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ADDRESS TO A CONVOCATION OF THE GRAND LODGE OF ALL ENGLAND
SATURDAY 15th DECEMBER 2007
Brethren, today at our Convocation
we have reached another milestone marking our
progress towards the recovery of genuine Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry,
not only in York, not
only in England, but throughout the world. We are, of course, and
can only ever be, work in
progress. But having re-laid the foundation stone at York we are
now in the process of reerecting
a stately and superb edifice, as perfect in all its parts as may
be possible and, we
fervently pray, honourable to the builders.
As Masons we could of course not be more aware that any construction
requires the use of
working tools and, being not operative but speculative, free or accepted
Masons, we know
that we apply a symbolic and spiritual import to those same tools.
And, whilst this
Convocation is not the occasion on which to dilate upon them all,
there are perhaps two that
we can conveniently and briefly consider this afternoon.
Operatively to lay levels and prove horizontals, one such working
tool speculatively teaches
us that we are all of one humanity and that, despite any apparent
or temporary distinctions,
we will all, dust to dust, eventually be reduced to the same state.
It also surely indicates
that we should contain our passions within reasonable bounds, maintain
an equable
disposition in all our dealings and carefully weigh every impulse.
Operatively to try and to adjust irregular angles and to assist in
bringing rude matter into
due form, another working tool speculatively teaches morality and
justice. In our
ceremonies we are symbolically instructed so to act, not just to
other Brethren but to all
mankind, just as we would have them do to us. Without Morality and
Justice no society can
endure.
Freemasonry, in its speculative teaching, presents us with ideals
to attain for the good of
ourselves and of wider society that on an individual basis may often
seem difficult and
contrary to our own impoverished nature. But if Freemasonry did not
present us with such
ideals, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols as they may
be, it would not offer us the
opportunity to bring our own rude matter into due form. In the mindless
materialism and
unthinking selfishness of present society we would all surely be
the poorer.
Brethren, may I take this opportunity to extend to all of you here
today, and to all our other
Brethren in England, Ireland, America and in other parts of the world
and to those Brethren
in Amity with us in continental Europe and elsewhere, the very best
wishes of the season for
yourselves, your families, and your connections. And, as we look
forward to the promise of
the coming year, let us all, as one of our operative Brethren put
it nearly five hundred years
ago, "strive to live with love and care, upon the Level, by the Square".
Note: This quotation is taken from a brass square, dated 1517, discovered
under the
foundation of an ancient stone bridge in Ireland in 1830.
Brother
John Gordon Graves, Grand-Master Mason.
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