A Message From An Outgoing Master

Posted on May 24, 2012 by ambryant

Van Rensselaer Lodge 87 – East Greenbush NY 12061 May 10, 2012
Talk given to craft by the WM Daniel Valenti
My Brother’s, I close this year with bitter sweet feelings. Bitter- because we have the second largest membership in the Albany district with 175 members, yet even though
we tried to reach out with mailings, a picnic, a table lodge, an open house event, a brother bring a friend night, and our third year into our fellow craft club, I have failed
to spark any interest in the over 100 Masons that are within a 15-25 mile radius of our Lodge.  But the sweet part is that we’ve raised four new Brother’s who seem very enthusiastic about our craft. We’ve seen a few Brother’s come back to lodge who have been away for awhile. We’ve seen Brother’s who have been raised within the last year or two becoming very involved in everything and even becoming officer’s.

We see an excellent line of officer’s in the ranks right now who I have had the pleasure to serve this lodge with.  Hard working officer’s that understand what their
positions are all about and who are both teacher’s and students.

I have said from day one that just because a person goes through the same degrees as the rest of us, does not make him a Brother in my opinion. I have been lied to in
interviews where candidates have told me that YES they will be active, and yet never came to another meeting after they were raised. They have NEVER given the
beauty of Freemasonry a chance.

I have three brother’s, and if they were not truly a good brother to me I would find it difficult to call them such.  So why should a person raised to the sublime degree of
Master Mason expect us to call them a brother and treat them as such when they have put zero effort into being a brother to us.

This membership card isn’t worth the paper it’s written on if you don’t walk this walk with your Brother’s.  Freemasonry doesn’t want them unless under the rough
exterior there is concealed a beauty of character that may be revealed through the proper manipulation of our working tools, that may be developed through what Freemasonry has to offer.

Masonry is a way of life, just like I have on the sign out in front. It’s a theory of life. A philosophy of life. It manifests itself in our daily contacts with our brother’s.
It’s not what the tongue proclaims but what the heart contains. The true Mason is the one who interprets the symbols in which masonry is concealed , or by which it is explained.
Through his actions in his daily life. Of what was put into such symbols long before Solomon started construction of the great white temple which crowned Moriah’s Mount.
Masonry should be a Brotherhood of man, and this isn’t an idle dream. The Masonic fraternity is an organization with a purpose. Were not simply members, we are students and teachers, seeking by precept and example to promote an honorable and happy relationship among men, and a devotion to God and his purposes.

We must feel challenged as Masons to preserve and pass on to those who come after us, that it may continue to inspire men down through all the years to come. It is a foundation on which the individual can build a happy life and a civilization can build a sound and
successful social order.

We are a Masonic community my Brother’s. We shouldn’t be friends just 16 times a year when we meet for a meeting. We should be friends outside of lodge and get to know each other’s wives and children.

I look around the room and remember meeting so many of your wives and children. Our wives have become friends, our children have become friends. Even in our community we only have to look down the road to see hints of Freemasonry all around us. Go down
the turnpike to Fucillo Ford, Henry Ford was a Freemason, so was Walter Chrysler, and Ransom Olds the founder of Oldsmobile Go a little further to Wendy’s, the founder, Dave Thomas, was a freemason. Go a little further to KFC, it’s founder, Col. Harland Sanders, was a freemason. Go a little further to the gun shop, a popular gun is a Colt, Samuel Colt was a freemason. What was just in Albany…the Ringling Brothers circus. All seven
brothers and their father, all Freemasons. I can go on and on but you get the point. Freemasonry surrounds us and encompasses so much.

All initiation is, is bringing men to light. Teaching them to see the moral order of the world in which they must learn their duty and find their true destiny. It is the most impressive drama on earth, a symbol of the divine education of man. Jesus saw men doing awful things, who were living in darkness, blinded by passion, prejudice, greed, jealousy,
etc. and he said, “ Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” We are more blind then bad. Let our fellowship be with those who walk and think alike. Our ignorance will be our undoing. Knowing these things I’m faced to ask myself two questions. What will my last days be like? What will your last days be like? And how would I like to finish this race we call life? If we are husbands, are we being the best husband we can be? If we are fathers, are we being the best father we can be? If we have siblings, are we being the best brother we can be? Are we being the best Masonic brother we can be? The best friend we can be? Or..are there little tweaks we can make to change things, to make things just a little bit better.

