THE BUILDER APRIL 1924
Is Freemasonry Neglecting Opportunities?

By BRO. N. W. J. HAYDON, Associate Editor, Canada

I HAVE been asked to show wherein Freemasonry of today is
neglecting its opportunities, and to do so  justly it is needful
that we ascertain just what these opportunities are and what
responsibilities they bring. In the case of an Institution like
ours, which has been definitely organized for a specific purpose,
and is well over its second century in its present form, it should
be a fair statement that its opportunities are ties and that they
will have become clearly stated in its Constitutions.

Let us take a first take a look at these Constitutions, for some of
us may not be thoroughly familiar with them, although we have all
been charged to make ourselves acquainted therewith in order that
each one might become instructed in the duties he owes to the Craft
in general. Note the words, the duties, he owes, by reason of his
admission into our ranks, not merely social usages which can be
observed or set aside at pleasure.

We find that this Constitution is based on certain Old Charges of
a Freemason, and there is documentary evidence that these Old
Charges have existed in writing for nearly six hundred years at
least. There are seventy-eight manuscript copies of them known
today, the oldest dating from the end of the 14th century. Our
Masonic scholars have exercised a great deal of learning in trying
to trace their origins through the customs and lengths of a time
when all book learning was a prerogative of one class only and the
great bulk of the people had to depend entirely on what they were
told.

THE CHARGES OF A FREEMASON

These Charges cover, in six main sections, all the relationships
that were expected to be formed by the membership of the Craft,
among themselves and with their fellow men; and it is due entirely
to the special phrasing of the first that our Order has today
spread all over the civilized world, has over two hundred years of
continuous and beneficial service to its credit, and is likely to
last as long as the most sacred and the most important duties of
citizenship are subject to human disagreement.

It may be strange to some, but it is a fact in our history, that
when Freemasonry was recognized in 1717 and the first Grand Lodge
established, it was a clergyman, a Presbyterian divine, who was
given the task of "digesting" these old Charges, which had been the
working rules of the Operative Lodges then dying from lack of
support, into "a new and better method." These brethren so changed
the character of our Order that instead of recognizing only the
authority of the Established Church of England, and of the English
monarch as divinely appointed to that office, it became possible
for men of any religious faith or political party to seek
admission, to enter our ranks, and to gain our highest honors. All
these possibilities are contained in the new first section, and our
history stands as proof of the success that followed this
revolutionary overturn of our previous usages.

It is in considering this first section that I hope to find the
substance of what I have to say, and I hope the effort will at
least cause some to hunt up their copies of the Constitution and
become better acquainted with these Old Charges. There is a great
deal of reliable as well as speculative literature to be had on
this subject, both in book and magazine form, so that no brother
need plead ignorance of these vital matters because of being denied
access to them.

You may well ask how it became possible for such changes to be
made, and in such wise that both then and since they have been
accepted and justified by their appeal to the best that is in us.
The answer to these questions is contained in this quotation:

Masons unite with the virtuous of every persuasion in the firm and
pleasing bond of fraternal love; they are taught to view the errors
of mankind with compassion and to strive, by the purity of their
own conduct, to demonstrate the superior excellence of the faith
they may profess....

Thus Masonry is the center of the union between good men and true,
and the happy means of conciliating Friendship amongst those who
must otherwise have remained at a perpetual distance.

These sentences are pregnant with our successes and our failures,
and by our own professions are we condemned to the extent that we
avoid their implications.

THE DESIRE FOR FRATERNITY

An answer to the first question will be found by a brief survey of
English and European history during the centuries preceding. The
Golden Rule was almost invariably set aside for political and
commercial advantage, might and right, and the spread of the new
religion was accompanied by deceit, crime, murder and persecution,
even to death by torture. Civil war, fostered by the grossest
ignorance and credulity, was the constant condition of church and
state, and the records of all parties are bloodstained in the
degree that they had power to enforce their will. Is it any wonder
that men should have become utterly exhausted by their burdens of
war and taxation, should have welcomed with joy a method of
association made possible by a strict omission of all subjects of
political and religious contention? And thus in two hundred years
an idea advocated by a few elderly men, of no particular social
standing, spread all over the world, counted a voluntary membership
of over three millions, drawn from all classes of society, all
ranks of learning and all grades of wealth. Nothing approaching
such an achievement is to be found elsewhere in history!

