To define Freemasonry just isn’t possible; our organization is steeped in such a rich, yet elusive history. This history is so old that documents, the earliest (called the Regius Poem) dating to around 1390, describe our origin as coming from Euclid (pronounced You-K-lid), the Greek mathematician and father of geometry. This is significant because our organization was originally made up of master stone masons; a craft in which geometry is crucial. There are many other manuscripts, and fragments of manuscripts that followed this original text, but they all contained the same basic tenants, which we—in large part—still practice today. What is true, and what is largely legend, is unknowable—but it doesn’t matter, because our original tenants, our FOUNDATIONS, are still the same, and can be found in every practice and ritual we hold.
“…A council together they could them take,
To ordain for these children’s sake,
How they might best lead their life
Without great disease, care, and strife;…
Of their children after great clerks,
To teach them then good works.”
“…A cownsel togeder they cowthe hem take;
To ordeyne for these chyldryn sake,
How they myth best lede here lyfe
Without egret desese, care and stryfe;…
Sende thenne after grete clrkys,
To techyn hem thenne gode werkys;”
Just within the first few lines of this 600 year old text, we see some our modern tenants: the importance of family and fraternity, and the need to teach our children—the future--the importance of good work. This poem continues by outlining the importance of Faith in God, honesty, trustworthiness, and education, also tenants that we still hold firm today.
I am proud to be a part of this historic and legendary institution, and I am honored to be named Worshipful Master for 2018.
Seth Hoppens
Worshipful Master 2018
“…A council together they could them take,
To ordain for these children’s sake,
How they might best lead their life
Without great disease, care, and strife;…
Of their children after great clerks,
To teach them then good works.”
“…A cownsel togeder they cowthe hem take;
To ordeyne for these chyldryn sake,
How they myth best lede here lyfe
Without egret desese, care and stryfe;…
Sende thenne after grete clrkys,
To techyn hem thenne gode werkys;”
Just within the first few lines of this 600 year old text, we see some our modern tenants: the importance of family and fraternity, and the need to teach our children—the future--the importance of good work. This poem continues by outlining the importance of Faith in God, honesty, trustworthiness, and education, also tenants that we still hold firm today.
I am proud to be a part of this historic and legendary institution, and I am honored to be named Worshipful Master for 2018.
Seth Hoppens
Worshipful Master 2018
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