STAR, EASTERN.
See Eastern Star, Order of the.
STAR, FIVE POINTED .
See Five- Pointed Star.
STAR IN THE EAST.
The Blazing Star is thus called by those who entertain the theory that there is "an intimate and necessary connection between Masonry and Christianity." This doctrine, which Doetor Oliver thinks is "the fairest gem that Masonry can boast," is defended by him in his early work entitled The Star in the East. The whole subject is discussed in the article Blazing Star, which see.
STAR OF JERUSALEM.
A Degree cited in the nomenclature of Fustier.
STAR OF THE SYRIAN KNIGHTS.
In French, Etoile des Chevaliers Syriens. The Order of Syrian Knights of the Star is contained in the collection of Pyron. It is divided into three Degrees—Novice, Professed, and Grand Patriarch.
STARCK, JOHANN AUGUST VON.
J. A. von Starck, whose life is closely connected with the history of German Freemasonry, and especially with that of the Rite of Strict Observance, was born at Schwerin, October 29, 1741. He studied at the University of Göttingen, and was made in 1751 a Freemason in a French Military Lodge. In 1763 he went to St. Petersburg, where he received the appointment of teacher in one of the public schools. There, too, it is supposed that he was adopted into the Rite of Melesino, then flourishing in the Russian capital, and became first acquainted with the Rite of Strict Observance, in which he afterward played so important a part.
After two years' residence at St. Petersburg, Brother von Starck went for a short time to England, and was in August, 1766, in Paris. In 1767 he was Director of the schools at Wismar, where he was Junior Warden of the Lodge of the Three Lions. In 1770 he was called to Königsberg, to occupy the chair of theology, and to fill the post of Court Chaplain. The following year he resigned both offices, and retired to Mettau, to devote himself to literary and philosophical pursuits. But in 1781 the Court at Darmstadt conferred upon him the posts of Chief Preacher and the first place in the Consistory, and there he remained until his death which occured Mach 3, 1816.
The knowledge that Starck acquired of the Rite of Strict Obscrvance convinced him of its innate weakness, and of the necessity of some reformation. He therefore was led to the idea of reviving the spiritual branch of the Order, a project which he sought to carry into effect, at first quietly and secretly, by gaining over influential Freemasons to his views. In this he so far succeeded as to be enabled to establish, in 1767, the new system of clerical Knights Templar, as a schism from the Strict Observance, and to which he gave the name of Clerks of Relaxed Observance. It consisted of seven Degrees, as follows:
1. Apprentice
2. Fellow;
3. Master;
4. Young Scottish Master;
5. Old Scottish Master, or Knight of Saint Andrew;
6. Provincial Chapter of the Red Cross;
7. Magus, or Knight of Brightness and Light; which last Degree was divided into five classes, of Novice, Levite, and Priest—the summit of the Order being Knight Priest.
Thus he embodied the idea that Templarism was a hierarchy, and that not only was every Freemason a Templar, but every true Templar was both a Knight and a Priest. Starck, who was originally a Protestant, had been secretly connected with Romanism while in Paris; and he attempted surreptitiously to introduce Roman Catholicism into his new system. He professed that the Rite which he was propagating was in possession of secrets not known to the chivalric branch of the Order; and he demanded, as a prerequisite to admission, that the candidate should be a Roman Catholic, and have previously received the Degrees of Strict Observance.
Starck entered into a correspondence with Von Hund, the head of the Rite of Strict Observance, for the purpose of effecting a fusion of the two branches— the Chivalric and the Spiritual. But, notwithstanding the willingness of Von Hund to accept any league which promised to give renewed strength to his own decaying system, the fusion was never effected. It is true that in 1768 there was a formal union of the two branches at Wismar, but it was neither sincere nor permanent.
At the Congress of Brunswick, in 1775, the clerical branch seceded and formed an independent Order; and after the death of Von Hund the Lodges of the Strict Observance abandoned their name, and called themselves the United German Lodges. The spiritual branch, too, soon began to lose favor with the German Freemasons, partly because the Swedish system was getting to be popular in Germany, and partly because Starck was suspected of being in league with the Catholics, for whose sake he had invented his system. Documentary evidence has since proved that this suspicion was well founded. Ragon says that the Order continued in successful existence until the vear 1800; but Doctor Mackey doubted if it lasted so long.
