The Builder Magazine

June 1921 - Volume VII - Number 6

 

The Columbus, Georgia, Masonic Club

BY BRO. HAL RIVIERE. GEORGlA

THE COLUMBUS MASONIC CLUB, though hoped for by a number of earnest Masons for several years, came into being as a direct result of the establishment of the Infantry School of Arms at Camp Benning during the war. Realizing the need of the boys of the School for some place of recreation in the city, the Club idea was developed and after a period of preparation extending over almost a year, was formally opened in November, 1919.

 

The present Club room is a hall of ample size on the top floor of the Masonic Temple, which previous to the establishment of the Club, was rented to the Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Junior Order and several other fraternal orders. After ample notice was given these bodies to secure other quarters, the hall was remodeled and other alterations made on the same floor, giving locker space for St. Aldemar Commandery of Knights Templar, and preparation and paraphernalia rooms for the two Blue Lodges and Chapter.

 

These alterations were quite extensive and consumed the greater part of the summer of 1919, but Columbus Masons can now boast that few cities of her size have such complete Masonic quarters as she, and none has a Club where a closer feeling of brotherly affection exists.

 

This enviable spirit of brotherhood is largely brought about by the fact that there are no memberships in the Club, every regular Mason being free to come and go regardless of residence or length of his sojourn in the community. In addition, all soldiers and sailors in uniform, regardless of Masonic membership, are welcome. There they find tables with paper for writing, books, magazines, games and bath. There also they find the two Custodians of the Temple and Mal agers of the Club, Rev. J. C. Harrison, a retired Methodist minister, and Brother J. A. Walton, Past Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Georgia. These two elderly gentlemen have the love of God and of Masonry in their hearts, and are devoting the autum of well spent lives to the service of the brethren Brother Walton is official instructor for Mount Herma Lodge No. 304. A few weeks ago Brother Harrison received an invitation to attend the annual conferene of his church, but being a busy man replied, "Read Nehemiah 6:3."

 

The Columbus Masonic Club received one thousand dollars towards its equipment from the Grand Lodge of Georgia in recognition of the services to be rendered the soldiers of Camp Benning; the remainder of the equipment fund was appropriated by Columbian Lodge No. 7, Mount Herman Lodge No. 304, Darley Chapter of Royal Arch Masons and St. Aldemar Commandery, besides numerous donations by individual members of these bodies.

 

The Club is supported by the same bodies, each bearing an equal share of the expense, while the Masonic Temple Association pays part of the salaries of the custodians, janitors and elevator men.

 

Last May a Lodge of Perfection of the Scottish Rite was organized in Columbus, and as soon as the uncertainties of its infancy are past it also will bear its share in the maintenance of the Club.

 

Each of the above bodies, except the Lodge of Perfection, annually elects one of its members as a Masonic Club Director, and these four men, together with Early H. Johnson, President of the Masonic Temple Association, who acts as Secretary and Treasurer of the Masonic Club Directorate, manage the affairs of the Club. It is owing to the tireless and whole-hearted work of Brother Early Johnson that the Club idea came to be a reality. It was he who went before the Grand Lodge Committee on Appropriations and secured their recommendation; it was he who made the plans and saw that the designs were executed; it is he who watches over the Club with a jealous eye; too much praise cannot be given him for having done a good thing for Masonry.

 

Camp Benning, which will soon be the largest and most important military school in the world, is located eight miles from Columbus on a tract of 93,000 acres of land. The camp has developed so rapidly that neither it nor the City of Columbus has been able to satisfactorily house the large body of instructors and student officers. Under such conditions the importance and opportunity for service to the soldiers, of the Masonic Club, can hardly be overestimated. It has been a veritable haven of rest to many a homesick young officer, who was ordered to the school and arrived to find that he could secure no rooms so that his family could join him. In many cases the Club has helped such men to secure rooms, and where not able to be of such assistance, it has offered the next best thing to a home, a hearty Masonic welcome and the freedom of the Club.

 

Columbus, together with its suburbs, Phenix City and Girard, Alabama, is a city of about 50,000 people, having a Masonic membership of near 900. It is safe to say that one-fourth of these visit the Masonic Club in Columbus some time during each week. It is a common thing to see some boy with his arms around "Dad" Harrison or to see a crowd about him as he puts "Lead Kindly Light" or "Silver Threads Among the Gold" or some other old, sweet, familiar melody on the Victrola. It makes one feel with Peter, "Lord, it is good for us to be here."

 

SEARCHLIGHTS

 

BY BRO. GEO. L. SCHOONOVER.  P.G.M., IOWA

 

WHAT IS this "unrest" that is about us everywhere? How is it evidenced in our social organism? If we are to cure it we must know something of its symptoms. The radicals, like certain quack doctors, are offering us remedies.  It seems that what the body politic needs just now is an old-fashioned family physician, whose knowledge of the family history forms a background for his prescription.

 

What are these symptoms?  The most acute, because of the number of people it affects, is the distrust existing between Capital and Labour. Each fears the other, looks upon the other as an enemy, rather than as a co-worker. The advocates of class war are aggravating this situation.

 

Young men and women say that they are failing to find food for their spiritual hunger in the churches, yet never was the spirit of a rising generation more earnest or more hungry.  Their war experiences seem to have torn a veil from their eyes, so that they are no longer content with inherited beliefs.

 

Statistics seem to tell us that we are the most generous nation in the world, but there is too much alms giving, and not enough personal effort.  Men offer their money, but withhold themselves.

 

There seems to be a desire to disregard our laws, rather than to support them.  Do we forget that laws are made for the protection of all? Equal justice can never be administered when evasion of, and a defiant attitude toward law prevails.

 

The tangled diplomacy of nations merely typifies the political disturbances underneath all governments. Men are wondering what is to come. The financial barometer is cloudy, and business waits.

 

We have grown hysterical in our play.  The frantic whirl of society tells of the effort to escape from idleness.  Too many have failed to find the job that needs them - the work that brings contentment.

 

The story told by the so-called "radical" magazines and the season's "best sellers" depicts these same symptoms.  It is a sordid story, one we want to deny, of realism run rampant.  Deny it we cannot, if we are honest with ourselves.  But protest we must against their angle of approach.  They are using the searchlight.  They are uncovering the dingy, dirty, detestable corners, and trying to convince us that only these corners exist.  They tell us that equality among men is lost, that materialism controls all life, that the maneater of the jungle has a better moral code than we have, and that our life resembles his in that it is a succession of killings, gorgings and satiations.

 

The literature of the last two years tells a story of lost illusions, lost traditions which have been cherished and fostered through generations.  To prove to us that these will not bear close scrutiny the radical throws his searchlight into many dark corners which have never felt the cleansing effect of sunshine.  Because some beliefs will not stand the light, he would sweep them all away, insisting that none are genuine, that all are fetiches.

 

The realistic writers are ruthless in painting nothing but shadows into their picture of modern conditions.  Yet we cannot altogether reject their picture.  The shadows are there.  But they forget that shadows exist only where there is light.  It is this light they ignore.  The bitterness with which they tell us what we are is not only an evidence of the degree of their disillusionment; it is an expression of their hunger for what is true, and their disappointment in failing to find it.  What they have written seems to say, "We have tried your illusions, and they have failed us.  We want something concrete, something we can take hold of, something we can use."

 

Many thinking men have had a parallel experience.  They have passed in review the teachings of the seers and the prophets.  They have traced the development of religions.  They have seen dogma piled upon dogma, creed upon creed.  They have seen creeds broaden.  They have witnessed the tendency of political influence and intrigue to leave their impress upon religions. They have seen wars between men and nations born of differences of creed and tongue.  History has appeared as a succession of conflicts over statements of religion almost as often as contests for commercial supremacy.

 

They have failed to find in existing creeds a reasonable answer to the questions "Why am I?" and "Why am I decent?" Because of this they are prone to say, that all religion is formalism, and that it will not satisfy modern conditions.  This is not true.  The fundamental truths are there, and it is necessary only to push aside the trappings which hide them.  The doctrine of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man contains the principles taught by all the great teachers, and the truth of them is proven by the fact that the creeds containing them still live.

 

When the realist asks us to justify our inherited beliefs we cannot give answers that are reasonable, even to ourselves.  Why? Because, for our eyes, the trappings partly obscure the truth.  We have not thought the problem through.  With the insistence of a crusader he says, "You must think it through." Smug complacency will not give him the answers to which he is entitled.  His questions go to the roots of our faith.

 

A Mason's faith is based upon certain great fundamental principles.  It is these principles, applied to the present unrest, which will furnish the answers that will convince.

 

On bended knee we acknowledge the Fatherhood of God.  Every symbol in the lodge furnishes a motive for right living and right thinking.  Every working tool is an instrument for right accomplishment.  To understand our symbols and to use our working tools is our only excuse for existence.  Only by thinking right, by living right and by building right can we make Masonry play the part for which it was created.

 

We can apply these principles today as our Masonic forefathers did.  They wrote the doctrine of the Brotherhood of Man into American Law and Institutions in a definite way.  They founded a government by bringing together into one set of fundamental documents five great principles: Religious Liberty, Equality before the Law, Equality of Opportunity, the Dignity of Labour, and Charity.  These were conceived as embodying the Rights of Man, and alongside of these Rights were placed, in an equally definite way, the Responsibilities of every citizen.

 

The statement of these Rights might have been taken from a number of historic sources which mark the struggle of the common man for a place in the sun. The coupling of these Rights with the Responsibilities of citizenship was an untried idea.  It had not been applied in the government of any nation.  It was an idea conceived and born in the hearts of Masons, and it was from the Masonic system that our forefathers borrowed the idea of a government by, of and for the people, a government of laws rather than of men, government of authority delegated by, and responsible to, the whole people.

 

In building upon the foundation which they laid we have made mistakes. Injustices have crept in. Equality before the Law has not been complete, Equality of opportunity has not come to everyone.  We have not always kept the ideal of the Dignity of Labour before us. We have not always been tolerant.  We have always been charitable.  But these principles are still here.  They are the high lights of the picture which the realist has ignored.

 

The Leaven of Life is contained in the doctrine the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. Ours is the duty to use the leaven in such a way as restore the faith which it seems is in danger of being lost.  We as a Fraternity have the opportunity to show our distracted generation that the shattering of some of our traditions does not undermine the fundamental truths involved in others.  Those truths cannot be undermined.  They are eternal.  Not only must they interpreted but they must be applied to every day life. The spirit of the application must be a spirit of Brotherhood, involving Good Will, Honesty of Purpose, Toleration and Unselfishness.

 

----o----

 

K. OF C. FAILS TO ACCEPT LEGION CONDITIONS

 

Will Not Eliminate Divided Control of Memorial Building, and Offer Rejected.

 

The $4,000,000 building in Washington, with a $1,000,000 fund for maintenance, offered by the Knights of Columbus out of the fund raised by it during the war, to the American Legion will not be built, it has been definitely decided, due to the failure of the supreme board of directors of the Knights of Columbus to agree to the elimination of conditions in the original proposal under which the legion would not have had complete control of the structure. That the Knights of Columbus would not change in any way the conditions calling for divided control became known following a session of its supreme board of directors, recently held in Washington.

 

Some time ago the Young Men's Christian Association made an offer of $500,000 of its war funds to the legion, with certain conditions, which offer, it was announced, would not be accepted unless the Y.M.C.A. agreed to the elimination of all conditions. This elimination was promptly agreed to, and the money was accepted. In replying to the original offer of the Knights of Columbus, the legion's executive committee presented the same conditions as to control presented to the Y.M.C.A. and agree to by the latter. - Capital News Service, Washington, D. C.

 

----o----

 

A thing of beauty is a joy for evermore.

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness, but still will keep

Full of sweet thoughts, and health, and quiet breathings;

Therefore, on every morning let's be wreathing

A flowery band to bind us to the earth.

 

- Keats.

 

MEMORIALS TO GREAT MEN WHO WERE MASONS

 

BY BRO. GEO. W. BAIRD. P.G.M. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

 

GENERAL WILLIAM WHIPPLE

 

WILLIAM WHIPPLE, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a member of St. John's Lodge No. 1, located at Portsmouth, N. H. He was born in Kittery, Maine, in January, 1730, and died in November, 1785. He went to sea at an early age in merchant vessels, and was in command of a vessel before he was of age.

 

It may seem paradoxical that so many boys who go to sea, leaving schools and academies behind them, acquire a substantial education. However, such is the rule, and in Whipple we have an object lesson. Coming into intimate contact with men of the world, with the wily foreigner, the methodical importers and exporters and with the laws of the nations of the world, imparts to the seafaring man much that is not taught in universities. The school gives its graduates but the foundation on which to build a profession, but it does not give the profession per se.

 

In 1759 Whipple became a merchant in Portsmouth. In 1775 he became a member of the Provincial Congress at Exeter, and the following year a member of the Continental Congress. Two years later he was commissioned a Brigadier, and commanded New Hampshire troops at Saratoga. In 1778 he cooperated with General John Sullivan (also a Mason) in - the siege of Newport, and afterwards became financial receiver of the State of New Hampshire. In 1782 he was appointed Judge of the Superior Court of the State.

 

The grave of General Whipple is in the North Cemetery at Portsmouth, N.H., and near it is the unmarked grave of Captain William Thompson, the sixth Captain on the original Navy List.

 

The memorial to Whipple is not a grand affair - not such as would have been erected over the grave of so great a man had he lived in more prosperous times. It is a simple granite cube, about three feet in height, surmounted with a marble slab. The inscription reads:

 

Here are deposited the remains

Of the Honorable William Whipple,

Who departed this life

On the 28th day of November, 1785.

He was elected and thrice attended

The Continental Congress

As Delegate

For the State of New Hampshire,

Particularly in the memorable year

In which

America declared itsef independent

Of Great Britain.

He was, also, at time of his

decease,

A Judge

Of the Supreme Court of

Judicature.

In Him

A firm and ardent Patriotism

Was united with

Universal benevolence

And every social virtue

 

The memorial does not record the great act of General Whipple in signing the Declaration of Independence, but that is history. It does not record his Masonic membership, which was probably not the custom, but his lodge has his Masonic record, and the Nation's History records his signature to the Declaration.

 

Many mementoes and recollections cluster around the neighborhood where Whipple's remains lie: the site and ruin of Fort William and Mary, where the New Hampshire Minute Men made their famous attack, the famous old house known as "The Earl of Halifax Tavern," which was built by Brother Stavers, of St. John's Lodge, in 1767, where the lodge once met and where the Grand Lodge was organized with John Sullivan as Grand Master. Among the visitors at this meeting were the peerless George Washington, General Joseph Cilley, Alexander Scammel, Henry Dearborn, Major Edward Sherbourne, Winborn Adams, Andrew McClary, Lieutenant Elijah Hall, U. S. N., Captain Zach Beal, John Dennett, Jere Fogg, James Gray, Michael McClary and Dr. William Parker. All Revolutionary names.

 

In the lodge room is a model of the ship "America," fifty-four guns, built in Portsmouth by order of the British Government in 1749, and during her construction St. John's Lodge held two meetings on board. From the minutes the following excerpt has been taken:

 

The same night Brother Smith, Brother Wallace, Brother Jenness and Brother Campbell were made Masters by vote of ye lodge.

 

St. John's Lodge cannot be praised too highly for the care and preservation of its records. It has set a record for all the rest.

 

ROMAN CATHOLICISM AND FREEMASONRY

 

BY BRO. DUDLEY WRIGHT, ENGLAND

 

THE BUILDER JUNE 1921

 

PART II

 

THE FIRST victim of this savage decree is said to have been a Frenchmen, the author of a book entitled An Apology for the Society of Freemasons, which book was ordered to be burnt by the Ministers of Justice in one of the most frequented streets of Rome. The papal decree e concerning this offender was worded as follows:

 

"18th February, 1739.  The Sacred Congregation of the most eminent and most reverend Cardinals of the Holy Roman See and Inquisitor-general in the Christian republic against heretical provity, held in the convent of St. Mary Minervam, thoroughly weighing that a certain book, written in French, small in its size, but most wicked in regard to its bad subject, entitled The History of and an Apology for the Society of Freemasons, By J. G. D. M. F. M., printed at Dublin for Patrick Odoroke, 1739, has been published to the great scandal of all the faithful in Christ, in which book there is an apology for the society of Freemasons, already justly condemned by the holy see; after a mature examination thereof, a censure, and that to be by our most holy lord, Pope Clement XII, together with the suffrages of the most eminent and most reverend lords, the Cardinals, by the command of his holiness, condemns and prohibits, by the present decree, the said book, as containing propositions and wicked principles. 

 

"Wherefore that so hurtful and wicked a work may be abolished, as much as possibly it can, or at least that it may not continue without the perpetual note of infamy, the same Sacred Congregation, by command as above has ordered that the said work shall be burnt publicly by the Minister of Justice in the street of St. Mary supra Minervam, on the 25th of the current month, at the same time the congregation shall be held in the convent of the same St. Mary.