So, to the newly raised Masons, you may still be asking what Masonry is all about.
There are men in this room much more intelligent than I am who would probably give you a much better answer. But I’d like to share my opinion with you. I have taken all the courses I can take at this point, and have read over 130 books on Freemasonry so far.
Freemasonry Has become a big part of my life because it has changed my life. I would say, Freemasonry is an awakening, and a preparation. It’s a preparation for our lives today, in the present, and even more so, for in the future, for that next dimension we call Heaven.

What kind of person should I be? What kind of person should you be? Even though life is short, we all have enough time to decide what kind of person we want to be. From the day we take our first breath we are allotted a certain time on this earth.

We each took three obligations at this altar. Obligations to ourselves, each other, Freemasonry, and God. Not to the preservation of real estate and not to becoming
a word perfect ritualist. Freemasonry gives us the tools to prepare us for the next dimension.

Our fraternity today as a whole seems to focus so much on charity and it was never intended to be such. This all intensified after the Morgan affair to try and win
over the public and bring back Masons. Our focus use to be mainly on taking care of each other, widows of our Brothers, and their orphans.

As men, we have common goals, such as we want a decent job or business and earn a decent salary. Have a nice home, a nice car, and provide for our family. Common goals but different paths. For some the path may be easy. But for others the path may be more
difficult. Those brothers may have more obstacles in the way. More rocks to climb over. Maybe a stream or river to cross. A mountain to climb.

And if we are true Brothers, I would hope there would be 20 of us there to help him over that boulder. Or 20 of us there to help build a bridge for him to cross that river. And if he faces a mountain, 20 of us throwing ropes down to him and pulling him up. And when we see his relief and happiness that he has overcome whatever was in his path…then we have been paid our Masonic wage.

As I look down to where our organ is I can’t help but to think of our Brother Henry who at this moment is facing such an obstacle. Let us remember that he is our Brother and friend and remember him in our thoughts and prayers.

In psalm 90 verse 12, “ In our last days we should guide those who walk behind us, and let them know that their future is not decided by CHANCE, but by CHOICE.”

We’ve lost some Brother’s in these last fives years that I’ve been a Mason.
Only three that I really had the pleasure of getting to know.
W:. Ernie Malmstrom
W:. George Sheffer
and W:. Stan Shufelt
All three of these brothers but especially the first two because I spent more time with them, both inside lodge rooms and out. They have had an influence on my life. They taught me things when they probably weren’t even aware of it. They had walked in my shoes and they had the wisdom of life and experience, and I respect that. I miss those brothers.
I hope that I see them again someday in Heaven.

As I look around the room tonight, I see an amazing group of guys.
Five years ago I walked into this lodge and didn’t know one person. I didn’t even know one freemason. Today, I’m happy to stand up here and call each of you a friend and a Brother.
But the truth of the matter is, is that there may be someone in this room tonight that might not live another year. There may be someone in this room who may not live
another six months. There may be someone in this room who may not live another month, or another week. And there may be someone in this room tonight that might not make it through the night. And that very well may be me and I’m very well aware of that.

But we’re given a choice as Freemasons. The choice to become a better person, a better man, a better citizen. We are given a new educational system built upon morals, and our principles and tenants. We are given the strength to unlock and open new doors.
We are given the eyes to look outside the box. And it’s all laid out for us. And we really don’t have to look much further than our obligations, our charges, our lectures, and the symbolic meaning and value of our working tools.

But..it’s up to us to embrace this way of life. And then to ask ourselves…do I want to live according to my own choices and this new way of life? Or, do I want to continue to live my life as I did before I became a Freemason… and just let the cards fall where they may…and live by chance? I choose CHOICE!
So, in closing my Brother’s, I would just like to ask that at some point… we each ask ourselves two simple but very important questions. What will my last days be like?
And how would I like to finish this race? My brother’s, it’s been and honor and a privilege to be the Master of this lodge for this past year. I thank each of you for your support and for your time, thank you!

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Amen

Posted on July 10, 2011 by ambryant

We speak this word at the end of a prayer to signify that we are in complete accord with the sentiment uttered.  And when we say “Amen” almost unadulterated Hebrew and Greek for this word has traveled through both these old languages and found its way into the English in practically its original form.  In the Lodge we say, after “Amen”, “So mote it be.” That is, we translate the word “Amen” by the use of the above form of expression and thus emphasize its significance.  We might say, “May it be so,” but because we like to cling to that which has been found good, we use the old form of “may,” which is “mote.”  There is utterly nothing secret about the expression “So mote it be.”

