The Builder Magazine

February 1918 - Volume IV - Number 2

 

THE RELIGION OF GEORGE WASHINGTON

BY BRO. GEORGE W. BAIRD, P.G.M., DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

IN the Grand Lodge Proceedings of South Carolina for 1915, on page 231, Brother W. S. Seipp, Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, is quoted as saying that on a certain occasion the children of a certain Grand Master were entertaining some of their schoolmates, when the name of George Washington was mentioned and it was said among other things that he was a Mason.

 

To the surprise of the good Grand Master, one of the guests said "Oh, no! George Washington was a Catholic," and on being questioned stated further "that the brightest scholars in the world, the holy fathers, had taught them in a parochial school that the immortal George was not only a Catholic but that he, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, had ordered mass to be said every day in camp !"

 

Occasionally the question of the religion of Brother George Washington has been raised and such claims as the above asserted, which if repeated often enough may be believed. If we sanction by silence such falsehoods we will only have ourselves to blame.

 

Of course, if children of parochial school age are taught such falsehoods, it is no wonder that they should regard the rest of us as mountebanks, all their lives. The mind is more plastic in the primary school age, than ever after and if the "holy fathers" get in their work on children at that age it is not difficult to understand the reason for their superstition and their adhesion to sorcery and to fairy tales, and it is also plainly to be seen why Romanists are opposed to our American public school system.

 

Washington was brought up in the Episcopalian faith and always attended that church. He was at one time a vestryman of Pohick Church and was also a vestryman of Christ Church in Alexandria. These are matters of church record and evidences of his prominence in the Episcopalian faith.

 

The grandmother of the writer was thirteen years of age when Washington died and we well remember hearing her tell that she attended Pohick church on at least one occasion, and she was positive that General Washington was particularly devout in his worship and in his responses during this service.

 

History does not record that Washington "ordered mass to be said in the camps every day," but from a Catholic authority (Sentinel of Liberty, v. II, p. 145) we read of his suppressing the "Pope's Day" in camp, i.e. the anniversary on which the Pope was burned in effigy in certain camps of the Revolutionary Army. This practice of burning the Pope in effigy in these camps is evidence of the esteem in which his holiness was held in that Army.

 

Grief was nation-wide when Washington died. He was held in high esteem; almost idolized by the people. All churches, including the Romish, held memorial services, but in the last named the services were modified, which would not have been the case had they believed that Washington was of their creed. For example, in the circular of Bishop Carrol to his clergy, on the occasion of the death of General Washington, he advises them "not to form their discourses on the model of a funeral sermon, but rather to compose an oration such as might be delivered at an Academy, and on a plan bearing some resemblance to that of Saint Ambrose on the death of the young Emperor Valentine, who was deprived of life before his initiation into our church, but who had discovered in his early age the germ of those extraordinary qualities which expanded themselves in Washington, and flourished with so much lustre during a life of unremitting exertion and eminent usefulness.

 

"If these discourses shall be delivered in churches where the holy sacraments are usually kept it would be proper to remove it, with due honor, to some decent place."

 

It has been claimed that Bishop Carroll was an intimate friend of Washington, though none of Washington's historians even intimate this fact. There is no record of an acquaintance between them until President Washington was invited to distribute the premiums at the commencement exercises of the Jesuit College, in Georgetown, of which Bishop Carrol was president. But it is very certain that the Bishop would not have caused the holy vessels to be removed from the churches during the memorial services, had he not regarded Washington as a heretic.

 

About four years ago there were printed in Romish papers stories on the subject from which the American Citizen has quoted. One is as follows:

 

"Although George Washington, father and first president of our country, was not a Catholic, yet he is said to have kept always hanging over his bed a picture of the Immaculate Conception, which is still to be seen in its old place at Mount Vernon. There is also a tradition that on the night of his death, Father Neale, S.J., of the Maryland Province, was hurriedly sent for, and rowed across the Potomac, where he remained for four hours with the dying Patriot *  *."

 

The Potomac river at Mount Vernon is a good mile wide, and the accompanying map, made in 1795, shows no trail nor road anywhere near that point of the river on the Maryland side, so the priest did not row across at that point. We cannot find record of any Romish church in Maryland nearer than St. Inigoes at that time, and from the U. S. Catholic Historic Magazine, v. I, p. 333, we find Father Neale, S. J., was stationed there.

 

The map, used as this month's frontispiece, was engraved from surveys made in 1795, and it shows every road, path and trail in Charles County and St. Marys County, by which his reverence might travel. Port Tobacco (where there may possibly have been a Romish church) was the nearest town in Maryland but there was no road thence to the Potomac except via Matawoman Creek, from which point there is a waterway fifteen miles in length, after a ride of about eighteen miles.

 

From Port Tobacco by water it is thirty-five miles, and from St. Inigoes by water, it is nearly seventy-five miles to Mount Vernon. The assumption is, therefore, that the inventor of the fairy story discovered the name of Father Neale as being in Maryland, and used this fact to fit into his story.

 

Alexandria is on the Virginia side of the Potomac and only about six miles from Mount Vernon. There was a good bridle-path from Mount Vernon to Alexandria which Washington himself often rode, which must have been familiar to the inhabitants of Fairfax County, and as there was a Romish church in Alexandria it would have been so much more convenient to send there. More than this, Georgetown was but fourteen miles away, with a good bridle-path all the way, and Bishop Carrol (who is claimed to have been a friend of Washington) was stationed at the Jesuit college there.

 

Travel, at that time, was mostly by the river* or on horseback. Trails for bridle-paths were cut through the woods, which accounts for the many hills; for it would seem the path-finders found the distance over a hill shorter than around it. The river is tortuous and the channel narrow. There were no steam-boats in those days and the tides, the fickle winds and the many shoals made river travel slow. Then, let us inquire, how could Father Neale, sent for in a hurry, reach Mount Vernon, "spend four hours with the dying Patriot," and leave with no one at Mount Vernon knowing anything about it?

 

This alleged tradition places the remarkable visit on the night of Washington's death, when Mrs. Washington, private secretary Colonel Lear, Doctor Craik and the servants were in the house and in the room (for the General was not left alone for a moment) and if there were any truth in the story it could not possibly have been kept secret. We believe that the Romanists, more than any other people, are the most ready to announce their acquisitions and conquests.

 

The diary of the private secretary of General Washington, Colonel Tobias Lear, has been in print for many years and has never been challenged. It was written at the time, on the spot, and has so often been verified that there has never been a doubt of its correctness. Colonel Lear wrote:

 

"During his whole illness he spoke but seldom and with great difficulty and distress and in so low and broken a voice as at times hardly to be understood. His patience, fortitude and resignation never forsook him for a moment. In all his distress he uttered not a sigh nor complaint, always endeavoring (from a sense of duty) to take what was offered to him and to do what was desired by his physicians.

 

"At the time of his decease Doctor Craik and myself were in the situation before mentioned. Mrs. Washington and Charlotte were in the room, standing near the door; Mrs. Forbes, the housekeeper was frequently in the room during the day and the evening.

 

"As soon as Doctor Craik could speak, after the distressing scene was closed, he desired one of the servants to ask the gentlemen below to come upstairs. When they came to the bedside, I kissed the head I held in my bosom, laid it down and went to the other side of the room where I was for some time lost in profound grief, until aroused by Christopher desiring care of the General's keys and other things which were taken out of his pockets and which Mrs. Washington directed him to give to me. I wrapped them in the General's handkerchief and took them with me to my room. "About twelve o'clock the corpse was brought down-stairs and laid out in the large room.

 

"Sunday, Dec. 5, 1799.

 

"The foregoing statement, so far as I can recollect, is correct. "James Craik."

 

Thus we have the statement of Colonel Lear verified by Doctor Craik, the attending physician. Continuing his diary, Colonel Lear says he "wrote letters to the President, General Hamilton, General Pinkney,

 

* The writer is familiar with the river, and is descended from ancestors who were actively engaged in river traffic at this period.

 

 Bushrod Washington, Colonel Pell, Captain Hammond and also John Lewis, desiring him to inform his brothers George, Robert and Howell * * *." Mrs. Stewart was sent for. In the morning about ten o'clock Mr. Thomas Peter came down; and about two o'clock Mr. and Mrs. Law. Doctor Craik tarried all day and night. In the evening I consulted with Mr. and Mrs. Law, Mr. Peter and Doctor Craik, on fixing the day for depositing the body in the vault. I wished the ceremony to be postponed until the last of the week, to give time for some of the General's relatives to be here. But Doctor Craik and Mr. Thornton gave it decidedly as their opinion that considering the disorder of which the General died, being of an inflammatory nature, it would not be proper nor perhaps, safe, to keep the body so long and therefore Wednesday was fixed upon to allow a day (Thursday) in case the weather should be unfavorable on Wednesday."

 

The diary for Wednesday shows that "about two o'clock the procession began to move."

 

"The arrangements for the procession were made by Colonels Little and Simms and Mr. Dencale and Mr. Dick. The pall-bearers were Colonels Little, Simms, Gilpin, Payne, Ramsay and Marstaller. Colonel Blackburn preceded the corpse; Colonel Duncale marched with the Militia * * *. Lodge No. 23, Corporation of Alexandria and all other persons preceded by Mr. Anderson and the overseers. When the body arrived at the vault, the Reverend Mr. Davis read the service and pronounced a short extempore speech: the Masons performed their ceremonies and the body was deposited in the vault."

 

From among the number of people mentioned and referred to by Colonel Lear who were on the Mount Vernon premises at the time of the last illness of General Washington, there surely would have been at least one who would have known of the alleged visit of a priest if there had been such a visit, but no word nor intimation of such a "presence" is even hinted at by a soul.

 

Colonel Lear, Doctor Craik and all the pall-bearers were Masons, but not all of them communicants of the church. I cannot discover that anyone has claimed that General Washington died a Romanist, but this has been often intimated. "It is said" that he kept the picture of the Immaculate Conception hanging over his bed, but they are careful not to say who said so, neither can it be found there nor can anyone be found who has any knowledge of it.

 

The story of the visit of Father Neale is a tacit accusation that Colonel Lear, Doctor Craik, Mrs. Washington, the housekeeper and the servants conspired to conceal that "presence": an accusation which seems to the writer to be infamous. I would as soon think of accusing the Virgin Mary as to believe that Mrs. Washington would be guilty of such deception. Perish the thought! The story that Washington kept a picture of the Immaculate Conception hanging over his bed is very doubtful.

 

The writer has many times visited Mount Vernon but has never seen nor heard of any such picture there. Besides this, Washington died in 1799, and the Immaculate Conception was not decreed by the Church of Rome until 1854. It was adopted in the constitution of Pope Piux IX, Ineffabilis Deus, as follows:

 

"We define the doctrine which holds the most blessed Virgin Mary in the first instant of her conception to have been preserved from all stain of original sin by the singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, and through the merits of Jesus Christ," etc.

 

The artist who is alleged to have made such a picture could hardly have anticipated the discovery of the conception fifty-five years in advance. Petrograd was called St. Petersburg until 1914, and if a letter were dated "Petrograd, 1859," none but the faithful could be induced to believe its authenticity.

 

A story printed in the National Hiberian in 1914 (March) says that there are more Washingtons in County Roscommon, Ireland, than in all of England, and that they all have the same "facial expression" as the Father of his Country, the immortal Washington; the intimation being that Washington was Irish. The article was well written and will doubtless be generally believed by the readers of that paper. Its purpose is evident--keep such a story alive and in time it may be generally believed, just as was the story taught to the parochial school-girl mentioned at the beginning of this article.

 

Pohick Church, before referred to, stands on the watershed between Pohick and Accotink creeks a few miles from Mount Vernon. Many very distinguished men have worshipped there including Washington, George Mason and John Marshall. At the outbreak of the Civil War the congregation of Pohick Church was poor and the services in the church irregular. The United States Artillery seized the building, and used it for a stable; the floors were torn out that the horses might stand on soft ground; the windows were broken; the doors unhinged and the holy vessels taken away. The place changed hands a number of times during the war and when the Confederates captured it they made similar use of it. But when the Civil War was ended the vestry of that little church asked Congress for indemnification, but could never recover a cent.

 

The communion service was found in a New York pawn shop; was redeemed and returned by a New Yorker, but the church was still unserviceable. The vestry begged for sufficient indemnity to make the building habitable, but without avail.

 

Fortunately, however, those noble women who compose the Societies of Colonial Dames and Daughters of the American Revolution, who are above politics and above sectionalism, placed their dimpled hands in their pockets and produced sufficient funds to rehabilitate the edifice and it is now being used for purposes of worship.

 

I have always believed that when Wolf and Washington drove the French back across the St. Lawrence river they did more to establish civil and religious liberty on the North American Continent than did our War of Independence.

 

Mankind seems to be generally divided between the Radicals and the Conservatives; the one is hasty, drastic, aggressive and confident; the other tardy, conciliating, patient and doubting.

 

Washington was one of the few men who came near being a happy mean between the two. He came of highly respectable and aristocratic people in Virginia and it is generally believed that his attachment to Masonry was influential in kindling within him the true spirit of democracy.

 

I am not certain that he was a communicant of the church, but it is certain that he was baptized in the Church of England and was ever an attendant, and it is equally certain that his actions were in accord with the tenets of Freemasonry.

 

----o----

 

THE TROWEL

 

BY BRO. ALFRED S. EICHBERG, 33d HON., GEORGIA

 

THE working tools of a Master Mason comprise all the tools of the Craft, but more especially the Trowel. The trowel is used by operative masons to spread the cement which unites the stones of a building into a substantial structure; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to use it for the more noble and glorious purpose of spreading the cement of brotherly love, which unites us into one close bond of brotherhood, in which no contention can ever exist, except that noble emulation of who can best serve and best agree.

 

But the trowel has in addition a deeper significance. Numerical values receive especial attention in Masonry, possibly because mathematics was the first of the sciences to help civilize the human race. Geometry is regarded as chief among the seven liberal arts and sciences,--its initial blazes before you. The 47th problem of Euclid is an important symbol in this degree.

 

The series, three, five and seven, occurs frequently among the symbols of Masonry, but the number three is most frequent; the three great lights, three lesser lights, three degrees in the Blue Lodge, three stations in the lodge, three stages of human life, three knocks and many other instances, which you will recall. The reason for this prominence is that three is the symbol of Stability.

 

Geometry teaches that three points are always in one plane and are always in equilibrium.

 

And this is the philosophic interpretation of the trowel. It presents three points. It is the principal working tool of the Master Mason, not only because it spreads the cement of brotherly love, but also because the close bond of brotherhood so constructed must always be in equilibrium and is firmly founded on Stability.

 

But there is yet another reason; the trowel in the hands of the operative mason is frequently required to remove from the bearing surfaces of the stone, such foreign substances as may have become attached to it while it lay among unclean surroundings and which would interfere with its perfect bonding.

 

The irregular block of stone came out of the quarry,--that is, the outer world; it entered the Apprentice degree, where by aid of the common gavel and the twenty-four inch gauge, it was shaped into a rough ashlar. It was then passed to the Fellowcrafts, who, by use of their working tools made it plumb, square and level and fashioned it into a perfect ashlar.

 

However perfect an ashlar it may have been, when it received the commendation of the Grand Master, through contact with the world, it superficially acquired vices and faults, which unfit it for a perfect union.

 

The trowel in this relation may be regarded as referring to the three jewels of the Master degree, Friendship, Morality and Brotherly Love, which when worthily worn, so cleanse and purify, that the stone is in every respect fitted to be raised to its permanent place in the walls of the Temple of Masonry.

 

----o----

 

THE WORK

 

BY BRO JOHN EDMUND BARSS, CONN.

 

Scarce two-score years had passed him; and they cried,

"See how the mists of dawn have kept their rose !

Linger and dream a little." But he said,

"Nay, I must do a man's work in the world,"

And passing, left them.

And the years flowed by,

Bringing him opulence of goods and fame,

Enriched with wife, and children, and success.

Then some besought him: "Rest a little now,

And mark the glory of thy noon-tide sun."

But he, "Not yet: these hours are best for toil,

And I must do a man's work in the world."

 

Then old age came and walked with him, and one

Whispered, "At last rejoice in thy great deeds;

Take time for satisfaction: Be content."

"And still not yet!" he answered; "all my years

At length have taught me justice, and at length

I know that kindness is man's greatest due

To man: I crave one moment to be kind

To him who was mine enemy long since."

Then out of all the world, in sore distress,

Returned his enemy; and at the last

He gave him succor, and the coals of hate

Died to white ashes, whiter than his hair;

And there sprang up and blossomed for a day

The rose of love between them, like the dawn.

Then death came; and he smiled, "Now may I rest,

For I have done a man's work in the world."

 

----o----

 

EDITED BY BRO. GEORGE E. FRAZER

 

PRESIDENT, THE BOARD OF STEWARDS

 

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Geo. W. Baird, District of Columbia.

Joseph Barnett, California.

John W. Barry, Iowa

Joe L. Carson, Virginia.

Jos. W. Eggleston, Virginia.

Henry R. Evans, District of Columbia.

H. D. Funk, Minnesota.

F. B. Gault, Washington.

Joseph C. Greenfield, Georgia.

Frederick W. Hamilton, Massachusetts.

H. L. Haywood, Iowa.

T. W. Hugo, Minnesota.

M. M. Johnson, Massachusetts.

John G. Keplingel, Illinois.

Harold A. Kingsbury, Connecticut.

Dr. Wm. F. Kuhn, Missouri.

Dr. John Lewin McLeish, Ohio.

Joseph W. Norwood, Kentucky.

Frank E. Noyes, Wisconsin.

John Pickard, Missouri.

C. M. Schenck, Colorado.

Francis W. Shepardson, Illinois.

Silas H. Shepherd, Wisconsin.

Oliver D. Street, Alabama.

H. W. Ticknor, Maryland.

S. W. Williams, Tennessee.

 

(Contributions to this Monthly Department of Personal Opinion are invited from each writer who has contributed one or more articles to THE BUILDER. Subjects for discussion are selected as being alive in the administration of Masonry today. Discussions of politics, religious creeds or personal prejudices are avoided, the purpose of the Department being to afford a vehicle for comparing the personal opinions of leading Masonic students. The contributing editors assume responsibility only for what each writes over his own signature. Comment from our Members on the subjects discussed here will be welcomed in the Question Box and Correspondence Column.)

 

QUESTION NO. 8--

 

"Shall Masonic Recreation Centers or Club Houses be established at each Cantonment in the United States and at convenient military points in France? If so, shall the Grand Lodges of the United States unite in the appointment of a central committee with power to solicit funds and with power to direct such centers under the rules and regulations of the War Department? If you do not favor the establishment of Masonic Recreation Centers at military camps, what system do you favor to aid and relieve the soldiers and sailors in camp?"

 

 Favors Masonic Centers.

 

Most assuredly I do favor Masonic Recreation Centers in or near the various camps and cantonments of our Army both in this country and at the Front. If after the "fuss" we have made we fail to do something adequate along this line we shall be laughed at and shall deserve to be.

 

What shall we do and how shall we do it are difficult problems and call for our best thought. There are some things we should not do; we should not attempt to duplicate the work of the Y.M.C.A., the Red Cross and other instrumentalities. We do not desire merely to add a "fifth wheel to the wagon." We should have a building of our own conveniently located either in or near each camp. It should be kept open at all suitable hours with a sufficient force in charge. It should be made comfortable and attractive inside and out. Every Mason in the camp should be looked up, his name and home address taken, and be invited to visit the "Masonic Hall." If he is not in good standing he should be urged to place himself so. Every son of a Mason should be made welcome; every daughter or sister of a Mason engaged in Red Cross or relief work should be made to feel that she is surrounded by brothers.

 

While the movement should be distinctively Masonic, it should not be exclusive--those of known good character, though not Masons nor sons of Masons, should be welcomed, but it should be understood that only gentlemen are desired. Cards could be issued to such under proper restrictions.

 

Good Masonic (and other) literature should be furnished with reading and writing facilities. A room should be provided where Masons only, might, on occasion, assemble for such Masonic refreshment and "labor" as might be allowed. Here lectures by competent brethren could be given on Masonic and kindred subjects-- among the things to be made clear and strongly impressed is the duty of the soldier Masons under war conditions to their brethren and to their country. Sick or wounded brethren or those in any distress could be visited and made to feel the touch of a brother's hand. In many ways the spirit of fraternity could make itself felt to the benefit both of the soldier and of the service.

 

My view is that this should be done under a single Masonic organization for the entire United States. Grand Commander George F. Moore has been suggested as a suitable leader and he could not be surpassed. It should be made plain that the movement did not pertain peculiarly to any Rite or System, that it was "Masonic" in the widest sense and embraced all Bodies of all Rites as well as all Concordant Orders. The necessary funds should be raised by a nation-wide campaign through voluntary donations by Masons and Masonic Bodies. O. D. Street, Alabama.

 

 Masonic Deputies for Regiments. There is no recognized central Masonic agency through which a unified system can be adopted. This is unfortunate and is, in the minds of some, the strongest argument in favor of a General Grand Lodge which has been advanced. Many of us who have not yet been converted to the General Grand Lodge, nevertheless would favor the establishment under competent, unselfish executive management of some central agency of all the Grand Lodges for the handling of inter- or pan-jurisdictional matters. As things stand, however, outside of assistance to the Y.M.C.A., etc., the thing for us to do is to raise large funds for relief of the dependent families of our Brethren who are called to the Colors and of the Brethren themselves when returning in mental, physical or financial distress.

 

Meanwhile if the various Grand Masters will commission Special Deputies with different regiments, these Deputies can get together the Masons of various Camps for social intercourse and can keep alive and stimulate, even without Lodge meetings, our fraternal bond. They can also keep each Masonic jurisdiction in touch with the needs of its own Brethren who are under arms. Melvin M. Johnson, Massachusetts.

 

* *

 

Constant Calls for Money. The war is making constant calls for money. Masons are generously responding to the calls, one of which is for the establishment and maintenance of the Y.M.C.A. Recreation Centers in Cantonments and Camps in the United States and France.

 

While these Centers are in no sense Masonic, they are available to Masons for recreation purposes. In a letter received today from a Masonic friend, now serving with the U. S. Army in France, he says: "The Y.M.C.A. is a wonderful institution and doing great work." The establishment at the present time of Masonic Recreation Centers in the camps would in a measure duplicate the work of the Y.M.C.A. and it seems to me that under the existing conditions, the money necessary for such establishment would serve a better purpose if placed at the disposal of the Y.M.C.A. and the Red Cross organizations which are doing great things for the aid and relief of soldiers and sailors in camp.

