NINE QUESTIONS
Newly raised brethren are naturally
filled with curiosity regarding Lodge behavior, ritualistic inquiries, Masonic
lore in general. They ask questions. Some of the more common are these - can you
answer them?
Why do brethren not pass between Altar and East when
Lodge is at labor?
Why do brethren entering and leaving a Lodge salute the
Master?
Why does not ordinary parliamentary law apply in a Lodge?
Why is it un-Masonic to disclose how one has balloted ?
How may I know that a stranger is a Mason
How should I make myself known to a stranger as a Mason?
Is it expected that I now do business only with Masons?
What is the "Lodge of the Holy Sts. John at Jerusalem?"
Where is the Masonic goat and why did I not ride it?
Simple questions. elementary indeed for the old and the
experienced brother, but puzzling to the new. Here are
explanations which be of use to those who, though they
probably know the facts, may not have phrased them in the
form of answers to questions.
Brethren do not pass between the Altar and the East in a
Masonic Lodge it labor because the Master is supposed to
have the Great Lights constantly in view. In theory, at least,
he draws inspiration for presiding over the Lodge from the
Altar and must not, therefore, be prevented from seeing it at
any time.
The custom is but a pretty courtesy but it is rooted in a
fundamental conception of the Craft - that the Altar is the
center of Masonry and that from it and the Great Light it
bears flow all that there is of Masonic inspiration and truth
and light.
In English Lodges there is not this problem, since the Altar
there is a pedestal near the Master on which lies the holy
book.
Masons entering or leaving a Lodge salute the Master at the
Altar if the Lodge is at labor - they salute the junior Warden if
the Lodge is at refreshment. There are several reasons for
this practice. It assures the Master that the brother knows on
what degree the Lodge is open. A brother making a wrong
sign can be instructed immediately. It informs the Master that
the brother is a Mason of the degree on which the Lodge is
open; if he make all inferior sign, and cannot, on request,
give the right one, the Master call then use other means to
ascertain that no Entered Apprentice or Fellowcraft is
present in a Master Mason's Lodge. The salute is a silent
assurance to the Master and through him to the brethren: "I
remember my obligation".
Brethren salute on retiring to get permission to leave. No one
can enter or leave a Lodge room while a lodge is at labor
without permission. If the Master does not wish the brother
who salutes to retire he tells him so, instead of responding to
the salute.
At refreshment the Lodge is in charge of the Junior Warden
and the same salutes are given him as are usually given the
Master, and for the same reasons. In some Grand
Jurisdictions, on very busy evenings, as during a visitation or
other Masonic function. the Master will instruct the Tiler to
ask the brethren to salute the West, instead of the East, in
order not have his own labors in the East interrupted.
Newly raised brethren speedily learn that the parliamentary
law which governs the usual body of men assembled in any
organization does not govern a Masonic Lodge. A Master
may put a motion which has not been proposed, or
seconded. He call close debate at his pleasure. He does not
have to put a question even after debate if it his desire not to
do so. He entertains no motion too "Lay on the table" or to
postpone" or "to adjourn." No one call "move the previous
question" in a Masonic Lodge, and so on.
The reason is found in the responsibility which is the
Master's. The Grand Lodge and the Grand Master hold him
responsible for everything that happens in his Lodge. He is
not accountable to his Lodge, cannot be removed by his
Lodge. There are certain things he cannot do without Lodge
action, such as spending Lodge money, or open before the
time stated in the by-laws at a regular communication. But
the Lodge cannot dictate to him what can be discussed, and
if, in his judgment, something should not be discussed or
acted upon, it is for him and only for him to say that it should
or should not. Were it otherwise, a Lodge might "run away"
with him, and in enthusiasm do that for which the Grand
Lodge or Grand Master would censure or punish him.
Therefore, the Master has full control of debate, and work,
and acts, and ordinary parliamentary law, which might
interfere with that control, does not apply.
In all Grand Jurisdictions, the ballot on candidates is secret
and inviolable. It is considered un-Masonic, and in most
Grand Jurisdictions is against Masonic law, for any brother
to divulge how he has or will ballot on any candidate.
Masters are instructed strictly to adhere to this requirement.
The newly, raised brother will speedily learn that peace and
harmony are the very foundations of any Masonic meeting.
For Brother Jones to learn that Brother Smith has or will
ballot against his friend who applies would disrupt that peace
and harmony. Moreover, the rejection of a candidate is
naturally a sore blow to him who has applied. If every one
knew who had cast the black cube, the rejected mail might
speedily learn, and a cause of friction in the profane world
would then have come out of a Masonic Lodge, which again
prevents peace and harmony.
A ballot is sometimes immediately retaken. This is because
the appearance of a single black cube may be all error, cast
by mistake. If the single black cube appears the second
time, presumably it was intentionally cast.
Ballot taking differs in different jurisdictions. In some, a
"collective ballot" may be taken on several candidates at
once; if a black cube appears, each name is then balloted on
separately. In others, a "multiple ballot box" is used, with a
compartment for each name, which is printed above it. In still
others, each name is balloted on separately from the
beginning, using a single box. In most Grand jurisdictions,
one ballot elects to all three degrees. In some, a separate
ballot is taken for each degree, and in one, at least, still
another ballot on "moral qualifications." But in all Grand
Jurisdictions, ballots are secret, inviolable and regarded as
the corner stone on which the fraternity is erected.
"I met a man on a train recently who said he was a Mason.
