Freemasons Are Free—But They're Charged

Back in the 1930s, some people thought it’d be a great idea to have a series of papers written on each degree and publish them in our monthly Masonic Bulletin; one degree per year. Along with that came a little question-and-answer section. The idea was to have the paper read in Lodge, go through the questions and inspire some debate.

And, like all good ideas that people have in our fraternity, it has long been forgotten, and a generation later, Grand Lodge Education committees try to reinvent the wheel.

Anyway, I scanned most of the papers from the first two degrees and have been giving them out in bulk to our candidates after each degree. At least it provides them with some study material.

I thought I’d post one of them here. This one was by Ernest Leo Snell. He arrived in Canada from England in 1903 and was a carpenter when he settled in Vancouver. I don’t know when he became a Freemason but he was W.M. of King Solomon No. 17 in New Westminster in 1924 and died in 1947 at the comparatively young age of 66.

There are essentially two versions of the Charge given at the end of the First Degree in my jurisdiction. The content is a bit different (one is decidedly long) but, off-hand, I think both encapsulate what our late Brother is discussing.

SPECULATIVE MASONRY
By Wor. Brother Ernest L. Snell, King Solomon Lodge, No. 17

Through Speculative Masonry we may learn many lessons. Constant study enriches the mind. One cannot but be impressed with the worthwhileness—the real "goodness" of the reward for honest mental effort.

Many subjects come under survey, such as the orders of architecture—how and when each order originated and its peculiar construction. We investigate the seven liberal arts and sciences and enrich our minds with true and genuine knowledge as did our predecessor Pythagoras. But there are certain immediate and practical fields of study. We can also diligently learn to:
(1) Subdue the Passions.
(2) Act upon the Square.
(3) Maintain the Tongue of Good Report.
(4) Maintain Secrecy.
(5) Practice Charity.

Subduing the Passions
Some passions may be holy and legitimate but many may be unholy. How often are we prone to let our passion (temper) override our better judgment, afterwards realizing the error sometimes much to our regret? St. Paul, in his letter in the 1st Book of Corinthians, Chap. 9, Verses 25, 26 and 27, makes a remarkable assertion bearing out the idea of subduing the Passions, when he states, “I keep under my body.” How did he do this? Only by a firm reliance upon Divine Providence.

Acting Upon the Square
In other words, we are living examples of the principle of the Golden Rule, or more Masonically speaking—we are fulfilling our duty to our neighbour by doing unto him as we would he should do unto us.

A surveyor, or civil engineer, will tell you that in measuring and laying out his work the utmost accuracy is essential, for should the angle formed by such measurements vary the least iota, the result may be disastrous, and lead to dire circumstances.

We are informed that the Operative Mason used the Square to square his work. How much more, then, should Speculative Masons square their conduct and actions by the correct principles of morality and virtue, that they may live respected and die regretted.

Maintaining the Tongue of Good Report
It has been said that a person's character is what he knows himself to he, and his reputation what his fellow-beings think and speak about him.

How necessary it is, then, for us to follow the adrnonitions given many times in that Great Light of Freemasonry, such as:

“Line upon line, precept upon precept.” “This is the way, walk ye in it.” “Increase in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and Man.”

The tongue of good report must necessarily follow such upright living.

Maintaining Secrecy (Silence and Circumspection)
It has been stated that Freemasonry is a “Secret Society.” Is this really so? I am of the opinion that if anyone desires to obtain all the information possible about Freemasonry, he can do so by procuring one or more of the many books which have been published from time to time. Some of these books contain a “fund of information” for those of an inquiring mind, and the perusal and study of such books cannot but be of profit and pleasure.

The only secrets about Freemasons are the modes of recognition, and even these have been more or less divulged by perverted minds in the so-called “Exposé,” for example say, Richard Carlyle, when he states, “I am sure that secrecy is a vice, and I, therefore, expose and explain ‘Freemasonry’”—but he had previously stated “Of Freemasons I boldly say that they have no secrets.”

I believe the “secrecy” required by us is contained in the charge to the E.A. in the words “Neither are you to let your zeal for the Institution lead you into argument with those, who, through ignorance, may ridicule it.”

Practice Charity
It is unnecessary to pass any comment upon this lesson, suffice to say—read Paul’s letter in the 13th Chapter, 1st Book of Corinthians—By the exercise of Brotherly “love,” we are taught to regard the whole human family as one, the high—the low, the rich—the poor.

In conclusion, if we, as Freemasons, so live according to the lessons inculcated so strongly and earnestly throughout all the Masonic teachings, we then can truly say “Now abideth Faith, Hope and Charity, but the greatest of these is Charity.”

