Interesting Facts

About
Freemasonry

The Grand Lodge

of Free and Accepted Masons
of the
State of Michigan
 Acknowledgment ...
of our grateful appreciation
to The Grand Lodge of Iowa
and its Committee on Masonic Education
for permission to use their material
in the preparation of this booklet,
is hereby sincerely expressed.

THE GRAND LODGE COMMITTEE ON

SERVICE AND EDUCATION

(1961)

2
 Interesting Facts About
Freemasonry

Freemasonry has its lodges in every city in

the United States, and in almost every town
and village. It has them on the desert, through
the mountains, in the wilderness, and among
what Isaiah described as "the isles of the
sea." It has them in Canada, Mexico, Central
America, South America, Great Britain, Europe,
Africa, the Near East, India, Burma, Indo-
China, Malaya, the Philippines, East Indies,
New Zealand, and Australia; it had them in
many other countries of the Old World until
certain religious and political ideologies forbade
their existence.
Not one of them was ever organized as the
result of any Masonic missionary enterprise, be-
cause Freemasonry has no such enterprise; or
for the purpose of making money, or as the
result of a bargain with the political and eccle-
siastical ruling powers. Each lodge came into
existence of itself, and because a few Masons
desired to have it so.
3
 Freemasonry has spread over the earth as
gradually, as silently, and as naturally as the
light of dawn. So also has it moved down the
long roads of time. There were lodges a
thousand years ago. Long before that date, and as
far back as the Ancient World, there had
been other organizations, called gilds and col-
legia, so similar to Masonic lodges that histo-
rians are unable to tell where one left off and
the other began. Few things still existing in the
world are as old as Freemasonry.
During the long period from the time of
Charlemagne (about 800) until the Reforma-
tion any man engaged in the building crafts was
called a mason, and of these were many kinds
including quarrymen, dike builders, wallers,
paviors, tilers, and all who could build cottages
or barns. Among them all there was a special
class of builders who could both design and
construct monumental and public buildings such
as cathedrals, chapels, churches, mansions,
borough halls, etc. These latter were called
Freemasons. The name had much the same
meaning then that architect has now.
When one of the great pub lic buildings was
undertaken, Freemasons were called in from all
4
parts of the kingdom and often from foreign
countries. As soon as a sufficient number had
signed the rolls, their first step was to erect a
building of their own, called the lodge; their
next step was to construct cottages for them-
selves and their families. Each day, all the
workmen received instructions in their lodge
room.
Because these Freemasons came from so many
different places, and even from other countries,
they could not have a permanent local organi-
zation of their own, as other craftsmen did;
instead, they had what we should now call a
society, or a fraternity. There was no single
ruler of it; it had no one capital; the members
were held together by their general observance of
a few rules, regulations, and customs. Modern
Freemasonry, such as is practiced in lodges
across America, is the direct descendant of that
early fraternity.
In those days almost every man admitted to a
lodge was a craftsman who made Freemasonry
his means of livelihood; such men nowadays
are called Operative Masons. As time passed,
however, lodges here and there began to admit
into membership a few men who did not follow
5
Freemasonry as a means of livelihood, but were
attracted to it for other reasons, and largely
because of its antiquity and its fellowship; such
were called "Accepted" Masons; and also were
called "Speculative" Masons, a name which
always had meant an understanding of the ideas
and principles of Freemasonry. It is for such
historical reasons that members of the Fraternity
today are called Free & Accepted Masons.
By 1700 the number of Speculative (or Ac-
cepted) members had become so preponderant in
most of the lodges in Britain that when the first
Grand Lodge of the world was set up in
London, England, in 1717, the whole Fraternity
ceased to draw any distinction between Oper-
