Join Us
By joining Lodge Cumberland Kilwinning No. 217, you will not only be joining one of the oldest Lodge in the World, you will also be a member of one of the oldest and distinguished fraternities in the World – with member spread over the 4 quarter of the globe.
WHO ARE FIT AN PROPER MEN TO BE MADE MASONS?
Upright men of mature age of 18 years, of strict morals and sound judgment.
WHAT IS FREEMASONRY?
A beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory (stories or plays) and illustrated by symbols.
WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPLES OF FREEMASONRY?
Three great but simple principles: Brotherly love, Relief and Truth, unite Freemasons of every colour and many creeds.
Non-Freemasons often unfairly criticise not knowing that members of ‘the Craft’ are guided by such honourable objectives.
The good Freemason builds these principles into his daily life as a law abiding man and citizen of the world.
BROTHERLY LOVE
Is the concern which each Freemason has for his Brother which is readily shown by his tolerance and respect for his beliefs, opinions and practices of his fellows and his willingness to care for his Brother and that Brothers dependents.
RELIEF
The Freemason is, by nature and teaching, a charitable man.
He will cheerfully and kindly assist those less fortunate (Freemasons and non-Freemasons alike)
He will care for and support his community – local, national and international.
TRUTH
The Freemason believes in truth in all things, in honesty and integrity in his personal, business and public life. In fair dealings and in standards of morality and decency.
FREEMASONRY AND EDUCATION
As every man progresses in life by education, so every Freemason is taught how he can be a better man. This is done by a series of degrees – each degree educates him and answers some questions but leaves a door beyond. When the candidate has grasped the teaching of one degree, the door is opened by his progress to the next.
Freemasonry is believed to have begun its evolution 500 or more years ago in Scotland among the bands of working, skilled, builders known as “masons” (stonemasons).
The traditional framework into which most Masonic degrees are woven is the story and symbolism of King Solomon’s Temple.
Masonic teaching is a system of education related to the building of the Temple – especially the activities and traditional skills of those by whom it was designed and built, and is intended to maintain the interest of the candidate as he progresses through Masonic degrees, thus rendering his development effective.
FREEMASONRY AND RELIGION
A man’s religion is precious and personal to him.
Discussion on matters of religion often cause arguments and many wars have been fought ostensibly to impose or defend one religion against another.
As he loves all his fellows, understandably religion is a topic which the Freemason, in that capacity, is just not allowed to discuss – nor would he want to.
Freemasonry is most certainly not a religion.
It has no “Masonic” God.
When Freemasons pray together, as they do in their Lodges, each is addressing his personal ‘Supreme Being’.
So Freemasons of many creeds can in love and fellowship meet and pray together, irrespective of their individual religions.
The Holy Book (known to Freemasons as the Volume of the Sacred Law) of each religion represented in the Lodge is open during meetings.
It is common for 5 or 6 different Holy Books to lie open during Lodge meetings.
FREEMASONRY AND POLITICS
For much the same reasons as above, discussion of political matters among Freemasons is absolutely prohibited.
A man’s politics are his own concern and the Craft, being completely non-political, will never interfere in the world of politics nor will the Grand Lodge of Scotland express any view on political ideology or theories.
Each member is, of course, at liberty to involve himself in politics if he so wishes but such discussion will be left at the lodge door.
FREEMASONRY AND SECRECY
It is often wrongly stated that Freemasonry is a secret society.
There are many thousands of books on Freemasonry openly available in libraries everywhere.
The Masonic Temple is usually a fairly conspicuous building in most communities.
In Scotland many Lodges advertise and publish details of their meetings in the local press or by using social media.
The Museum and Library of the Grand Lodge of Scotland in Edinburgh are open to members of the public.
Are these the hallmarks of a secret society?
The truth is that the principles and many of the practices of Freemasonry are anything but secret.
Members are perfectly free to make it known they are Freemasons.
The only Masonic “secrets” are those methods by which members of various degrees throughout the world use to recognise and greet each other. It’s as simple as that!
SUMMARY
Freemasonry is an ancient and honourable society.
Its principles are just steady standards of life and conduct in an ever-changing world.
The practice by the Freemason of Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth and the other principals of the Craft will go a long way to making a good man better!
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