THE BUILDER MAGAZINE
may 1915
volume 1 - number 5
EDWIN BOOTH AS A MASON
BY THE EDITOR
IN an earlier issue
reference was made to a statue of Edwin Booth, the great master of tragedy,
recently erected in Gramercy Park, near the Players Club, of which Booth was the
founder. Designed by E. T. Quinn - who also wrought the bust of Poe, in Poe Park
- it reveals the vanished actor in his favorite role of Hamlet, which
temperament, training and personality had made peculiarly his own. Believing
that his readers would like to know more about Booth, both as a man and a Mason,
ye editor has made some research among his relatives and friends, the results of
which he offers herewith, along with certain observations on a man who was as
noble in his life as he was great in his art.
Those who wish to know
the story of Booth in detail - and a memorable story it is, worthy of being told
many times - may find it recorded with exquisite insight and skill in the "Life
and Art of Edwin Booth," by William Winter, the Plutarch of our stage. Truly, it
is a fascinating book, as much for its descriptions of Booth on the stage as for
its account of his habits in private life - for, in the art of interpreting the
personality of an artist, there is no one like Winter, no one near him. Such
genius is rare, and the more precious for that the art of a great actor dies
with him, save as it may live, for a brief time, in the minds of the generation
before whom he appears. Happily, an intimate fellowship united with literary
power to preserve the image and art of Booth, and to these was added life-long
love of the man - as witness these words:
"Farewell; nor mist, nor flying cloud,
Nor night can ever dim
The wreath of honors pure and proud,
Our hearts have twined for him !"
Spiritual personality
eludes definition; to be is more than to do, and the soul of Edwin Booth was
greater even than his achievement. He was a benefactor to thousands, revealing
to them, now in forms of beauty and color, now in shapes of terror and power,
the wonder of human nature and its destiny. By birth and heredity he possessed
those qualities of beauty grace, charm and expression which others strive in
vain to attain. His face, his voice, his gesture, and his brilliant and
beautiful spirit gave him conquest - those dark eyes flashing divine fire, not
alone of physical vitality, but of imagination, emotion, and exaltation of soul.
He had no need of novelties; he was himself a novelty. In Richelieu, Othello,
Iago, Lear, Bertuccio, and Brutus, but most of all in Hamlet, his power was made
manifest; power of insight, of intense emotion, of richness and color of
personality, of thoughtful, brooding habit of a stately mind - all abstracted
fron passion and suffused with a mysterious melancholy and the pensive,
dreamlike soul of a poet. Such qualities made his Hamlet an unforgettable
picture of sorrowful grandeur, sad majesty, ineffable mournfulness, and
grief-stricken isolation, as of one who walked a troubled way amid the foul
crimes of the living and the phantoms of the dead. Whether in the glittering
halls of Elsinore, on its midnight battlements, or in its lonely wind-beaten
place of graves, the lovely, suffering, awestruck spirit of the Prince seemed to
wear once more his robe of flesh.
In private life Booth
was the soul of honor, gentle, affable, often playful, and uncommonly apt in
telling comic stories, albeit men felt that he dwelt somewhat apart and aloof -
sometimes mistaking an excess of modesty for haughtiness, whereas beneath his
reserve there was an abundance of kindness and good fellowship. As a son he was
tenderly devoted, thoughtful of everything that could solace the declining years
of an aged mother, provident of blessings, tireless in service; and his
reverence for the memory of his father was akin to religion. A devout Christian
in faith, he had, nevertheless, a foreboding nature, and expected every kind of
disaster - except the most terrible one of all which befell him when his brother
murdered Lincoln. It was pitiful to see him then, bowed low under the shadow of
a tragedy greater than he had portrayed on the stage. Youth goes; age comes; and
Booth passed into the sear and yellow leaf with dignity and sweetness, and never
knew "the set gray life and its apathetic end."
Of his Masonic
fellowship, his brother-in-law, J. H. Magonigle, writes: "Yes, Edwin Booth was
an ardent Mason, and for twenty-five years before his death, on June 7th, 1893,
was a member of New York Lodge, No. 330. He was always proud of the Fraternity,
but the exactions of his profession prevented his regular attendance at Lodge.
For the same reason, he was kept from being the Master of a Lodge of Masons,
which was one of his dearest ambitions. Nevertheless, the Brethren held him in
high esteem and were proud of his association." Brother A. A. Auchmoedy gives
this interesting reminiscence:
"I was Master of a
Masonic Lodge in Omaha a good many years ago. Edwin Booth was playing in the
city. I knew that he was a Mason, and sent a committee over to invite him to
meet with us after the play. He sent back word that he would do so with
pleasure, and we sent a committee to escort him to the Lodge. The examination
was brief, but entirely satisfactory, and when he entered the room every member
was on his feet, greeting him with hearty applause. He seemed much interested in
the closing exercises, and at the banquet which followed he was a happy member
of the party. There were songs, in which Booth joined heartily with his
wondrously sweet voice, and several brief speeches before the great actor was
called upon. He began by saying:
'Mr. Toastmaster and
Brothers: I am like a boy out oft school tonight. It is a delight to be with
you. If I act like a boy, kindly overlook it.' Then he told many interesting
stories of his connection with Masonry and of his career as an actor - how
deeply grateful he had been at the forethought and tender consideration of his
brethren in times of great distress, hinting at the days when he felt himself
under a cloud, when President Lincoln met his death at the hands of his brother.