atives and Speculatives; any man, otherwise
qualified, and regardless of his means of live-
lihood, could become a Mason. That has been true
ever since.
The history of Freemasonry therefore falls
into three periods. In the first period all Free-
masons, with very few exceptions, were Oper-
atives, by which is meant that they made archi-
tecture their means of livelihood. In the second
period the membership of the lodges was a
mixture of Operatives and Speculatives. In the
6
third period, beginning in 1717, it has been
wholly Speculative. The one principle which
unites the three periods is the fact that through -
out its history Freemasonry has always been a
fraternity - a fraternity, nothing more, nothing
less, and nothing other.
The form of Freemasonry which thus de -
scended directly from the Operative lodges of a
thousand or so years ago is known as Ancient
Craft Freemasonry; it is organized in Grand
Lodges and local lodges. During the last quarter
of the eighteenth century a number of branches
grew out of that parent trunk, and in the course
of time each one developed an independent
form of organization of its own. Each of these
appendant bodies is called a Rite.
In the United States there are four such ap-
pendant Rites in addition to Ancient Craft
Freemasonry. The Cryptic Rite is organized in
the form of a General Grand Council, a Grand
Council for each of the larger number of states,
and local councils. The Capitular Rite, which is
better known as the Royal Arch, is organized in
the form of a General Grand Chapter, a Grand
Chapter for each of the larger number of states,
and local chapters. Knight Templar-
7
ism is organized in the form of a Grand En-
campment for the nation, a Grand Commandery
for each of the larger number of states, and
local commanderies. The Ancient & Accepted
Scottish Rite has a system of four local bodies
which are under the general government of
two Supreme Councils. One of these, called the
Southern jurisdiction, has in it the states west
of the Mississippi River and south of the Ohio
River. The other, called the Northern jurisdic-
tion, has in it the states east of the Mississippi
and north of the Ohio.
Thus, that which is sometimes called the
American System of Freemasonry consists of five
Rites, each of which is separately organized,
enacts its own laws, has its own officers, and
its own treasuries. A man may join one of
these other four Rites, or all of them together,
but to do so he must be, and continue to be, a member in
good standing of an Ancient Craft lodge, and in each
instance must pay the fees and dues of another
Rite after he has been elected to its
membership, in addition to his lodge dues.
Alongside the five Rites which comprise Free-
masonry properly so called are a number of
8
Side Orders, each of which also is independently
organized. Among them are such as the Order
of the Eastern Star, the Ancient Arabic Order
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, the Grotto, etc.
Upon the organization of the first Grand
Lodge in London, 1717, Freemasonry, as already
stated, became a fraternity wholly Speculative.
In 1723 that Grand Lodge published a volume of
laws, rules, and regulations called the Book of
Constitutions which made it clear that a Mason
must believe in God but that he was also free
to belong to any religion or church of his
choice consistent with such a belief. The
paragraph in which that provision was made is
probably the most influential and famous single
piece of writing in the whole literature and
history of the Fraternity:
"A Mason is oblig'd, by his Tenure, to
obey the moral Law; and if he rightly
understands the Art, he will never be a
stupid Atheist, nor an irreligious
Libertine. But though in ancient times
Masons were charg'd in every Country
to be of the religion of that Country
or Nation, whatever it was, yet 'tis
now thought more expedient only to
9
 oblige them to that Religion in which
all Men agree, leaving their particular
opinions to themselves; that is, to be
good men and true, or Men of Honour
and Honesty, by whatever Denomina-
tions or Persuasions they may be dis-
tinguish'd; whereby Masonry becomes the
Center of Union, and the means of
conciliating true friendship among
persons that must have remain'd at a
perpetual Distance."

