​There is much greater variation in Masonic ritual than many Brethren are aware of. Much of the diversity of work even includes the working tools and modes of recognition. We know that in some jurisdictions there is a reversal between words of the first two degrees, the use of an additional word in the first degree, and the movement of words among the degrees. Further, we are told that due guards are usually found in the American work.
One reason for the variation in masonic work is the evolution of the degrees in England between the establishment of the first Grand Lodge in 1717 and the amalgamation or union of the rival Antients and Moderns Grand Lodges in 1813. Another reason is the early effort of Continental Masons in Europe to enlarge upon the work and, later, to simplify it.
Kent W. Henderson, in The Masonic World Guide (1984) states "there are in excess of 100 different Craft rituals in use in the regular Masonic world." He classifies these rituals into the seven main categories listed below. England and a number of other jurisdictions have printed rituals. Masonry beyond the first three degrees is separately worked for (5) and (7).
1 - "AMERICAN"
Work used in the United States, Japan, the Philippines and Finland. Mackey's Encyclopedia and Henderson identify THOMAS SMITH WEBB (1771-1819) as the inventor and founder of the basic form of work used in the United States.
This work is uniform within each Grand Lodge, with exceptions primarily in New York City and New Orleans. Pennsylvania is notably the most different from the other Grand Lodges, and describes its work as "Old Antients".
2 - ENGLAND
Henderson states "In England alone in excess of fifty (rituals) are in use, but all of these are quite similar in both content and form". The best known works include Emulation, Stability, Logic, Benefactum, Ritis Oxoniensis, and Taylor's West End. The most different is the Bristol work, which resembles the Munster and Scottish Rite symbolic degrees in some regards.
Many Masonic libraries have copies of the Emulation work.
3 - SCOTLAND
More operative features are retained than in England.*
* Editor's note: A notable difference is the inclusion of the Mark Master degree in the Craft Lodge.
4 - IRELAND
Uniform work is required except in Munster, where the work resembles that of Bristol as mentioned above.
5 - RITUALS OF FRENCH ORIGIN
(a) ECOSSAIS or SCOTTISH RITE work1 found primarily in Greece and countries using the Romance languages, also, in New York, New Orleans, California, and Florida.2
(b) MODERN FRENCH RITE, used primarily in Greece, Luxembourg, and France.
(c) RECTIFIED SCOTTISH RITE (Chevaliers Bienfaisants de La Cite Sainte), simplified from Von Hund's Rite of Strict Observance.
6 - ANGLO-CONTINENTAL RITUALS
(a) NETHERLANDS' WORK.
(b) FRIEDRICH SCHROEDER'S and IGNAZ AURELIUS FESSLER'S reformulated work and their variants, constructed to restore simplicity to German Masonry. Schroeder's work was a direct translation of an English ritual published in 1762.
(c) GUILD DE GAMLE PLIGTER, used by some lodges in the Grand Lodge of Denmark (as an alternative to the Swedish Rite) and possibly fitting in the Anglo- Continental category.
7 - SWEDISH RITE
Worked in some German lodges (GLL), in Sydkorset (Southern Cross) Lodge in Spain, and in all but one of the Scandinavian Grand Lodges.
Latin America uses mainly the Scottish Rite and Rectified Scottish Rite work. A few lodges work what they refer to as the "York" Rite which is usually either Emulation or Webb work. Research now in progress has identified some strong similarity between the Scottish Rite Apprentice degree and the First degree of the Swedish Rite and of two German Grand Lodges. The Grand Lodge zur Sonne (Bluntschi's ritual) and the Grand Lodge of the Three Globes.
Bibliographic References:Among the few definitive publications on comparative ritualism are the following:
Harry Carr, "Six Hundred Years of Craft Ritual," 1976.
Harry Carr, "The Freemason at Work," 1983.
E.H. Cartwright, "Commentary on the Freemasonic Ritual," 1947, 1973.
J. Walter Hobbs, "Masonic Ritual Described, Compared and Explained," 1923.
August Horneffer, "Der Katechismus der Johannis Freimaurerei," Hamburg, 1950.
Roscoe Pound, "The Causes of Divergence in Ritual."
Notes:1 N.D. Peterson, "The Scottish Rite Version of the Three Degrees of the Craft Masonry," Transactions of the American Lodge of Research, New York, Vol. 18, 1989, pp. 160-179.
2 Jorge Soto points out that the Scottish Rite's first three degrees are currently the only or most extensively used system in more than 25 countries and by at least 75 Grand Lodges. ("The Forgotten Three," Haboneh Hahofshi, Vol. LIX, No. 2, 1994, pp. 18-21).

You are taught that, as an Entered Apprentice, you are passing through the period of early Masonic youth. As a Fellowcraft, should you attain that higher estate, you will learn your condition then, is emblematic of manhood; while as a Master Mason, if it is your happy fortune ever to be raised to the Light, you will learn that true Freemasonry makes a man sure of a well spent life, and gives him assurance of a glorious immortality.
When newly born into the world, a human baby is the most helpless of all animals. His first tender years are wholly a time of learning; learning to eat, learning to manage his members, learning to walk, learning to make himself understood, learning to understand. The period you, as an Entered Apprentice, must spend before you can receive the degree of Fellowcraft corresponds to these early years of childhood; you must learn to manage your Masonic Members, you must learn to understand Masonic language and to make yourself understood in it.
The Entered Apprentice is more like a child in an institution than like one in a home. In the home the child has the undivided attention of his parents; in the institution he has, necessarily, only the divided attention of those who must mother and father many children, and the help he individually receives is less as the number who claim it is greater. The lodge is an institution; as an Entered Apprentice you will receive careful instruction in the necessary arts of Masonry, in so far as you are prepared to receive them, but, obviously, there can be no coddling, no tender individual attentions to you which are not also given to all other Entered Apprentices of your lodge.
One child stands out above another in its development in an institution because of its inherent brightness, and because of its willingness to study and to learn. As an Entered Apprentice Mason you will stand out above your fellows as you pay strict attention to those brethren who are your instructors, and as you are willing to study and learn. For your monitors, my brother, no matter how great their erudition, and how large their charity and willingness to serve you, can only point for you the path, and give you those elementary instructions in Masonry which are the minimum with which you can walk onward.
Your feet have been set upon a path. In your hands has been thrust the staff of ritual, the bread of knowledge and the water of prayer. With these alone you can proceed up the path until you come to the wall marked "Fellowcraft," and the straight gate through which you can pass only if you have digested the bread, drunk the water and still have your staff. But you can climb quicker, see more of the beauties by the way, and arrive with greater strength for the next highway upon which you will travel, if you are not content with the least which you if you may take as aids, but demand a greater equipment.
There are books, my brother; many, many books. First, there is what is known as the Monitor of your jurisdiction; a small book which contains all of the ritual of all of the degrees, which may be printed. A careful study of it will recall to your mind much that you heard while receiving your first degree, and suggests many questions to your mind; questions which any thinking candidate must ask, and queries which, answered, will make him a better Entered Apprentice. The answers to many of these questions you will find in many good books on Freemasonry.
Any Entered Apprentice who will read and ponder a good volume which deals with the first degree of Freemasonry, will approach the West Gate for his Fellowcraft degree in a more humble attitude and a more confident heart than he who is satisfied merely with his staff, his bread and his water.
For consider, my brother; Freemasonry is old, very old. No man knoweth just how old, but deep students of the art have gathered unimpeachable evidence; evidence of the character which would be convincing in a court of law, that the principles which underlie Freemasonry and which are taught in its symbolism, go back beyond the dawn of written history. Freemasonry's symbols are found wherever the physical evidences of ancient civilizations are unearth. Secret orders of all ages, all climes, all peoples, have, independently of each other, sought the Great Truths along the same paths, and concealed what they found in much the same symbols. Freemasonry is the repository of the learning of the ages, a storehouse of the truths of life and death, religion and immortality; aye, even of the truths we know regarding the Great Architect of the Universe, which have been painfully won, word by word and line by line, from the books of nature and of the inquiring mind, by literally thousands of generations of men.
No man has mind big enough, quick enough, open enough to absorb and understand in an evening even the introduction to what Freemasonry knows; not in a month of evenings! No degree, no matter how impressively performed, can possibly take him far along this road. All that the Entered Apprentice degree can do is to point the way, and give you the sustenance by which you may travel.
You may travel with your ears closed, and your eyes upon the ground. You will arrive, physically, even as a traveller with bandaged eyes may arrive after a toilsome journey. But to travel thus is not to learn. And the Freemason who does not learn, what sort of Freemason is he? Pin wearer, only; denying himself the greatest opportunity given to man to make of himself truly one of the greatest brotherhood the world has ever known.
Therefore, my brother entered Apprentice, use the month or more which is given you between this and the Fellowcraft Degree, not only to receive your monitorial instruction and learn, letter perfect, the ritual in which much more is hidden than is revealed, but also to investigate for yourself; to read for your- self; to learn, for yourself, the meaning of some of our symbols and how they came to be.
You will find Masons who will say to you that all of Masonry which any man needs to know is found in the degrees. So will you find those who say to you that all any man needs to know of God or religion is found in the Great Light which rests upon our Holy Altar. But be not discouraged by these, my brother, nor put your faith in the vision of any Mason; the only eyes with which you may truly see are your own; the only faith which is truly valuable to any man, is his own. Reason it out for yourself; every man needs an education in Holy Writ, to expound for him the hidden truths which are in the Great Light, therefore you require some writer or student to expound for you the hidden truths which are in Masonry's Ritual and Symbols. But a legion of devoted men of God have spent thousands of years digging in the Book of Books, and always have they discovered some new gold. With no irreverence, nor any comparison of the fundamentals of Freemasonry with the Bible, it can be said that generations of men have sought in the mountain which is Freemasonry for the gold which is Truth of God, and found it; and that without such patient and delving, the gold could not be seen. Do you then, dig for yourself, but dig by the light of the lamps lit by those who have gone this way before you.
This United States of ours has its ritual; its Declaration of Independence, its Constitution, its Bill of Rights. Doubtless you have read all of these; perhaps in school, you memorized them, as now you must memorize Masonic ritual. But you would not contend that the mere learning by heart of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution ever made any man an authority upon them, nor that the foreigner investigating our institutions for the first time could become a good American merely by such memorization. We require the highest tribunal in all the world, the supreme Court, to interpret to us our own Constitution, and not yet have any of our legislators come to the end of the meanings of those liberties for which we declared when this country first lifted up its head among the nations of the world, and cried the birth cry.
As an Entered Apprentice you are barely born, Masonically. You must learn, my brother, and learn well, if you are to enter into our heritage. That which is worth living, in this world, is worth working for; indeed, as you know from your experience in life, anything which you must not work for, turns soon to ashes in your mouth. Without labor, there can be no rest; without work there can be no vacation; without pain, there can be no pleasure; without sorrow, there is no joy. And equally true it is, that while men do receive the degrees of Masonry at the hands of their brethren, there is no Freemasonry in a man's heart if he has not been willing to sacrifice some time, give some effort, some study, ask some questions. digest some philosophy, to make it truly his own.
A certain ceremony through which you recently passed not only has the immediate and obvious significance of charity to the deserving; a man may be divested of all wealth to teach him something else than the giving of alms and the succoring of the distressed. If you will suppose yourself marooned upon a desert island, the only man upon land shut in by the sea, you will readily recognize that all the wealth of the Indies might be of less real value to you than a box of matches, a cup of water, a tool of iron. The richest man in the world could gain nothing with his gold if he were forced to live at the poles of the earth. Money is only of value where material things may be obtained by bartering labor. A man may be moneyless and still wealthy, as you might be upon your desert island if you had tools, nails, and materials with which to build yourself a boat in order to make your escape.
So this ceremony, which you have already been taught, was not performed to trifle with your feeling, should make not only a deep and lasting impression on your mind as to charity and giving aid, but should serve to point out to you that Freemasonry's deepest and truest treasures are those of the mind and heart; not to be bought, not to be received as a free gift, not to be found, not to be obtained by you in any way whatsoever except by patient search, and willing, happy labor.
Read, my brother; read symbolism and read a history of Freemasonry; read the Old Charges; read your Monitor. Read, study, and digest; make you own sum of a store of knowledge which is Freemasonry's; make of yourself an Entered Apprentice in the hidden as well as the literal sense of the word.
You are called an "Entered Apprentice" when there has been performed over you and with you, a certain ceremony, but you cannot in reality be "entered" unless you are willing to enter.
There is homely truth in many an old saying. The horse who is led to water will only drink if he is thirsty; no man can make him swallow if he will not. Freemasonry, which has conferred upon you the distinction of its First Degree, has brought you through a green pasture and made you to lie down beside a still water of its truth. But there lives not the Grand Master of any Jurisdiction, all powerful in Freemasonry though he is, who can make you drink of those waters; there lives not the man, be he King, Prince or Potentate with no matter what temporal power or what strength of Army or of Wealth, who can force you through the door your brethren have swung wide at your approach.
The pathway is before you. The staff, the bread and the water are in your hand. Whether you will travel blindly and in want, or eagerly and with joy depends only and wholly upon you. And very largely upon what you now do, how soon you emerge from your swaddling clothes and how well you learn will depend the epitaph some day to be written of your memory on the hearts of your fellow lodge members; it is for you to decide whether they will say of you: "Just another lodge member," or "A True Freemason, a Faithful Son of Light."

