Our Rule and Guide of a Well Found Faith ...
Discover Time Well Spent, Many Believe these Virtue
Very few take the time and make the effort to study and understand what the Bible teaches and how it relates to human behavior. But this book given to us by God, provides real solutions to the challenges we face on a daily basis. It gives answers that science and its experiments cannot produce, such as the purpose for man’s existence and why we are on the earth in the first place.
Mason Rule and Guide
Our Rule and Guide of a Well found Faith.
Why The Holy Bible
The Holy Bible is given to us as the rule and guide of our faith for daily practice. From the commencement of the world we may trace the foundation of masonry in this sacred book. It is a strength in human nature, that men are generally happier with the spiritual value prescribed by faith, then with the raw worth of intrinsic value of things obtained. Truth is aided by an attribute and the foundation of every virtue. To be a good man and true is that first lesson taught in masonry. On this theme we contemplate and by its dictates endeavor to regulate our conduct; hence, while influenced by this principle, hypocrisy and deceit are unknown among us, sincerity and plain-dealing distinguish us, and heart and tongue join in promoting each other’s welfare and rejoicing in each other’s prosperity.
The Concept of Time
The Natural Day was from sunrise to sunset.
The Natural Night was from sunset to sunrise.
The Civil Day was, at least in later times in Israel, from sunset one evening to sunset the next: for “the evening and the morning were the first day.”
Night (ancient)
First watch (Lamentations 2:19) until about midnight.
Middle watch (Judges 7:19) including midnight Exodus 11:4) until 3 A.M.
Morning watch (Exodus 14:24) until 6 A.M.
Night (New Testament)
First watch, evening = 6 to 9 P.M.
Second watch, midnight = 9 to 12 P.M.
Third watch, cock-crow = 12 to 3 A.M.
Fourth watch, morning = 3 to 6 A.M.
Day (ancient)
Morning: until about 10 A.M.
Heat of the day: until about 2 P.M.
Day’s decline: until about 6 P.M.
Evening or cool of the day: after 6 P.M.
Day (New Testament)
Third hour = 6 to 9 A.M.
Sixth hour = 9 to 12 midday
Ninth hour = 12 to 3 P.M.
Twelfth hour = 3 to 6 P.M
Bless Our Assembly
Most holy and glorious Lord god, giver of all good gifts and graces; Thou has promised that where two or three are gathered together in thy name, thou will be in the midst of them, and bless them.
In thy name we assemble, most humbly beseeching Thee to bless us in all are undertakings, that we may know and serve Thee aright, and that all are actions may tend to Thy glory, and to our advancement in knowledge and virtue.
And we beseech thee oh Lord God, to bless us in our present assembling and to illuminate our minds, that we may walk in the light of Thy countenance; and, when the trials of our probationary period are over,
may we be admitted into the temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Amen!
To Your Profession
A Masons trust, you are to regard the volume of the sacred law as the great light in your profession; to consider it as the unerring standard of truth and justice; to regulate your actions by the combined precepts it contains. In it you will learn the important duties which you owe to God, your neighbor and yourself; to god, by never mentioning His name but with awe and reverence which are due from the creature to his creator; by imploring his aid in all laudable undertakings, and by looking up to Him in every emergency for comfort and support; to your neighbor, by acting with him upon the square; by rendering him every kind office which justice or mercy may require; by relieving his distresses, and soothing his afflictions; and by doing to him as, in similar cases, you would that he should do unto you; and to yourself, by such a prudent and well-regulated course a discipline as may best conduce to the preservation of your corporeal and mental faculties and their fullest energy; thereby enabling you to exert the talents where with God has blessed you, as well to his glory as to the welfare of your fellow creatures.
In the Beginning
Genesis 1: 1-3; in the beginning of time:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, let there be light: and there was light.