 

"Moreover, this same Sacred Congregation, by the command of his holiness, positively forbids and prohibits all the faithful in Christ, that none dare by any means, and under any pretence whatsoever, copy, print, or cause to be copied or printed or written, or presume to read the said book in any language and version now published or (which God forbid) may be published hereafter, and now condemned by this decree, under the pain of excommunication, to be incurred ipso facto by those who shall offend therein; but that they shall presently and effectually deliver it up to the ordinaries of such places, or to the inquisitors of heretical pravity, who shall burn it, or cause it to be burnt, without delay.

 

 "Paul Antinus Capellorius, notary-public of the Holy Roman and Universal Inquisition."

 

Archibald Bower, who was Counsellor of the Inquisition at Macerata, in his History of the Popes published in 1768, says that Clement XII (who was a Florentian named Lawrence Corsini) "began his Pontificate with obliging Cardinal Corsica,  and those whom he had employed, to give an account of their late administration, and answer the many accusations brought against them by persons of all ranks and condition. They were tried by a particular Congregation appointed for that purpose, and it plainly appearing that they had defrauded the Apostolic Chamber of immense sums, they were sentenced to make them good which reduced them almost to beggary. We are told that a very small share of the sums which they were forced to refund came into the Apostolic Chamber, His Holiness having privately disposed of it to his nephews and relatives.... He was a man of learning and an encourager, of the learned, but left no writings behind him besides some Bulls, and among these one, allowing the Protestants who should embrace the Roman Catholic religion to continue in the possession of the Church lands which they held before their conversion.  He improved the Vatican Library with a noble collection of scarce and valuable books." Bower, it may be stated, resigned his office in the Inquisition and left the Church of Rome because of the treatment meted out to an innocent Man who was driven mad by his sufferings in the prison of the Inquisition and of a nobleman who expired under the hands of his torturers, of both of which inhuman and shocking scenes he was an eye-witness.

 

In the same year also the Inquisition tortured a Mason, one Dr. Crudeli, Master of the Florence Lodge, and kept him in prison for a considerable time.  He suffered the most unmerited cruelties for maintaining the innocence of the Association. When the Grand Lodge of England was informed of his miserable situation, they decided that a foreigner, whatever his rank, had claim upon their sympathy, and they transmitted to him the sum of twenty pounds for procuring the necessaries of life and they also exerted every nerve for effecting his liberation.  The death penalty was, however, a matter for the secular authorities and not under the control of the Inquisition, so far as Florence was concerned.  It was not until December of that year that the Grand Lodge of England succeeded in their negotiations for the freedom of Dr. Crudeli, through the new Grand Duke, Francis Stephen, subsequently Francis I of Austria, who had been initiated into the Order in 1731 at the Hague.  When afterwards the Inquisition offered pardon for self-denunciation and a hundred crowns for information, and made several arrests, the Grand Duke interposed and liberated the prisoners.

 

The papal commands were eagerly welcomed in Spain and the Bull received the royal executer there, while the Inquisitor-general, Orbe y Larreategui, published it in an edict dated 11th October, 1738, pointing out that the Inquisition had exclusive jurisdiction in this matter.  He called for denunciation within six days of all infractions under pain of excommunication and of a fine of two hundred ducats.  The edict was ordered to be read in the churches and to be affixed to their portals.  Then arose a conflict between the spiritual and secular powers.  In 1740, Philip V issued an edict under which a number of Masons were sent to the galleys, while the Inquisition vindicated its rights by breaking up a lodge in Madrid and insisting upon punishing its members.  Freemasons were thus the victims whichever party issued the decree.

 

It is sometimes asserted by Catholic writers that the Inquisition was a purely secular organization, so that it may be of interest to record its actual constitution.

 

The reigning Pope was the head of the Inquisition, which was known in Rome as the Holy Office: he nominated all the Cardinals who composed this Congregation.  He also nominated all the presiding Inquisitors of the secondary tribunals.  They held their office at the will of the Pope, who had the power of deposing them from their office without acquainting them of the cause of their disgrace.  The Holy Office at Rome was composed of Cardinals and Consultors.  The Cardinals formed the tribunal: they were the judges, the Consultors composed the jury and had to be Canonists or regular priests.   Each subordinate tribunal was composed of three judges, three secretaries, a sergeant-major, and three consulters, except in Italy, where the tribunal was composed of an Inquisitor, assisted by a Vicar, a Fiscal, a Notary and some Consulters.  Each of these tribunals had several gaolers and a large number of other officers. An Inquisitor had to prove his descent from an old-established Catholic family, none of whose ancestors had been charged before a tribunal.  An oath of fidelity to preserve the secrets of the Inquisition had to be taken, and the violation of this meant the death penalty, no excuse being possible nor was there any appeal in mitigation of the sentence allowed.

 

The Inquisition was empowered by the Pope to deal with (1), heretics; (2), those suspected of heresy; (3), their abettors, protectors, and all persons who had shown them any favour; (4), magicians, sorcerers, enchanters, and those who made use of witchcraft; (5), blasphemers; (6), persons accused of having resisted the officers of the Inquisition, or of having questioned the jurisdiction of that body.  Under the name of heretics were included all who had written, taught, or preached anything contrary to the Holy Scriptures, symbols and articles of faith, the traditions of the Church, those who had left the Roman Catholic Church and embraced another faith, those Roman Catholics who had praised the practices or ceremonies of other cults, those who were of opinion that good was to be found in all religions, if faithfully practised and good faith exercised, those who uttered or taught any opinion contrary to the sovereign and illimitable authority of the Pope, or who denied that the power of the Pope was above that of the temporal power of princes and monarchs: in short, any who questioned or criticised the ultimatum of the Pope on any subject whatever.

 

In 1740, the Roman Catholic priests in Holland attempted to enforce obedience to the commands of their superiors.  Penitents who came to confession were asked if they were Freemasons: if they were, the certificate for Holy Communion was refused and they were expelled forever from the Communion table.  After a time, however, the States-General interfered and prohibited the clergy from asking questions that were unconnected with the religious character of the individual penitent.

 

Acting under papal compulsion, the Grand Master of Malta in 1740 caused the Bull of Clement XII to be published in that island and forbade the meetings of the Freemasons.  In 1741, the Inquisition pursued the Freemasons at Malta.  The Grand Master proscribed their assemblies under severe penalties and six Knights of Malta were banished from the island in perpetuity for having assembled at a meeting.

 

A lodge had been opened in Rome on 15th August, 1735.  It worked in English, but in 1737, under the Mastership of the Earl of Wintoun, the Inquisition seized its serving brethren and it was closed on 20th August of that year.  In the archives of the Grand Lodge of Scotland is an old parchment-bound Minute-book with the following explanatory memorandum prefixed by a brother named Andrew Lumsden, dated Edinburgh, 20th November, 1799:

 

"Pope Clement the twelfth having published a most severe edict against Masonry, the last lodge held at Rome was on the 20th August, 1738, when the late Earl of Wintoun was Master.  The officer of the lodge, who was a servant of Dr. James Irvin, was sent, as a terror to others, prisoner to the Inquisition, but was soon released.  This happened about twelve years before I went to Rome, otherwise I should no doubt have been received as I was a brother of the Lodge of Edinburgh Dunfermline.

 

"This record of the Roman lodge remained, after its suppression, in the hands of the Earl of Wintoun, till his death in December, 1750, when it was given by his Lordship's executors to Dr. Irvin, the only brother of that lodge then remaining at Rome; and who, I believe, wrote its original statutes in Latin.

 

"After the death of Dr. Irvin, his widow gave the record to me, as she had heard her husband call me 'brother.' I carefully preserved it, till I delivered it at Paris to John Macgowan, Esq., to be by him given to my cousin, Sir Alexander Dick, of Prestonfield, Baronet, who, before the death of his brother, Sir William Dick, was known by the name of Dr. Alexander Cunningham, and belonged to the Roman lodge.

 

"After the death of Sir Alexander Dick, his son, the late Sir William, returned it to Mr. Macgowan, who now put it into the hands of the Right Honourable Sir James Stirling, Baronet, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and Grand Master of Scotland, to be, by his lordship, deposited among the archives of the Grand Lodge.

 

"Such is the progress of this record, which is attested by Andrew Lumsden."

 

After Clement XII had issued his Bull in 1738 many Freemasons in the Romanist States of Germany founded, at Vienna the Order of the Mopses, admitting both men and women to membership, and claiming to be devoted to the papacy.  According to some writers the founder of this Order was the Duke of Bavaria, himself a Freemason.  The title is undoubtedly derived from the German mops, meaning "a young mastiff," which representation is also claimed to have been the badge of the Order, symbolic of fidelity and attachment.

 

In 1743, King John V of Portugal was persuaded by his entourage that the Freemasons were heretics and rebels and he issued an edict against them.  An era of persecution and torture at the hands of the Inquisition followed, the best known case and the one of which the fullest particulars are available being that of John Coustos.  After his release from prison Coustos published a full narrative of his arrest and subsequent tortures, and the following story is given in his own words:

 

"Being desirous of furnishing my readers with every possible proof that I actually underwent the tortures narrated in these pages, I submit the wounds, still visible upon my arms and legs, to the inspection of Dr. Hoadley and to Mr. Hawkins, and Mr. Carey, surgeons; and I feel grateful to those gentlemen for having authorized me to state that they are quite satisfied the marks resulted from great and peculiar violence, and that their position corresponds exactly with the tortures hereinafter described.

 

"I am a native of Berne, in Switzerland, and a lapidary by profession.  In the year 1716, my father came with his family to London, and easily obtained there letters of naturalization.

 

"After twenty-two years' residence I went to Paris, and worked for the French king in the galleries of the Louvre.  Having thus spent five years, I removed to Lisbon, with the ultimate design of settling in the Brazils, allured by the vision of gold and jewels so abundant there, and the certainty of acquiring a fortune. But the King of Portugal, by advice of his council, deemed it impolitic to permit a foreign lapidary roam through a colony abounding with precious stones of whose value and extent the government labour to keep even their own subjects in ignorance.  At Lisbon therefore, I was content to settle, having lost all hopes of being permitted to emigrate.  Employment in my profession I found in abundance, and soon could have amassed a competency, for age, had I escaped the cruel grasp of the bloodthirsty inquisitors.  These tyrants detain at the post office the letters of all about whom they entertain suspicions.  Mine they from time intercepted, hoping to discover some allusion to Freemasonry, I being notorious as one of the most zealous professors of that art. Not discovering, however, any passages which struck at the Romish religion, or tended to disturb the government, yet still bent upon the discovery of the Masonic secret, they resolved to seize one of the leading brethren, and I was selected being the Master of a lodge.  With me they associated the Warden, Mr. Alexander James Monton, a diamond cutter, born in Paris, and a Romanist.  He had been settled six years in Lisbon, where he was jeweller to the court.

 

"The reader must know that our lodges in Lisbon were not held at taverns, etc., but alternately at the private dwellings of chosen friends; there we used dine together, and practice the ceremonies of our Craft.  Ignorant at the time that Masonry was interdicted in Portugal, we made no attempt at secrecy, and were soon denounced by the treacherous zeal of a lady residing in a house opposite to mine, who, at confession declared we were Freemasons; that we debarred women from our assemblies, and, consequently, could be nothing less than dangerous revolutionary conspirators.  The officers of the Inquisition were soon on the alert. My friend, Mr. Monton, fell the first victim, he being seized in manner following:

 

"A jeweller and goldsmith, who besides was familiar of the Holy Office, came to his house, saying he was commissioned to inquire the expense of resetting a diamond weighing four carats.  They agreed about the sum; but as this was artifice merely, in order that the familiar might become acquainted with Monton's person, he declined leaving the jewel until after consulting the owner, and hearing his opinion of the arrangement.  I happened to be present, which greatly delighted the inquisitor, who had got the unexpected sight of both his victims at once.  He went off, requesting both of us to call on him the next day.  Business not permitting me to accompany him, Monton went alone to receive the diamond said to be worth a hundred moidores.  'Where is your friend, Coustos,' said the traitor, for he had the day before showed him several stones, which he pretended to be desirous I should polish.  Monton replied that I was on change, and he would fetch me.  But the inquisitor and his five sub-alterns, afraid of losing half their prey, beckoned him into the back shop, and after several signs and tokens had passed between him and his myrmidons, he rose up, whispered a few words in private, and retiring behind a curtain, demanded his visitor's name and surname, telling him he was a prisoner in the king's name.  Unconscious of any crime for which he could justly incur his Portuguese majesty's displeasure, he gave up his sword the moment it was demanded of him.  Finding he had no other weapon, they asked whether he wished to know in whose name he was detained.  'Yes,' said Monton.  'We seize you,' said the guards, 'in the king's name, and in that of the most Holy Inquisition; and in its name we forbid you to speak, or even so much as to murmur.' Then, a door at the bottom of the shop, which looked into a by-lane, flew open, and the prisoner, accompanied by the commissary, was dragged towards a small chaise with the blinds close drawn down, so that were any friends near, they might remain ignorant of his fate.

 

"The next device was to spread a report that he had absconded with the diamond entrusted to him.  How greatly was each of his friends shocked at this slander! As we all esteemed his probity none would give credence to the base report, and we unanimously agreed, after weighing the matter, to go in a body to the jeweller and reimburse him, firmly persuaded that some fatal and unforeseen accident must have led to the disappearance of our friend.  He, however, refused our offer, politely assuring us that the owner of the diamond was far too wealthy to be regardful of its loss.

 

"Truth sometimes penetrates all disguises with which falsehood seeks to cloud her; so this generosity in persons to whom we were in a great measure strangers made us suspect some foul play, a conjecture confirmed by a fierce and open persecution which immediately arose against Freemasonry, I myself being seized four days after.

 

"An acquaintance, hired by the Inquisition, seeing me in a coffee-house on the 5th March, 1742, between nine and ten of the clock at night, denounced me to nine familiars, who lay in wait with a chaise near the spot.  I was in the utmost confusion when, on quitting the coffeehouse with two friends, they seized me only, 'I had passed my word,' they declared, 'for the diamond which Monton was charged with purloining; therefore certainly I was his accomplice, and had engaged my friends to offer payment in the hope of concealing my crime.'

 

"To no purpose did I attempt a justification.  Seizing my sword the wretches handcuffed me, thrust me into a chaise drawn by two mules, and thus was.  I hurried off to share the captivity of my friend.  But, undaunted by these severities, and their repeated denunciations of vengeance in case I attempted to accost the passers-by, I tore open the wooden shutters of my caleche, and loudly hailed one of my friends, Mr. Richard, my companion in the coffee-house, conjuring them to apprize all our brethren of my imprisonment, and warn them that the only means of averting a similar fate was to go voluntarily to the inquisitors and denounce themselves.  Deeds of villainy are deeds of darkness.

 

"I would here observe that the Holy Office rarely ventures to seize its prey in broad daylight, as in the case of Monton, unless they judge he will be too much paralysed by fear and the, novelty of his position to make either an outcry or resistance. For myself I reckoned so confidently on the zeal and courage of my fiends that my first impulse was to draw and defend myself, calling on my friends to set their backs to the wall and follow my example.  No sooner, however, did they see my rapier out than, overwhelmed with terror from being better advised as to the consequences of resistance, they all forsook me and fled.  Left alone with these wretches, the whole nine fell upon and pinioned me, as already described.  When a person is arrested all the world abandons him.  His relatives go into mourning, and scarcely venture to intercede in his defence; nay, steps are taken to bribe and intimidate the dearest friends into accusing each other.

 

"Swiftly the carriage rattled over the pavement until we reached the Casa Sancta, and swept into a court-yard overshadowed by the dark grey towers of that dreary office.  I was now ordered to alight, and handed over to an officer until the grand inquisitor had been informed of my being caught in their snare.  They took advantage of this interval to make a rigorous personal search, the rule being to deprive the prisoner of any gold, silver, buckles, knives, etc., which he may have about him.  They then motioned me to follow, and led the way to a lone dungeon, expressly forbidding me to speak unless addressed, not to strike against the walls; but in case I wanted assistance to knock at the door with a great padlock that hung outside, and which I could reach by thrusting my arm through the iron grate.  'Twas then that, struck with all the horrors of a place which I had read and heard such baleful descriptions, I sank into the blackest melancholy, picturing to an excited fancy all the pains and penalties that might hereafter be associated with my imprisonment.

 

"My first day's incarceration passed in these anxious terrors, aggravated by the dismal moans of other captives, my neighbours.  And night, usually associated with solemn silence brought no intermission.  The shrieks of men and, if I may judge from the voices, of women, undergoing the punishment of scourging for a violation of the command to speak not - so vehemently urged on me - forbid all sleep.  I rose to pace my cell.  Dawn at length broke through the lofty grated lattice, and full wearily it came.  Time seemed no longer to revolve.  These twenty-four hours succeeding my capture, had for me the duration of years.

