THE BUILDER JULY 1918

THE FIRST DEGREE

The first degree in Masonry inculcates a knowledge of himself, and
rightly understood, teaches the Initiate how he may "in the
beginning" re-create himself. Man becomes king of the brutes by
subduing or taming them. Brutes are fit types of our passions and
are the instinctive forces of nature. Physical laws are millstones;
if you are not the miller, you must be the grain. To attain the
sanctum sanctorum, you must possess four indispensable capacities:
an intelligence illuminated by study; an intrepidity which nothing
can check; a will which nothing can break; and a discretion which
nothing can corrupt and nothing intoxicate. "To know, to dare, to
will, and to keep silence" were the four indispensable conditions
for gaining admission into the ancient mysteries and are true today
for real initiates. Have you really studied yourself ? Are you
insensible to temptation ? Have you overcome the vortices of vague
thoughts? Are you without indecision? Do you consent to pleasure
when you will or when you should? To be able and to forbear is to
be twice able. To learn self-conquest is to learn life. The
intelligence and will of man are instruments of incalculable power
and capacity. Properly directed imagination is a helpmeet, coupled
with intelligence and will, that will make man almost omnipotent.
Who would be a slave to his senses when he may be a king and reign
with power and intelligence?
--Rob Morris Bulletin.

All our wants, beyond those which a very moderate income can
supply, are purely imaginary.
--Bolinbroke.

If a man makes me keep my distance, the comfort is, he keeps his at
the same time.
--Dean Swift.

THE BUILDER JULY 1918

CRAFTSMEN

Hal Riviere, Georgia.

The word "craft" is a very ancient one, signifying an art, mystery
or science, which we as Masons claim to possess and impart in the
"work." It meant the knowledge and skill, together with the
practical application of the same, by which an artisan carried on
his work, which constituted a system of knowledge of a distinctive
or peculiar character. The "arts, parts and points" of Masonry
consist of a system of science, philosophy and morals, veiled in
allegory and illustrated by symbols. It is so far interwoven with
religion as to lay us under obligation to pay that rational homage
to the Deity which is due from a creature to its Creator. Its
foundations lie in teaching man how to live a higher and more
perfect life, and nearer the conception of a Christ.

Well-meaning, but improperly instructed Craftsmen, for many
generations, have endeavored to turn the Craft aside from its
God-given message, and-to make of it an institutional organization
masonic homes, asylums, endowments and schools have too frequently
proven sources of envy, discord and confusion among the Craft. The
lesson of the degrees is to teach the individual the benefits of
Friendship, charity and brotherly love, so that by his own
Self-denial, he may be purified. Institutions are good in their
proper sphere, and as society is constituted today, are a
necessity. As individuals and as taxpayers, We should support them
by every means in our power. When we take up such work as
craftsmen, there is a grave danger that We may thereby make them
the keepers of our masonic conscience; washing our hands of our
personal responsibility thereby losing the "rights, lights and
benefits," which is the real value of the "work" and which we have
so earnestly asked for. We must guard the "Craft" against
pharisaical and smug respectability, which our crosses, double
eagles and crescents tend to foster, and see that the Degree mills
turn out something more highly polished and Ornamental than
gate-posts. It should be impressed upon the mind of every Initiate,
that Masonry is not a mutual benefit organization and that by
becoming a craftsman he receives nothing of a "metallic" or
pecuniary value. Too often the eastern skies at dawn are murky with
clouds and the darkening eve brings a sense of relief. Let no
Initiate come within our portals with an untruth upon his lips or
in his heart, that so Masonry may not prove to him an apple of
Sodom.
-Rob Morris Bulletin

