December 11, 2003
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Dear _______,
I have not told you very much about the Fraternity over the years and I’m glad you asked me, after our talk today, to write something that explains it more thoroughly.
The masonic fraternity in its present form was established in 1717 in London, England. In June of that year, four lodges met “at the Goose and Gridiron Ale-house in St. Paul’s Church Yard [and] constituted themselves a Grand Lodge pro Tempore in Due Form.” But masonic lodges had already existed for hundreds of years. As an institution, only the Roman Catholic Church is older, and as far as fraternities go none come close to the age of Freemasonry except for the Odd Fellows.
Masonry is based on a set of documents called the Old Charges. A copy of these, written in 1721 by Dr. James Anderson, is enclosed. I think you will find the rules, the requirements, the sentiments expressed in this document quite beautiful. I know I do. These “Ancient Charges,” published by Dr. Anderson in his Constitutions of 1723, are actually part of the corporate legal regulations of the Grand Lodge of Ohio.
Anderson’s Charges were not the first. No one living today knows when or where the first rules governing the masons’ guilds and their local lodges were created. The oldest known document dates from 1390. It is called the Regius Manuscript, and was discovered quite by accident by James O. Halliwell in the British Museum some time around 1840, where it had lain undiscovered since being deposited with 12,000 other volumes by George II in 1757.
The Regius MS is a poem of 951 lines containing some 5,400 words. It begins “Hic incipiunt constituciones artis gemetrie scd’m Euclýde-”: “Here begin the Constitutions of the Art of Geometry according to Euclid,” provides a fanciful history of the Craft dating from Noah, describes the imaginary foundation of Masonry in Egypt by Euclid, tells of its supposed introduction into England by Æthelstane in 926 A.D., and sets out and describes 30 moral duties. For example,
The master mason must be full securely
Both steadfast, trusty and true
It shall him never then rue...
and,
. . . who will know this craft and come to estate,
He must love well God and holy church always.
It describes the martyrdom of the “Four Crowned Ones:”
But they were steadfast in Christ's law,
And to their craft without doubt;
They loved well God and all his lore,
And were in his service ever more...
It discusses the Tower of Babel, and the seven liberal arts and sciences,
Grammar is the first science I know,
Dialect the second, so have I bliss,
Rhetoric the third without doubt,
Music is the fourth, as I you say,
Astronomy is the fifth, by my snout, Arithmetic the sixth, without doubt,
Geometry the seventh maketh an end.
* * *
These be the sciences seven,
Who useth them well he may have heaven.
It provides general rules concerning how to behave at mass, and gives instruction on good manners. Finally, the closing pages begin:
But when I shall from here wend,
Grant me the bliss without end;
Amen! Amen! So mote it be!
Now sweet Lady pray for me.
Finally, the poem ends:
Christ then of his high grace,
Save you both wit and space,
Well this book to know and read,
Heaven to have for your meed.
Amen! Amen! So mote it be!
Say we so all, By Charity!
Though called doggerel by English and masonic scholars alike, I find the Regius MS to be something of timeless purity and beauty. Freemasonry was one of the centers of the Enlightenment - that is, the awakening which followed the dark ages. It was a bastion of equality and freedom of thought - at least for the elite who had the time and money to become part of such a voluntary society - at a time when life truly was nasty, brutish, and short. Halliwell’s discovery was unknown to the masons of the Enlightenment, but the rules and perhaps ceremonies in their lodges would have been familiar to the unknown priest who penned out those words 300 years before, at the end of the 14th Century.
The Craft has remained ever true to its roots, with the regrettable exception of a few wayward and disowned masons who have, from time to time, interfered in the political process (notably Italy). But because Freemasonry requires a belief in God and does not permit non-members to attend its meetings, it is often misunderstood by the common man. The Craft is routinely accused of various conspiracies by vile and ignorant persons who have an agenda to decry and destroy the good offices of their fellow men. These attacks are regarded as a joke by masons, who wonder how persons who cannot even properly arrange an after-the-meeting catered lunch are supposed to be secretly running the entire world. One fanatical “religious” website even accuses Freemasonry of being a “cult of liberty,” to which accusation we happily plead guilty.
What Freemasonry actually is, is a fraternity of good and decent men who associate with each other for the purpose of improving themselves and helping others. More particularly, it is a system of morality taught through allegory, illustrated by symbols, and effected, in part, through charity. Anyone who wants to know what we are need go no further than our Old Charges.
It is by far the oldest fraternity in the world. The earliest evidence of an initiation is that of the famous antiquary Elias Ashmole, who was made a mason in a lodge called for that purpose at Warrington, Cheshire, on October 16, 1646. Ashmole’s lodge met for the specific purpose of making him a mason. My lodge met for the specific purpose of making me a mason. Over the centuries we have found no reason to change this. It is our way.
A fundamental part of Freemasonry is its system of ethics; key to this system are three great principles that represent a way of achieving higher standards in life. These principles are Brotherly Love, Relief (charity), and Truth (ethical conduct). As individual men, to be “good men and true” is the first lesson we are taught in Freemasonry. The rare man who can follow our precepts in the whole of his life is known and marked for his sincerity and plain dealing. Within the Old Charges, the dedication to these principles is unyielding; they form the core of masonic beliefs and are among the main reasons that persons choose to be associated with the Craft.1
Freemasonry is governed by bodies called grand lodges. All masons in Ohio, even those not members of an Ohio lodge, are subject to the rules and regulations of the Grand Lodge. A Grand Lodge is supreme within its jurisdiction. Individual lodges - called “Symbolic” or “Blue” Lodges - confer the three degrees of Freemasonry.
