The Lamb Skin

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THE LAMB SKIN

It is not ornamental, the cost is not great,
There are other things far more useful, yet truly I state,
Tho of all my possesions, there’s none can compare,
With that white leather apron, which all Masons wear.

As a young lad I wondered just what it all meant,
When Dad hustled around, and so much time was spent
On shaving and dressing and looking just right,
Until Mother would say: “It’s the Masons tonight.”

And some winter nights she said: “What makes you go,
Way up there tonight thru the sleet and the snow,
You see the same things every month of the year.”
Then Dad would reply: “Yes, I know it, my dear.”

Forty years I have seen the same things, it is true.
And though they are old, they always seem new,
For the hands that I clasp, and the friends that I greet,
Seem a little bit closer each time that we meet.”

Years later I stood at that very same door,
With good men and true who had entered before,
I knelt at the alter, and there I was taught
That virtue and honor can never be bought.

That the spotless white lambskin all Masons revere,
If worthily worn grows more precious each year,
That service to others brings blessings untold,
That man may be poor tho surrounded by gold.

I learned that true brotherhood flourishes there,
That enmities fade ‘neath the compass and square,
That wealth and position are all thrust aside,
As there on the level men meet and abide.

So, honor the lambskin, may it always remain
Forever unblemished, and free from all stain,
And when we are called to the Great Father’s love,
May we all take our place in that Lodge up above.

Chinese Freemasonry

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In China, about 300 B.C., Mencius wrote “A master Mason, in teaching his apprentices, makes use of the compasses and the square. Ye who are engaged in the pursuit of Wisdom, must also make use of the compasses and the square.” Additionally, in a book called Great Learning, 500 B.C., we find that “A man should abstain from doing unto others what he would not they should do unto him; and this is called the principle of acting on the square.”

BY THE WORK YOU DID TODAY

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BY THE WORK YOU DID TODAY

Can you say tonight in parting
with the day that’s slipping past
That you helped a single brother
of the many that you passed?

Is a single heart rejoicing
over what you did and said?
Does the man whose hopes where fading,
Now with courage look ahead?

Did you waste the day or lose it,
Was it well or poorly spent?
Did you leave a trail of kindness,
Or a scar of discontent?

As you close your eyes in slumber,
Do you think God will say,
You have earned one more tomorrow,
By the work you did today

By Charles L. Mead 33°
Boynton Lodge #236

Benefits of a Mason

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What are the benefits of becoming a Mason?

There are numerous benefits to being a Mason, but they tend to be personal, and quite varied. The benefits can only be truly discovered by becoming a member. But we can try and give you an idea. Without question you will have the opportunity to experience camaraderie and fellowship with a group of men across the boundaries of age, race, religion, culture, and opinion. This is a fundamental concept to the Fraternity. Many find great value and knowledge in our ritual ceremony — it uses symbolism and metaphors to encourage and remind us to appreciate principles, ethics, and morality, and to live our lives accordingly. Others find great satisfaction in our charitable efforts, community service, and the support we provide our members and their families. Finally, for those who take on leadership positions within their lodge, they have the chance to develop or further very practical management skills

Medieval Masons

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Medieval Masons
Masons in Medieval England were responsible for building some of England’s most famous buildings. Masons were highly skilled craftsmen and their trade was most frequently used in the building of castles, churches and cathedrals.

Masons were highly skilled craftsmen and they belonged to a guild. However, a mason’s guild was not linked to just one town as the members of the masons guild had to move to where building was required. The Mason’s Guild was an international one and even in Medieval England, the guild was sometimes referred to as the Free Masons as ‘free’ stone was the name of stone that was commonly used by masons because it was soft and allowed the masons to complete intricate carvings.

Masons tended to lead nomadic lives. They went where there was employment. Other tradesmen could effectively stay where they were as there was enough trade for their skill to allow them to settle. However, masons had to move on to their next source of employment once a building had been completed – and that could be many miles away.

A mason who was at the top of his trade was a master mason. However, a Master Mason, by title, was the man who had overall charge of a building site and master masons would work under this person. A Master Mason also had charge over carpenters, glaziers etc. In fact, everybody who worked on a building site was under the supervision of the Master Mason. He would work in what was known as the Mason’s Lodge. All important building sites would have such a building that served as a workshop and a drawing office from which all the work on the building site was organised. Anyone who arrived at the building site and claimed that they were a master mason would be tested by the Master Mason and by master masons already working on the site. By doing this they ensured that quality was maintained – and that they would have a good chance of future building work.

A mason would have an apprentice working for him. When the mason moved on to a new job, the apprentice would move with him. When a mason felt that his apprentice had learned enough about the trade, he would be examined at a Mason’s Lodge. If he passed this examination of his skill, he would be admitted to that lodge as a master mason and given a mason’s mark that would be unique to him. Once given this mark, the new master mason would put it on any work that he did so that it could be identified as his work.

There can be no doubt that masons in Medieval England were highly skilled craftsmen. The testimony to their work stands today in the numerous cathedrals and castles that still exist.

