HILLIAR.891      p 3


 The President's Corner

by John Mauk Hilliard, FPS

In the ceremony of installation, each
new Worshipful Master is forcefully en-
joined never to close his Lodge without
giving, or causing to be given, a lecture
or part of a lecture. This injunction rep-
resents one of the most profound and
essential duties to which the Master com-
mits himself. It is nothing less than a
demand that he "educate" his brethren.
The proper educational purview of a
Master (and his Lodge) is, of course,
Freemasonry, in all its myriad aspects.

Therefore, the term, "lecture, " as used
in the context of the Master's installation
into the Chair of Solomon, should not be
construed in a narrow sense: for the
word, "lecture," was intended by the
ancient fathers of the Speculative Craft
to encompass every known method,
means, or mode of instruction at the
Master's command. The Master's func-
tion is, therefore, quintessentially an
"educative" one. His mandate is not
only to rule and govern the Craft, but to
secure and ground that governance by
liberally teaching to all his fellows the
Gentle and Royal Art of Freemasonry. In
this regard, all his brothers can be said to
be his apprentices. Seen in this context,
the Master' s responsibilities are the
same in the speculative Lodge over
which he presides, as those of his ances-
tral counterpart and precursor in the
operative Craft Lodges of the Middle
Ages. The Master sets the Craft to work
by proper instruction, and by the en-
couragement of the highest standards of
proficiency not only in ritual but in all
things Masonic.

The true work of a modern Speculative
Craft Lodge is not to erect actual build-
ings using the ancient operative arts of
Masonry, but to use the tools and sym-
bols of the Ancient Craft to raise "that
house not made with hands," that spir-
itual temple that lies dormant and impli-
cit in every soul under heaven. This
mandate for Masonic work, instruction,
and knowledge is not confined to Master
alone. The first implicit duty which con-
fronts an Entered Apprentice in our
ritual is to "improve himself in Ma-
sonry." As with all human endeavors
and employments, the careful study and
scrupulous gathering of knowledge and
experience are the only real pathways to
mastering the complexities and the sub-
tleties of any enterprise, and ultimately,
to discovering its true essence. Just as
this is true of the tasks we set for our-
selves in that profane world in which we
live our lives and pursue our varied em-
ployments, so it is equally true in
Freemasonry.

Indeed, every Master Mason who
glimpses the profound beauty and worth
of the institution becomes a teacher. One
of the greatest joys of Craft life is the
ability to impart Masonic knowledge to
one's brothers in a spirit of true sym-
pathy and genuine patience, particularly
if this is infused with an abiding sense of
the humility and joyful affection that
should characterize all Masonic transac-
tions. In an institution as vast and com-
plex as ours, learning becomes one of the
true elements of Craft survival. Making
members is one thing; making Masons
is quite another.

How then does a Master and his
Lodge--this sacred, covenanted com-
munity of brothers and friends--go
about this most essential of Masonic en-
terprises? Firstly, by acknowledging that
ritual alone, while a great teaching tool,
is insufficient for the full and complete
instruction of the Craft. Six hundred
years of ritual development from an as-
tounding variety of sources have given
Freemasonry an instrument of great
beauty and profundity, but the ritual's
levels of meaning, its layers of signifi-
cance, its relationships to history, philos-
ophy, religion, and all the liberal arts and
sciences, can only be fully plumbed by
some regular measure of scholarly expli-
cation and interpretation. Many Masons
glibly spout massive, word-perfect gouts
of ritual, but how many of them could
give a reasonable interpretation or com-
mentary on the work, even if their very
Masonic futures depended on it?

Secondly, a constant awareness of the
need for Masonic education, and a reli-
able mechanism for promoting that
awareness must be established in every
regular and well-governed Lodge. Ma-
sonic education must become a major
priority in the Lodge; it must occupy, in
the life of the Craft, as prominent a place
as the ritual does. Ideally, how should
this be done?

I. The Master and Wardens should
constitute themselves into a standing
Lodge Educational and Programming
Committee. The educational plans and
programming ideas of the Master, as
they mature, can be bolstered by the
developing ideas and plans of his prob-
able successors, and thusly, great con-
tinuity, consistency, and constancy of ed-
ucational purpose can be achieved in the
Lodge.

