I was born in antiquity, in the ancient days when men first dreamed of God. I have been tried through the ages, and found true. The crossroads of the world bear the imprint of my feet, and the cathederals of all nations mark the skill of my hands. I strive for beauty and for symmetry. In my heart is wisdom and strength and courage for those who ask. Upon my alters is the Book of Holy Writ, and my prayers are to the One Omnipotent God, my sons work and pray together, without rank or discord, in the public mart and in the inner chamber. By signs and symbols I teach the lessons of life and of death and the relationship of man with God and of man with man. My arms are widespread to receive those of lawful age and good report who seek me of their own free will. I accept them and teach them to use my tools in the building of men, and thereafter, find direction in their own quest for perfection so much desired and so difficult to attain. I lift up the fallen and shelter the sick. I hark to the orphans' cry, the widows tears, the pain of the old and destitute. I am not church, nor party, nor school, yet my sons bear a full share of responsibility to God, to country, to neighbor and themselves. They are freemen, tenacious of their liberties and alert to lurking danger. At the end I commit them as each one undertakes the journey beyond the vale into the glory of everlasting life. I ponder the sand within the glass and think how small is a single life in the eternal universe. Always have I taught immortaility, and even as I raise men from darkness into light, I am a way of life. I Am Freemasonry.

- Ray V. Denslow

Freemasonry is "a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols."

Freemasonry teaches lessons of practical morality using symbolism derived from the "builder's art" or operative stonemasonry, including working tools such as the plumb, square, and level, and basing much of its teaching on the story of the building of the Temple of Solomon, as recounted in the Hebrew Scriptures. By practical morality is meant knowing what to do in life, rather than being concerned with mere idle speculation about what one should do.

Freemasonry is the world's oldest and largest fraternal organization. Its members may be found in every free country in the world. There are over one milion Freemasons in the United States alone.

The Symbolic Lodge (or Blue Lodge)
The Symbolic Lodge (also known as the Ancient Craft Lodge, the St. John's Lodge, and most commonly as the Blue Lodge) is the fundamental body of Freemasonry. No other part of Masonry is accessible until one has received the three degrees of the Symbolic Rite. Excelsior Lodge #261 is a blue lodge.

Admission to membership in the Lodge, as in any body of Masonry, is by petition. Freemasons do not recruit members. (Some jurisdictions have allowed a very limited form of inquiry by a Mason to a friend who might be qualified to become a Mason.) A man who wishes to join the Lodge must request a petition from a Brother. The basic qualifications for membership are that a man be of lawful age (which depends on the jurisdiction; in some states it is 18, and in others, 21), believe in a Supreme Being, be of good character, and request the privilege of membership of his own free choice. There is a fee for the degrees (not unlike tuition for other kinds of instruction), and at least a portion thereof must accompany the petition in most jurisdictions.

Once a petition has been received, the applicant's character will be investigated by a committee appointed for that purpose. After the committee's report is received, the candidate will be ballotted on at a meeting of the Lodge. A unanimous ballot is required for election to receive the degrees. (In some jurisdictions, no more than one negative vote.) Not everyone is elected. (It is for this reason that traditionally the applicant must request the privilege of petitioning; in case of rejection, he cannot claim that his friend solicited his membership but was unable to keep his promise.)

When Masonry was operative, the Fellow of the Craft labored long and earnestly to fit himself to produce his Master's piece, by which he would be enabled to prove himself fit to receive the Mason word - what we know as "the Secret Word of a Master Mason" - that he might go where he would, prove himself a Master and receive a Master's wages. Now that Masonry is speculative only, many who apply and receive the degrees think that the mere possession of the secret word makes them fit to receive a Master's wages, forgetting that it was not the word, but the fitness to receive it, which qualified their ancient operative brethren for a Master's wages.

But the speculative Mason can no more receive a Master's wages today than in days of old, unless he be truly a Master. Writing "Master Mason" after one's name does not make one such in the speculative sense. Having one's name inscribed upon the by-laws of a Lodge does not make one truly a Master Mason.

Being a Master Mason is wholly a matter of the heart and mind; unless the one be humble, the other eager to learn and willing to study, a man may never truly be a Master Mason-aye, though he take every degree in every Rite and wear a jewel pin for every title he assumes.

In ancient days a Master's wages were paid in coin of the realm. They are no less so paid today, but the realm is of the Inner man, not the world of society. The wages received by a Master Mason who has fitted himself to earn them are paid in that which money cannot purchase. Not by favoritism or influence or high estate can any man win a Master's wages; if he receives them, it is because of what he is, what he thinks, and how he thinks it. From the time a Fellowcraft goes alone to the Altar to make his petition to Deity he stands alone or falls. When he is raised to the Sublime Degree, his brethren and his lodge have done all they can for him; if he is ever to receive a Master's wages, it will he because of what he does for himself.

A Master's wages are paid in the knowledge of the human heart; its dependence upon love and friendship, its eagerness to give for the love of giving, its humble hope of receiving for the simple human joy of being beloved. They are paid in knowledge which girds a man in armor through which misfortune, hard times, ill luck, cannot pierce. They are paid in the security which comes from certain knowledge of millions of brethren sworn to your aid and support - and make no mistake about this, my brother; though you may never need to make appeal, though no man spreads his call for help throughout the whole Masonic world, no matter where that call echoes, there will be some who hear and heed. A Master's wages are paid in friends of the heart; friends who make life rich with its fairest treasures. The sentimentalist- sings of the friend of his youth. It is true that friendship deepens with time; a common past is the foundation on which many a friendship is based. Freemasonry supplies such a past. Men linked in the Mystic Tie can think, symbolically, of their friendship beginning thousands of years ago! The friends made in Masonry are of tested steel; there are none better. A Master's wages are paid in the knowledge of closeness to and communion with the Great Architect of the Universe. In the practice of Freemasonry a Master Mason draws close to God. The All Seeing Eye to him is a friendly one. No man spends time in a lodge without having his faith strengthened; in days when mental confusion, doubt, debate and argument undermine beliefs less solidly founded, the firm foundation for simple beliefs which comes from Freemasonry is surely not the least of the coins in which a Master receives his wages.

And a Master's wages are paid in strength to endure, in courage to proceed, in hope of the future and in joy in the present. These are wages worth working for! These are coins besides which those of minted gold show themselves to be the dross they are! For these are the wages given to character.

Freemasonry gives us wages according to our labor; and if we work faithfully, we may be sure, as in the parable, we shall receive each man his penny. But Freemasonry, like any other institution, pays in a sliding scale according to the worth of the labor given; the Apprentice receives less than the Fellow of the Craft, and he less than a Master. See to it, my brother, that you are a Master in fact as well as in name; so shall you learn the real meaning of the Word by which some day you will travel in a far, far country, where there is neither gold nor silver, and where, indeed, the only coins which can be used are those you here fit yourself to receive - a Master's wages.

~finis~

  - by Carl H. Claudy

THE MASTER MASON - MAY 1925