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LANDMARK FIRST
THE MODES OF RECOCNITION are, of all the Landmarks, the most legitimate and unquestioned.
They admit of no variation; and if ever they have suffered alteration or addition, the evil of such a
violation of the ancient law has always made itself subsequently manifest. An admission of this is to
be found in the proceedings of the Masonic Congress at Paris, where a proposition was presented to
render these modes of recognition once more universal- a proposition which never would have been
necessary, if the integrity of this important Landmark had been rigorously preserved.

LANDMARK SECOND
THE DIVISION OF SYMBOLIC FREEMASONRY INTO THREE DEGREES’s is a Landmark that
has been better preserved than almost any other, although even here the mischievous spirit of
innovation has left its traces, and by the disruption of its concluding portion from the Third Degree, a
want of uniformity has been created in respect to the final teaching of the Master's order; and the
Royal Arch of England, Scotland, Ireland, and America, and the "high degrees" of France and Germany,
are all made to differ in the mode in which they lead the neophyte to the great consummation of all
symbolic Freemasonry. In 1813, the Grand Lodge of England vindicated the ancient Landmark, by
solemnly enacting that Ancient Craft Masonry consisted of the three degrees of Entered Apprentice,
Fellow Craft, and Master Mason, including the Holy Royal Arch." But the disruption has never been
healed, and the Landmark, although acknowledged in its integrity by all, still continues to be violated.

LANDMARK THIRD
THE LEGEND OF THE: THIRD DEGREE is an important Landmark, the integrity of which has
been well preserved. There is no rite of Freemasonry, practiced in any country or language, in which
the essential elements of this legend are not taught. The lectures may vary, and indeed are constantly
changing, but the legend has ever remained substantially the same. And it is necessary that it should be
so, for the legend of the Temple Builder constitutes the very essence and identity of Freemasonry.
Any rite, which should exclude it, or materially alter it, would at once, by that exclusion or alteration,
cease to be a Masonic rite.

LANDMARK FOURTH
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FRATERNITY, by a presiding officer called a Grand Master, who is
elected from the body of the Craft, is a fourth Landmark of the Order. Many persons ignorantly
suppose that the election of the Grand Master is held in consequence of a law or regulation of the
Grand Lodge. Such, however, is not the case. The office is indebted for its existence to a Landmark of
the Order. Grand Masters are to be found in the records of the Institution long before Grand Lodges
were established; and if the present system of legislative government by Grand Lodges were to be
abolished, a Grand Master would still be necessary. In fact, although there has been a period within the
records of history, and indeed of very recent date, when a Grand Lodge was unknown, there never has
been a time when the Craft did not have their Grand Master."

LANDMARK FIFTH
THE PREROGATIVE OF THE GRAND MASTER TO PRESIDE over every assembly of the Craft,
wheresoever and whensoever held, is a fifth Landmark. It is in consequence of this law, derived from
ancient usage, and not from any special enactment, that the Grand Master assumes the chair, or as it is
called in England, "the throne," at every communication of the Grand Lodge; and that he is also entitled
to preside at the Communication of every Subordinate Lodge, where he may happen to be present.

LANDMARK SIXTH
THE PRERORATIVE OF THE GRAND MASTER TO GRANT DISPENSATIONS for conferring
degrees at irregular times, is another and a very important Landmark The statutory law of Freemasonry
requires a month, or other determinate period, to elapse between the presentation of a petition and the
election of a candidate. But the Grand Master has the power to set aside or dispense with this
probation, and to allow a candidate to be initiated at once. This prerogative he possessed in common
with all Master, before the enactment of the law requiring a probation, and as no statute can impair his
prerogative, he still retains the power, although the Masters of Lodges no longer possess it.

LANDMARK SEVENTH
THE PREROGATIVE OF THE GRAND MASTER TO GIVE DISPENSATIONS for opening and
holding Lodges is another Landmark. He may grant, in virtue of this, to a sufficient number of
Freemasons, the privilege of meeting together and conferring degrees. The Lodges thus established are
called "Lodges under Dispensation." They are strictly creatures of the Grand Master, created by his
authority, existing only during his will and pleasure, and liable at any moment to be dissolved at his
command. They may be continued for a day, a month, or six months; but whatever be the period of
their existence, they are indebted for that existence solely to the grace of the Grand Master.

