LANDMARKS 14 TO 25
LANDMARK FOURTEENTH THE RIGHT OF EVERY FREEMASON TO VISIT
and sit in every regular Lodge is an unquestionable Landmark of the Order.
This is called the right of visitation. This right of visitation has always
been recognized as an inherent right, which inures to every Freemason as he
travels through the world. And this is because Lodges are justly considered
as only divisions for convenience of the universal Masonic family. This
right may, of course, be impaired or forfeited on special occasions by
various circumstances; but when admission is refused to a Freemason in good
standing, who knocks at the door of a Lodge as a visitor, it is to be
expected that some good and sufficient reason shall be furnished for this
violation, of what is in general a Masonic right, founded on the Landmarks
of the Order. LANDMARK FIFTEENTH It is a Landmark of the Order, THAT NO
VISITOR, UNKNOWN TO THE BRETHREN PRESENT, or to some one of them as a
Freemason, can enter a Lodge without first passing an examination according
to ancient usage. Of course, if the visitor is known to any brother present
to be a Mason in good standing, and if that brother will vouch for his
qualifications, the examination may be dispensed with, as the Landmark
refers only to the cases of strangers, who are not to be recognized unless
after strict trial, due examination, or lawful information. LANDMARK SIXTEENTH NO LODGE CAN INTERFERE IN THE BUSINESS
OF ANOTHER LODGE, nor give degrees to brethren who are members of other
Lodges. This is undoubtedly an ancient Landmark, founded on the great
principles of courtesy and fraternal kindness, which are at the very
foundation of our Institution. It has been repeatedly recognized by
subsequent statutory enactments of all Grand Lodges. LANDMARK SEVENTEENTH It is a Landmark that EVERY FREEMASON
is AMENABLE TO THE LAWS AND REGULATIONS OF THE MASONIC JURISDICTION in which
he resides, and this although he may not be a member of any Lodge.
Non-affiliation, which is, in fact, in itself a Masonic offence, does not
exempt a Freemason from Masonic jurisdiction. LANDMARK EIGHTEENTH CERTAIN QUALIFICATIONS OF CANDIDATES
FOR INITIATION are derived from a Landmark of the Order. These
qualifications are that he shall be a man-shall be unmutilated, free born,
and of mature age. That is to say, a woman, a cripple, or a slave, or one
born in slavery, is disqualified for initiation into the rites of
Freemasonry. Statutes, it is true. have from time to time been enacted,
enforcing or explaining these principles; but the qualifications really
arise from the very nature of the Masonic Institution, and from its symbolic
teachings, and have always existed as Landmarks. LANDMARK NINETEENTH A BELIEF IN THE EXISTENCE OF GOD AS THE
GRAND ARCHITECT of the Universe, is one of the most important Landmarks of
the Order. It has been always deemed essential that a denial of the
existence of a Supreme and Superintending Power, is an absolute
disqualification for initiation. The annals of the Order never yet have
furnished or could furnish an instance in which an avowed atheist was ever
made a Freemason. The very initiatory ceremonies of the First Degree forbid
and prevent the possibility of so monstrous an occurrence. LANDMARKTWENTIETH Subsidiary to this belief in God, as a
Landmark of the Order, is THE BELIEF IN A RESURRECTION TO A FUTURE LIFE.
This Landmark is not so positively impressed on the candidate by exact words
as the preceding; but the doctrine is taught by very plain implication, and
runs through the whole symbolism of the Order. To believe in Freemasonry,
and not to believe in a resurrection, would be an absurd anomaly, which
could only be excused by the reflection, that he who thus confounded his
belief and his skepticism, was so ignorant of the meaning of both theories
as to have no rational foundation for his knowledge of either. LANDMARK TWENTY-FIRST It is a Landmark, that a "BOOK OF THE
LAW" shall constitute an indispensable part of the furniture of every Lodge.
