The Regius Poem My Personal Interpretation of the Third Point

In the third installment of the fifteen points of the Regius poem, with deal with something that is very relevant to today’s Freemason, keeping the secrets of a brother is a cornerstone in building a true and tried brotherhood. The third point instructs apprentice Masons that they should keep the secrets of their Master and what ever they witness in the chamber. The poem is as follows:

The third point must be severely,
With the 'prentice know it well,
His master's counsel he keep and close,
And his fellows by his good purpose;
The privities of the chamber tell he no man,
Nor in the lodge whatsoever they do;
Whatsoever thou hearest or seest them do,
Tell it no man wheresoever you go;
The counsel of hall, and even of bower,
Keep it well to great honour,
Lest it would turn thyself to blame,
And bring the craft into great shame

This is especially important as Free and Accepted Masons, for keeping the secrets of our Master (the catechism) and of our fellows is what makes us a great institute. This is part of our obligation and is stressed to the new initiate during the Entered Apprentice degree.

While there is a business side of everything, in Freemasonry in America, we seem to get overly involved in buildings, dues, and minutes. We must hold dear to ourselves the tenants of our great organization and that our operative brothers stressed to their new apprentices. That as an organization must thrive, they must be able to trust each other with trade secrets and not have the secrets sold, and bring the “Craft into great shame”. For Freemasons, we must take this to heart, that the secrets and the lessons learned, are all internal, and mean something different to all of us. If you write exposes about your personal interpretation about the symbols and what they meant to you (outside of the explained meanings in ceremony), you bring the craft into great shame. Not because you “revealed” the secrets, but because you could ruin that path of self discovery that men most go through to be made a Mason. That is the ultimate betrayal of the Craft, when you take it upon yourself to force how the allegories and symbols changed your life, and way of thinking, there by ruining it for others that want to make that same journey.