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Article WORTHY AND WELL QUALIFIED. ← Page 2 of 3 Article WORTHY AND WELL QUALIFIED. Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Worthy And Well Qualified.
masons were all gentlemen , " and tho lady was correct in her estimate They were gentlemen , for none others were admitted . A man may be poor and follow the plough , or work at tho forge , or drivo a dray f 0 r a living , but he may at the same time be a gentleman , and , ns «¦<•/¦ , bo eminently " worthy" of admission to tho Brotherhood , nis wealth shonld count for nothing , nor his fine apparel— " to whom
related or by whom begot "—but he must be a gentleman in manners , in his habits , in the principles on which is based tho rule of hi 3 conduct in life . He must be liberal and large-hearted , scorning a low act , pnre in his thoughts , and blameless in his lifo and conversation . Such only are " worthy" of recognition at the outer door of the Temple , or of boing received as brethren and companions in the great
mystic Brotherhood . Bat , besides this , if he wonld be esteemed " worthy " in Masonic estimation , he must ask for admission without any mercenary or sinister motives—with no desire to maka money by his connection with the Order , or to enlarge his business , or add to his chances for political preferment . Any persons who come to the doors of Masonry If
with such motives are not " worthy " of recognition as Masons . I may be excused for ventnring a warning , I would say to the Craftlet political aspirants and office-hunters have " a wide berth . " It was said in the papers during the late presidential election , that both of the candidates for the presidency were Freemasons and Knights Templars , bnt I would give the old and only hat I havo for the man
who has seen either of them in a Lodge within the last ten years ! If Freemasonry have all the possibilities for good we concede it , it ought to have a membership composed of the very best men in society —men of pure lives and pure hearts , who love their country and their kind—whose charities are equal to their means and opportunitiesmen who live , not for themselves alone , but to do good to others .
Such are " worthy . " This question of worthiness is sometimes a difficult one to settle . It is not because a person is in affluent circumstances and gives liberally to the church ; nor that he is successful in bnsiness matters and manages his affairs adroitly—by this means accumulating a fortune ; nor that he subscribes largely to enterprises intended to benefit
the town in which he resides , for that is only a means of increasing the value of his own property , and thus adding to his fortune . He declares before his admission that his object is " a sincere desire to be serviceable to his fellow creatures ; " not especially to serve himself , for if that were the standard most men would be " worthy . " It is not diffioult to find one who desires to benefit himself ; but how to
forget self and self-interests in a desire to benefit others ! And yet this latter quality is what is demanded of one before he can be deemed " worthy " to become a Freemason . I remember a number of years since that an eminent jurist was to be initiated . Nearly every member of that Lodge whom I met for a day or two in advance of the time asked me to be present at their next meeting , as Judge was to be initiated ! Now , Judge
had the reputation of being a good lawyer , and had attained some eminence as a judge ; he had been a member of Congress , and was not only a member of a church but a very pious man , to say nothing about his conceded eloquence and scholarship . " Are you coming to
see Judge initiated ? " I said , " No ! " " Bnt why ? " "I have a high respect for Judge as a jurist and a man , as well as a citizen , bnt he is now an old man . He lived in the days of anti-Masonry , when it was unpopular to be a Freemason . Now Masonry is popular , and ifc will be no bar to his election to office to be known as
a Freemason . If , many years ago , when the Judge was a candidate for Congress , Masonry had been as popular as now , he would probably then have become a Mason ; or if Masonry were as unpopular to-day as it was thirty years ago , the Judge would not now desire to be a Freemason . If he were so pleased with the objects and purposes of Freemasonry , he wonld have faced the storm and stood by the
Order when to belong to ifc would hazard his popularity and political prospects . He has waited for thirty years , until Masonry is a passport to respectability and popularity , and now he asks to become aMaBon . Whatever other good qualities he may have , I do not believe he is ' worthy' to be admitted as a Freemason . I shall not be present !"
Well , the Judge was received with much eclat , and the members of the Lodge considered themselves highly honoured ; it seemed to an observer that he was conferring honour upon the Order , instead of the Order conferring honour upon him by admitting him to its ranks ! He *« as of no benefit to tbe Fraternity , except to partake of its good suppers and make responses to toasts ; but , as he knew but littlo of
Masonry , his speeches were made up of platitudes and general remarks that had been heard a thousand times . He was of no real practical benefit to Freemasonry , as he never thoroughly acquainted himself with it , though a man of pure life and noble aspirations ; and all he was " worthy" of , in the sense we use that word , was a kind of honorary membership .
