Function of a Masonic Lodge

It is not the primary function of Masonry to initiate candidates, or to enlarge its membership. Were it so, there would be no basis for our laws against proselytizing.

The ordinary function of a Masonic Lodge indeed, the primary function of our Craft, is to train its members to an understanding of the truths which its rituals and its ceremonies are calculated to inculcate, to develop its members as benevolent men, to cultivate the social virtues among men, and to propagate the knowledge of the art.

The chief concern of the Lodge is with its welfare, the happiness, the Masonic development of its members, not with the admission of those who seek entrance to its doors. Its success as a Masonic Lodge cannot be gauged by the length of its membership roll or by the size of its accumulated funds.

The beauty of our ritual, and the good fellowship among the members of our Lodges cannot be conserved when the chief aim is to make Masons and money; "for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth"; and a Lodge's life does not consist in its acquisitions, but in the contribution which it makes to civilization and society through the influence to those whom it has helped to train to what we call Masonic character. Therefore, it should be the duty of every Masonic Lodge to put in action a plan for the education of its members in Masonic history, symbolism and philosophy, devoting more of its meetings to this much neglected function.