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

the summons, he incurs the penalty, and is liable to have it executed upon him. The cable
tow is literally a rope of several yards in length, but in a Master's Iodge is understood to
represent three miles. In the degrees of Knighthood the distance is reckoned to be forty
miles. This is fearful, and the responding to such summonses has, doubtless, cost many a
man his life, by placing him in the hands of an exasperated lodge. The candidate
proceeds: "Furthermore do I promise and swear, that I will go on a Master Mason's
errand, whenever required, even should I have to go barefoot and bareheaded, if within
the length of my cable tow." Now, failure to do this incurs the awful penalty of this
obligation. A Master Mason's errand! What errand? From the words it would seem any
errand, however trivial it may be; every errand, however frequently, a Master Mason
might wish to send another on an errand. If it does not mean this, what does it mean? But
whatever it means a failure incurs the whole penalty. The candidate proceeds:
"Furthermore do I promise and swear, that I will always remember a brother Master
Mason when on my knees offering up my devotions to Almighty God." But do Masons
do this? In secret, family, public, social prayer, do they do this? Professed Christian
Mason, do you do it? If not, you are guilty of false swearing every time you omit it.
What! on your knees offering up your devotions to Almighty God, and guilty, at that very
moment, of violating a solemn oath, by neglecting to pray for Master Masons!
Remember, to fail in this respect incurs the awful penalty attached to this obligation. Now
comes that part of the obligation upon which they lay so much stress as proving Masonry
to be a benevolent institution: "Furthermore do I promise and swear, that I will be aiding
and assisting all poor, indigent Master Masons, their wives and orphans, wherever
disposed round the globe, as far as in my power, without injuring myself or family
materially." In another place I shall show that there is no benevolence whatever in doing
this, as every candidate pays into the public treasury money to compose a fund for the
supply of the wants of the families of indigent Freemasons, simply upon the principle of a
mutual insurance company. At present I simply remark that a failure to do this incurs the
whole terrible penalty of this obligation. The candidate concludes his promises by saying:
"Furthermore do I promise and swear, that if any part of this solemn oath and obligation
be omitted at this time, I will hold myself amenable thereto, whenever informed."
Some months since I received a letter from a Master Mason who was manifestly a
conscientious man. He informed me that he had been reading my letters in the
Independent, on Freemasonry--that his mind was so distressed, in view of his Masonic
obligations and relations, that he was wholly unable to attend to business, and that he
should become deranged, if he could not escape from these entanglements--that he must
and would renounce Freemasonry at all hazards. When he took the oath of the Master's
degree the clause pledging him to keep a Master Mason's secrets, murder and treason
excepted, was omitted, so that he was not aware of that clause until afterward. This
clause, however, that I last quoted, bound him fast. No wonder that this conscientious
man was frightened when he came to understand his true position. In administering this
long oath to any conscientious man, any part of it that would shock a tender conscience
may be omitted, and yet the candidate is pledged to hold himself amenable to that part, or
those parts, that have been omitted, whenever informed of the same. This is a trap and a
snare into which many a tender conscience has been betrayed. And is this an oath which a
Christian man may take, or any other man, without sin? Can any man administer this
oath, or take it, or be voluntarily present, aiding and abetting, and be guiltless of awful