GUARDIANS OF THE GATES
Any Master Mason speedily discovers that his Masonry is not all "Getting." It
is also a matter of "Giving." A good Mason must serve, as well as be served.
When Masonry is well served by her brethren, she grows, thrives and prospers.
When she is ill served a lodge starves, thins out in quality, gets stagnant and
sometimes dies. When your application was received by the lodge, the Master
appointed a committee of three brethren, whose duty it was to investigate the
truth of the statements you made, to find out what manner of man you are and
recommend to the lodge what action it should take. Following their report, a
ballot was taken on your application. You were a good man; your committee
reported in favor of your application and you were elected. You may not have
known of their investigation. In small towns it is not always necessary to see
the applicant directly. Generally he is known to one or more of the brethren,
and his reputation can easily be established from other sources. In larger
centers, one or more members of the committee, in addition to other work, will
look up the applicant for a personal interview.
On the accuracy of the report of committees on petitions, and on the fidelity
with which they discharge their obligations depends the purity of the lodge and
the character of its personnel.
When you are appointed upon an investigation committee you may take it as a
signal honor; that your Master has confidence in your good sense, your loyalty
and your freedom from prejudices. He believes that you will faithfully discharge
the most important Masonic Duty he can give you. Do you, therefore, take the
work seriously and do it faithfully?
By all means see the applicant, unless you are completely satisfied from
interviews with his friends, enemies, employers and associates as to exactly
what kind of a man he is. Some member of the committee must see him or know him,
of course; all members should, if possible.
Never be satisfied merely because you find nothing against an applicant.
Masonry wants positive not negative virtues. It is not enough that he hasn't
been caught and jailed yet; he must be the kind the law doesn't want! It is not
enough that he have no enemies; he should have friends, and many of them. But it
is not necessary a point against a man that he has enemies; it is for you decide
whether such enmity is justified by character and actions which would be
prejudicial to the lodge were the candidate admitted.
It is not only your right but your duty to inquire strictly into the reasons
which lead an applicant to desire Masonry. There are many reasons; most of them
good. Those which indicate that the applicant would not make a good Mason will
occur at once to anyone. The petitioner who wants membership in order to promote
his business is seeking something only for sordid reasons. The man who desires
merely to satisfy his curiosity is not worthy of the knowledge he seeks. The
applicant who hopes, through influential friends acquired in the lodge, to
secure place and power would prostitute for selfish ends the institution he
seeks to enter.
Many men will be inarticulate as to why they want to become a Mason. Many
others will have many reasons, all combined, you'll be hardly be able to
disentangle one from the other. Be sure that you dig deeply enough to understand
the secret springs which move a man, for on the reasons why he wishes to become
a member of our great Order will depend, in large measure, the sort of Mason he
will be.
Among the "Good" reasons for wishing to be a Mason are; a sincere desire to
help others, a respect and veneration for a Fraternity which has been beloved by
so many great and good men, a patriotism which would follow in the footsteps of
Washington, a love for one's fellowmen, a desire to be with many friends in
activities which they enjoy, a hunger to follow where a father, uncle or blood
brother has gone; and a desire to secure the Moral and social welfare of his
loved ones.
But it is not a good reason if a man desires to join a lodge because he
believes his family may be in want and he hopes the lodge will help.
The older an applicant, the more closely his reasons should be investigated.
A man of sixty who wants to be a Mason must explain why, so anyone can
understand! This, because there are men past their three score and ten who hope
the Fraternity will put them in one of their homes, or otherwise relieve them of
the care of themselves! Such a reason, of course, is wholly unworthy and no such
applicant would receive consideration at the hands of any intelligent committee.
On the other hand, the older man who has "Waited for his Son" or who "Has only
now been able gratify a long ambition," or who "Has come to believe that only in
real Fraternity is there to be found the best in Friendship" . . . these are to
be admitted, if all else is well, without regard to advanced age, so long as the
statutory requirement is satisfied.
Make your investigation alone, unaided, without reference to the other
committeemen. Make your search promptly. It is not fair to the applicant or to
the lodge to dilly-dally about it. If you can't serve, say so. If you do serve,
serve well, serve whole-heartedly and promptly.
You will be well paid. A "Master's Wages" await you when you shall have done
your work. Paid not in any metal coin, or anything of material value; but in the
finer coin of consciousness of honorable and responsible duty well done, the
inner happiness which comes when you may truly say to yourself:
"Masonry has been helped forward by my work," the knowledge that your lodge
is a better lodge because you have paid back, in small measure at least, the
interest and the labor your brethren invested in you. The committee on
investigation, appointed for the purpose of giving to the lodge first-hand and
Masonic knowledge of the character, abilities, attainments and general
reputation of applicants for the degrees, is not the only, though it is the most
important, committee work a Masons may have to do.
Next to it in importance is the work of the committee sent out from the lodge
to examine a visiting brother. Only Masons thoroughly familiar with lodge work
should be asked to serve on examination committees, the duty of which is to
ascertain if those who would visit your lodge are regular Masons in good
standing. At least two brethren must compose such a committee, and of these, one
is usually in charge; the other being merely a witness. There is no law covering
this; both may ask questions. Indeed, both must be fully satisfied before the
visitor is brought into the lodge.
Usually the first procedure is to examine the documents of the visitor.
Formerly many lodges issued Grand Lodge Certificates which were held to be
"Prima Facie" evidence that the possessor had been regularly initiated, passed
and raised. The possession of such a certificate was held essential, before an
examination could be conducted. Now, however, many lodges do not issue such
certificates, contending themselves with a receipt for dues or a good standing
card, or both. In few jurisdictions is a Mason refused admittance to a lodge
because he does not possess a Grand Lodge Certificate. The good standing card,
however, is usually considered essential.
It is always wise to ask the visiting brother to sign his name and compare it
with the signature written upon the good standing card.Having stateside
themselves that the visitor is in good standing in his lodge the committee
retires with the visitor to a private room for the examination. You are not to
be non-plussed if the visitor here demands to see your credentials, or even to
ask to look at the Charter of your lodge. He has the same right to be cautious
that you have; the same right to assure himself that this is, indeed, a regular
lodge, working under a Charter, as you have to assure yourselves that he is a
regular Mason, not an imposter.
It is required, not only that he take oath to the fact that he is a Mason,
and that there is no reason known to him why he should not visit with his
brethren, but that you, the committee, take the same oath. And this should give
you the keynote to the procedure of examination; it is not an inquisition in
which the committee subjects the visitor to inquiry; it is a conference of
brethren in which two groups satisfy each other of their mutual brotherhood.
After the tiler's oath, the committee may ask the visiting brother any
question relative to Masonry which occurs to them. He has the same right to ask
questions. If both parties exercised their right to the fullest extent, and
examination could take all evening! As a general practice, the visitor does not
ask questions; presumably he has satisfied himself in other ways that his
questioners are Masons and that the lodge he would visit is a regular lodge.
back to top |
