TOASTS.
Anderson says (Constitutions, 1738, page 110) that in 1719 Doctor Desaguliers, having been installed Grand Master, "forthwith revived the old, regular, and peculiar toasts or healths of the Freemasons." If Anderson's statements could be implicitly trusted as historical facts, we should have to conclude that a system of regulated toasts prevailed in the Lodges before the revival. The custom of drinking healths at banquets is a very old one, and can be traced to the days of the ancient Greeks and Romanse From them it was handed down to the moderns, and especially in England we find the "waeshael" of the Saxons, a term used in drinking, and equivalent to the modern phrase, "Your health."
Steele, in the Tatler, intimates that the word toast began to be applied to the drinking of healths in the early part of the eighteenth century. And although his account of the origin of the word has been contested, it is very evident that the drinking of toasts was a universal custom in the clubs and festive associations which were common in London about the time of the revival of Freemasonry. It is therefore to be presumed that the Masonic Lodges did not escape the influences of the convivial spirit of that age, and drinking in the Lodge-room during the hours of refreshment was a usual custom, but, as Doctor Oliver observes, all excess was avoided, and the convivialties of freemasonry were regulated by the Old Charges, which directed the Brethren to enjoy themselves with decent mirth, not forcing any Brother to eat or drink beyond his inclination, nor hindering him from going home when he pleased The drinking was conducted by rule, the Master giving the toast, but first inquiring of the Senior Wardens "Are sou charged in the West, Brother Senior?" and of the Junior Wardens "Are you charged in the South, brother Junior?" to which appropriate replies being made, the toast was drunk with honors peculiar to the Institution. In an old Masonic song, the following stanza occurs:
"Are you charged in the West? are you charged in the South? "
The Worshipful Master cries.
"We are charged in the West, we are charged in the South.'
Each Warden prompt replies.
One of the catechetical works of the eighteenth century thus described the drinking customs of the Freemasons of that period: "The table being plentifully supplied with seine and punch, every man has a glass set before him, and fills it with what he chooses. But he must drink his glass in turn, or at least keep the motion with the rest. When, therefore, a public health is given, the Master fills first, and desires the Brethren to charge their glasses; and when this is supposed to be done, the Master says, Brethren, are -you all charged? The Senior and Junior Wardens answer, we are all charged in the South anxl West. Then they all stand up, and! observing the Master's motions, like the soldier his right-hand man, drink their glasses off."
Another Work of the same period says that the first toast given was ' The Sting and the Craft." But a still older work gises what it calls "A Free-Mason's Health" in the following words: "Here's a health to our Society and to every faithful Brother that keeps his oath of secrecy. As we are sworn to love each other, the world no Order knows lice this our noble and ancient Fraternity. Let them wonder at the Mystery. Here, brother, I drink to thee."
In time the toasts improved in their style, and were deemed of so much importance that lists of them, for the benefit of those who were deficient of inventive genius, were published in all the pocketbooks, calendars, and song books of the Order. thus a large collection is to be found in the Masonic Miscellanics of Stephen Jones. A few of them will show their technical character: "To the secret and silent"; "To the memory of the distinguished Three"; "To all that live within compass and square"; "To the memory of the Tyrian Artists"; "To him that first the word began," etc. But there was a regular series of toasts which, besides these voluntary ones, were always given at the refreshments of the Brethren. Thus, whether or no the reigning sovereign happened to be a member of the Fraternity, the first toast given was always "The King and the Craft." And the final toast by the Tiler, common in most Englishspeaking countries still never be forgotten.
In the French Lodges the drinking of toasts was, with the word itself, borrowed from England. It was, however, Subjected to strict rules, from which there could be no departure. Seven toasts were called Santés d'obligation, the Obligatory Healths, because drinking them was made obligatory, and could not be omitted at the Lodge banquet. They were as follows:
1. The health of the Sovereign and his family.
2. That of the Grand Master and the chiefs of the Order.
3. That of the Master of the Lodge.
4. That of the Wardens.
5. That of the other officers..
6. That of the Visitors.
7. That of all Freemasons wheresoever spread over the two hemispheres.
In 1872, the Grand Orient, after long discussions reduced the number of Santés d'obligation from seven to four, and changed their character. They were revised thus.