Since Freemasonry is a Fraternity, all matters of

theology, creeds, doctrines, and ecclesiastical
organizations lie outside its province, so that it
never pronounces upon any of them or takes sides
with one against the other. In its lodges
around the world are men of many religions,
and as Rudyard Kipling wrote in one of his
most famous Masonic poems, men of many
religions may sit down together in the same
lodge. Freemasonry makes war on no church,
nor does it champion any church, and if some
church should chance to make war on it, it
would let it pass by and would not retaliate.
In all the Landmarks, Constitutions, general
laws, rules and regulations of all the regular
10
and duly constituted Grand Lodges is no mention
of any church. A member of any Ancient Craft
Lodge who might seek to introduce religious
controversy into his lodge would stand in danger
of being immediately suspended or expelled.
The people of the Middle Ages were con-
fronted by a very difficult problem, as far as
skilled work was concerned. On the one hand,
there were no public schools, no printed books,
no scientific manuals, no trade schools, and no
factories in which things could be made by
machinery. On the other hand, almost all of
the trades and crafts called for highly special-
ized skill; many of them used raw materials
dangerous to handle. In processing those mate-
rials they often employed chemicals, fire, etc.,
hazardous if not understood. Their tools often-
times were tricky, dangerous, and only an
expert could make them or keep them in
condition. An untrained man might finally
produce something but it was not safe to use
because it might turn out to be poisonous, or
go to pieces, or fall down.
A workman had to be educated and trained
and yet there were no schools or books; how
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to do it? The people of the Middle Ages solved
the problem by organizing all men each craft,
trade, art, or profession into gilds. Each gild
had a complete monopoly of its own kind of
work. It had local organizations but these ob-
served general rules and practices common to
them all. To enter any one of the crafts, to
become a carpenter, weaver, leather worker,
carver, pharmacist, etc., etc., a youth had to
enter a gild as an apprentice without pay, and
thereafter prove himself willing to be trained
and educated by his master and other master
workmen; and he was not permitted to become
free to work for himself until after that long
apprenticeship, and the apprenticeship itself was
not declared ended until he could successfully
meet a test to prove his skill.
Freemasons had more reason for demanding a
long and rigorous apprenticeship than other
crafts because their work was especially hazard-
ous. Stone itself was dangerous to manage not
only because it was a large mass with much dead
weight but also because when being worked, chips
and splinters might go a long distance on all
sides. If an arch or pillar was not perfectly
constructed it might collapse. The workmen
12
themselves oftentimes were on top of walls, or
high up in a tower, or perched on an arch, or
wooden scaffoldings. Their tools were many,
and frequently were complex, or difficult to
use. And the erection of such a building as a
cathedral required many kinds of arts and skills.
Because it was for these and many other similar
reasons dangerous for an unskilled man to work,
the crafts insisted that their own members should
keep their own skills, arts, and processes strictly
to themselves. These were called "trade secrets,"
and a gild member could be expelled for
betraying them.
Freemasonry had its own "trade secrets." It also
had in common with the other crafts another
form of secrecy which grew out of trade secrets.
This may be described as privacy. Since the trade
secrets were confined to members only, none
but members were permitted to belong to their
organizations, to have a vote or a voice, or to
hold office, or to sit in their meetings. What
went on was necessarily private to the members if
the trade secrets were to be preserved.
Modern society is full of private circles. A

13
family is one. A club is one. The members of such
a circle enjoy among themselves a form of social
fellowship which has been knit together because
the members of the circle are intimately
acquainted and associated in some activity. The
local members of a gild were similarly knit
together. They and their families might live
together in the same quarter of a town, and
they were all associated closely, over long years,
in their social affairs as much as in their work.
A stranger who might intrude was not welcome
because he could so easily disrupt the filaments
which bound the members and their families
together. This was social privacy.
The Freemasonic lodges of the present day have
the same reasons for secrecy, although the form
of it, and the details, may differ much from five
hundred or a thousand years ago. Such lodges
employ many rites, symbols, em blems, and
signs, none of them intelligible to any man who
has not been initiated, and educated and
trained in their meanings. Nearly all non-
Masons who undertake to interpret such things
end up with notions wildly absurd. Freemasons
have much which they must hold in privacy, and
for obvious reasons; and they have
14
much among themselves, much that can be de-
scribed only as a private circle.
By a secret society is meant an organization
of men which seeks to keep its own existence
dark, which refuses to divulge the names of its
members, or its meeting places, or its purposes. It
is an underground organization. If this be a
correct definition of "secret society" Free-
masonry is alm ost the exact opposite. It does
not conceal its existence, but meets in rooms
or buildings of its own, which are in the center
of cities and towns. It makes no secret of its
membership, because those members may walk
openly along a public street to a church service,
a funeral, or to some such public ceremony as
the laying of a corner stone. Each year every
Grand Lodge publishes a printed volume of its
proceedings. As for the ideals and purposes of
Freemasonry, they have been openly stated in
more than 200,000 printed books during the past
two centuries. There is nothing dark or
malign in those secrets; on the contrary they
are nearly all secrets of training and teaching,
and therefore are secrets of light.
One of the corollaries of that secrecy is that
which Freemasons know as non-solicitation.