How should I go about ascertaining if such a claimant really
is a Mason? And how shall I make myself known to a
stranger as a Mason?"
Questions like these are frequently asked by newly raised
brethren. Sometimes the question is phrased "How shall I
examine a stranger to make sure he is a Mason?"
The answer is Punch's famous advice to those about to
marry - "Don't!"
Ninety-nine times out of a hundred the man who wears a
Masonic pin, or who says that he is a Mason, actually is one.
While occasionally imposters seek Masonic aid without a
shadow of a right to it, their number is small compared to tile
nearly three million men in this country who are Masons in
good standing. But it is unwise, and often risky, to engage in
loose Masonic talk with the stranger who introduces himself
as a member of the Craft. Nor is there any excuse whatever
for him to ask you to prove yourself a Mason. There is no
need for you to know that he is a Mason, nor for him to know
that you are one. Such necessity exists when you or he
would visit a Lodge, but there the responsibility is the
Master's, and it is for him to order a committee. Many newly
raised brethren think that by giving some Masonic sign they,
should secretly make themselves known to a supposed
brother, but this is a mistake.
Not even when a call for Masonic help comes is there need
for a ritualistic "proof" of mutual membership. If a mail is in
danger or difficulty, and time is short, there is no more need
to find out whether he asks for aid because he is a Mason,
than there is to ascertain of the drowning man that he is a
respectable citizen before you throw a rope! If the Masonic
lesson of charity and help indicates that aid should be given,
give it, whether the man be telling the truth or not. But
beware of the man who offers to "prove" himself, and does
so by a ready knowledge of ritual. He may be, and probably
was once, a Mason in good standing. But such are usually
beggars, using a knowledge of Masonry - and sometimes a
stolen or forged good standing card - to mulct the innocent.
In large cities, refer Masonic requests for aid to the Board of
Relief which can be reached through the Masonic Temple or
Lodge. In general, do not discuss Masonry with strangers;
do not try to "make yourself known" as a Mason to strangers;
and pay no attention to those who wish to talk Masonry with
you. In that course lies safety to yourself and to the
Fraternity.
A problem which confronts many a newly-made Mason is his
supposed obligation to give his business to fellow Masons
rather than the profane.
Masonry is most emphatically not a back scratching
organization, a Board of Trade, a Chamber or Commerce or
a mutual admiration society. There is no obligation, actual or
implied, which demands that, because you have become a
Mason, you must forsake all those with whom you have
been doing business who are not, and give your orders to
brethren who may, and may not, be equally as satisfactory
as tradesmen.
Other things being equal it is brotherly to give your business
where it will help a fellow Mason. But other things must be
equal. If the twin born with you sold poor shoes at fancy
prices, while your neighbor's son sold good shoes for
reasonable prices, you would not buy of your own blood
brother. To do so would be to injure yourself and your family,
since you would be wasting your money. Exactly the same
idea applies to your fraternal brother.
The man who says: "Buy of me because I am a Mason" is
not anxious to serve you, but to serve himself. If he is a good
business man he does not need to depend on mutual
membership in any organization, whether Lodge. Church or
Club, for his business. If he is not a good business man -
that is, if he sells poor goods - he has no moral right to
attempt to offset poor quality by whining that you both belong
to the same Lodge. Similarly he who comes to you and says:
"I have come to you because I know you are a Mason, now I
expect a discount because we both belong" is also using his
Masonry to promote selfish interests and should be
discouraged.
But to the tribe of men who give you their business because
of mutual Masonry without asking favors, you may wish to
belong - for here other things are equal!
"What is the Lodge of the Holy Sts. John at Jerusalem?"
Many a Master puzzled to answer this simplest and most
natural of questions. As there is not now and never was such
a Lodge, perhaps there is reason for being puzzled.
Originally, Lodges were dedicated to King Solomon. Later -
at least as early as 1598 - Masonry connected her name
with that of St. John the Evangelist. Dedications to the Sts.
John were made by other organizations as early as the third
century, when the Church adopted the two pagan
celebrations of summer and winter solstices and made of
them our St. John's Day in Summer and St. John's Day in
Winter. It was wholly natural for operative Masons, having
dedicated their Craft to the Holy Sts. John, to begin to
believe the Johns were themselves Craftsmen. Craftsmen
must have a Lodge - where should that Lodge be, but in
Jerusalem" Hence "The Lodge of the Holy Sts. John at
Jerusalem" came into imaginary existence. Today, as we
use the phrase as the starting point for a Masonic career,
Masons mean only that their Craft is dedicated to these holy
men, whose precepts and practices, ideas and virtues,
teachings and examples, all Freemasons should try to
follow.
Those who were terrified by talk of a Masonic goat which
they were supposed to ride in the ceremonies of initiation,
were among the unfortunates who have been victims of
loose talk by coarse-minded men. They perpetuate as a jest,
a ridicule of Freemasonry of the early seventeen hundreds,
when those who had been refused admittance to the
growing Speculative Craft, whispered venomous tales that
Freemasons were in league with the devil and raised his
Satanic majesty in Lodge ceremonies! The devil rode a goat,
because the conception of a living devil arose from the
ancient mythological god Pan, who had horns, a tail and a
goat's legs. Hearing these tales, Londoners of the early days
of organized Freemasonry came to believe that
Freemasonry not only raised tile devil, but rode upon his
goat! A childish tale, it has survived the ages as have so
many myths and legends. But it has harmed the gentle
Fraternity, in that it profanes and makes a mock of that
which you now know to be a solemn and lofty ceremony.
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