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Article THE FREEMASON'S LEXICON. ← Page 8 of 8
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The Freemason's Lexicon.
treated with greatest kindness and civility by the members of the Lodge . Bewaffnung oiler Degen . Arms or Swords . —In ancient times , every Brother was obliged to "be armed in ihe Loilge to protect himself , in case the Lodge was assaulted , and as a symbol of manly strength . At present , swords are not necessary in many Lodges , and in others , they are only used as symbols of obediencein case that one should be necessary ,
, and to be regarded as the sword of justice . For the protection of bis fatherland , every faithful Brother ought to draw the sword of defence cheerfully , but he ought never to stain it with a Brother ' s blood , even though that Brother is a foe . Bewegungsgrunde . Motive or Reason . — He who wishes to enter into the Order of Freemasonry , should first be ab-e to render unto himself a good and satisfactory account why he wishes to take that step .
This is not easy . A man who is not a Freemason , can only know the Order by hearsay , or hy reading masonic books , and it is rather a dangerous undertaking to join a society , with whicli a person is totally unacquainted . It is quite different to joining any other select society , who publish their rules and regulations , and the names of all their members , and by those means invite others to join their society . Freemasons , on the contrary , try to persuade no one to join their society , do
not publish their rules or regulations , and the names of the members are very rarely knoivn , and what is more , the candidate must submit himself to rules and regulations , the purport of which are entirely unknown unto him ; it is true , that there is nothing in those rules contrary to the
laivs of God , or to his duty to his king and country , as a good citizen of the state ; but he ivho is not a Freemason , cannot have any clear idea of what those duties are . What then are the motives sufficiently strong to induce a free man to offer himself as a candidate for admission into a comparatively unknown society . It is a pity that those motives are not always pure , but can the Brother , ivhose duty it is to examine the candidate as to his motives , penetrate into the deep recesses of the candidate ' s heart ? This one seeks pecuniary assistanceanotherhigh
, , connexion in the order . Here is one who was made a mason because his father was one , another to enjoy tbe sweets of the banquetting table ; a third is induced to join tbe society from reading the printed addresses and songs of the Brethren . Many believe they will increase their worldly riches hy joining the Order , but they ought to reflect that the initiation is expensive , and that we do not wish to make a profit of mankind , but rather that we should freely communicate to them of the
good things of this world with ivhich God has blessed us . Those parties act the most prudently , who admit that they wish to join the Order , because as a useful and innocent society , it has enjoyed the protection of the State for such a number of years , because so many prudent men are members of the Order , and because , in general , the members distinguish themselves by the propriety of their manners , the uprightness of their business transactionsand the correctness of their moral conduct
, in life . Those , on the contrary , act the most unworthily who are induced by their curiosity to join the society , in the vain hope of being enabled to pry into singular , nay , even supernatural things . AVe seek , and ive find only the truths of Nature in our Lodges , namely , a natural and uncorrupted man .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemason's Lexicon.
treated with greatest kindness and civility by the members of the Lodge . Bewaffnung oiler Degen . Arms or Swords . —In ancient times , every Brother was obliged to "be armed in ihe Loilge to protect himself , in case the Lodge was assaulted , and as a symbol of manly strength . At present , swords are not necessary in many Lodges , and in others , they are only used as symbols of obediencein case that one should be necessary ,
, and to be regarded as the sword of justice . For the protection of bis fatherland , every faithful Brother ought to draw the sword of defence cheerfully , but he ought never to stain it with a Brother ' s blood , even though that Brother is a foe . Bewegungsgrunde . Motive or Reason . — He who wishes to enter into the Order of Freemasonry , should first be ab-e to render unto himself a good and satisfactory account why he wishes to take that step .
This is not easy . A man who is not a Freemason , can only know the Order by hearsay , or hy reading masonic books , and it is rather a dangerous undertaking to join a society , with whicli a person is totally unacquainted . It is quite different to joining any other select society , who publish their rules and regulations , and the names of all their members , and by those means invite others to join their society . Freemasons , on the contrary , try to persuade no one to join their society , do
not publish their rules or regulations , and the names of the members are very rarely knoivn , and what is more , the candidate must submit himself to rules and regulations , the purport of which are entirely unknown unto him ; it is true , that there is nothing in those rules contrary to the
laivs of God , or to his duty to his king and country , as a good citizen of the state ; but he ivho is not a Freemason , cannot have any clear idea of what those duties are . What then are the motives sufficiently strong to induce a free man to offer himself as a candidate for admission into a comparatively unknown society . It is a pity that those motives are not always pure , but can the Brother , ivhose duty it is to examine the candidate as to his motives , penetrate into the deep recesses of the candidate ' s heart ? This one seeks pecuniary assistanceanotherhigh
, , connexion in the order . Here is one who was made a mason because his father was one , another to enjoy tbe sweets of the banquetting table ; a third is induced to join tbe society from reading the printed addresses and songs of the Brethren . Many believe they will increase their worldly riches hy joining the Order , but they ought to reflect that the initiation is expensive , and that we do not wish to make a profit of mankind , but rather that we should freely communicate to them of the
good things of this world with ivhich God has blessed us . Those parties act the most prudently , who admit that they wish to join the Order , because as a useful and innocent society , it has enjoyed the protection of the State for such a number of years , because so many prudent men are members of the Order , and because , in general , the members distinguish themselves by the propriety of their manners , the uprightness of their business transactionsand the correctness of their moral conduct
, in life . Those , on the contrary , act the most unworthily who are induced by their curiosity to join the society , in the vain hope of being enabled to pry into singular , nay , even supernatural things . AVe seek , and ive find only the truths of Nature in our Lodges , namely , a natural and uncorrupted man .