FREE WILL AND ACCORD

Bro. Stanley K. Sproul, D.D.G.M.

(81-01-24)

In the October 1980 issue of the Grand Lodge Bulletin(1), the
editor, a Past Grand Master, related an experience he had when he
went to visit his daughter and son-in-law who live in Naples. 
His son-in-law was considering joining a Masonic Lodge that he
had been invited to join. This Lodge was having a membership
drive, and as is stated, the pressure was very pronounced. The
editor pointed out to his son-in-law that a regular Masonic Lodge
never invites men to join but the initiative has to come from the
person who looked for association with the order and who would be
accepted, not because the Lodge wanted to increase its membership
but because he was a person "of good report" and who would stand
up under investigation.

This freewill and accord rule is a part of the ancient usage and
custom of the order.  Where did it arise? There is nothing in our
present Constitution that indicates there is such a rule. 
However, in the form a candidate must sign, before his initiation
he declares that his application is entirely voluntary. Also he
declares that "unbiased by improper solicitation of friends I do
freely and voluntarily offer myself ...."

In the old operative lodges the craft was passed on from father
to son.  After a period of apprenticeship, the son would obtain
his "freedom", and in the lodge would give a simple oath of
fidelity to the King, the Master, and the Craft and Guild. So
long as the lad was apprenticed, he would automatically join the
lodge to become an E.A., and then F.C., or Master, because these
were essential stages in his craft career. The question did not
enter into the operative system.

There is no record in the early non-operative or speculative
Lodges concerning this.  However, sometime between 1730 and 1760,
it became common practice for each candidate to sign before being
admitted, a declaration that it was of his own free "will and
accord".  In the 1772 edition of Preston's Illustrations of
masonry we find this declaration that was signed by every
candidate previous to his initiation:

I, A. B. do seriously declare, upon my honour, that unbiassed by
friends and uninfluenced by mercenary motives, I freely and
voluntarily offer myself a candidate for the mysteries of
masonry.(2)

In the 1815 Book of Constitution of the United Grand Lodge of
England we find these words:

I............ being free by birth, and of the full age of
twenty-one years, do declare that, unbiassed by the improper
solicitation of friends, and uninfluenced by mercenary or other
unworthy motives, I freely and voluntarily offer myself a
candidate for the mysteries of masonry. (3)

1. Collett, "An Italian Experience", Grand Lodge Bulletin, Vol.
46, No. 1
2. Carr, The Freemason at Work, p. 133
3. Ibid.


This brings up the question: "Is there a worthy motive that can
be used to influence the prospective member, or is there a
difference to be drawn between solicitation and improper
solicitation?" Harry Carr suggests that unless a man has
expressed a proper interest in the Craft, asking the kind of
questions fully indicative of his interest, any suggestion that
he ought to join would be improper solicitation.  He suggests
three rules to be followed:

1. The prospective Candfdate must have opened the discussion
himself.

2. Do not make it easy for him.  After he has read and heard all
the information that you may properly give him, do not offer to
propose him until you have full evidence of his interest and
intention.

3. If you have the slightest grounds to suspect his reasons for
wanting to join the Craft, any kind of help would be 'improper
solicitation. (4)

Dwight L. Smith in his book Why This Confusion in The Temple?
discusses this proposition:

Abandon the "free will and accord" rule which has placed our
Craft far above the mine run of societies and permit outright
solicitation. (5)

Everyone at one time or another, Smith states, has heard the
suggestion that Masonry will have to keep up with the times and
invite "top-flight" men to join the fraternity. This wouldn't
mean an outright membership campaign, but would be very
selective. He also points out that 

. . . every responsible Master Mason thinks he would invite only
the cream of the community . . . But what reason do we have for
thinking that our membership at large, representing all walks of
life and all strata of society, would confine its efforts to the
cream of the community (6) 

The time honoured rule of no solicitation and no invitation; the
principle of free will and accord - these can be understood by
any Mason. A diluted rule in which there would be just a wee bit
of solicitation and a wee bit of invitation, and in which free
will and accord would no longer mean what it says - that can be
understood by no one. (7)

It cannot be denied that this principle of our Craft has
sometimes been violated. This may have been done in good faith,
in the mistaken belief that membership numbers spell success or
failure. In one sense Grand Lodge supports this belief by the
statistical reporting of membership numbers, and the concern
sometimes shown for a decrease in the Masonic population.

Our concordant bodies, whose candidates come from our Masonic
brethren, also apply pressure to increase the number of
candidates for our fraternity, so that they in turn can bring
their membership up to some fictional target figure.

One other problem exists that I think should concern us.  Have we
become so secretive that the population at large does not know we
exist? How can a good


4. Carr, The Freemason at work, p. 134
5. Smith, Why This Confusion In The Temple? pp. 4 & 9
6. Ibid., p. 13
7. loc.cit.

prospect show interest in a group of which he knows nothing? In
days past, most of the leaders in the community and in industry
were Masons, and everyone ' knew they were Masons.  Men wanted to
join because of what they saw in these men, and to become a part
of it.  I'm not suggesting we advertise as some jurisdictions
have done in the U.S.A. but what is wrong in reporting to the
population at large the election and installation of a Worshipful
Master, Senior and Junior Wardens, District Deputy or Grand
Master, the granting of a scholarship to a local student, or the
presentation of a 50-year jewel? There are a number of occasions
in every area where this should be done to educate the public to
the fact that we are not just another service club.

Our forefathers, if they were concerned with membership numbers,
wouldn't have instituted a free will and accord rule, for that
certainly is not a rule that produces new candidates.  To revert
then to the thoughts of those who instituted speculative Masonry,
we have to divorce ourselves of concern over numbers, and put all
our efforts into practising the fundamental principles of
brotherly love, relief and truth, or to practise such
time-honored virtues as faith, hope and charity, temperance,
fortitude, prudence and justice.



BIBLIOGRAPHY


Carr, Harry,  The Freemson at Work,  London & Abingdon:  Burgess
& Son,  1976

Collett, W. J., "An Italian Experience", Grand Lodge Bulletin,
Vol. 46, No. 1, Calgary:  The Grand Lodge of Alberta,  October,
1980

Smith, Dwight L., Why This Confusion In The Temple?, Washington: 
The Masonic Service Association, 1970



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