 

Later it may be wise to seriously consider the establishment of Masonic Recreation Centers, but not while the present financial strain continues. C. M. Schenck, Colorado.

 

Add to Y.M.C.A. Work. In corresponding with the Grand Masters, one of them made a very good suggestion, as it seemed to me --Brother Fead of Michigan. His idea is that in addition to providing funds, the Masons should provide some distinctive recreation to be put on by Y.M.C.A., or the Red Cross, publicity being given to the fact that such entertainment was furnished by the Masons.

 

At first thought, it is very easy to conclude that each Grand Lodge should go ahead and erect buildings, but when one comes to consider what this involves and above all that it is a mere duplication, the wisdom of the decision of the Grand Lodge of Iowa that it would be unwise to attempt such work alone will, I think, be fully borne out. John W. Barry, Grand Master, Iowa. *

 

Give in Business-Like Way. Every Mason must give--give until it hurts -- but, in addition, he must see to it that he gives in the most efficient and business-like way. The United States can not win the war unless the efforts of the people be expended to the very best advantage; no second best measures will do. Therefore, let the Mason forget the aggrandizement and advertisement of Masonry that might come from the establishment of Masonic Recreation Centers, and support the Y.M.C.A. When letters come to us from our loved ones at the camps, both here and "Somewhere in France," each letter with the Red Triangle of the Y.M.C.A. in the corner of the letter paper, think what that Triangle means--"We, an organization whose business is young men, are doing our bit. Help us!" Masons! Forget this Masonic social center study and get busy ! Harold Kingsbury, Connecticut.

 

* * The Kentucky Plan. In answer to the question concerning Masonic Recreation Centers, I am most heartily in favor of them and think that there should be such not only at Cantonments in the United States but at Military points wherever our boys are to go in Europe. There is already being a great deal done as you no doubt know along this line since the War Department reversed its ruling. Perhaps what we are getting ready to do here in Kentucky may interest your readers. Kentucky already has two Military Lodges now at Hattiesburg, Mississippi, which may soon be in France. Masons of Louisville are preparing to erect outside of the Cantonment, but near Camp Taylor, a convenient Masonic Hall both for Club purposes and the conference of degrees. This will be occupied by one or more Military Lodges from Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. At a recent meeting of about two hundred Masons in the Camp from those States, embracing both officers and privates, the plan was enthusiastically endorsed. We already have the site. I wish some of those who object to Military Lodges could have heard the speeches made on that occasion by officers and privates who realize that they are about to sacrifice all they hold dear, perhaps life itself, that the world may be brought to the great ideal of Brotherhood and that all countries may be made safe for this great principle which Masons profess. They believe without doubt that Masonic Lodges which they could carry with them to Europe, would do much toward cementing friendships among all people. They intend to practice Masonry rather than to preach it. I am inclined to think that as conditions now are in the Masonic World it is best to let each Grand Lodge run its own gait, but if it were possible to hold a general Masonic Congress in this country such as the Latin and German Masons are used to we could accomplish a world of good and perhaps speed up a day to half a century when Freemasons would forget their red-tape and old-fogyism, championed by a few of the "old timers" who have nothing else in life to do but pick flaws at somebody else and get reason why we would not be friendly to this or that jurisdiction.

 

We need more leaders, writers who will find reasons why Masons should get together than why they should be kept apart. Many Lodges have sat down on the General Grand Lodge proposition in every phase or form for something over a century. May I suggest however that they are at least united on three needs: the General Relief Board, National Masonic Research Society and the War Relief Board. Perhaps these three may pave a way for some sort of Annual Advisory Conference which would in effect be such a Central Committee as you suggest. J. W. Norwood, Kentucky.

 

* * * Support the Y.M.C.A. General Pershing is quoted as saying "I desire to deal in France with only two non-military relief organizations--the Red Cross for the sick and the Y.M.C.A. for the well."

 

These two organizations are superbly efficient. It seems to me that it would be a great mistake to attempt to duplicate their work. I would rather call upon all Masons everywhere to unite in a great, earnest and effective support of these two magnificent organizations. John Pickard, Missouri.

 

Suggests Letters to Soldiers. It seems to me that the establishment of Masonic Recreation Centers or Club Houses at Cantonments or at Military points in France is impractical and would lead to endless confusion.

 

Why multiply agencies for doing the work for which the Y.M.C.A. and the American Red Cross are so splendidly equipped? To my mind we can not improve upon the work these organizations are doing and if we compete with them we weaken them without compensating advantages to the men.

 

I would favor giving financial assistance to these organizations which are open to all regardless of creed or affiliation in any of the fraternal orders.

 

But, the mere giving of money involves no real sacrifice on our part and the benefits to the boys would be mostly material and impersonal. Their creature comforts are provided for. As Masons, let us give them something of a spiritual nature--something of ourselves.

 

For instance. Here is a Lodge of 300 members. Twenty are in the "chosen" army. Why shouldn't the 280 remaining at home get back of the 20 and let them know that they will always be in our thoughts. Let a correspondence committee be appointed to write to the boys regularly. Let them know that their letters from the front will be read at the meetings. Then let us look up the immediate connections of the twenty and see that none of them come to want. In case any should do so let us ease the boys' minds with the assurance that, no matter what comes, their loved ones are and will be looked after by the brethren at home.

 

This would be merely a beginning. But I can not conceive of anything which would be more helpful to the boys at the Front, which would make us all better Masons and bind us closer together in the fraternity than a nation-wide program such as this. To me this is the heart, soul and work of Masonry. John G. Keplinger, Illinois.

 

An International Masonry. "Shall Masonic Recreation Centers or Club Houses be established at each Cantonment in the United States and at convenient military points in France?"

 

Unhesitatingly I answer yes, and would add that in Masonic sociability they should be free to our unrecognized French Brethren. These are no times for red-tape restrictions. I am not one of those who are carried away with war hysteria to the point of wanting our whole Army and Navy made Masons at sight and free of cost, nor do I advocate any change in our present list of recognized Grand Lodges, but I do think the opportunity presents to show Europe what American Masonry really is.

 

I would go even further. I would strongly urge the Masons in these Clubs to seek out, when they can. Masons among German prisoners and go their utmost length in expending utterly undeserved kindness and relief. England erred, Masonically; let us, if we too err, do so on the other extreme.

 

2nd. "If so, shall the Grand Lodges of the United States unite in the appointment of a Central Committee ?"

 

Equally unhesitatingly, No. Small differences of views would result in discord. We want no central power, great or small, but independent action by each Grand Lodge. Already some Grand Lodges are forming traveling Military Lodges, while others vehemently object. Let each make its own mistakes without involving others.

 

I favor Clubs or Recreation Centers, only, partly because we can thus freely open them to unrecognized Masons and because I happen to know, that in the war of the '60s Military Lodges made serious mistakes and made Masons of high officers who would have been blackballed at home. Secretary of War Baker was right in forbidding all secret meetings. These Clubs should be social and brotherly and should illustrate the words of our ritual, "These generous principles are to extend further. Every human being has a claim upon your kind offices; do good unto all; recommend it more especially to the household of the faithful." These clubs should illustrate brotherly love and unselfish humanitarianism.  Joseph W. Eggleston, Virginia.

 

* * *

 

Opposes Masonic Centers. Answering the question of the establishment of Masonic Recreation Centers at Military Cantonments, I wish to say that, as I am not in favor of Military Lodges, neither do I think it would be the best policy to establish these Centers at Cantonments or at Military points in France. Those Grand Lodges which have already taken steps will, of course, be expected to go ahead with the arrangements now that Secretary Baker has modified the order and they are permitted to do so; but it seems to me that as a general rule it would be better for the Masonic bodies and Grand Lodges to do their work in co-operation with the Y.M.C.A. There are enough Masons connected with the Y.M.C.A., and enough at the Military centers not immediately connected who could act in organizing, under proper supervision, auxiliary bodies which could carry work for relief of soldiers and sailors who are Mans at these centers. Working in this way, I believe much better work could be accomplished and at less expense, thereby conserving the moneys donated for Masonic relief purposes and enabling them to go farther in the work of relief. Frank E. Noyes, Wisconsin.

 

* * * An Army Precedent. The Washington (D. C.) papers of December 9th have an account of the activities of the Ashlar Club, of " at city, which may have some bearing on the question. The Ashlar Club is made up mostly, it is said, of Masons employed in the War and Navy Departments, and officers and enlisted men in the Army and Navy. On November 24th the Club held a rally in Washington and began a movement towards organizing Masonic Clubs in the various instruction camps and especially abroad in order to look after the health and morals of the American soldiers. The Washington Club suggests that these clubs be known as Ashlar Clubs, to which it would issue charters, etc., and act as a channel of correspondence, especially when it is necessary to make known the needs of the men to the fraternity at large.

 

Possibly the situation can best be handled in this manner. Here is already a nucleus on which others can form, and the whole will have a more or less articulated structure. As needs become apparent, these clubs could go before the Fraternity at large, through their mother club, and their wants would probably be promptly attended to.

 

On the other hand, it would be worth while to make it a nation-wide movement and put the matter a larger scale from the start than would be possible for any club, as indicated above. It would be, in a way, measure of the strength of the fraternity that would be beneficial to it. And, if the various Grand Lodges could be gotten to work in unity in one matter, they might be able to get together in others. H. W. Ticknor, Maryland.

 

Either Lodges or Clubs. My preference is for Traveling Military Lodges with the different regiments or army corps; but as that does not seem feasible I think Masonic Recreation Centers or Clubs should be established at convenient military points in France. We must make our soldier Brethren feel that they are not forgotten by the Masonic fraternity. Such centers would supplement the work of the Y.M.C.A. It might be well for the Grand Lodges to appoint a Central Committee with power to solicit funds; for such a scheme would not overlap and duplicate the work of individual Grand Lodges. Henry R. Evans, District of Columbia.

 

* * *

 

Masonic Clubs Not Needed. Question No. 1. It is unnecessary at this time, because the soldiers' needs in this line are being well attended to by the Y.M.C.A.

 

A number of competing organizations could hardly add to the proper regimental spirit of a common good comradeship.

 

While it would make Freemasonry prominent in a most estimable way, Freemasonry can and will give liberally without advertising itself.

 

Question No. 2. Yes, if entered upon at all.

 

Question No. 3. Through the Y.M.C.A. national organization. An immense sum, said to be $35,000,000.00, has already been collected for this purpose.

 

That institution has special experience in this particular direction. It is non-sectarian, and has among its members many of all sects. Public confidence in it is well deserved.

 

Masons, as individuals, have liberally subscribed to this Y.M.C.A. movement, and can scarcely do greater service in this line than by continuing to support it. Joseph Barnett, California.

 

* * * The Ohio Plan. In my opinion any opportunity offered Masons to contribute to the comfort of brethren in active service of the United States should be gratefully grasped. Doubtless you are aware of the storm of protest and indignation that followed the refusal of the War Department to allow Masons of Atlanta to erect a recreation house in a southern Cantonment, when similar privileges had already been accorded the Knights of Columbus and Y.M.C.A. at that particular Cantonment. A broader policy seems to have influenced the War Department as a result and it was with deepest appreciation last month that we Masons of Ohio learned from our Grand Master, M. W. Henry M. Hagelbarger, that permission had been accorded to Ohio Masons to erect a Rest or Recreation House at Camp Sherman, Chillicothe. The Grand Master's request that Lodges of Ohio contribute twenty-five cents per capita for this laudable purpose has met with immediate and enthusiastic response in every instance, and our regret if any is that he did not ask more. The handsome building in purpose of construction at Camp Sherman will afford quarters for the relatives of soldier-Masons visiting the Cantonment and many other similar comforts. Either a Committee working in conjunction with the Grand Master, or as in Ohio, the Grand Master assuming the arduous responsibility himself, would be serviceable. I am informed that even with the admirable relief work heretofore done at the various Cantonments by the Y.M.C.A. and K.C's, their accommodations are overtaxed and there is abundant room for a rich body like ours to fall in line and have a hand in this splendid patriotic work. After supplying our Cantonments here, many of which promise to be many years in use, our next endeavor should be to establish similar comfort headquarters abroad, so far as the War Department can admit any activities of this nature. It should be our constant slogan, "If we can not go across, let us come across," and the next best thing we can do after giving the flower of our Order to the Flag is to follow the Flag overseas with our dollars and make the boys as happy as added comforts can. John Lewin McLeish, Ohio. 

 

----o----

 

INTERNATIONALISM AND FREEMASONRY

 

BY BRO. P. E. KELLETT, GRAND MASTER, MANITOBA

 

PART I

 

Owing to lack of space, we have, with Brother Kellett's permission, divided his article into two parts. In the present issue he summarizes for us the attitude and activities of the Grand Orient of France. He uses official sources, and, while at first blush it may appear that the Grand Orient has encroached upon political preserves, it will be well for us to hear Brother Kellett through, before rendering ourselves a decision. In the second installment will be presented the point of cleavage between Anglo-Saxon Masonry and the Masonry of France. PART I.

 

With meteoric suddenness the present war has ruthlessly cut off many lines of communication and channels of intercourse between nations and peoples. Freemasonry has suffered with the rest. This catastrophe has so jarred the mechanism of our daily lives and impaired the development of the human race as to make us realize more than ever before the distinct advantage to be obtained from international co-operation. To attain the highest efficiency, socially, morally, commercially and otherwise, the cooperation of one people with another is necessary. We are interdependent one upon the other. The organization of the relations among men on a universal basis, embracing the whole of the inhabited world, has been demonstrated to tend to the greatest good.

 

When each of the peoples of the earth lived unto themselves alone little progress was made, especially along the higher ethical lines that tend to the broadest development of a nation. Love of self reigned supreme; the law of the jungle prevailed, and might proved right. The evolution of the years modified these ideas, as peoples came to know one another better through the intercourse of trade. Old prejudices gradually broke down, and civilization took a wider meaning. International conventions were called to consider the betterment of relations between people and people. These gave birth to international services, all tending to unite the civilized world in common action for general progress, and to assure to human activity the fullness of its powers. We had reached the point where we were dreaming of a better life, universal peace, harmony and progress. The masses today are uttering a cry of hope that the present barbaric struggle may not be in vain, but may prove to be but a stepping stone to even better things. May their hopes come to fruition.

 

No association exists which more naturally tends towards internationalism than Freemasonry. Anderson's Masonic Constitution, promulgated in 1723, said the following:--"Ye shall cultivate brotherly love, which is the foundation and the master stone, the cement and the glory of this ancient confraternity, for we as Masons are of all races, nations and languages." An eminent present-day writer on Freemasonry has said of it: "High above all dogmas that bind, all bigotries that blind, all bitterness that divides, it will write the eternal verities of the Fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man." Its origin, past history, organization and philosophy all lead in that direction, and have no other goal than universal brotherhood.

 

A great deal of good can be accomplished by a world-wide fraternal connection between Freemasons of all countries. Masonry's aim is the Fraternity of men and the spread of the principles of Tolerance, Justice and Peace. How better can this be accomplished than by mutual understanding ? If we continue to hold ourselves aloof, will we ever attain the object we seek? Is it not astounding that Freemasonry should still be divided, and so far from being united? Would it not seem that every Mason should use his influence to help weld the chain of the international fraternity for the accomplishment of universal unity, peace, tolerance and mutual goodwill.

 

It is my purpose to point out to what extent the Freemasons of the world are disunited, and what the main lines of cleavage are. In particular, I desire to give some information about the Grand Orient of France, which is a representative institution of that class of Freemasonry towards which Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry has had particular antipathy.

 

According to the latest available statistics, there are approximately 2,100,000 adherents to Freemasonry scattered through all countries in the world. These have been divided into three distinct groups. Authorities say they do not differ materially in customs, principles, or traditions. In what then can they rightly differ? The divisions are made because of the greater or less importance given to religious ideas.

 

To quote the International Bureau of Masonic Affairs, established in Switzerland with the aim of completing an arrangement whereby Freemasons of all countries may mingle with one another in the Lodges, visit one another, and learn to know one another, these divisions may be given as follows:

 

"(1) The first group regards as-being of absolute necessity the adoption of what are called the 'Landmarks,' and in particular these two, viz., a belief in the G.A. of the U. and the presence of the Bible on the altar. Some of this group decline to receive into its Lodges Masons who belong to groups which do not admit these two landmarks. Others of this group also revere the G.A. of the U., and possess the symbol of the Bible, but they do not close their doors to any visitor who proves himself to be a Mason, even when his obedience admits neither the formula of the G.A. of the U. nor the Bible. Our brethren of the Grand Orient of France are welcomed with pleasure by them.

 

"(2) The second group which comprises part of Latin Masonry, leaves to its adepts the right to believe in God, even in the esoteric God of the religions, and imposes on them no act of faith, which does not hinder it from admitting to its Lodges all visiting brethren, to whatever obedience they may belong, and without any other proof than their title as regular Masons. This group holds the principle of mutual tolerance, the respect of others and one's self, and absolute liberty of conscience; it does not allow of any dogmatic affirmation.

 

"(3) The third group comprises purely Christian Masonry," Very much of interest could be said in giving an account of the effort made by the International Bureau of Masonic Affairs to the furtherance of mutual friendship and brotherhood among the Freemasons of all lands. Considerable progress was made, and particularly on the Continent of Europe, it developed considerable enthusiasm for the fraternal object aimed at. The war for the present has brought their peace activities to a close. In one of their later official Bulletins they say regarding it:

 

"If we were pessimists we should once for all give up our plans, our endeavours and our work in behalf of an improvement in the relations among men. But we know that in spite of everything our cause is the best, and that nothing, not even the most overwhelming upheavals, must discourage us.... It will behoove the friends of peace and of fraternity to proclaim to the world that the ideas of which they are the guardians may be defeated, but that they never die and never surrender."

 

Many times in commenting on the progress of their work in their official Bulletin this Bureau has deplored the fact that antagonism still exists between certain Masonic bodies because brethren too readily believe all the evil that is propagated about the Masonry of another country without taking the trouble to ascertain facts by making enquiries at a reliable source. They say credence is too readily given to hateful affirmations, which are adopted without examination, and they make the plea that brethren make the necessary enquiries from the proper source. They add further: "It would suffice to see one another in order to know, to love, and to appreciate one another."

 

Not wishing to lay myself open to any charge of unfairness, acting upon this suggestion I wrote the following letter:

 

"Winnipeg, July 24, 1916.  "Grand Secretary, Grand Orient of France, "Rue Cadet 9, Paris.  "Dear Sir and Brother:

 

"Freemasonry, being a so-called universal institution, one of whose main tenets is the universal brotherhood of man, occupies a somewhat anomalous position today, at least in so far as France and English-speaking countries are concerned. Masonically we do not recognize one another.

 

"United as we are in the great titanic struggle now going on in Europe, it would seem that we should also be fraternally united. At any rate, the present would be a most opportune time for considering the matter, as it would surely get sympathetic consideration.

 

"The organization which I represent is a Masonic organization, in that its members are Past Masters of regular Lodges in this jurisdiction, but it is not affiliated as an organization with the Grand Lodge of Manitoba, A. F. and A. M. We purposely have not sought such affiliation because we want more freedom of subjects for discussion than organized Masonry here would allow. All of our members are members of the Grand Lodge, so that the thought and decisions of our Association have a certain indirect effect on the action of the Grand Lodge.

 

"I make this explanation to make it clear to you that I am at present making no overtures from the Grand Lodge, and have no authority to do so. I simply want to find out from you information with regard to the Grand Orient of France, with the view, if possible, through our Association, of breaking down the barriers between Masonry here and Masonry in France. I am therefore going to be perfectly frank in my questions, and trust that you will think them more pertinent than impertinent, for impertinence is not intended. I am actuated by a sincere desire to secure mutual recognition, if possible.

 

"It may be said frankly at the outset that the Grand Orient of France is generally looked upon by the rank and file here as an absolutely impossible organization for us to recognize in any way. You are generally considered to have departed from the ancient traditions of the Order, to be frankly atheistic, and to be in a great measure a political organization. I have heard it said by some here that you have mixed Lodges of men and women, and that you have made numerous innovations in Masonry that are not in accord with the ancient tenets of the Order.

 

"These are charges which I can neither endorse nor deny, not having the necessary knowledge. As your organization is the largest Masonic organization in France, I can hardly imagine though that it can be so 'terrible' as some would have us believe. Will you enlighten me ?

 

"I believe you were at one time in friendly intercourse with the Grand Lodge of England. Why was this cut off? I presume there was some argument in connection with it; if so, what was your side of the contention ? Does the Grand Orient of France control only the first three degrees, or these and the higher degrees as well ?

 

"There are other questions I might ask, but I have probably asked enough to lead you to give me complete information as to your claim for recognition. I hope you can find time to answer this by letter, and if you have any printed matter that would give fuller information I would be pleased to receive it.

 

"It would be a great pleasure to me if this would result in the barriers between us being pulled down, so that we can grasp one another with fraternal grip and work together for the general good. "Yours sincerely, "P. E. KELLETT, "President Past Masters' Association, A. F. and A. M., Winnipeg."

 

In due course I received the following reply:

 

"Paris, October 6, 1916. "To Very Dear Bro. Kellett, Winnipeg.

 

"Very Dear Brother,--I have the honour to inform you that your letter, dated July 24th last, has been duly received by the Grand Orient of France. Some time before its receipt, and at the request of our Bro. Quartier-le-Tente of Switzerland, copies of our Constitution and of our General Regulations were mailed to you. Today I am mailing you a copy of the pamphlet, 'The Freemasonry of the Grand Orient of France.' The perusal of these two pamphlets will be sufficient to demonstrate to you exactly what the Grand Orient of France really is. I also desire to reply to the questions which you have asked me.

 

"It is easy to say that the Grand Orient of France has abandoned the ancient traditions of the Order, but it is very difficult to prove it. To state that we are frankly atheistic is to commit the greatest error. It will be sufficient that you read the second paragraph of the first article of our Constitution, which reads as follows:

 

"'Freemasonry has for its basic principles mutual tolerance, respect for others and for oneself, and liberty of conscience.'

 

"I can affirm that the Grand Orient of France is neither deist, atheist, nor positivist. All philosophical conceptions are represented within its body.

