A | B |
C | D |
E | F |
G | H |
I | J |
K | L |
M
N |
O | P |
Q | R |
S | T |
U | V |
W | X |
Y | Z
C
The third letter of the
English alphabet, which was not known in the Hebrew, Phoenician, or early
Aryan languages.
*
CAABA or KAABA
Arabic word Ka'abah for cubic
building. The square building or temple in Mecca. More especially the small
cubical oratory. within, held in adoration by the Mohammedans, as containing
the black stone said to have been given by an angel to Abraham. The inner as
well as the outer structure receives its name from Ka'ab, meaning cube (see
Allah).
*
CABALA
This word is frequently
written Kabbala, which see. CABALA. The mystical philosophy or theosophy of
the Jews is called the Cabala. The word is derived from the Hebrew Kabal,
signifying to receive, because it is the doctrine received from the elders. It
has sometimes been used in an enlarged sense, as comprehending all the
explanations, maxims, and ceremonies which have been traditionally handed down
to the Jews; but in that more limited acceptation, in which it is intimately
connected with the symbolic science of Freemasonry, the Cabala may be defined
to be a system of philosophy which embraces certain mystical interpretations
of Scripture, and metaphysical and spiritual beings. In these interpretations
and speculations, according to the Jewish doctors, were enveloped the most
profound truths of religion, which, to be comprehended by finite beings, are
obliged to be revealed through the medium of symbols and allegories.
Buxtorf (Lexicon of the
Talmud) defines the Cabala to be a secret science, which treats in a mystical
and enigmatical manner of things divine, angelical, theological, celestial,
and metaphysical; the subjects being enveloped in striking symbols and secret
modes of teaching. Much use is made of it in the advanced degrees, and entire
Rites have been constructed on its principles. Hence it demands a place in any
general work on Freemasonry.
In what estimation the Cabala
is held by Jewish scholars, we may learn from the traditions which they teach,
and which Doctor Ginsburg has given in his exhaustive work ( Kabbalah, page
84) in the following words:
The Cabalah was first taught
by God himself to a select company of angels, who formed a theosophic school
in Paradise. After the Fall, the angels most graciously communicated this
heavenly doctrine to the disobedient child of earth, to furnish the
protoplasts With the means of returning to their pristine nobility and
felicity. From Adam it passed over to Noah, and then to Abraham, the friend of
God, who emigrated with it to Egypt, where the patriarch allowed a portion of
this mysterious doctrine to ooze out. It was in this way that the Egyptians
obtained some knowledge of it, and the other Eastern nations could introduce
it into their philosophical systems.
Moses, who was learned in all
the wisdom of Egypt, was first initiated into it in the land of his birth, but
became most proficient in it during his wanderings in the wilderness, when he
not only devoted to it the leisure hours of the whole forty years, but
received lessons in it from one of the angels. By the aid of this mysterious
science, the lawgiver was enabled to solve the difficulties which arose during
his management of the Israelites, in spite of the pilgrimages, wars, and the
frequent miseries oi the nation. He covertly laid down the principles of this
secret doctrine in the first four books of the Pentateuch, but withheld them
from Deuteronomy.
This constitutes the former
the man, and the latter the woman. Moses also initiated the seventy elders
into the secrets of this doctrine, and they again transmitted them from hand
to hand. Of all who formed the unbroken line of tradition, David and Solomon
were first initiated into the Cabalah. No one, however, dared to write it down
till Simon ben Jochai, who lived at the time of the destruction of the second
Temple. Having been condemned to death by Titus, Rabbi Simon managed to escape
with his son, and concealed himself in a cavern, where he remained for twelve
years. Here in this subterranean abode, he occupied himself entirely with the
contemplation of the sublime Cabalah, and was constantly visited by the
prophet Elias, who disclosed to him some of its secrets, which were still
concealed from the theosophical Rabbi. Here, too, his disciples resorted to be
indicated by their master into these divine mysteries, and here Simon ben
Jochai expired with this heavenly doctrine in his mouth, whilst discoursing on
it to his disciples. Scarcely had his spirit departed, when a dazzling light
filled the cavern, so that no one could look at. the Rabbi; whilst a burning
fire appeared outside, forming as it were a sentinel at the entrance of the
cave, and denying admittance to the neighbors. It was not till the light
inside, and the fire outside, had disappeared, that the disciples perceived
that the lamp of Israel was extinguished.
As they were preparing for his
obsequies, a voice was heard from heaven, saying, " Come ye to the marriage of
Simon ben Jochai; he is entering into peace, and shall rest in his chamber!" A
flame preceded the coffin, which seemed enveloped by and burning like fire.
And when the remains were deposited in the tomb, another voice was heard from
heaven, saying, "This is he who caused the earth to quake and the kingdoms to
shake! " His son, Rabbi Eliezer, and his secretary, Rabbi Abba, as well as his
disciples, then collated Rabbi Simon ben Jochai's treatises, and out of these
composed the celebrated work called Sohar, that is, Splendor, which is the
grand storehouse of Cabalism.
The Cabala is divided into two
kinds, the Practical and the Theoretieal. The Practical Cabala is occupied in
instructions for the construction of talismans and amulets, and has no
connection with Masonic science.
The Theoretical Cabala is
again divided into the Dogmatic and the Literal. The Dogmatic Cabala is the
summary of the rabbinical theosophy and philosophy.
The Literal Cabala is the
science which teaches a mystical mode of explaining sacred things by a
peculiar use of the letters of words, and a reference to their value. Each of
these divisions demands a separate attention.
*
I. THE DOGMATIC CABALA
The origin of the Cabala has
been placed by some scholars at a period posterior to the advent of
Christianity, but it is evident, from the traces of it which are found in the
Book of Daniel, that it arose at a much earlier day. It has been supposed to
be derived originally from the system of Zoroaster, but whether its inventors
were the contemporaries or the successors of that philosopher and reformer it
is impossible to say. The doctrine of emanation is, says King (Gnostics,
page10), "the soul, the essential element of the Cabala; it is likewise the
essential element of Zoroastrism. " But as we advance in the study of each we
will find important differences, showing that, while the idea of the
Cabalistic theosophy was borrowed from the Zendavesta, the sacred book of the
Persian sage, it was not a copy, but a development of it.
The Cabalistic teaching of
emanation is best understood by an examination of the doctrine of the
Sephiroth. The Supreme Being, say the Cabalists, is an absolute and
inscrutable unity, having nothing without him and everything within him. He is
called, En Soph, meaning the Infinite one. In this infinitude he cannot be
comprehended by the intellect, nor described in words intelligible by human
minds, so as to make his existence perceptible. It was necessary, therefore,
that, to render himself comprehensible, the En Soph should make himself active
and creative. But he could not become the direct creator ; because, being
infinite, he is without will, intention, thought, desire, or action, all of
which are qualities of a finite being only. The En Soph, therefore, was
compelled to create the world in an indirect manner, by ten emanations from
the infinite light which he was and in which he dwelt.
These ten emanations are the
ten Sephiroth, or Splendors of the Infinite One, and the way in which they
were produced was thus: - At first the En Soph sent forth into space one
spiritual emanation. This first Sephirah is called Kether, meaning the Crown,
because it occupies the highest position. This first Sephirah contained within
it the other nine, which sprang forth in the following order: At first a male,
or active potency, proceeded from it, and this, the second Sephirah, is called
Chocmah or Wisdom. This sent forth an opposite, female or passive potency,
named Binah or Intelligence. These three Sephiroth constitute the first triad,
and out of them proceeded the other seven.
From the junction of Wisdom
and Intelligence came the fourth Sephirah, called Chesed or Mercy. This was a
male potency, and from it emanated the fifth Sephirah, named Giburah or
Justice.
The union of Mercy and Justice
produced the sixth Sephirah, Tiphereth or Beauty; and these three constitute
the second triad. From the sixth Sephirah came forth the seventh Sephirah,
Nitzach or Firmness. This was a male potency, and produced the female potency
named Hod or Splendor. From these two proceeded Isod or Foundation; and these
three constituted the third triad of the Sephiroth. Lastly, from the
Foundation came the tenth Sephirah, called Malcuth or Kingdom, which was at
the foot of all, as the Crown was at the top.
This division of the ten
Sephiroth into three triads was arranged into a form called by the Cabalists
the Cabalistic Tree or the Tree of Life, as shown in the diagram.
In this diagram the vertical
arrangement of the Sephiroth is called Pillars. Thus the four Sephiroth in the
center are called the Middle Pillar; the three on the right, the Pillar of
Mercy; and the three on the left, the Pillar of Justice.
They allude to these two
qualities of God, of which the benignity of the one modifies the rigor of the
other, so that the Divine Justice is always tempered by the Divine Mercy. C.
W. King, in his Gnosties (page 12), refers the right-hand pillar to the pillar
Jachin, and the left-hand pillar to the Pillar Boaz, which stood at the porch
of the Temple; and "these two pillars", he says, "figure largely amongst all
the secret societies of modem times, and naturally so for these Illuminati
have borrowed, without understanding it, the phraseology of the Cabalists and
the Valentinians." But an inspection of the arrangement of the Sephiroth will
show, if he is correct in his general reference, that he has transposed the
pillars. Firmness would more naturally symbolize Boaz or strength, as Splendor
would Jachin or Establishment.
These ten Sephiroth are
collectively denominated the archetypal man, the Microcosm, as the Greek
philosophers called it, and each of them refers to a particular part of the
body.
Thus the Crown is the head;
Wisdom, the brain; and Intelligence, the heart, which was deemed the seat of
understanding. These three represent the intellectual; and the first triad is
therefore called the Intellectual World. Mercy is the right arm, and Justice
the left arm, and Beauty is the chest. These three represent moral qualities;
and hence the second triad is called the Moral World. Firmness is the right
leg, Splendor the left leg, and Foundation the privates. These three represent
power and stability; and hence the third triad is called the Material World.
Lastly, Kingdom is the feet, the basis on which all stand, and represents the
harmony of the whole archetypal man. Again, each of these Sephiroth was
represented by a Divine name and by an Angelic name, which may be thus
tabulated:
Sephiroth ........ Divine
Names ........ Angelic Names
Crown ............. Eheyeh .................. Chajoth
Wisdom .......... Jah ........................ Ophanim
Intelligence ..... Jehova .................. Arelin
Mercy ............. El .......................... Cashmalim
Justice ............ Eloha .................... Seraphim
Beauty ............ Elohim .................. Shinanim
Firmness ......... Jehovah Sabaoth ... Tarshishim
Splendor ......... Elohim Sabaoth .... Beni Elohim
Foundation ..... El Chai ................. Ishim
Kingdom ......... Adonai ................ Cherubim
These ten Sephiroth constitute
in their totality the Atzilatic World or the World of Emanations, and from it
proceeded three other worlds, each having also its ten Sephiroth, namely, the
Briatic World or the World of Creation; the Jetziratic World or the World of
Formation ; and the Ashiatic World or the World of Action: each inhabited by a
different order of beings.
But to enter fully upon the
nature of these various worlds would carry us too far into the obscure
mysticism of the Cabala. The ten Sephiroth, represented in their order of
ascent from the lowest to the highest, from the Foundation to the Crown,
forcibly remind us of the system of Mystical Ladders which pervaded all the
ancient as well as the modern initiations; the Brahmanical Ladder of the
Indian mysteries; the Ladder of Mithras, used in the Persian mysteries; the
Scandinavian Ladder of the Gothic mysteries, and in the Masonic mysteries the
Ladder of Kadosh; and lastly, the Theological Ladder of the Symbolical Degrees
*
II. THE LITERAL CABALA
This division of the Cabala,
being, as has already been said, occupied in the explanation of sacred words
by the value of the letters of which they are composed, has been extensively
used by the inventors of the advanced degrees in the symbolism of their
significant words. It is divided into three species : Gematria, Notaricon, and
Temura.
1. Gematria. The word, which
is evidently a rabbinical corruption of the Greek geometric, is defined by
Buxtorf to be "a species of the Cabala which collects the same sense of
different words from their equal numerical value." The Hebrews, like other
ancient nations, having no figures in their language, made use of the letters
of their alphabet instead of numbers, each having a numerical value. Gematria,
is therefore, a mode of contemplating words according to the numerical value
of their letters.
Any two words, the letters of
which have the same numerical value, are mutually convertible, and each is
supposed to contain the latent signification of the other.
Thus the words in Genesis
xlix, 10, "Shiloh shall come," are supposed to contain a prophecy of the
Messiah, because the letters of ''Shiloh shall come, " and of "Messiah," both
have the numerical value of 358, according to the above table.
By Gematria, applied to the
Greek language, we find the identity of Abraxas and Mithras, the letters of
each word having in the Greek alphabet the equal value of 365. This is by far
the most common mode of applying the literal Cabala.
2. Notaricon is derived from
the Latin notarius a shorthand writer or writer in cipher. The Roman Notarii
were accustomed to use single letters, to signify whole words with other
methods of abbreviation, by marks called notae. Hence, among the Cabalists,
notaricon is a mode constructing one word out of the initials or finals of
many, or a sentence out of the letters of a word, each letter being used as
the initial of another word. Thus of the sentence in Deuteronomy xxx, 12, "Who
shall go up for us to heaven?" in Hebrew, the initial letters of each word are
taken to form the word circumcision, and the finals to form Jehovah; hence it
is concluded that Jehovah hath shown circumcision to be the way to heaven.
Again : the six letters of the first word in Genesis, ''in the beginning, "
are made use of to form the initials of six words which constitute a sentence
signifying that "In the beginning God saw that Israel would accept the law,"
3. Temura is a rabbinical word
which signifies permutation. Hence temura is a Caballstic result produced by a
change or permutation of the letters of a word.
Sometimes the letters are
transposed to form another word, as in the modern anagram ; and sometimes the
letters are changed for others, according to certain fixed rules of
alphabetical permutation, the first letter being placed for the twenty-second
the second for the twenty-first, the third for the twentieth, and so on. It is
in this way that Babel, is made out of Sheshach, and hence the Cabalists say
that when Jeremiah used the word Sheshach, xxv, 26, he referred to Babel.
*
CABALISTIC COMPANION
A degree found in the archives
of the Mother Lodge of the Philosophical Rite of France.
*
CABIRI
or CABEIRI. A group of minor
Greek, deities (the name signifying great Gods) having the protection of
sailors and vessels at sea. Worshipped at Lemnos, Samothrace, Thessalia,
Bocotia, etc., as early as the fifth century. Initiation into their mysteries
portrayed passage through death to a higher live. Many of the ancient deities
believed to have been members of the Cabiri such as Pluto, proserpine,
Mercury, the sons of Vulcan, the sons of Jupiter, etc. (see An Encyclopedia of
occultism, Lewis Spence, New York, 1920, page 83).
*
CABIRIC MYSTERIES
The Cabiri were gods who'
worship was first established in the island of Samothrace, where the Cabiric
Mysteries were practiced. The gods called the Cabiri were originally two, and
afterward four, in number, and are supposed by Bryant (Analysis of Ancient
Mythology, iii, 342) to have referred to Noah and his three sons, the Cabiric
Mysteries being a modification of the arkite worship.
In these mysteries there was a
ceremony called the "Cabiric Death," in which was represented amid the groans
and tears and subsequent rejoicing of the initiates, the death and restoration
to life of Cadmillus, the youngest of the Cabiri. The legend recorded that he
was slain by his three Brethren, who afterward fled with his virile parts in a
mystic basket. His body was crowned with flowers, and was buried at the foot
of Mount Olympus. Clement of Alexandria speaks of the legend as the sacred
mystery of a brother slain by his brethren, or in the original as frater
trucidatus à fratribus.
There is much perplexity
connected with the subject of these mysteries, but it is generally supposed
that they were instituted in honor of Atys, the son of Cybele or Demeter, of
whom Cadmillus was but another name. According to Macrobius, Atys was one of
the appellations of the sun, and we know that the mysteries were celebrated at
the vernal equinox. They lasted three days, during which they represented in
the person of Atys, or Cadmillus, the enigmatical death of the sun in winter,
and his regeneration in the spring. In all probability, in the initiation, the
candidate passed through a drama, the subject of which , was the violent death
of Atys. The Cabiric Death was, in fact, a type of the Hiramic, and the
legend, so far as it can be understood from the faint allusions of ancient
authors, was very analogous in spirit and design to that of the Third Degree
of Freemasonry.
Many persons annually resorted
to Samothrace to be initiated into the celebrated mysteries, among whom are
mentioned Cadmus, Orpheus, Hercules, and Ulysses. Jamblichus says, in his Life
of Pythagoras, that from those of Lemnos that sage derived much of his wisdom.
The mysteries of the Cabiri were much respected among the common people, and
great care was taken in their concealment. The priests made use of a language
peculiar to the Rites. The mysteries were in existence at Samothrace as late
as the eighteenth year of the Christian era, at which time the Emperor
Germanicus embarked for that island, to be initiated, but was prevented from
accomplishing his purpose by adverse winds.
*
CABLE TOW
The word tow signifies,
properly, a line wherewith to draw. Richardson (Dictionary) defines it as "
The word is purely Masonic, and in some writings of the early part of the
eighteenth century we find the expression cable rope. Prichard so uses it in
1730. The German word for a cable or rope is kabeltauw, and thence our cable
tow is probably derived.
In its first inception, the
cable tow seems to have been used only as a physical means of controlling the
canidate, and such an interpretation is still given in the Entered
Apprentice's Degree. But in the Second and Third Degrees a more modern
symbolism has been introduced, and the cable tow is in these grades supposed
to symbolize the covenant by which all Freemasons are tied, thus reminding us
of the passage in Hosea (xi, 4), "1 drew them with cords of a man, with bands
of love."
*
CABLE TOW'S LENGTH
Gädieke says that, "according
to the ancient laws of Freemasonry, every brother must attend his Lodge if he
is within the length of his cable tow." The old writers define the length of a
cable tow, which they sometimes called a cable's length, to be three miles for
an Entered Apprentice. But the expression is really symbolic, and as it was
defined by the Baltimore Convention in 1842, means the scope of a man's
reasonable ability.
*
CABUL
A district containing twenty
cities which Solomon gave to Hiram, King of Tyre, for his assistance in the
construction of the Temple. Clark (Commentary and Critical Notes) thinks it
likely that they were not given to Hiram so that they should be annexed to his
Tyrian dominions, but rather to be held as security for the money which he had
advanced.
This, however, is merely
conjectural. The district containing them is placed by Josephus in the
northwest part of Galilee, adjacent to Tyre. Hiram does not appear to have
been satisfied with the gift ; why, is uncertain. Kitto thinks because they
were not situated on the coast. A Masonic legend says because they were ruined
and dilapidated villages, and in token of his dissatisfaction, Hiram called
the district Cabul. The meaning of this word is not known. Josephus, probably
by conjecture from the context, says it means unpleasing. Hiller and, after
him, Bates (Dictionary) suppose that the name is derived from a combination of
letters meaning as and nothing. The Talmudic derivation from "tied with
fetters", is described by Brother Mackey as Talmudically childish. The
dissatisfaction of Hiram and its results constitute the subject of the legend
of the Degree of Intimate Secretary in the Scottish Rite.
*
CAGLIOSTRO IN ANTIQUITY
Beginning on page 170 is down
in more than needed volume the wretched story of Cagliostro, and now that this
glossy charlatan, the gold frogs on his clothes and the self-invented title on
his visiting card , has become a ghost in which no living interest remains
there would be no warrant to add further facts to a surfeit of facts were it
not that the article on page 170 does not contain one fact which was not
available before Bros. Rylands and Firebrace published their great two-volume
history of the Lodge of Antiquity.
This fact is important, and is
here emphasized as such, because it sets the records straight as regards what
regular Freemasonry felt about Cagliostro When Cagliastro was bodily present.
Because he had been made a
Mason in a French speaking Lodge in London (see page170) Cagliostro felt he
had the right to visit Antiquity, and did so on the night of Nov. 1, 1786.
This year fell in that (for Antiquity ) unhappy period when there were two
Antiquity Lodges; one under the leadership of William Preston and comprising
the larger and most solid portion of the membership and which was acting as
head of the Grand Lodge of all England South of the River Trent; the other
"the Northouck Lodge," so-called from the leader who had occasioned the
division. Cagliostro was accompanied by a train of his friends, some of them,
had only the Brethren known it at the time, not regular Masons but members of
Cagliostro's Clandestine Egyptian Rite, which he had invented as a scheme for
exploiting Masons, and made, up, as were his other claims and titles, out of
his own head. A newspaper reported the meeting, in substance, thus: A few at
least among "Northouck's members" resented the charlatan's presence, and one
of them, Bro. Marsh, found ingenious means of saving his Lodge from a
compromising and embarrassing contretemps.
Bro. Marsh, called upon for a
song, with a devilishly witty ingenuity substituted an act, which portrayed a
"traveling physician" (a quack) and played it out at Cagliostro's elbow. The
effect was devastating; the audience (except for the visitors) was in an
uproar of laughter. Cagliostro withdrew.
This was a cartoon in prose,
and the Lodge passed a formal Resolution to condemn it as a misrepresentation.
What actually occurred in the Meeting the Minums do not tell, but whatever it
was the "Count's" prestige, gold frogs and all, was ruined Masonically.
(The Trowbridge book referred
to on page171 continues to be among the best-read, but to it may be added
other titles: Romantic Rascals, by Charles J. Finger; MacBride; New York.
Count Cagliostro, by Constantin Photiades; Rider & Co. ; 1932. Le Matre
Inconnu Cagliostro, by Dr. Marc Haven; Dorbon-Aire; Paris; a very elaborate
bibliography. See Vol. II, by Firebrace, in Reccrds of the Lodge of Anliquily.)
Aside from manufacturing his
spurious Egyplian Rite, Cagliostro had no part in regular Freemasonry except
to join a French-speaking London Lodge. What the Inquisition found out about
him nobody knows, but the trial itself shocked France by exposing the sinister
methods still in use by the Roman hierarchy, and in its total effects, and as
precipitating a nation-wide social crisis, ranks with the Dreyfus, Rasputin
(Russian), and Taxil cases. Dumas wrote a novel about Cagliostro in The
Diamond Necklace; and Frank King collects a number of illuminating facts in
The Last of the Sorcerers. To a Masonic community as far from Paris as is
American Masonry there is not much of either profit or comfort in the case,
unless it be that at this distance it lays a red underline beneath the danger
confronting any Masonic Jurisdictions which permit degree making and degree
mongering, disguised as Masonry, to go unchecked or unchallenged. Bro. Marsh's
performance was a commentary not altogether malapropos.
*
CALENDARS, MASONIC
The calendars given on page
172 ff. are in use by modern bodies of Speculative Freemasonry, and the
datings are self-confessedly of modern origin. They are based on the date of
the Creation as 4004 B.C. as written into the margin of the Authorized Version
of the Bible by Archbishop Usher in 1611. This date had been nowhere in
general use prior to that time, and afterwards was never accepted by many
chronologists. A work of encyclopedic informativeness on the calendars in use
during the whole of the Operative and the Transition Periods of Freemasonry is
Mediaeval Kalendarium, by R. F. Hampton, two volumes; London; 1841. It covers
the Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries. In a period before calendars and almanacs
came into general use it was widely employed as a handbook on matters of many
kinds which have to do with the calendar. It contains much folklore; many
pages on the Sts. John, lists of Saints' Days; and, as illustrative of what
was said above, gives in one chapter a long list of the estimates of the date
of Creation as computed by authorities at different times, among them being:
Scaliger, 3950 B.C.; Petavius, 3984 B.C.; Ricciola, 4063 B.C.; Eusebius, 5200
B.C.; Alphonsine Tables, 6934 B.C.
There is no evidence to show
that Operative Masons ever adopted a given date, or ever found use for one;
moreover they had scarcely any conception of such a thing as a calendar, but
fixed dates by reference to Saints' Days, Church festivals, the reign of
Kings, and memorable local events-a flood, a fire, a battle, etc.
*
CALIPH OF BAGDAD, THE
This most Widely-read of
Masonic novels was written by Sylvanus Cobb, Jr. He was born at Waterville,
Maine (the native State of a score of eminent Masons), June 5, 1823, the first
of nine children. He moved to Malden, Mass., where his father was Universalist
pastor, and a friend of Bro. Hosea Ballou, and lived there ten years ; in 1838
he moved to Waltham, Mass., from which, in 1841, he joined the Navy. Returned,
he took up journalism, and for forty years was on the staff of the New York
Ledger, an old-fashioned newspaper which published stories and essays. He was
made a Mason in Oxford Lodge, Norway, Me., in 1854, and was its Worshipful
Master five times. He was exalted in 1859; Knighted in Boston in 1872, and in
1874 was made 32 in the same city. He published three Masonic stories in the
New York Ledger in 1858-1874. Sea stories, Oriental stories, Masonic stories,
and religious stories were his forte. A new edition of the Caliph of Bagdad
was published by Geo. H. Doran; New York.
*
CANDID DISQUISITION, A
Wellins Calcott (see page 172)
saw in Freemasonry something more than a museum of Medieval relics, and more
than a set of convivial clubs, and undertook to write a rational, or
philosophy, on the Craft, becoming thereby the first of a line of greatly
distinguished Craftsmen, in which were to stand Hutchinson, Preston, Oliver,
Mackey. He was born at a date not discoverable in available books; in the
Minutes of one Lodge he is described as "a native of Shrewsbury, county of
Salop," in another as from "Salop in Cheshire." At some date in probably the
late 1750's he published A Collection of Thoughts, a volume half of quotations
and half of his own meditations, a type of book dear to readers in that
period. He had 1600 subscriptions for it before printing; and it went through
five editions. In 1769 (and with 1200 subscribers) he published A Candid
Disquisition of the Principles and Practices of the Most Honorable society of
Free and Accepted Masons, etc. Oliver described this book, so simple, so
gentle in spirit, and with few obvious displays of the classical learning
behind it, "the gem of the period." Kenning describes Calcott: "Indeed he may
fully be called the father of the Masonic philosophical and didactic school."
Hughan characteristically valued it because it contained a list of Boston
Lodges, as follows : under the Provincial Grand Lodge headed by John Rowe:
Master's, First, Second, Rising Sun; and under the Scottish Provincial Grand
Lodge under Joseph Warren: St. Andrew's, Lodge No. 2: and under an Ancient
Grand Lodge Warrant: Ancient York, No. 169. Calcott was twice in America, both
times in the Carolinas, possibly in New York or Boston. He must have been a
wandering man, perhaps one of those impracticable, learned men ungifted with
the sense of trade or of money, for we can track him in Scotland and England
from Lodge to Lodge, going about like a colporteur to distribute his Candid
Disquisitions. He was three times in St. David Lodge, No. 30, and became
member by affiliation, during 1761 and 1762. Was Worshipful Master of Holywell
Lodge, in England. He visited Lodge St. John Kilwinning, Haddington, No. 57,
in 1761. He was in Phoenix Lodge, No. 94, in Sunderland, in 1779, when the
Minutes describe him as "from Carolina," and gave a Third Degree Lecture. In
his Preston Lecture for 1928, John Stokes says: "Many of the words and phrases
used in his lectures were adopted by Hemming and made part of the Ritual which
we use today." It is a romantic fact (and Freemasonry is fuII of them) that
words written down in 1750 or 1760 by this only half-known, gentle, much
wandering man, two or three times described in Lodge Minutes as "in
unfortunate circumstances," should afterwards be on the tongues of millions of
men who have never so much as heard his name !
*
CATASTROPHES, MASONIC RELIEF
OF
During the period of five
years from1923 to1928 inclusive the Fraternity in the United States was called
upon to raise funds for relief no fewer than five times: the Japanese
earthquake of 1923; the Florida hurricane of 1926; the Mississippi flood of
1927; the Porto Rico hurricane of 1928; the Florida hurricane of 1928. on each
of these occasions the Masonic Service Association acted as a unit for the
Grand Lodges holding membership in it; other non-member Grand Lodges used it
as an agency through which to distribute their funds; the remaining Grand
Lodges sent their funds directly to Masonic bodies or other agencies at the
scene of the disaster. The total amount of monies raised by Masonic Bodies of
each and every Rite has never been computed; the amounts reported as passing
through the hands of the Masonic Service Association, or passing through other
hands but reported by it were as follows : for the Japanese earthquake,
$15,777 the Florida hurricane of 1926, $111,652; the Mississippi flood in
1927, $605,603; the Porto Rico hurricane of 1928, $81,774; the Florida
hurricane of 1828 $107,622.
*
CATECHISMS, THE OLD
The Early Masonic Calechismus
by Douglas Knoop, G. P. Jones, and Douglas Harner (Manchester University
Press; 1043) is the first book-length (200 pages) analysis of those unfamiliar
but important documents which are called the Old Catechisms. The authors
describe them as having been originally "mainly conceded with the form of
giving the Mason Word, and the quostion and answers used to test persons
claiming to have the Mason Word." There are Masons still living in America who
can recall a wide-spread use of "test questions," some of which were of
archaic form, and which on the surface had no apparent connection with the
Ritual. Something of the same sort was in use in the Eighteenth Century (and
perhaps a half century or so earlier); a few of them, and possibly the
elaborate ones, were written or printed. They are useful for the data they
contain, or imply, about the Esoteric Work. The authors of Early Masonic
Catechismus have collected everything thus far discovered about nine written
catechisms and seven printed ones. Of the former: Edinburgh Register House
MS., 1696. Chetwode Crawley MS., circa 1700. Sloane MS. 3529, Circa. 1700.
Dumfries No. 4 MS., circa 1700 Trinity College Dublin MS., 1711. Institution
of Free Masons circa 1725. Graham MS., 1726. Chesham MS., circa 1740. Essex
MS., circa 1750. Of the printed ones: A Mason's Examination, 1723. The grand
Mystery of Free-Masons Discovered , 1725. The Whole Institutions of
Free-Masons Opened 1725. The Grand Mustery Laid Open, 1726. A Masons
Confession, 1725. The Mystery of Freemasonry, 1730 Prichards Masonry
Dissected, 1730.
*
CATHEDRALS, AMERICAN
The Cathedral of St. John The
Devine In New York City was built according to the designs and methods used by
Operative Freemasons of the Middle Ages as nearly as modern knowledge, skill
and circumstances made it possible. Except that its founder, Bishop Henry C
Potter, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was an active Freemason, this
first American cathedral, properly and strictly so called (architecturally),
has received little attention from the American Fraternity, though each year
an increasing number of Masons visit it to see with their own eyes what kind
of work had been done by the founders of their own Craft. The second genuinely
Gothic cathedral to be erected on the Continent, the National Cathedral at
Washington, has been in a different case, for so many Grand Bodies have taken
a share in building it that they must in the future ever feel a small sense of
proprietorship in it.
A charter to the Protestant
Episcopal Cathedral Foundation was granted by Congress in 1893. A cathedral
close of 65 acres was purchased on Mount Saint Alban, 400 feet above the
general level of Washington, D.C. Its central tower will stand higher in the
sky than the Washington Monument ; it and the Washington Masonic Memorial
(Freemasonry's own national cathedral) will be in full view of each other.
Washington had expressed a hope for "a church for national purposes," I'Enfant
had embodied it in his city plan; the National Cathedral is a realization of
their dreams.
The bodies of Admiral Dewey,
President Wilson, and Bishop Satterlee already are entombed in it; in the
course of time it may become another Westminster Abbey. There will be in it a
Masonic Section, as planned for by Bro. and Bishop James E. Freeman; hundreds
of Masons or Masonic Bodies have paid for stones to be used in it. A Masonic
Committee of the National Cathedral Association was formed, led by Bro. John
H. Cowles, head of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction; the Rt. Rev.
James E. Freeman, Bishop of Washington, Honorary Chairman.
*
CENSORSHIP
The Roman Popes set up systems
of censorship long before the invention of printing, and when even
hand-written manuscripts were very scarce and were too expensive for general
use ; it censored also symbols, statues, pictures, music, speeches, ceremonies
and pageants-it even tried to censor games and dances, and more than once went
so far as to undertake the censorship of women's dress!-one of the favorite
subjects of many of the bachelor Popes, and a principal theme of the sermons
of the great preacher, Chrysostom. From the early days of the Christian
religion down to the present moment the system of censorship of the Roman
Church has rested on a single principle : it claims for itself the exclusive
right to decide what is true and what is not true. Kings, princes, barons,
Lords, the heads of great commercial companies, and the heads of colleges and
universities, these also have employed censorship as a means of control and of
preventing unorthodox words or practices. The American Revolution and the
French Revolution between them were the first to overthrow this system which
is as pernicious and inhuman in its own way as slavery was in another way.
Today the bureau of the Roman Censorship publishes thick volumes of its Index,
which are little more than titles of condemned books; many Masonic titles are
among them, as also are titles by Luther, Melanchthon, Erasmus, Sir Isaac
Newton, John Locke, and a long list of names equally celebrated of men who
have believed that facts and realities decide what is true and is not true
(the many Papal condemnations of the doctrine of the sphericity of the earth
had no effect on the shape of the planet)!
When the Mother Grand Lodge of
England (1717) set up a censorship of Masonic books, that is, books about
Masonry written by Masons, it was acting according to received custom. That
censorship continued until late in the century, when it went by default, and
is not likely ever to be revised, because a censored Mason and a Freemason are
a contradiction in terms; for if a Mason can be trusted to be loyal to the
Craft in his behavior, so can he be trusted not to betray or to misrepresent
it in what he says and writes. (On Church censorship the standard work is
Censorship of the Church of Rome, by George Haven Putnam; S. P. Putnam's Sons;
New York; 1906.)
*
CHARLEMAGNE
The paragraph about
Charlemagne on page 195 makes note of the tradition that he had a school for
Masons in his castle at Aix-la-ChapeIle (Aachen). To this may be added two
other points at which he enters the circle of Masonic studies:
1. Beginning at line 576 the Cooke MS. refers to a Carolus Secundus, that is,
Charles the Second; and in 590 ff. goes on to say that he was a King who loved
Masons and cherished them and gave them charges and manners of which some are
still in use in France, and ordained for them an annual assembly "and for to
be ruled by matters & fellows of alle thyngs a-mysse." It is likely that
Charles the Bold (840-77 A.D.) is here referred to ; but some commentators
believe rather that it refers to Charlemagne, and if so it explains the origin
of the tradition referred to in the above paragraph.
2. In Medieval wall paintings
and stained glass windows the conventionalized picture of Charlemagne
represents him as a large, bearded, Moses-like figure, carrying the model of a
cathedral in the crook of his arm. In a few French Medieval manuscripts this
cathedral at Aix is described as "our Solomon's Temple," Charlemagne is "our
Solomon," and the knowledge and skill showed in building it is described "as
Solomon's art."
*
CHAUCER AND FREEMASONRY
For some centuries the Kings
of England had a general overseer to manage and to supervise their own many
and often very large building operations, and to act in the King's name when
Royal supervision of any other building enterprise might be called for, such
officials being called at times Commissioner, Supervisor, Chief Clerk, etc.
Elias de Dereham and William of Wykeham were two of the more famous
''surveyors''; as also were, at a later time, Inigo Jones, who introduced the
Palladian style from Italy into England, and Christopher Wren.
Geoffrey Chaucer, the poet,
held the office late in the Fourteenth Century. On page 67, of the
Transactions of the Manchester Association for Masonic Research, Vol. 19-21
(for 1928-31) was quoted a document which Chaucer issued and signed:
(3) Bill of Geodffrey Chaucer,
Clerk of the King's Works, to be Chancellor, for the issue of a commission
under the Great Seal to Hugh Swayn to purvey stone, timber, tiles, shingles,
&c. and to take masons, carpenters, and others for the works at Westminster,
Sheen, Kennington, Charing Mews, Byfleet, Coldkennington, Clarendon and
Hathebergh Lodge; and of similar commissions to three others for the works of
the Tower of London, Berkhampstead, Childeme Langley, and Eltham. (A.D.1389.
French. Probably holograph.) Signed :- Par GeoEray Chaucer, clerc des
cevereines du roy nostre seignur.
Traces of signet. (Chancery
Warrants 1. 1660 a No. 26)
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
also establish a link, though a less obvious one, between the poet and the
Craft of Masons. The Masons' Company in London, with which Chaucer had
official connections, sustained the St. Thomas Hospital there, left it many
bequests, and often visited it in livery. Masons' Companies in two, and
possibly three, other cities also helped to support local hospitals of their
own named for St. Thomas and it is possible that they looked on St. Thomas as
their Patron Saint. This Saint Thomas was the martyred Archbishop of
Canterbury, St. Thomas Becket, who was murdered in his own cathedral in 1170.
The fact that three knights, described at the time as "the three ruffians,"
murdered the fifty-three year old prelate by beating him over the head after
demanding that he "give them his word," threatened to bury him in the rubbish,
and that his body was buried in a spot between a memorial to John the Baptist
on one side and John the Evangelist on the other, the two forming parallel
lines, must have held a peculiar interest to men in the Masons' Companies, and
may account for their support of St. Thomas Hospitals; and it is possible that
Chauser, connected with the Mason Company in London as he was, may from that
association have had his interest in Canterbury first aroused, and as a result
of which he wrote in rhyme the Canterbury (St. Thomas' church) Tales.
It belongs to the in curable
romanticism of Medieval England 'that this St. Thomas, England's "favorite
saint,'' her most "glorious martyr," "the most English of the Saints," was by
blood only half English, and half Christian. Gilbert Becket was a member of
the Mercers Company, or gild, but as a young man went off on one of the
Crusades to war on the infidel Saracens, was captured, was released by "a fair
Saracen," a Mohammedan lady ; they fell in love, she followed him to London,
professed conversion, and Thomas was their son.
Thomas learned reading and
writing, went to work in the Sheriff's office, and then was employed by the
King, upon whose wish, and against Thomas' own desires, he took Holy Orders
expressly in order to be named Archbishop of Canterbury, where the King
purposed to have a friend and supporter in that highest of
ecclesiastica1offices, but discovered to his chagrin, and too late, that "he
had a Tartar there."
The Mercers Company afterwards
was given the land which had belonged to the senior Becket; and in the Charter
given it by Henry IV in 1406 its members were named "Brothers of St. Thomas à
Becket." St. Thomas was for centuries a favorite Patron Saint among the gilds
and companies.
*
CADET-GASSICOURT, CHARLES
LOUIS
The author of the celebrated
work entitled Le Tombeau de Jacques de Molay, which was published at Paris, in
1796, and in which he attempted, like Barmel and Robison, to show that
Freemasonry was the source and instigator of all the political revolutions
which at that time were convulsing Europe. Cadet-Gassicourt was himself the
victim of political persecution, and, erroneously attributing his sufferings
to the influences of the Masonic Lodges in France, became incensed against the
Order, and this gave birth to his libelous book. But subsequent reflection led
him to change his views, and he became an ardent admirer of the Institution
which he had formerly maligned. He sought initiation into Freemasonry, and in
1805 was elected as Master of the Lodge l'Abeille in Paris. He was born at
Paris. January 23, 1769, and died in the same city November 21, 1821.
*
CADMILLUS
The youngest of the Cabiri,
and as he is slain in the Cabiric Mysteries, he becomes the analogue or
representative of the Builder in the legend of Freemasonry. '
*
CADUCEUS
The Caduceus was the magic
wand of the god Hermes. It was an olive staff twined with fillets, which were
gradually converted to wings and serpents. Hermes, or Mercury, was the
messenger of Jove. Among his numerous attributes, one of the most important
was that of conducting disembodied spirits to the other world, and, on
necessary occasions, of bringing them back. He was the guide of souls, and the
restorer of the dead to life.
Thus, Horace, in addressing
him, says:
Unspotted spirits you consign
To blissful seats and joys divine,
And powerful with your golden wand
The light unburied crowd command.
Vergil also alludes to this
attribute of the magic wand
when he is describing the flight of
Mercury on his way to bear Jove's warning message to Aeneas:
His wand he takes ; with this pale ghost he calls
From Pluto's realms, or sends to Tartarus' shore.
And Statius, imitating this
passage, makes the same allusion in his Thebaid (1, 314), thus translated by
Lewis:
He grasps the wand which draws from hollow graves,
Or drives the trembling shades to Stygian waves ;
With magic power seals the watchful eye
In slumbers soft or causes sleep to fly.
The history of this Caduceus,
or magic wand, will lead us to its symbolism. Mercury, who had invented the
lyre, making it out of the shell of the tortoise, exchanged it with Apollo for
the latter's magical wand. This wand was simply an olive branch around which
were placed two fillets of ribbon. Afterward, when Mercury was in Arcadia, he
encountered two serpents engaged in deadly combat. These he separated with his
wand; hence the olive wand became the symbol of peace, and the two fillets
were replaced by the two serpents, thus giving to the Caduceus its well-known
form of a staff, around which two serpents are entwined.
Such is the legend; but we may
readily see that in the olive, as the symbol of immortality, borne as the
attribute of Mercury, the giver of life to the dead, we have a more ancient
and profounder symbolism. The serpents, symbols also of immortality, are
appropriately united with the olive wand. The legend also accounts for a later
and secondary symbolism-that of peace.
The Caduceus then-the original
meaning of which word is a herald's staff-as the attribute of a life-restoring
God, is in its primary. meaning the symbol of immortality; so in Freemasonry
the rod of the Senior Deacon, or the Master of Ceremonies, is but an analogue
or representation of the Hermean Caduceus. This officer, as leading the
aspirant through the forms of initiation into his new birth or Masonic
regeneration, and teaching him in the solemn ceremonies of the Third Degree
the lesson of eternal life, may well use the magic wand as a representation of
it, which was the attribute of that ancient deity who brought the dead into
life.
*
CAEMENTARIUS
Latin. A builder of walls, a
mason, from caemantum, a rough, unhewn stone as it comes from the quarry. In
medieval Latin, the word is used to designate an Operative Mason.
Du Cange cites Magister
Caementariorum as used to designate him who presided over the building of
edifices, that is, the Master of the works. It has been adopted by some modern
writers as a translation of the word Freemason. Its employment for that
purpose is perhaps more correct than that of the more usual word latomus,
which owes its use to the authority of Thory.
*
CAGLIOSTRO
Of all the Masonic persons of
romantic celebrity who flourished in the eighteenth century the Count
Cagliostro was most prominent, whether we consider the ingenuity of his
schemes, the extensive field of his operations through almost every country of
Europe, or the distinguished character and station of many of those whose
credulity made them his enthusiastic supporters.
The history of Freemasonry in that century would not be complete without a
reference to this personage. To write the history of Freemasonry in the
eighteenth century and to leave out Cagliostro, would be like enacting the
play of Hamlet and leaving out the part of the Prince of Denmark. And yet
Carlyle has had occasion to complain of the paucity of materials for such a
work.
Indeed, of one so well known
as Cagliostro comparatively little is to be found in print. Doctor Mackey held
that there was sufficient published to prove him to be a "charlatan" and a
"prince of Masonic imposters."
The authorities on which
Brother Mackey rested his belief are mentioned in his following sentence. The
only works upon which he who would write his life must depend are a Life of
him published in London, 1787; Memoirs, in Paris, 1786 ; and Memoirs
Authentiques, Strasbourg, 1786; a Life, in Germany, published at Berlin, 1787;
another in Italian, published at Rome in 1791; and a few fugitive pieces,
consisting chiefly of manifestoes of himself and his disciples.The widest
differences exist among writers as to Cagliostro's true standing, the majority
following the lead of Doctor Mackey, whose account is appended.
Joseph Balsamo, subsequently
known as Count Cagliostro, was the son of Peter Balsamo and Felicia Braconieri,
both of mean extraction, and was born on the 8th of June, 1743, in the city of
Palermo. Upon the death of his father, he was taken under the protection of
his maternal uncles, who caused him to be instructed in the elements of
religion and learning, by both of which he profited so little that he eloped
several times from the Seminary of St. Roch, near Palermo, where he had been
placed for his instruction.
At the age of thirteen he was
carried to the Convent of the Good Brotherhood at Castiglione. There, having
assumed the habit of a novice, he was placed under the tuition of the
apothecary, from whom he learned the principles of chemistry and medicine. His
brief residence at the convent was marked by violations of many of its rules;
and finally, abandoning it altogether, he returned to Palermo. There he
continued his vicious courses, and was frequently seized and imprisoned for
infractions of the law. At length, having cheated a goldsmith, named Marano,
of a large amount of gold, he was compelled to flee from his native country.
He then repaired to Messina,
where he became acquainted with one Altotas, who pretended to be a great
chemist. Together they proceeded to Alexandria in Egypt, where, by means of
certain chemical, or perhaps rather by financial, operations, they succeeded
in collecting a considerable amount of money.
In 1776 Cagliostro appeared in
London. During this visit, Cagliostro become connected with the Order of
Freemasonry. In the month of April he received the degrees in Esperance Lodge,
No. 289, which then met at the King's Head Tavern. Cagliostro did not join the
Order with disinterested motives, or at least he determined in a very short
period after his initiation to use the Institution as an instrument for the
advancement of his personal interests. Here he is said to have invented, in
1777, that grand scheme of imposture under the name of Egyptian Freemasonry,
by the propagation of which he subsequently became so famous as the great
Masonic charlatan of his age.
London did not fail to furnish
him with a fertile field for his impositions, and the English Freemasons
seemed no way reluctant to become his dupes; but, being ambitious for the
extension of his Rite, and anxious for the greater income which it promised,
he again passed over to the Continent, where he justly anticipated abundant
success in its propagation. This Egypt Freemasonry constituted the great
pursuit of the rest of his life, and was the instrument which he used for many
years to make dupes of thousands of credulous persons.
During Cagliostro's residenee
in England, on his last visit, he was attacked by the editor Morand, in the
Courier de l'Europe, in a series of abusive articles, to which Cagliostro
replied in a letter to the English people. But, although he had a few Egyptian
Lodges in London under his government, he appears, perhaps from Morand's
revelations of his character and life, to have lost his popularity, and he
left England permanently in May, 1787. He went to Savoy, Sardinia, and other
places in the south of Europe, and at last, in May, 1789, by an act of rash
temerity, proceeded to Rome, where he organized an Egyptian Lodge under the
very shadow of , the Vatican. But this was more than the Church, which had
been excommunicating Freemasons for fifty years, was willing to endure. On the
27th of December of that year, on the festival of St. John the Evangelist, to
whom he had dedicated his Lodges, the Holy Inquisition arrested him, and
locked him up in the castle of San Angelo.
There, after such a trial as
the Inquisition is wont to give to the accused-in which his wife is said to
have been the principal witness against him-he was convicted of having
formed'' societies and conventicles of Freemasonry." His manuscript entitled
Maçonnerie Egyptienne was ordered to be burned by the public executioner, and
he himself was condemned to death; a sentence which the Pope subsequently
commuted for that of perpetual imprisonment. Cagliostro appealed to the French
Constituent Assembly, but of course in vain.
Thenceforth no more is seen of
him. For four years this adventurer, who had filled during his life so large a
space in the world's history-the associate of princes, prelates, and
philosophers; the inventor of a spurious Rite, which had, however, its
thousands of disciples-languished within the gloomy walls of the prison of St.
Leo, in the Duchy of Urbino, and at length, in the year 1795, in a fit of
apoplexy, bade the world adieu. But there is another side to the foregoing
account by Doctor Mackey. Some more recent writers have seriously questioned
the identity of Cagliostro and Balsamo.
Both Trowbridge and Spence
deem the later evidence to have proven that Cagliostro was not Balsamo. Lewis
Spenee sums up the situation thus in his Encyclopedia of Occultism after a
lengthy review of the various assertions of the authorities and the test of
them by the ascertained facts:
"It is distinctly no easy matter to get at the bedrock truth regarding
Cagliostro or to form any just estimate of his true character. That he was
vain, naturally pompous, fond of theatrical mystery, and of the popular side
of occultism, is most probable.
Another circumstance which
stands out in relation to his personality is that he was vastly desirous of
gaining cheap popularity. He was probably a little mad. On the other hand he
was beneficent, and felt it his mission in the then king-ridden state of
Europe to found Egyptian Masonry for the protection of society in general, and
the middle and lower classes in particular. A born adventurer, he was by no
means a rogue, as his lack of shrewdness has been proved on many occasions.
There is small question either that the various Masonic lodges which he
founded and which were patronized by persons of ample means, provided him with
extensive funds and it is a known fact that he was subsidized by several
extremely wealthy men, who, themselves dissatisfied by the state of affairs in
Europe, did not hesitate to place their riches at his disposal for the purpose
of undermining the tyrannic powers which then wielded sway.
There is reason to believe
that he had in some way and at some period of his life acquired a certain
working knowledge of practical occultism, and that he possessed certain
elementary psychic powers of hypnotism and telepathy. His absurd account of
his childhood is almost undoubtedly a plagiarism of that stated in the first
manifesto to the public of the mysterious Rosicrucian Brotherhood, as
containing an account of the childhood of their Chief. But on the whole he is
a mystery, and in all likelihood the clouds which surround his origin and
earlier years will never be dispersed. It is probably better that this should
be so, as although Cagliostro was by no means an exalted character, he was yet
one of the most picturesque figures in the later history of Europe; and
assuredly not the least aid to his picturesqueness is the obscurity in which
his origin is involved."
For further reading on the
career of Cagliostro, a showing to the effect that if he was not of unalloyed
honor, he was not altogether an impostor and scoundrel, consult Cagliostro:
The Splendor and Mystery of a Master of Magic by W. R H, Trowbridge, and An
Encyclopedia of Occukism by Lewis Spence.
Other books of reference are
Cagliostro and Company, by Franz Funck-Brentano, and the Life of Joseph
Balsamo, published at Dublin in 1792, the latter being translated from the
original proceedings published at Rome by order of the Apostolic Chamber and
therefore of especial interest as the Roman Catholic argument against one
condemned by the Inquisition for being a Freemason. This report (page 239),
asserts that the judgment entirely accords with justice, equity, prudence,
religion, and public tranquillity.
It then runs thus: "Joseph
Balsamo, attainted and convected of many crimes, and having incurred the
censures and penalties pronounced against formal heretics, dogmatists,
heresiarchs, and propagators of magic and superstition, has been found guilty,
and condemned to the censures and penalties denounced as well by the apostolic
laws of Clement XII and of Benedict XIV against those who in any manner
whatever favor or form societies and conventicles of Free Masons, as by the
edict of the Council of State against those who are guilty of this crime at
Rome, or any other place under the dominion of the Pope.
Notwithstanding this, by way
of special grace and favor, this crime, the expiation of which demands the
delivery of the culprit over to the secular arm, to be by it punished with
death, is hereby changed and commuted into perpetual imprisonment, in a
fortress where the culprit is to be strictly guarded, without any hope of
pardon whatever."
This order was carried into
effect as was also the burning by "the hand of the hangman" of Cagliostro's
manuscript on Egyptian Freemasonry as were all his other books, instruments,
symbols, etc., relating thereto. The order also confirmed and renewed the laws
of the Roman Catholic Church prohibiting societies and conventicles of
Freemasons, and winds up by declaring "We shall enact the most grievous
corporal punishments, and principally those provided for heresies, against
whosoever shall associate, hold communication with, or protect, these
societies."
*
CAHIER
French. A number of sheets of
parchment or paper fastened together at one end. The word is used by French
Freemasons to designate a small book printed, or in manuscript, containing the
ritual of a Degree. The word has been borrowed from French history, where it
denotes the reports and proceedings of certain assemblies, such as the clergy,
the States-General, etc.
*
CAIRNS
Derived from the Gaelic can,
meaning a mound, and applied thus to heaps of stones of a conical form erected
by the Druids. Some suppose them to have been sepulchral monuments, others
altars. They were undoubtedly of a religious character, since sacrificial
fires were lighted upon them, and processions were made around them.
These processions were
analogous to the circumambulations in Freemasonry, and were conducted, like
them, with reference to the apparent course of the sun. Thus, Toland, in his
Letters on the Celtic Religion, II, xvii, says of these mystical processions,
that the people of the Scottish islands "never come to the ancient sacrificing
and fire-hallowing Cams but they walk three times round them from east to
west, according to the course of the sun. This sanctified tour, or round by
the south, is called Deaseal, as the unhallowed contrary one by the north,
Tuapholl"; and he says that Deaseal is derived from "Deas, the right
(understanding hand), and soil, one of the ancient names of the sun, the right
hand in this round being ever next the heap." In all this the Freemason will
be reminded of the Masonic ceremony of circumambulation around the altar and
the rules which govern it.
*
CALATRAVA, MILITARY ORDER OF
Instituted l158, during the
reign of Sancho III, King of Castile, who conquered and gave the Castle of
Calatrava, an important fortress of the Moors of Andalusia, to the Knights
Templar, who subsequently relinquished their possession of it to the king.
The king, being disappointed
in the ability of the Templars to retain it, then offered the defense of the
place to Don Raymond of Navarre, Abbot of St. Mary of Hitero, a Cistercian
convent, who accepted it. Don Raymond being successful, the king gave the
place to him and his companions, and instituted the 0rder of Calatrava. A
Grand Master was appointed and approved of by the Pope, Alexander III, 1164,
which was confirmed by Innocent III in 1198.
The knights had been granted
the power of electing their own Grand Master; but on the death of Don Gareias
Lopez de Pardella, 1489, Ferdinand and Isabella annexed the Grand Mastership
to the Crown of Castile, which was sanctioned by Pope Innocent VIII.
*
CALCOTT, WELLINS
A distinguished Masonic writer
of the eighteenth century, and the author of a work published in 1769, under
the title of A Candid Disquisition of the Principles and Practices of the Most
Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons; together with some
Strictures on the 0rigin, Nature, and Design of that Institution, in which he
has traced Freemasonry from its origin, explained its symbols and
hieroglyphics, its social virtues and advantages, suggested the propriety of
building halls for the peculiar and exclusive practice of Freemasonry and
reprehended its slanderers with great but judicious severity.
This was the first extended
effort to illustrate philosophically the science of Freemasonry, and was
followed, a few years after, by Hutchinson's admirable work ; so that Oliver
justly says that ''Calcott opened the mine of Freemasonry, and Hutchinson
worked it."
*
CALEDONIA, NEW
See Oceania
*
CALENDAR
Freemasons, in affixing dates
to their official documents, never make use of the Common Epoch or Vulgar Era,
but have one peculiar to themselves, which, however, varies in the different
rites. Era and epoch are, in this sense, synonymous.
Strictly, the epoch is an
important point in history beginning a period termed an era, as the epoch of
the Crucifixion followed by the Christian Era.
Freemasons of the York,
American, and French Rites, that is to say, the Freemasons of England,
Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, and America, date from the creation of the
world, calling it Anno Lucis, which they abbreviate A. . L. ., signifying in
the Year of Light. Thus with them the year 1872 is A.'. L.'. 5872. This they
do, not because they believe Freemasonry to be coeval with the Creation, but
with a symbolic reference to the light of Freemasonry.
In the Scottish Rite, the
epoch also begins from the date of the creation, but Freemasons of that Rite,
using the Jewish chronology, would call the year 1872 A.'. M.'. or Anno Mundi
meaning in the Year of the World, 5632. They sometimes use the initials A.'.
H. '., signifying Anno Hebraico, or, in the Hebrew year.
They have also adopted the
Hebrew months, and the year, therefore, begins with them in the middle of
September (see Months, Hebrew).
Freemasons of the York and
American Rites begin the year on the lst of January, but in the French Rite it
commences on the lst of March, and instead of the months receiving their usual
names, they are designated numerically, as first, second, third, etc. Thus,
the lst of January, 1872, would be styled, in a French Masonic document, the
lst day of the 11th Masonic month, Anno Lucis, 5872. The French sometimes,
instead of the initials A.'. L.'., use L'an de la V.'. L. '., or Vraie Lumiére,
that is, Year of True Light.
Royal Arch Masons commence
their epoch with the year in which Zerubbabel began to build the second
Temple, which was 530 years before Christ.
Their style for the year 1872
is, therefore, A.'. Inv.'., that is, Anno Inventionis, or, in the Year of the
Discovery, 2402.
Royal and Select Masters very
often make use of the common Masonic date, Anno Lucis, but properly they
should date from the year in which Solomon's Temple was completed; and their
style would then be, Anna Depositionis, or, in the Year of the Deposit, and
they would date the year 1872 as 2872.
Knights Templar use the epoch
of the organization of their Order in 1118. Their style for the year 1872 is
A.'. O.'., Anno 0rdinis, or, in the Year of the 0rder, 754.
We subjoin, for the
convenience of reference, the rules for discovering these different dates.
l. To find the Ancient Craft
date. Add 4000 to the Vulgar Era. Thus 1872 and 4000 are 5872.
2. To find the date of the Scottish Rite. Add 3760 to the Vulgar Era. Thus
1872 and 3760 are 5632. After September add one year more.
3. To find the date of Royal Arch Masonry. Add 530 to the Vulgar Era. Thus 530
and 1872 are 2402.
4. To find the Royal and Select Masters' date. Add 1000 to the Vulgar Era.
Thus 1000 and 1872 are 2872.
5. To find the Knights Templar's. Subtract 1118 from the Vulgar Era. Thus 1118
from 1872 is 754. The following will show, in one view, the date of the year
1872 in all the branches of the Order:
Year of the Lord, 1872
A.D.-Vulgar Era.
Year of Light, A.'. L.'. 5872-Ancient Craft Masonry.
Year of the World, A.'. M.'. 5632-Scottish Rite.
Year of the Discovery, A.'. L.'. 2402-Royal Arch Masonry.
Year of the Deposit, A.'. Dep.'. 2872-Royal and Select Masters.
Year of the Order, A.'. O.'. 754-Knights Templar.
*
CHARTERS AND THE OLD CHARGES
When King Henry III was in
want of money to carry on his war against the Barons he announced to the Prior
of the Templars that he intended to commandeer some portions of the riches
with which their vaults were crowded (The Templars, the Knights of St. John,
and the Church among them owned one-third of England) and in spite of the
Charters he had given them, the Prior of the Templars replied: "What sayest
thou, O King? Far be it that thy mouth should utter so disagreeable and silly
a word. . . Thou wilt cease to be king."
The Prior took his defiant
stand on his Charter, the solidest thing in the Middle Ages. Even the Tudor
Kings, unafraid of man or devil, were smitten with fear at the mere thought of
Charter breaking. There are in modern use contracts, deeds, charters,
warrants, and similar instruments through which authority acts, and in which
sovereignty resides; but no one of those documents is what a Medieval Charter
was. For in the Middle Ages, a Charter was a document which possessed
sovereignty, power, authority in itself, not as delegated, but as original. If
a town received a Charter (a town might pay the king a large sum for one) it
was thereby made a free, independent, sovereign, self-governing incorporation
which could levy taxes, conscript soldiers, hold courts, execute criminals,
buy, sell, or construct property; subject only to the national sovereignty it
was almost a small nation.
The town of Cambridge was such
a chartered incorporation; the University of Cambridge, though a school and
not a city, and only a short distance from the town, also had a Charter, and
therefore had its own courts and peace officers; and in the Town and Gown
battles the two were more than once virtually at war with each other. If a
gild of craftsmen or churchmen or merchants received a Charter, they became a
self-governing unit even though they had no territory or property. Chartered
Colonies, chartered trading companies like the East India, West India African
Companies, were English governments in pello in foreign places. Medieval
England was almost a government by Charters. Magna Carta was epoch making
because it was a charter granted to the people of London; it was therefore the
guarantee of the liberties named in it, and as against any King or Parliament,
because it was a Charter.
It is evident from the Old
MSS., the Craft's oldest existing written records, that the Freemasons, a
fraternity spread over England, claimed to possess a Charter as a fraternity,
and that it had been granted to them by Prince Edwin in the Tenth Century;
from this "Great Charter" they claimed authority to constitute themselves as
Lodges, to hold assemblies (so often forbidden by the Kings), to hold their
own courts, to have their own laws, to make contracts (as often they did), to
hold property, to regulate their own hours and wages, to take apprentices
under bond, and to regulate their own affairs wherever one Freemason or a
Lodge of them might be.
When any city, university, or
society petitioned for a Charter it usually gave the grounds upon which it
felt a right to ask it, and among the more common grounds were a great
antiquity, a record of peaceableness, the prestige of names among its members,
etc. ; the writer of the original book of the Old Charges (old MSS.), of which
nearly two hundred copies have been found, sets out in the first half of his
document, though with great brevity, and discontentedly, the grounds upon
which the Fraternity of Freemasons had obtained a Charter from Prince Edwin.
Freemasonry was ancient, because building went back to Adam; among its
earliest founders (men who made the art possible) were such famous and learned
men as Pythagoras and Euclid; such great kings as Charlemagne and Athelstan
had been among its patrons; Freemasons had always been educated men, not lewd
fellows ("lewd" meant illiterate) or churls, but lovers of the Liberal Arts
and Sciences (curriculum of the schools and universities);
they had never held unlawful
assemblies to conspire against lawful rulers, and it was while holding one of
their lawful and peaceable assemblies that Edwin had given them their Great
charter. Copies of such a charter, duly authenticated, were sufficient
authority for regular Freemasons anywhere to hold local assemblies and
constitute themselves into Lodges, nor could local prelates or lords forbid
them.
Having thus shown the ground
of authority the document then goes on to set down the set of rules and
charges which, on Charter authority, the Masonic Fraternity imposed upon its
membership.
Boys come to be made
apprentices, though of gentle birth, need not expect that they would be in a
loose and carefree circle, to act as they wished; they would be governed under
strict laws. This grounding of the authority of the Craft on an original
Charter is repeated in the records of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, the
formation of which was not attempted until after the ancient family holding
the rights of Masonic Charter had made over those rights to the governing body
to be.
It has been assumed by some
Masonic writers that the Old charges were a mere "tradition" of legendary
Graft ,,history," to be piously believed, and to be read to Apprentices to
give them an impression of the Craft's antiquity; and they took the charges
and the rules and regulations, to be mere by-laws of a voluntary social
Fraternity, or sodality. It is submitted on the basis of facts given above
that this is an error. A copy of the old Charges was a Lodge's Charter, its
legal right to exist. From its Minute Book it is evident that Antiquity Lodge
insisted that it never had surrendered its own Charter to the new Grand Lodge
in 1717; when later it believed that the Grand Master had violated Antiquity's
Charter, Antiquity withdrew and continued to work in independence for more
than ten years. The new Grand Lodge was not to replace the authority inherent
in each Lodge but was to supervise only such matters as lay among the Lodges.
And it is certain that most of the old Lodges looked upon the Book of
Constitutions as a Grand Lodge Charter, and that the old Masons (represented
by fourteen members) had insisted on incorporating in it the old grounds on
which the original Charter (as they believed) had been given by Prince Edwin ;
so that the first half of the Book was not, as Gould and Hughan erroneously
believed, a fabulous and pleasing tale or legend but a claim to original
Charter authority one thousand years old.
The "new men," the "gentlemen"
or "accepted" Masons who followed the Duke of Montague into the Craft in a
stream, and who came into control of the Fraternity had only a sketchy
knowledge of Masonry and little understanding of its ancient customs and
landmarks.
They committed one fateful
blunder after another One of the cardinal discoveries, as even the young and
green Grand Lodge found out in thirty years was that a Grand Master, privately
and personally , and at his own pleasure, could not "make" a Lodge though
until 1757 he undertook to do so; for if he could make a Lodge at his own
pleasure he could break a Lodge at his pleasure (and often did), could control
the making of Masons and decide whom to admit etc., would leave a Lodge no
authority or sovereignly of its own, and would reduce it to a number of
members meeting under club rules. When the Grand Lodge ordained that Master
Masons could "be made only at Grand Lodge, Masons everywhere rebelled Lodges
withdrew by the score, and the erection of the Ancient Grand Lodge, no such
innovator was one of the consequences.
Come to its senses the Grand
Lodge( of 1757, ) began in 1757 following Ireland by two years, to issue no
more Grand Master's written consents, for that is what the Deputations or
Warrants had been, but Charters, documents possessing original authority in
themselfs.
These charters did not create
the right of Freemasons to form a Lodge, they recognized it, they were an
official evidence that a given Lodge received one was deemed regular by other
Lodges and entitled to be represented at Craft Assemblies in the Grand Lodge.
This means that a regular
Lodge possesses inherent authority, by time immemorial rights, and not a
merely provisional and delegated authority; and it is one that cannot be
usurped by any faction among its own members, or by other Lodges, or by the
Grand Master or by the Grand Lodge. It was this which he had in mind when
Albert G. Mackey stated that Masons right to form and to assemble in Lodges is
an Ancient Landmark, as indubitably it is; and it is for the same reason that
Lodges are not "subordinate'' to Grand Lodge, mere local branches of it, but
are constituents of it, and hence are properly called Constituent Bodies.
Thus it turns out at the end
of some eight or so centuries of Masonic history that modern Speculative
Freemasonry discovered what the original authors of the Old Charges knew and
affirmed, that a Lodge, or assembly of Masons, without a Charter will find in
experience that their Lodge and assembly is an empty vanity; and that each
Lodge has inherent and alienable Charter rights.
American Masons are separated
by the Atlantic Ocean and centuries of time from the Middle Ages : in the
nature of things they cannot be expected to have a clear and adequate
knowledge of Medieval history. The fact explains the acceptance by many
American Masons of the theory, often set out in Masonic periodicals and in
Grand Masters' Addresses, that the original and sovereign Masonic authority
was the Holy Bible. l. During almost one-half of the total history of the
Craft, Masons had no copies of the Bible. In the earliest centuries they did
not, excepting only a few, even know of the existence of such a Book. They had
from it only a few stories, such as Adam's fall, Noah's Ark, etc., and some
portions of the New Testament, and those they had not from any text directly,
but only as they were used by the Church, which had modified them out of
recognition by accretions of stories and legends.
2. If there had been a Bible
available, the Masons could not have been persuaded to use it by any cajolery
or the direst threats, because to do so would have meant a march to the stake,
or the dreaded excommunication. Holy Church forbade laymen to own or use
copies of any Holy Scriptures, and often forbade laymen to read the Scriptures
under any circumstances. In the eyes of the Masons It would have been an
unspeakable heresy for them to employ the Scriptures in their own Lodges. They
left the Church to itself; never intruded upon it or interfered with it, nor
permitted it to interfere with Lodges ; they taught no religious doctrines,
nor made any theological pronouncements. Masons like other men of the time
were men of religion but they incorporated nothing of theology in their own
Fraternity, and never have; they did not see that Church and Theology had
anything more to do with the Chartered Craft of builders than with a Chartered
Company of Hierohants.
3. The "book" on which
Apprentices made their oath was in the beginning not the Bible but the Old
Charges. In the first years of the new Grand Lodge officers of Antiquity Lodge
held a copy of the Old Charges aloft on a cushion and carried it around the
Grand Lodge Room, thus exhibiting the authority on which the Grand Lodge was
being assembled. In the minutes of the oldest Lodges and in the engravings
they printed it is seen that a copy of the Old Charges (not the Bible) is
placed on a pedestal directly in front of the Master. The Bible is used in the
Lodge not as an original warrant of authority and constitution, but
symbolically, like the Square and Compasses, and is one of the Great Lights.
Its power and authority in its own place and for its own proper use is none
the less for that, but the authority on which every Lodge works is not, and
never was, a religious or theological authority, but is in the written,
signed, and sealed Charter which hangs on the Lodge Room walls, and which is
in essence and meaning as ancient as Freemasonry itself. Whether such a
Charter goes back in unbroken succession to a particular sealed document
issued by Prince Edwin at York does not matter; it goes back to some written
Charter, or Charters, issued to the Freemasons in the beginnings of their
Fraternity.
*
CHESTERFIELD AND NASH
The absence of Lord
Chesterfield and Beau Nash from the Masonic histories thus far published is
yet another of the proofs that no really complete Masonic history has been
written. They were eminent men and Masons but so were thousands of others;
their distinction is that they were leaders and spokesmen for one of the most
drastic reforms by which England has ever been purged, the reform of manners.
Chesterfield was asked to take the Grand East of the Ancient Grand Lodge; it
is unfortunate that a journey he was about to take made it impossible because
his name in the list would have been both a reminder and a monument to one of
the largest services the British and American Lodges rendered their countries
in the Eighteenth and the first quarter of the Nineteenth Centuries.
Chesterfield's letters to his son (the family name was Dormer) circulated
privately for years before they were published and became one of the classics
of English literature.
In one of his histories of
England, Trevelyan, summarizing hundreds of reports and findings about the
manners of the Eighteenth Century, notes that between 1700 and 1725 (the first
Grand Lodge was erected in 1717), somebody found a way to manufacture cheap
gin ; this hard liquor replaced beer and ale, children as well as women joined
the men at the pubs, and thousands increasingly began to die in delirium
tremens; this' national orgy of drunkenness was at home among the other fatal
vices which accompanied it: lust, uncounted prostitution, universal profanity,
gambling, filth, slums, vomitarian feasts, rowdyism, mobs.
The fight against this lunatic
determination of the masses to commit suicide was a grim business. To
Chesterfield it was a question of life or death. Beau Nash managed to make his
resort at Bath popular with the aristocracy; but he compelled the young bloods
from the city and the young squires from the country to bathe every day,
excluded them if drunk, stopped their profanity, and pounded into them the
rudiments of manners.
