QUOTES

A PILGRIM'S PATH
BY JOHN J. ROBINSON
(c)1993
(referring to the bad men or questionable men which join or pass through Freemasonry)

PG.20-21
With over five million members, unsuitable men undoubtedly slip through the screening process. Some members will fail to live up to the standards they followed at the time they joined the fraternity and become guilty of conduct that would have barred them from membership in the first place. Masonic teaching advises that a man who seems to be straying from the decent behavior be approached privately, to be questioned or admonished.
For those who stray too far there is provision for indictment, investigation, and a hearing. Minor offenders may be suspended for periods of time based on the gravity of the offense. Serious offenders may be ejected from Freemasonry. Some men meet that fate and become embittered. Masons know that such a man may become an aggressively vocal anti-mason, sometimes willing to help other anti-masons by twisting the truth of his own Masonic experience, or would not tolerate his behavior. Others who follow that path were not ejected but resigned in anger because they had not prevailed in some issue, or were not elected by their brothers to a coveted post. Their numbers are very few, but their voices can be very loud.
It is important to understand that Freemasory does not teach a man to believe in God, or in religious freedom, or in moral conduct, or in acts of charity. He must bring those beliefs with him into the brotherhood, where he will find them encouraged and reinforced. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Paul Revere were not taught to love liberty in their Masonic Lodges. They joined because the beliefs they already cherished were shared by other Masons and encouraged by the brotherhood. They became Masons in order to be with like-minded men.
Any man who joins a Masonic Lodge expecting to learn the true pathway to God will be disappointed. He will hear no description of heaven, no description of hell, nor will he ba handed a prescription for salvation. He must learn about such things from his minister, priest, or rabbi: They are not taught in the lodge.
The reson is simple: Religious differences drive men apart. They always have and always will, and so they work against the concept of a fraternity where men of common moral convictions, but disparate religious convictions, can meet to live and work together for the good of all.

A PILGRIMS PATH
BY JOHN J. ROBINSON
(c)1993
PG. 124-125
(referring to why Freemason's keep their secret handshakes and traditions)

The risks encountered by those medieval Masons in their daily lives(refering to after the demise of the K. Templar and after the civilian revolt in England) were as great as those in the lodge meetings. To help a brother on the run from the threat of torture and death, it was essential to have a system of words ans signs of recognition that could be used wherever the Mason might find himself. There were terms, phrases, and questions that could be worked into ordinary conversation so that a fellow Mason would recognize a brother in need...........
(it is believed that this possibly might be the start of the so called secrets of Freemasonry, one of many theory's encountered in masonic research)
These are the catechisms, hand signals, and handgrips that are preserved today, even though they are no longer needed. Today, Freemasons can be recognized as such by means of decals, bumper stickers, and basefall caps, not to mention dues cards in their wallets. So why do they cling to those "secrets"? For the same reson that we celebrate Veterans Day, Memorial Day, and Presidents Day; for the same reason we reenact Civil War battles and teach our children the dying words of Nathan Hale and battle cries like "Remember the Alamo!" There are traditions worth preserving and men worth remembering. The Masonic "secrets" help a fraternity to remember men who took terrible risks to help gain those personal freedoms which we believe all men are entitled to enjoy.........
The Masons do not change those well-known secret signs, passwords, and recognition signals because their uses, in their traditional forms, are "rites of remembrance." They well know that all of their traditional secrets are no longer secret.........