 

"In what manner is the Grand Orient of France a political organisation? It includes among its members (it must not be forgotten that France is a Republic) citizens belonging to all the various phases of political opinion. You will thus see that the Grand Orient of France is not bound to any party, and cannot in consequence be considered a political organisation. All philosophical questions are discussed in our Lodges, including political and social economy, and each member may, during the course of these discussions, express freely his personal opinions in a fraternal and friendly manner suitable to Masonic re-unions.

 

"The Grand Orient of France consists of: Lodges which confer the first degrees (Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason); Chapters which work up to the Eighteenth Deg. (Rose Croix), Philosophical Councils or Aeropages, which work up to the Thirtieth Deg. (Kadosh); and the Grand Lodge of Rites (Supreme Council of the Grand Orient of France). This confers the Thirty-first, Thirty-second and Thirty-third Degrees. The Grand Orient of France, which was founded in 1736, includes at present 472 Lodges, 75 Chapters, and 31 Philosophical Councils or Aeropagei. Contrary to the information that has been given you, we have not under our jurisdiction mixed Lodges of men and women, nor Lodges of women only. We do not even recognise such Lodges.

 

"As you may have seen in our Constitution, and as I have stated previously, the Grand Orient of France, while it respects all philosophical beliefs, insists upon absolute liberty of belief. This does not mean that we banish from our Lodges the belief in God. The United Grand Lodge of England, on the contrary, desires to make a belief in God in some manner compulsory. The Grand Orient of France is much more liberal, since in proclaiming the absolute liberty of belief it permits to each one of its members the liberty to believe or not to believe in God, and by so doing desires to respect its members in their convictions, their doctrines and their beliefs.

 

"This is the reason why- fraternal relations do not exist between the United Grand Lodge of England and the Grand Orient of France. We regret this exceedingly. Is it not painful to contemplate that these two Masonic bodies continue to ignore one another, even at the moment when England and France are so closely and cordially united for the defence of Right, Justice and Civilization? Do the English and French soldiers, who are fighting side by side and giving freely of their blood for the triumph of this just cause, trouble themselves about the philosophical beliefs of one another? Nevertheless, an intimate fraternity exists between them, which excites the admiration of the civilized world.

 

"England has always been considered, rightly in other respects, a country of liberty. It is difficult to understand, under the circumstances, why the Freemasons of this great and noble nation should want to deprive their brothers of France this same liberty.

 

"I ardently desire to see these difficulties, which appear to me to be based upon mutual misunderstanding, removed. As a Freemason and as a Frenchman this is my fervent wish. I ask you to accept, very dear brother, the assurance of my most fraternal sentiments. "G. CORNEAU, "The President of the Council of the Order."

 

The information received may, therefore, be regarded as authentic, and what I have to say regarding the Grand Orient of France will not be based on mere hearsay. A careful reading of the letter quoted above, the Constitution and the pamphlet referred to, cannot but impress one with the-earnestness and the whole souled fraternal spirit of the Grand Orient. Their methods are different from ours, but this is due to the circumstances of their environment, which has influenced them quite materially. One cannot help but notice that they have the same aims and possess the same aspirations as we have, and that they seem, if anything, more earnest than we are in working towards the desired end--the advancement and good of mankind. They seem to direct most of their activity along

 

external and social lines. The ideal ever before them seems to be the moral and intellectual improvement of their members.

 

Their whole Lodge life is aimed to train their members for a life of activity in the interests of humanity. It has been said that Masons who live in Protestant countries can hardly realise the privilege they enjoy. Authorities say the Freemasons of France have been subjected to narrow-minded intolerance and prejudice; that they have been excommunicated, persecuted, insulted and detested; and that their benevolent activities have been met by all the hindrances, calumnies, slanders and active opposition pitiless clericalism could invent. By the very force of events Masonry in France became the directing force of the democracy. Masonic Lodges became centres where liberal minds could gather for exchange of views. Even there they had to be discreet, for the police were on the watch. Circumstances in France have been such that it would have been, as one has expressed it, "a crime against the Masonic idea for the members to shut themselves up in classic Masonry."

 

This condition existed in the years following the establishment of the third Republic after 1870. For a number of years, though, they have not been seriously threatened by their old enemies. The aspect of affairs has changed. That period of intolerance--intolerance from a Clerical source is responsible for the stand the French Masons took with regard to "God and Religion" and "Politics." But I will say more later on those two topics. They may have committed errors, but in my opinion have done nothing for which they should be punished today.

 

They regret being separated from the brethren of other countries, and, as we have seen from the letter quoted, they would welcome the fraternal hand from us. Separation is, I believe, due to misunderstanding.

 

French Masons seem to regard the institution as still in its infancy, not yet definitely formed, a progressive institution. They are not averse to trying out-reforms. They do not consider the institution is such as they should be satisfied with and refuse to change in any respect. They believe it should be changed, in anything but principle, if it will help to realize the dream of a world at peace and civilized in a truly Masonic sense. Their programme is entirely philosophical. Their Lodges are schools, existing to mould independent thinkers, free from prejudice and intolerance to take their part in the citizenship of the nation.

 

Stated briefly, their principles, etc., as set forth in their official pamphlet, "The Freemasonry of the Grand Orient of France," are somewhat as follows:

 

They recognise no truths save those based on reason and science, and combat particularly the "superstitions and presumptions" of French Clericalism. Their primordial law is Toleration, respect for all creeds, all ideas, and all opinions. They impose no dogma on their adherents. They encourage free research for truths-- scientific, moral, political and social. Their work among members is to develop their faculties and to augment their knowledge by study and discussion. Men of all classes are taken into their Lodges to work in common "for the emancipation of the human spirit, for the independence of the people, and for the social welfare of humanity."

 

Their system of morality is based on the teaching that to be happier one has to be better. The scientific study of the human heart establishes for them the fact that social life is the most indispensable weapon in the struggle for existence. Those who live a common life and band themselves together endure, while those who isolate themselves succumb. The association of individuals develops love and expands in the heart desire for the welfare of all. They particularly point out that morality can be attained outside of religious superstitions or philosophical theories.

 

French Freemasonry, in addition to striving to emancipate its members and separate morality from religious superstition and theory, recognises its mission to make citizens free and equal before the law--to develop the idea of brotherhood and equality. She enunciates the principle that it is the primitive heritage of man, his individual right, to enjoy fully the fruit of his work; to say and to write that which he thinks; to join himself to his fellows when he sees fit; to make that which seems good to him; to associate for common purposes of any kind, material or intellectual; to put into practice, his ideas and his opinions; to teach that which he learns in the course of experience and study, and to demand from society respect for the liberties for each and all.

 

This may sound very socialistic, but the conditions of the country may have required a declaration of that kind from Masonry. I cannot help regarding this as simply a distinct protest against the encroachments of Clericalism.

 

This pamphlet further declares that Masonry works for the assuring of the triumph of democracy, so that citizens can take "a direct part, as considerable as possible, in carrying on of public affairs, and in exercising the greatest possible part of that national sovereignty towards which the people of France have marched for a century without being able to attain."

 

French Freemasonry interests herself in social laws because she believes that through them men will realize the simultaneous welfare of the individual, the family and general society. History bears witness to the necessity of so moulding these laws as to overcome the rivalry of selfish interests from whence spring the miseries, the sufferings and hatreds of society. Social problems they, therefore, consider legitimate Masonic problems if Masonry is to fulfil its mission in its broadest sense. They believe the things that menace the progress of human society should be discussed, so that indirectly they may be drawn to the attention of public opinion, and through that laws will be demanded to remedy them. Under this heading they cite particularly that they aim at legislation to combat misery which is the most active cause of degeneracy, bad morals and crimes; legislation to protect the child gainst moral, intellectual and physical atrophy; legislation to lighten the burden of the woman in the family and in society; legislation to recognize the dignity of abour, to ensure the safety of the labourer, and to help n solving the strifes of labour. They realize fully the vastness of the task they set themselves in intellectual, moral and social development, but Freemasonry, being a permanent institution, has the time for it, and does not therefore allow herself to be deterred because of the size of the task; a step at a time finally succeeds.

 

They describe their Lodges as being ateliers, in the sense of being study classes or schools. Their membership is recruited by voluntary impulse, as with us, the only condition of membership being that of being free, as we Masonically understand it, and of having good morals.

 

No dogma, religious, political or social, is imposed on their members. Each member has absolute liberty of thought, which he is led to modify or change along the lines of progression as his own sense may dictate when, by discussion, more extended knowledge and more numerous facts present themselves.

 

The condition that every free man of good morals, whatever his ideas may be, can introduce into the discussions of the Lodge principles and aspirations of the more diverse kind as to political and social conditions has the result of educating and moulding opinion in the best possible way. As when one stone is struck upon another a jet of light is produced, so when ideas clash, enlightenment likewise follows.

 

By virtue of a well-balanced scheme, to the centre of which these incongruous thoughts move from the absolute order maintained in the discussion, they understand themselves and criticise themselves. They analyse and refine the one, the other, and evolve a common reflected opinion.

 

The result is every French Freemason goes from Lodge, if not transformed, at least better informed, improved in every way. The truth which the Masonic study has created percolates indirectly into profane society, with manifest results.

 

French Freemasonry thus offers its initiates a means of re-union where they can inspect their efforts and their researches. She places them in the centre of human researches. "By the framework, by the symbols, by the custom, she makes them develop, without knowing it, the best that is in them, intellectually and morally, besides realizing the fruitful union of heart and spirit." She elevates individuals by inciting them to make themselves strong, desirable and true, just and good. She protects her members at the same time against excess by maintaining internal discipline.

 

By conducting these studies the Grand Orient of France keeps before her members, and indirectly before the people generally, the most practical model and the most ideal. She has already exerted a powerful influence on the different institutions of the people. Her task is to inculcate, more and more; true order for the betterment of humanity. In specifying more and more this ideal she works to the end of bringing about the most favourable conditions, and at the same time the most legitimate conditions, of happiness.

 

This "elevated school of intellectual and moral nobility" shines not to lose itself in mere abstraction, but studies what would seem to be of practical benefit to humanity. She gives her force, trained by intelligence, to the service of Light and of the Spirit. With study and research always going on and never interrupted, the Freemasonry of the Grand Orient of France cannot therefore become dogma. New thought and reason is ever being evolved. Further investigation is forever upsetting proven theories.

 

As to their methods of working to these ends, the pamphlet gives some very interesting information. Their annual Convention, composed of delegates from all the Lodges, meets in Paris every year in the month of September. One of the most important functions of this Convention is to fix the questions which ought to be referred, for the consideration of the Lodges during the ensuing year. The programme is discussed, added to and taken from, and finally adopted and sent out to the Lodges. By this method the General Convention condenses the thought of Masonry throughout all the Lodges, and members are kept in touch with all the studies pursued in other Lodges than their own. The Masonic thought of the whole country is systematized and crystallized.

 

Aside from the Convention programme, each Lodge keeps a teacher to study problems of philosophy, morality, socialism, and history, and bring before the Lodge what he considers worthy of discussion. The Lodges work, therefore, largely on their own initiative, and these new discussions are reported at the next Convention, and may perhaps be put on the general programme for the following year. To us these discussions might seem to lead on to dangerous ground and have bad effects. With reference to this they say:

 

"The discussions which these problems provoke are always conducted courteously and amicably. Tolerance is the first rule of the Masonic Association. It is thus that men belonging to philosophical or political schools, of the most diverse kind, may find harmoniously, without noise and without vain agitations, the solution of the problems which interest the prosperity of the nation and the progress of humanity."

 

Among the principal questions examined in the Conventions and in the Lodges for some years back are the following, taken from a list they give:

 

SOCIOLOGICAL--

The status of women and children in modern society.

The struggle against alcoholism.

The struggle against crime, more especially juvenile crime. 

The means of combating prostitution, vagabondage, and mendicancy.

 

LEGISLATIVE--

The reform and simplification of legal procedure.

Reform of the Magistracy.

Civil Service administration.

Public instruction, the taking it out of the hands of the clergy.

Betterings of methods of taxation.

 

ECONOMIC--

Condition of the working man and how it may be bettered.

Co-operation.

Cheap dwelling houses.

Agricultural credits.

Working men's credits.

Means of encouraging the apprentice system.

Homes for working women.

 

PHILOSOPHIC--

Study of morality outside of all religious dogma.

The finding of a morality, lay and scientific.

Study of the various philosophical systems.

 

What I have just given is but a brief synopsis of what is contained in their pamphlet, "The Freemasonry of the Grand Orient of France," which, being an official publication for the purpose of setting forth their aims, aspirations and reasons for being, may be regarded as a fair statement.

 

What might also be called hereditary objections are hard to overcome, and some of you may now be disposed to think their philosophy and work mere socialism, to be scoffed at and carefully avoided by Masonry. The Sermon on the Mount was equally, if not more, socialistic, yet you do not think of putting it aside on account of that. A great English scholar once said that Christ's Sermon on the Mount may be justly regarded as the charter of Christian Socialism.

 

Objection may be raised that this kind of thought, working in French Masonic Lodges, would inevitably lead to the Masonic institution in France becoming a mere political organization. Such I do not believe to be the case, and in rebuttal of your thoughts, if they lean that way, I would refer you again to the statement in the letter I have quoted, that their membership is made up of men from all political parties in France. Along the same line I will quote paragraph 15 of their Constitution, which says:

 

"Lodges have the right of discipline over all their members and over all Masons present at their working.

 

"They prohibit all debates on the acts of Civil authority, and all Masonic intervention in the struggles of political parties.

 

"The presiding officer rules the meeting."

 

The Grand Orient of France has also at various times issued instructions enforcing the above rules. To quote:

 

"If, as citizens, the members of the Federation are free in their political actions, as Freemasons they must abstain from bringing the name and the flag of Freemasonry into election conflicts and the competition of parties."--Circular 1885.

 

"All political debates at Masonic meetings are strictly forbidden."--Circular 1885.

 

If French Masonry has a political influence, and no doubt it has, it is an indirect influence which we in this jurisdiction might do worse than emulate. The latest political influence they are credited with exerting is that which established secular schools in place of monastic schools. A few facts in connection with this will indicate why the French people, non-Masons as well as Masons, demanded this separation. In France in 1897 there were fourteen convictions in the Courts against monastic teachers for "outrages on decency." In 1898 there were thirteen more convictions for similar offences. Severe sentences were imposed in each case by Catholic judges.

 

Is it any wonder that the monasteries were abolished and secular schools established? Masonry has been blamed in magazine articles for bringing this change about. No official action was taken. Some informers may have been Masons, but not all of them. Who would not inform? I have not been able to find any evidence to substantiate the charge made against Masonry, but if similar conditions existed in this country I should be sorry if the Masonic institution here were not red-blooded enough to exert an influence to right such a wrong. If that would condemn us to being called a political institution, I for one would rejoice in the name.

 

The Grand Orient of France is not a political organization, nor does it aim to be. It does aim to be an influence in moulding the opinions of its members, so that when they are called upon to act and vote as citizens they may do so with a view to the general good. We might well copy much from their Masonic educational system, to the profit of our Masonic institution, both individually and collectively. Our interest in public questions is largely material. Only where the financial interests are directly affected do we as a people seem to bring ourselves to the point of investigating, criticizing, and demanding the correction of faults in our public government. We overlook altogether the by far greater problems of government--sociological questions, moral reforms, and other phases of public betterment which French Masons make a study of. If there were the possibility of a Boodling Scandal in connection with these other questions they might be more live topics of interest with us.

 

(To be continued)

 

----o----

 

OPINION AND ACTION ON MILITARY LODGES BY GRAND MASTERS

 

UTAH

 

MILITARY LODGES DEEMED INADVISABLE - UTAH SOLDIER-MASONS ENCOURAGED TO ORGANIZE REGIMENTAL MASONIC CLUB

 

The subject of the organization of a Military Lodge is an interesting one, and has received our serious consideration, particularly in connection with the possibility of such a Lodge being attached to the Utah Regiment of Artillery which is now stationed in California. After careful consideration of the matter, we are of the opinion that the organization of such a Lodge is inadvisable and unnecessary, particularly as the Masonic and social relations can be satisfactorily maintained by means of a Masonic Club, which we believe can take care of the matters which appear to warrant an organization of our Masonic Brethren, and without any of the objectionable features which might partake of the organization of a Military Lodge. We have, therefore, encouraged our membership in the Utah Regiment of Artillery to associate themselves in the character of a Masonic Club, and we are prepared to give all proper recognition and encouragement to that organization, but I am confident that our Grand Lodge will not sanction the more formal organization which a Military Lodge would assume.

 

C. F. Jennings, Grand Master.

 

* * *

 

WISCONSIN

 

GRAND MASTER OPPOSED TO SUCH LODGE - WOULD REFUSE TO GRANT DISPENSATIONS

 

The Grand Lodge of Wisconsin has taken no action concerning the chartering of Military Lodges and I feel sure that if such a proposition should ever be made in the Grand Lodge it would be rejected.

 

Personally I am opposed to their creation and, under no circumstances, would issue a dispensation to form them.

 

Existing as they would in the midst of the most unsettled conditions imaginable, they could not be under any effective control of the Grand Lodge or Grand Master, neither would it be possible for their officers to give adequate attention to the affairs of their Lodges. The initiation of undesirable material, inlproper conferring of degrees, election to office of Brethren unqualified for leadership, are only some of the evils which would be likely to result. Such a Lodge, while perfectly fit in every way at the time it might be placed under Dispensation, could, as an outcome of war activities, easily degenerate into an organization which would be a Masonic Lodge in name only and would, of course, bring the honored name of Masonry into ill repute.

 

These and other like considerations would actuate my refusal to grant any dispensations of this kind, should the matter ever be presented to me.

 

W. S. Griswold, Grand Master.

 

----o----

 

OUR TENETS

 

Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth.

As Masons we are taught,

What higher theme, or nobler creed,

Need anywhere be sought?

Could we but know, and feel the truth,

Each is to each a Brother,

The rich, the poor, the high, the low,

All children of one Father,

Our duty, and our happiness,

Misfortune to relieve,

And share with those less blessed than we,

The good gifts we receive,

To comfort the unfortunate,

The wounded heart to bind,

And by sweet sympathy restore,

Peace, to the troubled mind.

With Truth, that attribute Divine,

Of all the Virtues known,

The fixed and sure foundation,

The very Corner stone,

By which as Masons we are taught,

To guard against deceit,

And with sincere plain dealing,

Life's every duty meet,

To promote each other's welfare.

We join both heart and voice,

And in each other's happiness.

We one and all rejoice.

 

(B.)

 

----o----

 

CORRESPONDENCE CIRCLE BULLETIN -- NO. 15

 

DEVOTED TO ORGANIZED MASONIC STUDY

 

EDITED BY BRO. ROBERT I. CLEGG

 

 

THE BULLETIN COURSE OF MASONIC STUDY FOR MONTHLY LODGE MEETINGS AND STUDY CLUBS

 

FOUNDATION OF THE COURSE

 

THE Course of Study has for its foundation two sources of Masonic information: THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. In another paragraph is explained how the references to former issues of THE BUILDER and to Mackey's Encyclopedia may be worked up as supplemental papers to exactly fit into each installment of the Course with the paper by Brother Clegg.

 

MAIN OUTLINE

 

The Course is divided into five principal divisions which are in turn subdivided, as is shown below:

 

Division I. Ceremonial Masonry.

A. The Work of a Lodge.

B. The Lodge and the Candidate.

C. First Steps.

D. Second Steps.

E. Third Steps.

 

Division II. Symbolical Masonry.

A. Clothing.

B. Working Tools.

C. Furniture.

D. Architecture.

E. Geometry.

F. Signs.

G. Words.

H. Grips.

 

Division III. Philosophical Masonry.

A. Foundations.

B. Virtues.

C. Ethics.

D. Religious Aspect.

E. The Quest.

F. Mysticism.

G. The Secret Doctrine.

 

Division IV. Legislative Masonry.

A. The Grand Lodge.

1. Ancient Constitutions.

2. Codes of Law.

3. Grand Lodge Practices.

4. Relationship to Constituent Lodges.

5. Official Duties and Prerogatives.

B. The Constituent Lodge.

1. Organization.

2. Qualifications of Candidates.

3. Initiation, Passing and Raising.

4. Visitation.

5. Change of Membership.

 

Division V. Historical Masonry.

A. The Mysteries--Earliest Masonic Light.

B. Study of Rites--Masonry in the Making.

C. Contributions to Lodge Characteristics.

D. National Masonry.

E. Parallel Peculiarities in Lodge Study.

F. Feminine Masonry.

G. Masonic Alphabets.

H. Historical Manuscripts of the Craft.

I. Biographical Masonry.

J. Philological Masonry--Study of Significant Words.

 

THE MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS Each month we are presenting a paper written by Brother Clegg who is following the foregoing outline. We are now in "First Steps" of Ceremonial Masonry. There will be twelve monthly papers under this particular subdivision. At the head of each installment will be given a number of "Helpful Hints" consisting of questions to be used by the chairman of the Committee during the study period which will bring out every point touched upon in the paper.

 

Whenever possible we shall reprint in the Correspondence Circle Bulletin articles from other sources which have a direct bearing upon the particular subject covered by Brother Clegg in his monthly paper. These articles should be used as supplemental papers in addition to those prepared by the members from the monthly list of references. Much valuable material that would otherwise possibly never come to the attention of many of our members will thus be presented.

 

The monthly installments of the Course appearing in the Correspondence Circle Bulletin should be used one month later than their appearance. If this is done the Committees will have opportunity to arrange their programs several weeks in advance of the meetings and the Brethren who are members of the National Masonic Research Society will be better enabled to enter into the discussions after they have read over and studied the installment in THE BUILDER.

 

REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTAL PAPERS Immediately preceding each of Brother Clegg's monthly papers in the Correspondence Circle Bulletin will be found a list of references to THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. These references are pertinent to the paper and will either enlarge upon many of the points touched upon or bring out new points for reading and discussion. They should be assigned by the Committee to different Brethren who may compile papers of their own from the material thus to be found, or in many instances the articles themselves or extracts therefrom may be read directly from the originals. The latter method may be followed when the members may not feel able to compile original papers, or when the original may be deemed appropriate without any alterations or additions.

 

HOW TO ORGANIZE FOR AND CONDUCT THE STUDY MEETINGS

 

The Lodge should select a "Research Committee" preferably of three "live" members. The study meetings should be held once a month, either at a special meeting of the Lodge called for the purpose, or at a regular meeting at which no business (except the Lodge routine) should be transacted--all possible time to be given to the study period.