Yet, with all these successes what else must we admit, at least so
far as this North American continent is concerned ? Every year
members drop out, often for reasons that are definitely the result
of our present methods. Masonic honors are conferred upon those who
have no better claims than blatant self assertion and
aggressiveness in their pursuit. The duties of Masonic charity are
treated with indifference by individual members and left almost
entirely to lodges and Grand Lodges. The practice of Masonic
scholarship is ignored so that an estimate of 10 per cent of our
membership would be over-liberal of the number who concern
themselves with more than entertainment and ceremonial. Masonic
friendship is at a minimum, because lodge membership is too large
to permit our knowing each other as intimately as we should.

PRESENT CONDITIONS NO IMPROVEMENT

As for "viewing with compassion the errors of mankind" in matters
of religion and politics, I ask you to consider the feelings
exhibited while the union between the Methodist and Presbyterian
churches was coming into being, and those made evident all over the
country during the Scopes' trial in Tennessee. Had these quarrels
taken place even in 1717, they would have resulted in the use of
fire and steel and, if words could kill, there would be many more
widows, orphans and homeless people on this continent today than
there are, even though government has prohibited the general use of
lethal weapons.

Every election, from President to mayor, causes more poison to be
thrown against reputations and intentions by those who will not try
to "demonstrate the superior excellence of the faith they may
profess, by the purity of their own conduct." We as Freemasons are
vitally concerned in all these things, many of us directly by our
public positions, and all of us by the power of our personal
influence, even in our own small family or social circles. What are
we doing about it?

Is it living up to our professions to be content with listening to
this address, to agree with its message more or less, as evidence
of our intellectual powers, and then put the blame on Freemasonry
because it is neglecting its opportunities to aid in the
improvement of humanity, while we continue to walk comfortably
along the path of least resistance and most profit to our own
concerns? Freemasonry lives amongst us today only because we are
members of the Masonic Order. It will honor us by its prestige or
stain us with its disrepute exactly as we try to learn and meet our
Masonic duties or neglect them. One little swamp mosquito can
infect a grown man with yellow fever, so that he dies or becomes a
permanent invalid. One careless smoker, whether Freemason or not,
can set the prairie or the timber limit on fire with all the
terrible consequences that are told in our fire loss reports.

THE REMEDY SUGGESTED

As destructive criticism alone is of little use, and the physician
should try to heal as well as diagnose the disease, I will
therefore venture to offer a few suggestions in the hope that they
may be considered worth acting upon. The most important duty we
neglect lies in the quality of our membership, as proven by our
annual loss through suspensions for non-payment of dues. A small
percentage of this is legitimate and result of the lean years that
have followed the Great War, but the remainder are mostly men who
should not have found a place amongst us, who were not well enough
known to their proposers and seconders and who were received
without sufficient test.

I respectfully submit for one thing that the questionaire used in
this Grand Lodge (Canada) does not bring out the information we
need, and that the much more elaborate one adopted by the Grand
Lodge of Alberta is also open to improvement. Our attitude to
applicants should be positive, not negative; not why should we
refuse him but why should we admit him? How often do proposers and
seconders know an appliant well enough to make on oath, if need
were, the statements they write on the forms supplied ? We know a
man in business and like him, but later he is found to be selfish
and callous in his home. We know a man socially and like him, but
in business he proves to be a smooth rascal. Very seldom do we get
to know a man under both conditions, yet Masonic admission implies
both, and more, and we profess to "guard our portals"; our
authorities warn us to do so constantly. The Society for Masonic
Research in Toronto has brought out a compilation of all the
questions asked by Canadian lodges, with some of their own, which
is worth serious consideration as a remedy for this disease.

GUARDING THE PORTAL

It is not only too easy for men to join us, but far too for them to
make progress in our ranks. In Switzerland an interval of a year is
imposed between each degree, and proofs of proficiency do not
consist in repeating set answers to a few questions, none of which
appear to mean anything more to the candidates than so many words.
In that country Freemasonry is a very serious matter; each
applicant is required to prove himself by his behavior during a
term of waiting before he becomes a candidate for a higher degree,
and by submitting in writing, before receiving advancement, his
understanding of his Masonic experiences. Upon that piece of
original thinking does his progress depend. How do you suppose such
a method would affect our growth in numbers?

