What is Freemasonry? [Part 1 of 3]

WHAT IS FREEMASONRY?
By R.W.Bro. M.A.R. Howard D.G.M. GLBC

In defining itself as a system of morality veiled in allegory Freemasonry takes itself seriously. There are no side issues involved as to benevolent aims or social objects. These, or other desirable methods of expression, are left to grow out of the more comprehensive definition quoted.

To the profane who has never been within the walls of a lodge room Freemasonry is the aristocrat among secret societies. To him the appeal may be curiosity, admiration for its benevolent practices, or a desire for social fellowship. I do not know of a man joining the Masonic order because he understood it to be a system of morality, or because there was an intellectual appeal in its philosophy and symbology. It seems a pity this appeal cannot be made more manifest to the outside world, but no one can receive knowledge for which he is not prepared. In the practical working out of our Freemasonry the keynote cannot always be pitched on the high levels of philosophical exposition, but too often the degrees are conferred without the emphasis on instruction, hence the odious term "degree mill" is deservedly applicable.

Freemasons are made, not elected. Freemasonry is not a benevolent society. That is, the primary aim is not benevolence, but being a system of morality the virtue of charity is one of its prominent teachings and a front rank place must be accorded benevolent practice and charitable conduct. Individual Freemasons, or Lodges, or even Grand Lodges, should not delude themselves with the idea that they are functioning to the fullest degree by the practice of this one virtue.

Neither is Freemasonry a social order. It is not a club for the enjoyment of social intercourse alone. Man is gregarious in his instincts, and these instincts ought to be given expression. But here again the social side of Freemasonry ought to be subordinated to the main theme. Just as in the harmony of music there are many parts, the undue emphasis of one of these will cause discord.

Many Freemasons profess to find in Freemasonry a religion. Morality is a very good soil out of which spirituality, may grow. But morality and spirituality are different elements of character. FREEMASONRY HAS NO SOLUTION FOR THE PROBLEM OF MAN'S ATTITUDE TO DEITY. The recognition of the Fatherhood of God is only partial in its answer. It has no solution for the problem of pain, sorrow, and evil in the world. Neither has it a solution for the problem of the hereafter. It does not seek to make bad men good unless of course they are Freemasons. In short it does not function as a religious experience.

It is all very well for the young man in whom abounding physical well-being may obscure spiritual promptings for a time, to say out of his lack of life's experience that Freemasonry is a good enough religion for him. But as he grows older and tastes of some of the bitter experiences that life holds in its lap for all of us, sooner or later he will realize that Freemasonry is not a complete answer to the riddle of existence. What is Freemasonry? And again we return to his own answer-A system of morality veiled in allegory. But this simple statement is provocative of further questioning.

It is simply a restatement of the simple moral truths we all learned from our parents, from our Sunday School teachers or from the Minister in the pulpit. Or is there in the profundities of its symbology an intellectual appeal that must be sought through serious study. Many Masonic students have found in it such an appeal.

What is Freemasonry? - A system of sublime truths, including those of the natural universe, as well as of moral and intellectual science and philosophy, raised on the accepted fact of one Almighty, infinite, and perfect Deity, called by Freemasons T.G.A. of the U.,-the perfection and completeness of the order of the universe, its correspondence with itself throughout; that is, in all its parts and degrees-the coordination of these last by correspondence, from the first to last, their correspondence with the degrees found in man, in the same order-the immortality of the human spirit, a righteous system of divine government, the enjoining of the practice of all moral and social virtues and duties, by means of lessons embodied in symbolic representations of deep significance together with apt and wisely ordered discourse, all contained in certain ancient and simple but sublime ceremonies, co-ordinated in degrees according to the order of the universe which is the divine order. And further, that the filling up of this general scheme is by lessons taught in words so much as by representations of correspondences actually existing in the constitution of natural and spiritual things, in their several degrees, and cognizable by man; that these lessons, in order to their perpetuation , are embodied in the forms of the lodge and what may be found therein, and especially in what is termed The Work, the principal truths and illustrations being set forth by means of geometry, upon which science, as we are expressly taught, Freemasonry is founded.

Continue to Part 2 of 3