The German writers have not hesitated to accuse Starck of having been an emissary of the Jesuits, and of having instituted his Rite in the interests of Jesuitism. This, of course, rendered both him and the Rite unpopular, and gave an impetus to its decay and fall. Starck himself, even before his appointment as Court Chaplain at Darmstadt, in 1781, had, by his own confession, not only abandoned the Rite, but all interest in Freemasonry. In 1785 he wrote his Saint Nicaise, which was really anti-Masonic in principle, and in 1787 he published his work Ueber Kripto Catholicesmus, etc., or A Treatise on Secret Catholicism, on Proselyte Making, on Jesuitism, and on Secret Societies, which was a controversial work directed against Nicolai, Gädicke, and Biester. In this book he says:
"It is true that in my youthful days I was a Freemason. It is also true that when the so-called Strict Observance was introduced into Masonry I belonged to it, and was, like others, an Eques, Socius, Armiger, Commendator, Prefect, and Sub-Prior; and having taken some formal cloister-like profession, I have been a Clericus. But I have withdrawn from all that, and all that is called Freemasonry, for more than nine years."
While an active member of the Masonic Order, whatever may have been his secret motives, he wrote many valuable Masonic works, which produced at the time of their appearance a great sensation in Germany. Such were his Apology for the Order of Freemasonry, Berlin, 1778, which went through many editions; on the Design of the Order of Freemasonry, Berlin, 1781; and on the Ancient and Modern Mysteries, 1782. He was distinguished as a man of letters and as a learned theologian, and has left numerous work on general literature and on religion, the latter class showing an evident leaning toward the Roman Catholic faith, of which he was evidently a partisan.
"There is," says Feller ( Universal Biography) "in the life of Starck something singular, that has never been made public." Doctor Mackey deemed the verdict well established, that in his labors for the apparent reformation of Freemasonry there was a deplorable want of honesty and sincerity, and that he abandoned the Order finally because his schemes of ambition failed, and the Jesuitical designs with which he entered it svere frustrated.
STARE SUPER VIAS ANTI QUAS.
Latin expression, meaning To stand on the ancient paths. An adage, appropriately applied as a Masonic motto to inculcate the duty of adhering to the ancient landmarks.
STATE.
The political divisions of the United States have been called States and Territories. In every State and in every populous Territory there was established a Grand Lodge and a Grand Chapter, each of which exercises exclusive jurisdiction over all the Lodges and Chapters within its political boundaries; nor does it permit the introduction of any other Grand Lodge or Grand Chapter within its limits; so that there is, and can be, but one Grand Lodge and one Grand Chapter in each State. In most of the States there has also been erected a Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters, and a Grand Comnuandery of Knights Templar, which claim the same right of exclusive jurisdiction (see Jurisdictior of a Grand Lodge).
STATIONS.
The positions occupied by the subordinate officers of a Lodge are called Places, as "the Junior Deacon's place in the Lodge." But the positions occupied by the Master and Wardens are called Stations, as "the Senior Warden's station in the Lodge." This is because these three officers, representing the sun in his three prominent points of rising, culminating, and setting, are supposed to be stationary, and therefore remain in the spot appropriated to them by the instructions, while the Deacons and other officers are required to move about from place to place in the Lodge.
A representative explanation of the location of the Stations to be occupied by Grand Lodge Offieers of Massachusetts is given (see page 100, in the 1918 book of Constitutions and Regulations of that State)
The M. W. Grand Master, in the East, at the Head of the Grand Lodge.
The R. W. Deputy Grand Master, in the East, next to and left of the Grand Master.
The R. W. Senior Grand Warden, in the West.
The R. W. Junior Grand Warden, in the South.
The M. W. Past Grand Masters, in the East at the right of the Grand Master, and the Junior Past Grand Master, next to the Grand Master.
The R. W. Past Deputy Grand Masters, in the East at the right of the Past Grand Masters.
The R. W. Past Grand Wardens, in the East, at the right of the Past Deputy Grand Masters.
The R. W. Grand Treasurer, on the right in front of the Grand Master.
The R. W. Grand Secretary, on the left, in front of the Grand Master.
The R. W. District Deputy Grand Masters, in the East on the left of the Deputy Grand Master.
The R. W. Grand Marshal, Upon the left of the Grand Master, in front of the Grand Secretary.
The W. and Rev. Grand Chaplains, in front of and on the right and left of the M. W. Grand Master, near the altar.