Ideal of a Freemason

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If you see a man who quietly and modestly moves in the sphere of his life; who, without blemish, fulfils his duty as a man, a subject, a husband and a father; who is pious without hypocrisy, benevolent without ostentation, and aids his fellowman without self-interest; whose heart beats warm for friendship, whose serene mind is open for licensed pleasures, who in vicissitudes does not despair, nor in fortune will be presumptuous, and who will be resolute in the hour of danger;

The man who is free from superstition and free from infidelity; who in nature sees the finger of the Eternal Master; who feels and adores the higher destination of man; to whom faith, hope and charity are not mere words without any meaning; to whom property, nay even life, is not too dear for the protection of innocence and virtue, and for the defense of truth;

The man who towards himself is a severe judge, but who is tolerant with the debilities of his neighbour; who endeavours to oppose errors without arrogance, and to promote intelligence without impatience; who properly understands how to estimate and employ his means; who honours virtue though it may be in the most humble garment, and who does not favour vice though it be clad in purple; and who administers justice to merit whether dwelling in palaces or cottages.

The man who, without courting applause, is loved by all noble-minded men, respected by his superiors and revered by his subordinates; the man who never proclaims what he has done, can do, or will do, but where need is will lay hold with dispassionate courage, circumspect resolution, indefatigable exertion and a rare power of mind, and who will not cease until he has accomplished his work, and then, without pretension, will retire into the multitude because he did the good act, not for himself, but for the cause of good!
If you, my Brethren meet such a man, you will see the personification of brotherly love, relief and truth; and you will have found the ideal of a Freemason.

The Greatest Honor

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“Although I hold the highest civil honour in the world,
I have always regarded my rank and title as a Past Grand Master of Masons the greatest honour that had ever come to me”
– Harry S. Truman

I SAT IN LODGE WITH YOU

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I SAT IN LODGE WITH YOU

There is a saying filled with cheer,
Which calls a man to fellowship.
It means as much for him to hear
As lies within the brother grip.
Nay, more! It opens wide the way
To friendliness sincere and true;
There are no strangers when you say
To me: “I sat in lodge with you.”

When that is said, then I am known;
There is no questioning nor doubt;
I need not walk my path alone
Nor from my fellows be shut out.
Those words hold all of brotherhood
And help me face the world anew
There’s something deep and rich and good
In this: “I sat in lodge with you.”

Though in far lands one needs must roam
By sea and shore and hill and plain,
Those words bring him a touch of home
And lighten tasks that seem in vain.
Men’s faces are no longer strange
But seem as those he always knew
When some one brings the joyous change
With this: “I sat in lodge with you.”

So you, my brother, now and then
Have often put me in your debt
By showing forth to other men
That you your friends do not forget.
When all the world seems gray and cold
And I am weary, worn and blue
Then comes this golden thought I hold
You said: “I sat in lodge with you.”

When to the last great Lodge you fare
My prayer is that I may be
One of your friends who wait you there
Intent your smiling face to see.
We, with the warden at the gate,
Will have a pleasant task to do;
We’ll call, though you come soon or late:
“Come in! We sat in lodge with you!”

I SEE YOU HAVE TRAVELED SOME

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I SEE YOU’VE TRAVELED SOME

Wherever you may chance to be
Wherever you may roam,
Far away in foreign lands;
Or just at Home Sweet Home;
It always gives you pleasure,
it makes your heart strings hum
Just to hear the words of cheer,
“I see you’ve traveled some.”

When you get a brother’s greeting,
And he takes you by the hand,
It thrills you with a feeling
that you cannot understand,
You feel that bond of brotherhood
that tie that’s sure to come
When you hear him say in a friendly way
“I see you’ve traveled some.”

And if you are a stranger,
In strange lands all alone
If fate has left you stranded
Dead broke and far from home,
It thrills you–makes you numb,
When he says with a grip of fellowship,
“I see you’ve traveled some.”

And when your final summons comes,
To take a last long trip,
Adorned with Lambskins Apron White
and gems of fellowship
The tiler at the Golden Gate,
With square and rule and plumb
Will size up your pin and say “Walk In”,
“I see you’ve traveled some.”
Author unknown

Jacques de molay

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In this day almost 700 years ago Jacques de Molay was burned at cthe stake.

From Templarhistory.com

On March 18th, 1314 de Molay was led out before the people to publicly confess his and the order’s sins. He recanted his earlier confession…s and said the only crime he was guilty of was lying about his Brethren to relieve his own tortures. He was then taken to an island on the Siene and burned along with Geoffrey de Charney the Preceptor of Normandy.

There are many accounts of de Molay’s dying words, but the 19th century historian, Charles Addison; perhaps one of the foremost Templar scholars records them as follows:

“To say that which is untrue is a crime both in the sight of God and man. Not one of us has betrayed his God or his country. I do confess my guilt, which consists in having, to my shame and dishonor, suffered myself, through the pain of torture and the fear of death, to give utterance to falsehoods imputing scandalous sins and iniquities to an illustrious Order, which hath nobly served the cause of Christianity. I disdain to seek a wretched and disgraceful existence by engrafting another lie upon the original falsehood.”

– Charles Addison Knights Templars

Many latter day writers have claimed that de Molay in his dying breath summoned both the King of France and Pope Clement to meet him in a tribunal before God within the year. True to the claim both men did indeed die within that time.

Whether a statement made by the Last Grand Master or an apocryphal account of Divine justice served, it will forever remain part of the Mythos surrounding Grand Master Jacques de Molay.