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J. PHILIP BERQUIST

Deputy Grand Master, 1973
Grand Master, 1981-1983

TERM

1981 1982 1983

NOTES

ADDRESSES

IN JAPAN, MARCH 1983

From Proceedings, Page 1983-36, at the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Japan:

Consider this, if you will, an important question to us all: "where is Masonry going?" Stop and think now, prediction is always a very difficult undertaking, especially when it involves the future! Think on that.

For too many years we have hidden our light under a bushel . . . the time has come to make that light a shining beacon for all to see. We must use the media: television, radio, newspapers, to tell our story. Those who have resisted publicity must realize that our future depends upon our relationship with the uninitiated.

You can muffle the drum, you can loosen the strings on the lyre, but who shall command the skylark not to sing! Our music is our influence for good among our fellowmen. It must be heard, now more than ever.

John Donne said, "No man is an island." Our Masonry in all its facets must work together as never before. And the fact that there are representatives here from many aspects of Masonry is indicative of that melding together. Aesop told the fable of the man with many sons who were constantly bickering and fighting. He called them together an place them before a faggot - untied. He handed each a stick and said, "Break it." They easily broke the stick. The father retired the faggot, the bundle of sticks, and said, "Now break them." In unity there is strength and that which benefits any part of Masonry, benefits all of Masonry.

I had an experience several months ago which had a substantial effect upon me and my attitude towards Freemasonry. I received a telephone call one afternoon requesting that I stop by the hospital room of a friend and Brother who was to undergo surgery the next morning. His wife indicated that he wished to see me prior to the operation. This man had preceded me as Master of our Lodge, had served as Treasurer while I was Secretary, and was also my District Deputy Grand Secretary during my two years as District Deputy Grand Master.

He was a plastering contractor by trade, a craftsman, and for a man whose formal education had been limited, he was well-versed and extremely well-read. While sitting with him in his hospital room, many memories came back to me and a far greater of insight into the real meaning of friendship, brotherhood, commitment. We talked . . . and we were silent. He requested that should anything happen the following day, that I conduct a Masonic funeral service. This commenced a train of thought leading to my speaking of it now.

I ask each of you to reflect for a moment on how you became a member of this our Craft. What prompted you to seek admission? What inspired your desire to join Freemasonry? What was the motivating force in your taking that first step?

As long as I can remember, my Dad was involved in Masonry, and particularly, in his own and my Lodge. I was five years old when he served as Master of that Lodge over fifty years ago. He subsequently served as Assistant Secretary and Secretary. It always impressed me that during the Depression years he was responsible for the collection of dues and recommending remission if indicated. I have been told since that it was more important to him that a brother fulfill his financial responsibilities to the Lodge by paying, even in installments, his dues. My Dad's philosophy was that even during hard times, a man's pride should never be sacrificed and he would weekly go and collect ten or fifteen cents from many of the membership.

More than anyone else I admired and respected my Dad. Certainly his influence was the major impetus which prompted me to interest in Freemasonry. He called me at college on my 21st birthday to extend greetings and to ask me what I would like as a present on this milestone in my life. I replied that I would like to make application to Dalhousie Lodge and his response was that my application had been read the previous evening. My Dad did not live to see me hold Masonic office, but he did receive me as an Entered Apprentice, passed me as a Fellow Craft and raised me to the Sublime Degree. His influence I still feel and am proud of the heritage which he provided me.

His close friends and associates were Masons and I learned at an early age that if a man were a Mason he was different. He was a man whose word could be trusted, a man whose integrity could be unquestioned, a man who was a cut above the average man.

My involvement in the Order of DeMolay enhanced that Masonic image and those men who were advisors were as my Dad, and I called them "Dad," too.

In joining Dalhousie Lodge I met men whom I would otherwise never have met or known as my friends, and as I sat in that hospital room, I reflected upon this, for this man, my friend, my Brother, would never have been known to me, had I not been associated with our Fraternity. I thought of many things in those moments of silence, and found myself thinking of the Twenty-third Psalm and the "valley of the shadow of death," the Hiramic Legend and its implications. I feel I gained a greater insight into that Ancient Landmark so essential to our philosophy. It points up the sacrifice of a man, not to protect insignificant secrets, but rather to maintain his integrity and to keep a trust inviolate.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that he give up his life for a friend."

