have the respectability of antiquity.
In general the Old Charges are concerned with the relations of the individual brother to his
lodge and his brethren; the General Regulations with the conduct of the Craft as a whole. The
General Regulations permit their own alteration by Grand Lodge - the Old Charges do not.
Many civil laws are provided with measures of enforcement and penalties for infringement.
Masonic law knows but four penalties: reprimand, definite suspension, indefinite suspension,
and expulsion. These penalties for serious infractions of Masonic law may be ordered after a
Masonic trial and a verdict of guilty, but mercy is much more a part of Masonic than of civil law.
Infractions of Masonic law resulting in trial and punishment are rare, compared to the number
of Masons, the vast majority of whom are so willing to obey the laws that enforcement is
seldom required.
There is no universality of Masonic law in all jurisdictions. Different latitudes, characters of
people, ideas, have all left their marks upon the enactments of our forty-nine Grand Lodges. In
the majority of essentials they are one: in some particulars they hold divergent views. Most
Grand Lodges adhere to the spirit of the Old Charges, and - so far as modern conditions
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permit - to the sense of the General Regulations.
Masons desiring to understand the laws by which the Craft is governed and the legal
standards by which Grand Lodge measures its laws, resolutions, and edicts should read both
the Old Charges and the General Regulations of 1723. The last (thirty-ninth) of these General
Regulations reads, "Every Annual Grand Lodge has an inherent Power and Authority to make
new Regulations, or to alter these, for the real benefit of this Ancient Fraternity; provided
always that the old Landmarks be carefully preserv'd," etc.
The old landmarks or the Ancient Landmarks as we usually term them are thus those
foundations of the law of Masonry which are not subject to change. Had the Mother Grand
Lodge formulated the Ancient Landmarks, it would have saved much trouble and confusion for
Grand Lodges which came after. Apparently the unwritten law of Masonry - the common law -
was so well understood and practised then that it was not thought necessary to codify it.
Masons customarily observe a great body of unwritten law; our ancient usages and customs
which are not specified in print. But the Landmarks have been reduced to print and made a
part of the written law in many jurisdictions.
The Landmarks bear the same relation to Masonic law in general as the provisions of Magna
Carta bear to modern constitutional law. Just as Magna Carta specified some of the inherent
rights of men which all governments should respect, so the Landmarks crystallize the inherent
characteristic fundamentals which make Freemasonry, and without which the Institution would
be something else.
Mackey states that the Landmarks are:
• 1. The modes of recognition.
• 2. The division of symbolic Masonry into three degrees.
• 3. The legend of the third degree.
• 4. The government of the Fraternity by a Grand Master.
• 5. The prerogative of the Grand Master to preside over every assembly of the Craft.
• 6. The prerogative of the Grand Master to grant dispensation for conferring degrees at
irregular intervals.
• 7. The prerogative of the Grand Master to give Dispensations for opening and holding
lodges.
• 8. The prerogative of the Grand Master to make Masons at sight.
• 9. The necessity for Masons to congregate in lodges.
• 10. The government of the Craft when congregated in a lodge, by a Master and two
Wardens.
• 11. The necessity that every lodge, when congregated, should be duly tiled.
• 12. The right of every Mason to be represented in all general meetings of the Craft.
• 13. The right of every Mason to appeal from his brethren, in lodge convened, to the Grand
Master.
• 14. The right of every Mason to visit and sit in every regular lodge.
• 15. That no visitor, unknown to the brethren present or some one of them as a Mason, can
enter a lodge without first passing an examination according to ancient usage.
• 16. No lodge can interfere with the business of another lodge.
• 17. Every Freemason is amenable to the laws and regulations of the Masonic jurisdiction in
which he resides.
• 18. A candidate for initiation must be a man, free-born, unmutilated and of mature age.
• 19. A belief in the existence of God as the Grand Architect of the Universe.
• 20. Belief in a resurrection to a future life.
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• 21. A "Book of the Law" constitutes an indispensable part of the furniture of every lodge.
• 22. The equality of all Masons.
• 23. The secrecy of the Institution.
• 24. The foundation of a Speculative science upon an operative art.
25. These landmarks can never be changed.
Compare these with the Landmarks as formulated by a committee and adopted by the Grand
Lodge of New Jersey in 1903:
• 1. Belief in God as the Great Architect and Supreme Ruler of the Universe.
• 2. The acceptance of the revealed Word of God as the rule and guide for our faith and
practice, and its visible presence in every lodge.
• 3. The Grand Master is elected by the Craft, and holds office until his successor is duly
installed. He is the ruler of the Craft and is, of right, the presiding officer of every assemblage
of Masons as such. He may, within his jurisdiction, convene a lodge at any time or place and
do Masonic work therein; may create lodges by his warrant, and arrest the warrant of any
lodge. He may suspend, during his pleasure, the operation of any rule or regulation of Masonry
not a "Landmark." He may suspend the installed officers of any lodge and reinstate them at
pleasure, and is not answerable for his acts as Grand Master. He may deputize any brother to
do any act in his absence which he himself might do if present.
• 4. A Masonic lodge must have a Master and two Wardens, and when convened for
Masonic work must be duly tiled.
• 5. No person can be made a Mason unless he be a man free-born, of mature and discreet
age, of good character and reputation and having no maim or defect in his body that may
render him incapable of kerning the art or of being advanced to the several degrees, nor
unless he apply for admission without solicitation and take upon himself the Masonic
obligations. Nor can he be admitted to membership in a Masonic lodge except upon a secret
ballot by the brethren of that lodge.
• 6. Masons, as such, are equal; possess the right to visit every lodge or assembly of
Masons where their presence will not disturb the peace and harmony of the same, and to
appeal to the General Assembly of Masons, or its substitute, the Grand Lodge, whenever
aggrieved by any act of a lodge.
• 7. The Master of a lodge, before his election as such, must have served as a Warden. He
and the Wardens are elected by the members of the lodge, but hold their offices by virtue of
the warrant of the Grand Master, until their successors have qualified. They are his
representatives in the lodge, and are not, therefore, responsible to the lodge for their official
acts, nor can they be tried or disciplined by the lodge during their term of office.
• 8. Every Mason, for Masonic purposes, is subject to the jurisdiction of the lodge within
whose Jurisdiction he resides.
• 9. The legend of the third degree; the means of recognition; the methods of conferring
degrees; the obligations of those degrees and the ballot of every brother are and must
continue to be inviolably secret.
10. Ancient Craft Masonry includes only the Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master
Mason degrees.
With these as a foundation, the Old Charges for precedent, the first General Regulations for
organic law, Grand Lodges write and adopt their constitutions and by-laws and particular
lodges write and adopt their by-laws, which are usually subject to approval by Grand Lodge, a
Grand Lodge Committee, or the Grand Master. Grand Masters, ad interim, issue edicts and
make decisions; often these are later incorporated by the Grand Lodge into the written law of
the jurisdiction. All of these together, except where they conflict (as some of the early General
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Regulations necessarily conflict with later enactments made to supersede them) form the legal
structure of Freemasonry.
Undeniably it is much looser than the similar body of law for the government of a nation. If
Masonic law were interpreted wholly by the letter - as is necessarily the case in civil law - the
government of the Craft might often be as loose as its statutes. But as a matter of fact the Craft
is well governed. Its ancient usages and customs so soon win their way into the hearts of new
brethren that there is a great resistance to any attempt to change the old order, unless
necessity shows that it is inescapable. Masons much prefer to whisper good counsel to an
erring brother than to subject him to Masonic trial.
POWER OF THE BALLOT
A Master Mason has rights, duties, and privileges unknown to the Entered Apprentice or
Fellowcraft. He is part of a lodge; he is invested with all the powers of a full-fledged member of
the Ancient Craft. His vote is as powerful as that of the oldest member; his black cube as
potent to keep an applicant out of the lodge as that of the Grand Master.
Any Master Mason has the undoubted right to cast a black cube against any applicant. It is his
duty to cast it if he knows something about the applicant which would prevent him from
becoming a good Mason, a useful member of the lodge. It may be his duty to cast it without
such knowledge; if the applicant is one with whom any Master Mason cannot associate in
lodge in peace and harmony, he should be excluded. But the Master Mason should consider
well and think tolerantly and broad-mindedly of his "peace and harmony."
If a single black cube is in the ballot box, the applicant is rejected. (1)
(1) In most jurisdictions a single black cube in the ballot box requires the ballot to be taken
again immediately to avoid the possibility of a mistake. If the black cube reappears the second
time the applicant is rejected.
This rejection does more than refuse the applicant the degrees. It creates a lodge jurisdiction
over the petitioner. He may not apply to another lodge for the degrees refused him by this one
without first securing a waiver of jurisdiction. (1) He may not again apply even to the lodge
which rejected him until after a certain statutory period - usually six months. When his
application is again received and brought up for ballot, the fact that he previously applied and
was rejected is stated to the lodge.
The casting of a black cube not only rejects for the degrees but puts a certain disability upon
the applicant which he is powerless to remove.
The brother who casts a ballot wields a tremendous power. Like most powers it can be used
well or ill. It may work harm or good not only upon him upon whom it is used but to him who
uses it. Unlike many great powers put into the hands of men this one is not subject to review or
control by any human agency. No king, prince, potentate; no law, custom or regulation; no
Masonic brother or officer can interfere with a brother's use of his power.
For no one knows who uses the black cube. No one knows why one is cast. The individual
brother and his God alone know.
The very absence of any responsibility to man or authority is one reason why the power should
be used with intelligence and only when after solemn self-inquiry the reason behind its use is
found to be Masonic. The black cube is the great protection of the Fraternity; it permits the
brother who does not desire
(1) Can be obtained only by vote of the lodge.
to make public his secret knowledge to use that knowledge for the benefit of the Craft. It gives
to all members the right to say who shall not become members of their lodge family. But at the
same time it puts to the test the Masonic heart and the personal honesty of every brother
present. The black cube is a thorough test of our understanding of the Masonic teaching of the
cardinal virtue Justice, which "enables us to render to every man his just due without
distinction." We are taught of justice that "it should be the invariable practice of every Mason
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never to deviate from the minutest principles thereof."
Justice to the lodge requires us to cast the black cube on an applicant we believe to be unfit.
Justice to ourselves requires that we cast the black cube on the application of the man we
believe would destroy the harmony of our lodge. Justice to the applicant requires that no black
cube be cast for little or mean reasons. Justice to justice requires that we think carefully,
deliberate slowly, and act cautiously. No man will know what we do; no eye will see save that
All-Seeing Eye which penetrates the innermost recesses of our hearts.
A well-used black cube goes into the ballot box. Ill used, it drops into the heart and blackens it.
VOUCHING
One of the privileges - and one of the responsibilities - of the Master Mason is that of vouching
for a brother.
To vouch for a Mason is Masonically to say to the brother to whom one introduces him who is
vouched for: "I know that Brother A. is a Master Mason."
By implication it means (1) that the brother vouching has sat in open lodge with the brother
vouched for, or (2) that the brother vouching has subjected the brother vouched for to a strict
trial and due examination.
In most jurisdictions no brother may undertake a private examination of any man representing
himself as a brother without the orders of the Worshipful Master of his lodge, or of the Grand
Master. The Worshipful Master is solely responsible for the proper purging of his lodge and
therefore has the right to decide who is and who is not competent to examine a visitor.
The number of men who have never taken the degrees who try to get into Masonic lodges is
very small. Nevertheless there have been, are, and doubtless will be such men; men without
principle or honour; eavesdroppers who have beard what was not intended for their ears.
Far more dangerous than the eavesdropper is the cowan. In these modern days the cowan is
the man who has been legally raised but who bas been dropped N.P.D. or suspended or
expelled after trial; or he is an Entered Apprentice or a Fellowcraft whose further advancement
has been stopped for cause.
If such an one be evilly disposed he may - and has been known to - forge a good standing
card to use as credentials. Or he may find a lost card and assume the identity of the name
signed upon it. Some brethren are so unwise as to keep their good standing cards from year to
year as an interesting collection. If such a collection be stolen it may be the innocent means of
letting loose upon the Fraternity a whole flock of designing cowans, since dates upon such
cards are changed with little difficulty. It is an excellent Masonic rule to destroy last year's card
as soon as this year's card is received. Loss of a current card should be immediately reported
to the Grand Secretary, as well as the Master of the lodge. A card should be signed as soon as
received.
No avouchment may be accepted from an Entered Apprentice or a Fellowcraft. A brother of the
first or second degree may be absolutely sure that all those in the lodge in which he took his
degrees were Master Masons, but not being a Master Mason he cannot possess lawful
Masonic information about Master Masons. Neither is he competent to vouch to a Tiler for any
Entered Apprentice or Fellowcraft he remembers as in lodge with him as a Mason of the
degree in which the lodge was then open. The right to vouch is strictly a Master Mason's right;
no brother of the first or second degree possesses it.
Vouching for a brother is a solemn undertaking. Before the lodge the voucher puts his Masonic
credit against the credibility of the brother he vouches for. No squeaneshness of feeling should
ever interfere. A Master Mason should not vouch for his blood brother even if morally sure his
brother is a Mason unless he has lawful Masonic information.
No one should ever feel offended because a brother will not vouch for him. A. may remember
having sat in lodge with B., yet B. may have forgotten that they sat together in lodge. If B.
refuses to vouch for A., A. should be happy that B. is so careful a Mason, not offended that B.
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does not remember or because "he doesn't trust me."
The lodge is more important than the brother. The sanctity of the tiled door is greater than the
feelings of the individual. The Masonic honour of the brother doing the vouching should be of
far greater worth to him than any consideration of expediency.
The entire matter may be covered in one small commandment: "Never vouch unless you have
lawful Masonic knowledge."
THE CHARACTER OF A MASTER MASON
The moral aspects of a Mason's character are foreshadowed in the Entered Apprentice's
Degree. He who lives by Brotherly Love, Relief, Truth, Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, and
Justice is a moral man in the best meaning of that much-abused word.
A Master Mason has a public as well as a Masonic character; he must be a citizen before he
can be a Freemason. All his reputation as a Master Mason, all the teachings of integrity and
fidelity, all the magnificent examples of firmness and fortitude in trial and danger - even in the
Valley of the Shadow - which a man has been taught as a Master Mason are concerned in
supporting with dignity his character as a citizen.
Politics are never discussed in Masonic lodges. This law, so well known and obeyed that it is
not written in most Grand Lodge Constitutions or lodge by-laws, comes down to us from the
Old Charges. In the lodge we meet upon the level and part upon the square. We are not
Democrats, Republicans, Socialists, Progressives, but Masons. No lodge may take any
political action; to do so would be to draw upon it the immediate censure of the Grand Master
and the Grand Lodge.
But these prohibitions do not mean that Masons should not study political economy; even as a
lodge Masons may listen to talks upon the science of government which is a "political" matter if
the word is used in its broad acceptation.
Every good citizen is expected to obey the law, uphold the Constitution and the government,
do his duty in jury service, go to the polls and vote, bear arms when called to the colors, pay
his just share of taxes, take an intelligent interest in the government, his party and political
economy, support the public schools, reverence and honour the flag, keep the peace, serve
nation, state, county, and town when called to leadership and so to live that his neighbours are
happier for his living.
When the citizen becomes a Mason he adds to these moral obligations his pledged word, his
sacred honour, his character as it is seen naked of God, that he will do certain things and
refrain from doing other things. All of these pledges involve not only his duty as a man but as a
citizen.
The newly raised Master Mason is bidden to "support the dignity of your character on every
occasion."
The Master Mason should be a better citizen than the non-Mason because he has been better
taught and has pledged his sacred honour.
A MASTER'S WAGES
In the world of business the employer usually sets the wage for which the workman must
labour. The employer is governed partly by the law of supply and demand, partly by his own
cupidity or generosity. The wage he pays may be to some extent fixed by labour unions; only
occasionally must be pay whatever the workman demands. Usually he pays as little as he can
for as much as he can get.
In the Masonic world all this is different. A Master's wages are as large as he wants them to
be! He can ask any wage he will and get it if he is willing to work for it. No labour union sets the
scale; the law of supply and demand does not operate; neither cupidity nor generosity is
involved. The only question asked is, "Can you earn the wages you ask?"
A Master's wages are paid in coin of the heart, not of the mint. They are earned by what a
Mason does with his mind, not his hands. In operative days a Freemason set so many stones
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and received each man his penny. In Speculative Freemasonry a Master builds into his
spiritual temple as many perfect ashlars as he can and receives for his labour uncounted coins
of happiness, satisfaction, knowledge, understanding and spiritual uplift.
In operative days a Mason's earning power was circumscribed by his strength and his skill. In
Speculative Masonry a Mason's earning power is circumscribed only by his wit and his desire.
He may read these little books, receive his penny, and be satisfied. Or he may see them for
what they are: only an introduction, a gateway, a sign pointing out the path and read and study
and ponder until he has earned not one but a handful of pennies, each penny a thought, each
thought a blessing, making life easier to live.
Archaeologists dig through the ruins of a city to uncover a forgotten one below. Push the
spade in deeper and below the forgotten city is yet another, older, different, twice forgotten of
men. City buried under city, patiently uncovered by the student's excavating tools - such are
the symbols of Freemasonry.
Dig through the outer shell and find a meaning; cut down through that meaning and find
another; under it if you dig deeply enough you may find a third, a fourth - who shall say how
many teachings?
The Master Mason builds. Before he builds he digs a foundation. Let him who would receive all
that Freemasonry has to give dig deeply into the symbolism, the history, the philosophy, the
jurisprudence and the spiritual meanings of the Ancient Craft.
So, and only so, will he become a real Freemason - free to travel in foreign countries and
receive Master's wages.
So mote it be.
FREEMASONRY COMES TO THE NEW WORLD
Space here forbids telling even in outline of the spread of Freemasonry into other lands. The
interested student may read the fascinating story for himself in many excellent histories of
Freemasonry. Here we must confine ourselves to a very short sketch of the coming of
Freemasonry to America - a subject the beginnings of which are clouded in legend, veiled in
tradition and misty in lack of records.
The first native born American Mason is generally conceded to have been Jonathan Belcher,
who was made a Mason in England in 1704.
In June, 1730, the Duke of Norfolk, Grand Master of the Mother Grand Lodge, appointed
Daniel Coxe, of New Jersey, the first Provincial Grand Master in America.
Johnson (1) says "There has appeared no evidence, however, that he exercised this
deputation."
McGregor (2) says: "I was fortunately able to find a letter written by Daniel Coxe to James
Alexander, dated from Trenton, N.J., July 31, 1730, thus definitely determining his (Coxe's)
presence here."
On April 13, 1733, a deputation was issued to Henry Price as "Provincial Grand Master of New
England and Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging."
If Coxe never exercised his authority under his deputation, then Henry Price was, as most
historians claim, the father of Freemasonry in America.
If Coxe did exercise his authority under his deputation, then he deserves that honour.
Both McGregor and Johnson are historians and
(1) Melvin M. Johnson, Past Grand Master of Massachusetts. His learned and
comprehensive The Beginnings of Freemasonry in America is exhaustive and complete.
(2) The late David McGregor, Historian of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey was a student
of tireless energy and resource, with a profound knowledge not only of early
Freemasonry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania but of early Colonial history in general.
research workers of scholarly ability. Brethren in New Jersey and Pennsylvania almost
universally agree with McGregor; brethren in New England in general and Massachusetts in
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particular agree with Johnson. Into the merits of this friendly controversy and the claims of two
great Grand Jurisdictions this sketch cannot go. Perhaps we shall do well to await the "further
light" of future historical research.
After all, to most of us it matters little! Freemasonry came to the Colonies in the early third of
the Eighteenth Century and spread and grew, made its own place in the hearts of the Colonists
and played a mighty if quiet part in the stirring events which were to sever the Thirteen
Colonies from the motherland and to form the United States.
"Occasional lodges" without charters or warrants met in the Colonies at undetermined dates
prior to the first known regular and duly constituted lodge which was the "First Lodge in
Boston," July 30, 1733. Johnson states (Beginnings of Freemasonry in America):
Regular authority was granted for the establishment of duly constituted Freemasonry in New
England in 1733; in all North America in 1734; in South America in 1735; in South Carolina,
Georgia, and New Hampshire in 1735 or 1736; in the West Indies and New York in 1737; in
Antigua and Nova Scotia in 1737-38; in Jamaica and St. Christopher in 1739; in the Barbados
in 1739-40; in Bermuda, 1742; in Newfoundland, 1746; in San Domingo, 1748; and in Rhode
Island, 1749.
By the close of the first half of the century not less than forty lodges had sprung from the
Provincial Grand Lodge in Boston. Others had been warranted direct from London.
Newton states (Modern Masonry) :
In point of priority, then, the following lodges have precedence in the history of regularly
constituted lodges in America: the Lodge of Boston in 1733; the Lodge at Montserrat second,
in 1734; the Lodge of Philadelphia in 1734-35; the Lodge in Savannah, Georgia, and the
Lodge in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1735; the Lodge in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in
1736; and so on as the list lengthened. The earliest American by-laws or regulations of a lodge
were adopted in 1733, but no mention is made of any degrees. Masons were either "made" or
"admitted" and nothing more until 1736, when for the first time the degree of Fellowcraft is
named. Not until three years later, however, do we find such an entry as the following, in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire: "Capt. Andrew Tombes was made a Mason and raised to a
Fellowcraft." The records of Tun Tavern Lodge, of Philadelphia, in 1749, use the words
"entered," "passed," and "raised" as we use them now.
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THE MASTER'S BOOK
By CARL H. CLAUDY
Chapter 1
PREPARING TO BE MASTER
The greatest honor comes to any brother with his elevation to the Oriental Chair of a Masonic
Lodge. Few Wardens but look forward with mingled pleasure and anxiety to that day when in
their hands will be placed the gavel of authority. He who early prepares to be a Master in more
than name only arrives in the seat of authority with some confidence.
The wise Warden does not wait until elected Master to become familiar with the official books
of his jurisdiction; the Proceedings of his Grand Lodge; the book of Masonic law--it has many
names, such as Code, Methodical Digest, Ahiman Rezon, Constitution and By-laws, etc.; the
Manual in which is printed all that may lawfully be put in type of the ritual and Ceremonies of
the degrees, and most especially the by-laws of his own Lodge.
PROCEEDINGS
A Master is not only leader of his Lodge, but a member of Grand Lodge, in which august body
he represents his Lodge. Familiarity with the Grand Lodge procedure, questions pending,
legislation enacted, etc., gives him a perspective and enables him to act with intelligence and
understanding. In the Proceedings of most (not all) Grand Lodges is the report of the
Committee on Foreign Correspondence, under which apparently misleading title an official
reviewer summarizes the activities of other Grand Lodges. The Master who realizes that he is
not only an important cog in his own Masonic machine, but an integral part of a world-wide
Freemasonry, early grasps the real importance and responsibilities of his position. Study of the
Proceedings gives a perspective on the activities of Grand Lodge, with special reference to its
charity, whether exercised in Masonic Home, Orphanage, Hospital, Foundation, outside relief
or other form.
BOOR OF MASONIC LAW
To be Master of a Lodge is quite different from being president of a club or society. The Master
is called upon to decide questions of law and practice which he cannot leave to his brethren;
the honor of leadership carries also the responsibility. That his decisions be wise and just, and
of such a character as will draw commendation, not condemnation, from Grand Master or
District Deputy, he must know the laws of his Jurisdiction, his own powers and limitations. He
can obtain this knowledge only from a faithful study of the book of Masonic law.
RITUAL
In some Jurisdictions only the Master may confer the Master Mason's Degree; in many he may
empower either his officers, a Past Master, or a well qualified brother to fill the East during the
ceremonies of the three degrees. Never will the Master get the best cooperation in putting on a
degree if he himself cannot "do the work." The Master who knows his ritual can lead; he who
will not-- or cannot--"learn the work" is in a poor position to criticize faulty performances by
others. Hence, an early study is important. The degrees of Freemasonry are among the
beautiful ceremonies of the world. They should be inspiring, uplifting, heartening, lovely to
hear. If they fall short of perfection the Master is responsible--aye, even if he have only
inefficient helpers, his is the responsibility. Both Lodge and Master owe service to those
elected to receive the degrees. The elected candidate has signed his petition, answered the
questions, paid his fees, stood his investigation, come when called, submitted to proper
preparation. Now his brethren-to-be are so to induct him into the mysteries that he may desire
with all his heart to become "a good and faithful brother among us." He is entitled to a degree
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which will impress him; he has a right to hear the grand old words so spoken that they will