1. To the Grand Orient of France, the Lodges of its correspondences and foreign Grand Orients.
2. To the Master of the Lodge.
3 To the Wardens, the officers, affiliated Lodges, and Visiting Brethren.
4. To all Freemasons existing on each hemisphere.
The systematized method of drinking toasts, which in an elaborate fashion once prevailed in the Lodges of the English-speaking countries, has been, to some extent, abandoned; yet a few toasts still remain, which, although not absolutely obligatory, are still never omitted. Thus no Masonic Lodge would neglect at its banquet to offer, as its first toast, a sentiment expressive of respect for the Grand Lodge. With the temperance movement there has been a grooving check upon the use of stimulants with these expressions of good will and affection, and in the United States old customs have been modified materially.
The venerable Doctor Oliver was a great admirer of the custom of drinking Masonic toasts, and panegyrizes it in his Book of the Lodge (page 147). He says that at the time of refreshment in a Masonic Lodge "the song appeared to have more zest than in a private company; the toast thrilled more vividly upon the recollection; and the Small modicum of punch with which it was honored retained a higher flavor than the same potation if produced at a private board." And he adds, as a specimen, the following "character istic toast," which he says lvas always received with a "profound expression of pleasure."
- To him that all things understood
- To him that found the stone and wood,
- To him that hapless lost his blood
- In doing of his duty
- To that blest age and that blest morn
- Whereon those three great men were born
- Our noble science to adorn
- With Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty.
It is not surprising that he should afterward pathetically deplore the discontinuance of the custom.
Brother Sir Walter Scott has in the Knight's Toast beautifully expressed a sentiment of sincere affection evoked by a demand in some jovial company that the speaker would voice his homage of some cherished loved one for the honor of their united applause, a versification by our Brother Craftsman deserving of record here as follows:
- Saint Leon raised his kindling eve
- And lifts the sparkling cup on high;
- " I drink to one,' he said,
- ' Whose image never may depart,
- Deep graven on this grateful heart
- Till memory be dead."
- Saint Leon paused, as if he would
- Not breathe her name in careless mood
- Thus lightly to another;
- Then bent his noble heads as though
- To give the word the reverence due,
- And gently said, My mother!
TOFFET.
See Tabaor.
TOKEN.
The word token is derived from the Anglo-Saxon tacen, which means a sign, presage, type, or representation, that which points out something; and this is traced to taecan, to teach, show, or instruct, because by a token we show or instruct others as to what we are. Bailey, whose Dictionary was published soon after the Revival, defines it as "a sign or mark"; but it is singular that the word is not found in either of the dictionaries of Phillips or Blount, which were the most popular glossaries in the beginning of the eighteenth century. The word was, however, well known to the Fraternity, and was in use at the time of the Revival with precisely the same meaning that is now given to it as a mode of recognition.
The Hebrew word oth, is frequently used in Scripture to signify a sign or memorial of something past, some covenant made or promise given. thus God says to Noah, of the rainbow, "it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth"; and to Abraham he says of circumcision, " it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you." In Freemasonry, the grip of recognition is called a token, because it is an outward sign of the covenant of friendship and fellowship entered into between the members of the Fraternity, and is to be considered as a memorial of that covenant which was made, when it was first received by the candidate, between him and the Order into which he was then initiated.
Neither the French nor the German Freemasons have a word precisely equivalent to token. Krause translates it by merkmale, a sign or representation, but which has no technical Masonic Signification.. The French have only attouchement, which means the act of touching or clasping hands; and the Germans, griff, which is the same as the English grip. In the technical use of the word token, the English-speaking Freemasons have an advantage not possessed by those of any other country.
TOLAND, JOHN.
Born on November 30, 1670, near Londonderry, Ireland; died March 11, 1722/3, near London, England. An industrious and independent writer upon religious matters he frequently became involved in disputes. His last work, Pantheisticon (a title derived mainly from two Greek words and meaning God is all and all is God), gave much offense to those who deemed it a presumptuous imitation of the forms for church worship. Whether there were really Such Societies of pantheists was also questioned (see John Poland, un Pretcurseur de la Franc-Maçonnerie, Lantoine, Paris, 1927, which also contains copy of the Pantheisticon). Toland describes the meeting—actual or imaginary as it may have been--of a society where the mutual understanding of philosophy and morals is by question and answer.
TOLERANCE LODGE.
When the initiation of Jews was forbidden in the Prussian Lodges, two brethren of Berlin, Von Hirschfeld and Catter, induced by a spirit of toleration, organized a Lodge in Berlin for the express purpose of initiating Jews, to which they gave the appropriate name of Tolerance Lodge. This Lodge was not recognized by the Masonic authorities.
TOLERATION.
The grand characteristic of Freemasonry is its toleration in religion and polities. In respect to the latter, its toleration has no limit. The question of a man's political opinions is not permitted to be broached in the Lodge; in reference to the former, it requires only that, to use the language of the Old Charge, Freemasons shall be of "that Religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to themselves" (Constitutions, 17:23, page 63).