Short Talk Bulletin April 1925
​Author Unknown

"You admit that it is not in the power of any man or any body of men, to make Innovations in the body of Masonry
Many Grand Masters, many Worshipful Masters must give their assent to this or some similar statement during the ceremony of install-action. But nowhere in the installation ceremony, is a definition offered as to the "Body of Masonry" or of "innovation."
There is less dispute over what constitutes the body of Masonry than regarding the nature of an innovation. Usually brethren agree that the body of Masonry is composed of the laws, customs, rules, landmarks, ceremonies, teachings, which make Freemasonry and not something else.
But some brethren include in the body matters which to others are but the mechanics, and it is here that the dispute arises. If ritual is a part of the body of Masonry then no change can be made in it. If the Old Charges are to be literally followed, then any law or practice which runs to the contrary is an innovation.
There is endless dispute as to what is and is not an innovation. What is an innovation to one is to another merely a change which does not affect fundamentals, and vice versa. Our ancient brethren met on high hills and in low vales. Was it an innovation when the operative masons of England began to hold their meetings in the building which later was to give its name to the assembly? Was it still further an innovation when Freemasonry moved from the operative builders' lodges into taverns and alehouses, from these to inns, from inns to hotels and restaurants (as in London) or Masonic Temples, as in America?
The Lesser Lights were originally candles or oil lamps fed with olive oil or fat drippings. Was it an innovation when Lesser Lights were fed from gas mains, and later, as is so universally the practice now, from electric wires? Agreed that the candle with its naked flame is a symbol, and the electric light but a symbol of a symbol; agreed that many an old fashioned Mason delights in the open flickering flame and finds in its shadows and its smoke, its consumption of tallow or wax that the light may be born, a symbol different (and more beautiful) from the symbolism of the Lesser Lights as expressive of Sun, moon and Master-still, few will say that the use of electric Lesser Light is an "innovation into the body of Masonry." As well say that steam heat, air cooling, an asphalt roof, marble floors, an elevator, a library. cloth aprons for the brethren instead of lambskins, are innovations into the body of Masonry. The times are streamlined. The trappings and the mechanics of living are streamlined. The metropolitan hotel now which does not have running ice water, a radio, electric fan, hot and cold water, private bath, telephone, valet service, room service, maid service, etc., is rare indeed. It is a far cry, to the tavern of simple bed and board of colonial days. Yet then, as now, a man received privacy, shelter, a bed, a meal: the modern hotel gives no more than that, albeit it provides it more comfort-ably so our ancient brethren who used candles, their modern descendants who use electricity, give but the same thing in a different form: give more comfortably, more luxuriously, doubtless, but give only three lights about an Altar, and as such, offer no innovation.
What, then, is an innovation ?
If some Grand Lodge legislated to use four Lesser Lights, or only, two, there would be a great cry of "innovation." Yet there are Lodges in which the Lesser Lights are not lit except for a degree and there are Lodges where no opening even for business is considered complete without their gentle radiance. At funerals held on a windy day often the candles will not stay lit; if electric candles are used, sometimes the battery burns out. Yet no one cries "Innovation" in such circumstances.
In no two jurisdictions of this; nation are the rituals the same, and none of the forty-nine are like the English. Irish, Scottish from one or all of which they have been derived. Changes have crept in. Ritual committees have worked their will with their phrases. Parts have been omitted as too difficult. Parts have been added as "prettier" or "necessary" or "better." Even the printed parts of the ritual, to be found in dozens of monitors or manuals, have not stayed the same in all Grand Lodges, and, what is interesting if not remarkable, some parts of the ritual which are "secret" and "mouth to ear" phrases in one Grand Lodge. are printed as exoteric work in others, and vice versa. . Which Grand Lodge then is the innovator?
All Grand Lodges affirm, and apparently all believe that they possess the best, the only correct ritual, regardless of the fact that any' elementary student knows that no ritual can possibly be as old as that which was brought to this country somewhere in or before 1731. Yet no Grand Lodge accuses another of making innovations that its ritual differs. the one from the other!
At least two Grand Lodges in the nation have approved the interpolation into a degree of an explanation of the penalties of the obligation Others have tried to do so and been .stopped by, ritual committees and by Grand Lodge itself. Yet forty-seven Grand Lodges do not hold that two Grand Lodges have made "innovations" because a rationalistic explanation (which can be found in a hundred books on Masonry) is added to, or sandwiched into, their rituals.
Approximately half the Grand Lodges of the United States either provide, permit, or wink at the possession of, a cipher of the secret work. The other half of the nation objects to the practice; some Grand Lodges regard the possession of a cipher ritual as a Masonic offense, which can subject the offender to Masonic trial and punishment. Yet one half a nation does not cry "Innovation" to the other half which permits the practice.
Freemasonry has a number of national organizations; the Grand Masters Conference, the Grand Secretaries Conference, the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association, the Masonic Service Association, the Masonic Relief Association of the United States and Canada. Decidedly, these are not innovations. Grand Masters confer---what is a Lodge meeting but a conference of brethren? The Memorial Association builds a Temple; have not Masons always been builders? The Masonic Service Association engages in labors of relief and of education; relief is one of the principal tenets of Freemasonry, and is not education stressed in the Fellowcraft degree? The Relief Association prevents the imposter from working his evil will; have not Masons always guarded against cowans and evesdroppers ?
But plans are constantly being put forward to form new organizations, the membership of which is predicated upon Lodge membership. So many barnacles have tried to fasten themselves on the Masonic ship that many Grand Lodges have legislated against any except a few which are recognized as belonging to the family. Yet here and there an "Innovation" in the form of a brand new tail to the Masonic kite is permitted, someday, perhaps to become an innovation which may, be distressing
Is a Masonic Home an innovation? The first in this country was in 1867-not three-quarter of a century ago. Kentucky started a practice which the nation as a whole took up -all jurisdictions today have either Home or Hospital or Infirmary or School or Charity foundation or Fund by which Grand Lodges help Lodges in their charity. Was it an innovation or merely a new way of expressing that charity which all Masons are taught?
A very old Grand Lodge has replaced its old rounded corner aprons with modern square cornered ones. Lovers of old ideas and old customs may regret this, but it is emphatically the business of a Grand Lodge to dress as it pleases. If any Grand Lodge did away with aprons and proposed to wear overalls, then in- deed, might the cry of innovation successfully be made. But the essential here is the apron; long, short, skin, cloth, silk, canvas, paper, even a handkerchief tied about the middle: none of these--so be it a symbol of the ancient practice which made the apron an integral part of Freemasonry--Is an innovation.
Unquestionably innovations have been made; equally unquestionably they are being made today. It seems equally, unquestionable that those who propose them, those in Grand Lodge who permit them, are motivated only by the highest desires to do good, and that neither proposers nor acquiescers think that what they do is an innovation.
Change is in the air. It is a changing day and time. The old order giveth away to the new. Restlessness, fear of the future, hope that trouble to come may be avoided, are dinned into Masonic as into secular ears by radio, magazine, newspaper, orator. Even Grand Masters are not immune, arid not infrequently make recommendations which, if. adopted, might easily open the door for innovations, if they are not innovations in themselves.
For obvious reasons no specific instances can well be given without, perhaps, hurting some Grand Master's feelings, or seeming to put this publication in the light of criticizing some Grand Lodge, neither of which it either desires or intends to do. If an example is needed to make matters clear, it may be noted that there is now and has been for some time, a strong trend toward liberalization of the "doctrine of the perfect youth"---the rule, law, landmarks, call it what you will, that an applicant for Freemasonry must be "hale and sound as a man ought to be"-or without blemish."
Those jurisdictions which strictly interpret the old law refuse the candidate who lacks a finger. Those jurisdictions which are Liberal in interpretation consider that an artificial leg or arm may well serve in place of the natural one.
The strict jurisdictions look upon the liberal interpretation as an innovation. The liberal jurisdictions consider it no more so than electric lights in place of candles.
In some jurisdictions dual membership has always obtained. Others forbid it. Others have legislated for it. Those to whom the idea that a man can belong to but one lodge has the sanction of a landmark, regard those who permit it as innovators. Those who permit it but point to England for their authority. In many Grand Lodges a hard working ritual committee must bring any proposed changes before Grand Lodge for authority to make the change. As a general rule ritual committees are loath to sanction any alterations but now and then some one gets an idea that an archaic expression or word might be plainer if modernized. Some words have changed their meaning since ritual first came into being; "Profane", for instance, which once meant outside the temple" now means "blasphemous; taking the name of God in vain." Yet "profane", meaning non-Mason is good Masonic language. Except in a Lodge, "Mote" for may or might" is no longer used. No suggestion is here made that any attempts have been made to alter these old expressions, but the principle is the same; the expressions some seek to change have equally the sanctity of age. Yet it can hardly be successfully, maintained that a change of a word in the ritual which has already suffered so many and such drastic changes in its formation, is an "innovation." Only attempts to put something new, different, un-Masonic into the ritual could be so considered---and such changes when proposed are invariably from the highest motives of patriotism, religion, morals, or, at the least, grammatical accuracy.
There is a constant effort made by the secular world to attach Freemasonry, to some one's high flying kite. We are asked to "join with us in laying a cornerstone" or to "form part of a procession in honor of our beloved Mayor" or to "contribute to the new hospital."
Masons do not "join" anyone in laying a cornerstone. They lay it. Masons form no part of any processions except their own, at funerals, cornerstone laying or Masonic Occasions. Lodges are forbidden by most Grand Lodges to use their money for non-Masonic purposes, no matter how worthy,. Masons as individuals walk in processions, join in secular cornerstone laying, contribute to hospitals; not as an organized Fraternity.
Yet here and there, now and then, some good brother rises to a position of authority without knowing all that he might have learned about old customs, ideas, landmarks, and if we are asked often enough, implored hard enough, entreated with sufficient vigor, sometime, somewhere, some one is bound to assent, and another "Innovation" is made.
It is against this tendency that thoughtful Mason are setting their faces; against including even the good, wholesome, important idea, if it is no part of Masonry. If the proposals to "Innovate" were of non-moral, evil, frivolous character, it would be easy to deny. But when the proposed innovation wears the garb of love of country or of God, or of mercy, or reward to the good and faithful servant. it is but human to want to yield---and sometimes it is accomplished and then we have the innovation, none the less real that it was done with innocence.
This Bulletin will have little point and less effect if cannot be considered as at least a voice crying in the wilderness against all changes which by their interpretation can be considered an innovation.
If every brother sets his face inexorably against change which alters fundamentals, he may permit as many electric lights for candles, enjoy as many Temples for inns, wear as many aprons of cloth in place of lambskin as he will, and still permit no "innovations in the body of Masonry."

