HONORS FROM THE CRAFT
“Freemasonry regards no man for his worldly wealth or honors.” In
her lodges all men meet on the level. That she should provide
elaborate and ceremonious honors in many forms for those who love and
labor for the Craft is one of he delightful inconsistences of the
Order!
These orders are of several kinds - ceremonious, as in the
receptions; salutary from the brethren to the Worshipful Master and
to the Grand Master; titular when the brother honored receives the
permanent right to the use of a Masonic title, usually accompanied by
certain rights and privileges, and symbolic, when the recipient is
presented with a decoration, emblem or other device to be worn upon
proper occasions.
Highest of the salutary honors are the Grand honors; usually given
upon four occasions; the visit to the lodge of a Grand Master, or a
Deputy Grand Master acting for him; installations of Grand Masters
and Worshipful Masters, the dedication of a Masonic Hall or Temple
and the constitution of a new lodge. Their manner is esoteric and
therefore cannot be described here.
Any who have read a history of the manners and customs of ancient
Rome will at once see a resemblance between the prescribed form of
both our private and public Grand Honors, and the carefully
restricted and formal methods of laudation and applause practiced in
those days.
In this modern era, applause by clapping the hands is common to the
theater, the concert hall and the lecture room; such applause as is
given at a baseball or football game would be considered ill-bred in
a theater. In ancient Rome applause was even more particularly
formal. Three kinds of laudation with the hands were prescribed to
express various degrees of enthusiasm. “Bombi” was given by
striking the cupped hands gently and frequently, a crowd thus
produced a humming sound. “Imbrices” was similar to our usual
applause, hands struck smartly palm to palm; while “Testae” was
produced by hitting the palm of the left hand with the fingers of the
right hand grouped to a point, producing a hollow sound (when done by
many) something like that made by hitting a hollow vessel.
Freemasonry’s private Grand Honors given at corner-stone layings and
funerals - crossing the arms on the breast, raising them over the
head and dropping them to the sides - have evidently the same
classical origin. The three motions are repeated three times; there
is thus a succession of nine blows, as hands strike shoulders, strike
each other overhead and strike thighs. This feature makes
intelligible the phrase occasionally used “giving honors of three
times three.” (There are different honors for this in Nevada.)
It is unnecessary (and illegal) to dwell upon the familiar salutes to
the Master in the lodge room, since every Mason who can enter a lodge
must know their origin and allusions. Suffice it to say here that
when offered to a Worshipful Master, they but emphasize the respect
and veneration which the Craft pays to the Oriental Chair, looking to
its occupant for wisdom, guidance and counsel. Happy the brother in
the East who deserves all the respect shown his office.
Conferring honorary membership in a lodge or Grand Lodge is a method
of honoring a brother the greater, as its bestowal is rare. It is
more common on the continent than in England or the United States.
Some lodges provide in the their By-Laws for a definite number of
honorary memberships, which cannot be exceeded without the trouble
and inconvenience of an amendment. Other lodges refuse to consider
thus honoring a brother. In a few instances honorary members pay
dues. The lodge honoring them thus puts them on a parity with its
own members in everything but the right to ballot on petitions and in
elections, and the right to hold office. In some lodges honorary
membership carries with it the privilege of the floor (under the
pleasure of the Master); in others, it is a mere gesture and carries
no inherent rights.
The gift of life membership by a lodge to one of its own members is
an honor, indeed. By so doing the lodge says to the recipient:
“You are so beloved among us; your services to us and to the Craft
have been so great that we desire to relieve you from the payment of
dues for the rest of your life.” Life Memberships, as honors, are
often presented in the form of a “Good Standing Card” made of gold,
suitably engraved.
Inasmuch as financial experience has demonstrated that disposing of
life memberships by purchase is often an unwise policy for lodges
which give life memberships but rarely. When really earned by some
outstanding service to a lodge, or to Masonry, life membership is
among the most distinguished honor which can be conferred upon a
brother.
It is the custom in most lodges to honor the retiring Worshipful
Master with a jewel of the office he is then assuming, the honorable
and honored station of Past Master. The jewel of the Past Master in
the United States is universally the compasses (“compass” in six
jurisdictions!) open sixty degrees upon an arc of the fourth part of
a circle, and the legs of the compasses inclosing the sun. In
England the Past Master’s jewel was formerly the square on a
quadrant, but is now a square from which is suspended the 47th
problem of Euclid.
Not all lodges give their Past Masters jewels as they become Past
Masters. Failure to do so usually comes either from a lack of
understanding that “Past Master” is something more than a mere empty
title, or by finances too modest to stand the strain.
“Past Master” is not only a name given to the brother who has served
his lodge in the East, when he makes way for his successor in office,
but is also an honorary degree which all newly elected Masters must
receive before they can legally be installed. The Past Master’s
degree is given in the Chapter of Capitular Masonry, or in an
Emergent Lodge of Past Masters called for that purpose. This
requirement is very old - certainly as old, or older than the Mother
Grand Lodge - and is universal in England and the United States.
Whether the degree is conferred in a Chapter or an Emergent Lodge of
Past Masters, the recipient (who thus becomes a “virtual Past Master”
before he is actually installed as Worshipful Master) is taught many
esoteric lessons regarding his conduct while in the Oriental Chair.
Past Masters are usually members of Grand Lodge, but, according to
the most eminent Masonic authorities, not by inherent right but by
the local regulations of their own Grand Lodge. In some Grand Lodges
Past Masters have individual votes; in others they have only a
fraction of a vote; all the Past Masters from any one lodge being
given one whole vote between them.