15
 During the long period of Operative Free-
masonry it could never have occurred to any
Master Mason to go about among parents with
eligible sons to petition them to have those
sons pray for admittance to the Masonic Craft.
Such a youth had to come of his own free will
and accord; he had to have his father or guard-
ian behind him; and he had to have a certain
number of qualifications.
Today, after all these centuries, the same rule
applies. A petitioner now must be at least
twenty-one years of age; he must not permit
any man, Mason or otherwise, to talk him into
petitioning for the Degrees. The whole matter
is one for him himself to choose and decide.
Freemasonry supports no propaganda; it carries
on no missionary enterprise; it has no salesmen;
it offers no inducement.
In the early periods of the Craft when a
bishop somewhere decided to erect a cathedral
he would begin by organizing what was called
a "foundation," and once this was done his next
step was to secure pledges for a sufficient amount
of money. After these funds were in sight, the
Foundation selected a Master Mason to act as
16
superintendent, and he in turn sent out word
for craftsmen and set a scale of wages.
From that time until this, Freemasons have
never been mealy-mouthed about money; they
have always believed in it; and the whole subject
is one of the major themes in the rituals of
lodges of Ancient Craft Freemasonry at this
time, and comes under the head of "the wages
of a Master Mason."
If a man were to object to this on the ground
that modern Freemasonry is devoted to ideal-
istic purposes and therefore should leave money
out of its philosophy, he would not know where-
of he speaks. There is no necessary contradic-
tion between things material and things ideal-
istic. The food which a man places before his
family, the roof over their heads, the clothing
which he furnishes, and the medicines which
he purchases when they are ill, all these are
material things, as money is, but they prove
that he is possessed of love and affection, which
in themselves are not material things.
For such reasons there is no contradiction
between this philosophy of wages that Free-
masonry teaches and the fact that it itself pays
17
no wages to anybody except to one or two
lodge or Grand Lodge officers who must devote
the whole of their days to the Craft. A Mason
may devote the spare time of his life to his
lodge, and yet never receive any pay for his
time. He is never paid for being a Mason, or
for being a lodge officer, or for his work on
lodge and Grand Lodge Committees; and he will
be fortunate if after many years of service he is
not out of pocket for the years he has served.
Freemasonry attracts men to it as a magnet
attracts metal filings. There is much talk about
the "mystery of Freemasonry," especially by non-
Masons, but the greatest mystery of all is this
hold which it has on its own members.