Bnt the question comes back— " Is he worthy and well qualified ?" He may be " worthy " in one sense , but not in another . Mr . H . may bo worthy to be the Governor of his State , but not worthy to be a Protessor of Astronomy in the University , for he is no astronomer ; he way be worthy of all respect and honour as a Christian gentleman but not worthy as a minister of his church , for he has not studied the sub
ject from that stand-point ; he may be worthy of all respect as an industrious mechanic , but not as a jurist or a physician . So he may be eminently worthy as an agriculturist , but not as a student of •Masonry on Lebanon , or at Zarthan , or on Moriah . Some of the best jnea I ever knew were worthy of almost any other position or calling , bnt they had no fitness for membership in the " Ancient and Honourable
Fraternity . " They were destitute of those qualities of mind and natural tastes so essential to one who may become prominent as a ^ lason , and an exemplar of its duties . But I will pass this part of be subject , and consider what is necessary to be well qualified " w hen one is seeking admission to our " Ancient and Honourable Order . " in tL A " ^ ' '' Charges of a Freemason , " which are law everywhere the Anglo-Saxon world , give some special directions needed by and
Worthy And Well Qualified.
essential in a candidate who is presented for acceptance in Freemasonry . I will consider them , not perhaps in tho order in which they are enumerated in tho Charges , but as they come to mo in recollection , and possibly may omit some even in that effort . ITo must not " bo a stupid atheist nor an irreligious libertine . " Ifc is said in tho lessons of the Lodge-room that no athoist can be mado a
Mason ; " and that declaration toncbes the very corner-stone of onr mystic Temple . How can you require a person to offer up his prayers to Deity if he does not believe there is a Deity , a Creator , a Supremo Being , a superintending Providence , who can hear and auswer prayer ? We can have no atheism among Masons j no Bob Ingersolls to pollute with terrible mocking profanity the sanctity of the Lodge-room . To
be " well qualified " the applicant for the privileges of Masonry ninst entertain a sincere and well established belief in the existence of GOD , or the ceremonies of initiation would be a mockery and an insult . I cannot conceive how any intelligent being , even a heathen , can say , " There is no GOD ! " Since the days of Frenoh atheism , a hundred years ago , wo have never heard snch coarse , insulting ,
shocking profanity as the papers attribute to Bob Ingersoll ; and yet , strange as it may appear , Christians of all sects , ministers of tho highest type of pulpit eloquence , and politicians who wonld regard ifc as a personal insult to havo ifc whispered that thoy sympathised with such sentiments , or such mocking atheists , crowd round him , and listen with apparent pleasure , if not with heartiest approval , to his
blasphemous mockery and atheistical uttorancos . King David , in considering this Ingersollism of more than three thousand years ago , remarked that " The fool hath said in his heart , there is no GOD . " He said it in his heart , for even afc that early day , fool or philosopher would be ashamed to ntter such sentiment with his lips ; and the readers of the VOICE will exense me for saying , none but a fool ovor ,
even in his heart , said " there is no GOD . " Sun and moon , planets and stars , ocean waves and river streams , bird and beast , field and forest , whispering zephyr and raging tornado , all declare him a fool Such a belief , such an expression , is so shocking , so terrible , so deathlike and desolate , that human naturo , and I was going to say all nature , shrinks from tho thought . It is the pall of death shrouding
the hopes of immortality ; ifc is tho orphanage of tho tomb ; ifc is tho desolation and darkness of tho grave for ever . Let athoists glory in their creed ; let preachers , and pietists , and politicians encourage the Ingersollism of the day : but , thank GOD , atheism is not tolerated in a Lodge of Freemasons , and never can bo ! " Stupid atheist , irreligious libertine " : This is tho language used
by the fathers in Mas-mry some centuries ago . It is well that a barrier was raised somewhere against a doctrine which sets law aside , unsettles moral principles and future hopes , while it clogs the mental powers and ignores human pretensions to reason and discernment . We are proud that Freemasonry , centuries ago , issued its proclamation , for ever irrepealable , against tho insane and blasphemous atheism
of the present age . " No atheist , no irreligious libertine' can be made a Mason ! There ifc stands , a law for ever ! The eloquence of Plymouth may sweep aside tho moral convictions of the hearer and win the homage of fashionable Christianity ; while politicians , from the President to the pauper , who make it their boast that this is a Christian nation , encourage and snstnin the atheistical blasphemy of