make a deep and lasting impression on his mind. What he sees and hears should convince
him of the age, the dignity, the importance, the solemnity of the Ancient Craft. All this is a
Master's work. The wise Warden lets no time go by before preparing himself for those busy
days ahead, and regards dignified degrees, well put on, as important both to Lodge and
candidates.
FRIENDS
Few assets are more valuable to a Master than friends. In Freemasonry, as in the profane
world, the art of making friends is encompassed in one phrase: "to have friends we must be
friendly." Millions of men are so at heart; cold of exterior from no better cause than shyness.
Many a man wants to extend his hand, wishes to say a cheery word of greeting, desires with
all his heart to be "one of the fellows" . . . and does not know how. Yet it is so simple! For the
root of personal shyness is fear of laughter--and laughter, like thunder, has yet to hurt anything
living! The shy brother need only assure himself: "I will not be afraid of something which cannot
hurt me--I will not think my brethren are more critical of me than I am of them--I will not waste
time and strength wanting and not doing, when to say a cheery word and put out my hand
needs but a muscular effort!" Friendliness begets friendliness. The brother who is cordial will
find hands springing out to meet his; will see smiles begetting smiles: will learn that genuine
interest in a brother produces real interest in him. The Warden who leaves the West for the
East interested enough to know all regular attendants by name will enter his year of
responsibility with an asset than which there is no greater for the leader of a Lodge.
Chapter 2
POWERS OF A MASTER
The Master of a Masonic Lodge has more power than the presiding officer of any secular body.
The "rules of order" under which business is conducted in other assemblies apply only partially
in a Lodge. The by-laws of a profane organization may enclose a president or chairman as
with stone walls, fetter him as with chains; in a Masonic Lodge no by-law which restricts the
inherent powers of a Master can be passed, or, if passed, will be sustained by Grand Master or
Grand Lodge. A railroad engine is a potent tool for wise use, but who would ride in a train
pulled by a locomotive at the throttle of which was a ten-year-old child. A book of matches may
kindle the fire which cooks our food or destroys a forest. A thirty-eight calibre revolver may
defend one's country or commit a murder. Power is constructive only when used with
knowledge. The Master who does not know his powers cannot use them intelligently. The
Master who knows what he may and may not lawfully do will lead with wisdom, discretion and
success. Laws differ in the forty-nine Grand Jurisdictions of continental United States, but
certain powers of a Master are universally acknowledged. The Master is responsible only to
the Grand Master, the Grand Lodge (or the Deputy of the Grand Master) for his acts;
consequently he must have full authority and, within limits, be the ruler of his Lodge. But while
Grand Masters uphold Masters in all lawful exercise of authority, they are quick to frown upon
arbitrary rulings. With one or two exceptions, only the Master may call special communications
of his Lodge. In one or two Jurisdictions the Lodge has power to summons the whole
membership, but these but prove the rule. No one but the Master may preside over his Lodge,
in his presence (except the Grand Master or his Deputy) unless by his order.
DEBATE
Masters have full control of debate. A Master may propose a motion, second it, put it, close
discussion, refuse to put a motion, at his pleasure . . . but let him think carefully before refusing
to put any motion. If the proposer of the motion which the Master refuses to put lays the matter
before the Grand Master, the Master must have a good reason or may be convicted of arbitrary
use of his power and disciplined. During the war an enthusiastic Lodge member moved that
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the Lodge sell all its assets and invest in liberty Bonds. The Master refused to put the motion.
The brother was incensed and complained to the Grand Master. The Master's reason, that
such a drastic performance should have the advice of the Finance Committee before Lodge
action, the Grand Master thought excellent. In another Lodge a motion to spend a certain sum
for charitable relief was made. The Master refused to put the motion. On complaint being
made, he stated that he needed the money for entertainment! The Grand Master reprimanded
him severely for arbitrary refusal to permit the Lodge to spend its own money on its own
Masonic business. Good reasons for refusing to put a motion may be: that there is not time
enough to discuss it, when a degree is scheduled with candidate duly notified and in waiting;
that the motion will disturb the peace and harmony of the Lodge; that the matter requires the
study of a committee before being brought before the Lodge, etc.
APPEAL
No appeal lies from a Master's decision, either to the Lodge, to a committee, or to any Past
Master. Some Masters are weak, and afraid they cannot sustain an unpopular ruling. These
have been known to allow some brother to "appeal to the Lodge" and have then abided by
what the Lodge decided. This is subversive of the dignity of the Master's station. It is not John
Smith in the Chair who is thus over-ruled--it is the Master. He is a good Master who insists on
all respect being paid the dignity of the office. The brother with the gavel is not only John
Smith, but Worshipful (1) Master. To permit interference with the ancient usages and customs
which surround the Master's Chair decreases reverence for tradition. No motion to "lay on the
table," "to postpone, to adjourn," "to close"; for "unanimous consent for a brother to speak,” (1)
"Worchyp," old English for "greatly respect." For "the previous question" should ever be
entertained, much less put. It is only for the Master to say whether this subject is to be
discussed now or later. The Lodge is opened and closed at his pleasure (except that he must
not do business at a Stated Communication at an hour earlier than that stated in the by-laws;
some by-laws in some Jurisdictions provide a stated time f or a Stated Communication to be
opened; in such the Master should not open before that specified time). It is for the Master to
say who may and who may not speak. He can be responsible for the "peace and harmony" of
his Lodge only by controlling its deliberations. But he is also responsible for the Masonic
fairness, charity, courtesy and reasonableness of his actions; while his brethren may not
appeal to the Lodge for redress for any wrong, real or fancied, they may appeal to Grand
Lodge, Grand Master or District Deputy Grand Master. Where an appeal is to be made
depends on the law in the particular Grand Jurisdiction; consult the book of Masonic law to
ascertain. The appeal, if sustained, may have serious consequences.
COMMITTEES
The Master has the sole right of appointing committees. The Lodge may refer a matter to a
committee, but may not name its personnel. Were it otherwise the Lodge might control the
Master, not the Master the Lodge. Too much care can hardly be exercised in appointing the
personnel of committees and the minor officers. The sapling of today is the tree of tomorrow;
the Master whose appointments are made with care, forethought and particular reference to
the fitness, by training and education, of certain brethren for certain positions, will see his
appointees grow to greater and straighter stature in the years to come. The Master fills all
vacant offices by appointment; if the Senior Warden is absent, the Junior Warden does not, of
inherent right, assume the West. The Master sends him there, or puts another brother or Past
Master there, at his pleasure. But if the Master is absent, the Senior Warden does, by inherent
power, occupy the East for that period; the Junior Warden, in the absence of both Master and
Senior Warden. MINUTES
The Master may not alter the minutes nor may he spend Lodge money without consent of the
Lodge. (Note: many Lodges provide a limit in emergency relief to which the Master may go
without authority of the Lodge.) The Master may refuse to permit minutes which he believes
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contain improper-to-be written material to be confirmed; if any brother insists, it is for Grand
Master or District Deputy to decide. The Master may decline to put the motion to confirm
minutes which he deems incomplete, but he cannot change the account of facts so that they
state that which is not so.
VISITS
The Master controls who may enter and who may leave the Lodge. There is a vast difference
here between power and right. The Master has the power to refuse to open the door to any
one--member or visitor (except the Grand Master or his Deputy). But he must have excellent
reasons or subject himself to discipline. How far the "right of visitation" extends is still a moot
point. Here the local law upon the subject will probably be explicit. In some Jurisdictions the
visitor must be admitted (supposing him to be vouched for or passing a proper examination)
unless some member objects; in others the matter is left wholly to the Master. The Master
would run a risk of complaint should he admit a visitor with whom some member objected to
sit. The Master who is conciliatory, smiling, friendly and peaceable; who refuses to take
offense; who does not exercise his great power unless he must; who rules justly, governing
with brotherly love, and who believes that the dignity of his office is best upheld by that
"harmony" which is the "strength and support of all well regulated institutions" is wise and
successful.
Chapter 3
DUTIES OF A MASTER
Numerous and diversified, a catalog might easily be a fear-inspiring document! But with
determination to do, and interest in accomplishment, difficulties smooth themselves away and
the multiplicity of duties becomes a pleasant experience. The duties of a Master may be
summarized as: duty to the Lodge, duty to the members (including ill, absent and charity
cases) and duty to the dead. The Master's first duty to his Lodge is to lead it to success and
prosperity. This requires a combination of diplomat, financier, adviser, councilor, friend, critic--
and executive! Some Masters consider scheduling the work, getting out a monthly notice, and
conducting the meetings, as "success." But these are but the skeleton; to clothe such a
program with flesh the Master must provide entertainment, instruction, inspiration; his monthly
notice should be of sufficient interest to attract attention and draw attendance. Successful
presiding requires far more than merely answering salutes and putting motions (see Chapter
5).
LODGE NOTICES
Variously called "Monthly Trestleboard," "Lodge Notice," "Lodge Bulletin," etc., the Craft too
often suffers under a plague of dull reading sent out monthly by Masters who then wonder why
attendance is small. Certain routine matters must, of course, be in all Lodge notices, but to fill
up the balance with alleged humor, pointless personal news and trite platitudes is to consign
the Lodge notice to the waste basket in advance. Make them interesting, make them snappy,
make them say something, and they will be read.
FINANCE
Careful consideration of, and attention to, Lodge finance is a duty too important to discuss with
general statements; some thoughts on financial ways and means are developed in Chapter 9.
PLANS
Masonic entertainment, as opposed to singing, music, vaudeville, motion pictures, lectures on
non-Masonic topics, pack the Lodge room whenever fairly tried. The Master must select the
entertainment which pleases his Lodge and plan accordingly, or appoint a capable chairman of
an entertainment committee to do it for him. Interesting Lodge meetings do not "just happen."
Success follows the age-old instruction to Masters-- "first program your work; then work your
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program." Plans for six months ahead (with sufficient elasticity to permit changes for
unexpectedly and happily necessary degree work) are wise. To know that on the first meeting
in the year a contest is to be held; on the third, a debate; on the fifth, a Masonic spelling match,
will cause many a member to plan to attend who otherwise would remain comfortably at home
with the evening paper. It should be emphasized that the duty of a Master is first to the
members of his Lodge; the possibility of much "work" on many candidates should be a
secondary consideration.
SPEECHES
Few Lodges successfully can compete with picture shows, vaudeville theaters, concert halls
or restaurants. A member can see a better program or buy a better meal than his Lodge
usually provides. The Master who depends only on amateur or second rate professional, talent
for "entertainment" need not wonder why he has empty benches. One thing and only one thing
a Masonic Lodge can give its members which they can get nowhere else in the world. That
one thing is Masonry. Give the brethren plenty of Masonry and they won't want expensive and
hard-to-get secular entertainment. No, Worshipful Sir, the author does not-- Oh, most
emphatically he does not!--mean dry-as-dust addresses. Some speakers can fill a hall to
suffocation, electrify an audience, make the brethren gasp with the beauty, humor, interest of
their talks on Masonry. But how many such has the average Master on his staff? Too many
"Masonic speeches" are mere words; few men want to be preached at in Lodge. If a speaker
has history, law, symbolism, romance, humor, oddities of Masonry at command-- yes. If all he
has is an exhortation to practice brotherly love, better not use him. But there is a way to sugar-
coat Masonic instruction; to combine Masonry and human interest (see Chapter 7). The Master
who provides such "good and wholesome instruction" need never complain of non-attendance.
HARMONY
A Master's paramount duty is to preserve peace and harmony, a matter on which no specific
instructions can be given. The majority of Lodges are harmonious, without cliques or factions.
Some are sharply divided; in these, criticism is often more fault-finding than constructive. Plain
sailing usually follows a sincere effort to steer a middle course. The occupant of the East is
Master of the whole Lodge, not just of the group with which his sympathies happen to lie.
Ingrained in Americans is a love of justice and fair play. The Master whose rule is just and fair,
whether it favors his own convictions or the opponents of his ideas, will gain respect and
support even from those who do not agree with him. No Master can afford a temper, and
should not expect courtesy or consideration from his brethren if he does not show both from
the East. Luckily, few men attain the East without long experience which generates
appreciation of the honor, and creates a desire to rule justly, fairly, impartially, courteously. The
Master's great power increases with lack of asserting. The mailed fist is no less potent that it
wears a velvet glove. Alas, at times the velvet glove must come off. For the sake of the Lodge,
a Master should not permit his acts to be questioned, his rulings flouted, his authority set at
naught. When necessary, authority should be used fearlessly and firmly. The Grand Lodge is
behind and will support such a Master. As a matter of course, a Master will avoid conflicts if it
can be done with dignity; if radicals in Lodge must be controlled, Masonic control will be
gentlemanly but iron like in firmness.
PROMPTNESS
A Master's duties to his members--including candidates- -are, specifically: to open on time, to
plan interesting meetings, to provide dignified degree work, to preserve order and harmony, to
promote brotherly love. Brethren who know the gavel will fall at the specified hour soon get the
habit of arriving on time. Those who are morally certain the Master will be late in opening are
themselves late. An interested Master will arrive early enough to encourage the Tiler, perhaps
to help him arrange the room; to greet by name and handshake every brother. Similarly, a
Lodge meeting should close early, except when a "large evening" of unusual entertainment
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value is planned. An early closing means much too many brethren who wish to go home to
read or retire; those who wish to stay can have an hour of fellow ship after the final gavel falls
as well as before. Of such small details is success composed! DEGREES
Masters of Lodges which pride themselves on beautiful degree work have an easy time.
Many Lodges struggle with but indifferent success to attain that beauty, serenity, perfect
coordination which makes a degree ideal. But no Lodge need be without dignity in its work.
Many brethren possess no sense of drama; some workers can but speak their parts like
parrots. The Master who can inspire his workers with an ideal, so that they are willing to
rehearse; who is willing to step out of the picture whenever he can to let some able Past
Master shine in the work he can do best; who is wise enough to intrigue into minor parts some
brethren from the benches; he can stage a degree which, whatever it may lack in beauty, will
at least be dignified and smooth running. This he owes not only to his members, but to his
candidates. Whether he is taking part, or watching his fellow officers do the work, no Master
worthy the name will permit levity or talking while a degree is being put on. No ceremony of
any kind can be well done without rehearsals. The wise Master calls rehearsals for degrees
and makes them so interesting his officers like them. But the responsibility is the Master's; it is
not advisable to ask officers if they "want to" rehearse or "will rehearse" but to say "There will
be a rehearsal" and expect officers to come. Most officers will be as proud of the results as
most Masters.
BROTHERLY LOVE
How does a Master promote brotherly love? A question impossible to answer except in general
terms. But much may be done by a "glad hand" committee of members or Past Masters. The
enthusiastic Master who wants happy meetings, and call inspire a committee with the same
feeling, will soon see a difference in the smiles of the brethren. We are simple-minded animals,
we humans; it does not take much to please us! We respond easily to suggestion, and Masons
especially are usually easy to please. Give us a cordial word of greeting; see that we know by
name the brother sitting next us; ask us to sit with a visitor to play host to him; suggest that we
say a word to old Dr. Brown, who is so deaf he can't even hear himself talk, but who has been
in that same seat since the memory of man runneth not to the contrary, and we respond as
men always do respond to leadership. One of the delightful surprises--and they are many--
which the East provides, is the quick response of brethren to any attempt to make them feel at
home, or secure their help to make others enjoy their evening. Brotherly love is not a tangible
commodity. We cannot touch it or weigh it, smell it or taste it. Yet it is a reality; it can be
created, it can be fostered, it can be made a dynamic power. The Master who has it for his
Lodge and his brethren will find that Lodge and brethren give it back to him. The Master too
worried over the cares of his office to express friendliness need never wonder why his Lodge
seems so cold to his efforts. As has before been written, to have friends we must be friendly.
THE SICK
Problems presented by the ill, the absentees, the charity cases, are so different in city and
small town Lodges that only the fundamentals, the same for all Lodges, may here be
considered. Freemasonry has a standing in the community, and the general public respects it.
Respect and standing are predicated largely on the few points of contact which the profane
world has with Freemasonry. One of these is the attention given to the ill. What is too often
properly called the "Sick Committee" --which should be a healthy Committee for the Sick--is
frequently the reliance of a Master who thinks thus to eliminate from his busy days a duty not
always pleasant. As such committees do not always function; the Master is well advised who
insists on weekly reports. At the end of the year he will be better satisfied if he has personally
called on every brother reported ill. This is not always possible in a big city and a Lodge with a
membership in four figures; it is possible in most Lodges. Only the Master who has devoted his
spare Saturday afternoons, Sundays, and many evenings to calling on the ill knows how it
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redounds to the credit of his Lodge. The sometimes pitiful surprise, the invariable pleasure,
and the often lasting joy given by an unexpected fraternal visit are Master's Wages, pressed
down and running over. The Master who has the fraternal care of his ill heavily upon his mind
and often practiced will join the ranks of Past Masters well beloved. One tried and proved plan
is to call for volunteers for the Committee for the Sick, with the assurance that no member
need make more than one visit per month. If the Master has twelve committee members and
four brethren ill, to each committee member he assigns a sick brother, with instructions to call
at two day intervals. If he also calls, the ill brother receives four visits in eight days. Such
diversifying imposes a burden on no one, yet assures the Lodge that the ill are properly
comforted.
ATTENDANCE
A certain Master appointed six young and enthusiastic members as a Committee on
Attendance. The Master divided the Lodge roster into six parts (this Lodge has a membership
of three hundred, two hundred and forty nine of whom are resident), crossing off the regular
attendants. He instructed his committee to call up, go to see, or write a letter to, every man on
his list, advising of the next Lodge function, and asking assistance. He had difficulty in seating
the crowd which responded.
THE ABSENT
The Master of a large Lodge (1200), with some three hundred brethren out of town, made it his
business to write four letters during the year to every absent brother. These letters were
individually typed, and all personally signed (this Master was a work horse!). The response to
the first letter was interesting, to the second encouraging, to the third enthusiastic and to the
fourth amazing. Many brethren said they had never heard from a Master before. Half a dozen
had been considering demitting to join Lodges in their then locations, but changed their minds
because of the touch with the Mother Lodge. Absent members wrote letters of greeting, of
homesickness, of appreciation; one brother sent a beautiful gavel as a token of thanks for the
brotherly attention. All, apparently, were highly gratified that the Master had remembered them.
The Master quoted briefly from many letters in his Lodge Bulletins, that all might recall the
absent. One unexpected result of this publication was the bringing together in large cities of
several brethren of this Lodge, who did not know any fellow Lodge members were in the same
municipality.
CHARITY
Every Lodge is--and should be--a law unto itself in its methods of charity and relief. Some have
special charity funds; others have a Committee on Relief; others leave such cases in the hands
of the Master; still others want to act in stated meetings on every case. The essential thing
from the Masonic standpoint is speed. No charity call should be put off; if a Lodge has "called
off" for the hot months (common practice in many Jurisdictions) it is obvious that a widow who
has lost her job and needs food cannot wait for the Lodge to decide whether to spend five or
ten dollars for flour and eggs! The Master may decide or call a special communication to
consider the case. Whatever he does should be done as soon as possible. Freemasonry is
NOT a relief society, and no brother, or his dependents, is promised charity by the lodge. But
Masons are charitable, and he belongs to a poor Lodge indeed who goes hungry or shelterless
while his Lodge is in funds. Here, as in the profane world, "he gives twice who gives quickly."
It is not here presumed to give advice to Lodges; the statement which follows is merely the
result of nation-wide experience. Lodges which loan money to their members usually get in
difficulties. Relief as an outright appropriation rather than a loan is in the end far more
satisfactory to a Lodge. A generously inclined Lodge, which might be willing to "loan" a brother
a hundred dollars, may hesitate to "give" more than twenty-five. Many Grand Lodges frown
decidedly on a Lodge acting as a private bank. Whatever the attitude of Grand Lodge, the
Master's position will be sound if he personally investigates relief calls, and then so guides
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Lodge action that the Lodge does not suffer, while the brother receives the aid he needs. In
almost every Lodge is to be found the overly sympathetic brother who sees only the immediate
present. With mistaken but sincere zeal he wants to spend all Lodge funds on relief. He thinks
it "wasteful" to spend Lodge money on a "big feed" or "an entertainment" when "hungry mouths
need food and the widowed and the fatherless have no homes.”Such pathetic appeals not
infrequently move other brethren to action which saner counsels would prevent. A Lodge is
not held together with steel bands, but by the silken ties of brotherhood, woven of interest,
friendliness, good times, wholesome fraternal intercourse. A Lodge which spends all its money
on charity and none on fraternal meetings will soon have no money to spend on anything.
During the war battleships needed oil. Had the railroads given all their oil to the navy, the trains
which had to carry the oil to sea ports could not have moved. The same principle applies here;
relief must be proportioned to treasury, and a fair allocation made to all legitimate Lodge
expenses.
FUNERALS
Two important public contacts with the Fraternity are at cornerstone layings and funerals. Many
a brother has never seen a cornerstone laying, but to all Lodges and to all brethren comes at
times the sad duty of laying away the mortal remains of a brother of the Mystic Tie, under the
Sprig of Acacia of immortal hope. It is important to the family that the Master conduct an
inspiring service; because of the many who thus see Freemasonry on public view, it is of
interest to Lodge and Master that the ceremonies be dignified. As words read from a book are
never so impressive as those spoken from the heart, the Master who takes the small trouble to
learn the funeral services "by heart" just as he learns the work of a degree, embraces an
opportunity to help the families of his departed brethren, and impress the general public with
the solemnity of Masonic ideals. If the ceremony has not been committed to memory it will be
easier performed if it is read and reread, so that in public there is no hesitation over a difficult
word, no misplaced emphasis, no halting delivery. In Lodges so fortunate as to have little or
no calls for funerals, it is wise to rehearse the funeral exercises at least once, preferably early
in the year; the call may come at any time. The dignity and beauty of Masonry, in one of its few
points of public contact, is the better exemplified after such preparation. It is one of the
privileges of a Master Mason to be laid to rest by his brethren. To perform this last duty well is
to be brotherly; to offer what small comfort may come from a noble service, nobly rendered, is
to succeed in making brotherhood manifest.
IN GENERAL
Important duties of a Master, in addition to these specified include: To obey, enforce, defend,
the Ancient Landmarks, the laws, rules, edicts of Grand Lodge and Grand Master, and the by-
laws of his Lodge. To enforce and defend the prerogatives that belong to his office; never to
permit any brother to en encroach upon these, no matter what feeling of personal modesty
may dictate to the contrary. The Master has a duty to those who follow him to hand down the
office with its dignity and its rights, its privileges and its responsibilities, unchanged. To
preserve order in his Lodge at all times; it is disagreeable to call a brother to order, but it is
unthinkable that any brother be allowed to interfere with the solemnities of a degree. To see
that his officers learn, and perform, their work in a proper manner. The Master is responsible; it
is the Master's part to demand and receive enthusiastic cooperation from his officers. To train
all his officers, and familiarize even the minor ones with Lodge affairs. A weekly meeting of all
officers, at lunch or some officer's home in the evening, is a splendid way of getting
opportunities to “talk things over." Where this is not practical, a half hour officers' meeting
before or after a Lodge meeting is a means of providing unity of effort and ideals in conduct of
Lodge affairs. To preserve the secrecy of the ballot. This, not only that the statutory mandates
be observed, but to lose no chance of impressing members with the importance of this bulwark
of the Fraternity. In some Jurisdictions Lodges have a by-law regarding the secrecy of the
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ballot, which itself makes its reading mandatory after any unfavorable ballot. For the benefit of
those in whose Lodges is no such by-law, one is quoted herewith: "No one shall inspect the
ballot of any petitioner for the degrees or for membership except the Master and Wardens. No
member shall make known to another the manner in which he intends to cast or has cast his
ballot. No member shall question another respecting the manner in which he intends to vote or
has voted, and in case a petitioner is rejected, no member or visiting brother shall inquire into
or by any means whatever attempt to discover who opposed his election, under penalty, if a
member, of such punishment as the Lodge shall determine; if a visitor, of his never more being
admitted to the Lodge. That none present may remain ignorant of this by-law; the Master shall
cause it to be read immediately after the rejection of a petitioner."
Chapter 4
MASONIC LAW FOR A MASTER