If a non-Mason were to walk into a lodge room

for the first time, and when it was not in use, he
would find it to be distinctive because each and
every detail of its fittings and its ornaments are
designed exclusively for Masonic purposes, but
at the same time he would see instantly that it
is a very simple room, almost a bare one. There
are no secret passages in it, no hidden stairs,
no caves of darkness, none of the abracadabra
which goes with occultism,
18
magic, or mystery-mongering, and could not be
because Freemasonry has no similarity to
mystery-mongering nor any connection with any
of its forms. The business and ritual of a
lodge are plain, wholesome, homely, sane,
human, and unafraid of daylight.
If the same non-Mason were to visit a regular
meeting of the lodge (imagining such a thing
to be possible) he might find only a small
number of members present, and these would
carry through certain set ceremonies and a fixed
Order of Business. From this, and from the
simplicity of the room, he easily could come to
the conclusion that Freemasonry is not very large
or exciting, that nothing much appears to be
going on in it, and he might begin to
wonder how it has continued for so many cen-
turies and where could lie the secret of its wide
influence.
There is a saying that "Freemasonry is largely
invisible." The whole of it is never found in
any one place, or in any one time, or comprised
by any one thing that it does. Much of it
belongs to the inner life of a member, especially
to his heart and his mind. Its charities may be
published or reported, but usually they are not.
19
When its spirit of benevolence and philanthropy
makes an impress on a community it does so
without proclamations or the ringing of bells.
A Mason may encounter its friendship and
fraternalism wherever he may be, at work or
at home, and they will never be obtrusive.
The practices and teachings of the lodge may at
first glance appear to be bare and of an
almost childish simplicity, but each one of them,
or even one of the elements of which they are
composed, will, when a man works his own
way into one of them, begin to open out, to
grow increasingly large, until at last they seem
to fill the sky; they are inexhaustible. Large
books have been written about a single symbol
or a single law. One Mason may make the
ritual his own specialty (many do); as the years
pass he will find it always enlarging itself in
his mind because in it are depths beneath depths
and a limitless world of meanings; in all prob-
ability no Mason in history has understood it
completely or followed it out to its last horizon.
Another may study the fraternity as he would
study history, philosophy, theology, law in a
university; there are more such students than
might be believed. Another may make Masonic
20
law his own field; if he does he will never
come to the end of it. Another may devote himself
largely to Masonic charity and relief; if he does
he is likely to find himself absorbed by it, and will
be giving hours and days of his own time to it.
Yet another may find his own forte in such of
the social arts as music and entertainment, all
of which are rich, wide, multifarious. Alongside
of all these special activities, and keeping pace
with them, has been the vast growth of Masonic
literature, in which it is estimated that some
200,000 books have been published in many
languages during the past two centuries, and not
including Masonic newspapers and magazines.
Freemasonry therefore is a world, and not a
monthly meeting, a fact signalized by the lodge
room itself which symbolizes the world of man-
kind, and has the sky for its ceiling. Because
there is thus in all strict fact and sober truth
such a thing as the Masonic world it is not
difficult to see why Freemasons always describe
admittance into that world as initiation, a word
which means "born into." A newly made Mason is
one who has been "born" into the world of
Freemasonry. Henceforth he is a citizen of it,
21
and since he is, it is impossible to describe his
status in any single term, as that he has become
a member, or a dues payer, or what not, because
there comes a time when every member sees
for himself that always there is "much more."
There is literally no end to it.

A new member, once the lodge has approved his

petition, makes his way into that world
gradually, not all at once spectacularly or dra-
matically, but in three steps, each of which is
sufficient to occupy his mind, usually for from two
to four weeks. These steps are called degrees.
A degree is an organization of ceremonies and
rites, each of which is relatively independent of
the others; and no man can become a member
of the lodge until he has passed through the
three of them. Masons themselves look upon these
degrees with a certain solemn reverence; they
have an inalienable dignity; and if in some one
lodge anything were done to embarrass a
candidate, the lodge would be in danger of
having its charter removed. There is nothing
whatever in them that is similar to a college
hazing; still less are they similar to ordeals with
which primitive folk still initiate their youth into
tribal secrets.
22
 The three degrees of Ancient Craft Free-
masonry, composed as they are of ceremonies and
rites, are, when taken together, that which
Freemasons mean by their ritual. This ritual is
almost wonderful beyond words; only a
Homer or a Shakespeare could do it justice. A
man who studies it until he has learned it "by
heart" has a treasure for himself which literally is
beyond price. More than one man has risen to
eminence in American public life because he
learned the art of public address through years of
practice in it, or has become a great orator
because the ritual taught him a golden vocabu-
lary and initiated him into the secrets of
language. If the ritual is taken solely as literature,
then it stands on a par with such masterpieces
Homer's Iliad, Dante's Divine Comedy, and
Shakespeare's plays. If it is studied from its
aspect as something for the mind to think
through, it ranks with the philosophical systems
of Plato and Aristotle. If any non-Mason, greatly
daring, decides to petition for membership in
the Masonic Fraternity he is not to expect a
hazing, or any highjinks; he is to take off his
shoes, he is to bow his head, and, as the
Prophet Samuel said, to stand upon his feet
and be a man. No Freemason now, or at any