LANDMARK EIGHTH
THE PREROGATIVE: OF THE GRAND MASTER TO MAKE FREEMASONS AT SIGHT, is a
Landmark which is closely connected with the preceding, one. There has been much misapprehension
in relation to this Landmark, which misapprehension has sometimes led to a denial of its existence in
jurisdictions where the Grand Master was perhaps at the very time substantially exercising the
prerogative, without the slightest remark or opposition. It is not to be supposed that the Grand
Master can retire with a profane into a private room, and there, without assistance, confer the degrees
of Freemasonry upon him. No such prerogative exists, and yet many believe that this is the so much
talked of right of "making Masons at sight."
The real mode and the only mode of exercising the prerogative is this: The Grand Master summons to
his assistance not less than six other Freemasons, convenes a Lodge, and without any previous
probation, but on sight of the candidate, confers the degrees upon him, after which he dissolves the
Lodge, and dismisses the brethren. Lodges thus convened for special purposes are called "Occasional
Lodges." This is the only way in which any Grand Master within the records of the Institution has
ever been known to "make a Mason at sight." The prerogative is dependent upon that of granting
Dispensations to open and hold Lodges. If the Grand Master has the power of granting to any other
Mason the privilege of presiding over Lodges working by his Dispensation, he may assume this
privilege of presiding to himself; and as no one can deny his right to revoke his Dispensation granted to
a number of brethren at a distance, and to dissolve the Lodge at his pleasure, it will scarcely be
contended that he may not revoke his Dispensation for a Lodge over which he himself has been
presiding, within a day, and dissolve the Lodge as soon as the business for which he had assembled it is
accomplished. The making of Freemasons at sight is only the conferring of the degrees by the Grand
Master, at once, in an Occasional Lodge, constituted by his dispensing power for the purpose, and
over which he presides in person.

LANDMARK NINTH
THE NECESSITY FOR FREEMASONS TO CONGREGATE IN LODGES is another Landmark. It
is not to be understood by this that any ancient Landmark has directed that permanent organization of
subordinate Lodges which constitutes one of the features of the Masonic system as it now prevails.
But the Landmarks of the Order always prescribed that Freemasons should from time to time
congregate together, for the purpose of either operative or speculative labor, and that these
congregations should be called Lodges. Formerly these were extemporary meetings called together for
special purposes, and then dissolved, the brethren departing to meet again at other times and other
places, according to the necessity of cir. cumstances. But Warrants of Constitution, By-laws,
permanent officers and annual arrears, are modern innovations wholly outside of the Landmarks, and
dependent entirely on the special enactments of a comparatively recent period.

LANDMARK TENTH
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CRAFT, when so congregated in a Lodge by a Master and two
Wardens, is also a Landmark. To show the influence of this ancient law, it may be observed by the
way, that a congregation of Freemasons meeting together under any other government, as that for
instance of a president and vice-president, or a chairman and sub-chairman, would not be recognized as
a Lodge. The presence of a Master and two Wardens is as essential to the valid organization of a Lodge
as a Warrant of Constitution is at the present day. The names, of course, vary in different languages,
the Master, for instance, being called Venerable in French Freemasonry, and the Wardens Surveillants,
but the officers, their number, prerogatives and duties, are everywhere identical.

LANDMARK ELEVENTH
THE NECESSITY THAT EVERY LODGE, WHEN CONGREGATED, SHOULD BE DULY
TILED, is an important Landmark of the Institution, which is never neglected. The necessity of this
law arises from the esoteric character of Freemasonry. As a secret Institution, its portals must of
course be guarded from the intrusion of the profane, and such a law must therefore always have been in
force from the very beginning of the Order. It is therefore properly classed among the rnosi incient
Landmarks. The office of Tiler is wholly independent of any special enactment of Grand or
Subordinate Lodges, although these may and do prescribe for him additional duties, which vary in
different jurisdictions. But the duty of guarding the door, and keeping off cowans and eavesdroppers is
an ancient one, which constitutes a Landmark for his government.

LANDMARK TWELFTH
THE RIGHT OF EVERY FREEMASON TO BE REPRESENTED in all general meetings of the Craft,
and to instruct his representatives, is a twelfth Landmark. Formerly, these general meetings, which
were usually held once a year, were called General Assemblies, and all the fraternity, even to the
youngest Entered Apprentice, were permitted to be present. Now they are called Grand Lodges, and
only the Masters and Wardens of the Subordinate Lodges are summoned. But this is simply as the
representatives of their members. Originally, each Freemason represented himself; now he is
represented by his officers. This was a concession granted by the fraternity about 1717, and of course
does not affect the integrity of the Landmark, for the principle of representation is still preserved. The
concession was only made for purposes of convenience.

LANDMARK THIRTEENTH
THE RIGHT OF EVERY FREEMASON TO APPEAL from the decision of his brethren in Lodge
convened, to the Grand Lodge or General Assembly of Freemasons, is a Landmark highly essential to
the preservation of justice, and the prevention of oppression. A few modern Grand Lodges, in
adopting a regulation that the decision of Subordinate Lodges, in cases of expulsion, cannot be wholly
set aside upon an appeal, have violated this unquestioned Landmark, as well as the principles of just
government.

