T.F.S.
Three, five, and seven
3 5 7
By Ed Halpaus, Grand Lodge Education Officer.
Number 96 – April 01, 2007
This publication, while it is printed with the permission of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of A.F. & A. M. of Minnesota, contains the writings and opinions of Ed Halpaus and is not in any way the opinion of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota.
“When we are asked further, what is conduct? – Let us answer: Three fourths of life.”
Matthew Arnold 1822-1888
This paper is on the long side, but it can be read in 20 minutes or so, at least I can and I’m what I consider a slow reader. You may want to print this out and read it over lunch. I hope you enjoy reading it.
Standards of Right Conduct
By Ed Halpaus, MPS (Life)
“To be honest, to be kind – to earn a little and to spend a little less, to make upon the whole a family happier for his presence, to renounce when that shall be necessary and not be embittered, to keep a few friends, but those without capitulation – above all, on the same grim condition, to keep friends with himself – here is a task for all that a man has of fortitude and delicacy.”
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
It appears to me, in today’s world, that there seems to be a serious loss of ethics in the everyday business of living. To paraphrase an old saying ‘I know what ethics is; and I’m happy when I see it and experience it.’
We do recognize ethics when we see or experience it; we would know what it is even if the name ethics had not been assigned to it. Ethics is a system setting forth standards of right conduct.
[i]Freemasonry has always honored ethics from its earliest documents such as the Regius Poem;
[ii] where in Lines 497 to 531 this poem refers to the Four Crowned Martyrs. There has been much written about the Four Crowned Martyrs
[iii], so I don’t intend to recount their whole story here, but let me quickly relate the gist of the story, it is interesting.
There were four Operative Masons, who in the last quarter of the third century, were working as Masons along with hundreds of others under the emperor Diocletian. These four Operative Masons were Christians, and in the course of their work they refused to work on a sculpture of a pagan god
[iv]. When asked why, one of the four, Claudius answered; ‘because we cannot offend our creator and commit a sin, whereof we should be found guilty in his sight.’ These four were then caused to work on another sculpture and at the end of 31 days it was completed. The Emperor was pleased with the results and praised these men for their skill, but his philosopher, Lampadius, then said to him; ‘Most mighty Caesar, know that these men whom your majesty has praised for their skill in Masonry, namely Claudius, Symphorianus, Nichostratus, and Castorius, are Christians, and by magic spells or incantations make men obedient to their will.’ Diocletian then ordered that if the charges were true that they should be punished and if they continued to refuse to work on the statue of the god they should be scourged by scorpions. For 5 days the philosopher Lampadius did what he could to get them to do what they were ordered to do, but they continued to refuse. Lampadius became enraged and ordered them stripped and scourged. In that same hour Lampadius died while sitting in his seat of judgment. Diocletian being informed of this, ordered leaden coffins be made, and the four Operative Masons along with one other, Simplicius who they had converted from paganism to Christianity, were placed in them, then the lead coffins were sealed while they were still alive and they were thrown into a river
[v] to die.
There were other Operative Masons who completed the statue the five had refused to work on, and when it was completed it was to be dedicated. It was ordered that there be offerings of incense to the god. But four Master Masons; Severus, Severianus, Carpoforus, and Victorianus
[vi]who were also Corniculari,
[vii] which means ‘Wing Leader in the City Militia, refused to offer incense to the god because they were Christians. They too were executed, but the method of their execution was to be beaten to death in front of the statue with whips weighted with leaden balls, called a plumbata.
[viii]Besides the fact that these early Operative Masons were Christians, who believed deeply in their faith, I think it was the fact that they had a standard of correct behavior, as far as their religion was concerned, that they just would not violate no matter how severe the consequences of their actions. They possibly were demonstrating an early good example of religious ethics.
Another example of men walking the walk as far as having standards of right conduct, or ethics, is concerned is the example of another group of four men: The Four Chaplains. They were four U.S. Army Chaplains who became friends when they were attending Chaplain’s School at Harvard University in November of 1942. These four Friends were clergymen: George L. Fox was a Methodist Minister, Clark V. Poling was a Dutch Reformed Minister; John P. Washington was a Catholic Priest; and Alexander D. Goode was a Jewish Rabbi.
These four wound up on the same Troop Ship, the U.S.A.T. Dorchester. When the Dorchester set to sea from New York Harbor on January 23, 1943 it was filled to capacity. There were 920 souls on board that ship including some civilians, a Merchant Marine crew, and men and officers of the United States armed forces. Every available space on the Transport Ship was filled with men and gear. With so many on board and packed in so crowded a condition the Chaplains had plenty of men to help and console being that many were young, away from home and on the sea for the first time. After being at sea for 10 days and near Greenland the ship was in hostile waters, the captain ordered the men to sleep in their clothes and in life jackets just in case they were attacked, but being that the life jackets were hot and bulky many men had them near by, but did not wear them during the night.
