The Builder Magazine

July 1922 - Volume VIII - Number 7

 

The George Washington Masonic National Memorial

BY BRO. LOUIS A. WATRES, P.G.M., PA., PRESIDENT, THE GEORGE WASHlNGTON MASONIC NATIONAL MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION

TWELVE YEARS ago on the 22nd of February prominent Masons from several of our Grand Jurisdictions gathered at Alexandria, Virginia, to discuss the feasibility of erecting a fitting Memorial to Washington, the Mason. As they met in the historical lodge room of Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22, the sacred environment and the hallowed memories of him who presided over the lodge while he was Chief Magistrate fired them anew with the spirit of Masonry. Though fully conscious of the fact that the history of Washington, the Mason, is a saered heritage of the Republic, they strongly felt, as all Freemasons truly feel, that Washington's connection with Masonry and the inspiration he gave to the Fraternity are especially dear to the brethren. Remembering the invaluable services rendered by Washington to his country, and that to him and those Masons who were closely associated with him was due the fact that the fundamentals of Freemasonry were made a part of the basic law of our land, they resolved to erect at Alexandria a memorial which should reflect the gratitude of the Masons of the United States to him in whose memory it should stand in the coming years.

 

To carry out this high purpose, the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association was formed. That distinguished Mason, Brother Thomas J. Shryock, of Maryland, was elected President and plans were formulated under which the work was to proceed.

 

In this connection it is proper to say that ever since its inception one of the most inspiring minds in this great movement has been that of Brother Charles H. Callahan, of Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22. He is the author of that splendid volume entitled "Washington, the Man and the Mason." The data assembled by Brother Callahan and his fascinating was of presenting the facts relating to Washington, the Mason, have been and are of great assistance toward the consummation of our movement.

 

The brethren of Alexandria generously donated for the Memorial a little over two acres of land on Shooter's Hill on the commanding Arlington Ridge, and the Association has since acquired about twenty-nine acres, so that now the site contains approximately thirty-two acres. The National Cemetery at Arling ton is also located on the beautiful Arlington Ridge.

 

Each year since that first meeting the Association has assembled on the 22nd of February, and each year has seen marked progress in the movement.

 

In 1917 the Association resolved to broaden its organization and to commit the Masons of the United States to "the erection of a Temple costing not less than $500,000 with an endowment fund of $250,000.” As the importance of our great movement has developed, however, it has been resolved to make our objective as many dollars as there are Masons in the United States, approximately 2,500,000, and to arrange for every Grand Jurisdiction to fill its quota, which is as many dollars as there are brethren in the respecting jurisdictions.

 

At our convention in February we had paid in, in cash, $708,223.31, of which $577,100 was invested in United States Govermnent securities; the balance to be thus invested and cash retained sufficient to pay for the work for which contracts are now about to be let.

 

A number of the Grand Jurisdictions have already gone over the top. Massachusetts, with 92,000 Masons, has paid in, in cash, over $110,000, and the Grand Lodge has in addition thereto agreed to pay $5,000 when called upon. New Hampshire is one hundred per cent.; so is Connecticut. Rhode Island is over the top. So is the District of Columbia. Maryland and Delaware are over one hundred per cent. Pennsylvania has paid in $93,500. The States of Washington, Arizona and Utah are over the top. Illinois has paid in to our Treasurer $49,000, and there is a very substantial sum now in the hands of its Grand Treasurer. New Jersey has paid in nearly $50,000. Some of the Grand Jurisdictions are just getting at work, among them New York under the chairmanship of Past Grand Master Judge William S. Farmer. Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, the Dakotas, Missouri, Texas, and many others of the Western and Southern States are enthusiastic in the movement; and there is no possible doubt that the objective will be reached and that the money will be available as required.

 

One year ago the Board of Directors was authorized to employ an architect and to submit to our Twelfth Annual Convention plans and a model of the proposed Memorial Temple. Helmle and Corbett, of New York, were engaged as Architects, and S. Eugene Osgood, 33d, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was employed as Consulting Architect. It is also proposed to engage Olmsted Brothers, of Brookline, Mass., as Landscape Architects.

 

The plans and model prepared by the architects were approved by the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors and submitted to the Association on the 22nd of February last.

 

On that occasion the firm of architects was represented by Harvey Wiley Corbett. He is a graduate engineer of the University of California, and a graduate architect, Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris. He received a government diploma and is seven times a Medalist. The Nero York Chapter, American Institute of Architects, presented him with a Medal of Honor. He built the Springfield Municipal Group at Springfield, Mass.; the Bush Terminal Office Building, New York; the Bush Buildings, of London, England; and other notable structures.

 

S. Eugene Osgood, representing the firm of Osgood and Osgood, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a 33d Mason, Past Master of his Blue Lodge, and Past Commander-in-Chief of his Consistory. During the last fifteen years he has designed many notable Masonic Temples. He received his architectural training at Cornell University, and is the junior member of a firm that has been in continuous architectural practice for over forty-five years.

 

In presenting the model and plans to our Association for approval, Brother Corbett gave us in a most interesting manner a vision of the Memorial. In opening his remarks he said:

 

"The George Washington Masonic National Memorial is primarily a memorial to George Washington, the Man and the Mason. Its form is inspired by the great towers built in the ancient days of Greece and Rome to mark the entrances to their harbors and from whose summits permanent burning flares that could be seen for miles at sea, guided the mariner on his way. The great tower of the Memorial represents to the world at large the guiding spirit of Washington in statesmanship, and his revered precepts which for all time will set an example by which the Ship of State may direct its course.”

 

Brother Corbett, in continuing his description, did not undertake to go into the details of the plans, but gave us an excellent conception of what the work is to include.

 

The Temple will be in plain view of Washington, D. C., and will be passed by all who travel between the City of Washington and George Washington's old home at Mt. Vernon. The edifice will be surrounded by artistic landscaping, and will be reached by broad walks and stone steps ascending through seven terraces. From the topmost colonnaded tower of the Memorial, visitors will view for many miles around the region in which the immortal Washington passed a great part of his life.

 

The architecture is classic. The main masses of the building comprise a base in which will be located the great George Washington Memorial Hall and various Masonic rooms, and above this base will rise a form of tower.

 

The dimension of the edifice over all will be one hundred and sixty feet in width, by two hundred and thirty feet in depth, exclusive of its steps, terraces, and approaches. Its height to the summit of the covered observation platform crowning the tower will be two hundred feet.

 

One of the most stately features will be a great atrium, seventy feet wide, by one hundred feet deep, which will form the Memorial Hall, and in which it is now proposed to set a statue of George Washington. This great hall will be sixty-four feet in height, rising by a clerestory above the surrounding portion of the building. It will be flanked by great Ionic columns, forty feet high, and surrounded by a number of rooms devoted to Masonic interests, above the roof of which clerestory lights admit the light of day.

 

The entrance of the building will be expressed in a six-columned portico of pure Greek Doric design, forming an interesting contrast to the plain unbroken side walls of the Masonic rooms. The Memorial Hall will be reached through the portico by gradual steps.

 

Rising above the great Memorial Hall, and forming the second story of the tower, will be a museum room to house the many memorabilia of George Washington and his time, as well as interesting relics connected with Washington's service as Master of Alexandria, Washington Lodge. This museum will be fifty by seventy-five feet, with lofty ceiling and fine light. It will be reached both by stairs and elevators.

 

There will be a third level above the museum. Above it will be a covered observation platform. The three levels will be screened by stately colonnades.

 

These four elements will form the great tower, inspired by the classic towers which, as Mr. Corbett has stated, guided the mariners of old.

 

The broad steps and grassy terraces, adorned with shrubs, will add to the imposing and beautiful effect of the Temple.

 

The plans and model were unanimously approved by the Association, after which the President offered the following recommendation:

 

“That working drawings, specifications, etc., be completed as soon as possible, so that total estimates of cost can be procured; that contracts for the excavation and foundation units be awarded, with the end in view of laying the cornerstone some time in early fall; that further contracts be awarded from that point on up to and including the completion of the work, but with the distinct understanding that no contract, under any circumstances, shall be let until the money is actually in hand to meet it."

 

This recommendation was adopted by the Association.

 

Following the convention's adjournment the Board of Directors authorized the working plans to be proceeded with, and the work of excavating and the building of the foundation walls will be begun at a very early day.

 

It is hoped that the cornerstone may be laid on the 4th of November next, which will be the 170th anniversary of the entry of Brother Washington into Masonry. That should be made a grand, gala day for Masons from all over the United States. It should be made such an affair as will impress the brethren with the deep meaning of the important work we have on hand, and broad enough in scope to include not only the Grand Lodges of the forty-nine Jurisdictions, but all the Bodies affiliated therewith.

 

The lasting value of this Memorial building can not be measured by money. It will do much more thanhouse and preserve the priceless relics of Washington's lodge. It will be a center and rallying-point for Masons not only in our own country, but for members of the Fraternity in every land, and it will cement and strengthen Freemasonry. This great Memorial will serve to teach the power that inheres in a closer co-ordination of fraternal energy and will promote the unity of purpose which is so much to be desired.

 

----o----

 

THE MISSION OF MASONRY

 

BY BRO. OWEN SCOTT, GRAND SECRETARY, ILLINOIS

 

In the midst of our researches into the technical problems of Masonic history and cognate matters it is wise now and then to go aside into a place of vision in order to see Freemasonry as a whole, and in the spirit, lest we forget the great aims and ideals in the service of which we are all laboring.  What could be better for such a purpose than the following? Its author is among the workers in the forefront of one of our most powerful Grand Jurisdictions. He needs no introduction.

 

"For the structure which we raise,

Time is with materials filled;

Our todays and yesterdays

Are the blocks with which we build.

Let us do our work as well,

Both the unseen and the seen.

Make the house where God may dwell

Beautiful, entire, and clean."

 

 THE INSTITUTION of Freemasonry is the legacy of the ages gone. What began with the organization of a band of builders, like the stone cut out of the mountain, has grown until it fills the whole earth.  Where civilized man abides and opens the great light of truth and beauty, there stands Masonry like the monarch of the woods, immortal and invincible. Unlike the great tree, its foes come not from without, but from within.

 

The destruction of the creature of our speculative art impends only when defective materials have entered into its composition.  Our building is made of living stones and is eternal in the heavens.

 

In Freemasonry men are the artisans and the end is the building of manly character.  It has ever been the aim to build wisely and well.  We seek the nearest perfect materials.  We go into the quarries of everyday life and select the living stones offered, rough ashlars though they be. If moved by proper motives or, if standing upon firm foundations, the unfit are by th ballot cast out into the rubbish.  Do you say that this is ideal and that through over anxiety to be big and rich improper materials are put into our edifice? True, but that does not destroy the value of the ideal.  The lives of institutions, no less than those of men, are shaped and colored by their visions.  The key to noble doing is to see clearly and then to act in obedience to this highest vision.

 

The sculptor at work on a block of stone, appear to the passer-by to be doing a purely mechanical act. The observer sees but the chisel, the mallet, and the marble.  In the sculptor's brain is a presence we can not see.  It is the ideal form to be wrought out by his hand.  His vision makes him an artist; without it, he becomes merely a stone cutter.

 

So we are fashioned by our ideals.  Only as thes are true and beautiful can the life become noble an truly great.

 

Freemasonry is an institution of high ideals an lofty standards for human living.  That all do not reach these, does not diminish the power for good. The names of the mercenary and the ignoble blur our rolls of membership.  Unworthy men prostitute the symbols of the craft to base and unworthy ends. Would we contribute most to build up our great fraternity? Then we should regard fitness above fame and worth above wealth. If Masonry has a mission, an aim, it must not content itself with merely a beautiful ritual, faultlessly rendered.  If the exalted teachings of the Craft are to end with dramatic and spectacular exhibitions in lodge, there is little room or use for our fraternity in the affairs of men.

 

The first aim, therefore, is to uplift the individual life.  Each man who bows at our altar and assumes the solemn obligations placed upon him should rise with clearer purpose and loftier aim.  If he can but realize that as a Master Mason he has had given him the plans and specifications drawn by the Supreme Architect of the Universe for the erection of the sublime structure of his own character, he will have caught the real spirit and aim of Masonry.

 

On the contrary, if merely moved by desire to improve his business, to wear a Masonic charm or to be able to start in a mad chase for the "higher degrees," the newly made Mason has been spoiled in the making.  To be a real Mason is to be a better man in every relation of life.  A more loyal, loving, and considerate husband; a more devoted and indulgent father; a better citizen; a truer friend - are a few of the fruits to be gathered from the Masonic orchard.  Many are so intent upon selfish achievements that these are little esteemed.

 

The first and greatest aim of Masonry is toward a loftier individual manhood, a purer womanhood, and a more tender and promising childhood.  That Masons are builders can be seen by the name.  While the operative craftsman uses perishable brick or stone and cements it into one common mass, the speculative workman uses living stones, which when propery united with the cement of brotherly love and affection, constitutes an edifice eternal in the heavens.

 

By teaching men the doctrines of temperance, fortitude, prudence and justice, together with the many other lessens drawn from, and daily applicable to the activities of life, deep foundations are laid upon which loftiest character must stand.  When brotherly love, relief, and truth really enter into the fiber of a man's being, there is little room for the selfish and the debased.  His instincts and his aspirations are toward the uplift that comes from a joyful service to mankind.  That I am my brother's keeper is demonstrated in every avenue of life whether I am ready to concede it or not.  He who achieves fortune, fame, or power over the crushed form of his fellow has made a Mephisto bargain and will render his grievous service in the Inferno of his own creation.  Service and sacrifice are the crucible in which the base metals of greed, avarice, and selfishness are left as the dross of life.  If thy brother would have thee go with him one mile, that is thy duty.  When to this is added gladly, a second mile, that is a blessed privilege.  Masonry puts into a man's breast the sweet service of the second mile.

 

In everyday life the man who renders the scantest service to complete his obligations, will find his burden onerous and distasteful.  If in the employ of another, his tenure will hang by a slender thread.  If the force is to be reduced, he will be first to go. On the other hand, if one is concerned more in doing excellent work than in merely putting in a specified number of hours each day, his promotions will follow one after the other unsolicited. The one who willingly and regularly does more than he is paid for and who seeks to do those things which his employer prefers not to do himself will be indispensable and secure in his position.  Our eight hours for refreshment and sleep are that we may have and retain sufficient strength of body and mind to follow our usual vocations with vigor and success.  Both these are the basis for our worship of God through relief of our worthy, distressed brother.

 

Masonry's mission, therefore, to the individual is to uplift his character and establish a nobler manhood.

 

To the aggregate of individuals, constituting the social state, Masonry has a message of vast importance.  Civilization has ever had as a companion, our great fraternity.  Whether the one or the other is the cause or effect cannot easily be determined.  The warp cannot say to the woof of a fabric, "I have no need of thee." Each is so intermingled with the other that one cannot be injured without weakening the whole.  So where the great light of Masonry and the world - the Bible - has gone, there is civilization and there is also Freemasonry.  Without God's revelation to man in the Book of books, there has been and there can be little progress toward ethical standards.

 

Masonry has not been concerned with the dogmas of theology and the factional feuds of rival sects.  The church, organized religious thought and activity, stands supreme.  To this we reverently bow, modestly claiming the privilege of casting out the devils of human need in the name of the Master of men.

 

The product of Judaism and Christianity, the Holy Scriptures, is the great light of Masonry.  A belief in God and his Book is fundamental.  Hence no atheist can become or remain a Mason and be honest.  When he ceases to rely upon God as the Supreme Architect of the Universe, he owes it to himself and to the Craft to go out from us because he is not of us.

 

Thus founded on the eternal truth of the revealed word and leanang from this our duties to God and man, we, as Masons, are willing that the various schools of religious thought should settle the disputes of theology to their own liking.  On such a foundation members of all churches, whether Jew or Christian, come together and work as craftsmen of character without discord or difference.  Harmony is the strength of all institutions and especially of Freemasonry.

 

In times past the mistaken notion existed, that in some way Masonry was an antagonist of the church.  Masons themselves may have been to some extent responsible for this error.  In their enthusiasm for the lodge they were betrayed into saying some things regarding the relations of the fraternity and the church of the living God, not justified by the teachings of the Craft.  In these days there is a better understanding, so much so that a large proportion of the clergy and the laity of most religious denominations deem it an honor to wear, the white apron, the emblem of innocence and the badge of a Mason.

 

Masonry's Mission in the state is one of peace and fidelity. Good citizenship can only be fostered by a society whose members are taught lessons of obedience to law.

 

Freemasonry is the first law and order league in the world. From the minutest details in ritual all the way up through its ethical teachings and wonderful philosophy of human action it stands immovable for order.  In no human institution is greater emphasis placed upon the ancient customs and usages than in the acient Craft.  Even to such an extent has this gone that some look upon this conservatism as partaking somewhat of fogyism and fossilism. The landamrks are our common law.  This charter of liberties may sometimes be in some doubt in its application and re-adjustment to changed conditions of modern times.

 

It is conceded that it is not in the power of a man or a body of men to make innovations in the body of Masonry.  In this age of organization in all its scope, many societies, patterned more or less after this ancient instituton have sprung up.  Many of these mixing fraternity and the business of insuring against sickness and death have led some of those, less thoughtful, upon dangerous ground.

 

Some lodges and many brethren can see no reason why Masonry should not leave its impregnable fortress of pure fraternity to enter into competition with societies which occupy a different place and are organized for distinctly different, yet useful, purposes.  Through all this Masonry has stood like the rock of Gibraltar against the beatings of the ocean of modern orders.  So thoroughly have the laws and customs evolved through the ages been adhered to that our Royal Craft stands today greater and better than in any age since its foundation.  Every Mason whether in humble or exadted station in life learns and practices lessons of equality.

 

The President of the United States sits as a loyal and faithful member of his lodge.  Presidents, judges, senators, congressmen, governors they may be when in the world, but in the lodge they are Masons and meet upon the level, act by the plumb, and part upon the square with men of all places and conditions.

 

Farmers, mechanics, teaehers, ministers, and those in professional or other vocations of life form a society of friends and brothers among whom no contention should ever exist, except that noble contention, or rather emulation of who best can work and best agree.  Standing as it does upon such foundations, the equality of merit and thorough obedience to law, it is easy to perceive how profoundly Freemasonry contributes to good government.

 

Our republic in fact is built upon precisely this basis.  All men are equal before the law of the land and must obey it.  Social distinctions may exist by reason of wealth or station.  Society may be divided into clans and classes, but by the genius of our republican institutions, all men are created equal.  Opportunity opens the doors of success to those able and worthy to enter. The ignoble and the indolent and the shiftless may rail at their want of luck, but their failure is from within not from without.  Masonry regards no man for his worldly wealth or honors.  Worth of the man is its only concern.  Being moved by these principles it cannot fail to be a powerful factor in the state. Universal peace is largely in the keeping of such agencies as our great brotherhood.  All over the world men come together as friends and brothers.  Discord is frowned upon peace is encouraged.  The vast army marching under Freemasonry's banner of "peace on earth good will toward men" must move mightily in the direction of universal amity and concord.