The next opportunity we neglect is our duty towards Charity, and
our attitude in this respect is pitiable. There are practically no
individual gifts, except on the rare occasions when a lodge allows
the hat to be passed as well as giving a grant from its funds, and
these grants do not compare with those expected from our Grand
Lodge funds. When we stood in the Northeast Corner we promised to
personally help distressed worthy brothers, but in practice we
ignore our promise, since grants from lodge or Grand Lodge funds do
not touch our pockets directly.

That we are not poor is proven by our temples, by the frequency and
quality of our entertainments. We cheerfully pay dues of a size to
support such expense, which help no one but our caterers, but what
sentiments have we heard when it is proposed to increase them for
the sake of larger benevolence. Recently a little lodge in
Jerusalem marked its second installation of officers by subscribing
eighty guineas ($400) towards the English charities and an annual
report of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand showed an average
voluntary contribution of $4 per member towards their Charity
Funds, over and above that required by their annual dues. But one
Grand Lodge in Canada (Nova Scotia) supports a Masonic Home;
attempts to do so in our other Grand Lodges have failed.

The point does not enter here of the merits of a Masonic Home,
compared with private relief as is done in Ontario; the point is
that our capacities in this respect are being dishonored by shear
neglect to cultivate them. We could make a splendid start by
financing a few scholarships for Masons' children whose education
must be stopped by the death of their parents, or by endowing beds
in hospitals for the benefit of poor Masons or their dependents, to
whom the costs of a serious illness or an operation would be
devastating.

A third opportunity which does not get its share of attention is
Masonic scholarship. Regalia makers flourish and grow fat; jewels,
robes and chains of office are in steady demand, but wealth of
knowledge is at a discount. The history of our magazines is one of
constant struggle against indifference, of enthusiasm for Masonry
crushed under a burden of uncollectible arrears, caused by a too
liberal confidence in a professed desire for knowledge. Of those in
our chief seats, who should lead us to more light, how many
encourage us by example as well as precept?

It is true that many Masons cannot become well read, for every
man's powers are limited and the proportion of those who study for
the love of learning is, naturally, small. But why should any of us
be satisfied merely with those suggestions that are all our
ceremonies can impart; why need we be content with the narrow
limits of personal associations? We are told that Freemasonry is
like the British Empire in that on its limits the sun never sets,
yet the small concerns of our lodge are, for the most of us, the
whole field of our observation. Like Gray's peasants, many of us
"think the rustic cackle of our burgh the murmur of the world."

MASONIC LITERATURE UNSUPPORTED

We know that Freemasonry sets no religion over another, prefers no
form of government to another and, for that reason alone, is it
possible for brethren to dwell together in unity despite the war of
creed and policy outside our lodges. But no member denies himself,
for that reason, his daily paper, the journal of his profession, or
other literary aid to intelligent citizenship. Is Freemasonry less
worth attention than these, because it is not a source of physical
wealth or public honor? Are our claims to be descended from the
"Ancient Mysteries" limited to the once guarded secrets of the
skilled worker in stone, wood and metal ?

To admit this, even tacitly, by our indifference towards our
literature is to deny any truth to the Junior Warden's lecture, is
to regard our Senior Warden's lecture as a tinkling cymbal and our
Past Master's charge as but sounding brass. Why should we enter our
brethren into the Craft as new-born babes, pass them into the grave
duties of manhood and raise them into the crown of a future life if
these are intended to be nothing more than preliminaries to a
pleasant social evening ? The church exists to do this for us, and
does it better with men trained to the task. If we can do no more,
let us at least cease to be hypocrites, cease to call upon the name
of T.G.A.O.T.U. before we sit down to smoke and listen to stories
we do not repeat at home.

Freemasonry may indeed be one of the Lesser Mysteries; it may be,
like the Prodigal Son, wasting its substance in a far country,
forgetful of its origin and careless or blind to the inherent
purpose that has kept it going under many names and through many
centuries. But it is indeed the portal to the Greater Mysteries, as
in the days of Eleusis and, if we do not choose to lift our eyes to
that bright Morning Star of daily progress in Masonic knowledge,
then will we continue to stumble amongst mere repetitions of meat
and mummery until we too drop out into the N. P. D. class, unless,
happily, death saves us first!

To each is given a bag of tools 
A shapeless mass and a Book of Rules
And each must make, e'er time be flown, 
A stumbling block or a stepping stone.
