The Regius Poem My Personal Interpretation of the Fourth Point

We will now take a look at the fourth point of the Regius Poem, in the series. The fourth point points that an apprentice of the craft must be true to the craft, his Master and his fellows, for the laws that apply to them, apply to him as well.

The fourth point teacheth us also,
That no man to his craft be false;
Error he shall maintain none
Against the craft, but let it go;
Nor no prejudice he shall no do
To his master, nor his fellow also;
And though the 'prentice be under awe,
Yet he would have the same law.


In this essence I think we are all apprentices (I know I am) in the craft, and we must be careful not to allow our passions to get the better of us, and allow us to become false to the Craft We must remember the line “Nor no prejudice he shall no do to his master, nor his fellow also” in our speculative work, we are to make sure we aren’t being false to the Worshipful Master or our Fellows, that we must at all times govern ourselves to the best of our ability and keep our passions within due bonds. This is another foundation of the fraternity that I hold near and dear towards my heart.

In the military when I salute a superior officer I do so because of the rank that officer has, and not the man himself. So in essence I would be saluting the Lt Col, not the man John Smith. Men need to have this mentality when conducting themselves in lodge and dealing with the master of the lodge, for we are saluting the position of the East and not the man sitting in the East. Sometimes our passions get the better of us, and we tend to mix the man and the position up, and we allow this confusion to lead us down the wrong road. When I first was in the military as a brand new 2nd LT I had problems saluting a Captain that was being investigated (and later article 15) for sexual harassment, during that time I came to peace with the fact that I wasn’t saluting that man, but the rank that the man wears. If he betrays his position with that rank than I and those around him must hold him accountable for that action. He doesn’t soil the rank, as he soils his name, because millions have come before and millions after who wear that rank and do it justice. Whether he deserves to wear that rank is a whole different matter.

I, for instance disagreed with the Grand Master of Texas regarding his statement about “We aren’t the men we use to be”. My disagreement isn’t a sign of disrespect or defame of his position, but with the man’s stance on today’s modern Freemason. I respectfully disagree with his statement, and I would never defame the office of Grand Master of Texas, to prove my point or engage on any other personal attacks, on the Grand Lodge.

We must remember that as we journey as Freemasons through our Masonic journey that we will inevitably disagree with someone at some point. We need to remember that our disagreement is with that Mason, and not the office that he holds. We must circumscribe our desires as to always treat that brother with the respect he deserves. I don’t care if it’s in a lodge room, grand lodge, or on-line. We have to remember that we all meet on the level, and act accordingly as such.