The same Old Charges say (page 68),
You may enjoy yourselves with innocent Mirth treating one another according to ability, but avoiding all Excess, or forcing any brother to eat or drink beyond his Inclination, or hindering him from going when his Occasions call him, or doing or saying any thing offensive or that may forbid an easey and free Conversation, for that would blast our Harmony, and defeat our landable Purposes. Therefore no private Piques or Quarrels must be brougt within the Door of the Lodge, far less any Quarrels about Religion, or Nations, or State Policy, being only, as Masons, of the Catholick Religion above-mention'd: we are also of all Nations, Tongues, Kindreds and Languages, and are resolv'd against all Politicks, as what never yet conduc'd to the Welfare of the Lodge, nor ever will. This Charge has been always strictly enjoin'd and obsérv'd; but especially ever since the Reformation in Britain, or the Dissent and Secession of these Nations from the Communion of Rome.
TOMB OF ADONIRAM.
Margoliouth, in his History of the Jews, tells the legend that at Saguntum in Spain, a sepulcher was found four hundred years ago, with the following Hebrew inscription:
This is the grave of Adoniram, the servant of King Solomon, who came to collect the tribute and died on the day—" Margoliouth, who believes the mythical story, says that the Jesuit Villepandus, being desirous of ascertaining if the statements concerning the tomb were true, directed the Jesuit students who resided at Murviedro a small village erected upon the ruins of Saguntum, to make diligent search for the tomb and inscription. After thorough investigation, the Jesuit Students were shown a stone on which appeared a Hebrew inscription, much defaced and nearly obliterated. which the natives stated was the stone of Solomon's collector. Still unsatisfied, they made further search , and discovered a manuscript written in antique Spanish and carefully preserved in the citadel in which the following entry was made:"At Saguntum in the citadel, in the year of our Lord 1480, a little more or less, was discovered a sepulchre of surprising antiquity. It contained an embalmed corpse, not of the usual stature, but taller than is common. It had and still retains on the front two lines in the Hebrew language and characters, the sense of which is: 'The sepulchre of Adoniram, the servant of King Solomon, who came hither to collect tribute . " '
The story has far more the appearance of a Talmudic or a Rosicrucian legend than that of a historical narrative.
TOMB OF HIRAM ABIF.
All that is said of it in Freemasonry is more properly referred to in the article on the Monument in the Third Degree (see Monument).
TOMB OF HIRAM OF TYRE.
Five miles to the East of the City of Tyre is an ancient monument, called by the natives Kabr Hairan, or the Comb of Hiram. The tradition that the King of Tyre was there interred rests only on the authority of the natives. It bears about it, however, the unmistakable marks of extreme antiquity, and, as Thompson says (The Land and The Boots, page 196), there is nothing in the monument itself inconsistent with the idea that it marks the final resting-place of that friend of Solomon. He thus describes it:
The base consists of two tiers of great stones, each three feet thick, thirteen feet long, and eight feet eight inches broad. Above this is one huge stone, a little more than fifteen feet long, ten broad, and three feet four inches thick. Over this is another, twelve feet three inches long eight broad, and six high. The top stone is a little smaller every way, and only five feet thick. The entire height is twenty-one feet. There is nothing like it in this country, and it may even have stood, as it now does, ever since the days of Solomon. These large broken sarcophagi scattered around it are assigned by tradition to Hiram's mother wife, and family.
Doctor Morris, who visited the spot in 1868, gives a different admeasurement, which is probably more accurate than that of Thompson. According to him, the first tier is 14 feet long, 8 feet 8 inches broad, 4 feet thick. Second tier, 14 feet long, 8 feet 8 inches broad, 2 feet 10 inehes thick. Third tier, 15 feet 1 inch long, 9 feet 11 inches broad, 2 feet 11 inches thick. Fourth tier, 12 feet 11 inches long, 7 feet 8 inches broad, 6 feet 5 inches thick. Fifth tier, 12 feet 11 inches long, 7 feet 8 inches broad. and 3 feet 6 inches thick. He makes the height of the whole 19 feet 8 inches. Travelers have been disposed to give more credit to the tradition which makes this monument the tomb of the King of Tyre than to most of the other legends which refer to ancient sepulchers in the Hols Land.
