STB-AP87
Music by Brother J. L. F. Mendelssohn.
"THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY"
by
George W. Baldwin, PGM
Crand Lodge of British Columbia
This Short Talk Bulletin has been adapled from a speech given at
the Grand Lodge of Alaska in February, 1987, by M.W. Brother
George W. Baldwin, Past Grand Masler, Grand Lodge of British
Columbia. We thank M.W. Brother Baldwin for sharing these "cross
the border" thoughts with us.
This year, 1987, marks the 200th anniversary of the drafting
and ratification of the United States Constitution by those
thirteen former colonies, which eleven years earlier had joined
in their Declaration of Independence from Great Britain.
Incidentally, there were those other American colonies in
existence at that time, which chose to remain loyal, and of
course, they laid the foundation from which Canada, the largest,
geographically speaking, democratic nation in the world
developed. I want to draw your attention to those events of 1787,
and in particular, to some of the language used.
The Preamble to the Constitution is a masterpiece of concise
writing, and is generally believed to have been the work of
Gouverneur Morris, a delegate from Pennsylvania to the
Constitutional Convention. Even though you may be well acquainted with it, let me read it to you again: ''We the people of
the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union,
establish justice, insure domestic tranquility provide for the
common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the
blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain
and establish this Constitution for the United States.''
I would ask you to pay particular attention to the phrase, "to
secure the blessing of liberty." I do not want to dwell at length
on what those blessings are, or attempt to find a definition for
them, for I think that each one of us, if so asked, would produce
a different list. Perhaps Thomas Jefferson came as close as any,
to a satisfactory definition, when he wrote, in the Declaration
of July 4, 1776: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
But how are those rights to be "secured"? The Constitution, as
originally drafted, did not spell out any particular rights, nor
any rules for securing them. The first ten amendments, known
ever after as "The Bill of Rights," were not proposed until 1789,
nor adopted until 1791.1 mention this, because it is of
importance to us as Freemasons, that likewise there is not
mention made of any duties or responsibilities, insofar as the
individual citizen is concerned, either in the Constitution or
the Bill of Rights, or, for that matter, in the Canadian
Constitution and its Charter of Rights and Freedoms. My
proposition tonight is that those rights, that our freedoms, that
the blessings of liberty can only be secured when the individual citizen recognizes and acts upon his or her own sense of
duty and responsibility.
I also venture to suggest that this is in direct accord with
the principles of Freemasonry. To illustrate this, let me share
with you part of our Canadian masonic ritual, where we are told
that the chief point in Freemasonry is "to endeavor to be happy
ourselves, and to communicate that happiness to others." In this
sentence, the word "happiness" must be taken in the wider meaning of the 18th century and coincides with the meaning used by
Jefferson.
We are also taught in our Canadian ritual, that the ritual is
intended to carry into active practice the four cardinal
virtues: Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and Justice, combined
with the theological virtues--Faith, Hope and Charity-thereby
demonstrating to the world at large that in Freemasonry there is
found the true import of the three great social treasures:
Fraternity, Liberty and Equality.
Let us turn for a moment to consider the men who sat in their
hot stuffy meeting room in Philadelphia throughout that summer
of 1787. The presiding officer of the Convention was Bro. George
Washington. I am sure that when he considered "securing the
blessings of liberty," he had no illusions as to his
responsibilities. He had amply demonstrated, over the preceding
10 or 11 years, that he was prepared to contribute his all to the
cause of liberty as he saw it. Yet, he was a reasonably
prosperous land-owner in Virginia, he was well connected with
the aristocracy and governing class in that Commonwealth, and he
could quite easily and justifiably have remained at home in
Mount Vernon that summer, and let some one else do the work for a
change. But such was not his nature. As a patriot and as a
Freemason, he saw where his duty lay, and he took up the
responsibility of seeing that the blessings of liberty were
secured to his fellow countrymen, not only in Virginia, but
throughout the new nation that was then being created. It is
interesting to note that for a time, Washington seriously
considered not attending the Convention in Philadelphia that
summer long ago, for very valid political reasons, but he was
ultimately persuaded to attend by James Madison, Alexander
Hamilton, Edmund Randolph, and by his especial friend, General
Henry Knox.
Another Freemason who could easily have been excused from
attendance at the Convention, on account of age and health, was
Bro. Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania. He was then over 70 years
old, within three years of his own death, and had certainly
proved his loyalty to the cause of liberty, over and over again.
He suffered from gout and stone, and had to come to the State
House, where the Convention met, in a sedan chair which he had
bought in Paris, as it was the only mode of transportation that
did not jostle him painfully. Yet, he came, because he knew it
was his duty to do so. And we should all remember that it was
Franklin, early in the Convention, when it seemed that the rival
factions from the different colonies would never reach any
basis for agreement, moved that every morning the session be
opened by prayer to the Most High for His guidance. Franklin's
duty lay not only to his fellow citizens, but to his Maker, and
he saw that prayer to God was the first step to be taken in
securing the blessings of liberty. These are just two examples. I
am sure there are many more, but I use these to point up that the
absence of any mention of "duty" in the Constitution was not an
oversight. It just did not occur to men such as Washington and
Franklin, as well as the others there present, that the rest of
us needed to have it spelled out for us.
When the Consitution had been drafted, it was sent to the
Continental Congress, accompanied by a letter, written in the
hand of Morris, but signed by Washington. In it, Morris wrote:
"Individuals entering into society, must give up a share of
liberty to preserve the rest. The magnitude of the sacrifice must
depend as well on situation and circumstance, as on the object
to be obtained. It is at all times difficult to draw with
precision the line between those rights which must be
surrendered, and those which may be reserved.''
So, let us now ask where we stand in 1987, and what we, each
one of us, is doing to secure the blessings of liberty. Which of
our rights are we prepared to surrender in order to preserve our
freedom? Or, in other words, what duty will we assume and
discharge, in order to secure the blessings of liberty? Let us
not forget the duties which we assumed when we entered the bonds
of Freemasonry, the duties which we owe to God, to our countries,
and to ourselves. We discharge those duties, and so secure the
blessings of liberty, when we set about to practice those
cardinal and theological virtues which I mentioned earlier. We
secure those blessings not only for ourselves, but for our whole
nation, yours and mine, by the manner in which we act as
citizens, as individuals, as children of a common Father, and
as brethren one of another.
I would like to leave you with a little poem that was recently
printed in Ann Landers' column in our local newspaper in Prince
George. It was attributed to an 88-year old resident of the
Masonic Homes at Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and is entitled
"Definition of a Real Man"--
One who has self-confidence but does not show it;
One who can be courteous in the face of discourtesy;
One who keeps his word, his temper, his friends;
One who wins respect by being respectable and respectful;
One who has a steady eye, a steady nerve, a steady tongue, and
steady habits;
One who is silent when he has nothing to say;
One who is calm when he judges, and humble when he misjudges.
May I suggest to each of you, that if we take that poem to
heart, that if we accept and discharge our duties and
responsibilities in this world, that if we live by the principles
of our Masonic order, then we may join in spirit with Washington,
Franklin, Morris, and those others who laboured throughout that
hot Philadelphia summer 200 years ago, to secure the blessings of
liberty for ourselves and for our posterity.
George W. Baldwin PGM, resides at 2095 McBride Crescent, Prince
George, B. C., V2M lZ2, Canada
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