Masonic Morals
Mehr Licht!
More Light!
Number 65 – April 3, 2006
Dear Brethren, this issue of Mehr Licht is delayed just a little because I was away attending the Midwest Conference on Masonic Education. This is a great conference to attend for those who are interested in promoting Masonic Education in the various jurisdictions in the Midwest, which includes the Province of Manitoba. Thanks to the generosity of Brother Rick Bowersox of Iowa, the Midwest Conference on Masonic Education now has a web site: http://www.mwcme.org/ this site is so new there isn’t much on it right now, but bookmark the site, and check back later - there will be more added to it as soon as can be.
From the “Voice of Masonry and Family Magazine,” August 1883 edition.
Masonic Morals
By William Fletcher James
Our venerable institution of Masonry is coeval with the most ancient traditions and history of man, and will continue to coexist with him as long as faith, hope, charity, fraternal love and sociability remain tenets of his moral code. Few, if any, of the other organizations of mankind have survived the lapse of so many centuries. Few, if any, other of these institutions have been so potential in the accomplishing of good. The laurels of the Fraternity have not been won in the arena of either military or civil strife. War, contention and discord are the antipodes of Masonry, and can find no room within its peaceful and harmonious precincts. Its victories are such as moral forces win; its banner is the olive branch; its power—faith, hope and intelligence; its fruits—charity, friendship, brotherly love and the elevation of its adherents. Its rewards are the approbation of the good and the blessings of the sick, distressed and needy. Among its tangible monuments are its thousands of magnificent temples scattered throughout the world, from which as often as the lodge opens and closes therein, homage is rendered to Him in whose hands rests the destiny of all human institutions. Other monuments of Masonry, almost as numerous, are its libraries, furnishing to multitudes in every civilized land convenient and cheap facilities for reading and consulting the works and best authorities on almost every subject of useful knowledge. Such, my brethren, are the benefits—such the monuments—of our Fraternity, which render it so worthy of our help and esteem, which have preserved it unimpaired through the changes and vicissitudes of the ages, which still renew its vital forces, and will perpetuate its existence in full vigor so long as the members of the Brotherhood remain as they have in the past, and as they do to-day, true to the requirements of Masonry.
Let each of us therefore become an inquisitor of his own conduct, and ask himself the question: "Am I a moral, upright man and Mason, and have I acted and walked ever as such?” He who is unable to answer this question in the affirmative well knows that he has not been true to his solemn obligations, and that as the excellence of the institution can only be judged by those unacquainted with its mystic ties, from the outward deportment of its members, he is pursuing a course calculated to impair the good name of Masonry, which by the highest considerations of duty and honor he is bound to magnify and protect by his own moral and upright deportment.
An unworthy, immoral Mason, is much worse than a drone in a hive, and after brotherly advice and expostulation fails to work a reformation, he should be expelled; not only because he has become recreant to his high duties as a Mason, but to preserve the good name of our sacred institution.
The remark just made suggests that the greatest care should be taken at the door of every lodge, to guard it against the entrance of every man of doubtful character, or dissolute or immoral habits. "For none but the upright, moral and good, are fit to be allowed to approach our sacred altar.”While the initiation of the worthy adds strength, the initiation of the unworthy is a source of weakness and discredit to the Fraternity.
More Light – Mehr Licht ©, Masonic Matters © and T.F.S. ©, are sent out by E-mail at no charge to anyone who would like to receive them. If you enjoy these publications please share them with others. To subscribe to any one or all of these publications just send an E-mail to ed@halpaus.net with Subscribe and the Title, or ‘all 3’ in the subject line and you will be added to the list to receive the publication you want.
Fraternally,
Ed Halpaus
More Light!
Number 65 – April 3, 2006
Dear Brethren, this issue of Mehr Licht is delayed just a little because I was away attending the Midwest Conference on Masonic Education. This is a great conference to attend for those who are interested in promoting Masonic Education in the various jurisdictions in the Midwest, which includes the Province of Manitoba. Thanks to the generosity of Brother Rick Bowersox of Iowa, the Midwest Conference on Masonic Education now has a web site: http://www.mwcme.org/ this site is so new there isn’t much on it right now, but bookmark the site, and check back later - there will be more added to it as soon as can be.
From the “Voice of Masonry and Family Magazine,” August 1883 edition.
Masonic Morals
By William Fletcher James
Our venerable institution of Masonry is coeval with the most ancient traditions and history of man, and will continue to coexist with him as long as faith, hope, charity, fraternal love and sociability remain tenets of his moral code. Few, if any, of the other organizations of mankind have survived the lapse of so many centuries. Few, if any, other of these institutions have been so potential in the accomplishing of good. The laurels of the Fraternity have not been won in the arena of either military or civil strife. War, contention and discord are the antipodes of Masonry, and can find no room within its peaceful and harmonious precincts. Its victories are such as moral forces win; its banner is the olive branch; its power—faith, hope and intelligence; its fruits—charity, friendship, brotherly love and the elevation of its adherents. Its rewards are the approbation of the good and the blessings of the sick, distressed and needy. Among its tangible monuments are its thousands of magnificent temples scattered throughout the world, from which as often as the lodge opens and closes therein, homage is rendered to Him in whose hands rests the destiny of all human institutions. Other monuments of Masonry, almost as numerous, are its libraries, furnishing to multitudes in every civilized land convenient and cheap facilities for reading and consulting the works and best authorities on almost every subject of useful knowledge. Such, my brethren, are the benefits—such the monuments—of our Fraternity, which render it so worthy of our help and esteem, which have preserved it unimpaired through the changes and vicissitudes of the ages, which still renew its vital forces, and will perpetuate its existence in full vigor so long as the members of the Brotherhood remain as they have in the past, and as they do to-day, true to the requirements of Masonry.
Let each of us therefore become an inquisitor of his own conduct, and ask himself the question: "Am I a moral, upright man and Mason, and have I acted and walked ever as such?” He who is unable to answer this question in the affirmative well knows that he has not been true to his solemn obligations, and that as the excellence of the institution can only be judged by those unacquainted with its mystic ties, from the outward deportment of its members, he is pursuing a course calculated to impair the good name of Masonry, which by the highest considerations of duty and honor he is bound to magnify and protect by his own moral and upright deportment.
An unworthy, immoral Mason, is much worse than a drone in a hive, and after brotherly advice and expostulation fails to work a reformation, he should be expelled; not only because he has become recreant to his high duties as a Mason, but to preserve the good name of our sacred institution.
The remark just made suggests that the greatest care should be taken at the door of every lodge, to guard it against the entrance of every man of doubtful character, or dissolute or immoral habits. "For none but the upright, moral and good, are fit to be allowed to approach our sacred altar.”While the initiation of the worthy adds strength, the initiation of the unworthy is a source of weakness and discredit to the Fraternity.
More Light – Mehr Licht ©, Masonic Matters © and T.F.S. ©, are sent out by E-mail at no charge to anyone who would like to receive them. If you enjoy these publications please share them with others. To subscribe to any one or all of these publications just send an E-mail to ed@halpaus.net with Subscribe and the Title, or ‘all 3’ in the subject line and you will be added to the list to receive the publication you want.
Fraternally,
Ed Halpaus
Labels: Philosophy