During the early morning hours of February 3, 1943 a German U-Boat torpedoed the Dorchester hitting it in vital spots and killing one hundred or more men with the two torpedoes. Men, gear and life jackets were tossed about. Surviving men headed topside as best they could, some with and some without their life jackets, and some clad only in their skivvies.
The Chaplains Rabbi Alexander Goode, Rev. George Fox, Rev. Clark Poling and Father John Washington made their way to the deck too, and were doing what they could to keep the men calm and to help them. The ship was quickly tilted at an unusual and perilous angle and was sinking rapidly. One instance of note was that Petty Officer John Mahoney turned and was headed back below decks when a calm voice asked “where are you going?” and the answer was “to get my gloves.” Rabbi Goode said “here take mine,” after a protest from Petty Officer Mahoney the Rabbi convinced him to take the gloves because the Rabbi told him; “Never mind, I have two pair.” “Mahoney slipped the gloves over his hands and returned to the frigid deck, never stopping to ponder until later, when he had reached safety, that there was no way Rabbi Goode would have been carrying a spare set of gloves. As that thought finally dawned on him he came to a new understanding of what was transpiring in the mind of the fearless Chaplain.”
[ix] He later said those gloves made it possible for him to survive.
The Chaplains did what they could for the men. They helped tend to the wounded and gave last rights to the dying. In only 20 minutes the Dorchester was almost gone. Waves from the frigid sea broke over the rails, washing across the deck and tossing men into the sea, many of them without life jackets. “In the last moments of the transport's existence, the Chaplains were too occupied opening lockers to pass out life jackets to note the threat to their own lives”
[x] In less than a half hour the Dorchester was about to sink below the surface. All the lockers had been opened and all the life vests distributed by the Chaplains. The men who were remaining on board now knew their fate, then the Chaplains did what everyone remembers; all four Chaplains began taking off their own life jackets, and began putting them on the men around them. “Together they sacrificed their last shred of hope for survival; to insure the survival of other men - most of them total strangers. Then time ran out. The Chaplains had done all they could for those who would survive and nothing more could be done for the remaining men on the Dorchester - including themselves.”
[xi]Yet through all the chaos, the screams of pain, the realization and horror of immanent death, all the noises from a dying ship and the noises of the elements there could be heard the four strong voices of the Chaplains as they recited the Lord’s Prayer; "Our Father, which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." The men who had made it into the life boats and into relative safety looking back at the sight could see the Four Chaplains arms linked together bracing the railing for support praying, singing, and giving strength to those around them. In just 27 minutes after the first torpedo struck, the U.S.A.T. Dorchester sank out of sight, beneath the ice cold water of the North Atlantic.
Of the 920 who were on board the Dorchester, only 230 survived. All of the other officers, men and crew died,
[xii] but had it not been for those Four Chaplains and what they did, the death toll likely would have been much higher.
When I think of the sinking of the Dorchester by the U-Boat I remember a scene from the movie about President Truman’s life
[xiii]; where as an artillery officer in World War I he had his crew fire on the enemy and the enemy troops were caught completely off guard. Truman’s men began to cheer, but Brother Truman quieted them saying “don’t shout or cheer, those men are dying out there.” To me, that tells me some of what the ethics of Brother Truman were, and the kind of man he was.
What these four men did; these great Chaplains of the United States Armed Forces will live in the hearts and minds of everyone who has ever heard of their actions on the Dorchester. But why did they do what they did? Was it because they were clergymen? Or was it a combination of their training as clergymen along with the training they received from their parents and others who taught them to be the kind of men they came to be? I remember something a Grandfather once said to his Grandson: “Don’t worry about growing up to be a good man, just be a good boy, and you will become the man.”
These Chaplains knew and had a standard of correct behavior, their religious training and belief along with being men of ethics, I believe, are reasons why they did what they did. Of these four Chaplains one, George Fox, was a Freemason; the other three were involved in Scouting; men who when they were in their home towns were Boy Scout Leaders. The Boy Scouts teach ethics, and the Masons teach ethics, parents and churches and some schools teach young people ethics, even though they may not use that term as such.
Today in society we talk quite a bit about ethics; we talk about having a system of ethics on many different subjects. A superficial search of topics on ethics reveals the ethics of; Theology, Christianity, Philosophy, Religion, Cloning, Torture, War, Lying, World Trade, Abortion, Land Mines, Stem Cell Research, Assisted Suicide, and many more that are too numerous to mention. You name the subject and there are some rules or thoughts on the ethics of that subject.