Today's "The Masons Did It" Story

Yeah, sure. Freemasons forced the kid to pull the trigger. Uh huh. We threatened him with forcing him to sit through a dull Lodge meeting if he didn't.

Read HERE.

Masonic conspiracy. Sheesh.

The Sun is Always at its Meridian

OK, I admit it. I purloined an idea from Tom A., whose last name I still can’t spell half the time. On his site, he has a little map showing where people are who are reading his blog.

The idea of someone paying attention to anything I have to say is still a little hard to fathom. When I was in DeMolay, the guys used to groan when I started to speak (especially when I was Advisory Council Chairman). In Lodge, no one pays attention when I mention dates and times for ritual practices and I am always asked about things which are outlined in the monthly summons I send that they don’t read.

So, seeing Tom with his little map inspired me to add one, too, out of curiosity of Where The Boys Readers Are (sorry, I was channelling Connie Francis for a minute).

All but two of the provinces in Canada are represented. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the bulk of readers are in the central and eastern part of the United States. American Masons are among the most hospitable I’ve encountered; they’re willing to do anything to help a visitor in town. Out west, someone has popped by from San Francisco, where I had the pleasure of sitting in several Lodges in the old Scottish Rite building on Van Ness. And Seattle is here, too; one of my Lodges has exchanged visits with a Lodge in the Emerald City for well over 70 years.

One reader is in Barbados. A number of the members of the local Barbadan (is that a word?) community are members of the Prince Hall Lodge here.

Iceland is represented. A Bro. from Iceland was a member of my Royal Arch Chapter when I joined; he was a student at UBC and went back home some years ago.

There are lurkers in three cities in Denmark. The IPM of one of my Lodges affiliated with us from a Danish Lodge. Someone has dropped in from Serbia; there are quite a number of men from various Balkan countries in several of the local Lodges and they all have a great interest in Masonic philosophy. And there is someone from the Phillipines, which has provided Freemasons to quite a few Lodges here; they have their own Filipino-Mason association which meets annually. The family of the newest F.C. in one of my Lodges came from Luzon, I believe.

And I note a couple of readers from Australia. One of my Lodges was formed by ex-patriot Australians 100-plus years ago and uses the New South Wales ritual (or a good portion of the words, at least). It has no Australians in it, but another of my Lodges does. He was raised by his father in Victoria state in 1953.

This little map reminds us of something that candidates learn in their First Degree examination—Freemasonry is spread over the whole habitable globe. As the Bristol Working succinctly puts it (and something that many petitioners say attracts them to the fraternity):

You will in every nation find a Brother, and in every clime a home.

And that’s a nice thing, if you ask me. But you don’t have to ask. Just look at the map.

Now, if only Tom could get one of the celestial world to point out Masonry Universal.

How Many Degrees Does a Mason Need?

Hunting around for interesting items about our fraternity in Blogland can be rewarding. You’ll occasionally spot pieces that are on non-Masonic sites. A brother dealing with the loss of his beloved kitty cat has a blog called Rosewater Chronicles. THIS recent post caught my eye, despite the straining grey-letters-on-black-background layout.

Our brother has some well-written and interesting points to make. There really is a lot to pick through and contemplate. Among them is this statement, speaking of the entry into the Lodge:

I suggest to you that the whole of Masonic teaching can be located in this specific moment in the first degree.

That’s an interesting perspective. I’ve never considered that. Ask most Masons what the apex moment of the Masonic ceremonies is, and they’ll likely talk about something in the Third Degree. But in spite of that sublime event, I would say that all the lessons of Masonry are contained within the First Degree; studious Freemasons will recognise the spirituality at the centre of the Third Degree is found in the First and Second as well. The Master Mason Degree reminds the candidate of the ultimate reason he is to try to follow the lessons of the fraternity in his life as best as possible, the very reward which can be found on the First Degree Tracing Board as well.

This isn’t to say one need only receive the First Degree and ignore the others—or the vast number of concordant bodies wherein some say a candidate receives “still more light.” But as the Entered Apprentice is the symbolic foundation stone upon his initiation, so is the Entered Apprentice Degree the foundation stone of Freemasonry. The other degrees expand upon the edifice of the Craft, but are nothing without the foundation. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that some scholars claim speculative Masonry started with one degree and built from there.

Tongue-witness News

A young man and I were talking the other day. He’s fairly new to this country from Asia. He knows about some Lodges but not mine in particular. So he asked about one of them.

“Oh, that’s a secret,” I joked.

“That mean you’re going to cut out my tongue,” he said.

He was serious.

