Featured Masonic Paper of The Month

The Tenet of Brotherly Love

by: W. Brother  James D. Fleming

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After presenting the working tools to a new Entered Apprentice recently, I interjected, “you may find the directive about the division and use of time the most challenging, I know I do”. After the degree, a Mason with more seniority in the Craft than myself, commented on my remark. He mentioned the directive about, “eight hours of service to God and relief of a distressed Brother” as his most challenging. My reply in essence was, “we can do these things continually” and they overlap.  How we interact in our daily life with our Companions and associates is a measure of our service to them and our Craft. 

Are we being encouraging, polite, patient, respectful, helpful and empathetic towards their situation? 
We are admonished, in another lecture, to display “courtesy and affability”. Our Great Light contains the words, “what you do unto the least of these, you do unto Me.” Are we expressing Love to  
others in our daily lives? The opportunities are endless for expressing random acts of kindness to others. We then find ourselves thinking more about others then about ourselves.

The directive to spend “eight hours in the service of God” now appears more manageable. 
The temptation to think good of ourselves because we do not commit any bad act is insidious and can lead to a really good opinion of ourselves. Omission of an egregious act is only one half of the story. I believe we are judged more harshly on our failure of commission.

The omission of Love in our lives has to be condemned by One Whose Life was a testament to Love.

The Tenets of Freemasonry are Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth.

Tenets are those principles we hold most dear. We have conviction of their truth. Hopefully they are self evident to all of our Brethren. It is the duty of every Mason to understand Masonic ritual and be able to give Masonic Light to his less informed Brothers. Only then can Masonry fulfill its potential and unite the world in one Grand Brotherhood.

The first Tenet begins, “By the exercise of Brotherly Love…”

Exercise according to my dictionary is: Bodily or mental exertion. Something that is done or performed as a means of practice or improvement. To put through exercises or forms of practice, designed to train, condition or develop. To use or display in ones practice; to have an effect on something or someone.

 

The Tenet reads:

“By the exercise of Brotherly Love we are taught to regard the whole human family as one species. The high and low, the rich and poor who as created by one almighty parent and inhabitants of the same planet are bound to aid, support, and protect each other. On this principle Masonry unites men of every Country, sect and opinion, and conciliates true friendship among those who might otherwise have remained at a perpetual distance.”

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By the language of our tenet and by definition we are directed to train, develop, improve and strengthen ourselves’ in the practice of Brotherly Love. This does not appear to be a passive activity.

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Treating the whole human species as one family and thereby eliminating race, creed, or social status, as a means of distinction is a quantum leap towards universal Brotherhood.

Can any of us honestly say we have reached this goal? Do we desire to reach it?

The phrase “we are taught” is fraught with meaning. The first impression is we are not equipped to display Brotherly Love naturally. It has to be taught. From the Masonic point of view, it is taught first hand, person to person. In Masonry how could it be otherwise? Note the ritual does not say you are taught, it says we are taught. The implication is clear. The instruction goes both ways, from giver to receiver. The exercise of Brotherly Love results in an improved situation to all concerned. What blesses one blesses all. As Lowell said,  “The gift without the giver is bare.” And, I do not feel characterizing Brotherly Love as a gift is far from the mark. The gift will return to bless the giver. 

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As Edward Markham wrote, 

“There is a design that 
     makes us Brothers, 
     none goes this way alone.
all that we give into the lives of others,
      comes back into our own.”

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Do not overlook the multiplier effect here. If we are actively exercising this tenet, the beneficiaries of our Love will increase geometrically. This is reminiscent of the parable of the leaven. A small amount of leaven in a measure of meal will leaven the whole.

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We are admonished that it is not proper to “ kneel at our altars and take Obligations to behave in a certain manner and then act as if we had not done so”. This is not the way it should be my Brothers.

A Mason should train himself not to overlook a situation where he is able to exercise, demonstrate or practice Brotherly Love. This is also in obedience to the second great Commandment, “Love thy neighbor as thyself”. In this manner we discover we are actually able to “devote eight hours to the service of God and the relief of a distressed brother” as we have been taught. As mentioned earlier, there are countless opportunities presenting themselves every day in which we are able to exercise Brotherly Love.

 
The exercise and practice of Brotherly Love is the leaven, which will change the world.

This paper started with an examination of a directive from the EA Working Tools lecture and has been reinforced by the lesson of a  Masonic Tenet. Masonic Ritual is a great educational tool. It teaches line upon line, precept upon precept, until the lesson is grasped by the student. It is not however, enough to merely understand the lesson. The student has to become the vehicle for exemplifying the lesson. The student then becomes the lesson incarnate. And the Word was made flesh.

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The mission of a Lodge, is to make good Masons. In fact, the only purpose of a lodge is to make good Masons. Instruct them well and not only will they and their families benefit, but all of society will experience the leavening effect of Friendship and Brotherly Love.

This cause and effect cannot be stressed too strongly. Good Masons create a better world. Listen to the words of the poet:

 

“Isn’t it strange that Princes and Kings,
and clowns that frolic in sawdust rings,
and ordinary folk like you and me
are builders to eternity?
For each is given a book of rules,
A lump of clay and a bag of tools,
And each must fashion ere life has flown

A stumbling block or a stepping stone”.

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The beauty of the poem is that you cannot fail to produce one of the two outcomes. You will fashion a stepping stone by your industry or a stumbling block by your default. It’s one or the other. It’s pass or fail. “What ye sow that shall you also reap”

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My Brothers, we must be vigilant that our actions will stand the test of our Masters Square. That we may not be judged negligent and unfaithful, and tossed aside as unfit for that Spiritual Building, that House not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. 

We all have been given the tools and the rules to transform our rough ashlars into Perfect Ashlars. We have been charged to be industrious, to acquire Masonic knowledge, and to share that light and knowledge with our Brethren, Time is of the essence. We cannot plead ignorance. Let us then be about our labors. For only then will “swords be beaten into plough shares and spears into pruning hooks; when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

Our Creator has given us “Faith, Hope and Love. The greatest of these is Love”. Love makes possible the promise, ”Peace on earth, goodwill to men”. So Mote It Be