It is the business of every Master to see that his Lodge abides by the laws, resolutions and
edicts of his Grand Lodge, its own bylaws, and maintains and supports the Landmarks and
"ancient usages and customs of the Fraternity."
WRITTEN LAW
The laws of Masonry, like the laws of nations, are both unwritten--the "common law"--and
written. The written laws, based on the "General Regulations" and the "Old Charges," are the
Constitution and by-laws of Grand Lodge, its resolutions and edicts, and Lodge by-laws. The
Ancient Landmarks are written in some Jurisdictions; in others they are a part of the unwritten
law. In a foreign Jurisdiction a Mason is amenable to its laws as well as to those of his own,
just as an American residing abroad is amenable to the laws of the nation in which he lives,
while also expected to obey the laws of his own nation; for instance, an American residing
abroad is not exempt from the United States income tax laws. Neither is a Mason from
California exempt from the laws of the Grand Lodge of that state, merely because he happens
to sojourn in Maine. The "General Regulations" set forth in "Anderson's Constitutions of 1723"
were adopted shortly after the formation in 1717 of the Mother Grand Lodge in England. The
work was first published under date of 1723. Unquestionably it embodied the laws of Masonry
as they were known to the members of the four old Lodges which formed the first Grand
Lodge, and hence have the respectability of an antiquity much greater than their printed life of
two hundred and twelve years. In general, the "Old Charges" are concerned with the individual
brother and his relations to his Lodge and his brethren; the "General Regulations," with the
conduct of the Craft as a whole. The "General Regulations" permit their own alteration by
Grand Lodge--the "Old Charges" do not.
ENFORCEMENT
Law in Masonry is so much more a matter of the heart than of the head, so much more
concerned with setting forth conduct than in assessing penalties, that, thoroughly to
comprehend it, a Master must be willing to revise his ideas of law as created by the
enactments of legislatures. Many civil laws are provided with measures of enforcement and
penalties for infringement. Masonic law knows but four penalties: reprimand, definite
suspension, indefinite suspension, and expulsion. These Masonic penalties for serious
infractions of Masonic law may be ordered after a Masonic trial and a verdict of guilty, but
mercy is much more a part of Masonic than of civil law. Infractions of Masonic law resulting in
trial and punishment are rare, compared to the number of Masons, the vast majority of whom
are so willing to obey the laws that "enforcement" is seldom required.
UNIVERSALITY
There is no universality in Masonic law in all Jurisdictions. Different latitudes, different
characters of people, different ideas, have all left their marks upon our forty-nine Grand
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Lodges and their enactments. In the majority of essentials, they are one; in some particulars,
they hold divergent views. A large majority of Grand Lodges in the United States adhere to the
spirit of the "Old Charges," and--so far as modern conditions permit--to the sense of the
"General Regulations." It is, therefore, of real importance that a Master desiring to understand
the laws by which his Lodge is governed, and the legal standards by which Grand Lodge
measures its "laws, regulations and edicts," should read both the "Old Charges" and the
"General Regulations of 1723." When he reaches the last (thirty-ninth) of the "General
Regulations," he will read: "Every Annual Grand Lodge has an inherent Power and Authority to
make new Regulations, or to alter these, for the real benefit of this Ancient Fraternity; provided
always that the old Landmarks be carefully preserved," etc.
LANDMARKS
The "old landmarks" or the "Ancient Landmarks" as customarily called, are those foundations
of the law of Masonry which are not subject to change. Had the Grand Lodge which first
adopted these "General Regulations" formulated the "Ancient Landmarks" it would have saved
much confusion in subsequent Grand Lodges. Apparently, however, the unwritten law of
Masonry--the common law-- was so well understood and practiced that it was then not thought
necessary to codify it. A great body of unwritten law which Masons customarily observe--
"Ancient usages and customs "--are not specified in print. But the Landmarks have been
reduced to print and made a part of the written law in many Jurisdictions. Mackey's list of
twenty-five Landmarks has been adopted as official in many American Masonic Jurisdictions;
others have condensed his list into a lesser number, still keeping all his points; a few
Jurisdictions have a greater number of landmarks, including some not specified in Mackey's
list. Those Jurisdictions which do not include a printed list of the Ancient Landmarks in their
written law, usually follow and practice them as a part of their unwritten law. In a few instances,
some of the Landmarks as listed by Mackey are not recognized as such; for instance,
Mackey's Eighth Landmark, the inherent right of a Grand Master to "make Masons at sight"
was specifically abrogated by an early Grand Lodge in California. In general, however, whether
written or unwritten, Grand Lodges adhere to the spirit of all of Mackey's list. The Landmarks
may be regarded as bearing the same relation to Masonic law in general, including the "Old
Charges" and the "General Regulations," as the provisions of Magna Charta bear to modern
constitutional law. Just as Magna Charta specified some of the inherent rights of men which all
laws of all governments should respect, so the Landmarks crystallize the inherent
characteristics of Masonry-- those fundamentals which make Freemasonry, and without which
it would be something else.
LAW MAKING
With these as a foundation, the "Old Charges" for precedent, the first "General Regulations" for
organic law, Grand Lodges write their Constitutions and by-laws and particular Lodges write
their by-laws, which are usually subject to approval by Grand Lodge, a Grand Lodge
Committee, or the Grand Master. Grand Masters ad interim, formulate edicts and make
decisions; often these are later incorporated by Grand Lodge into the written law of the
Jurisdiction. All of these together, except where they conflict (as some of the early "General
Regulations" necessarily conflict with later enactments made to supersede them) form the
legal structure of Freemasonry, to understand which is a duty all Masters should be eager to
perform. Undeniably it is much looser than the similar body of law for the government of a
nation. If a Master interpreted Masonic law wholly by the letter--as is necessarily the case in
civil law--the government of his Lodge might often be as loose as Freemasonry's statutes. But
as a matter of fact, the Craft is well governed. Its "ancient usages and customs" so soon win
their way into the hearts of new brethren that there is a great resistance to any attempt to
change the old order, unless necessity shows that it is inescapable. Masons much prefer to
whisper good counsel to an erring brother, than to subject him to Masonic trial. The Fraternity
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in this nation deals yearly with very large sums of money. The Craft erects and maintains
numbers of expensive Temples, and Homes for the helpless Mason and his dependents. The
Institution disburses a large amount of charity. The majority of its executives serve long and
arduous apprenticeship. These very practical matters are all conducted in accord with a more
or less loosely woven body of law-- and yet the Fraternity as a whole can take great pride in
the undoubted fact that it is orderly, well governed, almost completely law abiding, and very
reluctant to make any more new laws for itself than are absolutely necessary. He is a capable
Master who recalls the answer to the classic question: "Where were you first prepared to be
made a Mason?" and delves enthusiastically into the sources of Masonic law of his
Jurisdiction, that he may rule wisely, decide justly and lead his Lodge with real authority.
MASTERS SHOULD KNOW
Specifically, the Master must familiarize himself with Grand Lodge Law upon applications,
amendments, ballots and balloting, burial, candidates (residence, qualifications, physical
perfection, etc.), charges, correspondence with other Lodges, degrees, demits, dispensations
(especially as to when they are necessary), dual membership (if authorized by Grand Lodge or
not authorized by that body), dues, education, elections, examinations, finances, installation,
jurisdiction, membership, minutes, motions (when not in order), objections to candidates,
offenses. petitions, processions, proxies, rejection, returns of Lodges, special communications,
summons, Sunday observances, trials, visits and visitors, votes and voting (when paper ballot
required; when majority; when two thirds and when unanimous needed, etc. ), waiver of
jurisdiction. Learning all this is not easy, but being a good Master is not supposed to be easy.
To have been elected Master presupposes a willingness to labor, and here is labor and plenty
of it. Some Masters never look at the law, to their shame be it said! Grand Master after Grand
Master reports decisions in his annual message, plaintively adding: "If Masters would only look
up the law in the books provided, ninety percent of the questions need not have been asked."
Not to know the law may plunge the Lodge into real difficulties; knowing the law is like knowing
the currents and the channels; the mariner who knows does not run his ship on the rocks.
While study of the book of Masonic law of his Jurisdiction will satisfy almost all need for
knowledge, the Master who will read a good volume on Masonic law and practice will have a
much clearer vision of his problems (see book list at end of this volume).
Chapter 5
THE ART OF PRESIDING