Author Unknown
Masonic Short Talk Bulletin
September 1940

That there are men in our Order whose lives and characters reflect no credit on the Institution, whose ears turn coldly from its beautiful lessons of morality, whose hearts are untouched by its soothing influences of brotherly kindness, whose hands are not opened to aid in its deeds of charity is a fact which we cannot deny, although we may be permitted to express our grief while we acknowledge its truth. But these men, though in the Temple, are not of the Temple; they are among us , but are not with us; they belong to our household, but they are not of our faith; they are of Israel, but they are not Israel. We have sought to teach them, but they would not be instructed; seeing, they have not perceived; and hearing they have not understood the symbolic language in which our lessons of wisdom are communicated. The fault is not with us, that we have not given, but with them, that they have not received.
And, indeed, hard and unjust would it be to censure the Masonic Institution, because, partaking of the infirmity and weakness of human wisdom and human means, it has been unable to give strength and perfection to all who come within its pale. The denial of a Peter, the doubting of a Thomas, or even the betrayal of a. Judas, could cast no reproach on that holy band of Apostles of which each formed a constituent part.
"Is Freemasonry answerable," says Doctor Oliver (Landmarks ,page148),"for the misdeeds of an individual Brother Barnomeans. He has had the advantage of Masonic instruction, and has failed to profit by it. He has enjoyed Masonic privileges, but has not possessed Masonic virtue."
Such a man it is our duty to reform, or to dismiss; but the world should not condemn us, if we fail in our attempt at reformation. God alone can change the heart. Freemasonry furnishes precepts and obligations of duty which, if obeyed, must make its members wiser, better, happier men; but it claims no power of regeneration. Condemn when our instruction is evil, but not when our pupils are dull, and deaf to our lessons; for, in so doing, you condemn the holy religion which you profess. Freemasonry prescribes no principles that are opposed to the sacred teachings of the Divine Lawgiver, and sanctions no acts that are not consistent with the sternest morality and the most faithful obedience to government and the laws; and while this continues to be its character it cannot, without the most atrocious injustice, be made responsible for the acts of its unworthy members.
Of all human societies, Freemasonry is undoubtedly under all circumstances, the fittest to form the truly good man. But however well conceived may be its laws, they cannot completely change the natural disposition of those who ought to observe them. In truth, they serve as lights and guides; but as they can only direct men byre straining the impetuosity of their passions these last too often become dominant and the Institution is forgotten.
- Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry

A Mason soon learns that the ritual and ceremonies of a neighboring Jurisdiction are different from those by which he became a member of the Craft, but it is only when he travels widely through this great land, with its forty-nine Grand Jurisdictions and more than sixteen thousand Lodges, that he realizes in how many ways Masonic practice and custom have been altered by time, latitude and longitude, different people, ideas, beginnings.
As sons and daughters inherit from both father and mother, and are exactly like neither, so Masonic Grand Jurisdictions formed from Lodges of Several origins, are exactly like none of their several ancestors.

In a majority of our Grand Jurisdictions a sincere effort to use uniform ritual is made; to have the forms and ceremonies in Lodge A the same as in Lodges B, C and D. But uniform ritual is not universal, even in Jurisdictions which pride themselves upon the fact. Thus, in the District of Columbia, with its small territory and compact Masonic population, there is no difficulty in the maintenance of uniformity of ritual in forty-four of the forty-five Lodges. One Lodge has an especial ritual for a part of the Sublime Degree. It is "old Maryland work" and when Naval Lodge became Number 4 on the District of Columbia Grand Lodge register, it was with the proviso that it be permitted to keep this particular manner and method in the conferring of the third degree.

In Hiram Lodge No. 1, of Connecticut, the Master Mason's due guard is given with one hand, and in the Nutmeg State are several different rituals, all with the respectability of antiquity and all permitted by Grand Lodge.

In many Jurisdictions of the Union a candidate must pass through the ceremonies by himself, no matter how many candidates crowd the West Gate. In others, the visitor will find as many as five in a "class' all receiving the ceremonies, including the obligation, at once, and in Washington, D.C., as many as seven may receive the degree at one time. Here, as elsewhere, this is exclusive of the second section of the third degree, which all candidates receive alone. But in many Jurisdictions there is a "short form" for all third degree candidates except the last.