The ethics of a Freemason are no different from the ethics that we hope all men have. Freemasonry is not a group that has ethics for their organization and not for everyday life. We bring in good men as members, not bad men who are unethical. And as Masons we expect our Brothers to be ethical in every area of their lives.
A definition of ethics that I referred to above is; a system setting forth standards of right conduct.
[xiv] When a Man petitions a Lodge of Freemasons for the degrees of Masonry he finds out right then and there a bit of what the ethics of Freemasonry are when he reads and answers the questions on the petition. Do you have a sincere belief and trust in God? Have you ever been convicted of a felony?
[xv]When it comes to questions about ethics in its various forms, and on various subjects, I suggest that there are two very good places to go to for study, research and instruction. The first place to go to is the Great Light of Masonry,
[xvi] where one can always get the right answer to any question he has; by study and prayer. The other place is in his Masonic Lodge where he has brothers who will serve as a sounding board and support group to help him in choosing right conduct.
Masonry has been described as a support group for men trying to make the right decisions
[xvii] Masonry is an ethical institution that attracts ethical men; a Masonic Lodge is where you will find men who will, when the need arises, encourage you to do and act right because it is right. Masons are men who care what happens to a brother; they do not want to see anything bad or unsavory come into his life, and if it does they do what they can to help a brother through it.
The Holy Bible is the center of the Lodge; as the Great Light in Masonry it must be open and placed on the altar along with the other great lights of Masonry, the Square and Compasses, and they must be lit by the three lesser lights of Freemasonry. Without the Holy Bible opened upon the altar there can be no Masonic Lodge.
The Holy Bible is filled with examples of God and his prophets telling believers about ethical behavior. For instance, in both the old and new testament there are examples of lessons told by Amos and Jesus that tell us how God disapproves of outward expressions of empty piety as well as sacrifices, festivals and the like if they are not accompanied by ethical behavior.
[xviii] In the New Testament the term hypocrites appears every once in a while; this term comes from the Greek language, and was used to describe someone who was a pretender; one who says one thing and does another.
[xix] The Ten Commandments of the Old Testament are the law of God, and they are just as relevant today as when Moses received them on Mt. Moriah.
[xx] In the New Testament Jesus’ moral and ethical code, if you will, was tied to strict Jewish Law, but he also taught that obedience to the law without a sense of mercy was empty behavior, without spiritual value.
In the Life Application Study Bible by Zondervan and Tyndale House Publishers there is a note on Deuteronomy 5:16, which has to do with honoring parents. For the Freemason I think the following sentence also applies to honoring the fraternity as well as his parents. “Our parents raised us to be good men and true”. Freemasonry gives us the support group we may need to resist outside forces that may tend to dissuade us from the path our parents set us on. Here is the quote from the note on Deuteronomy 5:16 “Honoring involves all that sons and daughters do with their lives – the way they work and talk the values they hold, and the morals they practice. What are you doing to show respect to your parents? Are you living in a way that brings honor to them?” In my opinion, we might, at times, do well to change the word parents to Freemasonry in that note in Deuteronomy. By our actions we are someone else’s opinion of what our fraternity is, just as we are someone else’s opinion of what our parents may have taught us.
I remember reading something, as a young man, in a Christian publication, that urged right and correct behavior. It likened us as children of God to the children of a king, and that a king’s children would not behave unseemly. We were as young people, who were children of God, encouraged to think about what we were asked to do, and if it wasn’t right - to say to ourselves, and possibly others; “no, I am a child of God, a child of the King, I will not do what is wrong.” I think that was a way to teach us to have a system setting forth standards of right conduct.
If a Mason ever has any doubts on whether Freemasonry is a fraternity that stresses and teaches its votaries ethics, or that he is expected to be a counselor or helper to help his brother in the problems of life - all he needs to do is to revisit the degrees of Masonry and to read the charges of the degrees once again. For instance, in the charge of the first degree from the Grand Lodge of Minnesota the new Mason is told what is expected of him:
"There are three great duties, which, as a Mason, you are charged to inculcate to God, your neighbor, and yourself. To GOD, in never mentioning His name, but with that reverential awe which is due from a creature to his Creator; to implore His aid in all your laudable undertakings, and to esteem Him as the chief good; to your NEIGHBOR, in acting upon the square, and doing unto him as you wish he should do unto you; and to YOURSELF, in avoiding all irregularity and intemperance, which may impair your faculties, or debase the dignity of your profession. A zealous attachment to these duties will insure public and private esteem."
Also in the charge of the third degree the new Master Mason is given these instructions; “In the character of a Master Mason, you are authorized to correct the errors and irregularities of your uninformed brethren, and to guard them against a breach of fidelity. To preserve the reputation of the fraternity unsullied must be your constant care.”