 

Peaceable settlement of international difficulties is rapidly coming.  The great Hague tribunal may have falled to avert the war between Russia and Japan, but its mighty voice has penetrated to the ends of the earth commanding universal peace.  Silent but potent means are gradually wearing the rocks of bloodshed and strife away.  In this great movement toward millennial peace, Masonry is a willing worker.  She says to those battling for conquest or for glory or for power:

 

If I were a voice, a convincing voice,

I'd be borne on the restless wind,

And wherever I saw warring nations torn,

I'd creep to the hearts full of spite and scorn,

With love's own chain to bind," and tell them to be free.

 

Our fraternity's mission in the state is distinctly for good citizenship and for universal peace.

 

The voice of Masonry not only appeals to the individual life in the upbuilding of character; to the man's religious thought in the broadest toleration and yet with greatest emphasis; to the state in sustaining law and order; but it recognizes as one of its special fields of missionary endeavor the relief of want and woe and suffering.  It looks upon the worthy distressed brother, his widow and orphan as its chief concern.  Our fellow man is our brother.  Though we may be of another race or creed we are yet taught that our charity is universal.

 

It may be the Jew, robbed, wounded, half dead by the Jericho roadside, yet the Samaritan, despised and shunned, stoops to bind up the wounds and ministers to the wants of his enemy in distress.  This is the spirit ot Freemasonry. With Abou Ben Adhem we teach that those who would stand highest in love to God must prove their claims by practical love to man.  In almost every Grand Jurisdiction in our great country in some practical, effective form provision is made for aged and indigent Masons, their wives, their widows, and helpless orphans.  The particular methods adopted to meet the exigencies in various states differ according as one theory or another may have gained sway.  In all cases, however, there is absolute unity in the willingness to provide for the aged brother and his dependents when the storm and stress of life have come.  In our state with its vast fraternal army crossing the 200,000 mark, Masonry is marching with no faltering step toward its highest achievement.  In the ranks there may be honest difference of opinion concerning methods, but when our commander speaks we all gladly obey. Our Grand Lodge, composed as it is, of the picked fruit of Illinois' superb manhood, is invincible and infallible.

 

The aggregate wisdom of the Craft as shown in the actions of this Grand Body can safely be depended upon to settle aright all questions arising from our great charities.  There is little more than the mere mercenary in conferring favors and privileges upon persons from whom we expect an equivalent in return.  When a man has nothing to give in exchange for the favors of his brethren it is a genuine blessing to those who are willing to make for him a home and a competency of comfort.

 

This is the philosophy of our home for the aged and indigent.

 

The recipients of the willing service of their brethren have the happy reflection of a well spent life.  Their eyes are dim, their natural strength abated and their ears dulled by age and infirmity.  They are waiting until the hour glass shows the sands of life fully run.  The silver cord may be almost loosed, the golden bowl be nearly broken, the pitcher be frail at the fountain or the wheel unsteady at the cistern, and yet they feel the gentle but mighty arms of a great fraternity upon which they can lean with absolute security.  The everlasting embrace of human brotherhood gives them solace in their helplessness.

 

There can be no more noble or unselfish service that any Mason can render than to one who can neither help himself nor make a return for what others do for him.  Equally is this true of the aggregate of our great Craft in supplying the needs and comforts of life to those who are now cared for as a special privilege.  The law of growth is in doing.  Unselfish service will increase not only the ability to serve but with this growth will come added power.  Timid hearts may have shrunk from the magnitude of the task of providing for our worthy distressed brother wherever he may be found.  But the pitiful sum from each affiliated Mason so far entirely adequate for all needs, would willingly be increased many fold if necessity demanded.

 

Afffliated bodies based upon and drawing their inspiration from Ancient Craft Masonry would esteem it an honor as well as a privilege to Participate in financing our great institutions now sheltering young and old from the storms of adversity.

 

Only the sentimental and the artistic sit to contemplate and admire the glories of the setting sun.  Every activity, every thrill of life springs toward the dawn. Man shakes off the drowsiness of a sleep of recuperation as the morning's new light calls him to the achievements of the coming day.  Every bird joins in the glad jubilee of the morning.  The world of life turns toward the rising sun for a new baptism for new duties.  So, while we may view with satisfaction the aged as they near the sundown of their existence with the solid comforts their able and willing brethren supply them, we turn with a new thrill of joy and expectation toward those who in the morning of life are looking to us for succor and assistance.

 

Among the choicest fruits gathered from our great old tree of fraternity is, therefore, the care and support of the children of youth and of three steps upon the master's carpet are the our system of fraternal charities.  In manhood with all its power and its glory we look toward toward youth and toward second childhood and greet them with open hearts and purses to fit the one to fill our places and to bring ease and comfort to those who have fought and lost the battle of life.  In the world at large egoism is well nigh universal.  In Masonry the altruistic spirit softens and beautifies the otherwise harsh and disagreeable outlines of character.  It is the Hiram Abiff which beautifies and adorns what the wisdom of a Solomon and the strength of the Tyiian have produced.  If we would make Freemasonry eternal we must make sure that we do not allow eternal conflict between the mercenary and the unselfish to result in the destruction of the noble sentiment that "the greatest of these is charity." Our ritual is a classic.  Its structure is mechanically perfect.  To master it and present it effectively is a great accomplishment.  Our growth and strength have been in proportion to its unity and beauty.  Yet a ritual without the soul of Masonry is dead.  It is a skeleton of dry bones hung together by wires as may be seen in the doctor's office or the class room of the medical college. Our care for the old and young in our homes is not our whole duty.  In every lodge in city, town, or hamlet, are abundant needs for the kindly and friendly offices of the individual Mason.  Organized charity, so-called, does not supersede the generous duty of the Craftsman. If he has really imbibed the true spirit of our wonderful brotherhood he will not allow the sun to go down without the relief of every worthy distressed brother within the length of his cable-tow.

 

Neither will the measurement be by any circumscribed standards. Wherever there is a human sigh, a pain of anguish, a sorrow-stricken heart or a fevered brow this cable tow will be found sufficient to reach it.  The mission of Masonry is to every corner of the world, in which may crouch distress or suffering or want.  It goes to uplift, to gladden, and to beautify.  To uprear noble, manly character whether in society, in religion, in the state, or in the infinite relations of individual life is Masonry's divinest mission.

----o----

 

"The world wants men, large hearted, manly men.

Men who will join its chorus and prolong

Its psalm of labor and its song of love.

The age wants heroes: Heroes who shall dare

To struggle in the serried ranks of truth,

To clutch the monster Error by the throat,

To bear opinion to a loftier scat,

To blot the era of oppression out

And lead a universal freedom in."

 

----o----

 

No man is without some quality, by the due application of which he might deserve well of the world; and whoever he be that has but little in his power should be in haste to do that little, lest he be confounded with him that can do nothing. - Dr. Johnson

 

----o---

 

Morals are more needed than mathematics; right living will do more for us than right spelling; graciousness is more esential than grammer; equity is a nobler tribute than eloquence.

 

----o----

 

MEMORIALS TO GREAT MEN WHO WERE MASONS - MAJOR GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR

 

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

 

GENERAL ST. CLAIR was born in Scotland, in 1734, of noble family. After graduating at the University of Edinburgh he served an apprenticeship with Dr. William Hunter of London. His father had died when he was as yet a boy: after the loss of his mother in 1757 he purchased the remaining time of his indentures and bought a commission in the Royal American regiment of foot. He was in the fight at Louisburg, N.S., under Generals Amherst, Wolf, and other English general officers. He participated in the capture of Quebec in 1759, and it was he who seized the colors which had fallen from the hands of a dying soldier on the Plains of Abraham and bore them to victory.

 

The writer has always believed that the defeat of the French at that time had more to do with the establishing of freedom, the inherent rights of man, and equality on this continent than our own Revolution!

 

St. Clair married Miss Bayard, a French Huguenot of Boston, whose fortune, added to his own, made him quite independent. He resigned from the British Army in 1762 to reside in Boston. Two years later he moved to Bedford, Pennsylvania, where partly by purchase and partly by grant, he had secured a tract of land. Here he established his residence and erected a grist mill. He was elected surveyor of the Cumberland District and justice of a court, recorder of deeds, and clerk of the Orphans Court.

 

All this he abandoned at the approach of the Revolutionary War. In 1775 he was commissoned a Colonel by Hancock, president of the Congress at that time. In a letter to Witherspoon, St. Clair said, "I hold that no man has a right to withhold his services when his country needs them. Be the sacrifices ever so great, it must be yielded upon the altar of patriotism."

 

He raised the famous Second Pennsylvania regiment, filling his ten companies in a few weeks. His first service was at Quebec, where he arrived in time to cover the retreating American armies. He commanded at the disastrous fight of Three Rivers, after the death of General Thompson. He was in the fight of Ticonderoga, and was promoted to the rank of Brigadier. After being with Washington in New Jersey at the battles of Trenton and Princeton, he was made Major General. It was at this time that he became so endeared to Washington. He met some reverses later which, in appearance, might have caused us to reflect on his character as a military leader: but fortunately Jared Sparks has preserved for us the real facts and thus saved his admirable record. Spark says of him, "Time proved that he had acted the part of the skilful and judicious officer."

 

His subsequent career was all brilliant. He was appointed to the command of West Point when General Arnold had flunked; and he was a member of the court that convicted Major Andre. His last battle was at Yorktown. After the war he was elected to Congress, of which he served as president. Later, he was made governor of the Northwest Territory.

 

Notwithstanding his brilliant and honorable career he died poor. In the eighty-fourth year of his life he undertook a journey to Youngstown, and was found dead on the road the next morning. Whether he was buried by charity or not his biographers do not say, but they do say this, which will be of keen interest to my reader:

 

"In the cemetery at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, there is a neat little sandstone monument erected by a Masonic lodge with this inscription:

 

"The earthly remains of Major General Arthur St. Clair are deposited beneath this humble monument, which is erected to supply the place of a nobler one, due from his country."

 

That a nobler monument was due there is no question, but the lodge that erected the sandstone memorial probably had in mind the kind of countrymen who then lived. But times have changed. When the writer first heard of that memorial he took steps to induce the Sons of the American Revolution to consider the erection of that "nobler one due from his country," but while making the effort found that Brother John S. Sell, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania had, on the 15th day of August 1913, unveiled a "nobler monument" in granite, an exact duplicate of the old sandstone memorial, except for the explanatory inscription on the east panel: even the quaint style of lettering is closely imitated. On the east Danel this is added:

 

"Beneath this monument also lies Phoebe Bayard, wife of General St. Clair. She died September 18th, 1818."

 

A new and deeper foundation was placed under this granite monument than had existed under the old.

 

General St. Clair was a member of N. C. Harmony Lodge. No. 2. in Ohio.

 

----o----

 

THE HOLY SAINTS JOHN

 

BY BRO. BENJAMIN WELLINGTON BRYANT, CALIFORNIA

 

CONCLUSION

 

WE NOW COME to the era of Grand Lodges, and the resultant crystallization of ritual.  Here it will be interesting to follow the growth of the Johannine idea through the various rituals and ritualistic revisions of the eighteenth century.  The collection of ritualistic and Monitorial allusions which I have been able to gather is probably far from complete, but I, believe that they are fairly representative and hence sufficient for the purpose of the present paper. Possibly some brother having access to other Johannine formulae may be able to add further items of interest.  From a bare reference in the earliest catechisms, we find it developing into the historical extravagances of the tradition in its full flower.  Thence, with the broadening of Masonic thought bringing better understanding of the true import of the Regulation of 1723, we see it finally declining to the less pretentious form in use at the present time. Here we have an excellent opportunity to follow the sectarian tendency which held the Fraternity in so firm a grasp during the eighteenth, and well into the nineteenth century.  This tendency, it appears, was at last checked largely through the labours of Bro. Pike and Bro. Mackey, the latter drawing much of his inspiration from the former. (We are prone to think of Albert Pike as distinctively the exponent of the high degrees, but we should not forget the debt of gratitude we owe to him and to those brethren whom he gathered about him for their influence in extending the horizon of thought in Blue Lodge Masonry, for what Bro. Roscoe Pound denominates "Masonic Protestantism." (33))

 

In the earliest lectures in use under the "revived" Grand Lodge after 1717 we find the formula: "From whence came you? A. From the holy Lodge of St. John. Q. What recommendation do you bring from thence? A. A recommendation from the brothers and fellows of that right worshipful and holy lodge of St. John from whence I came, who greet you thrice heartily." (34) In 1721 we find a hint of the developing sectarian tendency in the lecture, which nevertheless still retains the pleasant ring of goodfellowship expressed in the earlier form: "God's good greeting be to this happy meeting.  And all right worshipful brothers and fellows of the right worshipful and holy Lodge of St. John. Q. Why do you denominate it the holy Lodge of St. John? A. Because he was the forerunner of our Saviour, and laid the first parallel line to the Gospel." (35) The Chetwoode Crowley Ms. quotes allusion from the Catechism of 1723: "Here am I, the youngest and last entered apprentice, as I am sworn by God and St. John, by the Square and Compass and common judge." (36) (Possibly "common judge" is a corruption of "common guage"). "The Grand Mystery" published in 1725 gives the following in the Catechism: "Q. What Lodge are you of? A. The Lodge of St. John," and later in the same: "How many angles in St. John's Lodge? A. Four, bordering on Squares." (37) In the ritual as improved by Desaguliers and Anderson, both of whom were clergymen, we find a further sectarian development of the reference, for it is explained that the lodges were called St. John's Lodges because: "he was the baptizer and forerunner of our Saviour; and announced him as the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world." This corresponds with the French ritual of 1730: "D. Comments appele cette Loge? R. La Loge de S. Jean," and the passage was thus explained: "Il fait toujours repondre ainsi que c'est le nom de toutes les Loges." (38) Dr. Oliver also quotes from the second edition of Anderson's Constitutions of 1738 as follows: "In France these festivals are celebrated on the same days but they are call 'Fetes Solstitiales; hommage au G. A. D. l'U." (39), which would seem to indicate that the French brethren still retained a solstitial form of the tradition at a time when the Craft in Britain were abandoning it in favour of a more theological version.  In the year 1732 Martin Clare prepared a revision of the ritual, but I have not been able to find any quotations from it.  Oliver credits him with a continuance of the Johannine tradition, but Dr. Mackey sees in this revision the beginnings of an attempt to counteract the sectarianizing or Christianizing tendency which had hitherto been on the ascendant. (40) Evidently some of the brethren were beginning to awaken to the real spirit of the Regulation of 1723, but there was yet a long road ahead, as we shall see.

 

The Clare lectures appear to have prevailed with some revision until the adoption of those of Dunckerley in 1770.  Dunckerley's lectures give the earliest example where an allusion is incorporated in the O.B. which I have been able to locate. It is as follow s: "In the presence of God and this right worshipful and holy lodge dedicated to God and Holy St. John," and the asseveration corresponded to it, "so help me God and Holy St. John." (41) To Dunckerley is also ascribed the first introduction of the "lines parallel." (42) His formula runs thus: "This code is embordered by two perpendicular parallel lines, representing St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist who were perfect parallels in Christianity as well as in Masonry." (43)

 

In what is known as the "Old York Lecture," used about the same time, we find a most elaborate catechism of a type which must have delighted the heart of Dr. Oliver:

 

"Q. Our Lodges bong finished, furnished and decorated with ornaments, furniture and jewels, to whom they were consecrated?"

"A. To God."

"Q. Thank you, brother, and can you tell me to whom they were first dedicated?"

"A. To Noah, who was saved in the Ark."

"Q. And by what name were the Masons then known?"

"A. They were called Noachidee, Sages, or Wise Men."

"Q. To whom were the lodges dedicated during the Mosaic dispensation?"

"A. To Moses, the chosen of God, and Solomon, the son of David."

"Q. And under what name were the Masons known during that period?"

"A. Under the name of Dionysiacs, Geometricians, or Masters in Israel."

"Q. But as Solomon was a Jew, and died long before the promulgation of Christianity, to whom were they dedicated under the Christian dispensation?"

"A. From Solomon the patronage of Masonry passed to St. John the Baptist."

"Q. And under what name were they known after the promulgation of Christianity?"

"A. Under the name of Essenes, Architects, or Freemasons."

"Q. Why were the lodges dedicated to St. John the Baptist?"

"A. Because he was the forerunner of our Saviour, and by preaching repentance and humiliation, drew the first parallel of the Gospel."

"Q. Had St. John the Baptist any equal?"

"A. He had; St. John the Evangelist."

"Q. Why was he said to be the equal of the Baptist?"

