The Builders

The Builders (A Story And Study Of Masonry)

by Joseph Fort Newton, Litt. D.

Freemasonry, is committed to the principle of the Commonwealth, the application to the field of government and social policy of the law of human brotherhood, of the duty of man to his neighbor, near and far, wherein lies our only hope of a world fit for free men to live in, where fraternity can flourish and the spirit of goodwill grow and be glorified. Surely, in a world torn by strife and divided by so many feuds of race, religion, and nationality, we have a right to rejoice in a fellowship, at once free, gentle, and refining, which spans all distances of space and all differences of speech, and brings men together by a common impulse and inspiration in mutual respect and brotherly regard. Truly it needs no philosopher to discern that such a fraternity, the very existence of which is a fact eloquent beyond words; and doubly so because, by its very genius, Freemasonry is international, and therefore ought to be responsive to the ideal of world-fellowship.

There was a little spread on the night of his raising, and, as is the custom, the candidate was asked to give his impressions of the Order. Among other things, he made request to know if there was any little book which would tell a young man the things he would most like to know about Masonry--what it was, whence it came, what it teaches, and what it is trying to do in the world? No one knew of such a book at that time, nor has any been found to meet a need which many must have felt before and since.