"Preside--to sit in authority over others." (Standard Dictionary.) The first principle of successful
presiding is to use authority without any one being conscious of it! The presiding officer
elected by a secular organization is amenable to its dictates, and may be removed by the
electorate; an appeal may be taken from his decision to the body over which he presides;
generally he is supposed to conduct its meetings according to the rules of order (usually
Robert's). None of this is true for the Master of a Lodge. While elected, he is not controlled by
the dictates of his Lodge; he can only be removed by Grand Master or Deputy under authority
of the Grand Master; no appeal to the Lodge may be taken from his awards; "rules of order,"
while followed in general, are actually the Master's will and pleasure.
MOTIONS OUT OF ORDER
In any secular body a motion to adjourn, for the previous question, to lay on the table, to refer
to a committee of the whole, are always in order; in a Masonic Lodge, never. Only the Master
can decide these questions, and even a Master should never permit the Lodge to resolve itself
into a committee of the whole, since a committee presupposes a Chairman, and a Chairman is
the servant, not the ruler, of the Committee. With the usual business of Lodge: confirming of
minutes, accepting petitions, ordering a ballot, putting motions to expend, etc., Masters have
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little trouble. It is when difficult questions arise; hard fought battles to raise dues; revision of by-
laws; putting standing resolutions on the books; accepting and confirming a report which
reflects on some officer, etc., that the Master must temper justice with mercy, and authority
with discretion.
KEEP COOL
That rule is usually wise which avoids heated debates. When debaters become so personal as
to forget brotherly acts in the warmth of partisanship, a Master is justified in closing debate for
the time, to act on the question when cooler moments arrive. A Master may always call from
labor to refreshment, to permit "cooling off." If he does this with a smile, and some remark
about his own need for a little reflection, he will offend no one.
GAVEL
The Masonic gavel in the hands of a Master is all powerful. Brethren must--and with practically
no exceptions always do-- obey its mandate. Grand Lodge frowns upon the brother who flouts
the authority of Master; a brother not willing to cease speaking when "rapped down," or who
insists on speaking when not recognized, is subject to Masonic trial and punishment. Because
of the power of the gavel the good Master uses it sparingly; he will never "rap down" a brother
if it is possible to avoid it. If a brother insists on doing something illegal, the Master must, of
course. But there is a vast difference in the way this is done by different Masters. A certain
Past Master was offended at the adverse report of a committee on investigation of a petitioner.
Securing recognition he began: "I think we should disregard this Committee report unless we
know why the committee reported unfavorably; I demand their reasons. . . .” The Master could
have brought his gavel down with a bang and said: "Brother Past Master, you are out of order;
a Past Master ought to know better!" What he did do was bring his gavel down with enough
decision to be heard, then said: "Brother Past Master, I regret exceedingly to rule out of order
one of my illustrious and learned predecessors. But my understanding of Masonic law is that
the reasons for reporting unfavorably by a committee are as sacred as the ballot. I am sorry --"
This seems almost too simple to chronicle, and yet it is just this difference between the hard
and fast exercise of undoubted power which men are apt to resent, and the patient brotherly
courtesy which Masons appreciate, which marks the successful from the disliked presiding
officer.
A "GOOD SPORT"
A finance committee brought in a report which severely criticized a Master's administration,
practically accusing him of running wild with the Lodge finances. Shocked but game, without a
word of defense he put the question as to the disposition of the report. Brother after brother
arose to discuss the report, to delete this and strike out that, to remove that offending phrase
and to soften this one. After some ten minutes' debate, one brother, a loyal partisan of the
Master, moved rejection of the whole report and appointment of a new finance committee. "I
am sorry not to entertain that motion," the Master said with a smile. "I think the committee has
rendered a fine report. I do not refer to their opinions, but to the hours of labor and the results
in this excellent financial statement. I would be ungrateful indeed if I discharged this
committee, or failed to express our appreciation of its efforts." The Lodge applauded
vigorously, and the result was the acceptance of the financial part of the report, with all
criticism stricken out. Most important, the members of the committee, sincere and honorable
gentlemen, felt that the Master had been just; thus any schism was avoided, the Master was
protected, the Lodge satisfied and the committee content. One wrong word, and a first class
Lodge quarrel might have started!
SNAP AND SPEED
Some men think like a lightning flash and others think slowly. Even the slow thinker can speed
up his business meetings by having previously written notes before him. The Masters who
depend on their Secretaries to tell them what to do next are legion--what would some of us do
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without those hardworked and loyal officials! But the Master who lets the Secretary do it all
rarely has the respect or veneration of his members.
LET THEM TALK
A good Master remembers that he is Master of all the Lodge--not just those members with
whom he is in sympathy. He knows that what is unimportant to him may be vital to some other
brother. The member who insists on a bowling match or a golf game with a sister Lodge may
feel it just as important as the Master's plans for a Masonic evening --let him talk about it! Of
course, there is a limit to all things, and a scheduled degree should not be delayed so as to
keep the few faithful up half the night, sending the rest home without seeing it. But, within
reason, the Master who encourages his members to speak, who calls on Brothers Smith and
Jones for a few remarks about some question, will have a more unified and interested Lodge
than he who is anxious to shut off debate.
WELCOMES
They are as different in different Lodges as chalk is from cheese. Some Lodges extend no
special welcomes; in others a word of greeting to all visitors is customary, especially those
vouched for by a committee after an examination. In some Lodges the Past Masters are known
only by their jewels; in others the Master calls on each by name, says a pleasant word and
offers him the pretty courtesy of a "seat in the East." Now and then a Master is so anxious to
be courteous that he offers the "seat in the East" to every visitor, which rather destroys its
value as a mark of special consideration for those who have borne the heat and burden of the
day. (The reader, of course, will take this with a grain of salt, remembering it is a Past Master
who writes this book!) One small error many a Master makes with only politeness in his mind;
taking off his hat whenever he speaks, especially when he extends a welcome. The "hat
snatcher," however well-intentioned, displays a fundamental ignorance of the meaning of the
Master's hat. It is not, strictly speaking, a hat at all, but a badge of office. There is no more
reason to remove it when speaking than there is to take off apron or jewel. A Master need
remove his hat on but four occasions; when speaking of, or to, Deity; when speaking of a
death; when the Grand Master or his Deputy comes into the Lodge room wearing a hat, or
when tendering the gavel of authority to another to preside.
RESPECT
It is emphatically the Master's business to insist upon profound respect for his office. Many a
modest man refrains from correcting a wrong Lodge action in the mistaken idea that brethren
will think he is "high hat." A brother may be plain John Smith, but when John Smith is Master,
he should receive the respect which that office demands. The brother who makes the wrong
salute should be smilingly corrected--but he should not go unchallenged. The brother so
careless of his manners as to salute with a cigar in his mouth may be privately admonished,
but he should hear from the East. The brother who crosses between Altar and East should
learn that brethren do not use the space between Master and Great lights for a passageway
because, as the Great Lights are in the Master's charge, he is entitled to keep them always in
view. The brother who speaks out of turn, the brother who tries to leave the room during a
ballot, the brother who forgets a proper salute when addressing the East--all should receive
some word of friendly counsel. Whether it be done before the Lodge, or by sending a message
by the Senior Deacon, is for the Master to decide. His brethren in the end will think the more of
him if he passes his high station to his successor with its dignity unimpaired.
SMILE
Nothing succeeds in the East like a smile. Two Masters reigned in sister Lodges at the same
time; one a brilliant lawyer, smart as a steel trap, wit like a rapier. . . and cold and austere as a
lump of ice. The other Master was a railroad conductor; he had not one tenth the education wit
or brilliance of the lawyer, but he knew the gentle art of making friends. Whatever pleasant he
had to do, he did as if he liked to do it-- with a smile. Whatever unpleasant was his task he did
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as if it pained him, but with a smile. The railroad brother's Lodge was crowded and the brilliant
lawyer's all but empty, most of the year. Smiles, alas, cannot be made to order. Set smiles,
machine smiles, mere facial contortions won't work. Effective smiles come from a smiling
heart. By all of which it may be seen that the art of presiding successfully has its foundation in
sympathy and understanding, and its cornerstone in good nature and tolerance. With these a
Master can hardly fail to be a beloved presiding officer.
NERVOUS?
It is only three steps from the Lodge floor to the Master's platform--but what high steps! The
brother presiding for the first time in a Masonic Lodge who says he is not nervous is fooling
himself, but no one else. But there is no need to continue to be nervous. In a traffic jam the
motorist can always stop--the worst he will get is a lot of horns tooted at him, and perhaps a
"bawling out" by the policeman. In a parliamentary jam the Master can always stop to look up
the law or precedent, or call to refreshment while he consults some one; he will hear neither
horns nor bawling out. Go slowly; consult the agenda; depend on the Secretary for help; use
the gavel sparingly; smile . . . and presiding becomes a pleasure and a Master a joy to his
brethren.
Chapter 6
ENTERTAINMENT AND ATTENDANCE

