{"id":1701,"date":"2014-01-27T14:50:36","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T22:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theeduca.mywhc.ca\/?p=1701"},"modified":"2014-01-27T14:50:36","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T22:50:36","slug":"foreign-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/foreign-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreign Countries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Foreign Countries<\/strong> <\/span>
\nadapted by VW. Bro, Norman McEvoy from a book of the same name
\nby: Carl H. Claudy
\nOur ancient operative brethren desired to become Masters so that, when they traveled in foreign countries, they could still practice their craft.\u00a0 Speculative Freemasons still desire to \u201ctravel in foreign countries\u201d and study their craft that they may receive such instruction as will enable them to do so, and when traveling, to receive a Master\u2019s Wages.
\nBut the \u201cForeign Countries<\/span>\u201d do not mean to us the various geographical and political divisions of the Old World, nor do we use the Word we learn as a means of identification to enable us to build material temples and receive coin of the realm for our labour\u00a0 \u201cForeign Countries<\/span>\u201d is to us a symbol.<\/p>\n

Like all the rest of the symbols, it has more than one interpretation; but, unlike many, none of these is very difficult to trace or understand.\u00a0 Freemasonry itself is the first \u201cforeign country<\/span>\u201d in which the initiate will travel; a world as different from the familiar workaday world, as France is different from England, or Belgium from Greece.\u00a0\u00a0 Everything is different in the Masonic world; the standards are different, the \u201cMoney\u201d is different, the ideas are different.\u00a0 In the familiar world, money, place and power are the standards by which we judge our fellows.\u00a0 In the fraternity all are on the level, and there are neither rich nor poor.\u00a0 In the world outside there are laws to prevent, and police\u00a0 and penalties to enforce obedience; in the fraternity the laws are not \u201cthou shalt not<\/span>\u201d but \u201cthou shalt<\/span>\u201d and the fundamental of them all is the golden rule, the law of brotherly love.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Men conform to the laws of Freemasonry not because they must<\/span> but because they will.<\/span>\u00a0 Surely such a land is a \u201cforeign country<\/span>\u201d to the stranger within its borders; and the visitor must study it, learn its language and its customs, if he is to enjoy it.
\nMany learn but a few phrases and only enough of its customs to conform.\u00a0 There are thousands of soldiers who went all over France during the war with a pack of cigarettes, a friendly smile and \u201cno comprende!\u201d as their sole knowledge of the language; but did they learn to know France?
\nA Lodge member may know the words of the opening and closing and how to act in a lodge, learn to call his fellows \u201cbrother<\/span>\u201d and pay his dues; but will that get him all there is in the foreign country in which he finds himself?
\nAmerica north and south is a mighty continent . It has many countries.\u00a0 To know one is not to know all.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The man at home in Mexico will find Newfoundland strange, and the Canadian will not feel at home in Chile if he knows nothing of that country. So it is with the vast continent of Freemasonry.\u00a0It has many \u201cforeign countries within it; and he is the wise and happy Freemason who works patiently at the pleasant task of visiting and studying them.<\/p>\n

There are the foreign countries of philosophy, of jurisprudence and of history.\u00a0 No Freemason is really worthy of the name who does not understand something of how his new land is governed, of what it stands for and why.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0 a Master Mason, a man has the right to travel in all the foreign countries of Freemasonry.\u00a0 There is none to say him nay.\u00a0 If he will but \u201clearn the work<\/span>\u201d and keep himself in good standing, he may visit where he will.
\nBut it is not within the door of other lodges than his own that he will find the boundary line and the guide posts of those truly Masonic \u201cForeign Countries\u201d<\/span> to which he has been given the passport by his brethren.<\/p>\n

He will find gateways to those lands in the library, in the study club, in books and magazines; and, most and best of all, in the quiet hour alone, when what he has read and learned comes back to him to be pondered over and thought through.\u00a0 The \u201cforeign country<\/span>\u201d of symbolism has engaged the thoughtful and serious consideration of<\/span> hundreds of able Masonic students, as has that of the history of our Order.\u00a0 Not to visit them both; aye, not to make oneself a citizen of them both, is to refuse the privileges one has sought and laboured to obtain.\u00a0 One asks for a petition, prays one\u2019s friend to take it to his lodge, knocks on the door, takes obligations, works to learn and finally receives the Master\u2019s Degree.<\/p>\n

One receives it, struggles for it, hopes for it . . . why?\u00a0 That one may travel in the far lands and receive the reward there awaiting. . Then why hesitate?\u00a0 Why wait?\u00a0 Why put it off?\u00a0 Why allow others to pass on and gain; while one stands, the gate open, the new land beckoning, and all the Masonic world to see?
\nThat is the symbolism of the \u201cforeign countries\u201d . . .<\/span>\u00a0 that is the meaning of the phrase which once meant, to operative Masons, exactly what it says.\u00a0 To the Freemason who reads it aright it is a clarion call to action, to study, to an earnest pressing forward on the new highway.\u00a0 For time is short and the night cometh when no man can work!
\nTo the young Freemason, particularly, is the symbol a ringing appeal.\u00a0 To those who are old in the Craft, who have set their pace, determined their course and become satisfied with all they have managed to learn of the fraternity, with what little they have been able to take from it, \u201cforeign countries\u201d<\/span> means countries which are foreign and nothing more.
\nBut to the young man just starting out as a Freemason . .Oh, my brother, heed you the symbolism of the phrase and make your entry through the gateway, your limbs strong to travel, your mind open to learn.\u00a0 For if you truly travel in the Masonic foreign countries, you will receive Master\u2019s Wages beyond your greatest expectations.\u00a0 The way is open to the Freemason; not an easy way, perhaps, or a short way, but a clear way.<\/p>\n

Not for the old Mason, the man set in his ways, the man content with the literal meaning of the words, the \u201cbook Mason,\u201d the pin- wearer, not for them the foreign countries of symbolism, and Masonic knowledge.<\/p>\n

But you, you who are new, you to whom Freemasonry is yet a wonder and a vision. a mystery and a glory . . . for you the gate is wide, for you the path is clear; for you the foreign countries beckon . . .\u00a0 hang you not back!<\/p>\n

For at the end of the journey, when the last foreign country of Freemasonry has been traveled and learned and loved, you shall come to a new gate, above which there is a new name written , and when you have read it you will know the True Word of a Master Mason.<\/p>\n

Comment<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 I never fail to be amazed at the appropriateness & timeliness of papers written by Masons of previous generations.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In this paper Claudy tells us & reminds us all that joining our Fraternity is only the first step.\u00a0 The Opening of the Door\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and where we travel from there is entirely personal.<\/p>\n

My pleasure lies in being fortunate enough to be able to share this INSIGHT with you all.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you for that opportunity.<\/p>\n

Have a Wonderful Day & God Bless<\/p>\n

Norm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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