The Epitaph of Young (Brother) Benjamin Franklin

 

The body of

B. Franklin, Printer

Like the Cover of an Old Book

Its Contents torn Out

And Stript of its Lettering and Gilding

Lies Here, Food for Worms.

But the Work shall not be Lost;

For it will (as he Believ'd) Appear once More

In a New and More Elegant Edition

Revised and Corrected

By the Author.

Last Night I Knelt Where Hiram Knelt

Last night I knelt where Hiram knelt

and took an obligation

today I'm closer to my God

and I'm a Master Mason

 

Tho' heretofore my fellow men

seemed each one like the other

today I search each one apart

I'm looking for my brother

 

And as I feel his friendly grip

it fills my heart with pride

I know that while I'm on the square

that he is by my side

 

His footsteps on my errand go

if I should such require:

His prayers will lead in my behalf

if I should so desire

 

My words are safe within his breast

as though within my own

his hand forever at my back

to help me safely home

 

Good counsel whispers in my ear

and warns of any danger

By square and compass, Brother now!

Who once would call me stranger

 

I might have lived a moral life

and risen to distinction

Without my Brothers helping hand

and fellowship of Masons

 

But God, who knows how hard it is

to resist life's temptations

knows why I knelt where Hiram knelt

and took that obligation.

The Master's Apron

by Robert Burns, 1786

 

Ther's mony a badge that's unco braw ;

Wi ribbon, lace and tape on ;

Let kings an' princes wear them a' ,

Gie me the masters apron!

 

The honest craftsman's apron,

The jolly freemason's apron,

Be he at hame or roam afar,

Before his touch fa's bolt and bar,

The gates of fortune fly ajar,

Gin he but wears the apron!

 

For wealth and honour, pride and power

Are crumbling stanes to base on;

Fraternity suld rule the hour,

And ilka worthy mason!

Each free accepted mason,

Each ancient crafted mason!

 

Then brithers let a halesome sang

Arise your friendly ranks alang .

Guid wives and bairnies blithely sing

To the ancient badge wi' the apron string

That is worn by the master mason!

Masonic Teachings

 

   Man's first duty is to love and revere God,

 

   Implore His aid in all laudable undertakings,

 

   Seek His guidance through prayer,

 

   Embrace and practice the tenets of religion,

 

   Extend charity and sympathy to all mankind,

 

   Shield and support the widow and orphan,

 

   Defend virtue,

 

   Respect the aged,

 

   Honor the bonds of friendship,

 

   Protect the helpless,

 

   Lift up the oppressed,

 

   Comfort the downcast,

 

   Restore dignity to the rejected,

 

   Respect the laws of government,

 

   Promote morality, and

 

   Add to the common stock of humanity's knowledge and understanding.

ECCLESIASTES

Chapter 12, 1-7

1 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.

 

 

Some Famous Masons

Eddy Arnold

Roy Accuff

Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin

Gene Autry

L. Van Beethoven

Irving Berlin

Simon Bolivar

Gutzon Borgium

Ernest Borgnine

Omar Bradley

Richard E. Byrd

DeWitt Clinton

Ty Cobb

George M. Cohan

Davy Crockett

Norm Crosby

Cecil B. deMille

Jack Dempsey

John Diefenbaker

Jimmy Doolittle

Duke Ellington

Sir Alexander Fleming

Gerald R. Ford

Henry Ford

Benjamin Franklin

Clark Gable

Benjamin Gilman

John Glenn

Arthur Godfrey

Barry Goldwater

John Hancock

Harry Hershfield

Harry Houdini

Sam Houston

Hubert H. Humphrey

Burl Ives

Andrew Jackson

Al Jolson

John Paul Jones

Jack Kemp

Rudyard Kipling

Marquis de Lafayette

Fiorello LaGuardia

Charles Lindberg

Douglas MacArthur

George C.Marshall

Thurgood Marshall

Charles W. Mayo

William McKinley

Lauritz Meichior

James Monroe

Wolfgang A. Mozart

Arnold Palmer

Dr. Norman V. Peale

J.C. Penny

John Pershing

Eddie Rickenbacker

Branch Rickey

Will Rogers

Theodore Roosevelt

Franklin D.Roosevelt

David Sarnoff

Jean Sibelius

Red Skelton

John Philip Sousa

Danny Thomas

Dave Thomas

Lowell Thomas

Harry S. Truman

George Washington

Thomas J. Watson

John Wayne

The Masonic Information Center

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