The Master whose entertainment program is strictly Masonic has to send to the basement for
extra chairs for most of his meetings. Most Masters find the attendance problem vexatious;
especially is this true in a Lodge in which the members have to some extent lost interest. But
attendance, in itself, is of no value if nothing is given those who attend. Ten thousand Masons
may stand before a World Series score board, but receive no Masonic light. Attendance is not
an end, but a means. Any Lodge room can be packed by advertising to exhibit a pair of
Siamese twins, or a tattooed man from Borneo, but merely "packing them in" is of no Masonic
value. It is when the Master packs his Lodge room with brethren eager for Masonic
entertainment, which conceals instruction and information beneath a covering of pleasure and
amusement, that attendance is important. On the average, an attendance of ten percent of the
membership is looked upon as a "good" turnout. Yet there are Lodges which have a much
greater number at almost every communication.
DIFFERENT
The way to arouse interest is to do something different from what is normally done in Lodge. A
Lodge overburdened with degree work can increase attendance by holding special meetings
for social and fraternal purposes. A Lodge in which a speaker from another Lodge--and better,
another Grand Jurisdiction--is seldom heard may increase its attendance by making such
addresses a feature. A Lodge in which Masonic education is unknown may increase
attendance by putting on an educational program. If a speaker is secured from another Lodge
or Jurisdiction, particular consideration should be given his comfort. Such entertainers usually
sacrifice time and energy for their brethren; Masonic hospitality should see that everything
possible is done for their comfort. Particularly if a speaker is brought from a distance with a
promise to pay his expenses, should the check for those necessary expenditures be given to
him promptly.
EXTRA LODGE ACTIVITIES
All Masters meet, in one way or another, proposals that the Lodge do this or that, support this
or that, take part in this or that. And it is often difficult to decide where the line should be drawn
between what a Lodge may do, and what its individual members may do. Two safe tests to
apply to any such proposal which involves Lodge activities are these; will acceptance of the
invitation cause a difference of opinion among members which may disrupt the harmony of the
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Lodge? Will it be a precedent which may cause embarrassment in the future? If either
question may be answered in the affirmative, the wise Master will avoid Lodge participation.
COMMITTEE
The Master is faced at the start with two conflicting principles; the more of his own members he
can persuade to take part in entertainment, the more interest he can arouse among them and
their friends; the more he goes outside the Lodge for amusement, the more he is apt to interest
all its members, most of whom have heard the home talent before. Any program of
entertainment or instruction is best put in the hands of a competent chairman of a committee.
Give him plenty of assistance, and then let him run it without interference. Some Masters
appoint a chairman and then attempt to do all his work, or dictate how it should be done. A
chairman should be a willing worker, and in sympathy with the Master's ideas, but unless he
has ideas and initiative of his own, he is not qualified to be a chairman; if he has ideas and
initiative, he is not properly used unless allowed to employ them. A small committee is better
than a large one; if the plans are elaborate, the committee may divide itself into sub-
committees with sub-chairmen, who may call to their assistance all the help they need. But a
large central committee is difficult to handle; too many ideas and conflicting desires prevent
success. An entertainment committee of three, or five at the most, is sufficiently large.
Masonic dignity and honors are not the first requisite in an entertainment committee chairman.
The senior Past Master has not necessarily the most original mind; the Senior Warden may be
an excellent officer and a prospective Master of charm and ability, without being constituted by
nature to be a good chairman. Use the brains and enthusiasm of the younger members. It is
easy to gain the cooperation of the older members, and of those the Lodge has honored, by
asking them to give way to the young and untried that these may show their quality. A few
plans which have been tried and proved successful in increasing attendance.
A SURPRISE MEETING
Advertise to the membership that a surprise awaits them. Tell them there will be "something
doing" which they have never seen before. Then arrange with a capable committee to
exemplify a dozen or more matters of law and behavior. Have a new brother deliberately cross
the room between Altar and East. Call him down for it. Have a Past Master explain why this is
not good Masonic usage. During a ballot have a brother enter the room by way of the West
Gate. Declare the ballot illegal and take it over again. Have a Past Master explain why it is
illegal. Let some brother move that the Lodge adjourn. Have some one else explain that
parliamentary procedure which governs most assemblages cannot apply in a Masonic Lodge
because of the powers and prerogatives of the Master, at whose pleasure alone the Lodge
convenes and is closed. Get a debate started on something, anything, and have a brother
appeal from the decision of the Master to the Lodge. Rule him out of order, and explain that
the only appeal lies to the Grand Master, and why. Have some brother give the wrong salute
on entering or leaving; correct him, and have some one make a short talk on the reasons for
the salute and how the brother may always know by an examination of the Great Lights upon
what degree the Lodge is open. Think up half a dozen more matters in which the customs, the
etiquette or the law of Masonry may be violated, and have an explanation and an answer
ready for each one. The interest of such a practical demonstration is surprising.
A MASONIC EXPERIENCE MEETING
In any Lodge some brethren have had some pleasant, different, unusual experience of
Masonry. One has had to borrow money in strange city, and did it through Masonic connection.
Another has discovered a Masonic impostor. A third has made a pleasant friend in another city
through mutual Masonry. A fourth has found interest in the manners, customs and usages of
Masonry in a sister Grand Jurisdiction. Another has seen a funeral service in another
Jurisdiction, quite different from his own. Get a committee to ascertain the names of half a
dozen such brethren, and persuade them to give their experiences. Advertise it in the Lodge
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circular and see the increase in attendance.
A LODGE DEBATE
Choose some interesting Masonic subject, on which opinion is divided, appoint two teams of
debaters, of two brethren each, and stage a contest to run not over forty minutes. A is given
eight minutes for the affirmative, B eight minutes for the negative, followed by C with eight
minutes for rebuttal and D, eight minutes for rebuttal. Each is then allowed two minutes to
close. The decision is to rest on the vote of the Lodge. A few suggested topics are: "Resolved,
that Masonry would be more effective if all Lodges were limited in size"; "Resolved, that
perpetual jurisdiction over rejected candidates is unjust"; "Resolved, that a Master's powers
should be limitable by a Lodge," etc. It should be explained that these subjects are debated
purely for the information such discussion may bring out, with no thought of attempting by
Lodge action to alter existing law or practice. A Lodge debate may be humorous in character:
"Resolved, that business should not interfere with golf"; "Resolved, that the Worshipful Master
should pay the Lodge a salary for his privilege"; etc. If debaters are ready speakers, such
simple entertainment can be made very effective and interesting.
PAST MASTERS NIGHT
Fill the chairs with the Past Masters, in order of seniority, for the conferring of a degree. If no
candidate is available, and there is no local regulation against the practice, use a dummy
candidate from among the members, or have the degree conferred on the oldest Past Master.
Officers who have borne the heat and burden of the day are usually proud of the opportunity
again to get into harness, and the membership is usually interested in the performance.
"TELL US WHAT YOU THINK"
Have ten brethren, each with an idea, give four-minute talks on what the Lodge needs This
does not mean a new hall, or new equipment, or more money, but what it requires to be better,
more alive, more interesting. Such a discussion will bring out many ideas. Throw the meeting
open to the membership as soon as the arranged speakers have finished; often the
unprepared speech will be the most illuminating of the evening.
THE QUESTION BOX
Put a small box with a slot in it in the Lodge, and invite the brethren to submit questions
regarding anything Masonic; assure them that as many of the questions as possible will be
answered the next meeting. See that half a dozen brethren, instructed in advance, drop
questions in the box. As the Master will probably get a number for which he has not arranged,
he can have prepared half a dozen answers to the questions he has inspired and these
answers delivered to the Lodge in five-minute addresses. Questions and answers both, of
course, can be obtained from books. Some questions interesting to most Masons are: How old
is Masonry, and how do we know its age? What are the ten most Masonic verses in the Bible,
not including those quotations from the Great Light used in the ritual? Who was William
Morgan and what happened in the Morgan affair? In wearing a Masonic ring, should the points
of the compass point towards the wearer or towards his finger tips, and why? What is the
origin of the Masonic use of the word "profane," meaning one not a member, and why is he so
called? England permits dual membership. What American Grand Jurisdictions permit it and
what are some of the arguments for and against it? What and where is the oldest Lodge in the
world, in the United States, in this State?
THE SONGS OF MASONRY
Good Masonic poetry is scarce. But there is enough to furnish a pleasant and interesting hour
of instruction and entertainment. Pick out half a dozen of the best known Masonic poems, and
half a dozen brethren who will memorize them, and prepare a little talk upon them. Let each
brother recite the poem of his choice, and then comment upon its significance. Good poems
for an evening of this kind are Kipling's "The Palace" and "Mother Lodge," Burns's "Masonic
Farewell," Goethe's "Mason Lodge," Leigh Hunt's "Abou Ben Adhem," Carruth's "Each in His
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Own Tongue," Burns's "On the Apron," Meredith's "Ebony Staff of Solomon," Bowman's "Voice
of America," Malloch's "Father's Lodge" and Nesbit's "I Sat in Lodge with You."
CLUB
It is often possible to awaken interest in a Lodge by the formation of a glee club, a dramatic
club, a study club, all good ways to increase attendance.
RITUAL
A little "stunt" which always holds the attention of the members is having some part of the
Masonic ritual-- it may be the charge to a candidate in one of the degrees, a section from the
Middle Chamber lecture, or perhaps the prayer from the third degree-- committed to memory
by half a dozen brethren. These brethren then deliver the same work to show how different the
appeal may be, as done in different ways. The parts selected should be short. If the brethren
are willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of the evening, a prize may be put up for the
most effective rendition, the decision, of course, to rest with the Lodge. The vote on the best
rendition should be by paper ballot. But do not do this unless the brethren have been
previously consulted and are willing to enter into the spirit of the little contest.
DISPATCH
In a Lodge which has much work and much business, the Master will add to the interest and
the attendance if he runs the meeting with dispatch. The dragging business meeting, with a
great deal of "hot air" from well-meaning brethren who really have little to say, is often
sufficiently boresome to keep members away. It is not suggested that the Master shut off
debate arbitrarily, or rap any brother down. But it is perfectly possible to run the first part of the
business meeting snappily, have a prepared speech or so, very short and interesting, and then
have a couple of "planted" brethren comment on the shortness and the snappiness. The round
hand of applause which such comments usually draw will keep the prolix and the long-winded
off their feet!
EDUCATION
It adds to the interest and, therefore, to the attendance, if the Master always has something to
tell his Lodge. "Give them good and wholesome instruction" means what it says. A five-minute
talk by the Master upon some matter of interest to Masons generally will prove an interesting
feature. The Master must be careful not to "talk the interest to death." Nor should he ever be
witty at the expense of his members unless it is that kindly wit which compliments at the same
time it brings a smile. It means work for the Master to get up some twenty little addresses
during his year, but Masters expect to work--or else they are much surprised brethren when
they get in the East! Source material for such talks is the copy of the Proceedings of Grand
Lodge, which contains much of interest to all members. A clever Master will have no difficulty
in finding in this volume enough topics for many five-minute talks.
BIRTHDAYS
An idea which produces results is the sending of letters to brethren on their Masonic birthdays
reminding them "On such and such a date you were raised to the Sublime Degree. Our
nearest meeting to your anniversary is such and such a date. Will you not come to Lodge that
night, to join the other brethren whose Masonic birthday is the same, and give us the pleasure
of offering you our good wishes?" The same is true of real birthdays, especially those of the
older members.
CURIOSITY
Man is incurably curious; his desire to know and to understand is the mainspring of invention,
discovery, civilization, progress; the driving force which leads men to learn. Masters can make
use of this desire to know to make better Masons of the brethren. A "sugar-coated" Masonic
educational meeting is interesting, intriguing, alive, vital, satisfying a great curiosity. Lodges
which have tried the educational experiments here listed usually repeat them, and almost
invariably the repetition is to a "packed house."
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DISSECTING A DEGREE
Especially recommended for Lodges which have little work to do is the dissection and
explanation of the first section of any degree. A dummy candidate is initiated, and the
ceremony interrupted at each stage by some brother who offers a little explanation of the
symbolism of the part of the degree under discussion; entry, circumambulation, rite of
destitution, the antiquity of the apron, origin of the Lesser Lights, etc. Such dissection and
exposition require some little study by those who take part, but giving each brother who offers
an interruption only one subject minimizes the work of preparation and increases the variety by
having many take part. Inquiry should first be made of the District Deputy, or the Grand
Master; in some Jurisdictions the practice of using a dummy candidate has been frowned
upon, as derogatory to the dignity of our ceremonies. When it is explained that the purpose of
the idea is educational, however, it is probable that no difficulty will be experienced in obtaining
enthusiastic cooperation from those in authority.
"YOU MUST--YOU MUST NOT!"
The average Lodge member knows little about Masonic law. The very term "Jurisprudence"
seems repellent. Yet Masonic law is intensely interesting, and may be made to appear so to
the Lodge by any brother who will devote a little time and attention to developing a talk on
those parts of our legal system which most intimately touch the brethren. Masonic law is vastly
different from civil law; most Masonic law is a matter of "thou shalt" rather than "thou shalt not."
A few salient points chosen for their interest to the average Mason, and explained, first as to
their origin, and second as to their use or necessity, will interest any Lodge. It is not an
arduous task for a clever brother to arrange such a talk; he may use any good book on
Jurisprudence as a foundation, Mackey or Pound for choice, as both are complete and
concise.
CONTESTS
The more brethren take part in an educational meeting, the greater the enjoyment. No scheme
for an educational meeting yet developed exceeds the Lodge contest in this respect, since it
gives every one an opportunity to participate. The educational contest is conducted by a
Master of Ceremonies asking a series of questions, carefully prepared in advance, the correct
answers to which can be given in one or two words, a date, a name. Supplied with paper and
pencils, the brethren write and number their answers to the questions, as they are asked. Then
they exchange papers, the correct answers are read, and the brethren mark the replies "right"
or "wrong" according to the facts. The winners, of course, are those who have the greatest
number, next greatest number and third greatest number answered correctly. Interest in such a
contest is increased by offering prizes. These may be very inexpensive; a good Masonic book,
a subscription to a Masonic magazine, a Masonic lapel pin are all appreciated. The questions
should not be complex; answers should be facts, not opinions. For instance "In what Lodge
was George Washington raised?" "Who is Grand Master in this State?" "How old is this
Lodge?" "How many Lodges in our Grand Lodge?" are all questions needing but a word or two
to answer with facts. Such questions as "Do you think Masonry is a religion?" should not be
included, since any answer must be an opinion, not a fact. Questions like "Explain the part
Freemasonry played in the Revolution" should not be asked, as they require lengthy replies. In
giving out the correct answers, a clever Master of Ceremonies will offer some "good and
wholesome instruction" of Masonic value; for instance, if the question be "How many
landmarks are recognized in this Jurisdiction?" and the correct answer is "Twenty five," the
Master of Ceremonies may explain that some Jurisdictions have less, others more; that many
Jurisdictions have adopted Mackey's list, while others have condensed Mackey's twenty-five
into a less number, which nevertheless contains all of Mackey's points, and so on.
CLIMAX
In any Lodge entertainment, whether purely amusement or Masonically instructive, arrange the
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program to reach a climax; when it culminates, close the evening. If the program includes a
principal speaker, have him come last. After he has spoken, do not call on half a dozen
brethren to talk about the speaker and his address. Nothing makes a fine talk fall flatter than
far less able speakers giving short resumes of what has been said and telling the Lodge how
good it was. Past Master John Smith and Brother Henry Robinson are good men and true,
beloved of the brethren, listened to with respect, but unless they are orators of high calibre,
their supplementary remarks on a thought-provoking address usually throw a cold wet blanket
which is very chilling to enthusiasm ! The old adage for speakers: "Stand up, speak up, shut
up!" may well be applied here; when a program is ended, consider it finished! Far better that
the brethren go home wishing the evening had been longer, than with the feeling "I'm glad
that's over!"
BE DIFFERENT
Any Master may largely increase interest in his meetings by departing from the custom of
previous Masters, doing what they did not do! This does not mean a criticism of previous
Masters; what they did may also have been interesting and different. The new is always
interesting; that which is interesting usually stimulates attendance. With good reason, depart
from the usual order of business; it is a Master's privilege. Have some brother, the more
obscure the better, who has done something, anything, escorted to the Altar, and thank him,
congratulate him or comment on his work; the more unexpected this is, the more interesting to
the membership. Extend a special welcome to the oldest Past Master, or most beloved brother.
If the Lodge has no regularly appointed chaplain, or if he is absent, call on some brother to
take over the simple duties of Lodge chaplain. Encourage debate; ask for comments on any
question which comes up on which no one voluntarily has anything to offer; the more members
get on their feet the greater interest there is in the meeting, always providing they are not long-
winded about it.
Chapter 7
"SET THE CRAFT TO LABOR"

