NEW ALIGNMENT OF LIFE IN FREEMASONRY: JAMES A. FROSTICK.

P.G.M., NEW ZEALAND. 

AMERICAN FREEMASON, SEPTEMBER 1914

The clear and encouraging note of Masonic progress is being heard from
every country.  That stubborn conservatism which has refused for so long
to yield to the necessities of new conditions is slowly giving way.  Brothers
are realizing in increasing numbers that more than perfunctory adherence
to formulas is necessary if the institution is to have effect in the common,
the larger life.  With the affairs of nations in unstable equilibrium, with
economic causes of quarrel driving to arms and old racial hatreds arousing
deadly passions, surely there is place for a world-wide organization that
shall do more than idly prate of brotherhood, that shall really seek to bring
the kinship of men to practical teaching and to real demonstration.  The
following paper was read by its writer before Civic Lodge No. 157 (N.Z.C.)
on June 3d, 1914, and is kindly furnished this magazine by Brother
Frostick.  It will be read with interest and profit, as showing the community
in sentiment and aspirations of thoughtful Masons all over the world. -
EDITOR FREEMASON.


MOST people cling so tenaciously to old traditions and articles of faith,
which have been handed down to them in one form or another, that
comparatively few become conscious of the fact that God is revealing
Himself in the present, through Nature's laws with a glory which transcends
the greatest light ever possessed by the men of the past from whom these
much-cherished beliefs are inherited.

From a class point of view Freemasons may be mentioned as among those
most difficult to move from established usage or custom.  Old traditions
and customs provide the creed for many a good Mason, although it leaves
him in a state of intellectual starvation.  He attends his Lodge regularly and
feeds upon the "dead husks," instead of the life-force of the ritual, and
wonders why it is that he remains hungry and unsatisfied.  He does not
realize that it is because he has gathered false impressions.  He therefore
hugs these impressions the more closely, until his vision becomes more
and more blurred.  Finally, with many thousands of other Masons, he drifts
away from the Order, simply because he has disregarded the Charge given
at his initiation that he was to use his mental as well as his corporeal
faculties, first for the glory of God, and then for the welfare of his
fellow-creatures.

It is to the outside world we have to look for the evidence of progress in
human development.  Although there is nothing in this world today more
beautiful than Freemasonry, yet if we, as Freemasons, will not, or can not,
appreciate its teachings of progress and development, can we wonder that
men outside our Order fail to recognize its beauty? I am satisfied that
Freemasonry cannot die; it must move forward, but it can be retarded.  It
has already had to force its way through many barriers.  The attraction of
the Masonic banquet, so often overshadowing all else, has brought down
upon the institution a heavy condemnation, both from within and from
outside our ranks.  Freemasonry has been despised, and rightly so, for its
extravagance in this respect.  In many other ways the organization has
fallen short of its obligations.  There is, however, ample evidence that the
light is breaking through the darkness of misunderstanding.  Although late,
it is not too late, for Freemasonry to take its place alongside the great men
and great institutions of the world in discharging the Divinely-appointed
duty to build up a more perfect manhood.  Many of the master-minds in the
world today are writing upon this-the greatest of all problems - as to what
is necessary to constitute a more perfect humanity.

The preacher when selecting his text, chooses that one which will best
convey the essence of his sermon, and the author of a book usually selects
for its title the essence of the thoughts he wishes to publish.  A few days
since, on looking through the works of Trine, Waite, Patterson, Wilmans
and Moore, I was deeply impressed by the titles of the books these great
writers had chosen, and by the beautiful mental pictures these titles
conveyed.  One writer, R.W. Trine, asks "What All the World's A-Seeking?"
And the others, by the titles of their books, reply: "The Universal Kinship,"
"The Winning of the Best" through "Character Building," by "Every Living
Creature," in order that "The Wayfarer on the Open Road" may possess
"The Gift of the Spirit" and "The Gift of Understanding, Dominion and
Power," thereby creating "A New Heaven and a New Earth." Then shall "The
Conquest of Death" be fully accomplished and "Limitless Man" be "In Tune
With the Infinite."

Brethren, can we imagine a more perfect panorama of Masonic progress?
Is not Freemasonry here revealed in all its beauty - without the mysterious
covering of allegory and of symbolism?

I would also draw your attention to an article by Brother Charles T. Merz,
published recently in THE AMERICAN FREEMASON, having title of "The
Third Degree of Freemasonry, which should be read by every Mason the
world over.  I will not attempt to quote from it, because it is so full of beauty
and loftiness of thought that it should not be mutilated, but read and
assimilated from the beginning to the end.  The contrast to this lofty
conception can be seen in a letter published in The New Zealand
Craftsman of June issue.  There a brother, writing in a state of darkness,
impressed by allegories which he admits he does not understand, and
influenced by mysteries he does not comprehend, chained down to a
narrow circle of his own making, deplores what he described as the
"indiscretion of the M.W.G.M.," in allowing the outside world to know
anything about Freemasonry.  Although he tries to excuse the G.M. on the
ground that others have done likewise, he concludes with the
pronouncement "that the outside public has nothing to do with Masonry or
its affairs." Brethren, we can see in this letter evidence of a sincere, though
misguided, allegiance to our Order. It is "cause and effect" - the inevitable
result of the endless repetition of initiations, passings and raisings, and a
little social intercourse, restricted to a favoured few of the human family. 
Can we hope to fulfil our mission as Masons within the limits of such a
conception as to what Universal Brotherhood really means.