In spite of variations in ritual, form and ceremony, the nation is united in substance of Masonic teachings. One Jurisdiction - Pennsylvania - has a system of work more markedly different from others than these differ among themselves. The visitor to a Pennsylvania Lodge will find much that is unfamiliar. But when a Master's degree is concluded, he will see that the teachings and the fundamentals are the same, even while he marvels that the identical doctrine may be taught in so different if equally beautiful a manner from that he knows. Pennsylvania ritual and ceremonies are solemn and inspiring, as all Masonic ritual which teaches the faith and practice of the Ancient Craft must be; that they are "different" but makes them the more interesting to the stranger within the hospitable gates of a Lodge in the Keystone State.

In many Grand Jurisdictions, a single ballot elects for all three degrees. In others a ballot must be had on each candidate before each degree, and in Virginia there are two ballots before the Fellowcraft and Master Mason degree - one on the candidate's ritualistic proficiency, the other upon his moral worth and fitness. Many Jurisdictions adhere to the ancient custom of the examination of Entered Apprentices and Fellowcrafts in open Lodge, before permitting advancement; in others, the Master accepts the avouchment of an instructor that the candidates have attained a "suitable proficiency" to entitle them to the next degree.

Many old English taverns possessed an actual flight of winding stairs leading to an upper chamber; some historians have endeavored to connect the "winding stairs" to the middle chamber with these. However that may be, Lodges do not all use "floor carpets" with a "rude representation" of a flight of winding stairs. In many Temples in this country are beautiful flights of winding stairs leading either from the Lodge room to a room or gallery above, or from an ante- room to a "middle chamber" on an upper level. Detroit's magnificent Temple is so equipped, so is that in Fort Worth, Texas, and there are many in New York, to mention but a few. That it must be more impressive to the candidate actually ascending while learning his three, five and seven steps, is hardly open to argument.

The gavel with which the Master rules the Craft is of all shapes and sizes. The familiar mallet form, probably most common, occasionally gives way to the wedge-shaped tool with a handle more square than round, and sometimes to a setting maul. In some Jurisdictions there is a gavel in the East and setting mauls for the Wardens. Whatever the merit of the symbolism of the setting maul for a Master, it can become somewhat awkward, as when a beloved brother receives one made of precious metal in a weight of several pounds.

Past Master's jewels are usually formed of a pair of compasses open sixty degrees upon a quadrant. In a number of Jurisdictions, either from lack of familiarity with the original symbolism of this emblem, or for other reasons, the compasses are above a square, surrounded partially by the quadrant. In Pennsylvania, the Past Master's jewel is the same as in England - a silver representation of the forty- seventh problem of Euclid.

In forty-three of our forty-nine Grand Jurisdictions, Masons display the square and compasses on the Altar. In six they use the square and compass! In few, if any, of these six will the curious discover any serious attempt to defend the use of the word "compass" (which is a mariner's instrument) in place of the "compasses" (which is the tool used by architects and builders) . But "we have always called it compass" - and no one who knows and loves his old time ritual with all its curious verbiage and, sometimes, ungrammatical phrases, but will agree it is a good reason not to change.

Aprons are worn in one Jurisdiction in a certain way as a Fellowcraft and another way as a Master Mason. Cross the state line, and learn that what is correct for a Fellowcraft in one Jurisdiction is right only for a Master Mason in the next. And both Jurisdictions will have many good arguments to prove that theirs is the "one right way!"

Grand Lodge aprons differ from one another as one star differeth from another in glory. Massachusetts and New York equip their Grand Masters with aprons so heavily encrusted with gold embroidery and lace that they cost hundreds of dollars, are imported from abroad, weigh pounds, cannot be folded. and must be worn with a leather belt to hold them up! Rosettes and tassel, emblems and decorations, are upon many Grand Lodge officers' aprons. Texas has a Past Grand Master's apron in which the forty- seventh problem conventionalized and repeated in a circular form, is embroidered in many colors - the general effect at a little distance is of a beautiful bouquet of flowers. New Jersey edges all Grand Officers aprons with purple, and permits no emblems or decorations at all. The District of Columbia Grand Lodge Officers, from Grand Master to Tiler, wear lambskin aprons of white with a white silk edge.

Dress in Lodge and Grand Lodge varies with Jurisdiction and the time of meeting. In Pennsylvania a Grand Lodge Officer is correctly dressed only when he wears evening clothes, with a black tie and white gloves. In other Grand Lodges, meeting in the day, cutaway coats and striped trousers are correct - only recently did Delaware desist from the old "frock coat" of our forefathers in favor of more modern dress. But in many Grand Lodges any sort of dress is permissable, and more than one Grand Master of a fine Grand Jurisdiction has presided in a fedora and business suit. In extremely hot climes, it is not impossible to find a Grand Master presiding without a coat at all !

To most Masons a degree is a ceremony put on in a Lodge room in a Temple. In some Jurisdictions this Lodge room must be upon a second floor, to make certain no eavesdroppers may peep in through windows inadvertently left unshuttered. But not all degrees are so staged. In North Dakota, Utah and Arizona, to mention only three, degrees are not infrequently put on out of doors. North Dakota has a "Masonic Island", famous in that Jurisdiction for Masonic picnics, excursions, outings; upon it is a well-equipped Lodge room, the furniture made of cement, and degrees are put on under the trees.

Lodges usually meet every week, every two weeks, once a month, and the stated Communications are set forth as the "first Monday" or the "First and Third Tuesdays," etc. But there are yet some Lodges in the nation which meet "at the full of the moon" throwing backs to an early day when a moonlight night to go from farm to hall in town meant comfort, and a dark night, discomfort and danger.

Masonic funerals differ widely in the several States. In some the Master conducts the whole service; in others, the Wardens take part. Some Lodges deposit only the acacia - others add a scroll, and still others lay a glove with the apron. In one Jurisdiction, at least, the brethren all throw each a shovel full of earth into the grave. Some Jurisdictions have but one service - one has six. Many have two. Some are long, some are short. A very few are wholly comforting to the bereaved; many - based largely on the old Prestonian service - are gloomy with the "habiliments of death", the "silent tomb" "the mournful procession" and the "dark and gloomy grave."
Ceremonial forms differ widely. Two of the most colorful are unique - the "Grand Visitation" of the Grand Master and all his officers to every constituent Lodge in the District of Columbia, a ceremony replete with color, strictly according to an old ritual and quite different from anything of its kind elsewhere, and the "St. John's Day procession" of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. This beautiful and unique ceremony, in which the Grand Lodge parades through the Masonic Temple in honor of the newly elected Grand Master, includes carrying the red, white and blue candles, lighted, and the urn, made by Paul Revere, containing a lock of Washington's hair. The Grand Master, in golden apron, collar, armlets and cockade hat, is a resplendent figure, but the sanctity of age and long usage hangs over the ceremony, which none who are so fortunate to see ever forget.

The vast majority of Lodges meet at night a few, formed to give a Masonic home to night workers, meet in the day. Famous among these is St. Cecile, of New York, in which musicians of note, actors, newspaper men and others of talents which must be marketed after dark, hold Masonic congress in the afternoon. The vast majority of Lodges work in the English language, but there are several German speaking Lodges, notable Aurora of Wisconsin, and some which use the French, in New Orleans; others work in Spanish, in the far southwest. Most, if not all of these, are required by Grand Lodges to keep records in English.

In most Lodges nominations for Master are taboo - in Virginia, no election is possible without at least two nominations. True, the Senior Warden is almost invariably nominated and as almost invariably elected, but Virginia requires a possible choice made manifest to the brethren prior to election.
Membership is single, dual, plural. States having dual but not plural membership, permit their members, sojourning in foreign Jurisdictions, to join Lodges in those Jurisdictions, provided such have a reciprocal agreement. Plural membership Jurisdictions permit a brother to belong to as many Lodges as he will within the Jurisdiction, to which he cares to pay dues. In some Jurisdictions, to join another Lodge a brother must have a dimit, (or demit, depending on the orthography of the State.) In others he may get a "letter of transfer" which keeps him a member of his Lodge until elected by another Lodge; thus, if he is rejected in the Lodge of his choice, he is not without a Masonic home. Certain Grand Jurisdictions refuse a dimit unless a brother is to leave the State, or demonstrates that he is to join another Lodge and will not be an unaffiliated Mason.

And for a final curiosity, in one Grand Jurisdiction in the nation, it is not unheard of to appoint the newly made Past Grand Master as Junior Grand Steward, which serves the double purpose of giving him something to do for a year that he be not wholly lost when stepping down from the Grand East, and also takes from the new Grand Master all worries about the selection of his appointee.
​
Different men, different minds; different States, different ideas; different Jurisdictions, different Masonic practices. Yet in spite of the contrasts, the variations, the wide divergence in what seems to the untraveled Mason "the right Masonic way", Masonry in the United States is wholly at one in essentials; wholly a unit in its teachings, its fundamentals, its philosophy. It is one of the great tributes to the adaptability of the American genius, that it be so at variance in unimportant details, remaining so wholly united in all that is important and essential in the Ancient Craft.

​(So much interest was aroused by "Jurisdictional Contrasts", Short Talk Bulletin of July, 1935, and so many requests were made for "further light" on the differences in Masonic practices in the several States, that this Bulletin, really a continuation of Number 7, Volume Xlll, is offered the Masonic reading public.)

