three five seven #66
by Ed Halpaus
Grand Lodge Education Officer
Grand Lodge of A. F. & A. M. of Minnesota
01 January 2006
This publication, while it is printed with the permission of the Most
Worshipful Grand Lodge of A.F. & A. M. of Minnesota, contains the writings and
opinions of Ed Halpaus and is not in any way the opinion of the Grand Lodge of
Minnesota.
"The study of God's word, for the purpose of discovering God's will, is
the secret discipline which has formed the greatest characters."
J.W. Alexander
December was certainly a busy month with all of the Holiday activities, some
of which are still going on. And now we are beginning a new year, and a new
Lodge year too.
Beginning a new year is a great and important undertaking and as we are
admonished not to begin anything so great and important without invoking the
blessing of Deity I thought this first issue of T.F.S. for 2006 should be about
the Great Light of Masonry.
The greatest treasure in Freemasonry is the Holy Bible. Brother Mackey says
that in spite of all the attacks that have been made against it, "it is the
attackers who fail - not the Bible."
In the York Manuscript there is evidence that the Holy Bible was used in
initiations dating back to 1600. In the manuscript it tells about the
initiation. "The candidate places his hand on the 'book' while the charges are
read to him, and then before the reading he is told: 'Every man that is a Mason
take right good heed to these Charges & if any man find himself guilty in any of
these charges that he amend himself before God & in particular ye may keep these
charges right well for it is perilous & great danger for a man to foreswear
himself upon the Holy Scriptures.."i
This proves that "The Book" is The Great Light of Masonry - The Holy Bible. In
fact wherever the term 'the book' is used in the old charges it always means the
Holy Bible, so the Mason has for centuries, at least, taken his obligation on
the Holy Bible, and he held it in his hands when the Old Charges were read to
him. ii
The Anvil
"Last eve I passed beside a blacksmith's door,
And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime;
Then, looking in, I saw upon the floor
Old hammers worn with beating years of time.
'How many anvils have you had?' said I,
'To wear and batter all these hammers so?'
'Just one,' said he; then said with a twinkling eye,
'The anvil wears the hammers out you know.'
And so I though the anvil of God's word,
For ages skeptic blows have beat upon;
Yet, though the noise of falling blows are heard,
The anvil is unharmed - the hammer's gone."
Most of the Constituent Lodges in Minnesota will soon be having installation
of officers for the ensuing year. Officers are installed in an open Lodge with
the Bible open on Ecclesiastes Chapter 12 verses 1-7 because the Lodge is open
and not at refreshment. It is the crowning glory of Freemasonry that the Holy
bible is always found on its altar when the Lodge is at labor.
The Bible is the first object that the candidate feels under his hands and
sees in the Lodge Room, and he soon learns through the lessons of the degrees
and the learning he receives from his Mentor that there are many lessons to be
learned from the Holy Bible on how to live a life, and why the Holy Bible is The
Great Light of Freemasonry. "To close it would be, symbolically, to interrupt
the rays of Divine Light which emanate from it. Therefore, before we can work
Masonically, the Bible must be opened to indicate that the Lodge is not in
darkness but working by the light of that sacred volume."iii
The Bible is called the Great light of Masonry because without it on our
altars Freemasonry would be like an unlighted candle; a useful item that is not
being used when it can provide so much enlightenment. Many times in the history
of the world it has seemed that some have not used the enlightenment that comes
from the Bible; from the lack of using and learning from the Bible there have
been times of great waves of bigotry, hate, persecution, intolerance and
selfishness. But the Bible is the great voice that protests all the evil in the
world; it is the light which sheds God's eternal love around us and the power
which roots in our hearts a firm faith in the victory and triumph of justice,
freedom, and right. iv
The Holy Bible has become a part of Freemasonry because there is no other
book so full of the wisdom of life, so enlightening to the soul struggling to
find its way from the darkness to the Light of knowledge and Brotherhood.
v
While there is so much to learn from the Bible in daily Bible reading, there
is also much to be learned about the Bible by reading in some Masonic
Encyclopedias, such as Brother Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry; Coil's
Masonic Encyclopedia and the Masonic Concordance of the Holy Bible. In these
three books alone you can spend hours reading about the Bible, and reading in
the Bible by looking at the references in these Masonic Books.
"The Bible as a book stands alone. There never was, nor ever [will] be,
another like it. As there is but one sun to enlighten the world naturally, so
there is but one book to enlighten the world spiritually. May that book become
to each of us the man of our counsel, the guide of our journey, the
inspiration of our thought, and our support and comfort in life and in death."
A. Galloway
A good source for used Masonic Books is Brother Harold Davidson of the
Billings Masonic Library at brodave@wtp.net and a good source for E-books
including an E-book of Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry is Brother Michael
Poll of Lost Word Publications at
http://www.lostword.com
Lex non cogit ad impossibilia = [Latin] = "The law does not compel [us] to do
impossibilities."
From the Great Light of Masonry:
"King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel - thirty thousand men.
He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they
spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of
forced labor. Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stone
cutters in the hills, as well as thirty three hundred foremen who supervised
the project and directed the workmen. At the King's command they removed from
the quarry large blocks of stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for
the Temple. The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and the men of Gebal cut and
prepared the timber and stone for the building of the Temple." 1Kings 5:13-18
FOOTNOTES
[i] Masonic
concordance of the Holy Bible #400E8
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