The Masonic Lodges set
themselves against vulgarity with thin-lipped determination. At the Lodge in
Highen, wealthy and aristocratic, meeting in a dining room that one of the
kings had himself designed, a member rode his horse upstairs and jumped it
over the banquet table. Tilers here and there had fist fights with young
bloods determined to wear their swords in Lodge. When almost every Lodge was a
small circle of close friends who sat around the table while conducting the
Order of Business or initiating candidates, vulgarity, quarreling, profanity
were fatal to it. Minute books are filled with cases where members were fined
for swearing, refused admittance for arriving "disguised with liquor,"
rebuked, or reprimanded or excluded for quarreling, expelled for insolence or
bad manners.
The Lodges were determined to
wipe out this new species of barbarism or perish in the attempt; hundreds
perished, but more hundreds succeeded. For decades on both sides of the
Atlantic, Lodges were schools of good manners, and the fact is more important
for any history of them than whole chapters about the election of officers or
the names of committees.
Washington was to American
Lodges what Chesterfield had been to the English, at once the ideal and the
embodiment of the gentleman Mason; if biographers and historians complain that
he was too stiff, too formal, too correct it is because they do not realize
the dreadful dangers both to the American Fraternity and American society
there was in lust, drunkenness, and vulgarity, or how much continuing power of
the will was required, as it was required of Washington himself, to stand out
against it.
(The literary references for
this subject, and authority for the statements made above, have never been
collected into one chapter or volume; they lie in thousands of entries in the
Minute Books and histories of some 200 of the oldest British and American
Lodges.)
Chesterfield was very early
made a Mason, probably in the Lodge which met at the Horn Tavern and had been
No. 4 among the "four old Lodges" which had formed the first Grand Lodge in
1717. while on a tour in Italy he met Montesquieu and the two become fast
friends. When Montesquieu was on a visit to London in the early 1720's he was
made a Mason, and the indications are that since he was visiting Chesterfield
he was introduced and made a Mason in Chesterfield's own Lodge. When
Montesquieu helped to Set up the first Lodge in Paris in 1725 it also is
probable that Chesterfield and his English friends living in Paris had a hand
in it. A number of famous men in that period were initiated but took no active
Part in Lodge work afterwards; not so Chesterfield and Montesquieu, both of
whom were Masonic leaders for many years. (See article on MONTESQUIEU).
After the murrain of bad
manners with its profanity, vulgarity, lust, gambling, and drunkenness had
raged Unchecked for decades the English discovered (what every other people in
a like case have discovered) that the collapse of manners leads to a plague of
crime; for the end of vulgarity is not, as often thought, the decay of
religion (though there is much of that) because vulgarians cling to a
superstitious form of religion, but to murder, thievery, rape, robbery,
mobbing, arson, piracy, etc. The English at home suddenly lost interest in
their great war in France where the Duke of Marlborough was winning his famous
victory of Malplaquet and began assiduously to read Addison, and Steele, and
Chesterfield's Letters. This has been a mystery to many historians. The
explanation is that the English at home had suddenly discovered themselves in
greater danger from the flood of vulgarity in which they were engulfed than
from their foreign foe, and were moving heaven and earth to stem that flood.
They had to stop it or perish.
*
CHINA, FREEMASONRY IN
The History of Freemasonry in
Northern China: 1913-1937 Shanghai; privately printed in 1938; cloth; 435
pages. This invaluable work is bacdeker as well as history. As of 1937 there
were 11 Lodges in China under Charters from the United Grand Lodge of England;
five Lodges of Instruction; a District Grand Lodge of Northern China; two Mark
Lodges, and one Knight Templar Body.
There was one Lodge under
Irish Constitution (Shanghai). Under Scottish Charters were seven Lodges,
including one Lodge of Instruction, one District Grand Lodge, two Royal Arch
Chapters and one Council, one Body of Royal Order of Scotland. Under Charters
from the United States there were eight Lodges; one Lodge of Instruction; one
District Deputy Grand Lodge (sic); two Royal Arch Chapters; one K. T.
Commandery; eight Scottish Rite Bodies, four in Shanghai and four in Peking.
Under the Grand Lodge of the Philippine Islands were six Lodges, including one
U. D., and one District Grand Lodge.
The eight Lodges under
American charters were constituted by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, which
long has led other Grand Jurisdictions in work for foreign countries, followed
by New York. The Mother Lodge of America in China was Ancient Landmark Lodge,
Shanghai, Chartered Dec. 14, 1864.
(The History referred to at
the beginning of the paragraph above is the second of two; it was preceded by
an earlier volume of the same name, and included a history of Ancient
Landmarks Lodge.) In 1937 it had 95 members. Shanghai Lodge was Chartered
September 14, 1904; Sinim Lodge in 1904, at Shanghai; International Lodge at
Peking (Peiping) was Chartered in June, 1916; Hykes Memorial Lodge, Tientsin,
was Chartered in September, 1922; Pagoda Lodge, Mukden, in March, 1926;
Sungari Lodge, Harbin, in March 1929. From 1864 until 1915 the Massachusetts
Lodges in China (and Manchuria) were supervised by a District Deputy Grand
Master, of which there were five during the period. In 1915 the District Grand
Lodge of China was formed.
*
CINCINNATI, GENERAL SOCIETY OF
THE
The true and authentic sources
of information about this Society over which there has been so much debate
ever since 1783 are in transactions, proceedings, and other papers published
by the Society itself. Chief among these is Proceedings of the General Society
of the Cincinnati with the Original Institution of the Order (Sherman,
printer; Philadelphia; 1847). This perpetuates in a better form a copy of the
Institution that had been published in Philadelphia by John Steele, in 1785,
except that it omits a number of letters included in the latter.
A sufficient amount of
original sources is accumulated if to the above two brochures is added A
Journal of the General Meeting of The Cincinnati in 1784, by Major Winthrop
Sargent; Philadelphia; 1859. Of the storms of printed objections to the
Society the most famous was Consideration of the Order of Cincinnati, by The
Count De Mirabeau; London ; 1785. The plan as stated in the General
Institution was to enable the officers of the Revolutionary Army to have a
national society of their own with a branch in each state; that its first
purpose was to perpetuate the fellowship of the army in the field, and its
second purpose to give relief to the needy in its circles; it was assumed that
to be a member would in itself be a military honor; and-it was this which
aroused the storm of objections-"as a testimony of election to the memory and
the offspring of such officers as have died in the service, their eldest male
branches shall have the same right of becoming members as the children of the
actual members of the society."
This constitution was adopted
and the Society was formed on it at the Verplanck House, Steuben's
Headquarters, near Fishkill, shortly before demobilization.
Washington was the first
President-General, elected in 1787, two years before his inauguration as first
President; he was succeeded by Alexander Hamilton; C. C. Pinckney; Thomas
Pinckney; Aaron Ogden ; Morgan Lewis; William Popham, H. A. S. Dearborn;
Hamilton Fish ; William Wayne; Winslow Warren. The last original member died
in 1854. The Society is still in existence.
In the accumulated literature belonging to the Society the most valuable is a
series of sermons and orations delivered before the General Societies or the
State Branches between 1784 and about 1825 ; almost without exception they are
discussions by able spokesmen of the nation (President Timothy Dwight of Yale
was one of them), of its problems, anxieties, and of the conceptions of the
American republican system and of its National Government. They are a better
portrait of what was going on in the minds of responsible and representative
Americans in the critical period between 1787 and 1825 than many volumes of
general history.
(The documents referred to
above, along with a number of others, are preserved in the Iowa Masonic
Library, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.)
*
CALIFORNIA
When gold was discovered in
California many Masonic Brethren were among the crowds that poured into the
district and several Lodges began work in the early part of the year 1848.
Soon the question of establishing a Grand Lodge arose. A Convention met on
April 18, 1850, of which Brother Charles Gilman of San Francisco was the
Chairman and Brother Benjamin D. Hyam of Benicia was Secretary. The Lodges
represented were California Lodge, No. 13, of San Francisco; Connecticut
Lodge, No. 75, of Sacramento City ; Western Star Lodge, No. 98, of Benton
City, Upper California, and New Jersey Lodge of Sacramento City. Brother
Benjamin D. Hyam presented credentials from Benicia Lodge, at Benicia, but, as
no Masonic information of the existence of such a Lodge could be discovered,
it was not recognized. On April 19, a Constitution was adopted and Grand
Officers duly elected and installed.
The first Chapter of Royal
Arch Masons, namely, San Francisco, No. l, was organized by Dispensation dated
May 9, 1850, and a Charter was granted to it, September 13, in the same year.
Three Chapters, San Francisco, No. l, Sonora, No. 2, and Sacramento, No. 3,
sent delegates to a Convention held on May 6, 1854, at Sacramento for the
purpose of organizing a Grand Chapter. The meeting was adjourned, after three
days' session, and met again at San Francisco, July 18, 1854. A Constitution
was adopted and the Grand Lodge opened. Companion Charles M. Radeliff, of
Sonora Chapter, No. 2, was the first Grand High Priest; Companion John D.
Creigh, of San Francisco, No. l, Deputy Grand High Priest, and Companion
Townsend A. Thomas, of Sacramento Chapter, No. 3, Grand Secretary.
Charters were granted by the
Grand Council of Alabama to two Councils in California. One was chartered by
the Grand Council of Tennessee and one by the Grand Council of Texas. By
representatives of these four Councils the Grand Council of California was
organized on June 26, 1860.
A Commandery of Knights
Templar, San Francisco, No. l, was formed on November 10, 1852, and was
chartered on November 1, 1853. Under the Warrant of Sir William Hubbard, who
was then Grand Master of the Grand Encampment of the United States, the Grand
Commandery of California was established, August 10 and 11, 1858, in the
Asylum of San Francisco Commandery, No. 1.
A Lodge of Perfection, King
Solomon, No. 3, was established by a Charter dated January 3, 1866; Robert
Bruce, No. 3, a Chapter of Rose Croix, January 13, 1886; Hugues de Payens,
Council of Kadosh, No. 3, January 7, 1886, and Los Angeles Consistory, No. 3,
October 22, 1888. These four Bodies of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite
labored in South California. In North California a Chapter of Rose Croix and a
Lodge of Perfection, both by name San Francisco, No. l, were chartered in
1868, the first on June 15, the second on July 13. A Council of Kadosh and a
Consistory, also of the same name, were granted Charters on September 17,
1868, and June 30, 1897, respectively.
*
CALLING OFF
A technical term in
Freemasonry which signifies the temporary suspension of labor in a Lodge
without passing through the formal ceremony of closing. The full form of the
expression is to call from labor to refreshment, and it took its rise from the
former custom of dividing the time spent in the Lodge between the work of
Freemasonry and the moderate enjoyment of the banquet. The banquet formed in
the eighteenth century an indispensable part of the arrangements of a Lodge
Communication. "At a certain hour of the evening," says Brother Oliver, "with
certain ceremonies, the Lodge was called from labor to refreshment, when the
Brethren enjoyed themselves with decent merriment." That custom no longer
exists; and although in England almost always, and in the United States
occasionally, the labors of the Lodge are concluded with a banquet; yet the
Lodge is formally closed before the Brethren proceed to the table of
refreshment.
Calling off in American Lodges
is now only used, in a certain ceremony of the Third Degree, when it is
desired to have another meeting at a short interval, and the Master desires to
avoid the tediousness of dosing and opening the Lodge.
Thus, if the business of the
Lodge at its regular meeting has so accumulated that it cannot be transacted
in one evening, it has become the custom to call off until a subsequent
evening, when the Lodge, instead of being opened with the usual ceremony, is
simply "called on," and the latter meeting is considered as only a
continuation of the former.
This custom is very generally
adopted in Grand Lodges at their Annual Communications, which are opened at
the beginning of the session, called off from day to day, and finally closed
at its end. We do not know that any objection has ever been advanced against
this usage in Grand Lodges, because it seems necessary as a substitute for the
adjournment, which is resorted to in other legislative bodies, but which is
not admitted in Freemasonry. But much discussion has taken place in reference
to the practice of calling off in Lodges, some authorities sustaining and
others condemning it. Thus, many years ago, the Committee of Correspondence of
the Grand Lodge of Mississippi proposed this question : ''In case of excess of
business, cannot the unfinished be laid over until the next or another day,
and must the Lodge be closed in form, and opened the next, or the day
designated for the transaction of that business?" To this question some
authorities, and among others Brother C. W. Moore (Freemasons Monthly
Magazine, volume xii, No,10), reply in the negative, while other equally good
jurists differ from them in opinion.
The difficulty seems to be in this, that if the regular meeting of the Lodge
is closed in form, the subsequent meeting becomes a special one, and many
things which could be done at a regular communication cease to be admissible.
The recommendation, therefore, of Brother Moore, that the Lodge should be
closed, and, if the business be unfinished, that the Master shall call a
special meeting to complete it, does not meet the difficulty, because it is a
well settled principle of Masonic law that a special meeting cannot interfere
with the business of a preceding regular one. As, then, the mode of briefly
closing by adjournment is contrary to Masonic law and usage, and cannot,
therefore, be resorted to, as there is no other way except by calling off to
continue the character of a regular meeting, and as, during the period that
the Lodge is called off, it is under the government of the Junior Warden, and
Masonic discipline is thus continued, Doctor Mackey, for the reasons cited by
him in regard to Brother Moore, was clearly of opinion that calling off from
day to day for the purpose of continuing work or business is, as a matter of
convenience, admissible.
The practice may indeed be
abused. But there is a well-known legal maxim which says, Ez abusu non
arguitur in usum. "No argument can be drawn from the abuse of a thing against
its use. " Thus, a Lodge cannot be called off except for continuance of work
and business, nor to an indefinite day, for there must be a good reason for
the exercise of the practice, and the Brethren present must be notified before
dispersing of the time of reassembling; nor can a Lodge at one regular meeting
be called off until the next, for no regular meeting of a Lodge is permitted
to run into another, but each must be closed before its successor can be
opened.
*
CALLING ON
When a Lodge that is called
off at a subsequent time resumes work or business, it is said to be called on.
The full expression is called on from refreshment to labor.
*
CALUMNY
See Back
*
CALVARY
Mount Calvary is a small hill
or eminence, situated due west from Mount Moriah, on which the Temple of
Solomon was built. It was originally a hillock of notable size, but has, in
more modern times, been greatly reduced by the excavations made in it for the
construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
There are several coincidences
which identify Mount Calvary with the small hill where the "newly made grave,"
referred to in the Third Degree, was discovered by the weary Brother. Thus,
Mount Calvary was a small hill ; it was situated in a westward direction from
the Temple, and near Mount Moriah; and it was on the direct road from
Jerusalem to Joppa, and is the very spot where a weary brother, traveling on
that road, would find it convenient to sit down to rest and refresh himself;
it was outside the gate of the Temple; it has at least one cleft in the rock,
or cave, which was the place which subsequently became the sepulcher of our
Lord. Hence Mount Calvary has always retained an important place in the
legendary history of Freemasonry, and there are many traditions connected with
it that are highly interesting in their import.
One of the traditions is, that
it was the burial place of Adam, in order, says the old legend, that where he
lay, who effected the ruin of mankind, there also might the Savior of the
world suffer, die, and be buried. Sir R. Torkington, who published a
pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1517, says that ''under the Mount of Calvary is
another chapel of our Blessed Lady and St. John the Evangelist, that was
called Golgatha; and there, right under the mortise of the cross, was found
the head of our forefather, Adam." Golgotha, it will be remembered, means, in
Hebrew, the place of a skull ; and there may be some connection between this
tradition and the name of Golgotha, by which, the Evangelists inform us, in
the time of Christ, Mount Calvary was known. Calvary, or Calvaria, has the
same signification in Latin.
Another tradition states that
it was in the bowels of Mount Calvary that Enoch erected his nine-arched
vault, and deposited on the foundation-stone of Freemasonry that Ineffable
Name, whose investigation, as a symbol of Divine truth, is the great object of
Speculative Freemasonry. A third tradition details the subsequent discovery of
Enoch's deposit, by King Solomon, whilst making excavations in Mount Calvary
during the building of the Temple.
On this hallowed spot was
Christ the Redeemer slain and buried. It was there that, rising on the third
day from his sepulcher, He gave, by that act the demonstrative evidence of the
resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul.
And it is this spot that has
been selected, in the legendary history of Freemasonry, to teach the same
sublime truth, the development of which by a symbol evidently forms the design
of the Third or Master's Degree.
*
CAMORRA
A secret society of gangsters
organized about 1820 at Naples. The name is a Spanish word meaning quarrel and
similar societies are reported as active in Spain before they were heard of in
Italy. From local organized criminals the society grew to revolutionary power
in elections and from 1848 exercised a control only broken by the government
in 1877. Still powerful in defeat, the municipality of Naples as recently as
1900 was set aside by a Royal Commission.
A double murder in 1911
resulted in the arrest and trial of forty conspirators, several condemned to
long imprisonment. The initiation is said to have required the candidate to
pick up a coin while the others present struck at it with daggers.
Later there was a fight or
duel instead of this. Training of new members lasted three years and at
reception the initiate was pledged to loyalty by an oath repeated while his
uplifted hand was wet with his own blood. Today the Camorra is curbed, but
mysterious crimes in other lands and at home are sometimes credited to its
venom (see Carbonari, Mafia, and Secret Societies).
*
CAMP
A portion of the paraphernalia
decorated with tents, flags, and pennons of a Consistory of Sublime Princes of
the Royal Secret, or Thirty-second Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish
Rite.
It constitutes the Tracing
Board and is worn on the apron of the degree. It is highly symbolic, and
represents an imaginary Masonic camp. Its symbolism is altogether esoteric.
*
CAMPE, JOACHIM HEINRICH
A Doctor of Theology, and
Director of Schools in Dessau and Hamburg, who was born in 1746 and died
October 22, 1818. He was the author of many works on philosophy and education,
and was a learned and zealous Freemason, as is shown in his correspondence
with Lessing.
*
CANADA
Upon the advent of
Confederation, July 1, 1867, local control in each Province for the government
of the Masonic Fraternity of the Dominion took a strong hold as a predominant
idea, and prevailed. Each Province has now a Grand Lodge, and in order of
their organization are as follows:
Canada, having jurisdiction
only in Ontario, 1855; Nova Scotia, 1866; New Brunswick, 1867; Quebec, 1869;
British Columbia, 1871; Manitoba, 1875; Prince Edward Island, 1875; Alberta,
1905; Saskatchewan, 1906. Brother Will H. Whyte, P. G. M., says the first
marks of the ancient craftsmen have been found in Nova Scotia A mineralogical
survey in 1827 found on the shore of Goat Island in the Annapolis Basin,
partly covered with sand, a slab of rock 2,5 by 2 feet, bearing on it those
well-known Masonic emblems, the Square and Compasses, and the date 1606.
Brother Whyte concluded that who were the craftsmen and how the stone came
there, must be left to conjecture.
*
CANAL ZONE
Sojourners Lodge was
originally constituted by the Grand Lodge of Scotland in the Republic of
Panama. When the Canal Zone was acquired by the Government of the United
States of America this Lodge, in I912, came under the control of the Grand
Lodge of Massachusetts in 1912. In 1915 the Canal Zone Lodges were erected
into a District Grand Lodge. A treaty was concluded in 1917 between the Grand
Lodges of Massachusetts and Panama whereby the former had sole jurisdiction
over the Canal Zone. In 1921, the Canal Zone District Grand Lodge comprised
six Lodges: Sojourners at Cristobal, Canal Zone at Ancon, Army at Corozal,
Isthmian at Paraiso, Darien at Balboa and Sibert at Gatun.
On February 9, 1911, a
Dispensation was issued by the General Grand Council to a Council in the Canal
Zone at Ancon. This was chartered as Canal Zone Council, No. l, on September
12, 1912. The Grand Encampment of the United States authorized the Canal Zone
Commandery, No. l, at Ancon, Panama, on August 14, 1913.
The Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite was first established here when Panama, No. l, at Cristoal, was
constituted a Consistory, a Council of Kadosh, a Chapter of Rose Croix, and a
Lodge of Perfection by Charters from the Supreme Council, Southern
Jurisdiction, dated October 22, 1915.
*
CANCELLARIUS
An office of high rank and
responsibility among the Knights Templar of the Middle Ages, performing the
duties of, or similar to, the Chancellor.
*
CANDIDATE
An applicant for admission
into Masonry is called a candidate. The Latin candidatus means one who is
clothed in white, candidis vestibus indutus. In ancient Rome, he who sought
office from the people wore a white shining robe of a peculiar construction,
flowing open in front, so as to exhibit the wounds he had received in his
breast. From the color of his robe or toga candida, he was called candidatus,
whence the word candidate. The derivation will serve to remind the Freemason
of the purity of conduct and character which should distinguish all those who
are candidates for admission into the Order.
The qualifications of a
candidate in Freemasonry are somewhat peculiar. He must be free-born-under the
English Constitution it is enough that he is a Freeman, under no bondage, of
at least twenty-one years of age, in the possession of sound senses, free from
any physical defect or dismemberment, and of irreproachable manners, or, as it
is technically termed, under the tongue of good report. No atheist, eunuch, or
Woman can be admitted. The requisites as to age, sex, and soundness of body
have reference to the operative character of the Institution. We can only
expect able workmen in able-bodied men.
The mental and religious
qualifications refer to the duties and obligations which a Freemason
contracts. An idiot could not understand them, and an atheist would not
respect them. Even those who possess all these necessary qualifications can be
admitted only under certain regulations which differ under the several Masonic
Constitutions.
*
CANDIDATES, ADVANCEMENT OF
See Advancement, Hurried
*
CANDLESTICK, GOLDEN
The golden candlestick of
seven branches, which is a part of the furniture of a Royal Arch Chapter, is
derived from the holy candlestick which Moses was instructed to construct of
beaten gold for the use of the tabernacle.
Smith (Dictionary of the
Bible) thus abbreviates Lightfoot's explanation of the description given in
Exodus:
"The foot of it was gold, from
which went up a shaft straight, which was the middle light. Near the foot was
a golden dish wrought almondwise; and a little above that a golden knop, and
above that a golden flower. Then two branches one on each side bowed,- and
coming up as high as the middle shaft. On each of them were three golden cups
placed almondwise, in sharp, scallop-shell fashion; above which was a golden
knop, a golden flower, and the socket. Above the branches on the middle shaft
was a golden boss, above which rose two shafts more, above the coming out of
these was another boss and two more shafts, and then on the shaft upwards were
three golden scallop-cups, a knop, and a flower, so that the heads of the
branches stood an equal height."
In the tabernacle, the candlestick was placed opposite the table of shewbread,
which it was intended to illumine, in an oblique position, so that the lamps
looked to the east and south. What became of the candlestick between the time
of Moses and that of Solomon is unknown. The first Temple was lighted by ten
golden candlesticks similarly embossed, which were connected by golden chains
and formed a sort of railing before the veil.
These ten candlesticks became
the spoil of the Chaldean conqueror at the time of the destruction of the
Temple, and could not have been among the articles afterward restored by
Cyrus; for in the second Temple, built by Zerubbabel, we find only a single
candlestick of seven branches, like that of the tabernacle. Its form has been
perpetuated on the Arch of Titus, on which it was sculptured with other
articles taken by that monarch, and carried to Rome as special plunder, spolia
opima, after he had destroyed the Herodian Temple. This is the candlestick
which is represented as a decoration in a Royal Arch Chapter.
In Jewish symbolism, the seven
branches were supposed by some to refer to the seven planets, and by others to
the seventh day or Sabbath. The primitive Christians made it allusive to
Christ as the Light of the World, and in this sense it is a favorite symbol in
early Christian art.
Brother C. C. Hunt, Grand
Secretary of Iowa, instructively discussed this subject in the Quarterly
Bulletin, January, 1924, and says, in part: "The use of the seven-branched
candlestick in the Most Excellent Degree is correct according to the General
Grand Chapter ritual, and has, I believe, an important symbolical reference in
the work of that degree.
There is no reason why the
seven-branched candlestick should not be used in the Most Excellent Degree as
well as in the Royal Arch. It is not necessary to duplicate the elaborate
furniture of the Temple in our Most Excellent Degree. The single table and
candlestick of the Tabernacle and the second Temple has the same symbolism as
the ten of the first Temple. It is true that no symbolic meaning is attached
to the candlestick in the ritual, but the very fact that it is used as part of
the furniture of the degree indicates that it has the same symbolism there
that it had in its place in the Temple, which is, that the seven lights
represent the seven planets, which, regarded as the eyes of God, behold
everything.
The light in the center
signifies the sun, the chief of the planets. The other six planets represented
by the three lamps on each side of the central light are Moon, Mercury, Venus,
Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Uranus was first recognized as a planet by Sir
William Herschel in 1781 A.D. and the earth was looked upon as receiving light
from the planets instead of being considered a planet itself. The
seven-branched candlestick was especially holy, and it was forbidden to make
copies of it for general purposes.
The fourth chapter of
Zechariah gives a symbolical meaning to the seven branched candlestick which
is very appropriate to our Chapter work. In fact, part of this very Chapter is
quoted in the work of the Degrees. How fitting it is that this candlestick,
the symbol of the spirit of the Lord and the light of his countenance shining
upon us through his eyes beholding and encouraging us in the noble and
glorious work of fitting ourselves as living stones for the spiritual building
which is to be our eternal dwelling place, should have a place in the
ceremonies of the Most Excellent Master's Degree, the degree which symbolizes
the completion of that work and the dedication of the Temple to the service of
the only true and living God."
*
CANNING, GEORGE
English statesman and orator,
born April 4, 1770; died August 8, 1827; member of Parliament, 1793 ;
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1807; Prime Minister of England, 1827.
Brother Canning was made a Freemason in Prince of Wales Lodge, London, in 1810
(see New Age, August, 1924).
*
CANOPY
Oliver says that in the
Masonic processions of the Continent the Grand Master walks under a gorgeous
canopy of blue, purple, and crimson silk, with gold fringes and tassels, borne
upon staves, painted purple and ornamented with gold, by eight of the oldest
Master Masons present ; and the Masters of private Lodges walk under canopies
of light blue silk with silver tassels and fringes, borne by four members of
their own respective companies.
The canopies are in the form
of an oblong square, and are in length six feet, in breadth and height three
feet, having a semicircular covering. The framework should be of cedar, and
the silken covering ought to hang down two feet on each side. This is,
properly speaking, a Baldachin (see Baldachin).
*
CANOPY, CELESTIAL
Ritualists seem divided in the
use of the terms Clouded Canopy and Celestial Canopy in the Entered Apprentice
Degree (for the former, see Canopy, Clouded, and Covering of the Lodge). It
would seem that the unclouded grandeur of the heavens should not be without
advocates. Sir John Lubbock gives the following description of the heavens
filled with stars in connection with the latest discoveries: "Like the sand of
the sea, the stars of heaven are used as a symbol of numbers. We now know that
our earth is but a fraction of one part of, at least 75,000,000 worlds. But
this is not all.
In addition to the luminous
heavenly bodies, we cannot doubt there are countless others invisible to us
from their great distance, smaller size, or feebler light; indeed, we know
that there are many dark bodies which now emit no light, or comparatively
tittle.. Thus the floor of heaven is not only 'thick , inlaid with patinas of
bright gold,' but studded also with extinct stars, once probably as brilliant
as our own sun."
*
CANOPY, CLOUDED
The clouded canopy, or
starry-decked heaven, is a symbol of the Entered Apprentice Degree, and is of
such important significance that Lenning calls it a "fundamental symbol of
Freemasonry." In the lectures of the York Rite, the clouded canopy is
described as the covering of the Lodge, teaching us, as Krause says, "that the
primitive Lodge is confined within no shut up building, but that it is
universal, and reaches to heaven, and especially teaching that in every clime
under heaven Freemasonry has its seat." Gädieke says, "Every Freemason knows
that by the clouded canopy we mean the heavens, and that it teaches how widely
extended is our sphere of usefulness. There is no portion of the inhabited
world in which our labor cannot be carried forward, as there is no portion of
the globe without its clouded canopy."
Hence, then, the German
interpretation of the symbol is that it denotes the universality of
Freemasonry, an interpretation that does not precisely accord with the English
and American systems, in which the doctrine of universality is symbolized by
the form and extent of the Lodge. The clouded canopy as the covering of the
Lodge seems rather to teach the doctrine of aspiration for a higher sphere; it
is thus defined in this work under the head of Covering of the Lodge, which
see.
*
CANZLER, CARL CHRISTIAN
A librarian of Dresden, born
September 30, 1733, died October 16, 1786. He was an earnest, learned
Freemason, who published in a literary journal, conducted by himself and A. G.
Meissner at Leipsic, in 1783-5, under the title of Für ältere Litteratur und
neuere Lectüre, many interesting articles on the subject of Freemasonry.
*
CAPE COLONY
In the days when this district
belonged to the Dutch two Lodges were established by them, both of which have
had successful careers.
The first of these, Lodge of
Good Hope, dates from ,1772. The Grand Lodge of England established British
Lodge in 1811 and the Athol Grand Lodge followed suit iu 1812 with a Lodge
attached to the Tenth Battalion of the Royal Artillery.
The first Lodge erected in
1821 after the arrival of the English colonists was Hope, No. 727. South
Africa is divided into Provinces, the Eastern, Western and Central Divisions,
Natal and the Transvaal, by the first two of which Freemasonry in Cape Colony
is controlled. There are also Provincial Grand Lodges under the Scotch, Irish
and Dutch Jurisdictions. Throughout the history of the Colony there has been
no antagonism between the Dutch and English Freemasons and many Brethren
attend Lodges under both systems. The first Provincial Grand Master under the
English Constitution was the Deputy Grand Master of the Netherlands who
continued to hold both offices until he died.
*
CAPE VERDE ISLANDS
Praia and St. Vincent each has
possessed a Lodge, chartered by the Grand Orient of Portugal.
*
CAPITULAR DEGREES
The degrees conferred under
the charter of an American Royal Arch Chapter, which are Mark Master, Past
Master, Most Excellent Master, and Royal Arch Mason. The Capitular Degrees are
almost altogether founded on and composed of a series of events in Masonic
history. Each of them has attached to it some tradition or legend which it is
the design of the degree to illustrate, and the memory of which is preserved
in its ceremonies and instructions. Most of these legends are of symbolic
signification. But this is their interior sense. In their outward and
ostensible meaning, they appear before us simply as legends.
To retain these legends in the
memory of Freemasons appears to have been the primary design in the
establishment of the advanced Degrees; and as the information intended to be
communicated in these Degrees is of a historical character, there can of
course be but little room for symbols or for symbolic instruction; the profuse
use of which would rather tend to an injury than to a benefit, by complicating
the purposes of the ritual and confusing the mind of the aspirant. These
remarks refer exclusively to the Mark and Most Excellent Master's Degree of
the American Rite, but are not so applicable to the Royal Arch, which is
eminently symbolic. The legends of the second Temple, and the lost word, the
peculiar legends of that degree, are among the most prominent symbols of the
Masonic system.
*
CAPITULAR MASONRY
The Freemasonry conferred in a
Royal Arch Chapter of the York and American Rites. There are Chapters in the
Ancient and Accepted, Scottish, and in the French and other Rites ; but the
Freemasonry therein conferred is not called capitular.
*
CAPRIPEDE RATIER ET LUCIFUGE
A burlesque dining degree,
mentioned in the collection of Fustier. The title is a significant allusion to
the goat-footed horned satyrs, minor deities of the Roman mythology,
companions of Bacchus, living in the depths of the forest, shunning the light
(see Thory, Acta Latomorum,1, 298).
*
CAPSTONE
or, as it might be called, the
cope-stone, the topmost brick or stone in building (but the former word has
been consecrated to us by universal Masonic usage), is the topmost stone of a
building. To bring it forth, therefore, and to place it in its destined
position, is significative that the building is completed, which event is
celebrated, even by the Operative Freemasons of the present day, with great
signs of rejoicing.
Flags are hoisted on the top
of every edifice by the builders engaged in its construction, as soon as they
have reached the topmost post, and thus finished their labors. This is the
celebration of the capstone---the celebration of the completion of the
building----when tools are laid aside, and rest and refreshment succeed, for a
time, labor. This is the event in the history of the Temple which is
commemorated in the Degree of Most Excellent Master, the sixth in the American
Rite. The day set apart for the celebration of the capstone of the Temple is
the day devoted to rejoicing and thanksgiving for the completion of that
glorious structure.
Hence there seems to be an
impropriety in the ordinary use of the Mark Master's keystone in the
ceremonies of the Most Excellent Master. That keystone was deposited in
silence and secrecy; while the capstone, as the legend and ceremonies tell us,
was placed in its position in the presence of all the Craft.
*
CAPTAIN-GENERAL
The third officer in a
Commandery of Knights, Templar. He presides over the Commandery in the absence
of his superiors, and is one of its representatives in the Grand Commandery.
His duties are to see that the Council Chamber and Asylum are duly prepared
for the business of the meetings, and to communicate all orders issued by the
Grand Council. His station is on the left of the Grand Commander, and his
jewel is a level surmounted by a cock or rooster (see Cock).
*
CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD
The sixth officer in a Council
of Royal and Select Masters. In the latter degree he is said to represent
Azariah, the son of Nathan, who had command of the officers of the king's
household (First Kings iv, 5). His duties correspond in some measure with
those of a Senior Deacon in the primary. degrees. His post is, therefore, on
the right of the throne, and his jewel is a trowel and battle-ax within a
triangle.
*
CAPTAIN OF THE HOST
The fourth officer in a Royal
Arch Chapter. He represents the general or leader of the Jewish troops who
returned from Babylon, and who was called Sar el hatzba, and was equivalent to
a modern general. The word Host in the title means army. He sits on the right
of the Council in front, and wears a white robe and cap or helmet, with a red
sash, and is armed with a sword. His jewel is a triangular plate, on which an
armed soldier is engraved.
*
CAPTIVITY
The Jews reckoned their
national captivities as four: the Babylonian, Medean, Greeian, and Roman.
The present article will refer
only to the first, when there was a forcible deportation of the inhabitants of
Jerusalem by Nebuzaradan, the general of King Nebuchadnezzar, and their
detention at Babylon until the reign of Cyrus, which alone is connected with
the history of Freemasonry, and is commemorated in the Royal Arch Degree.
Between that portion of the
ritual of the Royal Arch which refers to the destruction of the first Temple,
and that subsequent part which symbolizes the building of the second, there is
an interregnum or halt, if we may be allowed the term, in the ceremonial of
the degree, which must be considered as a long interval in history, the
filling up of which, like the interval between the acts of a play, must be
left to the imagination of the spectator. This interval represents the time
passed in the captivity of the Jews at Babylon. That captivity lasted for
seventy years-from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar until that of Cyrus-although
but fifty-two of these years are commemorated in the Royal Arch Degree. This
event took place in the year 585 B.C. It was not, however, the beginning of
the '"seventy years' captivity," which had been foretold by the prophet
Jeremiah, which commenced eighteen years before.
The captives were conducted to
Babylon. What was the exact number removed we have no means of ascertaining.
'We are led to believe, from
certain passages of scripture, that the deportation was not complete. Calmet
says that Nebuchadnezzar carried away only the principal inhabitants, the
warriors and artisians of every kind, and that he left the husbandmen, the
laborers, and in general, the poorer classes, that constituted the great body
of the people. Among the prisoners of distinction, Josephus mentions the high
priest, Seraiah, and Zephaniah, the priest that was next to him, with the
three rulers that guarded the Temple, the eunuch who was over the armed men,
seven friends of Zedekiah, his scribe, and sixty other rulers. Zedekiah, the
king, had attempted to escape previous to the termination of the siege, but
being pursued, was captured and carried to Riblah, the headquarters of
Nebuchadnezzar, where, having first been compelled to behold the slaughter of
his children, his eyes were then put out, and he was conducted in chains to
Babylon. A Masonic tradition informs us that the captive Jews were bound by
their conquerors with triangular chains, and that this was done by the
Chaldeans as an additional insult, because the Jewish Freemasons were known to
esteem the triangle as an emblem of the sacred name of God, and must have
considered its appropriation to the form of their fetters as a desecration of
the Tetragammaton.
Notwithstanding the
ignominious mode of their conveyance from Jerusalem and the vindictiveness
displayed by their conqueror in the destruction of their city and Temple, they
do not appear, on their arrival at Babylon, to have been subjected to any of
the extreme rigors of slavery. They were distributed into various parts of the
empire, some remaining in the city, while others were sent into the provinces.
The latter probably devoted
themselves to agricultural pursuits, while the former were engaged in commerce
or in the labors of architecture. Smith says that the captives were treated
not as slaves but as colonists. They were permitted to retain their personal
property, and even to purchase lands and erect houses. Their civil and
religious government was not utterly destroyed, for they kept up a regular
succession of kings and high priests, one of each of whom returned with them,
as will be seen hereafter, on their restoration. Some of the principal
captives were advanced to offices of dignity and power in the royal palace,
and were permitted to share in the councils of state.
Their prophets, Daniel and
Ezekiel, with their associates, preserved among their countrymen the pure
doctrines of their religion. Although they had neither place nor time of
national gathering, nor temple, and therefore offered no sacrifice, yet they
observed the Mosaic laws with respect to the rite of circumcision. They
preserved their tables of genealogy and the true succession to the throne of
David.
The rightful heir was called
the Head of the Captivity. So says the Talmud, but Smith, Dictionary of the
Bible, affirms that the assertion is unsupported by proof. The Masonic legends
conform to the Talmudic statement. However that may be, Jehoiachin, who was
the first king of Judea carried captive to Babylon, was succeeded by his son
Shealtiel, and he by his son Zerubbabel, who was the Head of the Captivity, or
nominal prince of Judea at the close of the captivity, The due succession of
the highpriesthood was also preserved, for Jehosadek, who was the high priest
carried by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon, where he died during the captivity, was
succeeded by his eldest son, Joshua.
The Jewish captivity
terminated in the first year of the reign of Cyrus, 536 B.c. Cyrus, from his
conversations with Daniel and the other Jewish captives of learning and piety,
as well as from his perusal of their sacred books, more especially the
prophecies of Isaiah, had become imbued with a knowledge of true religion, and
hence had even publicly announced to his subjects his belief in the God "which
the nation of the Israelites worshipped." He was consequently impressed with
an earnest desire to fulfil the prophetic declarations of which he was the
subject, and to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem. Cyrus therefore issued a
decree by which the Jews were permitted to return to their country. According
to Milman, 42,360, besides servants, availed themselves of this permission,
and returned to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel, their prince, and Joshua, their
high priest, and thus ended the first or Babylonian captivity, the only one
which has any connection with the legends of Freemasonry as commemorated in
the Royal Arch Degree.
*
CAPUCHIN
one of the monks of the order of ST Frances. They went barefoot, were
longbearded, and wore a gown or cloak of dark color made like a woman's
garment with a hood.
*
CARAUSIUS
A Roman emperor, who assumed
the purple 287 A.D. Of him Preston gives the following account, which may or
may not be deemed apocryphal, according to the taste and inclination of the
reader: "By assuming the character of a Freemason, he acquired the love and
esteem of the most enlightened part of his subjects.
He possessed real merit,
encouraged learning and learned men, and improved the country in the civil
arts. In order to establish an empire in Britain, he brought into his
dominions the best workmen and artificers from all parts ; all of whom, under
his auspices, enjoyed peace and tranquillity. Among the first class of his
favorites he enrolled the Freemasons: for their tenets he professed the
highest veneration, and appointed Albanus, his steward, the principal
superintendent of their assemblies. Under his patronage, Lodges and
Conventions of the Fraternity were formed, and the rites of Freemasonry
regularly practiced. To enable the Freemasons to hold a general council, to
establish their own government and correct errors among themselves, he granted
to them a charter, and commanded Albanus to preside over them in person as
Grand Master" (see Illustrations, edition of 1812, page 142).
Anderson also gives the legend
of Carausius in the second edition of his Constitutions, and adds that "this
is asserted by all the old copies of the Constitutions, and the old English
Masons firmly believed it" (Constitutions, 1738, page 57). But the fact is
that Anderson himself does not mention the tradition in his first edition,
published in 1723 nor is any reference to Carausius to be found in any of the
old manuscripts now extant. The legend is, it is true, inserted in Krause's
Manuscript ; but this document is of Very little authority, having been, most
probably, a production of the early part of the eighteenth century, and of a
contemporary of Anderson, written perhaps between 1723 and 1738, which would
account for the omission of it in the first edition of the Book of
Constitutions, and its insertion in the second.
The reader may hence determine
for himself what authenticity is to be given to the Carausian legend.
*
CARBONARI
The name in Italian means
Charcoal Burners, applied to some revolutionary secret societies particularly
active in Italy and France, having their principal inspiration during the
reign of King Joachim Murat of Naples, and aiming to free themselves from
foreign rule and establish democratic government. Murat, a Frenchman and a
Freemason, the dashing cavalry leader of Napoleon's army, was rewarded with
the throne. Luigi Villari says (Encyclopedia Britannica): ''The Carbonari were
probably an offshoot of the Freemasons, from whom they differed in important
particulars," a suggestion and admission meaning little more than similarity,
both being secret societies. However, the Carbonari had its significant words:
a Lodge was baracca or a hut; an ordinary meeting was venidita, a sale; an
important meeting, alta vendita; God was Grand Master of the Universe. The
ritual had four grades and the ceremonies had typical allusions, as "clearing
the forest of wolves" was said to be the aim, and there were references to the
1amb torn by wild animals, tyranny. Carbonarism was declared high treason by
1821. While many prominent persons were members, Lord Byron of England and
Louis, afterwards Napoleon III, of France, yet the strength of the movement
waned and died in France about 1830, and soon afterwards a like end came to it
in Italy, the Camorristi in the former country accepting generally the
government then at work, and in the latter instance associating with Mazzini
and his followers (see Camorra, Mafia, and Secret Societies).
*
CARBUNCLE
In Hebrew, baw-rek-ath, the
third stone in the first row of the high priest's breastplate, according to
the authorized version, but the first stone in the second row, according to
the Septuagint. Braun, a writer on the sacerdotal vestments of the Hebrews,
Amsterdam, 1680 supposes that the baw-rek-ath was a smaragd.us or emerald,
which view is sustained by Kalisch, and is in accordance with the Septuagint
translation. The Talmudists derive baw-rek-ath from a word signifying to shine
with the brightness of fire, which would seem to indicate some stone of a
coruscate or sparkling color, and would apply to the bright green of the
emerald as well as to the bright red of the carbuncle. The stone, whatever it
was, was referred to the tribe of Judah.
The carbuncle in Christian iconography signifies blood and suffering, and is
symbolical of the Lord's passion. Five carbuncles placed on a cross symbolize
the five wounds of Christ.
*
CARDINAL POINTS
The North, West, East and
South are so called from the Latin cardo, meaning a hinge, because they are
the principal points of the compass on which all the others hinge or hang.
Each of them has a symbolic
signification in Freemasonry which will be found under their respective heads.
Doctor Brinton, in an interesting Treatise on the Symbolism and Mythology of
the Red Race of America, has a chapter on the sacred number four; the only one
he says, that has any prominence in the religious of the red race, and which
he traces to the four cardinal points. The reason, he declares, is to be
"found in the adoration of the cardinal points," and he attributes to this
cause the prevalence of the cross as a symbol among the aborigines of America,
the existence of which so surprised the early missionaries that they "were in
doubt whether to ascribe the fact to the pious labors of Saint Thomas or the
sacrilegious subtlety of Satan."
The arms of the cross referred
to the cardinal points, and represented the four winds, the bringers of rain.
The theory is an interesting one, and the author supports it with many
ingenious illustrations. In the symbolism of Freemasonry each of the cardinal
points has a mystical meaning. The East represents Wisdom ; the west,
Strength; the South, Beauty and the North, Darkness.
*
CARDINAL VIRTUES
The pre-eminent or principal
virtues on which all the others hinge or depend.
They are temperance,
fortitude, prudence, and justice.
They are referred to in the
ritual of the Entered Apprentice Degree, and will be found in this work under
their respective heads. Oliver says (Revelations of a Square, chapter 1) that
in the eighteenth century the Freemasons delineated the symbols of the four
cardinal virtues by an acute angle variously disposed.
Thus, suppose you face the
east, the angle symbolizing temperance will point to the south.
It was called a Guttural.
Fortitude was denoted by a
saltire, or Saint Andrew's Cross, X. This was the Pectoral.
The symbol of prudence was an
acute angle pointing toward the southeast, and was denominated a Manual; and
justice had its angle toward the north, and was called a Pedestal or Pedal.
The possession of cardinal
virtues is no special distinction of Freemasons, for other societies have had
them.
They are in evidence in the
Christian church.
The fifteen cardinal virtues,
in mosaic, in the dome of Ascension of Saint Mark's at Venice is a famous
example.
*
CARIBBEE ISLANDS OR LESSER
ANTILLES
A name sometimes applied to
the whole of the West Indies, strictly comprising only the chain of islands
from Porto Rico to the Venezuelan coast of South America. Three Lodges were at
work in 1739 at Antigua. Others had been chartered and were on the Grand Lodge
Books but they had ceased to exist and were dropped from the Register.
In 1738 Governor Matthews was
appointed by the Grand Lodge of England Provincial Grand Master of the Leeward
Islands. A Masonic Province was also established by Scotland in 1769. A
Provincial Grand Lodge was opened at the Windward Islands in 1740 and Brother
Thomas Baxter was first Provincial Grand Master.
In the same year the "Moderns"
Grand Lodge of England authorized Lodge No. 186. The Grand Lodge of Ireland
established another Provincial Grand Lodge at Barbados, but it was soon
abandoned.
A Lodge, Albion, was opened at
Bridgetown, Barbados, in 1790 by the "Ancient" and it remained in existence
although three others warranted by the same authority' soon ceased work. Other
Lodges were chartered in the Islands by the Grand Lodges of England, Holland,
France, Pennsylvania, etc.
*
CARLILE, RICHARD
A printer and bookseller of
London, who in 1819 was fined and imprisoned for the publication of Paine's
Age of Reason, and Palmer's Light of Nature.
He also wrote and published
several pretended expositions of Freemasonry, which, after his death, were
collected, in 1845, in one volume, under the title of a Manual of Freemasonry,
in three parts.
Carlile was a professed
atheist, and, although a fanatical reformer of what he supposed to be the
errors of the age, was a man of some ability.
His Masonic works are
interspersed with considerable learning, and are not as abusive of the Order
as expositions generally are. He was born in 1790, and died in 1843, in
London. For ten years before his death his religious opinions had been greatly
modified.
*
CARMELITES
Monks of an Order established
on Mount Carmel, in Syria, during the twelfth century. They wore a brown
scapular passing over the shoulder and diagonally across the back and body,
thus crossing the gown from right to left.
*
CARNARVON, MARQUIS OF
Grand Master of England,
March, 1754, to May 18, 1757. Afterwards known as Duke of Chandos.
*
CARPENTERS, ORDER OF
An organized body in Holland
and Belgium, with central point of assembly at Antwerp. Their gatherings were
at night in some neighboring forest.
*
CARPET
The chart or Tracing Board on
which the emblems of a degree are depicted for the instruction of a candidate.
Carpets were originally drawn
on the floor with chalk or charcoal, and at the close of the Lodge obliterated
by the use of a mop and pail.
To avoid this trouble, they
were subsequently painted on cloth, which was laid on the floor ; hence they
were called carpets.
Carpets, or charts, as they
are at the present time commonly designated, are now generally suspended from
the wall, or from a framework in the Lodge (see Steps on Master's Carpet).
*
CARSON, ENOCH TERRY
Initiated in 1846 and became
Past Master of Cynthia Lodge No. 155, as well as founder and First Worshipful
Master of Kilwinning Lodge, No. 356, warranted in 1865, both Lodges being at
Cincinnati, Ohio, and he was active and scholarly in all branches of the
Fraternity. He printed at his own expense several important works of interest
and value to the Fraternity.
The first facsimile of the
Book of Constitutions of 1723 was published by him in 1855 from the copy in
his own library and in the same year he had a catalog of his collection
printed in the American Freemason at Louisville.
Doctor Oliver's Historical
Landmarks was also issued in like manner in 1855.
He established the Masonic
Archeological Society, of wich he was really the whole organization and
mainspring and which did good work, producing the very rare works, the Grand
Mystery of1724 and Prichard's Masonry Dissected, of 1730, and publishing them
iu 1868.
Eight years later, what is
known as Mrs. Dodds Manuscripts of 1739 was issued. In 1889 an artistic
facsimile reproduction of the very valuable engraved list of 1736 by Pine was
published by him and from 1872 he was at work on the production of a sumptuous
catalog of his Masonic library, which was begun in the Masonic Review of
Cincinnati and then reprinted in book form from 1874.
It was not completed, however,
much to the regret of his many friends, the important bibliography ending with
No. 1134 Picart, pages 1 to 224.
Brother Carson also wrote and
published much other material respecting the Craft, and, as with the
previously mentioned books, all was at his own expense; the whole of the works
being presented to his literary friends and Brethren.
He died on February 23, 1899.
His fine library is now,
through the generosity of General Lawrence, possessed by the Grand Lodge of
Massachusetts.
*
CARSON, KIT
Famous American scout, born in
Madison County, Kentucky, December 24, 1809. In his childhood, his parents
moved to Missouri.
Carson became guide and
hunter, accompanied the Fremont expeditions, took part in the Mexican War, and
become Indian Agent at Taos, New Mexico, in 1854.
Made a Master Mason on
December 26, 1854, in Montezuma Lodge at Santa Fe, in what was then a
Territory but is now the State of New Mexico, Montezuma Lodge was No, 109 on
the roster of the Grand Lodge of Missouri and was one of the Lodges organizing
the Grand Lodge of New Mexico in 1877.
He demitted from this Lodge on
April 30, 1860, but affiliated again a few years later and remained a member
until his death which occurred, May 24, 1868, at Santa Fe, New Mexico. The
Grand Lodge of Arizona has taken charge of the grave lot and the monument
which was erected to this early American, pioneer (see also New Age Magazine,
May, 1925).
*
CARTHUSIANS
A religious Order founded by
Bruno in 1080, and named from Chartreux, in France, the place of their
institution.
They were noted for their
austerity.
*
CARTULARY
An officer who has charge of
the register or other books of record.
*
CARYSFORT, JOHN PROBY, LORD
Grand Master of the Grand
Lodge of England, March 10, 1752, to 1754
*
CASANOVA DE SEINGALT, GIOVANNI
JACOPO
Usually mentioned by the word
Casanova An Italian adventurer, born at Venice, 1725, died in Bohemia 1798,
noted particularly for his Memoirs, a spirited boastful autobiography so
romantic and improbable in his numerous detailed successes among the opposite
sex that doubt attaches to almost all his claims. Allowing freely for the
widespread social evils of his day, we shall the better understand his
sneering frankness about vice. Several reliable authorities agree that his
eleven writings are trustworthy accounts of the morals and manners of the
society he usually frequented.
Among his acquaintances were
the most notable people, Rousseau, D'Eon, Frederick the Great, Suvaroff,
Empress Catherine of Russia, Voltaire, Cagliostro, and as a prominent Roman
Catholic, he received from the Pope the distinction of the Order of the Golden
Spur.
Expelled from school, he
entered the service of Cardinal Acquavisa, began his travels; returning to
Venice in 1755, was denounced as a spy and imprisoned; escaped to Paris and
gained a fortune directing the State Lotteries, again traveled to Florence;
whence he was banished, thence to Rome.
After further journeys he was.
forced to flee from. Poland.
Arriving at Paris he found a
warrant for his arrest awaiting him and he took refuge in Spain, but was
ejected from Madrid in 1769, and going again to Italy was exiled from Venice,
ending his turbulent career as librarian from 1785 to his death in 1798 at Dux
in Bohemia. Here he wrote his famous Memoirs, published first in twelve
volumes at Leipzig and then in eight at Paris.
Brilliant as any romantic
fiction, their worth as sober truth has not been above suspicion and his
acknowledged exploits in knavery demonstrate that anything he said or did was
subject to question.
Casanova claims to have been
initiated in the latter part of 1750 at Lyons, on his way to Paris, where he
was made a Master Mason.
At Venice in 1755 he was
arrested on charges of sorcery and of being a Freemason, his Masonic clothing
being found by police and deemed incriminating.
Not only does he tell of
meeting prominent Freemasons in various countries but in Rome itself he
asserts that several prelates and cardinals were secretly members of the
Craft.
References to the Craft are
sprinkled freely through his Memoirs, one of them (pages 276-9, Librarie
Garnier Freres edition in French, Paris, tome II, chapter xiii) we translate
as follows:
At Lyons there was an
estimable personage with whom I became acquainted through M. de Rochebaron,
and who obtained the favor for me of being admitted to participate in the
sublime trifles of Freemasonry. Arriving as an Apprentice at Paris, some
months afterwards, I there planned to become a Fellow Craft and Master.
The Master is certainly the
supreme degree of Freemasonry, for all the others that are in the series taken
by me are only pleasing inventions which, good enough in symbolism, add
nothing to the dignity of Master.
There is no one person in the
world who may succeed in knowing everything, but men sensible of their
faculties and who know how to take account the more closely of their moral
powers, should seek to know all that is possible. A young man, well born, who
plans to travel and acquaint himself with the world, and what we call society,
who does not wish to find himself in certain circumstances the inferior of his
equals and to be excluded from participation in all their pleasures, ought to
have himself initiated into what they call Freemasonry, even though it would
only be to know superficially what it is.
Freemasonry is an Institution
of Benevolence which, in certain times and in certain places, may serve as a
pretext for plots criminal and subversive of good order; but good God, what
has not been abused? Have not the Jesuits been seen, under the sacred guise of
religion, to furnish weapons for the parricidal arms of blind enthusiasts to
strike Kings'? All men of some importance, I wish to say those whose social
existence is marked by merit, knowledge or fortune, should be Freemasons, and
a great number are ; why infer that the democratic communications, where the
members impose on themselves the law of never speaking intramuros (within the
walls in a tiled place) neither of politics, religion, nor government, who
only converse about emblems, or morals, or puerilities; why infer, I say, that
these reunions where the governments may have their creatures, can offer such
dangers that Sovereigns forbid therein and that popes entertain themselves by
excommunicating?
Besides that it is a failure
of purpose and the Pope, notwithstanding his infallibility, trips up himself
by the persecutions, giving only to Freemasonry an importance that it would
never perhaps have acquired without them. Mystery is in the nature of man, and
all that presents itself to the crowd under a mysterious aspect always excites
curiosity and will be sought, many convinced that there something substantial
awaits them. though the veil often hides but a zero. After all, I advise every
well-born young man who wishes to see the world to be accepted a Freemason,
but I urge him to choose well the Lodge; for, although bad company cannot work
in the Lodge, it may however be found there, and the candidate ought to guard
himself from dangerous associations.
Men who only plan to be
accepted as Freemasons, with the purpose of coming to know the secret of the
Order, run great risk of growing old under the trowel without ever attaining
their object. However, there is a secret but it is so inviolable that it has
never been told nor confided to anyone.
Those who grasp at the
superficiality of things believe that the secret consists in words, signs and
grips, or that in the final analysis it is the grand word of the last degree.
A mistake!
He who discovers the secret of
Freemasonry, for they never know where they are finding it, will not arrive at
that knowledge by reason of frequenting Lodges.
He gains it only by the
strength of reflecting, of reasoning, of comparing, and of deducing. He will
not confide it to his best friend in Freemasonry, for he knows that if that
brother does not find it for himself as did he, the friend will not have the
talent to extract the means to do so from what shall be said in the ear.
He who has it remains silent
and this secret is always secret.
All that is done in the Lodge
ought to be secret; but those who by dishonest indiscretion make no scruple of
revealing what is done there, have never revealed the essential: they do not
know. it; and if they have not known, truly they cannot reveal the ceremonies.
The sensation experienced
today by the profane, that is to say by those who are not Freemasons, is of
the same kind as that experienced in times of yore by those who were not
admitted to the mysteries that were celebrated at Eleusis in honor of the
goddess Cérés. But the mysteries of Eleusis interested all Greece, and all
they had there of eminence then in society aspired to be made a party to them
: so it is with Freemasonry., in the midst of a great number of men of premier
merit, enclosed by a crowd of scamps that no society would acknowledge,
because they are the rubbish of the human species under the moral accounting.
In the mysteries of Cérés they
long kept an impenetrable silence to cause the reverence of which these
mysteries were the object.
Moreover, what could they
reveal? The three words that the hierophant said to the initiates! But to what
would that lead? To the dishonor of the indiscreet, because he would only
reveal barbarous language unknown by the vulgar, the common herd.
I have read somewhere what is
meant by the three sacred and secret words of the mysteries of Eleusis : Be
watchful and do nu evil.
The sacred and secret words of
the several Masonic degrees are nearly all as criminal!
The Eleusian initiation lasted
nine days; the ceremonies very impressive, and the company very respectable.
Plutarch informs us that Alcibiades was condemned to death and all his goods
confiscated for having dared in company with Polition and Theodore against the
Eumolpides to turn into ridicule the great mysteries.
They even intended that
Alcibiades should be cursed by the priests and priestesses.
But the curse was never
uttered because a priestess opposed it, saying. " I am a priestess for
blessing, not cursing." Sublime words!
Here is a lesson of morality
and of wisdom that the Pope despises, but the Gospels taught and the Savior of
the world ordained.
There is an allusion (page
286, tome VIII, chapter xi) to the prominent Roman Catholics of the eighteenth
century ignoring privately in practice what they said publicly and officially
against Freemasonry.
Of course there are instances of Roman Catholics of prominence being admitted
openly into Masonic Lodges during that century- and later. Daniel O'Connell,
the Liberator, as he was called, also active in the Grand Lodge of Ireland,
found the two pursuits, Roman Catholicism and Freemasonry, were deemed
inconsistent and he eventually resigned his membership in the Craft. But
others, as the Abbe Cordier at Paris, a leader in the famous Lodge of the Nine
Sisters, and with Benjamin Franklin, supporting Voltaire when he was
initiated, paid little or no heed to the threats from the head of the Roman
Catholic Church against Freemasonry.
'What Casanova says gives a
hint as to the position of those attempting to be on both sides of the fence
and his introduction of a Prince of the Roman Catholic Church as a Freemason
is a curious commentary on the situation in question:
The first day of the year
1772, I presented myself to the Cardinal Brancafarte, Legate of the Pope, who
I had known at Paris twenty years previously when he was sent by Benoit
(Benedict XIV) to carry the blessed linen clothes to the new-born Duke de
Bourgoyne. We had been together in a Lodge of Freemasons, for the members of
the Sacred College who thundered against the Freemasons knew well that their
anathemas (solemn curses) impressed only the weak, whom a too lively light
might dazzle.
*
CASMARAN
The Angel of Air. Referred to
in the Degree of Scottish Knight of Saint Andrew. The etymology is uncertain.
*
CASSIA
A corruption of acacia, which
undoubtedly arose from the common habit, among illiterate people, of sinking
the sound of the letter A in the pronunciation of any word of which it
constitutes the initial syllable, as pothecary for apothecary, and prentice
for apprentice, The word prentice, by the way, is almost altogether used in
the old records of Freemasonry, which were, for the most part, the productions
of uneducated men. Unfortunately, however, the corruption of acacia into
cassia has not always been confined to the illiterate; but the long employment
of the corrupted form has at length introduced it, in some instances, among a
few of our writers. Even Doctor Oliver has sometimes used the objectionable
corruption, notwithstanding he has written so much upon the symbolism of the
acacia.
He refers to the Sprig of
Cassia in Revelations of a Square (page 113).
There is a plant which was
called by the ancients cassia, but it is entirely- different from the acacia.
The acacia was a sacred plant;
the caisson ignoble plant, having no sacred character. The former is in
Freemasonry profoundly symbolic; the latter has no symbolism whatever.
The cassia is only three times
mentioned in Scripture, but always as an aromatic plant forming a portion of
some perfume.
There is, indeed, strong
reason for believing that the cassia was only a coarse kind of cinnamon, and
that it did not grow in Palestine, but was imported from the East.
Casia, therefore, has no
rightful place in Masonic language, and its use should be avoided as a vulgar
corruption.
*
CASTELLAN
In Germany, the Superintendent
or Steward of a Lodge building, in which he resides.
He is either a serving brother or an actual member of the Lodge, and has the
care of the building and its contents.
*
CASTING VOICE or VOTE
The twelfth of the thirty-nine
General Regulations prescribes that "All matters are to be determined in the
Grand Lodge by a majority of votes, each member having one vote and the Grand
Master having two votes" (see Constitutions, 1723, page 61). From this law has
arisen the practice of giving to the Master of the Lodge a costing vote in
addition to his own when there is a tie.
"The custom is so universal,
and has been so long practiced, that, although I can find no specific law on
the subject, the right may be considered as established by prescription" says
Doctor Mackey.
But there are exceptions.
These are given in the revised
edition of Doctor Mackey's Jurisprudence of Freemasonry (chapter iii).
It may be remarked that the
Masonic usage is probably' derived from the custom of the London Livery
Companies or Gilds, where the casting vote has always been given by the
presiding officers in all cases of equality, a rule that has been recognized
by Act of Parliament.
*
CATACOMB
A grotto for burial; a
sepulchral vault.
A subterranean place for the
burial of the dead, consisting of galleries or passages with recesses
excavated at their sides for tombs.
Later applied in the plural to
all the subterranean cemeteries lying around Rome which, after having been
long covered up and forgotten, were fortuitously discovered in 1578.
They are found elsewhere, as,
at Naples, at Syracuse, in Egypt, at Paris, etc.
The term is chiefly applied to
those lying about Rome, the principal ones lying along the Appian Way.
The accompanying engraving
shows a small portion of the Northern section of the Catacomb of Saint
Calixtus.
There seems to have been no
plan for these excavations, for they shoot off in the most unexpected
directions, forming such a labyrinth of connected passages that persons often
have been lost for several days at a time, giving the monk attendants much
trouble.
They are several miles in
extent.
Those about Rome are under the
care of various monks of the church, and are a source of considerable revenue
from tourists.
They are now entered by narrow
passages and some, as in the case of Saint Calixtus, descend to considerable
depth.
Along the passages are small
chambers at the sides for tombs, one above another, each of which generally
closed by a slab of stone on which was placed the letters D. M., the initials
of Dea Maximo, or X. P., the Greek letters for Christ. Tombs of saints bore
inscriptions of identification.
The passages are generally
three or four feet wide and were at intervals along their course enlarged into
chambers, usually square or rectangular, that were used for worship. One in
Saint Calixtus was an irregu1ar semicircle and about thirty-two feet in
diameter.
In these chambers is usually
found a stone bench or chair for the bishop or teacher.
They were ventilated and partially fighted by shafts that extended to the
surface of the ground. Some frescoes were found on the walls.
Many catacambs were destroyed
and traces of them lost when the Goths, Lombards, and others besieged Rome at
various times.
The foregoing would not
justify a place in a work of this character, were it not for the influence it
sheds on the beginning of Christian architecture, as for three centuries Pagan
Rome would not permit Christians to meet above ground.
The Twenty-sixth Degree in the
Ancient and Accepted Rite refers to catacombs (see also Labyrinth).
*
CATAFALQUE
From an Italian word meaning
scaffold. A temporary structure of wood, appropriately decorated with funereal
symbols and representing a tomb or cenotaph. It forms a part of the
decorations of a Sorrow Lodge, and is also used in the ceremonies of the
Master Mason's Degree in Lodges of the French Rite.
*
CATCH QUESTIONS
Questions not included in the
Catechism, but adopted from an early period to try the pretensions of a
stranger, such as this used by American Freemasons: "Where does the Master
hang his hat?" and by the French, "Comment êtes vous entré dans le Temple de
Salomon (how are -you admitted into the Temple of Solomon)?"
Such as these are of course
unsanctioned by authority.
But Doctor Oliver, in an essay
on this subject preliminary to the fourth volume of his Golden Remains, gives
a long list of these "additional tests," which had been reduced to a kind of
system, and were practiced by the English Freemasons of the eighteenth
century. Among them were such as these : "What is the punishment of a cowan?"
"What does this stone smell of?" "If a brother were lost, where would you look
for him?" "How blows a Mason's wind?" and many others of the same kind.
Of these tests or catch
questions, Doctor Oliver says "that they were something like the conundrums of
the present day-difficult of comprehension; admitting only of one answer,
which appeared to have no direct correspondence with the question, and
applicable only in consonance with the mysterious terms and symbols of the
Institution."
Catch questions in the United
States, at least, seem to be getting out of use, and some of the most learned
Freemasons at the present day would find it difficult to answer them.
*
CATECHISM
From the earliest times the oral instructions of Freemasonry have been
communicated in a catechetical form.
Each degree has its peculiar
catechism, the knowledge of which constitutes what is called a bright
Freemason.
The catechism, indeed, should
be known to every Freemason, for every aspirant should be thoroughly
instructed in that of the degree to which he has attained before he is
permitted to make further progress.
The rule, however, is not
rigidly observed; and many Freemasons, unfortunately, are very ignorant of all
but the rudimentary parts of their catechism, which they derive only from
hearing portions of it communicated at the opening and closing of the Lodge,
or from careless Brethren freely using Masonic expressions publicly.
*
CATECHUMEN
One who had attained the
Second Degree of the Essenian or early Christian Mysteries and assumed the
name of Canstans.
There were three degrees in
the ceremonies, which, to a limited extent, resembled the Pagan services.
Of the three classes, the
first were Auditors, the second Catechumens, and the third the Faithful.
The Auditors were novices,
prepared by ceremonies and instruction to receive the dogmas of Christianity.
A portion of these dogmas was
made known to the Catechumens, who, after particular purifications, received
baptism, or the initiation of the theogenesis Divine regeneration; but in the
grand mysteries of that religion-the incarnation, nativity, passion, and
resurrection of Christ-none were initiated but the Faithful.
The Mysteries were divided
into two parts -the first, styled the Mass of the Catechumens; the second, the
Mass af the Faithful.
Many beautiful ceremonies and
much instruction touching these matters will be found in that most enticing
Degree called Prince of Mercy, and known as the Twenty-sixth in the Scottish
Rite services.
*
CATENARIAN ARCH
If a rope be suspended loosely
by its two ends, the curve into which it falls is called a catenarian curve,
and this inverted forms the catenarian arch, which is said to be the strongest
of all arches. As the form of a symbolic Lodge is an oblong square, that of a
Royal Arch Chapter, according to the English Ritual, is a catenarian arch.
*
CATHARINE II
Catharinc the Great, Empress
of Russia, in 1762, prohibited by an edict all Masonic meetings in her
dominions.
But subsequently better
sentiments prevailed, and having learned the true character of the
Institution, she not only revoked her order of prohibition, but invited the
Freemasons to re-establish their Lodges and to constitute new ones, and went
so far in 1763 as to proclaim herself the Protectress of the Order and Tutrice
of the Lodge of Clio at Moscow (see Thory, Acta Latamorum, 1, 82),
During the remainder of her
reign Freemasonry was in a flourishing condition in Russia, and many of the
nobles organized Lodges in their palaces. But in 1794 her feelings changed and
she became suspicious that the Lodges of Moscow were intriguing against the
Court and the Ministers ; this idea, coupled with the horrors of the French
Revolution and other crimes said to be due to secret societies, caused her to
cease to protect the Order, and without any express prohibition emanating from
her, the Lodges ceased to work (see Thory, Acta Latomorum, 1, 195). She died
November 6, 1796, and in 1797 her successor, Paul I, forbade all secret
societies in Russia.
*
CATHEDRAL
"The use of the word Cathedral
is improper as applied to Scottish Rite buildings. It is only in recent years
that the word has come into use in this Jurisdiction, presumably from the
purchase of some church building by Scottish Rite Bodies, and remodeling it to
Scottish Rite uses.
Strictly speaking, the
Cathedral is the Bishop's Church ; that is, there may be many Churches in the
diocese of a Bishop, but the one he uses to preach in regularly is called the
Cathedral."-John H. Cowles, Sovereign Grand Commander, Transactions of the
Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction (page 99) of 1923.
*
CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
Some Masonic students have
thought, although the opposition holds that there does not seem to be any
specific documentary evidence to warrant such belief, that in the Middle Ages
there was a separate class of Freemasons known as Cathedral, or Church,
Builders who worked on ecclesiastical structures only and were distinct from
the town guilds or companies.
These students are of the
opinion that the so-called Old Charges were originally intended as rules for
use among this church building class of Freemasons.
Leader Scott (the pen name of
the author, Mrs. Baxter of Florence, Italy) has in her book, Cathedral
Builders, unearthed from Muratori's collection of ancient manuscripts an edict
signed by King Rotharis of November 22, 643, containing the following clauses:
If the Comacine Master with
his colleagues shall have contracted to restore or build the house of any
person whatsoever, the contact far payment being made, and it chances that
some one shall die by the fall of the said house, or any material or stones
from it, the owner of the said house shall not be cited by the Magister
Comacinus or his brethren to compensate them for homicide or injury ; because
having for their own gain contracted for the payment of the building, they
must sustain the risks and injuries thereof. If any person has engaged or
hired one or more of the Comacine Masters to design a work (conduxerit ad
operam dictandam), or to daily assist his workmen in building a palace or a
house, and it should happen that by reason of the house some Comacine should
be killed, the owner of the house is not considered responsible; but if a pole
or a stone shall kill or injure any extraneous person, the Master builder
shall not bear the blame, but the person who hired him shall make
compensation.
Mrs. Baxter says: "These laws
prove that in the seventh century the Magistri Comacini were a compact and
powerful guild, capable of asserting their rights, and that the guild was
properly organized, having degrees of different ranks; that the higher orders
were entitled Magistri, and could 'design' or 'undertake' a work; i.e., act as
architects; and that the colleagues worked under, or with them.
