THE BUILDER DECEMBER 1916

THE RODS

BY BRO F. IDLERMAN, NEW YORK

IDEAS are expressed only by signs. When ideas he may do so only by symbols.
Our a man would convey to his brother his language is but a succession of
signs. Words are symbols, signs of an idea. But we as free and accepted Masons
choose also to speak to one another by material symbols. These stand for
certain truths we hold as necessary to Masonry and fundamental to true
manhood. These rods, borne by the stewards, are of value only as they are
signs of ideas. As Masons we seek the interpretation of these ideas and desire
faithfully to inculcate them in the minds of all who shall hereafter accept
our vows.

The first idea they symbolize is that of protection. The stewards, bearing
these rods, meet the candidate at the door. He is thus assured that all his
interests are to be safe-guarded. He may commit himself implicitly to the
stewards, for the emblems of their offlce signify security and protection.
This is among the highest comforts of man, to feel the safety vouchsafed by
the confident strength of hiS brothers. It is surpassed only by the protection
man realizes as he commits himself into the safe keeping of his Creator. David
expressed the confidence in such a trust by the symbol of a rod, "When I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art
with me, Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me."

There is corresponding obligation upon the part of the stewards. The implicit
trust of a brother calls for a faithful discharge of your stewardship. The
security you afford within the lodge must be widened by the daily conduct in
society. Let it never be said of you as Emerson said of some of his
generation: "What you are speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say."

The second symbol is progress. You are to meet the candidate, not as
stationary guards but as those who shall mark the path of progress as you
advance from knowledge to knowledge in Masonry. The advance you assist him in
making is unhasting and unresting. You are ever urging him to further light
and wisdom. The rods you bear represent the divinely appointed state of man.
Truth comes slowly but eternally. Man can never attain to perfect knowledge
here. He must always confess "Now I know in part." To indicate by word or
conduct that full knowledge is ours, is to arrest the purpose of the Creator
in us. To symbolize in unforgettable fashion the progress of the mind toward
the light is to render a service of incalculable worth to any man.

The rods symbolize guidance. Neatly imbedded in the head of each rod is a
star. From time immemorial the stars have been the guiding fingers for man. He
has been guided by them across the trackless desert, through the tangled
wilderness and over the snowbound waste of the long Polar nights. The deep sea
has not been able to lose the sailor, for the friendly stars have led him
unerringly to his port of entry. So the rods are set for the proper and true
guidance in the truths of Masonry. But truth cannot exist apart from
incarnation. A thousand blazing symbols of metal fashioned bring neither
comfort nor light except they live in daily conduct. You who bear the emblem
of guidance must of necessity incarnate the moral worth indicated by your high
office.

The symbols can only have meaning as they find the translation of their
meaning first in the quality of merit in the men who bear them. Your dignity,
fidelity and uprightness make meaningful and winsome all the moral virtue of
protection, progress and guidance. Other offices, within the lodge, may be
invested with more honor but your constant and necessary duties make incumbent
upon you a most solemn and serious performance of the work assigned you. As
you invest your office with this three fold significance, will you lift it out
of mere perfunctory routine into high and noble symbolism. Those who take
their first steps in Masonry under your tutelage will catch a vision of the
sublimer possibilities and conserve for succeeding generations, the value of
our worthy order.

LEGATO

"He drew a circle that kept me out-- 
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win; 
We drew a circle that took him in." 
"Aye! draw ye circlet of love,
To encompass forever
'An heretic, rebel, a thing to flout';
Draw it 'round the wide cold earth-- 
Religion, races, clans include--
None of earth's creatures, leave standing without." 
"Say to warrior, 'pause awhile !'
Benighted soul, 'here is light!'
To ignorance, say, stupidity, fear,
'Come ye, from your narrow house-- 
Come and ye be made whole again-- 
Come, learn of THAT, to love and revere.' "

EPILOGUE 
"Incarcerate mind and thought? 
Come sentinels, e'en as the breath of birth; 
Seems ever, some must be always without-- 
It is then, alas ! the WAY OF EARTH."
--Dr. M. E. Walton. 
Huron, S. D., January 19, 1916.