TONGUE
In the early rituals of the eighteenth century, the tongue is called the key to the secrets of a Freemason; and one of the toasts that was given in the Lodge was in these words: "To that excellent key of a Mason's tongues which ought always to speak as well in the absence of a Brother as in his presence; and when that cannot be done with honor, justice, or propriety, that adopts the virtue of a Mason, which is Silence."
TONGUE OF GOOD REPORT.
Being "under the tongue of good report" is equivalent, in Masonic technical language, to being of good character or reputation. It is required that the candidate for initiation should be one of whom no tongue speaks evil. The phrase is an old one, and is found in the earliest rituals of the eighteenth century.
TOPAZ.
In Hebrew, pitdah. It was the second stone in the first row of the high priest's breastplate, and was referred to Simeon. The ancient topaz, says King (Antique Gems, page 56), was the present chrysolite, which was furnished from an island in the Red Sea. It is of a bright greenish yellow and the softest of all precious stones
TOPES.
Pillars, also signifving towers and tumuli. This is a corruption of the Sanskrit word Stoopa, meaning mounds, heaps, karns. The Topes of the Karli temple, a Buddhist shrine, which may be seen up the Western Ghats from Bombay to Poona, are presumed to be Phallic pillars placed in front, precisely as Solomon placed his Jachin and Boaz. Some travelers state that only one of these pillars stands at present. The pillars were shaft plain, with a capital carrying four lions, representing power of cat-like salaciousness. Between these pillars may be seen the great window which lights all the Temple, arched in the form of a horseshoe, which is the Isian headdress and Maiya's holy sign, and after which the Roman Catholic Church adopts one of Mary's favorite head-dresses. It is the Crown of Venus Urania
These pillars are prominent features of Buddhist sacred buildings, and when composed of a single stone are called a Lat. They are frequently ornamented with honeysuckles. The oldest monument hitherto discovered in India is a group of these monoliths set up by Asoka in the middle of the third century before Christ. They were all alike in form, inscribed with four short Edits containing the creed and principle doctrines of Buddhism. These pillars stood originally in front of some sacred buildings which have perished; they are polished, 45 feet each in height, and surmounted by lions. The Thuparamya Tope, in Ceylon, has 184 handsome monoliths, 26 feet in height, round the center holy mound (see Mound Builders).
TORCH BEARER.
The fifteenth officer in the High Council of the Society of Rosicrucians; also known as an officer in the Appendant Order of the Holy Sepllleher. One who bears a torch.
TORCHES.
The ancients made use of torches both at marriages and funerals. They were also employed in the ceremonies of the Eleusinian Mysteries. They have been introduced into the advanced Degrees, especially on the Continent, principally as marks of honor in the reception of distinguished visitors, on which occasion they are technically called stars. Du Cange mentions their use during the Middle Ages on funeral occasions.
TORGAU, CONSTITUTIONS OF.
Torgau is a fortified town on the Elbe, in the Prussian Province of Saxony. It was there that Luther and his friends wrote the Book of Torgau, which was the foundation of the subsequent Augsburg Confession, and it was there that the Lutherans concluded a league with the Elector Frederick the Wise. The Stone-Masons, whose seat was there in the fifteenth century, had, with the other Masons of Saxony, accepted the Constitutions enacted in 1459 at Strasbourg. But finding it necessary to make some special regulations for their own internal government, they drew up, in 1462, Constitutions in one hundred and twelve articles, which are known as the Torgau Ordinances. A duplicate of these Constitutions was deposited, in 1486, in the StoneMason's hütte or Lodge at Rochlitz. An authenticated copy of this document was published by C. L. Stieglitz at Leipsic, in 1829, in a work entitled Ueber die Kirche der heiligen Kunigunde zu Rochlitz und die Steinmetzhütte daselbst, Concerning the Church of the Holy Kunigunde at Rochlilz and the Stone-Masons Lodge here An abstract of these Ordinances, with critical comparisons with other Constitutions, was published by Kloss in his Die Freimaurerei in ihrer wahren Bedeutung, Freemasons in their True Meaning. The Torgau Ordinances are important because with those of Strasbourg, they are the only authentic Constitutions of the German Stone-Masons extant except the Brother-Book of 1563.
TORRUBIA, JOSEPH.
A Franciscan monk, who in 1751 was the censor and reviser of the Inquisition in Spain. Torrubia, that he might be the better enabled to carry into effect a persecution of the Freemasons, obtained under an assumed name, and in the character of a secular priest, initiation into one of the Lodges, having first received from the Grand Penitentiary a dispensation for the act, and an absolution from the oath of secrecy. Having thus acquired an exact list of the Lodges in Spain, and the names of their members, he caused hundreds of Freemasons to be arrested and punished, and succeeded in having the Order prohibited by a decree of King Ferdinand VI. Torrubia combined in his character the bigotry of an intolerant priest and the villainy of the deceitful traitor.