"A. Because he finished by his learning what the other began by his zeal, and thus drew a second line parallel to the former; ever since which time Freemason's lodges in all Christian countries, have been dedicated to the one, or the other, or both of these worthy and worshipful men." (44)

 

To understand the next version of the tradition we must return to the year 1740, when Chevalier Ramsey, as Orator of the Grand Lodge of France, promulgated the Templar theory in an oration delivered before that body. Mackay and Gould both quote from that oration, the part referring to the subject under consideration being as follows: "During the time of the holy wars in Palestine, several principal lords and citizens associated themselves together, and entered into a vow to re-establish the temples of the Christians in the Holy Land; and engaged themselves by an oath to employ their talents and their fortune in restoring architecture to its primitive institution.(?) They adopted several ancient signs and symbolic words drawn from religion by which they might distinguish themselves from the infidels and recognize each other in the midst of the Saracens.  They communicated these signs and words only to those who had solemnly sworn, often at the foot of the altar, never to reveal them.  This was not an oath of execration but a bond uniting men of all nations into the same confraternity. Some time after our order was united with the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.  Hence our lodges are, in all Christian countries, called Lodges of St. John." (45)

 

That oration must have created a profound sensation among the Craft in England as well as in France, and we find in this extract from a lecture in use in the north of England late in the century, a reply to it: "Our lodges are untruly said to be dedicated to St. John because the Masons who engaged to conquer the Holy Land chose that saint for their patron.  We should be sorry to appropriate the Balsarian sect of Christians to St. John as an explanation of this principle.  St. John obtains our dedication as being the proclaimer of that salvation which was at hand by the coming of Christ; and we as a set of religious men, assembling in the true faith, commemorate the proclamations of the Baptist.  In the name of St. John the Evangelist, we acknowledge the testimonies which he gives, and the divine Logos which he makes manifest." And again in the same lecture: "Our beauty is such as adorns all our actions; is hewn out of the rock, which is Christ; raised upright by the plumb-line of the Gospel; and squared and levelled by the horizontal of God's will in the holy Lodge of St. John; and as such becomes the temple whose maker and builder is God." (46)

 

Dr. Oliver also cites another version of similar import which he ascribes, rather indefinitely, "to our transatlantic brethren," and which is certainly an ingenious attempt to propitiate all parties and sects:

 

"The dedications are made to these Saints, not as Christians, but as eminent Masons; and if we are gratuitous in bestowing such a character upon them, this does not affect the merit of the argument, because the dedication is made under the supposition that such was their character.  They are honoured by us, not as Saints, but as good and pious men - not as teachers of religion, but as bright examples of all those virtues which Masons are taught to reverence and practice.  And if it incidentally happens that they were also Christians, such a circumstance should, with a tolerant Jew, be objection to the honours paid to them; but with th sincere Christian a better reason." (47)

 

The Ramsey idea was adopted by the notorious imposter Finch, who incorporated a passage upon the oration of 1740 into one of his rituals: "What is the chief reason why our lodges are dedicated to St. John? A. Because in the time of the Crusades, the Masons having united themselves with the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem to fight against the infidels, they adopted that Saint as their tutelary protector and being victorious in their conflicts with the Saracens, they unanimously agreed that all Masonic lodges should in future be dedicated to him." (48)

 

There is another version which Mackey quotes from an old lecture adopted into the Prestonian system, which, while it bears some resemblance to the old York lecture, is less ambitious in its historical claims.  It is said that a group of early Christians did actually send a deputation to the Evangelist, who was then at Ephesus, requesting him to give them a code of rules for their observance, "that the identity of their faith might be preserved as an exclusive society" (49) and the story of that event may have inspired some eighteenth century ritualist to compose this beautiful bit of Masonic fiction:

 

"From the building of the first temple at Jerusalem to the Babylonish captivity, Freemason's lodges were dedicated to King Solomon; from thence to the coming of the Messiah they were dedicated to Zerubbabel the builder of the second temple; and from that time to the final destruction of the Temple by Titus, in the reign of Vespasian, they were dedicated to St. John the Baptist; but owing to the many massacres and disorders which attended that memorable event Freemasonry sunk very much into decay; many lodges were entirely broken up, and but few could meet in sufficient numbers to constitute their legality; and at a general meeting of the Craft, held in the city of Benjamin, it was observed that the principal reason for the decline of Masonry was the want of a Grand Master to patronize it.  They therefore deputed seven of their most eminent members to wait upon St. John the Evangelist, who was at that time Bishop of Ephesus, requesting him to take the office of Grand Master.  He returned for answer, that though well stricken in years (being upwards of ninety), yet having been initiated into Masonry in the early part of his life, he would take upon himself that office.  He therefore completed by his learning what the other St. John effected by his zeal, and thus drew what Freemasons term a 'line parallel'; ever since which time, Freemasons lodges in all Christian countries have been dedicated both to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist." (50)

 

The Preston lectures were the standard in England until the reconciliation between the "Ancient" and "Modern" factions in 1813, when the Hemming lectures were adopted as a compromise ritual.  In the Hemming system the Johannine dedication was eliminated, the parallel lines were said to represent Moses and Solomon, and the lodges dedicated "to God and his service." (51) Thus our English brethren silenced, so far as these two Saints were concerned, all possibility of a charge of sectarianism.  The change was not made without protest however; many brethren withdrew from the Fraternity rather than accept the new lectures, and as previously noted, even as late as 1848, Dr. Oliver was inspired to write and publish his "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," which would indicate that the change was still rankling in the hearts of numbers of the English brethren.

 

This concludes our review so far as European Masonry is concerned. In this country Thomas Smith Webb had already published his Monitor, which was based on the Prestonian system, prior to the Reconciliation, and by the time that event took place his system had evidently gained sufficient foothold largely to counteract whatever influence the Hemming system might otherwise have exerted, and, supported by the, anti-British feeling engendered by the then recent Revolution and by the troubles which the young Republic was still having with the motifer country, was sufficiently strong to prevent the young American Grand Lodges from abandoning the Johannine in favour of the Solomonic formula.  The first edition of Webb's Monitor appeared in 1797, coincident with the movement to sever the Royal Arch from the Blue Lodge system, in which he was a leading spirit.  In 1813, while the Reconciliation was being consummated in England, he was serving as Grand Master of Rhode Island, thus, perhaps unwittingly, adding the weight of that dignity to the side of the balance against any change that might have taken place.

 

The edition of the Webb Monitor to which I have access is the fifth, published in 1866, but does not appear to have been revised to any extent.  In it the formula is as follows:

 

 

"By a recurrence to the chapter upon the dedication of lodges it will be perceived, that although our ancient brethren dedicated their lodges to King Solomon, yet Masons professing Christianity dedicate theirs to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, who were eminent patrons of Masonry." (52)

 

Webb also uses the phrase: "who were perfect parallels in Christianity as well as in Masonry."

 

I have also a copy of the Macoy Monitor of the middle nineteenth century which gives a version apparently based upon the Ramsey theory as enunciated by Finch:

 

"Lodges in ancient times were dedicated to King Solomon ... and continued to be so dedicated until after the Crusades.  Among the various orders of knights engaged in those chivalric wars, none were more conspicuous than the magnanimous order of the Knights of St. John.  Many brethren of our ancient Craft also went forth to aid in redeeming the sepulchre of the Saviour from the hands of the infidel; between these and the Knights of St. John there existed a reciprocal feeling of brotherly love.  On the plains of Jerusalem they entered into a solemn compact of friendship, and it was mutually agreed between them that henceforth all lodges whose members acknowledge the divinity of Christ, should be dedicated to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, who were two eminent patrons of Freemasonry." (53)

 

Finally, and to us most interesting of all, is the "Manual of the Lodge," by Dr. Mackey, published in 1862, wherein we find the earliest publication of the version which seems to be most generally in use among American Grand Lodges at the present time:

 

"Our ancient brethren dedicated their lodges to King Solomon because he was our first Most Excellent Grand Master; but modern Masons dedicate theirs to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist who were two eminent patrons of Masonry." (54)

 

To this Bro. Mackey adds a note in which, as in his Encyclopedia, he lays particular stress upon the solstitial character of the Johannine festivals and dedication. It was as follows:

 

"The two parallel lines, which in the modern lectures represent St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, really allude to particular periods in the sun's annual course.  At two particular points in this course, the sun is found on the zodiacal signs, Cancer and Capricorn, which are distinguished as the summer and winter solstices.  When the sun is at these points he has reached his greatest northern and southern limit.  These points, if we suppose the circle to represent the sun's annual course, will be indicated by the points where the parallel lines touch the circle.  But the days when the sun reaches these points are the 21st of June and the 22nd of December, and this will account for their subsequent application to the two Sts. John, whose anniversaries the Church has placed near these days." (55)

 

Thus we find that, while the Johannine tradition cannot be accepted as based on veritable historical fact in the sense of regarding the Baptist and the Evangelist as having been personally connected with the Fraternity, yet its recognition by the Craft, in one or another of its varied forms, dates from most remote antiquity.  In modern speculative Masonry there are no missing portions in the line of descent from the "revival" of 1717 until the present time. In the words of Dr. Oliver:

 

"In the original lectures compiled by Sayer, Payne, and Desaguliers, and as improved by Anderson, Desaguliers and Cowper; in the revisions of Dunckerley and Martin Clare, twice repeated, and in the extended rituals of Hutchinson, Preston and others, the St. Johns occupy their place as patrons of Masonry. In no one ritual, whether ancient or modern, in use during the 18th century, have they been omitted." (56)

 

We must remember that the centuries prior to the birth of speculative Masonry knew little or nothing of the almanac and the calendar as popular conveniences, and hence the annual festivals of pagan times and the Saint's days which took their places under Christian influence were indispensable aids in marking the years and the seasons.  In Britain, even long after 1534 when the yoke of the Vatican was thrown off, the religious thought remained strongly under its influence and there was little change from the church customs of the earlier allegiance.  What more natural then, than that our brethren of that period should preserve the midyear and midsummer festival of the Baptist as the date for their annual assemblies.  Later when the need for more frequent fraternal communication became manifest, the Evangelist's day in midwinter was the most logical companion date.

 

But in spite of the narrow and almost iron-clad theology of the time, the close of the sixteenth century, as Bro. Waite notes in his "Real History of the Rosicrucians," beheld a great wave of mysticism spreading over central Europe, and thence into England, France, Italy, and Denmark. (57) In England this movement found its chief expression through the Rosicrucian school of thought and we find that the influx of speculatives during the seventeenth century brought in the Fraternity such men as Ashmole, Vaughn, Sir Robert Moray (or Murray), Wren, Locke, Boyle, and others of strong Rosicrucian tendencies, and of sufficient learning and prominence to be Fellows of the Royal Society.  The Rosicrucian philosophy embodied much of that universal religion which is the basis of Freemasonry, but its adherents found it wise to conceal its broad principles under a veil of Christian mysticism in that age when any open and free statement of such doctrine would have subjected them to persecution or ostracism.  These men must have understood, as possibly the operatives of their day did not, the astronomical origin of the Johannine festivals, and from the standpoint of that knowledge, might very possibly have lent their influence to the more regular observance of those dates.  Coming upon the scene during the period when the stage was unwittingly being set for the "revival" or "revolution of 1717," they must have lent a very considerable influence to the shaping of the circumstances which led up to that event. Viewing the Johannine dedication and festivals in the light of solstitial observance which had been celebrated from most remote antiquity, and thus truly in harmony with the liberal spirit, not only of Rosicrucian, but also of Masonic faith, it seems even more probable that we are indebted in considerable measure to those early mystics for the perpetuation of this custom of the Craft.

 

With the revival in 1717 the ritual fell into the hands of such orthodox ministers of the Gospel as Dr. Anderson and Dr. Desaguliers, who would, of course, see the observances in their Christian, rather than in their solstitial and mystical aspect.  Under their hands it was shaped into a Christian tradition, and the ritualists who followed them apparently adopted their lead and further developed it as we have seen.  It is most fascinating to trace, through the early meager references and the later wild fabrications of tradition, the development from the early dedication and festival observance, through the full bloom of a sectarian legend down to our modern unassuming and inoffensive version. It is not surprising, when this one item could develop into such full flower that many other fabulous statements could gain circulation and credence among the brethren.  Bro. Gould quotes and condemns a number of these.  According to one, "27,000 Masons accompanied the Christian princes in the Crusades." Another was the statement that Martin Luther was received into the Society on Christmas night, 1520, just fifteen days after he had burned the Pope's Bull; and still other, and even more absurd were that the Craft was introduced into Britain, A. M. 2974, by "E-Brank, King of the Trojan race, and into Ireland by the prophet Jeremiah." (58)

 

According to Bro. Mackey, a reaction from the sectarian influence and the flights of imagination of the earlier ritualists began to become manifest in the Clare revision, (59) though I have found no quotations from it bearing upon the subject of the present paper.  Neither have I found any from the ritual used by the Dermott or "Ancient" faction unless the "old York lecture" above quoted belonged to them.  However, the opponents of the Christianizing tendency apparently finally made their voices heard and gained a signal victory in the adoption of the Hemming lectures.  I am not prepared to discuss the wisdom of that change other than to remark that one argument in its favour is that it removed one point of temptation beyond the reach of those susceptible to its influence.  Here in America we seem to have gradually receded from the more sectarian versions to the unassuming one in general use at present which apparently gives no offence to our brethren of the Jewish faith.

 

We have long since abandoned the belief that the two Johns in person were patrons of the Fraternity.  Both Gould and Mackey recognize their symbolical character. (60) Dr. Mackey thus defines a symbol in the Masonic acceptance of the word: "A symbol is defined to be a visible sign with which a spiritual feeling, emotion or idea is connected." (61) This thought should be ever borne in mind in the study of Masonic ritual and symbolism, for in no other way can much of our system of speculative Masonry be interpreted.  As the operative art of our ancient brethren was deemed a high and noble science, so their organization, well worthy of so noble a fate, has been bequeathed to us as a Speculative Fraternity, and has become, by some yet unexplained method, the repository of a wonderful science of symbols based partly upon the builder's art and partly upon ancient mystical religion and philosophy.

 

It is well to remember that the whole purpose of symbolism, in the sense used by Bro. Mackey, in the ages which saw its origin as a development of the earlier picture writing, was to convey or reveal truth only to such as were duly and truly prepared, worthy and well qualified; and that its early authors were remarkable adepts in the art of so concealing those truths which they held to be too sacred for the unworthy profane.  It is well to remember these facts in approaching the study of Masonry, for we may thus, if we in our turn "are duly and truly prepared," open the way to clues which will lead to the discovery of some of those vast treasures of hidden truth which modern Freemasonry has inherited from those schools of the secret wisdom of antiquity, - the Ancient Mysteries, and from some of their later successors.

 

Nowhere in the ritual or monitors of the Craft is there a more perfect example of this, nor one more easily demonstrated when we find its key, than in the great natural truths so carefully hidden behind the meager references remaining in our work to the two characters which are the subjects of the present paper.  I would not minimize the importance of the moral which the monitor attaches to them, but would emphasize my belief that this represents only a fraction of the real lesson.  Their festivals, engrafted as we have seen, upon the old solstitial festivals which were so prominent in the Light-religions of antiquity, give us a miniature statement of the whole philosophy of Masonry, which is a mystery-drama of human life.  Falling upon June 24th and December 27th, dates so close to the summer and winter solstices as to leave no doubt as to their origin, they give us more than a hint of the close relation of man with the phenomena of the visible universe, - "the microcosm in the macrocosm. For our Masonic purposes, it matters little what particular story we ascribe to these dates; the fact of our observance of them as ancient festivals of the Fraternity preserves the spirit of the symbolism; and whether we observe them as the midsummer and midwinter solstices under the beautifully poetical phraseology of the Osiric, Eleusinian or Druidic Mysteries, or as the feast days of Christian saints traditionally alleged to have lent their patronage to our Fraternity, the fundamental lesson is the same.

 

The reputed character of the Baptist and of the Evangelist adapts their festivals very readily to the symbolism.  The feast of the Baptist recalls to our memory his inflexible fidelity and martyrdom for his faith, and thus, while reminding us of another martyrdom for similar high principles which is familiar to all Masons, furnishes a worthy ideal for Masonic consideration.  In the rite of baptism from which his distinctive title is derived is symbolized the cleansing of the heart from the dross of selfishness and vice, and the spiritual initiation of the soul into the knowledge of the mysteries of eternal life.  Thus the festival of his birth very appropriately coincides with the summer solstice, when all visible nature is at the zenith of life, light, and joy.  On the other hand, the festival of the Evangelist who is so fortunately represented as a man in the winter and wisdom of life; who so insistently proclaimed the gospel of brotherly love; and whose writings teem with allegories of the mystical initiation into the secrets that lie beyond the veil of material vision, is very properly assigned to that period of the year when life has reached its full maturity and seems about to depart from the earth.  Considering all this he too becomes a worthy and appropriate figure for Masonic recognition.

 

We therefore find in these two figures, so peculiarly and even mysteriously connected with Masonry, that broad symbolism which admits of universal interpretation and appreciation.  It is truly in harmony with the spirit of "that religion in which all men agree" and is therefore really Masonic. Their festivals falling upon the two extremes of the year well represent the cycle of nature and of human life, and thereby give us a key to the whole philosophy of Masonry.  Though of Christian derivation, their Masonic interpretation carries the same lesson for the Jew and the Theist as for the Christian brother. They tell of the eternal cycle of existence, of manifestation and disappearance, of activity and repose, which is the eternal and immutable law of God, and which is so fittingly expressed in our familiar phrase: "From labour to refreshment and from refreshment to labour again."

 

33. "Philosophy of Freemasonry," Pound, p. 66.

34. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 26.

35. Ibid, p. 34.

36. "Essays," Gould, p. xix

37. "History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. 4, pp. 281-2.

38. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 27.

39. Ibid, p. 67.

40. "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Martin Clare."

41. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver; p. 27.

42.  "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Dunckerley."

43. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 35.

44. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 27; also "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Dedications."

45. "History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. 3, p. 341; also "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Ramsey."

46. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 29.

47. Ibid.

48. Ibid, p. 20.

49. "Annot. on John," Kitto.

50. "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Dedication."

51. Ibid, article on "Parallel Lines."

52. "Freemason's Monitor," Webb, P. 31, 5th Edition, republished, Cincinnati 1866.

53. "Masonic Manual," Robert Macoy, 15th Edition, New York 1858.

54. "Manual of the Lodge," Mackey, New York, 1862.

55. Ibid, p. 57.

56. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 32.

57. "Real History of the Rosicrucians,"  Waite, p. 39, New York 1888.

58. "History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. P. 127.

59. "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Lectures."

60. "History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. 3, p. 79; also "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," article on "Dedication."

61. "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Symbols."

 

----o----

 

CROSS AND FLAG

BY FREDERICK L. HOSMER

 

From "Flag Day," edited by B.H. Schauffler, and published by Moffat, Yard & Company

 

From age to age they gather, ail the brave of heart and strong,

In the strife of truth with error, of the right against the wrong;

I can see their gleaming banner, I can hear their triumph song;

The Truth is marching on!

"In this sign we conquer"; 'tis the symbol of our faith,

Made holy by the might of love, triumphant over death;

He finds his life who loseth it, forever more it saith:

The Right is marching on!

 

The earth is circling onward, out of shadow into light;

The stars keep watch above our way, however dark the night;

For every martyr's stripe there glows a bar of morning light;

For Love is marching on!

 

Lead on, O cross of martyr faith, with thee is victory!

Shine forth, O stars and reddening dawn, the full day yet shall be!

On earth his kingdom cometh, and with joy our eyes shall see:

Our God is marching on!

 

----o----

 

A LONG MARCH THROUGH THE NIGHT

 

United by his fellow men by the strongest of all ties, the tie of a common doom, the free man finds that a new vision is with him always, shedding over every daily task the light of love. The life of Man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach, and where none may tarry long. One by one, as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent death. Very brief is the time in which we can help them, in which their happiness or misery is decided. Be it ours to shed sunshine on their path, to lighten their sorrows by the balm of sympathy, to give them the pure joy of a never tiring affection, to strengthen failing courage, to instil faith in hours of despair. Let us not weigh in grudging scales their merits or demerits, but let us think only of their need,of the sorrows, of the difficulties, perhaps the blindnesses, that make the misery of their lives; let us remember that they are fellow-sufferers in the same darkness, actors in the same tragedy with ourselves. And so, when their day is over, when their good and their evil have become eternal by the immortality of the past, be it ours to feel that, where they suffered, where they failed no deed of ours was the cause; but wherever a spark of the divine fire kindled in their hearts, we were ready with encouragement, with sympathy, with brave words in which high courage glowed.

 

- Bertrand Russell.