LANDMARK FOURTEENTH
THE RIGHT OF EVERY FREEMASON TO VISIT and sit in every regular Lodge is an
unquestionable Landmark of the Order. This is called the right of visitation. This right of visitation has
always been recognized as an inherent right, which inures to every Freemason as he travels through the
world. And this is because Lodges are justly considered as only divisions for convenience of the
universal Masonic family. This right may, of course, be impaired or forfeited on special occasions by
various circumstances; but when admission is refused to a Freemason in good standing, who knocks at
the door of a Lodge as a visitor, it is to be expected that some good and sufficient reason shall be
furnished for this violation, of what is in general a Masonic right, founded on the Landmarks of the
Order.

LANDMARK FIFTEENTH
It is a Landmark of the Order, THAT NO VISITOR, UNKNOWN TO THE BRETHREN PRESENT,
or to some one of them as a Freemason, can enter a Lodge without first passing an examination
according to ancient usage. Of course, if the visitor is known to any brother present to be a Mason in
good standing, and if that brother will vouch for his qualifications, the examination may be dispensed
with, as the Landmark refers only to the cases of strangers, who are not to be recognized unless after
strict trial, due examination, or lawful information.

LANDMARK SIXTEENTH
NO LODGE CAN INTERFERE IN THE BUSINESS OF ANOTHER LODGE, nor give degrees to
brethren who are members of other Lodges. This is undoubtedly an ancient Landmark, founded on the
great principles of courtesy and fraternal kindness, which are at the very foundation of our Institution.
It has been repeatedly recognized by subsequent statutory enactments of all Grand Lodges.

LANDMARK SEVENTEENTH
It is a Landmark that EVERY FREEMASON is AMENABLE TO THE LAWS AND
REGULATIONS OF THE MASONIC JURISDICTION in which he resides, and this although he
may not be a member of any Lodge. Non-affiliation, which is, in fact, in itself a Masonic offence, does
not exempt a Freemason from Masonic jurisdiction.

LANDMARK EIGHTEENTH
CERTAIN QUALIFICATIONS OF CANDIDATES FOR INITIATION are derived from a
Landmark of the Order. These qualifications are that he shall be a man-shall be unmutilated, free born,
and of mature age. That is to say, a woman, a cripple, or a slave, or one born in slavery, is disqualified
for initiation into the rites of Freemasonry. Statutes, it is true, have from time to time been enacted,
enforcing or explaining these principles; but the qualifications really arise from the very nature of the
Masonic Institution, and from its symbolic teachings, and have always existed as Landmarks.

LANDMARK NINETEENTH
A BELIEF IN THE EXISTENCE OF GOD AS THE GRAND ARCHITECT of the Universe is one
of the most important Landmarks of the Order. It has been always deemed essential that a denial of the
existence of a Supreme and Superintending Power is an absolute disqualification for initiation. The
annals of the Order never yet have furnished or could furnish an instance in which an avowed atheist
was ever made a Freemason. The very initiatory ceremonies of the First Degree forbid and prevent the
possibility of so monstrous an occurrence.

LANDMARK TWENTIETH
Subsidiary to this belief in God, as a Landmark of the Order, is THE BELIEF IN A RESURRECTION
TO A FUTURE LIFE. This Landmark is not so positively impressed on the candidate by exact words
as the preceding; but the doctrine is taught by very plain implication, and runs through the whole
symbolism of the Order. To believe in Freemasonry, and not to believe in a resurrection, would be an
absurd anomaly, which could only be excused by the reflection, that he who thus confounded his belief
and his skepticism, was so ignorant of the meaning of both theories as to have no rational foundation
for his knowledge of either.

LANDMARK TWENTY-FIRST
It is a Landmark, that a "BOOK OF THE LAW" shall constitute an indispensable part of the furniture
of every Lodge. I say advisedly, a Book of the Law, because it is not absolutely required that
everywhere the Old and New Testaments shall be used. The "Book of the Law" is that volume which,
by the religion of the country, is believed to contain the revealed will of the Grand Architect of the
Universe. Hence, in all Lodges in Christian countries, the Book of the Law is composed of the Old and
New Testaments; in a country where Judaism was the prevailing faith, the Old Testament alone would
be sufficient; and in Mohammedan countries, and among Mohammedan Freemasons, the Koran might
be substituted. Freemasonry does not attempt to interfere with the peculiar religious faith of its
disciples, except so far as relates to the belief in the existence of God, and what necessarily results
from that belief. The Book of the Law is to the speculative Freemason his spiritual Trestle-board;
without this he cannot labor; whatever he believes to be the revealed will of the Grand Architect
constitutes for him this spiritual Trestle-board, and must ever be before him in his hours of speculative
labor, to be the rule and guide of his conduct. The Landmark, therefore, requires that a Book of the
Law, a religious code of some kind, purporting to be an exemplar of the revealed will of God, shall form
an essential part of the furniture of every Lodge.