 

"In three days' time, a lay brother whom I had not yet seen entered my prison, and without one word uttered or sign made, began to crop my hair. Bare-headed, and with naked feet, he then marched me into the presence of my abhorred judges, viz., the president and four junior inquisitors.

 

"Immediately on my entrance they instructed me to kneel, lay my right hand on the Bible, and swear in the name of Almighty God, that I would truly answer all questions demanded of me.  My own and my parents' Christian name and surname, the place of my birth, my profession, religious faith, and how long I had resided at Lisbon, were then entered in a book. This done, the chief inquisitor spoke thus: 'Son you have heinously offended in aspersing the Holy Office, as we know of a certainty.  Now, therefore, we exhort you to confession, and to accuse yourself of all and several the crimes committed from the earliest moment at which you could discern betwixt good and evil, to the present hour.  Thus doing, you may excite the compassion of our holy tribunal, ever merciful and kind to such as love and speak the truth.'

 

"They then thought proper to tell me that the diamond transaction mentioned above, was merely a device to gain a convenient opportunity of arresting me. On this, I besought them to let me know the real cause of my imprisonment; that I had never in my life spoken evil of the Romish religion; having so demeaned myself during my sojourn in Lisbon, that I could not be justly accused of saying or doing aught contrary to the laws spiritual or temporal, of his Portuguese majesty's dominions.  That I belonged to a society comprising individuals professing various religious tenets, one of whose laws expressly forbade all disputation on matters of doctrine, under a severe penalty.  When I perceived the inquisitors confounded the word society with religion, I assured them my society could be considered religious one only as it obliged its members to live in charity and brotherly love, however widely they differed on matters of faith.  They then asked how this society was called.  I replied that I could tell them its name in English and French, but was unable to translate it into Portuguese.  Keenly fixing their eyes on me, they all pronounced alternately the words 'Freemason,' Francmacon'. The true cause of my imprisonment was now revealed.  After a pause of silence, during which they conferred apart, they suddenly demanded what was the constitution of Freemasonry.  I set before them as well as I could our ancient traditions. That James VI of Scotland had declared himself its protector, and encouraged his subjects to enrol themselves therein.  That, besides, the ancient kings of Scotland so esteemed this honourable Craft for its devoted loyalty, that they promoted among its members use of a special toast; and 'God preserve the king and brotherhood' precedes the goblet at all their feasts.  That those monarchs were often Grand Masters of lodges; when otherwise, a nobleman was selected who received from the king a pension; at his election a money gift from all beside.  That Queen Elizabeth ascending the English throne in unsettled times, took umbrage of all secret societies, and resolved to suppress them; but first of all she commanded certain of her council, with the archbishop of Canterbury, to enrol themselves in that of Masonry.  Obeying the queen's orders, they made so advantageous a report of their loyalty as removed her Majesty's alarm, and Freemasons have ever since enjoyed in Great Britain and the places subject to it, the most perfect countenance and all due liberty, which it is their proud boast never to have once abused.

 

"The inquisitors next demanded what was the tendency of this society. I replied: 'Every Freemason is obliged at his admission to take an oath on the Holy Gospel, that he will be faithful to the king, not enter into any plot or conspiracy against his sacred person, or against the liberty of the country where he resides; and that he will cheerfully submit to its established laws.  That charity was the foundation, soul, and bond of unity, linking us together by the tie of fraternal love, and making it an imperative duty to assist poverty in the most liberal spirit, without distinction of religious belief.'

 

"'Twas then they called me 'liar,' declaring it to be impossible we should practise these good maxims, and yet be so jealous of our secret as to exclude women from its participation.  The judicious reader will smile at the inference, which if true, would certainly apply to the dark and mysterious tyranny of the Holy Office itself.  However, I answered them: 'Women, my lords, are excluded in order to suppress occasion of scandal, and because in society they are usually found to be unsafe guardians of a secret.  The founders of Masonry are, therefore, by their exclusion, thought to have given a signal proof of their wisdom and foresight.'

 

"They now insisted I should reveal to them the symbols and tokens of a lodge.

 

"'The oath,' said I, 'taken at my admission, never to divulge directly or indirectly what then transpired, forbids me; and I humbly trust to your lordships' justice that my principles may find favour in your sight.' To this they answered: 'In our presence your heretical vow avails not - we absolve you from it.' The nature of my reply they seemed to anticipate.  I was at once thrust back into my damp, noisome dungeon, where I fell sick.  Partially recovered, I was sent for to be interrogated whether, since my abode in Lisbon, any Portuguese had been received into a lodge.  I replied 'No.' True it was, indeed, that Don Emanuel de Sousa, lord of Calliaris, and captain of the German guards, hearing that the person was at Lisbon who had made the Duc de Villeroy a Freemason by order of the French king, Louis XV, had desired M. de Chavigny, ambassador of France to find me out.  But knowing Freemasonry to be forbidden, and aware that M. de Calliaris was a nobleman of great economy, I found an expedient to disengage myself from him by asking fifty moidores for his reception, a demand which, I was persuaded, would at once put an end to his desire to be enroled amongst us.  As regarded their threats of torture I referred them to Mr. Dogood, an English Roman Catholic and Freemason, who had settled a lodge in Lisbon fifteen years before, and who, being of their own persuasion, could more properly appreciate their power to, absolve us from an oath.

 

"Again referring to a previous examination, when I said it was a duty incumbent on Freemasons to assist the needy, they asked whether I had ever relieved a necessitous object.  I named to them a poor woman, a Romanist, who, being reduced to the extremity of want, and hearing that we were liberal of alms, had addressed herself to me: I gave her a moidore; when the Franciscan convent was burned down the fathers made a collection, and I have them, upon the exchange, three-quarters of a moidore; that a poor Roman Catholic, with a large family, who could get no work, being in the utmost distress, had been recommended to me by some Freemasons, with a suggestion that we should make up a purse among ourselves in order to set him up again; accordingly we raised, among seven members, ten moidores, which money I myself put into his hands.  They then asked whether I had ever given alms privately out of my own purse.  I replied that the above gifts were mainly derived from fines levied at the meetings of the Brotherhood. 'For what faults?' inquired they.  'Those,' said I, 'who take the sacred name of God in vain pay the quarter of a moidore; less profane oaths or indecent words, the quarter of a new croisade; the fractious and disobedient were also fined.' Finding all their efforts to shake my resolution, either by terror or cajolery, of no avail, they threw off all disguise, called me 'dog of a heretic,' and vowing I was already damned, so that neither purgatory nor absolution would avail me.  The proctor then proceeded to read the heads of the indictment or charge, which was as follows:

 

"'The said Coustos having refused to discover to the inquisitors the true tendency and evil designs of the assembly of Freemasons, and having, on the contrary, persisted in the assertion that Freemasonry is good in itself: wherefore the proctor of the Inquisition demands that the said prisoner be prosecuted with the utmost rigour; and that the court do now proceed to tortures, in order to extort from him a confession that the several articles of which he stands accused are wholly and altogether true.'

 

"Folding up the paper he drove me before him to the torture room, built in the form of a square tower, illuminated by two small torches only, making a darkness visible; and, to prevent the shrieks of the sufferers from being heard without, the doors are lined with felt.  After preparing their instruments, an operation ostentatiously performed before my eyes, six wretches laid hold of me, stripping me naked to my drawers, and casting me on my back.  An iron collar was placed round my neck and secured me to the scaffold.  They next fixed a ring to each foot, and stretched my legs apart with all their might.  Afterwards two ropes were twisted round each arm and two round each thigh, and, being passed under the scaffold through holes made for the purpose, four men, upon a signal, suddenly drew them tight.  These ropes pierced the flesh, even to my bones, making the blood gush out at the eight different places thus bound.  An inquisitor stood by; at each interval in the torture he addressed me.  'Sir,' said he, with a marvellous hypocrisy, in the most anxious and affectionate tone, 'why will you thus endure suffering - why so cruel to yourself? Remember, should you expire under the torture, in the sight of Heaven you are guilty of the crime of felo de se.'

 

"As I persisted in keeping silence, the cords were thus four times drawn together.  At my side stood a physician and a surgeon, who, sometimes, feeling my temples or my pulse, directed the tormenters to suspend operations.  During these pauses, I lay in a heap upon the ground, until some partial restoration of my faculties, when the tender-hearted inquisitor gave the signal for their repetition.

 

"Seeing these sufferings elicited no confession - but that the greater the cruelty the more fervently I supplicated heaven for constancy and courage - six weeks after they led me once more to the tower.  I was directed to extend my arms with the palms outwards; a rope being attached to each wrist, they turned a windlass, and gradually drew them nearer and nearer to each other behind, until the backs of the hands touched.  Both my shoulders were dislocated; from my mouth issued a stream of blood.  The operation being thrice repeated, I was taken to my cell, where the surgeon, in setting my bones, put me to almost equal pain.

 

"At the expiration of two months, being a little restored, a new executioner, clothed in a long black garment which concealed his person from head to foot, with a mask upon his face, having two holes for sight, came to my cell and conducted me to the torture-room.  Around my body he placed a heavy iron chain, which crossing upon my stomach, terminated at my wrists.  The tormenter stretching these ropes with a roller, pressed and bruised my stomach; and wrists and shoulders were again dislocated.  The surgeon, however, set them directly.  The sympathizing inquisitor, having repeated his condolence and his exhortations, withdrew, making a sign in doing so for the recommencement of the torture.

 

"Nine different times they had me on the rack.  I was reduced to the state of a helpless cripple, unable during some weeks to raise my hand to my mouth, and my body swelled with inflammation caused by these frequent dislocations.  I have too much reason to dread that I shall feel their effects through life, being seized from time to time with thrilling pains, unknown to me ere I fell into the bloody hands of these hellish inquisitors.

 

"The period for a general auto da fe being arrived, I was compelled to walk with the other victims.  When at St. Dominic's Church, my sentence was read, and I found myself condemned to the galleys for the space of four years.

 

"There I had leisure to reflect on the means best adapted to obtain my liberty.  I succeeded in communicating with my brother-inlaw, Mr. Barber, entreating him humbly to address the Earl of Harrington in my favour, as he had the honour to live in his lordship's family. This nobleman, whose humanity and generosity have been the theme of abler pens than mine, undertook to procure my freedom.  Accordingly, his lordship spoke to his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, one of the principal secretaries of state, that he would supplicate our sovereign to order his minister at Lisbon to demand me as a British subject.  His Majesty, ever attentive to the felicity of his subjects, and desirous to relieve them from all their misfortunes, graciously assented. Instructions were at once sent to Mr. Compton, minister at Lisbon, to demand an immediate audience of the Portuguese minister, and Admiral Matthews, then sailing with a fleet to the Mediterranean, carried these instructions out.  His orders were, to anchor for four-and-twenty hours only in the Tagus, and within half that period to see me safely delivered on board some English vessel about to sail for England. The tenor of this dispatch was too significant to be dallied with.  An order came for my immediate release, and I left the prison of the galleys on the 25th October, 1743.

 

"I return our sovereign, King George II, my most dutiful acknowledgements for having graciously condescended to interpose in behalf of an unhappy galley-slave.  I shall retain as long as I have health, the deepest affection and loyalty for his sacred person, and shall be ever ready to expose my life, as every true-hearted Freemason is bound to do, for his Majesty and all his august family."

 

The year following the celebrated auto-da-fe at Lisbon - in July, 1844 - another Freemason, a friend of Coustos, John Baptist Richard, 26 years of age, who had been denounced as a Freemason, renounced the Protestant religion in order to regain his liberty, which he succeeded in doing on payment of the costs of the prosecution.  Among the names of those denounced to the Inquisition at this time were Englishmen named Gordon, Fox, Ivens, Vandrevel; Frenchmen named Jean Pietre, Lambert Boulanger, Jean Ville Neuve, Felix, Julian, and Carmoa.  Gordon and Fox were already initiated when they went to Portugal, and it may be that this Gordon is the same as the brother indicated by O'Kelly as having introduced Freemasonry into Portugal.

 

It is not without interest to note the way in which the authorities first discovered the fact that Coustos and Monton were Freemasons. It appears that Monton's wife, in conversation with a Mme. la Rude, the wife of the Jeweller, was so indiscreet as to reveal the fact that her husband was a Freemason.  Mme. la Rude, who was jealous of the property of her two friends, made this known to another friend, Marie Rose Clave, with the result that Monton, Coustos, and another Freemason, a Frenchman named Brusle, were arrested.  Several foreigners were members of the lodge of which Coustos was Master, but, when interrogated, they denied their membership.

 

It seems almost if not quite, incredible that such things could have happened within the last two hundred years, but the narrative of Coustos was verified at the time it was written, and there is no reason to suspect as untrue or exaggerated any one of the statement he has and, Monton returned with Coustos to London where both were well cared for by the English brethren.  His narrative, together with a history of the Inquisition, was published in 1745, and again in 1746.  There is a copy of the very rare first edition in the Bodleian Library.

 

(To be continued)

 

----o----

 

BETTER PAID TEACHERS URGED AS VITAL NEED

 

Demand for Support of Free Public Schools and Those in Charge Made by N.E.A.

 

The cause of education has been given a wonderful impetus throughout the country, in the opinion of competent observers, during the past several months, due, in the first place, to the desire for knowledge developed as one of the results of the war and, in the second, to the agitation of the subject in state legislative bodies and in the national Congress. While the state and federal legislative bodies have in every instance had economy as their slogan, yet the leaders have not permitted economy to be urged at the expense of educational advancement.

 

It is being pointed out by the National Education Association that, at a time when teachers are being selected throughout the country and salaries fixed, it is well to be on guard to the end that there be no retrenchment in the cause of education. In an authorized statement on this subject the Association has this, in part, to say:

 

"Our free public school system is an integral part of our free government, essential to its life and prosperity. The only secure foundation for democracy is an enlightened and intelligent electorate.... This fact was recognized by the far-seeing statesmen who founded this nation. William Penn declared that the only way to preserve free government was by the education of all its citizens, 'for which,' said he, 'spare no cost, for by such parsimony all that is saved is lost.'

 

"Washington urged his countrymen 'to promote as objects of primary importance institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge.' Jefferson, Adams, and Madison taught that the education of all the people furnishes the greatest safeguard for our free institutions.

 

"The greatest need of our country today is competent, well qualified teachers to train the future citizens of the nation. . . The schools of tomorrow should be taught only by the best, and the profession of teaching must be made so inviting that it will attract and hold the best.

 

"Let us cut down expenditures for luxuries; let us reduce appropriations wherever it can be done with safety, but for the perpetuity of those ideals and principles which are nearest to the hearts of the American people, there can be no backward step in the development of a strong, intelligent, patriotic citizenry, upon whom must depend the preservation of the things for which we have made such sacrifice in blood and treasure. The hope of America is in her free public schools. To elevate their standards and promote their efficiency should be the purpose of every American statesman and citizen." - Capital News Service, Washington, D. C.

 

----o----

 

EDUCATIONAL MEASURE AGAIN INTRODUCED

 

Towner Bill Goes Promptly to Committee on Education, Where Favorable Report Is Expected in Short Time.

 

The Department of Education bill is now formally before the special session of Congress, it having been reintroduced on the first day by Representative Horace M. Towner of Iowa. It will be introduced in the Senate shortly, the committees there having now been made up.

 

Briefly, the bill as reintroduced in the House provides for the appropriation of $7,500,000, or so much of this sum as may be actually necessary, in the Americanization of immigrants; $50,000,000 to be used in equalizing educational opportunities in the states and for partial payment of teachers' salaries; $20,000,000 for physical education, and $15,000,000 for the preparation of teachers.

 

The bill as introduced is changed from the original one, reported out favorably and strongly by the House committee on education, in verbiage only. Judge Towner believes that as a result another favorable report from the committee will be forthcoming shortly, thus giving the measure a favorable position on the calendar of the House. With this advantage, its consideration in the Senate will not call for as much time as it would ordinarily.

 

Judge Towner has expressed himself as pleased with the strong newspaper indorsement given the measure not only during the last session but during the vacation of Congress. In addition, indorsements of the bill are coming in daily from all sections of the country to members of the two Houses. Due to the delay occasioned by failure to get consideration of the education measure in the last Congress, it has been possible for the author to get a clear insight into other proposed measures having to do with education, and to clarify provosions in his in such way as to care for most of these under the one bill. - Capital News Service, Washington, D.C.

