Study
Fidelity to Promises
Masonic teaching treats a promise made in a lodge as a serious bond, because the trust of the brethren depends on each member keeping his word.
Masonic teaching treats a promise made in a lodge as a serious bond. The trust among the brethren depends on each member keeping his word, and a promise broken in private can weaken the confidence on which the whole work rests.
Fidelity is not the same as rigid repetition. A promise is kept by honouring its purpose, and a member who finds that a promise can no longer be kept as first given should say so openly, explain why, and seek the agreement of those to whom it was made. Silent withdrawal damages trust more than an honest request to change an arrangement.
Example: a member agrees to prepare a report for the lodge by a certain date, but a family illness prevents him. Rather than let the date pass in silence, he tells the secretary, explains the difficulty, and proposes a new date with a short summary in the meantime. The brethren keep their trust in him because the promise was honoured in spirit and in speech.