In fact, a powerful
organization altogether; so powerful and so solid, that it speaks of a very
ancient foundation" (see Cathedral Builders, the Story of a Great Masonic
Guild, 1899, London, pages 5-7, 423-6; also the Comacines, their Predecessors
and their Successors, Brother W. Ravenscroft, 1910, London, pages 54-64, and
the astride on Comacine Masters in this work).
*
CAUTION
It was formerly the custom to
bestow upon an Entered Apprentice, on his initiation, a new name, which was
Caution.
The custom is now very
generally discontinued, although the principle which it inculcated should
never be forgotten. Similar instruction is still given in the Bristol Working
but without the foregoing name.
The Old Charges of 1723
impress upon a Freemason the necessity, when in the presence of strangers not
Freemasons, to be "cautious in your words and carriage, that the most
penetrating stranger shall not be able to discover or find out what is not
proper to be intimated''; as these Charges were particularly directed to
Apprentices, who then constituted the great body of the Fraternity, it is
possible that the "new name" gave rise to the Charge, or, more likely, that
the Charge gave rise to the "new name."
*
CAVERN
In the Pagan mysteries of
antiquity the initiations were often performed in caverns, of which a few,
like the cave of Elephanta in India, still remain to indicate by their form
and extent the character of the rites that were then performed.
The Cavern of Elephanta, which
was the most gorgeous temple in the world, is one hundred and thirty feet
square, and eighteen feet high. It is supported by four massive pillars, and
its walls are covered with statues and carved symbolic decorations.
The sacellum, or sacred place,
which contained the phallic symbol, was in the western extremity, and
accessible only to the initiated.
The caves of Salsette greatly
exceeded in magnitude that of Elephanta, being three hundred in number, all
adorned with symbolic figures, among which the phallic emblems were
predominant, which were placed in the most secret recesses, accessible only by
private entrances.
In every cave was a basin to
contain the consecrated water of ablution, on the surface of which floated the
sacred lotus flower.
All these caves were places of
initiation into the Hindu mysteries, and every arrangement was made for the
performance of the most impressive ceremonies.
Faber (Dissertatian an the
Mysteries af the Cabiri, ii, 257) says that "wherever the Cabiric Mysteries
were practiced, they were always in some manner or other connected with
caverns," and he mentions, among other instances, the cave of Zirinthus,
within whose dark recesses the most mysterious Rites of the Samothracian
Cabiri were performed.
Maurice (Indian Antiquities,
iii, 536), speaking of the subterranean passages of the Temple of Isis, in the
island of Phile in the river Nile, says "it was in these gloomy caverns that
the grand and mystic arcana of the goddess were unfolded to the adoring
aspirant, while the solemn hymns of initiation resounded through the long
extent of these stony recesses."
Many of the ancient orates,
as, for instance, that of Trophonius in Boeotia, were delivered in caves.
Hence, the cave -
subterranean, dark, and silent - was mingled in the ancient mind with the idea
of mystery.
In the ceremonies of
Freemasonry, we find the cavern or vault in what is called the Cryptic
Freemasonry of the American Rite, and also in the advanced Degrees of the
French and Scottish Rites, in which it is a symbol of the darkness of
ignorance and crime impenetrable to the light of truth.
In reference to the practical
purposes of the cavern, as recorded in the legend of these Degrees, it may be
mentioned that caves, which abounded in Palestine in consequence of the
geological structure of the country, are spoken of by Josephus as places of
refuge for banditti; and Phillott says, in Smith's Bible Dictionary, that it
was the caves which lie beneath and around so many of the Jewish cities that
formed the last hiding-places of the Jewish leaders in the war with the
Romans.
*
CAYENNE or FRENCH GUIANA
A country in South America.
Lodge No. 204, L'Anglaise, at Bordeaux, France, warranted a Lodge at Cayenne
in 1755 and gave it its own name. Other Lodges were organized by French
authority, both of the Grand Lodge and the Grand Orient, at different times
throughout the years.
*
CEDARS OF LEBANON
In Scriptural symbology, the
cedar-tree, says Wemyss (Symbolic Language of Scripture), was the symbol of
eternity, because its substance never decays nor rots.
Hence, the Ark of the Covenant
was made of cedar; and those are said to utter things worthy of cedar who
write that which no time ought to obliterate.
The Cedars af Lebanan are
frequently referred to in the legends of Freemasonry, especially in the
advanced Degrees; not, however, on account of any symbolical signification,
but rather because of the use made of them by Solomon and Zerubbabel in the
construction of their respective Temples.
Phillott (Smith's Bible
Dictionary) thus describes the grove so Celebrated in Scriptural and Masonic
history:
"The grove of trees known as
the Cedars of Lebanon consists of about four hundred trees, standing quite
alone in a depression of the mountain with no trees near, about six thousand
four hundred feet above the sea, and three thousand below the summit.
About eleven or twelve are
very large and old, twenty-five large, fifty of middle size, and more than
three hundred younger and smaller ones.
The older trees have each
several trunks and spread themselves widely round, but most of the others are
of cone-like form, and do not send out wide lateral branches.
In 1550 there were
twenty-eight old trees, in 1739, Pococke counted fifteen, but the number of
trunks makes the operation of counting uncertain.
They are regarded with much
reverence by the native inhabitants as living records of Solomon's power, and
the Maronite patriarch was formerly accustomed to celebrate there the festival
of the Transfiguration at an altar of rough stones."
*
CELEBES
An island in the East Indies
The Grand Lodge of Holland
chartered a Lodge at Macassar in 1883 called Arbeid Adelt (Ennobled Labor).
*
CELEBRATION
The Third Degree of Fessler's
Rite (see Fessler, Rite of)
*
CELESTIAL ALPHABET
See Alphabet, Angels
*
CELTIC MYSTERIES
See Druidical Mysteries
*
CELTS
The early inhabitants of
Italy, Gaul, Spain, and Britain.
They are supposed to have left
Asia during one of the Aryan emigrations, and, having traveled in a westerly
direction, to have spread over these countries of Europe. The Celtic Mysteries
or the Sacred Rites which they instituted are known as Druidical Mysteries,
which see.
*
CEMENT
The cement which in Operative
Freemasonry is used to unite the various parts of a building into one strong
and durable mass, is borrowed by Speculative Freemasonry as a symbol to denote
that brotherly love which binds the Freemasons of all countries in one common
brotherhood. As this brotherhood is recognized as being perfected among Master
Masons only, the symbol is very appropriately referred to the Third Degree.
*
CEMETERIES, MASONIC
The desire to select some
suitable spot wherein to deposit the remains of our departed kindred and
friends seems almost innate in the human breast.
The stranger's field was
bought with the accursed bribe of betrayal and treason, and there is an
abhorrence to depositing our loved ones in places whose archetype was so
desecrated by its purchase-money.
The churchyard, to the man of
sentiment, is as sacred as the church itself.
The cemetery bears a hallowed
character, and we adorn its graves with vernal flowers or with evergreens to
show that the dead, though away from our presence visibly, still live and
bloom in our memories.
The oldest of all the
histories that time has saved to us contains an affecting story of this
reverence of the living for the dead, when it tells us how Abraham, when
Sarah, his beloved wife, had died in a strange land, reluctant to bury her
among strangers, purchased from the sons of Heth the cave of Machpelah for a
burial-place for his people.
It is not, then, surprising
that Freemasons, actuated by this spirit, should have been desirous to
consecrate certain spots as resting-places for themselves and for the strange
Brethren who should die among them
A writer in the London
Freemason's Magazine for 1858 complained that there was not then in England a
Masonic cemetery, nor portion of an established cemetery especially dedicated
to the interment of the Brethren of the Craft. This neglect cannot be charged
against the Freemasons of America, for there is scarcely a city or town of
considerable size in which the Freemasons have not purchased and appropriated
a suitable spot as a cemetery to be exclusively devoted to the use of the
Fraternity.
These cemeteries are often,
and should always be, dedicated with impressive ceremonies; and it was long to
be regretted that our rituals provided no sanctioned form of service for these
occasions.
*
CENSER
A small vessel of metal fitted
to receive burning coals from the altar, and on which the incense for burning
was sprinkled by the priest in the Temple. Among the furniture of a Royal Arch
Chapter is to be found the censer, which is placed upon the altar of incense
within the sanctuary, as a symbol of the pure thoughts and grateful feelings
which, in so holy a place, should be offered up as a fitting sacrifice to the
great I AM.
In a similar symbolic sense,
the censer under the name of the pot of incense, is found among the emblems of
the Third Degree (see Pot of Incense).
The censer also constitutes a
part of the Lodge furniture in many of the advanced Degrees.
*
CENSOR
Gädicke says he is not an
officer, but is now and then introduced into some of the Lodges of Germany.
He is commonly found where the
Lodge has its own private house, in which, on certain days, mixed assemblies
are held of Freemasons and their families and friends. Of those assemblies the
Censor has the superintendence.
*
CENSURE
In Masonic Law, the mildest
form of punishment that can be inflicted, and may be defined to be a formal
expression of disapprobation, without other result than the effect produced
upon the feelings of him who is censured. It is adopted by a resolution of the
Lodge on a motion made at a regular communication; it requires only a bare
majority of votes, for its passage does not affect the Masonic standing of the
person censured, and may be revoked at any subsequent regular communication.
*
CENTAINE, ORDER OF
A mystical society of the
eighteenth century which admitted females.
It was organized at Bordeaux
in 1735 (see Thory, Acta Latamorum 1, 298).
*
CENTENARY JEWELS AND WARRANTS
In England when a Lodge
celebrates the hundredth year of its anniversary it is permitted to choose a
special jewel for the occasion.
In 1867 the particular design
to be used was authorized and illustrated for the first time in 1871 when the
Book of Constitutions was issued.
Before that time each Lodge
was permitted to select its own design, securing the approval of the Grand
Master before using the jewel.
As a result of this method
there are forty-two of the older Lodges now in possession of Special Centenary
Jewels of different designs and which may, be worn by all subscribing members
of the particular Lodge.
Many Centenary Warrants were
issued before 1871 but it is during that year that the first special provision
was made for them. In order to secure one of the Warrants a Lodge must prove
uninterrupted existence for one hundred years.
The English Royal Arch
Chapters come under this same ruling.
CENTENNIAL
That which happens every
hundred years.
Masonic Bodies that have
lasted for that period very generally celebrate the occasion by a
commemorative festival.
On the 4th of November, 1852,
almost all of the Lodges of the United States celebrated the centennial
anniversary of the initiation of George Washington as a Freemason.
*
CENTER, OPENING ON THE
In the English instructions, a
Master Mason's Lodge is said to be opened on the center, because the Brethren
present, being all Master Masons, are equally near and equally distant from
that imaginary central point which among Freemasons constitutes perfection.
Neither of the preliminary
Degrees can assert the same conditions, because the Lodge of an Entered
Apprentice may contain all the three classes, and that of a Fellow Craft may
include some Master Masons; and therefore the doctrine of perfect equality is
not carried out in either. An attempt was made, but without success, in the
Trestle Board, published under the sanction of the Baltimore Masonic
Convention, to introduce the custom into the American Lodges.
*
CENTRALISTEN
Meaning Centralists. Lenning
says such a society existed in Europe between 1770 and 1780, pursuing
alchemical, political and religious studies and operating under Masonic forms.
*
CENTRALISTS
A society which existed in
Europe from 1770 to 1780. It made use of Masonic forms at its meetings simply
to conceal its secrets.
Lening calls it an alchemical
association, but says that it had religious and political tendencies.
Glädicke thinks that its object was to propagate Jesuitism.
*
CENTRAL POINT
See Point within a Circle
*
CEPHAS
A word which in the Syriac
signifies a rock or stone, and is the name which was bestowed by Christ upon
Simon, when he said to him, "Thou art a rock," which the Greeks rendered by
nirpo, and the Latins by Petrus, both words meaning a rock.
It is used in the Degree of
Royal Master, and there alludes to the Stone of Foundation, which see.
*
CEREMONIESThe outer garments
which cover and adorn Freemasonry as clothing does the human body. Although
ceremonies give neither live nor truth to doctrines or principles, yet they
have an admirable influence, since by their use certain things are made to
acquire a sacred character which they would not otherwise have had; and hence,
Lord Coke has most wisely said that "prudent antiquity did, for more solemnity
and better memory and observation of that which is to be done, express
substances under ceremonies. "
*
CEREMONIES, MASTER OF
See Master of Ceremonies
*
CERES
Among the Romans, the goddess
of agriculture; but among the more poetic Greeks she was worshiped under the
name of Demeter, as the symbol of the prolific earth.
To her is attributed the
institution of the Eleusinian Mysteries in Greece, the most popular of all the
ancient initiations.
*
CERIDWEN
The Isis of the Druids
*
CERNEAU, JOSEPH
A jeweler, born at Villeblevin,
in Yonne, a department of central France. A register of the Lodge Reunion des
Coeurs at Port Republican (Port-au-Prince) in Santo Domingo, West Indies, was
in the possession of General Albert Pike ,and in 1886 he quotes from it in
publishing the report to him of the Supreme Council of France in regard to
Joseph Cerneau (see page 29): "Joseph Cerneau appears on the same (the
register for 1801) as Keeper of the Seals and Archives, the entry as to him,
signed manu propria (by his own hand) being 'Garde de Sceaux et Archives:
Joseph Cerneau, Marchand Orfevre, ne a Villeblerin, age de 37 ans R. .A. .R. .
(i. e. Royal Arch (of Heredom) and Rose Croix)'" the other words not commented
upon specifically by Brother Pike meaning Joseph Cerneau, merchant goldsmith,
born at Villeblerin (the v in this word being copied as r), aged 87 years,
etc. Cerneau was active in Cuba later on and we find that on December 17,
1804, the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania received a petition from several
Brethren for a Warrant to hold a Lodge at Havana and that Brother Joseph
Cerneau might be named Master, a request which was granted on that date, the
"Petition being duly recommended according to the Regulations of this Grand
Lodge."
Antonie-Mathieu Dupotet was
Master of Lodge No. .47, Reunion des Coeurs, and in the register of that Lodge
his name is followed by the same initials of Degrees or titles as in the case
of Cerneau, but with this important addition "et P. . du R. . S. .," meaning
and Prince af the Royal Secret.
Brother Pike in his Memoir, af
Cerneauism (page 6, Supplement, 1885) says. "
In July, 1806, he (Dupotet)
gave Cerneau, at Baracoa, in Cuba, the Degrees of the Rite of Heredom à
Perfection, from 19 to 25.''
The Appendix to this Memoir,
contains a copy of the Patent of the Twenty-fifth Degree to Joseph Cerneau, 16
July, 1806, signed by Dupotet, giving him power for the Northern part of the
Island of Cuba to initiate and promote Brother Masons from the fourth to the
twenty-fourth, and on one only a year the remaining Degree was perrnitted.
The Patent was said by General
Pike in this Memoir to be " from papers belonging to Bro. . Charles Laflon de
Ladebat, who was, prior to 1857, a member of the Supreme Council for the State
of Louisiana, at New Orleans (claiming to be the Hicks-Laurent United Sup.
Council continued), of which Jacques Foulhouze had been Grand Commander."
The Patent not only
specifically restricted the conferring of Degrees by Joseph Cerneau as Deputy
Grand Inspector to the northern part of the Island of Cuba and only to such in
the series as are enumerated, namely from the fourth to the twenty-fourth and
once a year not more than one in the twenty-fifth, but provides further that
these candidates " shall have been officers of a Lodge regularly constituted
and recognized, and in places only where there may not be found Sacred and
Sublime and regularly constituted Asyla."
Dr. Robert B. Folger, Ancient
and Accepted Scottish Rite, 1881 (page 337) says "Joseph Cerneau established
his Sovereign Grand Consistory, in New York City in 1807.
He pretended to no more than
the Rite of Perfection in Twenty-five degrees.''
There is another allusion by the author (page 157), "
It will be found that the name
of The Most Potent Sovereign Grand Consistory of Supreme Chiefs of Exalted
Masonry, according to the Ancient Constitutional Scottish Rite of Heredom was
continued up to the end of the time---viz., 1827."
Doctor Folger mentions the
activity of Cerneau in promoting various branches of the Masonic Institution
and says in his history, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (second edition,
1881, page 128), " Mr. Cerneau also established a Degree called Aaron's Band
which continued to be worked as a detached Degree for many years, in a
separate Body; but eventually about the year 1825, was stopped by the
interference of the Grand Chapter, which Body stated that it was an
infringement upon the Degree of High Priesthood."
We may fix the time when
Cerneau came to New York from Cuba by a report made by Brother Duplessis, the
proxy of Lodge No. 103 at Havana, to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania on
January 5, 1807. In this statement (see page 244, Reprint of the Minutes,
volume 11, 1801-10), "It appears from said papers that difficulties of the
highest importance had happened in that Lodge.
That unworthy Brethren had
denounced the Lodge to the Governor of Havana and that Bro. Cerneau had been
Ordered to quit the Island and was arrived at New York in the beginning of
November last with his Family. That the worthy Brethren of the said Lodge No.
103, had proceeded to the choice of New Officers agreeably to the
Communications and Returns aforesaid, and were Obliged to use the greatest
caution in their work, &c.; that the Lodge had lost above Three Thousand
Dollars by the unfortunate circumstance aforesaid, and our worthy Brother
Cerneau had also met with a heavy loss by his being obliged to remove with his
Family, though he had received from the Governor every mark of regard that
could be expected by the most respectable Character, &c., and that the said
Bro. Cerneau had previous to his departure given to the Brethren the most
wholesome advice and Assisted them in reorganizing the said Lodge, which now
consists of the most respectable Characters of the Island."
We find later on, April 6,
1807, the Grand Lodge authorizing a letter of sympathy to the " late and
present Worshipful Masters and Worthy Brethren of Lodge No. 103.'' Brothers
Emanuel De La Motta, M. J. Maduro Peixotto, J. J. J. Gourgas and Sampson
Simson, the first being Treasurer-General of the Supreme Council having its
Grand East at Charleston, South Carolina, visited Joseph Cerneau in New York
on September 14, 1813, and as a result of that investigation he was denounced
and he and his associates declared expelled from every lawful Degree or
Masonic Society in which they may have been received or admitted (see page 25,
Documents, Joseph M'cosh).
Joseph M'cosh states in
Documents upon sublime Freemasonry in the United States of America (page vii),
" Of J. C.'s Masonic conduct in Havana de Cuba, we have many facts before us
which would blacken any thing we have before communicated.
His labors were conduced by
his being expelled from the island by the governor, at the request of the
fraternity who resided there."
There is in the report of the
Supreme Council for France, published in 1886, a reference that would indicate
action against Joseph Cerneau had been taken by the Masonic authorities in
Cuba as well as in the United States.
The item mentioning the decree
issued at Charleston in 1813, says (page 31).
It declares him unworthy to be
a Mason, annuls as irregular his Masonic operations, and demolishes the
Consistories and Councils which he may have established. It thus approves the
Masonic decisions made in 1805, by the Metropolitan Grand Lodge of Havana,
Island of Cuba, against this Ver I1l:. Brother."
In the business recorded of
the Adjourned Grand Quarterly Communication at Philadelphia on January 16,
1809 (page 381, Reprint) the Grand Secretary "Brother Baker stated that he had
been informed that Bro. Joseph Cerneau, formerly J. G. W. of the Provincial
Lodge of St. Domingo and afterwards Master of Lodge No. 103, held at Havannah,
and now residing in the City of New York, had been Guilty of Un-masonic
Conduct.
Whereupon, On Motion made and
Seconded, Resolved, that Brothers Duplessis, Chaudron and Baker be a Committee
to Examine respecting the premisses and make Report thereon. "
But the details of this affair
must be left to conjecture as we do not discover the Committee to have brought
in any report.
In a footnote by General Pike
to the report of the Supreme Council for France, July 7, 1886, published at
Washington by the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United
States (page 29), we read of Cerneau's claims.
" He did not style himself to
be an Inspector-General 'of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.' The Body
that he established did not pretend to be a body, and he did not pretend to be
an Inspector; of that Rite; but of 'the Ancient Constitutional Rite of Heredom.
He went back to France in
December, 1827, and was no more heard of: and no Body claiming to be a Supreme
Council of the 33d Degree, with any powers, was established by him until
November 28, 1827.
Before then the 32ds of his
Grand Consistory elected 33ds from among themselves, the title being merely
honorary, and with no powers attached." As to the date when Joseph Cerneau
left New York for France there is some uncertain, Doctor Folger intimating a
later time than General Pike. Doctor Folger alludes in his History, 1881, to
his personal acquaintance with Joseph Cerneau and in regard to his
circumstances and movements in later years has this to say (page 117), " For,
in the latter part of the time - from 1832 onward - he was in poor
circumstances, and made application to the Supreme Council for assistance.
That body made some
considerable purchases of him, which relieved his necessities. He returned to
his native land in comparative poverty, and died there, between the years 1840
and 1845, while filling a small public office, under wretched pay."
*
CERTIFICATE
A Diploma issued by a Grand
Lodge or by a subordinate Lodge under its authority, testifying that the
holder thereof is a true and trusty Brother, and recommending him to the
hospitality of the Fraternity abroad. The character of this instrument has
sometimes been much misunderstood. It is by no means intended to act as a
voucher for the bearer, nor can it be allowed to supersede the necessity of a
strict examination. A stranger, however, having been tried and proved by a
more unerring standard, his Certificate then properly comes in as an auxiliary
testimonial, and will be permitted to afford good evidence of his correct
standing in his lodge at home; for no Body of Freemasons, true to the
principles of their Order, would grant such an instrument to an unworthy
Brother, or to one who, they feared, might make an improper use of it.
But though the presence of a
Grand Lodge Certificate be in general required as collateral evidence of
worthiness to visit, or receive aid, its accidental absence, which may arise
in various ways, as from fire, captivity, or shipwreck, should not debar a
strange Brother from the rights guaranteed to him by our Institution, provided
he can offer other evidence of his good character.
The Grand Lodge of New York has, upon this subject, taken the proper stand in
the following regulation: ''
That no Freemason be admitted
to any subordinate Lodge under the jurisdiction of this Grand Lodge, or
receive the charities of any Lodge, unless he shall, on such application,
exhibit a Grand Lodge certificate, duly attested by the proper authorities,
except he is known to the Lodge to be a worthy brother."
The Certificate system has
been warmly discussed by the Grand Lodges of the United States, and
considerable opposition to it has been made by some of them on the ground
that, it is an innovation.
If it is an innovation, it
certainly is not one of the present day, as we may learn from the Regulations
made in General Assembly of the Masons of England, on Saint John the
Evangelist's day, 1663, during the Grand Mastership of the Earl of St. Albans,
one of which reads as follows: "That no person hereafter who shall be accepted
a Freemason shall be admitted into any Lodge or Assembly, until he has brought
a certificate of the time and place of his acceptation from the Lodge that
accepted him, unto the Master of that limit or division where such Lodge is
kept" (see Constitution, 1738, page 101).
Among the General Regulations
" made at a Grand Lodge held in Corke, on Saint John ye Evangelist's Day,
1728," is the following:
" That no person pretending to
be a Mason shall be considered as such within ye precincts of our Grand Lodge
or deemed duly matriculated into ye Society of Freemasons, until he hath
subscribed in some Lodge to these regulations and obliged himself to sign ye
before mentioned Duplicate (a copy of the General Regulations possessed by all
Lodges), at which time he shall be furnished with proper means to convince the
authentic Brethren the hath duly complied."
Brother WT. J. Chetwode
Crawley (Caementaria Hibernica, Fasciculus1, pages 11 and 12), says further
that "In this clause we descry the germ of the Certificate now issued to every
Master Mason. '
The proper means to convince the authentic Brethren' supplies the earliest
intimation in the history of the Craft of a practice which, originating with
the Grand Lodge of Munster, has been adopted by every Grand Lodge in the
World.
The first Grand Lodge
Certificate ever heard of in England seems to have been that brought with him
to England by Lawrence Dermott, and proudly exhibited by hirn to his Grand
Lodge (see the Minutes of the Grand Lodge of the Ancient for March 2, 1757, as
given in Brother Sadler's Masonic Facts and Fictions).
The Premier Grand Lodge
(Moderns) borrowed the practice from Lawrence Dermott and began to make use of
Certificates in the year 1755."
*
CEYLON
An island in the Indian Ocean.
In 1771 Freemasonry was introduced to Ceylon with the establishment by the
Grand Lodge of Holland of Fidelity Lodge at Colombo, the capital of the
island, in 1771. Sir Alexander Johnston was appointed Provincial Grand Master
by the Grand Lodge of England in 1810. Oliver Day Street says of Ceylon in his
Report on Correspondence to the Grand Lodge of Alabama in 1922 :
"On this island are nine
Lodges subject to the Grand Lodge of England and three subject to that of
Ireland.
Four of these are at Colombo
and one each at Badulla, Galle, Halton, Kandy, Kurunegala, Nuwara Ebya, and
Tolowakello."
*
CHAILLOU DE JOINVILLE
He played an important part in
the Freemasonry of France about the middle of the eighteenth century,
especially in the schisms which at that time existed in the Grand Lodge. In
1761, he was an active member of the Council of Emperors of the East and West,
or Rite of Perfection, which had been established in 1758.
Under the title of Substitute
General of the Order, Venerable Master of the First Lodge in France, called
Saint Anthony's, Chief of the Eminent Degrees, Cammander, and Sublime Prince
of the Royal Secret, etc.,etc., etc., he signed the Patent of Stephen Morin,
authorizing him to extend the Royal Order in America, which was the first step
that subsequently led to the establishment of the Ancient and Accepted Rite in
the United States.
In 1762, the Prince of
Clermont, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of France, removed the
dancing-master Lacorne, whom he had previously appointed his Substitute
General and who had become distasteful to the respectable members of the Grand
Lodge, and put Chaillau de Jainville in his place.
This action created a schism
in the Grand Lodge, during which De Jainville appears to have acted with
considerable energy, but eventually he became almost as notorious as his
predecessor, by issuing irregular charters and deputations.
On the death of the Prince of
Clermont, in 1771, the Lacornists regained much of their influence, and De
Jainville appears quietly to have passed away from the field of French
Freemasonry and Masonic intrigues.
*
CHAIN, MYSTIC
To form the Mystic Chain is
for the Brethren to make a circle, holding each other by the hands, as in
surrounding a grave, etc.
Each Brother crosses his arms
in front of his body, so as to give his right hand to his left-hand neighbor,
and his left hand to his right-hand neighbor.
The French call it Chaine
d'Union. It is a symbol of the close connection of all Freemasons in one
common brotherhood.
*
CHAIN OF FLOWERS
In French Freemasonry, when a
Lodge celebrates the day of its foundation, or the semicentennial membership
of one of the Brethren, or at the initiation of a louveteau (which see) the
room is decorated with wreaths oi flowers called chaine de fleurs.
*
CHAIN OF UNION
See Chain, Mystic
*
CHAIN, SOCIETY OF THE
In German, Gessellschaft der
Kette.
Also known as Order of the Chain of the Pilgrims. A German society of both
sexes, founded, 1758, in Hamburg.
Comprised persons of high
social position and among its benevolent work was an Institute for the Blind.
The letters W, . B and S were
used by the members as signs of recognition, signifying the German equivalents
for the words Camplaisance, Constancy and Silence.
The jewel was a chain of three
links with the three letters W, B and S, and the members were called Knights
of the Chain; their meetings were called Unions and the assembled members were
known as Favorites.
There was a similar society
founded in Denmark in 1777.
*
CHARGES OF A FREEMASON
These Charges or Regulations,
published in1723, have been adopted by various Grand Lodges and made a part of
their Constitutions:
*
THE CHARGES OF A FREE MASON
Extracted from The Ancient
Records of Lodges beyond Sea, and of those in England, Scotland, and Ireland,
for the use of the Lodges in London : 'To be read
AT THE MAKING OF NEW BRETHREN
OR WHEN THE MASTER SHALL ORDER IT
The General Heads, Viz.:
1 In the Lodge while Constituted.
2 Behavior after the Lodge is over
3 Behavior when Brethren meet without Strangers,
4 Behavior in presence of Strangers not Masons.
5 Behavior at Home, and in your Neighborhood.
6 Behavior towards a strange Brother.
*
i CONCERNING GOD AND RELIGION
A Mason is obliged by his
Tenure, to obey the moral law ; and if he rightly understands the Art, he will
never be a stupid ATHEIST, nor an irreligious LIBERTINE.
But though in ancient Times
Masons were charged in every Country to be of the Religion of that Country or
Nation, whatever it was, yet 't is now thought more expedient only to oblige
them to that Religion in which all Men agree, leaving their particular
Opinions to themselves; that is, to be .good Men and true, or Men of Honor and
Honesty, by whatever Denominations or Persuasions they may be distinguished ;
whereby Masonry becomes the Center of Union, and the Means of conciliating
true Friendship among Persons that must have remained at a perpetual Distance.
ii. OF THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE
SUPREME AND SUBORDINATE
A Mason is a Peaceable Subject
to the Civil Powers, wherever he resides or works, and is never to be
concerned in plots and Conspiracies against the Peace and welfare of the
Nation, nor to behave himself undutifully to inferior Magistrates ; for as
Masonry hath been always injured by War, Bloodshed and Confusion, so ancient
Kings and Princes have been much disposed to encourage the Craftsmen, because
of their Peaceableness and Loyalty, whereby they practically, answered the
Cavils of their Adversaries, and promoted the Honor of the Fraternity, who
ever flourished in Times of Peace. So that if a Brother should be Rebel
against the State, he is not to be countenanced in his Rebellion, however he
may be pitied as an unhappy Man ; and if Convected of no other Crime, though
the Royal Brotherhood must and ought to disown his Rebellion, and give no
Umbrage or Ground of Political Jealousy to the Government for the time being,
they can not expel him from the Lodge, and his relation to it remains
indefeasible.
iii. OF LODGES
A Lodge is a Place where
members assemble and work ; Hence that Assembly, or duly organized Society of
Masons, is called a Lodge and every Brother ought to belong to one, and to be
subject to its By-Laws and the General Regulations.
It is either particular or
general, and will be best understood by attending it, and by the Regulations
of the General or Grand Lodge hereunto annexed.
In ancient Times, no Master or
Fellow could be absent from it, especially when warned to appear at it,
without incurring a severe Censure, until it appeared to the Master and
Wardens, that pure Necessity hindered him.
The Persons admitted Members
of a Lodge must be good and true Men, free-born and of mature and discreet
Age, no Bondmen, no Women, no immoral or scandalous Men, but of good Report.
iv. OF MASTERS, WARDENS,
FELLOWS, AND APPRENTICES
All preferment among Masons is
grounded upon real Worth and Personal Merit only; that to the Lords may be
well served, the Brethren not put to Shame, nor the Royal Craft despised :
Therefore no Master or Warden is chosen by Seniority, but for his Merit. It is
impossible to describe these things in writing, and every Brother must attend
in his Place, and learn them in a way peculiar to the Fraternity : Only
Candidates may know, that no Master should take an Apprentice, unless he has
sufficient Employment for him, and unless he be a perfect Youth, having no
Maim or Defect in his body, that may render him incapable of learning the Art,
of serving his Master's Lord, and of being made a Brother, and then a
Fellow-Craft in due time, even after he has served such a Term of Years, as
the Custom of the Country directs; and that he should be descended of honest
Parents; that so, when otherwise qualified, he may arrive to the Honor of
being the Warden, and then the Master of the Lodge, the Grand Warden, and at
length the Grand-Master of all the Lodges, according to his Merit.
No Brother can be a Warden
until he has passed the part of a Fellow-Craft; nor a Master until he has
acted as a Warden, nor Grand Warden until he has been Master of a Lodge, nor
Grand Master unless he has been a Fellow-Craft before his election, who is
also to be nobly-born, or a Gentleman of the best Fashion, or some eminent
Scholar, or some curious Architect, or other Artist, descended of honest
Parents, and who is of singular great Merit in the Opinion of the Lodges.
And for the better, and
easier, and more honorable discharge of his Office, the Grand-Master has a
Power to cause his Deputy Grand-Master, who must be then, or must have been
formerly, the Master of a particular Lodge, and has the Privilege of acting
whatever the Grand Master, his Principal, should act, unless the said
Principal be present, or interpose his Authority by a Letter.
These Rulers and Governors, Supreme and Subordinate, of the ancient Lodge, are
to be obeyed in their respective Stations by all the Brethren, according to
the old Charges and Regulations, with all Humility, Reverence, Love and
Alacrity.
v. OF THE MANAGEMENT OF THE
CRAFT IN WORKING
All Masons shall work honestly
on working Days, that they may live creditably on Holy Days; and the time
appointed by the Law of the Land, or confirmed by Custom, shall be observed.
The most expert of the Fellow-Craftsmen shall be chosen or appointed the
Master or Overseer of the Lord's Work; who is to be called Master by those
that work under him. The Craftsmen are to avoid all ill Language, and to call
each other by no disobliging Name, but Brother or Fellow; and to behave
themselves courteously within and without the Lodge.
The Master, knowing himself to
be able of Cunning, shall undertake the Lord's Work as reasonable as possible,
and truly dispense his Goods as if they were his own ; nor to give more Wages
to any Brother or Apprentice than he really may deserve.
Both the Master and Masons
receiving their Wages justly, shall be faithful to the Lord, and honestly
finish their Work, whether Task or Journey ; nor put the Work to Task that
hath been accustomed to Journey.
None shall discover Envy at
the Prosperity of a Brother, nor supplant him, or put him out of his Work, if
he be capable to finish the same ; for no Man can finish another's Work so
much to the Lord's Profit, unless he be thoroughly acquainted with the Designs
and Droughts of him that began it.
When a Fellow-Craftsman is
chosen Warden of the Work under the Master, he shall be true both to Master
and Fellows, shall carefully oversee the Work in the Master's Absence to the
Lord's Profit; and his Brethren shall obey him.
All Masons employed shall
meekly receive their Wages without murmuring or Mutiny, and not desert the
Master till the work is finished.
A younger Brother shall be
instructed in working, to prevent spoiling the Materials for want of Judgment,
and for increasing and continuing of Brotherly Love.
All the Tools used in working
shall be approved by the Grand Lodge.
No Laborer shall be employed
in the proper work of Masonry; nor shall Free Masons work with those that are
not free, without an urgent Necessity; nor shall they teach Laborers and
unaccepted Masons, as they should teach a Brother or Fellow.
vi. OF BEHAVIOR
1 In the Lodge while
Constituted.
2 BEHAVIOR after the Lodge is over
3 BEHAVIOR when Brethren meet without Strangers,
4 BEHAVIOR in presence of Strangers not Masons.
5 BEHAVIOR at Home, and in your Neighborhood.
6 BEHAVIOR towards a strange Brother.
1. In the Lodge while constituted.
You are not to hold private
Committees, or separate Conversation, without Leave from the Master, nor to
talk of any thing impertinent or unseemly, nor interrupt the Master or
Wardens, or any Brother speaking to the Master; nor behave yourself
ludicrously or jestingly while the Lodge is engaged in what is serious and
solemn ; nor use any unbecoming Language upon any Pratense whatsoever; but to
pay due Reverence to your Master, Wardens, and Fellows, and put them to
worship.
If any Complaint be brought,
the Brother found guilty shall stand to the Award and Determination of the
Lodge, who are the proper and competent Judges of all such Controversies,
(unless you carry it by Appeal to the Grand Lodge,) and to whom they ought to
be referred unless a Lord's Work be hindered the mean while, in which case a
particular Reference may be made; but you must never go to Law about what
concerneth Masonry, without an absolute Necessity apparent to the Lodge.
2. BEHAVIOR after the Lodge is
over and the Brethren not gone.
You may enjoy yourselves with
innocent Mirth, treating one another according to Ability, but avoiding all
Excess, or forcing any Brother to eat or drink beyond his Inclination, or
hindering him from going when his Occasions call him, or doing or saying
anything offensive, or that may forbid an easy and free Conversation; for that
would blast our Harmony, and defeat our Laudable Purposes.
Therefore no private Piques or
Quarrels must be brought within the Door of the Lodge, far less any Quarrels
about Religion, or Nations, or State Policy, we being only, as Masons of the
Catholic Religion above-mentioned ; we are also of all Nations, Tongues,
Kindreds, and Languages, and are resolved against all Politicks, as what never
yet conduced to the Welfare of the Lodge, nor ever will.
This charge has been always
strictly enjoined and observed, but especially ever since the Reformation in
Britain, or the Dissent and Secession of these Nations from the Communion of
Rome.
3. BEHAVIOR when Brethren meet
without Strangers, but not in a Lodge formed.
You are to salute one another
in a courteous manner. as you will be instructed, calling each other Brother.
freely giving mutual
Instruction as shall be thought expedient, without being overseen or
overheard, and without encroaching upon each other or derogating from that
Respect which is due to any Brother, were he not a Mason : For though all
Masons are an Brethren upon the same Level, yet Masonry takes no Honor from a
Man that he had before; nay rather it adds to his Honor, especially if he has
deserved well of the Brotherhood, who must give Honor to whom it is due, and
avoid ill manners.
4. BEHAVIOR in presence of
Strangers not Masons.
You shall be cautious in your
Words and Carriage, that the most penetrating Stranger shall not be able to
discover or find out what is not proper to be intimated ; and sometimes you
shall divert a discourse, and manage it prudently for the Honor of the
worshipful Fraternity.
5. BEHAVIOR at Home, and in
your Neighborhood.
You are to act as becomes a
moral and wise Man ; particularly, not to let your Family, Friends, and
Neighbors know the Concerns of the Lodge, &c., but wisely to consult your own
Honor, and that of the ancient Brotherhood, for Reasons not to be mentioned
here.
You must also consult your
health, by not continuing together too late, or too long from home, after
Lodge Hours are past; and by avoiding of Gluttony or Drunkenness, that your
Families be not neglected or injured, nor you disabled from working.
6. BEHAVIOR towards a strange
Brother.You are cautiously to examine him, in such a method as prudence shall
direct you, that you may not be imposed upon by an ignorant false Pretender,
whom you are to reject with Contempt and Derision, and beware of giving him
any Hints of Knowledge.
But if you discover him to be
a true and Genuine Brother, you are to respect him accordingly; and if he is
in want, you must relieve him if you can, or else direct him how he may be
relieved.
You must employ him some Days, or else recommend him to be employed.
But you are not charged to do
beyond your Ability, only to prefer a poor Brother, that is a good Man and
true, before any other poor People in the same Circumstances.
Finally, all these Charges you
are to observe, and also those that shall be communicated to you in another
way ; cultivating Brotherly-Love, the foundation and Capstone, the Cement and
Glory of this ancient Fraternity, avoiding all Wrangling and Quarreling, all
Slander and Backbiting, nor permitting others to slander any honest Brother,
but defending his Character, and doing him all good offices, as far as is
consistent with your Honor and Safety, and no farther.
And if any of them do you
Injury, you must apply to your own or his Lodge, and from thence you may
appeal to the Grand Lodge at the Quarterly Communication, and from thence to
the annual Grand Lodge ; as has been the ancient laudable Conduct of our
Forefathers in every Nation; never taking a legal Course but when the Case
cannot be otherwise decided, and patiently listing to the honest and friendly
Advice of Master and Fellows, when they would prevent you going to Law with
Strangers, or would excite you to put a speedy Period to all Law Suits, that
so you may mind the Affair of Masonry with the more Alacrity and Success ; but
with respect to Brothers or Fellows at Law, the Master and Brethren should
kindly offer their Mediation, which ought to be thankfully submitted to by the
contending Brethren, and if that submission is impracticable, they must
however carry on their Process, or Law-suit, without Wrath and Rancor (not in
the common way), saying or doing nothing which may hinder Brotherly Love, and
good Offices to be renewed and conducted; that all may see the benign
Influence of Masonry, as all true Masons have done from the Beginning of the
World, and Will do to the End of Time.
Amen so mote it be.
*
CHARGES OF 1722
The . Fraternity had long been
in possession of many records, containing the ancient regulations of the
Order; when, in 1722, the Duke of Montague being Grand Master of England, the
Grand Lodge finding fault with their antiquated arrangement, it was directed
that they should be collected, and after being properly digested, be annexed
to the Book of Constitutions, then in course of publication under the
superintendence of Dr. James Anderson.
This was accordingly done, and
the document now well known under the title of The Old Charges of the Free and
Accepted Masons, constitutes, by universal consent, a part of the fundamental
law of our Order.
The charges are divided into
six general heads of duty, as follows:
1. Concerning God and
religion.
2. Of the civil magistrate, supreme and subordinate.
3. Of Lodges.
4. Of Masters, Wardens, Fellows, and Apprentices.
5. Of the management of the Craft in working.
6. Of behavior under different circumstances and in various conditions.
These charges contain succinct
directions for the proper discharge of a Freemason's duties, in whatever
position he may be placed, and are as modern researches have shown, a
collation of the charges contained in the Old Records and from them have been
abridged, or by them suggested, all those well-known directions found in our
monitors, which, Masters are accustomed to read to candidates on their
reception (see Records, Old).
*
CHARGES, OLD
The Freemasons' Constitutions
are old records, containing a history, very often some-what apocryphal, that
is of doubtful authority, of the origin and progress of Freemasonry, and
regulations for the government of the Craft. These regulations are called
Charges, and are generally the same in substance, although the differ in
number, in the different documents.
These charges are divided into
Articles and Points; although it would be difficult to say in what the one
section differs in character from the other, as each details the rules which
should govern a Freemason in his conduct toward his Lord, or employer, and to
his Brother workmen.
The oldest of these charges is
to be found in the York Constitutions, if they are authentic, and consists of
Fifteen Articles and Fifteen Points.
It was required by the
Constitutions of the time of Edward III, ''that, for the future, at the making
or admission of a brother, the constitutions and charges should be read."
This regulation is still
preserved in form, in modern Lodges, by the reading of the charge by the
Master to a candidate at the close of the ceremony of his reception into a
degree (for a list of the Old Charges, see Manuscripts, Old).
*
CHARITY
"Though I speak with the
tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding
brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of
prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have
all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am
nothing" (First Corinthians xiii,1-2).
Such was the language of an
eminent apostle of the Christian church, and such is the sentiment that
constitutes the cementing bond of Freemasonry. The apostle, in comparing it
with faith and hope, calls it the greatest of the three, and hence in
Freemasonry it is made the topmost round of its mystic ladder.
We must not fall into the too
common error that charity is only that sentiment of commiseration which leads
us to assist the poor with pecuniary donations.
Its Masonic, as well as its
Christian application, is more noble and more extensive.
The word used by the apostle
is, in the original, love, a word denoting that kindly state of mind which
renders a person full of good-will and affectionate regard toward others.
John Wesley expressed his
regret that the Greek had not been correctly translated as love instead of
charity, so that the apostolic triad of virtues would have been, not "faith,
hope, and charity," but "faith, hope, and love."
Then would we have understood
the comparison made by Saint Paul, when he said, "Though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love,
it profiteth me nothing."
Guided by this sentiment, the
true Freemason will "suffer long and be kind."
He will be slow to anger and
easy to forgive.
He will stay his falling
Brother by gentle admonition, and warn him with kindness of approaching
danger, He will not open his ear to the slanderers, and will lose his lips
against all reproach.
His faults and his follies
will be locked in his breast, and the prayer for mercy will ascend to Jehovah
for his Brother's sins.
Nor will these sentiments of
benevolence be confined to those who are bound to him by ties of kindred or
worldly friendship alone; but, extending them throughout. the globe, he will
love and cherish all who sit beneath the broad canopy of our universal Lodge.
For it is the boast of our
Institution, that a Freemason, destitute and worthy, may. find in every clime
a Brother, and in every land a home.
Colonel Edward M L. Ehlers, a soldier of the Civil War in which he was
severely wounded, was subsequently and at his death the Grand Secretary of New
York.
To his courtesy and promptness
the Revisor of this work is much indebted for many favors and there is a
distinct satisfaction in submitting here one of the eloquent addresses to
initiates that so often heartened his hearers (see Definitions of
Freemasonry).
My Brother: With this right
hand I welcome you to the fellowship of our Lodge and to the ranks of our
ancient and honorable Fraternity whose cornerstone is Charity.
Charity is the brightest jewel
in the Masonic crown.
Charity is the Corinthian
pillar whose entablature adds strength, beauty and grace to the Masonic
fabric.
Charity is the radiant spark
emanating from God, the inexhaustible source of love.
If we attempt to eulogize its
charms, the cooler powers of the mind melt into ecstasy, the heart is at
empire, and every discordant passion bows before its lenient sovereignty.
Not the Charity circumscribed
by the narrow limits of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, binding up the
wounds of the afflicted, but that broader nobler Charity that regards all men
as Brothers.
The Charity that is swift of
foot, ready of hand, in the cause of a common humanity.
The Charity that writes a
Brother's vices in water and his virtues in enduring brass.
The Charity of which He who
spake as never man spake was the illustrious exemplar.
Let this, the Mason's Charity,
burn upon the altar of your heart a living fire.
This Charity whose
superstructure is friendship, morality, brotherly love; whose capstone is
holiness to the Lord. Liturgies and creeds, articles of faith and rules of
discipline, stain the rubric pages of history, and speculative points of
doctrine have occasioned more misery in the world than all the crimes for
which nations have been punished and recalled to their duty.
We arraign no man's political
opinions, nor do we interfere with his religious creed.
To himself and his country we
leave the one, and to his conscience and his God we commit the other. To the
altar of Masonry, all men bring their votive offerings. Around it all men,
whether they have received their teachings from Confucius, Moses, Zoroaster,
Mahomet, or the Founder of the Christian religion; if they believe in the
universality of the Fatherhood of God and of the universality of the
brotherhood of man, here meet on a common level.
The rich man, the poor man,
the sovereign, the subject, are lost in the common Brother. The Christian
returns to his Temple, the Jew to his Synagogue, the Mohammedan to his Mosque,
each better prepared to perform the duties of life by the association of this
universal brotherhood. It is to this Institution, born of heaven in the gray
of the world's morning, before poets sang or historians wrote, that I am
privileged to accord you a Craftsman's greeting.
And I charge you, by the
noblest instincts of your manhood, by all that you are and revere, by the ties
that bind you to earth, by your hope of heaven, so to live and so to act that
your Masonic life may be an open book known and read of all men.
Finally, my Brother, I do
assure you that whatever good you do is but duty done.
If a sorrow you have lightened
or a tear wipe‚ away, if of poverty's load you have taken a share from some
weary burdened soul, if you have lifted a cup of cold water to the lips of a
famishing mortal, then to far have you illustrated the divine teachings of
Masonry, then in so far have you done as the Master commanded.
May He, without whose
knowledge not even a sparrow falls, bless your fellowship in our Lodge, and to
His great name shall be all the praise.
CHAIN, TRIANGULAR
One of the legends of
Freemasonry tells us that when the Jewish Freemasons were carried as captives
from Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar they were bound by triangular
chains, which was intended as an additional insult, because to them the
triangle, or delta, was a symbol of the Deity, to be used only on sacred
occasions. The legend is of course apocryphal, and is worth nothing except as
a legendary symbol.
*
CHAIR
A technical term signifying
the office of Master of a Lodge. Thus he is eligible to the chair is
equivalent to he is eligible to the office of Master. The word is applied in
the same sense to the presiding officer in other Masonic Bodies.
*
CHAIRMAN
The presiding officer of a
meeting or committee. In all committees of a Lodge, the Worshipful Master, if
he chooses to attend, is ex-offcio or by reason of that fact the chairman; as
is the Grand Master of any meeting of the Craft when he is present.
*
CHAIR, MASTER IN THE
The German Freemasons call the
Worshipful Master der Meister im Stuhl, or the Master in the Chair.
*
CHAIR, ORIENTAL
The seat or office of the
Master of a Lodge is thus called---sometimes, more fully, the Oriental Chair
of King Salomon.
*
CHAIR, PASSING THE
The ceremony of inducting the
Master-elect of a Lodge into his office is called passing the chair. He who
has once presided over a Lodge as its Master is said to have passed the chair,
hence the title Past Master.
*
CHALDEA
A large tract of country,
lying in a nearly northwest and southeast direction for a distance of four
hundred miles along the course of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, with an
average width of one hundred miles. The kingdom of Chaldea, of which Babylon
was the chief city, is celebrated in Masonic history as the place where the
Jewish captives were conducted after the destruction of Jerufalem. At that
time Nebuchadnezzar was the king. His successor during the captivity, were
Evilmerodach, Neriglissar, Labosordacus, and Belshazzar. In the seventeenth
year of his reign, the City of Babylon was taken and the Chaldean kingdom
subverted by Cyrus, King of Persia, who terminated the captivity of the Jews,
and restored them to their native country.
*
CHALDEAN CYLINDER
The cylinder discovered by
Rassam in the course of his excavations in Babylonia, which greatly attracted
the attention of the London Society of Biblical Archeclogy, is one of the most
remarkable yet made known, by reawn of the light it throws upon the ancient
chronology of the Chaldean Empire. It dates from the time of Nabonides, and
records, among various things, that this sovereign, when digging under the
foundations of the Temple of the Sun-god at Sippara, forty-five years after
the death of King Nebuchadnezzar, came upon a cylinder of Naramsin, the son of
Nargon, which no one had seen for "3200 years. " This gives as the date of the
ancient sovereign named 3750 B.C. This, and the fact pointed out by Professor
Oppert, that there was in those early days already "lively intercourse between
Chaldea and Egypt," will have to be taken into account by future Bible
critics. This destroys the conception of Abraham, the founder of the Jews, as
a wanderer or nomad, and establishes the existence of two highly civilized, as
well as cultured, empires in Egypt and Chaldea more than 5,500 years ago ;
that the highroad between them lay direct through Southern Palestine, and that
Abraham was a native of the one great empire and an honored visitor in the
other. Thus has been opened up a new field for investigation in the matter of
Akkad and Akkadian civilization.
*
CHALDEANS or CHALDEES
The ancient Diodorus Siculus
says the "most ancient"-inhabitants of Babylonia. There was among them, as
among the Egiptians, a true priestly caste, which was both exclusive and
hereditary; for although not every Chaldean was a priest, yet no man could be
a priest among them unless he were a Chaldean. "At Babylon," says Doctor Smith
(Ancient History of the East, page 398), "they were in all respects the ruling
order in the body politic, uniting in themselves the characters of the English
sacerdotal and military classes. They filled all the highest offices of state
under the king, who himself belonged to the order."
The Chaldean priests were
famous for their astronomical science, the study of which was particularly
favored by the clear atmosphere and the cloudless skies of their country, and
to which they were probably urged by their national worship of the sun and the
heavenly hosts. Diodorus Siculus says that they passed their whole lives in
meditating questions of philosophy, and acquired a great reputation for their
astrology. They were addicted especially to the art of divination, and framed
predictions of the future.
They sought to avert evil and
to insure good by purifications, sacrifices, and enchantments. They were
versed in the arts of prophesying and explaining dreams and prodigies. All
this learning among the Chaldeans was a family tradition; the son inheriting
the profession and the knowledge of the priesthood from his father, and
transmitting it to his descendants. The Chaldeans were settled throughout the
whole country, but there were some special cities, such as Borsippa, Ur,
Sippera, and Babylon, where they had regular colleges. The reputation of the
Chaldeans for prophetic and magical knowledge was so great, that astrologers,
and conjurers in general, were styled Babylonians and Chaldeans, just as the
wandering fortune-tellers of modern times are called Egyptians or gipsies, and
Ars Chaldoearum was the name given to all occult sciences.
*
CHALICE
A cup used in religious rites.
It forms a part of the furniture of a Commandery of Knights Templar, and of
some of the higher Degrees of the French and Scottish Rites. It should be made
either of silver or of gilt metal. The stem of the chalice should be about
four inches high and the diameter from three to six.
*
CHALK, CHARCOAL, AND CLAY
By these three substances are
beautifully symbolized the three qualifications for the servitude of an
Entered Apprentice---freedom, fervency, and zeal. Chalk is the freest of all
substances, because the slightest touch leaves a trace behind. Charcaal, the
most fervent, because to it, when ignited, the most obdurate metals yield; and
Clay, the most zealous, because it is constantly employed in man's service,
and is as constantly reminding us that from it we all came, and to it we must
all return. In the earlier lectures of the eighteenth century, the symbols,
with the same interpretation, were given as Chalk, Charcaal, and Earthen Pan.
*
CHAMBER, MIDDLE
See Middle Chamber
*
CHAMBER OF REFLECTION
In the French and Scottish
Rites, a small room adjoining the Lodge, in which, preparatory to initiation,
the candidate is enclosed for the purpose of indulging in those serious
meditations which its somber appearance and the gloomy emblems with which it
is furnished are calculated to produce. It is also used in some of the
advanced degrees for a similar purpose. Its employment is very appropriate,
for, as Gädicke well observes, "It is only in solitude that we can deeply
reflect upon our present or future undertakings, and blackness, darkness, or
solitarine, is ever a symbol of death. A man who has undertaken a thing after
mature reflection seldom turns back."
*
CHANCELLOR
An officer in a Council of
Companions of the Red Cross, corresponding in some respects to the Senior
Warden of a Symbolic Lodge.
*
CHANCELLOR, GRAND
An officer in the Supreme
Councils and Grand Consistories of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite,
whose duties are somewhat similar to those of a Corresponding Secretary.
*
CHAOS
A confused and shapeless mass,
such as is supposed to have existed before God reduced creation into order. It
is a Masonic symbol of the ignorance and intellectual darkness from which man
is rescued by the light and truth of Freemasonry. Hence, Ordo ab chao, or,
Order out af chaos, is one of the mottoes of the Institution.
*
CHAOS DISENTANGLED
One of the names formerly
given to the Twenty-eighth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite,
or Knight of the Sun. It is likewise found in the collection of M. Pyron.
Discreet and Wise Chaos are the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Degrees of the Rite
of Mizraim.
*
CHAPEAU
The cocked hat worn in the
United states bodies by Knights Templar. The regulations of the Grand
Encampment of the United States, in 1862, prescribe that it shall be "the
military chapeau, trimmed with black binding, one white and two black plumes,
and appropriate cross on the left side. "
*
CHAPEL
The closets and anterooms so
necessary and convenient to a Lodge for various purposes are dignified by
German Masons with the title of Capellen, or chapels.
*
CHAPEL, MARY'S
Known also as the Lodge of
Edinburgh. The oldest Lodge in Edinburgh, Scotland, whose Minutes extend as
far back as the year 1599. This long stood as the oldest Minute, but in 1912
one was found of Aitchison's-Haven Lodge dated 1598 (see Aitchison's- Haven).
They show that John Boswell, Esq., of Auchinleck was present in the Lodge in
the year 1600, and that the Hon. Robert Moray, Quartermaster-General of the
Army of Scotland, was created a Master Mason in 1641 at Newcastle by some
members of the Lodge of Edinburgh who were present there with the Scotch Army.
These facts show that at that early period persons who were not Operative
Freemasons by profession were admitted into the Order. The Lodge of Edinburgh,
Mary's Chapel, 18 No. 1 on the roll of the Grand Lodge of Scotland; the date
of its formation is unknown, and at one time it stood first on the roll, but
in 1807 the Mother Kilwinning Lodge was placed before it as No. 0. It met at
one time in a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary; hence comes the second part
of its name. Its history was published in 1873 by D. M. Lyon.
*
CHAPITER
The uppermost part of a
column, pillar, or pilaster, serving as the head or crowning, and placed
immediately over the shaft and under the entablature. The pillars which stood
in front of the porch of King Solomon's Temple were adorned with chapiters of
a peculiar construction, which are largely referred to, and their symbolism
explained, in the Fellow Craft's Degree (see Pillars af the Porch).
*
CHAPLAIN
The office of Chaplain of a
Lodge is one which is not recognized in the ritual of the United States of
America, although often conferred by courtesy. The Master of a Lodge in
general performs the ,duties of a Chaplain.
*
CHAPLAIN, GRAND
An office of very modern date
in a Grand Lodge. It was first instituted on the 1st of May, 1775, on the
occasion of the laying of the foundation of the Freemasons' Hall in London. It
is stated in the English Constitutions of 1784 (page 314) that the office
"which had been discontinued for several years, was this day revived," but
there is no record of any appointment to it before the date given. This office
is now universally recognized by the Grand Lodges of America. His duties are
confined to offering up prayer at the communications of the Grand Lodge, and
conducting its devotional exercises on public occasions.
*
CHAPTER
In early times the meetings of
Freemasons were called not only Lodges, but Chapters and Congregations. Thus,
the statute enacted in the third year of the reign of Henry VI of England,
1425 A. D., declares that "Masons shall not confederate in Chapiters and
Congregations." The word is now exclusively appropriated to designate the
bodies in which degrees more advanced than the symbolic are conferred. Thus
there are Chapters of Royal Arch Masons in the York and
American Rites and Chapters of Rose Croix Masons in the Ancient and Accepted
Rite.
*
CHAPTER, GENERAL GRAND
See General Grand Chapter
*
CHAPTER, GRAND
See Grand Chapter
*
CHAPTER MASON
A colloquialism denoting a
Royal Arch Mason
*
CHAPTER MASONRY
A colloquia1ism intended to
denote the Degrees conferred in a Royal Arch Chapter.
*
CHAPTER OF ROYAL ARCH MASONS,
AN OLD
There is in Boston,
Massachusetts, a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons which was holden in Saint
Andrew's Lodge and formed about the year 1769 (see Royal Arch Masons,
Massachusetts; also, Pennsylvania).
*
CHAPTER, ROSE CROIX
See Rase Croix, Prince of
*
CHAPTER, ROYAL ARCH
A Convocation of Royal Arch
Masons is called a Chapter. In Great Britain, Royal Arch Masonry is connected
with and practically under the same government as the Grand Lodge ; but in
America the Jurisdictions are separate.
In America a Chapter of Royal
Arch Masons is empowered to give the preparatory Degrees of Mark, Past, and
Most Excellent Master ; although, of course, the Chapter, when meeting in any
one of the' Degrees, is called a Lodge.
In some Chapters the Degrees
of Royal and Select Master have also been given as preparatory Degrees ; but
in most of the States, the control of these is conferred upon separate bodies,
called Councils af Royal and Select Masters.
The presiding officers of a
Chapter are the High Priest, King, and Scribe, who are, respectively,
representatives of Joshua, Zerubbabel, Haggai, and son of Josedech. In the
English Chapters, these officers are generally styled either by the founders'
names, as above, or as First, Second, and Third Principals. In the Chapters of
Ireland the order of the officers is King, High Priest, and Chief Scribe.
Chapters of Royal Arch Masons in America are primarily under the jurisdiction
of State Grand Chapters, as Lodges are under Grand Lodges ; and secondly,
under the General Grand Chapter of the United States, whose meetings are held
triennially, and which exercisers a general supervisor over this branch of the
Order throughout the Union (see Royal Arch Degree).
*
CHAPTERS, IRISH
See Irish Chapters
*
CHARACTERISTIC NAME
See Ordoe Name
*
CHARACTERISTICS
The prefix to signatures of
Brethren of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is as follows: To that of
the Sovereign Grand Commander, the triple cross crosslet, as in the
illustration and Figure 1 in red ink. To that of an Inspector General other
than a Commander, Figure 2, in red ink. To that of a Brother of the Royal
Secret, Thirty-second Degree, Figure 3, in red ink. In the Northern Masonic
Jurisdiction of the United States, a Ros Croix Knight will suffix a triangle
surmounted by a cross in red ink, as in Figure 4. In all eases it is usual to
place the Degree rank in a triangle after the name (see Abbreviations).
*
CHARCOAL
See Chalk, Charcoal, and Clay
*
CHARGE
So called from the Old
Charges, because, like them, it contains an epitome of duty. It is the
admonition which is given by the presiding officer, at the close of the
ceremony of initiation, to the candidate, and which the latter receives
standing, as a token of respect. There is a Charge for each Degree, which is
to be found in all the monitors and manuals from Preston onward.
*
CHARITY, COMMITTEE ON
See Committee of Charity
*
CHARITY FUND
Many Lodges and Grand Lodges
have a fund especially appropriated to charitable purposes, which is not used
for the disbursement of the current expenses, but which is appropriated to the
relief of indigent brethren, their widows, and orphans.
*
CHARLATAN
A charlatan is a babbling
mountebank, who imposes on the populace by large pretensions and high-sounding
words. A charlatan in Freemasonry is one who seeks by a display of pompous
ceremonial, and often by claims to supernatural powers, to pervert the
Institution of Freemasonry to the acquisition of mere gain, or the
gratification of a paltry ambition. Every man, says a distinguished writer, is
a charlatan who extorts money by charging for sixpenny trash the amount that
should only be paid for works of science, and that, too, under the plea of
conveying knowledge that cannot otherwise be obtained (Freemasons Magazine,
London, 1844, page 505). The eighteenth century presented many examples of the
Masonic charlatans, of whom Brother Mackey deemed the one by far the greatest
was Cagliostro; nor has the nineteenth century been entirely without them.
*
CHARLEMAGNE
The great Charles, King of
France, who ascended the throne in the year 768, is claimed by some Masonic
writers as a patron of Freemasonry. This is perhaps because architecture
flourished in France during his reign, and because he encouraged the arts by
inviting the architects and traveling Freemasons, who were then principally
confined to Italy, to visit France and engage in the construction of important
edifices. The claim has been made that at his castle at Aix-la-Chapelle he set
apart a room or rooms in which the seven liberal arts and sciences were
taught. This comprised a liberal education for that period.
*
CHARLES MARTEL
He was the founder of the
Carlovingian dynasty, and governed France with , supreme power from 720 to
741, under the title of Duke of the Franks, the nominal kings being only his
puppets. He is claimed by the authors of the Old Records as one of the patrons
of Freemasonry. Thus, the Manuscript (Grand Lodge, No. l, Volume iv, Quatuor
Coronati Lodge reprints) tells us: "There was one of the Royal Line of France
called Charles Marhsall, and he was a man that loved well the said Craft and
took upon him the Rules and Manners, and after that BY THE GRACE OF GOD he was
elect to be the King of France, and when he was in his Estate he helped to
make those Masons that were now, and sett them on Work and gave them Charges
and Manners and good pay as he had learned of other Mascns, and confirmed them
a Charter from year to year to hold their Assembly when they would, and
cherished them right well, and thus came this Noble Craft into France and
England."
Rebold, in his History, has
accepted this legend as authentic, and says: "In 740, Charles Martel, who
reigned in France under the title of Mayor of the Palace at the request of the
Anglo-Saxon kings, sent many workmen and Masters into England."
*
CHARLES I AND II
For their supposed connection
with the origin of Freemasonry, see Stuart Freemasonry.
*
CHARLES XIII
The Duke of Sudermanland was
distinguished for his attachment to Freemasonry. In 1809 he ascended the
throne of Sweden under the title of Charles XIII, Having established the
Masonic Order of Knighthood of that name, he abdicated in favor of Charles
John Bernadotte, but always remained an active and zealous member of the
Order. There is no king on record so distinguished for his attachment to
Freemasonry as Charles XIII, of Sweden, and to him the Swedish Freemasons are
in a great measure indebted for the high position that the Order has
maintained in that country.
*
CHARLES XIII, ORDER OF
An Order of knighthood
instituted in 1811 by Charles XIII, King of Sweden, which was to be conferred
only on the principal dignitaries of the Masonic Institution in his dominions.
In the manifesto establishing the Order, the king says: "To give to this
Society (the Masonic) a proof of our gracious sentiments towards it, we will
and ordain that its first dignitaries to the number which we may determine,
shall in future be decorated with the most intimate proof of our confidence,
and which shall be for them a distinctive mark of the highest dignity." The
number of Knights are twenty-seven, all Freemasons, and the King of Sweden is
the perpetual Grand Master. The ribbon is red, and the jewel a maltese cross
pendant from an imperial crown.
*
CHARLESTON
A city in the United States of
America, and the metropolis of the State of South Carolina. It was there that
the first Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was
established in 1801, whence all other Supreme Councils have emanated, directly
or indirectly. Hence, it has assumed the title of Mother Council of the World.
The headquarters of the Southern Supreme Council were removed in 1870 to the
city of Washington (see Scottish Rite).
*
CHARMS, MAGICAL
See Talisman
*
CHART I
A map on which is delineated
the emblems of a degree, to be used for the instruction of candidates,
formerly called a carpet, which see. 2. The title given by Jeremy L. Cross to
his Hieroglyphic Monitor, which acquired on its first appearance in the Lodges
of America a popularity that it has not yet entirely lost. Hence the word
chart is still sometimes used colloquially and improperly to designate any
other Masonic manual of monitorial instruction.
*
CHARTER
Often used for Warrant of
Constitution, which see.
*
CHARTERED LODGE
A Lodge working under the
authority of a Charter or Warrant of Constitution issued by a Grand Lodge as
distinguished from a Lodge working under a Dispensation issued by a Grand
Master. Chartered Lodges only are entitled to representation in the Grand
Lodge. They alone can make by-laws, elect members or have their officers
installed- They are the constituent Bodies of a Jurisdiction, and by their
representatives compose the Grand Lodge.
*
CHARTER IS, FRANCIS
Sixth Earl of Wemyss Grand
Master of Scotland, 1747. Another Francis Charteris, afterwards Lord Elcho,
was Deputy Grand Master of Scotland 1786-7.
*
CHARTER MEMBER
A Freemason whose name is
attached to the petition upon which a Charter or Warrant of Constitution has
been granted to a Lodge, Chapter, or other subordinate body.
*
CHARTER OF COLOGNE
See Cologne, Charter of
*
CHARTER OF EDWIN
See Edwin Charges and Edwin
*
CHARTER OF TRANSMISSION
See Transmission, Charter of
*
CHARTRES, LOUIS PHILIPPE
JOSEPH, DUKE OF
Afterwards Duke of Orleans,
known as Egalité or Equality. Succeeded Comte de Clermont as Grand Master of
France in 1771. In 1793, January 5, a letter in the Journal de Paris, signed
Egalité, repudiated the Grand Orient of France and Freemasonry, to which the
Grand Orient replied by declaring the Grand Mastership vacant (see Histoire de
la Franc-Maçonnerie, Albert Lantoine, 1925, Paris, page 74). Died by the
guillotine November 6, 1793. Besuchet says that the Duke de Chartres was not
the head of the entire Masonic Order as there was also in existence the Grand
Lodge of France and the Grande Loge Nationale, or the Grand Orient de France.
*
CHASIDIM
In Hebrew, pronounced
Khaw-seed-eem, meaning saints. The name of a seet which existed in the time of
the Maccabees, and which was organized for the purpose of opposing innovations
upon the Jewish faith. Their essential principles were to observe all the
ritual laws of purification, to meet frequently for devotion, to submit to
acts of self-denial and mortification, to have all things in common, and
sometimes to withdraw from society and to devote themselves to contemplation.
Lawrie, History of Freemasonry (page 38), who seeks to connect them with the
Masonic Institution as a continuation of the Freemasons of the Solomonic era,
describes them under the name of Kasideans as "a religious Fraternity, or an
Order of the Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem, who bound themselves to adorn
the porches of that magnificent structure, and to preserve it from injury and
decay. This association was composed of the greatest men of Israel, who were
distinguished for their charitable and peaceful dispositions, and always
signalized themselves by their ardent zeal for the purity and preservation of
the Temple."
*
CHASTANIER, BENEDICT
A French surgeon, who in the
year 1767 introduced into England a modification of the Rite of Pernetty, in
nine degrees, and established a Lodge in London under the name of the
Illuminated Theosophists ; which, however, according to Lenning, soon
abandoned the Masonic forms, and was converted into a mere theosophic sect,
intended to propagate the religious system of Swedenborg. White, in his Life
of Emanuel Swedenborg, published at London in 1868 (page 683), gives an
account of "The Theosophical Society', instituted for the purpose of promoting
the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem by translating, printing, and
publishing the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg." This society was
formed in 1784, and met on Sundays and Thursdays at Chambers in New Court,
Middle Temple, for the discussion of Swedenborg's writings. Among the
twenty-five persons mentioned by White as having either joined the society or
sympathized with its object, we find the name of "Benedict Chastanier, Freach
Surgeon, 62 Tottenham Court." The nine degrees of Chastanier's Rite of
Illuminated Theosophists are as follows: 1, 2, and 3, Symbolic degrees; 4, 5,
6, Theosophic Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master; 7, Sublime Scottish Mason,
or Celestial Jerusalem; 8, Blue Brother; and 9, Red Brother.
*
CHASTITY
In the Regius or Halliwell
Manuseript of the Constitutions of Freemasonry, written not later than the
latter part of the fourteenth century, the seventh point is in these words:
Thou schal not by thy maystres Wyf ly, Ny by thy felows yn no manner wyse,
Lest the Craft wold the despyse; Ny by thy felows concubyne, No more thou
woldest he dede by thyne. Again, in the Constitutions known as the Matthew
Cooke Manuscript, the date of which is about the latter part of the fifteenth
century, the same regulation is enforced in these words : ''The 7th Point.
That he covet not the wyfe ne the daughter of his masters, another of his
fellows but if (unless) hit be in maryage.'' So all through the Old
Constitutions and Charges we find this admonition to respect the chastity of
our Brethren's wives and daughters ; an admonition which, it is scarcely
necessary to say, is continued to this day.
*
CHASUBLE
The outer dress which is worn
by the priest at the altar service, and is an imitation of the old Roman toga.
