Many men seek the Light of Freemasonry, and quickly find that The Craft is truly thriving in the State of Ohio. The seeker of Masonic wisdom and initiation suddenly finds himself confronted with a glorious problem: which Lodge is right for me? Truly every Lodge is different in its character and mission. At Dover Lodge #489, our goal is to be a deeply educational and esoteric body that fosters profound Masonic growth.
To wit, the excerpt below was penned by W.L. Wilmshurst in the early 1900s. Our Brother was a past Grand Lodge Officer in the United Grand Lodge of England. His expression of what is needed in Freemasonry reflects beautifully the mission of Dover Lodge. Why join us? Read on as our Brother explains…
“No more needed and useful work is to be done in the Masonic Order to-day than the education of its members in the true purpose of rites of initiation, that they may the better appreciate the reason, the importance, and the seriousness, of the work the Order was designed to achieve.
“Hitherto that educative work has been grievously neglected, with prejudicial results to the Craft through the admission of candidates little adapted to appreciate its purpose . Some members have no wish to be masonically educated . They are content to be Masons in name only, and are satisfied that the monotonous, mechanical repetition of unexplained ceremonies and side-lectures fulfils every requisite, and conveys all that is to be known . Yet in every Lodge are to be found brethren who are asking for something more than this, who know that the Craft was designed for wider and better ends; who, as earnest seekers after Wisdom and Light, entered the Order in the hope of finding them, but who too often are repelled by what they do find there, or lose interest on their needs being left unprovided for. It is in the special interest of this worthier type of Mason that this address is given .
“We greatly need competent, trained exponents of the meaning and symbolism of the Craft; not merely teachers of the letter of its rituals and lectures . The duty and responsibility of providing this wider instruction surely lies upon those holding the rank of Installed Master. Is not their place in that East from which real Light should continually be coming, and whence they are supposed to employ and instruct in Masonic science those who sit in less or greater degrees of darkness in other symbolic quarters of the Lodge ? Are they not the figurative representatives of royal Solomon, and symbolic mouthpieces of a more than human Wisdom ? Over each of them has there not been raised a most solemn petition that they may be endued with wisdom to comprehend, judgment to define, and ability to enforce obedience to the holy law declaring the conditions upon which real Initiation depends, so that they may effectively enlighten the minds of their Brethren ? How many Installed Masters are conscious in their hearts of possessing, or of even striving to acquire, that wisdom, that understanding of our science, that power of raising others from darkness to Light in any real and vital sense?”
