From the Office of the Right Worshipful Grand Lecturer
The Secrecy of Masonry
The element of mystery has always had it fascination for mankind.
What lies beyond the mountains? Some youth is certain to climb the topmost peak to discover that beyond his familiar narrow valley, there stretches a great bright world of enchantment.
What lies beyond the grave? And even the arch-doubter confesses, we stand between the barren peaks of two eternities; we seek to pierce beyond the veil; but have no answer from the darkness, save the echo of our cry.
Mystery! The very work itself is an interesting study. For us it signifies that which is unknown and unexplained; that original meaning of the word.
Freemasonry, following the sure instinct of the great teachers of the race, throws the veil of mystery about its Temple; half conceals, half discloses those ideals, that mystic light and truth that are the glory of our humanity. By the very mystery it would lure men to the quest. Were the privileges of Masonry to be bestowed indiscriminately, the very objects of its being would be subverted; being to familiar, would lose their attractiveness and sink into disregard. It is one of the traits of our human nature that we value that for which we must seek; and difficulty of attainment but adds to our sense of value. The value to man does not consist in the truth which he possesses, but in the sincere pains that he hath taken to find it out.
Let it be made clear, that this secrecy does not extend to our principles or purposes or ideals, one of the most frequent charges against the fraternity, is based on this element of secrecy. In every land, in every age, there have been secret societies. But Masonry is not secret in any such sense. A great body of literature is to be
found on the shelves of every public library, historical, explanatory expository. They proclaim as from the housetops its three great principles - Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. What the world has the right to know is freely made know. But there are sanctities in every home; there are privacies in every life, into which the world has no right to peep with prying eyes. So Masonry reserves to itself its time-honored privacies, knowledge of which is the open sesame into the brotherhood the world around.
Masonry rests not on secret forms. It is a life. It is a spirit. It is a character. No one can deprive another of it. No one can unmake a true Mason; for what makes him a Mason is not some word he has heard, some scene which he has witnessed; but truth of God which he has made his own, some moral strength which has become the very fiber of his life and soul. One has found the true secret of Masonry, if he has learned that God is his Father and men about him are his brethren; and if that knowledge mellows and purifies his soul, inspires his deeds and radiates a sunny glory from his life.