THE BUILDER NOVEMBER 1917

FREEMASONRY AND FRATERNALISM 
BY BRO. O. G. ELLIS, CHIEF JUSTICE, WASHINGTON

Overton Gentry Ellis, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the
State of Washington, was born in Nodaway County, Missouri, October
26, 1860; was prepared for the University of Missouri by his
mother; graduated from the University of Missouri in the class of
1883 with degree of B. Litt.; studied law in the law school of the
University of Virginia, 1884 and 1886; was admitted to the Bar of
Missouri in 1886 and practiced law at Maryville, 1886-7; removed to
Tacoma, Washington, in 1892; practiced his profession alone until
1901 and was a member of the firm of Ellis & Fletcher, 1901-1908,
and Ellis, Fletcher & Evans, 1908 to 1910; was appointed by
Governor Hay as associate Justice of the Supreme Court of
Washington, May 10, 1910, to fill unexpired term of Frank H.
Rudkin, resigned; was re-elected without opposition November, 1912;
term expires January, 1919; was elected by his associates as Chief
Justice for a period of two years, January, 1917; was member of a
committee of fifteen elected to draft new charter for Tacoma, which
reported a commission plan of government adopted by vote of
electors October 16, 1909; served two terms as president Washington
State Society Sons of American Revolution; became a Mason in 1891
by initiation in Heroine Lodge No. 104, Kansas City, Missouri; on
removal to Washington affiliated with Lebanon Lodge No. 104,
Tacoma.

I SHALL not dwell upon the mere forms of Masonry but shall endeavor
to emphasize the deep significance of the truths which
they represent. For let me say to you, my brethren, with all the
earnestness of - a profound personal belief in what I say, that no
organization, whatever its antiquity, whatever its pretentions and
ostensible purposes, whether it be church or state or fraternal
order, has any valid reason for existence, any just claim upon the
consideration of any man, unless it exist not merely as an end in
itself, but as a living vital means to some worthy end. If,
therefore, our beloved order has and shall continue to have any
valid reason for existence that reason must be found in the vast
membership of Masonry grasping, practicing and exemplifying in
their daily lives as men and citizens the true spirit of
fraternalism which gave birth to Masonry and which every symbol of
Masonry is intended to typify. For after all, as has been well
said, fraternalism is a spirit rather than a method. And it is not
only the peculiar privilege but the glorious duty of Masonry, as
the dean of all fraternal orders, to preserve, develop and
exemplify this spirit of fraternalism as a vital reality in the
shaping of the lives of men.

What is this spirit of fraternalism? It is too big for definition.
"You cannot define a spirit." Every definition implies something of
an analysis. But you cannot analyze a spirit any more than you can
paint the sunbeam or mark the limits of infinity. But we do
recognize the glory of the sunbeam when we see it and when we look
forth into limitless space we do recognize the boundless immensity
of the infinite. And so it is with this spirit of fraternalism.
While it is so vast and all pervasive as to defy adequate
definition or analysis, we are able nevertheless to recognize and
appreciate its manifold manifestations in every relation of life.
It involves mutual respect and mutual toleration. As has been well
said by another, it "involves mutual respect of class for class,
race for race, church for church, individual for individual." It
involves mutual toleration for each other's views, mutual respect
for each other's feelings, mutual regard for each other's rights,
mutual interest in each other's welfare, mutual desire for each
other's prosperity, mutual regret for each other's misfortune. It
involves helping the weak, needy and the oppressed, counseling,
forgiving and redeeming the erring. It is exemplified in the
observance of every commandment of the decalogue amplified by that
broader injunction of the Master "that ye love one another."
"Fraternalism is the parable of the Faithful Steward, the parable
of the Good Samaritan, the parable of the Prodigal Son." It is the
golden rule --that we do unto others as we would that others do
unto us. It is to be just, but it is to temper justice with mercy.
It is to be merciful, but it is to supplement mercy with justice.