 

After the Lodge has been opened and all routine business disposed of, the Master should turn the Lodge over to the Chairman of the Research Committee. This Committee should be fully prepared in advance on the subject for the evening. All members to whom references for supplemental papers have been assigned should be prepared with their papers and should also have a comprehensive grasp of Brother Clegg's paper.

 

PROGRAM FOR STUDY MEETINGS

 

1. Reading of the first section of Brother Clegg's paper and the supplemental papers thereto.

 

(Suggestion: While these papers are being read the members of the Lodge should make notes of any points they may wish to discuss or inquire into when the discussion is opened. Tabs or slips of paper similar to those used in elections should be distributed among the members for this purpose at the opening of the study period.)

 

2. Discussion of the above.

 

3. The subsequent sections of Brother Clegg's paper and the supplemental papers should then be taken up, one at a time, and disposed of in the same manner.

 

4. Question Box.

 

Invite questions from any and all Brethren present. Let them understand that these meetings are for their particular benefit and get them into the habit of asking all the questions they may think of. Every one of the papers read will suggest questions as to facts and meanings which may not perhaps be actually covered at all in the paper. If at the time these questions are propounded no one can answer them, SEND THEM IN TO US. All the reference material we have will be gone through in an endeavor to supply a satisfactory answer. In fact we are prepared to make special research when called upon, and will usually be able to give answers within a day or two. Please remember, too, that the great Library of the Grand Lodge of Iowa is only a few miles away, and, by order of the Trustees of the Grand Lodge, the Grand Secretary places it at our disposal on any query raised by any member of the Society.

 

FURTHER INFORMATION

 

The foregoing information should enable local Committees to conduct their Lodge study meetings with success. However, we shall welcome all inquiries and communications from interested Brethren concerning any phase of the plan that is not entirely clear to them, and the services of our Study Club Department are at the command of our members, Lodge and Study Club Committees at all times.

 

HELPFUL HINTS TO STUDY CLUB LEADERS

 

From the following questions the Committee should select, some time prior to the evening of the study meeting, the particular questions that they may wish to use at their meeting which will bring out the points in the following paper which they desire to discuss. Even were but five minutes devoted to the discussion of each of the questions given it will be seen that it would be impossible to discuss all of them in ten or twelve hours. The wide variety of questions here given will afford individual Committees an opportunity to arrange their program to suit their own fancies and also furnish additional material for a second study meeting each month if desired by the members.

 

In conducting the study periods the Chairman should endeavor to hold the discussions closely to the text and not permit the members to speak too long at one time or to stray onto another subject. Whenever it becomes evident that the discussion is turning from the original subject the Chairman should request the speaker to make a note of the particular point or phase of the matter he wishes to discuss or inquire into, and bring it up when the Question Box period is opened.

 

QUESTIONS ON "PRAYER"

 

1. What is prayer? Is it an instinct, or an art? Is its successful use governed by laws? Does prayer violate the laws of Nature ? Is it a necessary part of the Masonic life ? Why ? How do you think prayer is answered? For what should we ?ray ? Is audible prayer necessary ? Have you ever tested prayer by actual experiment ? Is the cry of an infant a supplication to God? In what sense is the child "an epitome of theace" ? What is the object of prayer ?

 

2. What is the candidate's first voluntary act in the Lodge ? Is what follows a part of the instruction of the Lodge? Does the Lodge set the example ? How ? How did primitive man pray? With what did he accompany his prayer? What sacrifice did you make, when you became a Mason ? Has your service in behalf of Masonry been a sacrifice ? If not, have you really gotten anything out of Masonry?

 

3. What is the candidate's part in the act of invocation? Why do men kneel in prayer? Why do they close their eyes? What is meant by "an attitude of prayer" ? Are there other attitudes than those mentioned ? Explain the meaning of the several parts of a monitorial prayer. What does "Amen" mean ? What does "so mote it be" mean? A congregation may join in prayer, either mentally or audibly; what is the effect upon you when you are a part of a congregation thus engaged?

 

4. What is Faith? Is it the same as Trust, Confidence ? What part does faith play in business? in social life? in friendship ? Is faith approved by reason ? What is meant by "the faith of a Mason"? Is a prayerless, faithless life "atheism" in practice ? Do savages pray ? How ? Have we improved the art of prayer as we have improved other arts ? Can the vote of a Lodge be in fact a prayer? Is it a manly thing to pray? Do you believe in the old saying "To Labor is to Pray"? Can you name some great men who used the habit of prayer ? Would you be ashamed to dimit that you used it?

 

REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTAL PAPERS

 

The articles by Brother Haywood, Newton and Wagstaff and the additional selections from other sources in this issue of the Correspondence Circle Bulletin should afford Study Club leaders an opportunity to make this installment of the Course one of the most interesting they have yet had. Use as many of them as possible, assigning them to your most interested members for reading at your meeting. Additional references may be found as follows:

 

Mackey's Encyclopedia: Prayer, p. 577. 

 

THE BUILDER:

Vol. I--Prayer in Masonry, p. 186.

Vol. II--A Mason's Prayer, p. 180; The Great Prayer, p. 368. 

Vol. III--What An Entered Apprentice Ought to Know, April C. C. B., p. 6.

 

FIRST STEPS

 

BY BRO ROBERT I. CLEGG

 

PART III--PRAYER

 

"As Masons we are taught that no man should enter upon any great or important undertaking without first invoking the blessing of Deity."

 

PRAYER is the voice of hope strengthened by faith. Prayer is the expectant utterance of the elect. Prayer is petition purified, and therefore powerful. Prayer is the appealing speech of subject to sovereign, of the creature to the Creator.

 

Aspiration is that ambitious attitude of man that seeks hopefully unto a happy end of effort. That is prayer in action. That is what the Bible surely means when speaking of the effectual fervent speech that availeth much. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much," as is said in James, v. 16.

 

A natural act it truly is to implore the aid and protection of a power greater than our own in a time of difficulty or danger. The child clutching at its mother's gown to steady the faltering footsteps of infancy is but a prophecy and a pattern of maturity. Perhaps the inarticulate feeble cry of the infant, the earliest pang of pain or weakness made vocal, is but significant of that universal seeking for succor by humanity lifting up its voice unto the heavens, the child being an epitome of the race.

 

KNEELING POSTURE

 

How natural is the ordinary kneeling posture of prayer. He that prays is himself a symbol of subjection when kneeling in an attitude of supplication; the unseeing eyes show abstraction-- inward looking-- the folded hands beseech compassion and favor. Then is the candidate nearer to his God. Then does the Divinity that shapes our ends approach us the closer, our sightless eyes are opened to introspection and we are prompted aright in action and speech.

 

THE LODGE SETS THE EXAMPLE FOR THE CANDIDATE

 

There is another prayerful attitude aside from that privacy suggested by darkness and solitude. There is the prayer of a number, a congregation interceding for themselves or for others. Therein comes the unity of similar acts, many performing the same ceremony simultaneously strengthens in every participant the sentiment of his neighbors. To stand with bowed heads and attentive minds while another prays the words that are in the hearts of all those assembled means community of prayer, a common supplication.

 

THE LODGE INSTRUCTS AND SUPPLICATES FOR THE CANDIDATE

 

Consider the Lodge and the candidate solemnly in a sacrificial spirit offering contritely their aspirations for the good of all. There is the confident expression of belief in a Supreme Being whose blessing is sought for both the Lodge and the candidate to the end that both may, in their humble powers, reflect the glory of heaven.

 

THE CANDIDATE'S PART

 

The candidate is ever an active element in all that is done. For him, with him, by him,--everything is done in his behalf. Prayer is at the beginning and the end of all Masonic work. Particularly is prayer applicable in the first steps of the candidate in our mysteries. In it he participates. In attitude and in aspiration he has an active and a typical part. He fills a place peculiarly his own. Both in posture and in response he meets all requirements or he fits none. Shut out from the world, the world forgetting, by the world forgotten, darkness blots away all disturbing factors of sight. Withdrawn from the world, there are but the reminders of ritualistic instruction penetrating by other avenues than the eye.

 

"AMEN--SO MOTE IT BE"

 

The word "Amen" and the phrase "So Mote It Be" are synonymous terms. Their use is familiar to all Masons. The word "Amen" is of Hebrew origin, of which the root meaning is "stability," generally adopted in Christian worship as a concluding formula for prayers and hymns. Three distinct biblical usages may be noted. (a) Initial Amen, referring back to words of another speaker, e. g. I Kings i. 36, "And Benaiah the son of Jehoiaba answered the king, and said, Amen: the Lord God of my lord the king say so too." (b) Detached Amen, the complimentary sentence being suppressed, e. g. Neh. v. 13, "Also I shook my lap, and said, so God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that performeth not this promise, even thus he be shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praise the Lord. And the people did according to this promise." Rev. v. 14, "And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever." (c) Final Amen, with no change of speaker, as in the subscription to the first three divisions of the Psalter and in the frequent doxologies of the New Testament Epistles. The uses of amen ("verily") in the gospels form a peculiar class; they are initial but often lack any backward reference. Jesus used the word to affirm his own utterances, not those of another person, and this usage was adopted by the church. The liturgical use of the word in apostolic times is attested by the passage from I Cor., and Justin Martyr (A.D. 150) describes the congregation as responding "amen" to the benediction after the celebration of the Eucharist.

 

Among certain Gnostic sects Amen became the name of an angel, and in post-biblical Jewish works exaggerated statements are multiplied as to the right method and the bliss of pronouncing it. It is still used in the service of the synagogue, and the Mohammedans not only add it after reciting the first Sura of the Koran, but also when writing letters, etc., and repeat it three times, often with the word Qimtir, as a kind of talisman.

 

TRUST AND FAITH

 

The greater the importance and the greater the difficulty of any undertaking, the more essential it is that an implicit trust in God shall guide our feet and make sure and steadfast our stumbling steps. Do we deserve that help? Then let us fear not but go forward of good courage.

 

Scepticism is frequent. Cynicism is rife. Among Masons it is not rare to have the student belittled by the uninformed. Too often an ideal is shattered by "What is the use?"

 

Take heart. Beneath the social veneer is sound substance. Rough as may be the raw diamond, every rightly directed rub of polish adds to its lustre and swells its flashing rays of light.

 

True, honesty and sincerity are elbowed out of the newspaper columns by the record of crime. Be not alarmed. An orgy of wrongdoing is not rampant. No indeed, the very opposite is true. Only the uncommon is news. What everybody knows is not news. What is mentioned in the daily papers is the rare, the novel, the curious, the quaint. When you see crime portrayed in print, be assured that evil is not supreme. It should remind us that good men and women are too common for advertisement.

 

Abroad in the land is the spirit of Masonry. Business in mighty bulk is transacted upon the mere pledged word. Appeals for trade are voiced with the fervor of religious faith. A discussion among men of business, advertising men, engineers, and others, is usually found in one avenue or another associated with lofty ideals, a philosophy of self-sacrifice and personal devotion. Masonry is this leaven of mankind, a lever of uplift, a light ever leading unto love.

 

TO LABOR IS TO PRAY

 

An old Latin motto, "Labore est Orore," says in effect, "Work is prayer, to labor is to pray." When the ancient craftsmen wrought their structures into the glorious Gothic pinnacles and spires, pilasters and columns, and flung the flying buttresses and beams astride the spacious transepts of gracious cathedrals, the ornate stone and carved wood expressed their faith, hope and charity, the sumptuous record of their souls. The enduring wood and stone perpetuated their prayers.

 

How far does modern Masonry impress its teaching on the times? Will we as did our forefathers in Freemasonry carve into the character of men something of what the craftsmen of old worked into these buildings that yet remain of grandeur and renown ?

 

Let us answer these questions in our own hearts. They are worth our careful study.

 

Consider, too, that Masonry tells us how we may pray for ourselves and for others but the prayers of others are not to substitute for our own. We are to pray for ourselves and for others. Is this your idea of prayer ?

 

Have you not met that Mason whose impression of Masonry is not that of a partnership? His conception of Masonry is that of an organization that does something for him, not of an organization that is served by him and by all the other members? Do you not think that this is the real difference between a member and a Mason?

 

Of course you all know that a Mason is more than a mere member, being vaccinated is certainly more than going through the motions of an operation. If it does not take, the work is a failure.

 

MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE

 

Thus there are two aspects of Masonry, receiving and contributing, taking and giving. He who wears the jewelry and carries the card and diploma receives some reward, but he who wears the instruction in his heart distributes rewards. Happy is he who does all things Masonically with discrimination and zeal.

 

The strength of Masonry is in the unity of its members and in their acceptance of its duties. When they expect more than they give, Masonry weakens by that drain upon her substance. When Masons expect less than they contribute of their service, that surplus strengthens the common source of energy and all profit by the sacrifice.

 

The element of sacrifice is indeed inseparable from prayer. The Mason may well ponder how aptly in modern days or of old he that prayed made an offering. The supplication to his God was accompanied by a gift upon the altar. Many are the instances recorded in the Bible of just such offerings, too numerous for enumeration.

 

Well, what is the sacrifice when a man becomes a Mason? What then is offered upon the altar of Masonry? Why, nothing less than the man himself.

 

God in Fatherhood, man in brotherliness, each thought suggests service; the sonship of worship unto the Father, the fraternity of men actuated by the lasting lessons of an antique and unique schooling. We get by giving. We earn as we truly learn. Our real fame is as we aim.

 

When the temptation comes to be impatient because the institution is not moving as some individual wishes, is not voting as some person may vote, then reflect that its greatest glory is in the chastening and refining of the individual character.

 

Masonry is never a mob. Masonry is always personal. Masons are never to be herded. Masons are to be heeded.

 

Prayer to the Mason is most natural, a very plopeact of devotion and of adoration, a practical act of worship. In it he but follows the Divine command, "Ask and ye shall receive." There is in it the very essence of faith, for without faith there is neither purpose nor direction nor end in prayer.

 

When a vote is used as is a prayer it is used Masonically. When the franchise is exercised by freemen in a Masonic fashion it is employed in the spirit of prayer. Whatever is done Masonically is prayerful.

 

* * *

 

Watch once more, my brethren, the first contact of a candidate with our Craft, his entrance into Masonry. Apply for yourselves his lessons of faith. Turn back the pages of your career and see yourselves again in him as when you first entered the lodge. Renew with him your pledges, replenish your trust, recall the old thrill of your Entered Apprenticeship. It shall not be in vain. There is not in all the affairs of life a solitary foothold for you where that knowledge will not serve you well. Yes, watch, and pray.

 

"INVOKING THE BLESSING OF DEITY" BY BRO. H. L. HAYWOOD, IOWA

 

(By the kindness of Brother H. L. Haywood, who edits the Library department of this Journal, we have been privileged to lift from the pages of his forthcoming book of interpretation of the three degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry, the following delightful paragraphs relating to Prayer. They are so truly interpretative of the subject matter of this month's Bulletin study that we would feel our issue incomplete without them.)

 

It is of the highest import that in the ceremony of initiation the candidate's first act is to kneel at the altar of prayer for this is nothing other than a symbol of the fact that all right life, inside and outside of the Lodge, is anchored to the power of prayer. It is of further significance that in the early Degree he has another to pray for him while at a later time he must pray for himself because this is a recognition of prayer as an art to be learned gradually as all other arts are learned.

 

Brother J. T. Thorp, the veteran English student, has suggested that the Apprentice prayer has come to us from the old custom of beginning each Old Charge with an Invocation; this is a reasonable, historical inference, but it does not go deep enough. The prayer is in the Masonic ceremony because it must be in the Masonic life, and the important point here is not how we came to pray, but why we do pray; and the reason we do pray is that we can not help it. Man is a praying creature because of the way he is made, and not all the arguments of the naturalist or all the sophistries of the skeptic can cure him of the habit.

 

Prayer is more "than the aspiration of the soul toward the absolute and Infinite Intelligence"; it is more than meditation; it is more than the soul's dialogue with its own higher self; it is more than soliloquy; prayer is a force and accomplishes work in its own appropriate realm. When a forester wishes to fell a tree he uses an axe; when a farmer desires a crop he plows the soil and sows the grain; the merchant who seeks money applies himself to his trade; by token of the same universal law of cause and effect the soul that would get spiritual work done applies the instrument of prayer.

 

If it be said that God is all-knowing and all-powerful and does not need our praying we reply that there are some things which God will not do, whether He can or not without the assistance of man. Working by Himself God produces the wild dog-rose; working with man He produces an "American Beauty"; working by Himself He produces the wild wheat, unfruitful and inedible; working with man He carpets the prairies with heavy-headed grain, enough to feed a nation; working by Himself He brought forth the first man, half animal, half human, slinking in his mildewed cave and killing his prey with his hands, like the wild bear; working in co-operation with man they Two have brought forth this human world of netted highways and thrumming cities--literature, art, beauty, the temple, and the home, the Iliad, the Tempest, the Bible, Homer, Shakespeare, and Christ. Man co-operates with God in transforming Nature by the use of his hands; he cooperates with God in transforming the spirit by the use of prayer. Besides, God has not shut Himself out of the soul that He has made and prayer itself may well be His own activity, His Divine hand-clasp with the human heart.

 

This is not to justify the use of prayer, there is no need of that; it is its own justification. After all is said pro and con, the fact remains that the great souls have been the great prayers. It is not for us to twist this fact about to suit our theories; it is for us to adjust our theories to the fact. Prayer widens our horizons; purifies our motives, disciplines the will, releases us from the gravitations of the material, sets a new light in the fact and links us to Heaven in an ineffable fellowship. It is a stairway let down by God into the inmost chamber-of our heart up and down which the better angels of our nature pass and re-pass in their healing ministries.

 

Upon this earth there is nothing more eloquent than the silence of a company of men and women bowed in the hush and awe of a House of Prayer. Through all the groping generations the soul of man has never ceased to seek a city unseen and eternal. No thoughtful man but at some time has mused over this great adoring habit of our humanity, and the marvel of it deepens the longer he ponders it. That instinct for eternity which draws together the stones of a stately cathedral, where the shadow of the Infinite is bidden to linger, tells us more of what man is than all else besides. So far as we know, man is the only being on our planet that pauses to pray, and the wonder of his worship is at once a revelation and a prophecy.

 

"Man sits here shaping wings to fly; 

His heart forbodes a mystery; 

He names the name of Eternity.

 

That type of Perfect in his mind 

In Nature he can nowhere find, 

He sows himself on every wind.

 

He seems to hear a Heavenly Friend, 

And through thick walls to apprehend 

A labor working toward an end."

 

 PRAYER IS TRUST BY BRO. JOSEPH FORT NEWTON, ENGLAND

 

The first great element of prayer is aspiration--a hunger for better being and doing, a looking onward and upward to an ideal which, seen afar off, is yearned after; a discontent with present attainments and performances, an inability to rest in things as they are. When a young man gives up wild or careless habits, begins to save money, to use his time to good account, brace himself against the lure to idleness and evil, he is praying, though he might be abashed if one told him that his wistful reaching forth toward something higher and better was prayer. Wherever improvement is being desired and sought--improvement not only in what we have, but in what we are and do--there is prayer, even though no word is uttered. A man in his workshop, factory or office, who, from morn to eve is striving to realize his ideal of honor, efficiency and service, is praying the livelong day. When an ideal of manhood is cherished, in the light of which our best is never wholly satisfactory, and which is evermore urging us to go beyond it, there is prayer. Such a man, though he kneel not during the day, goes prayerfully to his bed a better man, and the hum of his honest industry is the music of a liturgy.

 

Nor does he pray simply for himself alone. All prayer, by its very nature, is benevolent and intercessory. When a man is devoted to the pursuit of knowledge, caring more for it than for any worldly honor; when he is in search for truth, ready, if need be, to suffer that he may find it; when he desires to help forward a good cause, willing to sacrifice for it-- when a man lives thus, he is exemplifying that love of the best things of which all prayer is the expression. Who can labor for the good and not begin to throb with desire for the good of others? What man, not cursed with hopeless selfishness, can enter the presence of the Eternal Goodness and ask only in his own behalf? When he closes the door of his oratory he remembers not simply his own burdens, but the griefs and woes of others. One who, like Abou Ben Adhem, loves his fellow man, need not bow his head and clasp his hands, before sleeping, to save the day from being prayerless, since it has been full of prayer. Yet no one can enter his oratory before falling into the mystery of sleep, without learning something for the comfort of his heart and the health of his soul.

 

Again, all true prayer has its roots in trust, and he is praying who dares trust truth, right, and honor, no matter the cost, though he may not kneel in a temple. Let him bow in the temple, but when on the day following he obeys the light within him when it points, maybe, to a lonely road, where he will no longer walk with troops of friends--that also is prayer. If prayer is trust, he who trusts the reigning rectitude, trusts conscience, trusts duty, trusts principle habitually, fearful only of unfaithfulness, and with tranquil courage pursues his way, is a man of prayer. No matter how loud he may pray in the temple, if he seeks even a worthy end by unworthy means, his prayer has no wings. We pray by our desires, our motives, our tears. and by our acts--praying without ceasing to the God who is over all, in all, and working through all.

 

 THE DIGNITY OF PRAYER MY BRO. DENMAN S..WAGSTAFF, P. M., CALIFORNIA

 

The great secret forcing along a final and complete consciousness of one's worthiness when asking for anything, either from The Great Architect or from just a common "Fellow-Craft" along the road, is the knowledge in advance, of having earned the favor. Hence we have the right and privilege to ask for that something which we are convinced belongs to us.

 

The knowledge of worthiness is the backbone of the request. In most every instance a request coming from such a source is granted. Thus we may say that the request and the answer go hand in hand. The giving and receiving are correlative. The effort means its accomplishment.

 

These jewels should be among the contents of the cornerstone of our individual "Temples," which if guided in their building, planned in their inception by the absolute worthiness of the reason for building, lead to the final raising of an edifice wherein there shall be no false gods, false oaths, unfilled obligations nor anything which doth not belong within a "Temple." We may then pray with a dignity born of Truth.

 

How many do pray just through the habit of asking for everything in sight. How many are disappointed, when after meeting with sudden, almost selfinflicted misfortune, prayer brings nothing. Prayer is indeed nothing, if robbed of its dignity. It can not be heard. The real preparation necessary to receive the object asked for is absent. There has been no effort to fill the cornerstone of Life with the records of Truth. We are out of our class. No previous performance. There is no record of our having even tried to merit an answer to our prayer, hence it is simply a wheedling, simpering, despairing cry without dignity and devoid of Truth.