 

----o----

 

A MASONIC BANK

 

Our Porto Rico brethren have conceived the novel idea of establishing a "Masonic Bank," which has become one of the "great banking institutions of San Juan," to use the words of Grand Secretary J. G. Torres. In a little more than a year its original capital has been multiplied nine times over, its deposits exceed $150,000, and its loans also exceed this sum. It has branches in Sabana Grande and Lares and agencies at three other points. The stock is quoted at a premium of 7 1/2% and is expected to go higher. It pays interests on open deposits which permanently exceed $500.00; it has enabled the brethren as well as profanes to hold their fruits instead of having to sell them at low prices; it has freed the poor from the grip of the usurers by making loans as small as $25.00 at the legal rate of interest; it has encouraged thrift and saving; it has aided Grand Lodge with necessary advances; and has assisted the lodges in building, buying and enlarging their temples. It is declared to have increased greatly the prestige of our institution. The bank, though owned and operated by Masons, is not controlled by Grand Lodge. - Proc., Grand Lodge of Alabama.

 

----o----

 

A PARSEE HYMN

 

BY BRO. GERALD NANCARROW, INDIANA

 

Thou God of Earth, and Air, and Sea;

Thou never dying Fire,

To Thee within and round about

We, part of Thee, aspire.

 

Thou art the flame within our hearts,

Thou countless Gods in One;

Thou are the light above the hills,

The Moon, the Stars, the Sun.

 

Before the worlds rose in the vast

There shone Thy Deathless Ray;

From dust to Suns, from Suns to dust

All is Thy endless day.

 

And ever through our darkness, yea,

Until no more is night,

Before us shining on our path

Art Thou, Unwaning Light.

 

----o----

 

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE EARLY DAYS OF TEMPLARISM

 

BY BRO. STANLEY C. WARNER, PAST GRAND COMMANDER, COLORADO

 

Brother Stanley Clark Warner was born at Wilton, in Lenox County, Ontario, Canada, June 25, 1863.  He attended Victoria University at Coburg, Ontario, and graduated from that institution in May, 1884, with the degree of B.A.; studied law and was admitted to the bar in the Province of Ontario in May, 1887, entering into the practice of his profession at Napance, Ontario. He is now engaged in a steadily increasing legal practice in Denver, Colorado.

 

Brother Warner was raised in Doric Lodge No. 316, A.F. & A.M., Toronto, Canada, on May 19, 1887, later affiliating with Union Lodge No. 7 at Napanee, serving that lodge as Secretary and Senior Warden and chosen as Worshipful Master in December, 1889.  He was a District Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Canada in 1891-92, and served one year on the Board of General Purposes of that Grand Lodge.  In January, 1906, he affiliated with Albert Pike Lodge No. 117, at Denver, Colorado.  He has served the Grand Lodge of Colorado on various committees, being Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence since 1917.  He has been an indefatigable worker in all Masonic Bodies in Denver.  In the Grand Commandery of Colorado he was elected Grand Commander on October 24, 1920.

 

LARGE numbers of our members and, in fact, many of our Templar speakers, are still imbued with the fiction that modern Masonic Templarism has a direct connection with and is the lineal descendant of the Knights Templar Order, instituted in 1113 by Hugh DePayne to protect pilgrims on their journey to the Holy Land, and one often hears both publicly expressed and inferentially suggested that our present Grand Master holds his office in direct accession to the martyred Jacques De Molai, whom an avaricious king of France, with the concurrence of an infamous Pope of Rome, burned at the stake in Paris, March 18, 1313: this despite the fact that this pleasing fiction has been discarded by numbers of our prominent Masonic writers and historians during the last quarter of a century, Sir Knight Colman in his Centennial address to the Grand Encampment in 1916 upon the subject of the early history of that body, said:

 

 "There is no probability, hardly even any possibility, that our modern Order of Christian Masonic Knighthood is directly connected with the ancient Order of Christian Knights whose name and date we proudly bear and whose valiant character and Christian virtues we emulate."

 

Dr. Rugg, Past Grand Master of the Grand Encampment, in his Centennial address to the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, said:

 

"Tradition and common belief have their value, but they must not be allowed to offset historic evidence.  It is the part of unwisdom to cling to a theory that has been generally discarded by those who have made the most extensive and careful examination of the grounds on which it rests.  In this case the most reliable authorities concur in judgment that Masonic Templary, as recognized in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, is not historically connected with or lineally descended from the chivalric orders of the Crusades."

 

Sir Hopkins, Past Grand Master of the Grand Encampment, at the Conclave held in Louisville in 1901, said:

 

I readily admit that we can not show an indisputable title to this inheritance, but the claim is precious although the title may not be secure.  I would fain believe that the founders of the Order did not leave the organization which they founded and cemented with their blood to become the plaything of chance or to rest upon the uncertain tenure of the will or whim of a rapacious king and a weak pope.  I am disposed to admit that it is only a sentiment, but it is one to which some of us cling tenaciously and which we only surrender when we recognize that tradition must yield to history."

 

Sir Knight Parvin, Past Grand Recorder of Iowa and for many years closely connected with the Grand Encampment, has said:  "The popular theory under which so many writers view the origin and history of Templar Masonry would trace it back by some mysterious line of connection to the Order of Malta which was dissolved in 1798, or back to the Order of the Temple, which ceased to exist in 1313, and the latter theory, even at this day, has many advocates. A better and truer theory, is to credit the whole system of Masonic Templarly to the inventive genius of the ritual makers of the eighteenth century."

 

Lieut. Col. W.J.B. MacLeod Moore, Supreme Grand Master, ad vitam, of the Sovereign Great Priory of Canada, frequently declared in his annual allocutions that Freemasonry was not the successor of the military Templars.

 

The published addresses of the distinguished Templars to which references have been made are not of easy access to the membership of our Order, and in presenting a short account of our early history at this time, we have in mind that the information will be thereby more generally available to such Templars as are interested therein.  We make no claim of any personal research, but simply present to you the facts as collected from the works of Eminent Sir Knights who have made a life study thereof.

 

Four long centuries elapsed after the death of Jacques De Molai and the destruction of the ancient Order before history or even Masonic tradition suggests the existence of Masonic Templarism.  During these four centuries civil history is silent as to the Templars, and little is known or related of the Masonic Order.  Masons met without charter or other authority, initiated candidates, often without even an organized lodge or without record of the same, this by a claim of inherent right, and with no intent or desire to make their proceedings public.  It was only in 1717 that the Masonic Fraternity assumed an organized existence, and it was shortly after this date that we find the first suggestion of the Modern Templar Degree.  The long cherished alleged connection of the two orders through Scottish sources rests largely upon the fact that among the adherents of the Stuart Pretender who fled to France after his defeat in the early part of the eighteenth century, was one Chevalier Ramsay, a Mason, a gentleman of much culture, and a tutor of the Second Pretender, Charles Edward.  This distinguished exile, while in France, is said to have developed a Masonic system with a sixth degree, designated the Knight of the Temple, and during one of his visits to Scotland, to have created Knights Templar there.  With the Pretender's approval he attempted to use his Masonic connection to aid the exiled Stuarts, and in grafting upon Masonry a Military Order, he may have had in mind the assistance which it might be to his benefactor.  Masonic authorities differ as to the truth of these statements, but in any event the Templar Degree was occasionally conferred in Great Britain during the middle of the eighteenth century, and encampments of the Order were during that period formed at London, York, Bristol, and Salisbury, more or less intimately connected with Craft Masonry.

 

Moore says that "Templarism was first introduced into the British Empire in the Masonic lodges known as the Ancients under the Duke of Athol, who was also Grand Master of Scotland, in the eighteenth century," and that about 1780 the Templar Degree was merged into the Masonic system, following the Royal Arch in the sequence of additional degrees.

 

W. Redfern Kelly, G.C.T., in a series of articles in the Toronto Freemason, published since this speech was first written, says that the records of the York Grand Lodges, designated also the Grand Lodge of all England, of date June, 1780, announced that lodge as asserting authority over five degrees or orders of Masonry, the Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, Master Mason, Royal Arch and Knight Templar, and also show the conferring of the Templar Degree at York, England, on November 29, 1779.  He further asserts that this Grand Lodge was the only one which officially recognized the Order of the Temple as being Masonic, in either Great Britain or Ireland during the eighteenth century.

 

The history of the Order of the Temple, by Sir Patrick Colquhoun of London, England, published in 1878, is authority for the statement that in 1769 the Mother Kilwinning Lodge of Scotland issued a charter to Kilwinning Masonic Lodge of Dublin, which authorized the conferring of the degree of Knight Templar therein, but it would appear that the Order was found in Dublin prior to that date in the possession of military organizations composed of the soldiers of Scotland and Ireland.  It is probably by this same military source that the Order was introduced into this country in Boston about the same period.  Hughan, the great English Masonic authority, makes the positive statement that the first authentic record of the conferring of the Order is found in the minutes of St. Andrews Royal Arch Lodge in Boston under date August 28, 1769, where we read that "the petition of Bro. William Davis coming before the lodge begging to have and receive the parts belonging to a Royal Arch Mason, which being read, was received and he unanimously voted in, and was accordingly made by receiving the four steps, that of Excellent, Super-Excellent, Royal Arch, and Knight Templar."

 

Like the history of Masonry prior to 1717, the early history of Masonic Templarism consists of the record of the meetings of Knights of the Order in various places for the purpose of conferring the same, without any constituted authority, by inherent right only, acting sometimes with and sometimes without the sanction of regular Masonic lodges.

 

The records of this same St Andrews Royal Arch Chapter show that in December, 1769, "the petition of Bro. Paul Revere coming before the lodge begging to become an Arch Mason, it was received and he was unanimously accepted and accordingly made." He subsequently became in the same body a Knight Templar.  In 1770 it was voted "that the M. M. Joseph Warren, Esq., should be made a Royal Arch Mason this evening, and he was accordingly made, gratis." The minutes of this body show the conferring of the order or degree of Knight Templar on about 50 candidates between the years 1769 and 1794.

 

In the last decade of the eighteenth century encampments were formed by prominent Craftsmen in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, at Boston, Providence, Newburyport, and Portland (now in Maine), at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; at Wilmington, Delaware; at Albany and New York City; at Baltimore, Maryland; and at Charleston, South Carolina, in all of which encampments the Order of the Temple was conferred.

 

The next step was the formation of Grand Encampments, as they were then called, in the various states.  The first was organized in Philadelphia, May 12, 1797, with four constituent bodies.  It had but a brief existence, was revived in 1814, again became extinct in 1824, and remained so during the Anti-Masonic Excitement.  It was again revived in 1852 under the authority of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, to which it acknowledged allegiance until 1857, when, with the consent of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, it became part of the Grand Encampment of the United States.

 

The most important event in this era of Templar history was the organization in 1805 at the city of Providence of the Grand Encampment of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  This is especially true, because the Templars responsible for its organisation were almost identically those who subsequently in 1816 participated in the organization of our present governing body, and as any history of our Order is incomplete which does not particularly deal with the lives of at least three of these pioneers of American Templarism, we shall for a few moments digress from the actual subject under consideration.

 

Thomas Smith Webb, founder of St. John's Encampment in Providence in 1802, presiding officer from 1805 to 1817 of what is now called the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and Deputy Grand Master from 1816 until his death in 1819, of the General Grand Encampment of the United States, was born in Boston in 1771, was made a Mason in New Hampshire in 1792, a Royal Arch Mason in Philadelphia in 1796, and a Knight Templar sometime previous to 1802, either in Temple Encampment at Albany, in a Philadelphia Encampment, in the Boston Encampment, or in the Old Encampment of New York City, all four of which still claim the honour.  He was the author of several successive editions of "The Free Mason's Monitor," was an organizer of great ability, had an attractive personality, a win-some manner, with indefatigable energy, and a great versatility of language, both written and oral, all of which joined in making for him the high reputation which he has since held as a Masonic ritualist and organizer.  He has been said to have invented the American system of Templary, and there is no doubt that he, along with Fowle, is responsible for the present impressive ceremonies, not only of the Templar Order but, in a large measure, of Craft Masonry and the Royal Arch system.  He died suddenly July 6, 1819, while on a visit to Cleveland, Ohio, and was buried there just shortly prior to the Second Triennial Session of our Grand Encampment. His remains were subsequently removed to the North Burial Ground at Providence, Rode Island, where a monument of white marble has been erected to his memory.

 

Henry Fowle, first Sovereign Master of Boston Encampment of Red Cross Knights and Grand Master of that Encampment when it was reorganized as a Templar body in 1806, which office he held until 1824, Grand Generalissimo of the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island from its organization in 1805 until 1817, then its Deputy Grand Master and subsequently its Grand Master from 1820 to 1825; was named Grand Generalissimo of the General Grand Encampment at its organization in 1816, and was elected Deputy Grand Master at the Triennial Conclave in 1819. Sir Knight Fowle was a member of St. Andrew's Chapter of Boston, where he received the Knight Templar degree on the 28th of January, 1795.  He was a great friend of Webb, and a ritualist of a very high order. He was a well known lecturer and his powers of organization made him, when working in conjunction with Webb, a potent factor in all branches of Masonic, work.  To the efforts of these two men is due the organization of what is known at present as the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and also that of our present governing body, to which reference will be made later.

 

 DeWitt Clinton was born at Little Britain, New York, in 1769, and died in February, 1828.  He was the father of the Great Canal System of the Empire State, served as its Governor, having resigned a seat in the United States Senate for the purpose, was in 1812 a candidate against James Madison for President of the United States, was Grand Master of Masons of New York from 1806 to 1819, was selected first Grand Master of the General Grand Encampment of the United States in 1816, and served as such until his death on the 11th of February, 1828. He devoted a busy and useful life to the service of his community and to an Order which he considered as wielding a great influence for good in the government, both of his state and country. He was at the head of the Order during the early days of the unfortunate Morgan excitement, and did much by his influence to alleviate the disastrous conditions which resulted therefrom.  He was a lawyer, a statesman, and a patriot, and with Webb and Fowle formed a combination to which is largely due the present status of Templarism in the United States.

 

The Grand Encampment of New York was organized in 1814; and was in a great measure an outgrowth from the "Sovereign Grand Consistory" organized by the well-known Masonic charlatan, Joseph Cerneau.

 

There were in existence in 1816 three sovereign grand bodies of the Order - Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and New York, in addition to which there were isolated encampments working in Connecticut, Maryland and South Carolina.  The great organizers Webb and Fowle, having about twenty years previously launched the General Grand Chapter of the United States, endowed by their state Grand Encampment with more or less authority, along with some Templars from New York, held a convention in Philadelphia on June 11, 1816, where they met with delegates from Pennsylvania and endeavoured to organize a United States Grand Encampment.  Opposition developed thereto on the part of the delegates from Pennsylvania, who refused to concur in the adoption of a proposed constitution, preferring rather their own ritual, their own customs, and their own powers of government, being influenced largely by their connection with the Mother Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, to which they were then and until 1857 subject. Unsuccessful in their efforts, but still undaunted, Webb and Fowle stopped over in New York City on their way home and there, within ten days, organized what is today the Grand Encampment Knights Templar of the United States of America; adopted a constitution, carefully prepared by Webb, which remained essentially unchanged until 1856; prepared a roster of officers substantially the same as at present prevailing; and named candidates for those offices from their two state jurisdictions, Webb and Fowle wisely subordinating themselves to Governor Clinton, whose civil position, along with his Masonic record and his powerful influence rendered him eminently fit to act as Grand Master of the organization.  It remained only for the Knights of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and New York to ratify this action and make such changes in the constitution of their different bodies as were thereby necessary.

 

During the thirty-six years following the formation of the Grand Encampment but six additional Grand Commanderies were added to its roster, a slow growth due solely to the persecution of the members of the Order for a score of years following the Morgan Excitement.  During the fifties, ten Grand Commanderies were added to the list, when our great Civil War, along with its disturbance of the general affairs of the nation, for many years delayed the spread of the Order over the United States.  Since that war its growth has been healthy and normal, and today we have forty-seven Grand Commanderies in the United States, with a total membership of over 368,000.

 

Outside of the United States, the activities of modern Templarism are confined to the British nation, with whose Great Priories of England and Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and Canada, we are, by the Concordat of 1910, in fraternal relationship.

 

----o----

 

MASONIC HISTORY IN NEW MEXICO

 

This exceptionally able article was written upon special request of TEIE BUILDER and is here offered as a specimen of what might be done by the way of brief histories of every state in the Union. Would not a volume made up of such sketches be of great value? Our thanks go to Brother Walter who is now Vice President of the First National Bank of Santa Fe, the same bank of which William W. Griffin, the first Grand Master of New Mexico, was one time President; and also to Brother Francis E. Lester, Past Grand Master of New Mexico, who recommended Brother Walter as a suitable historian of New Mexico Freemasonry. The Southwest is a great store of the most romantic Masonic history, a virgin mine of inspiration and fact, awaiting development at the hands of Masonic writers.

 

IT WAS in 1831 that Albert Pike, the noted Masonic author, visited Santa Fe. Very near the spot from which he first viewed the city, rises the splendid Scottish Rite Cathedral, in which the Consistory and other bodies make their home. In the collected poems of Pike are a few verses which record the impression that the historic and ancient city made upon the distinguished visitor. This is perhaps Santa Fe's first connection with the history of Masonry.

 

However, ten years later, in 1841, we find reference to what appears to have been an attempt to establish a lodge in Santa Fe. In an address delivered before the Grand Lodge on May 13, 1901, Wm. G. Ritch, then Secretary and acting Governor of New Mexico, refers to this attempt, which is based upon a reference in the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Texas to the effect that a dispensation was granted for the institution of a lodge at Santa Fe. Nothing further seems to have come of the attempt, and it was not until 1847 that a military lodge was instituted. In the archives of the Grand Lodge of Missouri we find the following notation: "Missouri Military Lodge No. 86, Third Regiment, Missouri Volunteers; dispensation issued June 12,1847 by John Ralls, Grand Master. Chartered October 14, 1847; closed with the Mexican War." Colonel Ralls commanded one of the volunteer regimants from Missouri stationed at Santa Fo after Colonel Price had been relieved by new levies. As was noted, he was also Grand Master of the Masonic jurisdiction of Missouri. Lt. Col. H. P. Boyakin, who served with the First Illinois Regiment, also stationed at Santa Fe, was a craftsman who later was Master of a lodge.

 

Says Colonel R. E. Twitchell in his "Leading Facts of New Mexican History," Vol. 5, page 315: "Of the work of this lodge we are without information; there being no returns or files among the archives from which to glean facts. And we have no further evidence of its having existed, save that the lodge is referred to by name and number in the minute book of Hardin Lodge No. 87 at Santa Fe, as having been visited by the latter under date of October 26, 1847. We are thus able only to speak of Missouri Military Lodge No. 86 as an existing lodge at Santa Fe, apparently working regularly from some time in September, 1847, down to the close of the service of the regiment a year later. That No. 86 did good work there can be no doubt, since it was under the immediate fostering presence and care of the Grand Master of the jurisdiction issuing its charter, and who no doubt instituted the same. A second lodge contemporaneous with the latter as to time and place bears the name of Hardin Lodge No. 87, A.F. & A.M. Of the latter, there is the evidence of its existence, well known to the older members of Montezuma Lodge No. 1.

