Obedience
Obedience Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary
1. (a) an act or instance of obeying (b) the quality or state of being obedient.
Obedience Lexicon of Freemasonry Albert G. Mackey (1908)
Submission to the constituted authorities, both in state and the Craft, is a quality inculcated upon all Masons.
With respect to the State, a Mason is charged to be a “peaceable subject” to the civil powers, wherever he resides or works, and never to be concerned in plots or conspiracies against the peace and welfare of the nation, nor to behave himself undutifully to inferior magistrates.
And with respect to the craft, he is directed “to pay due reverence to his Master, Wardens, and Fellows, and to put them to worship”.(respect)
And another part of the same regulations directs, that the rulers and governors, supreme and subordinate, of the ancient Lodge, are to be obeyed in their respective stations, by all the Brethren, with the humility, reverence, love and alacrity (eagerness)
The spirit of obedience runs through he whole system, and constitutes one of the greatest safeguards of our Institution. The Mason is obedient to the Master ; the Master and the Lodge to the Grand Lodge; and this , in it’s turn, to the old landmarks and ancient regulations of the Order.
Thus is a due degree of subordination kept up and the Institution preserved in its pristine purity.
Comment
Personally, I find it worth noting that Mackey wrote this definition in 1908, and I cannot help but wonder how he would word his definition in light of today’s society. One can only ponder what his definition might be!!!!!.
This being the last paper in this series I have been drawn to the writings of Bernard E. Jones and offer his comments re the Temple of God.
“ In the Temple of God, the Foundation is Faith, which is conversant with unseen things ; the roof is Charity, which covereth a multitude of sins. The door is Obedience… The pavement is humility, of which the Psalmist saith “My Soul cleaveth to the pavement” The four sides are the FOUR Cardinal Virtues—justice, fortitude, temperance, prudence.
Hence the Apocalypse saith “ The City lieth four-square”
Norm