"Old Tiler Talks" by Carl Claudy -1924

WHY MEN LOVE FREEMASONRY

The New Brother sat near the Old Tiler in the anteroom, crossed his legs
and took out his cigar case.

"Have a smoke and unpuzzle me."

The Old Tiler accepted the proffered cigar with a smile.

"I am often puzzled, too," he sympathized. "Tell me."

"I am crazy about Masonry. I love it. So do a lot of other men. And I don't
know why. I can't find anyone who will tell me why. Old Tiler, why do men
love Masonry?"

The Old Tiler got up and crossed the room to a book case, extracted a
volume and returned.

"I read that question in this little book, 'The Magic of Freemasonry,' by
Arthur E. Powell. Let me read to you--" The Old Tiler fluttered the pages.
Finding his place he sat and began:


"'Why do men love Masonry? What lure leads them to it? What spell holds
them through the long years? What strand is it that tugs at our hearts,
taut when so many threads are broken by the rough ways of the world? And
what is it in the wild that calls to the little wild things? What sacred
secret things do the mountains whisper to the hillman, so silently yet so
surely that they can be heard above the din and clatter of the world? What
mystery does the sea tell the sailor; the desert to the Arab; the arctic
ice to the explorer; the stars to the astronomer? When we have answered
these questions mayhap we may divine the magic of Masonry. Who knows what
it is, or how or why, unless it be the long cabletow of God, running from
heart to heart...'"


The Old Tiler closed the book and waited.

"The cabletow of God," repeated the New Mason. "That's a beautiful phrase."

"It's more than a phrase, I think," the Old Tiler answered. "As I see it,
the heart of Freemasonry by which all manner of men are attracted and held,
is just that- the longing for communion with the Most High."

"Oh, you must be mistaken. Men who want God go to church."

"Do you go to church?"

"Er, oh, well, sometimes."

"Yet you never miss coming to lodge?"

"No, I don't, but--"

"Never mind the 'but.'" The Old Tiler smiled. "A lot of men come to the
lodge who do not find heart's ease in the church. The lodge is not a
substitute for church. Masonry is not a religion, although it has religion.
If the church fails, occasionally, it is because all human institutions
must fail at times. No minister or church can satisfy all men. Some men
find communion with the Most High in Masonry a greater satisfaction than in
a church. I think that is the real reason some men love Freemasonry so much."

"You give me credit with being a lot more religious than I do," retorted
the New Mason.

"Men are incurably religious," asserted the Old Tiler. "Many don't know it
and refuse to call it by that name, like you, for instance! In a church men
are told various things about God. In a lodge they are allowed to tell
themselves what they will. In a church you are taught a creed, a dogma. In
a lodge there is neither. In a church you are quiet and respectful and
whisper if you speak at all. It is kept high, unspotted from the world. A
lodge is more intimate, personal. You can be jolly in a lodge, except
during a degree. Here are just other men, brothers. They think as we do;
they believe in the one God, as we do. They repeat the same words, think
the same Masonic thoughts, do the same Masonic acts, as we do. We feel at
home with them in consequence.

"Through years of simple, profound degrees, we weave the Mystic Tie. We
cannot say of what it is composed. We cannot put a name to it. St.
Augustine, asked of God, answered, 'I know until you ask me- when you ask
me, I do not know.' In your heart you know, and I know, what the Mystic tie
is- what Freemasonry is. But you cannot say it, nor can I. It is too deep
for words. It is the reason we use symbols, for words cannot express it.

"Deep in us is something which understands what our brains cannot think;
something which knows what our minds cannot comprehend. Masonry speaks to
that something in its own language. If we must put it into words, God is
the only syllable which seems to fit. But when we say God we mean no
special deity, but all that is beautiful in life, in friendship, in
charity, in brotherhood.

"So, my brother, there is no reason for you to be puzzled; no man can
answer your puzzle. Freemasonry is loved by men because it strikes deep
into the human heart, and supplies the answer to the question, the food for
the hunger, which the tongue cannot express."

"Unless it is the tongue of a wise, wise Old Tiler," finished the New
Brother thoughtfully. "And thank you, I am not puzzled now."