 

What should constitute previous performance? It takes but little absolutely new to start. The obligation of the First Degree points the "Apprentice" way: "Be true to yourself." The Second Degree: "Be faithful to your friends and thus in a greater degree to yourself." The Third Degree: "Be to all men a brother. Be quick to lend a helping hand to all mankind--to all men, no matter of what faith or creed." Be sure to note that all men are equal in the sight of the Creator. Think always before entering upon an engagement. Let cleanliness of heart and tongue go hand in hand with every act. Look well ahead on the trail before you trust your feet upon it. You may, in a darkening moment, tread upon a brother fallen by the wayside. He should be placed upon his feet again. Then you may pray for more assistance, with all the "dignity" consistent effort commands. Your prayers will be answered in your good deed just crowned with accomplishment, even before your eyes. So shall we merit an endless Life, wherein Truth prevails.

 

PRAYER

 

(Literature contains many explanations of prayer--explanations which because of their liberal viewpoint might easily have been made by Masons well versed in the lore of the Craft. Time and again we have said in these pages that Masonry is not a religion, but that it is religion. It is not a cult, but its philosophy is the embodiment of all that is fundamental in religion, and therefore found underlying all cults and creeds. To the student who has grasped this conception of Masonry, the following quotations will bring a quiet satisfaction and an illuminating viewpoint of the true concepts of the Fraternity, as embodied in the teachings of its degrees.)

 

THE POWER OF PRAYER

 

Who will pray must know and understand that prayer is an earnest and familiar talking with God, to whom we declare our miseries, whose help we implore and desire in our adversities, and whom we laud and praise for our benefits received; so that prayer contains the exposition of our detours (troubles, sorrows), the desire of God's defense, and the praising of His magnificent name, as the Psalms of David clearly teach.

 

The consideration in whose presence we stand, to whom we speak, and what we desire, should excite us to the greatest reverence in doing this; standing in the presence of the omnipotent Creator of Heaven and earth, and of all that is therein; whom a thousand thousand angels assist and serve, giving obedience to His eternal majesty; and speaking unto Him who knoweth the secrets of our hearts, before whom dissimulation and lies are always odious and hateful; asking those things which may be most to His glory, and the comfort of our conscience. But we should attend diligently that such things as may offend His godly presence may be removed to the uttermost of our power. And first, that worldly cares and fleshy cogitations, such as draw us from our God, be expelled from us, that we may fully, without interruption, call upon God. But how difficult and hard this one thing is to perform in prayer, none know better than such as, in their prayers, are not content to remain within the bands of their own vanity, but are, as it were, enrapt, and do intend to a purity allowed of God; asking not such things as the foolish reason of man desires, but that which may be acceptable in God's presence. John Knox.

 

WHAT PRAYER ACCOMPLISHES

 

Prayer is a soliloquy; but being a soliloquy expressing need, and being furthermore, like sacrifice, a desperate expedient which men fly to in their impotence, it looks for an effect; to cry aloud, to make vows, to contrast eloquently the given with the ideal situation, is certainly as likely a way of bringing about a change for the better as it would be to chastise one's self severely, or to destroy what one loves best, or to perform acts altogether trivial and arbitrary. Prayer also is magic, and as such it is expected to do work. The answer looked for, or one which may be accepted instead, very often ensues; and it is then that mythology begins to enter in and seeks to explain by what machinery of divine passions and purposes that answering effect was produced.

 

* * * * The mythology that pretends to justify prayer by giving it a material efficacy misunderstands prayer completely and makes it ridiculous, for it turns away from the heart, which prayer expresses pathetically, to a fabulous cosmos where aspirations have been turned into things and have thereby stifled their own voices.

 

The situation would not be improved if we surrendered that mystical optimism, and maintained that prayer might really attract superhuman forces to our aid by giving them a signal without which they would not have been able to reach us. If experience lent itself to such a theory there would be nothing in it more impossible than in ordinary telepathy; prayer would then be an art like conversation, and the exact personages and interests would be discoverable to which we might appeal. A celestial diplomacy might then be established not very unlike primitive religions. Religion would have reverted to industry and science, to which the grosser spirits that take refuge under it have always wished to assimilate it.

 

* * * * What successful religion really should pass into is contemplation, ideality, poetry, in the sense in which poetry includes all imaginative moral life. That this is what religion looks to is very clear in prayer and in the efficacy which prayer consistently can have. In rational prayer the soul may be said to accomplish three things important to its welfare; it withdraws within itself and defines its good, it accommodates itself to destiny, and it grows like the ideal which it conceives.

 

If prayer springs from need it will naturally dwell on what would satisfy that necessity; sometimes, indeed, it does nothing else but articulate and eulogize what is most wanted and prized. This object will often be particular, and so it should be, since Socrates' prayer "for the best" would be perfunctory and vapid indeed in a man whose life had not been spent, like Socrates', in defining what the best was. --Geo. Santayana--"Reason in Religion."

 

PUTTING THE MIND IN A RECEPTIVE CONDITION

 

"Prayer is the highest form of co-operative action required on the part of man. Prayer is the mode of effort that is adapted to the nature of the spiritual good that is sought by it, as labor and study are modes of effort that are adapted to the inferior goods we seek. Labor and study are practical modes of asking for what we seek by them; a way of putting our minds into a receptive condition. So with prayer." --C. T. Porter, in "Mechanics and Faith."

 

PRAYER AND A DIVINE PLAN

 

There can be no difficulty in reconciling prayer with the theory of a divine plan when it is remembered that the Author of the plan instructs us to pray, and therefore his plan must include our prayers. But they must be right prayers and in a right spirit. They must never be demands. He who has the most of the spirit of prayer will be least disposed to press his own wishes. Having laid his petitions before the all-wise and all-loving Father, he will rest peacefully in the one desire that embraces and absorbs all others-- "Not my will, but thine, be done."

 

They must be trustful prayers. If we ask for guidance in the difficult ways of our daily life we must believe that he is so guiding us, however dark the pathway may seem to us. There was profound philosophy in the remark of a child in connection with the sad fate of President Garfield. The following conversation between two little girls was overheard:

 

"I am sure President Garfield will get well, because people are praying for him all over the world."

 

"I don't feel sure of it." "What! Don't you believe that God answers prayers?"

 

"Oh, yes! I know that God answers prayers. He always answers prayers, but sometimes He answers yes, and sometimes He answers no."

 

One of the scriptural injunctions to prayer which we feel it hard to take literally is that it shall be continual. "Pray without ceasing." Since we can not spend all our time upon our knees or in what we regard as the special religious exercise of prayer, we dismiss this plain direction as hyperbolical. But it is not. It is a clear instruction that we are to have a spirit of prayer in all that we do. There is no act of our lives so trifling that it does not come within the scope of God's plan. The spirit of prayer will therefore lead us to "pray without ceasing," that God's will may be done in the smallest particulars of our lives. The desire to do his will is a prayer. It does not need expression in words every moment, nor even "the upward lifting of an eye." The desire to act for God and not for self is a practical expression of the petition "Thy will be done" in every act that is thus consecrated. --Theo. F. Seward.

 

TRUE PRAYER

 

"That prayer which does not succeed in moderating our wish, in changing the passionate desire into still submission, the anxious, tumultuous expectation into silent surrender, is no true prayer, and proves that we have not the spirit of true prayer. That life is most holy in which there is the least of petition and desire, and most of waiting upon God; that in which petition most often passes into thanksgiving. Pray till prayer makes you forget your own wish, and leave it or merge it in God's will. The divine wisdom has given us prayer not as a means whereby to obtain the good things of earth, but as a means whereby we learn to do without them: not as a means whereby we escape evil, but as a means whereby we become strong to meet it." --F. W. Robertson.

 

A FAMOUS PRAYER WITH A MASONIC SIGNIFICANCE

 

(A mechanical device known as a "prayer-wheel" is used by the Buddhists of Tibet and Central Asia. It is generally formed of a pasteboard cylinder, wrapped in long paper bands inscribed with repetitions of the prayer "Om mani pad me hum." The efficacy of the devotion is reckoned by the number of revolutions made by the wheel.)

 

"Om mani pad me hum!" has become the "prayer" par excellence of Tibetan Buddhists: "the sum and substance of all the sentences of all the Buddhas concentrated in one word." With a Sanskrit origin and meaning somewhat obscure, this jumble of six syllables is repeated by deified lamas, despotic princes, vicious priests, and humble laymen from the mountains of India to the plains of China. In the Tibetan-English Dictionary of the learned Jaschke under the syllable "Om" we have the following explanation: "Om" a mystical interjection .... the symbol of the Hindu triad inasmuch as it consists of three sounds A. U. M., or Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma respectively. This interjection frequently occurs in the prayers of the Northern Buddhists of Tibet, and especially in the famous six-syllable prayer "Om mani pad me hum," the literal meaning of which is: "O thou jewel in the Lotus hum." The person addressed in these words is not Buddha but Spyan Ras Gzigs, and by some he is thought to be the author of them. The Tibetans themselves are ignorant of the proper sense of the six syllables, if sense at all there be in them.... The simple and popular but also the flattest of these explanations is derived from the purely extrinsic circumstance that the Sanskrit words of the prayer consist of six syllables . . . (which), when pronounced by a pious Buddhist, convey a blessing upon one of the six classes of beings; (gods, demi-gods, men, animals, hungry giants, and inmates of Hell).

 

"Om mani pad me hum" seems to be written on everything, and repeated by everyone everywhere. It is muttered by bands of lamas at the picturesque religious ceremonies, accompanied by ringing bells, clanging cymbals, blaring trumpets, booming drums, and wailing flutes. It is droned with feverish haste and weird monotony by individuals for the benefit of families in health, sickness, death; and it is muttered and garbled by countless laymen on wild steppes, dangerous passes, gloomy forests and busy markets, without intermission from early dawn till late at night. For instance, the traveller may meet an unkempt nomad or unwashed woman. The lips are moving rapidly and a droning sound seems to be proceeding from the depths of the stomach. You greet them and the droning momentarily ceases. Out goes a long tongue and it would seem that death from asphyxiation was imminent, but you are soon relieved to hear your salutation returned and the strange noise continued as if nothing had happened. With the Tibetan, not to pray is the exception. Old and young, at work and at play, it would seem as if men and women were not born to mourn but to mutter the everlasting mani. But "praying" is not necessarily associated with morality. The godless lama, the murdering brigand, the abandoned woman, and the sordid Chinaman all pray with a fervency scarcely equalled by the blameless saint of Christendom. And the traveller soon finds that when the devotions are interrupted it is generally to curse the patient animal, or indulge in obscene banter with the female drivers. * * *

 

For many years the writer imagined this strange prayer had no rival among Tibetan peoples, but found later that this was not so. The Ponpo or Black Lamas contemptuously reject "Om mani pad me hum," so dear to the hearts of the Yellow and Red cults, and would die rather than repeat it, turn it, or cause it to be turned. But they have a peculiar form of their own which is resolved from left to right with as much ingenuity and assiduity as the others bestow on the "Om mani pad me hum." Jaschke transcribes the phrase as "Man tri mu tri sa le dzu," while Des Godins, a great authority on Eastern Tibet, gives "Ma tchri mou me sa le gou." The writer who has lived among the Bon in Badi-Bawang would tentatively suggest "Om ma dri mu ye sa le dug." He has never heard them repeating "Om mani pad me hum" backwards, although the drums, cylinders, and boxes are most religiously reversed by all good Bons when in the act of praying. It is sad, but still interesting, to remember that two important schools have found these meaningless phrases an opportunity for bitter disagreement and often an excuse for cruel persecution. Some decades ago the Yellow and Black Lama differences were the cause of a savage civil war.

 

On two occasions the writer had the ritual of the lamas at his disposal. One evening he and a companion arrived at Chelo in Kong U after a sensationally dangerous journey up to the right bank of the T'ong River. The lamas in the district were very friendly and belonged to the Bon cult. The Abbot who was an alleged "living Buddha" and head of the Bonpo fraternity in Chagla (?) invited us to see him. His small cell was bare and refreshingly clean. A plain, unornamented looking-glass on the table, a pan of glowing embers in a corner, and battered tea service close at hand, were the first signs of comfort to meet our gaze. Further in was a small enclosure bountifully supplied with rugs and skins, but so small that sleep could only be taken in the sitting posture required of the disciples of Gautama. The Buddha received us tremblingly but with much dignity. His face was ascetic, pleasing, and well-proportioned, and as he sat almost silent, cross-legged, bolt upright, and posing as a god, one could recognize something of that grace and culture which sometimes (rare indeed) characterises the better-class lamas. As we went out he accompanied us and knelt as we bade adieu. Later on our present of soap and perfumes was refused on the score of poverty, but on the assurance being made that we expected no return present the soap was accepted. He sent word that he would pray for us: "it was all he could do." That night the boom of drums, the clang of cymbals, and hurried muttering of charms indicated that the good man was spending a night in prayer, and we had every reason to believe it was on our account. The next experience was in the independent kingdom of Somo. My companion was stricken down suddenly with a mysterious complaint. A deputation of lamas, who may have been the authors of the raging fever and excruciating pains, offered to exercise the "malignant spirit" which was the cause of the malady. Their services were refused, but later the inn-keeper and the lamas both believed some such ceremony was necessary and the day following was chosen as a suitable time to oust the "spirit." Fortunately, with much difficulty, my sick companion was carried out of Somo and their jurisdiction before the time decided on for what was intended to be his burial service.

 

I have no proof of its antiquity, but the Chinese version is common enough on stone tablets and temple doorways in China proper. I have seen it at Weichow and Siutu, and even so far afield as T'aissing in Kiangsu. But there is nothing like it on the T'ang Chao tablets in the Nim valley. It may be seen in an ancient Sanskrit form, however, on a small lamasery in Chengtu.  --J. Huston Edgar, in The Chinese Recorder.

 

 Duty does not consist in suffering everything, but in suffering everything for duty. Sometimes, indeed, it is our duty not to suffer.--Vinet.

 

----o----

 

"THE SWORD OF AMERICA"

 

BY BRO. JOSEPH FORT NEWTON, ENGLAND

 

In response to the many requests of our members for information as to the kind of sermons Brother Newton preaches" we are publishing the following as a characteristic example. This sermon was delivered to Brother Newton's English congregation in the City Temple, London, Nov. 1, 1917.

 

"My sword shall be bathed in heaven."--Isaiah xxiv. 5.

 

ALL through the Bible the sword is a symbol of power, sometimes of a power used for evil ends, sometimes--more often indeed-- for noble ends. The great watchword of the ancient Commonwealth in its trial, "The sword of the Lord and Gideon," might be used as a text for what the Bible has to say about the sword. Now power is neither good nor evil; it is neutral. The purpose for which it is used, the spirit in which it is used, gives it moral quality. A bomb may be used to blow up a building, or to blast a tunnel for a railway opening new lands and inviting to new adventures. There are those who think that the use of any kind of force is wrong if it be used in behalf of moral and spiritual ends. Not at all. Force, used righteously in behalf of righteousness, is a sword of the Lord.

 

So, at least, Americans think of it, and with a few winsome and ardent exceptions, they are quite unanimous in feeling that the cause in behalf of which America and her allies fight is the cause of simple justice, decency, and mercy upon the earth. For the beautiful Quaker tradition America has great respect, and should have respect. When the Quaker laid aside his great hat and drab coat and picked up his axe, he laid the foundation of some of the finest things in American life and literature. But in our wars of former times, if the Quaker was not permitted by his scruples actually to fight, he has always been a faithful servant of the Republic. Take our good, grey poet, Walt Whitman, who was of Quaker origin, as Lincoln was on one side of his family. He could not enter the ranks and take a gun and fight, but he entered the hospitals, and his service is memorable to this day in our annals. But for the man who will not render any service to his country because it is at war and he perchance may be lending some countenance to the existence of war, Americans can have very little respect. Conscience then sinks to the level of mere crankery. Such a person is not the object of scorn, but of pity. To such conscientious objectors then America objects on conscientious grounds. She holds it to be true that no man has a moral right to the enjoyment or protection of a country whose institutions he will not support, and whose existence he will not defend. Let us be as true to Christianity as our sinful nature will allow us, and the grace of God will help us to be, but let us not identify Christianity with moral insanity.

 

Why did America hesitate to enter the war? Of course, I do not ask you to approve the reason, I only ask you to understand it. Washington, in his farewell address, told his country to keep clear of all entangling alliances with Europe. Why ? Europe was at that time practically a monarchy from end to end. America, as Lincoln stated later, was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Therefore, the first President thought it wise for the Republic to live aloof for a time until it should be firmly established. His advice was wise; it was followed, and became the basis of all our national policy for more than a century. Now a century of national policy cannot be reversed over night, it cannot be changed in a moment. But times change, and men change with them. Europe is no longer autocratic. Our enemies are trying to hold the last fortress of autocracy, and it must go. Europe is democratic, and it will be increasingly so in days to come. Therefore the very reason why our country kept clear from entangling alliances with Europe in other days, for the same reason it has come into the fellowship of European nations.

 

America, then, has not simply entered the war, she has entered the world, reversing her whole national policy and the tendencies of her history, and this meant a complete revolution of thought and feeling in the Republic. In that connection let me recall the words from a letter of Jefferson to Monroe in 1823:

 

"Great Britain is the nation which can do us the most harm of any one, or all, on earth; and with her on our side we need not fear the whole world. With her, then, we should sedulously cherish a cordial friendship; and nothing would tend more to knit our affections than to be fighting once more, side by side, in the same cause."

 

Today those words are fulfilled before our eyes, not because we fear harm from England, or have reason to suspect any threat from her, but because at last the policy of national isolation having become obsolete in America, and America having entered the world, her nearest neighbour is her Motherland. Today the sons of the great Republic are fighting side by side with the sons of the great Empire.

 

What this will mean in the future no one may venture to predict. Personally, I feel, and I believe it is also the growing sentiment of my countrymen, that it is the outstanding fact connected with the whole tragedy of the war, and will have more influence on the future than any other event. If I should state my own conviction it would be after this manner:

 

"An alliance of the United States and the British Commonwealth on clearly defined terms of unquestionable explicitness, made in the open light of day, so that those planning aggression could realize clearly the formidable obstacle in their path, would effectively, though not absolutely, secure the general peace of the future world."

 

Such being the reason why America hesitated to enter the war, let me ask, in the second place, why she did enter the war? She was not indifferent; she was not incapable of moral indignation, as some of you may have felt. Why did we enter the war? Because our citizens had been assassinated on the high seas in ruthless barbarity? No, though that were cause enough if citizenship is to have meaning and value. Because we endured one unparalleled insult after another, such as perhaps no great and proud people had endured before? No. A rapscallion cannot insult a gentleman. Did we go to war, then, because our hospitality had been used for every conceivable kind of plot, involving our own people as well as the people of other nations-- like a huge spider spinning its dark web of lying and spying all over the earth? No, though the discovery of those plots has made us very angry. America kept out of the war until she learned that the government of Germany is an organised lie. When she learned that, there was no other appeal but to the awful court of war.

 

Let me read you some words from Edmund Burke, the more so that he was a great champion of America, in the House of Commons, at the time of the war of the Revolution--and, of course, I need not say that America now understands that the reason for that war was that the King of England then was a German, and made a mess of things, as Germans usually do--those great words from the "Reflections on the French Revolution," one of the noblest passages in all political literature:

 

"Society is indeed a contract. It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in all virtue, and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living and those who are dead, and those who are to be born. Each contract of each particular state is but a clause in the great primeval contract of eternal society, linking the lower with the higher natures, connecting the visible with the invisible world, according to a fixed compact sanctioned by the inviolable oath which holds all physical and all moral natures, each in their appointed place."

 

Our enemies have violated the primeval contract of eternal society, making a treaty a "scrap of paper." An unwillingness to keep any national engagement that did not entirely suit their whim, throwing to the winds all moral obligation, is a violation of the contract on which all human society rests. Consider what would happen in London if a portion of its population decided to live according to a law of its own, to keep engagements only when it was convenient for them to do so; to respect obligations only when it was altogether pleasant and involved no sacrifice. What kind of community would there be in London? Law would vanish; business would collapse; anarchy would reign. What is true of one community is true the world over, and it was this violation of the primeval contract of society which arrayed the moral indignation of the world against Germany and her allies and drew America into the conflict.

 

For the same reason there can be no peace, no negotiation looking towards peace, with the present German government. No treaty of peace signed by it is worth the paper on which it is written. It would be treated as lightly and as carelessly and as indifferently as other treaties have been treated. For that reason America has not only gone into the war solemnly, deliberately, reluctantly, but she has gone into the war for profound moral and religious reasons. And for the same reasons she will remain in it to the end and beyond, to see that the fundamental decencies of life are kept upon the earth, and that civilised society shall not perish.

 

Now, it is not possible for me in the time that remains to tell you what America in war-time is like. It is a grand and solemn thing to see a great nation mobilise all its forces, industrial, financial, moral, intellectual, spiritual--and prepare for a great contest. Never in our whole history has our Republic been so united, so cemented as it is today. In no other war has there been such a firm faith and clear and fixed conviction, not only of the righteousness of it, but of the necessity for it. I do not even except the war of the Revolution. I certainly do not except the Civil War. It means much, then, to have the moral judgment of a hundred millions of people. Our enemies have ignored these imponderable things. That is their greatest shame and their surest defeat. These things may seem to be intangible, but they are mighty; if they move slowly they move surely, and history thunders in our ears telling us where they are going. Our enemies thought that the British Empire would fall to pieces, but instead the solidity and solidarity of the Empire has been revealed as in an apocalypse. They thought that America would remain indifferent, or could be frightened, but that was another blunder. Truly it has been said that our enemies will go down in history as a people who foresaw everything except what actually happened, and who calculated everything except what it cost themselves.

 

From the Rocky Mountains in the Far West; from the great prairies of the Middle West; from the valleys and forests of the South; down out of the stony hills of New England; up from the great Central States, come young men marching, marching, marching, most of them having volunteered, most of the States having filled up their quota by volunteer enlistment before the draft came into effect. These young men come from all walks of life, our universities and colleges especially giving their very best, some of them being quite depopulated. They march with one step and they sing one song. It is quite different from the war with Spain in one particular, there is very little noise; there is a quietness that is rather unusual in America, and which is for that reason easily mistaken as to its meaning. I should like to speak a word particularly about the Middle West, which English people do not understand at all. It has been quiet; we have made very little noise out in the Middle West, but the Middle West and the South are the most American parts of America. Out there men do not say: "Let somebody else go and do it"--they go themselves. So when it came to the matter of enlisting, when it came to furnishing funds for the great Liberty Loan, the Middle West was in the van and led the way.