It is a circular cloth, which falls down over the body so as completely to
cover it, with an aperture in the center for the head to pass through. It is
used in the ceremonies of the Rose Croix Degree.
*
CHECKERED FLOOR
See Mosaic Pavement
*
CHEF-D'OEUVRE
French, meaning superior
production. It was a custom among many of the gilds, and especially among the
Compagnans du Devoir, who sprang up in the sixteenth century in France, on the
decay of Freemasonry in that kingdom, and as one of its results, to require
every Apprentice, before he could be admitted to the freedom of the gild, to
present a piece of finished work as a proof of his skill in the art in which
he had been instructed. The piece of work was called his chef-d'oeuvre, or
masterpiece.
*
CHEQUERED FLOOR
See Mosaic Pavement
*
CHEREAU, ANTOINE GUILLAUME
He was a painter in Paris, who
published, in 1806, two hermetico-philosophical works entitled Explication de
la Pierre Cubique, and Explication de la Croix Philosophique; or Explanations
of the Cubical Stone and of the Philosophical Cross. These works are brief,
but give much interesting information on the ritualism and symbolism of the
advanced degrees. They have been republished by Tessier in his Manuel General,
without, however, any acknowledgment to the original author.
*
CHERUBIM
The second order of the
angelic hierarchy, the first being the seraphim. The two cherubim that
overtopped the merey-seat or covering of the ark, in the holy of holies, were
placed there by Moses, in obedience to the orders of God : " And thou shalt
make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two
ends of the mercyseat. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on
high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one
to another; towards the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubims be" (see
Exodus xxv, 18, 20). It was between these cherubim that the Shekinah or Divine
Presence rested, and from which issued the Bathkol or Voice of God. Of the
form of these cherubim we are ignorant. Josephus says that they resembled no
known creature, but that Moses made them in the form in which he saw them
about the throne of God; others, deriving their ideas from what is said of
them by Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Saint John, describe them as having the face and
breast of a man, the wings of an eagle, the belly of a lion, and the legs and
feet of an ox, which three animals, with man, are the symbols of strength and
wisdom. But all agree in this, that they had wings, and that these wings were
extended. The cherubim were purely symbolic. But although there is great
diversity of opinion as to their exact signification, yet there is a very
general agreement that they allude to and symbolize the protecting and
overshadowing power of the Deity. Reference is made to the extended wings of
the cherubim in the Degree of Royal Master. Much light has been thrown upon
the plastic form of these symbols, says Brother C. T. MeClenachan, not only as
to the Cherubim of the Ark of the Covenant spoken of in Exodus, Samuel, Kings,
and Chronicles, but those of Chaldeo-Assyrian art which beautified the gates
of the palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh, and other structures. Brother
McClenachan adds the following comments : The Kirubi of the Assyrian type, in
the shape of bulls with extended wings, in nowise meet the description given
above. The figures which can be found in various places upon Egyptian
monuments, placed face to face on either side of the Naos of the gods, and
stretching out their arms, furnished with great wings, as though to envelop
them (see Wilkinson, Manners and Custom of Ancient Egyptians, 1878, volume
iii), more fully meet the idea-in fact, it is convincing, when we remember the
period, and note that all else about the sacred furnishings of the Tabernacle,
or Ohel-mo'ed, are exclusively Egyptian in form, as well as the sacerdotal
costumes (see L'Egypte et Moïse, by Abbé Ancessi, Paris, 1875). Furthermore,
this was most natural, since the period was immediately after the exodus. The
Cherubim of the Ark were remodeled by Solomon after designs by his father,
David (First Chronicles xxviii, 18). At this epoch, says François Lenormant,
Professor of Archeology at the National Library of France, in his Beginnings
of History, 1882, the Egyptian influence was no longer supreme in its sway
over the Hebrews; that the Assyro-Babylonian influence balanced it; that the
new Cherubim, then executed, may have been different from the ancient ones as
described in Exodus; in fact, Kirubi after the Assyrian type, which formed a
Merkabah, meaning a chariot (First Chronicles xxviii, 18), upon which Yahveh
was seated. In the Egyptian monuments the gods are often represented between
the forward-stretching wings of sparrow-hawks or vultures. placed face to
face, and birds of this kind often enfold with their wings the divine Naos.
The adornment of the Tabernacle, as mentioned in Exodus, excluded every figure
susceptible of an idolatrous character, which is far from being the case in
what we know of the Temple of Solomon. In the matter of plastic images, none
was admitted save only the Cherubim, which were not only placed upon the Ark,
but whose representations are woven into the hangings of the Mishkan and the
veil which separates the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. It is therefore
most probable that the Cherubim of Exodus were great eagles or birds-Kurubi-while
under the remodeling by Solomon these were changed to Kirubi with human faces.
The prophet Ezekiel describers four hay-yoth or Cherubim, two and two, back to
back, and going "each one straight forward'' toward the four quarters. The
Cherubim of the Merkabah of Ezekiel have four wings-two lifted up and two
covering their back and four human faces set in pairs, to the right and to the
left, one of a man, one of a bull, one of a lion, and one of an eagle-the
faces of creatures which combine all the emblems of strength depicted by the
Chaldeo-Assyrian bull. Ezekiel thus describes the Cherubim with several faces
which, alternately with the palm-trees, decorated the frieze around the
interior of the temple at Jerusalem: "Each Kerub had two faces, a man's face
turned one way toward the palm-tree, and a lion's face turned the other way
toward the other palm-tree; and it was in this wise all around the house." The
following information, furnished by Professor Lenormant, on the subject of
Cherubim, is important: "Deductions were formerly made from the Aryan theory
to support primitive tradition as to origin and form, but these have been
overthrown, and the Semitic interpretation made manifest through finding the
name of the Cherubim in the cuneiform inscriptions; that in place of referring
the Hebrew word kerub to the Aryan root grabh, meaning to seize, the word is
more properly of Semitic origin, from the root karab, signifying bull, or a
creature strong and powerful. Referring to the prophet Ezekiel (i, 10, and x,
14), the two parallel passages use the word kerub interchangeably with shore,
bull, the face of a bull and face of a cherub, which are synonymous
expressions. Since we have come to know those colossal images of winged bulls
with human faces, crowned with the lofty cidaris, decorated with several pairs
of horns, which flanked the gateways of the Assyrian palaces, a number of
scholars, intimately acquainted with antique sculpture, have been zealous in
associating them with the Cherubim of the Bible. The winged bull with a human
head figures in a bas-relief in the palace of Khorsabad as a favoring and
protecting genius, which watches over the safe navigation of the transports
that carry the wood of Lebanon by sea. The bulls whose images are placed at
the gateways of the palaces and temples, as described in the above ideographic
group, are the guardian genii, who are looked upon as living beings. As the
result of a veritable magical operation, the supernatural creature is supposed
to reside within these bodies of stone." In a bilingual document, Akkadian
with an Assyrian version, we read invocations to the two bulls who flanked the
gate of the infernal abode, which were no longer simulacra of stone, but
living beings, like the bulls at the gates of the celestial palaces of the
gods. The following is one of the unique expressions made in the ear of the
bull which stands to the right of the bronze enclosure: "Great Bull, most
great Bull, stamping before the holy gates, he opens the interior; director of
Abundance, who supports the god Nirba, he who gives their glory to the
cultivated fields, my pure hands sacrifice toward thee. " Similar expressions
were then made on the other side. These genii, in the form of winged bulls
with human countenances, were stationed as guardians at the portals of the
edifices of Babylonia and Assyria, and were given the name of Kirubi ; thus,
Kirubu damqu lippaqid, meaning May the propitious Kirub guard. Numerous
authorities may be given to show that the Chaldeo-Assyrians' Kirub, from the
tenth to the fifth century before our era, whose name is identical with the
Hebrew Kerub, was the winged bull with a human head. The Israelites, during
the times of the Kings and the Prophets, pictured to themselves the Cherubim
under this form. The figures of the Cherubim are said to have defeated Dante's
power of constructive imagination.
*
CHESED
A word which is generally
corrupted into Hesed. It is the Hebrew pronounced chesed, and signifies mercy.
Hence it very appropriately refers to that act of kindness and compassion
which is commemorated in the degree of Select Master of the American system.
It is the fourth of the Cabalistic Sephiroth, and is combined in a triad with
Beauty and Justice.
*
CHEVALIER
Employed by the French
Freemasons as the equivalent of Knight in the name of any degree in which the
latter word is used by English Freemasons as Chevalier du Soleil for Knight of
the Sun, or Chevalier de l'Orient for Knight of the East. The German word is
Ritter.
*
CHIBBELUM
A significant word used in the
rituals of the eighteenth century, which define it to mean a worthy Freemason.
It is a corruption of Giblim.
*
CHROMATIC CALENDAR. THE FIVE
POINTS
COLORS, ELEMENTS, AND POINTS, OF THE FIVE RULERS
BLACK, RED, GREEN, WHITE, YELLOW
In the great Temple, usually
known as the Ocean Banner Monastery, at Honam, a suburb of Canton, China, we
find four colossal idols occupying a large porch, each image being painted a
different color. Ch'i-kwoh, who rules the north and grants propitious winds,
is dark ; Kwang-muh is red, and to him it is given to rule the south and
control the fire, air, and water; To-man' rules the west, and grants or
withholds rain, his color being white; while Chang-tsang, whose color is
green, rules the winds and keeps them within their proper bounds, his supreme
control being exercised over the east. The old custom of associating colors
with the four quarters of the globe has probably led to the habit of
describing the winds from these respective points as possessed of the same
Colors. The fifth, the earth, the central remaining point, still is
conjectural. Thus, we also find in China a set of deities known as the five
rulers; their colors, elements, and points may be thus represented as in the
table.
Black ..... Water ..... North
.... Back
Red ........ Fire ........ South .... Breast
Green ..... Wood .... East ....... Mouth
White ..... Metal .... West ...... Knee
Yellow .... Earth .... Middle ... Foot
*
COLORS, ELEMENTS, AND POINTS,
OF THE FIVE RULERS
These again are in turn
associated with the planets, and the study of Chinese and Babylonian planet
colors is full of curious points of similarity.
BLACK, typifying the north,
has two direct opponents in symbolic colors, and these are red and white. The
first as implying ignorance arising from evil passions, the second indicating
ignorance of mind.
Red-black is called in Hebrew
Heum, from which comes Heume, an enclosing wall. Black from white, in Hebrew,
is Seh-her, signifying the dawn of light to the mind of the Masonic profane,
the hand to back, as the words of wisdom are about to be spoken.
In the Egyptian, the black
Osiris appears at the commencement of the Funereal Ritual, representing the
state of the soul which passes into the world of light.
Anubis, one of the sons of
Osiris, who weighs the soul in the seales of Amenti, and is the god of the
dead, is black. The Conductor, or Master of Ceremonies, Thoth Psychopompe, has
the head of the black Ibis (see Truth).
RED
In Hebrew, the fire of love, which burns in the south, is are, to bum, On
Egyptian monuments, and in their temples, the flesh of men is painted red, and
that of women, yellow. The same difference exists between the gods and
goddess, except where speciality otherwise defined. Mill's name in Hebrew
signifies red, and as the image of fire is love, it is the universal tie of
beings from breast to breast.
GREEN
pronounced yeh'-rek, meaning green thing, verdure. pronounced rake-eh-ah
meaning vault of heaven, the firmament, also the winds. Green designates the
beginning, the creation, the birth, as the world was called into being in the
wisdom of God by his word of mouth, and Light was to appear in the East.
Phtha was the Egyptian Creator
of the world; he was at times represented with his flesh painted green, and
holding a scepter of four colors, red, blue, green, and yellow: fire, air,
water, and earth. The god Lunus, the Moon, in Hebrew pronounced yeh-rak, is
formed of one of the roots of green, signifying to found or set in order.
Green is the symbol of Victory as well as Hope, in the symbolic colors (see
Green).
WHITE
He-ur, to be white; Heurim, meaning to be noble and pure. The Egyptian spirits
of the dead were clothed in white, like the priests. Phtha, the creator and
generator, was frequently robed in a white vestment, symbol of the egg from
which he was born, enveloped in the white or albumen. The head of Osiris was
draped in a white tunic. While the Chinese metaphorically represented Metal by
this color, the Egyptians and Hebrews made it the symbol of Earth.
Its reference to the West
would imply the first point whereat the profane bent the knee in supplication
to the Deity.
YELLOW
pronounced tsaw-hab, gold color, designates a radiation of light, signifying
to shine, to be resplendent. Man, or the male principle, symbolized by ardent
fire, was represented by red, and the female principle, identified with the
idea of light or flame, represented by yellow or light-colored earth, over
which the swift-footed messenger bears the tidings of a Freemason's distress
and the return of obligatory succor. This light of the fire, the female of
Divine beauty, the Egyptian Venus, was called Athor, signifying dwelling of
Horus, and was as represented in the engraving.
*
CHURCH, FREEMASONS OF THE
An Architectural College was
organized in London, in the year 1842, under the name of Freemasons of the
Church for the Recovery, Maintenance, and Furtherance of the True Principles
and Practice of Architecture. The founders announced their objects to be "the
rediscovery of the ancient principles of architecture; the sanction of good
principles of building, and the condemnation of bad ones; the exercise of
scientific and experienced judgment in the choice and use of the most proper
materials ; the infusion, maintenance, and advancement of science throughout
architecture ; and eventuality, by developing the powers of the College upon a
just and beneficial footing, to reform the whole practice of architecture, to
raise it from its present vituperated condition, and to bring around it the
same unquestioned honor which is at present enjoyed by almost every other
profession" (Builder, volume 1, page 23).
One of their own members has
said that "the title was not intended to express any conformity, with the
general body of Freemasons, but rather as indicative of the professed views of
the College, namely, recovery, maintenance, and furtherance of the free
principles and practice of architecture." And that, in addition, they made it
an object of their exertions to preserve or effect the restoration of
architectural remains of antiquity threatened unnecessarily with demolition or
endangered by decay. But it is evident, from the close connection of modern
Freemasonry with the building gilds of the Middle Ages, that any
investigations into the condition of medieval architecture must throw light on
Masonic history.
*
CIPRIANI, JEAN BAPTISTE
Born in 1727, died in 1785. A
famous Florentine artist, who came to England in 1755, and co-operated with
Bartolozzi in the production of the frontispiece of the 1784 edition of the
Book of Constitutions.
*
CIRCLE
The circle being a figure
which returns into itself, and having therefore neither beginning nor end, has
been adopted in the symbology of all countries and times as a symbol sometimes
of the universe and sometimes of eternity. With this idea in the Zoroastrian
mysteries of Persia, and frequently in the Celtic mysteries of Druidism, the
temple of initiation was circular. In the obsolete lectures of the old English
system, it was said that "the circle has ever been considered symbolical of
the Deity; for as a circle appears to have neither beginning nor end, it may
be justly considered a type of God, without either beginning of days or ending
of years. It also reminds us of a future state, where we hope to enjoy
everlasting happiness and joy.'' But whatever refers especially to the Masonic
symbolism of the circle ,will be more appropriately contained in the article
on the Point within a Circle.
*
CIRCLES
The name in German is
Kränzchen
There are in Germany many small Masonic clubs, or Circles, which are formed in
subordination to some Lodge which exercises a supervision over them and is
responsible for their good behavior to the Grand Lodge, by whose permission
they have been established. The members devote themselves to Masonic work,
organize lectures, ete., and acquire a Masonic library (see Ars Quatuor
Coronatorum, ix, 66).
*
CIRCUIT
Fort, in his Early History and
Antiquities of Freemasonry, says: "Northern kings, immediately upon acceding
to the throne, made a 'gait' or procession about their realms. According to
the Scandinavian laws, when real property was sold, granted, or conveyed, the
transfer of possession was incomplete until a circuit was made around the
estate by the buyer and vendor, in which tour all the inhabitants of the
nearest hamlet united.
"During the installation
ceremonies of the Master of a Masonic Lodge, a procession of all the Craftsmen
march around the room before the Master, to whom an appropriate salute is
tendered. This Circuit is designed to signify that the new incumbent reduces
the Lodge to his possession in this symbolic manner" (Fort's Early History,
page 320; see also Circumambulation).
*
CIRCULAR TEMPLES
These were used in the
initiations of the religion or Zoroaster. Like the square temples of
Freemasonry, and the other mysteries, they were symbolic of the world; and the
symbol was completed by making the circumference of the circle a
representation of the zodiac. In the mysteries of Druidism also, the temples
were sometimes circular.
*
CIRCUMAMBULATION, RITE OF
Circumambulation is the name
given by sacred archeologists to that religious rite in the ancient
initiations which consisted in a formal procession around the altar, or other
holy and consecrated object. The same Rite exists in Freemasonry.
In ancient Greece, when the
priests were engaged in the rite of sacrifice, they and the people always
walked three times round the altar while singing a sacred hymn. In making this
procession, great care was taken to move in imitation of the course of the
sun. For this purpose; they commenced at the east, and passing on by the way
of the south to the west and thence by the north, they arrived at the east
again. The strophe of the ancient hymn was sung in going from the east to the
West : the antistrophe in returning to the east, and the epode while standing
still. The strophe in Greek choral poetry was the first in a pair of two
corresponding stanzas, or rhymed lines ; the second being called the
antistrophe. The epode was the name for the last part of an ancient ode or
poem. In this procession, as it will be observed, the right hand was always
placed to the altar. "After this," says Potter, "they stood about the altar,
and the priest, turning towards the right hand, went round it and sprinkled it
with meal and holy water", (Antiquities of Greece, Book II, chapter iv, page
206). This ceremony the Greeks called moving, from the right to the right,
which was the direction of the motion, and the Romans applied to it the term
dextrovorsum, or dextrorsum, which signifies the same thing. Thus, Plautus (Curculis,
1,1, 70), makes Palinurus, a character in his comedy of Curculio, say: "If you
would do reverence to the gods, you must turn to the right hand," Si deos
salutas dextroversum censeo. Gronovius, in commenting on this passage of
Plautus, says : ''In worshiping and praying to the gods, they were accustomed
to turn to the right hand." A hymn of Callimachus has been preserved, which is
said to have been chanted by the priests of Apolio at Delos, while performing
this ceremony of circumambulation, the substance of which is ''we imitate the
example of the sun, and follow his benevolent course. "
Among the Romans, the ceremony
of circumambulation was always used in the rites of sacrifice, of expiation or
purification. Thus, Vergil (Aeneid, vi, 229), describes Corynacus as purifying
his companions at the funeral of Misenus, by passing three times around them
while aspersing them with the lustral waters; and to do so conveniently, it
was necessary that he should have moved with his right hand toward them.
Idem ter socios pura
circumtulit unda,
Spargens rore levi et ramo felicis olivae.
That is:
Thrice with pure water compass'd he the crew,
Sprinkling, with olive branch, the gentle dew.
In fact, so common was it to
unite the ceremony of circumambulation with that of expiation or purification,
or, in other words, to make a circuitous procession in performing the latter
rite, that the term lustrate, whose primitive meaning is to purify, came at
last to be synonymous with circumire, to walk round anything, and hence a
purification and a circumambulation were often expressed by the same word.
The circuit of sacred places
as a significant religious rite has many recorded examples. William Simpson
(The Jonah Legend, page 18), says: "With the Semites there is one example
which appears to be a good illustration of the principle. The pilgrims of
Mecca perform what is considered to be a very sacred part of the ceremonies ;
that is, the tawuf. or circumambulation of the Kaabah. The reason given for
this is that the first Kaabah was an imitation of the celestial throne which
is constantly being circumambulated by the angels. Going round sacred places
and things is not peculiar to the Semites; it is a ritualistic custom that can
be traced through most parts of the ancient world, and in many cases it is
continued down to our own times. Being part of the ritual at the Kaabah, it is
not difficult to understand how it gave birth to the mythos of the angels and
the throne."
Among the Hindus, the same
Rite of Circumambulation has always been practiced. As an instance, we may
cite the ceremonies which are to be performed by a Brahman, upon first rising
from bed in the morning, an accurate account of which has been given by
Colebrooke in the sixth volume of the Asiatic Researches.
The priest having first adored
the sun, while directing his face to the east, then walks toward the west by
the way of the south, saying, at the same time, "I follow the course of the
sun," which he thus explains: "As the sun in his course moves round the world
by way of the south, so do I follow that luminary, to obtain the benefit
arising from a journey round the earth by the way of the south.'' Lastly, we
may refer to the preservation of this Rite among the Druids, whose "mystical
dance" around the caim, or heap of sacred stones, was in the opinion of
Brother Mackey nothing more nor less than the Rite of Circumambulation.
On these occasions, the priest
always made three circuits from east to west, by the right hand, around the
altar or cairn, accompanied by all the worshipers. And so sacred was the rite
once considered, that we learn from Toland (Celtic Religion and Learning, II,
xvii), that in the Scottish Isles, once a principal seat of the Druidical
religion, the people "never come to the ancient sacrificing and fire-hallowing
cairns, but they walk three times around them, from east to west, according to
the course of the sun.'' This sanctified tour, or round by the south, he
observes, is called Deaseal, as the contrary, or unhallowed one by the north,
is called Tuapholl. And, he further remarks, that this word Deaseal was
derived ''from Deas, the right (understanding in this case the hand) and soil,
one of the ancient names of the sun ; the right hand in this round being ever
next the heap.''
This Rite of Circumambulation
undoubtedly refers to the doctrine of sun-worship, because the
circumambulation was always made around the sacred place, just as the sun was
supposed to move around the earth; and although the dogma of sun-worship does
not of course exist in Freemasonry, we find an allusion to it in the Rite of
Circumambulation, which it preserves, as well as in the position of the
officers of a Lodge and in the symbol of a point within a circle. The Rite of
Circumambulation may not be without some suggestion of the old ceremony of
beating the bounds or, as it is called in Scotland, riding the marches, a
custom still observed in some cities. The procession usually started and ended
at the town cross if there should be one. So much we are told on page 16 of
By-Gone Church Life in Scotland in an essay by Reverend George S. Tyack.
A more elaborate discussion of
the old ceremony of beating the bounds is given by John T. Page in the
collection of essays contained in Curious Church Customs edited by William
Andrews. From this we learn that in the early days when deities were called
into existence at the will of any human power we may note the fact that
somewhere between the years 715 and 672 B.C. Numa Pompilius introduced to the
Roman cities the worship of the god, Terminus. The king originated a plan by
which the fields of the cities were separated from each other by means of
boundary stones. These were dedicated and made sacred to a god Terminus.
Terminalia, as the Feast of Terminus was called, was celebrated annually on
the 23rd of February. On this day the people turned out in force and visiting
the several boundary stones, bedecked them out with flowers and performed
various sacrificial rites with great rejoicing.
From the seventh century
before Christ to the present time is a long step, but it is generally admitted
that in this yearly Terminalia of the ancient Romans we have the germ of the
custom known as beating the bounds ,which in many parishes throughout England
is still carried out either annually or every third or seventh year as the
case may be.
The early Christians readily
adopted some of the heathen customs to their own requirements. Thus we soon
find them making a perambulation around their fields accompanied by their
bishops and clergy. They repeated litanies and implored God to avert plague
and pestilence and to enable them in due season to reap the fruits of the
earth. We find these processions recorded as early as the 550th year of the
Christian era.
The curious custom of whipping
during these processions around the bounds of any particular locality came to
form a part of the ceremony. In order that the boundaries of the parish might
be deeply impressed on the younger portion of the community, it became common
to publicly whip a boy while he was near one of these landmarks in the course
of the procession. In order to encourage the youngsters to undergo this
treatment, we find that a present was usually given to them at the close of
the proceedings.
Something of the same sort has
been preserved in certain religious observances whenever a piece of property
has been dedicated for sacred use. Then the procession marches around the
various boundary marks and dedicates them solemnly.
In all this there is a kinship
showing the ancient source of the Rite of Circumambulation.
*
CLANDESTINE
The ordinary meaning of this
word is secret, hidden. The French word clandestin, from which it is derived,
is defined by Boiste to be something fait en cachette et contre les lois, a
phrase meaning in the French language Done in a hiding place and against the
laws, which better suits the Masonic signification, which refers to what is
illegal, or not authorized. Irregular is the word which is often used for
small departures from custom.
Brothers Newton R. Parvin,
former Grand Secretary of Iowa, and C. C. Hunt, who succeeded him in office,
have sent us an account of the American Masonic Federation.
A book, the Thomson Masonic
Fraud, a Study in Clandestine Masonry, has also been written by Brother Isaac
Blair Evans, United States Attorney for Utah in 1921, who not only prepared
the case, with the assistance of Brother M. G. Price, for presentation to the
Grand Jury but also drew the indictment upon which Messrs. Thomson, Perrot,
and Bergera were Convected.
The principal reason for the
financial success of the American Masonic Federation was, as Brothers Parvin,
Hunt and Blair point out, due to the general ignorance of the Craft on the
subject of Masonic history and Law. By setting forth claims on this subject,
which very few Freemasons because of lack of knowledge were able to disprove,
the convicted persons were able to impose upon the public. We may here point
out that neither the Judge nor any member of the jury were Freemasons. From
these two sources of first hand information the following particulars are
obtained. Brother Evans says in the introduction to his book, page 1.
The conviction in the Federal
Court at Salt Lake City, Utah, on May 15, 1922, of Matthew A.McBlain Thomson,
Thomas Perrot and Dominic Bergera, of using the mails to defraud, was the
culmination of efforts of the United States Government, begun in 1915, to have
a reckoning with the perpetrators of one of the most ingenious mail frauds,
and the most daring and spectacular Masonic imposture in American history. No
one can study the facts in the case without sensing keenly the great
importance of this trial, both in the history of crimes and the history of
Masonry. Future accounts of celebrated American mail frauds will surely be
incomplete without some mention of this bold swindle which had gone its way
without molestation for more than a decade.
For about fifteen years there
had been an organization at work in the United States headed by one Matthew
McBlain Thomson, formerly a member of two Lodges in Scotland and a Past Master
of one of them. He came to America and affiliated with King Solomon Lodge No.
27 of Montpelier, Idaho. Later on he took a dimit from this Lodge and then
formed an organization, which became the American Masonic Federation. Thomson
claimed to have 10,000 members, and that his organization had been recognized
in practically every country in the world. He put forth plausible arguments to
convince people that he had authority to form his organization and confer
Masonic degrees.
This he was able to do by
making statements which only those who were posted in Masonic history and
jurisprudence could refute. He claimed that with the exception of Louisiana,
the United States was unoccupied territory Masonically, and that not one of
the Grand Lodges in the United States had a Charter authorizing it to work;
that each of the thirteen Colonies organized a Grand Lodge of its own, without
obtaining consent of the Grand Lodge from which their Charters had originally
been issued; that the Lodges in the Colonies, by this breaking away from the
home Grand Lodges of Great Britain without first obtaining consent, became
irregular and clandestine organizations, and that, therefore, the field in the
United States was open to any regular organization that chose to occupy it;
that later recognition by the Grand Lodges of Great Britain did not make these
self-formed Grand Lodges of the United States legitimate; that they are
clandestine, also, because of the alleged fact that they are not universal and
refuse to recognize Freemasons in other countries on account of religion,
race, or some other assumed reason, contrary to the principles of
universality.
As for himself, Thomson
claimed descent through lawful Charters from Mother Kilwinning Lodge No. 0, of
Scotland, to Saint Johns Mother Lodge at Marseilles, France, and that this
latter body chartered Polar Star Lodge in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1794;
that Polar Star Lodge became a constituent part of the Supreme Council of
Louisiana, and that this Supreme Council, on September 14, 1906, granted a
Charter of authority to Matthew McBlain Thomson to form Craft or Symbolic
Grand and Subordinate Lodges of Masons, and that by virtue of this Charter he,
Thomson, granted a Charter to the Grand Lodge Inter-Montana.
Thus, he claimed that he alone
had the true Scottish Rite Masonry since his came from Scotland, while the
so-called Scottish Rite Masonry of the United States either originated in the
United States or came from France, not Scotland.
For the Higher degrees of
Masonry, as he called them, he claimed authority by virtue of a Charter from
the Grand Council of Rites of Scotland, which he asserted to be "The oldest
High degree Body in the world and all High Degree Diplomas came directly from
the Grand Council in Scotland." He also claimed that the Grand Council of
Rites derived from Mother Kilwinning Lodge. Such in brief is the "chain of
title" claimed by Thomson. As a matter of fact there is not a sound link in
the entire chain, but only a student of Masonic history could disprove his
claim, and from among his statements, pick the true from the false.
Thomson sent out paid
organizers whose duty it was to organize Lodges and confer Masonic degrees.
The charge for the Craft degrees ranged from 535 up to 550 or more, the usual
charge being about 550.
For the Scottish Rite degrees
from the Fourth to the Thirty-third the charge was from $135 to $200.
Sometimes for this amount were added the Shrine and Templar degrees.
Occasionally these organizers would be arrested by the police on the charge of
obtaining money under false pretenses. Sometimes convictions were had, but
usually these were hard to obtain, for the reason that it was difficult to
disprove statements made by Thomson and his organizers. This difficulty
existed because of lack of knowledge by Freemasons called to testify in such
trials. In 1915 one of these organizers by the name of Ranson was arrested in
Saint Louis. The Post Office Inspector in charge at Saint Louis concluded that
the United States Government take up the charge of using the mails to defraud.
He assigned his inspector, M,
G. Price, to investigate. Price was not able to enter actively upon this work
until 1919. Since then and up to the date of the trial he spent practically
his entire time making an investigation in the United States, Scotland and
France. As a result an indictment was found against Matthew McBlain Thomson,
Thomas Perrot, Dominic Bergera and Robert Jamieson, and the case came to trial
in the United States District Court at Salt Lake City, Utah. As the regular
judge in this district was a Freemason, Judge Wade of Iowa was assigned to try
the case and he impressed all who attended the trial with his absolute
fairness to both prosecution and defense. As witnesses for the Government
there were summoned several ex-members of Thomson's organization, three
officers of various Masonic Grand Bodies of Scotland, and several Brethren
representing the regular Masonic organizations in the United States. The
former members of Thomson's organization testified as to methods used and
representations made in obtaining members.
The Scotch Brethren testified
as to Masonic history and Law in Scotland. They also testified that Mother
Kilwinning Lodge had a copy of every Charter issued by her and that she never
chartered a Lodge in Marseilles, France; as for the Grand Council of Rites of
Scotland, it was considered clandestine and that members of legitimate Lodges
in Scotland were forbidden to be members of it or have anything to do with it
Masonically.
Two officers of the Supreme
Council of Louisiana testified that their Council never granted a Charter to
Thomson to work Craft degrees. The Government also was able to show
contradictory statements in Thomson's publications. The jury brought in a
verdict of guilty, and the Judge sentenced each of the defendants to serve a
term of two years in the penitentiary and pay a fine of $5,000.
Judge Wade, in passing
sentence upon the defendants, said:
Nobody can hear this evidence in this case without being convinced, absolutely
convinced, that this thing has been a fraudulent scheme from the beginning. I
can see where an ignorant person might find some possible excuse for the
methods employed in this case. For intelligent people and experienced people
to try to convince the Court that this organization and this plan and this
work that had been going on is on the square-it can't be done. Of course now
we are living in a time when some of the brightest minds in the country are
devoting themselves to securing money by short cuts, by taking advantage of
the gullible for their enterprises.
In fact that is one of the
dominant crimes of the present time. I know of one state in which in the last
two years, within two, there has been sold over twenty-nine million dollars
worth of stock in packing houses which never were built, and practically every
dollar of the money lost, just by shrewd practice, by trying to get the other
fellow's money in some way without working for it. Now, of course, after all
that was stated in this case from the beginning and all through I confess that
I was astounded when I heard Mr. Thomson testify that there was no pretense,
that there was no record anywhere of a Charter to Marseilles Lodge, on the
existence of which lay the right and practically the foundation of all claims
of legitimacy on that branch of the case and to have him admit that such a
lodge existed only in tradition-I realize that some things can be proven by
tradition, but tradition cannot exist with one man tradition must have-before
it has any force as proof- such general recognition among men in that
particular occupation or relation that it forces itself upon the mind as it
truth the record of which has been lost-and it was conceded on the witness
stand that so far as this particular thing was concerned there was no record
anywhere and no one who was skilled in the history of Freemasonry had ever met
any such a tradition so far as the record in this case is concerned, in any
history or book or pamphlet or anything else outside of this organization. So
was I surprised when I found that the Council of Rites of Scotland which had
been one of the chief points urged by these gentlemen, had no record behind it
but a few years and it was represented-entirely aside from the question of the
origin and history of this organization and those that preceded it-it was
represented time and time again without dispute to these poor devils that were
led largely by their attraction to an ancient organization and to the rites
and rituals of the organization, it was represented to them specifically and
it has not been denied that by virtue of their association with this
organization the doors of Freemasonry the world over were open to them outside
of the United States, which is of course an absurd claim under the evidence in
this case.
Then the trip that Bergera
made to Europe on the investigation, in view of what transpired according to
his own testimony, has all the appearance of being a plan or scheme th the
might come back here and state to those whose membership was sought his
capacity to enter the Lodges of Europe to support their claim, that the
members immediately on getting across the water would have the doors wide open
to them. And then after making a trip and going to one or two Lodges or three
under peculiar circumstances, in fact never going to the Grand Lodge of
Scotland, and that was included in the representation made, that is to say,
all Europe was included, never going m the Grand Lodge of Scotland, the Grand
Lodge of England and never going to the Grand Lodge of France, whatever it is
called, and coming back here no doubt to back up the representation that
membership in this organization was opening the doors of all Masonic Orders,
all of the regular Masonic orders in Europe-it was a pretense, gentlemen, you
can't come to any other conclusion. If Bergera went over there for the purpose
of conferring what these organizers were representing and which is not denied
here he certainly would have gone to the Grand Lodge of Scotland or England or
France or Germany or somewhere to find out whether the doors would be open to
these fellows that were joining their ranks.
But it is not necessary to
recite the details. One cannot listen to this evidence without being forced to
the conclusion that so far as the representation as to the standing and the
brotherhood and the association of people with which they would become
immediately affiliated was concerned, that aside entirely from the genealogy
of the lodge, nobody can claim that there was any truth in what was said
except insofar as they had access to certain Lodges with which Mr. Thomson
through his relation had some affiliation. The spectacle of Mr. Thomson going
to Switzerland to this great conference, and parading afterwards through the
journal a conference where eight men from the entire world were present-that
in itself is sufficient to condemn the whole thing and the manner in which
this business had been done. is sufficient in itself.
No pretense here on the part of the defendants that this money was kept in any
business-like way for the benefit of this organization.
What became of it I don't know
but there was more than a million dollars taken in here, of that there can be
no question in view of the prices charged for little printed sheets of paper
in the form of diplomas and certificates and things of that kind, entirely,
aside from the membership fee. What became of that money is not indicated
here. The head of this organization testified before the Court that he didn't
know and in fact had some difficulty in recalling whether there was ever an
account of the organization in a bank anywhere in the world. As far as the
Secretary is concerned, there is no suggestion of a report indicating that
this business was conducted as an honest organization, not a word.
So that, gentlemen, there is
only one thing for the Court to do. If it were not for the age of Mr. Thomson
at this time there would be a long prison sentence because I think he is the
chief actor. I think he is more responsible than anyone else. As far as
Bergera is concerned, of course, I cannot understand at all how a man would
presume to parade himself as the Treasurer General of the organization of ten
thousand members which had received from them in the neighborhood of a million
or more dollars and never handle a cent of the money.
I cannot understand it at all,
that is all, that any honest man would allow his name to be used in that
connection under such condition and the concealment of the methods of doing
business and where this money went even up to the present time. I cannot
comprehend the whole thing. There is only one thing that saves these men a
long prison term. I don't feel justified in sending any of these men to prison
any longer than I do Mr. Thomson. As I say, when it comes to this point, in a
trial of the case the charity of the law asserts itself.
Old age and sickness, of
course, has a strong appeal to the Court, when it comes to the question of a
prison term and I think that the district Attorney has been very generous in
his suggestion. This Court hasn't really any power to impose a penalty here
which would be adequate punishment for this thing that has been going on when
we step to think of the honest fellows who parted with their fifty or
seventy-five or a hundred and fifty dollars for membership in this
organization.
So far as the evidence in this
case is concerned not one dollar of it was ever used for any, of the business
of the society except to carry on this work of getting members.
Not a word of charity or
charitable funds or anything of that kind before this Court. I am very much
inclined to be lenient in all things. I am inclined to look in a charitable
way upon the mistakes of men, but this thing has in it that deliberateness and
continuous conduct which sort of overcomes my tendency.
Stand up, gentlemen. The
judgment of this Court is that each one of you serve a period of two years in
Fort Leavenworth Prison and each one of you pay a fine oi five thousand
dollars and costs Brother Evans says in his work that although the public at
large knows little of Freemasonry it expects much of Freemasons. In the eyes
of those who are not Freemasons one Freemason would have the same standing as
another. How could the public know a spurious from a genuine Freemason? No
argument is needed to show that the misdeeds of one such spurious claimant can
do more damage to the Fraternity than can be overcome by the good conduct of
regular Freemasons. Thus, the Fraternity at large has to answer to the public
for any bad conduct of both the genuine and the bogus who claim to be members
of the Craft. This is indeed a truth which all Freemasons may well afford to
take to heart.
Brother Evans says further, on
page 7 of his book: Thomson also knew some other things about regular Masons.
He knew that they read very little about their own institution, and that,
therefore, they are generally ill-informed in matters of Masonic history and
law.
Many times his degree peddlers
were haled into petty criminal courts to answer to the charge of obtaining
money under false pretenses. In as too many instances the prisoner was
discharged because the prosecution could not show wherein the fraud lay. The
prosecution was dependent, of course, for its proof of fraud upon the
testimony of regular Masons. This testimony was often without value and all
Masons will know why. Every little victory won by Thomson in the courts gave
him just one more argument to make to his dupes.
Thomson also knew that regular
Masons in general entertain acute indifference towards as things clandestine.
The chances of his being caught up for his gross falsehoods were few, because,
first, no one knew enough both about his institutions and regular Masonry to
answer him, and, secondly, no one would take the pains to run his lies to
earth. These things account, in part, for his enormous success for so many
years.
This Thomson case is typical
and because of its scope deserves liberal space. Other instances are numerous
where the Masonic Institution has defended itself in the courts of law.
Volumes two and three, History of Freemasonry in Ohio, 1914, contain many
references to the seceders from the Grand Lodge and the lawsuits resulting
from "Cerneauism" in that State. On the latter subject see Mackey's revised
History of Freemasonry (volume vi) ; General Albert Pike's Cerneauism, 1885,
his report on Joseph Cerneau, 1886, and other works; A History of Spurious
Supreme Councils in the Northern Jurisdiction, William Gardiner, Past Grand
Master, Massachusetts, 1863-4, republished 1884; The History of the Peckham
Supreme Council, E. T. Carson, 1884; The Ancient Acceptet Scottish Rite of
Freemasonry, William Homan, 1905, this latter work containing valuable reports
on proceedings against unauthorized conferring of Craft as well as other
degrees.
Forrest Adair, 33 , a Brother
memorable for his labors for crippled children, spent freely his time and
money protecting Masonic interests, as in the rights of the Nobles of the
Mystic Shrine determined by the Supreme Court of Georgia in 1915, and the
Supreme Court of the United States in 1918. A Committee headed by Brother
Frank C. Jones on behalf of the Imperial Council continued this work
successfully for the Shrine in other States, as in Texas, 1925, and the
results will probably, end the matter for the whole country (see Infringing
upon Freemasonry).
*
CIPHER WRITING
Cryptography, or the art of
writing in cipher, so as to conceal the meaning of what is written from all
except those who possess the key, may be traced to remote antiquity. oe la
Guilletiere (Lacedoemon), attributes its origin to the Spartans, and Polybius
says that more than two thousand years ago Aeneas Tacitus had collected more
than twenty different kinds of cipher which were then in use. Kings and
generals communicated their messages to officers in distant provinces, by
means of a preconcerted cipher; and the system has always been employed
wherever there was a desire or a necessity to conceal from all but those who
were entitled to the knowledge the meaning of a written document.
The druids, who were not
permitted by the rules of their Order to commit any part of their ritual to
ordinary writing, preserved the memory of it by the use of the letters of the
Greek alphabet. The Cabalists concealed many words by writing them backward: a
method which is still pursued by the French Freemasons. The old alchemists
also made use of cipher writing, in order to conceal those processes the
knowledge of which was intended only for the adepts. Thus Roger Bacon, who
discovered the composition of gunpowder, is said to have concealed the names
of the ingredients under a cipher made by a transposition of the letters.
Cornelius Agrippa tells us, in
his Occult Philosophy, that the ancients accounted it unlawful to write the
mysteries of God with those characters with which profane and vulgar things
were written, and he cites Porphyry as saying that the ancients desired to
conceal God, and divine virtues, by sensible figures which were visible, yet
signified invisible things, and therefore delivered their great mysteries in
sacred letters, and explained them by symbolical representations. Porphyry
here, undoubtedly, referred to the invention and use of hieroglyphics by the
Egyptian priests; but these hieroglyphic characters were in fact nothing else
but a form of cipher intended to conceal their instructions from the
uninitiated profane.
Peter Aponas, an astrological
writer of the thirteenth century, gives us some of the old ciphers which were
used by the Cabalists, and among others one alphabet called "the passing of
the river," which is referred to in some of the advanced degrees of
Freemasonry.
But we obtain from Agrippa one
alphabet in cipher which is of interest to Freemasons, and which he says was
once in great esteem among the Cabalists, but which has now, he adds, become
so common as to be placed among profane things. He describes this cipher as
follows in one Occulta Philosophia (book iii, chapter 3). The twenty-seven
characters (including the finals) of the Hebrew alphabet were divided into
three classes of nine in each, and these were distributed into nine squares,
made by the intersection of two horizontal and two vertical lines, forming the
accompanying figure.
In each of these compartments
three letters were placed; as, for instance, in the first compartment, the
first, tenth, and nineteenth letters of the alphabet ; in the second
compartment, the second, eleventh, and twentieth, and so on. The three letters
in each compartment were distinguished from each other by dots or accents.
Thus, the first compartment, or L, represented the first letter, or N; the
same compartment with a dot, thus, L, represented the tenth letter, or J; or
with two dots, thus, L it represented the nineteenth letter, or p; and so with
the other compartments; the ninth or last representing the ninth, eighteenth,
and twenty-seventh letters, accordingly as it was figured without a dot in the
center or with one or two.
About the middle of the
eighteenth century, the French Freemasons adopted a cipher similar to this in
principle, but varied in the details, among which was the addition of four
compartments, made by the oblique intersection of two lines in the form of a
Saint Andrew's Cross. This French cipher was never officially adopted by the
Freemasons except in the American Royal Arch. It is, however, still recognized
in all the Tuilleurs or handbooks of the French Rite. It has become so common
as to be placed, as Agrippa said of the original scheme, "among profane
things."
Its use would certainly no
longer subserve any purpose of concealment. Rockwell openly printed it in his.
3 2 1
6 5 4
9 8 7
*
A CIPHER CHART
Ahiman Rezon of Georgia,- and
it is often used by those who are not initiated, as a means of amusement.
However the use of these curious characters is common on the Royal Arch Ark of
the Chapters and is officially recognized by the General Grand Chapter of the
United States. In the instructions of the Oliver Ritual, purporting to be used
in 1749 at London, there is this explanation, " You are also, my brethren,
entitled as Master Masons to the use of an alphabet which our venerable Grand
Master Hiram Abif employed in communications with King Solomon at Jerusalem
and King Hiram at Tyre. It is geometriek in its character and is therefore
eminently useful to Master Masons in general. By means of two squares and a
mallet a brother may make the whole alphabet and even silently convey his
ideas to another. That this geometriek alphabet may be easily learned and
remembered, I will now entrust you with the key thereof."
Some present-day Lodge Boards
have characters which must be read backwards. Brother Edward H. oring
(Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge, volume xxix, pages 243-64) has an
article on "The Evolution and development of the Tracing or Lodge Board" in
which he states that this reversal took place about the year 1825, and has
been perpetuated ever since. On the old-time Lodge Board the dot is not used
to indicate the second time the key diagram is used, and thus each character
may stand for either of two letters.
Browne and Finch printed books
intended only for Freemasons, and not as expositions, invented ciphers for
their own use, and supplied their initiated readers with the key. Without a
key, their works are un intelligible, except by the art of the decipherer.
Although not used in the first
three degrees, the cipher is common in the advanced degrees, of which there is
scarcely one which has not had its peculiar cipher. But for the purposes of
concealment, the cipher is no longer of any practical use. The art of
deciphering has been brought to so great a state of perfection that there is
no cipher so complicated as to bid defiance for many hours to the penetrating
skill of the experienced decipherer. Hence, the cipher has gone out of general
use in Freemasonry as it has among diplomatists, who are compelled to
communicate with their respective countries by methods more secret than any
that can be supplied by a dispatch written in cipher. Edgar AA Poe has justly
said, in his story of The Gold Bug, that ''it may well be doubted whether
human ingenuity can construct an enima of the kind, which human ingenuity may
not, by proper application, resolve. "
But there are some interesting
instances of the use of a cipher outside the field of fiction (see Masonic
Cipher Message, A Mysterious)
*
CIRCUMSPECTION
A necessary watchfulness is
recommended to every man, but in a Freemason it becomes a positive duty, and
the neglect of it constitutes a heinous crime. On this subject, the Old
Charges of 1722 (vi, 4) are explicit. "You shall be cautious in your words and
carriage, that the most penetrating stranger shall not be able to discover or
find out what is not proper to be imitated; and sometimes you shall divert a
discourse and manage it prudently for the Honor of the Worshipful Fraternity"
(Constitutions, 1723, page 55).
*
CITY OF DAVID
A section in the southern part
of Jerusalem, embracing Mount Zion, where a fortress of the Jebusites stood,
which David reduced, and where he built a new palace and city, to which he
gave his own name.
*
CITY OF THE GREAT KING
Jerusalem, so called in Psalm
xlviii, 2, and by the Savior in Matthew v, 35.
*
CIVILIZATION AND FREEMASONRY
Those who investigate in the
proper spirit the history of Speculative Freemasonry will be strongly
impressed with the peculiar relations that exist between the history of
Freemasonry and that of civilization. They will find these facts to be patent:
that Freemasonry has ever been the result of civilization ; that in the most
ancient times the spirit of Freemasonry and the spirit of civilization have
always gone together; that the progress of both has been with equal strides;
that where there has been no appearance of civilization there has been no
trace of Freemasonry; and, finally, that wherever Freemasonry has existed in
any of its forms, there it has been surrounded and sustained by civilization,
which social condition it in turn elevated and purified, Speculative
Freemasonry, therefore, seems to have been a necessary result of civilization,
It is, even in its primitive and most simple forms, to be found among no
barbarous or savage people. Such a state of society has never been capable of
introducing or maintaining its abstract principles of divine truth. But while
Speculative Freemasonry is the result of civilization, existing only, in its
bosom and never found among barbarous or savage races, it has, by a
reactionary law of sociology, proved the means of extending and elevating the
civilization to which it originally owed its birth. Civilization has always
been progressive. That of Pelasgic Greece was far behind that which
distinguished the Hellenic period of the same country. The civilization of the
ancient world was inferior to that of the modern, and every century shows an
advancement in the moral, intellectual, and social condition of mankind.
But in this progress from
imperfection to perfection the influence of those speculative systems that are
identical with Freemasonry has always been seen and felt. Let us, for an
example, look at the ancient heathen world and its impure religions. While the
people of Paganism bowed, in their ignorance, to a many-headed god, or,
rather, worshiped at the shrines of many gods, whose mythological history and
character must have exercised a pernicious effect on the moral purity of their
worshipers, speculative Philosophy, in the form of the Ancient Mysteries, was
exercising its influence upon a large class of neophytes and disciples, by
giving this true symbolic interpretation of the old religious myths. In the
adyta or secret shrines of their temples in Greece and Rome and Egypt, in the
sacred caves of India; and in consecrated groves of Scandinavia and Gaul and
Britain, these ancient sages were secretly divesting the Pagan faith of its
polytheism and of its anthropomorphic deities, and were establishing a pure
monotheism in its place, and illustrating, by a peculiar symbolism, the great
dogmas-since taught in Freemasonry--of the unity of God and the immortality of
the soul.
And in modern times, when the
religious thought of mankind, under a better dispensation, has not required
this purification, Freemasonry still, in other ways, exerts its influence in
elevating the tone of civilization ; for through its working the social
feelings have been strengthened, the amenities and charities of life been
refined and extended, and, as we have had recent reason to know and see, the
very bitterness of strife and the blood-guiltiness of war have been softened
and oftentimes obliterated.
We then arrive at these
conclusion, namely, that Speculative Freemasonry is a result of civilization,
for it exists in no savage or barbarous state of society, but has always
appeared with the advent in any country of a condition of civilization, "grown
with its growth and strengthened with its strength" ; and, in return, has
proved, by a reactionary influence, a potent instrument in extending,
elevating, and refining the civilization which gave it birth, by advancing its
moral, intellectual, and religious character.
*
CLOSING
The duty of closing the Lodge
is as imperative, and the ceremony as solemn, as that of opening; nor should
it ever be omitted through negligence, nor hurried over with haste. Everything
should be performed with order and precision, so that no Brother shall go away
dissatisfied. From the very nature of our Constitution, a Lodge cannot
properly be adjourned. It must be closed either in due form, or the Brethren
called off to refreshment. But an adjournment on motion, as in other
societies, is unknown to the Order. The Master can alone dismiss the Brethren,
and that dismission must take place after a settled usage. In Grand Lodges
which meet for several days successively, the session is generally continued
from day to day, by calling to refreshment at the termination of each day's
sitting.
*
CLANDESTINE FREEMASON
One made in or affiliated with
a clandestine Lodge. With clandestine Lodges or Freemasons, regular Freemasons
are forbidden to associate or converse on Masonic subjects.
*
CLANDESTINE LODGE
A body of Freemasons or of
those improperly claiming to be Freemasons, uniting in a Lodge without the
consent of a Grand Lodge, or, although originally legally constituted,
continuing to work after its Charter has been revoked, is styled a Clandestine
Lodge. Neither Anderson nor Entick employ the word. It was first used in the
Book of Constitutions in a note by Noorthouck, on page 239 of his edition (see
the Constitutions of 1784).Regular Lodge would be the better term.
*
CLARE DE GILBERT
Marquis of Pembroke. According
to Masonic tradition, said to have been, with Ralph Lord Monthermer. and
Walter Gifford, Archbishop of York, given charge of the Operative Masons in
1272
*
CLARE, MARTIN
A London schoolmaster and a
celebrated Freemason of England in the eighteenth century. The date of Brother
Clare's birth is not on record, but it is known that his death occurred May
19, 1751, Martin Clare served the Fraternity as Grand Steward in 1734, as
Junior Warden in 1735, Deputy Grand Master in 1741, continuing his activity in
the work of the Grand Lodge up to 1749. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal
Society on March 27, 1735. He was, in 1736, Master of the Lodge at the
Shakespeare's Head, Saint James, which was constituted in 1721, then No. 4,
and later became the Lodge of Friendship, No. 6. The Minutes of the Lodge from
January, 1738, to December, 1749, were recorded in his handwriting.
He was distinguished for zeal
and intelligence in Freemasonry, and it has been pretty well established that
he was the author of A Defense of Masonry, which was issued in 1730 in answer
to Prichard's Masonry Dissected, and which was reproduced in the 1738 Edition
of the Constitutions.
Brother Henry Sadler, in his Thomas Dunckerley, his Life, Labors and Letters,
tells on page 114 that on January 25, 1742, ''The Master proposed the Revival
of the Lectures in this place and this seeming universally agreeable to the
Society, his Worship requested the D.G.M., to entertain the Lodge this Day
Fortnight at nine o'clock and the Subject was left to his own choice. After
him Brother Wagg promised to read this Day Month." On page 114, Brother Sadler
says, "The scientific lectures had been omitted for several months past. The
word Revival was originally written Revisal by Clare, but as the proceedings
were transcribed by him, from rough minutes, probably taken by some one else,
he doubtless mistook the word and afterwards altered the s into a v, although
at first sight and taken without the context the word might now easily be
mistaken for Revisal.
This trifling error may have
given rise to the tradition that Clare revised the Craft Lectures by request
of the Grand Lodge; I am not, however, aware of the existence of the least
evidence or indication that he did anything of the kind."
Clare's oration before the
Grand Lodge on December 11, 1735, was translated into several foreign
languages. A reprint of it is in the Pocket Companion and History of
Freemasons for 1754, also in Oliver's Masonic Institutes, reprints of the
Lodge of Research at Leicester, etc. (see the Transactions, Quatuor Coronati
Lodge, volume iv, pages 33--li). Het translated into English a work which had
been published the preceding year, in Dublin, under the title of Relation
Apologique et Historique de la Société des Franc-Maçons, or A Defense and
Historical Account of the Society of Freemasons.
The Freemason of June 6, 1925,
says: "The second name in the roster of Old King's Arms Lodge, No. 28, London,
is that of Sir Cecil Wray's Senior Warden in 1730---Martin Clare ; one of the
greatest worthies the Craft in England has known, who represented the Lodge on
the Board of Grand Stewards in 1734, became Junior Grand Warden in the
following year, and in 1741 was appointed Deputy Grand Master to the Earl of
Morton. There seems little doubt that he was initiated in the Lodge, and,
although he never sat in the Master's Chair, the Minute Books contain many
references which testify to his love for it and to the great services he
rendered to it. When Sir Cecil Wray was invited to become the Master he
accepted on condition that Martin Clare would undertake the duties of Senior
Warden. Many of the Lodge Minutes are in his handwriting, and those Minutes
are certainly a model, both in penmanship and composition, of what such
chronicles should be. He frequently lectured at the Old King's Arms Lodge. It
was the custom for many years for his Oration to be read in the Lodge
annually.
He was also the author of
numerous lectures or discourses dealing with Freemasonry which he delivered at
various Lodges, and the Minutes intimate his keenness in promoting discussions
on matters of Masonic interest. The first act of his, on rejoining the Lodge
in 1747, after a short absence, was to revive the custom of lectures and
papers, which he had also inaugurated in the Lodge of Friendship. Clare
presided on, at least, four Communications of the Grand Lodge.''
*
CLARENCE, H. R. H. THE DUKE OF
afterward King William IV, was
initiated in Lodge 86, Plymouth, on March 9, 1796.
*
CLASSIFICATION OF FREEMASONS
Oliver says, in his Dictionary
of Symbolical Masonry, that ancient Masonic tradition informs us that the
Speculative and Operative Freemasons who were assembled at the building of the
Temple were arranged in nine classes, under their respective Grand Masters ;
namely 30,000 Entered Apprentices, under their Grand Master Adoniram ; 80,000
Fellow-Crafts, under Hiram Abif ; 2,000 Mark Men under Stolkyn; 1,000 Master
Masons under Mohabin; 600 Mark Masters, under Ghiblim; 24 Architects, under
Joabert; 12 Grand Architects, under Adoniram ; 45 Excellent Masons, under
Hiram Abif; 9 Super-Excellent Masons, under Tito Zadok; besides the Ish Sabbal
or laborers. The tradition is, however, rather apocryphal, a matter of doubt.
*
CLAVEL, F. T. BEGUE
An abbé. A French Masonic
Writer, who published, in 1842, a Histoire pittoresque de la Franc-Maçonnerie
et des Sociétés Secrétes Anciennes et Modernes or Picturesque History of
Freemasonry and of Ancient and Modern Secret Societies. This work contains a
great amount of interesting and valuable information, notwithstanding many
historical inaccuracies, especially in reference to the Ancient Accepted
Scottish Rite, of which the author was an adversary. For the publication of
the work without authority he was suspended by the Grand Orient for two
months, and condemned to pay a fine, clavel appealed to the intelligence of
the Fraternity against this sentence. In 1844, he commenced the publication of
a Masonic Journal called the Grand Orient, the title of which he subsequently
changed to the Orient. As he had not obtained the consent of the Grand Orient,
he was agaiq brought before that body, and the sentence of perpetual exclusion
from the Grand Orient pronounced against him.
Rebold says that it was the
act of a faction, and obtained by unfair means. It was not sustained by the
judgment of the Craft in France, with whom Clavel gained reputation and
popularity. Notwithstanding the Masonic literary labors of Clavel, an account
of the time of his birth, or of his death, appears to be obscure. His desire
seemed to be to establish as history, by publication, those views which he
personally entertained and formed ; gathered from sources of doubtful
character, he desired they should not be questioned in the future, semel pro
semper, once for all.
*
CLAY
See Chalk, Charcoal, and Clay
*
CLAY GROUND
In the clay ground between
Succoth and Zeredatha, Hiram Abif cast all the sacred vessels of the Temple,
as well as the pillars of the porch. This spot was about thirty-five miles in
a northeast direction from Jerusalem ; and it is supposed that Hiram selected
it for his foundry, because the clay which abounded there was, by its great
tenacity, peculiarly fitted for making molds. The Masonic tradition on this
subject is sustained by the authority of Scripture (see First. Kings vii, 46,
and Second Chronicles iv, 17). Morris, in his Freemasonry in the Holy Land,
gives the following interesting facts in reference to this locality. "A
singular fact came to light under the investigations of my assistant at
Jerusalem. He discovered that the jewelers of that city, at the present day,
use a particular species of brown, arenaceous clay in making molds for casting
small pieces in brass, etc. Inquiring whence this clay comes, they reply,
'From Seikoot, about two days' journey north-east of Jerusalem.' Here, then,
is a satisfactory reply to the question, Where was the 'clay ground' of
Hiram's foundries? It is the best matrix-clay existing within reach of Hiram
Abif, and it is found only in 'the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredatha';
and considerable as was the distance, and extremely inconvenient as was the
locality, so important did that master-workman deem it, to secure a sharp and
perfect mold for his castings, that, as the Biblical record informs us, he
established his furnaces there."
*
CLAY, HENRY
American statesman and orator;
born April 12, 1777; died June 29, 1852. At twenty-two elected delegate to
Kentucky Constitutional Convention; at twenty-six to legislature, at
twenty-nine United States Senator, at thirty-four Speaker of House of
Representatives, Secretary of State 1825--9. "An active, zealous Mason, as the
records of the Grand Lodge (Kentucky) abundantly prove" (Centennial History,
Grand Secretary H. B. Grant, 1900, page 72). Elected Grand Master, August 29,
1820. He advocated a General Grand Lodge of the United States and at the
Washington (D.C.) conference, March 9, 1822, offered the resolutions
unanimously adopted favoring his views.
*
CLEAN HANDS
Clean hands are a symbol of
purity. The Psalmist says "that he only shall ascend into the hill of the
Lord, or shall stand in his holy place, who hath clean hands and a pure
heart." Hence, the washing of the hands is an outward sign of an internal
purification; and the Psalmist says in another place, "I will wash my hands in
innocence. And I will encompass thine altar, Jehovah." In the Ancient
Mysteries the washing of the hands was always an introductory ceremony to the
initiation; and, of course, it was used symbolically to indicate the necessity
of purity from crime as a qualification of those who sought admission into the
sacred rites ; and hence, on a temple in the Island of Crete, this inscription
was placed: "Cleanse your feet, wash your hands, and then enter." Indeed, the
washing of hands, as symbolic of purity, was among the ancients a peculiarly
religious rite. No one dared to pray to the gods until he had cleansed his
hands. Thus, Homer (in the Iliad vi, 266) makes Hector say:
I dread with unwashed hands to bring
My incensed wine to Jove an offering.
In a similar spirit of
religion, Aeneas, when leaving burning Troy, refuses to enter the Temple of
Ceres until his hands, polluted by recent strife, had been washed in the
living stream (see the Aeneid11, 718).
Me bello e tanto digressum et coede recenti,
Attrectare nefas, donec me flumine vivoAbiuero.
In me, now fresh from war and recent strife,
'Tis impious the sacred things to touch,
Till in the living stream mysef 1 bathe.
The same practice prevailed
among the Jews, and a striking instance of the symbolism is exhibited in that
well-known action of Pilate, who, when the Jews damored for Jesus that they
might crucify him, appeared before the people, and, having taken water, washed
his hands, saying at the same time, "I am innocent of the blood of this just
man, see ye to it" (see Matthew xxvii, 24).
The white gloves worn by
Freemasons as a part of their clothing, as well as the white gloves presented
to the initiate in the Continental and Latin Rites, allude to this symbolizing
of clean hands ; and what in some of the advanced Degrees has been called
Masonic Baptism is nothing else but the symbolizing, by a ceremony, this
doctrine of clean hands as the sign of a pure heart (see Baptism Masonic, and
Lustration).
*
CLEAVE
The word cleave is twice used
in Freemasonry, and each time in an opposite sense. First, in the sense of
adhering, where the sentence in which it is employed is in the Past Master's
Degree, and is taken from the 137th Psalm: "Let my tongue cleave to the roof
of my mouth;" second, in the Master's Degree, where, in the expression "The
flesh cleaves from the bone," it has the intransitive meaning of to separate,
and is equivalent to "the flesh parts, or separates, itself from the bone." In
this latter use the word is less common, and in the above expression is used
only technically as a Masonic term.
*
CLECHE
Pronounced kleesh-a, and in
heraldry usually described as a cross charged with another of the same figure,
but, whose color is that of the field, but the reader may understand it as
being a cross designed to show merely a border or outline or having the ends
of the four arms enlarged, one or the other.
*
CLEFTS OF THE ROCKS
The whole of Palestine is
mountainous, and these mountains abound in deep clefts or caves, which were
anciently places of refuge to the inhabitants in time of war, and were often
used as lurking places for robbers. It is, therefore, strictly in accordance
with geographical truth that the statement, in relation to the concealment of
certain persons in the clefts of the rocks, is made in the Third Degree (see
the latter part of the article Caverns).
*
CLEMENT AUGUSTUS
Born 1700; died 1766. Duke of
Bavaria and Elector of Cologne, a Freemason until 1738 when, at the
publication of Pope Clement XII'S Bull, he withdrew from the Masonic Order
openly although said to have privately maintained affiliation with it and to
have founded the Society of Mopses.
*
CLEMENT V
Before his election, as Pope
of Rome, known as Bertrand d' Agoust, or Bertrand de Gôt, Archbishop of
Bordeaux. As the price of the papal crown, said to have made an agreement with
Philippe le Bel for the destruction of the Knights Templar. It is also
recorded that either Jacques de Molay, or Guy, the Dauphin d'Auvergne, when at
the stake, summoned Clement V before God in forty days. A few days after the
execution, March 11, 1314, an illness began for the Pope, ending in his death
on April 20, 1314.
*
CLEMENT XI I
A Pope, who assumed the
pontificate on the 12th of August, 1730, and died on the 6th of February,
1740. On the 24th of April, 1738, he published his celebrated Bull of
Excommunication, entitled In Eminenti A postolatus Specula, in which we find
these words: "For which reason the temporal and spiritual communities are
enjoined, in the name of holy obedience, neither to enter the society of
Freemasons, to disseminate its principles, to defend it, nor to admit nor
conceal it within their houses or palaces, or elsewhere, under pain of
excommunication ipso facto, for all acting in contradiction to this, and from
which the pope only can absolve the dying." Clement was a bitter persecutor of
the Masonic Order, and hence he caused his Secretary of State, the Cardinal
Firrao, to issue on the 14th of January, 1739, a still more stringent edict
for the Papal States, in which death and confiscation of property, without
hope of mercy, was the penalty or, as the original has it, "sotto Pena della
morte, e confiscazione de beni da incorressi, irremissibilmente senz a
speranzs di grazia.''
*
CLEMENT XIV
Pope of Rome, previously
having the name of J. V. A. Ganganelli, who suppressed the Jesuits by his
order of June 14, 1773, although it was later on revived by a successor.
*
CLERKS OF STRICT OBSERVANCE
Known also as the Spiritual
Branch of the Templars, or Clerici Ordinis Templarii. This was a schism from
the Order or Rite of Strict Observance; and was founded by Starck in 1767. The
members of this Rite established it as a rival of the latter system. They
claimed a pre-eminence not only over the Rite of Strict Observance, but also
over all the Lodges of ordinary Freemasonry, and asserted that they alone
possessed the true secrets of the Order, and knew the place where the
treasures of the Templars were deposited (for a further history of this Rite,
see Starck). The Rite consisted of seven Degrees, viz.:
1, 2, and 3. Symbolic
Freemasonry.
4. Junior Scottish Freemason, or Jungschotte.
5. Scottish Master, or Knight of Saint Andrew.
6. Provincial Capitular of the Red Cross.
7. Magus, or Knight of Purity and Light.
Clavel ( Histoire Pittoresque, or Picturesque History, page186) gives
different names to some of these Degrees. This last was subdivided into five
sections, as follows:
I. Knight Novice of the third year.
II. Knight Novice of the fifth year.
III. Knight Novice of the seventh year.
IV. Levite, and V. Priest.
Ragon errs in calling this the Rite of Lax Observance unless he said it
satirically.
*
CLERMONT, CHAPTER OF
On the 24th of November, 1754,
the Chevalier de Bonneville established in Paris a Chapter of the Advanced
Degrees under this name, which was derived from what Doctor Mackey deemed the
Jesuitical Chapter of Clermont. This society was composed of many
distinguished persons of the court and city, who, disgusted with the
dissensions of the Parisian Lodges, determined to separate from them. They
adopted the Templar system, which had been created at Lyons, in 1743, and
their Rite consisted at first of but six Degrees, namely,
1, 2, 3. Saint John's
Freemasonry.
4. Knight of the Eagle.
5. Illustrious Knight or Templar.
6. Sublime Illustrious Knight.
But soon after that time the
number nf these Degrees was greatly extended. The Baron de Hund received the
advanced Degrees in this Chapter, and derived from them the idea of the Rite
of Strict Observance, which he subsequently established in Germany.
CLERMONT, COLLEGE OF
college of Jesuits in Paris,
where James II, after his flight from England, in 1688, resided until his
removal to St. Germain.
During his residence there, he
is said to have sought the establishment of a system of Freemasonry, the
object of which should be the restoration of the House of Stuart to the throne
of England. Relics of this attempted system are still to be found in many of
the advanced Degrees, and the Chapter of Clermont, subsequently organized in
Paris, appears to have had some reference to it.
*
CLERMONT, COUNT OF
Louis of Bourbon, prince of
the blood royal and Count of Clermont, was elected by sixteen of the Paris
Lodges Perpetual Grand Master, for the purpose of correcting the numerous
abuses which had crept into French Freemasonry. He did not, however, fulfil
the expectations of the French Freemasons; for the next year he abandoned the
supervision of the Lodges, and new disorders arose. He still, however,
retained the Grand Mastership, and died in 1771, being succeeded by his
nephew, the Duke of Chartres.
*
CLINTON, DE WITT
A distinguished statesman, who
was born at Little Britain, New York, March 2, 1769, and died on the 11th of
February, 1828. He entered the Masonic Order in 1793, and the next year was
elected Master of his Lodge. In 1806, he was elevated to the position of Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge of New York, and in 1814, to that of Grand Master of
the Grand Encampment. In 1816, he was elected General Grand High Priest of the
General Grand Chapter of the United States. In 1813, he became unwittingly
complicated with the Spurious Consistory, established by Joseph Cerneau in the
city of New York, but he took no active part in its proceedings, and soon
withdrew from all connection with it. When the anti-Masonic excitement arose
in this country in 1826, in consequence of the affair of William Morgan, whom
the Freemasons were accused of having put to death, Brother Clinton was
Governor of the State of New York, and took all the necessary measures for the
arrest of the supposed criminals. But, although he offered a liberal reward
for their detection, he was charged by thp Anti-Masons with official neglect
and indifference, charges which were undoubtedly false and malicious. Spenser,
the special attorney of the State, employed for the prosecution of the
offenders, went w far as to resign his office, and to assign, as a mason for
his resignation, the want of sympathy and support on the part of the
Executive. But all of the accusations and insinuations are properly to be
attributed to political excitement, Anti Masonry having been adopted soon
after its origin by the politicians as an engine for their advancement to
office. Brother Clinton was an honorable man and a true patriot, an ardent and
devoted Freemason. (For details as to his farsighted and successful activity
in the foundation of the Public School System in New York City and State see
Public Schools.)
*
CLOTHED
A Freemason in the United
States of America is said to be properly clothed when he wears white leather
gloves, a white apron, and the jewel of his Masonic rank.
The gloves are now often, but
improperly, dispensed with, except on public occasions. "No Mason is permitted
to enter a Lodge or join in its labors unless he is properly clothed.''
Lenning, speaking of Continental Freemasonry, under the article Kleidung in
his Lexicon, says that the clothing of a Freemason consists of apron, gloves,
sword, and hat. In the York and American Rites, the sword and hat are used
only in the Degrees of chivalry. In the catechisms of the early eighteenth
century the Master of a Lodge, was described as clothed in a yellow jacket and
a blue pair of breeches, in allusion to the brass top and steel legs of a pair
of compasses. After the middle of the century, he was said to be "clothed in
the old colors, namely, purple, crimson, and blue"; and the reason assigned
for it was "because they are royal, and such as the ancient kings an d princes
used to wear. "
The actual dress of a Master
Mason was, however, a full suit of black, with white neck-cloth, apron,
gloves, and stockings; the buckles being of silver, and the jewels being
suspended from a white ribbon by way of collar.
