Filipinos and Freemasonry

by Manuel L. Quezon III      

Talk for the Annual 2010 Multi-District Convention for All Masonic Lodges in the Philippines

Plaridel Masonic Temple, San Marcelino St., Manila

November 27, 2010

FREEMASONS, n.  An order with secret rites, grotesque ceremonies and fantastic costumes, which, originating in the reign of Charles II, among working artisans of London, has been joined successively by the  dead of past centuries in unbroken retrogression until now it embraces all the generations of man on the hither side of Adam and is drumming up distinguished recruits among the pre-Creational inhabitants of Chaos and Formless Void.  The order was founded at different times by Charlemagne, Julius Caesar, Cyrus, Solomon, Zoroaster, Confucius, Thothmes, and Buddha.  Its emblems and symbols have been found in the Catacombs of Paris and Rome, on the stones of the Parthenon and the Chinese Great Wall, among the temples of Karnak and Palmyra and in the Egyptian Pyramids -always by a Freemason. —Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

Masons and Magicians

In the world of professional stage magic, few names resonate with such acclaim as:
Bro. Harry Keller, 
Bro. Howard Thurston, 
Bro. Harry Houdini, 
Bro. Charles Carter, 
Bro. Harry Blackstone, 
In addition to being brothers in the fraternity of American magicians, each was also an active Freemason. Nearly amazing as the magic acts these great illusionists are famous for is the fact that all of the great magicians made time in their busy lives for Freemasonry: Despite the extensive travel entailed in their careers and all the allurements to the vices of the world, each recognized the value of the Masonic brotherhood.

Bro Jose Rizal's Masonic Speech delivered in 1883 at Solidaridad Lodge No. 53, Madrid, Spain

When we…knock at the portals of the Temple to be initiated into the mysteries of Masonry…three reassuring words are dinned into our ears: Science, Virtue, and Labor...

”Science?” You may ask, what science is found in the Masonic Temple? Science might have taken refuge in it during barbarous epochs in order to erect the sublime architectural monuments of the past centuries, just as the fine arts did in the quiet peaceful cloisters of the monasteries, but today science is free, open to all…Science is free as the light which is its inspiration! Masonry has been its wet nurse, has guarded it like a sacred flame while the storm raged, and when calmness returned, it surrendered it to the world to illumine it with its rays!...
“Virtue, Virtue! You are nothing but a name!” said Cato nineteen centuries ago…let us see what we understand by virtue, because it embodies an idea which is on the lips of everyone and on which not all peoples are agreed.

To the Chinese, virtue is respect for the elders…To the Indian it is…considering a saint one who can remain in a fixed posture for months…To the Persians it is purity of life…To the Hebrews it consists of fear of Jehova…To the Greeks virtue consists of stoicism…and for this reason the Spartan consecrated to it all his dearest sentiments…To the Buddhists it is kindness and love for one’s fellowmen. On the other hand, to Rome virtue is integrity…to die for the laws, the name, and the glory of Rome. Christianity, the essence and sum total of all religions, reflected in her virtues all the merits of the others and sanctified humility, stoicism, purity, adding to these, like a true Oriental, charity – a virtue that later Mohammedanism elevated to a sublime height.

MRRML355 Annual Gift Giving 2010