Amos 7: 7-8, describes what happens to reject God:
7 Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. 8 And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more…
Benefits of Charity
Corinthians 13: the benefits of charity:
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, … And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
Remember Now Thy Creator - Ecclesiastes 12
It reminds a brother of the words of Emmanuel, our Elder Brother, in Matthew 6:33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
Incidentally, "vanity" here means "emptiness." People would desire opportunity to pursue every pleasure; then follow their desires, but were assured through situation our Creator will call all into judgment. How many give loose to every appetite, and rush into every vicious pleasure! But God registers every one of sinful thoughts and desires, idle words and wicked words. If they would avoid remorse and terror, if they would have hope and comfort on a dying bed, if they would escape misery here and hereafter, let them remember the vanity of youthful pleasures. That Solomon means to condemn the pleasures of transgression is evident. His object is to draw the young to purer and more lasting joys.
This is not the language of one grudging youthful pleasures, because he can no longer partake of them; but of one who has, by a miracle of mercy, been brought back in safety. He would persuade the young from trying a course whence so few return. If the young would live a life of true happiness, if they would secure happiness hereafter, let them remember their Creator in the days of their youth.
Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
2 while the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
3 in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,
4 and the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;
5 also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
6 or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
8 Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.
9 And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
10 The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.
11 The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Responsibility toward God is seen in verse 13, and the judgment of men by God himself is seen in verse 14.
The wise and penitent preacher is here closing his sermon; and he closes it, not only like a good orator, but like a good preacher, with that which was likely to make the best impressions and which he wished might be powerful and lasting upon his hearers. Here is, an dissertation to young people to begin youthful times to be faithful to our Creator and not to put it off to old age, enforced with arguments taken from the calamities of old age and the great change that leaving a spirtual death will make upon us. A repetition of the great truth he had undertaken to prove in this discourse, the vanity of the world with a charge to all to be truly spirtual and trust the words of wisdom, in consideration of the judgment to come.
And Now ... my brethren
And now, my brethren, let us see to it, and so regulate our lives by the plumb-line of justice, ever squaring our actions by the square of virtue, that when the Supreme Architect of Heaven may call for us, we may be found ready; let us cultivate diligently the noble tenets of our profession--brotherly love, relief, and truth--and, from the square, learn morality; from the level, equality; from the plumb, rectitude of life.
Then, by the benefit of the pass--a pure and blameless life--with a firm reliance on Divine Providence, shall we gain ready admission into that Celestial Lodge above, where the Supreme Architect forever presides--forever reigns.
When, placed at his right hand, he will be pleased to pronounce us just and upright Masons, then shall we be fitted as living stones for that spiritual temple, "that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," where no discordant voice shall be heard, but all the soul shall experience shall be perfect bliss, and all it shall express shall be perfect praise, and love divine shall ennoble every heart, and hallelujahs exalted employ every tongue.
Remember Brothers
Brethren: We are now about to quit this sacred retreat of friendship and virtue to mix again with the world. Amidst its concerns and employments, forget not the duties which you have heard so frequently inculcated and so forcibly, recommended in this lodge. Be diligent, prudent, temperate, discreet.
Remember that around this altar you have promised to befriend and relieve every brother who shall need your assistance. You have promised, in the most friendly manner, to remind him of his errors and to aid his reformation. These generous principles are to extend further:
Every human being has a claim upon your kind offices. Do good unto all. Recommend it more especially to the "household of the faithful."
Finally, brethren, be ye all of one mind; live in peace; and may the God of Love and Peace delight to dwell with and bless you. May the blessing of heaven rest upon us and all regular Masons! May brotherly love prevail and every moral and social virtue cement us. Amen!
Many Trust the Gospel without Doubt, Discover Time Well Spent
No better precepts, no stronger motives, than the gospel contains, have ever been inculcated. The greatest faith in the world will ever be compared or of greater worth; and none can be conceived by man completely adapted to the necessities and nature of a sinful man, endowed with the faculty of reason and with capacities of faith. The miracles were of such a nature as excluded the idea of artifice or delusion; they were wrought openly in the presence of multitudes; they testified the benevolence of a Savior, as well as the beauties, strengths and wisdom of the Son of God. The Disciples of Christ could not be deceived by the influence of non-believers; for they were themselves endowed with the gift of tongues and of prophesying, and with the power of working miracles they devoted their lives to the propagation of the gospel, in opposition to every fleshly interest, and amidst continual annoyances.