Grand Master Clark M. Gilmours address to the congregation of St.
Andrews-Wesley Church, Vancouver on Sunday October 29th, 1995
I would like to thank you, Dr. Turner, and your congregation for this
opportunity to speak this morning.
Perhaps some of you in the congregation are wondering, what are all these
people doing here this morning? What are they all about? Very quickly I
would like to answer these questions.
As Freemasons of British Columbia we have commenced celebrating the 125th
anniversary of the formation of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia, to be
held in June, 1996.
As in the case of all family celebrations, birthdays and anniversaries, we
wanted to share this event with members of our family, the Masonic Family,
which consists of; The Order of the Eastern Star, Daughters of the Nile,
Ladies of the Oriental Shrine, the Amaranth, Jobs Daughters, Order of
Demolay, The Shrine, Scottish Rite Masons, York Rite Masons and the Van Zor
Grotto. We believe in the strength of the family.
Freemasonry has been in Canada for the past 258 years and in British
Columbia for the past 136 years and as I look around this beautiful Church
this morning, I am reminded of some of our early Freemasons who were very
active in the early history of St. Andrews-Wesley Church.
Freemasons such as Robert Twizell, the architect who designed this
magnificent edifice, businessman Charles Woodward, who was given the honour
of turning the key in the new church in 1933, and I noticed the beautiful
stained glass window of Abraham, Moses and Samuel in the north transept
which is dedicated to the memory of Ethel and Fred Begg who were also
valued members of our Masonic Family.
I am reminded of two members of St. Andrews-Wesley, William C. Ditmars and
the Rev. James S. Henderson, both of whom rose to the highest office in
Freemasonry, that of Grand Master.
I would be remiss not to mention a great man held in high esteem by both
the congregation of St. Andrews-Wesley and the masonic order, the Rev.
Robert R. Cunningham. The Rev. Cunningham was an active Freemason and
Shriner who served as Chaplain of his masonic lodge and conducted the
annual Shrine Easter sunrise service at the old Empire Stadium.
We, the masonic family, meet here together this morning in a house of God
not only to share our celebration but also to affirm and proclaim our
abiding belief in God-for that is what unites us.
I will not speak of religion, for neither Freemasonry nor her concordant
bodies are a religion. Freemasonry does, though, speak to the spiritual
nature of man. Freemasonry attempts to teach us to be better men, so that
we can better serve ourselves, our families and our communities.
A true Freemason is the man who is free from superstition and free from
infidelity; who in nature sees the finger of the Eternal Master; who feels
and adores the higher destiny of man; to whom faith, hope and charity are
not mere words without any meaning.
The ideal of a Freemason is the personification of brotherly love, relief
and truth. The touchstones of our fraternity are the four cardinal virtues;
Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and Justice... the theological virtues of
Faith, Hope and Charity... and what we refer to as the three great social
treasures: Fraternity, Liberty and Equality.
We believe in charity, so much so that as a masonic family we contribute
over three and a half million dollars a day to our various
charitable endeavors. The Shrine-masons alone contribute 416 million
dollars a year to their Childrens Hospitals.
The chief point of Freemasonry is to be happy with ourselves, and to
communicate that happiness to others. I hope, in some small
fashion, we have done that this morning.