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The Two Pillars

Posted on May 1, 2011 by ambryant

THE Fellow-Craft is introduced to the wonders of his world of art and science through portals flanked by two massive pillars. Detailed description of these pillars in the Books of Kings indicates a style of design common to Egyptian architecture, where a pillar terminates in a capital representing a conventionalized lotus blossom, or the seed pod of that sacred lily.  Such twin pillars are frequently found among Egyptian and Sumerian archaeological remains.

The pillars of King Solomon’s Temple, and in fact that entire group of structures, were the work of Phoenician artists, according to the Biblical account.  From other sources we gather that these same designers and craftsmen, initiated Dionysiac architects, were responsible for the magnificent palaces and temples at Byblos, the cultural and aesthetic center of ancient Phoenicia. The Phoenician realm occupied an area roughly the same as that of modern Syria and Lebanon, and in Biblical accounts is usually called Tyre, from the name of its then capital city.  Byblos, also known as Gub’l or Gebal, the present-day village of Jebeil, was particularly famous for architects and sculptors.

The twin pillars symbolize the dual nature of life and death, positive and negative or rather active (establishment) and passive (endurance), male and female, light and dark, good and evil, uniting in a central point of equilibrium, the apex of an equilateral triangle; a circle between two parallel uprights. Isis represented standing between two pillars of opposing polarity, the Ark of the Covenant between two Cherubim, Christ crucified between two thieves, are all symbols of the same trinity, the completeness and perfection of Deity.

That the twin pillars resemble the conventional symbol for Gemini, third sign of the Zodiac, is no accident, but rather due to the common ancestry of the two apparently unrelated symbols.

In some lectures the pillars are said to be 35 cubits high, the height given in II Chronicles, King James Version.  Another version of the same source gives the height as 120 cubits.  Since the height of the first or outer chamber was probably no more than 30 cubits, the measurement given in I Kings: 18 cubits, seems more likely to be correct.  The addition of map globes atop the pillars is a modern invention, with little Biblical or other authority and serving little purpose but to permit the lecturer to harp upon the advantages of studying astronomy, geography, etc., worthy pursuits but wholly unrelated to the symbolism of the pillars.

Whether the three chambers of the Temple were connected by stairs is debatable. The best-informed scholars believe the Temple roof was flat, in which case the successively decreasing heights of the chambers, plus the somewhat sloping configuration of the site, would require approach and connection by means of either stairways or of some sort of ladder and trapdoor arrangement.  Certainly the fantastically elaborate many-storied versions of the Temple depicted by some well-intentioned but ill-informed Bible illustrators and Masonic artists are so illogical and at variance with the few known facts and testimony of both the Bible and history as to seem the figments of a disordered imagination.  Josephus stated that the Temple was of Grecian style which implies entablature and consequently a flat roof, although he had the cart before the horse, since Greek architecture was derived from Phoenician, not the reverse.

In any case, the stairway of our lectures is purely symbolic, consisting as it does of the significant numbers 3, 5, and 7. In such a series, 3 symbolizes such qualities as peace, friendship, justice, piety, temperance, and virtue. 5 represents light, health, and vitality- 7 is a symbol of control, judgment, government, and religion.

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Should Your Lodge Own Its Building?

Posted on April 12, 2011 by ambryant

The last 5 months on the Lodges and Buildings Committee (Grand Lodge NY) have been an eyeopening experience.  It is a sobering thought that many lodges that have declining membership cannot afford to own and operate a building.

Take my Lodge for example.  In 2000, the Lodge had 180 members, and by 2010 the Lodge was reduced to only 125 members, a reduction of more that 30%.  This factoid is even more poignant when you realize that the Lodge has averaged 5+ members each year for that same period.  Another sobering fact is that most of our new members are in the 20-30 age bracket and our average age is still 65.  From the period of December 1, 2010 through January 30, 2011, we lost 7 members to the Celestial Lodge above.

So what about our building?  We are one of the fortunate groups since our building is owned by a Historical Society and we are tax exempt.  However, we are still responsible for maintenance, utilities, snow plowing, trash removal, etc.  The cost for all this wonderfulness translates into around $ 30,000 a year.  So let’s do the math, $30K divided by 125 members equals $240 per member, per year.  That’s funny, the last time I looked, our annual dues were $100.  So, what is wrong with this picture?