(For the clothing and
decorations of the different Degrees, see Regalia. )
Brother Preston (Illustrations
of Freemasonry, 1772, page 235) describes the dress of the Brethren when
"properly clothed" for public processions. He says "All the Brethren, who walk
in procession, should observe, as much as possible an uniformity in their
dress. Decent mourning, with white stockings, gloves and aprons, is most
suitable and becoming; and no person ought to be distinguished with a jewel,
unless he is an officer of one of the Lodges invited to attend in form, The
officers of such Lodges should be ornamented with white sashes and hatbands;
as also the officers of the Lodge to whom the dispensation is granted, who
should likewise be distinguished with white rods."
One of the earliest accounts
of Masonic clothing and regalia in a procession on Saint John's Day is
recorded in Faulkner's Dublin Journal (January 10-4, 1743--l, and on pages
98-9, Freemasonry in Ireland, Brothers Lepper and Crossle, 1925):
Saint John's Day, celebrated
by the Lodge in Youghall (Ireland), No. 21.
lmprimis,
....The first Salutation on the Quay of Youghall, upon their coming out of
their Lodge Chamber, was, the Ships firing their guns With their colors
flying.
....Secondly. The first appearance was, a Concert of Musick with two proper
Centennials with their Swords drawn.
....Thirdly. Two Apprentices, bare-headed, one with twenty four Inch Gage, the
other a Common Gavel.
....Fourthly. The Royal Arch carried by two excellent Masons.
....Fifthly. Master with all his proper Instruments, his Rod gilt with Gold,
his Deputy on his left with the Square and Compass.
....Sixthly. The two Wardens with their Truncheons gilt in like manner.
....Seventhly. The two Deacons with their Rods gilt after the same manner.
....Eighthly. Two Excellent Masons, one bearing a Level, and the other a Plum
Rule.
....Ninthly. Then appeared all the rest most gallantly dressed, following by
Couples, each of them having a Square hanging about his Neek to a blue Ribbon.
From the Quay, they took the whole length of the Town, the Streets being well
lined, the Gentlemen and Ladies out of their Windows constantly saluting them,
until they went to Church. The two Sentinels stood at the Pues, holding the
Doors open, until the Whole went in. And after Divine Service, came in the
same Order, to their House of Entertainment, where at the Approach of Evening,
the Windows were illuminated with Candles, and the Street with Bonfires. They
were greatly applauded, and allowed to be the finest and most magnificent
Sight that was ever seen in this Country.
An early reference to the
clothing of the Brethren in the United States is in the By-laws adopted by the
Lodge at Boston, Massachusetts, on November 14 and October 24, 1733. The
thirteenth and fourteenth regulations read es follows:
Xlllthly. The Master of this
Lodge, or in absence, the Grand Master, Deputy Grand Master or Wardens, when
there is a private Lodge ordered to be held for a Making shall be obliged to
give all the Members timely notice of the time and place in writing where such
Lodge is held that they may give their attendance and every member being duly
warned as aforesaid and neglecting to attend on such private Making shall not
be Clothed.
XIVthly. No member that is
absent from the Lodge of a Lodge night when there is a Making, shall have the
Benefit of being Clothed for that time.
Brother Melvin M. Johnson
comments on the foregoing rules in his Beginnings of Freemasonry in America
(page 107), "'Being Clothed' refers to the very ancient custom, now forgotten,
of requiring the candidate to furnish each member present with an apron and a
pair of white gloves" (see Clothing the Lodge).
At a celebration of the
Festival of Saint John the Baptist, reported in the Boston Gazette for July 2,
1739, and also given by Brother Johnson in the above work (page 222) we learn
that, At three in the Afternoon They assembled at the House of their Brother
John Wagbom, from whence they walked in Procession to His Excellency's House,
properly Clothed, and Distinguished, with Badges, and other Implement
pertaining to the several Orders and Degrees of the Society, proceeded by a
complete band of Music consisting of Trumpets, Kettle Drums, etc.
The American Apollo, a
magazine printed in Boston, had an account of the procession in verse by
Joseph Green, who tells us of the visit to the House of Brother Wagborn,
Here, having drank and giv'n the sign,
By which he was oblig'd to join,
From hence in leather apron drest
With tinsel ribbons on their breast
In pompous order march'd the train,
First two, then three, then two again.
The lines wind up with an
allusion to the decorated ship, Hallowell, of which Brother Alexander French
was part owner and in command. This vessel, trimmed with red baize on top and
with colors hoisted, was given a peculiarly Masonic significance.
And on the mizzen peak was
spread,
A leather apron, lin'd with red.
The men on board all day were glad,
And drank and smoked like any mad.
And from her sides three times did ring
Great guns, as loud as anything,
But at the setting of the sun,
Precisely ceas'd the noise of gun,
All ornaments were taken down,
Jack, ensign, pendant, and Apron.
A further mention of the
clothing is seen in the lines written by Green to burlesque the celebration of
Saint John the Evangelist's Day at Boston, December 27, 1749. These lines are
entitled Entertainment for a Winter's Evening, and alluding to the public
procession to and from church of the Freemasons the author speaks of them as
"in scarlet aprons dressed," see the verse in this work under the heading of
Sermons, Masonic. We need not speculate too curiously about the use of scarlet
aprons at the time.
The suggestion may however be
offered that the apron so lined was capable of being used either side to the
front according to the Body or Degree in which the wearer participated. Aprons
in certain cases are still so worn though not usually in connection with the
first three Degrees of the Craft (see also Regalia).
The modern regalia and
clothing, as for example those approved by the Constitutions and Regulations
of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, as shown in the Revision adopted in 1918,
may here be appropriately given. The references to saltire, or saltier, being
an expression in heraldry meaning cross-wise, as in the letter x.
The Jewels of the Grand
Officers shall be as follows:
That of the Grand Master, the
Compasses extended to 45 , with the segment of a circle at the points and a
gold plate included, on which is represented an eye, eradicated within a
triangle, also eradicated.
That of the Deputy Grand
Master the Compasses and square united, with a five-pointed star in the
center.
That of the District Grand
Masters, the Compasses and Square united, with a five-pointed star in the
center upon which shall be superimposed a Roman letter D.
Those of the District Deputy
Grand Masters, the Compasses extended to 45 , with the segment of a circle at
the points and a crescent in the center.
Senior Grand Warden, the
Level.
Junior Grand Warden, the Plumb.
Grand Treasurer, a chased Key.
Grand Secretary, two Pens in saltire tied by a ribbon.
Grand Chaplains, a Book within a Triangle, surmounting a glory.
Grand Marshal, two Rods in saltire tied by a ribbon.
Grand Lecturers, an open Book upon the Square and Compasses.
Grand Deacons, a Dove and Olive Branch.
Grand Stewards, a Cornucopia.
Grand Sword Bearer, two Swords in saltire.
Grand Standard Bearer, a Banner.
Grand Pursuivants, a Rod and a Sword saltire-wise.
Grand Organist, a Lyre.
Grand Tyler, a Sword.
Each Past Grand Officer may be
distinguished by the jewel prescribed for the office he has filled, with this
difference, that such jewel shall be fixed within a circle or oval, of gold or
metal gilt. It shall be worn over the left breast, pendant to a purple ribbon
or metal chain.
It may be suspended from the
neck by a purple ribbon when another authorized jewel is worn over the left
breast.
The Jewel of each Grand
Officer, with the exception of the District Deputy Grand Masters, shall be
enclosed within a wreath composed of a sprig of Acacia and an ear of Wheat.
The Collars of the Grand Officers shall be chains of gold or metal gilt.
The Apron. of the Grand Master
shall be of white lambskin, lined with purple, ornamented with the blazing
Sun, embroidered in gold in the center; on the edging the pomegranate and
lotus, with the seven-eared wheat at each corner, and also on the fall,-all in
gold embroidery, the fringe of gold bullion, with purple edging and strings.
The Apron of the Deputy Grand
Master and of a District Grand Master shall be of the same material and
lining, having the emblem of his office in gold embroidery in the center, and
the pomegranate and lotus alternately embroidered in gold on the edging.
The emblem of the District Grand Master shall be within a double circle
bearing the name of his District.
The Aprons of the other Grand Officers shall be of white lambskin, lined with
purple ; edging of purple three and a half inches wide; with purple strings;
ornamented with gold, having the emblems of office, in gold, in the center.
Each officer of a Lodge shall
wear a blue velvet collar trimmed with silver lace, or a white metal chain
collar upon blue ribbon of such pattern or patterns as shall be approved by
the Grand Master, from which shall be suspended the jewel of the office in
silver. The aprons may bear the emblems of the offices and a fringe of silver.
The Jewels of the officers of
a Lodge shall be as follows:
That of the Master, the
Square; Senior Warden, the Level; Junior Warden, the Plumb; Treasurer, two
Keys in saltire; Secretary, two Pens in saltire; Chaplain, the Bible within a
circle; Marshal, a Baton within a square ; Deacons, the Square and Compasses
united within a circle; Stewards, a Cornucopia within a circle; Organist, a
Lyre within a circle; Inside Sentinel, two Swords in saltire within a circle;
Tyler, a Sword within a circle.
The Jewel of a Past Master
shall be the blazing Sun within the Square and Compasses extended on a
Quadrant. This Jewel may be of gold or silver, and shall be worn over the left
breast, pendant to a blue ribbon or metal chain. It may be suspended from the
neck by a blue ribbon when another authorized Jewel is worn over the left
breast.
The Apron of a Master Mason
shall be a plain white lambskin, fourteen inches wide by twelve inches deep.
The Apron may be adorned with
sky-blue lining and edging, and three rosettes of the same color. No other
color shall be allowed, and no other ornament shall be worn except by officers
and past officers.
The Grand Encampment of
Knights Templar and the General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons made a
public procession in the City of New York on September 16, 1841. The notice
giving the order of the procession as well as the instructions for the
clothing of the Brethren is of a considerable degree of interest and appears
in the History of the Origin and Development of the Royal Arch Degree, by
Charles A. Conover, 1926. That portion which refers to tho clothing of the
Brethren is as follows:
All Templars to appear in the
following uniform. Dress Black, black stock and gloves, plain black scarf over
the left shoulder; Chapeau with black satin cockade, black apron of triangular
form, and straight sword. Officers and members of the Grand Encampment to wear
the trimmings of the Chapeau, apron and sword of Gold, all others of Silver.
No feathers to be worn by any one. Royal Arch Masons ro appear in black hat
and stock, dark coat, white vest, pantaloons, and gloves, whits apron, trimmed
with scarlet, scarlet sash over the left shoulder and black cane. Presiding
Officers of Chapters in Chapeaus trimmed with scarlet and gold. Master Masons
to appear in black hat and stock, dark coat, white vest, pantaloons, and
gloves, with white apron trimmed with blue, blue sash over the left shoulders
.
The Master of each Lodge to
wear Chapeau trimmed with blue and silver, and the Gavel in his hand.
The three Committees appointed by the three Grand Bodies are to act as
Marshals to their respective Grand Bodies in the uniform of their
constituents, with Chapeaus and swords, and are to be distinguished by a thin
white rod and acorn, with bow of ribbon of three colors (Blue, Scarlet, and
Black), and a Rosette of five inches, of the same three colors on the left
breast. Each subordinate Body will appoint two Marshals to assist the Grand
Marshals, to be distinguished by a truncheon or scroll, trimmed with ribbon of
the color of his grade.
An early reference to Aprons
is in the Book of Constitutions (1738, page 153). On March 17, 1731, it was
resolved that "Masters and Wardens of particular Lodges may line their white
Leather Aprons with "white Silk, and may hang their Jewels at white Ribbons
about their Necks." Article xxiii also records that "The Stewards for the Year
were allowed to have Jewels of Silver, tho not guilded, pendent to Red Ribbons
about their Necks, to bear White Rods, and to line their White Leather Aprons
with Red Silk. Former Stewards were also allowed to wear the same Sort of
Aprons, White and Red."
Laurence Dermott (Ahiman Rezon,
1764) gives a regulation of Grand Lodge that blue or purple, is the peculiar
badge of Grand Officers. However, he states that he "is certain that every
member of the Grand Lodge has an undoubted right to wear purple, blue, white
or crimson." From this time blue seems the Masonic color except for Grand
Stewards, who wear crimson.
Another exception was the
Grand Lodge at York, which used only white and pink; no other color is named.
In the schedule of January 1, 1776, of Grand Lodge Regalia, we read ''one
Grand Master's Apron, five Aprons lined with pink silk and ten common Aprons,"
and again in 1779, "An Apron for the Grand Master, four Aprons lined with pink
silk, five Aprons."
None of the early Aprons had
tassels and Brother Fred J. W. Crowe declares it is certain that these were
never intended, as is so frequently asserted, to represent the two great
Pillars. He says they are neither more nor less than the ends of broadened
strings ornamented with fringe and that the fringe on the Apron is coeval with
fringing the ends of strings.
Down to the Union in 1813,
many engraved, painted and embroidered Aprons were in common use. At the
Union, however, the clothing under the United Grand Lodge of England was
clearly laid down. The same Apron was sometimes used for the Craft and Royal
Arch during the eighteenth century, the distinguishing mark being the binding
of purple and crimson when used for the latter.
The Collar was originally a
simple ribbon supporting the jewel of office. This ribbon was white in 1727,
except in the case of Stewards, when it was red.
But in 1731 it was ordered
that Grand Officers wear their jewels of gold suspended from blue ribbons.
From the ribbon has gradually
evolved the broad, decorative collar worn so generally in Great Britain.
Gloves were a part of the
Freemason's clothing from the earliest time, but gauntlets, although Brother
Crowe says these were undoubtedly worn before the Union, were only
comparatively recently authoritatively laid down as a part of the regalia.
In Scotland, the clothing of
Grand Lodge and of Provincial and District Grand Lodges is of thistlegreen,
doubtless from the color used in the national Order of the Thistle; but
private Lodges may select any color they please, and may also add a
considerable amount of ornament and embellishment, which is usually on the
fall or flap. This fall in Scottish Aprons is circular, not triangular as in
English and American Aprons. The Grand Lodge in 1736 ordered that the jewels
of the Grand Master and Wardens shall be worn "at a green ribbon." Embroidered
Aprons with Officers' emblems were introduced in 1760, and in 1767, the
"garters," which in the days of knee-breeches formed part of the regalia, and
the ''ribbands for the jewels" were ordered to be renewed. Sashes for
office-bearers were adopted in 1744, jewels in 1760. The Lodge of Dundee wore
white Aprons in 1733, and the Lodge of Edinburgh in 1739 ordered "a new blew
ribband for the whole five jewels."
In Ireland, most Lodges wear
very simple cotton Aprons, edged with blue, and bearing the number of the
Lodge, but at their annual Festivals, the Brethren wear lambskin Aprons almost
identical with the English Master Mason's Apron, except that there is a narrow
silver braid in the center of the ribbon. The Grand Lodge Clothing is of the
same color, with gold fringe, but the bottom of the fall is squared off, and
curiously enough, there are no tassels. The rank of the wearer is indicated by
the number and width of the rows of gold braid. Although the Grand Lodge of
Ireland was formed in 1725 or earlier, there has never been any regulation as
to Clothing in its Constitutions, the only authority, until quite recently,
being in a book entitled Clothing and Insignia, with colored plates, first
published in 1860. Brother F. C. Crossle says that in days gone by the
Worshipful Master in many parts of Ireland, if not everywhere, was always
attired in a red cloak and top hat, and this custom had obtained even within
the memory of living Brethren, although now obsolete.
The only jewels which may be
worn in English Craft Lodges are those of Craft and Royal Arch Masonry,
including Past Master, Past Zerubbabel, Grand and Provincial Lodge jewels,
Presentation jewels of Craft or Royal Arch offices, Founders' jewels and
Charity jewels. All others are illegal.
In Denmark all the Brethren
wear small trowels; that of the Entered Apprentice is of rough silver on a
string of leather, that of the Fellow Craft of polished silver on white silk,
that of the Master Mason of gold on a blue ribbon. Brethren who have taken
Degrees above the seventh, wear a special attire in Bodies of their own Order,
which is not allowed to be seen by Brethren of the lower Degrees.
In the case of the Grand
Lodges of Norway and Sweden, the Clothing is practically identical with that
of Denmark. It also includes a Collarette, trowel, and an ivory key. The
latter is still worn in many Grand Lodges as it was once in England, and a
reference to it is found in some old ''catch'' questions of the Fraternity. In
Sweden, the brotherhood is so highly esteemed, that it has its own Order of
Knighthood, that of Charles XIII, and membership of the higher Degrees also
carries civil nobility.
Under the Grand Orient of
France the Aprons are elaborately embroidered or painted, and edged sometimes
with crimson or with blue. Blue embroidered Sashes, lined with black for the
Third Degree, are in common use.
In ltaly, the Entered
Apprentice Apron is a plain white skin; the Fellow Craft has one edged and
lined with green, and with a square printed in the center; the Master Mason
wears one lined and edged with crimson, bearing the square and compasses.
Master Masons also wear a handsome sash of green silk, edged with red, richly
embroidered in gold, and lined with black silk on which are embroidered the
emblems of mortality in silver. Members of the Third Degree can wear more
elaborately ornamented Aprons.
In Greece, Master Masons
formerly wore silk or satin Aprons, painted or embroidered, and edged with
crimson, with a beautiful sash similar to that worn in Italy, but of blue and
red instead of green; later on the clothing became identical with that worn in
England.
In Holland, a custom similar
to that in Scotland prevails, and each Lodge selects its own color or colors
for the clothing and the ribbons to which seals are attached. Considerable
additional ornament in embroidery, painting, fringes, etc., is freely employed
at the pleasure of the Lodge or the individual.
In Belgium, the Grand Lodge
clothing is of light blue silk bordered with gold fringe, and without tassels.
The collars are embroidered in gold with the jewel of the office to which they
pertain, and with acacia and other emblems.
In Switzerland, under the
Grand Lodge Alpina, the clothing is simple. The Entered Apprentice Apron is of
white leather, and only varied from the English one in having the lower
corners round. That of Fellow Craft has blue silk edging and strings. The
Master Mason Apron has a wider border, with three rosettes on the body of the
Apron, whilst the flap is entirely covered with blue silk ; a small blue sash,
with a white rosette at the point is also worn with this. The Apron of a Grand
Officer is edged with crimson, and has neither tassels nor rosettes, except in
the case of the Grand Master, distinguished by three crimson rosettes; the
collar is of crimson watered ribbon, edged with white, from which is suspended
the jewel, a gold square and compasses, enclosing a star, on which is enameled
the white Geneva Cross on a red field, the shield of the Republic. Each Lodge
has its own distinctive jewel.
In Hungary, the members of the
Grand Lodge wear collars of light blue watered silk, with a narrow edging of
red, white and green-the national colors- from which is suspended a
five-pointed star, enameled in the center with a number of emblems, and
bearing the inscription Magnus Latom Hunc Coetus Symbolicus.
The Grand Officers wear
collars or orange-colored ribbon, with a narrow edging of dark green, lined
with white silk, and embroidered with the emblem of office and acacia leaves.
The Aprons are simple, with blue edging, and, for Master Masons, three
rosettes; that of the Grand Master is the same.
In Germany, the various Grand
Lodges exhibit considerable variation in size and shape of Aprons; some are
diminutive, others large, whilst the shape varies, square, rounded or
shield-shaped. Some bear rosettes, others levels, the latter even on the
Entered Apprentice Apron, so that obviously their symbolism is not the same as
in England, where they designate Past Masters only. Each German Lodge
possesses its own distinctive jewel.
Under the Grande Oriente
Nacionale of Spain, the Entered Apprentice Apron is of white leather, rounded
at the bottom, but with a pointed flap, worn raised; that of Fellow Craft is
identical, the flap being turned down; the Master Mason Apron is of white
satin, with curved flap, edged with crimson, and embroidered with square and
compasses, enclosing the letter G., the letters M.'. and B:. and three stars.
The Apron is lined with black brocaded silk, and embroidered with skull,
cross-bones and three stars, for the Third Degree. The Officers' jewels are
identical with those of England.
In Portugal, the Grand
Officers wear white satin Aprons edged with blue and gold, and with three
rosettes. The collar is of blue watered silk embroidered with acacia in gold.
The gauntlets have also G. O. L. U., Grande Oriente Lusitania Unido,
embroidered on them, with the date of its formation, 1869. The ordinary Craft
clothing is simple.
The clothing of the Grand
Orient of Egypt is practically identical with that of England, but the colors
are thistle and sea-green instead of dark and light blue.
The Organists' jewel is an od,
a kind of guitar, instead of a lyre, and the rank of the wearer is indicated
by the number of stars embroidered on the collar.
For the above information
regarding European procedure we are indebted to a paper by Brother Fred J. W.
Crowe (Transactions, 1901-2, page 81, Lodge of Research, Leicester, England;
see also American Union Lodge).
*
CLOTHING AND WAGES
As a modern student reads the
Fabric Rolls, Borough Records, and Statutes of the Middle Ages he sees that
nothing burned itself more deeply into the minds of Operative Masons (and
other workers) than the bitter and brutal question of wages, and it is little
wonder that the "wages of a Master Mason" was a theme carried over into the
symbolism of Speculative Freemasonry centuries afterwards. There were three
reasons for this : the amount of pay was unjustly small, unbelievably so;
wages were not adjusted to a worker's ability or production but were by the
state socialism so long in vogue fixed by civil Statutes, and were arbitrarily
fixed ; and workers resented the loss of so many days of work each year
because of the senseless multiplication of holidays, an evil owed directly to
the monks and priests who never tired of their endeavor to have a new workless
day set aside for each new saint. A table covering 1351 A.D. (about the time
when the first permanent Lodges were formed) to 1495 (the period of the
discovery of America) shows that in 1351 a "Master freemason" received 4sh a
day; in 1361 the same; in 1495 his summer wages were 6 or 4d, and his winter
wages, 5 or 3cl. An "ordinary mason" in 1351 received 3d per day; a "Mason's
servant" (or helper) 1,5d; a tiler (or roofer) 3d; a tiler's helper, 1,5d.
The clothing worn by Masons
and their wives, sons, and daughters also was prescribed by law, partly to
prevent those of the "lower orders" from dressing as well as "their betters,"
partly because in the Middle Ages liveries or costumes were worn in order to
show what craft, profession, art, or class a man belonged to.
Gilbert Stone writes: "Thus by
37 Edw. III, C. 9, it was provided that 'people of handicraft and yeomen' were
not to wear cloth of a higher price than forty shillings and their wives and
daughters were only permitted to wear, so far as furs were concerned, some of
the cheapest kinds . . ." This wearing of a prescribed costume also bit deeply
into the minds of Masons, and it helps to explain why in the earliest Lodges
so much stress was laid on "being properly clothed," and why gloves were so
important-a sign of equality then ; it also helps to explain the proud boast
that a Mason's apron, once a badge which proclaimed him a member of the "lower
orders" and a workman, was now an honor, more ancient than the Golden Fleece,
more honorable than the Star and Garter---as in literal truth it was.
(A History of Labor, by
Gilbert Stone; London; George C. Harrap & Co., London; 1921, is not a Masonic
book yet few books throw a clearer light on early Masonic history. Where other
historians of Medieval Masons and kindred craftsmen fit their narrative into a
framework of general or political history, or write of the subject in the
terms of an art, Stone primarily sees in the Medieval craftsman a man, and
brings his abundance of data to bear on the question, "What was it like to be
a workman?" "A List of Selected Books" beginning on Stone's page 403 is one of
the best bibliographies ever published in this field.)
*
CLUBS, AND FREEMASONRY
The formation of the first
Grand Lodge of Speculative Freemasonry in 1717 coincided with a sudden and
almost explosive multiplication of clubs. They broke out like a rash over the
whole of England. In every village or town was at least one tavern or inn and
one or more clubs were sure to meet in it. There was an amazing number of
categories of clubs, from clubs for elderly high churchmen to the most outer
extravagances of those eccentrics who in France and Italy wonder travelers the
soubriquet of "mad Englishmen" : political clubs, scientific clubs (the Royal
Society had one), betting clubs, bottle clubs, shooting clubs, music clubs,
coffee clubs, odd fellows clubs, clubs for fat men, bald men, dwarfs,
hen-pecked men, one-eyed men, insurance clubs, burial clubs, clubs male and
female, clubs that were a sort of lay church, and clubs for opium smokers,
etc., etc. When the first of the new Lodges of Speculative Freemasonry began
to at tract attention the populace took them for a new species of clubs.
More than one attempt has been
made to turn that popular impression into an argument, more often by social
historians than by Masonic writers; it has never succeeded, because while a
Lodge may often have been a clubbable society, few things could be less alike
in substance or in purpose than a club and a Lodge. The truth of th at
statement is proved by the fact that even in cities with hundreds of Lodges
their members form Masonic clubs on the side.
See Club Makers and Club
Members, by T. H. S. Escott; Sturgis & Walton Co.1914.
NOTE. Side Orders and Masonic
clubs have the same status in the eyes of Masonic law. When Masonic clubs
first began to be formed about the beginning of this century their officers
and members took the ground that since they were not Lodges, were not,
properly speaking, Masonic organizations, and acted independently of Lodges
and Grand Lodges, neither Masters nor Grand Masters held any authority over
them ; and in the beginning the majority of Grand Masters agreed with this
opinion. But after some twenty years of experience with them Grand Masters and
Grand Lodges began to hold that while a Masonic officer cannot supervise a
club as such, a Lodge or a Grand Lodge can discipline club members in their
capacity as Masons. A Grand Master of Masons in Iowa notified the members of a
Side Order that if they held a street carnival of a kind as planned he would
order them tried for un-Masonic conduct; one or two years later a Grand Master
of Masons in Michigan followed a similar course with another Side Order
because of the indecent posters with which it was advertising an indoor
circus. Grand Lodges uphold that reading of the Question ; if a man is guilty
of conduct unbecoming a Mason he is subject to discipline without regard to
where he was guilty.
*
CLOTHING THE LODGE
In the General Regulations,
approved by the Grand Lodge of England in 1721, it is provided in article
seven that "Every new Brother at his making is decently to cloth the Lodge,
that is, all the Brethren present ; and to deposit something for the relief of
indigent and decayed Brethren.'' By "clothing the Lodge" was meant the
furnishing of the Brethren with gloves and aprons. The regulation no longer
exists. It is strange that Oliver should have quoted as the authority. for
this usage a subsequent regulation of 1767. In Scotland this was practiced in
several Lodges to a comparatively recent date and continues to be frequently
observed in many Lodges in South and Central America, the Continent of Europe,
and in Lodges receiving their Masonic customs therefrom.
*
CLOUDED CANOPY
See Canopy, Clouded
*
CLOUD, PILLAR OF
See Pillars of Cloud and Fire
*
CLOUDY
A word sometimes improperly
used by the Wardens of a Lodge when reporting an unfavorable result of the
ballot. The proper word on such an occasion is foul.
*
CLUBS
The eighteenth century was
distinguished in England by the existence of numerous local and ephemeral
associations under the name of Clubs, where men of different classes of
society met for amusement and recreation. Each profession and trade had its
club, and "whatever might be a man's character or disposition," says Oliver,
''he would find in London a club that would square with his ideas." Addison,
in his paper on the origin of clubs (Spectator, No. 9) remarks: "Man is said
to be a social animal, and as an instance of it we may observe that we take
all occasions and. pretenses of forming ourselves into those little nocturnal
assemblies which are commonly known by the name of Clubs. When a set of men
find themselves agreed in any particular, though never so trivial, they
establish themselves into a kind of Fraternity and meet once or twice a week,
upon the account of such a fantastic resemblance." Hard drinking was
characteristic of those times, and excesses too often marked the meetings of
these societies. It was at this time that the Institution of Freemasonry
underwent its revival commonly known as the revival of 1717, and it is not
strange that its social character was somewhat affected by the customs of the
day. The Lodges therefore assumed at that time too much of a convivial
character, derived from the customs of the existing clubs and coteries; but
the moral and religious principles upon which the Institution was founded
prevented any undue indulgence; and although the members were permitted the
enjoyment of decent refreshment, there was a standing law which provided
against all excess (see Masonic Clubs, National League of).
*
COAT OF THE TILER
In olden times it was deemed
proper that the Tiler of a Lodge, like the beadle of a parish--whose functions
were in some respects similar-should be distinguished by a tawdry dress. In a
schedule of the regalia, records, etc., of the Grand Lodge of all England,
taken at York in 1779, to be found in Hughan's Masonic Sketches and Reprints
(page 33), we find the following item; "a blue cloth coat with a red collar
for the Tyler."
*
COCHIN CHINA
A country in the southeast of
Asia in the extreme south of French Indo-China. The name was formerly applied
to the whole Annamese Empire but is now usually applied to the six southern
provinces annexed by France in 1862 and 1867. The Grand Orient of France
opened a Lodge in Cochin China, at Saigon, Le Réveil de l'orient, meaning The
Awakening of the East, in 1868. The Grand Lodge of France in 1908 also
established a Lodge at Saigon, La Ruche d'orient, meaning The Beehive of the
East (see Indo-China, French).
*
COCHLEUS
A very corrupt word in the
Fourth Degree of the Scottish Rite; there said to signify in the form of a.
screw, and to be the name of the winding staircase which led to the middle
chamber. The true Latin word is cochlea. But the matter is so historically
absurd that the word ought to be and is rejected in the modern rituals.
*
COCK
The ancients made the cock a
symbol of courage, and consecrated him to Mars, Pallas, and Bellona, deities
of war. Some have supposed that it is in reference to this quality that the
cock is used in the jewel of the Captain-General of an Encampment of Knights
Templar. Reghellini, however, gives a different explanation of this symbol. He
says that the cock was the emblem of the sun and of life, and that as the
ancient Christians allegorically deplored the death of the solar orb in
Christ, the cock recalled its life and resurrection. The cock, we know, was a
symbol among the early Christians, and is repeatedly to be found on the tombs
in the catacombs of Rome. Hence it seems probable that we should give a
Christian interpretation to the jewel of a Knight Templar as symbolic of the
resurrection.
*
COCKADE
Some few of the German Lodges
have a custom of permitting their members to wear a blue cockade in the hat as
a symbol of equality and freedom-a symbolism which, as Lenning says, it is
difficult to understand, and the decoration is in appropriate as a part of the
clothing of a Freemason. Yet it is probable that it was a conception of this
kind that induced Cagliostro to prescribe the cockade as a part of the
investiture of a female candidate in the initiation of his Lodges. Clavel says
the Venerable or Master of a French Lodge wears a black cockade.
*
COCKLE-SHELL
The cockle-shell was worn by
pilgrims in their hats as a token of their profession; later on was used in
the ceremonies of Templarism.
*
CODY, COLONEL WILLIAM
FREDERICK
Born February 26, 1845; died
January 10, 1917. Famous American scout and showman, pony express mail carrier
covering seventy-five miles daily in wild country among hostile Indians;
served as cavalry man and guide through Civil War; contracted to supply
laborers on construction of Kansas-Pacific railroad with meat and in eighteen
months killed four thousand buffaloes and became known as Buffalo Bill; served
as army scout against Sioux and Cheyennes, 1868-72, and again in 1876, when in
single combat he killed Chief Yellow Hand; member of Nebraska Legislature ;
again serving as scout against Sioux Indians, 1890-1. A member of Platte
Valley Lodge No 32, North Platte, Nebraska, Initiated March 5,1870; Passed
April 2, 1870; Raised January 10, 1871. Became Mark Alaster, Past Master and
Most Excellent Master, November 14, 1888, and was exalted on November 15,
1888, in Euphrates Chapter No. 15, Royal Arch Masons at North Platte,
Companion Cody selecting as his Mark a buffalo's head. He was created a Knight
Templar, April 2, 1889, in Palestine Commandery No. 13, at North Platte. This
information sent to us by Worshipful Master Abner J. Wessling of Platte Valley
Lodge. Brother Cody was given Masonic burial by Golden City Lodge No, 1 at
Golden, Colorado, and his remains rest on Lookout Mountain where there is also
a Memorial Museum in that State.
COETUS
Latin word meaning an
assembly. It is incorrectly used in some old Latin Masonic diplomas for a
Lodge. It is used by Laurence Dermott in a diploma dated September 10, 1764,
where he signs himself Sec. JI. Coetus, or Secretary of the Grand Lodge.
*
COFFIN
In the Ancient Mysteries the
aspirant could not claim a participation in the highest secrets until he had
been placed in the Pastos, a bed or coffin. The placing him in the coffin was
called the symbolical death of the mysteries, and his deliverance was termed a
raising from the dead. "The mind,'' says an ancient writer, quoted by Stobaeus,
"is affected in death just as it is in the initiation into the mysteries. And
word answers to word, as well as thing to thing; for is to die, and to be
initiated." The coffin in Freemasonry is found on tracing boards of the early
part of the eighteenth century, and has always constituted a part of the
symbolism of the Third Degree, where the reference is precisely the same as
that of the Pastos in the Ancient Mysteries.
*
COGHLAN, REVEREND L
Grand Chaplain of England in
1814
*
COHEN
A Hebrew word pronounced
kohane, signifying a priest. The French Masonic writers, indulging in a Gallic
custom of misspelling all names derived from other languages, universally
spell it coën.
*
COHENS, ELECTED
See Paschalis, Martinez
*
COLE, BENJAMIN
He published at London, in
1728, and again in 1731, the Old Constitutions, engraved on thirty copper
plates, under the title of "A Book of the Ancient Constitutions of the Free
and Accepted Masons." In 1751, Cole printed a third edition with the title of
The Ancient Constitutions and Charges of Freemasons, with a true
representation of their noble Art in several Lectures or Speeches. Subsequent
editions were published up to 1794. Brother Richard Spencer, the well-known
Masonic bibliographer, says that Cole engraved his plates from a manuscript
which he calls the Constitutions of 1726, or from a similar manuscript by the
same scribe. Brother Hughan published in 1869 in his Constitutions of the
Freemasons, in a limited edition of seventy copies, a lithographed facsimile
of the 1729 edition of Cole, and in 1897 a facsimile of the 1731 edition,
which was limited to 200 copies, was published by Richard Jackson of Leeds,
with an introduction by Brother Hughan.
*
COLE, SAMUEL
He was at one time the Grand
Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, and the author of a work entitled
The Freemason's Library, or General Ahiman Rezon, the first edition of which
appeared in 1817, and the second in 1826. It is something more than a mere
monitor or manual of the Degrees, and in Brother Mackey's opinion greatly
excels in literary pretensions the contemporary works of Webb and Cross.
*
COLE'S MANUSCRIPT
The record from which Cole is
supposed to have made his engraved Constitutions, now known as the Spencer
Manuscript. It was in the possession of Brother Richard Spencer, who published
it in 1871, under the title of A Book of the Ancient Constitutions of the Free
and Accepted Masons. Anno Dom., 1726. The subtitle is The Beginning and First
Foundation of the Most Worthy Craft of Masonry, with the charges thereunto
belonging. In 1875 it was bought by Brother E. T. Carson of Cincinnati, Ohio.
*
COLLAR
An ornament worn around the
neck by the officers of Lodges, to which is suspended a jewel indicative of
the wearer's rank. The color of the collar varies in the different grades of
Freemasonry. That of a symbolic Lodge is blue; of a Past Master, purple; of a
Royal Arch Mason, scarlet; of a Secret Master, white bordered with black; of a
Perfect Master, green, etc. These colors are not arbitrary, but are each
accompanied with a symbolic signification. In the United States, the collar
worn by Grand Officers in the Grand Lodge is, properly, purple edged with
gold. In the Grand Lodge of England, the Grand Officers wear chains of gold or
metal gilt instead of collars, but on other occasions, collars of ribbon,
garter blue, four inches broad, embroidered or plain. The use of the collar in
Freemasonry, as an official decoration, is of very old date. It is a
regulation that its form should be triangular; that is, that it should
terminate on the breast in a point. The symbolical reference is evident. The
Masonic collar is derived from the practices of heraldry; they are worn not
only by municipal officers and officers of State, but also by knights of the
various orders as a part of their investiture.
*
COLLEGE
The regular Convocation of the
subordinate bodies of the Society of Rosicrucians is called an Assemblage of
the College, at which their mysteries are celebrated by initiation and
advancement, at the conclusion of which the Mystic Circle is broken.
*
COLLEGES IRISH
These were established in
Paris between 1730 and 1740, and were rapidly being promulgated over France,
when they were superseded by the Scottish Chapters.
*
COLLEGES, MASONIC
There was at one time a great
disposition exhibited by the Fraternity of the United States to establish
Colleges, to be placed under the supervision of Grand Lodges. The first one
ever endowed in this country was that at Lexington, in Missouri, established
by the Grand Lodge of that State, in October, 1841, which for some time
pursued a prosperous career. Other Grand Lodges, such as those of Kentucky,
Mississippi, Arkansas, North Carolina, Florida, and a few others, subsequently
either actually organized or took the preliminary steps for organizing Masonic
colleges in their respective Jurisdictions. But experience has shown that
there is an incongruity between the official labors of a Grand Lodge as the
Masonic head of the Order, and the superintendence and support of a college.
Hence, these institutions have been very generally discontinued, and the care
of providing for the education of indigent children of the Craft has been
wisely committed to the subordinate Lodges and other branches of the Masonic
Institutions. Brother Thomas Brown, a distinguished Grand Master of Florida,
thus expressed the following views on this subject: "We question if the
endowment of colleges and large seminaries of learning, under the auspices and
patronage of Masonic bodies, be the wisest plan for the accomplishment of the
great design, or is in accordance ,with the character and principles of the
Fraternity. Such institutions savor more of pageantry than utility; and as
large funds, amassed for such purposes, must of necessity be placed under the
control and management of comparatively few, it will have a corrupting
influence, promote discord, and bring reproach upon the craft. The principles
of Freemasonry do not sympathize with speculations in stock and exchange
brokerage. such, we fear, will be the evils attendant on such institutions, to
say nothing of the questionable right and policy of drawing funds from the
subordinate Lodges, which could be appropriated by their proper officers more
judiciously, economically, and faithfully to the accomplishment of the same
great and desirable object in the true Masonic spirit of charity, which is the
bond of peace." The above summary' of the situation by Doctor Mackey may be
extended to the extent of a few comments on. some of the enterprises of the
past in which the Craft was interested for substantially the same benevolent
reasons that in these modern days of ours prompt the Brethren to suggest
somewhat similar activities. Stephen W. B. Carnemegy, born 1797, died 1892,
Grand Master in 1836-8, was the author of a resolution at the Grand Lodge
Communication of 1841 to establish a Masonic College in Missouri "for the
education of the sons of indigent Masons and others'' and this was approved.
Subscriptions were reported at the Communication of 1842 as $3,556.25 for
sons, and $3,926.25 for daughters, and $185 for the erection of a Masonic
Hall. Brother Carnegy was an active force. We find him in attendance at the
Grand Lodge of Kentucky in 1844 and on being invited at 3:30 to make any
desired suggestions, he asked aid for the Masonic College then under
construction in his State and "a voluntary collection was taken up" (Doings of
the Grand Lodge of Kentucky, 1800--1900, H. B. Grant). In all likelihood this
enthusiasm encouraged the Kentucky Brethren to undertake a Masonic College of
their own. The regulations for the Masonic College in Missouri required a
preparatory school and a collegiate department, the Faculty to consist of a
Professor for each of the following departments: ''On Natural Philosophy and
Astronomy,'' ''On Mathematics," "On Mental and Moral Science," and "Ancient
Languages and Literature.'' This is some course, even if not a very
practicable one, as seen in the eyes of this age. The conditions were : six
months' tuition free, but charges for board; the Grand Lodge to designate the
number of students each subordinate Lodge could send free of charge. The
College was chartered by. the State. In those days $25 paid the board and
washing of a student for a whole Session, and a cord of good wood could be
purchased for a dollar.
*
COLLEGES, ROMAN
See Roman Colleges of
Artificers
*
COLLEGIA ARTIFICUM
Colleges of Artificers. See
Roman Colleges of Artificers.
*
COLLEGIUM
In Roman jurisprudence, a
collegium, or college, expressed the idea of several persons united together
in any office or for any common purpose. It required not less than three to
constitute a college, according to the Latin law maxim, Tres faciunt collegium,
meaning Three make a college, and hence, perhaps, the Masonic rule that not
fewer than three Master Masons can form a Lodge.
*
COLLOCATIO
The Greek custom of exposing
the corpse on a bier over night, near the threshold, that all might be
convinced of the normal death.
*
COLOGNE, CATHEDRAL OF
The city of Cologne, on the
banks of the Rhine, is memorable in the history of Freemasonry for the
connection of its celebrated Cathedral with the labors of the Steinmetzen of
Germany, whence it became the seat of one of the most important Lodges of that
period. It has been asserted that Albertus Magnus designed the plan, and that
he there also altered the Constitution of the Fraternity, and gave it a new
code of laws. It is at least clear that in this Cathedral the symbolic
principles of Gothic architecture, the distinguishing style of the Traveling
Freemasons, were carried out in deeper significance than in any other building
of the time. Whether the document known as the Charter of Cologne be authentic
or not, and it is fairly well established that it is not, the fact that it is
claimed to have emanated from the Lodge of that place, gives to the Cathedral
an importance in the views of the Masonic student. The Cathedral of Cologne is
one of the most beautiful religious edifices in the world, and the vastest
construction of Gothic architecture. The primitive Cathedral, which was
consecrated in 873, was burned in 1248. The present one was commenced in 1249,
and the work upon it continued until 1509. But during that long period the
labors were often interrupted by the sanguinary contests which raged between
the city and its archbishops, so that only the choir and the chapels which
surrounded it were finished. In the eighteenth century it suffered much from
the ignorance of its own canons, who subjected it to unworthy mutilations, and
during the French Revolution it was used as a military depot. In 1820, this
edifice, ravaged by men and mutilated by time, began to excite serious
anxieties for the solidity of its finished portions. The debris of the
venerable pile were even about to be overthrown, when archeologic zeal and
religious devotion came to the rescue. Societies were formed for its
restoration by the aid of permanent subscriptions, which were liberally
supplied; and it was resolved to finish the gigantic structure according to
the original plans which had been conceived by Gerhard de Saint Trond, the
ancient master of the works. The works were renewed under the direction of M.
Zwiner. The building is now completed; Seddon says in his Rambles on the Rhine
(page 16), "It is without question, one of the most stupendous structures ever
conceived." There is a story, that may be only a tradition, that there was a
book written by Albertus Magnus called Liber Constructionum Alberti, which
contained the secrets of the Operative Freemasons, and particularly giving
directions of how to lay the foundations of cathedrals. Even though these
builders had a special treatise on laying the foundations of cathedrals, they
had not made provision for inventions which came later. It has been shown that
within these modern days the foundations of the Cathedral were being loosened
by the constant shaking from the railway trains that now run near, so that
they became unsafe and seriously threatened the destruction of this wonderful
masterpiece of Gothic architecture. The German Government came to the relief
and saved the structure.
*
COLOGNE, CHARTER OF
this is an interesting Masonic
document, originally written in Latin, and purporting to have been issued in
1535. Its history, as given by those who first offered it to the public, and
who claim that it is authentic, is as follows: From the year 1519 to 1601,
there existed in the city of Amsterdam, in Holland, a Lodge whose name was Het
Vredendall, or The Valley of Peace. In the latter year, circumstances caused
the Lodge to be closed, but in 1637 it was revived by four of its surviving
members, under the name of Frederick's Vredendall, or Frederick's Valley of
Peace. In this Lodge, at the time of its restoration, there was found a chest,
bound with brass and secured by three locks and three seals, which, according
to a protocol published on the 29th of January, 1637, contained the following
documents:
1. The original warrant of
constitution of the Lodge Het Vredendall, written in the English language.
2. A roll of all the members of the Lodge from 1519 to 1601.
3. The original charter given to the Brotherhood at the City of Cologne, and
which is now known among Masonic historians as the Charter of Cologne.
It is not known how long these
documents remained in possession of the Lodge at Amsterdam. But they were
subsequently remitted to the charge of Brother James Van Vasner, Lord of Opdem,
whose signature is appended to the last attestation of The Hague register,
under the date of the 2d of February, 1638. After his death, they remained
among the papers of his family until 1790, when M. Walpenaer, one of his
descendants, presented them to Brother Van Boetzelaer, who was then the Grand
Master of the Lodges of Holland. Subsequently they fell into the hands of some
person whose name is unknown, but who, in 1816, delivered them to Prince
Frederick.
There is a story that the
Prince received these documents accompanied by a letter, written in a female
hand, and signed "C., child of V. J." In this letter the writer states that
she had found the documents among the papers of her father, who had received
them from Brother Van Boetzelaer. It is suspected that the authoress of the
letter was the daughter of Brother Van Jeylinger, who was the successor of Van
Boetzelaer as Grand Master of Holland. Another version of the history states
that these documents had long been in the possession of the family of
Wassenaer Van Opdem, by a member of which they were presented to Van
Boetzelaer, who subsequently gave them to Van Jeylinger, with strict
injunctions to preserve them until the restitution of the Orange regency.
The originals are now, or were
very lately, deposited in the archives of a Lodge at Namur, on the Meuse ; but
copies of the charter were given to the Fraternity under the following
circumstances: In the year 1819, Prince Frederick of Nassau, who was then the
Grand Master of the National Grand Lodge of Holland, contemplating a
reformation in Freemasonry, addressed a circular on this subject to all the
Lodges under his Jurisdiction, for the purpose of enlisting them in behalf of
his project, and accompanied this circular with copies of the charter, which
he had caused to be taken in facsimile, and also of the register of the
Amsterdam Lodge, Valley of Peace, to which Brother Hawkins has already
referred as contained in the brass-mounted chest.
A transcript of the charter in
the original Latin, with all its errors, was published, in 1818, in the
Annales Maçonniques. The document was also presented to the public in a German
version, in 1819, by Dr. Fred Heldmann; but his translation has been proved,
by Lenning and others, to be exceedingly incorrect. In 1821, Doctor Krause
published it in his celebrated work entitled The Three oldest Masonic
Documents. It has been frequently published since in a German translation, in
whole or in part, but is accessible to the English reader only in Burnes'
Sketch of the History of the Knights Templar, published at London in 1840; in
the English translation of Findel's History of Freemasonry, and in the
American Quarterly Review of Freemasonry, where it was published with copious
notes by Brother Mackey.
P. J. Schouten, a Dutch writer
on the history of Freemasonry, who had undoubtedly seen the original document,
describes it as being written on parchment in Masonic cipher, in the Latin
language, the characters uninjured by time, and the subscription of the names
not in cipher, but in the ordinary cursive character. The Latin is that of the
Middle Ages, and is distinguished by many incorrectly spelled words, and
frequent grammatical solecisms. Thus, we find bagistri for magistri, trigesimo
for tricesimo, ad nostris ordinem for ad nostrum ordinem, etc. Brother Hawkins
who prepared this article concluded, that of the authenticity of this
document, it is but fair to say that there are well-founded doubts among many
Masonic writers. The learned antiquaries of the University of Leyden have
testified that the paper on which the register of the Lodge at The Hague is
written, is of the same kind that was used in Holland at the commencement of
the seventeenth century, which purports to be its date, and that the
characters in which it is composed are of the same period. This register, it
will be remembered, refers to the Charter of Cologne as existing at that time
; so that if the learned men of Leyden have not been deceived, the
fraud---supposing that there is one in the charter-must be more than two
centuries old. Doctor Burnes professes to have no faith in the document, and
the editors of the Hermes at once declare it to be surreptitious. But the
condemnation of Burnes is too sweeping in its character, as it includes with
the charter all other German documents on Freemasonry ; and the opinion of the
editors of the Hermes must be taken with some grains of allowance, as they
were at the time engaged in a controversy with the Grand Master of Holland,
and in the defense of the Advanced Degrees, whose claims to antiquity this
charter would materially impair. Doctor Oliver, on the other hand, quotes it
unreservedly, in his Landmarks, as a historical document worthy of credit; and
Reghellini treats it as authentic. In Germany, the Masonic authorities of the
highest reputation, such as Heldermann, Morsdorf, Kloss, and many others, have
repudiated it as a spurious production, most probably of the beginning of the
nineteenth century.
Kloss objects to the document,
that customs are referred to in it that were not known in the rituals of
initiation until 1731; that the Advanced Degrees were nowhere known until 1725
; that none of the eighteen copied documents have been found; that the
declaimer against Templar Freemasonry was unnecessary in 1535, as no Templar
Degrees existed until 1741; that some of the Latin expressions are not such as
were likely to have been used; and a few other objections of a similar
character. Bobrik, who published, in I840, the Text, Translation, and
Examination of the Cologne Document, also advances some strong critical
arguments against its authenticity. Summing up the above' evidence, Brother E.
L. Hawkins was convinced that on the whole, the arguments to disprove the
genuineness of the charter appear to be very convincing, and are strong enough
to throw at least great doubt upon it as being anything else but -a modern
forgery. See Mackey's revised History of Freemasonry (page 780) and Gould's
History of Freemasonry (1, 496), where the question of the authenticity of the
document is examined, and it is classed among the doubtful manuscripts.
*
COLOGNE, CONGRESS OF
A Congress which is said to
have been convened in 1525, by the most distinguished Freemasons of the time,
in the City of Cologne, as the representatives of nineteen Grand Lodges, who
are said to have issued the celebrated manifesto, in defense of the character
and aims of the Institution, known as the Charter of Cologne. Whether this
Congress was ever held is a moot point among Masonic writers, most of them
contending that it never was, and that it is simply an invention of the early
part of the nineteenth century (see Cologne, Charter of).
*
COLOMBIA
A republic in the northwestern
part of South America. In 1824 Colonel James Hamilton was appointed by England
head of the Masonic Province of Colombia.
The Republic of Colombia
consisted at first of New Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela. In 1831, however,
all these became independent and in 1861 Colombia was constituted by New
Granada.
Concord Lodge, No. 792, was established by England in 1824 but its authority
was withdrawn in 1862. A Scotch Lodge, Eastern Star of Colombia, was opened
the same year as Concord Lodge.
On June19, 1833, the Grand Orient of New Granada was established at Carthagena
and has continued work up till the present day. Towards a Grand Orient founded
June 13, 1864, at Bogota for the southern states of the Republic, it
maintained, with occasional interruptions, a friendly attitude. A Supreme
Council of Colombia had existed at Bogota as early as 1825 but ceased work.
The present Supreme Council
was created later. v The Grand Lodge of Colombia was opened on November 30,
1919, with all due ceremony by delegates from the four Lodges, Astrea, No. 56;
Siglo XX, No. 61: Libertad, No. 54, and Luz de la Verdad, No. 46, at
Barranquilla.
Three other Bodies, the
National Grand Lodge of Colombia at Barranquilla, the Most Serene National
Grand Lodge of Colombia at Carthagena and the Grand Lodge of the Republic of
Colombia, at Carthagena, established in 1918, 1920 and 1922 respectively, are
still in existence and all six, according to Brother Oliver Day Street, are
more or less independent.
*
COLONIAL LODGES
Lodges in the colonies of
Great Britain are under the immediate supervision and jurisdiction of District
Grand Lodges, to which title the reader is referred.
*
COLONIAL MASTERS, ORDER OF
This organization was
instituted at Ha1ifax, North Carolina. December 30, 1912, and comprises in its
membership Worshipful Masters and Past Masters of Colonial Lodges. No
application on the part of such Brethren was ever to be required but whenever
such a Brother shall present himself and pay the fee he is to be initiated
without ballot and that no objection shall debar him except for
non-affiliation with some Lodge. The first lesson of the Order was to honor
the Fathers by perpetuating and building up their Colonial Lodges and not only
to glorify the early guardians of Freemasonry on the Continent of America but
to -also listen to the call for service, fidelity and faith, and to be pledged
to a higher consecration and a more vivid realization of duty.
*
COLORADO
When Auraria, or Denver as it
later came to be called, sprang up in consequence of the discovery of gold in
Jefferson Territory, the Brethren in the town applied to the Grand Master of
Kansas for a Dispensation to open a Lodge. This was granted on October 1,
1859. While their request for a Charter, granted on October 15, 1862, was
being considered by the Grand Lodge of Kansas they resigned the Dispensation
from that State and as Denver Lodge accepted one, and in due course received a
Charter, December 11, 1861, from the Grand Lodge of Colorado. The Grand Lodge
of Colorado was organized by representatives of Golden City Lodge, No. 34;
Summit Lodge, No. 7, and Rocky Mountain Lodge, no. 8, who met on August 2,
1861. Brother Eli Carter of Golden City presided over the Convention and
Brother Whittemore acted as secretary. A Constitution drawn up by a Committee
composed of Brothers J. A. Moore, C. F. Holly, and S. M. Robbins was submitted
and approved. John M. Chivington was elected Grand Master and O. A. Whittemore,
Grand Secretary. The first Chapter in Colorado was Central City, No. l, in
Central City. Its Dispensation, dated March 23, 1863, was granted by the
General Grand King. On May 11, 1875, a Convention was held at Denver City by
authority of Elbert H. English, the General Grand High Priest, and the Grand
Chapter of Colorado was duly established. Companion William II. Byers was the
first Grand High Priest, Companion Irving W. Stanton, Deputy Grand High
Priest, and Companion Francis E. Everett, Grand Secretary. The General Grand
Council of Royal and Select Masters issued a Dispensation to Denver, No. l, at
Denver, on January 16, 1892, and a Charter on August 21, 1894. Denver, No. l,
with Rocky Mountain, No. 2, and Durango, No. 3, met and organized the Grand
Council of Colorado on December 6, 1894.
In the year 1866 a Commandery,
namely Colorado, No, l, was established by Dispensation dated January 13. On
September 10, two years later, a Charter was granted and it was constituted on
January 26, 1869. With Central City, no. 2, and Pueblo, No. 3, Colorado, No.
l, organized a Grand Commandery which was opened on March 14, 1876. A Lodge of
Perfection, Delta, No. l, was chartered at Denver on January 26, 1877; a
Chapter of Rose Croix, Mackey, No. l, on April 11, 1878; a Council of Kadosh,
Denver, No, l, on September 3, 1888, and a Consistory, Colorado, No. l, on
October 17, 1888.
*
COLORED FRATERNITIES
The secret societies of
negroes claiming to be Masonic are quite extensive, embracing Grand Lodges in
practically every State (see Negro Masonry).
*
COLORS, SYMBOLISM OF
Wemyss, in his Clavis
Symbolica, the Latin meaning Symbolic Key, says: "Color, which is outwardly
seen on the habit of the body, is symbolically issued to denote the true state
of the person or subject to which it is applied, according to its nature."
This definition may appropriately be borrowed on the present occasion, and
applied to the system of Masonic colors. The color of a vestment or of a
decoration is never arbitrarily adopted in Freemasonry. Every color is
selected with a view to its power in the symbolic alphabet, and it teaches the
initiate some instructive moral lesson, or refers to some important historical
fact in the system. Frederic Portal, a French archeologist, has written a
valuable treatise on the symbolism of colors, under the title of Des Couleurs
Symboliques dans l'antiquité, le moyen âge et les temps modernes, meaning
Symbolic Colors in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and Modern Times, which is well
worth the attention of Masonic students.
The Masonic colors are seven
in number, namely:
1. blue
2. purple
3. red
4. white
5. black
6. green
7. yellow
8. violet (see those respective titles in this Encyclopedia).
About the Church of God as
well as the Bodies of Freemasonry has clustered a rich store of symbolism.
Their foundation is the same.
Writers through the centuries have found peculiar significance galore in the
various features of church construction and adornment. Among these the
symbolism of colors has been prominently mentioned. Bishop William Durandus,
was born at Puy-moisson in Province about the year 1220 A.D., and died at Rome
in 1296.
A book of his dealing freely
with symbolism was finished in 1286 and from it we take the following item to
illustrate the early ceremonial symbolism of colors:
On festivals, curtains are
hung up in churches, for the sake of the ointment they give; and that by
visible, we may be led to invisible beauty. These curtains are sometimes
tinctured with various hues, as is said afore; so that by the diversity of the
colors themselves we may be taught that man, who is the temple of God, should
be ordained by the variety and diversity of virtues. A white curtain
signifieth pureness of living, a red, charity; a green, contemplation; a
black, mortification of the flesh: a livid-colored, tribulation. Besides this,
over white curtains are sometimes suspended hangings of various colors: to
signify that our hearts ought to be purged from vices: and that in them should
be the curtains of virtues, and the hangings of good works. We must not
overlook the authorities whose comments on the symbolism of colors are not in
complete accord with the findings of Bishop Durandus and with those who have
accepted and continued his conclusions. While an exact meaning may not
universally have been applied to the individual colors there is found a
striking correspondence with several of them.
Anyway, a difference in the
symbolic meanings does not destroy or even impair the circumstance that colors
have long been and are now freely employed as Symbols. The preface to English
Liturgical Colors, by Sir Wm. St. John Hope and E. G. Cuthbert F. Atchley,
published in 1918 by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, refers to
the discussion of the subject in 1860 in the Ecclesiologist (volume xxi, pages
133--i), by a writer over the initials J. C. J, who, after showing the
considerable variety of the colors recorded, and that no strict rule for their
use was possible, pointed out that
In early times richness of
material seems to have been the chief point aimed at: a good deal being left
to the fancy and taste of the donors, most of all to the bishops, sacristans,
and clergy. This commentator arrives at the following conclusion:
First of all then, it is quite
clear that the English did not bind themselves down to the so-Called
ecclesiastical colors. By this I do not mean to say that they never had
particular colors for particular days, but that they allowed themselves much
more liberty than modem Rome allows to her members.
Of the growth of such
symbolism and the outcome, Messrs. Hope and Atchley have this to say on page
viii:
As soon as churches began to
acquire more vestments than a set for everyday use, a second set for Sundays,
and a best set for festivals, it was natural that different colors should be
appropriated to the various festivals and several classes of saints, and the
choice of the color was determined in each country in western Europe by the
prevailing ideas of fitness. In point of fact, however, there was a fairly
general unanimity in the schemes which developed everywhere outside the Roman
diocese, while within that a scheme of another type gradually took shape. No
color has any essential and necessary meaning, consequently a "teaching
sequence" rests on purely arbitrary conventions.
Durandus and other Writers
have explained at length from Holy Writ and elsewhere how ''each hue
mysteriously is meant,'' but it is perfectly easy to put together quite as
plausible a set of reasons for precisely the opposite or any other
signification. At the same time it is not to be denied that there are a few
quasi-natural symbolical meanings which have obtained for so many centuries
that they have now become common ideas of Western Europe. Such are the use of
black or dark colors for mourning and sadness, of white as a symbol of purity
and innocence, and of bright red for royalty; as well as the ideas connoted by
such phrases as "in the blues," and the like. Medieval writers, as is shown in
Essays on Ceremonial, differ widely among themselves in the significance that
they attribute to different colors, and no certainty is anywhere to be found.
*
COLUMN
A round pillar made to support
as well as to adorn a building, whose construction varies in the different
orders of architecture. In Freemasonry, columns have a symbolic signification
as the supports of a Lodge, and are known as the Columns of Misdom, Strength,
and Beauty. The broken column is also a symbol in Freemasonry (see the titles
Supports of the Lodge and Broken Column).
*
COLUMNS, THE WARDENS
In Freemasonry the Senior
Warden's Column represents the pillar Jachin while the Junior Warden's Column
represents the pillar Boaz. The Senior Warden's Column is in an erect position
and the Junior Warden's placed horizontally during labor, these positions
being reversed during refreshment.
*
COMACINE MASTERS
It has long been a theory of
some writers, secular and Masonic, that there was a direct succession of the
Operative Gilds from the Roman Colleges to those who merged into Speculative
Freemasonry in 1717, and as investigation proceeded, the proofs became
stronger and stronger until now it can no longer reasonably be doubted.
At first it was not attempted
to prove the succession it was only inferred, but recently more careful
investigators have come to view, whose results go far in establishing the
direct succession from Roman Colleges to speculative Freemasonry.
The principal purpose of this
article is to put a link in the chain of Operative Gilds and establish a
continuous connection from the oldest Gild formation, that of the Roman
Colleges, which see, through the Lombard period and Renaissance to the
formation of Speculative Freemasonry by the English Gilds.
Before beginning the
description of the Comacine Masters, which, from the controversial character
of the subject, must of necessity be kindred to a discussion resting heavily
on citations and quoted authorities who have worked in this special field, it
will be necessary to draw a fair picture of the Roman possessions and
civilization at this period.
When Rome had passed the
zenith of her power and had begun to decline from internal and external
causes, it is but natural to suppose that her neighboring enemies noticed
this, and as they had long looked upon Italy with avaricious eyes, felt the
time had arrived for them to attain what they had most desired. The year 476
A.D.,when the last of the nominal Caesars ceased to rule in the West, is
usually taken by historians as marking the fall of the Roman Empire.
However true that may be, the
falling began when Constantine established the seat of his empire at
Constantinople, in 327, and drew much strength from Rome, thereby making it
easier for the Vandals and Goths to renew their attacks.
For five centuries horde after horde of barbarians flung themselves against
the Roman frontiers, each striking deeper than the last, and being repelled
with greater and greater difficulty, the Empire sinking beneath internal decay
more than from her external enemies.
When the Western Empire ceased
in the fifth century and Europe was plunged into what has been called The Dark
Ages and all progress in letters and the arts of peace is supposed to have
ceased, it is refreshing to quote what John Fiske said in Old and New Ways of
Treating History, when speaking of that period: "In truth the dull ages which
no Homer has sung or Tacitus described, have sometimes been critical ages for
human progress. . . . This restriction of the views to literary ages has had
much to do with the popular misconception of the 1,000 years that elapsed
between the reign of Theodoric the Great and the Discovery of America.
For many reasons that period
might be called the Middle Ages ; but the popular mind is apt to lump these
ten centuries together, as if they were all alike, and apply to them the
misleading epithet Dark Ages. A portion of the darkness is in the minds of
those ,,who use the epithet.
" Brother E. E. Cauthorne who wrote this article says he also wishes to take
exception to their position and conclusions, for in the success of these
exceptions lies the potency and possibility of the subject, the Comacine
Masters, who lived and built at this period, having descended from branches of
the Roman Colleges of Artificers who had come to Como as colonists or had fled
to this free republic for safety during barbaric invasions, creating and
developing what is called Lombard architecture, and forming a powerful gild
which later not only influenced, but had a connection with the gilds of France
and Germany at the Renaissance, thereby establishing a direct line of descent
of Roman Colleges to the Operative Gilds that grew into speculative
Freemasonry.
It can be understood how a
tribe or a small section of people may, from various causes, recede in
letters, science and civilization, but how the world could do so is difficult
to, comprehend, yet the historians and literature attempted to confirm this in
describing the "gloom when the sun of progress was in a total or partial
eclipse from the fifth to the twelfth centuries,'' or, between the period of
ancient Classic Art of Rome and that early rise of Art in the twelfth century,
which led to the Renaissance. Leader Scott says that "this hiatus is supposed
to be a time when Art was utterly dead and buried, its corpse in Byzantine
dress lying embalmed in its tomb at Ravenna. But all death is nothing but the
germ of new life. Art was not a corpse ; it was only a seed laid in Italian
soil to germinate and it bore several plants before the great deflowering
period of the Renaissance."
Those who produced these
several plants which it bore before the great Cathedral Building period that
followed the Renaissance, will furnish the subject of this article, and trust
it will be as interesting and important to the Masonic student as it is new in
the literature of Freemasonry. Most things will become more and more clear as
we follow up the traces of the Comacine Gild from the chrysalis state, in
which Roman Art hibernated during the dark winter of the usually called Dark
Ages, as Scott says "through the grub state of the Lombard period to the
glorious winged flight of the full Gothic of the Renaissance." Many
historians, Masonic and profane, who wrote as long as a generation ago, are
inclined to give the impression that there was but little or nothing that
transpired during the so-called Dark Ages which was essential to the world's
progress' at the time, or worthy of contemplation at present.
Had their views of the
importance of historical matter prevailed, we would now know very little of
what transpired from the Fall of the Western part of the Roman Empire to the
Renaissance. We know that many cities in Italy were rebuilt after they had
been sacked and partly destroyed by the Goths and Huns. Many cathedrals were
built during this period, some of which work lasts till today, and is worthy
workmanship. The historical architects have approached this period from
another angle and the results of their efforts now make this article possible
and open up a new and important field for Masonic students.
Toward the end of the fifth
century a new wave of barbaric invasions swept over the West. North and East
Gaul-all not previously held by the Visigoths fell into the hands of the
Franks in 486 A. D. Theodoric and the Ostrogoths wrested Italy from Odoacer
and established the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy, with its capital at Ravenna.
This kingdom was established and governed on exceptionally enlightened lines.
Theodoric, often called The
Great, was the most broad-minded and advanced of all the German conquerors.
He was a man of culture, yet
some have said that he could not read. He had been educated from his eighth to
his eighteenth year at Constantinople. His rule was, therefore, more like the
revival of Roman ideas than a barbarous conquest.
Accordingly we need not be
surprised to find him decorating his capital city, Ravenna, during the period
of his occupation, 493-526, A.D., with a series of monuments which, although
strongly tinctured with Byzantine fluence, yet constitute, perhaps, the finest
examples .we possess of the early Christian style.
Theodoric was an Aryan and
opposed to the Bishop of Rome.
This fact and his education at
Constantinople are sufficient to explain the strong Byzantine elements so
noticeable even in those monuments at Ravenna, which antedate the Byzantine
conquest. Charles A. Cummings in his History of architecture in Italy says:
"One of the earliest acts of Theodoric after his accession to the throne was
the appointment of an architect to have charge of all the public
buildings-including the aqueducts and the city walls-of Ravenna and Rome,
putting at his disposal for this purpose, yearly, twelve hundred pounds of
gold, two hundred and fifty thousand bricks, and the income of the Lucrine
Haven. A remarkable letter from Theodoric to this official on his appointment
is preserved by Cassiodorus, who was the minister of the Empire. 'These
excellent buildings,' he says, 'are my delight. They are the noble image of
the power of the Empire, and bear witness to its grandeur and glory. The
palace of the sovereign is shown to ambassadors as a monument worthy of their
admiration, and seems to declare to them his greatness. It is then a great
pleasure for an enlightened prince to inhabit a palace where all the
perfections of art are united, and to find there relaxation from the burden of
public affairs. . . . I give you notice that your intelligence and talents
have determined me to confide to your hands the care of my palace. It is my
wish that you preserve in its original splendor all which is ancient, and that
whatever you add to it may be comfortable to it in style. It is not a work of
small importance which I place in your hands, since it will be your duty to
fulfill by your art the lively desire which I feel to illustrate my reign by
many new edifices; so that whether the matter in hand be the rebuilding of a
city, the construction of new castles, or the building of a Pretorium, it will
be for you to translate my projects into accomplished realities.
And this is a service highly honorable and worthy of any man's ambition:-to
leave to future ages the monuments which shall be the admiration of new
generations of men. It will be your duty to direct the mason, the sculptor,
the painter, the worker in stone, in bronze, in plaster, in mosaic. What they
know not, you will teach them. The difficulties which they find in their work,
you will solve for them.
But behold what various
knowledge you must possess, thus to instruct artificers of so many sorts. But
… you can direct their work to a good and satisfactory end, their success will
be your eulogy, and will form the most abundant and flattering reward you
could desire.'" From this it may be seen that an architect of those days was a
complete Master of the art of building.
He was required to be able to
construct a building from foundation to roof and also to be able to decorate
it with sculpture and painting, mosaics and bronzes.
This broad education prevailed
in all the schools or Lodges up to 1335, when the painters seceded, which was
followed by other branches separating themselves into distinct gilds. It is a
well-known fact that when the barbarians were sacking and carrying away the
riches of many Italian cities and particularly of Rome, people fled to more
secure places for the better protection of their lives and property. Of the
various places to which they fled only one interests us in this article. Como
was a free republic and many fled there for the protection it afforded. Rome
had previously colonized many thousands in Como before the Christian Era (see
Como). The first we hear of the Comacines was that they were living on an
island called Isola Comacina in Lake Como, that most beautiful of lakes. They
were so well fortified that it was years before the island was captured and
then only by treachery. Their fortifications and buildings were similar to
those built by the Colleges of Artificers at Rome, which gave rise to the
belief that they were the direct descendants from these Roman builders, who
had built for the Roman Empire for several centuries.
In offering the form of
building as best evidence of the descent of the Comacines from the Roman
Colleges, it is appreciated how recorded literature, which is usually the word
and opinions of one person, can be biased, changed and often wrong. But all
who have studied a people in their social, political or religious aspects,
know how permanent these things are and how subject to slow changes.
Their forms of dress, songs,
folklore and language undergo changes but slowly, climate, unsuccessful wars
and amalgamation proving the most disastrous. But probably none of these
change so slowly as forms of building, unless the latter be subjected to a
marked change of climate from migration. Architecture is one of the noblest
and most useful of arts and one of the first to attract the attention of
barbarous people when evolution into higher civilization, and is at all times
an accurate measure of a people's standing in civilization.
A law we learn from biology in
the morphology of animals is, that nature never makes a new organ when she can
modify an old one so as to perform the required functions. New styles of
architecture do not spring from human intellect as creations. Cattaneo says:
"Monuments left by a people are truer than documents, which often prove
fallacious and mislead and prove no profit for those who blindly follow them.
The story of a people or a
nation, if not known by writings, might be guessed through its monuments and
works of art."