 

 Let me also say something about our fellow citizens of German origin. Perhaps 85 or 90 per cent of them are as loyal and true-hearted in their devotion to the Republic as any other class of citizens. They are not pro-English, they are not pro-French, but they are pro-American. They came, or their fathers came before them, to America, to get away from the hideous, hateful thing that has turned Germany into what it is today. They hate the Kaiser and all his works. They love America. They were attracted to America by its idealism, its opportunity for development. Karl Schurz was typical of this large class. You have read of his flight from Germany, of his short stay in England, of his journey to America, where he climbed from the bottom to the top and became a member of the Senate. A very able and noble man he was. When he returned to Germany he took pains to tell Bismarck of the difference between living in a Republic and living in an autocracy. You may find it in his "Conversations with Bismarck," after this manner: Living in an autocracy is like riding on a great ocean liner. All the appointments are perfect, but you have nothing to do with running the boat. The details are quite satisfactory, but the general direction is wrong. Living in a democracy is like riding on a raft or a flat boat. The passengers get their feet wet, they take cold, and they sneeze. They have an uncomfortable time, but they run the boat, and they know where it is going.

 

These people sympathise deeply with the folk of their own blood in the Fatherland, but they have no sympathy with the German Government or that for which it stands. There is a small minority, perhaps 10 per cent of late comers to America, attracted not by its idealism but by its opportunities to make money, who have not yet become American. For I take it that an American is a man who holds in his heart as sacred that for which America stands, no matter what his race or religion may be. And America is not a new England, it is not a new Europe, it is a new world. It is founded upon a principle to which it has been true through these years, to build a nation not for the rich, though its resources may make men rich, not for the elect, who can make their way anywhere or everywhere; but a nation where the plain common man can stand erect, can stretch his arms and his soul and be free; own his home; cast his vote and have his voice in the affairs of the State. That small minority of Germans who have not yet become American have made a good deal of noise, have acted very unwisely, aided by propagandists from the Home Country, but Americans know how to deal with them. Either of three things will happen, or all three: they will be interned, their property will be confiscated, and at the close of the war they will be deported back to the Germany of which they are so fond.

 

Not lightly did America go into the war, offering her bravest and her best to stand side by side with your bravest and best. The mingling of our common blood in a common sacrifice means the consecration of us all. We must renew our vows, our high and holy determination that the Britain for which Britons have fought so valiantly, with such superhuman courage, the America for which young Americans are now to fight, shall in the future be a greater, better Britain, a greater, purer America. Back across the years come the words of Lincoln in the hour of our national crisis, which express today the feeling of his country in a greater time of trial--these words:

 

"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue, as was said 3000 years ago, so still it must be said, 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.' With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan; to do all which many achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

 

"My sword shall be bathed in Heaven," in heavenly principles, in a heavenly spirit. So far as we in America are concerned, it is not a war of hate. It is not a war of revenge; we have no old scores to clear off. It is not a war of conquest, we do not want an inch of land from any people. But we realise that Europe cannot be free, America cannot be free, that no free institution can be safe, until the military autocracy of Prussia is crushed, and to that one end we unite with you, heart and hand and soul, that the future may be safer and nobler for your children and for ours.

 

Our philosophy of patriotism is that each nation has, by the gift of God, something unique, particular and precious; something not to be found anywhere else, and therefore it has a gift to make to universal humanity. That it may make that gift it should be free to develop what is most unique and precious in its life. Therefore we say to our enemies: "We will not impose our culture upon any other people, and you shall not impose your kultur upon any other people." Kultur! The very word stinks to the stars. We do not want an internationalism that is a mere abstraction, that bleaches out all our local loyalties and human heroisms. Not at all; just as in religion, we do not want unity of the churchyard, we want the unity of the Church-- unity with variety, the unity of a flower garden, where there is one soil and one air, and every variety of colour -- so we want an international understanding that shall permit each nation to develop, not a narrow bigoted nationalism, but shall give to all what is most precious and holy in its life. To do that it must be free. For that it is that America is fighting, seeking the Excalibur that King Arthur found at last. When he was beaten and broken and wounded and his sword was of no further use, in the enchanted lake he saw the white arm of a woman holding a sword, the most excellent sword of right, with which he had vanquished his foes. The name of that sword was truth, its sheath was faith. And so armed with this bright blade, we join with you, this England-- this Great heart--in the spirit of these lines from our young poet, Thomas Curtis Clark:

 

----o----

 

"AMERICA'S MEN"

We are America's men,

Strong, forceful and free;

We are America's men,

Children of Liberty;

Ready to march at the trumpet's call,

Ready to fight, ready to fall--

And ready to herald, peace for all!

We are America's men.

 

We are America's men,

Brave, dauntless and true;

We are Americas men,

Ready to dare and do;

Ready to wield the sword with might;

Ready the tyrant's brow to smite--

And ready to sheathe the sword--for Right!

We are America's men.

 

We are America's men,

Loathing the despot's rod,

We are America's men,

Under the rule of--God:

Ready to battle giants grim,

Ready to fight till day grows dim,

But ready to sheathe the sword--for Him!

We are America's men.

 

----o----

 

AN ECHO

 

When war is rampant, death a common prize

Upon the bloodstained stretches, far and wide;

When vengeance stalks with dripping sword,

We hear the echo, "Lord, with me abide."

 

May it be thus, that He who died to save,

Wrest from the wrecks of nations, in this night,

The spirit of the right, and from the fields arise

A Living Thing, triumphant in the fight.

 

Let then the slumb'ring fires break forth anew,

Let then at last "the Prince of Peace" be king,

Let holly be the crown, and not the thorn

Beside the cross; yea, let the welkin ring

 

With victory! and not a warrior's boast,

But one great prayer resounding o'er the plain,

Where silent sleeps a countless multitude,

Who died that kings might live to fight again.

 

Let not the world forget Gethsemane!

The Sword! The Cross! Well hath each served to give

An untold share to gray Golgotha's rising mound;

Yet hope in Life and Death shall always live!

--Bro. Denman S. Wagstaff, Calif.

 

----o----

 

A fool with a good memory is full of ideas and facts, but he can't

draw sound conclusions from them; everything turns upon that.--

Vauvenargues.

 

----o----

 

ZIONISM AND ITS RELATION TO THE SACRED HISTORY OF MASONRY

 

BY BRO. DENMAN S. WAGSTAFF, P. M., CALIFORNIA

 

NOTE: Such Zionists as may be among our readers will understand at once the spirit in which Bro. Wagstaff has written this vigorous article. It is a vigorous presentation of one side of the question. THE BUILDER will be very glad to publish a reply from some Zionist Brother.

 

THE EDITOR.

 

"Zionism aims to obtain a publicly-recognized and legally secured home for the Jewish people in Palestine."--From the Basle Program.

 

A suit of armor hung upon a wall,

An ancient sword, beside it;

An empty gauntlet clasped its hilt,

As tho' forsooth, to draw it.

 

ANTIQUITY paints the glamor of "sacred memory" upon the face of everything it touches. Zionism grew to its maximum strength by the same process of "treasuring," that has aided the forward march of latter-day Masonry! Thus we build and build, until King Solomon's Temple stands before us in all entrancing grandeur ! We may now see the ancients flitting about the vaulted halls of fame, bearing flickering candles that allow a glimpse now and again of their surroundings !

 

By this symbol of light, the Zionist as well, sees dead embers of what were once fires, upon sacred altars! He sees traces of burnt offerings and scents in the charged atmosphere, the odor of mystifying incense; and through the curtains of his retrospective realization, beholds the Holy of Holies and the sacred vessels--the rich Jewels too that adorned the vestments of the great High Priests. He heal s the terrible voice of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and observes the light of his countenance envelop the whole scene !

 

So Masonry and Zionism have found their relationship or fraternity of origin. They were born in the same bed and nursed by the same breast, just as were Romulus and Remus. For years, until now--and the journey is about at an end--they have traveled hand in hand. The present is marked by the incident of a separation. Persisted in, the reason for an actual "parting of the ways" is because of the well established fact that Masons are Patriots first, Masons next!

 

Masonry will surely continue to rise, phoenix-like, to greater heights than yet attained, while Zionism, because of her abandonment of present and past-proven vital issues of national life, both spiritual and material, will estrange her devotees from the parent objective of all advanced effort, placing her skeleton alongside the empty suit of armor on the wall. Modernism has won a place in life ! Between the flickering rays of candlelight only, may we see ancient things! By the full glare of the sun, we see the present, the dawning days we are destined to overtake! Left to our own volition, we (Jew or Gentile) would not trade a paving stone on Market Street, for the tomb of some Moses in Jerusalem, except for speculative purposes, were we obliged, on acquiring the sacred place to renounce our allegiance to the country of our birth and take up residence on hallowed ground. By the way, it would be a good place to intern some American citizens, (yet unconfined) who are afflicted with "Kaisermania" because of their hatred for Russia. Wonderful reason for a Jew to give, in view of the shades of Disraelli and the long line of Jewish Lords Mayor of London. The dream of some day following up the allied armies when they have made it safe for German and Turk atrocities, is indeed commendable. This we may see by the flickering candle light.

 

To meet the point at once, I would say for Jew and Gentile ! Jerusalem is no more sacred to one than the other! To be sure the Jew provided out of the abundance of his antiquity, a Savior, a Christ. We would very much like to come across the stable where he was born. When we succeed in driving the infidel Turk and German out of the sacred place, we may be able to safely bribe some son of the real Jehovah to disclose its whereabouts ! Now the Jews lived in Palestine during various periods of their national existence, when they were not in Egypt (because they could not govern themselves) or elsewhere about the country fighting. The Jew thinks more of Palestine now, than the Jew did then. These facts must console the "me for the Holy-Land" agitator upon mature contemplation. The Jew of course has retained his racial characteristics more particularly than any other race, by having continually reminded himself that he was a Jew. He has jewed the whole world into the same habit. He has persistently, and ofttimes offensively, declared himself a Jew, when he might just as well have been known as an Englishman, a Frenchman, or even just an American. Some have escaped confinement, by not being outspoken as to nationality, seeming to value religion more than country. Vigorous thinkers nowadays, when times are stirring, often fail to take, time to consider that such a man could hardly belong to the forward movement necessary in the making of full fledged citizens.

 

The world knows that what I have just said is true. I would like to see the American of Jewish faith wipe out this new onus of "precarious citizenship," by a complete resumption of his prerogatives as a citizen, without the taint of religious fanaticism. What is a Jew anyhow? Is he so different an animal by nature, that he can, of his own free will and accord, separate himself, throughout the length and breadth of all lands, from every tie of birth, of association, both business and social? Does he want anything further of Jerusalem, except to make it a safe place for a fellow to visit when so inclined? I should think not! Zionists are collecting a lot of money for what they call their "cause." Better call it their "casus belli." The Zionist reveres the same ancient landmarks as does the Mason. He does not think any more of them.

 

 The Catholic Church has made a great feature of the "Relics" of Jewish Characters and personalities. Judea ought to be to them, the most sacred place on earth. It is not, however. Their Church has fought and bled for it, as it has about every country on earth, except this. For the sake of what they have excavated in Palestine, they have challenged the heretically civilized world to mortal combat, from the time of the Crusades until now. However it happens that they were neither Jews nor Masons! They were very wise. They visited the tomb of Christ and long ago chipped off a piece of the sacred boulder that once closed its entrance--they have disinterred every body that had a sacred memory, and have taken as much away as would hold together. They have in their museum, the original rod of Aaron and some of the holy water out of his smitten rock, as well as one of the original slabs of heavenly granite upon which was written by God the Ten Commandments, and then handed to Moses. These and more, they have taken to Rome, where they have sanctified and established a new Jerusalem, all their own. They have there the Holy of Holies. They do not consider the old place as material to their religious purposes, neither do they wish to colonize it.

 

It would be a grand thing for the world and civilization, if they did have such a plan. World interests would just slide ahead one hundred years upon the day these Christian Warriors sailed away.

 

But we can not afford to lose the Jew! The American of Jewish faith. Let me now plead with him to be American First, not Jew first. One does not hear public men spoken of as Methodist-Americans, nor even Catholic-Americans. There would be some measure of truth in such a title as the latter one, because no sane man doubts but that the papacy has a stronger hold upon her "gassed" subjects than Woodrow Wilson, perhaps the greatest President since Abraham Lincoln, could possibly expect to wield, as a heretic, destined to pass away and then buried like an ordinary citizen, in non-consecrated ground. The Jew and the Mason are of course consigned to equally inconsequential localities on the map.

 

All that I have said may not be a just or proper arraignment of the material body or spiritual conscience of the Zionist movement, and these "faddists" may not have conceived, in their enthusiasm, to what lengths such an "herous-mit'em" drive could be carried, before meeting with resistance from even Gentiles, who recognize, in their fellow citizens of the ancient faith, the great and sterling qualities which make for the highest type of citizenship that America is blessed with. But to the "man up a tree," an American tree--without prejudice, it would seem that the desire to restore the Holy Land could be done in a more quiet and indeed business-like way, as any man would, for instance, go back to the home place of his father or grandfather, buy it, fix it up so that the "rats and mice" would not have undisputed possession, gloat somewhat over the transition accomplished for his immediate posters and rest content, because no strange unhallowed lands could now caress the old brass door knobs, or the floors of the chambers, now made safe, for reflection the glories of the past.

 

Jerusalem is safe. The British descendants of the Crusaders are doing the trick without even casting a shadow upon the actual legitimacy of the citizenship of any of the Allies. Masonry is satisfied with the victory, because it gives back to her unsullied, the ancient landmarks, in which Jews and Judaism have acted so prominent a part, in the glorious past. Unsullied because the earth remains, that the Creator made foreman to tread, and erect on, from time to time, the playhouses he has always seen fit to decorate in his very mortal fashion, and which may always pass away, like milestones sink out of sight, on the highways of the onward centuries.

 

----o----

 

MILITARY LODGES IN CUBA

 

BY BRO. F. de P. RODRIGUEZ, CUBA

 

IT is not the general custom at present for Grand Lodges to authorize the working of Lodges attached to Military Regiments in the field, but during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries this custom prevailed to some extent and, no doubt, to the advantage of the Fraternity in that period of the development of the Institution.

 

We Cubans are proud of the fact that when Masonic light first spread its civilizing rays upon this Pearl of the Antilles it came through an Irish Army Lodge. It is indeed a fact that between Ireland and Spain, and consequently Cuba, the closest ties of sympathy and friendly relations have long existed; many Irish families, perhaps for religious reasons, emigrated to Spain during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It is not uncommon today to find among the aristocratic names of Spain and Cuba, those of O'Reilly, O'Farrill, O'Donnell and O'Brien, which evidence their Irish ancestry.

 

When England conquered Cuba in 1762, there landed in Havana with her soldiers, Lodge No. 218 of the Registry of Ireland, which was attached to the 48th Regiment, the said Regiment named "De Webb" belonging to the Brigade of General Walsh. This Regimental Lodge remained in Cuba until the final departure of the English on July 6th, 1763.

 

No one knows exactly where the quarters of this Lodge were located, but it is probable that it was in one of the cells of the Franciscan convent, near the dock of the Port of Havana.* The convent was fully occupied by officers of the conquering army, being afterward used as the Custom House for many years. It is now the City Post Office.

 

The only record of the existence among us of this Lodge is the following, transcribed in full in the Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, 1901:

 

"And the Darkness Comprehended it Not --- In the East A place full of Light where Reigns silance and peace We the Master wardens and Secretary of the Worship full Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons Dedicated to St. John No. 218 (Seal) on the Registry of Ireland held in the Forty Eight Regiment of Foot (Ne Varietur) A Dornd

 

* This building is one of the relics of the city, the big mass of grey stones constituting it dates from the XVI century and is a dumb witness to all changes in our midst.

 

 with all their Honours and Assembled in Due Form

 

 Do hereby Declare Certifie and Attest to all men Lightned spread on the Face of the Earth that the Bearer hereof Alexander Cockburn hath been Received an Entered Apprentice and fellow Craft and after sufficient proof and Tryall we have given unto him the sublime Degree of Master and he May Lawfully and Safely without any Demur be Admitted into And Accepted off by any Society to whom these Presents Come Greeting -

 

Given under our Hands and Seal at our Lodge Room at the Havanna this 3d Day of May in the year of our Lord 1763 and in the Year of Masonry 5763 ----

 

William Smith, Master James Lee, Rich'd Coombs [ ?], Wardens Peter Tobin: Secretary."

 

Nothing is known of the relations between the members of this Lodge and the civil population of the island; probably no persons except the soldiers knew anything of it and they neither accepted any Cuban into their midst nor permitted a native to look inside the Lodge room. I am informed by the R. W. Grand Secretary of Ireland that Lodge 218 was in existence from the year 1750 to 1858, and while in Cuba, in 1763, initiated eleven candidates, none of whom was a Cuban.

 

It has been proved that Spanish officers introduced Masonry into Mexico and South America during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, but not into Cuba. It is well-known that we are of Yankee extraction; the Keystone State presided at our birth. All of our first Lodges went the regular way of foundation until, due to the Spanish misapprehensions, Masonry was strictly forbidden in 1829, and although two Lodges continued their labors, they did so surrounded by the utmost secrecy, in the mountainous eastern region of the province of Santiago.

 

In 1859 the actual Grand Lodge was started, but always under suspicion of the Spanish government. Masons had to be guarded in their actions, working always in the dark.

 

When the Ten Year War broke out in 1868, although Masons sympathized with it, they had to keep silence. Grand Master Puente was shot because of his Masonic position and the Masonic Temple at Havana ransacked. The members of St. Andrew Lodge were surprised during a meeting and sent to jail for three months.

 

Under such conditions, could it have been possible for the Grand Lodge to charter any Military Lodges among the revolutionary Cubans? Certainly not. Nevertheless, among the patriotic army there existed in separate epochs two Military Lodges. They were not regular, it is true. They had no warrants; it was impossible to obtain warrants under the prevailing conditions. Yet both of these Lodges were started by regular Masons and did excellent work in the field. Their labors are worthy of record.

 

Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, the leader of our first struggle for independence, called "The Ten Year War," was a highly educated and competent man, speaking six languages, a fluent orator and an enthusiastic Mason. When the war broke out he was the Master of Buena Fe Lodge at Manzanillo, a position he was compelled to abandon to follow his fellows to the field of war, the Lodge soon afterward closing its doors. But Cespedes had taken with him a number of Masonic books including Cassard's Manual, the Constitution of the Grand Lodge, a Monitor and several other works.

 

After the first few skirmishes of the war, Cespedes' Masonic fancies called him and he began a search for Masons in his ranks, happily meeting many in the persons of his principal officers. He worked so earnestly, so devoutly, that when the Republic was proclaimed shortly afterward, they were ready to start a Masonic Lodge at Guaimaro, naming it "Independencia." Cespedes was naturally chosen to serve as the first Master and many of the most noted Cuban Generals of the revolution were initiated in this Lodge. The actual Treasurer of the Republic of Cuba, M.W. Bro. Fernando Figueredo, P.G.M., Grand Treasurer of the Grand Lodge, is one of the few surviving members of Independencia Lodge.

 

Independencia Lodge possessed all the necessary paraphernalia for their meetings, carefully made by the members themselves. The two Middle Chamber pillars were of excellent workmanship, made in sections to be finally adjusted when needed. All the working tools were regularly packed and carried, when moving camp, on the back of a splendid mule especially dedicated to the job and named, for that reason, "The Mason." Once, when the camp was surprised by the Spaniards, "The Mason" was hastily charged with the fraternal load, and as it was loosely done, when the run was at its height, several tools were dropped, among them a section of one of the pillars, the one marked with the letter "B." The Spaniards, following closely at their heels, picked up the tools, sending the marked section of the pillar to Spain as a curious souvenir where it is kept today in the Artillery Museum at Madrid.

 

A most curious incident is also connected with Independencia Lodge. One of the members was General Donato Marmol, who always regarded Masonry as a religion. A notice was once sent to him, while commanding the Division of Bayamo, that a Spanish Lieutenant was to introduce into the city a convoy of provisions badly needed by the hungry population there sheltered. General Marmol set to work and captured the convoy together with the Lieutenant. The Spanish officer, when taken into camp, asked to see the General to whom he gave a Masonic sign and pleaded for his deliverance, reminding the General that the provisions were not for the soldiers but for the many Cuban refugees. General Marmol was touched, and thinking of the Lieutenant as a Mason and not as a soldier, released the Lieutenant and handed him back the convoy. This act was harshly condemned by the General's subordinate officers, who knew nothing of Masonry, and among whom was Maximo Gomez who was afterward initiated into Independencia Lodge and in the course of time rose to be the Generalissimo of the Cuban army when we achieved our independence, long afterwards.

 

General Marmol, that fine specimen of manhood, died shortly after the above incident, and President Cespedes was treacherously shot the year following at S. Lorenzo, Independencia Lodge dying with him, after a bright existence of over three years. That was the only Military Lodge known to have existed during our Ten Year War.

 

When Cuba made her final and successful stroke for independence in 1894, another opportunity was afforded the Masons on the field of war to come together and meet under the Square and Compasses.

 

The Spanish government was no less suspicious of the Masonic Lodges, so it was that when Luz del Sur Lodge, at Trinidad, was chartered the preparatory meetings had to be held in a cave on the outskirts of that city. I visited that cave long afterward and could not but admire the love for the Fraternity of those enterprising brothers who used to go there at night; a spot difficult of access even in the day time.

 

It was no longer in the East of Cuba, the cradle of our liberties, but at the center of the island, in the neighborhood of that quaint city of Trinidad already mentioned, at the village of Guinia de Miranda, that a permanent camp was kept by the revolutionaries. This camp, due to its location, was kept for a long time. It was formed of a series of huts thatched with palm leaves and affording a relative comfort, if comfort can ever be found while fighting.

 

The General of the camp, being a Mason, as also were a large number of the officers, conceived the idea of organizing a Masonic Lodge. This was in June, 1896, and the following month, on July 12th, they held their first meeting. The Lodge was named "Agramonte" and General Lino Perez acted as Master. A hut was reserved exclusively for a Masonic Temple, the Square and Compasses marking it on the outside. There the Lodge met for nearly a year; as long as the camp lasted. Many, many friends of the writer were initiated there, subsequently being healed in the regular Lodges of the country. The seal of the Lodge made of carved wood, is still preserved as a souvenir.

