All design and Graphic Work
Copyright:©Mastermason.com 1998
Web Design by:
Carl A. Davenport
Music:
The Thrill Is Gone
by B.B.King
Our Server is: Mastermason.com,
And yours should be too |
Join Freemasonry's Oldest And Most
Respected WebGuild
We're a lot more than just a fancy logo on your homepage
|
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.
|
This website does not speak for
the Grand Lodge of Illinois or Freemasonry
|
