THE TENETS
(Friendship, Morality, and Brotherly Love)
My Friend:The principal, or chief, Tenets of Freemasonry are Friendship, Morality, and Brotherly Love.
It is necessary not to overlook “principal”, for it signifies that, while it is on these three teachings that our Fraternity lays the greatest emphasis, yet there are other teachings of almost equal importance, and in any discussion of our subject those others must not be lost sight of.By a “Tenet” is meant some teaching so obviously true, so universally accepted, that we believe it without question and always take it for granted.
Examples of such teachings lie everywhere about us. Good health is better than illness; a truthful man is more dependable than a liar; it is better to save money than to waste it; an industrious man is more useful than an idle one; a wise man is a more able counsellor than a foolish one; education is to be preferred to ignorance -these are but a few of the countless examples of teachings that no intelligent man can possiblycall into question.
Everybody takes them for granted. They are Tenets.
When we turn to the Principal Tenets of our own Fraternity we are immediately struck by an interesting fact:
Freemasonry considers Friendship, Morality, and Brotherly Love to be teachings of this kind!
It holds them to be true in a sense that no man can question them; they are obvious, self-proving,or,axiomatic.
Friendship, Morality, and Brotherly Love.
Taken from a writing by Rt. Wor. Bro.Graham Painton PRGC.