[xxi] (Another word that could be used for ‘fidelity’ is conduct or ethics.’)
I think those are fairly good statements of ethics as far as Freemasonry is concerned, however, when it comes to the ethics of a Freemason I also remember what I promised “without the least equivocation, mental reservation or self evasion whatsoever” that I would do what a Freemason ought to do. These phrases are used by many fraternities when it comes to promises made by their votaries.
The obligation of a Freemason has to do with the law of ethics; it relates to promises made. When a man makes a promise with evasion that means he is eluding or avoiding the terms of the promise; and this is done, or it is attempted to be done, by equivocation, which is accomplished by giving to the words a secret significance that is different from that which they were intended to convey by the person making the promise so as to mislead. Or by a mental reservation, this is saying one thing but meaning another, which is a concealment of certain conditions that the promiser does not share with the promisee. Making a promise a person has no intention to keep violates the law of veracity. When someone promises us something, we trust him, but if later we have a feeling he made the promise, all the while not intending to keep it, then we may doubt his veracity.
[xxii]Masonry requires that a promise made be taken seriously by the giver of the promise as well as the one to whom the promise is given. Masonry expects its votaries to be true to the rule of ethics; a promise is binding in the sense that the promiser supposed the promisee to receive it.
[xxiii]An ethical man is a man concerned with the law but also with tempering the law with mercy and compassion. It has a lot to do, in my opinion, with what is in his heart. The heart is where a man is first prepared to be a Mason; it is the seat of his affections, passions and desires. The precept of being prepared in my heart means to preserve good intentions, and to correct bad intentions.
All of our actions issue and proceed from our heart; what we are. If a man has a clean and pure heart he cannot be otherwise, conversely if his heart is wicked and vicious he will be that until he decides to replace his base desires and actions with the good, which is pure and true.
[xxiv] What is unfortunate, many times, in society, is that for many people their sense of ethics depends entirely on who may be watching.
Character is what you are when you think no one is watching, and that is precisely when a Freemason will serve as an example of the ethics he holds from what he has learned in all aspects of his life.
More Light – Mehr Licht ©, Masonic Matters © and T.F.S. ©, are sent out by E-mail at no charge to anyone who would like to receive them. If you enjoy these publications please share them with others. To subscribe to any one or all of these publications just send an E-mail to ed@halpaus.net with Subscribe and the Title, or ‘all 3,’ in the subject line and you will be added to the list to receive the publication you want.“It is not wealth, nor ancestry, but honorable conduct and a noble disposition that make men great.” Ovid
æquam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem = [Latin] = Remember to keep an even mind in adverse circumstances.
From the Great Light of Masonry: “Come my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” Psalm 34:11-14 NIV
To read this in PDF:
http://www.halpaus.net/TFS96.pdfWith “Brotherly Love”,
Ed Halpaus
Grand Lodge Education Officer
[i] Definition of Ethics from The Guideposts Family Concordance
[ii] A booklet containing the Regius Poem is available from the Masonic Service Association at a reasonable price. In my opinion, the Regius Poem is something every Mason ought to read.
[iii] There is much information in Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry Volume 1 and also the Catholic Encyclopedia which can be found at:
http://www.newadvent.org/[iv] One source, (Catholic Encyclopedia,) says it was Ǽsculapius the god of medicine and Mackey’s says it was the god Apollo
[v] Here again there is conflicting information: The Catholic Encyclopedia says it was the river Save; Mackey’s says it was the river Danube; and A Reference Book for Freemasons by Fredrick Smyth of the QCCC says it was the River Tiber.
[vi] Listed as Secundus, Severianus, Carpoforus, and Victorius in the Catholic Encyclopedia
[vii] Corncularius means Promoted Soldier
[viii] A Reference Book for Freemasons by Frederick Smyth of the QCCC
[ix] From the web site http://www.homeofheroes.com/brotherhood/chaplains.html
[x] ibid
[xi] ibid
[xii] 672 died on the Dorchester
[xiii] Truman: A simple man. A legendary President HBO Pictures starring Gary Sinise
[xiv] Definition of Ethics from The Guideposts Family Concordance
[xv] Two questions from the Petition in Minnesota
[xvi] The Holy Bible
[xvii] What’s a Mason – Brochure by the Masonic Information Center page 6
[xviii] Don’t Know Much About the Bible by Kenneth C. Davis
[xix] ibid page 392
[xx] Life Application Study Bible by Zondervan and Tyndale note on Deuteronomy 4:8
[xxi] Masonic Manual of Minnesota
[xxii] T.F.S. #32 by Ed Halpaus August 01, 2004
[xxiii] Masonry Defined, by Johnston – January 11, 1930 edition. #331 pages 221 & 223
[xxiv] ibid #450 page 273
Labels: Ethics