So how does a Lodge know whether to own or rent?  There is a simple way of making that determination.  If a Lodge spends all of its time raising money for the upkeep of a building and its not doing the work of Masonry, then they should be renting and not attempting to own.  Of course the exception to the rule is the lodge that is well funded with investments and the annual earning more than compensate for building expenses.  Unfortunately, most lodges do not have that luxury.

The Committee on Lodges & Buildings has many aids that help you make this determination.  Contact the author or any member of the Committee for more information.

Allan M. Bryant, State Chairman

Lodges & Building Committee

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On Masonic Conduct

Posted on March 29, 2011 by ambryant

“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to – broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch and toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the will which says to them – “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which more – you’ll be a Man, my son!”

—Brother Rudyard Kipling

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Part 23: The Order of St. John of Jerusalem

Posted on March 22, 2011 by ambryant

The final straw that broke the Turkish back, on  September 6th, the long anticipated relief force from Sicily, led by  Don Garcia arrived in northeastern bay of the island, it was not the 16,000 promised  actually around 8,000., but  the Turkish scouts did not report it accurately until to late.   The Turks still had close to 20,000 troops, but the will to fight on was gone,  by September  8th the siege  was lifted, the Turks had set sail for the east not to return.  The Knights were left on the battlements, the Maltese Cross  banners waving as the victory bells rang out.

Of the 40,000 Turks who set out to crush  the Order of St. John and capture Malta it is estimated that the  Turkish losses were immense       conservatively 25,000. to 30,000.

Of the Christian forces of the original 9000, only 600 survived.  “During the siege 250 of the Knights died.”14

Suleiman the Magnificent army had received one of his most costly defeats.  Upon hearing of this defeat,   Suleiman vowed to return himself the following year and “not spare a single inhabitant!” 15 It was not to be, instead the following year he took his army to Hungary where a short time later, Suleiman died.

This incredible victory made the Order of St. John the toast of Europe and brought the Order world wide fame and the forever linked the Order with the island of Malta, henceforth the Order became known as the Knights of Malta.  It’s banner the  8 pointed Cross of St. John, became identified as the Maltese Cross.

This victory “although no one could have foreseen it at the time,  was the last effort of the  Ottomans to break into the western Mediterranean and complete the encirclement of Europe from the south.  Had Malta fallen the face of Europe might have been completely changed with the next decade.”  “Queen Elizabeth of England, had observed during the course of the siege that ‘if the Turks should prevail against the Isle of Malta, it is uncertain what further peril might follow to the rest of Christendom’. This “… victory of the Knights was seen as the salvation of Europe.”16

In closing:  When one sees a Cross of Malta,  remember the Knights, think of their 8 aspirations, their tradition of duty, honor and self sacrifice.   Remember Malta,  where a few Knights held the walls against impossible odds and by doing so, saving western civilization as we know it today.

Bibliography

The Great Siege by Ernle Bradford,  1961 Harcourt, Brace World, Inc.

The Shield & the Sword The Knights of St. John, Jerusalem, Rhodes & Malta by Ernle Bradford, 1972 E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc.

A Short History of Malta by Brian Blouet, 1967, Frederick A. Praeger, Publishers

Knight Hospitaller from Wikipedia  October, 2009

The Templars by Piers Paul Ried, 1999, St. Martins Press

Empires of the Sea by Roger Crowley, 2008, Random House

1  Mike Singer, 9 July, 2004

2,3 The Shield & the Sword The Knights of St. John, Jerusalem, Rhodes & Malta by Ernle Bradford, 1972 E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc.

4  The Great Siege by Ernle Bradford,  1961 Harcourt, Brace World, Inc.  pg 9

5 The Great Siege by Ernle Bradford,  1961 Harcourt, Brace World, Inc.  pg 5

6 The Shield & the Sword The Knights of St. John, Jerusalem, Rhodes & Malta by Ernle Bradford, 1972 E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc.

7, pg 152;  8 pg 156;  9 pg 157, 10 pg 160; 11 pg 162, 12 & 13  pg 163; 14 pg 167; 15 pg 166  & 16 pg 168

The Shield & the Sword The Knights of St. John, Jerusalem, Rhodes & Malta by Ernle Bradford, 1972 E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc.

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Part 17: The Order of St. John of Jerusalem

Posted on March 19, 2011 by ambryant

The end of St. Elmo  came with the arrival of Turkish reinforcements from Africa.  New cannon batteries were placed  to enfilade the fort, but even with these changes it was not until June 21st after a heavy bombardment, the Turks launched a mass assault and much to the amazement of the on lookers from Fort St. Angelo,  St. Elmo was not overrun.