The enthusiastic Master usually heads an enthusiastic Lodge. No one can inculcate
enthusiasm in others if he does not possess it. But many a Master is enthusiastic over his
Masonry, his Lodge and its activities, who does not know the few parlor tricks of the East which
inspire others. It is trite but true: men like to work when they don't have to! The Master who
puts many brethren to work at something- -just what is not important--will have enthusiastic
meetings.
ACTIVITIES
Brethren may be interested in dozens of activities. A glad hand committee, not only for visitors
but to greet every member as he comes in, is always an asset. Rival committees--perhaps as
many as six--may be asked to provide entertainment, each for one meeting. A prize may be
given the committee staging the most popular evening. (Note: different Lodges have different
methods. In a Lodge which must count pennies, the Master may offer the prize personally.
Suitable prizes are: an evening at the theater for all the members of the committee; a Masonic
book for each member of the committee; a Masonic button for each member.) Very successful
are large committees to call on delinquent members; committees to call on the stay-at-home
brethren with personal invitations to attend; sojourners' committees, to call on brethren of
foreign Lodges temporarily within the jurisdiction of the Lodge; committees on the sick; rival
degree teams for each degree. A Master may thus put a hundred brethren to work, often with
amazing results in the new interest brethren take in Lodge when they have definite tasks.
PAY WAGES
The laborer is worthy of his hire. The only pay a committeeman can receive is Master's Wages.
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Pay them, pay them generously, pay them often. Make them stand up, tell the Lodge what
good workers they have been, thank them. In especially meritorious cases have the brother-to-
be-thanked conducted to the Altar, and speak to him there. In the Middle Chamber the
workmen received their wages in corn, wine and oil. Do not leave all the oil in the oil fields! A
little poured from the East is good Masonic diplomacy.
JOURNEYS
Most Grand Jurisdictions have some pet project--a Home, a Hospital, an Orphanage, a Charity
Foundation, a library--all excellent pegs on which to hang garments of enthusiasm. Get some
brother who can talk to visit the institution and tell the Lodge about it. Organize a bus
pilgrimage to the Home, at special rates, advertise it well, make a ladies' picnic of it if the
Lodge likes to bring its better halves along. Find a successful graduate of the Home School
and ask him to tell the Lodge about it. Has the Home a band? Organize a "Concert Committee"
to raise funds to bring it to Lodge; invite the neighboring Lodges. Probabilities are the Lodge
room won't be big enough. Many Lodges have a sister Lodge, in their own or a neighboring
Jurisdiction, with which we ties of union are unusually close. Annual visits between such
Lodges result in large attendance and fraternal evenings. If no such sister Lodge is tied to a
Master's by special bonds, hunt up one and start the ball rolling by inviting that Lodge to visit
yours. Pick the newest Lodge, the oldest Lodge, the most historic Lodge, the biggest Lodge,
the smallest Lodge; a Lodge with a Master who has your name; a Lodge with the same name
as yours--anything will do for an excuse. If the rules of Grand Lodge permit, ask a sister Lodge
in another Jurisdiction to put on a degree. Before sending such an invitation be sure your
Grand Lodge looks with favor on such interchange of work; consult District Deputy, Grand
Secretary or Grand Master. Has your State some nearby historic place, marker, monument,
park, house, battlefield? Organize a visit of your Lodge. Especially is this worth while if there is
a Masonic significance to the place visited. A journey to your local Yorktown, Williamsburg,
Valley Forge, Custer's Last Stand, Fort Dearborn, Meeting on the Mountain, etc., can always
be hooked up with Masonry, since all such have some associations with great men who were
Masons.
SERVICE
Masons are not "men with pins on their coats." Masonry is a vital force in the lives of many;
one touch on the right key and Masonic enthusiasm simply pours out of members. A brother
was injured and a blood transfusion necessary. The Master of his Lodge learned it on the night
of a third degree. It was his custom to make a little talk before each ceremony on one of its
significances. An opportunist, the Master junked his prepared speech and spoke for five
minutes on the Five Points--then called for volunteers for the blood transfusion. Fifteen
brethren rose to clamor for the chance to show their Five Points meant something to them.
The Master of a small Midwestern Lodge, poor in finances, had a pressing relief case; a
brother had lost his home by storm. He had told the Lodge about it. The Treasurer arose to
say: "But we have no money, Worshipful." "Who said anything about money?" retorted the
Master. "I want volunteers with tools, who will give each a day's work, two days, whatever you
can spare. We can't buy Brother Jones a new home, but we are sorry sons of pioneers if we
can’t build one!" Thirty-four men rebuilt Brother Jones's home for him, and then pleaded with
the Master for "another happy time and good day's outing like that!"
FOR LOVE
Give the brethren a chance to do something, anything, no matter how small or unimportant. A
brother convinced that he is helping is enthusiastic. One Master appointed a young brother as
assistant to an old, feeble and forgetful Tiler--who was much beloved. The young assistant did
no more than bring out the aprons, sort out and put away the officers' jewels, but he was
company for the old man for the half hour before and after the meeting. At the end of the year,
thanking the lad, the Master said: "Doubtless you'll be glad that a new Master will give your
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thankless job to some one else." "Glad? I'll be all broken up if he doesn't reappoint me!" was
the answer. The boy had never missed a meeting and now that he has the habit, probably
never will. A certain old Past Master came only once or twice a year. It was said that "Brother
Smith was a very active Master and now that he has nothing to do, feels lost in Lodge." "I'll
give him something to do!" determined the new Master, then offered the old Past Master the
Chaplaincy of the Lodge. The old Past Master protested that he was too old; the Lodge had a
minister (who could seldom attend); he had not done any work for years . . . the Master
overrode him. The Past Master took the position, and the storm does not blow that can keep
him away from his Lodge. Flagging enthusiasm was aroused by a small job, with something
constructive to do. Will there be a "big night"? Appoint half a dozen assistant stewards to lug
in chairs and benches. Is there a "big feed" for some special occasion? Plenty of brethren will
gladly give up that evening in Lodge to help prepare the tables and serve the meal. Have you a
semi-invalid who cannot easily get to Lodge? Responses will be generous to a request for
volunteers to call for him and take him home. The Master may urge many members to watch
for opportunities to furnish transportation to brethren residing in their neighborhood; the Lodge
member without a car will appreciate a lift from his more fortunate brother. A Master does not
need much imagination to think up a thousand and one ways to interest his members in Lodge
work, nor will he need more than two or three meetings to demonstrate the effectiveness of this
simple and easy way to create enthusiasm, increase attendance, and swell to delightful
proportions the pride and joy which men thus set to labor for the common good will find in their
Lodge. Try it--you'll be surprised!
Chapter 8
SECRETARY, WARDENS, PAST MASTERS