The fact that a Past Master must receive that degree before he became
an Installed Master, and that he is a member of Grand Lodge is
evidence that the title is not empty. As it confers privileges, it
also requires the performance of duties. The honor is in the state;
the jewel is but the expression of the lodge’s appreciation of that
honor. To most brethren their Past Masters’ jewel is their “Master’s
Wages” to be cherished as, perhaps, the greatest honor which can ever
be given them.
An additional honor usually accorded Past Masters is a special word
of welcome extended by the Worshipful Master, who may, and often
does, invite them to seats in the East. This is a courtesy entirely
under the Worshipful master’s control. It is not required that he
invite his predecessors to sit with him; neither is he forbidden to
invite anyone in the lodge to sit in the East.
Another honor the Worshipful Master has wholly in his discretion is
offering the gavel to a distinguished visitor. Usually this is
reserved for the Grand Master or the Deputy Grand Master acting in
his place, who are received with the lodge standing. In tendering
such a distinguished visitor the Gavel the Worshipful Master says in
effect: “In full knowledge of your wisdom I trust you to preside
over my lodge.” The recipient of such an honor usually receives the
gavel, seats the lodge, and returns it immediately to the Master.
What to do with the brother who has served his lodge in some one
capacity for so many years that he can neither successfully carry the
burden longer nor decline the honor of re-election or appointment,
has troubled many a Master. Borrowing the title Emeritus from the
classic custom of universities may solve the problem.
Emeritus comes from the latin word “emerere,” meaning “to be greatly
deserving.” The Secretary, Treasurer or Tiler who has served for a
generation and now wishes to retire, may be appointed or elected
“Treasurer Emeritus”, “Secretary Emeritus”, “Tiler Emeritus,” etc.
Such an honor says in effect: “You have served so long and so well
that we cannot dispense with your services or your experience, but we
wish you to enjoy them without burdening you with the cares of
office. Therefore we give you the title and the honor and relieve
you of the labor.” If salaried officers are retired with the title
Emeritus, continuing their salary for life makes the honor practical.
Receptions in lodges differ in different Jurisdictions, but all such
honors express respect and veneration. Thus a Grand Master may be
received by the Marshall, the Deacons and the Stewards. Escorted to
the East, the Worshipful Master receives him, accords him the Grand
Honors (Private or Public as is the case) and tenders the gavel.
Less distinguished Grand Lodge officers may be received with the
Marshall and Deacons only, Marshall and Stewards only, Marshall only,
or with the lodge standing, without any escort. It is wise to adhere
strictly to the form of reception prescribed by local regulations and
never to offer such honors to any brethren not specified by
regulations as entitled to them. To use them promiscuously is to
lessen their dignity and their effectiveness.
If election as Worshipful Master is the greatest honor which a lodge
may confer upon a brother, election to the “foot of the line” or
appointment to any office in the line under the discretion of the
Master, is less an honor by but a few degrees, since it is usual,
though not invariable, that the brother who begins at the bottom ends
at the top. Whatever his future career may be, at least either lodge
or Master has said to the brother who thus takes service in the
official family of his lodge: “We trust you; wee believe in you; we
expect that you will demonstrate that we are right when we say we
think in time you will be worthy to be Master of this lodge.”
Selection for membership on either of the four most important
committees a Master may appoint; upon charity or upon trials, is a
great honor. For these committees the Master naturally selects only
brethren of wisdom, experience, knowledge and an unselfish
willingness to serve.
Masonry honors her dead. Masonic funeral services conducted over the
remains of a deceased brother show his surviving relatives and
friends that we are mindful of his worth. As such, the ceremonies we
conduct at the grave are an honor and should be so considered.
Occasionally arises the problem of the active, hard-working brother,
who has done much for the lodge, but who has never held an office, or
who, if a Past Master, has received his jewel. Brethren become lodge
instructors; serve for years upon the finance committee, are selected
Lodge Trustees or whose advise and counsel is so valued that it is
frequently sought. After long service of this kind a lodge may
desire to express its affection in some concrete way.
The presentation Apron is one very pretty solution of this problem.
Presentation Aprons may be obtained from Masonic regalia supply
houses with any degree of elaboration and at any cost desired. They
are particularly effective for bestowal upon brethren who have served
more than one year as Master. It detracts from, not adds to, the
value of a Past Master’s Jewel to present any brother with two or
more of them! The presentation apron with the Past Master’s Emblem
worked in gold embroidery upon it, is a graceful honor which can be
worn in the Mother Lodge, or in lodges visited, and is cherished by
all who receive it.
Every brother is familiar with the solemn words with which an Entered
Apprentice receives his lambskin or white leather apron - “More
Honorable Than the Star and Garter, or any other order - .” An
honor, indeed, but sometimes less appreciated than it deserves
because it is given to so many; given, indeed, to all who are
permitted to knock upon the West Gate.
This honor differs from a Past Master’s jewel, or other permanent
honors which Freemasonry may bestow, in this vital particular; it is
given before the performance. Others come as a recognition of labor
done and a Master’s Wages earned. The apron may become a great and
distinguished honor, or it may be “merely a piece of white lambskin.”
Which it will become is wholly in the power of the recipient to say.
When worthily worn, only one grant from Freemasonry may exceed it in
value - the honor of being raised to the Sublime Degree of Master
Mason. Here, too, the honor comes before the work. But if the work
is done, if the wages are earned, if the newly made brother does
indeed live according to the precepts of the Fraternity, then at long
last, even if he has received the jewel of a Past Master - he will
agree, and his brethren will unite in saying that there is no honor
which Freemasonry can give to any man that is greater than that which
lies in the simple words: “He is a true Master Mason.”
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