I explained we don’t go around cutting tongues, of Masons or anyone else.

“So the book was wrong?” “Yes, it was.”

The young man works at the Masonic Hall.

I didn’t ask him what book he was reading that insists there are Secret Freemason De-tongue-itating Squads. There’s probably a point or two about Freemasonry within this little tale, but I post it merely because of the irony.

Bigger Isn’t Always Better

An increasingly-long number of years ago, a District Deputy who I liked and admired kept saying “Grand Lodge will have a charity within five years. Masonry has to be doing something. The community needs to know about us.” And, being a young Mason, I nodded my head in agreement. After all, it sounds like Freemasonry—a lot of people joining together to help someone or something.

Well, that was then.

The Entered Apprentice is told a number of times about charity, at least in those rituals which came out of the union of the two Grand Lodges in England. There is even more on charity in the old lectures which are rarely done (and don’t even exist in the ‘Canadian’ Work that came from Ontario).

The New South Wales ritual ends its lecture on charity thusly:

Let us remember that we are Free and Accepted Masons, ever ready to listen to him who craves our assistance, and from him who is in want, let us not withhold a liberal hand, so shall a heartfelt satisfaction reward our labours, and the produce of love and Charity will most assuredly follow.

Nowhere in any Masonic ritual have I seen where charity involves groups of Freemasons or Grand Lodges. Or, worse still, groups of Freemasons who need to be seen to be doing something.

There’s nothing wrong with a Lodge getting together to do something charitable; one of my Lodges has its new Master name his charity for the year and raise money. But the impression our ceremonies leaves me with is Charity should be an individual thing, left up to each Mason to dispense as he sees fit, and within the length of his cabletow. After all, much like religion and politics, Masons can easily argue over which charity their Lodge should—or should not—support.

One Mason seems to have taken this to heart, and has gone out on his own to assist a charitable cause. I stumbled across his web site and found it of interest because I am not only a brother in the Craft, I also bike here and there, though it sounds as if he is in better shape than I.

Please take a look at his site HERE to see how his journey is going.

As the lecture says:

Charity, lovely in itself, is the brightest ornament that can adorn our Masonic profession.

Masonic Pod People

Hands up. How many Lodge summonses or notices (or trestleboards, as they seem to be called in some parts of the U.S.) contain information about on-line Masonry—URLs and that sort of thing?

Uh huh. Thought so. Or is it you just can’t type “yes” because your hands are up?

As the hopefully-retiring Secretary of one Lodge (I am retiring in a second as of September), I put addresses of blogs and podcasts in the last several of our notices. Despite my constant complaint that members don’t read notices, the S.W. actually clicked on a URL in one, found the L.A. Times article and read it in Lodge. The only problem was he did it on a degree night and the members didn’t have time to discuss it.

Which brings us to the point of today’s blog missive.

Greg Stewart in California has come up with another edition of his postcast, which can be found HERE. His guest is Tim Bryce, whose stones may be found in virtual Masonic library buildings around the globe.

In the first half hour, he discusses some relevant stuff:

• The future of the Shrine
• What True Freemasonry is
• Participation and Communication

Some of Tim’s conclusions I agree with (his theory about the Shrine seems inevitable for the reasons he mentions) while some of his experiences are totally foreign in my jurisdiction (assorted cease-and-desist orders, opposition to Prince Hall recognition). However, it’s interesting to listen to.

I did mention to Greg that the show takes too long to get started. There’s no need for a huge introduction and then guests to list umpteen credentials before getting into the meat of the discussion. Broadcaster Val Geller wrote The Powerful Radio Workbook, which lists some common-sense ideas of doing a talk format, some of which would apply to a podcast.

A Master shouldn’t waste someone’s time in a Lodge meeting. Pod Masters shouldn’t do the same thing in their Pod Lodge.

The other thing that struck me as disconcerting is that voices came out of nowhere. For example, that feckless, meddlesome naysayer popular and genial Freemason Tom A. weighed in with a question. I’m not sure where he came from, but his appearance sounded awkward and unexpected. When doing a radio talk show, a host will invite callers to phone in, and then pick a specific period of the programme to go to callers. It just sounds more orderly. Perhaps the software for the podcast doesn’t permit such a thing.

The nice thing about the podcast is you can listen back to it when you have the chance.

The disadvantage of a podcast isn’t the podcast itself. The keeper of the Grand Lodge of B.C. and Yukon web site was remarking to me yesterday that there are all kinds of Masonic discussion fora (forums, if you prefer) and blogs that he checks out; some of which have been left fallow and untouched by their owners for months and months. Someone gets all excited about a Masonic blog or website, puts it up, and then loses his enthusiasm not long afterwards. A podcast is no different. I hope Greg and his crew are able to sustain their efforts for the foreseeable future.