 

ELIAS ASHMOLE AND THE MASONIC CRAFT

 

BY BRO. DUDLEY WRIGHT, ENGLAND

 

ELIAS ASHMOLE has sometimes been described as "the first Freemason in England," meaning by that expression that he was the first known outside the ranks of the operatives to be initiated into the Craft on English soil.  This, of course, is inaccurate as Sir Robert Moray was initiated at New- castle-on-Tyne five years prior to Ashmole. Moreover, in the record which Elias Ashmole supplies of his own initiation, there were other gentlemen already initiated and holding office in the lodge who, certainly, were not connected with operative masons.  The phrase, occasionally is varied and Ashmole is said to have been "one of the first Freemasons in England." Again, there is no proof.  There were undoubtedly lodges existing in England at that time, although all records, if any were kept, have been lost, or, at least, have never been traced.  The presumption is either that minutes of the proceedings were not kept or that they were not preserved with the same care as in later years and that exercised at the present day.

 

These facts, however, do not detract from the interest that attaches to the entries made by Elias Ashmole in his Diary, the first of which reads as follows:

 

"1646. Oct. 16. 4.30 p. m. I was made a Free Mason at Warrington in Lancashire with Col. Henry Mainwaring of Keringham in Cheshire.  The names of those that were then of the Lodge: Mr. Rich. Penket, Warden, Mr. James Collier, Mr. Rich. Sankey, Henry Littler, John Ellam, Rich. Ellam, and Hugh Brewer."

 

Dr. Richard Garnett, in his biography of Elias Ashmole, in the Dictionary of National Biography, says - though he quotes no authority for his statement - that the first formal meeting of Freemasons in England was held in 1646.  Albert Pike, the great American Mason, says:

 

"Ashmole had some inducement that led him to seek admission into Masonry - some object to attain, some purpose to carry out.  Even his utter silence as to its objects, nature, customs, and work of the Institution is significant. There was something IN the Institution that made it seem to him worth his while to join it, and what there was in it then there may have been centuries before.  He is even more reticent about it than Herodotus was about the Mysteries of the Egyptian Priests."

 

Thanks to William H. Rylands, who has made a special study of Masonry in Warrington and the surrounding districts in the seventeenth century, particulars are available of the persons mentioned in this entry in Ashmole's Diary.  His fellow initiate was Colonel Mainwaring, a scion of the younger branch of the Mainwarings of Peover.  Randle Mainwaring went Karrincham about 1445 his father having purchased the estate for him. Colonel Mainwaring was born in 1608, and succeeded to the estate on the death of his father in 1638.  He also, like Ashmole, was a prominent figure during the whole of the civil war, being principally engaged in and about Chesire, his native county.  He died in 1684. Richard, the Warden, who, apparently was in charge of the lodge, was a member of the old family of Penket, or Penketh.  His grandfather was Richard Penketh, of Penketh, mentioned in the Herald's Visitation to Lancashire made by St. George in 1613; his grandmother was a daughter of Thomas Sankey, of Sankey, gentleman, and his father was Thomas Penketh, of Penketh.  In the Parish Register of Warrington, 11th June, 1591, is the entry: "Richard Penketh, gentleman, to Mary Entoughe." Richard Penketh, who was present in the lodge, died in 1652, six years after Ashmole's initiation, and must have been some eighty years of age.  He was the last of his race to hold the family property, for, in 1624, Sir Thomas Irelande exchanged the hall and demesne of Penketh with Thomas Ashton, "late the inheritance of Richard Penketh." James Collier held lands at Newton-le-Willows, and married Ellen Bretherton, of the old Lancashire family of that name, and died in 1674, being buried at Winwick.  Richard Sankey was a member of a family which had held lands near Warrington from 1275, these being known as Little Sankey and Great Sankey.  In the Warrington Parish Register for 1621, the baptism of Edward, son of Richard Sankey, gentleman is entered: evidently the Edward, who, in 1646, copied the Sloane MS, one of the most valued Masonic possessions as a document of the Ancient Charges.  Henry Littler was also of a family settled in Cheshire, whose names are frequently found in the lists of jurors.  The Ellams were of a yeoman family, then long resident in the parish of Winwick. Richard's will begins: "I, Richard Ellam, of Lymm, co.  Chester, Freemason," etc.

 

These facts prove incontestably that Freemasonry in that day, and, presumably, for many years previously, had ceased to be operative and had became speculative.

 

No particulars have yet been ascertained of the lodge in which Ashmole was initiated.  It had either ceased to exist in 1717, when the Grand Lodge of England was formed, or, if existing, it did not join that body then or afterwards.  The oldest existing lodge in Warrington is the Lodge of Lights, No. 148, warranted on 8th November, 1765.  One, however, was warranted by the Antient or Atholl Grand Lodge in 1755, the warrant being sold, in 1791, to a lodge meeting at Quebec, which afterwards removed to Maidstone, but this ceased to exist in 1812.

 

The next Masonic entry in Ashmole's Diary appears at the date of 10th March, 1682, and reads:

 

"About 5 p.m. I recd a Summons to appear at a Lodge to be held the next day at Masons' Hall, London"; and on the following day he wrote the entry:

 

"Accordingly I went and about Noone were admitted into the Fellowship of Free Masons. Sr William Wilson, Knight, Capt.  Richard Borthwick, Mr. Will.  Woodman, Mr. Wm. Grey, Mr. Samuel Taylor & Mr. William Wise.

 

"I was the Senior Fellow among them (it being 35 years since I was admitted).  There were p'sent beside myself the Fellows after named.

 

"Mr. Thos: Wise Mr of the Masons Company this p'sent yeare, Mr. Thomas Shorthose, Mr. Thomas Shadbolt, Waindsford Esqr.  Mr. Rich Young, Mr. John Shorthose, Mr. William Hamon, Mr. John Thompson & Mr. Will: Stanton.

 

"We all dyned at the halfe Moone Tavern in Cheapeside, at a Noble dinner prepared at the charge of the New-accepted Masons."

 

Sir William Wilson, the first initiate mentioned in this list, was originally a stonemason, but blossomed out into a builder and architect.  He married the widow of one Henry Pudsey and through her influence obtained knighthood in 1681.  He built Four Oaks Hall for Lord ffoliott, as well as Nottingham Castle.  He was also the sculptor of the statue of Charles II at the west front of Lichfield Cathedral.  He died in 1710, in his seventieth year.

 

An important point for consideration is whether Ashmole had attended any Masonic lodges between the first and second entries.  His Diary is Silent on that subject, but it is also silent on many other subjects concerning which information would be of value.  It may be that he regarded Freemasonry as too secret an organization for details to be inserted at any great length or frequency, but, in view of his initiation having taken place at Warrington, may have looked upon a summons (not an invitation) to attend the meeting of this London lodge as worthy of record.  It by no means follows that he had not attended a Masonic lodge or failed to keep up his connection with the Craft between 1646 and 1682.  The deduction may even be made that he had, in some way, maintained his connection with the Freemasons through the intervening years.  This, indeed, is the only possible surmise that will account for the summons being sent to him.

 

Mr. William Sandys, who was a Past Master of the Grand Master's Lodge, No. 1, the author of A Short History of Freemasonry and the author of the article relating to Ashmole in the Encyclopedia Metropolitans, says, in the latter, that at the same time Ashmole was made a Mason at Warrington a society of Rosicrucians was formed in London on the principle of the societies established in Germany about 1604, and partly, perhaps, on the plan of the Literary Societies, allegorically described in Bacon's New Atlantis as the House of Solomon, and he states positively that Ashmole was a member of this Society, which met at Masons' Hall, London, but, so far, there is no corroborative evidence of this statement.  It is, however, also stated by his biographers that Sir Robert Moray, Ashmole's forerunner in the annals of English Masonic initiations, was also a member of the Rosicrucians, and Moray was a friend of Ashmole as well as of Thomas Vaughan, who was undoubtedly a Rosicrucian.

 

Dr. Campbell, in the Biographia Britannica, says that in some of Ashmole's MSS. there are very valuable collections relating to the history of the Freemasons, but there are no papers of this nature in the Bodleian collection.  On 26th January, 1679, a fire broke out in the Chambers adjoining his in the Middle Temple, by which he lost a library he had been thirty-three years in collecting, but his manuscripts, which were at South Lambeth, of course, escaped.  Whether this history of "Freemasonry was ever written or the notes for such a work ever made will probably remain forever unknown.  On this question, however, Dr. Knipe says:

 

"As to the ancient society of Freemasons, concerning whom you are anxious to know what may be known with certainty, I shall only tell you, that if our worthy Brother, E. Ashmole Esquire, had executed his intended design, our fraternity had been as much obliged to him as the brethren of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.  I would not have you surprised at this assertion or think it at all too assuming.  The sovereigns of that Order have not disdained our fellowship, and there have been times when Emperors were also Freemasons. What from Mr. E. Ashmole's conclusion I could gather was that the report of our societies taking rise from a Bull granted by the Pope in the reign of Henry III to some Italian architects to travel all over Europe to erect chapels was ill founded.  Such a Bull there was and those architects were Masons: but this Bull, in the opinion of the learned Mr. Ashmole, was confirmative only and did not by any means create our fraternity or even establish them in this kingdom.  But as to the time and manner of that establishment something I shall relate from the same conclusions.  Saint Alban, the proto Martyr of England established Masonry here and from his time it flourished more or less according as the world went, down to the days of King Athelstane, who, for the sake of his brother Edwin, granted the Masons a charter: though, afterwards, growing jealous of his brother, it is said he caused him to go with his page to be put into a boat and committed to the sea, where they perished.  It is likely that masons were affected by his folly and suffered for some time; but afterwards their creed revived and we find in our Norman princes that they frequently received extraordinary marks of royal favour."

 

Had Elias Ashmole been able to perform for Freemasonry the same service that he rendered to Knighthood in his History of the Garter doubtless many of the questions which brethren have for years been trying to answer in a satisfactory manner would a long time since have passed into the realm of proven facts or fallacies.

 

----o----

 

THE GREATEST POWER

 

By Bro. G.A. Nancarrow, Indiana

 

What power makes the highest mountain top

A grain of sand so tiny none can see;

All oceans, in comparison, a drop

Of morning dew that glistens on the lea?

 

What power makes the endless stream of years

Since primal dawn a moment in the span;

What power makes a man and all his peers,

Compared with it, as monads in the plan?

 

What power holds the mighty firmament

And rolls the earth as though it were a clod?

The answer through the universe is sent

In thunders: The Omnipotence of God.

 

 

EMBLEMATIC FREEMASONRY, BUILDING GUILDS AND HERMETIC SCHOOLS

 

BY BRO. ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE, ENGLAND

 

AS EMBLEMATIC FREEMASONRY is the Craft of Building moralized, it follows that intellectually, at least, our figurative and speculative art has arisen out of the Operative.  Here is a first link in any chain of connection with the building world of the past. But it seems certain also that the Free and Accepted, or Speculative, Masons had Operative documents, such as the so-called Gothic Constitutions and Old Charges, for part of their heritage.  The proof is that soon after the revival of 1717, these documents were put into the hands of Dr. James Anderson "to digest .. . . in a new and better method." They were things apparently in evidence, and he was not commissioned to search them out.  Beyond this omnia exeunt in mysterium.  Almost from year to year our documentary knowledge of Constitutions, Charges, and Landmarks extends slowly.  There is also new light cast from time to time on the general history of architecture in Christian times.  But no light is shed on the antiquities of art of building moralized.  The existence of such an art prior to 1717 remains almost as much a matter of speculation as the art itself is speculative.  We are led almost irresistibly to infer that it anteceded this date and a few remain among us who believe that it may have been old in the year 1646, when Ashmole was made a Mason at Warrington, but there is no real evidence.  So also there are zealous and capable writers by whom our knowledge is expanded from time to time, however slightly, on particular sides and respecting the archaeology of architectural history, on Roman Collegia, Dionysian artificers, and Comacines.  They furnish at the same time many plausible and taking speculations.  But they do not help us in respect of Freemasonry, as we now understand the term, because no evidence of building association is of service to our awn purpose unless such association embodies our "peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols."

 

The Hittites of Syria and Asia Minor may have been of "Hametic descent" and may have built the Temple at Jerusalem; the Etruscans, from whom architecture was learned by the Romans, may have been Hittites; at the downfall of Rome, the Roman Collegia may have settled in that island on Lake Como, which is familiar at the present day as Isola Cpmacina, and may have become Comacines; the Comacines may, in turn, have merged into the great Masonic guilds of the Middle Ages.  But, if so, all this is part and parcel of the history of architecture and not of Emblematical Building, unless and until we can show that, practical Masons as they were, their system of secret association included what is called in the Craft degrees a side of Speculative Masonry and in the appendant degrees an art of building spiritualized.  But it is just this which is wanting, or we should have taken the closing long since in the lodge of our debate on the origin of Freemasonry.  There are not unnatural sporadic vestiges, few and far between.  It is said that the Comacines had a motto affirming that their temple was "one made without hands," and this reminds us assuredly of the Mark degree; but it is not to be called evidence for a developed speculative element prevailing amongst those old masters.  Nor can I think with Brother Ravenscroft, in his memorable series of papers contributed to THE BUILDER in 1918, that the two pillars of Wurzburg Cathedral, once situated on either side of the porch and bearing respectively on their capitals the letters J and B, can be termed "a good illustration of the way in which symbols were transmitted even from the temple of Solomon to the medieval craftsmen and thence to our Speculative Masonry." It seems to me simply that the Cathedral builders were acquainted with Holy Scripture.

 

The conclusion which is forced upon me is that only by the use of liberal supposition can the Comacines and those who preceded them be made to connect with our subject.  We may take H.J. Da Costa as an early authority in England for the Dionysian fraternity and his successor, Krause, for the links between Masons of the Middle Ages and the Roman Collegia.  The views of both have been summarized ably by my friend, Brother Joseph Fort Newton, but that which is valid therein belongs to the history of architecture.  It was, I think, Krause who said that each Roman collegium was presided over by a Master and two decuriones or Wardens, each of whom bore the Master's commands to the brethren of his respective column.  The word "decurio" is here translated "warden," to institute an analogy by force.  According to Suetonius, the Latin office in question was that of a captain over ten men, whether horse or foot, and was therefore military in character.  The first authority on the Comacines is Leader Scott (who is Miss Lucy E. Baxter) in "The Cathedral Builders," a most fascinating romance of architecture, which contains also some great and valuable historical lights.  Joseph Fort Newton described it as an attempt to bridge the gap "between the classical Roman side and the rise of Gothic art." Again, therefore, it is a question of architectural evolution, and I must say personally that, taken as such, it is to be questioned whether the gulf is really spanned. I can understand on the hypothesis the development of Italian architecture, more or less degenerated from classical types, but not the genesis of the great schools of Gothic building. It is to be understood, however, that this question exceeds the warrants of my subject to connect any ritual mystery which obtained ex hypothesi in the old Collegia, or among Comacine lodges, with the living mystery of Speculative Masonry, of which she speaks with derision, but evidently know's it only through an Italian source.  As a student of the Secret Tradition in Christian times I could wish that the facts were otherwise in the great story of all these ancient guilds.  I could have wished that their supposed pageants of secret initiation were, as the speculations say, Dionysian representations of mystical death and erection, and that they are reflected at a far distance in our Sublime degree.  But if these stories are dreams, or still awaiting demonstration, we have to face the fact, and the question remaining over is whether we can look elsewhere. Now, it happens that there is one direction which has been regarded not unfavourably as a possible source of light.  It is that of Hermetic Schools in England, and these, speaking broadly, may be classified as three-Alchemical, Rosicrucian, and Kabalistic.  They had a common bond of interest and tended here, as elsewhere, to merge one into another.  There are evidences to show that the experiment of Alchemy in England is an exceedingly old pursuit, but in the early part of the seventeenth century it had sprung into greater prominence.  The rumour of the Rosicrucian fraternity was also raising curiosity in Europe.  Hermetic literature - not only with a modern accent but also for the time in vernacular language - extended greatly, and schools of theosophy sprang up in several countries.  The root of the Rosicrucian movement was in Germany, but the impulse reached England and some of the most famous names connected with the subject are identified with this country.  Hence came Alexander Seton and hence Eirenaeus Philalethes, who has been regarded as one of the great masters of Hermetic Art.  Here also was Robert Fludd, who must, I think, be regarded as not only advocate and apologist in chief of the Rosicrucian art and philosophy, but as a fountain-head.  Here, too, was Thomas Vaughan, mystic as well as alchemist.  And here, in 1640, lived Elias Ashmole, alchemist and antiquary, founder also of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford.

