The Builders, Wisdom Ancient
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THE BUILDERS
A Story and Study of Masonry
by Joseph Fort Newton, Litt. D.
GRAND LODGE OF IOWA
NEWYORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
When I was King and a Mason -
A master proved and skilled,
I cleared me ground for a palace
Such as a King should build.
I decreed and cut down to my levels,
Presently, under the silt,
I came on the wreck of a place
Such as a King had built.
-- Kipling
COPYRIGHT 1914
BY JOSEPH FORT NEWTON
FOREWORD M. S. A. EDITION
Almost ten years have come and gone since this little book began its labors as a
Workman on the Temple, and it is still busy, telling its story in different lands and
languages. An edition is soon to appear in the Syrian tongue in Damascus, the oldest
city in the world. It is here placed in the M. S. A. National Library, in order to have its
part and do its work in the greatest co-operative undertaking in the history of
American Masonry.
Oddly enough, The Builders has made its own way, unhelped by advertising or
review, by virtue of its own spirit and purpose. Aside from a kindly greeting by
Arthur Edward Waite in London, and another in the Masonic News of Detroit, it has
had no special notice. None the less, by using the old Masonic method, "from mouth
to ear," it has passed through more than forty editions. Brethren read it, liked it, and
passed the word along; and so it has journeyed from land to land, weaving a web of
goodwill.
THE BUILDERS
Such a ministry makes the author hoth humble and happy, the more because he has
been able to do somewhat in the service of our ancient and noble Craft, whose
mission it is to do good, only good, always, and everywhere - Love its spirit, Truth its
power, Fellowship its genius, since no one can learn the highest truth for another, and
no one can learn it alone. "We must all hope much from the gradual progress of
Brotherly Love;" and let him that hath that hope in him purify his heart.
From the silence of Time
Time's silence borrow;
In the heart of today
Lies the world of to-morrow;
And the builders of joy
Are the children of sorrow.
-J. F. N.
CHURCH OF THE DEVINE PATERNITY
New York City, January 1, 1924
ENGLISH FOREWORD
The request for an English edition of this little book is most gratifying, for many
reasons, not least of which is the opportunity which it offers the author of expressing
the joy he has found in the fellowship of his British Brethren, whose sincere courtesy
and brotherly thoughtfulness have added so much to his life in London. Next to this
personal fortune is the daylight, not unmixed with surprise, that this story and study of
Freemasonry should have found such favor with Brethren both in England and
Scotland; not only because it is a token of appreciation of labor done in behalf of our
gentle Craft, but the more so because it reveals the unity of the Order, its identity of
interest, aims, and ideals, in every land where it has been true to its great tradition.
Surely, in a world torn by strife and divided by so many feuds of race, religion, and
nationality, we have a right to rejoice in a fellowship, at once free, gentle, and
refining, which spans all distances of space and all differences of speech, and brings
men together by a common impulse and inspiration in mutual respect and brotherly
regard. Truly it needs no philosopher to discern that such a fraternity, the very
existence of which is a fact eloquent beyond words, is and influence for good no one
can measure in the present, and a prophecy for the future the meaning of which no
one can reckon; and doubly so because, by its very genius, Freemasonry is
international, and therefore ought to be responsive to the ideal of world-fellowship
which will surely emerge from the tragedy of world-war.
For that reason, in the reunion of English-speaking peoples upon which the future
freedom and peace of the world so much depend, among the many ties of language,
literature, love of liberty, respect for law, historical inheritance, and a common
conception of civilization that unite us, must be counted a common and great
Freemasonry. By the same token, upon us rests an obligation, only equaled by the
opportunity, to have an influential part in promoting fellowship, interpretation, and
intelligent sympathy between two peoples in whose histories our Craft is so deeply
interwoven, and of whose unity it is itself a tie, a token, and a prophecy. Our
differences are superficial; our unities fundamental. Such variation as exist between
Freemasonry in Britain and in America - like the differences between the two peoples
B are interesting, albeit insignificant, like the variations of accent and inflection, of
dialect and brogue; its basic truths and principles are alike, and its spirit is the same in
its breadth, beauty, and benignity.
Any study of Freemasonry must inevitably have to do with many questions about
which there are, and probably always will be, differences of opinion among Masonic
students both as to the facts and their interpretation; so that the author cannot hope to
win the assent of all his fellow-students. Indeed, such an agreement with respect to
debated issues would not give him half as much joy as to know that his brief and rapid
survey of the origin and development of the Craft, written from an American point of
view, and seeking not only to tell its story but to interpret and make vivid its exalted
purpose, its high intellectual quality, its noble morality, and its wise spirituality, had
served to reveal, in any measure, that which is the real bond of our race both in ideal
and in destiny.
For, to say no more, our English-speaking race, by its historic genius no less than by
its Freemasonry, is committed to the principle of the Commonwealth, the application
to the field of government and social policy of the law of human brotherhood, of the
duty of man to his neighbor, near and far, wherein lies our only hope of a world fit for
free men to live in, where fraternity can flourish and the spirit of goodwill grow and
be glorified.
The City Temple, London J. F. N.
APRIL 23, 1918
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