What is it all about? What is this all about? That was a question I asked myself many times during my initiation experiences. It is a question which you doubtless asked yourself, and so has every other man who has forged on to the end of the Third Degree. The language of the ritual, stately [...]
Read MoreGrand Lodges and the Internet The Internet and Masonic websites within the jurisdiction of a Grand Lodge can be an invaluable resource for brothers, and can do a great deal to correct misinformation about Freemasonry. In this digital age, Websites should be the primary educational resource for Grand Lodges and their subordinate lodges and should [...]
Read MoreThe Internet and Clandestine Masonry The dark side of the Internet as it relates to Freemasonry is that it allows irregular or clandestine masons a wide audience. In fact, such masonry has latched onto the Internet with a vengeance. Google the word “Freemasonry†and more often than not at least half of the initial hits [...]
Read MoreEvery generation of Freemasons has faced the issue of the state of the Craft, as it exists in its day and as it will exist in the future. So it is for us today. In this first decade of the 21st century, Freemasonry faces yet another century of challenges, but within those challenges are also [...]
Read MoreOUR Ancient Brethren were Pilgrims as well as Builders; and so are we. The idea of life as a journey runs all through the symbolism of Freemasonry, and to forget that truth is to lose half its beauty. Initiation itself is a journey from the West to the East in quest of that which was [...]
Read MoreNOTHING in Freemasonry is more beautiful in form or more eloquent in meaning than the First Degree. Its simplicity and dignity, its blend of solemnity and surprise, as well as its beauty of moral truth, mark it as a little masterpiece. Nowhere may one hope to find a nobler appeal to the native nobilities of [...]
Read MoreIN the olden time it was no easy matter for a man to become a Freemason. He had to win the right by hard work, technical skill, and personal worth. Then, as now, he had to prove himself a freeman of lawful age and legitimate birth, of sound body and good repute, to be eligible [...]
Read MoreLIKE the Square and the Compasses, the Level and the Plumb are nearly always united in our Ritual. They really belong together, as much in moral teaching as in practical building. The one is used to lay horizontals, the other to try perpendiculars, and their use suggests their symbolism. By reason of their use, both [...]
Read MoreIN our study of the Square we saw that it is nearly always linked with the Compasses, and these old emblems, joined with the Holy Bible, are the Great Lights of the Craft. If the Lodge is an “oblong square” and built upon the Square (as the earth was thought to be in olden time), [...]
Read MoreTHE Holy Bible lies open upon the Altar of Masonry, and upon the Bible lie the Square and Compasses. They are the three Great Lights of the Lodge, at once its Divine warrant and its chief working tools. They are symbols of Revelation, Righteousness, and Redemption, teaching us that by walking in the light of [...]
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