The Lombards, who had come
from northern Germany and settled in northern Italy in 568 A.D., at once began
to develop along many lines which made Lombardy known all over Europe---the
result of which influence Europe feels today. They developed along lines which
in our everyday parlance may be called business. They were not primarily
architects or builders and they employed the Comacines for this kind of work
and it was the Comacines who developed what is known today as Lombard
architecture, covering a period that we may roughly put as from the seventh
century to the Renaissance.
The first to draw attention to
the name Magistri Comacini was the erudite Muratori, that searcher out of
ancient manuscripts, who unearthed from the archives an edict, dated November
22, 643 A.D., signed by Rotharis, in which are included two clauses treating
of the Magistri Comacini and their colleagues The two clauses, Nos. 143 and
144, out of the 386 inscribed in cribbed Latin, says Leader Scott, are, when
anglicized, m the following intent:
Art. 143. Of the Magister
Comacinus. If the Comacine Master with his colleagues shall have contracted to
restore or build a house of any person whatsoever, the contract for payment
being made, and it chances that someone shall die by the fall of the said
house, or any material or stone from it, the owner of said house shall not be
cited by the Master Comacinus or his Brethren to compensate them for homicide
or injury; because having for their own gain contracted for the payment of the
building, they just sustain the risk and injuries thereof.
Art. 144. of the engaging and
hiring of Magistri. If any person has engaged or hired one or more of the
Comacine Masters to design a work, or to daily assist his workmen in building
a palace or a house, and it shall happen by reason of the house some Comacine
shall be killed, the owner of the house is not considered responsible; but if
a pole or stone shall injure some extraneous person, the Master builder shall
not bear the blame, but the person who hired him shall make compensation.
Charles A. Cummings says: "The
code of Luitprand, eighty years later, contains further provisions regulating
the practice of Comacini, which had now become much more Ilumerous and
important. Fixed rates of payment were established for their services, varying
according to the kind of building on which they were engaged; definite prices
being allowed for walls of various thicknesses, for arches and vaults, for
chimneys, plastering and joiners' work. The difficulty which these early
builders found in the construction of vaults is indicated by the allowance of
a charge per superficial foot, from fifteen to eighteen times as great as in
the case of a wall. The price of provisions and wine furnished to the workmen
is also determined and is counted as part of their pay."
Scott maintains that "these laws prove that in the seventh century the
Magistri Comacini were a compact and powerful gild, capable of asserting their
rights, and that the gild was properly organized, having degrees of different
ranks; that the higher orders were entitled Magistri, and could 'design' or
'undertake' a work; that is, act as architects ; and that the colligate or
colleagues worked under, or with, them. In fact, a powerful organization
altogether so powerful and so solid that it spoke of a very ancient
foundation. Was it a surviving branch of a Roman Collegium? Or a decadent
group of Byzantine artists stranded in Italy?"
Professor Merzario says: "In
this darkness which extended all over Italy, only one small lamp remained
alight, making a bright spark in the vast Italian metropolis. It was from the
Magistri Comacini. Their respective names are unknown, their individual work
unspecialized, but the breath of their spirit might be felt all through those
centuries and their names collectively is legion. We may safely say that of
all the works of art between 800 and 1000 A.D., the greater and better part
are due to that brotherhood-always faithful and often secret-of the Magistri
Comacini. The authority and judgment of learned men .justify the assertion."
Quaternal de Quincy, in his
Dictionary of Architecture, under the heading Comacines, remarks that "to
these men who were both designers and executors, architects, sculptors and
mosaicists, may be attributed the Renaissance of art and its propagation in
the southern countries, where it marched with Christianity.
Certain it is that we owe to
them that the heritage of antique ages was not entirely lost, and it is only
by their tradition and imitation that the art of building was kept alive,
producing works which we still admire and which become surprising when we
think of the utter ignorance of all science in those Dark Ages."
Hope, in his well-balanced
style, draws quite a picture of the gilds at this period which, upon the
whole, is fairly accurate. He says: "When Rome, the Eternal City, was first
abandoned for Milan, Ravenna and other cities in the more fertile North, which
became seats of new courts and the capitals of new kingdoms, we find in
northern Italy a rude and barbarous nation-the Lombards-in the space of two
short centuries, producing in trade, in legislation, in finance, in industry
of every description, new developments so great, that from them, and from the
regions to which they attach their names, has issued the whole of that
ingenious and complex system of bills of exchange, banks, insurance, double
sentry bookkeeping, commercial and marine laws and public loans, since adopted
all over Europe---all over Europe retaining, in their peculiar appellations
the trace and landmarks of their origin-and all over Europe affording to
capital and commerce an case of captivity and a security unknown before.
"To keep pace with this
progress, kings, lesser lords and the municipalities that by degrees arose,
were induced, at one time from motives of public policy, at others, of private
advantage, to encourage artificers of different professions. Thus of their own
accord, they granted licenses to form associations possessed of the exclusive
privilege of exercising their peculiar trades, and making them an object of
profit; of requiring that youths anxious to be associated with their body, and
ultimately to be endowed with the mastery of the profession, should submit to
a fixed and often severe course of study, under the name of apprenticeship,
for their master's profit, and in addition should frequently be compelled to
pay a considerable premium; and of preventing any individual not thus admitted
into their body, from establishing a competition against them. These
associations were called Corporations or Gilds.
"These Bodies in order to
enjoy exclusive exercise of their profession, and that its profits should be
secure to them, not only by law, but by the inability of others to violate it,
by degrees made their business, or craft, as they called it, a profound
mystery from the world at large, and only suffered their own apprentices to be
initiated in its higher branches and improvements, most gradually; and in
every place where a variety of paths of industry and art were struck out,
these crafts, these corporations, these masterships and these mysteries became
so universally prevalent, that not only the arts of a wholly mechanical
nature, but even those of the most exalted and intellectual nature---those
which in ancient times had been considered the exclusive privilege of freemen
and citizens, and those dignified with the name liberal-were submitted to all
those narrow rules of corporations and connected with all the servile offices
of apprenticeship.'' While Hope and writers of his time recognized that some
well-organized body of workers had dominated the building trades at the
Lombard period of history, they never attempted to trace their genealogy.
Later historical critics of architecture have given some attention to origin
and succession of these building crafts. One of the latest Italian students,
Rivoiri, has devoted a separate chapter to the Comacine Masters.
As his extensive work on
Lombard Architecture, Its Origin, Development and Derivatives may be
accessible to but few, we shall give a generous quotation from him for the
importance of his sound conclusions:
"The origin of the Comacine
Masters in the diocese of Como is explained quite naturally, according to De
Dartein, Merzario, and others, by the custom, which has always existed among
the craftsmen and workmen of that region, of leaving their native places in
order to betake themselves in gangs wherever building works are about to be or
have been begun, urged thereto by their barren mountain soil, pecuniary gain,
their innate ability and enterprising character.
Another explanation is to be found in the presence on the shores of the lakes
of Como, Lugano and the Maggiore, of numerous stones, marble and timber yards
which furnished building material for the cities of the plains. These yards
gave scope for the practice of the crafts of carver, carpenter, builder, etc.
; and these, in their turn, by constant practice and continuous progress,
ultimately developed architects and sculptors.
"And here we may naturally
feel surprise at the appearance, amid the darkness of the early centuries of
the Middle Ages, of a corporation of craftsmen who, though of Roman origin,
none the less enjoyed Lombard citizenship and the rights belonging to it;
while the Roman or Italian subjects of Lombard rule were, if not slaves,
nothing better than 'aldi,' that is to say, midway between freedmen and serfs,
manumitted on the condition of performing the manual tasks assigned them by
the manumitter, A corporation, too, which had a legal monopoly of public and
private building work within the territories occupied by the Lombards, as the
code of Rotharis proves, and can claim the honor of filling up the gap which
for so long was believed, especially by non-Italian writers, to exist between
the incorporated artisans of the Roman epoch, supposed to have vanished with
the fall of the Empire, and the gilds of craftsmen which sprang up so
luxuriantly in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Such surprise, however, may
easily be allayed if we consider that in reality the fraternity of craftsmen,
in Italy at least, by no means came to an end with the barbarian invasions,
and particularly that of the Lombards, who actually preserved those Roman
institutions which best fulfilled their aim of keeping the conquered people in
subjection. Accordingly, they would have maintained the corporation of
artisans in order to make the exaction of tribute easier, and at the same time
to be able to keep a hold over the individuals composing them.
"Hence we have good grounds
for inferring that the corporation of 'Comacini,' who apparently were neither
more nor less than the successors of the Master Masons who in the days of the
Empire had directed the operations of the collegia specially devoted to
building, survived the barbarian invasions which were so disastrous to Italy
in the centuries preceding , the accession of Rotharis to the Lombard throne.
This view is confirmed by the
undoubted fact that from this time onwards the 'Comacini' formed a very
important Gild, as is shown by the need which he felt of making regulations
for it in his laws. This Gild cannot have sprung into existence full grown,
and, as it were, by magic, just when the Code of Rotharis made its appearance
in 643 A. D. It must have already been in existence and have attained some
degree of importance well before Alboin's descent on Italy in 568 A.D. Troya,
in fact, remarks that when the Lombards of the time of Autharis in 583-590
A.D., and of Agilulf and Theodelinda from 590--625 A.D., wanted to erect
buildings, they must have made use of it ; and that everything leads one to
think that before the promulgation of the Code of Rotharis, some of the
members, those of the highest capacity and reputation had already been
enfranchised by 'impans' or express grace of the King. However that may be,
the mention of the associations of Comacini in the reign of Rotharis and
Luitprand is one of the earliest in the barbarian world, and earlier than that
of any Gild of architects or builders belonging to the Middle Ages. . . .
Whatever may have been the organization of the Comacine or Lombard Gilds, and
however these may have been affected by outward events, they did not cease to
exist in consequence of the fall of the Lombard kingdom. With the first breath
of municipal freedom, and with the rise of the new brotherhoods of artisans,
they, too, perhaps, may have reformed themselves like the latter, who were
nothing but the continuation of the 'collegium' of Roman times preserving its
existence through the barbarian ages, and transformed little by little into
the mediaeval corporation. The members may have found themselves constrained
to enter into a more perfect unity of thought and sentiment, to bind
themselves into a more compact body, and thus put themselves in a condition to
maintain their ancient supremacy in carrying out the most important building
works in Italy. But we cannot say anything more.
And even putting aside all
tradition, the monuments themselves are there to confirm what we have said.
"Finally, toward the end of
the eleventh century, the Comacine brotherhoods began to relax their bonds of
union, to make room gradually for personality, and for artistic and scientific
individuality, till at length they vanish at the close of the fifteenth
century, with the disappearance of the Lombardic style which they had created,
and the rise of the architecture of the Renaissance." Leader Scott has
reasonably inferred: "
1. That the architects of the
same Gild worked at Rome and in Ravenna in the early centuries after Christ.
2. That though the architects
were Roman, the decorations up to the fourth century were chiefly Byzantine,
or had imbibed that style, as their paintings show.
3. That in the time when Rome
lay in a heap of ruins under the barbarians, the Collegium, or a Collegium, I
know not which, fled to independent Como, and there, in after centuries they
were employed by the Lombards, and ended in again becoming a powerful Gild."
There was the greatest
similarity in form of the cathedrals of this period and when changes were
introduced they became general thereby creating a unity of purpose and an
interchange of ideas, which spoke the existence of some kind of Gild or
fraternity with a perfected organization. That the Comacines received ideas
which somewhat influenced their building art is probably true, particularly
their decorations.
On the latter question Muller
in his Archaeology der Kunst says: "From constantinople as a center of
mechanical skill, a knowledge of art radiated to distant countries, and
corporations of builders of Grecian birth were permitted to exercise a
judicial government among themselves, according to the laws of the country to
which they owed allegiance."
This was the age when more
symbolism was made use of than at any other period, the reason being that the
Christian religion having so lately supplanted Paganism, and as most converts
could not read, the Bible was spread over the front of the cathedrals in the
form of sculptured saints, animals, and symbolic figures. Hope says: "Pictures
can always be read by all people and when symbolic uses are made and once
explained will be ever after understood."
The Eastern branch of the
Church at Constantinople prohibited imagery and other forms of adornment of
their churches, and like disputants, when one denies, the other affirms, the
Western branch of Rome espoused the carving of images and beautiful sculpture.
This caused the Eastern
sculptors to come to Italy, where they were welcomed by the Roman branch of
the Church. That policy of the Roman branch was carried throughout the
cathedral building period that followed in Europe for several centuries and to
this day is a dominant element with them, for they still believe that properly
to spread their religion, noble architecture, fine sculpturing and painting,
and inspiring music are prime requisites. We Speculative Freemasons should
give full credit to the Roman Catholic Church for employing and fostering our
Operative Brethren through many centuries and making possible Speculative
Freemasonry of today, even though the Church is now our avowed enemy.
Combining some arguments that
have been reasonably put forward for the maintenance of this theory, and
adding others, it may be pointed out that the identical form of Lodges in
different cities is a strong argument that the same ruling Body governed them
all. An argument equally strong is the ubiquity of the members. We find the
same men employed in one Lodge after another, as work required. Not only were
these changes or migrations from one cathedral to another accomplished in
Italy, but we have many examples of Masters and special workmen going into
France, Germany, and other countries. Unfortunately no documents exist of the
early Lombard times, but the archives of the Opera, which in most cities have
been faithfully kept since the thirteenth century, would, if thoroughly
examined, prove to be valuable stores from which to draw a history of the
Masonic Gild. They have only begun to examine carefully these records, and
when completed we may reasonably expect to learn much concerning this period.
Leader Scott has examined several and gives continuous lists of Masters of the
School or Lodge in different cities. In Sienese School, a list of sixty-seven
Masters in continuous succession from 1259-1423; at Florence Lodge,
seventy-eight Masters from 1258-- 1418; at Milan Lodge; seventy-nine Masters
from 1387 - 647. She, for Leader Scott was a woman, whose real name was Mrs.
Luey Baxter, gives headings of laws for these Lodges, and it may be
interesting to glance over the headings of statutes of these Masonic Gilds,
which will throw light on all the organizations. The Sienese Gild is a typical
one. There are forty-one chapters, but the headings of only twelve will be
selected:
C. 1. One who curses God or
the Saints. A fine of 25 lira.
C. 2. One who opposes the Signora of city. A fine of 25 lira.
C. 5. How to treat underlings (sottoposti or apprentices).
C. 11. That no one take work from another Master.
C. 13. How the feast of the Four Holy Martyrs is to be kept. Feast of the
Dead, November Two half-pound candles and offering ; grand fête of the Gild in
June.
C.16. The camerlingo shall hand all receipts to Grand Master.
C.19. One who is sworn to another Gild cannot be either Grand Master or
camerlingo.
C.22. How members are to be buried.
C.23. How to insure against risks.
C.24. No argument or business discussion to be held in public streets.
C.30. That no Master shall undertake a second work till the first has been
paid.
C.34. On those who lie against others.
These statutes are very fair
and well composed and must certainly have been made from long experience in
the Gild.
The genealogy of the styles of
architecture has baffled many. Leader Scott believes this to be the line of
descent: First, the Comacines continued Roman traditions, as the Romans
continued Etruscan ones; next, they orientalized their style by their
connection with the East through Aquileia, and the influx of the Greek exiles
into the Gild. Later came a different influence through the Saracens into the
South, and the Italian-Gothic was born. In the old times (sixth to the tenth
centuries) before the painters and sculptors, and after them the metal
workers, split off and formed companies of their own, every kind of decoration
was practiced by the Masters, as the letter of Theodoric plainly shows. A
church was not complete unless it was adorned in its whole height and breadth
with sculpture on the outside, mosaics or paintings on the inside, and in its
completeness formed the peoples' Bible and dogma of religious belief, and this
from the very early times of Constantine and his Byzantine mosaicists, and of
Queen Theolinda and her fresco-painters, up to the revival of mosaics by the
Cosmati and the fresco-painting in the Tuscan schools, but never were these
arts entirely lost.
For the first, we have the
identity of form and ornamentation in their works and the similarity of
nomenelature and organization between the Roman Collegio and the Lombard Gild
of Magistri. Besides this, the well-known fact that the free republic of como
was used as a refuge by Romans who fled from barbaric invasions makes a strong
argument. For the second, we may plead again the same identity of form and
organization and a like similarity of ornamentation and nomenclature. Just as
King Luitprand's architects were called Magistri, and the Grand Master the
Gadtaldo, so we have the great architectural Gilds in Venice, in the
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, using the very same titles
and having the very same laws. Again the hereditary descent is marked by the
patron saints of the Lombard and Tuscan Lodges, being the Four Martyr Brethren
from a Roman Collegio (see four Crowned Martyrs). All these and other
indications are surely as strong as documental proof, and are practically the
summary of the conclusions of Leader Scott and are not overdrawn, being amply
home out by facts already known.
Older writers recognized the
presence of a compact gild in the work, but did not connect them with the
builders of the Renaissance. More recent writers, such as Rivoira, Porter, and
others declare the connection. This connection is probably without the field
of historical architects, whose work is the study of the product of the
workmen, and not the workmen themselves, while our interest is centered on the
workmen and their relations to those who follow them in connected sequence,
and not on the product of their work, further than to show and prove
relationships of the building crafts.
There are many most
interesting and important things pertaining to the Conacines that must be
omitted in a cyclopedia article. Their rich, varied, and curious symbolism,
which even Ruskin failed to understand, would furnish matter for a fair-sized
volume.
While it is recognized that
history should always be written from as nearly original sources as is
possible it has not been realized in this instance, as Brother Cauthome had to
rely solely on those who have made their investigations at first-hand, and
while some liberties have been taken, no violence has been done to their
conclusions.
The reader will find a rich
field in the following bibliography: The Cathedral Builders, The Story of a
Great Masonic Guild, by Leader Scott. The Comacines, Their Predecessors and
their Successors, by W. Ravencroft. Lombard Architecture, Its Origin,
Development and Derivatives, by G. T. Rivoira. A History of Architecture in
Italy, from the Time of Constantine to the Dawn of the Renaissance, by Charles
A. Cummings. Medieval Architecture, by A. K. Porter.
Architecture in Italy from the
Sixth to the Eleventh Century, Historical and Critical Researches, by Raflaele
Cattaneo. Historical Essay on Architecture, by Thomas Hope. These are English
works or have been translated into English. From them an extensive
bibliography embracing other languages will be found.
*
COMACINE THEORY, THE
The article on Comacine
Masters beginning on page 221 sets forth fairly and adequately the arguments
in favor of the theory that the Magistri Comacimi were a school, or Compactly
organized Brotherhood of Master Masons with a center and training school on
Lake Como ; that this Comacine Brotherhood was the founder of Freemasonry, and
that an unbroken continuity exists between it and the English Lodges out of
which modern speculative Freemasonry arose. Mrs. Webster, writing under the
name of Leader Scott, constructed this theory and published it in her
Cathedral Builders, a work earnestly and competently written, supported by a
wide knowledge of the literature; printed, bound, and illustrated
magnificently.
Bro. Joseph Fort Newton
epitomized the argument of her book in one chapter of his The Builders, and
gave it a wide circulation because his book, "the Blue Lodge classic," had a
large reading among American Masons. Bro. W. R. Rafenscroft followed this with
two small books in which he restated or rehearsed Leader Scott's arguments
with an audience of English Masons in mind (though he published much of his
material in The Builder, Journal of the National Masonic Research Society).
With this presentation, so rapidly successful, and accompanied as it was by
innumerable speeches in Lodge Rooms and articles in the Masonic press
throughout English-speaking Freemasonry, the Comacine Theory ceased to be a
tentative and exploratory hypothesis constructed by one woman, and became a
subject or discussion by the whole Fraternity.
One of the extraordinary
features of this Masonry wide presentation and of the almost enthusiastic
popularizing of it was the failure of both the proponents of the argument and
of the popularizers of it to see that they were asking the Fraternity to
abandon wholly, and at one stroke, the great structure of Masonic history
which had been built up slowly and laboriously from 1870 to 1920 by some two
hundred or so of the most learned scholars the Craft had or possibly ever can
have. Beginning in the 1860's and 1870's Gould, Findel, Fort, Hughan, Crawley,
Speth, Sadler, Lane, Lyon, the Rylands, E. H. Dring, etc., etc., had patiently
pieced together evidences to show that Speculative Freemasonry had begun in
England, that it was initiated by four or five Lodges in London out of some
hundreds of Time Immemorial Lodges in England, Scotland and Ireland which had
been at work during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century ; and that these in
turn were the descendants of Lodges of Operative Freemasons of which the
history was very old, dating at least from the Twelfth Century.
They knew that Operative
Freemasonry in general, as the art of architecture, was flourishing during
those years throughout Europe, but they could find no traces on the Continent
of that particular and almost singular special development among Operative
Freemasons which gave rise to modern Speculative Freemasonry, general
Operative Freemasonry had been as much European as British, but speculative
Freemasonry from its first small beginnings was English; and it was from
England that it went across to the Continent in the 1720's. If Leader Scott's
argument had been sound, if Speculative Freemasonry had originated not in
England (as each copy of the Old Charges clearly showed) but had been founded
and propagated by a school of Operative Masons at Lake Como in Italy, then
Gould's History, Mackey's History, the Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, and the body
of English and American scholarship had made a vast, fatal, wholesale mistake,
and the whole work would have to be done over again de novo.
l. There is nothing in the
cathedrals, and other structures designed, constructed, and ornamented by the
Medieval English Freemasons nor anything in the MSS., traditions, customs,
rites, or symbols, or in the records of the oldest Lodges, which anywhere
mentions the Comacine Masters, or looks backward toward Italy; nor were the
truths, ideas, symbols which were perpetuated by the Time Immemorial Lodges
such as could have originated in Medieval northern Italy; they bear on them
everywhere the stamp of England.
Around and behind early
Medieval Freemasonry in England lay the European milieu, the long history of
the Continent, and the traditions of Antiquity, of early Christianity, and the
Bible; but the elements drawn from this enveloping background which appear in
the first forms of Speculative Freemasonry were demonstrably never drawn at
first hand, not even from the Bible, but were mediated to the Craft through
the reports, and rumors, and traditions of such things as they had come to
England. Moreover, the genius of Medieval Operative Freemasonry was that of
the Gothic architecture ; whereas in Italy, and including Como, the Gothic was
only half accepted, and was mixed with elements of alien styles imported from
Greece and the Arabs (via Sicily).
2. Leader Scott defines the
phrase Magistri Comacini as meaning Masters of Como; she then employs this
word itself as a principal support of her argument, and takes it that wherever
Magistri Comacini appears in the records it refers to the school at Como.
Since the phrase appears first in the Fifth Century, and was in wide use in
following centuries, and hence was in use many centuries before there was any
architecture or architects at Lake Como, Magislri Comacini is not Masters of
"Como" etymologically. In the Low Latin in use at the period of which Leader
Scott writes co-macioncs, frequently used, meant brothers, or gilds, of
Masons, and hence could be applied to Masons anywhere; and Rivoira so applies
it in the work referred to by Bro. Cauthorne in his paragraphs at page 221 of
this Encyclopedia. Thus the Masons at any Italian center, at Florence, Pisa,
Genoa, Venice, Rome, often were called como magistri. Moreover, Leader Scott
takes it, or so to a reader it appears, that a schola was a school; in the Low
Latin just mentioned schola was a gild.
3. Although she did not appear
to note it herself, Leader Scott constructs not one Comacine Theory but two:
a) She attempts to show that
the "school at Como'' was the center from which the whole Lombardic style had
originated and been directed This theory cannot be sustained on historical
grounds. Moreover, it repeats a fallacy which characterizes European theories
about Freemasonry of both its origin and its present organization: viz, that
it had (and has) some one center of control, and that this alone explains why
it maintained its unity (and still does) everywhere, and from age to age.
Medieval Freemasonry (as now) never had a center but maintained its unity by
its modes of recognition, the movement of workers from one place to another,
the prevalence of a single architectural style, and-above other means-by its
training of apprentices, each of whom received his knowledge of the art and
his practices of the Fraternity from a Master Mason who in turn had received
the same from his own inlender, and so on backwards. b) Leader Scott's second
Comacine Theory was that modern Speculative Freemasonry originated in her
hypothetical school at Como. Rivoira says that this theory was not original
with her, but was picked up by her from an Italian book which had never
carried weight with Italian scholars; he himself dismisses the theory as not
worth detailed investigation.
NOTE. In private
correspondence Bro. Lionel Vibert, and writing as Secretary of Quatuor
Coronati Lodge, stated that he had dismissed the Comacine Theory after finding
that Leader Scott had misused the name Magistri Comacini, a keystone in her
arch ; Bro. Ravenscroft Wrote not long before his death that he wished he
could recall his two brochures because he had "come to see that the Comacine
Theory was without foundation."
In addition to books mentioned
above see : Medieval Architecture, by Arthur Kingsley Porter: vol. I, page
134. The Calhedral Builders, by Leader Scott, was published by Sampson, Low,
Marston & Co.; London ; 80 illustrations; 435 pages. Lombardic Architecture,
by G. T. Rivoira; two volumes. The Gilds of Florence, by Edgcumbe Staley;
Methuen & Co.; London; 1906 ; 622 pages. (He has an interesting note about the
Masons at Lincoln, England, as having had a social and religious Fraternity in
1313.) Arl and The Re-formation, by G. G. Coulton; ch. X. Medieval Italy, by
H. B. Cotterill; Geo. C. Harrap; 1915. The Renaissance of The Twelfth Century,
by Charles Homer Haskins, Harvard University Press; 1928. Medieval Europe, by
Lynn Thorndike; Geo. C. Harrap & Co.; London; 1920. A History of Freemasonry,
by H. L. Haywood and James E. Craig.
*
COMITY, LODGE AND GRAND LODGE
Contrary to a popular
misunderstanding etymologists do not derive comity from such roots as co or
com (as in cooperation and committee) but from an old and little used Latin
word for friendliness, the means of friendliness, friendly relations.
The word belongs to the
technical nomenclature of Freemasonry, and is one of the subjects in Masonic
jurisprudence. It is the name for that set of means by which Masonic local
bodies and Masonic Grand Bodies work in friendly co-operation with each other,
within and among the recognized Rites. Comity is in two major divisions:
Internal, by which Lodges
cooperate with each other and with their Grand Lodge (or Chapters, Councils,
etc.) within the same Grand Jurisdiction; External, the means by which Grand
Lodges (Grand Chapters, Grand Councils, etc.) cooperate with other Grand
Lodges, either at home or abroad.
I. INTERNAL COMITY
The means employed are in part
departments or offices of Lodges and Grand Lodges, in part are voluntary
activities initiated, encouraged, or sponsored by Lodges and Grand Lodges.
Among these are : District Deputy systems; District Grand Lecturer Systems;
Masonic periodicals; group or area assemblies of Lodges; "service committees"
or departments for Masonic education, employment, and speakers bureaus, etc.
The reception of visitors, the visiting of one Lodge by another, conferring of
Degrees by courtesy, the right of demission (or dimission) are among the means
of internal comity provided for in the Ancient Landmarks.
II. EXTERNAL COMITY
The complete system of
External Comity is as yet in the making; thus far such methods as the
following have been adopted .by each and every Grand Lodge or by a group of
them: Official recognition of one Grand Lodge by another. The exchange of
Grand Representatives. Foreign (or Fraternal) Correspondence Reports in Grand
Lodge Proceedings. The visiting of a Grand Lodge by official representatives
of another. Correspondence among Grand Masters and Grand Secretaries. Annual
Conferences by Grand Masters, and by Grand Secretaries. Conferring of Courtesy
Degrees. Demission or visiting from one Grand Jurisdiction to another. The
Masonic Service Association, and similar voluntary service activities.
Periodicals of general
circulation. Extra-Grand Jurisdictional services of Grand Lodge Libraries.
Books, booklets, movies, etc., of one Grand Jurisdiction permitted for use in
another. The sending of Masonic Committees and missions abroad. The exchange
of Grand Lodge Proceedings. Etc., etc.
General agreement on some
essentials of External Comity is still incomplete. Among these are: Specific
conditions on which to grant official recognition to their Grand Bodies. Grand
Lodge responsibility for constituting and fostering Lodges in foreign
countries not already under any Grand Lodge. The true and correct Grand Lodge
procedure in other countries in cases where general Masonic organization has
broken down but where there are some (at least) regular Masons and Lodges. (As
in Italy in the 1930's.)
The attempt to set up a single
General, or National, Grand Lodge which began during the Revolutionary War and
was not abandoned until after the Civil War was predicated upon the known need
for ways and means to enable thousands of American Masonic Bodies and Grand
Bodies to work in unity and harmony, lest the American Craft become
intellectual by breaking down into self-contained, isolated, mutually
exclusive local groups. That need was real but as events have proved a single
American Grand Lodge could not have been the satisfaction of it; the body of
means and methods which in purpose and practice comprise Comity are more
extensive, more free, more adaptable, more satisfying, and more effectual than
the means and methods of one Grand Lodge could have been. The system of Comity
has given to American Freemasonry everything that a National Grand Lodge could
have given to it; and it has given to it many things that a National Grand
Lodge would have denied to it.
The Mother Grand Lodge of
Speculative Freemasonry was set up in 1717 after it had been discussed by
already-existing, self-constituted Lodges in London; though only four of them
attended and elected the first Grand Master it is certain that others had
consented and, as their actions proved, were ready to unite. In the beginning
this Grand Lodge was for no purpose except to revive a general assembly, and
to give the Lodges a center where they might occasionally meet. It was an act
of comity. There was to be no new Freemasonry ; there was to be a means for
the old Freemasonry to work more effectually.
There were many pre-1717
Lodges in England, Ireland, and Scotland; in Scotland alone there were more
than 100 before 1700. When a new Lodge was formed (usually of seven or more)
it was self-constituted by men who already were Masons, one from a Lodge in
one place, another from a Lodge in another, and they thus had ties with other
Lodges from the beginning. Each Lodge had a copy of the same old Charges that
other Lodges possessed, or it had men in it who knew the essential portions by
heart. A Lodge might assist a group to form a Lodge in a nearby community,
help it during its formative period, and afterwards maintain close ties with
it; these were daughter Lodges. Any Mason regularly made, possessed of the
all-important modes of recognition, could visit in any Lodge. This was their
comity, the means by which, before a Grand Lodge system was devised, separate
and independent Lodges formed a single Fraternity.
*
CONSERVATOR MOVEMENT THE
In 1860 M.·. W.·. Robert
Morris established a secret society of Masons styled by him as The Conservator
Movement, and its members were called Conservators. The purposes of this
organization were stated by Morris with his characteristic prolixity in a
secret circular which he mailed to Grand Masters, Grand Secretaries, Grand
Lecturers, and other Grand Lodge leaders in the middle of 1860, and which he
signed as "Chief Conservator." He set down ten objects:
To disseminate the
Webb-Preston Work.
To "discountenance" innovations in the Ritual.
To establish national uniformity of "means of recognition," etc.
To establish "a School of Instruction in every Lodge.''
To train Masonic [Ritualistic] Lecturers.
To train Masons to pass examinations when visiting.
To strengthen "the ties that bind Masons generally together."
To detect and expose impostors. To hold conferences among Conservators
themselves.
To "open the way for a more intimate communion between the Masons of Europe
and America."
The recipient was asked to keep the circular ''strictly confidential" ;
To fill in answers to form questions ;
To sign on a dotted line; and to return the document to Morris in ten days. If
a recipient expressed a desire to become a Conservator he received next
"Communication No. 2," also "strictly confidential." It set forth "The Seven
Details or Features of the Plan" which were expected to govern the work of
each Conservator:
1. The scheme was to be a
closely-guarded secret among the few men in each Lodge who were active
Conservators.
2. Each Conservator was to
keep in close touch with the Chief Conservator, and carry out the latter's
order. "A journal, styled The Conservator" was to be sent to each member of
the organization.
3. The "great aim" was
"National Harmony in the Work and Lectures on Symbolical Masonry." All forms
of "Bastard" Work were to be opposed.
4. The "Conservator's Degree''
was to be conferred on each Conservator, "devised for the express purpose.
5. A Vice Chief Conservator
was to be present at each Grand Communication of each and every Grand Lodge.
6. "We adopt the mode of
disseminating the Work and Lectures which was adopted by the Grand Lodge of
England in 1728."
7. "We require a contribution
of Ten Dollars in advance from each Conservator. During the years between 1860
and 1863 Morris issued his journal styled The Conservator some four or five
times ; afterwards he addressed his followers through the pages of his
magazine, The Voice of Masonry. The "society" was so loosely administered that
Morris himself did not know how many were in it, but "guessed" that it may at
one time have had 2,795 members. It transpired that the "mode of
disseminating" as mentioned under "detail" number 6 was a printed cipher, a
tiny book entitled Written Mnemonics Illustrated By Copious Examples From
Moral Philosophy, Science, And Religion. The association was governed by
Morris himself according to "eight regulations." The "era" of the association
was to begin June 24, 1860, and last until June 24, 1865, at which latter date
it would everywhere automatically cease to exist ; this period of 1826 days
was described as the Conservator's Era, or C. E., and letters were to be dated
according to it. A secret language, cabalistic signs, etc., were much used.
Morris officially declared the termination of the "Society" in the first issue
of The Voice of Masonry after June 24, 1860. For the members of his
association Morris prepared the "Conservator of Symbolic Masonry" Degree.
There could be only one Conservator in each Lodge, but he could confer this
Degree on any Master Mason deemed suitable by himself.
The Conservator Movement has
thus a secret society. It had national and local officers; its own
constitution and rules; its own modes of recognition and a secret language;
and though it has to work in a Lodge and on a Lodge; a Lodge had no say about
it, and no control over it. It had in effect two general purposes: first, to
establish a standard work uniform throughout the Grand Jurisdictions; second,
to make the Webb-Preston Work that Standard version. Once they had discovered
its existence and had become aware of its nature and purpose Grand Lodges
began a determined campaign to abolish the Movement.
It was intolerable to have a
secret society at work within the Fraternity itself; it was for a Grand Lodge,
not for a voluntary society of outsiders, to determine what its own Standard
Work was to be; a Lodge could not permit one of its own members to have more
authority than its own Master; nor was Morris himself able to prove that he,
and he alone, possessed the Webb-Preston Work in its original form.
In 1866 Morris stated, as
already noted, that at its height his association numbered 2,795 members, but
it is probable that at least a thousand of these were inactive, or else were
prevented by Lodge and Grand Lodge opposition from accomplishing their
purposes; moreover Civil War conditions hampered them. The whole movement was
quickly aborted and soon passed out of the memory of the American Craft.
NOTE. The most complete set of
Conservator literature and correspondence, including a number of private
letters from Morris, is in the vaults of the Iowa Grand Lodge Library, Cedar
Rapids, Iowa. The most complete published account is The Masonic Conservators,
by Ray V. Denslow; Grand Lodge of Missouri; St. Louis; 1931; cloth ; 132
pages. It contains a list of members Lodge by Lodge, and State by State.
*
CONSOLIDATION OF LODGES
If in the same Masonic
community two sister Lodges find that they are duplicating each other, or if
one finds itself too weak to continue, either of two courses is followed in
American practice. The weaker of the two Lodges can surrender its Charter, and
its members can affiliate with the other Lodge. Or, the two Lodges can
consolidate. A comparison of the forty-nine Codes of American Grand
Jurisdictions shows that the Code of Iowa comes close to being perfectly
typical of the rules governing consolidation as generally they are in use. The
Iowa Code calls for a written ballot; for a majority decision; if the smaller
of the two Lodges cannot assemble a quota the Grand Master and other members
of Grand Lodge accompanying him can constitute one. (See Sections 188 and 190
of revised Masonic Code of Iowa.)
*
CONSTANTINE, THE CROSS OF
The paragraph entitled Labarum
on page 557 was based on Eusebius, the earliest of the chroniclers of the
Christian Church, and the biographer of the Emperor Constantine. Since that
paragraph was written a very large quantity of Greek (Koine) MSS. dating from
the First to the Fifth Centuries have been recovered by archeologists, notably
in the Fayum, once a prosperous Greek-speaking district in an irrigated tract
on the Egyptian border. Since these were records written at the time their
weight as evidence cannot be ignored.
These documents sustain
Eusebius in general outline, but make the story of Constantine's use of the
monogram much more complex. He did not originate it.
The legend of his vision rests
on very insecure grounds, partly because though the Athanasians won control at
the Council of Nicea, which Constantine had called, and had condemned the
Arians as non-Christians, Constantine himself remained an Arian throughout his
life until shortly before his death.
The original labarum was not
so much a banner as a portrait on cloth, showing Constantines head surrounded
by a halo, which was probably designed to be carried as a substitute for his
own presence. The halo and the monogram together may have denoted that he was
head of the whole Christian world. An old legend has it that his mother, Queen
Helen, was an English woman, and that she had discovered the true cross. Long
after the death of Constantine the Bishop of Rome produced a document in which
the Emperor had willed his headship of the Christian world to Rome; the
authenticity of this "Donation of Constantine" was upheld by Rome for
centuries. It is proved to have been a forgery, written two hundred years
after Constantine; Roman Catholic scholars themselves are agreed on this. For
a succinct account see last edition of Encyclopedia Britannia. For full
details see Medieval Italy, a brilliant work, by H. B. Cotterill; London; Geo.
C. Harrap; 1915.
*
CO-MASONRY
There is a distinction to be
drawn between that which is claimed to be the same thing and that which only
resembles something else.
Between identity and mere
similarity there is a great difference. This fact is to be kept in mind when
considering the past and present organizations allied in appearance or purpose
with Freemasonry and those that are but imitating the Institution in greater
or less degree. Of these we may instance the curious development known now as
Co-Masonry. An extensive discussion of the subject has appeared in the French
journal Symbolisms, beginning in 1920, written by Brother Albert Lantoine with
the title La Femme dans la Franc-Maçonnerie, meaning Woman in Freemasonry.
There is also an article in the Builder April, 1917, by Brother Arthur Edward
Waite, dealing more exclusively but briefly with Co-Masonry. There has also
been published in the United States the American Co-Mason, Larkspur, Colorado,
as the Official organ of this system in America.
Some differences arose among
members of the Supreme Council of France, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite,
and sundry Bodies withdrew in 1879 to form the Symbolic Grand Lodge, Le Grande
Loge Symbolique de France, the assumption being that the ceremonies conferred
in this newly-organized Body were the three fundamental Degrees of the Craft
and not the advanced grades of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Lodges
and not Chapters being governed by the central authority. However, this is not
so important as the action of an independent Lodge, Les Libres Penseurs, a
name meaning the freethinkers, and quite expressive of the attitude of the
members, well illustrated in the course of subsequent events. This Lodge met
at Pecq, a small town north of Paris in the Department Seine et Oise.
Mademoiselle (Miss) Maria Dcsraimes was on November 25, 1881, proposed at the
Lodge Les Libres Penseurs for membership. She was a well-known French writer
upon woman's suffrage and other sociological questions. Proposed by the
Master, Hubron, and half a dozen other members, she was initiated on January
14, 1882, in a large gathering of the Brethren of this organization, the
Symbolic Grand Lodge. Presumably the candidate was passed and raised. Of this
Lodge we learn that it soon went out of existence and Lantoine (Symbolism,
February, 1921, page 54) records that on November 17, 1882, the Master was
expelled from Freemasonry. He tells us that at her initiation, Maria Desraimes,
in an address of gratitude after the ceremony, pronounced these words:
If the feeble support that I
may be able to render you cannot be effective, that fact in itself is small
and of little import, but it well has another importance. The door that you
have opened to me will not be closed upon me and all the legion that follows
me.
The prophecy did not
materialize for that Lodge at least. However, the Worshipful Master of the
Lodge at Pecq in order to hold his Brethren in hand had not only threatened he
would dimit if the admission of the woman was not voted but had also announced
that four or five other Lodges, one of which was the Lodge La Justice, would
follow the example they set for the Fraternity. But the anticipations were not
soon to be realized. Disturbances had arisen in the Lodge. A profession of
faith had been uttered there "that no profane should enter the Lodge if he was
not imbued with the principles of forethought, utter atheism," double
d'athéisme is the expression. On June 15, 1882, a majority of the Brethren
forming this Lodge demanded a restoration of their old discipline.
They exhibited a sentiment of submission and the authorities, June 15, 1883,
were assured that "a Lodge is not possessed of self-control to the extent that
it steps aside from the General Laws of the constitution." Lantoine explains
that this is to say that they had stricken from their program the proposed
admission of women and in their list of regular members the name of Maria
Desraimes does not figure:
In 1890 the Lodge La Jerusalem
Ecossaise of the Symbolic Grand Lodge already mentioned, at the instigation of
Dr. Georges Martin who was a member of this Lodge, addressed to all the other
Lodges of France a circular letter inviting them to study the question of the
admission of women through the creation of mixed or joint Lodges of both the
sexes. The Lodges so approached do not appear to have well understood the
purpose. Then the Lodge La Jerusalem Ecossaise decided to pass on to action.
Its order of the day, the program or agenda for the Communication of May 8,
1891, bore among the items a "Project of Constituting Mixed Lodges." The
proposition was handled with more restraint than at Pecq.
The Lodge La Jerusalem
Ecossaise would not itself initiate women but she would create at her side a
mixed or joint, both sexes, Lodge called Le Droit Humain, Human Right, of
which the by-laws had already been discussed and determined.
This latter organization under
cover of adoption, somewhat modernized, was, Lantoine affirms, a means of
attaining the desired end. But the Symbolic Grand Lodge did not fail to take
heed of these tactics. The Commission denotative, a species of Board of
General Purposes of which the prominent Brother Gustave Mesureur was Chairman,
assigned the duty of examining the proposition as regularly submitted and
disposed of the matter in dispute by an altogether unfavorable report which
occasioned a rather stormy debate. Here are sundry extracts from the official
report:
Brother Le Metayer evidenced
the regret " that the Brother Georges Martin as a Mason and as a Past Master
of a Lodge violated the Constitution in a style so vigorous.'' Brother Friquet
"did not understand how the Brother Georges Martin and the brethren who
collaborated with him in the founding of a mixed Lodge had the pretension to
pass outside the opinion plainly established by the great majority of Lodges
and of Masons. In all assemblages, the advice of the majority ought to prevail
and be respected ; the promoters of the foundation of a mixed Lodge when they
wished to give coherency to a project like that, should forthwith quit the
confederation which does not propose to enter that road.
What could be said to Brother
Georges Martin was that the new mixed Lodge would not be a regular Lodge and
that no one has the right to make known the Masonic words and signs to any
associations whatever; that would violate the Constitution; that would be the
worst yet, for nobody has the right to take that which does not belong to
him." Dr. Georges Martin, observes Lantoine, took some exception to the
revolutionary idea inspired by the foundation of the organization and to
explain and excuse his undertaking said, "that he had never taken an
obligation which prevented him from the creation of a Rite different from
those already existing," but the hostile arguments followed fast upon the lips
of his opponents. Brother Rosenwald remarked that each Freemason at the moment
of his initiation took a pledge that he would not reveal any of the Masonic
secrets that are confided to him unless to a good and lawful Freemason or in a
regularly constituted Lodge, and that a Brother had not the right to make any
use of his Masonic equipment for creation of another Rite or of a mixed Lodge.
Brother Friquet, member of the Executive Commission, took anew the opportunity
for a word of warning. He besought the Brother Georges Martin to consider the
consequences of his determination. The Symbolic Grand Lodge would be obliged
to give heed to his actions. They would be forced, in order to safeguard their
relations with other Masonic Powers, and to exact obedience to the
Constitution freely voted, to take necessary measures.
Making an appeal to his
Masonic sentiment, and to his well-known devotion, he prayed the Brother,
Georges Martin, to have the wisdom of giving up his plan.
Here Brother Georges Martin
seemed touched by this avowal. But the sentiment evaporated and three votes,
of which his was one, refused to adopt the decision rejecting his project. The
result was officially made known in the report of the proceedings of May 11,
1891, to the effect, "The Brother Georges Martin replied that the discussion
came too late and the plans were made; he added that there was only one means
of hindering that creation and that was to go before the public powers for the
purpose of having them refuse the authorization that was going to be asked."
Seemingly they did not intervene before the public authorities and the project
was apparently abandoned, at least in the form that had been the purpose to
realize it.
They returned in a fresh way.
Brothers Goumain-Corneille, Andrien, Schafer and Georges Martin deposited at
the office of the Grand Lodge a proposition planned to admit women into
Freemasonry. This plan came as an order of the day, a programmed item, on the
agenda of July 6, 1891, but as none of the proposers were there to defend it,
the project was unanimously rejected.
Was the Symbolic Grand Lodge opposed to feminine initiation? Did she evidence
any retrograde spirit? Yes and no. As we have said above, she was tied by
international relations to a conformity with the Landmarks. She had existed
for a dozen years.
She was treated as an equal
with rival Obediences, even with the Supreme Council which finally had
recognized her, says Lantoine, and it displeased her to compromise her
situation by an experience, however interesting, but which might by a single
stroke set her aside from the Freemasonry of the world. The gesture that she
had been able to make at her birth, in adopting a program clearly new, might
be more difficult for accomplishment, when, as something altogether
revolutionary came along, she struggled to show herself worthy of the
consideration that was accorded other Powers. For that reason from year to
year, far from permitting conviction by the perseverance of Doctor Martin, she
opposed him to the end. When the mixed Lodge at last was created without the
guardianship of a masculine Lodge, and announced officially its existence in
January, 1894, under the title of "Le Droit Humain-Grand Lodge Symbolique
Ecossaise," not only did she refuse to enter into relations with it but she
was abusive under a plea that might lead to confusion. She sent to all the
affiliations the following communication under date of March 21, 1894:
We have been informed by a
letter from Madame Maria Desraimes notifying us of the foundation of an
Obedience entitled Grande Lodge Symbolique écossaise de France: Le Droit
Humain and requesting of us an exchange of fraternal relations.
The Symbolic Grand Lodge,
faithful to its previous Pledges, which have always refused the admission of
women in Freemasonry, has refused to take that request into consideration. We
have ascertained with surprise that this new Association has borrowed, without
our consent or our counsel, the same title as our Confederation and of a
certain number of the articles of our Constitution ; this proceeding compels
us to inform you that in spite of this similarity we have not taken any part
in the creation of that Society and we mean to remain strangers to its
operation. The following month the Lodge La Jerusalem Ecossaise carried on its
agenda the notice of a discussion on Secret Societies by the Brother Mayer,
"active member of the mixed Lodge Le Droit Humain," and the Grand Lodge, not
satisfied with calling the attention of the Lodge to the observation of the
rules, voted also the preparation of a circular letter calling upon the Lodges
"not to admit to their solemn sessions the members, men or women, of the mixed
Lodge Le Droit Humain."
Needless to say that the
supreme council did not accept with any more favor the birth of the mixed
Lodge. The Lodges were told "that they ought to deem as nothing the
communication addressed to it by the new group and to avoid all relations with
it."
One may remark, says Lantoine,
that the request for recognition had been made by Maria Desraimes.
Brethren felt that Georges
Martin was the true founder of the Lodge La Droit Humain and he doubtless it
was that the Brother Dequinsieux had in view when, at the session of June 12,
1894, of the Symbolic Grand Lodge, he demanded, "that the Symbolic Grand Lodge
proceed to an investigation to ascertain who is the Brother who has given the
Masonic signs and words to women, and that Brother be put on trial."
But the defensive argument was
given by a Deputy, Brother Serin, who explained by a report, probably by the
Secretary of the session. "It is the Sister Maria Desraimes who had received
the three symbolic degrees at the Lodge, The Freethinkers, at the East of Pecq,
Seine and Oise, having grouped around her a selection of women and conferred
upon them the symbolic degrees, as was incontestably her right, and in due
course founded the mixed Lodge Le Droit Humain with the cooperation of a
Brother"
This explanation was perhaps
satisfactory to the hearers but far from acceptable to most Freemasons
elsewhere. Perhaps the strain of these discussions was too severe for the
continued existence of the Symbolic Grand Lodge itself, which expired, that is
to say since 1896, when agreeably to a sovereignty granted by the Supreme
Council to the Symbolic Lodges, these were fused with the others into the
Grand Lodge of France.
After the initiating, passing
and raising, on March 14, April 1 and April 4, 1893, according to Brother
Waite, of some seventeen candidates, in which ceremonies Miaria Desraimes and
Georges Martin seem to have participated, in the year 1900 the Lodge claimed
to possess and have the right to confer the whole Thirty-Three Degrees, the
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite series united with those previously
assumed. The title of Grande Loge Symbolique Écossaise continued in use and
the movement then spread from France to India, Great Britain and the United
States. About 1902 the name Maçonnerie Mixte, or Joint Masonry, seems to have
given way to Co-Masonry. There were Lodges at Benares, Paris and London by
1903. The name of the first English Lodge was Human Duty. In 1908 there was a
division, one party being headed by Mrs. Annie Besant, prominent in public
life in Great Britain and India.
The reader will have noticed
in this survey of the situation that the initiating ceremonies practiced by
these bodies were not claimed to be other than those pertaining to the Ancient
and Accepted Scottish Rite and which are not authorized by this organization
to be used in the United States of America nor in Great Britain. whatever the
ritual may have been originally, when used for the initiation of Maria
Desraimes, there have been intimations that it has been materially changed,
though to what extent these alterations have gone is impossible for us to
determine with accuracy.
Brother George Fleming Moore printed articles entitled Notes from India and
Co-Masonry in the October, 1910, and February, 1911, issues of the New Age, of
which he then was the editor. These essays examined various assertions that
have been circulated, one being that made in the columns of the Cherag, of
July, 1910, this being a journal published at Bombay, India, in the interests
of a society calling itself Masonic and using the name Universal Masonry. This
magazine published a claim that Madame H. P. Blavatsky was a Thirty-third
Degree Mason. In proof of this statement reference is made to the Franklin
Register of February 8, 1878, for a copy of her Diploma which is reprinted as
follows:
To the Glory of the Sublime
Architect of the Universe.
Ancient and Primitive Rite of
Masonry, Derived through the Charter of the Sovereign Sanctuary of America,
From the Grand Council of the Grand Lodge of France.
Salutation on all points of
the triangle. Respect to the Order. Peace, Tolerance, Truth.
To all illustrious and enlightened Masons throughout the World-Union,
Prosperity, Friendship. Fraternity.
We, the Thrice-Illustrious Sovereign Grand Master General, and we, the
Sovereign Grand Conservators, thirty-third and last degree of the Sovereign
Sanctuary of England, Wales, etc., decorated the Grand Star of Sirius, etc.,
Grand Commanders of the Three Legions of the Knights of Masonry, by virtue of
the high authority with which we are invested, have declared and proclaimed
and by these presents do declare and proclaim our illustrious and enlightened
Brother, H. P. Blavatsky, to be an Apprentice, Companion, Perfect Mistress,
Sublime Elect Scotch Lady, Grand Elect, Chevaliere de Rose Croix, Adoniramite
Mistress. Perfect Venerable Mistress, and a crowned Princess of Rite of
Adoption.
Given under our hands and the
seals of the Sovereign Sanctuary for England and Wales, sitting in the Valley
of London, this 24th day of November, 1877, year of true Light 000,000,000.
John Yarker, 33 Sovereign
Grand Master.
M. Caspari. 33 Grand Secretary.
A. D. Loewenstark, 33 Grand Secretary.
Brother Moore comments on the
above document thus :
A paper signed by John Yarker,
M. Caspari, and A. D.Loewenstark, which shows on its very face that it is
merely a certificate of membership in the Rite of Adoption. The very names of
the Degrees given in this diploma show that it was and is not a Masonic
document. and that the men who gave it had no intention of creating any such
false impression by it. If Brother Wadia had known anything of Masonry he
would have seen and known that the Rite of Adoption was made for women and is
only an adjunct to regular Masonry and not in any sense a part of it. The
degrees which Madame Blavatsky received according to this paper were those of
Apprentice Companion, Perfect Mistress, Sublime Elect Scotch Lady, etc., etc.,
of the Rite of Adoption. To put forward such a document as evidence that a
woman is a Mason is the various trifling and seems to us unworthy of serious
comment. Thousands of women have been members of the Rite of Adoption and have
not claimed to be Masons, because .they knew better, and it has been reserved
for a man to put forward such an utterly absurd claim for a woman who is dead
and whose good friends say that she never claimed to be a Mason.
When we say the good friends
of Madame Blavatsky assert that she never claimed to be a Mason we refer to
members of the Theosophical Society.
Shortly after the issuance of
our article, Notes from India, we received a letter from Brother J. H. Fussell,
of Point Loma, California, taking us to task for intimating that Madame
Blavatsky ever claimed to be a Mason and urging us in the strongest terms to
correct what he deemed an error and one that is unfair to the memory of H. P.
Blavatsky.
In view of what is here said
about Theosophy, it is but fair to add a frank statement bearing the imprint
of the Aryan Theosophical Press at Point Loma and credited to Madame Katherine
Tingley of the International Headquarters there. She states :
Let me first state what is my
attitude toward Masonry.
Many of the happiest
recollections of my childhood are associated with my dear grandfather, who was
one of the best-known Masons in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and received
some of the highest Masonic honors in these States.
It was from him that I
received my earliest education. It was from his Masonic books that I learned
to read and spell and draw, and from his noble and sweet character I came to
regard Masonry as associated with the best in life. ln fact, I came to think
that all the best men in the world must be Masons.
Now it does not necessarily
follow that this last statement is true, for some of the noblest men 1 have
met have not been Masons ; still, on the other hand many of the best men I
have known have belonged to the Masonic Order, and I have seen nothing but the
best results flow from a deep interest in Masonry wherever I have known of it,
and from my knowledge and acquaintance of Masons I regard Masonry and the
principles which underlie it as a great force for good in the world.
I cannot understand how any true woman would wish to intrude into an Order
held to be exclusively for men.
There are lines of work which
I hold are exclusively in the province of men, just as there are lines of work
which are exclusively in the province of women. I hold that woman can only
wield her full share of influence in the world from a knowledge gained by
using and fulfilling her opportunities as a woman, and in her own sphere. I
consider that she steps away from her true position and greatly lessens her
influence by seeking to invade the sphere of man.
Why should women be disturbed
that men have an organization which is exclusively for men? As I understand
Masonry it seems to inculcate all the virtues, honor, rectitude, chastity,
etc., for this much has often been publicly stated by Masons ; and speaking
generally, I have no hesitation in saying that from my experience, the
majority of them, to a degree, at least, try to exemplify these virtues in
their lives. There may be some who fall far short of the Masonic ideals--in
our present disturbed civilization it can hardly be expected otherwise--but
that cannot be laid at the door of Masonry, but of human frailty, and as a
result of men's failing to grasp their higher opportunities in life.
Many a woman has known of the
uplifting and refining power, tending toward self-restraint and nobility and
virtue, which Masonry has exercised in the life of brother, husband, or son;
and without in any way encroaching on Masonry or seeking to pry into its
secrets, every true woman, in the light of the knowledge that is publicly
given out by Masons themselves of Masonic principles, can, if she will, help
brother, husband, son, or friend, to be true to these principles and be a true
Mason. What is needed today by both men and women is a greater respect, first
for themselves, in their true natures as man and woman, and following that a
greater respect each for the other--of women for men and of men for women.
Such respect implies no
invasion of one another's sphere, but the very contrary, and in fact can only
suffer terribly from such invasion. There is a common ground on which men and
women can meet, which is pre-eminently in the home.
lt is also in the world of
art, music, literature, education, and all the highest ideals of social,
civic, and national life.
l have had many letters from
all classes, asking questions as to my attitude in this matter, seeing that
the name Theosophy has most unfortunately and without any warrant become
associated with Co-Masonry.
Such association is absolutely unwarranted, and I hold that no true
Theosophist will give his adherence or support to Co-Masonry. The fact that
any person or body of persons should attempt to attach themselves to an
organization from which, by the rules of that organization, they are excluded,
would make me seriously question their motives, and one would probably find
such people to be either fanatics or extremely credulous, or --------!
Whatever knowledge such people may think they have in the matter, it must
indeed be very limited, or rather no knowledge at all, for otherwise they
would see the absurdity of trying to attach themselves to an organization in
which, in the very nature of things, they would be cut of place. If it were
possible to conceive of the secrets of Masonry being given to a woman, from my
understanding of the matter it could be only through some one unfaithful to
his vows as a Mason, and no true or self-respecting woman would think of
availing herself of such information; nor could it, by the nature of things be
held to be reliable, for he who is unfaithful in one thing will be unfaithful
in others, and I prophesy that this attempt of certain women to seek admission
where they do not belong can result only in confusion, disaster, and serious
embarrassment for all such women.
Let me say one other word. We
know there is true coin and counterfeit, and I am inclined to think that this
Co-Masonry is a counterfeit, and that it is not based on true Masonry.
Whatever the basis on which it is founded, it is my opinion that most probably
it has grown out of some pseudo-Masonic body. Theosophy has its counterfeits,
and all truth has, and this I know from my own personal experience. And just
as there are certain small coteries which use the name Theosophy and seek to
impress the public as being a part of the Theosophical Movement founded by
Madame H. P. Blavatsky, and against which all true Theosophists protest, so,
too, I hold that the attempt to use the word Masonry by one not entitled to
its use, in the manner in which it is so used, should also call forth protest.
Every Theosophist will protest against the attempt to relate Co-Masonry with
Theosophy, and as all true Masons repudiate Co-Masonry, so will all members of
the Universal Brotherhood and Theosopllical Society, the faithful followers of
H. P. Blavatsky repudiate the so-called Theosophy with which the alleged
Co-Masonry is claimed to be associated.
The subject in general of
Woman in Freemasonry is examined freely in this work (see Woman).
*
COMBINATION OF FREEMASONS
The combination of the
Freemasons in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to demand a higher rate
of wages, which eventually gave rise to the enactment of the Statutes of
Laborers, is thus described by a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine (January,
1740, page 17): "King Edward III took so great an affection to Windsor, the
place of his birth, that he instituted the Order of the Garter there, and
rebuilt and enlarged the castle, with the church and chapel of Saint George.
This was a great work and required a great many hands ; and for the carrying
of it on writs were directed to the sheriffs of several counties to send
thither, under the penalty of £ 100 each, such a number of Masons by a day
appointed. London sent forty, so did Devon, Somerset, and several other
counties; but several dying of the plague, and others deserting the service,
new writs were issued to send up supplies. Yorkshire sent sixty, and other
counties proportionably, and orders were given that no one should entertain
any of these runaway Masons, under pain of forfeiture of all their goods.
Hereupon, the Masons entered into a combination not to work, unless at higher
wages. They agreed upon tokens, etc., to know one another by, and to assist
one another against being impressed, and not to work unless free and on their
own terms. Hence they called themselves Freemasons; and this combination
continued during the carrying on of these buildings for several years. The
wars between the two Houses coming on in the next reign, the discontented
herded together in the same manner, and the gentry also underhand supporting
the malcontents, occasioned several Acts of Parliament against the combination
of Masons and other persons under that denomination the titles of which Acts
are still to be seen in the printed statutes of those reigns.''
Ashmole, in his History of the
Order of the Garter (page 80), confirms the fact of the impressment of workmen
by King Edward ; and the combination that followed seems but a natural
consequence of this oppressive act; but the assertion that the origin of
Freemasonry as an organized institutions of builders is to be traced to such a
combination, is not supported by the facts of history, and, indeed, the writer
himself admits that the Freemasons denied its truth.
*
COMMANDER
l. The presiding officer in a
Commandery of Knights Templar. His style is Eminent, and the jewel of his
office is a cross, from which issue rays of light. In England and Canada he is
now styled Preceptor.
2. The Superintendent of a Commandery, as a house or residence of the Ancient
Knights of Malta, was so called.
*
COMMANDER, GRAND
See Grand Commander
*
COMMANDER- IN- CHIEF
The presiding officer in a
Consistory of Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret in the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite. His style is Illustrious. In a Grand Consistory the presiding
officer is a Grand Commander-in-Chief, and he is styled Very Illustrious.
*
COMMANDER INSPECTOR
Seventh and last grade of the Philosophic Rite. Thory says this was arranged
by the Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree to make up Degree Thirty-one
though previously used, the Metropolitan Chapter possessing one of the same
name, No. 71, eighth series.
*
COMMANDERY
l. In the United States all
regular assemblies of Knights Templar are called Commanderies, and must
consist of the following officers: Eminent Commander, Generalissimo,
Captain-General, Prelate, Senior Warden, Junior Warden, Treasurer, Recorder,
Warder, Standard-Bearer, Sword Bearer, and Sentinel. These Commanderies derive
their warrants of Constitution from a Grand Commandery, or, if there is no
such body in the State in which they are organized, from the Grand Encampment
of the United States. They confer the Degrees of Companion of the Red Cross,
Knight of Malta, and Knight Templar.
Under the present law of the
Grand Encampment, Knight Templar of the United States, the Order of the Red
Cross is conferred in the Council Chamber, the Order of Malta in a Priory and
the Order of the Temple in the Asylum of the Commandery.
In a Commandery of Knights
Templar, as familiar to Doctor Mackey, the throne is situated in the East.
Above it are suspended three
banners : the center one bearing a cross, surmounted by a glory; the left one
having inscribed on it the emblems of the Order, and the right one, a paschal
lamb. The Eminent Commander is seated on the throne; the Generalissimo,
Prelate, and Past Commanders on his right; the Captain-General on his left;
the Treasurer and Recorder, as in a Symbolic Lodge; the Senior Warden at the
southwest angle of the triangle, and upon the right of the first division; the
Junior Warden at the northwest angle of the triangle, and on the left of the
third division; the Standard-Bearer in the West, between the Sword-Bearer on
his right, and the Warder on his left ; and in front of him is a stall for the
initiate. The Knights are arranged in equal numbers on each side, and in front
of the throne. In England and Canada a body of Knights Templar is called a
Preceptory.
2. The houses or residences of
the Knights of Malta were called Commanderies, and the aggregation of them in
a nation was called a Priory or Grand Priory.
*
COMMANDERY, GRAND
When three or more
Commanderies are instituted in a State, they may unite and form a Grand
Commandery. under the regulations prescribed by the Grand Encampment of the
United States. They have the superintendence of all Commanderies of Knight's
Templar that are holden in their respective Jurisdictions.
A Grand Commandery meets at
least annually, and its officers consist of a Grand Commander, Deputy Grand
Commander, Grand Generalissimo, Grand Captain-General, Grand Prelate, Grand
Senior and Junior Warden, Grand Treasurer, Grand Recorder, Grand Warder, Grand
Standard-Bearer, and Grand Sword-Bearer.
*
COMMITTEE
To facilitate the transaction
of business, a Lodge or Grand Lodge often refers a subject to a particular
committee for investigation and report. By the usages of Freemasonry,
committees of this character are always appointed by the presiding officer;
and the Master of a Lodge, when present at the meeting of a committee, may
act, if he thinks proper, as its chairman; for the Master presides over any
assemblage of the Craft in his Jurisdiction.
*
COMMITTEE GENERAL
By the Constitution of the
Grand Lodge of England, all matters of business to be brought under the
consideration of the Grand Lodge must previously be presented to a General
Committee, consisting of the President of the Board of Benevolence, the
Present and Past Grand Officers, and the Master of every regular Lodge, who
meet on the fourteenth day immediately preceding each quarterly communication.
No such regulation prevails
among the Grand Lodge of America.
*
COMMITTEE OF CHARITY
In most Lodges there is a
standing Committee of Charity, appointed at the beginning of the year, to
which, in general, applications for relief are referred by the Lodge. In cases
where the Lodge does not itself take immediate action, the committee is also
invested with the power to grant relief to a limited amount during the recess
of the Lodge.
*
COMMITTEE OF FINANCE
In many Lodges the Master,
Wardens, Treasurer, and Secretary constitute a Committee of Finance, to which
is referred the general supervision of the finances of the Lodge.
*
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN
CORRESPONDENCE
In none of the Grand Lodges of
this century up to early in the eighteenth century, wall such a committee as
that on foreign correspondence ever appointed. A few of them had corresponding
secretaries, to whom were entrusted the duty of attending to the
correspondence of the Body; a duty which was very generally neglected. A
report on the proceedings of other Bodies was altogether unknown.
Grand Lodges met and
transacted the local business of their own Jurisdictions without any reference
to what was passing abroad.
But improvements in this
respect began to show themselves. Intelligent Freemasons saw that it would no
longer do to isolate themselves from the Fraternity in other countries, and
that, if any moral or intellectual advancement was to be expected, it must be
derived from the intercommunication and collision of ideas ; and the first
step toward this advancement was the appointment in every Grand Lodge of a
committee whose duty it should be to collate the proceedings of other
Jurisdictions, and to eliminate from them the most important items. These
committees were, however, very slow in assuming the functions which devolved
upon them, and in coming up to the full measure of their duties.
At first their reports were
little more than "reports of progress." No light was derived from their
collation, and the Bodies which had appointed them were no wiser after their
reports had been read than they were before.
As a specimen of the first
condition and subsequent improvement of these committees on foreign
correspondence, let us take at random the transactions of any Grand Lodge old
enough to have a history and intelligent enough to have made any progress;
and, for this purpose, the proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Ohio, two volumes
of which lie conveniently at hand, will do as well Many other.
The Grand Lodge of Ohio was
organized in January, 1808. From that time to 1829, its proceedings contain no
reference to a committee on correspondence; and except a single allusion to
the Washington Convention, made in the report of a special committee, the
Freemasons of Ohio seem to have had no cognizance, or at least to have shown
no recognition, of any Freemasonry which might be outside of their own
Jurisdiction.
But in the year 1830, for the
first time, a committee was appointed to report on the foreign correspondence
of The Grand Lodge. This committee bore the title of the Committee on
Communications from Foreign Grand Lodges, etc., and made during the session a
report of eight lines in length, which contained just the amount of
information that could be condensed in that brief space, and no more.
In 1831, the report was
fifteen lines long ; in 1832, ten lines; in 1833, twelve lines; and so on for
several years, The reports being sometimes a little longer and sometimes a
little shorter; but the length being always measured by lines, and not by
pages, until, in 1837, there was a marked falling off the report consisting
only of one line and a half. Of this report, which certainly cannot be accused
of verbosity, the following is an exact copy: "Nothing has been presented for
the consideration of your committee requiring the action of the Grand Lodge. "
In 1842 the labors of the
committee began to increase, and their report fills a page of the proceedings.
Things now rapidly improved.
In 1843, the report was three pages long ; in 1845, four pages; in 1846,
seven, in 1848, nearly thirteen; and 1853, fourteen.; in 1856, thirty; and in
1857, forty-six. Thenceforward there is no more fault to be found.
The reports of the future
committees were of full growth, and we do not again find such an unmeaning
phrase as ''nothing requiring the action of the Grand Lodge."
The history of these reports
in other Grand Lodges is the same as that in Ohio.
Beginning with a few lines
which announced the absence of all matters worthy of consideration, they have
grown up to the full stature of elaborate essays in which the most important
and interesting subjects of Masonic history, philosophy, and jurisprudence are
discussed, generally with much ability.
At this day the reports of the
committees on foreign correspondence in all the Grand Lodges of this country
constitute an important portion of the literature of the Institution. The
chairmen of these committees for the other members fill, for the most part,
only the post of "sleeping partners"-are generally men of education and
talent, who, by the very occupation in which they are employed, of reading the
published proceedings of all the Grand Lodges in correspondence with their
own, have become thoroughly conversant with the contemporary history of the
Order, while a great many of them have extended their studies in its previous
history. The Reportorial Corps, as these hard-laboring Brethren are beginning
to call themselves, exercise, of course, a not trifling influence in the
Order. These committees annually submit to their respective Grand Lodges a
mass of interesting information, which is read with great avidity by their
Brethren. Gradually -for at first it was not their custom-they have added to
the bare narration of facts their comments on Masonic law and their criticisms
on the decisions made in other Jurisdictions. These comments and criticisms
have very naturally their weight, sometimes beyond their actual worth; and it
will therefore be proper to take a glance at what ought to be the character of
a report on foreign correspondence.
In the first place, then, a
reporter of foreign correspondence should be, in the most literal sense of
Shakespeare's words, a brief chronicler of the times. His report should
contain a succinct account of everything of importance that is passing in the
Masonic world, so far as his materials supply him with the information.
But, remembering that he is
writing for the instruction of hundreds, perhaps thousands, many of whom
cannot spare much time, and many others who have no inclination to spare it,
he should eschew the sin of tediousness, never forgetting that ''brevity is
the soul of wit." He should omit all details that have no special interest;
should husband his space for important items, and be exceedingly parsimonious
in the use of unnecessary expletives, whose only use is to add to the length
of a line. In a word, he should remember that he is not an orator but a
historian. A rigid adherence to these principles would save the expense of
many printed pages to his Grand Lodge, and the waste of much time to his
readers.
These reports will form the
germ of future Masonic history. The collected mass will be an immense one, and
it should not be unnecessarily enlarged by the admiration of trivial items. In
the next place, although we admit that these "Brethren of the reportorial
corps" have peculiar advantages in reading the opinions of their
contemporaries on subjects of Masonic jurisprudence, they would be mistaken in
supposing that these advantages must necessarily make them Masonic lawyers. Ex
quovis ligno non fit Mercurius, meaning in Latin, a Mercury (the Roman god of
commerce) is not to be made out of any chance piece of wood. It is not every
man that will make a lawyer. A peculiar turn of mind and a habit of close
reasoning, as well as a thorough acquaintance with the law itself, are
required to fit one for the investigation of questions of jurisprudence.