All Masons know the importance of the Tiler, and the scope of his duties. But the Tiler is only one brother - secrecy is a Masonic duty for all. Throughout the three degrees, and in the ceremonies of opening and closing a lodge, are references to the importance of preserving inviolate the secrets of the Order, preventing the approach of cowans and eavesdroppers, guarding against the disclosure of the esoteric work to those whom it is not proper to be made known.
In the Ritual explanation of the third cardinal virtue, Prudence, we are told (see most monitors) "This virtue should be the peculiar characteristic of every Mason, not only for the government of his conduct while in the Lodge, but also when abroad in the world. It should be particularly attended to, in all strange and mixed companies, never to let fall the least sign, token, or word whereby the secrets of Freemasonry might be unlawfully obtained.
The charge to the entered Apprentice admonishes him, among other things; "Neither are you to suffer your zeal for the Institution to lead you into an argument with those who, through ignorance, may ridicule it."
The FellowCraft is exhorted to preserve steadily "in the practice of every commendable virtue." In the Third Degree the newly Raised Master Mason learns that "The Book of Constitutions, guarded by the Tiler's Sword, reminds us that we should be ever watchful and guarded in our words and actions, particularly before the enemies of Masonry, ever bearing in remembrance those truly Masonic virtues, silence and circumspection."
Not only the "work," both printed and exoteric, and secret and esoteric, exhorts us to "silence and circumspection;" the inner meaning of the symbolism of the Tiler and his Sword teaches plainly that each of us should be a Masonic Tiler.
In other words, the duties of the Tiler are not confined to that officer; every Mason should be, in effect, a Tiler. He is a good Mason as his words and actions are duly "Tiled," and a detriment, if not a positive injury, to the Craft as he is careless of or indifferent to these duties.
In the ancient operative days the secrets of a Master Mason were valuable in coin of the realm. The Mason who knew the Master's Word could travel in foreign countries and receive Master's Wages. Many who could not, or would not, conform to the requirements tried to ascertain the Master's Word and some of a Master's skill in a clandestine manner.
The "eavesdropper" - literally, one who attempts to listen under the eaves, and so receives upon him the droppings from the roof - was altogether without the pale; he was only a common thief, who tried to learn by stealth what he could not learn by work.
The cowan was a more or less ignorant Mason; one who laid stones together without mortar, or piled rough stones from the field into a wall, without working upon them to make them square and true. He was a "Mason without a word" with no reputation; the apprentice who tried to masquerade as a master.
The operative Masons guarded their assemblies against intrusion of both the non-Mason thief, and the half-instructed craftsman, who, like the Fellowcrafts of old, desired to obtain the secret word of a Master Mason by force, rather than by labor.
While nothing very positive is known either as to the date when the guardian of the door first went on duty, or why he was called a Tiler, or Tyler, it is believed that the office is very ancient, and that, inasmuch as the man who put on the roof, or tiles, (tiler) completed the building and made those within secure from intrusion, so the officer who guarded the door against the intrusion was called, by analogy, a Tiler.
In modern days the Tiler of a lodge uses his sword only as a symbol of authority. While all faith and trust in his zeal is entertained by the Master and the Brethren, it is usual to make sure by a ceremony familiar to all Masons that no profane, cowan, or eavesdropper, Apprentice, or Fellowcraft has entered the lodge room of Master Masons prior to opening.
So ancient is the office, and so important the functions, that Mackey says that the Eleventh of his Twenty-Five Landmarks is "The Necessity that every lodge when congregated shall be duly tiled." But of what avail is it to tile a lodge meeting, if individual brethren do not "bear in remembrance those truly Masonic virtues, silence and circumspection;" if we fail to heed the charge and do suffer our zeal to leads us into argument with the profane, regarding Masonic matters?
Unless all of understand and abide by the need for us to tile our own words and actions, our portals might as well be in charge of a door keeper who would admit on the production of a printed ticket! In the profane world (the word is used in its ancient sense of meaning "without the doors of the Temple") considerable curiosity exists regarding the Masonic Fraternity. The inescapable newspaper reporter, with his accounts of Masonic meetings, does not lessen it. Public appearances of Masons naturally arouse curiosity; spectators are interested when the Grand Lodge, in silk hats and frock coats, embroidered Aprons and with solemn and ancient ceremony, lays the cornerstone of a church, or when a private lodge, attired in white Aprons and Gloves, conducts an impressive funeral, with customs quite different from those of the usual religious service.
Masonry has given to the language certain phrases used by the entire English speaking world. The "Third Degree" of the police is a perversion of a Masonic matter; so is the "goat" of the familiar joke. "He's on the level" - "He's on the square" are commonplaces. Naturally the public begins to ask questions. What is Masonry? Who may be Masons? Why can't women be Masons? What do Masons do? Why do you wear those funny little aprons? The Mason who is his own Tiler is "ever watchful and guarded" in what he answers.
To satisfy a legitimate curiosity about Freemasonry there is much information which a brother may conscientiously give. A sincere desire to learn something of the Fraternity, on the part of a man who is considering making an application, is an evidence of thoughtfulness. He is entitled to a serious and thoughtful answer to all proper questions. Much information regarding Masonry is printed; its history, its government, its extent, its public appearances - such matters are no more "secret" than a Masonic Temple is secret. Few Masons, not even the careless and indifferent, will disclose the esoteric work of the degrees; the modes of recognition, the words or our methods of teaching. It is not the disclosure of these that we who would tile our hearts and lips must fear.
But in between lies a vast body of knowledge and information which are borderland to both the exoteric and esoteric. Here the indifferent, the careless, the uninstructed and the ignorant can - and sometimes do - work an injury to the Fraternity. A Mason comes home from lodge and remarks to his wife - "Joe Smith has applied to the lodge. I'm glad old Joe is coming in!" Friend wife thinks nothing of it. Apparently it is a harmless statement.
"But suppose Joe Smith is blackballed!" "By the way," remarks Mrs. Mason, after a few months. "Why don't you call for Joe Smith when you go to lodge tonight?" What is the Mason going to say? What can he say? And so Mrs. Mason learns - and with the utmost innocence may tell - that Joe Smith applied for the degrees of Freemasonry and was rejected.
If Joe Smith wants to make the matter public, that's his business. But as a man may be rejected for the degrees for many reasons; and, while the public thinks only that the rejection means unfitness it's unfair for the lodge, or for any individual member of the lodge, to make the matter known.
This is offered merely as one small instance of the harm that may be done by a Mason who is not his own Tiler. A thousand others will occur to the thoughtful. Particularly should we Tile our lips in communities so small that a lodge meeting assumes almost the importance of a Public Event. As a general rule, we are well advised if we do not talk of anything which occurs in a lodge - even such matters as are harmless - with those who are not of the Fraternity, since such conversations give rise to questions, and questions lead to answers.
Freemasonry works her gentle miracles in men's hearts in a way which no profane can understand. Her reputation among the general public is that of silence, secrecy, good works, unselfish doing of good, failure to advertise and to seek publicity. These facts in the jewel of her reputation are the working tools of the Craft among the profane. Every inadvertence which breaks down any one of them, injures the Fraternity in the public eye and thus her ability to do good. Every airing of scandals, every dragging of lodge politics - hateful words! - into community talk, every disclosure of charity, even when dictated by pride, is, in the long run, injurious to the Fraternity.
Many good men and true seek to "improve" Masonry. Modern conditions do demand ideas; our brethren of two hundred years ago, for instance, never hard of a Masonic Home. Many "improvements" are wholly exoteric, and necessary. Others, so-called, attempt to change the "Ancient Usages and Customs," destroy some of the Landmarks and nullify some of the Old Charges. The Freemason who is his own Tiler will set his face steadfastly against all such efforts. As one bad egg will spoil an omelet, so the unfit candidate, admitted, does more harm to the lodge, and thus to the Fraternity, than ten good men and true can do good. The well Tiled Mason will be very careful in the petitions he brings into the lodge. It is not enough to say" "Oh, Jim's a good fellow." Jim must be more than a "good fellow" to be a real Mason. It is for us to see that we Tile the petitions we sign with truly Masonic "circumspection."
Finally - and perhaps most important of all personal duties we perform as Tiler - let us see to it that we do not ourselves bring anything into the lodge but brotherly love. Let us be "ever watchful and guarded" that, in the language of the Old Charges, we bring "no private piques or quarrels" within the tiled door. Not only with our lips but truly, let us meet on the level and part upon the square. Let us each so act in the lodge, as a brother, and out in the world, as a member of the Ancient Craft, that our brethren within, and our friends at large without, can be proud of what Masonry means. For only by so tiling ourselves can we insure that, that with which we are so solemnly charged as Entered Apprentices will endure; "that the honor, glory and reputation of the Institution may be firmly established and maintained; and, the world at large convinced of its good effects."