 

A section of Masonic opinion has looked in the past and a section looks still towards Elias Ashmole and his connections in some way, yet undetermined, as the representatives of this transition from Operative to Speculative Masonry.  In France there has been practically no doubt on the subject from the days of Ragon, though concerning the value of his personal view I must speak with desirable plainness elsewhere  in this paper.  In America the distinguished name of Albert Pike can be cited in support of the thesis.  After every allowance has been made for the position of such a speculation, still almost inextricable, it can be affirmed that it seems to offer a place of repose for all the tolerable views, because it harmonizes all - on the understanding that Ashmole and his consociates are not regarded personally but as typifying a leavening spirit introduced there and here, and at work during the period intervening between 1640 and the foundation of the first Grand Lodge in 1717. Pike was like Ragon unfortunately, a man of uncritical mind, and summarize his findings under all needful reserve.

 

Among Masonic symbols which he identifies used in common by Freemasons and Hermetic and Alchemical literature are the Square and Compasses, the Triangle, the Oblong Square, the legend of the three Grand Masters, the idea embodied in a substitute word, which might well be the most important of all together with the Sun, the Moon, and Master of the lodge.  It was, moreover, his opinion, based on this and other considerations, that the philosophers - meaning the members of the Hermetic confraternities - became Freemasons and introduced into Masonry their own symbolism.  He thinks finally that Ashmole was led to be made a Mason because others who were followers of Hermes had taken the step before him. However this may be, I have said elsewhere that the influence of the Rosicrucian fraternity upon that of Masons has been questioned only by those who by those who have been unfitted to appreciate the symbolism which they possess in common. It does not belong to the formative period of Emblematic Freemasonry, but to that of development and expansion.  The nature of the influence is another matter and one, moreover, in which it may be necessary to recognize the simple principle of imitation up to a certain point.  The influence has been exercised more especially in connection with other Rites, as to which it is impossible, for example, to question that those who instituted the eighteenth degree of the Scottish Rite either must have received something by transmission from the old German Brotherhood, or, alternatively, must have borrowed from its literature.

 

That Ashmole was connected with Rosicrucian or otherwise with the representatives of some association which had assumed their name is an inference drawn from his life. His antiquarian studies led him more especially in the direction of Alchemy, but regards this art he did not remain an antiquary or a mere collector of old documents on the subject. He was to some extent, a practical student and, moreover not simply an isolated inquirer.  He had secured the assistance which has been regarded always as next but one to essential, namely, the instruction of a Master.  The alternative is Divine Aid, which is, of course, a higher kind of Mastery.  He was associated otherwise with many of the occult philosophers, alchemist astrologers, and so forth, belonging to his period. The suggestion that he acted as an instrument of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood, or as a member thereof, in transfiguration of Operative into Speculative Freemasonry is a matter of faith for those who have held hold it.  Of direct or indirect evidence there is not particle.  Supposing that such a design existed at period, he is not an unlikely person to have been concerned in planning it on the part of himself and others or to have been delegated for such a purpose.  But the design there is again no evidence.  It has been affirmed further in the interests of the claim that meeting of an Alchemical - presumably Rosicrucian - society perceiving how working Masons were already outnumbered in membership by persons of education not belonging to the trade, believed that the time was ripe for a complete ceremonial revolution and that one founded on mystic tradition was drawn up thereon in writing, constituting the Entered Apprentice grade, approximately as it exists now.  The grade of Fellow Craft was elaborated in 1648, and that of Master Mason in 1659.

 

These are the reveries of Ragon, categorical in nature, accompanied by specific details, all in the absence of one particle of fact in any record of the past.  It seems to me, therefore, that no language would be too strong to characterize such mendacities and that they can belong only to the class of conscious lying, but the charge against Ragon is more especially that he elaborated the materials of a hypothesis which had grown up among successive inventors belonging to the type of Reghellini.  If there were Rosicrucians in England at the date in question, it may be presumed that those who, according to Ashmole's own statement, communicated to him some portions, at least, of the Hermetic secrets would not have withheld the corporate mysteries of their Fraternity.  But, on the other hand, there is at present no historical certainty that the Hermetic Order possessed any such corporate existence in England at that period.  However this may be, in the memoirs of the life of Elias Ashmole, as drawn up by himself in the form of a diary, there is the following now well-known entry under date of 16th October, 1646:

 

I was made a Freemason at Warrington in Lancashire with Colonel Henry Mainwaring of Kartichan in Cheshire; the names of those that were then at the Lodge: Mr. Richard Penket, Warden; Mr. James Collier, Mr. Richard Sankey, Henry Littler, John Ellam, Richard Ellam, and Hugh Brewer.

 

The two noteworthy points in this extract, over and above the main fact which it designs to place on record, are that neither candidate was an operative by business and that the work of initiation was performed evidently by the brother who acted as Warden.  At that period Elias Ashmole was under thirty years of age.  His father was a saddler by trade, his mother was the daughter of a draper and he himself solicited in Chancery.  But while still in his youth he tells us that he had entered into that condition to which he had aspired always, "that I might be able to live to myself and studies, without being forced to take pains for a livelihood in the world." The admissions of 16th October, 1646, are not required to prove the practice of initiating men of other business than that of Masonry and and its connected crafts, or even of no business at all, but it should be observed that here - as in cases of earlier date - the reception was in the capacity of simple brothers and not of patrons.

 

The nature of those studies which were engrossing Ashmole about the time of his initiation may be learned by the publication, five years later, of his Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, being a collection of metrical treatises written in English at various dates on the subject of the Hermetic Mystery and the Philosopher's Stone. They appear to be connected only with what is  called technically the physical work on metals and the physical medicine or elixir, not with those spiritual mysteries which have passed occasionally into expression under the peculiar symbolism of Alchemy.  At the same time Ashmole is careful to explain his personal assurance that the transmutation of metals is only one branch of Hermetic practice:

 

As this is but a part, so it is the least share of that blessing which may be acquired by the Philosopher's materia, if the full virtue thereof were known.  Gold, I confess, is a delicious object, a goodly light which we admire and gaze upon ut pueri in Junonis avem, but as to make gold is the chief intent of the Alchemists, so was it scarcely any intent of the ancient Philosophers and the lowest use the Adeptio made of this materia.  For they, being lovers of wisdom more than worldly wealth, drove at higher and more excellent operations; and certainly he to whom the whole course of Nature lies open rejoiceth not so much that he can make gold and silver or the devils be made subject to him as that he sees the heavens open, the angels of God ascending and descending and that his own name is fairly written in the Book of Life.

 

It should be added that this exposition is a faithful reflection of Rosicrucian doctrine as it is put forward, directly or indirectly, under the name of the Brotherhood in German books and pamphlets of the early seventeenth century.  Supposing that circa 1650 there, was an incorporated Rosicrucian School in England, no person is so likely to have been a member as Ashmole, and it is not possible to imagine him in separation therefrom.  Indeed, I am by no means certain that his testimony is not thinly presumptive of membership, being so to the manner born of it in thought and figures of speech.  But if we can tolerate - however tentatively - the Rosicrucian initiation of Ashmole, we may take it for granted that he did not stand alone.  On the whole it seems barely possible that on 16th October, 1646, a Brother of the Rosy Cross was made a Mason, with or without an ulterior motive in view. It follows expressly from his frank and honourable testimony concerning himself that he was one who had only seen the end of adeptship, even within the measures that he conceived it, while as regards any other Rosicrucians to whom he may have been joined we know very little concerning them.

 

It will be seen that the Ashmole hypothesis is but a part of the wider claim of direct Rosicrucian influence on the foundation of Emblematic Freemasonry.  I agree with the opinion that in so far as it has been advanced in the past this claim has lapsed. It affirms that the House of the Holy Spirit, being the Rosicrucian Brotherhood in Germany, had a Secret House in England, which either transfigured itself into the thing called Speculative Masonry or revolutionized the old Operative Craft along speculative lines for its own purposes, presumably that it might have recruiting centres available and more or less openly manifest.  There is no evidence whatever to support this view. The Rosicrucian zeal of the occult philosopher and intellectual mystic, Robert Fludd, left no trace behind it, until the time came for it to influence in a rather indefinite manner the impassionable enthusiasm of Thomas Vaughan, and this also led to nothing. Rosicrucian Society in England of which we hear belongs to the early nineteenth century.  In particular, Fludd's activities had no bearing on any Masonry of the early seventeenth century, even if Robertus de Fluctitus was the Mr. Flood who presented a Book of Constitutions to the Masons' Company, as recorded in an inventory taken before the Fire of London.

 

When the question at issue has been relieved from these reveries there remains the more reasonable suggestion that the Operative Brotherhood came gradually and not unnaturally under the influence of persons who belonged to both associations.  It would attract also those who were simply Hermetic students, though isolated and unattached as such.  Attached or otherwise, Ashmole is a case in point, though his place in Freemasonry of the mid-seventeenth century is a subject for very careful adjudication.  The influence which in this manner would begin to be exercised, consciously or unconsciously, would be Hermetic in a general sense rather than Rosicrucian exclusively; but this is a distinction which will not be realized readily by those who are acquainted only at second-hand with the mystical and occult movements of the seventeenth century.  As to the ritual side of the Operative Masonry in that century we know next to nothing, while of Rosicrucian ritual procedure - if any - we know nothing at all.

 

Such in rough outline is the case as it stands for the interference of two Hermetic Schools in Freemasonry prior to the first historical evidence for the ritual of the Third Craft degree and apart from any long since exploded hypothesis which has sought to connect the Brotherhood with older Mysteries by means of direct transmission within their own bonds.  I have registered my feelings that some day it may assume a less uncertain aspect, in other words that sources of additional knowledge may become available. I know that the root-matter of the Third degree belongs to the Secret Tradition and is not only of the Hermetic Schools but of Schools thereunto antecedent.  This is not a speculative question or one of simple persuasion.  It is, moreover, no question of history and does not stand or fall with particular personalities and with claims made concerning them.  As regards these there is work remaining to be done - that is to say, in the purely historic field, but unfortunately the subject has only a few sympathizers in England and among these a small proportion only who are qualified to work therein. In the meantime it remains that the position of Hermetic Schools, so far delineated, is not unlike that of speculation on Comacines, Roman Collegia, and Dionysian architects.  When we pass, however, to the third Hermetic School the position is, I think, different.  The root-matter of much that is shadowed forth in the traditional history of the Craft, as regards the meaning of the Temple and the search for the Lost Word, is to be found in certain great texts known to scholars under the generic name of Kabalah.  We find therein after what manner, according to mystic Israel, Solomon's Temple was spiritualized - we find profound meanings attached to the two pillars J and B; we find how a Word was lost and under what circumstances the chosen people were to look for its recovery.  It is expectation for Jewish theosophy, as it is for the Craft Mason.  It was lost owing to a certain untoward even and although the time and circumstances of its recovery have been calculated in certain texts, there has been something amiss with the methods.  Those who were keepers of the tradition died with their face towards Jerusalem, looking for that time; but Jewry at large the question has passed long since from the field of view, much as the quest is continued by Masons in virtue of a ceremonial formula but cannot be said to mean anything for those who undertake and pursue it officially.  It was lost owing to the unworthiness of Israel, and the destruction of the First Temple was one consequence thereof.  By the waters of Babylon, in their exile, the Jews are said to have remembered Zion, but the Word did not return into their hearts; and when Divine Providence inspired Cyrus to project the building of a second temple and the return of Israel into their own land, they went back empty of all recollection in this respect.

 

The Word to which reference is made in that Divine Name out of the consonants of which we have formed Jehovah, or, by another speculation, Yahve. When Israel fell into a state that is termed impenitence it is said in Zoharic symbolism that VAV and HE final were separated.  The name was thus dismembered, and this is the first sense of loss which is registered concerning it. The second is that it has no proper vowel points, those of the name ELOHIM being substituted or alternatively, of the name ADONAI.  It is said, for example: "My name is written YHVH and read ADONAI." The epoch of restoration and completion is called, almost indifferently, that of resurrection, the world to come and the advent of Messiah.  In such day the present separation between the letters will reach its term, once and forever.   It is also to this Kabalistic source, rather than the variant account in the first book of Kings or Chronicles, that we must have recourse for the important Masonic symbolism concerning the pillars J and B. There is very little in Holy Scripture to justify a choice of those objects as particular representatives of an art of building spiritualized.  But in late Kabalism, in the texts called The Garden of Pomegranates and The Gates of Light there is a very full planation of the strength which is attributed to B, the left hand pillar, and of that which is "established" in and by the right hand pillar, called J.   As regards the temple itself, I have explained elsewhere after what manner it is spiritualized in various Kabalistic and semi-Kabalistic texts, so that it appear as "the proportion of the height, the proportion of the depth, and the lateral proportion" of the created universe.  It offers another aspect of the fatal loss Israel and the world which is commented on in the Tradition.  That which the temple symbolizes above all things is, however, a House of Doctrine, and as the one hand the Zohar shows us how a loss and substitution were perpetuated through centuries, owing to the idolatry of Israel at the foot of Mount Horeb in the wilderness of Sinai, and illustrated by the breaking of the tables of stone on which the Law was inscribed, so, does Speculative Masonry intimate that the Holy House, which was planned and begun after one manner, was completed after another and a word of death was, substituted for a word of life.

 

But if these are among the sources of Craft Masonry, taken at its culmination in the Sublime degree, what manner of people were those who grafted so strange a speculation and symbolism on the Operative procedure of a building guild, even when this has been symbolized? The answer is that all about the period which represents what is called the "transition," and indeed between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries many Latin-writing scholars of Europe were animated with zeal for an exposition of the tradition in Israel, with the result that memorable and even great books were produced on the subject.  But this zeal for Kabalistic literature had more than a scholastic basis.  It was believed that the texts of the Secret Tradition showed plainly, out of the mouth of Israel itself, that the Messiah had come.  This is the first fact.  The second is in Ceremonial Masonry itself, and, namely, that although the central event of the Third degree is the candidate's raising, it is not said in the legend that the Master Builder rose, thus suggesting that something remains to come after, which might at once complete the legend and conclude the quest.  The third fact is that in an important high grade of a philosophical kind, now almost unknown, the Master Builder of the Third degree rises as Christ.  The dismembered Divine Name is completed therein by insertion of the Hebrew letter SHIN, thus producing YEHESHUAH, the official restoration of the Lost Word in the Christian degrees of Masonry.  It follows that although the opening and closing of the Third degree and the legend of the Master-Builder, with all their speaking Mysteries, may seem to come from very far away, they are not so remote that we cannot trace them to their source.

 

 It is to be observed that the presence of a Kabalistic element in the traditional history of the Craft by no means connotes antiquity, and antiquity is a difficult thing, to predicate of the Third degree, at least in its present form. By whomsoever created or developed, its author was a student of the Secret Tradition in Israel, and drew great lights therefrom, possibly at first hand, but much more probably perhaps from those Latin commentaries and synopses already mentioned.  The bulk of these were already compiled, whether we place his work late in the seventeenth or early in the eighteenth century.  Much of it was available previously, supposing that more considerable antiquity could be predicated of the Third degree.  But we must cleave to that which is evidentially reasonable in this respect until time or circumstances shall provide better warrants.  For Speculative Masonry as a whole we may have to rest content also, if we cannot date it much further back than the close of the seventeenth century, recognizing that its present characteristic developments are to be sought in and about the Revival period. Such recognition puts an end to romantic hypothesis, but the great intimations of the Third degree remain a speaking pageant in Symbolism, however late its origin.  The quest of the Word remains, with all Zoharic Theosophy behind it and all the rites of Christian Masonry in front.  The mythos connects our Order with the figurative Mysteries of past ages, while the opening and closing of the lodge in that degree are much greater than anything in the memorials of Greece and Egypt.

 

I shall, therefore, reach a general conclusion on the Hermetic Schools and their alleged intervention for the transformation of an Operative Guild into an Emblematic Freemasonry and it shall be expressed in such a manner as will be without detriment to ourselves or our connections as loyal and devoted Masons.  In Dionysian architects, Roman Collegia, Comacines, and Building Guilds of the Middle Ages, I have failed to discover any traces of an art of building spiritualized.  I have taken the old Gothic Constitutions and have sought to digest them like Anderson "in a new and better method"; but, however they were passed and repassed through the mental alembic, they have yielded nothing corresponding to a "system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." Not even the Regius MSS. betray a single vestige, though I have followed Gould anxiously.  As regards the Hermetic Schools, and speaking, if I may venture to say so, as one who knows the literature, the allegation of Albert Pike is true in respect of a few world-wide symbols which prove nothing and false in all things else.  There is no legend of three Grand Masters in Alchemy; there is no Substituted Word; and there is no Master of the lodge, for there is no need of ritual procedure among all its cloud of witnesses.  The witness of Alchemy to Masonry is the witness of Elias Ashmole, the sole alchemist in the seventeenth century whom we know to have become a Mason.  The Rosicrucian influence I believe to have been marked in character and exercised for a considerable period, but we know it only in its developments which belong to the eighteenth century, and are, of course, beyond our scope.  Provisionally, and under all reserve, I am inclined to hold that it began earlier, but more especially as an atmosphere belonging to the formative period of Emblematic Freemasonry.  But the great Rosicrucian maxim cited by Robert Fludd about 1630 must be ruled out unfortunately.  Transmutemini, transmutemini de lapidibus mortuis in lapides vivos philosophicos, does not signify that the Brothers of the Rosy Cross had either joined or invented our figurative and speculative art; it is rather a contract established between material and spiritual alchemy.  For the present, at least, we are asked also to set aside the winning speculation concerning a secret school of Emblematic Masonry co-existent through several generations or centuries with the Operative Guild and sometimes identified with Rosicrucians.  There are no Rosicrucian traces prior to 1578.  Moreover, the alleged school is a notion arising out of a false construction of the Regius MS.