There above the ruins waved the flag of the Order, the Cross of St. John.  But by June 23rd, there were only 100 defenders left.  The Turks orders another huge bombardment.  At a signal, it ceased and Mustapha order his  finest troops forward, only to be thrown back, they regrouped and rushed forward  through the breached walls and the fort was taken.

It had taken a month for the  Turks to subdue Fort St. Elmo, much to the chagrin of Mustapha’s military  advisors, who said would only take days.  The cost,  8000 Turks died in the assault.  The Christian forces lost 1,500. including 130 of the Knights Hospitaller.

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Part 21: The Order of St. John of Jerusalem

Posted on March 18, 2011 by ambryant

Literally, like some American Western, it was the cavalry to the rescue. Unknown to the defenders, from the old fort at Medina,  the fort that Mustapha arrogantly had bypassed,  the cavalry unit of the Order sallied forth and raided the Turkish camp causing mass confusion and panic.  Successfully causing the retreat of the main army. It is said this was a pivotal moment of the battle and literally saved the day.

The Turks after recovering from this surprise, began their bombardment with renewed urgency. A dispatch was slipped into St. Angelo from Don Garcia the Governor of Sicily saying he would bring a relief force of 16,000 by the end of August. 11 The Grand Master was not confident that the relief would come in time and made a crucial decision to destroy the bridges linking the 3 fortifications held by the Knights and the Maltese, thus forcing the Turks to keep its forces spread out and very likely by doing so “saved both Malta and the Order of St. John”.12

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Part 22: The Order of St. John of Jerusalem

Posted on March 18, 2011 by ambryant

On August 18th Egyptian miners tunneled under the walls of Birgu, exploded a mine and a large section of the main wall collapsed.  Immediately the Turks swept forward into this undefended position.   The defenders were in shock and hesitated.  At this crucial moment, the 70 year old Grand Master grabbed a helmet and sword and led a counter charge.  Hand to hand fighting on the rubble of what was once the wall.   Some of the Knights tried to get him to withdraw from the combat, but La Valette though wounded in the leg refused, pointing with his sword to a Turkish flag, “Never will I withdraw so long as those banners wave in the wind.” 13 The knights with renewed efforts were able to drive the Turks out of the breech.

The following days,  all manner of siege techniques were attempted,  but nothing was successful.  The Turkish commanders were now in dispute on how to proceed.  Morale was suffering.  There was the matter of supplies and whether they could keep the army motivated after the heavy losses it had experienced.  Turkish Admiral Piali knew that victory must be accomplished before the seasonal winds changed and the fleet could not sail back to Istanbul.

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Part 20: The Order of St. John of Jerusalem

Posted on March 17, 2011 by ambryant

Mustapha  thought the time had come to make his surprise move,   ordered the  Janissaries in their ships forward to attack the point of Senglea.  Unknown to the Turks at the very foot of Fort St. Anglo on the opposite side of the creek from Senglea there was a concealed cannon battery placed for just such an attempt.  The French knight in charge of this battery could not believe his eyes the 10 ships were heading straight his guns, at 200 yards he gave the order to fire.  The Turks did not stand a chance, 9 ships were blown out of the water,  800 of  Mustapha’s best soldiers were lost.  The 10th ship managed to escape.   With this the Turks on the walls of St. Michael were thrown back.  Christian losses have been estimated at 200 to 300, but the Turks lose 2000 to 3000.

The Turks regrouped, redirected cannon fire.  On August 2nd,  all the Turkish guns “opened up with a roar,”  10 After pulverizing the fortification of Birgu and Senglea,  the army swept forward and a 6 hour battle commenced.  The Turks managed to break through several times  but only to be thrown back.   Finally Mustapha who it is said, tore his beard in mortification on what was happening called his troops back he underestimated the will of the defenders.

Once again, Mustapha ordered a  cannon bombardment for 5 days to weaken the defenses. On August 7th,  the Turkish army swept forward attacking the walls of Birgu and Senglea,  the Turks broke threw the outer wall at Birgu, only to find that the Knights had built an inner wall, trapping the Turks in a cross fire and were thrown back.  At Senglea, the Turks were achieving success and had broken threw,  victory was within their grasp, but at just at the key moment, a trumpet call is heard.  It is the Turkish call to retreat.  To the amazement of the defenders the Turks pull back.

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