 

This lodge had also been organized under the authority of Grand Master John Ralls, its duration also being limited to the service of the regiment. The minutes of Hardin Lodge show work, especially in initiation, and the names of some of the old-timers are preserved in the minutes of Montezuma Lodge No. 1. These lodges existed before the instituting of any other Masonic organizations west of the Missouri. They are the beginnings of Freemasonry in that immense domain lying between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean, and between the British possessions and the Republic of Mexico and the State of Texas. Quoting the same historian further:

 

"These military lodges go down in history as marking the first dawn of fraternity in an immensity of area since developed into an empire of free states, each having its grand jurisdiction, the peer of any other jurisdiction in Masonry the world over. And thus Masonry in the great west kept step with the vanguard of civilization. We must not forget that among the pioneers and early inspirations of modern Masonry, the military lodge was an important agency in the planting of the Craft far and wide."

 

However, these military lodges were short lived, and it was not until the institution of Montezuma Lodge on the 22nd day of August, 1851, that the history of permanent Masonry in New Mexico begins. In those early days, the lodge room was the center of civic and social activity for a wide domain. Trappers and scouts, pathfinders and pioneers, made it their place of social gathering, and here we find Kit Carson, Saint Vrain, military officers, federal and territorial officials, mingling in social intercourse. The first death to be recorded by Montezuma Lodge was that of Robert T. Brent, junior warden of the lodge, who was killed on December 4, 1851, while crossing the Jornado de Muerto, or "Journey of Death." He fell a victim to the Apaches and was buried by the lodge on December 23rd. The legislative assembly granted a civil charter to Montezuma Lodge on February 6, 1854. Up to 1860, Montezuma Lodge was the sole Masonic organization within a radius of almost a thousand miles, and its membership was drawn from far distant communities and settlements. Says Col. Twitchell:

 

"The Masonic lodge in those days became something more than a mere civic society. In the absence of American women very generally during the first two decades of the American occupation, there were no social centers, no places of amusement, no homes of the American family, no attractive resort in which to while away an hour - unless, forsooth we mention the Mexican baile, the gambling room, and the saloon. Naturally members congregated at the Masonic lodge room. The Masonic hall became the club room and social center of those who would avoid contact with the dissipations of the country. The sole protestant church of the period, indeed, had representatives on the ground - sometimes."

 

In the lodge room of Montezuma Lodge in Santa Fe are preserved a number of the relics, including Kit Carson's rifle, of those early days. The furniture and furnishings which were brought from St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1852 over the Santa Fe Trail in wagons are still in use, and on the walls are the portraits of several score of the first members. It was not until 1855, that the Masonic Order gained further footing west of the Missouri except in a few lodges in Oregon and California. It was in 1860 that Bent Lodge was insituted at Taos. Then followed lodges at Las Vegas, Elizabethtown, Cimarron, Silver City, and Tiptonville. Vicissitudes of fate resulted in the surrender of the charters of the lodges at Taos, Elizabethtown, and Cimarron.

 

In 1877, the Grand Lodge of New Mexico was instituted at Santa Fe by the representatives of Montezuma, Chapman, and Aztec lodges. The first Grand Master was Wm. W. Griffin, president of the First National Bank at Santa Fe. The Grand Royal Arch Chapter was organized in 1898, the first Royal Arch chapter having been instituted in Santa Fe in 1865. The Grand Commandery of the Knights Templar was organized in 1901. The Shrine was granted a charter in 1887, and has its temple at Albuquerque.

 

The four bodies of the Scottish Rite trace their beginnings to February 1st, 1883, when Santa Fe Lodge of Perfection No. 1 was instituted under the direction of Charles Spaulding of Topeka, Kansas, deputy of the Supreme Council. The two last surviving resident members of the first session of the lodge, U.S. Senator Thomas B. Catron and Dr. W. S. Harroun, died only recently. It was not until 1905 that the lodge became active in conferring the degrees. It was then that Cony T. Brown, under the direction of the late Col. Max Frost, deputy of the Supreme Council, communicated the degrees from the fourth to the fourteenth upon a small class, including Judge Richard H. Hanna, the present deputy of the Supreme Council for New Mexico. Since then, the lodge has grown rapidly. In 1908, Aitlan Chapter, Rose Croix No. 1, was instituted under the direction of Col. Frost. A few months later in the same year, Coronado Council of Kadosh and New Mexico Consistory No. 1 were instituted.

 

The first reunion was held in 1909, at which time the late James E. Richardson, Sovereign Grand Commander, and many other distinguished Masons were present.

 

The Blue Lodge now owns its own home on the south side of the beautiful plaza, which is also the business center in Santa Fe. The Scottish Rite bodies have built a cathedral that is monumental in character and unique among the Masonic buildings of the United States. It is a replica in part of the Court of Lions of the Alhambra The building is tinted a deep, rich red, and while complete in itself, yet is only one unit of the great structure as it will finally appear. In addition to the magnificent auditorium, it has a great banquet hall as well as ante-rooms and social center, together with offices occupied by the permanent seeretary. The stage of the auditorium is equipped with ninety drop curtains and complete electrical apparatus for the production of brilliant lighting effects. Above the proscenium arch is a mural painting representing Boabdil delivering the keys of the Alhambra to Ferdinand and Isabella. A great pipe organ has been installed, and the Scottish Rite choir is famous throughout the southwest for its musical renditions.

 

Taken all in all, Masonry has played a very important part in the development of the southwest. It gathered into its fold the men who were leaders in active affairs as well as in science and the arts. Every large town now has its Masonic lodge, and each year there are four or five pilgrimages and reunions at Santa Fe, where the degrees up to and including the thirty-second are conferred with much beauty and splendor. Membership runs into the thousands, and all of the various bodies are flourishing in every respect. The future of the organization is sure to be a brilliant one, and the impress its members are making upon the commonwealth and its progress is marked.

 

----o----

 

EDITORIAL

 

FREEMASONRY AND POLITICAL REFORM

 

THE RADICAL and the revolutionist are abroad in the land in such force as has not been seen for many years. It was all to be expected, one may suppose, as a part of the inevitable aftermath of the war during which trying period many men and women suffered grievous wrongs; civilization itself was called in question; and multitudes were given a sense of insecurity in the very ground under their feet. Such a condition, maintained for some five years, was sure to breed a vast deal of discontent and morose opposition to the scheme of things. Furthermore, in that period of excitement - it has not yet passed away - minds worked at fever heat and tongues were loosened. A great commotion of propaganda, discussion, political diatribes, and general riotous redness is the consequence of it all.

 

Radicalism has penetrated to the intellectual centers of the land, into books, and into colleges and universities. A kind of modified bolshevism, watered down into a more familiar phraseology, is being steadily preached in a great many college recitation rooms by admired and intelligent men. In some of the most respectable of our colleges - as the present writer learned from his own investigations in some cases - there are from ten to twenty per cent of the members of the faculty in avowed alliance with some one or more of the many "red" groups.

 

There is no need to be greatly alarmed at all this, for ten per cent of all the college professors in the land could not shake the Goddess of Liberty from her pedestal; but such facts are set forth as indications and illustrations of a general condition which is a justly considered source of alarm. It may even be said without fear of exaggeration that in some form or other thousands and thousands of our citizens are organized in direct opposition to the political principles and ideals on which the United States government is organized.

 

These men and women must be left free to ventilate their hostile opinions. The very Constitution which they hate and seek to destroy guarantees them that right. Neither should force be used in order to put a stop to their dangerous teachings. The history of the whole world, from Adam down, offers pretty convincing proof that the use of force is the least successful of all antitoxins where political poisoning is feared. The men and women who search all the histories for arguments to show that we are an enslaved people unjustly governed, and that America does not spell liberty, equality, and fraternity but rather capitalistic greed and tyranny; who work day and night to devise arguments to convince our citizens that such is the case; and who try in one way or another to inoculate our young men with their heresies,these men and women must be met by reason, persuasion, facts and argument. Reason must be met by reason, argument by argument, thought by thought. In no other wise can they be truly defeated. Those who believe in Americanism, intelligently and without bigotry or ignorant jingoism, must organize themselves and carry on their own propaganda, and evermore stand ready to win their victories anew.

 

It is coming more and more to be felt that Freemasonry cannot wholly remain aloof from the defense of a genuine, well considered, and intelligent Americanism. A number of our representative journals have frankly said as much, and in some cases have published notable calls to the Fraternity in order to awaken it from its sleep and to make it know that the day is at hand, and that it is high time that it should buckle on its armor. Grand Masters have in their turn delivered their own minds to the same effect, and already a number of organizations are coming into existence wherethrough the Fraternity, rapidly approaching the three million mark in its membership, may deliver its stupendous power into the hands of Americanism.

 

Freemasonry is not opposed to reform. On the contrary it is itself the mother of many reforms, and hundreds of the men who have wrought so successfully to improve and change the political scheme of things have been - and are - active and reputable Masons. Grand Lodges themselves, even, have done many things by way of political and social change.

 

But reform and revolution are not the same thing. The reformer believes that the fundamentals of our social and political system are sound and right, but that details of its operation should here and there be remedied. He believes in the wage system, for illustration, but strives to have wages increased and hours of labor cut down; he believes in representative government but is in favor of electing senators by popular ballot; he believes in private property but also thinks that an income tax is just and necessary; and so on and so on. A man may be ever so much of a reformer, as Henry Demarest Lloyd was, as Lincoln was, and as Roosevelt was, and at the same time have the most fervent belief in the principles anal general outlines of the American scheme of government.

 

But your revolutionist is very different. He disagrees with the very scheme itself, and would tear up the principles and fundamentals. He is not out to reform the wage system but to destroy it; he is not wishing to levy a tax on incomes, he would do away with the whole principle of private incomes; he would not waste time protecting property in land, he would sweep the whole system of private ownership in land into the discard; he would not deign to work for the direct election of United States senators, he would do away with the senate; he does not care a straw for the amendments to the Constitution that may be proposed, because he is out to undo the Constitution altogether, and to set up in its place some form of commuxusm, or socialism, or syndicalism, or what not.

 

The position which this Fraternity occupies is out in the open, and perfectly justifiable. It stands ready to become the friend and aider of any reform, if that reform appears wise and just, as is illustrated by the universal Masonic support of the Towner-Sterling Bill: but it at the same time stands like a wall of adamant in opposition to any and every scheme which seeks to overthrow the American system in order to replace it by something different.

 

----o----

 

ON THE QUESTION OF SOCIAL CLUBS

 

Ever and anon ye editor receives a letter - usually from a brother grown gray in the Craft, to judge by tone and handwriting, and therefore to be received with respect - to protest against the existence of social clubs inside the Fraternity. These clubs, so it is alleged, contravene our laws and contradict our spirit.

 

Is this true? Not unless ye editor has been reading the histories of Masonry to no avail. The fact is that the earlier lodges, those that existed in the days when speculative Masonry was aborning, were anything but the solemn conclaves of serious men that we often picture them; for they usually met in taverns and enjoyed such privileges as went therewith, and they were a joyous happy lot, who made a practice of bringing their tables of meat and drink into the lodge room with them. They sang, and often they roistered, and many times their wit and their humor flowed about them like wild streams. There was not, and they knew there was not, any contradiction between all that and the spirit and principles of Freemasonry, for Freemasonry is not a funereal, sour faced thing at all, but full of life and gladness and youth. It must needs be serious but it does not have to be solemn; it is well for it to remain sober but it does not have to grow sour. And if young men wish to gather in a dining room and have a feed together, and a few songs, and a list of humorous toasts, where is the harm?

 

Also, where are the laws that are contravened? or the principles that are violated ? As the old gentleman said in the humorous story, "there ain't any sich thing." Whether a social club in a Masonic Temple is a oood thing or a bad thing depends entirely upon local conditions. Such matters have no place in the body of Masonic principle whatsoever, and are left aside as matters of wish, expediency, and individual desire.

 

----o----

 

THE HOUR GLASS

 

BY BRO. FRANK C. HICKMAN, MICIIIGAN

 

Behold the sand, how swift it goes;

Likewise our lives draw to a close.

We can't without astonishment,

Behold these particles take vent

But that we've much to think anent.

 

How almost imperceptibly

They pass on to eternity;

And in an hour none remain,

They have exhausted to the grain:

"Thus wasteth man," but not in vain.

 

To-day his leaves of hope will sprout,

To-morrow blossoms thick come out.

He bears his blushing honors on, -

To goals he feels are fairly won,

But disappointment laughs anon.

 

For next day comes a frost and nips

The shoot, prolific to its tips,

And while he glorys in his worth,

Like Autumn leaves he falls from mirth,

To help enrich our Mother Earth.

 

----o----

 

THE LIBRARY

 

ARTICLES OF INTEREST TO THE MASONIC STUDENT IN HASTINGS' "ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS"

 

WITH THE RECENT appearance of the twelfth volume this magnificent reference work has been brought to completion, with the exception of the Index volume which is now in course of preparation. There is nothing like it anywhere in the language in its own field, and it easily places Dr. Hastings on the throne as the greatest editor of his generation. The work is sold by the publishers direct, acid may be purchased by the impecunious - which includes most of us - on the payment plan. For terms and conditions address the publishers, Charles Scribner's Sons, 5th Avenue and 48th Street, New York, N. Y.

 

The scope of the work is adequately described by the title except that there is a great deal more material on folklore, anthropology, magic and all that than one might expect. One of the best features of all is the adequate and quite modern bibliography included with each article; this feature in itself malies the set almost indispensable to students and serious readers. Each volume contains brief notes about the authors of the various articles; a table of cross references and a list of abbreviations. Unlike other encyclopedias each important article has been broken into sections and each section allocated to an author of its own; for example, the excellent article - a treatise in length - on Symbolism is divided as follows, with the authors appearing in brackets - where learned writers so frequently find themselves:

 

SYMBOLISM:

 

Christian (J. Gamble), p. 134.

Greek and Roman (P. Gardner), p. 139.

Jewish (I. Abrahams), p. 143.

Muslim (D. S. Margoliouth), p. 145.

Hindu (A. S. Geden), p. 141.

Semitic (M. H. Farbridge), p. 146.

 

Very frequently each of these authors contributes a bibliography on his own section, all of which, when added to the general bibliography at the end of the article, furnishes one with as complete a list of books as any but the specialist will ever need.

 

Ye editor has found this encyclopedia so useful in steering the courses of THE BUILDER that he has kept it ever at his elbow, and it is this use of it that has suggested to him the value of publishing in these pages a list of the articles on subjects about which Masonic students so often find themselves interested.

 

VOLUME I

 

Absolute, p. 40; this is a treatment of one of the philosophical conceptions of God.

AEgean religion, p. 141; much about Greek ritual, etc.

Affirmation, p. 157; deals with oaths, etc.

Agnosticism, p. 215; helpful in the study of Atheism.

Ahriman, p 237; Persian god of darkness.

Albigneses, p. 277; one of the heretical sects, persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church. Some believe that traces from the Albigenses remain in Freemasonry. See "New Light on the Renaissance," by Harold Bayley.

Alchemy, p. 287.

Allegory, p. 327.

Altar, p. 333; covers usages in all countries. A very complete article.

Altruism, p. 355; scientific study of charity and brotherhood.

Analogy, p. 415; helpful in the study of symbolism.

Anarchy, p. 419.

Annointing, p. 549.

Anti-Semitism, p. 593.

Appollonius of Tyana, p. 609.

Apostolic Succession, p. 633; thorough study of the rise of the Papacy.

Architecture, p. 677; deals principally with religious architecture, and is developed in twenty-four parts.

Ark, p. 791.

 

VOLUME II

 

Arthur, Arthurian Cycle, p. 1; deals with the Holy Grail legends.

Assassins, p. 138.

Atheism, p. 173; studied in ten different varieties.

Avesta, p. 266; the sacred book of Zoroastrianism.

Bacon, Francis, p. 321.

Badges, p. 325.

Basilidies, p. 426; one of the founders of Gnosticism.

Benevolence, p. 474.

Bhagavad-Gita, p. 535; one of the sacred books of India.

Bible, p. 562: a treatise of more than fifty closely printed pages.

Binding and Loosing, p. 618; a careful examination of one of the fundamental claims of the Papacy.

Boehme, p. 778; one of the great mystics.

Book of Life, p. 792, has much to say about astrology.

Brahmanism, p. 799.

Branches and Twigs, p. 831; side lights on ritualistic customs.

Brotherhood, p. 857.

Brotherly Love, p. 872.

Bruno, p. 878; one of the martyrs of free thought.

Buddha, p. 881.

Buddhism, p. 887.

Bull-roarer, p. 889; one of the conspicuous devices used in primitive ritual.

Bulls and briefs, p. 891; deals with papal bulls from the earliest time.

 

VOLUME III

 

Calendar, p. 61; indispensable to the student of astrology.

Canaanites, p. 176; furnishes the historical background for King Solomon's time.

Casuistry, p. 239; belongs to the study of ethics.

Catholicism, p. 258.

Character, p. 364.

Charity, p. 373.

Charms and Amulets, p. 392.

Cherub, Cherubim; p. 508.

China, p. 549; religion and ethics in that country.

Chivalry, p. 565; has much to say about the Knights Templar.

Christianity, p. 679.

Chronology, p. 610.

Church, p. 616.

Circumambulation, p. 657; a wonderful article written by a noted Masonic scholar, Count Goblet d'Alviella.

Clericalism and anti-clericalism, p . 689 .

Coins and medals, p. 699.

Commemoration of the dead, p. 716.

Communism, p. 776; useful in the study of Socialism.

Concordat, p. 800; necessary in the study of Freemasonry in France.

Conditional immortality, p. 822; deals with a peculiar conception of everlasting life.

Confession, p. 825; tells the story of how the confessional came into use by the Roman Catholic Church. A very long article. It is principally devoted to the various creeds of Christendom and contains a complete and valuable table of Confessions of Faith.

 

VOLUME IV

Conscience, p. 30.

Consistency, p. 65; belongs to ethical theory.

Cooperation, p. 112.

Corners, p. 119; useful in the study of the Northeast Corner.

Cosmogony and Cosmology, p. 125; a treatise of more than 50 pages.

Councils and Synods, p. 179; necessary to an understanding of the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

Creeds and Articles, p. 231; should be read along with the articles on Confessions.

Crimes and Punishments, p. 248.

Criminology, p. 305.

Cross, p. 324: every Masonic student should read this article.

Crusades, p. 345; all about the Knights Templar, etc.

Culdees, p. 357; some writers have tried to trace Freemasonry back to Culdees.

Cursing and Blessing, p. 367; useful in cations and Oaths.

Death and Disposal of the Dead, p. 411; a great treatise of one hundred pages covering all countries.

Deism, p. 533; one of the forms of the theory of God.