Our brother should remember that it is from the outside, or popular world,
that our new members must always be drawn.  If his ideas were given full
effect, how could a candidate form a favourable opinion preconceived of
the institution as his desire for membership? Let us remember that one of
the first admonitions given to all Masons is with regard to his duties as a
citizen of the world, his public duties, his domestic responsibilities; he is
enjoined so to live that the world may not only know him to be a Mason,
but that to be a Mason is a sure proof that he is one to whom the burdened
heart may pour forth its sorrow and the distressed prefer their suit.

My object in writing this paper is to consider Freemasonry - Past, Present
and Future - and in my remarks will be found quotations from several
eminent living men, whose exalted plane of light and knowledge entitles
them to be recognized as teachers among their fellows.  Freemasonry in
its past tense reveals much that is to be regretted.  Were it not that its
foundations are fixed firm as the everlasting hills, and its principles eternal
as the heavens, little would have remained today of its superstructure of
Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth.

In viewing Freemasonry as an institution of the present, I shall assume that
we all admit the fundamental teaching of the Fatherhood of God and the
Brotherhood of Man.  In the consideration of this great truth, as it operates
today, one could not do better than direct attention to the thought so
beautifully expressed by the M.W.G.M. in his installation address.  He there
describes Freemasonry as that which elevates the mind and lightens up the
soul.  We should remember that Brotherly Love is not something that can
be created by organization.  Its birthplace is in the human heart, through
which pulsates the eternal essence of Divine Love, which alone is the
Creative Power of Human Affection.  Therefore, just as life becomes more
perfect and nearer to the image of God, so Brotherly Love will be made
more perfect and more Godlike in character.  Brotherhood suggests
Son-ship, and Son-ship Brotherhood, and when the meridian light of full
knowledge shall have taken the place of the glimmering ray of our present
intelligence, then, and then only, will the beauty of the relationship of God
to man be revealed in all its effulgent glory.  But before this can be enjoyed
the process of purification must go on - ever reaching forward as
generation succeeds generation.  And if we of our generation fail to do our
duty the progress of perfection will be retarded, and the sins of the fathers
will be felt by the children unto the third and fourth generation; so says the
law acknowledged by Freemasons throughout the world.

Relief and Truth are the paths along which the Brotherhood must travel.  To
relieve the distressed, help the fallen, heal the sick and forgive the erring
are the true landmarks of Masonry, and we should exercise the greatest
care lest we follow the shadow of symbolism, and neglect the real duties
that Masonic symbolism was intended to inculcate.  To follow the
landmarks already mentioned is the meaning of the teaching of the Second
Degree - expressed as conducting the Mason through the intricate windings
of Mortal Life to the Throne of God.

We should realize that the work of Masonry in this world will not be
completed until the race has reached the stage of possessing perfect
Brotherly Love, Perfect Equality and Absolute Truth.  To this end the
alignment of Masonic life must be continually changed as the higher planes
are reached, and the duties and responsibilities of each generation are
realized and fully discharged.

I am sure that Freemasonry has suffered and been greatly retarded
because it has clung too closely to old traditions; indeed, other institutions
are also suffering in like manner.  One eminent writer recently said: "To
stick to the traditions of the past is to lose the inspirations and revelations
of the present, and with these the splendid opportunities that lie
immediately ahead." The only possible use of yesterday is the memory of
it, which serves to warn us by the evils it revealed, or to encourage us in
the pursuance of those things which brought any measure of peace and
happiness to ourselves or to any of our fellow-creatures.  If it is unwise to
dwell too much upon yesterday, it is even more so to dwell upon tomorrow.
To do so means an unnecessary waste of energy, because as we make our
today, so we determine our tomorrow - just as our today has been
determined by our yesterday.  As the writer from whom I have quoted
concludes: "We should enter our today as a fresh thing, without fear or
foreboding - otherwise we may weaken our energies, and thereby cripple
or defeat our today."

Brethren, if the foregoing deductions are sound, then our chief aim should
be to form a correct estimate of the duties and obligations of today.  We
should realize that man is being judged, not only by what he has done, but
- and to an extent as never before - by the things he has let undone. The
present alignment of human life reveals to the observant man that many of
the material things at one time accepted as permanently incidental to
human life and activity are today either non-existent or are rapidly
disappearing as being out of date and incompatible with the revelations of
Nature and Science, which from time to time are unfolding the more subtle
forces of the universe.  Would it not be profitable for us, individually and
collectively, to "take stock," so to speak, of our mental development: to ask
what fruit we have to offer as the result of the oft-repeated admonitions to
make a daily advancement in Masonic knowledge? Are we helping to fulfil
Masonic Destiny? Are our lives and actions true examples of what
Freemasonry really is? How shall we be judged? Shall it be solely by the
things we have done that we ought not to have done, and by the things left
undone that we ought to have done, or shall we experience the joy of
approving conscience, that according to the measure of our light and
knowledge, we have faithfully discharged our duty? If the latter be our
experience, then, in the words of Brother Merz: "The stars may set, the
summer fade and winter blow its icy blast upon us, yet Immortality
banishes all pain, all fear, all tears, as the still, small voice hymns into our
souls the enchanting words: "Thou livest forever!"

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