In taking those first and subsequent steps in Freemasonry we make a personal commitment to its principles and practices, truly a way of life. Some of us practice them better than others. When we form these unique friendships with our Brothers, we in essence constitute a trust. I recognized that trust in sitting with my Brother in his hospital room. My thoughts wandered and it came to mind that I had never been called upon to give my life for a friend. What would my reaction, my answer, be? What would your answer be?

This caused me to reflect upon our Masonic brethren of the last and specifically, one Dr. Joseph Warren, my predecessor of some years who as Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts. Brother Warren was a practicing physician in Boston, and while he was Grand Master, volunteered as a soldier, a militiaman, to defend Bunker Hill. At that battle he was slain. The men who were involved with him in the early days of our revolution, Hancock and Revere, Isaiah Thomas and Newman were Masons with commitments to each other constituting trust as we have never known it.

Consider again the part which Masonry played in the history of the United States because of this trust. We honor this year, particularly, the memory of one of the greatest men who ever lived, one of the most commanding leaders in all of history, our Masonic Brother Worshipful George Washington, whose 250th natal anniversary was celebrated this past year.

We are all familiar with the many facets in the life of the Father of our country, his tremendous contributions to so many aspects of the beginnings of the United States. His leadership was in so many ways subtle and yet effective, and so many of the anecdotes told over the years point up the human side of this great man's life and character.

One of the most amazing realizations is the amount of time which Washington devoted to his many interests. He was inventive and thoughtful, a prolific letter writer, an innovator of methods in the improvement of social, economic and agricultural conditions, a lover of nature, a clever tactician in the field of battle, a statesman with catalytic abilities unsurpassed, and he possessed a willing ear for his friends and associates seeking advice and counsel. He was a dedicated family man and allotted much time to those in his immediate circle.

These are generalities and serve only to make a point. Consider the man, the time. Consider the unbelievable demands upon this man, this general, as president. Consider his great number of interests and his commitment to those who served him in the Continental Army, his determination to make the concept of Democracy work, his need to bring together men of every conceivable background, geographic origin and with such varied desires for the future. He inspired them on to labor and common service.

Consider all of this, think upon this man, who with all the pressures upon him, with all the demands made of him, with all these responsibilities . . . he made the time to enjoy, to associate with, and to participate in Freemasonry!

It has been said of him . . . "He was a man of such tremendous undeniable achievement, that he does not need to be bolstered with propaganda, protected by a priestcraft of suppression or celebrated by any Fourth of July oratory." It was further written by Mrs. John Quincy Adams that, "Simple truth is his best, his greatest eulogy."

If this man's love of Freemasonry prompted him to serve as Master of his Lodge while president of the United States, to always work diligently for the Craft and its members, to write of his affection for our institution on so many occasions, should not each of us reflect upon something we may have missed in our feelings and our efforts for Freemasonry in our time. The trust of which I spoke was never more practice than by this Brother. The generals and officers with whom he associated and under his command during the Revolutionary War, his Masonic Brothers, the men in whom he placed his greatest trust, were the men who were willing to lay down their life for him.

I ask that you consider your association with your Brother, with your Lodge, with your Grand Lodge. I ask that you become more involved, don't let it stop with your minimal participation or occasional attendance at a meeting. If Washington could make the time and could benefit from his membership; you, too, can enjoy that experience of involvement and the quality of your life will be enhanced as was his. Will you be able to say, "Freemasonry is better because I served?"

It was Washington's prayer and may it now be answered, "O, Lord, give me fearless men! Men to meet the trials of life with faith and vision and steadfast hearts and willing hands, men who dare to do the right."

My friend, my Brother in that hospital, facing death, was a man among men. . .a Mason in every sense of the word. . . as was George Washington, as was my Dad. . .are you?

CHARTERS GRANTED

RULINGS

• 1981
• 1982
• 1983

Grand Masters