The W. Grand Lecturers, on the right of the Senior Grand Deacon.
The W. Senior Grand Deacon, upon the right of the Grand Master, in front of the Grand Treasurer.
The W. Junior Grand Deacon, in the West at the right of the Senior Grand Warden.
The W. Grand Stewards, in the South, two upon the right and two upon the left of the Junior Grand Warden, upon each side, one Steward in front of the other.
The W. Grand Sword-Bearer, at the left of the Grand Marshal.
The W. Grand Standard-Bearer, at the left of the Grand Sword-Bearer.
The W. Grand Pursuivants, near the door of entrance to the Grand Lodge.
The Wor. Grand Organist, at the Organ.
The Wor. Grand Tyler, outside of the entrance to the Grand Lodge.
STATUTE OF HENRY VI.
See Laborers, Statutes of and Statutes Relating to Freemasons.
STATUTES.
The permanent rules by which a subordinate Lodge is governed are called its By-Laws; the regulations of a Grand Lodge are called its Constitution: but the laws enacted for the government of a Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite are denominated Statutes.
STATUTES RELATING TO FREEMASONS.
The laws of England have never contained more than a few references to the Masonic Order. It has been assumed that a Statute of 1425 (3 Henry VI, chapter i) referred to Freemasons. This Statute forbids the holding of "Chapiters and Congregations" by Masons but this did not refer to the General Assemblies of the Craft but was one of a group of regulations known as the Statutes of Labourers enacted from time to time from Edward III to the reign of Elizabeth. This referred only to laborers. An Aet passed in 1799 (39 George III, chapter 79, Sedition Act) states specifically that Freemasons are exempted from the ruling, as does also the Act of 1817 (57 George III, chapter 19).
Certain groups or congregations were named Unlawful combinations" and to avoid this appellation the only thing necessary for the Masonic Order to do was to have the Lodge register annually with the Clerk of the Peace the names of members of a Lodge. The Irish Constabulary Act of 1836 (6 and 7 William IV, chapter 13), permitted persons appointed under it to belong to the "Society of Freemasons," but to no other secret society. Brother Dudley Wright quotes an instance where the Craft narrowly escaped being included in a bill presented into the House of Commons in 1799 for the suppression of seditious and secret meetings. Rowland Burdon, who was Master of the Palatine Lodge from 1793 to 1796. was at that time the member for Durham County and when the bill was first read he became alarmed at the possibility of it prohibiting the meeting of Masonic Lodges. He immediately sent a message to William White, Grand Secretary, suggesting the convening of the Grand Officers with the result that the bill was amended and two words "Freemasons excepted" introduced, which averted the danger.
Brother Hawkins (Concise Cyclopedia) says, "The laws of England are almost entirely silent with regard to Freemasons, and they only allude to the Soeiety in order to grant it exemption from the Aets passed in 1799 (39 George III, chapter 79, Sedition Act) and in 1817 (57 George III, chapter 19) with the object of suppressing seditious societies. In order to claim this exemption and thus avoid being deemed an 'unlawful combination,' the names of members of a Lodge must be registered annually with the Clerk of the Peace. Similarly on the passing of the Irish Constabulary Act of 1836 (6 and 7 William IV, chapter 13) persons appointed under it were permitted to belong to 'the Society of Freemasons,' but to no other secret society" (see Laborers, Statutes of).
STEINBACH, ERWIN VON.
See Erwin son Steinbach.
STEINMETZ.
German, meaning a stone-mason. For an account of the German Fraternity of Steinmetzen (see Stone-Masons of the Middle Ages).
"STELLATO SEDET SOLO."
Latin, meaning He sits on his starry throne. A symbolic expression in the Twenty-eighth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
STEP.
The Step can hardly be called a mode of recognition, although Apuleius informs us that there was a peculiar step in the Osiriac initiation which was deemed a sign (see Sign). It is in Freemasonry rather an esoteric usage of the ritual. The steps ean be traced back as far as to at least the middle of the eighteenth century, in the rituals of which they are described The custom of advancing in a peculiar manner and form, to some sacred place or elevated personage, has been preserved in the customs of all countries, especially among the Orientalists, who resort even to prostrations of the body when approaching the throne of the sovereign or the holy part of a religious edified.
The steps of Freemasonry are symbolic of respect and veneration for the altar, whence Masonic light is to emanate.