Deluge, p. 545; useful in a study of Noachite Masonry.

Door, p. 846; read this article in connection with the study of the Ceremony of Entrance.

 

VOLUME V

 

Dress, p. 40; an interesting subject of costume and dress symbolism.

Druids, p. 82; it was once the custom to credit the Druids with the establishment of Freemasonry.

Duty, p. 119.

Education, p. 166; as developed among twelve peoples.

Egoism, p. 231.

Egyptian Religion, p. 236; this was written by W. M. Flinders Petrie.

Enlightenment, The, p. 310; an account of the rise of modern thought.

Equity, p. 357.

Error and Truth, p. 366.

Essenes, p. 396; written by James Moffatt.

Eternity, p. 401.

Ethical Discipline, p. 405.

Ethics, p. 414.

Ethics and Morality, p. 436: eighty-five pages.

Ethnology, p. 522; gives scientific classification of peoples.

Fairy, p. 678; contains much folklore material.

Faith, p. 689.

Feet-Washing, p. 814; consult this when you study Maundy Thursday.

Female Principle, p. 827; useful in studying the Lesser Lights.

Festival and Fasts, p. 836.

 

VOLUME Vl

 

Fire, Fire-gods, p. 26.

First Cause, p. 36; philosophical discussion of the idea of God.

Fleece, p. 51; useful in studying the Golden Fleece.

Folklore, p. 57.

Foundation-Rites, p. 109; deals with custom of laying cornerstones, etc. Freemasonry, p. 118; two and one-half pages by E. L. Hawkins.

Free-Thought, p. 120.

Friendly Societies, p. 127.

Friendship, p. 131.

Gabars, p. 147; deals with one group of Zoroastrians.

Gallicanism, p. 156.

Guilds, p. 215; the latter half of this article deals with the Roman Collegia. Girdle, p. 226; important for studying the Cable Tow.

Gnosticism, p. 231; the Knights Templar were accused of Gnosticism.

God, p. 243; sixty-seven pages.

Golden Rule, p. 310.

Good and Evil, p. 318.

Government, p. 358.

Graeco-Egyptian Religion, 374; has much to say about the Mysteries.

Grail, The Holy, p. 385.

Greece, Greek Religion, p. 392.

Greek Orthodox Church, p. 425.

Hand, p. 482; the symbolical and ritualistic use of the hand.

Happiness, p. 510.

Head, p. 532; in folklore, symbolism, etc.

Heart, p. 556; in symbolism and religion.

Heresy, p. 614; treats of some of the heretical sects of the Middle Ages. Hermes Trismegistus, p. 686.

Holiness, p. 731; interesting to the Royal Arch Mason.

Hope, p. 779; one of the Theological Virtues.

Horn, p. 791; its use in symbolism and magic.

Huguenots, p. 823.

Hyksos, p. 889; a chapter in Egyptian History.

 

VOLUME Vll

 

Idealism, p. 89.

Ignorance, p. 103.

Immortality, p. 172.

Incense, p. 201; a Scottish Rite student will be interested in this.

India, p. 209; religions, cults, etc.

Infallibility, p. 256; gives the historical background of the doctrine of papal infallibility.

Infinity, p. 282.

Initiation, p. 314, a long treatise on initiation among Buddhists, Greeks, Hindus, Jews, Parsees, Romans and Tibetans. Introductory section is written by Count Goblet d'Alviella.

Inquisition, p. 330; its history and doctrines.

Invocation, p. 407.

Ishtar, p. 428.

Isis, p. 434.

Israel, p. 439.

Jesuits, p. 500; includes an exceptionally complete bibliography.

Jesus Christ, p. 505.

Josephus, p. 569.

Judaism, p. 581; a long treatise by Herbert Loewe.

Kabbala, p. 622; also written by Herbert Loewe.

Kabeiroi, p. 628; one of the ancient mysteries. Often spelled "Kabiri."

Karma, p. 673.

Kingdom of God, p. 732.

Kneeling, p. 745.

Landmarks and Boundaries, p. 789.

 

VOLUME Vlll

 

Life and Death, p. 1.

Light and Darkness, p. 27.

Litany, p. 78.

Locks and Keys, p. 120; treats of their symbolical uses

Loyalty, p. 183.

Loyola, p. 188; founder of the Jesuits.

Luther, p. 198.

Magi, p. 242.

Magic, p. 245; a treatise of seventy-five pages.

Magical Circle, p. 321.

Mahabharata, p. 325; one of the sacred books of India.

Maimonides, p. 340; greatest Jewish philosopher of the Middle Ages.

Mana, p. 375; important in the study of magic.

Manichaeism, p. 394; the Abbey Barruel traced Freemasonry back to Manichaeism, a wild theory.

Massebhah, p. 487; sacred stones and pillars of the Old Testament.

Materialism, p. 488.

May, Midsummer, p. 601; important for the study of St. John's Day.

Mendelssohn, p. 549; has much to say about Brother Lessing.

Merlin, p. 565; deals with the King Arthur legends.

Messiah, p. 570.

Metals and Minerals, p. 688; throws light on one of the famous incidents of the First Degree.

Miracle-Plays, Mysteries, Moralities, p. 690; important in the study of the Hiram Abiff drama.

Mithraism, p. 752.

Modernism, p. 763; deals with the attempt to establish modern thought inside Roman Catholic theology.

Molinism, p. 774; the teachings of Molinos, one of the great mystics.

Monotheism, p. 817; the doctrine of one God.

Mother of the Gods, p. 847.

Mouth, p. 869; as used in ritual and symbolism.

Muhammad, p. 871; frequently spelled Mohammed: founder of Mohammedanism. Written by D. S. Margoliouth.

Muhammadanism, P. 880.

 

VOLUME IX

 

Music, p. 5.

Mysteries, p. 70.

Mysticism, p. 83.

Mythology, p. 117.

Names, p. 130; a thorough treatise of forty-six pages.

Name of God, p. 177; deals with the Tetragrammaton.

Naturalism, p. 195.

Neo-Platonism, p. 307.

Neo-Pythagoreanism, p. 319.

Numbers, p. 406; in ritual, magic, symbolism, etc.

Oath, p. 430.

Occultism, p. 444.

Oddfellows, p. 448.

Office, The Holy, p. 460; about the inquisition.

Om, p. 490; one of the sacred names of Deity in India.

Odeal, p. 507.

Ormazd, p. 566.

Pantheism, p. 609.

Papacy, p. 620.

Parsis, p. 640; about the Persian Zoroastrians.

Pacal, p. 652; famous for his attack on the Jesuits.

Persecution, p. 742.

Phallism, p. 815: on sex worship.

Philanthropy, p. 837.

Phrenology. p. 897.

 

VOLUME X

 

Pistis Sophia, p. 45.

Pleroma, p. 62.

Points of the Compass, p. 73; a thorough treatise, and exceedingly valuable to the Masonic student. Contains much about orientation.

Poles and Posts, p. 91; interesting in connection with the Great Pillars.

Polytheism, p. 112; the doctrine of many gods.

Prayer, p. 154.

Prayer Wheels, p. 218; written by Count Goblet d'Alviella.

Pre-Existence, p. 236.

Priest, Priesthood, p. 278.

Processions and Dances, p. 356

Profanity, p. 378.

Protestantism, p. 410.

Purification, p. 455; useful in a study of Masonic lustration.

Pythagoras, p. 520.

Quietism, p. 533; one of the schools of mysticism.

Kur'an, p. 538; usually spelled Koran.

Reformation, The, p. 609.

Regalia, p. 632.

Regeneration, p. 639; read this in connection with the Raising of Hiram Abiff. Religion, p. 662.

Religious Orders, p. 693; useful to a student of the higher grades. Righteousness, p. 777.

Roman religion, p. 820; the religion of the ancient Roman people. Wlitten by W. Warde Fowler.

Rosicrucians, p. 856; written by Arthur C. Jones.

Russian Church, p. 867.

 

VOLUME Xl

 

Salutations, p. 104.

Samaritans, p. 161.

Satanism, p. 203.

Secret Societies, p. 287; a treatise in twenty pages and six parts.

Serpent Worship, p. 399.

Seven Sleepers, p. 428; an old legend sometimes found in Masonic books. Seven Virtues, p. 430; contains a section on the Cardinal Virtues.

Sects, p. 432.

Shekinah, p. 450.

Shoes and Sandals, p. 474.

Sibylline Oracles, p. 496.

Simon Magus, p. 514.

Sin, p. 528.

Sky and Sky Gods, p. 580.

Socialism, p. 634.

Soul, p. 725.

Staff, p. 811.

Stones, p. 864.

Strangers. p. 883.

 

VOLUME Xll

 

Sufis, p. 10; a school of Mohammedan mystics.

Summun Bonum, p. 44; the doctrine of the greatest good.

Sun, Moon and Stars, p. 48; a wonderful treatise of 50pages.

Superstition, p. 120.

Swedenborg, p. 129.

Symbolism, p. 134.

Tabu, p. 181; often spelled "Taboo."

Tammuz, p. 187; an Asiatic nature god.

Taoism, p. 197; one of the three great religions of China.

Tatuing, p. 208; usually spelled "tattooing."

Temples, p. 236.

Thags, p. 259; a secret society of criminals which existed a long time in India. Theism, p. 261; the philosophical doctrine of the personal God.

Theology, p. 293.

Theosophical Society, p. 300.

Therapeutae, p. 315; see THE BUILDER, December, 1921 page 365.

Time, p. 334.

Token, p. 357.

Toleration, p. 360.

Totemism, p. 393.

Tradition, p. 411.

Transmigration, p. 425: an article in eight parts.

Trees and Plants, p. 448; read this in connection with the Acacia.

Trinity, p. 458; the Christian doctrine of God.

Typology, p. 600; read this in connection with the article on symbolism.

Under world, p. 516.

Universality, p. 535.

Upanisads, p. 640; a Sanskrit treatise much venerated in India

Vampire, p. 589, Brother Dudley Wright's book on this subject is listed in the bibliography.

Vedanta, p. 597; the most widespread of the six philosophical systems of the Brahmans.

Vedic Religion, p. 601; a religion founded on the Vedas.

Voltaire, p. 627.

Vows, p. 644.

Waldenses, p. 663.

Water, Water Gods, p. 704.

Western Church, p. 727; "The epithet 'Western' differentiates the Church of the West, or Roman Catholic Church, from that of the East, known as the Holy Orthodox Church."

Wisdom, p. 742.

Word, p. 749.

Worship, p. 752.

Yoga, p. 831.

Zionism, p. 865.

Zohar, p. 868; the greatest of the Kabbalistical books.

Zoroastrianism, p. 862.

 

----o----

 

PUBLICATIONS WANTED, FOR SALE, AND EXCHANGE

 

We are constantly receiving inquiries from readers as to where they may obtain publications on Freemasonry and kindred subjects not offered in our Monthly Book List. Most of the books thus sought are out of print, but it may happen that other readers, owning copies, may be willing to dispose of the same. Therefore this column is set aside each month for such a service. And it is also hoped - and expected - that readers possessing very old or rare Masonic works will communicate the fact to THE BUILDER in behalf of general information.

 

Postoffice addresses are here given in order that those buying and selling may communicate directly with each other. Brethren are asked to cancel notices as soon as their wants are supplied.

 

In no case does THE BUILDER assume any responsibility whatsoever for publications thus bought, sold, exchanged or borrowed.

 

WANTED

 

By Bro. D. D. Berolzheimer, 1 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y.: "Realities of Masonry," Blake, 1879; "Records of the Hole Craft and Fellowship of Masons," Condor, 1894; "Masonic Bibliography," Carson, 1873; "Origin of Freemasonry," Paine, 1811.

 

By Bro. G. Alfred Lawrence, 142 West 86th St., New York, N. Y.: Proceedings of the Scottish Rite Body founded by Joseph Cerneau in New York City in 1808, of which De Witt Clinton was the first Grand Commander, and which body became united, in 1867, with the Supreme Council of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, A. & A. S. R. Also Proceedings of the Supreme Council founded in New York by De La Motta, in 1813, by authority of the Southern Supreme Council, of which he was Grand Treasurer-General, these Proceedings from 1813 to 1860.

 

By Bro. Frank R. Johnson, 306 East 10th St., Kansas City, Mo.: "The Year Book," published by the Masonic Constellations, containing the History of the Grand Council, R. & S. M., of Missouri.

 

By Brother Silas H. Shepherd, Hartland, Wisconsin: "Catalogue of the Masonic Library of Samuel Lawrence"; "Second Edition of Preston's Ellustrations of Masonry"; "The Source of Measures," by J. Ralston Skinner 1875, or second edition 1894"Ars Quatuor Coronatorum," volumes I to XI, inclusive; "Masonic Facts and Fictions," by Henry Sadler; "The Kabbalah Unveiled," by S. L. MacGregor Mathers.

 

By Bro. Ernest E. Ford, 305 South Wilson Avenue, Alhambra, California: Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, volumes 3, 6 and 7, with St. John's Cards, also St. John's Cards for volumes 4 and 6; "Masonic Review," early volumes; "Voice of Masonry," early volumes; Transactions Supreme Council Southern Jurisdiction for the years 1882 and 1886; Original Proceedings of The General Grand Encampment linights Templar for the years 1826 and 1835.

 

By Bro. George A. Lanzarotti, Casilla 126, Rancagua, Chile: All kinds of Masonic literature in Spanish. Write first quoting prices.

 

By Brother L. Rask, 14 Alvey St., Schenectady, N. Y.: "Remarks upon Alchemy and the Alchemists," by E. A. Hitchcock, Janesville, N. Y., about 1865; "Secret Societies of all Ages," Heckethorn; "Lost Language of Symbology," by Harold Bayley, published by Lippincott; "Sacred Hermeneutics," by Davidson, Edinburgh, 1843; "Solar System of the Ancients Discovered," by J. Wilson, published by Longmans Co., London, 1856; "The Alphabet," by Isaac Taylor, Kegan, Paul, Trench & Co., 1883, or the edition of 1899 published by Scribners, New York; "Anacalypsis," by Geodfrey Higgins, 1836, published by Green & Longmans, London; "Ars Quatuor Coronatorum," any volume or volumes.

 

By Bro. J. H. Tatsch, Union Bank & Trust Co., Los Angeles, Calif.: Fascilus 2, "Cementaria Hibernica," by Chetwode Crawley; Volumes 1, 2, 5 and 8, Quatuor Coronati Antigrapha; "Some Memorials of Globe Lodge No. 23," Henry Sadler; "Constitutions of the Freemasons," Hughan, 1869; "Numerical and Medallic Register of Lodges," Hughan, 1878; "History of the Appolo Lodge and the R. A., York," Hughan, 1894; any items on AntiMasonry, especially tracts, handbills, posters, old newspapers, almanacs, etc., relating to Morgan incident, 1826-1840, and recurrence of same from 1870 to 1885.

 

FOR SALE

 

By Bro. J. H. Tatsch, Union Bank & Trust Co., Los Angeles, Calif.: Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, Volumes 6 to 26, in parts as issued, with St. John Cards; "Masonic Reprints and Revelations," Sadler; "The Natural History of Staffordshire," Dr. Robert Plot, 1686, folio; "The History of Freemasonry," Robert Freke Gould, Yorston edition, 4 volumes; "History of Freemasonry in Europe," Emmanuel Rebold, 1867; "Bibliographie der Freimaurerischen Literatur," August Wolfsteig, 1911-13, two volumes and register, paper, as issued; "History of Freemasonry," Mackey, 7 volumes; "History of Freemasonry and Concordant Orders," Hughan and Stillson; facsimile engraving Picard's "Les Francmassons," 1735, fine copy.

 

By Brother A. A. Burnand, 690 South Bronson Ave., Los Angeles, California: Various Masonic publications including such as a complete set of "Ars Quatuor Coronatorum"; "History of Freemasonry in Scotland," by D. Murray Lyon, (original edition); Thomas Dunckerley, Laurence Dermott, etc.

 

By Brother Frank R. Johnson, 306 East 10th St., Kansas City, Mo.: "History of Freemasonry," Mitchell, 2 volumes, sheep; "History of Freemasonry," Robert Freke Gould, 4 volumes, cloth, in good condition; "History of Freemasonry," Albert G. Mackey, 7 volumes, linen cloth, new; Addison's "Knights Templar," Macoy, 1 volume, cloth; "Museum of Antiquity," Yaggy, 1 volume, morocco; "History and Cyclopedia of Freemasonry," Macoy and Oliver, new, full morocco. Also miscellaneous books.

 

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PUBLIC SCHOOL NUMBER OF "THE BUILDER"

 

The August issue of THE BUILDER will be a PUBLIC SCHOOL NUMBER. Features of this number will be a symposium of opinion of the Public School question by a majority of the Grand Masters of the United States and leading articles by Brother Horace M. Towner, father of the Sterling-Towner Bill, Brother Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, and Brother William F. Russell, Dean of Education, University of Iowa. Tell your Masonic friends about this issue.

 

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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 JESUIT'S OATHS

 

From paragraphs in various numbers of THE BUILDER I have gathered that you do not wish to overdo the subject of Roman Catholics and their ways, nevertheless I am writing to ask of you as a favor that you will furnish me with the oaths that are administered to Jesuits. Please maks sure to give me the legitimate oath,not some wild thing published on hearsay. I shall thank you very much. D. L. K., Ohio.

 

Jesuit oaths are found recorded in the Constitutionis Societatis Jesu, Part V, chapters 3 and 4. It would also be well for you to consult "The History of the Jeeuits," by Nicolini, Bohn Edition, 1854, pp. 47-52. According to the Jesuits' own laws the first oath is administered to the individual after he has passed a novitiate of two years; it is the oath that makes him a "student," or "scholastic." It is here given in full:

 

"Almighty everlasting God! I, N. N., although most unworthy in thy divine sight, yet relying on thy infinite pity and compassion, and impelled by the desire of serving thee, vow, in the presence of the most Holy Virgin Mary and thy universal court of heaven, perpetual poverty, chastity, and obedience in the Society of Jesus to thy divine Majesty; and I promise to enter the same society, and live in it perpetually, understanding all things according to the Constitution of the Society itself. Of thy boundless goodness and mercy through the blood of Jesus Christ I hereby pray that thou wilt deign to accept this sacrifice (holocaustum) in the odor of sweetness; and as thou hast granted the desiring and offering of this, so wilt thou give thy abundant grape for the fulfillment."

 

After from eight to fifteen years of labor as a "scholastic" the Jesuit passes on to the grade of "Coadjutor," and accordingly takes the oath that follows:

 

"I, N. N., promise to Almighty God before his Virgin Mother and the whole court of heaven, and to thee, Reverend Father, President-General of the Society of Jesus, holding the place of God, and to thy successors, or to thee Reverend Father, in the place of the President-General of the Society of Jesus, and to his successors, holding the place of God, perpetual poverty, chastity, and obedience, and according to it (i. e., the obedience) special care in the education of boys, according to the mode set down in the Apostolic Letters and in the Constitutions of the said Society."