A Master's greatest asset is a competent and loyal Secretary. A good officer to his left is a
balance wheel, a touch with the past, a compendium of knowledge, a very present help in the
time of trouble. Per contra, a lazy, indifferent or incompetent Secretary, or one antagonistic to
the Master, is a severe handicap.
MINUTES
It is usual to depend on a good Secretary for much, but it can be overdone. It is not the
Secretary, but the Master, whom the Grand Master holds responsible for his Lodge. The
Secretary writes the minutes, the Lodge confirms them, but the Master must shoulder the
responsibility of seeing that they contain all things proper to be written, nothing not proper to
be recorded, are accurate, complete, unbiased. The Master may not confirm minutes. Nor
may he alter, amend, delete or add to them, except as any brother may, by suggestion that
something was left out which should have been put in, something put in which had better be
unrecorded. But the Master may refuse to put a motion to confirm improper minutes, and
Grand Master or Deputy Grand Master will invariably sustain him if he is right. Masons are
human beings, and therefore not perfect. Occasionally a Secretary stubbornly refuses to
record what should be written, or wants improper minutes confirmed. Here the Master can use
a Big Stick or the smooth oil of diplomacy, but he must see that his minutes will not draw
censure from higher authority. It is the Master's duty to oversee the Secretary's books, records
and receipts. No good Secretary resents this; on the contrary, he knows that the responsibility
shared is a responsibility halved.
WHO RUNS IT?
There are Lodges of which it is said: "Oh, the Secretary is really the Master-- he runs it." If
true, it is because too many Masters have been content to slide through their term of office in
the easiest way. The Master tells the Secretary: "You suggest the names of the committee on
that petition," or "Tell me the best arrangement of the work for the next two or three
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months.”The Secretary obliges. After a while he does not wait to be asked--petitions are
handed to the Master with the committee names already written; a ready-made schedule of
work is handed to the Master. In a few years it is really the Secretary, not the Master, who
controls the Lodge. The Master who avoids responsibilities because the Secretary is willing to
shoulder them hurts the Lodge, spoils a good Secretary and must leave the East with the
feeling that he has done little. The Master who is Master; who aids his Secretary wherever
possible, asks his advice and receives his suggestions, but who makes his own appointments,
schedules his own work, conducts his own Lodge as he sees fit, and lives up to all the
responsibilities of his office, will increase respect for the Oriental Chair and finish his year
knowing he was what he was supposed to be--a leader. It is sometimes difficult for a new
Master, perhaps a young man, to take from the hands of an old and respected Secretary work
which generations of predecessors have shifted from their fingers to his. But the Master has
always the comfort of knowing that Grand Master (or Deputy) is behind him in "all his laudable
undertakings" and that a good Secretary respects a Master who lives up to his job. Here, as
elsewhere in Lodge, tact, diplomacy, the soothing oil of flattery and good nature, work
wonders. While occasionally it is the Secretary's fault if the relations between his desk and the
East are strained, as a general rule it is the Master who must be blamed if he cannot ' get
along with" a faithful and tried officer to his immediate left.
WARDENS
The Wardens should be a Master's right hand left hands. Perhaps no ancient usage and
custom of the Fraternity is more universal than the government of Lodges by a Master and two
Wardens. Mackey lists this requirement as his Tenth Landmark; whether they have adopted
Mackey's twenty-five landmarks or not, all Grand Lodges recognize the Wardens as essential
in the formation, opening and governing of a Lodge. Not only are the Wardens essential to
every Entered Apprentices', Fellow Crafts' or Master Masons' Lodge, but they have certain
inherent powers, duties and responsibilities. Mackey sets these forth substantially as follows:
While a Master may use others than the Wardens in the conferring of the degrees, he cannot
deprive the Wardens of their offices, or absolve them of their responsibilities.
TRIPARTITE
The government of a Masonic Lodge is essentially tripartite, although Lodges may be legally
opened, set to labor and closed by the Master in the absence of the installed Wardens, the
chairs being filled by temporary appointments. The Senior Warden presides in the absence of
the Master, and the Junior Warden in the absence of both Master and Senior Warden. No
other brethren in the Lodge have this power, privilege or responsibility. The Warden who
presides in the absence of his superior officer may, if he desires, call a Past Master to the chair
to preside for him, but no Past Master, in the absence of the Master, may legally congregate
the Lodge. That must be done by the Master, the Senior Warden in the absence of the Master,
or the Junior Warden in the absence of both. Mackey further states that while the Senior
Warden takes the East by right in the absence of the Master, the Junior Warden does not take
the West by right in the absence of the Senior Warden. Each officer is installed with a
ceremony which gives him certain duties; a Warden in the East is still a Warden, not a Master.
It is the Master's privilege to appoint brethren to stations temporarily unfilled. The Master, when
elected and installed, or Senior Warden acting as Master in the real Master's absence, may
appoint the Junior Warden to fill an empty West. But the Junior Warden cannot assume the
West without such appointment. In the absence of the Master, the Senior Warden, when
present, is the only brother who can assume the East and congregate the Lodge. Thus runs
the general law, generally adhered to. Grand Lodges may, and not infrequently do, make local
regulations contrary to the Old Constitutions, the Old Charges, even the Landmarks--the
fundamental law of Masonry. If a Grand Lodge rules that in the absence of Master and both
Wardens, the oldest Past Master present may congregate, open, and close the Lodge, that law
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is correct for that Grand Lodge, but it is not in consonance with general Masonic practice.
MEANING
Wardens are found in all bodies of Masonry, in all Rites, in all countries. Both its derivation
and its translations give the meaning of the word. It comes from the Saxon weardian, to guard,
to watch. In France, the second and third officers are premier and second Surveillant; in
Germany, erste and zwite Aufseher; in Spain, primer and segundo Vigilante; in Italy, primo and
secondo Sorvegliante, all the words meaning to overlook, to see, to watch, to keep ward, to
observe.
DUTIES
The Government of the Craft by a Master and two Wardens cannot be too strongly
emphasized. It is not only the right but the duty of the Senior Warden to "assist the Worshipful
Master in opening and governing his Lodge." When he uses it to enforce orders, his setting
maul or gavel is to be respected; he has a "proper officer" to carry his messages to the Junior
Warden or elsewhere; under the Master, he is responsible for the conduct of the Lodge while
at labor. The Junior Warden's duties are less important; he observes the time, and calls the
Lodge from labor to refreshment and refreshment to labor in due season at the orders of the
Master. It is his duty to see that "none of the Craft convert the purposes of refreshment into
intemperance and excess” which doubtless has a bibulous derivation, coming from days when
"refreshment" meant wine. If we no longer drink wine at Lodge, we still have reason for this
charge upon the Junior Warden, since it is his unpleasant duty, because he supervises the
conduct of the Craft at refreshment, to prefer charges against those guilty of Masonic
misconduct.
USE THEM
The importance of the Wardens has been set forth at length that no Master plead ignorance of
their vital importance in Lodge affairs. The Master who considers his Wardens as only less
valuable than himself will leave his Lodge a legacy for which it may thank him for years to
come. In the natural course of events, Wardens become Masters. Failing some unusual upset,
some local condition different from the general rule, the Senior Warden succeeds the Master,
the Junior Warden attains the East the following year. What kind of Masters will they make?
The responsibility is not theirs alone, but that of the present occupant of the Oriental Chair. If
he is so swelled in the cranium with the dignity of his position that he is unwilling to consult with
his Wardens, they will have the less opportunity to become familiar with important Lodge
affairs. If the Master takes counsel with his Wardens on every occasion, asks their advice in
regard to Lodge policies, sees that they have all possible information of charity, relief, finances,
membership, and puts a reasonable amount of outside work on their shoulders, they will arrive
in the East with a broad vision of Lodge work and a Master's responsibilities. The dignity of the
office of Master adds to the stature of any man: no man is so important that he can add to the
dignity of the office. No man may take from the dignity of the office of Master, although he may
abuse it. Therefore no consultation with Wardens, no sharing with them of the problems of the
East, can in the slightest take away from the importance, the dignity, the solemnity of the
Master's position. The Master who plays a lone hand because he fears that Wardens other
than figureheads will detract from his leadership displays a fundamental ignorance of the
invulnerability of his position. He who uses his Wardens as they were intended to be used not
only has secure props for his administration on either hand, but benefits his Lodge by providing
well instructed-- educated, if you will-- candidates for the East a year, two years hence.
PAST MASTERS
Fortunate the Lodge which has many; poor that body of Masonry in which Past Masters have
lost the interest with which they once presided in the East! The honorable station of Past
Master is generally considered as second in importance only to that of the presiding Master.
He is a good Master who sees that the brethren in his Lodge understand that "Past Master" is
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no empty title, but carries with it certain rights and privileges, certain duties and responsibilities.
GRAND LODGE
A Past Master has no inherent right of membership in the Grand Lodge, such as is possessed
by the Master of a Lodge. But in many American Jurisdictions, by action of the Grand Lodge,
Past Masters are members of the Grand Lodge. In some Jurisdictions they are full voting
members; in others they have but a fraction of a vote, all the Past Masters of a Lodge having
one vote between them on any Grand Lodge question to be decided by a vote by Lodges. That
a Past Master may receive such recognition at the hands of his Grand Lodge must be
considered as one of the rights and privileges of a Past Master.
RIGHT TO PRESIDE
Past Masters are said by Mackey to possess the right to preside over their Lodges, in the
absence of the Master, and on the invitation of the Senior Warden, or, in his absence, the
Junior Warden. According to the ancient laws of Masonry, any Master Mason may be called
to the Chair by a Master. Here the question is as to who may be called to the Chair by a
Warden, who has congregated the Lodge in the absence of the Master. The great Masonic
jurist gives unqualified endorsement to the idea that under such circumstances only a Warden,
or a Past Master with the consent of the presiding Warden, can preside over a Lodge, and
counts this as among the rights of a Past Master. However true this may be in this specific
case, the practice and the law in many Jurisdictions give to the Master the right to put any
brother in the Chair for the time being, remaining, of course, responsible for the acts of his
temporary appointee, and for the acts of his Lodge during such incumbency.
RIGHT TO INSTALL
The right to install his successor is inherent in the office of Master; the privilege of delegating
that duty to another is within his power. He should not delegate the installing power to any
brother who has not himself been installed, in order that the succession of the Oriental Chair
be unbroken, from regularly installed Master to Master elect, regularly to be installed.
Therefore, in most Jurisdictions, the installation power, which is a right of the Master, may be
considered also a privilege of Past Masters.
RIGHT TO ELECTION
A very important right of all Past Masters is that of being elected to the office of Master, without
again serving as Warden. Perhaps no regulation is more jealously guarded by Grand Lodges
than this, which dates in print from 1723 (Old Charges), that no Mason may be elected or
installed a Master who has not been regularly elected, installed and served as a Warden.
There are exceptions; when a new Lodge is constituted, a brother who has not been elected
and installed as Warden may be elected and installed as Master.
JEWEL
Only a Past Master has the right to wear a Past Master's jewel, or a Past Master’s apron. He
may possess neither, but he has the right to wear both, and these rights cannot be taken away
from him except by Grand Lodge or as part of an act depriving him of other rights, as when he
may be suspended, expelled, excluded from the Lodge, or dropped NPD. The giving of a Past
Master's jewel by the Lodge is a beautiful custom, a recognition of devoted service, but it is not
mandatory on a Lodge to present such a jewel if it does not desire to do so. No Lodge,
however, would take from a Past Master the right to wear such a jewel if, for instance, he
bought it for himself! But a Grand Lodge may rule against either or both.
"THE SPIRIT GIVETH LIFE"
So much for law and custom. Far beyond these go the spiritual rights and privileges of the Past
Master, great or small as the man is small or great. These are valued by the brethren as the
Past Master values them; and he must value them by a plumb line, like that which the Lord set
"in the midst of my people Israel," erected within himself. If he has been a hard-working, able,
conscientious Master, sincerely desirous of the welfare of his Lodge and its brethren, thinking
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only of their good, of his opportunities for service, of the humility with which he should assume
the East and the dignity and wisdom with which he should preside, the honorable station of
Past Master will be honored by its possessor, honored by those who know that he has earned
it. If he has been but a "title hunter," a Master who has "gotten by" with the least effort, his
work poor, his presence in the East a brake upon the Lodge, he can hardly look with real
pleasure upon his Past Master’s jewel nor can his brethren give him much honor in his station.
One of the unwritten usages of the Fraternity, it is well known to all the Craft that the honors of
Masonry are in the wearer, rather than in the conferring. The Past Master who has earned his
title by loyal, faithful service will be honored for it all his life, though he wear no apron or jewel
to show his rank. He who has failed to earn it may wear the largest and most expensive of
jewels, the most be-decorated of Past Master's aprons, and receive from his brethren no
recognition beyond that of formality.
FLEAS
There are--whisper it!--Past Masters who come to Lodge only to sit like buzzards, looking for
what they may devour, ready to pounce on any act of the present administration, critical and
fault finding. David Harum's famous saying "A certain number of fleas is good for a dog; keeps
him from broodin' on being a dog," may be applicable; perhaps one or two such Past Masters
are good for any Lodge. As a general rule, however, brethren who have served long years in
the chairs, presided in the East and stepped forward to join the ranks of Past Masters, have a
broad tolerance, a humility, an understanding to add to their experience, which makes them
very present helps in times of trouble. The Master who makes it his first business to pay due
honor to his predecessors, who consults with them, uses them, puts them on committees,
works them, is reasonably certain of success.
A PAST MASTER SPEAKS
We are a jealous lot, we Past Masters! But our jealousy is not of the Master but for the Lodge
we have loved and served. We want to see her succeed, go forward, grow bigger, better, finer,
more useful to our brethren. Most of us count no personal sacrifice comparable to the good of
the Lodge; most of us will go to great lengths to serve again in any capacity, if by so doing we
can help the old lodge another mile forward on what we hope will be always an honorable path
to glory. Therefore, Worshipful Sir, use us, we who have had our little hour in the East. We
have experience--make it count for you. We have learned to work--make us work for you. We
have understanding of Lodge and membership problems--make it yours. Give us a job to do, a
committee membership, a minor appointment; aye, give us the hard and unwanted jobs, and
most of us will jump at the chance. And if you are reasonably gentle about it, and treat us with
even a modicum of fraternal courtesy- -such as the young should always offer the old !--some
day we will welcome you as Immediate Past Master and make you one of the charmed circle
without which no lodge can function at its best !
Chapter 9
LODGE FINANCES
If all Lodges had charity funds; if all Lodges put all fees for the degrees in special funds, and
had dues sufficient to run the Lodges without recourse to fees; if all Lodges had budgets and
lived within them; if all Lodges had members, all of whom paid their dues in advance; Masters
would have little need to consider finances. Needless to say, all Lodges do not have such
utopian arrangements! A few Lodges are so well provided with high dues and large fees that
they do not have to worry about money. The majority of Lodges, like other organizations, must
plan expenditures to be within income. A Master can do much in these matters; even with a
wise and experienced Treasurer, a capable Board of Trustees, a hard-headed Finance
Committee, a Lodge may spend more than it should if the Master does not keep his hand on
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the tiller which guides the ship between the Scylla of parsimony and the Charybdis of
extravagance.
BUDGET
Consider the advisability of a Lodge budget. The Master who goes into office knowing what the
Lodge faces in fixed expenditures--Grand Lodge dues, rent, heat, light, taxes, salaries,
average charity appropriations, average entertainment appropriations, and so on--can
calculate just where he must cut corners, if any. It is some trouble to make a Lodge budget--
but a Master gets accustomed to trouble. Most Masters have either a Finance Committee, or a
Board of Trustees, or both; usually these are wise old Past Masters, who will like nothing better
than to help prepare a budget! The wise Master, of course, will see to it that the budget is
advisory, not mandatory, since sudden calls may come to any Lodge. Particularly is this true
of the charity and relief calls. An average of what has been spent in relief for the last ten years
as the sum budgeted for charity may be upset past all righting with one unusual case.
Freemasonry is not a mutual benefit society, insurance organization, institution for relief of the
indigent. In no words of the ritual, in no law nor edict, is a promise given or implied that the
Lodge give relief to the needy. Charity is an individual matter. Not as a right to be demanded,
but as a free gift gladly offered, does a Lodge disburse its funds in helping members in need.
As this is one of the real privileges of Freemasonry, no budget should be so iron-clad that it
cannot be changed when the need arises.
CHARITY FUNDS
Methods of handling charity are as different as the some sixteen thousand Lodges in the
nation. In the main, however, Lodges may be divided into those which handle relief from the
general fund, and those which keep a special fund for the purpose. It is not here presumed to
advise which is better, since circumstances alter cases. But it may be noted that Lodges
occasionally have to resist a well-meant raid on the treasury of charity funds. Some brethren
like to spend first and think from whence will come the money afterward. The Master can rule
such motions out of order, or he can use a little device familiar to most presiding officers. John
Smith gets the brilliant idea that because the Lodge will be twenty-five years old next month, it
should take five hundred dollars from the charity fund and stage a big "home coming night" for
all members. If the Master refuses to entertain this motion, he may probably will- -offend John
Smith and his friends. Instead, try this: "I am in sympathy with my brother's idea of a
celebration. I think, however, we should have advice from wise financial heads on such an
important matter. I refer this motion to a special committee on celebration, which I will appoint
later in the evening." The Master appoints three brethren in whom the Lodge has confidence,
and whom he knows will report adversely on the idea of throwing charity money away on a "big
feed." When that committee reports at the next meeting, the Master has support for his
contention that conservatism is more important than filled stomachs. As he appoints all
committees he will entertain no motion that the proposal to spend be referred to a committee
composed of Brothers Jones, Smith and Brown.
GRAND LODGE
The importance of payments of dues and assessments to Grand Lodge can hardly be over-
emphasized. In some Jurisdictions the Lodge pays dues or assessments to Grand Lodge; in
others, the financial responsibility is direct from brother to Grand Lodge, the Lodge acting only
as a collection agency. In either case, out of what Grand Lodge receives, that body finances
the Grand Charity of the Jurisdiction--Home, School, Orphanage, Hospital, Foundation, what
have you-- pays its salaries to its employees, prints it Proceedings, pays all expenses of the
upkeep of Freemasonry in the Jurisdiction. Lodges occasionally get in arrears in Grand Lodge
payments, sometimes through misfortune, sometimes through mismanagement. The Master
who inherits such a condition may not be popular, but he will be brotherly, if he bends every
effort to get his Lodge out of debt to Grand Lodge. The Master, who comes to the East of a
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Lodge which does not owe Grand Lodge, and leaves her in any less comfortable position,
must have a real reason or a troubled conscience.
TEMPLES
Lodges which have Temples to pay for have problems all their own. Like Grand Lodge dues,
this should come first in Lodge finances. The credit of Masonry before the public is of greater
importance than entertainment, aye, even than most charity and relief disbursements. A Lodge
which defaults on its interest on real estate notes to the bank is no breeder of community
respect. A Lodge which pays its obligations on the nail, no matter how it hurts, is doing a real
Masonic service in the interests of Freemasonry. He is a good Master who puts his shoulder to
this wheel, even if it makes his muscles sore!
DUES
Most Masters are plagued by the dues question; collection, on the one hand; remission on the
other, often trouble sleeps. A few Lodges have such by-laws as make both problems easier,
but it is a Master's part to take the by-laws as he finds them, not remake them to his heart's
desire. There are just two classes of brethren as regards dues; those who can, and those who
cannot, pay. Those who won't pay until compulsion is exerted are still members of the "can"
class. The Master who continually emphasizes to his Lodge that Masonry is a privilege, that
Lodge membership is a valuable property which members have bought and which is well worth
preserving, will have less "won'ts" among his "cans." No Lodge wants to drop brethren for
NPD. Most Lodges make strenuous efforts to make this unpleasant duty unnecessary. At times
Lodges lean too far backward for the good of the brother being "carried." A brother suspended
for one or two years NPD. does not face an insurmountable obstacle when he wants to return;
he who has been "carried" for longer periods owes so much that it is often impossible for him
to ask for reinstatement. The Master who goes over his delinquent list with a fine tooth comb
and the help of all his Past Masters can usually determine which brethren, because they are
really unable to pay, deserve to have dues paid by the Lodge, and those who could pay but
are just careless, indifferent, or need drastic treatment.
COLLECTION
Collection of dues is too often left entirely to the Secretary; that official usually does his best
and his best is often very good indeed. But with a large Lodge and far-flung membership, the
Secretary can do little personally. The Master, through a committee, can do much. One Master
appointed his Senior Warden as Chairman of Dues, Suspensions and Remissions gave him
twenty assistants and had the smallest number dropped NPD. and the smallest number of
remissions of any year in the history of the Lodge, and this in the middle of the depression. A
personal contact will work wonders with the man who has not paid his dues but who really can
pay. Of course, it all depends on the kind of contact. This Senior Warden Chairman's idea is
set forth for what it may be worth. To his committee members he said: "We are not to go to
brethren in the attitude of bill collectors. We are not to demand, coerce, threaten, and turn up
our noses! We are going to those who owe dues as one brother to another, for help in our
mutual problem. Tell him of some of our charity cases (no names, even if you know them). Tell
him of some of our members who are much worse off than he, whom we are helping. Ask him
to help us by paying his dues promptly--if he can't pay them all, let us get what we can now
and the rest later. Let's remember we are all brethren, and talk as if we were...." And it
worked! Whatever his method, dues collection is of real importance, and he is living up to his
obligations in the East who takes his share of this often hard and disagreeable labor.
RAISING DUES
Occasionally comes the problem of raising dues. Conditions change; what was enough in the
past is no longer sufficient; Grand Lodge has raised the per capita; charity demands have
become too heavy for Lodge income; fees have fallen off with a dearth of candidates.
Whatever the rationale of the practice, it is a melancholy truth that many Lodges do depend
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partly on fees for current expenses! Raising dues is always a hard job. But it can be done.
The easiest, least painful way is that of education. Ascertain what brethren, influential
preferred, Past Masters doubly preferred, are in favor of the raise. Appoint them all on a
committee. Meet. Describe the problem. See that all understand that unless the dues are
raised from six to eight, or sixteen to eighteen dollars, or whatever the sum may be, the Lodge
will suffer, charity will suffer, and brethren will suffer. Then divide the roster of the Lodge
among the committee members, giving to each the names of brethren he knows best. If the
committee honestly works, calling on, calling up, writing to, the names on their lists, they will
persuade enough to come to the meeting at which the new by-law will be passed or the old
one retained, at least to make a good showing. Faced with this problem, one Master had the
raise in dues by-law introduced three times in his year. It requires two-thirds majority in that
Lodge to change the by-laws. Forty percent voted for the change the first time, fifty-two percent
the second and seventy percent the third, showing that education and pertinacity will win.
HINTS
Sometimes when a permanent raise cannot be passed, a five-year plan can; that is, the by-law
is made to read that the dues shall be raised from the present to the increased amount for the
succeeding five years, the increase to be applied to some particular purpose; retirement of a
note, payment of back taxes, whatever the need may be. In one Lodge in which this was
done, near the end of the five years a far-sighted Master appointed a committee to revise the
bylaws. The committee brought in revised by-laws with the dues stated as those then being
paid. Accustomed after five years to the larger sum, no one questioned the old bylaw or asked
to have the amount reduced. A man owed a bill of seven dollars which the store to which it
was due could not collect. A bright collection man sent him a bill for seventeen dollars. A
wrathy customer appeared at the store to complain, protest, and declaim! He owed no such
sum. He owed only seven dollars. That was what he owed and that was all he was going to
pay. The collection man apologized: “Very sorry, mistakes will happen!" He mollified the
debtor. The debtor then paid what he owed--human nature. In a certain Lodge it was
necessary to raise dues from seven to nine dollars. The Master persuaded the proposer to
make it ten dollars. In the midst of the hot discussion in which most brethren were against the
drastic change, a planted brother amended the proposed by-law from ten to nine dollars. The
Lodge of course passed the amendment; with this as a background, and feeling it had won a
victory, it then passed the raise, human nature.
PLANS
"There ought to be a law" is a national belief. In Lodge it often expresses itself in a new idea,
plan, scheme which its proponents think financially desirable. It is not the province of these
pages to discuss the pros and cons of life membership, sustaining memberships, perpetual
rolls, remission of dues to all who have been in good standing for twenty-five or any number of
years. Ideas which are good for Lodge A will fail in Lodge B. But it is the province of any
Master who faces a sudden proposal to do something different and drastic with Lodge funds,
or who is opposed to some life membership or remission idea, to know how to meet it. First,
let him postpone action until "further light" can be had. Second, let him write to his Grand
Secretary to learn what, if anything, Grand Lodge has said on the subject, and what other
Lodges in the Jurisdiction have tried this or a similar plan. Third, let him learn the nation's
experience; recourse to his Grand Lodge Library is indicated, or correspondence with those
who will know. The Fraternal Correspondent of Grand Lodge will doubtless be able to put any
inquiring Master immediately in touch with information regarding any one of dozens of financial
schemes which have been tried in various Grand Jurisdictions.
"DON'T!"
As a general rule, Punch's advice to those about to marry applies to any proposal which has,
as even a remote possibility, the reduction of the income of a Lodge. A new Lodge, just
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chartered, in the enthusiasm and ignorance of youth, proposed a by-law that, when it was
twenty-five years old, all who were charter members should become exempt from the payment
of dues. It appeared very easy to what was then "today" to remit the dues of loyal brethren
twenty-five years in the future. It was supposed that some would have died, some dimitted,
some be dropped, and that only a few of the original eighty one charter members would be
eligible for this reward for fidelity. Saner counsels and good advice prevailed and the Lodge
did not adopt this by-law. The Secretary was among the charter members who survived, and at
the end of twenty five years made a calculation. Of the original eighty-one members, forty-
three were living. The Lodge had grown but slowly, and its total membership on its twenty-fifth
birthday was one hundred and thirty-seven. Had the original proposal gone through, more than
thirty-one percent of the members would have gone on the free list, reducing the Lodge
income by much more than one third, since the Grand Lodge dues would still have to be paid.
BRAKE!
Let the Master faced by any revolutionary or startling financial proposal put it off, refer it to a
committee, say he does not wish consider it at the time--then let him get competent and factual
advice; then, and only then, should he let it come before the Lodge. Sentiment should never
interfere with properly safeguarding Lodge funds. The same audits, bonding, double
signatures, familiar to good business, are also indicated as wise protections for Lodge funds.
One of the important items in a Master's list of duties is to act as a brake upon the runaway
enthusiasms of the well-intentioned!
Chapter 10
THE IDEAL
An ideal is the perfection towards which we stretch eager hands--but never grasp. The ideal
Master has never presided in any East, for the ideal Master would be perfect and perfection is
not given to human beings. But the clearer and more attractive is the ideal before us, the more
strenuously we may strive towards it, and the nearer we may approach it. The ideal Master
knows his Masonry. He has spent many years with many books. To him the romance, the
history, the high lights of adventure, the great men who are Masons, the great Masons who
have led the Craft are familiar. In spirit he has stood beside the king's Master Mason at the
construction of one of the great cathedrals of Europe. He has supped with Ashmole and
breakfasted with Sir Christopher Wren. He has sat in Lodge with Preston, Desaugliers,
Hutchinson, Jeremy Cross, a thousand others. He has assisted at the initiation, passing and
raising of Washington, and knelt with him at Valley Forge. He has learned Masonic Wisdom at
Ben Franklin's feet. He has traveled westward with Freemasonry, from its first beginnings in
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, to the Pacific coast. Through Revolution, War of 1812, the
Mexican campaigns, the Civil War, the Spanish War, the World War, he has seen Masonry
work her gentle miracles. He knows something of Masonic literature, what books to
recommend to his brethren, where to find the answer to the questions which will be asked him;
the ideal Master has had a Masonic book in his pocket or at his bedside for years before he
attained the East. The ideal Master looks at his Lodge and sees it wholly harmonious. No rifts
or schisms develop under him; peace and harmony prevail. He soothes the unhappy and
brings together the parted friends. He; caters to the cranky and makes them content; he avoids
all jealousies. He is friends with every Past Master, every officer, every brother. The ideal
Master leaves his Lodge better off financially than he found it; he spends less than the income
and for what he spends the Lodge receives full value. The ideal Master pays great attention to
the duties which are his in Grand Lodge; he faithfully attends, intelligently takes part in the
deliberations, votes with the interests of his Jurisdiction at heart, is a constructive force in the
governing body of Freemasonry. The ideal Master has interesting meetings. He is willing to
131
work and work hard, arranging programs, planning events which will not only interest but
instruct the brethren. They are better Masons and therefore better men because of the hours
they spend within the tiled doors of the Lodge over which he presides. To the Craft the ideal
Master gives "good and wholesome instruction.” No brother goes from one of his meetings
without something done or said which leaves a higher thought of Masonry in his heart. His
degrees are dignified, well put on. His candidates have not only ritualistic instruction, but are
told something of "what it is all about" that they, too, may "become good and faithful brethren
among us." His officers are given a mark at which to shoot when the slow wheel of time turns
them, too, into the Oriental chair. The ideal Master considers the ill and the sorrowing as his
personal care, as well as that of the Lodge. No brother takes to his bed or calls the doctor but
the Master sees him to bring what cheer he may. No widow or fatherless child grieves for one
gone to the Great White Lodge but has the comfort of a word, a tear, from the leader of his
brethren. As much as a man may do, he does for those bound to him and to his Lodge by the
Mystic Tie. No brother or family of a brother in want but is helped, so far as the Lodge may
help. It may be that the only help is suggestion, advice, counsel--but it is a friendly touch in the
hour of need. If it is food, clothing, medicine for those too poor to buy for themselves, the ideal
Master makes it his business to know the facts and to bring a sympathetic report to his Lodge.
The ideal Master has no trouble preserving the dignity of his office, because brethren respect
Masters who respect the East. He hands on the gavel of authority unsullied by defiance to the
brother who succeeds him in the East. The ideal Master counts not his personal pleasure, his
social engagements, his hours of rest, recreation, aye, even his sleep, when his Lodge calls.
He puts his Lodge and its needs before anything and everything in his life for this year, save
only his family and his God. He is Master of the Lodge, but, in a very real sense, is servant of
his brethren, and takes pleasure in his service, knowing it to be honorable before all men. The
ideal Master carries a watch and uses it. If fifty brethren wait ten minutes past the hour for a
late Master, he wastes more than eight hours of fraternal time--which he has no more right to
do than to waste Lodge money. His degrees start at a reasonable hour that they may be
conducted unhurriedly, and he requires promptness of his officers as he himself is prompt.
The traditions of his Lodge and of the fraternity are hallowed in his mind and practice. The
Ancient landmarks are preserved, the laws, resolutions and edicts of Grand Lodge lived up to,
the by-laws meticulously observed. The records of his lodge are kept so as to draw
commendation from authority. The ideal Master is guide, philosopher and friend to many
brethren for many troubles; brethren turn to a Master, at times, when they will go to no one
else. He is, perhaps, mediator in a domestic trouble, he counsels with a father over a wayward
boy, he helps a widow invest her money wisely, he obtains employment for those without work;
he does almost everything for every one, aye, even to washing a child's face and painting a
porch, one Master's contribution to the household of a sick brother! The ideal Master keeps
constantly before him the need for seeing his problems through a tolerant smile of
understanding. If he ever had a temper, he lost it for the year before he entered the East. He
has constantly before him the thought that many men have many minds, and that two brethren
of directly opposite views may both be honest and sincere. He does not take sides but is a
balance wheel; he rules firmly and justly, but the firmness is tempered with kindness and the
justice with mercy. The ideal Master is enthusiastic about his work, and prayerfully conscious
of his own limitations; hence he is quick to seek counsel and advice, and as slow to take it until
he has thought it through. The ideal Master is eager for suggestions --but he does not follow
those which seem to him unwise, no matter how important the brother who makes them. His is
the responsibility, therefore his must the decision be, but he knows that two heads are usually
better than one, and welcomes counsel when it is offered, seeks it when it is shy. The ideal
Master is primarily concerned with policies rather than details, and delegates the latter to
carefully chosen committees. But he keeps ever before him his responsibilities, and knows
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what is going on. Too many Masters have become bogged in details, and thus lost the path to
success. The ideal Master does not lose his way! The ideal Master is an ideal Mason;
Masonry is a part of him, as he is a part of Masonry. With all his heart and soul and strength he
strives to live the Masonic life that all brethren may see that here is no mere figurehead, but a
vital force. Finally, the ideal Master is humble minded. Not for him the arrogant pride of place
and power, though he has both power and place. Not for him the big stick, though it is his to
wield, but the silken string which leads where ropes may not haul. The ideal Master keeps ever
before him the knowledge that although elevated to the most honorable position within the gift
of his Lodge, he can really fill the Oriental Chair only if he thinks first, last and all the time of the
Lodge and brethren, never of self. High? Of course it is high! All real ideals are too high to
reach until we can reach out and touch the stars. But we can make the effort to reach....
Uneasy the Past Master's head which lies on a sleepless pillow, thinking sad thoughts of
opportunities missed, of duties undone, of work which now can never be his to do. Happy the
Master who lays down his gavel at the end of his year knowing he has done all that in him lies;
mortal man may do no more. He it is who may stand in the East for the last time, just before he
installs his successor, wearing a sprig of rosemary in his lapel. "Rosemary--that's for
remembrance."
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134

