FOREIGN COUNTRIES
A reprint of Chapter XXX of "Foreign Countries," by Carl H. Claudy
published and copyrighted by the Masonic Service association in 1925.
Our ancient operative brethren desired to become Masters so that, when they
travelled in foreign countries, they could still practice their craft.
Speculative Freemasons still desire to "travel in foreign countries" and study
their craft that they may receive such instruction as will enable them to do so,
and when travelling, to receive a Master's Wages.
But the "Foreign Countries" do not mean to us the various geographical and
political divisions of the Old World, nor do we use the Word we learn as a means
of identification to enable us to build material temples and receive coin of the
realm for our labor. "Foreign Countries" is to us a symbol.
Like all the rest of the symbols, it has more than one interpretation; but,
unlike many, none of these is very difficult to trace or understand.
Freemasonry itself is the first "foreign country" in which the initiate will
travel; a world as different from the familiar workaday world, as France is
different from England, or Belgium from Greece. Everything is different in the
Masonic world; the standards are different, the "Money" is different, the ideas
are different. In the familiar world, money, place and power are the standards
by which we judge our fellows. In the fraternity all are on the level, and there
are neither rich nor poor. In the world outside there are laws to prevent, and
police and penalties to enforce obedience; in the fraternity the laws are not
"thou shalt not" but "thou shalt" and the fundamental of them all is the golden
rule, the law of brotherly love. Men conform to the laws of Freemasonry not
because they must but because they will. Surely such a land is a "foreign
country" to the stranger within its borders; and the visitor must study it,
learn its language and its customs, if he is to enjoy it.
Many learn but a few phrases and only enough of its customs to conform. There
are thousands of Americans who went all over France during the war with a pack
of cigarettes, a friendly smile and "no comprende!" as their sole knowledge of
the language; but did they learn to know France? A Lodge member may know the
words of the opening and closing and how to act in a lodge, learn to call his
fellows "brother" and pay his dues; but will that get him all there is in the
foreign country in which he finds him-self?
America north and south is a mighty continent . . . It has many countries. To
know one is not to know all. The man at home in Mexico will find Newfoundland
strange, and the Canadian will not feel at home in Chile if he knows nothing of
that country.
So it is with the vast continent of Freemasonry. It has many "foreign
countries within it; and he is the wise and happy Freemason who works patiently
at the pleasant task of visiting and studying them. There are the foreign
countries of philosophy, of jurisprudence and of history. No Freemason is really
worthy of the name who does not understand something of how his new land is
governed, of what it stands for and why.
And there is the foreign country of Symbolism of which this little book is
far less a guide than a gateway.
As a Master Mason, a man has the right to travel in all the foreign countries
of Freemasonry. There is none to say him nay. If he will but "learn the work"
and keep himself in good standing, he may visit where he will. But it is not
within the door of other lodges than his own that he will find the boundary line
and the guide posts of those truly Masonic "Foreign Countries" to which he has
been given the passport by his brethren. He will find gateways to those lands in
the library, in the study club, in books and magazines; and, most and best of
all, in the quiet hour alone, when what he has read and learned comes back to
him to be pondered over and thought through. The "foreign country" of symbolism
has engaged the thoughtful and serious consideration of hundreds of able Masonic
students, as has that of the history of our Order. Not to visit them both; aye,
not to make oneself a citizen of them both, is to refuse the privileges one has
sought and labored to obtain. One asks for a petition, prays one's friend to
take it to his lodge, knocks on the door, takes obligations, works to learn and
finally receives the Master's Degree. One receives it, struggles for it, hopes
for it . . . why? That one may travel in the far lands and receive the reward
there awaiting. .
Then why hesitate? Why wait? Why put it off? Why allow others to pass on and
gain; while one stands, the gate open, the new land beckoning, and all the
Masonic world to see?
That is the symbolism of the "foreign countries" . . . that is the meaning of
the phrase which once meant, to operative Masons, exactly what it says. To the
Freemason who reads it aright it is a clarion call to action, to study, to an
earnest pressing forward on the new highway. For time is short and the night
cometh when no man can work!
To the young Freemason, particularly, is the symbol a ringing appeal. To
those who are old in the Craft, who have set their pace, determined their course
and become satisfied with all they have managed to learn of the fraternity, with
what little they have been able to take from it, "foreign countries" means
countries which are foreign and nothing more. But to the young man just starting
out as a Freemason . . . Oh, my brother, heed you the symbolism of the phrase
and make your entry through the gateway, your limbs strong to travel, your mind
open to learn. For if you truly travel in the Masonic foreign countries, you
will receive Master's Wages beyond your greatest expectations. The way is open
to the Freemason; not an easy way, perhaps, or a short way, but a clear way. Not
for the old Mason, the man set in his ways, the man content with the literal
meaning of the words, the "book Mason," the pin- wearer, not for them the
foreign countries of symbolism, and Masonic knowledge.
But you, you who are new, you to whom Freemasonry is yet a wonder and a
vision. a mystery and a glory . . . for you the gate is wide, for you the path
is clear; for you the foreign countries beckon . . . hang you not back!
For at the end of the journey, when the last foreign country of Freemasonry
has been travelled and learned and loved, you shall come to a new gate, above
which there is a new name written . . . and when you have read it you will know
the True Word of a Master Mason.
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