These are a few of the things involved in this spirit of
fraternalism as it ought to be exemplified in the simple relations
of man to man. But it is not confined to these the simpler
relations of life. It involves also the relations of the individual
to the community, the state and the nation. Just to the extent that
the individual citizen shall come to grasp the true spirit of
fraternalism as a guide to his own personal conduct, just to that
extent will he meet the duties and responsibilities of citizenship
in that exalted spirit which recognizes the common welfare as
paramount and superior to his own personal ends. Just to the extent
that a decisive majority of the people of any community shall
become imbued with the true spirit of fraternalism, just to that
extent will that community give evidence of that high civic spirit
which unhesitatingly subordinates the interests or the supposed
interests of my particular class to the promotion of the common
good. Just to the extent that the citizenship of any state shall
come to think in terms of fraternalism, just to that extent will
the institutions and laws of that state reflect as a prevailing
motive the greatest good to the greatest number. Just to that
extent will its penal laws and institutions embody the idea of
social protection through social reformation rather than through
social vengeance. Just to the extent that the nations of the earth
shall come to recognize this spirit of fraternalism as the only
sure and safe guide, not only in their own internal affairs, but in
their relations to each other, by grasping its basic thought in the
common brotherhood of man through the common fatherhood of God,
just to that extent will international injustice, jealousy, hate
and warfare with all of its bitterness, brutality and blood, want,
waste and wrong tend to vanish from the face of the earth. When we
consider the all persuasive force and moment of this spirit of
fraternalism is it any wonder that it defies adequate definition or
analysis and we find ourselves forced back to the simple but all
comprehensive words the Man of Galilee when turning to his
followers, simple fisher folk and others of the lowly to whom no
system of ethics, no scheme of life up to that time promulgated had
offered an incentive or unveiled a - hope--when as I say he turned
to these and said, "All ye are brethren."

And now, my brothers, what is the meaning of this spirit of
fraternalism to us as Masons? In pursuing this inquiry it behooves
us ever to bear in mind that not only every symbol of our order but
its very name is derived from a purely constructive science.
Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to how far back into
the shadows of remote antiquity we may be able to trace the
beginnings of Masonry, it is the consensus of all informed opinion
that originally Masonry was a fraternal order of practical
builders--architects and officers. Whether we trace this beginning
back to the "Dionysian Architects" when they had been transplanted
from Egypt to the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon some 1500
years before the Christian era and thence to that body of skilled
workmen under Hiram, the widow's son, sent by Hiram, King of Tyre,
to aid King Solomon of Israel in the construction on Mount Moriah
of the first great temple to the one living God, or whether we
trace them, as we certainly can, to the architectural gilds of the
middle ages, makes not the slightest difference. In either event
the original Masons were operative practical builders. That they
were also men of highest type of intelligence is evidenced by their
achievements which stand today in the unrivalled grandeur of St.
Peter's Cathedral at Rome, St. Paul's at London and a thousand
other cathedrals and conventicle churches scattered all over
continental Europe and England. That they were self respecting men
is evidenced by the fact that they demanded and received from a
bigoted church and the more bigoted states, which they so ably and
faithfully served, the right to make their own rules and
regulations and govern themselves in all of their relations one
with another according to their own laws--so much so that they came
universally to be known as "Freemasons." But as a further evidence
of their enlightenment and nobility of purpose we find that early
in the sixteenth century they began initiating into the mysteries
of their order men eminent in learning and achievement who were not
practical builders and such was the origin of modern "speculative"
or institutional Masonry as distinguished from its prototype of a
fraternity of operative builders. But in this transition Masonry
abated not one jot or tittle of its constructive quality. True its
prime purpose is no longer confined to operative buildings but what
was originally its secondary purpose has become its prime aim--the
building of character and self respecting manhood. That is what
Masonry means and has meant for more than two hundred years. That
broadly is what the true spirit of fraternalism ought to mean to
every Mason today. Every Mason should be as distinctively a builder
now as he was in the days of the architectural gilds. He should be
a builder of manhood and character, a builder of that self
respecting self-reliant citizenship which is the true foundation of
collective effort without which no nation long can stand. The lodge
should be the school of manhood and citizenship, the school of
patriotism. It should be the school of democracy and equality. For
in the lodge room men from every walk of life, the rich and the
poor, the exalted and the lowly, meet on the common "plane and
square of pure democracy." Of the fact that Masonry has been indeed
the school of liberty the history of our own nation. furnishes
ample evidence. George Washington was a Mason, and of the major
generals who served under him, from that battle scarred veteran,
Israel Putnam, to that beardless stripling, LaFayette, all were
Masons. Of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the most
enlightenedly democratic document ever penned by man, many are said
to have been Masons. Every one of these generals and statesmen was
a builder. Not one was a mere iconoclast.

Since the Masons past and present, by past tradition and present
purpose were and are builders, there is no room in Masonry for pure
negation. While one of the great missions of Masonry is to combat
error, that combat should be waged not in any spirit of wanton
iconoclasm. Its aim should be to combat error by constructive
process of building up the truth. Faith, hope and charity should be
the cardinal virtues of every man and especially of every Mason.
They are positive virtues. They contain no element of pure
negation. No Mason can be an agnostic or an atheist. He must have
faith. Faith in God, faith in his fellow men, faith in the
boundless possibilities of human development. No Mason can be a
pessimist. He must have hope. Hope for the present; hope for the
future; hope for himself; hope for mankind. No Mason can be a
misanthrope. He must have charity. Charity which covers and excuses
the weakness of his fellow men born of a conscious need of charity
for his own shortcomings; charity which covers a multitude of sins.
No man can be a builder and therefore no man can be a true Mason
unless he possess these three cardinal positive virtues. For
without faith he will have no incentive to build either in the
field of material or of ethical things. Without hope he will have
no reason to build either for the present or for the future.
Without charity he cannot build for self, and selfishness furnishes
too narrow and mean a foundation to sustain any lasting
superstructure.