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OFFICERS MANUAL

Duties of Officers of a Lodge

REG. 59-2 MASTER.

REG. 59-3 RESTRICTIONS - MASTER'S POWERS.

1. A Master shall have no authority to waive examination of a candidate before ad-

REG. 59-4 MASTER ACCOUNTABLE.

REG. 59-5 APPEAL FROM THE MASTER.

An appeal cannot be taken to the lodge from a Master's decision.

REG. 59-6 CHARTER OF THE LODGE.

REG. 59-7 MASTER NOT EXCLUDED.

REG. 59-9 SENIOR WARDEN.

The duties of the Senior Warden shall be as follows.

REG. 59-10 JUNIOR WARDEN.

The duties of the Junior Warden shall be as follows.

1. He shall superintend the Craft during the hours of refreshment.

The duties of the Treasurer shall be as follows.

The duties of the Secretary shall be as follows. [44-7 (Art.6)].

REG. 59-13 SENIOR DEACON.

The duties of the Senior Deacon shall be as follows.

REG. 59-14 JUNIOR DEACON.

The duties of the Junior Deacon shall be as follows.

REG. 59-15 STEWARDS.

The duties of the Stewards shall be as follows.

The duties of the Tyler shall be as follows.

Officers Aprons & Jewels

Officers Aprons & Jewels

(1) Cast – First Section

Officers Aprons & Jewels

(3) Cast – Second Section

B. Conducting the Stated Communication

C. Courtesies Due A Visiting Speaker or Program Personality

There are questions the Senior Warden will be asking:

The Master’s Book

ENT ERE D A P P RE NT ICE

ALLEGORY AND SYMBOLS

"FREE WILL AND ACCORD"

THE LODGE AS A SYMBOL

THE GREAT LIGHTS

THE LESSER LIGHTS

THE LAMBSKIN APRON

"THE GREATEST OF THESE"

NORTH, PLACE OF DARKNESS

POINT WITHIN A CIRCLE

LODGE OF THE HOLY SAINTS JOHN

"AMOS, WHAT SEEST THOU?"

CORN, WINE AND OIL

THE TWO PILLARS

THE WINDING STAIRS

THE NUMBER THREE

WORSHIPFUL (1) MASTER

THE FIVE SENSES

THE NUMBER SEVEN

THE SEVEN LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

THE STAIRS WIND

"GOD IS ALWAYS GEOMETRIZING"

HISTORY - THE GRAND LODGE PERIOD

So many men before thy Altars kneel

THE SUBLIME DEGREE OF MASTER MASON

MASONIC LAW FOR A MASTER

THE ART OF PRESIDING

ENTERTAINMENT AND ATTENDANCE

"SET THE CRAFT TO LABOR"

SECRETARY, WARDENS, PAST MASTERS