Freemasonry's truths are covered with symbolism and its insight with allegory. It is necessary to look behind the fact to see the truth and beyond the symbol to see the reality. This requires thought, study, reflection and an investment of time and effort.
Frederick Schopenhauer once said that philosophy must be understood by experience and thought, not as a mere passive reading or study. This is equally true of Freemasonry. The lectures of each degree of Freemasonry were drafted carefully in the shape of a series of moral principles and divided into sections. They are designed so that each Brother should be well acquainted with each before he be admitted to a higher degree. They were also designed in light of an understanding that knowledge acquired by graduated studies and in detail is a species of wealth which is endurable, and cannot be taken away.
Although the Brethren are urged to practice out of the Lodge the lessons learned therein, often the lessons are not sufficiently emphasized, are insufficiently explained, or are glossed over in the interest of time. Often, the goal is to complete the degrees in a short period of time, rather than to allow a contemplative period to digest the lessons and to interpret the symbols and allegories. The result is often a failure to learn the lessons and thus to put in the ranks some Brothers who do the Craft little credit and who are either ignorant of or indifferent to, even the purposes of the Order. Quick fixes, like fool's gold, are attractive and seemingly valuable until time and study prove them otherwise. Unearned advancement, like undeserved honors, degrades and diminishes.
One reason given for the goal to rush through the degrees is that men today lack the time to take the degrees in the manner used for hundreds of years. However, men make time for things they value. Unhappily, many prospective candidates are not informed that Freemasonry contains the secrets of successful and happy living, that it shows the way to allow the spiritual to overcome the material and thus to improvement, and that it supplies the answer to why we are here. Hence, its value is not readily apparent to them. Moreover, if men do not believe they want to take the time to attend a few meetings in order to receive the degrees in the traditional manner, or to prepare themselves for advancement, they likely would not believe they want to make time to devote to Lodge attendance, Lodge activities, or to discovering the underlying teachings of the symbols and allegories and to thus obtain an understanding of the truths of Freemasonry.
The German philosopher Georg Hegel was once asked to describe philosophy in one sentence, but realizing its depth and complexity, he took forty volumes to do so. He chose not to try to emulate the monk who, when asked to describe Christianity while standing on one foot, said simply - "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
Freemasonry can be described concisely. Some, attempting to do so, might say that it is a way of life, while others that it is dedicated to the regeneration of man and the reformation of human society. Others, in describing it, might quote from ritual and state that Masonry:  
1. is a series of allegories, the mere vehicles of great lessons in morality and philosophy; or
2. has as the basis for its doctrine a firm belief in the existence of God and of the immortality of the soul and for its purpose the practice of the social and moral virtues; or
3. is a progressive moral science taught by degrees; or
4. teaches us to subdue the passions, act upon the square, keep a tongue of good report, maintain secrecy and practice charity.
Such descriptions, however accurate, are superficial. They merely communicate some basic fundamentals or at best an overview. They only obliquely reference a few of Freemasonry's purposes and only sparsely some of its moral and philosophical principles.
Anyone desiring to become useful to the science of Freemasonry and to be able to apply it to enhance his living, cannot be content with a mere exposure to, and a hasty and incomplete understanding of, the externals, but will examine its esoteric secrets with enthusiasm. In doing so he will reap a full share of the blessings, which it is so well calculated to confer on society at large. To do so requires the thought, study and reflection necessary to look beyond the presentation. Without doing so, he will likely remain almost totally ignorant of the true principles of Freemasonry and of how to use them to produce a beautiful and meaningful effect.
We are here to labor for liberation from ignorance, to overcome the base passions, and to breach the bonds of limitation. It is necessary, therefore, to seek to be worthy of our immortal heritage, and to deserve the title of Freemason, not merely to possess it. Our novitiates must be encouraged to invest thought, study and reflection into learning and understanding the principles and lessons of Freemasonry. In doing so they will not only be wiser and happier, but will truly be able, by the influence of the pure principles of Freemasonry, to display the beauties of holiness, to the honor of the Almighty Father of the Universe.

​by Jack R. Levitt, PGM (California)

More than anything else, this is a time for Freemasonry to face reality and to be absolutely honest about the state of the Fraternity. We’ve looked in the ‘rear-view’ mirror long enough. The glory days are behind us -- and not even a miracle will return us to the 1950s and 1960s when many Lodges were holding special meetings in order to accommodate all the new initiates.
In all honesty, we must ask, "Why would a man want to become a Mason today?" There were very good reasons to become a Mason 40 years ago.
Being a Mason brought a man prestige in the community. It set you apart. A member of the Masonic Fraternity was a member of an elite group. This has all changed. Recently a Grand Master talked to two U.S. Senators about becoming Masons. Both turned him down!
What’s the popular view? Simple. People think we’re either dead or dying. Or, worse yet, irrelevant. There was a time when being a Mason put a man in touch with the right people. In many communities, the Masonic Lodge was the key to rubbing shoulders with the decision-makers, the movers and shakers-- the business and civic leaders. Everyone was a Mason. Only in rare instances is this true today.
Forty years ago, being a Mason made a difference in your career. We all remember the so-called "Masonic companies," firms that were filled with Masons from bottom to top. If you wanted to get ahead, you became a Mason.
The same was true if you were a local insurance agent or real estate broker, a barber or a butcher. Being a Mason gave you a network in the community. That’s how your business grew and prospered. In other words, there were power incentives for a man to become a Mason. Masonry conferred upon its members status, prestige and influence.
This is not the way it is today -- at least our sons and their friends are not impressed. When a friend of mine walked into my office and saw Masonic mementos, he said, "Why in the world do you want to be a Mason?"
In spite of the dramatic and far-reaching change in Masonry’s status in American society, there is no reason for despair. Masonry still fits the times -- not withstanding the fact that we have been horribly negligent in communicating the message. As much as in any other period, Freemasonry has a powerful role to play.
Masonry sets forth the values that make life worthwhile. It is clear that the 1990s are a period when there is public recognition that traditional values make a difference. Having "discarded" the importance of basic ethics for the past 25 years, there appears to be a return to the bedrock beliefs that made this country great -- the family, loyalty, hard work, honor and integrity. The basic -- and essential -- virtues.
In his recent book, More Like Us, James Fallows makes the issue crystal clear: "In the long run, a society’s strength depends on the way ordinary people voluntarily behave."
This has been the message of Freemasonry for the past three centuries! And it is just as true today as it was 40 or 200 years ago.
Masonry gives a man a positive picture of what it means to be a man. In a time when numbers are more important than a man’s name, this is a message that makes sense! No group or organization gives recognition to the worth of a man’s life as does Freemasonry. The Masonic message is simple: "You’re important." As Masons, we make one thing clear. "As a man, you have tremendous potential and we’re going to show you how to become the best." Masonry never looks down on a man. Masonry denies that a man is basically "bad." Masonry sees the possibilities in a man and gives him a way to reach for the stars.
Masonry separates a man from the crowd. The most incredible fact about being a Mason is that you can never, never forget that you are one. You can forget your wife’s birthday, but you can’t ever forget that you are a Mason. Show me a group that can make such an indelible impact on a man’s life?
As a Mason, I can never forget that I have a responsibility to live and conduct my business according to the tenets of Freemasonry. I can never be lost in the crowd. For a man to say, "I’m a Mason" sets him apart from other men.
Why, then, with all that we have to offer are we, as a Fraternity, slipping into the darkness of obscurity? Why are we not just fading away, but actually disappearing in an ever increasing rate?
The problem is not Masonry. The problem is not our beliefs or our ideals. The problem is one of leadership. Or, more to the point, our total lack of leadership at every level! For the past several decades, we have been in the midst of a leadership crisis -- and it’s killing us.
Let’s take a look at "Masonic leadership." The major qualification for being a leader in our Fraternity is time. If you can devote the time, you can get to the top. In the same way, leadership in Masonry is viewed as a "reward for good behavior." If you do what you’re told, attend a thousand meetings, and stay in line (in more than one way), you’ll get a jewel hung around your neck.
We even think that "going through the chairs" is "training." As a matter of fact, it is training of sorts. But what does a man learn? One thing that’s important, he learns how to play the game so that by the time he gets to the top he has achieved total ineffectiveness. He is completely useless as a leader!
If we take a closer look how we behave when it comes to leadership, the picture becomes quite clear. To put the matter bluntly, we are experts in putting the emphasis in all the wrong places. In other words, we do it backwards.
Masonry suffers from what I call "The Mussolini Syndrome." Benito Mussolini’s greatest achievement was making the trains run on time in Italy. The nation was in total chaos, but the trains left the station on time -- every time. This is the way we are as Masons. Here are just a few examples.
We are experts in getting meeting notices out -- on time. We meet every deadline. We take pride in such an accomplishment. The fact that no one comes to the meetings because they are so dull and boring doesn’t seem to distress us. We are experts in keeping accurate records. No one in the world can hold a candle to us when it comes to record keeping! We are the best! The fact that the statistics are going down hill at an ever increasing rate doesn’t seem to bother us. The accuracy of the figures is more important than their meaning.
We are experts in making reports. Our reports are always in proper form. We always use just the right words and no one’s name is ever left out. We take inordinate pride in our reports. The fact that 99% of our reports are totally meaningless doesn’t seem to faze us. We ignore the fact that our reports are all form, totally lacking in meaningful content. And then we have the audacity to repeat them year after year! Only the names and dates are changed.
We’re experts in holding ceremonies. Frankly, we’re good at ceremonies. We practice and practice. We aim at perfection. I suppose that’s a noble goal, in a way. What seems to escape us is that there’s no one there to see them. The membership is disappearing and all we’re left with is empty Temples. For some reason, this doesn’t seem to disturb us because we just keep on repeating the same old ceremonies -- all by ourselves.
We’re experts in taking care of our buildings. We are proud of the way we respect our Masonic property. Certainly, taking care of our buildings is better than to allow them to fall into disrepair. But, once again, we always seem to miss the point. Buildings are for activity -- and there’s nothing happening of any significance in our Temples 99% of the time. Again, this doesn’t bother us enough to demand action from our leaders.
We’re expert at putting men on committees. Take a look at the roster on any Masonic organization and you’d think that with so many men involved, mountains could be moved, every name is there. All are neatly printed. All are in proper order. Yet, it doesn’t seem to bother us that our committees are little more than empty shells. They lack talent, skill and ability. For the most part, they have no power or authority. They are to do as they are told. For the most part, they are to do nothing.
If we happen to find a man with talent, we toss a cabletow around his neck to make sure he doesn’t do anything new or different! Or, as we say in the west, we hog tie him. We only want him to repeat what’s been done the last 40 years.
With all this in mind, why doesn’t Masonry get strong, creative leaders -- men who are capable of taking our Fraternity into the 21st century?
The answer is clear: We don’t want strong leaders! We don’t want new ideas. We don’t want interesting programs. We don’t want excitement. We don’t want the boat rocked. Anyone who tries to be "different" by being innovative or creative will have his wings clipped quickly by a group of men with the term "Past" after their names. This is why we have the type of leaders -- at every level -- we do today.
Let’s face it. Our leaders clone themselves by bringing in replacements who are like themselves. Over and over again it happens -- and nothing changes because nothing can change. This is our problem.
A competent man with real leadership potential may love Freemasonry, but he is not going to spend his valuable time "doing what he is told," knocking his head against a brick wall, or going through the motions just to get to the top.
In effect, the Masonic leadership message is clear: Behave yourself. Put in the time. Don’t rock the boat. Do as you’re told. Keep your mouth shut. If you speak, just echo what the "leader" has just said. Don’t come up with new ideas. Bow and scrape. Don’t question anything. And, if you’re a good fellow, you’ll get the Masonic goodies. In other words, we have exactly what we want and what we deserve: a Fraternity of petty and pathetic bureaucrats -- and it’s killing us.
If this is the current leadership situation, what needs to change to meet the challenge of the decade ahead -- and beyond? We need leaders with very specific qualities:
Our leaders must possess imagination. We need leadership standards. We need job descriptions for leadership positions. We need to get down on paper what we expect from those who guide us. What are their goals and objectives? What do they want to accomplish while in office? The membership has a right to know what our leaders are thinking. What are their ideas? Are they just carbon copies of those who have gone before them, or do they possess the abilities necessary to move our Fraternity forward?
Our leaders must be able to bring a sense of excitement to the Fraternity. Frankly, we should get down on our knees every day and thank God for our members. No single group of men puts up with more dull nonsense than do the Masons of America! And then they keep on paying their dues year after year!
Leadership means being able to move men’s hearts, to make them proud of their Masonic membership. Leadership means being able to motivate men to action. It means getting Masons to come out of the closet and demonstrate their enthusiasm for the Fraternity.
Masonic leadership means a willingness to take bold steps. The job today is one of getting Masonry on TV and in the newspapers. It’s being out in front and highly visible. Yet, we seem to think we’re doing something important if we have a booth at a county fair. That’s nothing. We need blimps! If we don’t start thinking big, we’re through.
Our leaders must possess a new vision for our Fraternity. Where do we want Freemasonry to be in the year 2000? How are we going to get there? What must happen to get things moving? How are we going to mobilize the resources so that we make a difference? This is the vision that can put Masonry on the map -- where it belongs.
If a man does not have this kind of vision, if he does not possess the skill to make things happen, then he should not be elevated to a leadership position.
Masonry can once again provide men with status, prestige and influence. 
That’s possible because the times are right. But it will only happen if we have leaders with courage and conviction.
So, what’s my advice? How do we get leaders who can make a difference? Frankly, we need men who are willing to be daring. I recommend this approach:
"If you have a good idea, go ahead and do it because it is much easier to apologize than it is to ask permission."
I realize that such a strategy is subversive, but saving our Fraternity makes it right for the times. In the same way, we must start ignoring the past and start adoring the future. We’ve looked in the ‘rear-view’ mirror long enough.
Finally, we must stop worrying about how important we are and start thinking seriously about what it’s going to take to save Freemasonry. That’s leadership. And that’s setting the pace.