 

We are left in this manner with the Kabalistic element about which I have spoken plainly. But now, as a last point, supposing that there is no trace of the Third degree prior to 1717, that after this epoch it was devised by a group of Masonic literate or alternatively by an anonymous brother, whether famous like Desaguliers, or obscure; what, then, is our position? My own at least is this: that the Third degree was formulated on the basis of the Ancient Mysteries and illustrated by the light of Kabalism: facts about which there is no open question; that it belongs as such to an old and secret tradition, though not in respect of time; that it stands on its own symbolical value and that, in the words of Martines de Pasqually: We must needs be content with what we have.  As a student of the past, again I could wish that it were otherwise; but in this, as in all else, the first consideration is truth. There are high grades of Masonry for which no one in his senses predicates antiquity, and yet they are great grades.  They are even holy grades, which, from my point of view, carry on the work of the Craft towards something that stands for completion.  I conclude, therefore, with an affirmation which I have made in other places, that antiquary per se is not a test of value.  I can imagine a rite created at this day which would be much greater and more eloquent in symbolism than anything that we work and love under the name of Masonry.  Yet, for what Masonic antiquity is, let us call it two hundred years, under all needful reserves, such an invention would not have the hallowed and beloved associations which have grown about our Emblematic Craft.  Here is the matter of antiquity which really signifies: it is part of the life of the Order. And after all the fables and all the fond reveries, the false analogies and mythical identifications with other and immemorial Mysteries, it is again the life which counts, the life of that great world-wide Masonic organism, in which we ourselves live and move and have our Masonic being.

 

----o----

 

A SOUL'S SOLILOQUY

 

Today the journey is ended,

I have worked out the mandates of fate;

Naked, alone, undefended,

I knock at the uttermost gate.

Behind is life and its longing,

Its trial, its trouble, its sorrow,

Beyond is the infinite morning

Of a day without a tomorrow.

 

Go back to dust and decay,

Body, grown weary and old;

You are worthless to me from today;

No longer my soul you can hold.

I lay you down gladly forever,

For a life that is better than this;

I go where partings ne'er sever,

You into oblivion's abyss.

 

Lo, the gate swings wide at my knocking;

Across endless reaches I see

Lost friends, with laughter come flocking

To give a glad welcome to me.

Farewell, the maze has been threaded,

This is the ending of strife;

Say not that death should be dreaded,

'Tis but the beginning of life.

 

- Mrs Wenonah Stevens Abbott

 

NOVEL ILLUMINATIONS AT THE lMPERIAL COUNCIL OF THE SHRINE AT DES MOINES

 

On June 14, 15 and 16, Des Moines, Iowa, will have the distinction of being one of the most beautifully and strikingly illuminated cities in the world. The 47th session of the Imperial Council, Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, will be held there on these dates, and one of the most elaborate and artistic lighting schemes of the kind ever devised is being planned for it. This work is under the direction of W. D'A. Ryan, famous illumination engineer, and director of the Illuminating Laboratory of the General Electric Company at Schenectady, N.Y. Mr. Ryan's success in devising the lighting of the Panama-Pacific Exposition, including the famous Tower of Jewels, brought him world‑wide notice.

 

As the visiting Noble disembarks from the train at Des Moines he will be greeted by an Arch of Welcome spanning Fifth Street. Beneath the arch will be a huge key, symbolic of freedom of the city. The arch will be flanked with slender jewel-studded minarets and adorned with Shrine emblems, and will present a beautiful array of colors as powerful searchlights are trained upon it at night. To the left and right as the visitor passes toward the arch will be the state capitol and the courthouse, thrown into sharp relief by floodlights, and before him will stretch a thoroughfare, festooned with red, green and yellow lights, leading to the "Arabian Way." Overhead will be a series of illuminated six-pointed stars suspended between trolley wire poles. Not only will these stars glitter brilliantly at night, but also by day, as they will be outlined by Novagems reflecting the sunlight in many different hues.

 

This avenue of light will lead into the "Arabian Way" which will have reviewing stands on each side and will be lighted by four overhead decorative fixtures. At the end of this Arabian Way will be a minaret‑flanked jeweled screen adorned with Shrine emblems and sparkling with colors as the rays of searchlights are thrown upon it. From this central screen will radiate sidelights through the street crossing the thoroughfare at that point. The "Arabian Way" will also be the scene of a notable display of fireworks. Back of the screen will be a searchlight fan, and colored light will be thrown upon clouds of steam.

 

The parade will pass through the "Arabian Way" and in streets comprising the line of march where illumination in addition to that given by the street lights is desirable, special lights will be installed. The six-pointed stars will also be display over these streets. Throughout the business district of the city a special decorative arrangement of the street lighting will be carried out.

 

One of the spectacular features of the illumination scheme will be the roofing over of a bridge with festoons of colored lights alternated with illuminated fezzes, the whole strung from central poles thirty feet high to twelve foot poles fastened to the sides of the bridge, thus giving the effect of a huge tent. On this bridge dancing will take place. Everywhere, of course, there will be bunting, and the city will be in gala trim in honor of the occasion.

 

----o----

 

"GONE WEST"

 

 

"Gone West!" Over the purple hills and beyond the softly glowing rim of life's day the warrior's spirit takes its flight. Out of the morning, across the white archway of noon-tide, down to the sunset! Out of the din and clamor, out of the bitterness and strife, out of the fierce passion of the combat, into the dreamless silence whose shadows mark the pathway to the stars! Out of earth's darkening horizon, through the curtained gloom of night, far upon the shoreless sea of fadeless light! Out of the agony of life's Gethsemane, over the quaking summit of Calvary, into the realm of glory, where God's banners never furl, where victory is sure! So the stainless knight of a stainless cause moves down the west, where earth's last glimmer fades and dies, and into God's spreading dawn, whose light is eternal, whose breath is cool and sweet. "Gone West!"

 

- Grand Master Pettigrew, South Dakota.

 

******************

 

 

STUDY CLUB PAPERS DISCONTINUED UNTIL SEPTEMBER

 

In accordance with the custom of previous years the study club papers will be omitted in the July and August issues of THE BUILDER. This is done in order that we shall not get ahead of the lodges and study clubs following the Bulletin Course of Masonic Study, who usually "call off" during these months.

 

These papers will be resumed in the September issue.

 

----o----

 

OUR STUDY CLUB PLAN

 

"The Bulletin Course of Masonic Study," of which the foregoing paper by Brother Haywood is a part, was begun in THE BUILDER early in 1917. Previous to the beginning of the present series on "Philosophical Masonry," or "The Teachings of Masonry," as we have titled it, were published some forty‑three papers covering in detail "Ceremonial Masonry" and "Symbolical Masonry" under the following several divisions: "The Work of a Lodge," "The Lodge and the Candidate," "First Steps," "Second Steps," and "Third Steps." A complete set of these papers are obtainable in the bound volumes of THE BUILDER for 1917, 1918,1919 and 1920, and the monthly numbers for January, February, March and April, 1921.

 

Following is an outline of the subjects covered by the current series of study club papers by Brother Haywood:

 

THE TEACHINGS OF MAAONRY

 

General Introduction. - A. Reasons for a course explaining what the "teachings of Masonry" mean. - B. How one can arrive at his own Philosophy of Masonry. - Conclusion. The Philosophy of Masonry is not a study of philosophy in general, but such a study of Masonry as a philosopher gives to any great intellectual problem.

 

1. - The Masonic Conception of Human Nature.

 

2. - The Idea of Truth in Freemasonry.

 

3. - The Masonic Conception of Education.

 

4. - Symbolism.

 

5. - Secrecy.

 

6. - Masonic Ethics.

 

7. - Democracy.

 

8. - Equality.

 

9. - Liberty.

 

10. - Masonry and Industry.

 

11. - The Brotherhood of Man.

 

12. - The Fatherhood of God.

 

13. - Endless Life.

 

14. - Brotherly Aid.

 

15. - Schools of Masonic Philosophy.

 

This systematic course of Masonic study has been taken up and carried out in monthly and semi‑monthly meetings of lodges and study clubs all over the United States and Canada, and in several instances in lodges overseas.

 

The course of study has for its foundation two sources of Masonic information, THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia.

 

HOW TO ORGANIZE AND CONDUCT STUDY CLUB MEETINGS

 

Study clubs may be organized separate from the lodge, or as a part of the work of the lodge. In the latter case the lodge should select a committee, preferably of three "live" members who shall have charge of the study club meetings. The study club meetings should be held at least once a month (excepting during July and August, when the study club papers are discontinued in THE BUILDER), either at a special communication of the lodge called for the purpose, or at a regular communication at which no business (except the lodge routine) should be transacted - all possible time to be devoted to study club purposes.

 

After the lodge has been opened and all routine business disposed of, the Master should turn the lodge over to the chairman of the study club comnuttee. The committee should be fully prepared in advance on the subject to be discussed at the meeting. All members to whom references for supplemental papers have been assigned should be prepared with their material, and should also have a comprehensive grasp of Brother Haywood's paper by a previous reading and study of it.

 

PROGRAM FOR STUDY CLUB MEETINGS

 

1. Reading of any supplemental papers on the subject for the evening which may have been prepared by brethren assigned such duties by the chairman of the study club committee.

 

2. Reading of the first section of Brother Haywood's paper.

 

3. Discussion of this section, using the questions following this section to bring out points for discussion.

 

4. The subsequent sections of the paper should then be taken up and disposed of in the same manner.

 

5. Question Box. Invite questions on any subject in Masonry, from any and all brethren present. Let the brethren understand that these meetings are for their particular benefit and enlightenment and get them into the habit of asking all the questions they may be able to think of. If at the time these questions are propounded no one can answer them, send them in to us and we will endeavor to supply answers to them in time for your next study club meeting.

 

FURTHER INFORMATION

 

The foregoing information should enable study club committees to conduct their meetings without difficulty. However, if we can be of assistance to such committees, or any individual member of lodges and study clubs at any time such brethren are invited to feel free to communicate with us.

 

EDITORIAL

 

T.G.A.O.T.U.

 

FREEMASONRY offers no doctrine as to the nature and attributes of God. It has no theory to propound, no philosophy to promulgate, as to His relations to men and to the universe. The Craft assumes that God is a reality, a sacred and unquestioned reality, in the mind of every man who proposes himself for membership in a lodge, and it leaves to that man the prerogative of fashioning his own theological and philosophical theories. A man may believe in the Trinity or deny the same; he may believe in the deity of Jesus or not; he may hold that God created the universe out of nothing or he may prefer to think that the universe is co‑existent with God; and he may, whether he be of one persuasion or another, remain a good Mason. But this does not mean that to Freemasonry God is unreal; far from it. Many of the things and persons most real to us, friendship, truth, father, mother, friend, are none the less real for not being defined, or even capable of being defined.

 

There is no desire herein to preach to the reader, for that is not the function of these columns, but even at the risk of so doing, there is something to be said about God which it is well for all to ponder. That something is this: Masonry does not demand that we define, or accept any definitions of Him, but it does demand that He be real in every Masonic life.

 

During the solemn moments of initiation the candidate, of his own free will, confesses that his faith is in God, and this confession is accepted by the Master with instant and cordial approval. He assumes his obligations as in the presence and name of God, and acknowledges his inability to fulfill the same except that God help him. His various journeys in search of light, wherein he is confronted by many dangers and conflicts, are undertaken in prayer, both by himself and the Master. If, with a free mind and a clear consciousness, the man does all this as if it were only so much meaningless show, and if he goes away from so solemn an experience to think of it all as merely an interesting piece of acting in which he himself has been a participant, the man is a hypocrite who, by such trifling with the things that are the most solemn to every soul, endangers the very integrity of his spiritual nature. If his initiation is to be real to him, then must he ever feel that it has been a genuine pact between him and his Creator. Unless the man is genuinely sincere while accepting such a rite as Masonic initiation, it is far better for his character and his happiness as a man that he never seek it at all.

 

By the same token God must be real to the lodge, else its very existence must become a mockery. Its center is an altar; its great light is a Book that symbolizes the revelation of the Divine Will; God is the center of the ritual as the sun is in the midst of its planets; He is the guarantor of its prmciples; and all its teachings are made in His name. Unless He be real the whole thing falls to pieces as a sham, and Masonry itself were better out of existence.

 

At the present moment a wave of new life is sweeping across American Masonry which is best compared to eras of spiritual awakening wherein new religions are born, and new epochs of culture are initiated. Never before have so many men thronged the gates of the Fraternity, or so many able men gladly volunteered to accept the burdens of management and leadership. A new dawn is upon the great Order, and mighty things are destined to be done. In all its branches Masons are working at Masonry to strengthen and to renew it, to understand, and to promulgate it. In this revival of interest, when lodges vie with each other in efforts to make Masonry become all that it can become to state and individual those leaders will be wisest and their work will be most enduring who ever remember that the cornerstone of it all, in all its senses, is T.G.A.O.T.U.

 

THE LIBRARY

 

EDITED BY BRO. ROBERT TIPTON

 

HOW SCANTY, meager, and unpromising are the beginnings of any literature. But the seed sown ultimately grows into great fruitful trees. There is an eternal fitness about using trees as symbols, and we do not confess to any particular timidity in describing or dealing with literature as a tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

 

Nearly all things, when the man of science is through with his investigations, prove to have had very insignificant starts in life. Only the poet and the rhapsodist describe beginnings otherwise, but their viewpoints, let us not forget, are by no wise mean ones. Poets are not so much concerned with the form as with the content; they discern the things of the spirit, the illimitable endeavoring to express itself through the limitable, the infinite through the finite.

 

Chas. F. Horne in his introduction to that valuable set of books, The Sacred Literature of the East, has the following to say, indicative of the purpose and character of man's earliest written efforts: "The volumes offer, first, the oldest discovered documents of each ancient civilization, so that the reader may see for himself what vague stirrings of thought first came to man. Sometimes these earliest fragments embody religious ideas from days far, far older than the Divine revelations to Moses. Sometimes they deal with the moral rather than with the spiritual world, proverbs which show how man had resolved to deal with man, thousands of years before Christ's great command, 'Love one another.' Sometimes they are boasts of a vain conqueror; sometimes songs of joy; more often cries of terror. But in each case they are the earliest visions which open to us the human heart." Such indeed was the beginning of the literature of the race.

 

* * *

 

Our ruminating about the beginning of literature sent us to a rereading of those luminous paragraphs in H.G. Wells' Outline of History dealing with the beginning of languages. Says Mr. Wells: "The first languages were probably small collections of words; they consisted of interjections and nouns. Probably the nouns were said in different intonations to convey different meanings. If Palaeolithic man had a word for 'horse' or 'bear' he probably showed by tone or gesture whether he meant 'bear is coming,' 'bear is going,' 'bear is to be hunted,' 'bear has been here,' 'bear is dead,' 'bear did this,' and so on. Only very slowly did the human mind develop methods of indicating action and relationship in a formal manner. Probably men did not indulge in those days in conversation or description. For narrative purposes they danced and acted rather than told. The growth of speech was at first a very slow process indeed, and grammatical forms and the expression of abstract ideas may have come very late in human history, perhaps only 400 or 500 generations ago." Such was the beginning of human language according to the conclusions of science, or Mr. Wells.

 

* * *

 

As we study the genesis of American literature how little, and oftentimes crude, it seems. Indeed it may be yet said, with a great deal of truth, that we are but in the beginnings of the creation of an American literature. Hitherto most of our literary output has been largely a reflection of European writers, or in other words we may say, for the greater part our literature has been English in style and matter - written by Americans. There are robust indications, however, that a real American literature, strictly so in character and content and of high excellence has been steadily given to the world since the advent of Whitman. His message was told in a new and unique way, and through it was sensed the breadth of vision and the spiritual aspirations of a new people, that were not so much the product of many older peoples, but were those of older peoples, made new by something inherent, mystic, beautiful and big, to be found in the northern portion of the western hemisphere. We are not forgetful of the genius of those other great spiritual writers of America commencing with Bryant; we are here but emphasizing the new that in our judgment is more interpretative of America.

