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  From that time until this, Freemasons have never been mealy-mouthed about money; they have always believed in it; and the whole subject is one of the major themes in the rituals of lodges of Ancient Craft Freemasonry at this time, and comes under the head of "the wages of a Master Mason."

  If a man were to object to this on the ground that modern Freemasonry is devoted to idealistic purposes and therefore should leave money out of its philosophy, he would not know whereof he speaks. There is no necessary contradiction between things material and things idealistic. The food which a man places before his family, the roof over their heads, the clothing which he furnishes, and the medicines which he purchases when they are ill, all these are material things, as money is, but they prove that he is possessed of love and affection, which in themselves are not material things.

  For such reasons there is no contradiction between this philosophy of wages that Freemasonry teaches and the fact that it itself pays no wages to anybody except to one or two lodge or Grand Lodge officers who must devote the whole of their days to the Craft. A Mason may devote the spare time of his life to his lodge, and yet never receive any pay for his time. He is never paid for being a Mason, or for being a lodge officer, or for his work on lodge and Grand Lodge Committees; and he will be fortunate if after many years of service he is not out of pocket for the years he has served. Freemasonry attracts men to it as a magnet attracts metal filings. There is much talk about the "mystery of Freemasonry," especially by non-Masons, but the greatest mystery of all is this hold which it has on its own members.

  If a non-Mason were to walk into a lodge room for the first time, and when it was not in use, he would find it to be distinctive because each and every detail of its fittings and its ornaments are designed exclusively for Masonic purposes, but at the same time he would see instantly that it is a very simple room, almost a bare one. There are no secret passages in it, no hidden stairs, no caves of darkness, none of the abracadabra which goes with occultism, magic, or mystery-mongering, and could not be because Freemasonry has no similarity to mystery-mongering nor any connection with any of its forms. The business and ritual of a lodge are plain, wholesome, homely, sane, human, and unafraid of daylight.

  If the same non-Mason were to visit a regular meeting of the lodge (imagining such a thing to be possible) he might find only a small number of members present, and these would carry through certain set ceremonies and a fixed Order of Business. From this, and from the simplicity of the room, he easily could come to the conclusion that Freemasonry is not very large or exciting, that nothing much appears to be going on in it, and he might begin to wonder how it has continued for so many centuries and where could lie the secret of its wide influence. T

  here is a saying that "Freemasonry is largely invisible." The whole of it is never found in any one place, or in any one time, or comprised by any one thing that it does. Much of it belongs to the inner life of a member, especially to his heart and his mind. Its charities may be published or reported, but usually they are not. When its spirit of benevolence and philanthropy makes an impress on a community it does so without proclamations or the ringing of bells. A Mason may encounter its friendship and fraternalism wherever he may be, at work or at home, and they will never be obtrusive.

  The practices and teachings of the lodge may at first glance appear to be bare and of an almost childish simplicity, but each one of them, or even one of the elements of which they are composed, will, when a man works his own way into one of them, begin to open out, to grow increasingly large, until at last they seem to fill the sky; they are inexhaustible. Large books have been written about a single symbol or a single law. One Mason may make the ritual his own specialty (many do); as the years pass he will find it always enlarging itself in his mind because in it are depths beneath depths and a limitless world of meanings; in all probability no Mason in history has understood it completely or followed it out to its last horizon. Another may study the fraternity as he would study history, philosophy, theology, law in a university; there are more such students than might be believed. Another may make Masonic law his own field; if he does he will never come to the end of it. Another may devote himself largely to Masonic charity and relief; if he does he is likely to find himself absorbed by it, and will be giving hours and days of his own time to it. Yet another may find his own forte in such of the social arts as music and entertainment, all of which are rich, wide, multifarious. Alongside of all these special activities, and keeping pace with them, has been the vast growth of Masonic literature, in which it is estimated that some 200,000 books have been published in many languages during the past two centuries, and not including Masonic newspapers and magazines.