THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

LIVING _thing._
_When you enter it you hear a sound--a sound as of some mighty
poem chanted. Listen long enough, and you will learn that it is
made up of the beating of human hearts, of the nameless music of
men's souls--that is, if you have ears to hear. If you have eyes,
you will presently see the church itself--a looming mystery of
many shapes and shadows, leaping sheer from floor to dome. The
work of no ordinary builder!_
_The pillars of it go up like the brawny trunks of heroes; the
sweet flesh of men and women is molded about its bulwarks, strong,
impregnable; the faces of little children laugh out from every
corner stone; the terrible spans and arches of it are the joined
hands of comrades; and up in the heights and spaces are inscribed
the numberless musings of all the dreamers of the world. It is yet
building--building and built upon._
_Sometimes the work goes on in deep darkness; sometimes in
blinding light; now under the burden of unutterable anguish; now
to the tune of great laughter and heroic shoutings like the cry of
thunder. Sometimes, in the silence of the night-time, one may hear
the tiny hammerings of the comrades at work up in the dome--the
comrades that have climbed ahead._
--C.R. KENNEDY, _The Servant in the House_
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CHAPTER I
_What is Masonry_
I
What, then, is Masonry, and what is it trying to do in the world?
According to one of the _Old Charges_, Masonry is declared to be an
"ancient and honorable institution: ancient no doubt it is, as having
subsisted from time immemorial; and honorable it must be acknowledged
to be, as by natural tendency it conduces to make those so who are
obedient to its precepts. To so high an eminence has its credit been
advanced that in every age Monarchs themselves have been promoters of
the art, have not thought it derogatory from their dignity to exchange
the scepter for the trowel, have patronized our mysteries and joined
in our Assemblies."
While that eulogy is more than justified by sober facts, it does not
tell us what Masonry is, much less its mission and ministry to
mankind. If now we turn to the old, oft-quoted definition, we learn
that Masonry is "a system of morality veiled in allegory and
illustrated by symbols." That is, in so far, true enough, but it is
obviously inadequate, the more so when it uses the word "peculiar" as
describing the morality of Masonry; and it gives no hint of a
world-encircling fellowship and its far-ramifying influence. Another