The Master Mason
By Rev. Brother Durward O. (Dutch) Conditt, Palestine (Texas) Lodge No. 31. Published in "The Texas Mason" for Summer 1998 (Volume 7, Number 3). Rev. Brother Conditt stated that he has long been appalled at the adverse publicity and outright lies told about the Masonic fraternity. Although we are not supposed to argue with those who through ignorance ridicule our ancient and honorable order, he said he ached for a way to speak out that would be factually revealing. he says he sometimes expresses himself in poetry.
When kings and potentates oppress the souls of men,
And men's toil brings no bounty or reward within,
Man's heart within his breast beats to be free
To experience his rights guaranteed by his deity.
Noble men of passion for the God-given liberty
Commit all that they have received most willingly.
Soldiers, clad in coats of red, rise up to pillage and burn,
Making men's hearts, for freedom, forever to yearn.
Pleading words of reason, most eloquently written,
Fell on deaf ears, and their authors were smitten.
Every word and every deed issued by noble men
Only served to increase their perils way back then.
A loud cry went up and a shot was heard;
Man's quest of liberty would not be deterred.
Liberty would be born, not of noble birth,
But by sweat, tears and blood of great worth.
Who were these great and gallant men of old
Whose story has seldom completely been told?
Farmer, clergy, lawyer, merchant, and judge,
Committed to the way they would trudge.
Teachers, doctors, and a writer of words
Would put together the document to be heard.
Workers of iron, printers, soldiers, and engineers
Set aside their wealth, their goals and fears.
From their gallant veins, their blood did pour,
Though man's quest for liberty would ne'er be o'er.
Who were these men of such significant worth?
Forty-seven of domestic and nine of foreign birth.
At what point did these men find common light
To shield the soul against the bitter night?
To what charge would their gallant souls hasten?
It was the God-given light of the Master mason.
Still, many are there who would defame this rite,
Expecting them to withdraw silently into the night.
But their work has never been for wealth of fame,
Nor for the beautiful words of earthly acclaim.
These are the ones upon whom you can depend,
To rise up against oppression and liberty to defend.
Faithful to freedom's labor with every breath
Until, in God's holy time, there noble eyes close in death.
By Rev. Brother Durward O. (Dutch) Conditt, Palestine (Texas) Lodge No. 31. Published in "The Texas Mason" for Summer 1998 (Volume 7, Number 3). Rev. Brother Conditt stated that he has long been appalled at the adverse publicity and outright lies told about the Masonic fraternity. Although we are not supposed to argue with those who through ignorance ridicule our ancient and honorable order, he said he ached for a way to speak out that would be factually revealing. he says he sometimes expresses himself in poetry.
When kings and potentates oppress the souls of men,
And men's toil brings no bounty or reward within,
Man's heart within his breast beats to be free
To experience his rights guaranteed by his deity.
Noble men of passion for the God-given liberty
Commit all that they have received most willingly.
Soldiers, clad in coats of red, rise up to pillage and burn,
Making men's hearts, for freedom, forever to yearn.
Pleading words of reason, most eloquently written,
Fell on deaf ears, and their authors were smitten.
Every word and every deed issued by noble men
Only served to increase their perils way back then.
A loud cry went up and a shot was heard;
Man's quest of liberty would not be deterred.
Liberty would be born, not of noble birth,
But by sweat, tears and blood of great worth.
Who were these great and gallant men of old
Whose story has seldom completely been told?
Farmer, clergy, lawyer, merchant, and judge,
Committed to the way they would trudge.
Teachers, doctors, and a writer of words
Would put together the document to be heard.
Workers of iron, printers, soldiers, and engineers
Set aside their wealth, their goals and fears.
From their gallant veins, their blood did pour,
Though man's quest for liberty would ne'er be o'er.
Who were these men of such significant worth?
Forty-seven of domestic and nine of foreign birth.
At what point did these men find common light
To shield the soul against the bitter night?
To what charge would their gallant souls hasten?
It was the God-given light of the Master mason.
Still, many are there who would defame this rite,
Expecting them to withdraw silently into the night.
But their work has never been for wealth of fame,
Nor for the beautiful words of earthly acclaim.
These are the ones upon whom you can depend,
To rise up against oppression and liberty to defend.
Faithful to freedom's labor with every breath
Until, in God's holy time, there noble eyes close in death.