 

Came a day when Fortune, so variable during war times, turned against the Cubans. The Spaniards drove the patriots from their camp and captured it.

 

According to their custom the huts were burned with the exception of the one marked with the Square and Compasses. Why the discrimination? No one knew at the time, but later it developed that General Manrique de Lara, the commanding officer of the Royal soldiers, was a Mason. He saw the Temple and ordered that it be spared.

 

As this was in 1897 and American intervention came soon afterward, Agramonte Lodge held but few meetings after their camp was lost and then disbanded, never to meet again.

 

 During the Spanish-American war two of the American Grand Lodges, Kentucky and North Dakota, authorized Military Lodges. Another American Grand Lodge, California, refused to do so. The Kentucky Grand Lodge granted a dispensation for a Lodge attached to the First Kentucky Volunteer Regiment. This Regiment saw service in Porto Rico, but never in Cuba. The Master of this Lodge was our Eminent Brother, John H. Cowles, 33d, the present Grand Secretary General of the Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Captain Cowles' two Lieutenants were the Wardens. As the Dispensation was only for members of the Regiment, no others were admitted except as visitors. In a kind letter which I have just received from Brother Cowles, he refers to the pleasant times they had while in Porto Rico and how they were fraternally welcomed by the natives and invited to attend their Lodges at Ponce, Yauco, San German and Mayaguez. The Regiment being mustered out in 1899, the Lodge surrendered its Dispensation and the members scattered.

 

The Military Lodge under the authority of North Dakota never came to Cuba, but went to the Philippine Islands and met at Manila for a time. California, although denying a dispensation for a Military Lodge, granted one for a permanent Lodge in the Philippine Islands, and for two more Lodges shortly afterwards, which three lodges became the nucleus for the actual Grand Lodge of those islands, already powerful and generally recognized by sister Grand Lodges.

 

With the American Army of Occupation came to Cuba many distinguished Masons; two among them deserve to be recorded: Generals Geo. M. Moulton and Edgar S. Dudley. The first of these was at the time Colonel of an Illinois Regiment quartered at Camp Columbia near Havana. Being a most enthusiastic Mason he immediately tried to communicate with the brethren of the city. Unhappily only one of our lodges was able to meet him, since after the closing of the Masonic Lodges by the Spanish Government no lodge could meet for nearly three years, Padilla Lodge composed almost entirely of Spaniards being the only exception. They met occasionally in an attic room of a Spanish club house, waiting for better times, which very soon cheered them, moving to new quarters where Gen. Moulton found them, and provided with a letter from his lodge in Illinois took with him his son, a Lieutenant in his Regiment, who was by courtesy initiated by Padilla Lodge. The Lodge thereafter paid visits to Camp Columbia, the headquarters of the then Col. Moulton. Affection grew on both sides and when Bro. Moulton left Cuba he was so well endeared that he was proposed and accepted as our Grand Representative to the Grand Lodge of Illinois, a position he still holds with great satisfaction to all.

 

The other prominent Mason who came here was at that time a Judge Advocate, with the rank of Major, and as he remained among us for three years, until the Republic was proclaimed, we had many occasions to appreciate his great heart. Although he was the Delegate of the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction for the Army and Navy of the United States he never, while here, granted a single degree to any one. He frequented the Masonic societies, joined with us, advised us, did all he could to encourage us, helped us, through his acquaintance with Grand Secretary White, of Nebraska, to obtain the recognition of our Grand Lodge by that of the said State. At that time there were only three American Grand Lodges not in relation with Cuba: Nebraska, Mississippi and North Carolina. Now all are our friends. Bro. Dudley left us with the American Army in 1902, carrying with him the love of all Cuban Masons as shown by the nominations of Honorary Member both in the Supreme Council and the Association of Masonic Veterans. Two years afterwards he came back to Cuba as a visitor and was welcomed by his former friends and presented with a beautiful gold jewel by the Veterans. His nomination to West Point as Professor of Military Jurisprudence was a cause of satisfaction for us and when, after his retirement from the Army as Brigadier General, the notice of his untimely death reached us, mourning was general. We miss him ! His personality remains forever deeply engraved in our hearts. Oh, if all Masons were like him !

 

Law abiding citizens, as Americans generally are, and as among the Army of Occupation that remained in Cuba, under the command of Gen. Brooke first, and of Gen. Leonard Wood afterwards, there were many Masons, the question arose of a new Lodge, exclusively English-speaking. Coming from many States the brethren could not ask any Grand Lodge to warrant a Military Lodge, so they acted in the most proper way possible: they obtained their dimits from their respective lodges and applied to Cuba for a Dispensation. As the petitioners had resided in Cuba more than six months, their request was granted on the 9th of June, 1899, and the first English-speaking Lodge in Cuba came forth. It was named Havana and the members were nearly all non-commissioned Army Officers and petty government employees. The stations of the lodge were occupied by E. W. King, Master, W. B. Knight, Senior Warden and B. B. Evans, Junior Warden. Many of them coming from Texas, the ritual adopted was the one used in that State.

 

Havana Lodge had a good career; they circumscribed their actions to their peers and, when dissolved just after the Republic was proclaimed, her record was most gratifying to us.

 

An event happened during the existence of this Lodge, hardly understood by them but most satisfactory to Cuban Masons. The then Adjutant to Gen. Wood was Major Hugh L. Scott, now the ranking General of the United States Army. Major Scott, whenever General Wood left Havana, was Acting Governor General. The Major was not a Mason, but as he was a close friend of Gen. E. S. Dudley, he desired to become one, and so matters stood when he applied to Cuba Lodge for initiation. This Lodge, although composed of Cubans, was almost an English-speaking Lodge, since its members had been nearly all of them former residents of the United States. The Master, who still wields the gavel, Bro. Figueredo, is a former Mayor of Tampa, Florida. Major Scott was accepted, his initiation occurring while he acted temporarily as Governor General. I had the honor to be present at the ceremony, as also at his passing and raising, most conspicuous affairs indeed in our island Masonry. Havana Lo(lge resented this, but without reason, as the idea of both Generals Dudley and Scott was to give Cubans a proof of their friendship and good will.

 

After the Republic was started and finally pushed up, Havana Lodge was by-and-by being deprived of her members, few remaining until the dissolution came in the year 1902. But the need for an American Lodge was evident and it was then that a new figure came forth, Dr. Orlando Ducker, who came to Cuba as an Army Surgeon, later entering the life insurance business. It was then that he undertook to form the new lodge, dispensation being granted for Island Lodge in February, 1903. For many years this was the only English-speaking lodge in Cuba. Even after Dr. Ducker's departure they have continued to this day their progressive march. It is true that they keep their hall apart and do not mingle much with native Masons, but whenever any of us visit them we are warmly received and welcomed. So it has been during the visits paid by the Association of Veterans and on other occasions. Some of them have applied to the Scottish Rite bodies and been admitted, assisting in the meetings and have acquired the 32d and probably one of them will soon obtain the coveted 33d from our Supreme Council.

 

For a number of years Island Lodge held the American standard in Cuba until several years ago (1912) two new competitors came to dispute it. One in the Isle of Pines and the other at Camaguey, both being centers of American population. The Lodge at Pines named Santa Fe Lodge is located at the town of that name, in a beautiful neighborhood. The guiding spirits of this Lodge (one of them now dead) were two brothers by the name of Simmons, and as they hailed from Illinois, the ritual of that Grand Lodge was the one adopted at Santa Fe. It is for that reason that when our Grand Lodge went to Santa Fe to consecrate and install the Lodge (I was then Grand Director of Ceremonies for our Grand Lodge) we were struck by the custom of locating the lesser lights in a group of three on a side table, but were informed that such was the practice in Illinois and some other places in the United States, and our Grand Master acceded to the change.

 

At Camagiiey the lodge is named Landmark and is under the able guidance of its Master, the conscientious Brother George Allen, who conducts it finely, doing untold good and performing charities all around.

 

This is the record, not only of the Military Lodges of Cuba but also of the behavior of American citizens and Masons toward their Cuban brothers. One thing is patent--the respect evinced for our Grand Lodge. That is the way of powerful and honest nations. Treaties and agreements between the high and the low ought always to be taken into account, otherwise the topmost nation descends, not to the level of her weak opponent, but to the depth of the abyss where the arrogant and defiant will bury themselves in the course of time.

 

----o----

 

WAS, IS, SHALL BE

 

The sun was scorching hot, and as I lay

Neath clustered palm trees in the Eastern land

I slept. Yet as I slept I heard one say

"The work is done. Ah! See it stately stand,

The Pyramid of Life, twixt earth and heaven

To hidden Leven from a hidden Throne

The Line of Life insistent, urgent, falls,

That Earth may serve her Master, God alone.

The toil of ages now in crumbled dust

Doth rise, to symbol forth the heavenly will;

A mighty memoir of a mightier Past

That calls the worshiper to labour still.

 

Around the Pyramid I saw men build.

Then swept before me hateful fires of War,

Destroying all that former builders raised

And left the Level as it was before.

Yet men did build, and round the ancient pile

Were schools, and churches,--palaces of Peace;

And hospitals where sick men healing lay,

And found from heavy toil a sweet release;

And homes where children struggled back to life

And parks with trees about each sheltered way,

Where women hid them from the world's mad strife

And all was one unending wondrous day.

 

Then to my dreaming eyes there did appear,

As far as eye could reach a verdant plain.

And soldiers tilled the soil where they of old

Did slay their brethren, scatter seeds of pain,

Did reap wild curses, burning as they slew,

Destroying all the strength of every age.

They tilled the soil, and builded temples new,

And writ yet better deeds for History's page.

And all the land did blossom as the rose.

The wilderness did laugh, and joyful sing.

Around the Pyramid assembled all

And made the heavens above with praises ring.

--Rev. Bro. J. G. Gibson.

 

----o----

 

We can find no better words to express our sentiments than those of

the immortal Goethe, and wish our readers:

Health enough to make work a pleasure.

Wealth enough to support your needs.

Strength enough to battle with difficulties and overcome them.

Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them.

Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished.

Charity enough that shall see some good in your neighbor.

Cheerfulness enough that shall make others glad.

Love enough that shall move you to be useful and helpful to others.

Faith that shall make real the things of God.

And hope that shall remove all anxious fears concerning the future.

 

----o----

 

ORIGIN AND PURPOSE OF THE CITY COMPANIES

 

BY BRO. H. G. ROSEDALE, P. G. CHAPLAIN, ENGLAND

 

PART I

 

IT is obvious that from time immemorial whenever there have been two workmen at the same trade they have always united together for mutual assistance and protection against all others. On the arrival of a third he would only be admitted to friendship on promising to obey the decision of the majority. This is the spirit underlying all trade combinations. It is well known that at a very remote period trade organisations, allied to our Gild system, were in a very high state of development both in China and India. In India the caste systems still maintain their power, and there the trader has his own organisations of a somewhat similar, though more political, nature than our own early Gilds. No doubt, there was a far earlier civilisation than the Arian; a civilisation which may have come from south to north, and which had died possibly more than a thousand years before the Arian emigration began to sweep from east to west-- but we cannot do more than trace to some slight extent the Gild idea as affected by this later form of human emigration.

 

Whilst it cannot be disputed that the Far Orient did possess the primitive forms of our craft Gild, but it was not until these earlier ideas reached the shores of the Mediterranean and felt the force of the earlier civilisation upon them, that Gild life attained to anything like its modern usefulness.

 

THE FIRST RECORDS

 

The first records of European Gild life are found in Greece, where, at least 700 B. C., the Gilds called Eranoi flourished to such an extent that men of the greatest distinction, such, for instance, as Lysimachus, the son of Aristides, and Milesius, the son of Thucydides, were proud to claim membership therein.

 

Amongst these Eranoi, which, at the same time, like many of our older Gilds, were burial clubs, numerous trades were represented. A Gild of Thracian wine merchants, who took Apollo for their patron and called themselves Keremperoi, mining companies, lessees of theatres, farmers of taxes, and even privateering companies, all these formed part of the great social life of the-Greeks. Moreover, the rules of these Societies were strangely similar to the laws which for centuries controlled our English mercantile fraternities.

 

From Greece the spirit of the Eranoi passed to Rome and produced the world-renowned "Collegia Opificum." At what date these took their beginning it is now impossible to say, but it is a matter of general knowledge that the workmen of Rome, almost from the first days of civilised society in Italy, were associated together in trade groups. Plutarch, indeed, ascribes the origin of the "Collegia" to Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome, 714-643 B. C., and mentions among the various Trade Gilds of the time musicians, goldsmiths, dyers, shoemakers, carriers, coppersmiths and porters, all the remaining trades of this time being united into one Gild.

 

Whatever may be the degree of truth as to the matter of dates, it is interesting to note that the regulations both of the Eranoi (sometimes called "Thaiasoi"), as well as those of the "Collegia," were based on the same underlying principles. They were governed by a president, an elder, a secretary, a treasurer, and a council. All these officials, with the exception of the president, being elected annually, and it is interesting in these enlightened days to note that, like the early English Gilds, they sometimes admitted women to their circle, in spite of the fact that there were other communities for women only.

 

THE "COLLEGIA"

 

The "Collegia" went a step further. They were generally established by some act of the ruling power, either a decree of the Emperor, or a "senatus consultum," representing the Charter of which the City Companies today are so proud. They, too, were governed by a president and master, a treasurer, a steward, sometimes a clerk, but always associated with "decuriones," a body akin to the Court of Assistants, so important in the fifteenth and following centuries.

 

In Greece, and particularly in Italy, these powerful communities of traders and workmen met the new forces of developing religious life. At first Religion was monotheistic, then polytheistic, and afterwards, when the Gilds became most closely associated with religious ideas, Christian.

 

At a very early date each Collegium had its common cult and common sacrifices or services at stated times. It employed priests or sacrificial officers, and was generally associated with some particular temple. It had its "curia" or meeting-house, where its business was transacted and where all the members met both for periodic feasts and for general meetings. There was an "arca" or chest containing the revenues, contributions, and fines accruing to the Gild. Each college had its archives, banners, and, above all, exercised the jus sodalitii, or power over its archives in the same way that our Craft Gilds did during the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Every candidate on his admission to the Society was obliged to take a special oath and to pay the regular tributum or contribution towards the expenses of the "collegium."  FRATERNAL AND RELIGIOUS ASPECTS

 

On the death of a member, the Gild gave a public funeral to the deceased, when every brother was expected to attend. The secular side was marked by the "cara cognitio," the analogue of election days in our present Gilds. To mark the fraternal and religious aspects of Gild life, great emphasis was laid on the half-yearly visits to the tombs of departed members of the brotherhood, on whose graves they scattered roses in the summer and violets in the winter as an offering pleasing to the spirits of the departed; this practice found its successor in the "masses for the dead," provided so lavishly by the Gilds at a later period.

 

Space prevents us from giving a summary of the rules, but we are the fortunate possessors of the laws governing such a Gild founded at Lanuvium in the time of Adrian and dedicated to Antinous and Diana. It was this highly developed product of Oriental fraternities, moulded and developed by Greek and Latin influence, that came to England with the Roman invasion. Of this there is just one piece of interesting evidence left to us in the fact that a "collegium fabrorum," or Gild of Smiths, was established and flourished in this country as early as the reign of Claudius Caesar. This, like all other Roman institutions, received a rude shock when, after a long period of relatively luxurious existence, it was forced into the background if not out of existence altogether by the Saxon invasion of this country.

 

INFLUENCE OF THE SAXONS

 

As might have been expected, the Saxon warriors brought with them their own fraternities, different in many respects to those of Greco-Roman origin, less orderly, less beneficent, but probably more political and governmental than those of the Roman settlers. They were the product of the old blood-brotherhood, which is now so well recognised a part of the social life in early Saxon and Scandinavian countries. The Saxon conquerors tried to adapt their own conceptions of gild life and government largely intermixed with the idea of family and blood relationships, blood-feuds and blood-money (wergeld), to the conditions they found in existence, and as a result produced what are known as Frith Gilds, all of which may be clearly traced in the laws of Kings Alfred and Athelstan, but, as might be expected, the inherent strength of the Latin system prevented the over-bearing and brutal Saxon from ingrafting his own cruder ideas very deeply on the relatively more cultured people of this country. There were, however, three highly important points in which the Romano-British burgess and the Saxon warrior were agreed. In both systems the public feast was of a semi-sacred nature. Secondly, the recognition of the duty of providing religious offerings for the dead was deeply ingrained in both systems, whilst the "Gildhalla" of the Teuton and the Curia or Temple of the Roman were to all intents and purposes equally sacred.

 

Amongst the many interesting matters connected with the development of the early Gild-life, none are more interesting than the effects which the rising wave of Christianity had upon these two currents of fraternity-life gradually blended into one great stream. Long before the time of Augustine of Canterbury, Britain had known many a Christian martyr, and it is evident both from the writings of Bede and Gildas that Christianity must have been intensely powerful in these islands at a period shortly after the end of the first century of our era. The Saxon warriors, with religious conceptions mostly derived from nature worship, had no place in their scheme for Christianity. Hence, for a time all Christian influences had to hide amongst the hills of Wales, in the fastnesses of Cornwall and the West of England. After Augustine had arrived in England and obtained so strong a "footing," a warm welcome was accorded him by the native inhabitants, deeply imbued with early Christian ideals. The bishops and clergy of the British Church in the West emerged from their hiding in the West, and Christianity became once more the vital force in the land. Saxon superstition, like the Roman Emperors, was compelled to bow before the more spiritual forces of Christian teaching.

 

A NEW LIFE AMONG THE PEOPLE

 

From that day forward a new life sprang up amongst the people of Britain. Troubled by much internal strife, the Saxon rulers found it politic to call to their aid the powerful influence of Christianity in order to assist them in governing their subjects. The Gilds, on the other hand, would hasten to place themselves under the protection of the Church, which had now become recognised as the most powerful combination within the land. This intimate connection is strongly marked by the fact that from the time of Athelstan until the reign of Henry VIII, all suits connected with Gilds or Trading Companies had to be brought before the Ecclesiastical Courts. Thus the conversion of the Gild to Christianity, like the conversion of the State, was an easy and natural consequence. The Christian priest forthwith replaced the heathen sacrificial officer in the Gild, whilst the "Dies Rosae" and the "Dies Violae" became masses for the dead and offerings to the Church.

 

RELIGION PARAMOUNT

 

In those days religion was paramount. No Gild could exist without its Priest or Chaplain, who represented alike State and Church. So strongly did religion affect national life that after A. D. 600, Gilds for purely ecclesiastical purposes were not uncommon. There is every reason to believe that under the fostering influence of the clergy, by the middle of the eighth century Gilds had become recognised and popular combinations both for secular and religious purposes. After the Norman Conquest the English Gilds gradually reverted to the type of the Roman "Collegium" with this one difference that the Christian priest occupied a very prominent place in its economy. At the same time Teutonic influences were not absent, the payments demanded from the members called "scot" and "lot" were derived from the "scat" of the Teutonic Gilds, whilst the old Saxon ideal of blood-brotherhood clearly underlies the practice of demanding "frank pledge" of the burgesses, and was a principle of Saxon government which remained up to a comparatively late date.

 

(To be continued.)

 

----o----

 

Talk about those subjects you have had long in your mind, and listen to what others say about subjects you have studied but recently. --O. W. Holmes.

 

----o---

 

A merry smile, a short mile. --Douglas Mallock.

 

----o----

 

EDITORIAL

 

THE CONTRACT WITH THE CANDIDATE

 

FROM conversation with the average member of the fraternity one may be in doubt as to the claims of the candidate upon the Lodge. He probably gets too often less consideration than is due him. Is the work interesting to the spectators ? Does the rendition of the ritual cause a thrill of pride in the officers? Then all is well. And yet--

 

These are indeed of much moment. They are objective points to be diligently sought. When attained, these are advantages of very great consequence in the progress of the Lodge and the edification of its members. But they are not all.

 

When the candidate has presented his petition and the necessary preliminaries have been completed and he submits himself for initiation, he has complied with the conditions laid down for his acceptance. Thereupon an equally weighty responsibility rests with the Lodge. Thus far they have been concerned in his fulfilling in every particular, to the last iota of technical requirement, the lawful demands of the fraternity upon the applicant. Thus far, also, they have been insistent upon the candidate and the examining brethren enduring and enforcing a rigid investigation to the end that no unworthy person may pass the barriers.

 

Now we will assume that the scrutiny is entirely satisfactory. From now on the candidate may advance, step by step, to the goal of his heart's desire in the Masonic Lodge.

 

Having gained admission by merit and submission, he is entitled to what sort of treatment? Surely in a democratic institution regarding no man for his purely worldly wealth or honors, nothing less would be fair than to give him just what was offered under the best circumstances. Has the work ever been rendered in that Lodge with such excellence as to arouse warmest commendations from the most critical? Then why is not every candidate there justly due the same treatment ?

 

Of course we can readily understand how exceptionally favorable circumstances may prevail at an initiation. It may be that there are present a corps of expert ritualists seldom assembled. Perhaps the visit of some dignitary of the Craft has also had an effect upon the attendance of the highly-skilled brethren and has also spurred the officers to special efforts.

 

All this is plausible enough. It explains much but excuses nothing. Rather than give an applicant an inferior reception it is really worth while to consider whether the candidate's claims do not justify a postponement until the ceremonial can be performed in the most creditable manner.

 

If we hold that the candidate has no just claims for the best that the Lodge can do for him, then we need not ponder over the matter-- it solves itself. But fairminded brethren will not rest content with any such assumption.

 

There is a strong temptation for the presiding officer to fill the one chair or another with an ambitious brother seeking an opportunity to show what he can do. If the responsible officer knows what the amateur is capable of doing and if he is also convinced that the quality of the work will not suffer then there is the less room for objection. But suppose the presiding officer does not know these conditions but is willing to take a chance. If he does this, then he loses sight of the candidate's claim upon the Lodge.

 

To permit an untried member to undertake a responsible duty with the ritual is an experiment to be shunned. There is nothing that so spoils the work as the blundering of a well-meaning but incompetent or unruly associate on the team. He signally fails to pull his share of the load. What then should be done?

 

There is only the one answer. Every candidate deserves a perfect reception.

 

From a long study of the conditions, there are a few simple rules that present themselves for our consideration.

 

Have sufficient and regular rehearsals of the work. These perfect the officers and enable the presiding officer to make use of and improve the other available supply of ritualists.