​A presentation of John R. Graham, 33º, consultant in public relations and fund raising to the Northern Jurisdiction Scottish Rite and other Masonic Bodies, at a 1993 Scottish Rite regional work shops. The written word is not as effective as he, a former minister, who really fires up an audience. You will like some parts and not like other parts —but please— think about it. Reprinted from the Southern California Research Lodge Papers, by Kena Computer Club, the home of Hiram’s Oasis, the Masonic Computerized Bulletin Board, 703-938-4990. For further information write: Kena Computer Club, PO Box 456, Merrifield, VA 22116.

You are preparing to become a Freemason.

How are you preparing? You have the ambition to put upon your breast a tiny pin, representing the Square and Compasses; an ambition to be known as a Master Mason; an ambition to join the great Fraternity of which, perhaps, your father was a member; an ambition to be one of that large brotherhood of which you may have heard so much and of which you know so little.

So you asked a friend, whom you knew to be a Freemason, how to proceed. He gave you a petition to fill out and sign. You were asked to declare your belief in God, and probably your friend explained to you that "God" here means the Supreme Architect of the Universe, call Him by what name you will. He may be to you God or Jehovah or Adonai or Buddha or Allah . . . it makes no difference to Freemasons by what Name you call Him, so there is within you the humble acknowledgement that you are a creature of His, and that He reigns over the heavens and the earth.

It is all very simple; the other questions are of a practical and mundane character, and give you no hint of what a degree may be, in what sort of a ceremony of initiation you will participate, what kind of a fraternity Freemasonry is.
And so there was no hint given you in the paper you signed as to what sort of preparation you should make to become a Freemason. Freemasonry jealously guards her reputation, which is of humility and self-effacement as well as of secrecy and good works.

Freemasonry does not advertise herself. While her contacts with the world are numerous and commonplace, she works so silently, so quietly, that the world knows little of her labors. You seldom hear Freemasonry discussed in public, and references to Freemasonry in the literature of all countries are so cunningly concealed, that you, and all others not members of the Craft, have almost nothing to guide you as to what you should do to and for yourself before you take your Entered Apprentice Degree.
But if you seek, you shall find, in Freemasonry as well as elsewhere. if the friend to whom you went for your petition is a well informed Freemason -- and not all good Freemasons are as well informed, or as articulate about what they know, as you might like -- he will tell you certain things. in case he cannot or will not speak, some of those things are set down here.
You asked a friend to take your petition into his lodge. His lodge is his Masonic home. Around it cluster all those happy memories, all those beautiful thoughts, all those heart-searching experiences, which go with the word "home." You asked him, therefore, to pay you the complement of taking you into one of the sacred places of his life; in the hope that it will be, and the implied promise that if admitted it shall be, to you one of the sacred places of your life.

You asked not a stranger, but a friend, for this. And his first reply was to direct you to express yourself as to your belief in God.
It does not take a very clever man to see that with such a beginning -- the call of friendship, the sacredness of home, and the belief in God -- Freemasonry is not a joke, not a foolish fun organization, not a club of "good fellows"; not an organization to join as one would a Board of Trade, for business purposes. it is obvious to any one who thinks, that Freemasonry must be dignified, beautiful, impressive, that it must have a real meaning, a real part to play in a man's life.

Therefore, Brother-to-be, make your preparations to become a Freemason as you would prepare for any other great and ennobling experience of life.
When your petition was signed and delivered, the matter was out of your hands. The lodge assigned a committee to ascertain if you are worthy, from their standpoint, to be of the lodge. Your name was voted on, in due time. You were elected. Now you are notified to present yourself at the West Gate for initiation.
When you go, go clean in mind, in body and in heart.

Take from your mind and cast away forever all thought that there is a "lodge goat" awaiting you, or that your friends are going to "have fun with you." There are fun-loving organizations which cast aside solemnity and spend most of their evenings in laughter and play. But in a Master Mason's lodge, never! There is not a word spoken, an action performed, which can hurt your dignity or your feelings; there is no torture, physical or mental, to degrade you or Freemasonry. There is no "horse play" or other unhappiness awaiting you.
What is done with you has a meaning; the part you play is symbolic, and intended to make a "deep and lasting impression on your mind" of truths, the full understanding of which make you a better man. Put all fear from your mind; remember that is among friends you go, and that the first question they asked you was of your belief in a common Father; men do not start thus who begin to play a joke.

Go clean in body, as you would go clean to a christening or a baptism. nor resent this instruction here; there is intended no insinuation that you are not always clean. but go made clean expressly for this ceremony; though you have but just come from the bath for the evening, go once more and bathe with the thought that you are preparing now for a great step, that the water which laves your body is also, symbolically, cleansing your mind and your heart. Put on your freshest linen, and let its spotlessness be symbolic of that spotlessness your thoughts should have. For if you neglect these things you will be sorry, afterwards; what Freemasonry does to you is done to you, not your brethren that will be, and Freemasonry will mean more to you as you approach her Altar humbly and purified.

Finally, Brother-to-be, go with a humble and contrite heart. If it is in your power to do so, put from your heart all evil. If you have an enemy, make an effort to forgive him before you enter the portals of the Temple. If you have don a sin, do your best to honestly regret it before you pass through the West Gate. if you have wronged any one, make up your mind to right the wrong; you will be the happier man later in the evening if you do. And just before you leave your home, go alone in a quiet room, and, all unashamed, get upon your knees before that God in whom you believe, and ask His blessing upon what you are about to do. pray humbly for the wit to understand what you are about to hear. Ask that it may be given to you to be a good Freemason, to be a brother to others who will be brothers to you, a real workman in the quarry, erecting to Him a Temple not made with hands.
​
So shall you become an Entered Apprentice with the greatest benefit to your brethren, and real joy to yourself.