In former times, and ho some of the advanced and other Degrees in various parts of the world, a bier or coffin was placed in front of the altar, as a well-known symbol, and in passing over this to reach the altar, those various positions of the feet were neeessarilv taken which constitute the proper mode of advancing. Respect was thus necessarily paid to the memory of a worthy artist as well as to the holy altar.
Brother Lenning says of the steps—which the German Masons call die Schritte der Aufzunehmenden meaning the steps of the recipients, and the French, les pas Mysterieux, the mysterious steps—that "every degree has a different number, which are made in a different way, and have an allegorical meaning." Of the "allegorical meaning" of those in the Third Degree, we have spoken above as explicitly as would be proper. Gädicke says: "The three grand steps symbolically lead from this life to the source of all knowledge."
It must be evident to every Master Mason, without further explanation, that the three steps are taken from the place of darkness to the place of light, either figuratively or really over a eosins the symbol of death, to teach symbolically that the passage from the darkness and ignorance of this life is through death to the light and knowledge of the eternal life. And this, from the earliest times, was the true symbolism of the step.
STEPS ON THE MASTER'S CARPET.
The three steps delineated on the Master's Carpet, as one of the symbols of the Third Degree, refer to the three steps or stages of human life—youth, manhood, and old age. This symbol is one of the simplest forms or modifications of the mystical ladder, which pervades all the systems of initiation ancient and modern (see Carpet)
STERKIN.
One of the three Assassins, according to the Hiramic legend of some of the advanced Degrees. Lenning says the word means vengeance, but does not state his authority. Str are the letters of the Chaldaic verb to strike a blowup, and it may lve that the root of the name will be found there; but the Masonic corruptions of Hebrew words often defy the rules of etymology. Perhaps this and some kindred words are mere anagrams, or corruptions introduced into the advanced Degrees by the adherents of the Pretender, who sought in this way to do honor to the friends of the House of Stuart, or to east infamy on its enemies (see Romvel).
STEWARDS.
The officers in a Symbolic Lodge, whose duties are, to assist in the collection of dues and subscriptions; to provide the necessary refreshments, and make a regular report to the Treasurer; and generally to aid the Deacons and other officers in the performance of their duties. They usually carry white rods, and the jewel of their office is a cornucopia, which is a symbol of plenty.
STEWARDS, GRAND.
See Grand Stewards.
STEWARDS' LODGE.
The Maryland Constitution of 1794 provided for a committee of five Brethren, one the Grand Master, to be Stewards of the Grand Charity Fund. Regulations adopted in 1799 gave this committee, or Stewards' Lodge, "authority to hear and determine all matters concerning Freemasonry that shall be laid before them, except making new regulations." During the recess of Grand Lodge this body granted Charters, ordered programmes and processions of the Craft, heard trials and appeals, and supervised Masonic finances. A new Constitution in 1872 ended the existence of this Lodge then comprising the Masters and one Past Master of each of the Baltimore Lodges with the Deputy Grand Master presiding. Other Grand Lodges, as Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, have had in their early history Grand Stewards but nowhere except in New York, perhaps, and until 1844 or 1845, did they possess power similar to the Grand Stewards Lodge of Maryland (see Freemasonry in Maryland, Brother E. T. Schultz, volume iv, pages 8 and 9). In England there is a Lodge of the Grand Stewards (see Grand Stewards' Lodge) .
STIRLING.
A city in Scotland which was the seat of a Lodge called the Stirling Ancient Lodge, which the author of the introduction to the General Regulations of the Supreme Grand Chapter of Scotland says conferred the degrees of Royal Arch, Red Cross or Ark, the Sepulcher, Knight of Malta, and Knights Templar until about the beginning of the eighteenth century, when two Lodges were formed—one Lodge for the cultivation of Saint John's Masonry, which was the old one, and a new Body called the Royal Arch, for advanced Degrees; although it, too, soon began to confer the first three Degrees. The Ancient Lodge joined the Grand Lodge of Scotland at its formation in 1736, but the new Lodge remained independent until 1759.
The same authority tells us that "in the Stirling Ancient Lodge are still preserved two old, rudelyengraved brass plates: one of these relates to the first two degrees of Masonry; the other contains on the one side certain emblems belonging to a Master's Lodge, and on the reverse five figures, the one at the top is called the Redd Cross or Ark. At the bottom is a series of concentric arches, which might be mistaken for a rainbow, were there not a keystone on the summit, indicative of an arch. The three other figures are enclosed within a border; the upper is called the Sepulcher; the second, Knight of Malta; and the third, Knights Templar. The age of these plates is unknown, but they can scarcely be more modern than the beginning or middle of the seventeenth century."