So long as the spirit of fraternalism as exemplified in Masonry
shall find its well springs in these cardinal virtues with their
inexhaustible incentive to high achievement Masonry cannot die. It
will live because it ought to live. For whatever may be said as to
the truth or falsity of the postulate of the survival of the
fittest as taught in the doctrine of material evolution, its truth
must be granted as to things ethical, else there is no faith, no
hope, no charity. Unless we can believe in the final survival of
truth, justice and morality--simply because they are the fittest
and most enduring of the incentives to human action, we must
abandon our faith in God, our hope for man, our charity and love
for our fellow men.

But if Masonry is to survive it must live up to its constructive
traditions. It must be forward-looking and progressive. Progressive
but not in that radical and iconoclastic spirit which would break
completely with the past. Such a course would be to cancel that
greatest asset of civilization found in the accumulated experience
of the ages. Forward-looking, but measuring every step by the
experience of the past.

Civilization may well be likened unto a vast edifice not yet
completed but which has been in process of construction throughout
all the ages since man's creation. It has progressed thus far
through infinite labor. Its component parts have been shaped in the
toil and cemented by the blood and tears of countless generations.
Its foundations lie deep rooted in the experience of the past. Its
topmost pinnacle must pierce the distant future. Every age must
contribute to its construction. No age can ignore this foundation
without marring or wrecking the whole edifice. There can be no
constructive progress without co-operation. There can be no true
co-operation without an observance of law and order and a proper
regard for duly constituted authority which is the very corner
stone of the social compact. The spirit of fraternalism in its all
pervasive ramifications is a spirit of co-operation. If, therefore,
the Masonic order is to fulfill its high mission as the great
exponent and exemplar of that spirit every Mason must be taught not
only to be a law abiding citizen but that he should cast his
influence on the side of law and order.

No age has ever offered such vast possibilities for usefulness
through the application of the constructive principles of Masonry
as the present. The edifice of civilization is now being shaken to
its very foundations by the most relentless, ruthless and
destructive contest that the world has ever known. If peace,
blessed and lasting peace, is ever to come after that great
conflict it must come, under Almighty God, through a final
recognition of the spirit of fraternalism as the great constructive
and cohesive principle which it is the true mission of Masonry to
teach and practice and exemplify.

NIL ERGO OPTABUNT HOMINES

(Juvenal. Satire X: 346, et seq.) 
Should men not pray? Take my advice, and let 
The gods themselves decide what's best for you; 
Being all-seeing, they can lead you to.
A better fortune than your prayers can get.

Genuine good for your imagined bliss 
They change, who love you better than you know; 
While led by feelings, and the overflow 
Of blind desire, you ask--and ask amiss!

But that you still may pray, and still may find 
The peace of soul that faith alone can give, 
Be this thy prayer: "Oh, grant me while I live 
In a sound frame, a sane and healthy mind!"

Pray for a soul proof against threats of death, 
That holds life's closing scene its crowning boon; 
That patiently endures the heats of noon, 
And can restrain the lust that tortureth;

That counts the cares and toils of Hercules 
Better than all the feasts and wantonness 
Sardanapalus used. Thou mayest possess 
The things thyself can give thee; pray for these!

Through decency comes peace. If we were wise, 
O Fortune, we should never worship thee-- 
For we ourselves created thee, and we 
Enthroned thee as a goddess in the skies!
--Edwin M. Robinson 
in Cleveland Plain Dealer.

LIFE'S PROBLEM

O Master Builder, 
Solve thou the riddle of the universe; 
Its ceaseless, useless tossing to and fro, 
Its weary, restless surging here and there; 
Why must the tender heart be bruised?
Why must The flame of love grow dim and glow no more ? 
Why must ambition soar and break the peace 
Of centuries?
O Master Builder, thou 
Alone, canst break the silence of the Sphinx, 
And show the mystery of ages past, 
And ages yet unborn; alone canst thou 
Untie this knotted tangle we call Life. 
And do thou weave its living strands into 
A web more holy; may its new design 
More clearly show thine age-old plan for us.
--R. V. Gilbert.
