It Is No Secret!
Dr. James P. Wesberry, 32°, K.C.C.H.

Executive Director and Editor of Sunday Magazine
Pastor Emeritus of Morningside Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia

It is a great honor to pay tribute to Freemasonry. Its amazing, astonishing story is well recorded in the annals of mankind. Masonry has served to make this a better world in which to live. With its roots deeply embedded in antiquity it is one of the world's largest, if not the largest, and most influential Fraternal Orders.

I joined the Masonic Order at the age of 21 and have enjoyed the rights and privileges for almost 60 years. I have had the privilege of being a member of many organizations, but none outside of my church has meant more to me than Masonry. I owe Masonry a debt I can never repay. I thank God for my Masonic Brethren.

It is no secret that many of Masonry's noblest and beautiful teachings are from both the Old and New Testaments. It is no secret that the Bible holds the central position as the great light of Masonry. It is no secret that Masons love and revere the Bible nor it is a secret that Masonry helped to preserve it in the darkest age of the church when infidelity sought to destroy it. The Bible meets Masons with its sacred message at every step of progress in its various degrees.

It is no secret that high above Masonry's steeple is the ever-watchful and all-seeing eye of Almighty God. Every part of its foundation walls are beautifully built and artistically fashioned by the Supreme Architect of the Universe with the plumb, level, and square. The hope of eternal life and assurance of the resurrection to new existence beam from the light of the altar. Its wall is a refuge from the tears and cares of life, and its roof a shelter from the pitiless storms of diversity and grief. Its treasury is opened to the destitute, and relief stands ever ready for the poor. Its cornerstone rests upon the four quarters of the Earth and its doors are never closed to a worthy man. Every man comes of his own free will and accord. This is Masonry!

Besides Masonry's great respect for God and reverence for the Holy Book there are other great doctrines and principles that contribute to the greatness and the important influence of Ancient Freemasonry.

From King Solomon's Temple the great Masonic Fraternity came forth, and its footsteps may be traced through the ages to the present day. Masonry has played an important part in the molding and making of America and in fashioning its fundamental laws and life.

While the true secrets of Masonry are lodged safely in the repository of faithful breasts, there are many things Masonry teaches that are not secret.

It is certainly no secret that the principal purpose of Masonry is first, last and, always to produce the finest, noblest type of character through fellowship and mutual helpfulness. Masonry is a progressive discipline. Its members are "seekers" and "strivers" after light and truth by which to live wisely and harmoniously. Ever striving toward a higher standard of conduct, Masonry is always a moral discipline. In the struggle for moral excellence, as in the building of King Solomon's Temple, the Supreme Architect is both indispensable and invaluable.

The whole superstructure of Masonry rests upon the Supreme Architect. There are no atheists in Masonry. The universe is viewed as one vast structure which owes its existence to the Supreme Architect. Man, too, is a builder engaged in constructing a Temple of character with which he is supplied materials, patterns and instruments to build.

The purity and innocence symbolized by the Lamb's Skin which he is required to keep unsoiled represent the Mason's highest honor. There is scarcely a page of Masonic Ritual that does not urge the cultivation of the virtue of purity. Necessity is thus laid on Masons to subdue their passions and to acquire the art of self-control. Masonry seeks to build a better world by building better individuals.

It is no secret that with the mournful movement of spade and coffin the Mason is reminded of his end. Death terminates his journey! Death ends man's earthly labors and seals his account for the Supreme Architect to judge.

It is no secret that Masonry teaches the immortality of the soul. The resurrection of the body from the grave is indelibly stamped upon the Mason's mind. While memory holds her seat among the faculties of his soul the Mason can never forget this sacred lesson.

And crowning it all with beautiful lily work, Masons put into practice what they say about brotherly love. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in unity!" Masons favor no man for his wealth and frown on no man because of his poverty. Freemasonry shows no deference to learning or nobility. The ground is wondrously level at its altar.

At its altar the oily tongue of slander is silenced. Hatred, envy, and malice are buried in oblivion, and faults are forgotten. Masons stand by each other. They uphold each other both in life and in death.

Charity is indeed one of the most beautiful columns in the Temple of Masonry. Masonry never wearies of stressing the need for charity. To sympathize with each other in misfortune, to be compassionate for another's miseries and to return peace to troubled minds are among the great aims of Masonry.

All Masons obligate themselves to help, aid and assist the poor, the distressed, the widows and orphans. Nor is charity restricted to fellow Masons only, but extended to all. It shares the common bonds of race as children of one great Creator, and seeks to unite men of every race, color, sect, and opinion. Masonry practices the golden Rule and seeks always to eliminate divisive forces which build walls between people.

The compass enables the Mason to draw a perfect circle, to work to the end that harmony and peace many eventually encircle the world. It offers relief to the helpless, wraps the drapery of charity over homes darkened by sorrow, wipes tears away, soothes sorrows, feeds the hungry, heals the sick, and ministers to the burned and crippled.

Where in all the annals of time is such an organization to be found outside of the church? Yet it is no secret that Masonry is not a religion, nor a church. A good Mason keeps his priorities in order. Masonry respects every man's right to the religion of his choice and never claims or desires to be any man's religion or a substitute for it. Masons believe in tolerance. Masonry helps and encourages a man to be a better church member, and a good church member usually makes a good Mason. Some of the most religious persons I have ever known have been Masons. For any person to allow Masonry to become his religion or to take the place of his church is a mistake and not due to Masonic teaching but to someone's misinterpretation or misunderstanding.

It is no secret that Masonry helps men to be better men and to build a better would. Masonry is a living epistle, known and read of all men, declaring to the world that it is a true and tried organization, a great and wonderful fraternity of fellowship, charity, and benevolence.

Many years ago, when a theological student in Boston, I heard the great poet Edwin Markham quote these beautiful words which seem to me to summarize the meaning of Freemasonry:

We are blind until we see
That in the human plan
Nothing is worth the making
That does not make the man.

Why build these cities glorious
If Man unbuilded goes?
In vain we build the work
Unless the builder grows.

(This article was widely distributed and published in th Scottish Rite Magazine)