23
time during the past thousand years, has ever
apologized in advance to any petitioner for
what he will find.
What such a petitioner will find, among
other things, will be references, uttered with
awe, to the G.A.O.T.U.. This is not a Gypsy
charm, nor a cabbalistic anagram. The letters
stand for the name Great Architect of the
Universe. This name itself is one used by
Freemasons with all humility for the Being
who is throughout the world called by the
name of God. God stands in the midst of
Freemasonry; therefore a petitioner need not
fear lest, upon entering it, his spirit will ever
be treated with indignity or assaulted by impiety.
No non-Mason who may chance to knock at
the door of a lodge can have his petition re-
ceived, still less voted on, unless he has first
proved himself to possess certain qualifications.
All the mystification which have been woven
about the subject can be dispelled at a stroke,
by asking a single question, which also is a
simple one: Qualified for what? It is obvious
that Shakespeare was qualified to write the
greatest plays ever penned; but he may not have
been qualified for membership in the iron
24
monger's gild. Albert Einstein was qualified to
discover the theory of relativity, but possibly
was not qualified for work in a factory. A lad
who is qualified to enter a liberal arts college,
may not be qualified for a school in medicine
or in law.

Qualified for what? Freemasonry's own answer

to that question is, qualified to be a Mason,
qualified to be the member of a lodge, and to
perform his duties therein.

Among the forty-nine Grand Lodges in the

United States there is a certain amount of
variation in their formulations of the qualifi-
cations required; but the differences are nearly
always in phraseology, not in substance. A
petitioner must be of lawful age; he must be
morally responsible for his own actions; ethi-
cally, he must be "under the tongue of good
report;" he must come of his own free will
and accord; physically he must at least be able
to perform the Masonic duties which will be
required of him, and have sufficient monetary
means to pay his share of expenses; and he
must be personally acceptable to the men already in
the lodge's membership, because he must be
25
agreeable to them since from then on he will
be bound to each of them by the Mystic Tie.
A non-Mason cannot DEMAND membership
but must humbly seek it. In the language of the
lodge he is called a petitioner and the form
which he signs is called a petition. Even if a
lodge is willing to receive his petition, his
status remains unchanged until the petition has
been balloted on.
The petition itself, along with whatever in-
formation may accompany it, must show that the
petitioner possesses the required qualifications.
This is a fact of the first importance because it
means that a man cannot even begin to apply for
admittance into the Masonic Fra
ternity unless he already possesses the reputation
for possessing a sound character. Freemasonry
is not a reformatory. Its purpose is not to turn
bad men into good men, but to make good
men better. Also, it tries to make them happier,
and does so by surrounding them with friends
and fellows, and by opening up vistas and op-
portunities for many things both fine and great.
Once a man is admitted into a lodge he is
not permitted to run loose in it. Freemasonry
26
is a CONSTITUTED fraternity. Above and
behind it are the Ancient Landmarks, which
neither a lodge nor a Grand Lodge can alter
or ignore. A Grand Lodge itself has its own
constitution. A lodge has its own installed
officers, fixed orders of procedure, and tolerates
no violation of peace and harmony. Nothing
ever is altered to to suit the position, fame,
fortune, or personal predilections of a petitioner;
he must accept Freemasonry as it is, or let it
alone. A lodge itself cannot come into existence
unless the Masons who will compose it pledge
themselves to abide by the Ancient Landmarks,
the constitutions, and the general laws; it can-
not decide for itself what Freemasonry is or is
not, and could never do so even though its
members might vote unanimously to make the
attempt. It is as if Freemasonry were to say:
"I am what I am. My members must accep t
me as I am or not at all. It would be better
for me not to exist than for the members here,
there, and everywhere to keep altering me to
correspond with their own schemes, theories, or
whims."