Author: Carl H. Claudy 
​An essay printed in 1925 by the Committee on Masonic Education and Service of the Grand Lodge of Texas A.F.&A.M. and mentioned in the Short Talk Bulletin "Truly Prepared" (May, 1926)

An experience in freemasonry usually upsetting to the newly-raised brother is his first visit to a lodge in another jurisdiction than his own. Having carefully been taught a certain ritual, in all probability with positive emphasis upon the necessity of being “letter perfect,” he learns with a distinct shock that the ritual in other States differs from his own, and these differ each from the other.
If he converses with those “well informed brethren who will always be as ready to give as you will be to receive instruction” he is more than apt to be met with a puzzled, “I don’t know, I’m sure, just why they are different from us, but of course. ours is correct.”
The riddle becomes much plainer as the neophyte studies Masonic history - but, alas, many never open a Masonic book! Yet divergences in ritual cannot be understood without some historical background. It is necessary to understand, for instance, that Freemasonry came to this country, some time prior to 1731, at a time when English ritual was in a process of formation. We did not receive our Masonry from one central source. but from several; nor did we obtain it as a whole. Several different localities, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia) received Freemasonry from across the sea and from them our forms and ceremonies radiated to other sections. The schism in the first Grand Lodge in England (1753) resulted in two Grand Lodges; the “Ancients” (the younger, schismatic body) and the “Moderns”” (the older. original Grand Lodge). Each had its own ritual; our rituals sometimes lean to one, sometimes to the other, and often to both. Literal ritualism is comparatively a modern matter; and “mouth to ear” in the early days meant nothing more than giving of information, not transmitting it in a set form of words. Most of our Grand Lodges have been formed by a union of particular Lodges, many of which received each its ritual from a different source, with the result that the ritual finally adopted is a combination of several. And finally, Grand Lodges have not infrequently changed, added to and taken from their own rituals, either as matter of legislation or by the easier course (in early days) of adopting with little or no question the variations suggested by positive minded ritualists, Grand Lecturers, Custodians of the Work, ritual committees and so on. Some of these, unfortunately, had little or no Masonic background, and changed and altered, added and subtracted with no better reason than “this seems much better to us!”
Certain fundamentalists are to all intents and purposes the same in every one of our forty-nine Grand Jurisdictions. All American Lodges have a Master and two Wardens, a Secretary and Treasurer, an Alter with the V.S.L. and the other Great Lights, three degrees; unanimous ballot required; make Masons only of men; have the same Substitute Word given in the same way; are tiled; have a ceremony of opening and closing. To some extent all dramatize and exemplify the Master’s Degree, although the amount of drama and exemplification differs widely.
But beyond these and a few other simple essentials are wide variations. Aprons are worn one way in one degree in one Jurisdiction and another way in the same degree in another. Some Jurisdictions have more officers in a Lodge than others. In some Jurisdictions Lodges open and close on the Master Mason’s degree; others on the First degree; others only in the degree which it to be “worked.” Lesser Lights are grouped closely about the Altar, in the stations of the Master and Wardens. In some Lodges the I.P.M. (immediate Past Master) plays an important part, as in England. Other Lodges know him not Some Lodges have Inner Guards and two Masters of Ceremonies - others will have none of these.
Dividing, lettering, syllabling are almost as various in practice as the Jurisdictions. Obligations show certain close similarities in some requirements; but what is a part of the obligation in one jurisdiction may be merely an admonition in another, and “vice versa.”
Discovering all this (and much more) the thoughtful initiate is apt to wonder why it is deemed so important that he memorize his own particular “work” so closely; when he travels he finds that what he knows as familiar words and forms and phrases are strange to the Lodges he visits. Not is this the place to ague for purity of the ritual as taught. There are good and sufficient reasons why we should hand on to our sons and their sons the ritual as we received it - if only to preserve without further alteration and change that which was formed by the fathers. Suffice it that while uniformity in work within a Jurisdiction is fairly well established as good American Masonic practice, it is not universal. there are several “workings” for instance, permitted in English Lodges, and even in some American Jurisdictions (“vide” Connecticut) not all Lodges use the same ritual. The reasons for all this are so involved, complex, and cover such a long period; that a complete understanding is difficult even for the student willing to read the enormous amount of history and authority which may make it plain. Briefly, and in general, the matter becomes clearer if we visualize our sources of ritual.
We received our Masonry from:
The Mother Grand Lodge of England 1717-1753
The Grand Lodge of the “Ancients” 1753-1813
The Grand Lodge of the “Moderns” 1753-1813
The United Grand Lodge 1813 and on -
The Grand Lodge of Ireland 1724- and on -
The Grand Lodge of Scotland 1736 and on -
and From the Pre-Grand Lodge era of Lodges of England, Ireland and (or) Scotland.
Unfortunately for the historian, this list does not signify six or seven different but “pure” forms. The ritual of the original Grand Lodge changed as it flowed, through many years after 1717. The Grand Lodges of “Ancients” and “Moderns both made alterations in ritual so that rival members of each body found it impossible to make themselves known Masonically in the other. Ireland and Scotland were, and are, as different as Pennsylvania and California. From pre-Grand Lodges members came to this country to form themselves into Lodges without Warrant or Charter (as was the custom in early days). A dozen men, bringing “what they remembered of the” ritual they heard when “made,” to form a Lodge, would naturally include in their ritual a little of one original source, some phrases from another beginning, a paragraph from a third wellspring, and so on.
The Mother Grand Lodge ritual (1717 to 1753) was not the ritual of the United Grand Lodge which came into existence in 1813, when the two parts of the original Mother Grand Lodge (“Ancients” and “Moderns”) again came together. The United Grand Lodge, or Grand Lodge of Reconciliation, formed its ritual from the best of the divergent rituals of the “Ancients” and the “Moderns.”
Thus, Lodges in this country which received ritual, in any and all states of purity or impurity, from either of these several sources, would differ decidedly each from the other.
Come we now to the spread of Masonry in the thirteen colonies, and later, through the forty-eight states, territories, and the District of Columbia. To write even one paragraph of Masonic history of ritual in so many subdivisions would make this Bulletin unreadably long. But a few high lights may be noted.
From our primary American sources of ritual, in one way or another all other American Grand Jurisdictions, in part at least, received their “work;” Massachusetts, which at first sent forth what must have been at least an approximation of the work of the original Mother Grand Lodge, though her ritual today is derived from both “Moderns” and “Ancients;” Pennsylvania and Virginia, both giving forth individual variants of a combination of “Modern” and “Ancient,” and North Carolina, almost purely “Modern.”
In 1915 Dean Roscoe Pound showed how various were the next groups of States which received their rituals from the first four American sources. He developed that Maine derived from Massachusetts since the fusion; Vermont derived from the Grand Lodge of “Ancients” in Massachusetts before the fusion; Ohio derived from Massachusetts, from Connecticut, a strictly “Modern” Jurisdiction, and from Pennsylvania; Indiana derived from Ohio and Kentucky, which later represents Virginia after the fusion, Michigan derived from the “Ancient” Grand Lodge of Canada and from New York, which since the Revolution was a Strictly “Ancient” Jurisdiction; Kentucky derived from Virginia; Tennessee derived from North Carolina, a purely “Modern” Jurisdiction; Alabama derived from North Carolina, from South Carolina and from Tennessee, thus representing Virginia and North Carolina; Louisiana derived from South Carolina, from Pennsylvania and from France; Florida derived from Georgia and from South Carolina; Missouri derived from Pennsylvania and from Tennessee, representing therefore, the fusion in Pennsylvania and the “Modern Masonry” of North Carolina; Illinois derived from Kentucky and so represents Virginia; and the District of Columbia derived Maryland (a fusion of “Modern Masonry from Massachusetts and from England direct, with the “Ancient Masonry” from Pennsylvania), and from Virginia.
The further west we go, the more we find a mixture of sources, complicated rather than simplified by such matters as the splitting of the Grand Lodge of Dakota into the Grand Lodge the of South Dakota and North Dakota, when these two States were formed, and the formation of the Grand Lodge of California, which drew its work from many different sources. California Lodge No.13, of the District of Columbia, was formed for the purpose of carrying Masonry to the Golden Gate at the time of the gold rush. That Lodge is now No.1 on the California Grand Lodge Register. But California’s ritual is not more similar to the District of Columbia working than that of any other State, since the District Lodge was but one of several which formed the Grand Lodge of California.
There have been certain unifying influences; the Baltimore Convention of 1843, the conclusions of which were adopted in whole or in part by several American Grand Jurisdictions, and the work of Bob Morris and his conservators, which, despite its chilly reception by many Grand Jurisdictions, undoubtedly left its impression on American ritual. A third unifying influence has been the tremendous impress made on almost all American Jurisdictions by Thomas Smith Webb, and Jeremy Cross, plainly evident in the exoteric paragraphs printed in many State Monitors or Manuals. A fourth has been the honest desire and strenuous efforts of many Grand Lodges through District Deputies, Grand Lecturers, Schools of Instruction and similar machinery, to preserve what they have in its supposedly ancient perfection. But by the time these latter were in operation, ritual was more or less fixed. Because of the reverence of the average Mason for what he is taught, and his fierce resentment of any material change in that which he learns, rituals and degree forms, ceremonies and practices, usages and customs continue to be what he believes them to have been “from time immemorial” even when sober fact shows that they have an antiquity of (in all probability) less than two hundred years.
For the benefit of those Masons to whom divergence of ritual is not the less distressing thing, but that it is understandable, it may be said that most authorities agree that it is really not a matter of great moment. All over the world Freemasonry teaches the same truths, offers the same spiritual comfort, creates and continues the same fraternal bond. In “non essentials, variety; in essentials, unity” might have been written of Masonry. It matters little how we wear the apron in a given degree - so be it that it is worn with honor. The method of giving a sign or a pass matters much less than that what we do is done with understanding.
While Freemasonry continues to observe and revere those few Landmarks which are undisputed everywhere - those which Joseph Fort Newton says are “The Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood of Man, and the hope of Life Everlasting,” it becomes of less moment that different men, in different times, in different localities, have found more than one way to phrase and to teach the ancient verities of the old, old Craft.

​Author Unknown