So circumstantial a description, inserted, too, in a book of official authority, would naturally lead to the conclusion that these plates must have been in existence in 1845, when the description was written. If they ever existed, their have now disappeared, nor have any traces of them been discovered. Brother W. James Hughan, whose indefatigable labors have been rewarded with so many valuable discoveries, has failed, in this search, to find success. He says in the Freemason, "I spent some weeks, in odd hours, looking up the question a few years ago, and wrote officials in Edinburgh and at Stirling, and also made special inquiries at Stirling by kind co-operation of Masonic students who also investigated the matter; but all our many attempts only resulted in confirming what I was told at the outset, namely, that 'No one knows aught about them, either in Stirling or elsewhere. The friends at Stirling say the plates were sent to Edinburgh, and never returned, and the Fraternity at Edinburgh declared they were returned and have since been lost.' "
STOCKINGS.
In the eighteenth century, when krlee-breeches constituted a portion of the eostulne of gentlemen, Freemasons were required, by a ritual istic regulation, to wear white Stockings. The fashion having expired, the regulation is no longer in force.
STOLKIN.
In the Elu Degrees (elu, the French word meaning elected or chosen has an especial and familiar connection with certain of the first grades of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite) this is the name of one of those appointed to search for the criminals commemorated in the legend of the Third Degree. It is impossible to trace its derivation to any Hebrew root. It may be an anagram of a name perhaps that of one of the friends of the house of Stuart .
STONE.
STONE, ANNAPOLIS THE
STONE, CORNER.
STONE, CUBICAL.
The stone, on account of its hardness has been from the most ancient times a symbol of strength, fortitude, and a firm foundation. The Hebrew word Eben, which signifies a stone, is derived, by Gesenius, from an obsolete root, Ab(ln, to build, whence aban, an architect; and he refers it to A manah, which means a column, a covenant, and truth. The stone, therefore, says Portal (Egyptian Symbols), may be considered as the symbol of faith and truth: hence Christ taught the very principle of symbology, when he called Peter, who represented faith, the rock or stone on which he would build his Church.
But in Hebrew as well as in Egyptian symbology the stone was also sometimes the symbol of falsehood. Thus the name of Typhon, the principle of evil in the Egyptian theogony, was always written in the hieroglyphic characters with the determinative sign for a stone. But the stone of Typhon was a hewn stone, which had the same evil Signification in Hebrew. Henec Jehovah says in Exodus, ' Thou shalt not build me an altar of hewn stone", and Joshua built, in Mount Ebal, "an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron."
The hewn stone was therefore a symbol of evil and falsehood; the unhewn stone of good and truth. This must satisfy us that the Masonie symbolism of the stone, which is the converse of this, has not been derived from either the Hebrew or the Egyptian symbology, but sprang from the arehiteetural ideas of the Operative Masons; for in Freemasonry the rough ashlar, or unhewn stone, is the symbol of man's evil and corrupt condition; while the perfect ashlar, or the hewn stone, is the symbol of his improved and perfected nature.
STONE, ANNAPOLIS THE
Dr. Charles T. Jackson, Boston, a geologist, discovered this stone in 182T, on the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia. It was a slab of trap-rock, and was inscribed with the Square and Compasses and the date 1606. Dr. Jackson gave the stone to Justice T. C. Haliburton (author of Sam Slich), who in turn left it to his son. His son gave it to the Canadian Institute, Toronto, in order to have it inserted in the walls of the Institute's new Building. The stone-masons blunderingly plastered it over, and ever since it has been impossible to discover where it lies in the walls. Its discovery, inscriptions and date have never been open to question. There were Lodges in England and Scotland at the time, predominantly Operative; it is possible that a sufficient number were brought to Nova Scotia to erect buildings to have a Lodge of their own; or it may be that an individual Mason carved the rock for some private purpose; in either event a Mason, or Masons, were here on the Continent one year before the settlement at Jamestown, Va., and fourteen years before the landing at Plymouth.
STONE, CORNER.
See Corner-Stone.
STONE, CUBICAL.
See Cubical Stone.
|