II. This permanent Lodge educational
commission can begin to search among
the members of the Lodge, and among
the Craft at large for speakers, topics,
and ideas about Masonry's history,
traditions, and literature which might be
set before the Lodge in a series of coordi-
nated programs.

III. Speakers alone are not enough;
films, videos, recorded cassettes, and a
host of new communication technologies
are available. Panel discussions featuring
groups of Masonic experts on ritual,
Masonic history, letters, Masonic art
and music can involve the side-liners in
meaningful discussions with questions
and answer opportunities. An effort
should be made to achieve active partici-
pation from all regular attenders. One of
the most effective and congenial "class-
rooms" can be the Table Lodge or Ma-
sonic Festive Board, wherein the
brothers might enjoy, in this most amia-
ble of Craft contexts, excellent speakers,
music, and commentary of a Masonic
nature on a variety of appropriate topics,
all of which may be conveniently and
attractively dispersed among the tradi-
tional seven toasts.

IV. To effectively administer such an
educational program, the Master and his
Wardens must call on Masonic support
institutions which have developed
speakers bureaus, films and videos, and
published materials on every aspect of
Freemasonry. Among the most impor-
tant are: the Masonic Service Associa-
tion and its Short Talk Bulletins and vast
array of other materials; the great library
and museum collections of the Craft in-
cluding those of the Grand Lodges of
Iowa, New York, and Pennsylvania and
those of the Northern and Southern Jur-
isdictions of the Scottish Rite; the Amer-
ican Lodge of Research in New York, the
Missouri, Iowa, and the California
Lodges of Research and similar research
Lodges and societies across North Amer-
ica; the Masonic Book Club of Illinois
overseas resources such as the collections
of the British Grand Lodges and the
transactions of the premier research
Lodge in the world, Quatuor Coronati,
in London; and the Harry Carr Collec-
tion of the Scottish Rite Valley of Dallas.
Finally, there is the inimitable resource
of the periodicals published by both jur-
isdictions of the Scottish Rite, by the
Knights Templar, and the Royal Arch
and various publications of individual
Grand Lodges; and last, but not least,
the Philalethes Society, its semi-monthly
magazine and generous bonus publica-
tions .

V. The Master and Wardens should
encourage individual members of the
Lodge to explore for the Masonic light
therein the by-ways of the myriad ap-
pendant bodies of the Craft, as long as
that involvement does not materially
limit the individual's ability to be of serv-
ice to his Lodge. They should addition-
ally promote, by well-planned cam-
paigns, the individual involvement of the
brothers of the Lodge in the Masonic
reading programs which are funded by
the largest of the library collections in the
Masonic world. An immersion in Ma-
sonic scholarly activities by a significant
minority of brothers in a Lodge might
well revolutionize the attitudes of the
Lodge's general membership, and might
profoundly enhance and enrich the
general level of appreciation for the Ma-
sonic experience, and improve the depth
of Masonic comprehension demon-
strated by the fraternal community at
large.

VI. Lastly, since Masonic education
does not end at the door of the Lodge
Chamber, well-organized trips, excur-
sions, and pilgrimages to great Masonic
shrines such as the National Museum of
Our National Heritage in Lexington, the
House of the Temple and the George
Washington Masonic Memorial in
Washington, the museums and collec-
tions of the various Grand Lodges, and
extraordinary Masonic buildings such as
the incomparable Grand Lodge of Penn-
sylvania temple in Philadelphia can pro-
vide an extraordinary educational op-
portunity for brothers of the Lodge and
their families.

May we all--Masters, Fellows, and
Apprentices alike--apprehend that in
the Temple of the Ancient C raft there are
many rooms, many rich chambers of
beauty and splendor. We Freemasons
lack only the lamplight to find our way
through the veiled labyrinth of its cor-
ridors. Where is the light for the journey
to be found? It lies in the gentle mind of
each brother, and awaits only the avid
seeking of his fellows, and the passionate
kindling of his own curious heart and
questing spirit.