Ingersollism , but pure Ancient Craft Masonry declares " thus far thon may ' st go , but no farther ! " Whoever has read the story of the French Eevolntion , with the braggart declarations of the atheism of the time , that was succeeded by the crimes and bloodshed which disgraced the cultured , and fashionable , and refined people of that nation , will rejoice that Freemasonry stands as a granite rock against the further
progress of atheism . The deadly moral miasma may be proclaimed by the silver-tongued orator from the rostrum , and Plymouth may ntter its encouragement from what is called a Christian pulpit ; but every Masonio Lodge , in every nation of Anglo-Saxon civilisation , closes its doors against the foul utterances , and from its altars and its East still declares " There is a GOD , " and neither " stupid atheist
nor irreligious libertine " may hope to gain admission to a Lodge of Freemasons . A candidate for Masonry must have been " free-born , " according to the ancient Masonio law ; else he cannot be admitted . In the Lodges of the United States this is an essential in the estimate of " well qualified ! " In England , as in other countries of English thought and
habit , the rule has been set aside , or modified ; and if the candidate be a free man he has the needed qualification in this regard . Such ia an indication of progress : and though some teachers in our mystic Temple may say there can be no progress in Masonry , yet they bow to this behest of the centuries with profound respect . Allow me to say just here , thongh at the risk of being considered a lunatic , would
it not bo better for all Grand Lodges to follow the Grand Lodge of England in changing the old phraseology from " free-born " to " freeman " ? There are no slaves now : the flags of America , of England , of Germany , of France , wave only over free men and free humanity . To be free in body and mind , freo to think , to decide , to act , should be sufficient , whether the applicant was born in bondage or secured
his freedom in later life . Ifc is too late in the world's history to cavil about matters over which tho candidate has had no control . The world moves , social life and social conditions change . Freemasonry was made for man ; not man for Freemasonry . If tho candidate be now , at the time of his application , free and able to act of his own volition , his condition should fill the spirit of the old law ; and in this
particular he shonld be " well qualified " for admission to our society and ceremonies . This , too , without reference to his colour , his creed , or his nationality . Some thirty years ago the great Hungarian statesman Kossuth was in the United States . He had been a leader in the rebellion against Austrian tyranny , but escaped Austrian vengeance . No
Christian country in Europe wonld permit his presence , and ho took refuge in Turkey beneath the flag of the Prophet . He finally came to the United States , and in Cincinnati was made a Freemason . When required to name his residence , he declared he had none , but was " an exile for Liberty ' s mice . " His reply was deemed sufficient , and he was made a Mason ; we were present with three or four hundred
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Worthy And Well Qualified.
masons were all gentlemen , " and tho lady was correct in her estimate They were gentlemen , for none others were admitted . A man may be poor and follow the plough , or work at tho forge , or drivo a dray f 0 r a living , but he may at the same time be a gentleman , and , ns «¦<•/¦ , bo eminently " worthy" of admission to tho Brotherhood , nis wealth shonld count for nothing , nor his fine apparel— " to whom
related or by whom begot "—but he must be a gentleman in manners , in his habits , in the principles on which is based tho rule of hi 3 conduct in life . He must be liberal and large-hearted , scorning a low act , pnre in his thoughts , and blameless in his lifo and conversation . Such only are " worthy" of recognition at the outer door of the Temple , or of boing received as brethren and companions in the great
mystic Brotherhood . Bat , besides this , if he wonld be esteemed " worthy " in Masonic estimation , he must ask for admission without any mercenary or sinister motives—with no desire to maka money by his connection with the Order , or to enlarge his business , or add to his chances for political preferment . Any persons who come to the doors of Masonry If
with such motives are not " worthy " of recognition as Masons . I may be excused for ventnring a warning , I would say to the Craftlet political aspirants and office-hunters have " a wide berth . " It was said in the papers during the late presidential election , that both of the candidates for the presidency were Freemasons and Knights Templars , bnt I would give the old and only hat I havo for the man
who has seen either of them in a Lodge within the last ten years ! If Freemasonry have all the possibilities for good we concede it , it ought to have a membership composed of the very best men in society —men of pure lives and pure hearts , who love their country and their kind—whose charities are equal to their means and opportunitiesmen who live , not for themselves alone , but to do good to others .