I say advisedly, a Book of the Law, because it is not absolutely required
that everywhere the Old and New Testaments shall be used. The "Book of the
Law" is that volume which, by the religion of the country, is believed to
contain the revealed will of the Grand Architect of the Universe. Hence, in
all Lodges in Christian countries, the Book of the Law is composed of the
Old and New Testaments; in a country where Judaism was the prevailing faith,
the Old Testament alone would be sufficient; and in Mohammedan countries,
and among Mohammedan Freemasons, the Koran might be substituted. Freemasonry
does not attempt to interfere with the peculiar religious faith of its
disciples, except so far as relates to the belief in the existence of God,
and what necessarily results from that belief. The Book of the Law is to the
speculative Freemason his spiritual Trestle-board; without this he cannot
labor; whatever he believes to be the revealed will of the Grand Architect
constitutes for him this spiritual Trestle-board, and must ever be before
him in his hours of speculative labor, to be the rule and guide of his
conduct. The Landmark, therefore, requires that a Book of the Law, a
religious code of some kind, purporting to be an exemplar of the revealed
will of God, shall form an essential part of the furniture of every Lodge. LANDMARK TWENTY-SECOND THE EQUALITY OF ALL MASONS is another
Landmark of the Order. This equality has no reference to any subversion of
those gradations of rank which have been instituted by the usage of
"society. The monarch, the nobleman or the gentleman is entitled to all the
influence, and receives all the respect which rightly belong to his exalted
position. But the doctrine of Masonic equality implies that, as children of
one great Father, we meet in the Lodge upon the level-that on that level we
are all traveling to one predestined goal-that in the Lodge genuine merit
shall receive more respect than boundless wealth, and that virtue and
knowledge alone should be the basis of all Masonic honors, and be rewarded
with preferment. When the labors of the Lodge are over, and the brethren
have retired from their peaceful retreat, to mingle once more with the
world, each will then.again resume that social position, and exercise the
privileges of that rank, to which the customs of society entitle him. LANDMARK TWENTY-THIRD THE SECRECY OF THE INSTITUTION is
another and a most important Landmark . There is some difficulty in
precisely defining what is meant by a secret society. If the term refers, as
perhaps, in strictly logical language it sh6uld, to those associations whose
designs are concealed from the public eye, and whose members are unknown,
which produce their results in darkness, and whose operations are carefully
hidden from the public gaze-a definition which will be appropriate to many
political clubs and revolutionary combinations in despotic countries, where
reform, if it is at all to be effected, must be effected by stealth-then
clearly Freemasonry is not a secret society. Its design is not only publicly
proclaimed, but is vaunted by its disciples as something to be venerated-its
disciples are known, for its membership is considered an honor to be
coveted-it works for a result of which it boasts-the civilization and
refinement of man, the amelioration of his condition, and the reformation of
his manners.
But if by a secret society is meant-and this is the most popular
understanding of the term-a society in which there is a certain amount of
knowledge, whether it be of methods of recognition, or of legendary and
traditional learning' which is imparted to those o ' nly who have passed
through an established form of initiation, the form itself being also
concealed or esoteric, then in this sense is Freemasonry undoubtedly a
secret society. Now this form of secrecy is a form inherent in it, existing
with it from its very foundation, and secured to it by its ancient
Landmarks. If divested of its secret character, it would lose its identity,
and would cease to be Freemasonry. Whatever objections may, therefore, be made to the
Institution, on account of its secrecy, and however much some unskillful
brethren have been willing in times of trial, for the sake of expeliency, to
divest it of its secret character, it will be ever impossible to do so, even
were the Landmark not standing before us as an insurmountable obstacle;
because such change of its character would be social suicide, and the death
of the Order would follow its legalized exposure. Freemasonry, as a secret
association, has lived unchanged for centuries-as an open society it would
not last for as many years. LANDMARK TWENTY-FOURTH THE FOUNDATION OF A SPECULATIVE SCIENCE
UPON AN OPERATIVF ART, and the symbolic use and explanation of the terms of
that art, for purposes of religious or moral teaching, constitute another
Landmark of the Order. The Temple of Solomon was the cradle of the
Institution, and, therefore, the reference to the operative Masonry, which
constructed that magnificent edifice to the materials and implements which
were employed in its construction, and to the artists who were engaged in
the building, are all component and essential parts of the body of
Freemasonry, which could not be substracted from it without an entire
destruction of the whole identity of the Order. Hence, all the comparatively
modern rites of Freemasonry, however they may differ in other respects,
religiously preserve this temple history and these operative elements,. as
the substratum of all their modifications of the Masonic system. LANDMARK TWENTY-FIFTH The last and crowning Landmark of all is, that THESE LANDMARKS CAN NEVER BE CHANGED. Nothing can be subtracted from them-nothing can be added to them-not the slightest modification can be made in them. As they were received from our predecessors, we are bound by the most solemn obligations of duty to transmit them to our successors. Not one jot or one title of these unwritten laws can be repealed; for in respect to them, we are not only willing, but compelled to adopt the language of the sturdy old barons of England, Nolumus leges mutari, let the laws abide. CLICK HERE: TO TOP OF PAGE
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