Reporters, therefore, should
assume the task of adjudicating points of law with much diffidence. They
should not pretend to make a decision ex cathedra (officially or with
authority, from the Latin, meaning literally from the bishop's throne or the
professor's chair), but only to express an opinion ; and that opinion they
should attempt to sustain by arguments that may convince their readers.
Dogmatism is entirely out of
place in a Masonic report on foreign correspondence. But if tediousness and
dogmatism are displeasing, how much more offensive must be rudeness and
personality. Courtesy is a Masonic as well as a knightly virtue, and the
reporter who takes advantage of his official position to speak rudely of his
Brethren, or makes his report the vehicle of scurrility and abuse most
strangely forgets the duty and respect which he owes to the Grand Lodge which
be represents and the Fraternity to which be addresses himself.
And, lastly, a few words as to
style. These reports we have already said, constitute an important feature of
Masonic literature. It should be, then, the object and aim of everyone to give
to them a tone and character which shall reflect honor on the society whence
they emanate, and enhance the reputation of their authors. The style cannot
always be scholarly, but it should always be chaste ; it may sometimes want
eloquence, but it should never be marked by vulgarity. Coarseness of language
and slang phrases are manifestly out of place in a paper which treats of
subjects such as naturally belong to a Masonic document.
Wit and humor we would not, of
course, exclude. The Horatian maxim bids us sometimes to unbend and old
Menander thought it would not do always to appear wise. Even the solemn
Johnson could sometimes perpetrate a joke, and Sidney Smith has enlivened his
lectures on moral philosophy with numerous witticisms.
There are those who delight in
the stateliness of Coleridge; but for ourselves we do not object to the levity
of Lamb, though we would not care to descend to the vulgarity of Rabelais. To
sum up the whole matter in a few words these reports on foreign correspondence
should be succinct, and, if you please, elaborate chronicles of all passing
events in the Masonic world; they should express the opinions of their authors
on points of Masonic law, not as judicial dicta (Latin, verdicts), but simply
as opinions, not to be dogmatically enforced, but to be sustained and
supported by the best arguments that the writers can produce; they should not
be made the vehicles of personal abuse or vituperation; and, lastly, they
should be clothed in language worthy of the literature of the Order:
*
COMMITTEE, PRIVATE
The well-known regulation
which forbids private committees in the Lodge, that is, select conversations
between two or more members, in which the other members are not permitted to
join, is derived from the Old Charges: "You are not to hold private committees
or separate conversation, without leave from the Master nor to talk of
anything impertinent or unseemly, nor to interrupt the Master or Wardens, or
any brother speaking to the Master" (see Constitutions, 1723, page 53).
*
COMMITTEE, REPORT OF
See Report of a committee
*
COMMON GAVEL
See Gavel
*
COMMON JUDGE
Found in some early meetings
.Freemasonry and probably meant for common
*
COMMUNICATION
The meeting of a Lodge is so
called. There is a peculiar significance in this term. To communicate, which,
in the Old English form, was to common, originally meant to share in common
with others. The great sacrament of the Christian Church, which denotes a
participation in the mysteries of the religion and a fellowship in the church,
is called a communion, which is fundamentally the same as a communication, for
be who partakes of the communion is said to communicate. Hence the meetings of
Masonic Lodges are called communications, to signify that it is not simply the
ordinary meeting of a society for the transaction of business, but that such
meeting is the fellowship of men engaged in a common pursuit, and governed by
a common principle, and that there is therein a communication or participation
of those feelings and sentiments that constitute a true brotherhood.
The communications of Lodges
are regular or stated and special or emergent. Regular communications are held
under the provision of the by-laws, but special communications are called by
order of the Master. It is a regulation that no special communication can
alter, amend, or rescind the proceedings of a regular communication.
*
COMMUNICATION, GRAND
The meeting of a Grand Lodge
*
COMMUNICATION OF DEGREES
When the peculiar mysteries of
a Degree are bestowed upon a candidate by mere verbal description of the
bestower, without his being made to pass through the constituted ceremonies,
the Degree is technically said to be communicated. This mode is, however,
entirely confined in America to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
The Degrees may in that Rite
be thus conferred in any place where secrecy is secured; but the prerogative
of communicating is restricted to the presiding officers of Bodies of the
Rite, who may communicate certain of the Degrees upon candidates who have been
previously duly elected, and to Inspectors and Deputy Inspectors-General of
the Thirty-third Degree, who may communicate all the Degrees of the Rite,
except the last, to any persons whom they may deem qualified to receive them.
*
COMMUNICATION, QUARTERLY
Anciently Grand Lodges, which
were then called General Assemblies of the Craft, were held annually. But it
is said that the Grand Master Inigo Jones instituted quarterly communications
at the beginning of the seventeenth century, which were continued by his
successors, the Earl of Pembroke and Sir Christopher Wren, until the
infirmities of the latter compelled him to neglect them (see Constitutions,
1738, page 99). On the revival in 1717, prevision was made for the resumption
; and in the twelfth of the thirty-nine Regulations of 1721 it was declared
that the Grand Lodge must have a quarterly communication about Michaelmas,
Christmas and Lady-Day (see Constitutions, 1723, page 61). These quarterly
communications are still retained by the Grand Lodge of England, and in
America by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, but all other American Grand
Lodges have adopted the old system of annual communications.
*
COMMUNION OF THE BRETHREN
See Bread, Consecrated
*
COMO
Capital of the Province of
Como in Northern Italy, situated at South end of West branch of Lake of Como,
about thirty miles from Milan, and today is an industrial city. Its interest
to Freemasons is on account of it being the center from which radiated the
Comacine Masters, who descended from the Roman Colleges of Artificers and who
built for the Lombards and others during their reign and carried their Art and
influence into the Cathedral building of the Renaissance (see Comacinc
Masters).
The archeologists have
determined The form of the older city of Roman times to have been rectangular,
*
COMACINE EMBLEMS OF NINTH
CENTURY CARVED IN CHURCH OF SAINT ABBONDIO AT MILAN, ITALY
enclosed by walls. Towers were
constructed on walls in the twelfth century. Portions of the walls are now to
be seen in the garden of Liceo Volta. Baths common in all Roman cities have
been discovered. Fortifications erected previous to 1117 were largely
cunstructed with Roman inscribed sepulchral urns and other remains, in which
most all Roman cities were unusually rich.
It is usual to record that
Como was the birthplace of the elder and younger Pliny. The younger Pliny had
a villa here called Comedia and was much interested in building the city
having founded baths, a library, and aided in charity for the support of
orphan children. Of the many letters of the younger Pliny that remain, one is
to his builder, Mustio, a Comacine architect, commissioning him to restore the
temple of the Eleusinian Ceres, in which, after explaining the form of design
he wished it to take, he concludes : ''. . . at least, unless you think of
something better, you, whose Art can always overcome difficulties of position.
" There was an early church of Saints Peter and Paul in the fifth century that
stood outside of The town, and the site is now occupied by the Romanesque
church of Saint Abbondio, founded 1013, and consecrated 1095.
There are found many
interesting intrench remains of early carvings of the Comacine or Solomon's
Knot (see the illustration of parapet).
On a site of an earlier church
stands the present Cathedral of Como, which is built entirely of marble.
It was begun in 1396 A.D., but
was altered in the period from 1487-1526 A.D., into Renaissance. Authors
disagree as to whether the church was restored or rebuilt. The façade, 1457-86
A.D., follows in its lines the old Lombard form, but the dividing pilasters
are lavishly enriched, being perpendicular niches with a statue in each.
Scott says that ''During the
years from 1468 to 1492 the books of the Lodge, preserved in the archives,
abound in names of Magistri from the neighborhood of Como, both architects and
sculptors, and among them was Tommaso Rodari, who entered the Lodge in 1490,
with a letter of recommendation from the Duke, advising that he be specially
trained in the Art of Sculpture. He and four others were sent to Rome to
remain ten years, and perfect themselves in sculpture, to study the antique,
and to return to the laborerium as fully qualified masters."
Rodari returned and sculptured
a most beautiful North door of the Cathedral in rich ornate Renaissance style,
although the lions are still under the columns, thus preserving a Comacine
symbol so universally common in earlier times of pure Lombard style.
The history of Como as a city
with her various fortunes and defeats during the invasions of barbarians and
her long conflicts with her old enemy, Milan, may be found elsewhere. What
interests us is the early colonization by Rome and her subsequent relations to
Architecture at the Renaissance.
Soon after 89 B.C. Rome sent
3,000 colonists to Como, and Artificers were certainly among them, and in 59
B.C. Caesar sent 5,000 more, and the place received the name Novum comum and
received Latin rights (see Comacine Masters).
*
COMPAGNON
In French Freemasonry, a
Fellow Craft is so called, and the grade du Compagnon is the Degree of Fellow
Craft.
*
COMPAGNONAGE
This is the name which is
given in France to certain mystical associations formed between workmen of the
same or an analogous handicraft, whose object is to afford mutual assistance
to the members. It was at one time considered among handicraftsmen as the
Second Degree of the novitiate, before arriving at the maitrise, or
mastership, the first being, of course, that of apprentice; and workmen were
admitted into it only after five years of apprenticeship, and on the
production of a skillfully constructed piece of work, which was called their
chef-d'oeuvre (the French for masterpiece).
Tradition gives to Compage a
Hebraic origin, which to some extent assimilates it to the traditional history
of Freemasonry as springing out of the Solomonic Temple. It is, however,
certain that it arose, in the twelfth century, out of a part of the
corporation of workmen. These, who prosecuted the labors of their Craft from
province to province, could not shut their eyes to the narrow policy of the
gilds or corporations, which the masters were constantly seeking to make more
exclusive.
Thence they perceived the
necessity of forming for themselves associations or confratemities, whose
protection should accompany them in all their laborious wanderings, and secure
to them employment and fraternal intercourse when arriving in strange towns.
The Compagnons du Tour, which
has been the title assumed by those who are the members of the brotherhoods of
Compagnonage, have legends, which have been traditionally transmitted from age
to age, by which, like the Freemasons, they trace the origin of their
association to the Temple of King Solomon.
These legends are three in
number, for the different societies of Compagnonage recognize three different
founders, and hence made three different associations , which are:
1. The Children of Solomon.
2. The Children of Maître Jacques,
3. The Children of Pére Soubise.
These three societies or
classes of the Compagnons are irreconcilable enemies and reproach each other
with the imaginary contests of their supposed founders.
The Children of Solomon
pretend that King Salomon gave them their devoir, or gild, as a reward for
their labors at the Temple, and that he had there limited them into a
brotherhood. The Children of Maître Jacques (the French name for Master
James), say that their founder, who was the son of a celebrated architect
named Jacquain, or Jacques, was one of the chief Masters of Solomon, and a
colleague of Hiram. He was born in a small city of Gaul named Carte, and now
St. Romille, but which we should in vain look for on the maps.
From the age of fifteen he was
employed in stone cutting. He traveled in Greece, where he learned sculpture
and architecture; afterward went to Egypt, and thence to Jerusalem, where he
constructed two pillars with so much skill that he was immediately received as
a Master of the Craft. Maître Jacques and his colleague Pére Soubise, after
the labors of the Temple were completed, resolved to go together to Gaul,
swearing that they would never separate; but the union did not last very long
in consequence of the jealousy excited in Pére Soubise by the ascendency of
Maître Jacques over their disciples. They parted, and the former landed at
Bordeaux, and the latter at Marseilles. One day, Maître Jacques, being far
away from his disciples, was attacked by ten of those of Pére Soubise. To save
himself, he fled into- a marsh, where he sustained himself from sinking by
holding on to the reeds, and was eventually rescued by his disciples. He -then
retired to St. Baume, but being soon after betrayed by a disciple, named,
according to some, Jeron, and according to others, Jamais, he was assassinated
by five blows of a dagger, in the forty-seventh year of his age, four years
and nine days after his departure from Jerusalem. On his robe was subsequently
found a reed which he wore in memory of his having been saved in the marsh,
and thenceforth his disciples adopted the reed as the emblem of their Order.
Pére Soubise is not generally
accused of having taken any part in the assassination. The tears which he shed
over the tomb of his colleague removed in part the suspicions which had at
first rested on him. The traitor who committed the crime, subsequently, in a
moment of deep contrition, cast himself into a well, which the disciples of
Maître Jacques filled up with stones. The relics of the martyr were long
preserved in a sacred chest, and, when his disciples afterward separated into
different crafts, his hat was given to the hatters, his tunic to the
stone-cutters, his sandals to the locksmiths, his mantle to the joiners, his
girdle to the carpenters, and his staff to the cartwrights.
According to another
tradition, Maître Jacques was no other than Jacques de Molay, the last Grand
Master of the Templars, who had collected under his banner some of the
Children of Solomon that had separated from the parent society, and who, about
1268 A.D., conferred upon them a new devoir or gild .
Pére Soubise is said, in the
same legend, to have been a Benedictine monk, who gave to the carpenters some
special statutes. This second legend is generally recognized as more truthful
than the first. From this it follows that the division of the society of
Compagnonage into three classes dates from the thirteenth century, and that
the Children of Maître Jacques and of Pére Soubise are more modern than the
Children of Solomon, from whom they were a dismemberment.
The organization of these
associations of Compagnonage reminds one very strongly of the somewhat similar
organization of the Stonemasons of Germany and of other countries in the
Middle Ages. To one of these classes every handicraftsman in France was
expected to attach himself. There was an initiation, and a system of Degrees
which were four in number: the Accepted Companion, the Finished Companion, the
Initiated Companion, and, lastly, the Affiliated Companion. There were also
signs and words as modes of recognition, and decorations, which varied in the
several devoirs ; but to all, the square and compasses was a common symbol.
As soon as a Craftsman had
passed through his apprenticeship, he joined one of these gilds, and commenced
his journey over France, which was called the tour de France, in the course of
which he visited the principal cities, towns, and villages, stopping for a
time wherever he could secure employment. In almost every town there was a
house of call, presided over always by a woman, who was affectionately called
la Mére, or the Mother, and the same name was given to the house itself. There
the Compagnons held their meetings and annually elected their officers, and
traveling workmen repaired there to obtain food and lodging, and the necessary
information which might lead to employment. When two Companions met on the
road, one of them addressed the other with the topage, or challenge, being a
formula of words, the conventional reply to which would indicate that the
other was a member of the same devoir. If such was the case, friendly
greetings ensued. But if the reply was not satisfactory, and it appeared that
they belonged to different associations, a war of words, and even of blows,
was the result. Such was formerly the custom, but through the evangelic labors
of Agricol Perdiquier, a journeyman joiner of Avignon, who traveled through
France inculcating lessons of brotherly love, a better spirit later on
existed.
In each locality the
association has a chief, who is annually elected by ballot at the General
Assembly of the Craft. He is called the First Compagnon of Dignity.
He presides over the meetings,
which ordinarily take place on the first Sunday of every month, and represents
the society in its intercourse with other Bodies, -with the Masters, or with
the municipal authorities.
Compagnonage has been exposed,
at various periods, to the persecutions of the Church and the State, as well
as to the opposition of the Corporations of Masters, to which, of course, its
designs were antagonistic, because it opposed their monopoly. Unlike them, and
particularly the Corporation of Freemasons, it was not under the protection of
the Church. The practice of its mystical receptions was condemned by the
Faculty of Theology at Paris, in 1655 A.D., as impious. But a hundred years
before, in 1541, a decree of Francis I had interdicted the Compagnons du Tour
from binding themselves by an oath, from wearing swords or canes, from
assembling in a greater number than five outside of their Masters' houses, or
from having banquets on any occasion. During the sixteenth, seventeenth, and
eighteenth centuries, the parliaments were continually interposing their power
against the associations of Compagnonage, as well as against other
fraternities. The effects of these persecutions, although embarrassing, were
not absolutely disastrous. In spite of them, Compagnonage was never entirely
dissolved, although a few of the trades abandoned their devoirs ; some of
which, however---such as that of the shoemakers-were subsequently removed.
And at more recent times the
gilds of the workmen existed in France having lost, it is true, much of their
original code of religious dogmas and symbols, and, although not recognized by
the law, always tolerated by the municipal authorities and undisturbed by the
police.
To the Masonic scholar, the
history of these devoirs or gilds is peculiarly interesting. In nearly all of
them the Temple of Solomon prevails as a predominant symbol, while the square
and compass, their favorite and constant device, would seem, in some way, to
identify them with Freemasonry so far as respects the probability of a common
origin.
*
COMPAGNONS DU TOUR
This title was assumed by the
workmen in France who belong to the several gilds of Compagnonage, which see.
The French expression, Compagnons du Tour, or Companions of the Tour, may be
understood in two different ways according to the meaning applied to the last
word. Tour is used in French as it is also freely employed in English to
indicate a round trip, a rambling and returning excursion of some extent. The
word might well fit those who traveled around for employment or for
instruction as did the Brethren of old. Tour is also the French for tower and
towers or castles were represented on .the coat of arms of the Masons Company
of London. In both of these meanings the allusion has a significance easily
understood.
*
COMPANION
A title bestowed by Royal Arch
Masons upon each other, and equivalent to the word "Brother" in Symbolic
Lodges. It refers, most probably, to the companionship in exile and captivity
of the ancient Jews, from the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar to
its restoration by Zerubbabel, under the auspices of Cyrus. In using this
title in a higher Degree, the Freemasons who adopted it seem to have intimated
that there was a shade of difference between its meaning and that of Brother.
The latter refers to the universal fatherhood of God and the universal
brotherhood of man; but the former represents a companionship or common
pursuit of one object-the common endurance of suffering or the common
enjoyment of happiness. Companion represents a closer tie than Brother. The
one is a natural relation shared by all men ; the other a connection, the
result of choice and confined to a few. All men are our Brethren, not all our
companions.
*
COMPANIONS OF PENELOPE
Also known as the Palladium of
Ladies. Said to have been established in 1740 by "seven wise men" at Paris.
Both men and women were admitted to membership and the candidate when being
initiated was conducted by two members of the Order into the center of the
Temple where was a table on which was a white cloth with three candles placed
around a statue of Minerva, where the Oath of Secrecy, was administered.
*
COMPANIONS, THE TWELVE
George F. Fort says that "the
twelve Companions of Master Hiram correspond unquestionably to the twelve
zodiacal signs, or the twelve months of the year.
The groundwork of this
tradition is a fragment of ancient natural religion, common to both Oriental
and European nations; or, more properly, was derived from identical sources.
The treacherous Craftsmen of Hiram the Good are the three winter months which
slew him.
He is the sun surviving during the eleven consecutive months, but subjected to
the irresistible power of three ruffians, the winter months ; in the twelfth
and last month, that luminary, Hiram, the good, the beauteous, the bright, the
sun god, is extinguished" (The Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry,
page 408).
*
COMPASSES
As in Operative Freemasonry,
the compasses are used for the measurement of the architect's plans, and to
enable him to give those just proportions which will ensure beauty as well as
stability to his work; so, in Speculative Freemasonry, is this important
implement symbolic of that even tenor of deportment, that true standard of
rectitude which alone can bestow happiness here and felicity hereafter.
Hence are the compasses the
most prominent emblem of virtue, the true and only, measure of a Freemason's
life and conduct. As the Bible gives us light on our duties to God, and the
square illustrates our duties to our neighborhood and Brother, so the
compasses give that additional light which is to instruct us in the duty we
owe to ourselves-the great, imperative duty of circumscribing our passions,
and keeping our desires within due bounds. "It is ordained," says the
philosophic Burke, "in the eternal constitution of things, that men of
intemperate passions cannot be free; their passions forge their fetters."
Those Brethren who delight to trace our emblems to an astronomical origin,
find in the compasses a symbol of the sun, the circular pivot representing the
body of the luminary, and the diverging legs his rays.
In the earliest rituals of the
eighteenth century, the compasses are described as a part of the furniture of
the Lodge, and are said to belong to the Master.
Some change will be found in
this respect in the ritual of the present day (see Square and Compasses).
The word is sometimes spelled and pronounced compass, which is more usually
applied to the magnetic needle and circular dial or card of the mariner from
which he directs his course over the seas, or the similar guide of the airman
when seeking his destination across unknown territory.
*
COMPOSITE
One of the five orders of
architecture introduced by the Romans, and compounded of the other four,
whence it derives its name. Although it combines strength with beauty, yet, as
it is a comparatively modern invention, it is held in little esteem among
Freemasons.
*
CONCEALMENT OF THE BODY
See Aphanism
*
CONCLAVE
Commanderies of Knights
Templar in England and Canada were called Conclaves, and the Grand Encampment,
the Grand Conclave, but the terms now in use are Preceptory and Great Priory
respectively. The word is also applied to the meetings in some other of the
advanced Degrees. The word is derived from the Latin con, meaning with, and
clavis, a key, to denote the idea of being locked up in seclusion, and in this
sense was first applied to the apartment in which the cardinals of the Roman
Catholic Church are literally locked up when they are assembled to elect a
Pope.
*
CONCORDISTS
A secret order established in
Prussia, by M. Lang, on the wreck of the Tugendverein (Tugendverein, German
for the Union of the Virtuous), which latter Body was instituted in 1790 as a
successor of the Illuminati, and suppressed in 1812 by the Prussian
Government, on account of its supposed political tendencies.
*
CONFEDERACIES
A title given to the yearly
meetings of the Freemasons in the time of Henry VI, of England, and used it in
the celebrated statute passed in the third year of his reign, which begins
thus: "Whereas, by the yearly congregations and confederacies made by the
Masons in their General Chapiters assembled, etc." (see Laborers, Statutes
of).
*
CONFERENCE LODGES
Assemblies of the members of a
Lodge sometimes held in Germany. Their object is the discussion of the
financial and other private matters of the Lodge. Lodges of this kind held in
France are said to be en famille, meaning in the family. There is no such
arrangement in English or American Freemasonry.
*
CONFERRING DEGREES
When a candidate is initiated
into any Degree of Freemasonry in due form, the Degree is said to have been
conferred, in contradistinction to the looser mode of imparting its secrets by
communication.
*
CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES
This is usually understood as
being to ensure the accuracy of the statements made, the reading of the
Minutes enabling the Brethren to know that the proceedings have been recorded
and the judgment of those present being expressed in some way as to the
correctness of the statements but the proceedings may serve a further purpose
and that is to express approval of what has been previously done. In fact,
Rule 130 of the English Book of Constitutions provides that the Minutes
regarding the election of a Worshipful Master must be confirmed before he can
be installed.
In English Lodges any action regarding a money grant, alteration of by-laws or
the election of a Master must be confirmed after the recording of the Minutes
at the first subsequent regular meeting in order to become legally operative.
All other points are merely confirmed for accuracy and are considered legal
regardless.
*
CONFRATERNITY OF SAINT PAUL
The Italian name is La
Confraternita di San Paolo. See Paul, Confratemity of Saint Paul.
*
CONFUSION OF TONGUES
The Tower of Babel is referred
to in the ritual of the Third Degree as the place where language was
confounded and Masonry lost. Hence, in Masonic symbolism, as Freemasonry
professes to possess a universal language, the confusion of tongues at Babel
is a symbol of that intellectual darkness from which the aspirant is seeking
to emerge on his passage to that intellectual light which is imparted by the
Order (see Threshing-Floor).
*
CONGREGATIONS
In the Old Records and
Constitutions of Freemasonry the yearly meetings of the Craft are so called.
Thus, in the Halliwell or Regius Manuscript it is said, "Every Master that is
a Mason must be at the General Congregation" (see line 107).
What are now called
Communications of a Grand Lodge were then called Congregations of the Craft
(see Assembly).
*
CONGRESSES, MASONIC
At various times in the
history of Freemasonry conferences have been held in which, as in the General
Councils of the Church, the interests of the Institution have been made the
subject of consideration. These conferences have received the name of Masonic
Congresses. Whenever a respectable number of Freemasons invested with
deliberative powers, assemble as the representatives of different countries
and Jurisdictions to take into consideration matters relating to the Order,
such a meeting will be properly called a Congress. Of these congresses some
have been productive of little or no effect, while others have undoubtedly
left their mark ; nor can it be doubted, that if a General or Ecumenical
congress, consisting of representatives of all the Masonic powers of the
world, were to meet, with an eye single to the great object of Masonic reform,
and were to be guided by a liberal and conciliatory spirit of compromise, such
a Congress might be of incalculable advantage.
The most important Congresses
that have met since the year 926 A.D. are those of York, Strassburg, Ratisbon,
Spire, Cologne, Basle, Jena, Altenberg, Brunswick, Lyons, Wolfenbuttel.
Wilhelmsbad, Paris, Washington, Baltimore, Lexington, and Chicago (see them as
listed under their respective titles).
*
CONGRESSES OF FREEMASONS
See Conventions
*
CONNECTICUT
On August 12, 1750, the Saint
John's Grand Lodge of Massachusetts granted a charter to Hiram Lodge, at New
Haven, and David Wooster was installed as Master. A Convention held on March
13, 1783, discussed the formation of a Grand Lodge of Connecticut. Nothing
definite was completed and another Convention, held on April 29, 1783, again
had no result. A third Convention, however, on May 14, 1789, composed of
representatives of twelve Lodges, made some progress in the necessary
arrangements but adjourned the meeting until July 8, 1789, when a Constitution
was adopted and the Grand Lodge of Connecticut duly opened. The Anti-Masonic
Movement had a serious effect upon the Craft in Connecticut. Up to the year
1800 Freemasonry had flourished exceedingly in the district.
During the next thirty years,
however, it was calumniated to such an extent that, at the annual session of
1831, all the officers of the Grand Lodge, except the Grand Treasurer,
resigned and new officers were elected in their places. At the next annual
session only the Grand Master and the Grand Treasurer were present. For
several years Freemasonry lay under a cloud, but at last, towards 1840, the
agitation began to subside and after another five years the Craft in this
State was once more possessed of its early vigor.
The first Chapter in the
district seems to have comprised six members of Saint John's Lodge, No.2, of
Middletown. These six Brethren opened the first regular Grand Chapter of
Connecticut on September 12, 1783.
In 1818, Jeremy L. Cross, a
prominent authority on Masonic Ritual in his day and author of The True
Masonic Chart or Hieroglyphic Monitor and of The Templars' Chart, formed a
Council of Royal and Select Masters. On May 18, 1819, ten of the eleven
Councils which had been formed in 1818 and 1819 met at Hartford for the
purpose of establishing a Grand Council. Two days later a Constitution was
adopted, the Grand Officers elected and the Council duly constituted. The
first Encampment of Knights Templar was formed at Colchester in July, 1796,
and was granted a Charter from London on September 5, 1803. New Haven
Encampment took the initiative in adopting a resolution to join with other
Encampments in forming a Commandery in the State. Washington and Clinton sent
representatives and the meeting was held at the Masonic Hall on September 13,
1827. A Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the State of Connecticut was
formed and Sir John Watrous was installed Grand Master.
The year 1858 saw the
establishment of four Bodies of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in
Connecticut. Three were chartered on June 1: namely, Lafayette Consistory,
Peqounnock Chapter of Rose Croix, Washington Council of Princes of Jerusalem.
The fourth, the De Witt Clinton Lodge of Perfection, was granted a Charter on
May 11.
*
CONSECRATION
The appropriating or
dedicating, with certain ceremonies, anything to sacred purposes or offices by
separating it from common use. Hobbes, in his Leviatian (part1v chapter 44),
gives the best definition of this ceremony. "To consecrate is, in Scripture,
to offer, give, or dedicate, in pious and decent language and gesture, a man,
or any other thing, to God, by parting it from common use."
Masonic Lodges, like ancient
temples and modern churches, have always been consecrated. The rite of
consecration is performed by the Grand Master, when the Lodge is said to be
consecrated in ample form; by the Deputy Grand Master, when it is said to be
consecrated in due form; or by the proxy of the Grand Master, when it is said
to be consecrated in form. The Grand Master, accompanied by his officers,
proceeds to the hall of the new Lodge, where, after the performance of those
ceremonies which are described in all manuals and monitors, he solemnly
consecrates the Lodge with the elements of corn, wine, and oil, after which
the Lodge is dedicated and constituted and the officers installed.
*
CONSECRATION, ELEMENTS OF
Those things, the use of which
in the ceremony as constituent and elementary parts of it, are necessary to
the perfecting and legalizing of the act of consecration. In Freemasonry,
these elements are corn, wine, and oil, which see in this work listed under
their respective names.
*
CONSERVATORS, GRAND
See Grand Conserfators
*
CONSERVATORS OF FREEMASONRY
About the year 1859 Brother
Rob Morris, a Freemason of some distinction in America, professed to have
discovered, by his researches, what he called the true Preston Webb Work, and
attempted to introduce it into various Jurisdictions, sometimes in opposition
to the wishes of the Grand Lodge and leading Freemasons of the State. To aid
in the propagation of this ritual he communicated it to several persons, who
were bound to use all efforts-to some, indeed, of questionable propriety to
secure its adoption by their respective Grand Lodges. These Freemasons were
called by him Conserfators, and the order or society which they constituted
was called the Conserfators Association.
This association, and the
efforts of its chief to extend his ritual, met with the general disapproval of
the Freemasons of the United States, and in some Jurisdictions led to
considerable disturbance and bad feeling.
*
CONSISTORY
The meetings of members of the
Thirty-second Degree, or Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret in the Ancient
and Accepted Scottish Rite, are called Consistories. The elective officers
are, according to the ritual of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United
States, a Commander-in-Chief, Seneschal, Preceptor, Chancellor, Minister of
State, Almoner, Registrar, and Treasurer. In the Northern Jurisdiction it is
slightly different, the second and third officers being called
Lieutenant-Commanders. A Consistory confers the Thirty-first and Thirty-second
Degrees of the Rite in the Southern Jurisdiction, in the Northern Jurisdiction
the Consistory confers the Degrees from the nineteenth to the thirty-second
inclusive.
*
CONSISTORY, GRAND
See Grand Consistory
*
CONSTABLE, GRAND
The fourth officer in a Grand
Consistory. It is the title which was formerly given to the leader of the land
forces of the Knights Templar.
*
CONSTANTINE
See Red Cross of Rome and
Constantine
*
CONSTANTINOPLE, KNIGHT OF
In the year 1864 Brother F. G.
Irwin, a distinguished Freemason, lived at Devonport, England. He became a
welcome visitor to, and subsequently a member of the then recently established
Lodge, Saint Aubyn, No. 954. Among other Masonic acquirements he had authority
to establish the Order of the Knights of Constantinople. It was found that
other authority to establish this Order did not exist in England, although it
had been conferred on a few individual by Brother Irwin, and according to the
usages of the Fraternity, those who first established an Order became the
ruling power. The ground being thus clear, the authority of Brother Irwin,
Past Junior Warden of the Province of Andalusia, Past Grand Master Overseer of
Mark Masonry in England, First Grand standard Bearer of Knights Templar in
England, and past Most Wise Sovereign Rose Croix, &c., was brought into
operation. He accordingly presided over a meeting of Freemasons in the Saint
Aubyn Lodge, No. 954, at Morice Town, Devonport, on January 18, 1865, and
after intrusting them with the secrets of the Order and elevating to the honor
of Knighthood, appointed the following Brethren as Officers of the First or
Saint Aubyn Council of Knights of Constantinople, namely : Samuel Chapple,
Horace Byron Kent, John R. H. Spry, Vincent Bird, Philip B. Clemens.
At this meeting several
prominent Freemasons were admitted, Brother Shuttleworth, Thirty.-third
Degree, the Grand Vice-Chancellor of the Knights Templar of England, being
among the number. At the February meeting several active Freemasons were
admitted, amongst them Brother W. J. Hughan, initiated in Lodge No. 954, and
who later attained world-wide Masonic fame. At the January meeting, 1866, a
Warrant was granted to certain distinguished Freemasons in Cornwall to open a
Council at Truro, the Fortitude, Brother W. J. Hughan to be first Illustrious
Sovereign, and a number of Cornish Freemasons were enlisted. The Saint Aubyn
Council of the Knights of Constantinople developed into a Grand Council of
Sovereigns of the Order and exercised such functions as organizing subordinate
bodies. It became afflicted and a part of the organization at Mark Masons
Hall, England, the Grand Council of the Allied Degrees. The Order of Knights
of Constantinople is of a Christian character, associated in legend with the
Emperor Constantine, and teaches the lesson of universal equality The jewel of
the organization is a Cross surmounted by a Crescent.
*
CONSTITUTED, LEGALLY
The phrase, a legally
constituted Lodge, is often used Masonically to designate any Lodge working
under proper authority, which necessarily includes Lodges working under
Dispensation, although, strictly, a Lodge cannot be legally constituted until
it has received its warrant or Charter from the Grand Lodge. But so far as
respects the regularity of their work, Lodges under Dispensation and Warranted
Lodges have the same standing.
*
CONSTITUTION OF A LODGE
Any number of Master Masons,
not less than seven, being desirous of forming a new Lodge, having previously
obtained a Dispensation from the Grand Master, must apply by petition to the
Grand Lodge of the State in which they reside, praying for a Charter, or
Warrant of Constitution, to enable them to assemble as a regular Lodge. Their
petition being favorably received, a Warrant or Charter for the Lodge is
immediately granted, and the Grand Master appoints a day for its consecration
and for the installation of its officers.
The Lodge having been
consecrated, the Grand Master, or person acting as such, declares the Brethren
"to be constituted and formed into a regular Lodge of Free and Accepted
Masons," after which the officers of the Lodge are installed. In this
declaration of the Master, accompanied with the appropriate ceremonies,
consists the constitution of the Lodge. Until a Lodge is thus legally
constituted, it forms no component of the constituency of the Grand Lodge, can
neither elect officers nor members, and exists only as a Lodge under
dispensation at the will of the Grand Master.
*
CONSTITUTION, PARIS
See Paris Constitutions
*
CONSTITUTIONS, BOOK OF
See Book of Constitutions
*
CONSTITUTIONS OF 1762
This is the name of one of
that series of Constitutions, or Regulations, which have always been deemed of
importance in the history of the Ancient and accepted Scottish Rite; although
the Constitutions of 1762 have really nothing to do with that Rite, having
been adopted long before its establishment. In the year 1758, there was
founded at Paris a Masonic Body which assumed the title of the Chapter or
Council, of Emperors of the East and West, and which organized a Rite known as
the Rite of Perfection, consisting of twenty-five Degrees, and in the same
year the Rite was carried to Berlin by the Marquis de Bernez.
In the following year, a
Council of Princes of the Royal Secret, the highest Degree conferred in the
Rite, was established at Bordeaux. On September 21, 1762, nine Commissioners
met and drew up Constitutions for the government of the Rite of Perfection,
which have been since known as the Constitutions of 1762. Of the place where
the Commissioners met, there is some doubt. Of the two copies, hereafter to be
noticed, which are in the archives of the Southern Supreme Council, that of
Delahogue refers to the Orients of Paris and Berlin, while that of Aveilhé‚
says that they were made at the Grand Orient of Bordeaux.
Thory also (Acta Latomorum, 1,
79), names Bordeaux as the place of their enactment, and so does Ragon (Orthodoxie
Maçonnique, 133); although he doubts their authenticity, and says that there
is no trace of any such document at Bordeaux, nor any recollection there of
the Consistory which is said to have drawn up the Constitutions.
To this it may be answered,
that in the Archives of the Mother Supreme Council at Charleston there are two
manuscript copies of these Constitutions--one written by Jean Baptiste Marie
Delahogue in 1798, which is authenticated by Count de Grasse, under the seal
of the Grand Council of the Princes of the Royal secret, then sitting at
Charleston; and another, written by Jean Baptiste Aveilhé in 1797.
This copy is authenticated by
Long, Delahogue, De Grasse, and others. Both documents are written in French,
and are almost substantially the same. The translated tittle of Delahogue's
copy is as follows :
Constitutions and Regulations
drawn up by nine Commissioners appointed by the Grand Council of the
Sovereign- Princes of the Royal Secret at the Grand Orients of Paris and
Berlin, by virtue of the deliberation of the fifth day of the third week of
the seventh Month of the Hebrew Era, 1662, and of the Christian Era, 1762. To
be ratified and observed by the Grand Councils of the sublime Knights and
Princes of Masonry as well as by the particular Councils and Grand Inspectors
regularly constituted in the two Hemispheres.
The title of Aveilhé's
manuscript differs in this, that it says the Constitutions were enacted "at
the Grand Orient of Bordeaux, " and that they were "transmitted to our Brother
Stephen Morin, Grand Inspector of all the Lodges in the New World." Probably
this is a correct record, and the Constitutions were prepared at Bordeaux. The
Constitutions of 1762 consist of thirty-five articles, and are principally
occupied in providing for the government of the Rite established by the
Council of Emperors of the East and West and of the Bodies under it.
The Constitutions of 1762 were
published at Paris, in 1832, in the Recueil des Actes du Conscil Suprême de
France or Collected Proceedings of the Supreme Council of France. They were
also published, in 1859, in America; but the best printed exemplar of them is
that published in French and English in the Book of Grand Constitutions,
edited by Brother Albert Pike, which is illustrated with copious and valuable
annotations by the editor, who was the Sovereign Grand Commander of the
Southern Supreme Council.
*
CONSTITUTIONS OF 1786
These have been generally
regarded by the members of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite as the
fundamental law of their Rite. They are said to have been established by
Frederick II, of Prussia, in the last year of his life ; a statement, however,
that has been denied by some writers (see Mackey's revised History of
Freemasonry under Early History of the Scottish Rite; Findel's History of
Freemasonry under Declaration of the Grand Lodge of the Three Globes at
Berlin; also Gould's History of Freemasonry under The Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite). The controversies as to their authenticity have made them a
subject of interest to all Masonic scholars. Brother Albert Pike, the Grand
Commander of the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United
States, published them, in 1872, in Latin, French, and English; and his
exhaustive annotations are valuable because he has devoted to the
investigation of their origin and their authenticity more elaborate care than
any other writer. Of these Constitutions, there are two exemplars, one in
French and one in Latin, between which there are, however, some material
differences. For a long time the French exemplar only was known in this
country. It is supposed by Brother Pike that it was brought to Charleston by
Count de Grasse, and that under its provisions he organized the Supreme
Council in that place. They were accepted by the Southern Supreme Council, and
have been regard… by the Northern Supreme Council as the only authentic
Constitutions. But there is abundant internal evidence of the incompleteness
and incorrectness of the French Constitutions, of whose authenticity there is
no proof, nor is it likely that they were made at Berlin and approved by
Frederick, as they profess. The Latin Constitutions were probably not known in
France until after the Revolution. In 1834, they were accepted as authentic by
the Supreme Council of France, and published there in the same year. A copy of
this was published in America, in 1859, by Brother Pike. These Latin
Constitutions of 1786 have been accepted by the Supreme Council of the
Southern jurisdiction in preference to the French version. Most of the other
Supreme Councils-those, namely, of England and Wales, of Italy, and of South
America have adopted them as the law of the Rite, repudiating the French
version as of no authority. The definite and well-authorized conclusions to
which Brother Pike has arrived on the subject of these Constitutions have been
expressed by that eminent Freemason in the following language : "We think we
may safely say, that the charge that the Grand Constitutions were forged at
Charleston is completely disproved, and that it will be contemptible hereafter
to repeat it. No set of speculating Jews constituted the Supreme Council
established there; and those who care for the reputations of Colonel Mitchell,
and Doctors Dalcho, Auld, and Moultrie, may well afford to despise the
scurrilous libels of the Ragons, Clavels, and Folgers. "And, secondly, that it
is not by any means proven or certain that the Constitutions were not really
made at Berlin, as they purport to have been, and approved by Frederick. We
think that 'the preponderance of evidence, internal and external, is on the
side of their authenticity, apart from the positive evidence of the
certificate of 1832. "And, thirdly, that the Supreme Council at Charleston had
a perfect right to adopt them as the law of the new Order; no matter where,
when, or by whom they were made, as Anderson's Constitutions were adopted in
Symbolic Masonry; that they are and always have been the law of the Rite,
because they were so adopted ; and because no man has ever lawfully received
the degrees of the Rite without swearing to maintain them as its supreme law;
for as to the articles themselves, there is no substantial difference between
the French and Latin copies. "And, fourthly, that there is not one particle of
proof of any sort, circumstantial or historical, or by argument from
improbability, that they are not genuine and authentic. In law, documents of
great age, found in the possession of those interested under them, to whom
they rightfully belong, and with whom they might naturally be expected to be
found, are admitted in evidence without proof, to establish title or facts.
They prove themselves, and to be avoided must be disproved by evidence. There
is no evidence against the genuineness of these Grand Constitutions.'' We have
alluded to the controversies aroused by the historical concepts formed of
these documents. But we must warn the readers against assuming that this was
ever understood by the leading disputants as any argument against the legality
of them. That was quite another thing. Both Brothers Pike and Carson,
differing widely as they did upon the source of the Constitutions in 1786,
were agreed upon the legal aspect. Brother Enoch Terry Carson, then Deputy of
the Scottish Rite for Ohio, says, "We shall not enter into a discussion of the
question as to whether these Constitutions had the origin claimed for them or
not, it is sufficient to say that they were recognized, and that under and by
authority of them the Southern Supreme Council, at Charleston, the first in
the world, was organized and until 1813, possessed exclusive jurisdiction over
the United States; and all other regular Supreme Councils from that day down
to the present have, and still recognize them. If they, the Constitutions
of1786, ever were irregular, they ceased to be so to any and every Supreme
Council the very moment they recognized and adopted them. Without , them there
can be no Thirty-third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.''
Brother Albert Pike is equally direct to the point where he says very plainly,
"But the validity and effect of these Constitutions did not depend on their
emanating from Frederick. On the contrary, he had no power to make any such
laws. Their force and effect as law depended on their adoption as such by the
first Body of the Rite" (see Mackey's revised History of Freemasonry, pages
1836-7).
*
CONSTITUTIONS, OLD
See Records, Old
*
CONSUMMATUM EST
Latin, meaning it is finished. A phrase used in some of the higher degrees of
the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. It is borrowed from the expression
used by our Lord when He said, on the cross, "It is finished," meaning that
the work which had been given him to do had been executed. It is, therefore,
appropriately used in the closing ceremonies to indicate that the sublime work
of the degrees is finished, so that all may retire in peace.
*
CONTEMPLATIVE
To contemplate is, literally,
to watch and inspect the Temple. The augur, or prophet, among the Romans,
having taken his stand on the Capitoline Hill, marked out with his wand the
space in the heavens he intended to consult. This space he called the templum,
the Latin word for a designated or marked-off area. Having divided his templum
into two parts from top to bottom, he watched to see what would occur. The
watching of the templum was called contemplating; and hence those who devoted
themselves to meditation upon sacred subjects assumed this title. Thus, among
the Jews, the Essenes and the Therapeutists, and, among the Greeks, the school
of Pythagoras, were contemplative sects. Among the Freemasons, the word
speculative is used as equivalent to contemplative (see Speculative
Freemasonry).
*
CONTINENTAL LODGES
This expression is used
throughout this work, as it constantly is by English writers, to designate the
Lodges on the Continent of Europe which retain many usages which have either
been abandoned by, or never were observed in, the Lodges of England, Ireland,
and Scotland, as well as the United States of America. The words Continental
Freemasonry are employed in the same sense.
*
CONTUMACY
In civil law, contumacy, or
stubbornness, is the refusal or neglect of a party accused to appear and
answer to a charge preferred against him in a court of justice. In Masonic
jurisprudence, it is disobedience of or rebellion against superior authority,
as when a Freemason refuses to obey the edict of his Lodge, or a Lodge refuses
to obey that of the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge. The punishment, in the
former case, is generally suspension or expulsion ; in the latter, arrest of
Charter or forfeiture of Warrant.
*
CONVENTION
In a state or territory where there is no Grand Lodge, but three or more
Lodges holding their Warrants of Constitution from Grand Lodges outside of the
territory, these Lodges may meet together by their representatives-who should
Properly be the first three officers of each Lodge-and take the necessary
steps for the organization of a Lodge in that state or territory. This
preparatory meeting is called a Contention. A President and Secretary are
chosen, and a Grand Lodge is formed by the election of a Grand Master and
other proper officers, when the old Warrants are returned to the Grand Lodges,
and new ones taken out from the newly formed Grand Lodge. Not less than three
Lodges are required to constitute a Convention. The first Convent1oll of this
kind ever held was that of the four old Lodges of London, which met at the
Apple-Tree Tavern, in 1716, and in the following year formed the Grand Lodge
of England.
*
CONVENTION NIGHT
A title sometimes given in the
Minutes of English Lodges to a Lodge of Emergency. Thus, in the minutes of
Constitution Lodge, No. 390 (London), we read: "This being a Convection Night
to consider the state of the Lodge," etc. (see Sadler's History and Records of
the Lodge of Emulation, page 64).
*
CONVENTIONS or CONGRESSES
of Freemasons, arranged in
chronological order: 926. York, under Prince Edwin of England. 1275.
Strassburg, under Edwin Von Steinbach- 1459. Ratisbon, under Jost Dolzinger.
1464. Ratisbon, under Grand Lodge of Strassburg. 1469. Spire, under Grand
Lodge of Strassburg. 1535. Cologne, by Hermann, Bishop of Cologne. 1563.
Basle, by Grand Lodge of Strassburg. 1717. London, by the Four Old Lodges.
Organization of Grand Lodge. 1730. Dublin, by the Dublin Lodges. 1736.
Edinburgh. Organization and institution of Grand Lodge. 1756. Hague, by the
Royal Union Lodge. 1762. Paris and Berlin, by nine commissioners nominated by
the Sovereign Grand ..........Council of Princes of Freemasonry. 1763. Jena,
by the Lodge of Strict Observance. 1764. Jena, by Johnson or Beeker, denounced
by Baron Hund. 1765. Altenberg, a continuation wherein Hund was elected Grand
Master of the ..........Rite of Strict Observance. 1772. Kohl, by Ferdinand oi
Brunswick and Baron Hund, without success. 1775. Brunswick, by Ferdinand, Duke
of Brunswick. 1778. Lyons, by Lodge of Chevaliers Bienfaisants. 1778.
Wolfenbuttel, by Duke of Brunswick. 1782. Wilhelmsbad, and impotent session
for purification. 1784. Paris, a medley of Lovers of Truth and United Friends.
1786. Berlin, alleged to have been convened by Frederick II of Prussia. 1822.
National Masonic Congress, Washington, District of Columbia, March 9. 1842.
National Masonic Congress, Washington, District of Columbia, March 7. 1843.
National Masonic Convention, Baltimore, Maryland, May 8, 1847. National
Masonic Convention, Baltimore, Maryland, September 23, 1853. National Masonic
Convention, Lexington, Kentucky, September 17, 1855. Paris, by Grand Orient of
France. 1855. National Masonic Convention, Washington, District of Columbia,
Jan.3-4 1859. National Masonic Convention, Chicago, Illinois, September 13,
1893. Masonic Congress, Chicago, Illinois, August 14-17, 1909. Conference of
Grand Masters, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 1, 1909. Conference of Grand
Masters, Baltimore, Maryland, November 16, 1913. Conference of Grand Masters,
Indianapolis, Indiana, March 17. 1914. -Conference of Grand Masters, St.
Louis, Missouri, May 14-16. 1918. Conference of Grand Masters, New York City,
New York, May 9-10, 1918. Conference of Grand Masters, Cedar Rapids, Iowa,
November 26-28, 1919. Masonic Service Association, Cedar Rapids, Iowa,
November 11-13, 1920. Masonic Service Association, St. Louis, Missouri,
November 9-10, 1921. Masonic Service Association, Chicago, Illinois, November
9-11, 1922. Masonic Service Association, Kansas City, Missouri, November
17-19, 1923. Masonic Service Association, Washington, Distr. of Col., Oct.
29-30. 1924. Masonic Service Association, Chicago, Illinois, November 11-12.
..........Following the meeting at Cedar Rapids in 1919, Masonic Service
Association has met at St. Louis, Mo., November 9-10, 1920; Chicago, Ill.,
November 9-11, 1921; Kansas City, Mo., November 17-19, 1922; Washington, D.
C., October 29-30, 1923; Chicago, Ill., November 11-12, 1924, and so on
annually, a Conference of Grand Masters usually being held at the same place
conveniently about that time. 1875. Lausanne. A Convention of the Supreme
Councils of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of the World, which
subsequently led to an eternal bond of unity both offensive and defensive.
Conversation among the Brethren during Lodge hours is forbidden by the Charges
of1722 in these words: "You are not to hold private committees or separate
conversation without leave from the Master" (see Constimions, 1723, page 53).
*
CONVOCATION
The meetings of Chapters of
Royal Arch Freemasons are so called from the Latin convocation, meaning a
calling together. It seems very properly to refer to the convoking of the
dispersed Freemasons at Jerusalem to rebuild the second Temple, of which every
Chapter is a representation.
*
CONVOCATION, GRAND
The meeting of a Grand Chapter
is so styled.
*
COOKE, MATTHEW
English Masonic writer; edited
an early prose Masonic Constitutions known as the Additional Manuscript, 1861.
Brother Cooke arranged a number of musical scores for the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, United States.
*
COOKE'S MANUSCRIPT
The old document commonly
known among Masonic scholars as Matthew Cooke's Manuscript, because it was
first given to the public by that distinguished Brother, was published by him,
in 1861, from the original in the British Museum, which institution purchased
it, on the 14th of October, 1859, from Mrs. Caroline Baker. It was also
published in facsimile by the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No. 2076, London, in
1890. Its principal value is derived from the fact, as Brother Cooke remarks,
that until its appearance ''there was no prose work of such undoubted
antiquity known to be in existence on the subject.'' Brother Cooke gives the
following account of the Manuscript in his preface to its republication: By
permission of the Trustees of the British Museum, the following little work
has been allowed to be copied and published in its entire form. The original
is to be found among the additional manuscripts in that national collection,
and is numbered 23,198. Judging from the character of the handwriting and the
form of contractions employed by the scribe, it was most probably written in
the litter portion of the fifteenth century, and may be considered a very
clear specimen of the penmanship of that period. By whom or for whom it was
originally penned there is no means of ascertaining; but from the style, it
may be conjectured to have belonged to some Master of the Craft, aud to have
been used in assemblies of Freemasons as a text-book of the traditional
history and laws of the Fraternity.
*
COPELAND, PATRICK
A native of Udaught, Scotland.
In 1590, by Royal Patent, because his ancestors had held the same office, he
was made Patron for life of the Freemasons of Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine.
*
COPE-STONE
See Capstone
*
CORD, HINDU SACRED
See Zennaar
*
CORD, SILVER
See Silver Cord
*
CORD, THREEFOLD
See Threefold Cord
*
CORDON
The Masonic decoration, which
in English is called the collar, is styled by the French Freemasons the
cordon.
*
CORINTHIAN ORDER
This is the lightest and most
ornamental of the pure orders, and possesses the highest degree of richness
and detail that architecture attained under the Greeks. Its capital is its
great distinction, and is richly adorned with leaves of acanthus, olive, etc.,
and other ornaments. The column of Beauty which supports the Lodge is of the
Corinthian Order, and its appropriate situation and symbolic officer are in
the South.
*
CORK, ORDER OF THE
A side Degree found in British
Masonic circles and practiced with that excellent conviviality characteristic
of the Brethren. The main object is to provide an opportunity for the display
of high spirits on some especial occasion. Significant of the membership is a
jewel, a section or slice of cork, usually enclosed in a metal band for
attachment to the watch-chain as a charm or pendant, or carried as a
pocket-piece. The absence of this emblem or pledge when a member is challenged
by another one subjects the corkless Brother to a forfeit, which again is
commonly and appropriately the cause of mutual enjoyment.
*
CORNER, NORTHEAST
See Northeast Corner
*
CORNER-STONE, SYMBOLISM OF THE
The corner-stone is the stone
which lies at the corner of two walls and forms the corner of the foundation
of an edifice. In Masonic buildings it is now always placed in the Northeast;
but this rule was not always formerly observed. As the foundation on which the
entire structure is supposed to rest, it is considered by Operative Freemasons
as the most important stone in the edifice. It is laid with impressive
ceremonies; the assistance of Speculative Freemasons is often, and ought
always to be, invited to give dignity to the occasion; and for this purpose
Freemasonry has provided an especial ritual which is to govern the proper
performance of that duty.
Among the ancients the
corner-stone of important edifices was laid with impressive ceremonies. These
are well described by Tacitus in the history of the rebuilding of the Capital.
After detailing the preliminary ceremonies, which consisted of a procession of
vestals, who with chaplets of flowers encompassed the ground and consecrated
it by libations of living water, he adds that, after solemn prayer, Helvidius
Priscus, to whom the care of rebuilding the Capitol had been committed, "laid
his hand upon the fillets that adorned the foundation stone, and also the
cords by which it was to be drawn to its place. In that instant the
magistrates, the priests, the senators, the Roman knights, and a number of
citizens, all acting with one effort and general demonstrations of joy, laid
hold of the ropes and dragged the ponderous load to its destined spot. They
then threw in ingots of gold and silver, and other metals which had never been
melted in the furnace, but still retained, untouched by human art, their first
formation in the bowels of the earth" (see Histories iv, 53).
The symbolism of the
corner-stone when duly laid with Masonic rites is full of significance, which
refers to its form, to its situation, to its permanence, and to its
consecration.
As to its form, it must be
perfectly square on its surfaces, and in its solid contents a cube. Now the
square is a symbol of morality, and the cube, of truth.
In its situation it lies
between the north, the place of darkness, and the east, the place of light;
and hence this position symbolizes the Masonic progress from darkness to
light, and from ignorance to knowledge.
The permanence and durability
of the corner-stone, which lasts long after the building in whose foundation
it was placed has fallen into decay, is intended to remind the Freemason that,
when this earthly house of his tabernacle shall have passed away, he has
within him a sure foundation of eternal life-a corner-stone of immortality-an
emanation from that Divine Spirit which pervades all nature, and which,
therefore, must survive the tomb, and rise, triumphant and eternal, above the
decaying dust of death and the grave.
The stone, when deposited in
its appropriate place, is carefully examined with the necessary implements of
Operative Freemasonry-the square, the level, and the plumb, themselves all
symbolic in meaning-and is then declared to be "well formed, true, and
trusty.'' Thus the Freemason is taught that his virtues are to be tested by
temptation and trial, by suffering and adversity, before they can be
pronounced by the Master Builder of souls to be materials worthy of the
spiritual building of eternal life, fitted, "as living stones, for that house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." And lastly, in the ceremony of
depositing the cornerstone, the elements of Masonic consecration are produced,
and the stcne is solemnly set apart by pouring corn, wine, and oil upon its
surface, emblematic of the Nourishment, Refreshment, and Joy which are to be
the rewards of a faithful performance of duty.
The comer-stone does not
appear to have been adopted by any of the heathen nations, but tc have been as
the eben pinah, peculiar to the Jews, from whom it descended to the
Christians. In the Old Testament, it seems always to have denoted a prince or
high personage, and hence the Evangelists constantly use it in reference to
Christ, who is called the Chief Comer-stone. In Masonic symbolism, it
signifies a true Freemason, and therefore it is the first character which the
Apprentice is made to represent after his initiation has been completed.
Saint Martin-in-the-Fields
Church, perhaps the best known church in London, was the first in England to
have its foundation stone laid with special Masonic ceremony after the coming
into existence of the Grand Lodge there. This event took place in 1724, in the
reign of King George I, whose direct descendant, the Duke of Connaught, was
Grand Master two hundred years later (see Freemason, March 7, 1925).
The first or cornerstone of
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was laid by the Grand Master of Maryland with
the Grand Masters of Pennsylvania and Virginia co-operating with the Brethren
of Maryland.
The stone was laid on July 4,
1824, in Carroll's Field at Baltimore and the first spading of the ground
where the stone was to rest was dug by the venerable Charles Carroll of
Carrollton, then the only living signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Brother E. T. Schultz (Freemasonry in Maryland, pages 562-79) says that the
first train over this new railroad reached the bank of the Ohio River, January
11, 1853. The several city trades took part in the procession and presented
gifts to Mr. Carroll, one from the Weavers and Tailors was "a coat made on the
way."
Allusions to public ceremonies
by the Craft are frequent in the old records. One of Tuesday, August 27, 1822,
deserves mention, not because of the distance in elapsed time from that date
to the present, but by reason of the close identity of the custom in Great
Britain and in other Countries during these many years. The occasion was the
laying of the Foundation-stone of the National Monument of Scotland, at
Edinburgh, and after describing the usual procession, and the placing of
coins, newspapers, plans, etc., in the cavities of the stone, these were
covered with inscribed plates. 'the first being headed "To the Glory of God-In
honor of the King-For the Good of the People." Then Laurie's History of Free
Masonry and the Grand Lodge of Scotland (1849, page 201) continues:
The Most Worshipful the Grand
Master proceeded with the ceremony, and having applied the square, the plumb,
and the level respectively to the stone, with the mallet he gave three knocks,
saying,-"May the Almighty Architect of the Universe look down with benignity
upon our present undertaking, and crown this splendid edifice with every
success; and may it be considered, for time immemorial, a model of taste and
genius and serve to transmit with honor to posterity the names of the artists
engaged in it"; followed by the Grand Honors from the Brethren, and the Band
playing "On. on my dear Brethren.
" When the music ceased, the
cornucopia with corn, and the cups with wine and oil were delivered by the
Grand Wardens to the Substitute Grand Master, who in succession handed them to
the Most Worshipful the Grand Master, when he, according to ancient custom,
poured out the corn, the wine, and the oil upon the stone, saying, "Praise be
to the Lord immortal and eternal, Who formed the heavens, laid the foundations
of the earth, and extended the waters beyond it, Who supports the pillars of
Nations, and maintains in order and harmony surrounding Worlds: We implore Thy
aid, and may the contintled blessings of an allbounteous Providence be the lot
of these our native shores.
Almighty Ruler of Events,
deign to direct the hand of our gracious Sovereign, so that he may pour down
blessings upon his people; and may they, living under sage laws and a free
government, ever feel grateful for the blessings they enjoy'': Which was
followed by the Grand Honors from the Brethren, and prolonged cheering from
the Royal Commissioners and spectators.
Brother Laurie also tells on page 207 of the curious fact that on April 30,
1824, "the Foundation-stone of the new road or approach to Glasgow from London
was laid, by sanction of the Grand Lodge, by the Right Honorable Lord Provost
Smith of Glasgow, Depute Provincial Grand Master of the Lower Ward of
Lanarkshire, in presence of a large assemblage of the Brethren and a great
number of spectators."
An unusual method of laying
the Foundation-stone of a Masonic Temple took place in London on July 14,
1927. The site of the Temple in Great Queen Street, Ringsway, would not
accommodate a large crowd, so it was arranged that the Grand Master of English
Freemasons, the Duke of Connaught, should perform the ceremony at Royal Albert
Hall, nearly three miles away. A replica of the stone was laid on a specially
erected platform in the great hall where some ten thousand Freemasons from al1
parts of the Empire attended in their regalia. The ceremony in Albert Hall was
performed simultaneously with the laying of the actual stone in Great Queen
Street by means of special electrical contrivances.
A distinction should be made
between Comer-stone and Foundation Stone. Doctor Mackey was emphatic on this
point and it is well to have the matter in mind. But the two are not always
distinguished definitely in the records. We have placed several items together
here which the reader can list as he personally may choose. The precise
classification of comer-stones of railroads and foundation stones of highways,
judged by any Masonic requirement, is probably best left to individual taste.
The subject may be considered under the several heads, Foundation Stone, and
Stone of Foundation.
*
CORN OF NOURISHMENT
One of the three elements of
Masonic consecration (see Corn, Wine, and Oil).
*
CORNUCOPIA
The horn of plenty. The old
Pagan myth tells us that Zeus was nourished during his infancy in Crete by the
daughters of Melissus, with the milk of the goat Amalthea. Zeus, when he came
to the empire of the world, in gratitude placed Amalthea in the heavens as a
constellation, and gave one of her horns to his nurses, with the assurance
that it should furnish them with a never-failing supply of whatever they might
desire. Hence it is a symbol of abundance, and as such has been adopted as the
jewel of the Stewards of a Lodge, to remind them that it is their duty to see
that the tables are properly furnished at refreshment, and that every Brother
is suitably served. Among the deities whose images are to be found in the
ancient Temples at Elora, in Hindustan, is the goddess Ana Purna, whose name
is compounded of Ana, signifying corn, and Puma, meaning plenty.
She holds a corn measure in
her hand, and the whole therefore very clearly has the same allusion as the
Masonic Horn of plenty.
*
CORN, WINE, AND OIL
Corn, wine, and oil are the
Masonic elements of consecration. The adoption of these symbols is supported
by the highest antiquity. Corn, wine, and oil were the most important
productions of Eastern countries; they constituted the wealth of the people,
and were esteemed as the supports of life and the means of refreshment David
enumerates them among the greatest blessings that we enjoy, and speaks of them
as "wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine,
and bread which strengtheneth man's heart" (Psalm civ., 15). In devoting
anything to religious purposes, the anointing with oil was considered as a
necessary part of the ceremony, a rite which has descended to Christian
nations. The tabernacle in the wilderness, and all its holy vessels, were, by
God's express command, anointed with oil; Aaron and his two sons were set
apart for the priesthood with the same ceremony ; and the prophets and kings
of Israel were consecrated to their offices by the same rite.
Hence, Freemasons' Lodges,
which are but temples to the Most High, are consecrated to the sacred purposes
for which they were built by strewing corn , wine, and oil upon the Lodge, the
emblem of the Holy Ark. Thus does this mystic ceremony instruct us to be
nourished with the hidden manna of righteousness, to be refreshed with the
Word of the Lord, and to rejoice with joy unspeakable in the riches of divine
grace. "Wherefore, my brethren," says the venerable Harris (Discourse iv, 81),
"wherefore do you carry corn, wine, and oil in your processions, but to remind
you that in the pilgrimage of human life you are to impart a portion of your
bread to feed the hungry, to send a cup of your wine to cheer the sorrowful,
and to pour the healing oil of your consolation into the wounds which sickness
hath made in the bodies, or afflictions rent in the heart, of your
fellow-travelers?"
In processions, the corn alone
is carried in a golden pitcher, the wine and oil are placed in silver vessels,
and this is to remind us that the first, as a necessity and the "staff of
life," is of more importance and more worthy of honor than the others, which
are but comforts.
*
CORONET, DUCAL
Italian, Coronetta. An
inferior crown worn by noblemen; that of a British duke is adomed with
strawberry leaves; that of a marquis has leaves with pearls interposed; that
of an earl has the pearls above the leaves ; that of a viscount is surrounded
with pearls only; that of a baron has only four pearls. The ducal coronet is a
prominent symbol in the Thirty-third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite.
*
CORPORATION OF SQUAREMEN
See Squaremen¸ Corporation of
*
CORRESPONDENCE
See Committee on Foreign
Correspondence
*
CORRESPONDING GRAND SECRETARY
An officer of a Grand Lodge to
whom was formerly entrusted, in some Grand Lodges, the Foreign Correspondence
of the Body. The office is now disused, a temporary appointment being made
when familiarity with a foreign language may require the services of an
assistant to the Grand Secretary.
*
CORYBANTES, MYSTERIES OF
Rites instituted in Phrygia in
honor of Atys, the lover of Cybele. The goddess was supposed first to bewail
the death of her lover, and afterward to rejoice for his restoration to life.
The ceremonies were a scenical representation of this alternate lamentation
and rejoieing, and of the sufferings of Atys, who was placed in an ark or
coffin during the mournful part of the orgies. If the description of these
rites, given by Sainte-Croix from various ancient authorities, be correct,
they were but a modification of the Eleusinian mysteries.
*
COSMIST
A religious faith of late
recognition, having for its motto, Deeds, not Creeds, and for its principle
the service of humanity is the supreme duty.
The design of Cosmism is to
join all men and women into one family, in which the principle of equality,
together with that of brotherly love, that is, love of the human race, is the
predominant one, and the moral and material welfare of all, the sole aim and
purpose.
The Cosmists are enjoined to
act as follows: To give one another encouragement and aid, both material and
moral, to cultivate all their faculties, to contemplate all mankind as
Brethren; to be courteous and forbearing to each and all; to practice charity
without publicity or ostentation. Freemasonry is an intensely theistical
institution; but its principles could scarcely be better expressed than tho se
above enumerated as the foundation of the Cosmistic faith; more especially in
the motto, Deeds, not Creeds.
*
COSMOPOLITE
The Third Degree of the Second
Temple of the Rite of African Architects, which see in this Encyclopedia.
*
COSTA RICA
The most southern state of
Central America. The first Masonic Lodge in Costa Rica was instituted by the
Grand Orient of New Granada at San José in 1867. On December 7, 1899, the
Grand Lodge was formed at San José. Oliver Day Street, in his Report on
Correspondence to the Grand Lodge of Alabama, 1922 states: "This Grand Lodge
must be moribund, if not defunct, as after repeated efforts this scribe has
not been able to get into communication with it. Not a word has been received
from it during the seven years he has been Foreign Correspondent." The Grand
Lodge is credited by the Annuaire in 1923 as having seven Lodges, with 206
members, three Lodges being at San José and one each at Port Limon and
Alajuela being named. Nos. 5 and 6 not located.
*
COUNCIL
In several of the advance
Degrees of Freemasonry the meetings are styled Councils; as, a Council of
Royal and Select Masters, or Princes of Jerusalem, or Companions of the Red
Cross
*
COUNCIL CHAMBER
A part of the room in which
the ceremonies of the Companions of the Red Cross are performed.
*
COUNCIL, GRAND
See Grand Council
*
COUNCIL OF ALLIED MASONIC
DEGREES
An organization formed in
England in 1880 to embosom, protect, and promulgate all side Degrees of a
Masonic or other secret character, and those otherwise unclaimed that may
appear as waifs. The central organization is termed the Grand Council of
Allied Masonic Degrees.
The Sovereign College of the Allied Masonic Degrees of America was organized
on February 1, l892, at Richmond, Virginia, and the first officers of this
Body were chosen as follows:
Hartley Carmichael, 33 , Sovereign Grand Master.
Wm. Ryan, 33 , Deputy Grand
Master, C.J.S.
Right Rev. A. M. Randolph, Bishop of Southern Virginia, Grand Abbot
Frederick Webber, 33 , Grand Senior Warden
Alfred R. Courtney 32 , Grand Junior Warden
W. O. English, 32 , K.C. , Grand Chancellor.
Charles A. Nesbitt, 33 , Grand Recorder-General,
John F. Mayer. 33 , Grand Bursar.
Josiah Drummond, 33 , Grand Almoner.
R. P. Williams. 33 , Grand Prefect of Rites.
Beverly R. Welford, Jr. 32 , Grand Magister non regens
R. H. Hall, 33 , Grand Deacon.
O. W. Budd, 32 , S. Fellow.
Thomas Whittet, 33 , Grand Verger.
Jacob Reinhardt, 32 , Grand Chief of Musisians.
Ernest T. Walthall, Grand Printer.
H. F. W, Southern, 32 , Grand Tiler.
Brother Nesbitt, the Grand
Recorder-General who was also Grand Secretary, Grand Lodge of Virginia, was
elected Deputy Grand Master of the Sovereign College in 1901, Brother Howard
D. Smith, Norway, Maine, at the same time being chosen Grand Recorder-General.
This Sovereign College was organized for the purpose of uniting under Masonic
government a number of Degrees hitherto not so controlled. The object of the
Sovereign College was two-fold-to work with proper rituals such as were, from
their importance or beauty, worthy of propagation, and to lay on the shelf
such Degrees, possessed by it, as were merely Masonic absurdities. This Grand
Body assumed the care of several Degrees of interest and importance to earnest
and progressive Freemasons. It governs the Ark Mariner or Ark and Doye, Secret
Monitor, Saint Lawrence the Martyr, Tilers of King Solomon, Knights of
Constantinople, the Holy Order of Wisdom, and the Trinitiam Knights of Saint
John of Patmos. From the archives we obtain the following particulars;
For the Degree of Ark Mariner
all Master Masons in good standing are eligible, and all Ark Mariners are
eligible for the Monitor Degree. The Ark Degree ought to be possessed by every
well-equipped Freemason. In England the synonymous Degree of Royal Ark Mariner
is exceedingly popular. Though it is not necessary in America to possess the
Mark Degree before receiving that of the Ark, yet it is well for all
Freemasons, who are likely to travel, to take the Mark Degree in the Chapter
also,-as the qualification for the English Royal Ark Mariner's Degree is that
the candidate must be a Mark Mason. The Degrees of Tiler of Solomon, Saint
Lawrence the Martyr, and the Knight of Constantinople are only conferred on
those who are already Ark Mariners and Secret Monitors.
The Holy Order of Wisdom is
one of the finest and most impressive Degrees in Freemasonry. The
qualification is that the candidate must be a Knight Templar of the American
Rite, or a. Knight Rose Croix of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
The Knight of Patmos is
conferred only once a year, and then sparingly. It is given only to Freemasons
of some mark and learning.
From the Knights of Patmos the
officers of the Sovereign College are elected.
The Degrees of the Order of
Wisdom, and the Knight of Patmos, are essentially Christian and Trinitarian.
For the latter Degree the Candidate must be a Prince of the Royal secret of
the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
The Grand Bodies with which
the Sovereign College is in amity:
In the Ark Mariner Degree: In
England, The Royal Ark Council of England. In Scotland, The Supreme Royal Arch
Chapter of Scotland.
