VOLUME 3 - June, 2008

To the officers and members of Balfour Lodge #188,

       The E.:A.: degree teaches us the value of subduing our passions and circumscribing our desires.  It
teaches us to diligently guard our mysteries that they might not be profaned by those unworthy to
receive them.  We read in the G.:L.: in Matthew 7:6 “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither
cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”
        The F.:C.: degree teaches us the value of increasing in knowledge of the arts and sciences.  In
Proverbs 3:13 we read “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth
understanding.”  It teaches that the symbolic wages for our Labor are corn, wine, and oil, or in other
words, sustenance.  Hence, if we trust in God, and live upright lives, he will smile on our endeavors
and provide for our needs.
        We have symbolically served our apprenticeship, labored in the quarries as F.:C.:, and been raised
from a dead and superficial level, to a living perpendicular in the sublime degree of M.:M.:.  The two
books of the bible represented in that degree, Ecclesiastes and Job, hint at the whole lesson of the
degree, and are the culmination of the Masonic mysteries.  One illustrates the theory, the other the
practical side of Masonic Light, and Masonic Virtue.  Ecclesiastes speaks of the vanity of all human
ambitions.  That no matter how we spend our lives working and acquiring wealth and wisdom, soon we
will molder to dust just as the beasts of the field.  The underlying message is to do good only because it
is good, to increase in knowledge and wisdom only for the sake of wisdom. To work without hope of
reward.
        I remember reading Robinson Crusoe; in the beginning his Father is trying to tell him not to go to
sea, but to stay in his native country and live a life of moderate means.  He told him that the Beggars
and Kings suffer life, but the man who lives a moderate life lives a life of comfort, and may enjoy it.  
Kings are born into a life of scrutiny, and beggars struggle all of their days, but the moderate man is
able to divide his time properly, and therefore live in relative comfort.  The moderate man works for
what he needs, and uses what he acquires.  He is neither destitute nor excessive.  He is not vain in his
pursuits, nor futile in his attempts to enjoy a life well spent.
        Job teaches us that if by our own endeavors and the blessing of God we happen to arrive at a life
of comfort, not to view it as the product of our labors, but as a gift of God which could have been
given to anyone, and which at any moment could be lost. It should be looked upon instead as an
admonishment to us to continue to do good, and to endeavor to leave to future generations more than
was left to us.
        Brethren, Balfour Lodge is a small Lodge, both by membership, and by our budget. Being small
means our members don't have the luxury of coming to Lodge and sitting on the sidelines.  We each
help to carry part of the load.  While some would look at that as a disadvantage, I would say it has
been our greatest strength.  Necessity was the cement that bound us into “one sacred band or society
of friends and brothers.”  Where the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts, no contention
can ever exist.  The Grand Master adopted the North Carolina State motto as his motto for the year
“Esse Quam Videri” or, “to be, rather to seem.”  That is a saying Balfour Lodge knows well.  Come
and see what YOUR Lodge is doing.


Fraternally,




Jason D. Strucinski
Master, Balfour #188
(336) 824-2552
jstrucinski@uniquetool.net


CLICK HERE TO READ THE VOL. 2 (JUNE, 2008) EDITION

CLICK HERE TO READ THE VOL. 1 (JANUARY, 2008) EDITION
From the East - A Message from Wor.: Jason Strucinski
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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