 

Interested as we are in beginnings brings to mind a little book that recently afforded us an hour of real enjoyment. Its title, This Simian World, we felt was happily conceived. (Its author is Clarence Day, Jr., and it is published by the Alfred A. Knopf Co., 220 West 42nd St., New York, N. Y., at $1.50.) We proud humans are often guilty of a contemptible way of regarding what we speak of as the brute creation, and as someone has said, "with an ugly emphasis upon brute," and we believe it good medicine to induce humility, to be reminded occasionally that we bear many marks upon our bodies of our lowly ancestry and, as we are inclined to think these days of declining social amenities, in our manners as well. Was it not Schopenhauer that said that the more he saw of some people the more he respected his dog? However that may be, many men these days will feel like endorsing the following:

 

"As for me, I am proud of my close kinship with other animals. I take a jealous pride in my simian ancestry. I like to think that I was once a magnificent hairy fellow living in the trees, and that my frame has come down through geological time via sea jelly and worms and amphioxus, fish, dinosaurs and apes. Who would exchange these for the pallid couple in the Garden of Eden?"

 

The author's deductions are sound philosophy told in a humorous vein. Considering our lowly ancestry, if such is acceptable, we may comfort ourselves during these days of neurotic agitation (which are probably but the birth pangs in our further evolution) that we have done pretty well.

 

The great paramount question of the little volume is, Just what would we have been had we had any other ancestry but simian? Certain of the larger specie of life that has inhabited the globe were exterminated we are told by science, through becoming so large and immobile that their more agile and cunning competitors soon made easy shift of them. Recently was heard the remark that man is becoming shorter legged and after a while, because of a certain cumbersomeness he will unavoidably acquire, he too will succumb to a more powerful opponent. Selah. This Simian World seems to suggest, however, something infinitely comforting - nothing as yet has arisen to equal those of simian ancestry, and a development from any other specie that is upon the globe at the present time other than development from the simian would be destined to extinction. The simian has prevailed because of his fitness. The world needs humor and our monkeyishness affords it.

 

It is a vast distance to travel, from considerations either serious or humorous of the beginnings of man, to that of the beginnings of certain expressions in connection with man's intellectual life. Not very many moons ago, as the gods view things, man was engaged in simian chattering; today the highly developed human specie is a marvel for words. It were not bad did but words convey something worth while, but alas, we could join our peevishness over it to that of Carlyle's. "Words, Words, Words," was his agony of protest. There is so much likeness and so little freshness. Fiction is too frequently but a garbling of the same thing over and over again, usually resulting in gross deterioration of an idea which, when primarily presented, had something about it that was enlivening and of human interest. One indeed must be possessed of an almost uncanny sense for discerning what to read and what to let alone in the world of fiction today. The discriminative faculty is not the possession of many of us, and we but acquire anything approximating sane selection after much experimenting or painful effort.

 

Robert Lynd, an Englishman of letters, says, for example, that book reviewing is criticism teaching by quotations, but it is something more than that, if viewed through the works of such a man as Henry Menckin who could synthesize in a few brief sentences the importance of a man's message. He indeed has acquired superlative ability that places him upon the pinnacle of literary judgment, when he can epitomize an opinion of a thing as Theodore Roosevelt did when he dismissed the Idylls of the King as "tales of blameless curates clad in mail."

 

* * *

 

New departures are as interesting to your true student of life and progress as beginnings. We picked up a little book the other evening written unpretentiously and without any assumption of literary attainment upon the part of the author; a little book in which any brother of the mystic tie, we believe, would be much interested. The author of the book says that it was written for the sheer fun of the thing, but underlying, as we are further informed, was the purpose to tell of "a thorough old‑fashioned American Mason who; through his homely sayings and strong convictions and emotions, set forth the principles of belief and conduct taught in Freemasonry." We have taken liberties with these quotations by transcribing them into our own language.

 

We characterized this little work as a departure, that interest may be riveted upon the further reading of the work itself, and to indicate as well the unexploited field of fiction that awaits the facile pen of those writers of fiction who might be Masons.

 

The Tiler's Jewel by Harlan Hogue Ballard, 33d, is just such a tale as one could hand to anyone as a true photograph of the man who is indeed a Mason; who reflects in his life and conduct those heroic principles of life that Freemasonry enjoins upon its followers. When Freemasonry finds expression in fiction as well as in philosophy, its redemption from being a degree mill will have been accomplished in no small measure. ("The Tiler's Jewel," published by The Stratford Company, 12 Pearl Street, Boston, Mass. Price $1.50.)

 

* * *

 

The third volume of "The United States," edited by Charles Ramsdell Lingely, Professor of History, Dartmouth College, has been received. We are much concerned about recommending this work as a serviceable history in short form, to be used in connection with the educational work of the Masonic Service Association of the United States. It is decidedly imperative that our speakers be thoroughly equipped for the great task before them, and for those busy men who volunteer their services in connection with the educational program this volume, with its companion volumes, will prove of immense value. Indeed it would not come amiss if Masonic lodges would place in their libraries for the perusal of their busy members this little group of books. The first and second volumes are respectively titled, "Colonial Beginnings," by Winfred T. Root, Professor of History, University of Wisconsin, and "Growth of a Nation," by Max Farrand, Professor of History, Yale Unuversity. Published by the Century Co., 353 Fourth Ave., New York, N. Y.

 

 

----o----

 

PUBLICATIONS WANTED, FOR SALE, AND EXCHANGE

 

We are constantly receiving inquiries from members of the Society and others as to where they might obtain books on Masonry and kindred subjects, other than those listed each month on the inside back cover of THE BUILDER. Most of the publications wanted have been out of print for years. Believing that many such books might be in the hands of other members of the Society willing to dispose of them we are setting apart this column each month for the use of our members. Communications from those having old Masonic publications will also be welcomed.

 

Postoffice addresses are here given that those interested may communicate direct with each other, no responsibility of any nature to be attached to the Society.

 

It is requested that all brethren whose wants may be filled through this medium communicate with the Secretary so that the notices may then be discontinued.

 

WANTED

 

By Bro. T. J. Fox, 638 East Water St., Princeton, Indiana, "Mystic Masonry," by J. D. Buck.

 

By Bro. Elmer G. Smith, Box 102, Tooele, Utah, "The Cathedral Builders," by Leader Scott; "Ancient Charges," by W. J. Hughan.

 

By Bro. N. W. J. Haydon, 564 Pape Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada, a copy of Da Costa's "Dionysian Artificers." Brother Haydon has been trying for years to find a copy of this work, but without success, and will gladly enter into an arrangement with some more fortunate brother for the temporary loan of a copy.

 

By Mrs. Albert Clark Stevens, 80 South Clinton St., East Orange, N. J., Volumes 1 to 4 and 15 to 30, inclusive Universal Masonic Library.

 

By Bro. E. A. Russell, 751 Linwood Place, St. Paul, Minn., "Symbolism East and West," Aynsley; "The Gods of Egypt," Budge; "Dionysian Artificers," Da Costa; "Secret Tradition in Masonry," and "Studies in Mysticism," Waite; "The Cathedral Builders," Scott; "Freemasonry and the Great Pyramid," Holland, and "Egypt the Cradle of Freemasonry," De Clifford.

 

By N.M.R.S., Anamosa, Iowa, "Leaflets of Masonic Biography, or Sketches of Eminent Masons," by Cornelius Moore, published at Cincinnati in 1863.

 

By Bro. Silas H. Shepherd, Hartland, Wisconsin, "Catalogue of the Masonic Library of Samuel Lawrence," "Mystic Masonry," by J. D. Buck, "Second Edition of Preston's Illustrations of Masonry."

 

FOR SALE OR EXCHANGE

 

By Bro. Silas H. Shepherd, Hartland, Wisconsin, "Stray Leaves from a Freemason's Note Book," by George Oliver. This volume also contains "Some Account of the Schism showing the presumed origin of the Royal Arch Degree." Univ. Mas. Lib. edition. Price $3.00. "Lights and Shadows of Freemasonry," by Robert Morris. (Fiction and anecdotes.) Price $3.50.

 

FOR SALE

 

By Nelson L. Finch, Broadalbin, N. Y.:

 

"The History of Freemasonry," by Robert Freke Gould. The London edition, six volumes, 4to cloth, full gilt, 1884. Price $16.50.

 

"Discourse on Masonry," by Thaddeus Mason Harris, D. D., 1801. Price $5.00.

 

"Tales of Masonic Life," by Robert Morris, 1860. Price $3.00.

 

"Digest of Masonic Law," George W. Chase, 1859. Price $1.50.

 

"Practical Masonic Lectures," by Samuel Lawrence, 1874. Price $2.00.

 

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 Society, 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.

 

The Question Box and Correspondence Column are open to all members of the Society at all times. Questions of any nature on Masonic subjects are earnestly invited from our members, particularly those connected with lodges or study clubs which are following our "Bulletin Course of Masonic Study." When requested, questions will be answered promptly by mail before publication in this department.

 

THE POINT WITHIN A CIRCLE

 

The representation of the Point Within a Circle seems to me to be properly a geometric figure. Sometimes we see the two Saints pictured standing beside the two parallel lines in other illustrations we find the mere letters "B" and "E", and this last form of the figure is, doubtless, the original diagram. One is led to suppose that the left‑hand line was formerly lettered "A B C," and the one on the right "D E F." according to the usage of mathematics. "On the vertex rests the Book of Holy Scriptures." But, in regard to this, Brother John Yarker, in describing an old chart, notes that the object there shown is not a book but possibly an hour‑glass or a money box. Could it not, however, be simply a few straight lines, having some exact proportion to the rest of the figure ?

 

I do not know whether I am making my suggestion clear or not. I am trying to identify the Point Within a Circle as a practical, scientific diagram used by the builders of the medieval churches - a working tool, so to speak.

 

Lest I be misunderstood, I will add that I have read many of the symbolic explanations of this figure, and am taking no exception to any of them. Our working tools - to select an example - teach wise and serious truths, yet each has its ordinarily, obvious, operative use, and so it is with every symbol of Freemasonry, unless we except the Point Within a Circle.

 

I have used many sheets of paper, trying to find the true and original use of this figure. In doing so, I have incidentally learned many things that serve to polish and adorn the mind, but I have failed to meet with the amount of downright success that one desires. I would like to know if any other brother has speculated on this matter. Is it treated in any book ? What has this strange figure to do with the lost secret of Gothic proportioning?

W.W.C., Indiana.

 

In the first place I do not agree with the statement that every symbol of Masonry has an "ordinary, obvious, operative use" as a working tool. For instance take the Mosaic Pavement, Holy Bible, Rough Ashlar, Perfect Ashlar, Pot of Incense, Bee Hive, All‑Seeing Eye, Anchor and Ark, Winding Stairs, Three Steps, etc. It is true that most of the symbols of Masonry have an operative use, possibly all of them to some extent; but in some of them the operative use is only incidental. They all, however, have a speculative use and in some of them, the speculative use entirely obscures the operative. I believe this is true of the point within a circle. There is an operative use to which it may be put, but whether it ever was so put I do not know. Brother Caffyn thinks that the letters B and E may refer to the middle letter of a geometrical figure as ABC and DEF. I do not think so. These letters refer to the two Saints John and simply signify Baptist and Evangelist.

 

Let us for a moment consider the significance which has been attached to this figure. In Christian symbolism two bearded figures standing on opposite sides of a sphere or circle, with a dove on the top, represented the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Brother Clegg calls attention to the fact that in a work on "Christian Iconography" there is a reproduction of a miniature taken from a manuscript of the thirteenth century in which the Trinity is represented by two bearded figures holding between them on their outstretched hands a circle or sphere. On the top of the sphere is a dove with outstretched wings which, to some extent, looks like an open book.

 

The Egyptians think the point within a circle represents the Sun Osiris. It has been used to represent the astronomical sign of the sun.

 

In the Kabala the point is the creative knowledge of God, the circle the space in which He placed the things which He created. The two perpendicular, parallel lines represent the justice and mercy of God, which are equal and upright because presided over by His perfect wisdom. Albert Pike says that the use of the Holy Bible to represent this perfect wisdom is a modern addition to the symbol, but whether we use the dove or the Holy Bible or some other object, is not material if the intended lesson is taught thereby.

 

However, the question asked refers to the possible operative use and not to the symbolism. Brother Wm. T. Bowe in an article in THE BUILDER of July, 1918, in which he attempted to prove that the point within a circle was used to make a perfect square. His argument is based on his interpretation of the old "Stonemason's-saying." The oldest copy of this poem is dated about 1500 and translated is as follows:

 

"What in Stone‑Craft to see (be seen) is

Which no error nor by‑path is

But line right (straight as a line), a line (ruler?)

Throughdrawn the Circle overall

Thus findest thou three in four stand

And thus through one in the centre go

Also again out of the centre in three

Through the four in the Circle quite free.

The stonework craft and all the things

To investigate makes the learning easy

A point which in the circle goes

Which in the square and three angles stands.

Hit (find) ye the point then have ye done

And come out of need fear and danger.

Here with have ye the whole science

Understand ye it not so is it in vain

All which ye learnt have

Of that bewail yourselves soon, therewith depart."

 

Brother Bowe says "a line through drawn the circle" means a line drawn through the center of the circle from the points where the two perpendicular, parallel lines touch. If a line is now drawn through the foot of the perpendicular lines touching the circle we have three sides of a perfect square which is the "three in four" referred to. (See figure 1.) "Through one in the centre go" means a line from the center of side one. "Out of the Centre in three" means a line from the center of line three. "Through four in the Circle quite free" means from the free part of the circle or the part not enclosed by a line. This is the upper part of the circle. Thus if we draw lines from the center of sides one and three, or the point where the two perpendicular lines touch the circle, to any point in the free part of the circle we have a right angle. (See angles ABC and AEC, figure 1.) The rest of the poem means that this knowledge - how to make a square or right angle, makes Stone Craft knowledge easy. If we but find the right point we can not go wrong. "Come out of need fear and danger." This is certainly ingenious and it does give a method of constructing a square but it is much simpler to draw any line through the center of the circle and connect any point in the circumference with the extremities of this line. It is interesting to note that if lines are drawn from the point where the Holy Bible rests to the point where the parallel lines touch the circle that these lines so drawn form two sides of a perfect square. If drawn from any other point they form two sides of an oblong square.

 

Another interpretation of the "Stonemason's-saying" is given by G.W. Speth. (See figure 2.) "The line throughdrawn the circle overall" means a line that will go all around the circle and the only line we have in this problem that will go all around the circle is a line equal to the radius of that circle. This line will go around six times forming a hexagon. After every other vertex of this hexagon is joined we have a triangle, and if on one side of this triangle we construct a square, "Thus findest thou three in four stand." This square is equal to the area of the circle, and the great problem of squaring the circle has been solved. Proof: "Through one in the centre go." That is, in the center of this square through or by means of one, go "out of the center in three," "through the four in the circle quite free." ("One" is the unit of length in this case, or in other words the radius of the given circle, "the centre" is the center of the square, and "four" is the square.) That is by means of "one," the radius of the given circle, from "the center" of the square, which is also in "three" the triangle, describe a circle through "four," the square. The circle and the square, we can see are of the same area. Such is the argument of the poem. As a matter of fact there is a difference of about one twenty‑fifth (1-25) in the area of the two, but it was probably close enough for the practical purpose of a Stonemason. In the length of the square the error would be about one inch in every four feet.

 

We must remember that we have no historical evidence that the point within the circle was ever used otherwise than as a symbol. Yet there are practical uses to which it might be put. For instance if the workman wishes to make a right triangle with a given hypotenuse and one side of a given length, but the length of the other side unknown, (figure 1), he can draw a circle with a diameter equal to the given hypotenuse AC. Draw AC through the center of this circle. From A, with a radius equal to the given side, describe an arc which will cut the given circle in some point as E. Draw EC, and AEC is the triangle required. This is only one of a number of uses to which it might be put. It should be borne in mind that the use of proportion was known to the Ancients and that if a figure of given dimensions was used in the form of a tool it could be applied to any figure desired and corresponding dimensions determined by means of a computation in proportion.

 

I will give one other fact about this figure. If from any point A in one of the two parallel lines (see figure 3) a line AD is drawn to the other parallel line touching the figure at some point as F and from the points A and D lines are drawn to the center of the circle C, the angle ACD will be a right angle. This can be reversed and if it is desired to draw a line from any point A in one of the parallel lines which will just touch the circle, draw AC then draw CD at right angles to AC meeting the other parallel line at D, then draw AD which will just touch the circle.

 

C.C. Hunt.

 

* * *

 

A RITUAL WANTED

 

Connected with our lodge we have a Fellow Craft Club which has as its principal object general assistance in the work of the lodge, and the promotion of social activities. The officers believe that interest in the club can be promoted by the adoption of some initiation ceremony.

 

It is desired to separate it widely from Masonic degrees in order that there may be no suggestion of burlesquing. It is desired that the ceremony shall be amusing, and yet above the "slap‑stick" variety of "stunts."