 

Do not overload the willing brother. A really able brother is liable to be overlooked. He may already be in the line of officers and is then moved from place to place even in a single session. One Worshipful Master has a practice of moving his officers from their stations so that with every successive candidate upon any given date there is not in any instance a repetition anywhere in the line-up. On the second candidate, the Senior Warden succeeds to the Worshipful Master's station, and so on all the way down the line to the door. With the third candidate, the Junior Warden is in the East. Here and there are occasionally introduced members from the side-lines to give a charge or lecture or something else.

 

A likely result of this intermittent and irregular mixture of the official material is that everybody has a smattering of the whole message but few if any have specialized. A better plan is to see that each officer is equipped to do the work of the brother ahead of him in the line. Then cases of absence may be remedied with ease as it is unlikely that two of the brethren exceptionally informed and competent to fill any particular place would be absent at the same time. This plan would therefore provide for a corps of officers fully in touch with the requirements and in position to acquit themselves with great credit to their lodge. Is not the candidate deserving of this attention?

 

 It is by no means rare for a Worshipful Master to call anyone to the East. This is a compliment always in order where the brother so welcomed is by service worthy the honor. Cases are found where the brother invited has not such qualifications and sometimes is not even a Warden. Then the practice is an experiment hardly to be encouraged.

 

The English practice of preserving the seat in the East only for those who have by election sometime qualified for the Oriental chair, is one that rather appeals to us. Branding as it does the occupant as of at least a certain seasoned rank it gives dignity and honor to the opportunity afforded the one placed therein. He so chosen of his brethren, even for a temporary occupancy, will appreciate the place all the more when the position is restricted in that manner.

 

Customs change and on many matters of Masonic etiquette there is much scope for interchange of ideas. Some of the thoughts here ventilated will not apply to such jurisdictions as do not allow the practices condemned. But in each Lodge as in every family there are usages permitting of betterment to the end that the candidate may be the more highly and permanently impressed with the lessons taught.

 

By all means is it worth our while to continually ask ourselves these questions during the work: In what way can we make Masonry the more stimulating and instructive, a force for service and for righteousness? How can Masonic education be best communicated? Is our system and our method in this Lodge the most nearly what it was planned to be by the Grand Lodge to which will be in due course accredited this candidate? R.I.C.

 

----o----

 

THE LIBRARY

 

EDITED BY BRO. H.L.HAYWOOD

 

(The object of this Department is to acquaint our readers with time-tried Masonic books not always familiar; with the best Masonic literature now being published; and with such non-Masonic books as may especially appeal to Masons. The Library editor will be very glad to render any possible assistance to studious individuals or to study clubs and lodges, either through this Department or by personal correspondence; if you wish to learn something concerning any book - what is its nature, what is its value or how it may be obtained - be free to ask him. If you have read a book which you think is worth a renew write us about it; if you desire to purchase a book - any book - we will help you get it, with no charge for the service. Make this your Department of Literary Consultation.)

 

"HONEST JOHN MORLEY"

 

JOHN MORLEY was born in Blackburn, England, in the last week of 1838, the year following Queen Victoria's accession to the throne; being still alive and in full possession of his faculties, his career is remarkable in that it covers not only the span of the "Victorian Era" but also overlaps the present very different world period. Beginning as a journalist he soon found his way into politics in which he soon rose to become a commanding figure. In 1883 he was elected to parliament where he remained for a full quarter of a century. After the outbreak of the war he retired, "weary of public life and anxious to secure some leisure for literary recollection."

 

This leisure has proved more fruitful than his continued political activity could have been, full of possibilities as that was, because it has given us his two volume work, "Recollections," (published by Macmillans at $7.50) in which he has stored for us, in his austere but beautiful prose, all the best riches of his career. This work is a history of the epoch as seen through the trained eyes of an observer who was also a participant. "It has been my fortune," he notes in his introduction, "to write some pages that have found and affected their share of readers; to know and work on close terms with many men wonderfully worth knowing; to hold responsible offices in the state; to say things in popular assemblages that made a difference." This gives us the key to the spirit and tone of the work; Morley was too honest with himself to affect a spurious humility, he was too sincerely aware of his own limitations to do any boasting; he told his story with unaffected straightforwardness in a style that enables us to understand why his compatriots have been fond to call him "Honest John" Morley.

 

To Morley the secret of his period was its conversion to Liberalism in thought and life, and by Liberalism he means a desire to ameliorate the common human lot as well as to free the intellect from incrusting dogmas and authoritarianism. "Respect for the dignity and worth of the individual is at its root. It stands for the pursuit of social good against class interest or dynastic interest. It stands for the subjection to human judgment of all claims of external authority, whether in an organized church or in more loosely gathered societies of believers or in books held sacred." In short, he says, it is the universal application of the Golden Rule.

 

"Recollections" is a cyclorama of friendships. Meredith, Mill, Carlyle, Gladstone, Carnegie, Mazzini, Roosevelt, Tennyson, these names give one but a brief glimpse of the almost numberless personages who pass before the reader, each one made alive, each one revealed, by a paragraph of clairvoyant sentences. When one considers that the closely printed index alone would comprise a fair-sized book, and that a majority of the entrances therein refer to some noted man or woman he can understand what a living encyclopedia of table talk and personal reminiscence these volumes are.

 

In faith, Morley was also a Liberal. "Religion," we may read in one of the very few references made to it, "has many dialects, many diverse complexions, but it has one true voice, the voice of human pity, of mercy, of patient justice," and he declares that to that voice he has always tried to listen. As one moves on from page to page of these human and richly-rewarding recollections he can well believe that Morley has listened to that voice more intently than most of his contemporaries, even those who were more claimant in theological affairs.

 

As we gaze upon the last quarter of the nineteenth century through his eyes we are made aware that it was moving toward the larger fields of brotherhood, which is another way of saying, democracy. The spirit which so clearly manifested itself in the first Grand Lodge of Morley's native land had at last worked its way into the halls of parliament and into the streets. May we not believe, in spite of the present war, that it will continue to grow from more to more, until in all politicians, in all statesmen, in all writers, speakers and doers on the stage of public life, it will have its way as completely as in the character of John Morley?

 

* * *

 

"A HISTORY OF PENAL METHODS"

 

This book, written by George Ives, and published by Stanley Paul & Co., was placed in our hands by a thoughtful brother Mason who suggested that its 400 pages of the history of crime and punishment might throw some light on our famous "penalties" problem; but a diligent search through its dizzy mass of facts and citations has failed to elicit a single gleam. Nor can it be said that the reading has given the reviewer any pleasure. This, however, cannot be charged against the toilful author who has done his work so well; it arises from the nature of his subject matter. The night side of human nature is not an agreeable object of thought even when dressed in the glamor of an Edgar Poe's literary magic, least of all when set forth in the naked manner demanded by a cold scientific analysis.

 

Those who feel an interest in moral dereliction and in society's manner of dealing with it will find a mountain of facts in Mr. Ives' work. Penal methods of the Middle Ages, witchcraft, insanity, penitentiary methods, all these, and many cognate topics, are set forth with such a wealth of detail that the treatise must take a place among the serious works on criminology. Besides, the student in that "dismal science" will secure far more than his money's worth merely from the lists of authorities which are scattered through the volume. It is almost an encyclopedia of crime, and of society's blundering methods of punishing crime. The Masonic student will find little value in it save that it helps to make more vivid to him the social conditions of England in the early days of our Craft.

 

----o----

 

THE QUESTION BOX

 

(The Builder is an open forum for free and fraternal discussion. Each of its contributors writes under his own name, and is responsible for his own opinions. Believing that a unity of spirit is better than a uniformity of opinion, the Research Societv, as such, does not champion any one school of Masonic thought as over against another; but offers to all alike a medium for fellowship and instruction, leaving each to stand or fall by its own merits.)

 

MASONIC LANDMARKS

 

The brethren of my Lodge have asked me to give them a talk on the subject of "Landmarks." I have access to Mackey's Encyclopedia, also MacBride's "Speculative Masonry," but they do not agree as to "Landmarks."

 

If you have any data at hand on this all-absorbing topic kindly advise me or send it along. - J.M., Saskatchewan.

 

There is nothing more difficult than defining a Landmark. Their existence is undeniable but no two thinkers will agree as to what they are.

 

You will find this subject very ably handled by Brother Roscoe Pound in the July, 1917, issue of THE BUILDER.

 

Brother Silas H. Shepherd has also covered the subject in the August and September, 1916, issues of THE BUILDER.

 

Further references may be found in THE BUILDER as follows:

 

Volume I, pages 38, 40; volume II, pages 7, 17, 28, 47, 92, 1S5, 191, 207, 217, 274, 302, 368; volume III, pages 39, 211, 221, March C. C. B. pages 2, 4.

 

* * *

 

MASONIC PENALTIES

 

Some few weeks ago a young brother asked the following question of me and I am sorry to say that I was unable to give him a satisfactory answer - one that was satisfactory both to the questioner and myself. Can you give me any information concerning the matter?

 

"How did the penalties of the obligations of the three degrees originate, and has the Craft at any time attempted to mitigate the penalties so promulgated?” - J.W. Manitoba.

 

Concerning the origin of the penalties of the three obligations you will find information in this regard on page 347, volume II, of THE BUILDER. On pages 550, 551 and 552 of Mackey's Encyclopedia the matter is gone into at length. Dr. Mackey says that they refer in no case to any kind of human punishment; that is to say, to any kind of punishment which is to be inflicted by human hand or instrumentality. The true punishments of Masonry affect neither life nor limb. They are suspension and expulsion only.

 

* * *

 

CABLE-TOW

 

I am unable to find the word "cable-tow" in any English Dictionary, including the Century.

 

What is the origin of the word and has it any known use or application outside of Freemasonry? - F.S.P., Mass.

 

Brother H.T.S. has asked the same question and was replied to on page 215 of volume I of THE BUILDER. Other interesting references will be found as follows:

 

Volume I, pages 215, 276, 278; volume II, page 155; volume III, page 341, April C.C.B. page 6, Dec. C.C.B. pages 4, 5.

 

* * *

 

A MOHAMMEDAN MASTER OF AN ENGLISH LODGE

 

At the last meeting of our Lodge a member told us that he had recently received a letter from a relative in England in which it was stated that a Mohammedan, a native of India, had been elected Master of an English Lodge. Can you verify this statement? - F.R.L., Indiana.

 

On the 16th of October, (Mohammedan New Year's Day,) Brother Abdeali Shaikh Mahomedali Anik, an Indian, member of the Bohra Moslem Community, was installed as Master of Wantage Lodge, No. 3178, located in London, England.

 

Brother Anik was born in India in 1860 and removed to England in 1901. He had been a Mason but five years when he was elected to serve as Master of his Lodge, having been initiated in Wantage Lodge in 1912. He was exalted in St. Thomas Chapter, No. 142, London, a year later. He is also a Mark Master Mason, a Royal Ark Mariner and a member of the Order of the Secret Monitor. Brethren of Christian, Hindoo and Parsee faiths were present at his installation.

 

* * *

 

H.G. WELLS' CONCEPTION OF DEITY IN HIS "GOD THE INVISIBLE KING"

 

I have just been reading "God The Invisible King," by H. G. Wells, and although I am not a religious man, the book has greatly appealed to me. I have been wondering if the conception of Deity found in this book can be made to square with the Masonic conception of T.G.A.O.T.U. What is your opinion about this? - H.G.F., Nebraska.

 

You are not the only one who has been stimulated by this remarkable book to ask questions; on both sides of the Atlantic it has attracted much attention, as well it might, for it is written in Mr. Wells' characteristically eager and virile fashion and deals with the subject which has always interested men. There is one sense in which his finite struggling God can be made to square with Masonry, for, though our Fraternity exacts of every candidate a faith in Deity, it does not define this Deity and consequently the individual Mason can feel free to believe in such a God as his mind and conscience require him. However, the majority of Masonic thinkers, writers and scholars would not be in accord with Mr. Wells.

 

If we Masons believe that the Grand Arcnitect is in truth the Architect of the Universe, the Grand Geometrician of the cosmos who holds the world in his hand and will one day have his way with it, we are almost compelled to believe in his omnipotence and omniscience. The blind, struggling God who is little more than a magnified man, can hardly be expected to fulfill the necessities of Masonic thought.

 

* * *

 

JEWEL OF THE THIRTY-SECOND DEGREE

 

I take the liberty of writing to ask what is the true emblem of the Thirty-Second Degree, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Is it the double-headed eagle, triangle either on its body or above the heads, "32" in the triangle, and "Spes Mea In Deo Est" written underneath, or is it the Teutonic Cross with "32" above it? - F.E.A., Indiana.

 

According to the Statutes of the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction the jewel of the Thirty-Second Degree is a Teutonic Cross of gold, one inch and three-quarters square with raised or beaded edges, and the surface within frosted, having in the center a wreath of green enamel, with a gold tie at bottom, and within the wreath the numerals XXXII in gold.

 

* * *

 

THE PATRON SAINTS OF MASONRY

 

How did Masonry come to have its patron saints? - G.R.W., Iowa.

 

In ancient days every organization was dedicated to some god or goddess, the members hoping thereby to win the approval and support of such a deity. After Christianity had made it impossible for men to believe in the Pagan gods, these societies and organizations made use of the saints for similar purposes; consequently in medieval times every order or fraternity, every trade union even, had its own patron saint.

 

As Freemasonry was among these organizations, it also was dedicated to one or two saints and this custom, so deeply ingrained, was carried over into modern times.

 

Why a society of architects, operative and symbolical, should ever have chosen the Saints John for their patrons instead of Saint Thomas, who had always been the saint of architecture, is still a mystery. Many books and numerous articles have been written to elucidate the question, but as yet it cannot be said that we have solved it.

 

If you care to go into this matter we shall be glad to give you references to much interesting material.

 

----o----

 

CORRESPONDENCE

 

MASONRY IN RUSSIA

 

With reference to the question of D.F.B., Nebraska, in the October issue of THE BUILDER as to Masonry in Russia, I wish to state for the brother's edification that there was a book published some ten years ago at Berne on "Freemasonry in Russia and Poland." I do not remember the author's name.

 

A good many valuable hints on this subject can be found in "Traces of a Hidden Tradition in Masonry," by I. Cooper-Oakley, published in 1900. This writer lived for several years in Buda-Pesth and had, by reason of a scholarly knowledge of European languages, many facilities for tracing this subject through Continental libraries.

 

I would like, with all due respect, to question your definition of "Entered Apprentice," in the November BUILDER. But I apologize,another reading shows me that we are in agreement. N.W.J. Haydon, Ontario.

 

* * *

 

"THE ORPHANS FRIEND AND MASONIC JOURNAL" OF NORTH CAROLINA

 

On page 382 of THE BUILDER for December I notice a list of Masonic publications, to which I would suggest you add the name of "The Orphans Friend and Masonic Journal” published at Oxford, N. C. It is issued weekly. The subscription price is $1.00 per year and it has a circulation of some 12,000.

 

A. A. Andrews, P. G. M., North Carolina.

 

* * *

 

THE COMACINES

 

The October issue of THE BUILDER which reached me only the day before yesterday, contains a review of Bro. Vibert's book on "Freemasonry Before the Existence of Grand Lodges."

 

In the course of your remarks you quote some words used by Bro. Vibert on my book "The Comacines," and with your permission, I desire to give a short reply to what he says.

 

Since my book was published, seven years ago, I have kept before me its subject as one of my principal studies and have twice visited Italy - made a considerable number of notes and sketches, and have just completed a paper ready for publication as the outcome.

 

The result of my investigations during these seven years has been a general and almost unvaried confirmation of what I have already published although I have not lost sight of the possibilities of refutation of some of the points on which I wrote with a little diffidence as expressed in the earlier pages.

 

Bro. Vibert says: "In the first place there is absolutely no ground for attributing to any Collegia traditions of King Solomon." My reply to that is I have very good ground for such as regards the Comacine Collegia and for the Roman (pagan) Collegia, I do not claim it.

 

Further he says: "The exodus of a Collegium to Como is a hypothesis only and Ravenscroft's authority is Findel whose statements are unsupported." To which I reply, although I have quoted Findel I make no reliance on him where unsupported and indeed have as good as said so in my book. My authority is personal consultations with Professor Santo Monti and Sig. H. Guissani, both well known antiquarians in Como; Sig. Monneret de Villard, the archeologist appointed by the Italian Government to explore the Island of Comacina and its neighborhood and who as the result of careful work and the investigation of numerous archives has published a valuable work only three years since; Sig. A.G. Caproni, the owner of Isola Comacina; the late Professor Carter of the American School in Rome. All of these are at agreement with me, at any rate in my main arguments. And I have consulted also Merzario and Riviora and paid two visits of some length to the district of the Comacines. So much for my authority.

 

Bro. Vibert says thirdly: "Even assuming that the Masons imported to Saxon England were in fact Comacines this merely means that their knowledge of building was derived from Ancient Rome (exactly what I claim for them) not that they brought us any esotericism." My reply is simply that they did.

 

Lastly, Bro. Vibert says the legend of our Craft connects us not with Rome but with Euclid and Egypt. My pursuit is not of legend but history, and legend in this direction is useful only as sometimes giving clues and indications.

 

I have not troubled you with proofs (nor for the matter of that, so far as I read in your article, has Bro. Vibert) but I shall hope to show when my further notes are published that I have exceedingly good ground for making the foregoing replies. W. Ravenscroft, England.

 

* * *

 

GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE

 

My compliments to Brother Ramsey - his article on "The Grand Orient of France and the Three Great Lights" is excellent. There is but one thing in it that I can scare up to take issue with. He assumes that the Grand Orient took the Bible off the Altar when the famous change was made in the Constitution. But he says nothing as to his authority. My impression, and I am sorry that I cannot now cite direct proof, is that the lodges were long permitted to use any book they wanted to, Bible or otherwise. In fact, as I recall, this was cited as one of the reasons for the latest governing body, the National Independent Grand Lodge, being started; that the Grand Orient had at last decided to make the bodies of its obedience use the same ritual and be uniform in the "book" practice. Perhaps Brother Ramsey can give us his authority.

 

Is it not the case that the Rite Rectifie (Rectified Rite) and the old English "work," like ours, and the Bible were in use by some Lodges long after the change in the Constitution? By the way, the change in the Constitution says nothing about the Bible. For that matter, the general practice has been, everywhere (?), to allow the alternative use of the Koran, or Shastra, etc., as a concession to a candidate.

 

R.I. Clegg, Ohio

 

* * *

 

THE MASTER

 

The Master is to the Lodge all in all. His will and pleasure is law supreme. It's the law and the gospel. His orders are complied with and obeyed implicitly, carried out to the letter. He rules and governs his lodge with equal regularity of the sun and moon. He points you to the Great Light of Masonry, the Lamb's book of life. He it is that places you in the northeast corner of the Lodge a just and upright Mason and admonishes you to ever walk and act as such. He raises you to walk in a newness of life and teaches you of the immortality of the soul - that we shall all rise again - that light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not.

 

The Master represents a noted bible character - a man that never took the life blood of his fellow man and a man that dedicated the Temple to the service of God - King Solomon. We dedicate our temples - our bodies - to the service of God. He gave us life and being and our bodies are the dwelling places for the spirit. He offers us eternal life beyond the grave if we are true subjects of His will and pleasure while moving about on this earth He created for our well-being.

 

As the Master is directly responsible to the Craft for the ruling and conduct of his Lodge, so are we likewise held responsible to our Master for the use we make of our bodies, the indwelling of the spirit. Then how important it is that we should with consecrated spirit dedicate our lives and our services to Him who made us, from the rugged paths to save us, that when time with us is no longer and when we have been summoned before the great white throne there to give an account of the things done on earth while in the body, may it be our pleasure to hear from Him who sitteth on the throne, "Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joys prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many."

 

Looking to the East is an order that must be obeyed, an edict, yielding obedience to which make of us good subjects. Hearing, believing and obeying make of us subjects of that immortal kingdom and celestial abode where we may drink of the waters of eternal life and never grow old, fainthearted, where sickness, sorrow and death never enter and where farewells are never said and where we can bask in the sunshine of God's love through the ceaseless ages of eternity, with the Supreme Grand Master of the Universe.

 

The Lodge Master should be a God fearing man, a praying man, a man that his Lodge has implicit confidence in, a man capable of teaching and imparting the essentials that make for the best of his Lodge at all times and all seasons. He should be constant in season and out of season, visiting the sick and afflicted, the fatherless and the widow, giving to charity and consoling the distressed, pointing all to the God of love who is able to care for all and to save all who put their trust in Him and obey His commands. So mote it be with us all at all times. Robert A. Turner, Washington.

 

* * *

 

GRADES OF THE STONE AGE

 

Relative to the query of Brother A.P.O., of California, in regard to obtaining Masonic information about the different grades of the stone age permit me to say that I believe and sincerely trust that his quest will be in vain. The subject matter is not at all a Masonic, but purely a scientific one and even the most imaginative Masonic writer (and there are legions) can trace the history, not to mention the principles of Masonry, to the stone age when every man's hand was against the other and might was right.

 

If our brother wishes to study the subject from a purely scientific standpoint I can refer him to Ridpath's "Great Races of Mankind," volume I, a work not usually sold in book stores and hard to procure. However, if our brother wishes "further light" in this matter, not Masonic but scientific, I shall be very glad to assist him.

 

And, my dear brother, while we are on the subject of the stone age will you permit me to digress somewhat from the subject? Permit me to draw three pictures. The first is of a man of the primitive world, clad in the skin of beasts he has slain, armed with a club, wild-eyed and haggard looking, seeking first to keep from being devoured by his superiors in might and force, and next to devour those that were inferior to him. The next picture shall be of the angels appearing to the shepherds on Bethlehem's field to deliver the message of the first Christmas day, "Glory to God on High, Peace on Earth and to Men Good Will." The third picture shall be a scene from the war now raging in which nearly every civilized nation in both the Old and New World are engaged.

 

Picture two lines of trenches, opposing one another, each line bent on destroying the other. Shot after shot is poured in on one by the other, thousands are slain and yet thousands, and so the war goes on from day to day and from year to year.

 

Or picture a vessel laden with men, women and children, afloat on the deep; civilians who have no connection with the war, suddenly aroused by an explosion beneath the body of the vessel and within a few moments the vessel is sunk with nearly all on board.

 

Your thinking readers can form their own conclusions as to whether we have advanced or receded in civilization since the men of the stone age.

 

Wishing the fraternity in general and the Research Society in particular a happy and prosperous New Year, and above all hoping that this devastating war shall be ended soon.

 

Henry F. Jox. Indiana

 

 

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