As a result of that which Masons know as "the

principle of universality" ("a lodge is per
27
 mitted to exist wherever it CAN") lodges are
at work in remote countries. How can this be? A
Korean cannot converse with an Englishman, nor
could a man of Burma understand the language
of a man of Michigan. From one of these countries
to another there also is an unlimited variety of
costumes, customs, traditions, ways of thought,
and ways of life. How can lodges which must
remain alike take root in the midst of such
unlike conditions? What is Freemasonry
translatable?
There are two large answers. One is that it
consists in essence of a number of fundamentals
which all mankind need, know, and understand,
such as brotherliness, charity, good will, fellow-
ship, friendship, character, and the search for
the Divine.
The other is that it uses rites, symbols, and
emblems. A symbol says much without saying
anything, and what it says may call for thought
or for exposition but does not need to be trans-
lated. The level, the square and compasses, lights,
the plumb, all such are immed iately understood
by any normal man anywhere. Gestures, symbols,
postures, emblems, signs, it would be incorrect to
describe such things as a lan
28
guage; if they were, they would constitute as nearly
a universal language as language is capable of.
(To this day, white men as well as Indians can
make their way across this continent from one
American Indian people to another by means
of sign language.)
Some years ago, Douglas Malloch, a beloved
Masonic poet, began one of his lyrics with two
stanzas which ever since have thrilled the blood
of Freemasons.
Fine men have walked this way before
Whatever Lodge your Lodge may be,
Whoever stands before the door,
The sacred arch of Masonry, Stands
where the wise, the great, the
good
In their own time and place have stood.
You are not Brother just with these, Your
friends and neighbors; you are kin
With Masons down the centuries; This
room that now you enter in
Has felt the tread of many feet, For
here all Masonry you meet.
For many generations Freemasonry has num-
bered among its members an accounted number
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of "the wise, the great, the good," and if the
Fraternity has often celebrated the famous men
who have been Masons it is not because it has
ever been self-conceited.
Emperors, kings, presidents, and princes have
been, in the quaint language of a very old
writer, "of this sodality." Frederick the Great,
Garibaldi, Mazzini, Napoleon, and a number of
American Presidents have been Masons, and two
of the latter have been Grand Masters. George
Washington was Master of his lodge at Alex-
andria when he was inaugurated first President in
1789. Great composers have been active
members, as represented by Purcell, Mozart,
Samuel Wesley, Sibelius. Books have been written
to list them. They have come from all possible
walks of life, statesmen, scientists, theologians,
scholars, authors, poets, actors, financiers,
industrialists, artists, farmers, and men of the
sea. Even Artic and Antartic explorers have
been drawn to it, and there is nothing to
wonder at the fact that a Maso nic flag was
dropped on each of the Poles by the first men
to fly across them in an airplane. Nor does any
Mason find it a cause to wonder that Benjamin
Franklin was both a Worshipful
30
Master and a Grand Master and published the
first Masonic book (1734) ever issued in Amer-
ica. Masons have long since ceased to feel
amazed that such men should be of "their
sodality"; there is no occasion to wonder because
the greatest will find Freemasonry as great as
will the humblest.
The word Freemasonry has entered our lan-
guage as a common noun to denote private
understanding, secrecy, mystery, as in the saying
that "There is a freemasonry among railway
workers." (There is such a thing.) But of all
the mysteries connected with that name, and to
Freemasons themselves, the greatest is Free-
masonry itself. It began many centuries ago. It
has ridden out the storms of revolutions and
uncounted wars. It has planted itself in all
parts of the world. What has enabled it to do
so?
If the answer to that question should be that
it has had a clearer understanding and a better
practice of fraternalism than any other organi-
zation in the world, a reader must not be
disappointed. Fraternalism itself is as everlasting
as mankind. It ranks along with religion,
government, science, business, the fine arts. To
31
discover the heights and depths of it, its length
and its breadth, and the unsearchable riches in it, is
sufficient justification for any man to work in it
throughout his life.

The Grand Lodge has prepared the following

booklets which are available on request.
Your Quest for Light
Entered Apprentice
Degree Fellowcraft
Degree Master Mason
Degree Officers'
Handbook Memorial
Service
The Investigating Committee
Model By-Laws

Address all communication

to the Grand Secretary,
Masonic Temple,
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503
32