Masonic Miscellanies

King Solomon

‘Solomon writing Proverbs’, Gustave Dorés illustrated ‘Book of Proverbs’

IMAGE LINKED:  wikimedia Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

The Book of Proverbs

1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

2 for gaining wisdom and instruction;
for understanding words of insight;

3 for receiving instruction in prudent behaviour,
doing what is right and just and fair;

4 for giving prudence to those who are simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young—

5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance—

6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Throughout the Book of Proverbs, Solomon urges us to be wise, to ‘get wisdom’.

Proverbs 4:5
Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

Proverbs 19:8
He who gets wisdom loves his own soul: The possession and pursuit of wisdom is so good and helpful to us that we can and should get wisdom simply out of self-interest. In so doing we love our own soul, our own life.

Proverbs 16:16
How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!

Proverbs 8:32 – 35
Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.
Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord.

Proverbs 24:3-4
By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established;
through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.

Proverbs 24:27
Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

German Novelist, Scientist and Freemason

Johann Goethe. By Joseph Karl Stieler – Transferred from nds.wikipedia to Commons..org by G.Meiners at 12:05, 15. Okt 2005

IMAGE LINKED:  wikimedia Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

The Hidden Meaning

A Mason’s ways are
A type of existence,
And his persistence
Is as the days are
Of men of the world.

The future hides in it
Good hap or sorrow,
We pass through it-
Naught there abides in it
Daunting us- onward.

And silent, before us,
Veiled the dark portal,
Goal of all mortal;
Stars silent rest over us,
Graves under us silent.

But heard are the voices-
Voices of the sages
Of the world and the ages-
Choose well, your choice is
Brief, but yet endless.

Here eyes do regard you
In eternity’s stillness,
Here is all fullness,
Ye brave, to reward you,
Work and despair not.

In Goethe’s dying moments, his last words were, “More Light!”

Albert Pike

Masonic Author

Albert Pike. Original image Library of Congress Digital Collection

IMAGE LINKED:  wikimedia Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Man is accountable for the uprightness of his doctrine, not for the rightness of it.
Influence of man over man is a law of nature, and the conquest of mind over mind is the only conquest worth while.
The free country in which intellect and genius rule, will endure. Where they serve, and other influences govern, the national life is short.
Select thinkers for legislators; avoid gabblers. Wisdom is rarely loquacious.
Deeds are greater than words. They have a life, mute, but undeniable; and they grow. They people the vacuity of Time, and make it worthy.
Nothing is really small. Every bird that flies carries a thread of the infinite in its claws.
Life has its ills, but is not all evil. If life is worthless, so is immortality.

—Morals and Dogma.

On his deathbed, when unable to speak any longer, Albert Pike beckoned for a pencil and paper, with which he wrote his last words. The pencil and paper are framed and preserved in the House of the Temple at Washington.

What he wrote was as follows:

“Shalom: Peace — that comes with blessing to care-fretted, weary men when death’s dreamless sleep ends all suffering and sorrow.”

Roscoe Pound

American Legal Scholar and Masonic Author

Roscoe Pound. Public Domain image

IMAGE LINKED:  wikimedia Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

On Study:

Masonic knowledge seems to me to involve five points: (1) Ritual; (2) History; (3) Philosophy; (4) Symbolism; (5) Jurisprudence.

I think we cannot insist too strongly that knowledge of the Ritual is the Foundation of all Masonic knowledge.

The first thing which the student should do is to learn the work of the Craft degrees thoroughly. He will then be in a position to appreciate what he reads and to ask questions as he reads.

As to History, I should recommend him to begin with Gould’s Concise History. I know of nothing so good. When he has read this, it will be time enough for him to begin, if he has time, with the original sources of our information.

CHARGE GIVEN TO THE CANDIDATE BY HIS FATHER

After the Candidate Had Received the “Third Degree.”

MY SON — Tonight you become a member of an order — not only of friends but of brothers. In your after-life as you master its teachings, and experience its good influences, you will have a great mental growth.

Masonry fosters only the right doers; its principles, its teachings, its mysteries — all tend to the elevation of man.

Masonry gives maturity to the good character, and character may be likened to a universal bank; The deposits that are made in the bank of character bear an eternal interest; no thief can steal them, no panic can dissipate them.

The life of him who is pure, just, honorable and noble, finds within the tenets of Masonry loyal protection “from the evil intentions of our enemies.”

We believe that you will be true and faithful to the teachings of Masonry, and we trust that you will so live that your words and your actions will be such as to brighten the memory of all the good men who have stood where you and I now stand — amid friends and amid brothers.

You are the son of a Mason who reveres Masonry’s teachings and stands uncovered in the presence of its sublime mysteries.

If you will have your conduct in harmony with the principles of Masonry, you will aid my remaining years, to pass in peaceful satisfaction.

You are not only my SON but you are also my BROTHER; and believing that you will always prove yourself as being worthy of having been this evening, “raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason,” I hope to be steadied by your arm as my SON and as my BROTHER when I depart on the journey whose goal is the realm of silence.

FRANK BRAYTON.
ARTHUR BRAYTON.
Lyons Lodge, Number Ninety-Three, Lyons, Iowa

Text Sources:
The Builder, Vol 3, 1915
Book of Proverbs