Such are " worthy . " This question of worthiness is sometimes a difficult one to settle . It is not because a person is in affluent circumstances and gives liberally to the church ; nor that he is successful in bnsiness matters and manages his affairs adroitly—by this means accumulating a fortune ; nor that he subscribes largely to enterprises intended to benefit
the town in which he resides , for that is only a means of increasing the value of his own property , and thus adding to his fortune . He declares before his admission that his object is " a sincere desire to be serviceable to his fellow creatures ; " not especially to serve himself , for if that were the standard most men would be " worthy . " It is not diffioult to find one who desires to benefit himself ; but how to
forget self and self-interests in a desire to benefit others ! And yet this latter quality is what is demanded of one before he can be deemed " worthy " to become a Freemason . I remember a number of years since that an eminent jurist was to be initiated . Nearly every member of that Lodge whom I met for a day or two in advance of the time asked me to be present at their next meeting , as Judge was to be initiated ! Now , Judge
had the reputation of being a good lawyer , and had attained some eminence as a judge ; he had been a member of Congress , and was not only a member of a church but a very pious man , to say nothing about his conceded eloquence and scholarship . " Are you coming to
see Judge initiated ? " I said , " No ! " " Bnt why ? " "I have a high respect for Judge as a jurist and a man , as well as a citizen , bnt he is now an old man . He lived in the days of anti-Masonry , when it was unpopular to be a Freemason . Now Masonry is popular , and ifc will be no bar to his election to office to be known as
a Freemason . If , many years ago , when the Judge was a candidate for Congress , Masonry had been as popular as now , he would probably then have become a Mason ; or if Masonry were as unpopular to-day as it was thirty years ago , the Judge would not now desire to be a Freemason . If he were so pleased with the objects and purposes of Freemasonry , he wonld have faced the storm and stood by the
Order when to belong to ifc would hazard his popularity and political prospects . He has waited for thirty years , until Masonry is a passport to respectability and popularity , and now he asks to become aMaBon . Whatever other good qualities he may have , I do not believe he is ' worthy' to be admitted as a Freemason . I shall not be present !"
Well , the Judge was received with much eclat , and the members of the Lodge considered themselves highly honoured ; it seemed to an observer that he was conferring honour upon the Order , instead of the Order conferring honour upon him by admitting him to its ranks ! He *« as of no benefit to tbe Fraternity , except to partake of its good suppers and make responses to toasts ; but , as he knew but littlo of
Masonry , his speeches were made up of platitudes and general remarks that had been heard a thousand times . He was of no real practical benefit to Freemasonry , as he never thoroughly acquainted himself with it , though a man of pure life and noble aspirations ; and all he was " worthy" of , in the sense we use that word , was a kind of honorary membership .
Bnt the question comes back— " Is he worthy and well qualified ?" He may be " worthy " in one sense , but not in another . Mr . H . may bo worthy to be the Governor of his State , but not worthy to be a Protessor of Astronomy in the University , for he is no astronomer ; he way be worthy of all respect and honour as a Christian gentleman but not worthy as a minister of his church , for he has not studied the sub
ject from that stand-point ; he may be worthy of all respect as an industrious mechanic , but not as a jurist or a physician . So he may be eminently worthy as an agriculturist , but not as a student of •Masonry on Lebanon , or at Zarthan , or on Moriah . Some of the best jnea I ever knew were worthy of almost any other position or calling , bnt they had no fitness for membership in the " Ancient and Honourable
Fraternity . " They were destitute of those qualities of mind and natural tastes so essential to one who may become prominent as a ^ lason , and an exemplar of its duties . But I will pass this part of be subject , and consider what is necessary to be well qualified " w hen one is seeking admission to our " Ancient and Honourable Order . " in tL A " ^ ' '' Charges of a Freemason , " which are law everywhere the Anglo-Saxon world , give some special directions needed by and
Worthy And Well Qualified.
