John W. Bizzack, Ph.D.

The true goal of Masonic education should be continuity: preserving what has been learned from one generation to the next rather than neglecting or discounting what has been learned in the past (or from it). There are reports that the Masonic Institution is working on that. Masons do not need to be accomplished historians. There should, however, be some agreement that if we came to Freemasonry to learn (which is one of the things that every man initiated has declared he comes to Freemasonry to do), then is there not some importance too, beyond just finding out there have been men of historical note who were Freemasons, or merely being aware that speculative Masonry is believed to have evolved from operative stonemasons?

Tonight, we are going explore the timely topic for this time of year: Thanksgiving.
I want to share with you a story you may not have heard about how the 4th Thursday in November became our traditional Thanksgiving Holiday. What is the connection between the concern of parents that their children were being corrupted in the early1600 by a government in which they had lost their faith to Thanksgiving Day? How did an unworthy sea vessel, an unexpected ocean storm, a 1621 letter, and a part Cherokee Indian in 1789, lead us to our Thanksgiving Day? What did a Boston Masonic Lodge in 1823 have to do with an anti-slavery book and the woman who wrote Mary Had a Little Lamb and an 1827 lady’s magazine article with a recipe have to do with how our Thanksgiving Day came about? What did Secretary War and anti-Mason, William Steward in Lincoln’s administration have to do with writing Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation to celebrate a Day of Thanksgiving?

Educator, public official, and political reformer, John W. Gardner, may have said it best, “History never looks like history when you are living through it.” The direction of the Institution of American Freemasonry, much of its administration and many of the practices used to deliver the promise of Freemasonry have always been influenced by external circumstances, situations, and conditions. Not every response from the Institution to past external influences has been artful and rippling effects from the decisions and choices made during challenging times prove to affect American Freemasonry long after they are made. There is no reason today to believe the same will not happen as the fraternity moves through the current situation created by the global pandemic. In some ways, shifts in our thinking has already started as we travel closer to this latest crossroad.

In 1966, the Masonic Fraternity in America was eight years into an annual steady membership loss that has lasted to this day. That year around 155,000 Masons that were on the rolls in 1959, were gone. In another ten years, 477,000 more would disappear from the rolls. By 1986, another 631,000 names disappeared and a total of 1,263,000 men were no longer counted as Masons in America. Although the losses varied in each jurisdiction every jurisdiction felt the pang of the losses. The average loss was 25,250 Masons per state over that 27-year period.

If a Mason has been fortunate enough to witness or participate in the 3rd Section of the Hiramic Legend of the Master Mason Degree or to study it, he knows that when Grand Master Hiram Abiff does not show up for work one morning during the construction of King Solomon’s Temple the craftsmen became confused. They were horrified that no designs were drawn on the trestle-board to instruct them on the work to be done that particular day. Abiff was nowhere to be found; their leader had not set them to work for the day, much less provide wholesome instruction about the manner of carrying out the work on that day. As a result, there was confusion at the temple. One of the many lessons from the Hiramic Legend is the clear need for planning. When there is no plan, confusion should be expected and is the net result.

Tonight, I want to share with you some a few things about the season we are in. At its surface, the Christmas holidays have no intrinsic connection to the fraternity. What I mean by that is nowhere in our degrees do we find Freemasonry linking itself to any nationally or world-practiced holiday. Now, we all know Freemasonry is not a religion nor a substitute for religion. It requires of its members a belief in a Supreme Being but advocates no sectarian faith or practice. Masonic ceremonies include prayers of course – both traditional and impromptu – to reaffirm everyone’s dependence on the Supreme Bring and to seek divine guidance.

This essay is about origins, but not the origins of Freemasonry. This writing is about the cause and origin of a phrase found in Masonry for at least the past 180 years: Masonic ignorance.
Abraham Lincoln was supposedly fond of asking, “If you call a dog’s tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have?” “Five,” his listeners would invariably answer. “No,” he would politely respond, “the correct answer is four. Calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg.” Like Lincoln’s audiences, who were willing to call a tail a leg, many Masons subscribe to similar thinking: calling all members of the Fraternity Freemasons actually makes them Freemasons.

In many jurisdictions, the Tyler is the first officer of the Lodge to be installed. When the sword is placed in his hands, the officiate reminds all present that: “As the sword is placed in the hands of the Tyler to enable him effectually to guard against the approach of cowans and eavesdroppers, and suffer none to pass or repass except such as are duly qualified, so should it admonish us to set a guard over our thoughts, a watch at our lips, and post a sentinel over our actions; thereby preventing the approach of every unworthy thought and deed, and preserving consciences void of offense toward God and man.”