The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1872-08-17
What Constitutes "a Mason !
From the Masonic Tidings.l

In our last issue we discussed the
question, What is Masonry ?'' and
traced the origin of the fraternity to
the guilds OF operative MasOns ancient
ly in existence i'll Europe. We now
propose to ask what constitutes q Ma
son. He who would answer the query
i'll the language of our ritual would
solve the question to the satisfaction
of all true Masons. By those who drink
in the spirit of our institution no other
answer is desired. But unfortunately,
there are thousands Of counterfeits
among us--~Whfch is one proof of the
great value of our institution, since
none but good currency is ever inita-
ted.
For the benefit of the world at large,
then, we will say, the genuine Freema-
son is a noble, whOle-sQHlea fellow, who
nlents, his kindly heart, and his upright,
unseltish life. These qualities are what
constitutes a man u true Freemasnn,
One Of the Dukes of Luneberg, a Ger
man Duchy, it is said caused the figure
of burning lamp to he estarnped on
his coin, with the initial letters, g A. S.
NJ: Ch which stand for the Latin phrase,
. Aus Sely9Ns, eetpSNm cOnter0.n The
English of which is, Ministering to
others, consume myself" This is a
glorious motto for large-hearted Ma
son. Do the lamp and the m0tt0 pre-
sent too lofty an ideal , Must the stan
darl of Masonry which it suggests be
lowered to meet the tastes or the fash
ions of a self seeking and selfapplauding
age The truth Is, very many of our
brethren would shine if they could do
so UthOut CONSUMING themselves. They
would shine like the FURNISHED candle
stick or the polished mirror, borrowing
all the light they give, without any loss
to the themselves. fI7,f3.l shining only te be ad-
would, perhaps, be indisposed to shine
at all. They must have position,
Office, hOnOrs, Difference, and they shrink
from that lOwly service Qf usefulness
which bears not the image of His life
who i made himself of no reputation"
that he might better serve the eternal
interests of fallen man,
The motto on the boin comes to us
with oil tue force of o personal appeal,
and should be stamped on every heart
in living letters. To spend ones self
for others is the height of heroism, and
is what we conceive to be the true def
niti9n of the word Freemasonry.F Look
ing at it in this light, there is one sense
III which the Dukes motto does not ap-
ply. The powers of the magnet are in-
creased by its constant Use SO, If our
bodily strength be spent. our spiritual
strength is renewed and our souls ex-
panded by serving the interests of 9th
ers tlnselfshly. To this complexion we
would have the individual Mason come
and if one could but attain it the sum
NIT of human greatness would be
reached But alas, the top of the lad
der which leads to this eminence is,
like that of Jacob of old, lost in the
clouded canopy of Heaven, We can
not reach perfection here, below, but
we can climb the steps that are within
our reach, and approximate to the top
of the ladder, SO shall we indeed real
ize and in our lives. show what eonsti-
tutes q Mason.
Probably one Of the Oldest masonic
diplomas in the country is that of
Commodore Samuel Tucker. now in the
TnSsaGsinYl 4Nf Mr. Hfpfc 1Yn1ar 4ha pyso