essential in a candidate who is presented for acceptance in Freemasonry . I will consider them , not perhaps in tho order in which they are enumerated in tho Charges , but as they come to mo in recollection , and possibly may omit some even in that effort . ITo must not " bo a stupid atheist nor an irreligious libertine . " Ifc is said in tho lessons of the Lodge-room that no athoist can be mado a
Mason ; " and that declaration toncbes the very corner-stone of onr mystic Temple . How can you require a person to offer up his prayers to Deity if he does not believe there is a Deity , a Creator , a Supremo Being , a superintending Providence , who can hear and auswer prayer ? We can have no atheism among Masons j no Bob Ingersolls to pollute with terrible mocking profanity the sanctity of the Lodge-room . To
be " well qualified " the applicant for the privileges of Masonry ninst entertain a sincere and well established belief in the existence of GOD , or the ceremonies of initiation would be a mockery and an insult . I cannot conceive how any intelligent being , even a heathen , can say , " There is no GOD ! " Since the days of Frenoh atheism , a hundred years ago , wo have never heard snch coarse , insulting ,
shocking profanity as the papers attribute to Bob Ingersoll ; and yet , strange as it may appear , Christians of all sects , ministers of tho highest type of pulpit eloquence , and politicians who wonld regard ifc as a personal insult to havo ifc whispered that thoy sympathised with such sentiments , or such mocking atheists , crowd round him , and listen with apparent pleasure , if not with heartiest approval , to his
blasphemous mockery and atheistical uttorancos . King David , in considering this Ingersollism of more than three thousand years ago , remarked that " The fool hath said in his heart , there is no GOD . " He said it in his heart , for even afc that early day , fool or philosopher would be ashamed to ntter such sentiment with his lips ; and the readers of the VOICE will exense me for saying , none but a fool ovor ,
even in his heart , said " there is no GOD . " Sun and moon , planets and stars , ocean waves and river streams , bird and beast , field and forest , whispering zephyr and raging tornado , all declare him a fool Such a belief , such an expression , is so shocking , so terrible , so deathlike and desolate , that human naturo , and I was going to say all nature , shrinks from tho thought . It is the pall of death shrouding
the hopes of immortality ; ifc is tho orphanage of tho tomb ; ifc is tho desolation and darkness of tho grave for ever . Let athoists glory in their creed ; let preachers , and pietists , and politicians encourage the Ingersollism of the day : but , thank GOD , atheism is not tolerated in a Lodge of Freemasons , and never can bo ! " Stupid atheist , irreligious libertine " : This is tho language used
by the fathers in Mas-mry some centuries ago . It is well that a barrier was raised somewhere against a doctrine which sets law aside , unsettles moral principles and future hopes , while it clogs the mental powers and ignores human pretensions to reason and discernment . We are proud that Freemasonry , centuries ago , issued its proclamation , for ever irrepealable , against tho insane and blasphemous atheism
of the present age . " No atheist , no irreligious libertine' can be made a Mason ! There ifc stands , a law for ever ! The eloquence of Plymouth may sweep aside tho moral convictions of the hearer and win the homage of fashionable Christianity ; while politicians , from the President to the pauper , who make it their boast that this is a Christian nation , encourage and snstnin the atheistical blasphemy of
Ingersollism , but pure Ancient Craft Masonry declares " thus far thon may ' st go , but no farther ! " Whoever has read the story of the French Eevolntion , with the braggart declarations of the atheism of the time , that was succeeded by the crimes and bloodshed which disgraced the cultured , and fashionable , and refined people of that nation , will rejoice that Freemasonry stands as a granite rock against the further
progress of atheism . The deadly moral miasma may be proclaimed by the silver-tongued orator from the rostrum , and Plymouth may ntter its encouragement from what is called a Christian pulpit ; but every Masonio Lodge , in every nation of Anglo-Saxon civilisation , closes its doors against the foul utterances , and from its altars and its East still declares " There is a GOD , " and neither " stupid atheist
nor irreligious libertine " may hope to gain admission to a Lodge of Freemasons . A candidate for Masonry must have been " free-born , " according to the ancient Masonio law ; else he cannot be admitted . In the Lodges of the United States this is an essential in the estimate of " well qualified ! " In England , as in other countries of English thought and
habit , the rule has been set aside , or modified ; and if the candidate be a free man he has the needed qualification in this regard . Such ia an indication of progress : and though some teachers in our mystic Temple may say there can be no progress in Masonry , yet they bow to this behest of the centuries with profound respect . Allow me to say just here , thongh at the risk of being considered a lunatic , would
it not bo better for all Grand Lodges to follow the Grand Lodge of England in changing the old phraseology from " free-born " to " freeman " ? There are no slaves now : the flags of America , of England , of Germany , of France , wave only over free men and free humanity . To be free in body and mind , freo to think , to decide , to act , should be sufficient , whether the applicant was born in bondage or secured
his freedom in later life . Ifc is too late in the world's history to cavil about matters over which tho candidate has had no control . The world moves , social life and social conditions change . Freemasonry was made for man ; not man for Freemasonry . If tho candidate be now , at the time of his application , free and able to act of his own volition , his condition should fill the spirit of the old law ; and in this
particular he shonld be " well qualified " for admission to our society and ceremonies . This , too , without reference to his colour , his creed , or his nationality . Some thirty years ago the great Hungarian statesman Kossuth was in the United States . He had been a leader in the rebellion against Austrian tyranny , but escaped Austrian vengeance . No
Christian country in Europe wonld permit his presence , and ho took refuge in Turkey beneath the flag of the Prophet . He finally came to the United States , and in Cincinnati was made a Freemason . When required to name his residence , he declared he had none , but was " an exile for Liberty ' s mice . " His reply was deemed sufficient , and he was made a Mason ; we were present with three or four hundred