Editorials
Media
Part of The Cabletow
- Title
- Editorials
- Language
- English
- Year
- 1966
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- SditoticiU. FREEDOM IS FOR FREE MEN The redundance of the title, we hope, does not confuse the fact. It is significant that after World War II so many nations obtained their indepen dence, either by force or by legislative acts of their so-called "mother coun tries". Today, there are more than three times the number of nations in the United Nations Organization than there were at the start of its organ ization some twenty years ago. This century might as well be called the Century of Freedom. God is so good as to let us have the honor of being living witnesses to nations getting their own chances to determine their national destinies as free men. It is equally significant that in our day we are witnessing the feeling and efforts of peoples at utilizing their freedom, some with apparent success, others making little mistakes, but still trying. The attainment and use of freedom is without insurance against failure. The road of freedom, with men as with nations, is not strewn with roses. It is, as Bro. Churchill once said, one of blood, sweat and tears. The attainment of freedom is not the end in itself. It is to have and to hold. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, as Bro. Jefferson must have us remember. Like a jewel of the highest quality, it has to be polished with equal regularity that it may show its sheen and sparkle in ever-in creasing brilliance. Free men appreciate the yalue of freedom. Here we use appreciate as to approve of, to be grateful for, to be fully sensible of, to esteem the full worth of and, above all, to increase the value of as opposed to depreciate. Free men cannot, and should not, take freedom ever so lightly or matter-offactly. By whatever means it is acquired, it is not to be considered a gift or bequest or donation. It is a hard-earned possession. We who have it now must continue to possess it, lest it slip from our grasp. Freedom is by, of and for people; only free men can give and preserve it for the enjoy ment of all. NEW SERIES; OLD IDEALS In our degrees, we are taught to be exemplary citizens, not to sub vert the peace and good order of society. In recent years our Grand Lodge has stressed the importance of public or government service. It has been donating books to our public schools and in the process, given awards and recognition to public school teachers who render exemplary service not only in their official working hours but also in their off-hour activities for the good of their communities. We fondly remember the golden age of public service in the days of President Quezon, President Roxas, Speaker Paredes, Secretary Vargas, Sec retary Carmona, Secretary Trinidad, Senator Ramon Diokno, President Laurel, Senator Juan Sumulong, Governor General Wood, High Commissioner McNutt and many others who were or are Masons. Many there are who rue our Turn to pige 21 The Cabletow MORE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS... <From P*e* ,8) fact illustrates the practice in Israel, Babylon, and Persia with regard to state chronology, which was to reckon events according to the rulerships of the kings, and which was carried into the Bible. The rule for counting the years of the rule of a king, his regnal years, began in the spring (1st of Nisan, or Abiv, the first month of the Hebrew sacred year). The months in tervening between a king’s succession to the throne and the following spring is known as his accession year. Solomon’s official regnal term did not com mence until the first of Nisan following David’s death, although he had already been annointed and set on the throne while David was still alive. 141. When was the building of the Temple of Solomon commenced, and completed? Because different authorities give different dates, according to the method employed in caculating backwards from some date recorded in secular history of an event recorded in the Bible, we will take what Mackey (,4>i En cyclopedia of Freemasonry, 1919, vol. 2, p. 757) says: “Accordingly the monarch (Solomon) laid the foundation of the edifice in the fourth year of his reign, 1012 B.C., and with the assistance of his friend and ally, Hiram, King of Tyre, completed it in about seven years and a half, dedicating it to the service of the Most High in 1004 B.C. This was the year 3000, according to the Hebrew chronology; and although there has been much difference among chronologists in relation to the precise date, this is the one that has been generally accepted, and it is therfore adopted by Masons in their calculations of different epochs.” 142. The eighth of the twenty five Landmarks listed by Mackey (Constitution, rev. 1962, p. 153) says that it is the "prerogative of the Grand Master to make Masons at sight." Has this prerogative ever been exercised by a Grand Master of Masons of the Philippines? Yes. M.W. Samuel R. Hawthorne, Grand Master (1935-1936) made General Douglas MacArthur a Mason at sight at the Masonic Temple on the Escolta, now the Philippine National Bank building. A EDITORIAL... (From pi3o 2) days for the dearth of Masons in the government service. Some would even remark that were there more Masons- in the government service today, we might have a better government. It may be true; it may not be so trub. We think otherwise. An outsider, when informed that there is a Lodge composed mostly of men in the Bureau of Internal Revenue, gave a knowing smile. He was made to know that we are proud of that Lodge because its members, because of Masonry, have kept themselves in the straight and narrow path and not one of them has been linked to any anomaly or even put under a cloud of suspicion. In this issue, we begin a series of thumb-nail sketches of men and women in the public service, whether Masons or not, who render efficient and exemplary service to the government and people. Executive Secretary Rafael M. Salas is the first in the series. Though not a Mason, we selected him on his own achievement*. Mr. Salas is the oldest of the three children of our late WB Dr. Ernesto Salas of Kanlaon Lodge No. 64. A June, 1966 21