TOURNON, M.
A Frenchman and Freemason, who had been invited into Spain by the government in order to establish a manufactory of brass buttons, and to instruct the Spanish workmen. In 1757, he was arrested by the Inquisition on the charge of being a Freemason, and of having invited his pupils to join the Institution. He was sentenced to imprisonment for one year, after which he was banished from Spain, being conducted under an escort to the frontiers of France. Tournon was indebted for this clemeney to his want of firmness and fidelity to the Order —he having solemnly abjured it, and promised never again to attend its assemblies. Llorente, in his Hissory of the Inquisition, gives an account of Tournon's trial.
TOW, CABLE.
See Cable Toto.
TOWER, DEGREE OF THE.
The French expression is Grade de la Tour. A name sometimes given to the Seeond Degree of the Royal Order of Scotland.
TOWER OF BABEL.
SeeBabel.
TOWN, SALEM.
The Rev. Salem Town, LL.D., was born at Belchertown, in the State of Massachusetts, March 5, 1779. He received a classical education, and obtained at college the degree of Master of Arts, and later in life that of Doctor of Laws. For some years he was the Principal of an Academy, and his writings give the evidence that he was endowed with more than ordinary abilities. He was ardently attached to Freemasonry, and was for many years Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter, and Grand Prelate of the Grand Commandery of New York. In 1818 he published a small work of two hundred and eighty-three pages entitled A System of Speculative Masonry. This work is of course tinged with all the legendary ideas of the origin of the Institution which prevailed at that period, and would not now be accepted as authoritative; but it contains, outside of its historical errors, many valuable and suggestive thoughts. Brother Town was highly respected for his many virtues, the consisteney of his life, and his unwearied devotion to the Masonic Order. He died at Greencastle, Indiana, February 24, 1864.
TOWNSHEND, SIMEON.
The putative author of a book entitled Observations and Inquiries relating to the Brotherhood of the Free Masons, which is said to have been printed at London in 1712. Boileau, Levesque, Thory, Oliver, and Kloss mention it by name. None of them, however, appear to have seen it. Kloss calls it a doubtful book. If such a work is in existence, it will be a valuable and much needed contribution to the conditions of Freemasonry in the South of England just before the Revival, and may tend to settle some mooted questions. Levesque (Aperçu—meaning Fleeting Glance or Synopsis—page 47) says he has consulted - it; but his manner of referring to it throws suspicion on the statement, and it is doubtful if he ever saw it.
TRACING-BOARD.
The same as a FloorCloth, which see.
TRADE GILDS.
SeeGilds.
TRADITION.
There are two kinds of traditions in Freemasonry: First, those which detail events, either historically, authentic in part, or in whole, or consisting altogether of arbitrary fiction, and intended simply to convey an allegorical or symbolic meaning; and second of traditions which refer to customs and usages of the Fraternity, especially in matters of ritual observance.
The first class has already been discussed in this work in the article on Legend, to which the reader is referred. The second class is now to be considered.
The traditions which control and direct the usages of the Fraternity constitute its unwritten law, and are almost wholly applicable to its ritual, although they are sometimes of use in the interpretation of doubtful points in its written law. Between the written and the unwritten law, the latter is always paramount. This is evident from the definition of a tradition as it is given by the monk Vincent of Lerins: Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus traditum est; that is, tradition is that which has been handled down at all times, and in ad places, and by all persons. The law which thus has antiquity, universality, and common consent for its support, must override all subsequent laws which are modern, local, and have only partial agreement.
It is then important that those traditions of Freemasonry which prescribe its ritual observances and its landmarks should be thoroughly understood, because it is only by attention to them that uniformity in the esoteric construction and work of the Order can be preserved.
Cicero has wisely said that a well-constituted Commonwealth must be governed not by the written law alone, but also by the unwritten law or tradition and usage; and this is especially the case, because the written law, however perspicuous it may be, can be diverted into various senses, unless the Republic is maintained and preserved by its usages and traditions, which, although mute and as it were, dead, yet speak with a living voice, and give the true interpretation of that which is written.
This axiom is not less true in Freemasonry than it is in a Commonwealth. No matter what changes may be made in its Statutes and Regulations of today and its recent customs, there is no danger of losing the identity of its modern with its ancient form and spirit while its traditions are recognized and maintained. Such of the traditions of our Institution that support our established rules and practices may be deemed the very common law of the Craft.
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