Privileges And Responsibilities Of W.M.

PRIVILEGES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF W . M .

By Bro . Dr . E . H . Williams . Read at a meeting ofthe Masters and Wardens' Association , Victoria ( extracted from " Masonry" ) . THE subject I have undertaken to discuss in this paper is one which grows with acquaintance . I will not attempt to deal with all the privileges and responsibilities of a W . M ., but will , from the date of his election to the time of his leaving office ,

endeavour to place before you the most prominent of those duties and obligations in the order in which , according to my humble opinion , they occur to the W . M . Under each of the headings I propose to mention a very long paper indeed could be written . I intend , therefore , to merely make such remarks as may lead to

profitable discussion amongst ourselves as Masons , and as an association of Masons enjoying privileges and bearing responsibilities . I make no apology for having borrowed sentences or parts of sentences from the ritual , as where this may have occurred I feel

certain none could improve on the import of our antient doctrines and exhortations . Brethren , it is said that many heads are better than one . In writing this paper I am the one head ; I trust that when fully considered and fully criticised by the many some profit may result to all who have the interests of

Freemasonry at heart . The first , and apparently one of his greatest privileges occurs to the Worshipful Master immediately after he is elected to office , and before he is installed . I refer to the privilege of appointing his own Officers to assist him in his work . Although it is not until after his actual installation that he is

formally asked to appoint and invest his Officers , is it not , in all but exceptional cases , a fact that these appointments have been made and the offer of office accepted by the various Brethren , days beforehand ? Great then as this privilege must be acknowledged to be if fully exercised , does it not bear a responsibility

sufficient to make even a man of nerve hesitate before accepting it ? Let us see then , Brethren , how this responsibility is usually met , and then let us consider how far the privilege really extends ? The usual proceeding is for the Worshipful Master-elect to confer with his Past Masters , and act strictly according to their decision

( I nearly said dictation , and he is wise even if he realises the meaning of the latter word in its fullest sense ) . This decision usually is that every Officer shall have a step upwards ; for amongst Past Masters , who may reasonably be expected to have no axe to grind , it seems to be taken for granted that once a

member has held the lowest Office in his Lodge he has an absolute right to advancement each succeeding year , even if he has neglected the most important duty of paying his dues . Brethren , if I am correct in this premises , the only privilege attached at this stage to this apparently autocratic office , is the

opportunity of appointing some Brother ( perhaps a personal friend of the Worshipful Master , or in any case a particular friend of one or more of his advisers the Past Masters ) , to the lowest Office in his Lodge , well knowing that the splendid system in vogue will carry this Brother steadily forward , and

finally land him at the goal of his ambition , the zenith of his possibilities in Craft Masonry . True , the Worshipful Master is not compelled to consider anything except the best interests of his Lodge in this matter , but let him once deviate from the wellbeaten path , and he will require to be a man of peculiarly great

ability to pilot his Lodge through his year of office without running perilously close to breakers , without " dooming" its very Masonic life , and without laying down a precedent for his successors , which , if followed , will give the Lodge a bad name , as one in which personal influence is of no avail , in which personal

friendship counts for nothing ; in which even the absolute equality ( mental and educational ) of the Brethren is questioned ; and finally and apparently worst of all , the Lodge will be stigmatised as one in which merit and merit alone is the only key

to advancement . Brethren , such are the Worshipful Master ' s privileges , and such his responsibilities in this matter , and excellent as our system of course is , I almost feel that some apology is due for having included this amongst his great privileges , much more so for having stated that the responsibility

a grave one . THE INSTALLATION . —Here the new Worshipful Master experiences , for the first time , the glorious opportunity of setting his sails for the capture of every Masonic breeze that blows , and , unless a man of self-restraint , may lure himself into the belief that

on the eclat with which the ceremony of installation , with its appended fourth degree , passes off will depend the entire future of his Lodge . Ceremony at all times should command due observance , but in no case should a newly elected W . M . cripple his Lodge by

making the night of installation the one meeting of the year . Some newly-elected Worshipful Master will probably say , what if he is prepared to relieve his Lodge of pecuniary liability by paying the entire cost himself ? To such Brother I can only say that , if such steps are taken by him as to make his

Privileges And Responsibilities Of W.M.