Each “degree” is a level of membership, conferred by a beautiful, solemn, and serious ceremony, which provides certain rights and obligations to the member. In the U.S., men progress quickly to the Master Mason degree, which is the third degree. After reaching this level, the member can attend all meetings, vote, hold office, etc. All Master Masons are “third degree masons.” There is no such thing as a mason, as such, of any higher degree. But just as breathing is not life, the degrees are not Freemasonry. The degrees are only part of what makes a man a mason. I will return to this shortly.
No man is invited to join a lodge. Every mason was elected to membership unanimously, with not one black ball placed against him. To be “blackballed” is but one of the phrases our Institution has contributed to the language.
Freemasonry in Ohio has a long history. The seal of American Union Lodge No. 1, which meets in Marietta, was designed by Benjamin Franklin and engraved by silversmith Paul Revere. The lodge of which I am a member has been in continuous existence for over 200 years.
While Freemasonry requires a belief in God and references to God are made throughout the degrees, neither political nor religious discussions are had in masonic meetings. Lodges are not churches and Freemasonry is not a religion. If you come to us for money, you will remain poor; if you seek salvation, we can but refer you to your church. Were a lodge to engage in activities impinging on the domain of church and state, its charter would be stricken and its Master brought up on charges and expelled.
Why become a mason? There are as many reasons for becoming a mason as there are men who have become masons. I joined at 21 because my dad was a mason and I’d wanted to be one too, for as long as I could remember. It would be inconceivable for me to abandon my membership in the Craft.
While you and I have shared some significant events in our lives, and you are without equal among the important persons in my life, and have given me, time and again, new and renewed appreciation for life and for living, you have not and could not give to me the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a man. Minutes after I was made a mason by my own father an unearned Gift was given to me the equal of which - with the sole exception of the miracle of birth itself - this planet has never seen and never will. Only my mother could give me life, but only a mason could give me the apron. You will forgive me if I respectfully decline to explain further.
No man - even one who is otherwise qualified - can be lawfully made a Free- mason, who cannot swear that he has long held a favorable opinion of the Institution and that he knocks at our door for his own reasons alone, and not by invitation of any kind.
You have noticed by now that nothing in this letter has really answered your questions. I’ve told you something of our history, our rules, and dropped a few famous names (like Robert Burns and George Washington and Harry Truman and thousands of others).
But I really haven’t told you anything at all, have I. Nothing about our ceremonies, nothing about our symbols. I have my reasons. First, I can’t. No one can. Men become and remain masons for a variety of reasons, some, like mine, quite personal. Second, I won’t. Were I to tell you certain things, it would destroy the beauty of your own experience, should you submit a petition and be admitted. And third, well, I just don’t have all the words. Or, actually, I do. But I will not be so disrespectful as to reveal them to you improperly. You would not thank me.
But I can give you someone else’s words, those of the Reverend Dr. Joseph Fort Newton, who wrote:
Apart from its rites, there is no mystery in Masonry, save the mystery of all great and simple things. So far from being hidden or occult, its glory lies in its openness, and its emphasis upon the realities which are to the human world what light and air are to nature. Its mystery is of so great a kind that it is easily overlooked; its secret almost too simple to be found out. ‘We know as much as we do.’ said Francis of Assisi. It is not enough to enact a truth in ritual; it must become both an incarnation and an act.
* * *
When is a man a Mason? When he can look out over the rivers, the hills and the far horizon with a profound sense of his own littleness in the vast scheme of things, and yet have faith, hope and courage - which is the root of every virtue. When he knows that down in his heart, every man is as noble, as vile, as Divine, as diabolic, and as lonely as himself, and seeks to know, to forgive and to love his fellow man. When he knows how to sympathize with men in their sorrows, yes, even in their sins, knowing that each man fights a hard fight against many odds. When he has learned how to make friends with himself.
When he loves flowers, can hunt the birds without a gun, and feels the thrill of an old forgotten joy when he hears the laugh of a little child. When he can be happy and high minded amid the meaner drudgeries of life. When the star-crowned trees, and the glint of the sunlight on flowing waters, subdue him like the thought of one much loved and long dead. When no voice of distress reaches his ears in vain, and no hand seeks his aid without response. When he finds good in every faith that helps any man to lay hold of Divine things, and sees majestic meaning in life, whatever the name of that faith may be.
When he can look into a wayside puddle and see something beyond mud, and into the face of the most forlorn fellow mortal and see something beyond sin. When he knows how to pray, how to love, how to hope. When he has kept faith with himself, with his fellow man, with his God; in his hand a sword for evil, in his heart a bit of a song, glad to live, but not afraid to die! Such a man has found the only real secret of Masonry, and the one which it is trying to give to all the world.
This is all I can really say on the subject. I have discussed this much differently with you than with others, but you know my reasons: Brother Newton's great secret is the same one you have struggled so hard to teach me.
To many it’s just a club. But to some it is much more. When that door closes and the Master raps his gavel, we enter a better world, and a better time, and I truly feel at one with Something Greater.
If you have further questions or wish to know more, just let me know. I will give whatever answers I can.
Your friend,
1 Bullock, Steven C., Revolutionary Brotherhood, The University of North Carolina Press (1996)