 

Such vows are called "simple," or "dispensable," and one who has taken them may, for sufficient cause, leave the Order; not so with the next vow, which is called the vow of the "professed"; it is binding for life. Those who have taken this obligation constitute the fourth class and are called "professi." They are the real Jesuits.

 

"I, N. N., make profession and promise to Almighty God, before his Virgin Mother and the universal court of heaven and all standing by, and to thee, Reverend Father, President-General of the Society of Jesus, holding the place of God, and to thy successors or to thee, Reverend Father,  Vice-President-General of the Society of Jesus, and to his successors holding the place of God, perpetual poverty, chastity, and obedience, and according to it peculiar care for the instruction of children, according to the method of living contained in the Apostolic Letters of the Society of Jesus and in its Constitutions. In addition I promise special obedience to the chief Pontiff in regard to missions, so far as may be contained in the same Apostolic Letters and Constitutions."

 

In some cases a "professed" is not compelled to take the vow covering missions, but all must take in addition to the above the following oath. The first part of this last oath repeats much of the one preceding and is omitted to save space:

 

"I, N. N., promise that I shall never for any reason do or consent that what is ordained about poverty in the Constitution of the Society shall be changed, unless when from just cause of things impelling poverty should seem to be better restricted. Further, I promise that I shall never by any act or pretense even indirectly seek or move for any honor or dignity of the Society. Further, I promise that I shall never care for nor seek any honor or dignity outside of the Society, nor consent to my election, unless compelled by obedience to him who can enjoin me under penalty of sin. Besides, if I should know of anyone who cares for or seeks the aforesaid honors, I promise to divulge him and the whole case to the Society or the President. In addition, I promise, if it should ever happen that for some reason I should be advanced to be president (or bishop) of any church, for the care which I owe to the salvation of my soul and to the right administration of the matter imposed upon me, the President-General of the Society having for me in that place and number, that I shall never refuse to hear the counsel which he or any of the Society whom he may substitute for himself deigns to give me. I promise always to yield to counsels of this kind if I judge them better than those which come to my own mind understanding everything according to the Constitutions and declarations of the Society of Jesus."

 

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ABOUT THE "LOST WORD"

 

I would like to get a book or two on The Lost Word. If you know of such editions let me know. I once saw a reference to a book entitled The Lost Word Found by Dr. Buck. Is this book available? R.E.M., Texas.

 

You might be able to find a copy of Dr. Buck's book through any good second hand book store, but the volume would now be of little value, because it is a presentation of the claims of TK, and TK's claims, as you know, collapsed. If you have access to the books you will find in the two volumes of A. E. Waite's The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry many references to the doctrine of the Lost Word which, if you will consider them in their totality, furnish a complete account of the matter. In THE BUILDER for February 1915 you will find the subject dealt with by W.F. Kuhn. In November of the same year, on page 271, you will find quite a lengthy article on The Ineffable Name by George W. Warvelle. THE BUILDER for June 1916 contains an article by A. E. Waite in which he briefly summarizes the legend. In an article on The Legendary Origin of Freemasonry, on page 297 of the issue for November 1919, Dudley Wright deals with the subject in a few paragraphs. A more extended treatment of the subject will be found in the Correspondence Circle Bulletin sections of THE BUILDER for February and for May of 1920, especially the latter, in which the writings of many men are summarized. Mackey's Encyclopedia contains a short article entitled "Lost Word." Albert Pike's "Morals and Dogma" may be consulted to advantage, as may also any good treatment of the Kabbala. In looking through books on this subject always be sure to consult all references to "The Tetragrammaton" and "The Letter 'G"' as well to "The Lost Word."

 

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A GUIDE TO ROGER BACON

 

l have occasion to prepare a paper on Roger Bacon ("Roger," you will note, not "Francis") and I should like to be referred to something simple and brief, as I am always hard put to find time to read. G. H., New York.

 

For your purpose it would be difficult to find anything better than The Open Court magazine for August, 1914. The entire number is devoted to Roger Bacon and contains articles on Roger Bacon by Paul Carus; Biography of Roger Bacon; The Two Bacons, by Ernest Duhring; Roger Bacon the Philosopher by Alfred H. Lloyd; Roger Bacon as a Scientist, by Karl E. Guthe; and Roger Bacon, Logician and Mathematician, by Philip E. B. Jourdain. You will find everything you need inside the compass of these various articles.

 

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CHURCH AFFILIATIONS OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

 

I have been requested by our Study Club leader to report to our Club what are the church affiliations of the members of the U. S. Congress. I have not been able to find the infor nation anywhere; can you furnish it to me? S.P.Y., Indiana.

 

The Methodist Church made an investigation of the subject with the following results:

 

Out of a total of 435 members of congress 24 are non-members, and church affiliation of 98 could not be ascertained. The following are the church affiliations:

 

United Brethren, Mormon, Independent, Mennonite, Dutch Reformed, Evangelical have one member each. There are two Universalists. There are three members of the Quaker church and three of the Jewish church. Five Unitarians, 10 Disciples, 10 Lutherans, 11 Christians, 18 Catholics, 23 Congregationalists, 35 Episcopalians, 29 Baptists, 56 Presbyterians and 99 Methodists.

 

In the senate the survey showed that out of a total of 96 senators the church affiliation of 23 was unknown and only four were non-members. There was one Protestant Episcopalian, one Christian. The Lutherans, Dutch Reformed, Unitarians and Mormans all have two members each. There are 6 Catholics and 6 Baptists, 7 Congregationalists, 11 Presbyterians, 12 Episcopalians and 17 Methodists.

 

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THE DAUGHTERS OF THE NILE

 

Will you kindly furnish me with some information about the woman's organization known as The Daughters of the Nile ?

 

J.L.K., Idaho.

 

The above query was referred to Mrs. Edith E. Gattis, Supreme Queen of the Order, whose address is 317 West Blaine Street, Seattle; in reply she has very obligingly given us the following letter:

 

"The Daughters of the Nile is an institution composed of Shriners' wives, daughters, mothers, sisters and widows, and is one of the loftiest institutions in the world today, composed strictly of women. Masonry was screened of its best, giving the purest and noblest ideals, to which womankind could subscribe and abide by. We have at the present time temples scattered throughout the United States, also Canada, and very soon a temple will be organized in the Phillipines. The present temples are Hatasu No. 1, Seattle; Tirzah, No. 2, Butte, Montana; Miriam, No. 3, Victoria, B.C.; Nydia, No. 4, Portland, Oregon; Zora, No. 5, Tacoma, Washington; El Karnak, No. 6, Spokane; Lotus, No. 7, Duluth, Minnesota; Zenobia, No. 8, Chicago, IIIinois; Zuleika, No. 9, Binghampton, New York; Pyramid, No. 10, Davenport, Iowa; Netiken, No. 11, Des Moines, Iowa; Mokattum No. 12, Los Angeles, California; Zuleima, No. 13, Ashland Oregon.

 

"These temples can only be organized where a Shrine Temple exists, and they are known as Hatasu Temple No. 1, Daughters of the Nile, and the Daughters of the Nile is added to each of the above names I have quoted, just as we would say, 'Nile Temple, A.A.O.N.M.S.' We elect our members to membership before we invite, - in other words, membership cannot be solicited, and in this way we keep our membership to the highest standard of womankind. I might add at this time that it was my privilege and pleasure this last May to initiate Mrs. Warren G. Harding, the wife of the President, into the order of The Daughters of the Nile. She favors the organization very much, and is proud to be classed as a member. I might further add that the membership throughout the nation is equally exclusive and any community is benefitted by this organization I would be very glad to give you further information.

 

"I enclose a copy of one of my addresses made a few years past, that will give you perhaps a more full idea of its purpose and aim, and I would add that this organization is composed of the best women on earth, regardless of their high standing before they come into the order: the standard of ideals taught are so high that our new initiates will at once become bigger, better and broader women. I cannot say too much in favor of the institution, and recommend it to all worthy women, and urge the organization of a temple in every eligible district to give our best women the opportunity and advantage of such an organization. Edith E. Grattis, Washington."

 

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CONCERNING THE HUGUENOTS

 

Can you give me the title of a good history of the Huguenots? My ancestors for several generations belonged to that blood and faith. Have any of them ever figured in Freemasonry? A.W.B., California.

 

"The Rise of the Huguenots," in two volumes, by H. M. Baird, published by Scribner's in 1883, is generally accepted as the history on the subject. You can find it in almost any public library. "French Blood in America," by Lucian J. Fosdick, and published by Fleming H. Revell Co., is also very good; it contains a chapter on the Huguenots and Freemasonry. Yes, they have figured much in the forefront of Freemasonry, as you will learn from the chapter just mentioned. Paul Revere was a Huguenot.

 

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A LIST OF MASONIC TOPICS

 

I should like to "read up" on Freemasonry but I find it difficult to find out the various subjects. Can you furnish me with a list of Masonic topics? L.J.P., Idaho.

 

This is a very incomplete list, drawn up at random, and offered as being merely suggestive. The best way to get a line on the topics of Masonic study is to run through the pages of some good Masonic Encyclopedia and note the headings, Primitive Secret Societies, The Men's House, The Ancient Mysteries, Isis and Osiris, Mithraism, Magna Mater, Eleusinian Mysteries, King Solomon's Temple, Dionysian Artificers, King Hiram of Tyre, The Roman Collegia, The Comacini, The Cathedral Builders, Craft Guilds, Operative Masonry, Non-Operative Masonry, Speculative Masonry, Decline of Operative Masonry, Occultism, Hermeticism, Rosicrucianism, Kabbalism, The Old Charges, The Knights Templar, The Revival of Masonry, The Modern Grand Lodge, The Ancient Grand Lodge, The Grand Lodge of All England, Military Lodges, The Union of 1813, Negro Masonry, The Founding of Masonry in Various Countries, Steinmetzen, Compagnonnage, The Druids, The Culdees, Symbolism, Ritualism, Divergencies of Ritual, Degrees Theory, Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, Master Mason, The Assembly, Theory of Grand Lodges, The Apron, The Three Great Lights, The Three Lesser Lights, The Square and Compasses, Circumambulation, The Letter "G", The Lost Word, The Middle Chamber, The Orders of Architecture, Approaching the East, The Lion's Paw, Working Tools, Obligation, Qualifications, Hiram Abiff, The Raising, Preparation, All-seeing Eye, Tetragrammaton, Masonic Jurisprudence, The Theories of Jurisdiction, Masonic Criminal Procedure, Prerogatives of Masonic Officials, Philosophy of Masonry, Equality, Liberty, Fraternity, Masonic Ethics, Immortality, Democracy, Christopher Wren, Ashmole, Dugdale, James Anderson, Dr. Desaguliers, Laurence Dermott, William Preston, Dr Geo. Oliver, Wm. Hutchinson, Thos. Smith Webb, Jeremy Cross, Albert Pike, Theo. Sutton Parvin, Masonic Music. Masonic Poetry, Masonic Journalism, Masonic Oratory.

 

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CORRESPONDENCE

 

"MASONlC LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS" ONCE MORE

 

You review of Brother Dudley Wright's book, "Masonic Legends and Traditions," in the February number of THE BUILDER interested me. I wonder if the readers of THE BUILDER would not be interested to read a review of the same book that appeared in The Occult Review and that was written by Brother A. E. Waite, who has had articles in THE BUILDER. I am sending you the clipping and ask you to print it. The review was published last October.

 

- M. J. Hingley, Illinois.:

 

BROTHER A. E. WAITE'S REVIEW

 

"By a process of exhaustion, we have most of us reached the conclusion, or have accepted as a working hypothesis, that the Hiramic Myth of Craft Masonry was first formulated in the years which followed immediately the foundation of Grand Lodge in 1717. It is not for such reason to be regarded a lying fable; on the contrary it is comparable to Bacon's New Atlantis or Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, in the sense that it is a morality, a tale possessed and permeated by an allegorical motive. It belongs in this sense to symbolism, and is part as such of the speculative Masonic system. It is neither of history nor tradition, and it has been allocated to these in the past only by minds devoid of critical gifts. Insofar as it is a myth with a meaning there is a broad sense in which it seems to have been framed on the Ancient Mysteries, the death and resurrection of the god. When the high grades developed there were some which emerged in the direct sense from the central story of the Craft, but their makers knew nothing, unfortunately, of the old mystery pageants and them were among those who took the Hiramic Myth literally. There rose up in this manner a series of barren grades, embodying further fables to extend the original story; but unlike this they were stories without a meaning. There was no morality "veiled in allegory" or "illustrated by symbols." In his account of Masonic Legends Brother Wright has eschewed these things of imposition and vanity, which might have filled his volume easily, and has had recourse to the curious storehouse of the Old English Constitutions and to accessible rabbinical sources. To those who are not Masons his collection is almost sure to be new, and perhaps as much may be said of the rank and file in the Brotherhood. There are chapters on the Temple of Solomon in lore and legend, on Solomonic traditions, On Hiram King of Tyre, Hiram Abiff and even the Queen of Sheba, for whom a niche has been found - for better, for worse, as it may be - in Masonic archives. It should be understood that these things belong to the lighter side and the accidents of a great subject, but they have their place on its outskirts, and they are left here to produce their own impression, without discussion of their value. There are a few which have an aspect of importance which will appeal only to students as they connect with the Secret Tradition imported by Freemasonry from old antecedent sources."

 

Many thanks, Brother Hingley, for calling our attention to so interesting a review of an excellent little book. Meanwhile our readers will care to know that The Occult Review is a monthly journal devoted to the occult and to the esoteric that is published by William Rider and Sons, Cathedral House, Paternoster Row, E. C., London, England, and is edited by Ralph Shirley. It is the leading English journal of its genre.

 

ON THINGS IN GENERAL

 

Being a Fraternal Forum in miniature as carried on through the mails among Brother David E. W. Williamson, Brother R. J. Lemert, and H. L. Haywood, the last named acting as chairman. It is herewith presented in dialog form - or should one say triolog? - and published for the good of the Order. If any brother wishes to put in a word on the matters discussed in this melange let him not hesitate to do so; he will find himself in good company.

 

EXCAVATIONS ON THE TEMPLE SITE AT JERUSALEM

 

D.E.W.W. - Just a line. In THE BUILDER it was stated I think in the last number, that nothing had been done about excavations on the Temple site at Jerusalem. This is wholly correct and it might have been added that there is little prospect of anything being done, owing to the certainty that the first move would call forth a howl from all faiths and sects. But I notice in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund for October (London, just at hand) that Professor Sayce, in the Expository Times for August, has an article on the Temple Mount. This publication is a new one to me. I shall try to get it through Stetcher, New York. The Quarterly Statement merely prints two lines that Sayce has such an article in such a publication.

 

H. L. H. - Brother Haydon has sent in a clipping from Adventure, I don't recall what issue, to the effect that an Austrian - named Grim as I recall it - did, more or less surreptitiously, do some excavating. The story sounds more or less apocryphal - more rather than less - but I shall wait to learn about the matter in detail with some interest. As to Sayce, he is a bit persona non grata with me. Years ago I purchased a volume of his that determined me to purchase no more. He is warped by theological presuppositions, it appeared to me, and reminded me of the saying of Ole John Burroughs about Henry Drummond, that Drummond "tried to prove that God is a Presbyterian." But if Sayce has written anything on the subject I shall be glad to see it. He is formidable if not convincing.

 

AN IDEAL MASONIC HISTORY

 

(H.L.H. wrote to R.J.L. and to D.E.W.W. to ask them their opinions about what a Masonic History should be, in order that he might have the advantage of their advice on his own venture in that line.)

 

R.J.L. - You ask me a question that I've been asking myself for years - my ideal of a Masonic History. Heaven knows! I've been wanting to write one, too, for a long while; and I have made two or three starts, only to chuck the whole thing up in disgust each time. I have pretty nearly everything that has been written, I think, and it is almost impossible to prepare a work that is worth printing without threshing over old straw. Still, I am not in the least satisfied with any of the histories on the market. Even Newton couldn't keep a lot of questionable stuff out - stuff that is wholly unjustified. There are some excellent points about the works of Vibert, Armitage and McBride.

 

I have an idea, however, that I propose to develop one of these days - a book to be entitled, probably, "Essentials of Masonic History." In fact, I have a lot of the manuscript licked into condition now - a holdover of a time some four years ago when I had some time hanging heavily upon me. It will be a sort of amplification of the theory laid down in my "Ancestors" - a series of thumb-nail sketches of each of the various elements which in my opinion have contributed to the making of modern Masonry: a short chapter, for instance, in prehistoric building, particularly of sacred and public structures, in the different lands; a statement of the facts, so far as ascertainable, regarding the various Mystery systems, with a supplementary statement of the deductions that may reasonably flow from the known facts; the same thing as regards the Dionysian Artificers and the Essenes and the Culdees and the School of Alexandria, and the various Pythagorean and Platonian schools of thought, and the Collegia and the Magistri Comacini, and the ancient vestiges of building art and traditions in Britain and on the Continent; the Johannites and the Manicheans and the Vaudois; the Templars and what they may have picked up in the south; the Rosicrucians, the Alchemists, the Troubadours, the old Theosophists and mystics and the Hermetists and all that sort of thing. lt will be a sort of scrapbook, I suspect, but I'll try to clear up a lot of misconceptions, poke around in a lot of dark corners, give a lot of cold facts, and label any of my own or others' speculations for exactly what they are.

 

It may not appeal to any vast number of people, but I'll have a lot of fun doing it, and I'll drag out in the open a lot of stuff that isn't available to the ordinary reader thus far.

 

I wish to goodness that some chap would find it possible to dig down into the facts surrounding the condition of the Craft at and before the formation of the Grand Lodge of London in 1717. I am absolutely convinced, in my own mind, that that whole transaction was a colossal fraud, although I can't get quite through my head the peculiar variety of hypnosis by which Anderson and his colleagues put the thing over. I'd bet the best goosenest I ever saw that the Third Degree was known and was being worked long, long before 1717; and then I'd gamble my reversion in the aforesaid goosenest that it wasn't known to the Grand Lodge of London some years afterward. I have the strongest sort of hunch that the "Ancients" were pretty much on the square, and that that bunch were in more or less legitimate possession of a much richer Masonry, from the ritualistic standpoint, at least, than Anderson's people, and that it probably came from Ireland. The problem of Stuart Masonry has always intrigued me (pardon me, but I like to use that word at least once in each letter; it's so delightfully mouthfilling), and I don't mind saying that I have a good deal of admiration for our ancient and querulous friend, John Yarker - peace to his ashes - even if he was an arrant old rebel.