installation an unusually imposing one for that particular Lodge , he is not only making use of our Order and of his Lodge for selfglorification , but he is doing inestimable damage to those who may in the ordinary course of events be expected to succeed him in his high office . Feelings of delicacy have kept , and may in

future keep , worthy Masons from accepting the highest office when they know how impossible it would be for them to entertain as recklessly as their predecessors , or some of them had done . The installation of Worshipful Master should be carried out on even lines each year , the expense being regulated by the financial

position of the Lodge , but never varying to the extent of allowing the possibility of one annual meeting being contrasted unfavourably with another . If the Worshipful Master feels disposed to contribute to the Order , how much stronger are the sacred claims

of charity than the allurements of transient revelry . Brethren , herein lies one of the greatest privileges of a Worshipful Master ; also one of his greatest real responsibilities ; unfortunately neither is always recognised .

WORKING IN THE LODOE . —This has , I am well aware , already been fully and •ably dealt with in a paper read some months ago by a Worshipful Brother before this Association . It would , therefore , be attempting to " paint the Lily " to again refer at any length to this subject ; suffice it to say , it is the great

privilege of a Worshipful Master to do all the ritual work in his Lodge , and to do it in such a manner as to prove to all that Masonry is indeed a peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols . But in this connection let us not forget his grave responsibility for the performance of this

duty , and , if through any cause whatever he does not actually do all the work himself , let him be positively assured that the Brother or Brethren whom he requests to assist him are thoroughly capable of maintaining the good reputation ot

Freemasonry , the dignity of the high office they are called on temporarily to till in doing his work , and the prestige and honourable record of the Lodge whose destinies are placed for the time being in his hands .

ADMISSION OF CANDIDATES . —Under this heading the great responsibility of a Worshipful Master can be stated in a few words by simple reference to the ritual and the Book of Constitutions . If the Worshipful Master is satisfied that certain questions put to the candidate after he has been duly elected and

before he is obligated are answered truly and sincerely , he need feel no qualms of conscience as to his possible dereliction of duty in this respect . If these queries can be so answered , no one can ever afterwards say that that particular Worshipful Master

boomed his Lodge . Every candidate received and initiated by such a prudent W . M . may be counted a distinct gain to our ancient Order . What more satisfactory recollection can any true Mason enjoy than the fact that he joined the Order entirely " of his own free will and accord . "

VISITOKS AND VISITING . —Circumstances over which I have no control having prevented me from being anything approaching a regular or consistent visitor to Lodges , I would gladly have left the consideration of this matter to the hands of Brethren better qualified to deal with it , were it not for the fact that the privilege

of visiting as Worshipful Master of his Lodge is one of the most important appertaining to his high office . When addressed as a newly invested Warden the Worshipful Master was advised that what may have appeared praiseworthy in others he should himself carefully imitate , and what in them appeared defective ,

he should himself amend . In his high office the Worshipful Master has the honour of knowing that he absolutely represents the Lodge . How better then , than by visiting , can he be in a position to observe praiseworthy features in the working of others or , possibly , anything "defective . " No Mason , much less a

Worshipful Master , should visit the banquet table of a sister Lodge unless invited by the Worshipful Master , or by some member of that Lodge in good standing . But as for the purely Masonic part , the Worshipful Master enjoys the great privilege , and must recognise it as his duty , to welcome worthy Brethren

who may care to witness the working of his Lodge . Whilst his heaviest responsibility is to see that his Officers carefully perform all their duties relating to the admission of visitors , he must also see that each visitor to his Lodge is honoured according to

his Masonic position , and that every Brother in the Lodge Eoom is made to realise that Masonry is universal , and that while tolerating in its meetings no political nor religious creed it commands every one of its members to act unto others as they would wish others to act unto them .

DUTIES OF GRAND LODGE . —His privileges and responsibilities in relation to Grand Lodge need not be dealt with here , as when invested as a Warden these were fully pointed out to him .

GENERAL DEMEANOUR OF A W . M . —Brethren , probably if the most crude and undeveloped of socialistic doctrines were to become law to-morrow , and if in accordance therewith every man and woman were to start from a position of absolute equality , as far as this world ' s riches are concerned , inside of twenty-four hours we would have as many millionaires as we