In the other Degrees, in
England, The Grand Council Of Allied Masonic Degrees for England, Wales and
the Colonies and Dependencies of the British Crown. In Scotland, The Grand
Council of Allied Masonic Degrees for Scotland.
The Festival of the Order is
Saint Paul's Day. The Prayer Book Commentary (Maemillan, 1922, page 26) says,
"In the ease of Saint Paul we have the festival of his conversion, January 25,
commemorating an event standing on a totally different footing from every
other conversion, which was divinely destined to alter the whole tone of
Christianity,. Our earliest notices of this festival carry it, we believe, to
about the middle of the ninth century."
*
COUNCIL OF COMPANIONS OF THE
RED CROSS
A bo dy in which the First
Degree of the Templar system in the United States of America is conferred. It
is held under the Charter of a Commandery of Knights Templar, which, when
meeting as a Council, is composed of the following officers: A Sovereign
Master, Chancellor, Master of the Palace, Prelate, Master of Despatches,
Master of Cavalry, Master of Infantry, Standard-Bearer, Sword-Bearer, Warder
and Sentinel.
*
COUNCIL OF ROYAL AND SELECT
MASTERS
United Body conferring Royal
and Select Degrees. In some Jurisdictions this Council confers also the Degree
of a Super-Excellent Master.
*
COUNCIL OF ROYAL MASTERS
The Body in which the Degree
of Royal Master, the eighth in the American Rite, is conferred. It receives
its Charter from a Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters, and has the
following officers: Thrice Iliustrious Grand Master, Illustrious Hiram of Tyre,
Principal Conductor of the Works, Master of the Exchequer, Master of Finances,
Captain of the Guards, Conductor of the Council, and Steward.
*
COUNCIL OF SELECT MASTERS
The body in which the Degree
of Select Masters, the ninth in the American Rite, is conferred. It receives
its Charter from a Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters. Its officers
are: Thrice Iliustrios Grand Master, Illustrious Hiram of Tyre, Principal
Conductor of the Works, Treasurer, Recorder, Captain of the Guards, Conductor
of the Council, and Steward.
*
COUNCIL OF THE TRINITY
An independent Masonic
Jurisdiction, in which are conferred the Degrees of Knight of the Christian
Mark, and Guard of the Conclave, Knight of the Holy Sepulcher, and the Holy
and Thrice Illustrious Order of the Cross. They are conferred after the
Encampment Degrees. They are Christian Degrees, and refer to the crucifixion.
COUNCIL, SUPREME
See Supreme Council
*
COUNTRY STEWARDS' LODGE
An old Eng1ish Lodge which met
first at the Guildhall Coffee House and afterwards at Freemasons Tavern. It
was known as No. 540, having been constituted in 1789. The members were made
up of Freemasons who had served as Stewards at the "Country Feast of the
Society," a festival held every several years after 1732. A special jewel with
a green collar was assigned for their use by the Grand Lodge in 1789 and in
1795 they were permitted to line their aprons with green silk. As a result of
this ruling they were frequently called the Green Apron Lodge, but in 1797
this ruling was withdrawn. The Lodge lapsed about 1802.
*
COURT DE GEBELIN, ANTOINE
French author; a founder of
the Rite des Philaletes in 1773; Secretary of the famous Lodge of Nine
Sisters, Paris. in 1779. President of the Apolionian Society and author of
Primitive World Analyzed and Compared with the Modern World. Although a
Protestant his literary work secured for him the office of Royal Censor. At
the time Voltaire was initiated into the Lodge of Nine Sisters, Court de
Gebelin assisted and also presented a copy of his new book mentioned above and
read that part of it concerning the ancient mysteries of Eleusis. He died in
1784 (see Lodge of Nine Sisters).
*
COURT OF HONOR
The letters K.C.C.H., stand
for Knight Commander of the Court of Honor. The Court of Honor is an honorary
body between the Thirty-second and Thirty-third Degrees of the Southern
Jurisdiction, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. It was established to confer
honor on certain Brethren whose zeal and work for Scottish Rite Freemasonry
have entitled them to recognition. This Court of Honor is composed of all
Thirty-third Degree Freemasons whether active or honorary, and also such
Thirty-second Degree Freemasons as the Supreme Council may select. In the
Court of Honor there are two ranks, that of Knight Commander and that of Grand
Cross. No more than three Grand Crosses can be selected at each regular
session of the Supreme Council, but the Knight Commander rank is not so
restricted. At least two weeks before each regular session of the Supreme
Council, each active Thirty-third Degree member may nominate one Thirty-second
Degree member for the honor and decoration of Knight Commander.
In addition to this he is
entitled to nominate for this honor one candidate for every forty Freemasons
of the Fourteenth Degree in his Jurisdiction, who has received that Degree
since the preceding regular session of the Supreme Council. This does not mean
that a Fourteenth Degree Freemason is entitled to the honor.
On the contrary, the honor can
only be conferred on one who has received the Thirty-second Degree at least
two years prior to his nomination, but the number of such Thirty-second Degree
Freemasons who may receive the honor is limited by the number of tho se who
have received the Fourteenth Degree in the Jurisdiction of the member making
the nomination. However, if in the judgment of the Supreme Council there are
others not so nominated who should receive the honor, the Supreme Council may
elect without such nomination. The rank of Knight Commander or Grand Cross
cannot be applied for and if applied for, must be refused. The Court of Honor
assembles as a body when called to gather by the Grand Commander, and is
presided over by the Grand Cross named by the Grand Commander.
*
COURTESY
Politeness of manners, as the
result of kindness of disposition, was one of the peculiar characteristics of
the knights of old. "No other human laws enforced," says M. de Saint Palaye,
"as chivalry did, sweetness and modesty of temper, and that politeness which
the word courtesy was meant perfectly to express" We find, therefore, in the
language of Templarism, the phrase "a true and courteous knight" ; and Knights
Templar are in the habit of closing their letters to each other with the
expression, Yours in all knightly courtesy. Courtesy is also a Masonic virtue,
because it is the product of a feeling of kindness; but it is not so
specifically spoken of in the symbolic degrees, where brotherly love assumes
its place, as it is in the orders of knighthood.
*
COUSINS, LES BONS
or COUSINS CHARBONNIERS.
A secret society of France in
the eighteenth century (see Carbonari).
*
COUSTOS, JOHN
The sufferings inflicted, in
1743, by the Inquisition at Lisbon, on John Coustos, a Freemason, and the
Master of a Lodge in that city; and the fortitude with which he endured the
severest tortures, rather than betray his trusts and reveal the secrets that
had been confided to him, constitute an interesting episode in the history of
Freemasonry. Coustos, after returning to England, published, in 1746, a book,
detailing his sufferings, from which the reader is presented with the folio
wing abridged narrative.
John Coustos was born at Berne, in Switzerland, but emigrated, in 1716, with
his father to England, where he became a naturalized subject. In l743 he
removed to Lisbon, in Portugal, and began the practice of his profession,
which was that of a lapidary or dealer in precious stones. In consequence of
the bull or edict of Pope-Clement XXII denouncing the Masonic Institution, the
Lodges at Lisbon were not held at public houses, as was the custom in England
and other Protestant countries, but privately, at the residences of the
members. Of one of these Lodges, Coustos, who was a zealous Freemason, was
elected the Master. A female, who was cognizant of the existence of the Lodge
over which Coustos presided, revealed the circumstance to her confessor,
declaring that, in her opinion, the members were "monsters in nature, who
perpetrated the most shocking crimes." In consequence of this information, it
was resolved, by the Inquisition, that Coustos should be arrested and
subjected to the tender mercies of the Holy Ofice. He was accordingly seized,
a few nights afterwards, in a coffee-house--- the public pretense of the
arrest being that he was privy to the stealing of a diamond, of which they had
falsely accused another jeweler, friend and warden of Coustos, whom they had
previously arrested. Coustos was then carried to the prison of the
Inquisition, and after having been searched and deprived of all his money,
papers, and other things that he had about him, he was led to a lonely
dungeon, in which he was immured, being expressly forbidden to speak aloud or
knock against the walls, but if he required anything, to beat with a padlock
that hung on the outward door, and which he could reach by thrusting his arm
through the iron grate. "It was there," says he, "that, struck with the
horrors of a place of which I had heard and read such baleful descriptions, I
plunged at once into the blackest melancholy; especially when I reflected on
the dire consequences with which my confinement might very possibly be
attended."
On the next day he was led,
bareheaded, before the President and four Inquisitors, who, after having made
him reply on oath to several questions respecting his name, his parentage, his
place of birth, his religion, and the time he had resided in Lisbon, exhorted
him to make a full confession of all the crimes he had ever committed in the
whole course of his life ; but, as he refused to make any such confession,
declaring that, from his infancy, he had been taught to confess not to man but
to God, he was again remanded to his dungeon.
Three days after, he was again
brought before the Inquisitors, and the examination was renewed. This was the
first occasion on which the subject of Freemasonry was introduced, and there
Coustos for the first time learned that he had been arrested and imprisoned
solely on account of his connection with the forbidden Institution.
The result of this conference
was that Coustos was conveyed to a deeper dungeon, and kept there in close
confinement for seven weeks, during which period he was taken three times
before the Inquisitors. In the first of these examinations they again
introduced the subject of Freemasonry, and declared that if the Institution
was as virtuous as their prisoner contended that it was, there was no occasion
for concealing so industriously the secrets of it. Coustos did not reply to
this objection to the Inquisitorial satisfaction, and he was remanded back to
his dungeon, where a few days after he fell sick.
After his recovery, he was
again taken before the Inquisitors, who asked him several new questions with
regard to the tenets of Freemasonry-among others, whether he, since his abode
in Lisbon, had received any Portuguese into the society. He replied that he
had not. When he was next brought before them, "they insisted," he says, "upon
my letting them into the secrets of Freemasonry; threatening me, in case I did
not comply." But Coustos firmly and fearlessly refused to violate his
obligations.
After several other
interviews, in which the effort was unavailingly made to extort from him a
renunciation of Freemasonry, he was subjected to the torture, of which he
gives the following account:
I was instantly conveyed to
the torture-room, built in form of a square tower, where no light appeared but
what two candles gave; and to prevent the dreadful cries and shocking groans
of the unhappy victims from reaching the ears of the other prisoners, the
doors are lined with a sort of quilt.
The reader will naturally
suppose that I must be seized with horror, -when, at my entering this infernal
place, I saw myself, on a sudden, surrounded by six wretches, who, after
preparing the tortures, stripped me naked, all to linen drawers, when, laying
me on my back, they began to lay hold of every part of my body. First, they
put around my neck an iron collar, which was fastened to the scaffold; they
then fixed a ring to each foot; and this being done, they stretched my limbs
with all their might. They next wound two ropes round each arm, and two round
each thigh, which ropes passed under the scaffold through holes made for that
purpose, and were all drawn tight at the same time, by four men, upon a signal
made for this purpose.
The reader will believe that
my pains must be intolerable, when I solemnly declare that these ropes, which
were of the size of one's little finger, pierced through my flesh quite to the
bone, making the blood gush out at eight different places that were thus
bound. As I persisted in refusing to discover any more than what has been seen
in the interrogatories above, the ropes were thus drawn together four
different times. At my' side stood a physician and a surgeon, who often felt
my temples, to judge of the danger I might be in-by which means my tortures
were suspended, at intervals, that I might have an opportunity of recovering
myself a little Whilst I was thus suffering, they were so barbarously unjust
as to declare, that, were I to die under the torture, I should be guilty, by
my obstinacy, of self-murder. In fine, the last time the ropes were drawn
tight, I grew so exceedingly weak, occasioned by the blood's circulation being
stopped, and the pains I endured, that I fainted quite away; insomuch that I
was carried back to my dungeon, without perceiving it.
These barbarians, finding that
the tortures above described could not extort any further discovery from me;
but that, the more they made me suffer, the more fervently I addressed my
supplications, for patience, to heaven. they were so inhuman, six weeks after,
as to expose me to another kind of torture, more grievous, if possible, than
the former. They made me stretch my arms in such a manner that the palms of my
hands were turned outward; when, by the help of a rope that fastened them
together at the wrist, and which they turned by an engine, they drew them
gently nearer to one another behind, in such a manner that the back of each
hand touched and stood exactly parallel one to another; whereby both my
shoulders were dislocated, and a considerable quantity of blood issued from my
mouth.
This torture was repeated
thrice; after which I was again taken to my dungeon, and put into the hands of
physicians and surgeons, who, in setting my bones, put me to exquisite pain.
Two months after, being a little recovered, I was again conveyed to the
torture-room, and there made to undergo another kind of punishment twice. The
reader may judge of its horror, from the following description thereof :
" The torturers turned twice
around my body a thick iron chain, which, crossing upon my stomach, terminated
afterwards at my wrists. They next set my back against a thick board, at each
extremity whereof was a pulley, through which there ran a rope, that caught
the ends of the chains at my wrists. The tormentors then stretched these
ropes, by means of a roller, pressed or bruised my stomach, in proportion as
the means were drawn tighter. They tortured me on this occasion to such a
degree, that my wrists and shoulders were put cut of joint. The surgeons,
however, set them presently after; but the barbarians not yet having satiated
their cruelty, made me undergo this torture a second time, which I did with
fresh pains, though with equal consistency and resolution. I was then remanded
back to my dungeon, attended by the surgeons, who dressed my bruises; and here
I continued until their auto-da-fé, or gaol delivery. On that occasion, he was
sentenced to work at the galleys for four years.
Soon, however, after he had
commenced the degrading occupation of a galley slave, the injuries which he
had received during his inquisitorial tortures having so much impaired his
health, that he was unable to undergo the toils to which he had been
condemned, he was sent to the infirmary, where he remained until October,
1744, when he was released upon the demand of the British minister, as a
subject to the King of England. He was, however, ordered to leave the country.
This, it may be supposed, he gladly did, and repaired to London, where he
published the account of his sufferings in a book entitled The Sufferings of
John Coustos for Freemasonry, and for refusing to turn Roman Catholic, in the
Inquisition at Lisbon, etc., etc. London, 1746; 8vo , 400 pages. This work was
reprinted at Birmingham in 1790. Such a narrative is well worthy of being
read. John Coustos has not, by his literary researches, added anything to the
learning or science of our Order; yet, by his fortitude and fidelity under the
severest sufferings, inflicted to exhort from him a knowledge he was bound to
conceal, he has shown that Freemasonry makes no idle boast in declaring that
its secrets "are locked up in the depository of faithful breasts."
*
COUVREUR
The title of an officer in a
French Lodge, equivalent to the English Tiler.
*
COUVRIR LE TEMPLE
A French expression for the
English one to close the Lodge. But it has also another signification. To
cover the Temple to a Brother, means in French Masonic language, to exclude
him from the Lodge.
*
COVENANT OF FREEMASONRY
As a covenant is defined to be
a contract or agreement between two or more parties on certain terms, there
can be no doubt that when a man is made a Freemason he enters into a covenant
with the Institution. On his part he promises to fulfil certain promises, and
to discharge certain duties, for which, on the other part, the Fraternity bind
themselves by an equivalent covenant of friendship, protection, and support.
This covenant must of course be repeated and modified with every extension of
the terms of agreement on both sides.
The covenant of an Entered
Apprentice is different from that of a Fellow Craft, and the covenant of the
latter from that of a Master Mason. As we advance in Freemasonry our
obligations increase, but the covenant of each Degree is not the less
permanent or binding because that of a succeeding one has been super-added.
The second covenant does not impair the sanctity of the first.
This covenant of Freemasonry
is symbolized and sanctioned by the most important and essential of all the
ceremonies of the Institution. It is the very foundation-stone which supports
the whole edifice, and, unless it be properly laid, no superstructure can with
any safety be erected. It is indeed the covenant that makes the Freemason.
A master so important as this,
in establishing the relationship of a Freemason with the Craft-this baptism,
so to speak, by which a member is inaugurated into the Institution-must of
course be attended with the most solemn and binding ceremonies. Such has been
the case in all countries. Covenants have always been solemnized with certain
solemn forms and religious observances which gave them a sacred sanction in
the minds of the contracting parties. The Hebrews, especially, invested their
covenants with the most imposing ceremonies.
The first mention of a
covenant in form that is met with in Scripture is that recorded in the
fifteenth chapter of Genesis, where, to confirm it, Abraham, in obedience to
the Divine command, took a heifer, a she-goat, and a ram, "and divided them in
the midst, and laid each piece one against another" (see Genesis v, 10). This
dividing a victim into two parts, that the covenanting parties might pass
between them, was a custom not confined to the Hebrews, but borrowed from them
by all the heathen nations.
In the Book of Jeremiah it is
again alluded to , and the penalty for the violation of the covenant is also
expressed.
And I will give the men that
have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the
covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and
passed between the parts thereof.
The princes of Judah, and the
princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the
land which passed between the parts of the calf.
I will even give them into the
hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their live; and
their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the
beasts of the earth" (Jeremiah xxxiv, 18, 19, 20).
These ceremonies, thus briefly
alluded to in the passages which have been quoted, were performed in full, as
follows. The attentive Masonic student will observe the analogies to those of
his own Order.
The parties entering into a
covenant first selected a proper animal, such as a calf or a kid among the
Jews, a sheep among the Greeks, or a pig among the Romans. The throat was then
cut across, with a single blow, so as to completely divide the windpipe and
arteries, without to touching the bone. This was the first ceremony of the
covenant. The second was, to tear open the breast, to take from thence the
heart and vitals, and if on inspection the least imperfection was discovered,
the body was considered unclean, and thrown aside for another. The third
ceremony was to divide the body in twain, and to place the two parts to the
north and south, so that the parties to the covenant might pass between them,
coming from the east and going to the west. The carcass was then left as a
prey to the wild beasts of the field and the vultures of the air, and thus the
covenant was ratified (see Hand, also Oath and Penalty).
*
COVERING OF THE LODGE
As the lectures tell us that
our ancient Brethren met on the highest hills and lowest vales, from this it
is inferred that, as the meetings were thus in the open air, the only covering
must have been the overarching vault of heaven. Hence, in the symbolism of
Freemasonry the covering of the Lodge is said to be a clouded canopy or
starry-decked heaven. The terrestrial Lodge of labor is thus intimately
connected with the celestial Lodge of eternal refreshment. The symbolism is
still further extended to remind us that the whole world is a Freemason's
Lodge, and heaven its sheltering cover.
*
COWAN
This is a purely Masonic term,
and signifies in its technical meaning an intruder, whence it is always
coupled with the word eavesdropper. It is no t fo und in any of the old
manuscripts of the English Freemasons anterior to the eighteenth century,
unless we suppose that lowen, met with in many of them, is a clerical error of
the copyists. It occurs in the Schaw Manuscript, a Scotch record which bears
the date of 1598, in the following passage: "That no Master or Fellow of Craft
receive any cowans to work in his society or company, nor send none of his
servants to work with cowans." In the second edition of Anderson's
Constitutions, published in 1738 (page 146), we find the word in use among the
English Freemasons, thus : ''But Free and Accepted Masons shall not allow
cowans to work with them ; nor shall they be employed by cowans without an
urgent necessity; and even in that case they must not reach cowans, but must
have a separate communication." There can be but little doubt that the word,
as a Masonic term, comes to us from Scotland, and it is therefore in the
Scotch language that we must look for its signification. Now, Jamieson, in his
Scottish Dictionary, gives us the following meanings of the word: Cowans.
l. A term of contempt ;
applied to one who does the work of a mason, but has not been regularly bred.
2. Also used to denote one who builds dry walls, otherwise denominated a dry
diker.
3. One unacquainted with the secrets of Freemasonry.
And he gives the following
examples as his authorities:
A boat-carpenter, joiner, cowan (or builder of stone without mortar), get ls.
at the minimum and good maintenance. P. Morven, Argyles. Statistic, Acct., X,
267. N.
Cowans. Masons who build
dry-stone dikes or walls. P. Halkirk, Carthn, Statistic. Acct., XIX, 24. N. In
the Rob Roy of Scott, the word is used by Allan Inverach, who says:
She does not value a Cawmill mair as a cowan.
The word has therefore, in the
opinion of Brother Mackey, come to the English Fraternity directly from the
Operative Freemasons of Scotland, among whom it was used to denote a
pretender, in the exact sense of the first meaning of Jamieson.
There is no word that has
given Masonic scholars more trouble than this in tracing its derivation. By
some it has been considered to come from the Greek meaning a dog; and referred
to the fact that in the early ages of the Church, when the mysteries of the
new religion were communicated only to initiates under the veil of secrecy,
infidels were called dogs, a term probably suggested by such passages as
(Matthew vii 6), "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs"; or (Philippians
iii 2), "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision''
(see also Revelations xxii 15). This derivation has been adopted by Oliver,
and many other writers.
Jamieson's derivations are
from the old Swedish kujon, kuzhjohn, meaning a silly fellow, and the French
coion, coyon, signifying a coward, a base fellow. No matter how we get the
word, it seems always to convey an idea of contempt. .The attempt to derive it
from the chouans of the French Revolution is manifestly absurd, for it has
been shown that the word was in use long before the French Revolution was even
meditated.
However, Brother Hawkins
points out that Doctor Murray in the New English Dictionary says that the
derivation of the word is unknown.
Notwithstanding the above
reference by Brother Hawkins we may venture to consider another objective.
*
DESCRIPTIVE
There is a possibility of the word common presenting an explanation of our
word cowan. Common is found frequently in use by the trade Gilds. Usually it
means the citizens as a body. Today the English Commons is the assembled
representatives of the people.
Several instances of its use
are to be found in Jupps' History of the Carpenters Company. Sometimes it is
spelled Coen and then Comon, and so on as the habit or fancy of the writer
moved him. About half a dozen of them are given in the book by Jupp.
To the Masonic student of
philology we would submit these considerations as it is just possible that
cowan is but a variant of common. Workmen raised by a skilled knowledge of
their trade above the ordinary level could not directly stigmatize those not
in their class by any more descriptive word than that which briefly scored
them as of merely ordinary qualifications. Do the contemptuous not still so
speak of the common herd, and has not the outraged "cullud pussun" been
reported by the freely descriptive novelist as retorting on occasion with the
saying of "common white trash?"
*
COWPER, WILLIAM
Deputy Grand Master, 1726-7,
under Lord Inchiquin.
*
CRAFT
It is from the Saxon craft,
which indirectly signifies skill or dexterity in any art. In reference to this
skill, therefore, the ordinary acceptation is a trade or mechanical art, and
collectively, the persons practicing it. Hence, the Craft, in Speculative
Freemasonry, signifies the whole body of Freemasons, wherever dispersed.
*
CRAFT MASONRY, ANCIENT
See Ancient Craft Masonry
*
CRAFTED
A word sometimes colloquially
used, instead of the Lodge term passed, to designate the advancement of a
candidate to the Second Degree.
*
CRAFTSMAN
A Freemason. The word
originally meant anyone skillful in his art, and is so used by our early
writers. Thus Chaucer, in his Knights' Tale (v 1897), says:
For in the land there was no
craftsman,
That geometry or arsmetrike can,
Nor pourtrayor, nor carver of images,
That Theseus ne gave him meat and wages.
The theatre to make and to devise.
*
CRAFTSMEN, CLEVELAND
FEDERATION OF
See Universal Craftsmen
Council of Engineers
*
CRATA REPOA
See Egyptian Priests,
Initiations of the.
*
CREATE
In chivalry, when anyone
received the order of knighthood, he was said to be created a knight. The word
dub had also the same meaning. The word created is used in Commanderies of
Knights Templar to denote the elevation of a candidate to that Degree (see
Dub).
*
CREATION
Preston (Illustrations of
Masonry, Book I, Section 3) says: "From the commencement of the world, we may
trace the foundation of Masonry.
Ever since symmetry began, and
harmony displayed her charms, our Order has had a being." Language like this
has been deemed extravagant, and justly, too , if the words are to be taken in
their literal sense. The idea that the Order of Freemasonry is coeval with the
creation is so absurd that the pretension cannot need refutation. But the fact
is, that Anderson, Preston, and other writers who have indulged in such
statements, did not mean by the word Masonry anything like an organized Order
or Institution bearing any resemblance to the Freemasonry of the present day.
They simply meant to indicate
that the great moral principles on which Freemasonry is founded, and by which
it professes to be guided, have always formed a part of the Divine government,
and been presented to man from his first creation for his acceptance. The
words quoted from Preston may be subject to criticism, because they are liable
to misconstruction. But the symbolic idea which they intended to convey,
namely, that Freemasonry is truth, and that truth is coexistent with man's
creation, is correct, and cannot be disputed.
*
CREED, A FREEMASON'S
Although Freemasonry is not a
dogmatic theology, and is tolerant in the admission of men of every religious
faith, it would be wrong to suppose that it is without a creed.
On the contrary, it has a
creed, the assent to which it rigidly enforces, and the denial of which is
absolutely incompatible with membership in the Order, This creed consists of
two articles: First, a belief in God, the Creator of all things, who is
therefore recognized as the Great Architect of the Universe ; and secondly, a
belief in the eternal life, to which this present life is but a preparatory
and probationary state. To the first of these articles assent is explicitly
required as soon as the threshold of the Lodge is crossed. The second is
expressively taught by legends and symbols, and must be implicitly assented to
by every Freemason, especially by those who have received the Third Degree,
which is altogether founded on the doctrine of the resurrection to a second
life.
At the revival of Freemasonry
in 1717, the Grand Lodge of England set forth the law, as to the religious
creed to be required of a Freemason, in the following words, to be found in
the Charges approved by that body.
In ancient times, Masons were
charged in every country to be of the religion of that country or nation,
whatever it was; yet it is now thought more expedient only to oblige them to
that religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular opinions to
themselves (see Constitutions, 1723, page 50). This is now considered
universally as the recognized law on the subject.
*
CRESSET
An open lamp formerly having a
crosspiece filled with combustible material, such as naphtha, and recognized
as the symbol of Light and Truth.
*
CREUZER, GEORG FRIEDERICH
George Frederick Creuzer, who
was born in Germany in 1771, and was a professor at the University of
Heidelberg, devoted himself to the study of the ancient religions, and, with
profound learning, established a peculiar system on the subject. His theory
was, that the religion and mythology of the ancient Greeks were borrowed from
a far more ancient people - -a body of priests coming from the East-who
received them as a revelation. The myths and traditions of this ancient people
were adopted by Hesiod, Homer, and the later poets, although not without some
misunderstanding of them ; and they were finally preserved in the Mysteries,
and became subjects of investigation for the philosophers. This theory Creuzer
has developed in his most important work, entitled Symbolik und Archäologie
der alten Völker, besonders der Griechen, which was published at Leipsic in
1819--21. There is no translation of this work into English; but Guigniaut
published at Paris, in 1829, a paraphrastic translation of it, under the title
of Religions de l'Antiquité considerées principalement dans leur Formes
Symboliques et Mythologiques (Religions of Antiquity, considered principally
under their Symbolical and Mythological Forms). Creuzer's views throw much
light on the symbolic history of Freemasonry. He died in1858.
*
CRIMES, MASONIC
In Freemasonry, every offense
is a crime, because, in every violation of a Masonic law there is not only
sometimes an infringement of the rights of an individual, but always,
superinduced upon this, a breach and violation of public rights and duties,
which affect the whole community of the Order considered as a community.
The first class of crimes
which are laid down in the Constitutions, as rendering their perpetrators
liable to Masonic jurisdiction, are offenses against the moral law. "Every
Mason," says the Old Charges of 1722, "is obliged by his tenure to obey the
moral law." The same charge continues the precept by asserting, that if he
rightly understands the art, he will never be a stupid atheist, nor an
irreligious libertine. Atheism, therefore, which is a rejection of a supreme,
superintending Creator, and irreligious libertinism, which, in the language of
that day, signified a denial of all moral responsibility, are offenses against
the moral law, because they deny its validity and contemn its sanctions ; and
hence they are to be classed as Masonic crimes.
Again: the moral law
inculcates love of God, love , of our neighbor, and duty to ourselves. Each of
these embraces other incidental duties which are obligatory on every
Freemason, and the violation of any one of which constitutes a Masonic crime.
The love of God implies that
we should abstain from all profanity and irreverent use of his name. Universal
benevolence is the necessary result of love of our neighbor. Cruelty to one's
inferiors and dependents, uncharitableness to the poor and needy, and a
general misanthropical neglect of our duty as men to our fellow-beings,
exhibiting itself in extreme selfishness and indifference to the comfort or
happiness of all others, are offenses against the moral law, and therefore
Masonic crimes.
Next to violations of the
moral law, in the category of Masonic crimes, are to be considered the
transgressions of the municipal law, or the law of the land.
Obedience to constituted
authority is one of the first duties which is impressed upon the mind of the
candidate; and hence he who transgress the laws of the government under which
he lives violates the teachings of the Order, and is guilty of a Masonic
crime.
But the Order will take no
cognizance of ecclesiastical or political offenses. And this arises from the
very nature of the society, which eschews all controversies about national
religion or state policy. Hence apostasy, heresy, and schisms, although
considered in some governments as heinous offenses, and subject to severe
punishment, are not viewed as Masonic crimes Lastly, violations of the
Landmarks and Regulations of the Order are Masonic crimes. Thus, disclosure of
any of the secrets which a Freemason has promised to conceal; disobedience and
want of respect to Masonic superiors; the bringing of "private piques or
quarrels" into, the Lodge; want of courtesy and kindness to the Brethren ;
speaking calumniously of a Freemason behind his back, or in any other way
attempting to injure him, as by striking him except in self-defense, or
violating his domestic honor, is each a crime in Freemasonry. Indeed, whatever
is a violation of fidelity to solemn engagements, a neglect of prescribed
duties, or a transgression of the cardinal principles of friendship, morality,
and brotherly love, is a Masonic crime.
*
CRIMSON
Crimoysin is Old English. A
deep-red color tinged with blue, emblematical of fervency and zeal; belonging
to several degrees of the Scottish Rite as well as to the Holy Royal Arch.
*
CROMLECH
A large stone resting on two
or more stones, like a table. Cromlechs are found in Brittany, Denmark,
Germany, and some other parts of Europe, and are supposed to have been used in
the Celtic Mysteries.
*
CROMWELL
The Abb‚ Larudan published at
Amsterdarn, in 1746, a book entitled Les Francs Maçons Ecrasés, meaning the
Freemasons Crushed, of which Klos says in his Bibliographie der Freimaurerei
No. 1874, that it is the armory from which all the abuse of Freemasonry by its
enemies has been derived.
Larudan was the first to
advance in this book the theory that 01iver Cromwell was the founder of
Freemasonry. He says that Cromwell established the Order for the furtherance
of his political designs; adopting with this view, as its governing
principles, the doctrines of liberty and equality, and bestowed upon its
members the title of Freemasons, because his object was to engage them in the
building of a new edifice, that is to say, to reform the human race by the
extermination of kings and all regal powers. He selected for this purpose the
design of rebuilding the Temple of Solomon. This Temple, erected by Divine
command, had been the sanctuary of religion. After years of glory and
magnificence, it had been destroyed by a formidable army. The people who there
worshiped had been conveyed to Babylon, whence, after enduring a rigorous
captivity, they had been permitted to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the
Temple. This history of the Solomonic Temple Cromwell adopted, says Larudan,
as an allegory on which to found his new Order. The Temple in its original
magnificence was man in his primeval state of purity; its destruction and the
captivity of its worshipers typified pride and ambition, which have abolished
equality and introduced dependence among men; and the Chaldean destroyers of
the glorious edifice are the kings who have trodden on an oppressed people.
It was, continues the Abbé, in
the year 1648 that Cromwell, at an entertainment given by him to some of .his
friends, proposed to them, in guarded terms, the establishment of a new
society, which should secure a true worship of God, and the deliverance of man
from oppression and tyranny. The proposition was received with unanimous
favor; and a few days after, at a house in King Street, and at six o'clock in
the evening, for the Abbé is particular as to time and place, the Order of
Freemasonry was organized, its Degrees established, its ceremonies and ritual
prescribed, and several of the adherents of the future Protector initiated.
The Institution was used by
Cromwell for the advancement of his projects, for the union of the contending
parties in England, for the extirpation of the monarchy, and his own
subsequent elevation to supreme power. It extended from England into other
countries, but was always careful to preserve the same doctrines of equality
and liberty among men, and opposition to all monarchical government.
Such is the theory of the Abbé
Larudan, who, although a bitter enemy of Freemasonry, writes with seeming
farness and mildness. But it is hardly necessary to say that this theory of
the origin of Freemasonry- finds no support either in the legends of the
Institution, or in the authentic history that is connected with its rise and
progress.
*
CROMWELL, THOMAS, EARL OF
ESSEX
Doctor Anderson says that
Thomas Cromwell was Grand Master of England, 1534-40 (see also William
Preston's Illustrations of Masonry, section iv).
*
CROSIER
The staff surmounted by a
cross carried before a bishop on occasions of solemn ceremony. They are
generally gilt, and made light; frequently of tin, and hollow. The pastoral
staff has a circular head.
*
CROSS
We can find no symbolism of
the cross in the primitive Degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry. It does not
appear among the symbols of the Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, the Master, or
the Royal Arch. This is undoubtedly to be attributed to the fact that the
cross was considered, by those who invented those Degrees, only in reference
to its character as a Christian sign. The subsequent archeological
investigations that have given to the cross a more universal place in
iconography were unknown to the old rituals. It is true, that it is referred
to, under the name of the rode or rood, in a manuscript of the fourteenth
century, published by Halliwell; this was, however, one of the Constitutions
of the Operative Freemasons, who were fond of the symbol, and were indebted
for it to their ecclesiastical origin, and to their connection with the
Gnosties, among whom the cross was a much used symbol. But on the revival in
I7I7, when the ritual was remodified, and differed very greatly from that
meager one in practice among the medieval Freemasons, all allusion to the
cross was left out, because the revivalists laid down the principle that the
religion of Speculative Freemasonry was not sectarian but universal. And
although this principle was in some points, as in the lines parallel,
neglected, the reticence as to the Christian sign of salvation has continued
to the present day so that the cross cannot be considered as a symbol in the
primary and original Degrees of Freemasonry.
But in the advanced Degrees,
the cross has been introduced as an important symbol. In some of them - those
which are to be traced to the Temple system of Ramsay-it is to be viewed with
reference to its Christian origin and meaning.
Thus, in the original Rose
Croix and Kadosh-no matter what may be the modern interpretation given to
it-it was simply a representation of the cross of Christ. In others of a
philosophical character, such as the ineffable Degrees, the symbolism of the
cross was in all probability borrowed from the usages of antiquity, for from
the earliest times and in almost all countries the cross has been a sacred
symbol.
It is depicted on the oldest
monuments of Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and Hindustan.
It was, says Faber (Mysteries
of the Cabiri 11, 390), a symbol throughout the Pagan world long previous to
its becoming an object of veneration to Christians.
In ancient symbology it was a
symbol of eternal life.
M. de Mortillet, who, in 1866,
published a work entitled Le Signe de la Croix avant le Christianism (The Sign
of the Cross before Christianity), found in the very earliest epochs three
principal symbols of universal occurrence: namely, the circle, the pyramid,
and the cross. Leslie (Man's 0rigin and Destiny, page 312) quoting from him in
reference to the ancient worship of the cross, says: "It seems to have been a
worship of such a peculiar nature as to exclude the worship of idols." This
sacredness of the crucial symbol may be one reason why its form was often
adopted, especially by the Celts, in the construction of their temples.
Of the Druidical veneration of
the cross, Higgins quotes from the treatise of Schedius, De Moribus Germanorum
xxiv, the following remarkable paragraph:
The Druids seek studiously for
an oak tree, large and handsome, growing up with two principal arms in the
form of a cross, beside the main, upright stem. If the two horizontal arms are
not sufficiently adapted to the figure, they fasten a cross beam to it. This
tree they consecrate in this manner. Upon the right. branch they cut in the
bark, in fair characters, the word Hesus; upon the middle or upright stem, the
word Taramis; upon the left branch, Belenus; over this, above the going off of
the arms, they cut the name of God, Thau. Under all the same repeated, Thau.
This tree, so inscribed, they make their kebla in the grove, cathedral, or
summer church, towards which they direct their faces in the offices of
religion.
Brinton, in his interesting
work entitled Symbolism; The Myths of the New World (page 95) has the
following remarks:
The symbol that beyond all
others has fascinated the human mind, the cross, finds here its source and
meaning. Scholars have pointed out its sacredness in many natural religions,
and have reverently accepted it as a mystery, or offered scores of
conflicting, and often debasing interpretations. it is but another symbol of
the four cardinal points, the four winds of heaven. This will luminously
appear by a study of its use and meaning in America.
Brinton gives many instances
of the religious use of the cross by several of the aboriginal tribes of this
continent, where the allusion, it must be confessed, seems evidently to be to
the four cardinal points, or the four winds, or four spirits of the earth. If
this be so, and if it is probable that a similar reference was adopted by the
Celtic and other ancient peoples, then we would have in the cruciform temple
as much a symbolism of the world, of which the four cardinal points constitute
the boundaries, as we have in the square, the cubical, and the circular.
*
CROSS-BEARING MEN
The Latin is Viri Crucigeri. A
name sometimes assumed by the Rosicrucians. Thus, in the Miracula Naturae of
the year 1619, there is a letter addressed to the Fraternity of the Rosy
Cross, which begins with a Latin phrase: Philesophi Fratres, Viri Crucigeri,
meaning Brother Philosophers, Cross-Bearing Men.
*
CROSS, DOUBLE
See Cross, Patriarchal
*
CROSS, JEREMY L
A teacher of the Masonic
ritual, who, during his lifetime, was extensively known, and for some time
very popular. He was born June 27, 1783, at Haverhill, New Hampshire, and died
at the same place in I86I. Cross was admitted into the Masonic Order in 1808,
and soon afterward became a pupil of Thomas Smith Webb, whose modifications of
the Preston lectures and of the advanced Degrees were generally accepted by
the Freemasons of the United States. Cross, having acquired a competent
knowledge of Webb's system, began to travel and disseminate it throughout the
country. In 1819 he published The True Masonic Chart or Hieroglyphic Monitor,
in which he borrowed liberally from the previous work of Webb.
In fact, the Chart of Cross
is, in nearly all its parts, a mere transcript of the Monitor of Webb, the
first edition of which was published in 1797. Webb, it is true, took the same
liberty with Preston, from whose Illustrations of Masonry be borrowed largely.
The engraving of the emblems constituted, however, an entirely new and
original feature in the Hieroglyphic Chart, and, as furnishing aids to the
memory, rendered the book of Cross at once very popular; so much so, indeed,
that for a long time it almost altogether superseded that of Webb. In 1820
Cross published The Templars Chart, which, as a monitor of the Degrees of
chivalry, met with equal success. Both of these works have passed through
numerous editions.
Cross received the appointment
of Grand Lecturer from many Grand Lodges, and traveled for many years very
extensively through the United States, teaching his system of lectures to
Lodges, Chapters, Councils, and Encampments.
He possessed few or no
scholarly attainments, and his contributions to the literature of Freemasonry
are confined to the two compilations already cited. In his latter years he
became involved in an effort to establish a Supreme Council of the Ancient and
Accepted Rite. But he soon withdrew his name, and retired to the place of his
nativity, where he died at the advanced age of seventy-eight.
Although Cross was not a man
of any very original genius, yet a more recent writer has announced the fact
that the symbol in the Third Degree, the broken co1umn, unknown to the system
of either Preston or Webb, was invented by him (see Monument).
*
CROSS, JERUSALEM
A Greek cross between four
crosslets. It was adopted by Baldwyn as the arms of the kingdom of Jerusalem,
and has since been deemed a symbol of the Holy Land. It is also the jewel of
the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher. Symbolically, the four small crosses typify
the four wounds of the Savior in the hands and feet, and the large central
cross shows forth his death for that world to which the four extremities
point.
*
CROSS, MALTESE
A cross of eight points, worn
by the Knights of Malta. It is heraldically described as "a cross pattée, but
the extremity of each pattée notched at a deep angle." The eight points are
said to refer symbolically to the eight beatitudes (see Matthew v, 3 to II ).
*
CROSS OF CONSTANTINE
See Labarum
*
CROSS OF SALEM
Called also the Pontifical
Cross, because it is borne before the Pope. It is a cross, the upright piece
being crossed by three lines, the upper and lower shorter than the middle one.
It is the insignia of the Grand Master and Past Grand Masters of the Grand
Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States. The same cross placed on a
slant is the insignia of the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council
of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
*
CROSS, PASSION
The cross on which Jesus
suffered crucifixion. It is the most common form of the cross. When rayonnant,
or having rays issuing from the point of intersection of the limbs, it is the
insignia of the Commander of a Commandery of Knights Templar, according to the
American system.
*
CROSS, PATRIARCHAL
A cross, the upright piece
being twice crossed, the upper arms shorter than the lower. It is so called
because it is borne before a Patriarch in the Roman Church.
It is the insignia of the
officers of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States. The
same cross placed on a slant is the insignia of all possessors of the
Thirty-third Degree in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
*
CROSS, SAINT ANDREW'S
A saltier or cross whose
decussation or crossing of the arms is in the form of the letter X. Said to be
the form of cross on which Saint Andrew suffered martyrdom. As he is the
patron saint of Scotland, the Saint Andrew's cross forms a part of the jewel
of the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, which is "a star set with
brilliants having in the center a field azure (blue), charged with Saint
Andrew on the cross, gold this is pendant from the upper band of the collar,
while from the lower band is pendant the jewel proper, the Compasses extended,
with the Square and Segment of a Circle of 90, the points of the Compasses
resting on the Segment, and in the center, the Sun between the Square and
Compasses.'' The Saint Andrew's cross is also the jewel of the Twenty-ninth
Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, or Grand Scottish Knight of
Saint Andrew.
*
CROSS, TAU
The cross on which Saint
Anthony is said to have suffered martyrdom. It is in the form of the letter T
(see Tau).
*
CROSS, TEMPLAR
André Favin, a French heraldic
writer, says that the original badge of the Knights Templar was a Patriarchal
Cross, and Clarke, in his History of Knighthood, makes the same statement, but
this is an error. At first, the Templars wore a white mantle without any
cross. But in 1146 Pope Eugenius III prescribed for them a red cross on their
breasts, as a symbol of the martyrdom to which they were constantly exposed.
The cross of the Hospitalers was white on a black mantle, and that of the
Templars was different in color but of the same form, namely, a cross pattée,
pattée meaning the arms broad and spreading at the outer ends. In this it
differed from the true Maltese Cross, worn by the Knights of Malta, which was
a cross pattée, the limbs deeply notched so as to make a cross of eight
points. Sir Walter Scott, with his not unusual heraldic inaccuracy, and
Godfrey Higgins, who is not often inaccurate, but only fanciful at times, both
describe the Templar cross as having eight points, thus confounding it with
the Cross of Malta. In the statutes of the Order of the Temple, the cross
prescribed is that depicted in the Charter of Transmission, and is a cross
pattée.
*
CROSS, TEUTONIC
The cross formerly worn by the
Teutonic Knights. It is described in heraldry as "a cross potent, sable (or
black), charged with another cross double potent or (or gald), and surcharged
with an escutcheon argent (or silver), bearing a double-headed eagle sable (or
black). " It has been adopted as the jewel of the Kadosh of the Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite in the United States, but the original jewel of the
degree was a Latin or Passion Cross.
*
CROSS, THRICE ILLUSTRIOUS
ORDER OF THE
A Degree formerly conferred in
this country on Knights Templar, but now extinct. Its meetings were called
Councils, and under the authority of a body which styled itself the Ancient
Council of the Trinity.
The Degree is no longer
conferred.
*
CROSS, TRIPLE
See Cross of Salem
*
CROSSES
In referring to the
philosophic triads and national crosses, there will be found in a work
entitled The Celtic Druids, by Godfrey Higgins, the following: "Few causes
have been more powerful in producing mistakes in ancient history than the
idea, hastily formed by all ages, that every monument of antiquity marked with
a cross, or with any of those symbols which they' conceived to be monograms of
Christ the Savior, was of Christian origin. The cross is as common in India as
in Egypt or Europe."
The Rev. Mr. Maurice remarks
(Indian Antiquities): "Let not the piety of the Catholic Christian be offended
at the assertion that the cross was one of the most usual symbols of Egypt and
India. The emblem of universal nature is equally honored in the Gentile and
Christian world. In the Cave of Elephanta, in India, over the head of the
principal figure may be seen the cross, with other symbols."
Upon the breast of one of the
Egyptian mummies in the museum of the London University is a cross upon a
Calvary or mount. People in those countries marked their sacred water-jars,
dedicated to Canopus, with a Tau cross, and sometimes even that now known as
the Teutonic cross. The fertility of the country about the river Nile, in
Egypt, was designated, in distance on its banks from the river proper, by the
Nilometer, in the form of a cross.
The erudite Dr. G. L. Ditson
says: "The Rabbins say that when Aaron was made High Priest he was marked in
the forehead by Moses with a cross in the shape of that now known as Saint
Andrew's. "
Proselytes, when admitted into
the religious mysteries of Eleusis, were marked with a cross
*
CROSSING THE RIVER
The Cabalists have an alphabet
so called, in allusion to the crossing of the river Euphrates by the Jews on
their return from Babylon to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. It has been
adopted in some of the advanced Degrees which refer to that incident.
Cornelius Agrippa gives a copy of the alphabet in his Occult Philosophy.
*
CROSS-LEGGED KNIGHTS
In the Middle Ages it was the
custom to bury the body of a Knight Templar with one leg crossed over the
other; and on any monuments in the churches of Europe, the effigies of these
knights are to be found, often in England, of a diminutive size, with the legs
placed in this position. The cross-legged posture was not confined to the
Templars, but was appropriated to all persons who had assumed the cross and
taken a vow to fight in defense of the Christian religion. The posture, of
course, alluded to the position of the Lord while on the cross.
*
CROSS-LEGGED MASONS
A name given to the Knights
Templar, who, in the sixteenth century, united themselves with the Masonic
Lodge at Sterling, in Scotland. The allusion is evidently to the funeral
posture of the Templars, so that a cross-legged Mason must have been at the
time synonymous with a Masonic Knight Templar.
*
CROTONA
One of the most prominent
cities of the Greek colonists in Southern Italy, where, in the sixth century,
Pythagoras established his celebrated school. As the early Masonic writers
were fond of citing Pythagoras as a Brother of their Craft, Crotona became
connected with the history of Freemasonry, and was often spoken of as one of
the most renowned seats of the Institution. Thus, in the Leland Manuscript,
whose authenticity is now, however, doubted, it is said that Pythagoras
"framed a grate Lodge at Groton, and made many Maconnes," in which sentence
Groton, it must be remarked, is an evident corruption of Crotona.
*
CROW
An iron implement used to
raise heavy stones. It is one of the working-tools of a Royal Arch Mason, and
symbolically teaches him to raise his thoughts above the corrupting influence
of worldly-mindedness.
*
CROWN
A portion of Masonic regalia
worn by officers who represent a king, more especially King Solomon. In
Ancient Craft Freemasonry, however, the crown is frequently displaced by the
hat.
*
CROWN, KNIGHT OF THE
See Knight of the Crown
*
CROWN, PRINCESSES OF THE
The French phrase is
Princesses de la Couronne. A species of androgynous or female Freemasonry
established in Saxony in 1770 (see Thory, Acta Latomorum 1, 303). It existed
for only a brief period.
*
CROWNED MARTYRS
See Four Crowned Martyrs
*
CROWNING OF MASONRY
The French expression is Le
couronnement de la Maçonnerie. The Sixty-first Degree, seventh series, of the
collection of the Metropolitan Chapter of France (see Thory, Acta Latomorum 1,
303).
*
CROWNS
As the result of considerable
classification, Brother Robert Macoy presents nine principal crowns recognized
in heraldry and symbolism:
1. The Triumphal Crown, of which there were three kinds---a laurel wreath,
worn by a General while in the act of triumph; a golden Crown, in imitation of
laurel leaves ; and the presentation golden Crown to a conquering General.
2. The Blockade Crown of wild flowers and grass, presented by the army to the
Commander breaking and relieving a siege.
3. The Civic Crown of oak leaves, presented to a soldier who saved the life of
his comrade.
4. The Olive Crown, conferred upon the soldiery or commander who consummated a
triumph.
5. The Mural Crown, which rewarded the soldier who first sealed the wall of a
besieged city.
6. The Naval Crown, presented to the Admiral who won a naval victory.
7. The Vallary Crown, or circlet of gold, bestowed on that soldier who first
surmounted the stockade and forced an entrance into the enemy's camp.
8. The Ovation Crown, or chaplet of myrtle, awarded to a General who had
destroyed a despised enemy and thus obtained the honor of an ovation.
9. The Eastern or Radiated Crown, a golden circle set with projecting rays.
The crown of Darius, used in Red Cross knighthood and in the Sixteenth Degree,
Scottish Rite, was one of seven points, the central front projection being
more prominent than the other six in size and height.
*
CRUCEFIX, ROBERT T.
An English Freemason,
distinguished for his services to the Craft. Robert Thomas Crucefix, M.D., I.
D., was born in Holborn, England, in the year 1797, and received his education
at Merchant Tailors' School. After leaving school, he became the pupil of
Doctor Chamberlayne, a general and celebrated practitioner of his day, at
Clerkenwell; he afterward became a student at Saint Bartholomew's Hospital and
was a pupil of the celebrated Abernathy.
On receiving his diploma as a
member of the Royal College of Surgeons, in 1810, he went out to India, where
he remained but a short time; upon his return he settled in London, and he
continued to reside there till the year 1845, when he removed to
Milton-on-Thames, where he spent the rest of his life till within a few weeks
before his decease, when he removed, for the benefit of his declining health,
to Bath, where he expired February 25, 1850.
Doctor Crucefix was initiated
into Freemasonry in 1829, and during the greater part of his life discharged
the duties of important offices in the Grand Lodge of England, of which he was
a Junior Grand Deacon in 1836, and in several subordinate Lodges, Chapters,
and Encampments. He was an earnest promoter of all the Masonic charities of
England, of one of which, the Asylum for Aged and Decrepit Freemasons, he was
the founder. In 1834 he established the Freemasons Quarterly Review, and
continued to edit it for six years, during which period he contributed many
valuable articles to its pages.
Brother Mackey says that in
1840, through the machinations of his enemies, for he was too great a man not
to have had some, he incurred the displeasure of the ruling powers; and on
charges which, undoubtedly, were not sustained by sufficient evidence, he was
suspended by the Grand Lodge for six months, and retired from active Masonic
life. But he never lost the respect of the Craft, nor the affection of the
leading Freemasons who were his contemporaries. On his restoration, he again
began to labor in behalf of the Institution, and spent his last days in
advancing its interests.
The belief of Brother Mackey
was founded upon evidence that however satisfactory to him is not wholly in
agreement with that given by Brother Hawkins, whose account in his Concise
Cyclopedia of Freemasonry (page 60), is as follows:
Brother Crucefix set on foot a
movement in favor of a charity for Aged Freemasons; he advocated the erection
of an asylum, while others urged that a system of annuities was a preferable
scheme. The matter was keenly discussed for several years, and at a meeting on
November 13, 1839, at which Doctor Crucefix was presiding some intemperate
language was employed, as to which a complaint was made to the Board of
General Purposes, and Crucefix was suspended for six months for not having
checked the speakers; his suspension was confirmed at a Grand Lodge in June,
1840, and he then wrote a vehement letter to the Grand Master and published it
in the Freemasons' Quarterly Review with many improper editorial observations;
the letter was laid before the Board of General Purposes, and he was summoned
to show cause at a Special Grand Lodge why he should not be expelled from the
Craft; accordingly, on October 30, he attended and made a very. humble
apology, which was accepted. Doctor Crucefix died in 1550, in which year also
the Asylum and Annuity Funds for Aged Freemasons and their Widows were
amalgamated.
To his character, his
long-tried friend, the venerable Oliver, pays this tribute:
Doctor. Crucefix did not pretend to infallibility, and , like all other public
men he might. be sometimes wrong ; but his errors were not from the heart, and
always leaned to the side of virtue and beneficence. He toiled incessantly for
the benefit of his Brethren, and was anxious that all inestimable blessings
should be conveyed by Freemasonry on mankind. In sickness or in health he was
ever found at his post, and his sympathy was the most active in behalf of the
destitute brother, the widow, and the orphan. His perseverance never flagged
for a moment; and he acted as though he had made up his mind to live and die
in obedience to the calls of duty.
*
CRUCIFIX
A cross with the image of the
Savior suspended on it. A part of the furniture of a Commandery of Knights
Templar and of a Chapter of Princes of Rose Croix.
*
CRUDELI, DOCTOR
Master of the Lodge at
Florence, Italy, victim of the Inquisition, arrested in 1739, in Florence, on
the charge of having held a Masonic Lodge in his house in spite of the Roman
Catholic edict against Freemasons. He was tortured ans sentenced to a long
imprisonment. The Grand Lodge of England transmitted to him twenty pounds to
provide the necessities of life, and exerted every effort toward securing his
liberation, which they succeeded in doing in December of that year (see Roman
Catholicism and Freemasonry, Dudley Wright, London, 1922, page 27).
*
CRUSADES
There was between Freemasonry
and the Crusades a much more intimate relation than has generally been
supposed. In the first place, the communications frequently established by the
Crusaders, and especially the Knights Templar, with the Saracens, led to the
acquisition, by the former, of many of the dogmas of the secret societies of
the East, such as the Essenes, the Assassins, and the Druses.
These were brought. by. the
knights to Europe, and subsequently, as was believed by Brother Mackey, on the
establishment by Ramsay and his contemporaries and immediate successors of
Templar Freemasonry, were incorporated into the high degrees, and still
exhibit their influence. Indeed, it is scarcely to be doubted that many of
these degrees were invented with a special reference to the events which
occurred in Syria and Palestine. Thus, for instance, the Scottish Degree of
Knights of the East and West must have originally alluded, as its name
imports, to the legend which teaches a division of the Freemasons after the
Temple was finished, when the Craft dispersed-a part remaining in Palestine,
as the Assideans, whom Lawrie, citing Scaliger, calls the Knights of the
Temple of Jerusalem, and another part passing over into Europe, whence they
returned on the breaking out of the Crusades.
This, of course, is but a
legend, yet the influence is felt in the invention of the advanced Degrees
rituals. But the influence of the Crusades on the Freemasons and the
architecture of the Middle Ages is of a more historical character. In 1836,
Westmacott, in a course of lectures on art before the Royal Academy, remarked
that the two principal causes which materially tended to assist the
restoration of literature and the arts in Europe were Freemasonry and the
Crusades.
The adventurers, he said, who
returned from the Holy Land brought back some ideas of various improvements,
particularly in architecture, and, along with these, a strong desire to erect
castellated, ecclesiastical and palatial edifices, to display the taste they
had acquired; and in less than a century from the first crusade about six
hundred buildings of the above description had been erected in Southern and
Western Europe. This taste was spread into almost all countries by the
establishment of the Fraternity of Freemasons, who, it appears, had, under
some peculiar form of brotherhood, existed for an immemorial period in Syria
and other parts of the East, from whence some bands of them migrated to
Europe, and after a time a great efflux of these ingenious men-Italian,
German, French, Spanish, etc.-had spread themselves in communities through all
civilized Europe; and in all countries where they settled we find the same
style of architecture from that period, but differing in some points of
treatment, as suited the climate.
*
CRUX ANSATA
This signifies, in Latin, the
cross with a handle. It is formed by a Tau cross surmounted by a circle or,
more properly, an oval. It was one of the most significant of the symbols of
the ancient Egyptians, and is depicted repeatedly on their monuments borne in
the hands of their deities, and especially Phtha. Among them it was the symbol
of life, and with that meaning it has been introduced into some of the
advanced Degrees of Freemasonry.
The Crux Ansata, surrounded by
a serpent in a circle, is the symbol of immortality, because the cross was the
symbol of life, and the serpent of eternity.
*
CRYPT
From the Greek, Ke meaning to
hide. A concealed place, or subterranean vault. The caves, or cells
underground, in which the primitive Christians celebrated their secret
worship, were called cryptae; and the vaults beneath our modern churches
receive the name of crypts. The existence of crypts or vaults under the Temple
of Solomon is testified to by the earliest as well as by the most recent
topographers of Jerusalem. Their connection with the legendary history of
Freemasonry is more fully noticed under the head of Vault, Secret.
*
CRYPTIC DEGREES
The degrees of Royal and
Select Master. Some modern ritualists have added to the list the Degree of
Super-excellent Master ; but this, although now often conferred in a Cryptic
Council, is not really a Cryptic Degree, since its legend has no connection
with the crypt or secret vault.
*
CRYPTIC FREEMASONRY
That division of the Masonic
system which is directed to the investigation and cultivation of the Cryptic
Degrees. It is, literally, the Freemasonry of the Secret Vault.
*
CTEIS
Greek, Ke". The female
personification of the productive principle. It generally accompanied the
phallus, as the Indian yoni did the lingam; and as a symbol of the prolific
powers of nature, was extensively venerated by the nations of antiquity (see
Phallic Worship).
*
CUBA
The Historia de la Masoneria
Cubana by Ricards A. Byrne, quoted freely in Symbolisme, November, 1925, and
translated by us for the Builder, April, 1926, page 115, indicated that an
Irish military Lodge was working at Havana from 1762. The 1798 insurrection
drove some French Brethren to Santiago de Cuba from Santo Domingo where Lodges
existed since 1748. These immigrants erected Lodges, Perseverance and Concord,
Friendship and Benevolent Concord, in 1802 and 1803. Next year the Lodge Le
Temple des Virtus Theologales was instituted at Havana by the Grand Lodge of
Pennsylvania but the Franco-Spanish War in 1809 forced the French to leave for
Louisiana.
On March 27, 1818, a Grand
Lodge was organized, and April 2, General Louis de Clonet, a Frenchman,
founded at Havana a Grand Consistory, Princes of the Royal Secret. But Masonic
progress was hindered in 1823 by the arrest and execution of many Brethren,
victims of the bloody persecutions ordered by Ferdinand VII. Masonic meetings
were forbidden and only allowed after many years, in 1859. Again the War of
Independence exposed Freemasonry once more to the attacks of the authorities
and it survived in secret to resume open freedom on March 26, 1899, through
intervention by the United States. Lodges resumed labor, others were
organized, and the Gran Logia de la Isla de Cuba, founded in 1859, of which
Brother Byme has been Grand Master, thrived accordingly. There is also
recorded by the Annual an Oriental Grand Lodge, dating from I921, with
headquarters at Santiago de Cuba but this is not mentioned in the data
credited to Brother Byrne.
*
CUBICAL STONE
This symbol is called by the
French Freemasons pierre cubique, and by the German, cubik stein. It is the
Perfect Ashlar of the English and American systems (see Ashlar).
*
CUBIT
A measure of length,
originally denoting the distance from the elbow to the extremity of the middle
finger, or the fourth part of a well-proportioned man's stature. The Hebrew
cubit, according to Bishop Cumberland, was twenty-one inches ; but only
eighteen according to other authorities. There were two kinds of cubits, the
sacred and profane---the former equal to thirty-six, and the latter to
eighteen inches. It is by the common cubit that the dimension of the various
parts of the Temple are to be computed.
Hastings Dictionary of the
Bible (page 967) declares that ''we have at present no means of ascertaining
the exact dimensions of the Hebrews ordinary and royal cubits. The balance of
evidence is certainly in favor of a fairly close approximation to the Egyptian
system." This being the case, we may take the common cubit as 17.52 inches and
the royal cubit as 20.67 inches as in the Egyptian system of measurements,
these dimensions being taken from actual measuring rods. Hastings points out a
curious result of the Rabbinical tradition being subjected to scientific
experiment, the traditional dimension being that a cubit equaled so many
grains of barley. This number, 144 of grains of barley of medium size were
laid side by side carefully and measured as accurately as possible, the result
being 17.77 inches long or equal in length substantially to the Egyptian
common cubit.
Another suggestion that has
been offered is that Josephus when giving Jewish measures, which differ from
the Greek or Roman, is usually careful to explain that fact to his readers,
but this he does not do in the case of the cubit, thus arousing a conviction
that he regarded the Roman and the Hebrew as the same, the Roman Attic cubit
being 17.57 inches according to Hastings. But it is well to remember that we
are dealing with a period in which handbreadths and finger spans were probably
the common units of length, and the decimal parts of inches and perhaps the
inches themselves mentioned in the above comments need to be deemed mere
approximations, an average sort of survey of a situation not likely to have
had in the ancient times any close accuracy about it.
*
CULDEES
When Saint Augustine came
over, about the beginning of the sixth century, to Britain, for the purpose of
converting the natives to Christianity, he found the country already occupied
by a Body of priests and their disciples, who were distinguished for the pure
and simple apostolic religion which they professed. These were the Culdees, a
name said by some to be derived from Cultores Dei, or worshipers of God ; but
by others, with perhaps more plausibility, from the Gaelic, Cuildich, which
means a secluded corner, and evidently alludes to their recluse mode of life.
The Culdees are said to have come over into Britain with the Roman legions;
and thus it has been conjectured that these primitive Christians were in some
way connected with the Roman Colleges of Architects, blanches of which Body,
it is well known, everywhere accompanied the legionary armies of the empire.
The chief seat of the Culdees
was in the island of Iona, where Saint Culumba, coming out of Ireland, with
twelve Brethren, in the year 563 A.D., established their principal monastery.
At Avernethy, the capital of the kingdom of the Picts, they founded another in
the year 600 A.D., and subsequently other principal seats at Dunkeld, St.
Andrew's, Brechin, Dunblane, Dunfermline, Kirkaldy, Melrose, and many other
places in Scotland.
A writer in the London
Freemasons Quarterly Review (1842, page 36) says they were little solicitous
to raise architectural structures, but sought chiefly to civilize and
socialize mankind by imparting to them the knowledge of those pure principles
which they taught in their Lodges. Lenning and Gädieke, however, both state
that the Culdees had organized within themselves, and as a part of their
social system, Corporations of Builders; and that they exercised the
architectural art in the construction of many sacred edifices in Scotland,
Ireland, and Wales, and even in other countries of Northern. Europe. Gädicke
also claims that the York Constitutions of the tenth century were derived from
them. But neither of these German lexicographers has furnished us With
authorities upon which these statements are founded. It is, however,
undeniable, that Masonic writers have always claimed that there was a
connection---it might be only a mythical one---between these apostolic
Christians and the early Freemasonry of Ireland and Scotland. The Culdees were
opposed and persecuted by the adherents ofi Saint Augustine, and were
eventually extinguished in Scotland. But their complete suppression did not
take place until about the fourteenth century.
*
CUMBERLAND, HENRY F., DUKE OF
Grand Master of England,
1782-90, being initiated in 1767. He was own brother of King George III.
*
CUMULATION OF RITES
The practice by a Lodge of two
or more Rites, as the American or York and the Ancient Accepted Scottish, or
the Scottish and French Modern Rites. This accumulation of Rites has been
practiced to a considerable extent in France, and in Louisiana in the United
States. The word comes from the Latin comulus, a heap.
*
CUNNING
Used by old English writers in
the sense of skillful. Thus, in First Kings (vii, 14), it is said of the
architect who was sent by the King of Tyre to assist King Solomon in the
construction of his Temple, that he was "cunning to work all works in brass.''
*
CUP OF BITTERNESS
The French expression is
Calice d'Amertume. A ceremony in the First Degree of the French Rite. It is a
symbol of the misfortunes and sorrows that assail us in the voyage of life,
and which we are taught to support with calmness and resignation.
*
CURETES
Priests of ancient Crete,
whose mysteries were celebrated in honor of the Mother of the Gods, and bore,
therefore, some resemblance to the Eleusinian Rites. The neophyte was
initiated in a cave, where he remained closely confined for thrice nine days.
Porphyry tells us that Pythagoras repaired to Crete to receive initiation into
their rites.
*
CURIOSITY
It is a very general opinion
among Freemasons that a candidate should not be actuated by curiosity in
seeking admission into the Order. But, in fact, there is no regulation nor
landmark on the subject, An idle curiosity is, it is true, the characteristic
of a weak mind. But to be influenced by a laudable curiosity to penetrate the
mysteries of an Institution venerable for its antiquity and its universality,
is to be controlled by a motive which is not reprehensible, an impulse to be
esteemed and welcomed. There are, indeed, in legends of the advanced degrees,
some instances where curiosity is condemned; but the curiosity, in these
instances, led to an intrusion into forbidden places, and is very different
from the curiosity or desire for knowledge which leads a profane to seek
fairly and openly an acquaintance with mysteries which he has already leamed
to respect.
*
CURIOUS
The Latin word is curious,
from cura, meaning care. An archaic expression for careful. Thus in Masonic
language, which abounds in archaisms, an evidence, indeed, of its antiquity,
Hiram Abif is described as a curious and cunning workman, that is to say,
careful and skillful.
*
CUSTOMS, ANCIENT
See Usages
*
CYNOCEPHALUS
The figure of a man with the
head of a dog. A very general and important hieroglyphic among the ancient
Egyptians. It was with them a symbol of the sun and moon; and in their
mysteries they taught that it had indicated to Isis the place where the Body
of Osiris lay concealed. The possessor of the advanced Degrees of Freemasonry
will be familiar with the symbol of a dog, which is used in those Degrees
because that animal is said to have pointed out on a certain occasion an
important secret.
Hence the figure of a dog is
sometimes found engraved among the symbols on old Masonic diplomas.
*
CYRUS
Cyrus, King of Persia, was a
great conqueror, and after having reduced nearly all Asia, he crossed the
Euphrates, and laid siege to Babylon, which he took by diverting the course of
the river which ran through it. The Jews, who had been carried away by
Nebuchadnezzar on the destruction of the Temple, were then remaining as
captives in Babylon. These Cyrus released 3466 AM., or 538 B.C., and sent back
to Jerusalem to rebuild the house of God, under the care of Joshua, Zerubbabel,
and Haggai.
Hence, from this connection of
Cyrus with the history of Freemasonry, he plays an important part in the
rituals of many of the advanced Degrees. But from late discoveries of
inscriptions pertaining to Cyrus as mentioned in the excellent little London
work called Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments (pages 166-86), A. H. Sayce,
M.A., it would appear that this king was a polytheist, and that he was not a
king of Persia, although he acquired that country after his Conquest of
Asiyages, 559 B.C., between the sixth and ninth years of Nabonidos. Cyrus was
king of Elam. The empire he founded was not a Persian one; Darius, the son of
Hystaspes, at a subsequent period, was the real founder of that kingdom.
Professor Sayce continues: ''It was only as the predecessor of Darius, and for
the sake of intelligibility. to the readers of a later day, that Cyrus could
be called a king of Persia" (see Ezra1, 2).
The original words of his
proclamation ''King of Elam,'' have been changed into the more familiar and
intelligible "King of Persia." Elsewhere in the Bible (Isaiah xxi, 1-10), when
the invasion of Babylon is described, there is no mention of Persia, only of
Elam and Media, the ancestral dominions of Cyrus. This is in strict accordance
with the revelations of the monuments, and testifies to the accuracy of the
Old Testament records.
Cyrus Dever besieged Babylon,
a city fifteen miles square. It opened its gates to his general without
battle, 538 B.C. The description by Herodotus belongs to the reign of Darius.
Bosanquet asserts that the Darius of the Book of Daniel is Darius the son of
Hystaspes.
Cyrus had learned that a
disaffected conquer people imported into a kingdom was a constantly menace and
danger, and he returned the Jewish exiles to Jerusalem to rebuild their city
and be a fortress and check upon Egypt. The nations which had been brought
from East and West were restored to their lands along with their gods. So it
was with the captives of Judah. His dominions extended from the Hellespont
almost to India. Cyrus was a worshiper of Merodach, originally the Sun-god,
who is mentioned and intended by the name Bel, and Nebo, his prophet (see
Isaiah xlvi, 1). His first act after acquiring Babylonia was to restore the
Babylonian gods to their shrines, from which they has been removed by
Nabonidos, and further asks for their intercession. The theory that Cyrus
believed in but one supreme god---Ormudz-must be abandoned. God consecrated
Cyrus to be His instrument in restoring His chosen people to their land, not
because the King of Elam was a monotheist, but because the period of prophecy,
"ten weeks of years,'' was closing. These statements are made upon the
authority of the three inscriptions among the clay documents lately discovered
in Babylonia by Rassam, and translated by Sir Henry Rawlinson and Pinches. The
first of these is a cylinder, inscribed by order of Cyrus ; the second a
tablet, which describes the conquest of Babylonia by Cyrus; while the third is
an account given by Nabonidos of his restoration of the temple of the Moon-god
at Haran, and of the temples of the sun-god and of Anunit at Sepharvaim.
Cyrus ascended the throne 559
B.C., and was slain in battle against the Massagetae, 529 B.C. He was followed
by Cambyses, his son, until 521 B.C., when he was succeeded by Smerdis, a
Magian usurper, who reigned sev CZECHO-SLOVAKIA. en months. Darius I, son of
Hystaspes, a nobleman, conspired with six others and murdered Smerdis, when,
by device, Darius obtained the throne over his companions, 521 B.C. The
celebrated siege of Babylon lasted two years; the city finally succumbed to
the strategy of General Zopyrus, in the year 516.
Darius reigned 36 years, died
485 B.C. This article is mainly due to the industrious researches of Brother
Charles T. McClenachan to whom the subject made an especial appeal (see also
Zendavesta).