P.S.: Further to my opening line, is it true that there are jurisdictions in the U.S. where members get absolutely no written notification of a Lodge meeting and what’s to occur at it, such as balloting or degrees?

But, But .. Aren’t We Dying?

Hey, what happened to all those newspaper stories about Freemasonry being passé and all Freemasons being really old and that kind of stuff?

Suddenly, they’ve been replaced by Masonry-is-where-the-cool-cats-go stories (or whatever the kids say today instead of “cool cats”. So I talk like a Rat Packer. Sue me). HERE’S the latest:

One of the guys in one of my Lodges is in a band (or was; it’s now in limbo because one of the guys had a kid or something) and one of his bandmates just joined another Lodge. So that’s what piqued my interest in this story.

On the petition front, the above-mentioned Masonic Lodge just finished investigating a fourth guy last night. Three of them have had a chance to hang out with the members a few times over the last couple of months to get to know everyone before applying.

The More Things Change...

Now, here is today's guest editorial:

I regret to note that the Masonry which has come under my observation is, in some instances, fast degenerating into a mere mechanical routine. Some of the brethren have sunk into a lethargy. At times they are a little roused, by the initiation, passing or raising of a candidate, but it is only momentary. On the regular night of meeting a few of the faithful will assemble, read and adopt the minutes, transact some routine business and close. This is varied from time to time by the introduction of degree work. You will see many examples of the following: A newly-made Mason, eager for truth and light, will attend every meeting and participate in every ceremony, for, perhaps, six months. You will then notice his occasional absence, and finally, he ceases to attend. The reason of this is not far to seek. He imagines himself a Mason, but knows nothing of its principles or teachings. He tires of the routine. It has become monotonous. The novelty has worn off and with it, his interest, which was created and sustained by that novelty, ceases.

The remedy for this is Masonic education. The brethren must be taught to read, study and think for themselves, until such time as each and everyone can give a reason for the faith that is in him. A man’s interest in a subject can invariably be measured by his knowledge of it. Increase the knowledge and you will have a proporition increase of interest.

I would like to see, connected with every Lodge in this Province, a reading-room, fully equipped with proper Masonic literature. It would also, in my opinion, be a long step in the right direction, if, at every regular meeting of a Lodge, some part of the history, principles and teachings of Freemasonry, were debated and discussed—anything to increase knowledge and arouse interest. Again, there seems to be a growing tendence to shift the entire work on the shoulders of the officers. This arises from lack of interest. In the words of an eminent divine: “We are all called to do something—to carry stones or timber to the building, to dig stones out of the quarry, or to hew and square the wood.” Let no brother’s Masonic life be such, as will compel him to admit “I never did anything. I never gave toward the carrying on of that glorious building, which is the joy, the admiration of all.”

Today's guest editorial was written by Frederick McBain Young, the Deputy for District No. 5 in British Columbia.

He wrote it in 1898. One hundred years ago.

How much have things changed?

Attendance, One Lodge’s Story — Part Two

About eight weeks ago, a post was made here about a Lodge and its attendance figures. And I raised the question—could anything be done to change them?

The answer is simple. No.

One can not do anything about ill health, relocation miles and miles away or changes in employment that suddenly puts someone on night shift indefinitely. Freemasonry’s been dealing with this for decades and always will.

But regardless of the fact the brethren mentioned above are not attending, you can still make them feel a part of the Lodge.

• E-mail. Does your Lodge have a mailing list where the Master or others can let the guys, regardless of where they live, know what’s going on?
• Web Page. I’d harrumpf (we PMs are good at that) that every Masonic Lodge should have a web page that members can check regularly—but only two of my Lodges do. And one isn’t updated regularly.
• Phoning. It’s easier than ever. You don’t even have to go home to do it now. Some people are actually known to carry a phone with them at all times! Amazing, but true. I can think of very few brothers, especially those who have been ill, who don’t appreciate a phone call. The only Masons I know who don’t like calls are the ones who don’t want to be nagged (ie: “When are you coming to Lodge?” “When are you paying your dues?”).
• Have outside events and publicise them (see first two items above). Even if only a couple of guys get together over a beer or a pizza or whatever, or go out to watch the baseball game, it’s better than nothing. And Freemasons should hang out, right? Isn’t that part of being in a fraternity?

OK, so maybe none of this will help a Lodge’s attendance. But it probably means you have a vibrant, active Lodge—and people will more inclined to come (if they’re able) if that’s the case.