LANDMARK TWENTY-SECOND
THE EQUALITY OF ALL MASONS is another Landmark of the Order. This equality has no
reference to any subversion of those gradations of rank, which have been instituted by the usage of
"society. The monarch, the nobleman or the gentleman is entitled to all the influence, and receives all
the respect, which rightly belong to his exalted position. But the doctrine of Masonic equality implies
that, as children of one great Father, we meet in the Lodge upon the level-that on that level we are all
traveling to one predestined goal-that in the Lodge genuine merit shall receive more respect than
boundless wealth, and that virtue and knowledge alone should be the basis of all Masonic honors, and
be rewarded with preferment. When the labors of the Lodge are over, and the brethren have retired
from their peaceful retreat, to mingle once more with the world, each will then again resume that social
position, and exercise the privileges of that rank, to which the customs of society entitle him.

LANDMARK TWENTY-THIRD
THE SECRECY OF THE INSTITUTION is another and a most important Landmark. There is some
difficulty in precisely defining what is meant by a secret society. If the term refers, as perhaps, in
strictly logical language it should, to those associations whose designs are concealed from the public
eye, and whose members are unknown, which produce their results in darkness, and whose operations
are carefully hidden from the public gaze-a definition which will be appropriate to many political clubs
and revolutionary combinations in despotic countries, where reform, if it is at all to be effected, must
be effected by stealth-then clearly Freemasonry is not a secret society. Its design is not only publicly
proclaimed, but is vaunted by its disciples as something to be venerated-its disciples are known, for its
membership is considered an honor to be coveted-it works for a result of which it boasts-the
civilization and refinement of man, the amelioration of his condition, and the reformation of his
manners.
But if by a secret society is meant-and this is the most popular understanding of the term-a society in
which there is a certain amount of knowledge, whether it be of methods of recognition, or of legendary
and traditional learning' which is imparted to those o ' nly who have passed through an established
form of initiation, the form itself being also concealed or esoteric, then in this sense is Freemasonry
undoubtedly a secret society. Now this form of secrecy is a form inherent in it, existing with it from its
very foundation, and secured to it by its ancient Landmarks. If divested of its secret character, it would
lose its identity, and would cease to be Freemasonry. Whatever objections may, therefore, be made to
the Institution, on account of its secrecy, and however much some unskillful brethren have been willing
in times of trial, for the sake of expeliency, to divest it of its secret character, it will be ever impossible
to do so, even were the Landmark not standing before us as an insurmountable obstacle; because such
change of its character would be social suicide, and the death of the Order would follow its legalized
exposure. Freemasonry, as a secret association, has lived unchanged for centuries-as an open society it
would not last for as many years.

LANDMARK TWENTY-FOURTH
THE FOUNDATION OF A SPECULATIVE SCIENCE UPON AN OPERATIVF ART, and the
symbolic use and explanation of the terms of that art, for purposes of religious or moral teaching,
constitute another Landmark of the Order. The Temple of Solomon was the cradle of the Institution,
and, therefore, the reference to the operative Masonry, which constructed that magnificent edifice to
the materials and implements which were employed in its construction, and to the artists who were
engaged in the building, are all component and essential parts of the body of Freemasonry, which could
not be subtracted from it without an entire destruction of the whole identity of the Order. Hence, all
the comparatively modern rites of Freemasonry, however they may differ in other respects, religiously
preserve this temple history and these operative elements, as the substratum of all their modifications
of the Masonic system.

LANDMARK TWENTY-FIFTH
The last and crowning Landmark of all is, that THESE LANDMARKS CAN NEVER BE
CHANGED. Nothing can be subtracted from them-nothing can be added to them-not the slightest
modification can be made in them. As they were received from our predecessors, we are bound by the
most solemn obligations of duty to transmit them to our successors. Not one jot or one title of these
unwritten laws can be repealed; for in respect to them, we are not only willing, but compelled to adopt
the language of the sturdy old barons of England, Nolumus leges mutari, let the laws abide.

Balfour Lodge #188 AF & AM
Chartered December 2, 1856 - Grand Lodge of North Carolina

Balfour Masonic Temple
632 Sunset Ave.
Asheboro, NC 27203
(336) 625-5363
info@balfourlodge.com

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