 

I have an idea that the Irish lodges - and maybe some on western English soil, as at Bristol, for instance - worked the Third much as we do; and that the Anderson lodges, when they finally got the dope on that work, merely illustrated it, much as the Emulation and similar workings do today. There can't be much doubt that French Masonry sprang from the Grand Lodge of London, although I think there was Masonry in France of the Irish variety in 1688 and from that time on until the rise of the Emperors of the East and West and the other elements which later fused into the Rite of Perfection. But this, the Stuart Masonry, was apparently kept in the background, the popular variety being that fathered by Anderson and his friends. Now I have a number of exposes printed in France from 1746 on. Clearly they were of the dominant Masonry, or the English Masonry; and a most significant thing is that the Third Degree, which is described most fully, and rather elaborately pictured, does not work the tragedy, but merely exemplifies it, a la Emulation et al.

 

(The design that R.J.L. laid out upon the trestle board made H.L.H. feel rather humble. "Who is equal to such things ? " To his humbleness was added despair when he received from D.E.W.W. his specifications.)

 

D.E.W.W. - I am not competent, I fear, even to offer a suggestion at to what a short history of Freemasonry should include. It seems to me, though, that it ought not to be controversial, as all Gould's writings are. What the inquiring Freemason wants to know is first whence he came and why from such a lodge. That, it seems, should be answered with a concise statement of, first the organizing of Freemasonry in London and environs between 1717 and 1723 under a Grand Lodge, secondly the existence of Freemasonry in Scotland as shown by historical records and in Ireland by assumption from that speech at Trinity college quoted in Gould, as well as at York and other cities in England outside of the jurisdiction of the London Grand Lodge. This Masonry outside of London was organized into Grand Lodges - Ireland, I believe, in 1725; Scotland in 1736 and York about the same time or earlier, as well as a Grand Lodge under the Scottish constitution in London. Mention of Masonry outside of London would include the Ashmole references, the Randell Holme writings, the Tattler quotations and the statement about Christopher Wren. In this way of starting you would follow the Aristotelian rule of plunging at once into the midst of things. Possible derivations might be considered as your second chapter or even be placed in ah appendix - referring to the Comacines, the Cathedral Builders, the Essenes, the Ancient Mysteries, the Mithraic cult, the Druses, the Knightly Templar, the Culdees, the Kabbala. America deserves a better and broader consideration at the hands of historians than she has yet received and Freemasonry in the United States, if I may offer this advice, should be given credit for existence as early as most of the "time immemorial" lodges in England, if not in Ireland.

 

We know that Franklin was raised up in some lodge - whence did it draw its authority? The same way with the lodge in which Washington was raised. These lodges existed without a doubt and, if they were "working" it is reasonable to believe that others were doing the same thing. To get at a broader understanding of Freemasonry and its scope in the first half of the eighteenth century may not be so difficult after all, as I think there are good histories of the Craft in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, possibly also in Virginia, from which it might be possible to extract much information. As far as New York is concerned, if the history written by Brother Ossian Lang and published last year in the Masonic Standard is a fair account of all that is available there, it is not encouraging, but I fear Brother Lang has not achieved all that is possible. Reading the little he was able to give us it seems to me that no practical newspaper writer could fail to see the strong, dramatic possibilities of the story that could be written on the documents that plainly were in the hands of Brother Lang.

 

Freemasonry in the Colonies as the War of the Revolution affected it can only be glimpsed, but from the time of what might be called the reorganization of the Grand Lodges you would have a clear field if through the members of the National Masonic Research Society, whose services could be made available in the different jurisdictions, you would get a narrative of the work in those jurisdictions. The summarizing would be some job, I'll concede, but it would produce in concise, easily comprehended form a credible history - something we lack now. Through a Montana brother some time ago I obtained the loan of a book on the work of Freemasonry and the Chapter, written by a person who gave the name of Malcolm Duncan, probably a pseudonym - if not, it should be. In the back part of this expose (I read every one of them I can get hold of and have been promised the loan of some from France) is an account of the spread of the ritual in the United States, alleged to have been taken from an address by a Grand Master of Vermont. I am sorry I have not the book at this moment, or I would copy this for you, but any second-hand store in Los Angeles has the Duncan book for sale and the Society headquarters at Anamosa undoubtedly possesses a copy. It is said to be as common and widely circulated as the Jabez Richardson work. However, the inquiring newly-made Mason wants to know about the ritual and he should be told something reasonable, and he might at least be told that, since the present "work" in England was adopted as a compromise between the Ancients and the Moderns in 1813 (and that there are three versions there, as you pointed out in the last number of THE BUILDER - Emulation, Stability and Oxford), the stamp of greater antiquity certainly rests upon the "work" closely followed with slight differences in American jurisdictions. He might be told that Pennsylvania is sui generis and is close to the present English work, that Massachusetts is probably as close to the original Webb work as any Grand Lodge but that New York insists on being closer, while Virginia and Louisiana each pretends to trace direct to the fountain head, but that those who really know declare that Illinois and Indiana, Michigan and the Middle West are the real thing. And our Californian brothers should consider themselves lucky if let of without mention, because they got their original standard from four different jurisdictions and it is only some fifteen years since they failed to improve it by rearranging it altogether. For instance, basing their statement on what is universally admitted to have been a misdrawing in the original Jeremy Cross chart, they tell the newly obligated Master Mason that a Master Mason should wear his apron with the right corner turned up but they go on to explain that it isn't done, you know. I'm not saying much about Nevada. We use the New York standard

 

Just how much space to devote to the Compagnonnage de la Tour de France I do not know. Since you mentioned tracing Gould on one topic to a source that proved untrustworthy or at least unworthy of serious consideration, I have been thinking that perhaps Gould has given too much weight to Perdiguer's account. It is virtually all we have and none of the manuscripts spoken of by Perdiguer has ever been traced in the eighty years since the book was published. But the Compagnonnage, of course, ought to be mentioned somewhere in your second chapter or as an appendix, itself. In my belief that we shall find someday the origin of the legend in the monasteries, I have depended much on this Compagnonnage story, but candidly I'm beginning to be rather skeptical.

 

If A. E. Waite were not such a terribly involved and tedious writer, one could read his volume on "The Secret Tradition" and get a very fair idea of the origin of what we in this country call the York Rite as well as the Scottish Rite and the various other existing versions of the work. But it is out of the question. Every young Mason is early given to understand that the "higher" degrees offer a rich reward. Hence, a short Masonic history ought to tell something about the Royal Arch and its attachments, the Cryptic rites, the Knights Templar on the one hand, and the Scottish Rite, with its wide influence, on the other. Every published book on the Chapter in the United States is definitely and unquestionably wrong in assuming that the Royal Arch was ever a part of the Third Degree, according to the investigations on this subject published by the Quatuor Coronati Lodge. As for the Templars, the only reasonable account of them, so far as Masonry is concerned, was published in the same lodge's publications in 1913, by Chetwood Crawley.

 

And, as to the Scottish Rite, something should be said about the refusal of English, Scotch, Irish and many American Grand Lodges to recognize the Grand-Orient of France. The Mason should be told why.

 

Profuse illustrations would spoil your book. Five or six at most ought to be enough and they should avoid the rut that we have got into in the United States in all the Macoy publications - a picture of George Washington, one of Lafayette, Washington's apron, General Warren, occasionally one of Benjamin Franklin. These are about worn out. A live group of eminent Past Grand Masters of today would be far more likely to catch the student's eye. (Excuse me if I speak dogmatically - it’s a daily habit of me in my work.)

 

THE LEGEND OF THE THIRD DEGREE

 

(In a letter of some weeks back D.E.W.W. had urged the theory that our Third Degree drama had probably sprung from some of the old monastic ceremonies. When asked by H.L.H. to amplify the idea he sent the following.)

 

Well, let me take up as briefly as I can "The Case for the Monasteries." The diegesis of the Halliwell, or Regius, manuscript and the Cooke manuscript believed by all editors to have been written by some learned monk - mannerisms those of monasteries, as seen in Ranulf's "Polychronicon." Indications of these oldest manuscripts of Masonry are that they were composed for the edification or instruction of a lodge of Masons at work on the monastery, abbey or church at the time. The legend of the Third Degree is common to English, Irish and Scottish Masons and is found, in slightly altered form, in the Compagnonnage. Gould says the Compagnonnage derives the story from "The same sources of origin as our own Freemasonry." What were those sources? Except the church, the people of England and France in the Middle Ages had nothing in common. It was the center of social life as well as the repository of what learning existed. There was no education among the people in general, as we understand the term and there was little or no travel. Such travelers as there were had no place to go except to the monasteries for food and lodging and the travelers, we know, were welcomed by the monks to whom they told the news of the day and with whom they exchanged gossip and the latest songs and stories. Those who traveled from place to place were principally the masons and builders and thus they had access to the learning and literature of the most widely disseminated fraternity ever known - the fraternity of the Roman Catholic Church. Since the Masons of England and those of France both had a legend dealing with Hiram, the artifices it is a fair assumption that they obtained it from the one common source - to-wit: the church.

 

There may be some significance to the fact the Compagnonnage connects the town of Arles with the legend and this Arles of Provence was a famous center of religious dramas and it has more than once occurred to me that our ancient charges with their mention of such names as "Tuball" and "Noe" and "Euclid" and so forth and the general spirit of the "history" were written by some monk - the only person who could write at all at that period - who had before him, as he composed the lecture, a mental picture of one of those pageants for which the Middle Ages were famous. Then you may have observed that these charges were first printed as "The Old Constitutions." Now where did they get that plural form of Constitution? I have never seen it referred to anywhere, but it has occurred to me that the Diatagai were first published as "Apostolic Constitutions" by the Jesuit Turrianus in 1563 and we are told by the Encyclopedia Brittanica (eleventh edition, vol. ii, page 199) that this spurious work was "more highly esteemed in England than elsewhere." Just a bit of evidence of no particular importance by itself but helping in connection with the other facts in the cumulative effect. Then the late E.L. Hawkins (Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, 1913) drew attention to the fact that in the old charges the certain direction "Tunc unus ex senioribus teneat librum" etc., is always in Latin. It seems to me that this is a clincher, though Hawkins did not see it, for here we have a clear case of the church practice of printing the rubric in Latin.

 

I have simply summarized this and have written it in the shape of notes because it is by no means complete. There is much to be investigated before a decisive judgment can be reached. But I think the case as it stands is sufficiently strong to warrant following up. Do you ? And I think I told you about Brother Robert Clegg's referring me to volume four of Gould's history, to the picture copied from the Illustrated London News of 1870 showing the ordination of a Benedictine monk. (I have been wholly unable to get the Roman ritual of ordination of priest or monk. Could you suggest where I could get one?) I know I wrote to you or was going to write that there are faint resemblances (very faint, but they are there) in the Book of Common Prayer to the questioning of a candidate.

 

OCCULTISM AND FREEMASONRY

 

(R.J.L. is something of a browser in occultism, especially insofar as it has to do with Freemasonry. H.L.H. asked him to write something on the subject for THE BUILDER.)

 

I'm getting material together for the series on occultism which you are so kind as to say you think you can use, and hope to get at it one of these days. One of my late purchases from France, Pierre Piobb's "Evolution de l'Ocultisme," gives me some excellent ideas, which I propose to work in whenever the time comes. I was somewhat astonished to learn from Piobb that the word "Occultisme," the prototype of our own word, I assume, is of recent coinage, having been first applied by Papus (Dr. Encausse) in 1888. By the way, speaking of words, I observe that the barbarism "Hermeticism" now and then appears in THE BUILDER.

 

H.L.H. - What's wrong with "Hermeticism"? I find it used in the Ars Quatuor Coronati? Isn't that good enough for you ?

 

R.J.L. - Why, my objection to it is that its formation is faulty. Your root word is, of course, "Hermes"; hence and ergo, Hermes-ic - Hermetic for the sake of euphony. Also, Hermes-ism - Hermetism, for the same reason. The root of the latter word is not "Hermetic," but "Hermes."

 

True, one is occasionally forced to coin a word to express a burgeoning thought; but even in such case it is well to consider some rules. And neither rule nor rhyme nor reason justifies "Hermeticism" as you will appreciate if you just think a moment. It may be that some of the dictionaries carry the word of which I complain, but I doubt it.

 

Of course, in employing such a word one has the weight of authority of Humpty Dumpty, cited in that standard work, "Alice in Wonderland," in which when reproved by Alice for a solecism, he defends himself by saying (I paraphrase from ancient memory): "Words are my servants,not my masters; and I require them to mean whatever I will that they shall mean."

 

One occasionally finds weird and wonderful words in English and Scottish publications. I have before me as I write the latest Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, containing an auditor's report, in which the accountant remarks sweetly, ong passong, "the income effeiring to Grand Lodge . . . from dues of Intrants," etc. And yet I fear I shall never be justified in employing these two gladsome accessions to my vocabulary, dearly as I might desire it, in one of my reports. I can imagine some keen lawyer quizzing me about them on the witness stand.

 

THE TRIVIUM AND THE QUADRIVIUM

 

(D.E.W.W. said something in a letter to R.J.L. about the "trivium and the quadrivium." H.L.H. has stolen R.J.L.'s reply.)

 

I dug into this "seven liberal arts and sciences" matter some years ago, and there a few things which persist in my memory which may be of some use to you.

 

Both the trivium and the quadrivium formed the basis of the instruction in the old University of Athens, the School of Alexandria, and that university at Rome which began to be called the Athenaeum in Hadrian's day, about A. D. 120.

 

Possibly before, and certainly from the time of Isocrates (436-338 B.C.) and under the influences of Speusippus (407-339 B. C.) and Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) human knowledge was summarized under seven heads - grammar, rhetoric and dialectics, later known as the trivium; and music, astronomy, geometry and arithmetic, the quadrivium, just as friend Pafnutius observes.

 

My notes - such as I have been able to lay my hand on tonight - tell me that these designations were first employed about the end of the fourth century. It is quite certain the terms applied to these branches of knowledge were elastic, sometimes comprehending two or three things, sometimes half a dozen. In the Romano-Hellenic schools dialectic embraced logic, ethics and metaphysics, but with Quintillian only logic and ethics.

 

I think our classification into seven liberal arts and sciences is extremely old. I have Matter's "Ecole d'Alexandrie" on my shelves, and it is my impression that there's quite a bit of data in it; but there are three laborious volumes, unindexed, more's the pity.

 

By the way, of course you know that at least in the Middle Ages the quadrivium group was regarded as wholly mathematical, even to music; the trivium was the literary group.

 

THE POINT WITHIN A CIRCLE

 

(R.J.L. delivered himself of an opinion as to the origin of the Point Within the Circle that is interesting,"intriguing," as the young lions of The New Republic would say.)

 

I have an idea regarding the Point Within the Circle that I hope to develop to somewhere near my satisfaction one of these days - and there's no phallicism in the guess I'm making either. I have a rather huge collection of ancient coins, and among them possibly a dozen old Athenian tetradrachms running from 600 or more B. C. down several hundred years. All bear, in semiarchaic Greek characters, the abbreviation of the name of the city - AOE. You will observe that the "theta" is not made as we now make it, an O with a bar across an ellipse, but it is a true circle with a dot in its center.

 

I haven't dug into the origin of the Greek alphabet as much as I have into some of the others - Hebrew and Phoenician, for example. But theoretically the ancient Hebrew "aleph" was a hieroglyphical representation of the head of an ox, and the Phoenecian aleph is easily recognizable as such a drawing. "Aleph" means ox or bullock. "Beth" is a house or a tent, and the character was originally a drawing of part of a house. "Cimel" is "camel," and once more a hieroglyph. When the Phoenician alphabet was first formed the writers selected common words beginning with the sound they wanted to represent, and then drew a rough picture of that object, which later became conventionalized. We all know that, so please don't think that I imagine I'm playing the schoolmaster; I'm merely thinking on paper.

 

When the Greeks adopted their alphabet, they borrowed largely from their elders as to many of their characters. In some cases they didn't. One of their words for the Supreme Being was,and is,"theos," as we know. Was there once a time, in a proto-Greek tongue, when it was "theta" ? The words are tremendously alike. If so, or if the character "theta" was originally called "theos," or if, as a third possibility, reverence for a sacred name or superstitious fear led them to adopt a modification, a sort of diminutive, and to call the God "theos" in sacred ceremonies, but "theta" in ordinary conversation, and if they followed the time-honored custom of adopting an hieroglyph like the Hebrews and the Phoenicians, it is clear that the Point Within a Circle must have been a conventional representation of Deity when the alphabet was formed.

 

I never have believed much in many of the derivations to which some writers are so firmly wedded - phallicism, sun worship, stellar cults, and all that sort of thing. Relatively, phallicism is a late development - that is, in the old Aryan religions it was unknown, practically. Long ages ago there was a cult of life - and a very noble and lofty thing it was, coordinate with the worship of the male principle in nature. Later the female principle was introduced by a rebellious party, who sought a slogan, as we would call it today, to gain adherents. And to get something "catchy," something that would gain the adhesion of the masses, the bolsheviki, they substituted the female principle, and female gods - or goddesses - for the old male gods. And then - the usual result when the male and female principles are juxtaposed.

 

I'm inclined to believe that the Point Within a Circle was originally exactly the same thing as the All-seeing Eye, and that as a symbol of Deity it is to be found on some of the very oldest monuments. Of course, we know that it was the Ra symbol on the Egyptian monuments, meaning not only God, but the sun; but here again I can't believe the sun was regarded as a deity, but merely as the visible manifestation of Deity - once more an eye.

 

Some of the Vedic quotations in Ragozin's "Vedic India" demonstrate quite clearly how the Aryans regarded the sun - merely as the manifestations of Deity, and not as Deity himself.

 

I know quite well that most of what I've written is trite to you, but as I said on the earlier page, I've been merely thinking on paper.

 

Have you ever read Dupuis' "Origine de Tous les Cultes"? I have the original work, in ten or twelve volumes, and also a later abridgement. But Dupuis saw sun worship in everything.

 

H.L.H. - One could say much about your "theta" theory, "for and ferninst." You know that the alchemists used the Point Within the Circle as a sign for the sun, and for such things as they associated with that luminary, gold for example (see Campbell Brown's History of Chemistry): since alchemy goes so far back, since it was so prevalent during the Middle Ages, and since so many of its signs - as witness a doctor's signature to his prescriptions - have remained in use, I am inclined to believe that the symbol came thence, and that it has generally meant the sun, and by analogy, Deity.

 

(From the sublime to the ridiculous. H.L.H. enclosed his "phiz" in a letter to R.J.L. with the following results.)

 

And also thank you for the likeness. You're a younger man than I would have expected. Don't fret about the lack of gray hairs. You'll get them if you keep up the writing game. I put in about 25 or 30 years of my sweet young life in newspaper work, and I'm mighty nearly snow white - and just a kid yet - only 55 next month. It's a deep pity that you didn't wait about three weeks before being born, so you could have seen the light under the auspices of Sagittarius. Then you'd have taken to occultism like a duck to water. Of course, no Scorpio individual could be expected to like it.

 

 

 

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