 

Can you suggest to me any such ritual ?

 

A.S.P., New York.

 

We have not been able to locate any such ritual as that for which you ask. Will some reader come to our rescue ? If anyone knows of something that would suit the purpose above described, please forward your suggestions to THE BUILDER and we will see that our New York brother immediately receives it.

 

* * *

 

FREEMASONRY A NON‑SECTARIAN INSTITUTION

 

In my studies of the history of our Order I learn to divide it into two classes, viz., Masonry and Freemasonry.

 

Masonry was a Trades Union.

Freemasonry is a Brotherhood.

Masonry was Theistic or Deistic and Monotheistic

Freemasonry is Christian and Trinitarian, all its symbolism is Christian, the Hiramic Legend was written by Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome, in the year 312 A.D.

 

If these things are true, where has the unconverted Jew any place in Freemasonry? In my studies of Masonic authors (historians) I learn that the Jew was not admitted to Freemasonry until 1728‑32 - just recently I read in the Encycloptedia Britannica that the Jew was not admitted until 1832.

 

Of the above tell me what is correct and what is error.

 

J.A.B., Pennsylvania.

 

In the period before the formation of modern Speculative Masonry, that is, prior to 1717, there were in almost every English town stationary guilds which controlled a monopoly of the building trades. The guilds devoted to building were often called Masonic, and it is certain that modern Masonry has inherited much from them. They were not trades unions, but guilds - a very different form of organization and with very different purposes. Also, it is believed, one set of guilds were free to travel about from place to place in order to work on cathedrals and other church structures, with which the ordinary town guild was not familiar. These, it seems, were called Freemasons, and many of us believe that the modern Order inherited more from the Freemasons than from the town guilds.

 

But the Freemasons were not more a Brotherhood than were the town Masons, for both contained religious elements, had sick benefits, etc. That is the only distinction there is between Masons, if you wish to so designate them, and Freemasons.

 

Such a distinction as you have made between the religious character of the Masons and the Freemasons (using your terminology for the sake of a clear reply) is without foundation in fact. The traveling Masonic guild and the stationary town guild were both Christian, and both compelled their members to take an oath to support the Holy Mother Church, that is, the Christian.

 

The symbolism of modern Freemasonry is not Christian - it is either mystic or philosophic - and is as acceptable to the nonChristian as to the Christian. It received the non-sectarian character immediately after the formation of the first Grand Lodge in 1717. The Jew has therefore as much a place in it as any other.

 

 

It is impossible that Constantine ever wrote the Hiramic Legend. We would refer you to the article on the subject by Brother Haywood in the Correspondence Circle Bulletin section of the September, 1920, number of THE BUILDER.

 

* * *

 

A ROMAN CATHOLIC DAILY NEWSPAPER

 

A brother lodge member told me recently that the Roman Catholics now have a daily paper in this country. Is this true?

J.L.F., Colorado.

 

It is. The Daily American Tribune, a sheet of eight pages, is published by the Catholic Printing Company, Dubuque, Iowa. John D. Gonner is Business Manager and Nicholas C. Gonner is Editor‑in‑Chief. Subscription prices are $8.00 a year, $4.00 for six months. It is the first and only Roman Catholic daily to be published in this country in the English language. A recent issue reports that there are twenty‑five dailies of this kind in Germany. The editors seem much encouraged by the success of their new venture.

 

* * *

 

THE FRATERNAL SIDE OF THE OLD GUILDS

 

On page 103 of THE BUILDER for April Bro. Joseph Fort Newton spoke of the Operative Masons as follows: "They worked as a fraternity; they had joy in their work, and saw spiritual meaning in it.... Their labor was communal. Each man worked as a brother in a community, not as a cog in a machine. It was mixed with friendliness, comradeship, and goodwill.... The Master was not a Foreman, or an Overseer; he was a Brother, a friend, a teacher." I read a couple of books while I was in college which gave a very different picture of the old Guilds. Has not Brother Newton rather overstated the fraternal side of it? I think there was as much friction, trouble, grasping selfishness in that system as in our own. Of course, I believe firmly in brotherliness, and goodwill and all that; don't write as a cynic, but ask Dr. Newton if he didn't exaggerate.

 

L.M.P., Indiana.

 

If Bro. Newton were not so busy a man your question would have been referred to him; as it is, the present writer is obliged to answer for him, though without his authorization. You are probably right in your general view of the guild system, including the Social, Merchant, and Craft varieties. The Craft guild system, to which you doubtless refer, lasted but three hundred years (in England, that is), and was in fact a very strict, rigid, and rather inhuman form of industrial organization. It was built on the old Town System, and each Craft guild was confined in its operations to its own community, and was subject to the laws of its own community, which were, from a modern point of view, rather selfish laws. The apprentice system was not an easy system, neither were the general conditions of work very happy. The Roll Books, Town Records, and the general statutes of England and many of the old cities of England for the Craft guild period, teem with laws and regulations governing the life of the guild member down almost to the last detail. At the end of the period the very clothes which a guild member had to wear were regulated by guild and municipal law. Labor riots were not uncommon, and there was always a deal of trouble between master and men. Brentano, it seems, is largely responsible for the widespread notion that the Guilds were at bottom fraternal in character; modern historians of the economic life of England are agreed that the guilds were purely economic in their origin and nature.

 

Nevertheless, Brother Newton has not, the writer believes, overstated himself. In the first place, he speaks of the old Operative Masons, who were in a class apart, and maintained a system in which brotherliness and goodwill did overtop the more sordid motives. In the second place, it is true of the Craft guild system as a whole that, selfish and harsh as it was in many ways, it encouraged, far more than our present capitalistic system, the sentiments of brotherliness, religiousness, and joy in work.

 

----o----

 

CORRESPONDENCE

 

CORRECTIONS CONCERNING WASHINGTON AND HANCOCK

 

I observe in the March issue of THE BUILDER two historical inaccuracies. Perhaps they are not very important, but as THE BUILDER is extensively quoted as authority I am sure you would wish your statements to be correct.

 

Our good friend Baird in his article on John Hancock speaks of him as having been Grand Master of Massachusetts. We in Massachusetts rejoice in his membership but he was never Grand Master and was not even Master of his lodge.

 

In another paragraph reference is made to the initiation of George Washington in Alexandria-Washington lodge. Washington was initiated in Fredericksburg Lodge many years before Alexandria-Washington Lodge was instituted.

 

Frederick W. Hamilton. Grand Secretary, Massachusetts.

 

* * *

 

MONTANA MEMBERSHIP FIGURES

 

I notice in the April number of THE BUILDER you give the Masonic membership of Montana as 13,813. This should be 15,926, the total membership as of December 31, 1920.

 

W. C. MacArthur, Montana.

 

* * *

 

RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE GRAND LODGE OF MISSISSIPPI

 

The following Resolutions were unanimously adopted by the Grand Lodge of Mississippi, F. & A. M., at its Annual Communication held in the City of Jackson on February 22, 1921, and is fraternally promulgated for the information of the Masonic Craft of Mississippi and brethren wheresoever dispersed.

 

ACTION OF THE AMERICAN LEGION ON K. OF C. WAR CHEST FUND OFFER

 

Whereas, The Knights of Columbus has recently submitted to the American Legion a proposition to make use of the sum of $6,000,000 of the War Chest Fund, allotted to that organization for the building of a memorial auditorium to be known as the "Knights of Columbus Hall," under the auspices of the American Legion, and

 

Whereas, The War Chest Fund was created by the American Government during the stress of war with foreign nations, at a time when three millions of our boys were in France and Belgium, and was contributed largely by those who were not members of or affiliated by relationship or otherwise with the membership of the Knights of Columbus, and

 

Whereas, The War Chest Fund was created for the relief of our boys serving in the American army at home and abroad, and not for the purpose of building auditoriums for the glorification of any fraternal, religious or political organization, and

 

Whereas, The American Legion has declined to accept the money tendered, for purposes above set forth, unless all restrictions as to its disposition were withdrawn;

 

Therefore, Be It Resolved, That the Grand Lodge of Masons of Mississippi, in Annual Communication assembled, heartily applauds and endorses the action of the American Legion and puts itself on record as strenuously objecting to the disposition of any part of the War Chest Fund, no matter in whose custody it may be, except in carrying out the purposes for which it was created, namely, the industrial and vocational education of our disabled soldiers, who offered their lives upon the altar of sacrifice, and the children and dependents of such;

 

Be It Further Resolved, That the Grand Secretary be directed to send a copy of these Resolutions to the Grand Master of Sister American Jurisdictions, also to the Commander-in-Chief and Divisional Commanders of the American Legion, urging them to stand steadfast in protecting and maintaining the true ideals of our American Government.

 

THE SMITH-TOWNER BILL AND OUR PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM

 

Whereas, The public school system, the bedrock of the Republic, is a matter of vital concern to the Nation, as well as to the State and community; and

 

Whereas, The parochial school idea, in contrdisticntion to that of the public school, is un-democratic and makes for a separation along sectarian lines of the children of the Nation, who are the future guardians of the Republic; and

Whereas, There is a certain Bill, now pending in the Congree of the United States, known as the Smith-Towner Bill, the puropse of which is to provide for a Department of Education, with a Secretary in the President's Cabinet at its head, in order to coordinate and administer more efficeintly the various educational activities of the National Government; and

 

Whereas, The Bill also provides Federal aid to the States for the removal of illteracy; for the Americanization of foreigners; for physical education, health and sanitation; for the better training of teachers, and for the partial payment of teachers' salaries, and better educational opportunities for all the children of the Nation, particularly in the rural districts; and

 

Whereas, The precedent for Federal aid has become thoroughly established. The National Government appropriates money for the support of good roads, for colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts, and also for vocational education, household arts and other forms of special education. Aid should undoubtedly be extended for the other purposes provided in this Bill; and

 

Whereas, The BIll is carefully drawn to prevent centralization and to preserve to the states and local communities the management of the public schools. It provides: (1) That its provisions shall not become operative until accepted by a state and until at least an equal amount of money has been provided by the state or local authorities; (2) That the money appropriated to a state shall be distributed and administered by the state in accordance with state laws; (3) That education in all its phases "shall be organized, supervised, and administered exclusively by the legally constituted state and local education authorities of the state", and

 

Whereas, Thousands of children in America have no free school advantages and other thousands attend school in unsanitary buildings, taught by uneducated teachers; and

 

Whereas, The Smith‑Towner Bill rests on the assumption that in order to insure national prosperity and preserve our American institutions there must be developed through education a citizenship physically, intellectually and morally sound, and that because of this fact the National Government is vitally interested in the promotion of public education in all the states; and

 

 

Whereas, This Bill creates a Department of Education and provides Federal aid for encouraging the states in the promotion of education. It makes for efficiency in administration by consolidating the various educational agencies of the Government into one department under a responsible head, equal in rank to the heads of other executive departments. Every other great nation in the world has a department devoted to education.

 

Therefore, Be It Resolved, That the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Mississippi, in Annual Communication assembled, reaffirms its unqualified endorsement of our public school system and pledges every influence within its power to maintain and safeguard the same from the assaults of those who would destroy and create in its stead a system of parochial schools, supported by public taxation, dominated and controlled by and under the absolute influence and power of an autocratic Hierarchy, upon ideas foreign in conception and directly contrary to the theory of that American Democracy upon which this Nation is builded, for the safety of which the flower of American manhood gave its lifeblood upon the battlefields of France and Belgium;

 

Therefore, Be It Further Resolved, That the Grand Lodge endorses the efforts of those who seek to create a National Department of Education with a Secretary of Education in the President's cabinet as its head, along lines set forth in the Smith-Towner Bill, as above, the several states to have absolute and exclusive organization, supervision and administration by the legally constituted state and local educational authorities.

 

Be It Further Resolved, That the Grand Secretary be directed to transmit a copy of these Resolutions to the Grand Lodges of the various states, to the State Superintendent of Education, to the President of each State Teachers' Association, to the President of the National Teachers' Association, to the President of the United States and also the members of our National Congress, to be assembled after March 4, 1921, and to urge upon our National authorities the necessity of prompt action in bringing to successful fruition the objects set forth in these Resolutions.

 

"Lord God of Hosts,

Be with us yet-

Lest we forget,

Lest we forget."

 

Oliver Lee McKay,

Grand Secretary, Mississippi.

 

* * *

 

COMMANDER GALBRAITH'S LODGE

 

The writer's attention was called to the January issue of THE BUILDER in which you stated, in answer to an inquiry in your Question Box, that Bro. Fred W. Galbraith, Jr., Commander of the American Legion, was a member of Hoffner Lodge, Cincinnati, Ohio. Believing that you wish to be correctly informed on all matters Masonic, we wish to state that Bro. Galbraith is a member in good standing in Avon Lodge No. 542, F. & A. M., Cincinnati. The writer was personally present at his raising and participated in the work.

 

It was sufficient for your inquirer that he is a member of the Craft but inasmuch as Bro. Galbraith is now a prominent figure in the Legion and the matter may arise again in some connection, it is desirable that you have the correct data, which we submit in a very friendly spirit and with our fraternal respects.

 

M.F. Platt, Ohio.

 

* * *

 

THE DIVINE IMAGE

 

I am sending you a copy of a short address given in a Toronto lodge recently by the Master, Brother John A. Copeland. I trust you can find space for it in the columns of THE BUILDER as it is somewhat unusual. It is as follows:

 

When the Great Architect, Governor and Ruler of the universe created mankind, we are told He made each of us in His own image, a trinity in unity - Mentality, Spirit and Body. This earthly tabernacle in which Mentality and Spirit are housed is a wonderful mechanism, its movements under control of the Spirit, or will‑power, with Mentality the directing force.

 

All three are one; each without the other is incomplete - three rule a lodge, but no less than three.

 

Lacking Mentality to guide, the Spirit would act simply under impulse.

 

Analogically, this trinity in unity applies to the officers of our lodge: We have the Worshipful Master, or Mentality; the Senior Warden, or Spirit; the Junior Warden, or Body. Those three rule a lodge, but they must be a unit to rule a lodge - three in one, a trinity in unity.

 

Our lodge startlingly resembles the human form divine. While the Master is represented by the head, all the other members have their simile.

 

Incorporated in the Body are many organs and senses whose usefulness is unquestioned. Vision comes to us through two eyes. Candidates are conducted in the degrees by two Deacons, who are eyes to the seeker after Masonic light.

 

Two hands we have. This lodge has two Stewards, who are the hands of it. As the hands make possible the execution of the will, so the Stewards carry out the desire of the Master of the lodge.

 

One mouth we have, to receive food. Our lodge has one Inner Guard, who receives candidates and members, the food of the lodge.

 

One nose keeps guard over everything intended for admission to the mouth as food, and one Tyler censors every would-be entrant to the lodge.

 

Our brain receives and records every impression, and the parallel of the brain in the lodge is the Secretary. Both must record faithfully whatever is desirable to retain, eschewing falsehood and evil.

 

One stomach: one Treasurer. Just as the stomach receives and digests the food for the life of the body, so the Treasurer takes charge of and assimilates for the life of the lodge the financial income.

 

Two feet and two legs conduct the body with circumspection. Two auditors watch that the lodge is progressing satisfactorily.

 

Like to the heart is the Director of Ceremony, as he infuses vim into the lodge and its functions through his stately and well-conducted performances.

 

As the hair covers the head, so the Chaplain sheds a benison over all, and contrives to infuse the proper religious tone.

 

While flesh and sinews are components of the body, so our members compose the lodge.

 

To have the body complete and healthy every organ and part must be useful. Our lodge to be perfectly robust must have all the officers and members working lustily in unison and concord.

N.W.J. Haydon, Canada.

 

* * *

 

THE OLDEST SECRETARY OF A LODGE

 

We believe our lodge, Siloam No. 780, A. F. & A. M., Chicago, Illinois, has the distinction of having the oldest active secretary in the United States, if not in the world, - Brother Edward F. Cass, - who was born February 25, 1831, ninety years ago, in Cornville, Maine. He was made a Mason in the St. Andrew's Lodge, Bangor, Maine, in 1855; admitted to Siloam, Chicago, in 1884, and for the past twent-one years has served our lodge as secretary and is now serving his twenty-second. He uses crutches and still carries in his body a bullet received in the Civil War; but his eye is just as keen, his laugh just as spontaneous, and his heart just as young as it was sixty-five years ago when he received the sublime degree.

 

Geo. M. Elworth. Illinois.

 

----O----

 

There is no greater every-day virtue than cheerfulness. This quality in man among men is like sunshine to the day, or gentle renewing moisture to parched herbs. The light of a cheerful face diffuses itself, and communicates the happy spirit that inspires it. The sourest temper must sweeten in the atmosphere of continuous good humor. - Carlyle.

 

 

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