Continuing, he said: 'I shall never forget that wherever I went Masons rallied
about me and cheered my drooping spirits. But for their love and forethought I
can tell you now, my Brethren, I do not think I should have resumed my life as
an actor after that awful event.'
Suddenly he switched
to a pleasantry, and had all of us laughing. His readings seemed brighter and
better than they ever were on the stage. One Brother asked him what was his
favorite poem, and after thinking a moment he answered: 'Please put the question
differently, and ask me what my favorite hymn is.' We all wondered what it would
be. Then, in a voice low and sweet, he said: 'That hymn which the world knows as
Jesus Lover of My Soul' - and without waiting, he recited it as we had never
heard it recited before. A member asked for his favorite piece of prose:
'I thank you, my
Brother,' he said, 'for asking that question. The most beautiful, impressive,
noble, and unforgettable and uplifting words that were ever uttered and
preserved to the world I shall do myself the honor of reciting. Please be
standing with me.' And with bowed head he recited the Lord's Prayer."
Naturally, it was the
dramatic element in Masonry that attracted the attention of a man like Booth,
and he never ceased to wonder at the simplicity, power, and firm grip on the
bitter, old and dark reality of life displayed in the drama of the Third Degree.
Surely he was no mean judge of tragedy, and he left this testimony:
"In all my research
and study, in all my close analysis of the masterpieces of Shakespeare, in my
earnest determination to make those plays appear real on the mimic stage, I have
never, and nowhere, met tragedy so real, so sublime, so magnificent as the
legend of Hiram. It is substance without shadow - the manifest destiny of life
which requires no picture and scarcely a word to make a lasting impression upon
all who can understand. To be a Worshipful Master, and to throw my whole soul
into that work, with the candidate for my audience and the Lodge for my stage,
would be a greater personal distinction than to receive the plaudits of the
people in the theatres of the world."
Toward the end, Booth
lived much alone - reading, musing, pondering upon his art, and, especially,
thinking of that one other subject which engaged him most deeply - Religion. He
had the constant spirit of a believer, the impartiality of a philosopher, and
the soul of a poet; and so, whether in youth or age, diffused an influence of
strength, grace, and peace. The charm of his nature was blended composure,
gentleness, and power. Upon the marge of that vast mystery which encircles our
little lives like a sea, he stood in awe, wonder, and confidence - and so
drifted away. Around his name is a halo of romance that will never fade. His
character and conduct are summed up in the words of Hamlet to Horatio, which he
once wished might be his epitaph:
"Thou hast been
As one, in suffering
all, that suffers nothing,
A man that Fortune's
buffets and rewards
Hast taken with equal
thanks."
back to top
HOW TO STUDY MASONRY
A SYMPOSIUM
THE METHOD OF STUDY.
(Continuing the symposium begun in the last issue of The
Builder, it need hardly be said that the letters in this series are more
suggestive than exhaustive, and are intended to be so. Prof. Pound gave a brief
glimpse of the field of Masonic study, Brother Block reminded us of the purpose
to be kept always in mind, and Prof. Shepardson suggested the method of
University Extension and how it might be worked out. Three other methods are
presented in this issue, and in the next issue still another method will be set
forth both as to the details of its plan and the results in actual experience.
Meanwhile, the invitation remains open to our readers to contribute plans and
suggestions, that the whole problem may be thoroughly thought through, once for
all, that we may the better work out a program that shall include every valuable
finding of the experience of the Craft.)
back to top
IOWA TRAVELING LIBRARIES
By Newton R. Parvin, Grand Secretary, Iowa
GIVE instruction unto those who cannot procure it for
themselves." Acting under this suggestion, the Librarian of the Iowa Masonic
Library has for more than a quarter of a century been loaning Masonic books to
our Lodges and members, at times only a single volume, again a number of
volumes, generally requiring the request to come through the office of the
Secretary of the Lodge. Of late years we have been more free in the loan of
books from the Library and no brother whose name appears on our rolls as a
member in good standing, has ever been refused the loan of books.
For fifteen years there has been published from the office
of the Grand Secretary, a Quarterly Bulletin which has been the means of
communication between the Grand and Subordinate lodges and officers. This
publication, we believe, has done much to acquaint our Iowa lodges and Masons
with the contents of the Library and of its value and importance to the Craft.
In our report to Grand Lodge in 1910, we stated that "While the Library is the
creation of the Grand Lodge, kept up by that Body, yet it benefits the state at
large. The prestige gained by the establishment and maintenance of a library
reflects credit upon all connected with the institution and gives us a standing
everywhere, not alone among Masonic Bodies, but among learned societies and
fraternal associations, many of whose officers are today better posted on our
Library than are some of our own members.
An increased interest in Masonic books seems to be taking
hold of our members. They are searching for information which will prove of
value to them in their Masonic work. The Grand Lodge of Iowa has ever endeavored
to supply this want and not only furnished the works needed, but arranged to
have them circulated among the rank and file of our members for their mutual
good. This has been the aim of your Librarian. He takes great pleasure in
stating that the members fully appreciate this act on the part of the Grand
Lodge, and from numerous letters received when books are returned, they show
their appreciation of the loan of the same."
We stated in our report for 1911 that we had arranged
several collections of Masonic works which we would send to lodges desiring the
loan of the same, allowing them to keep these collections from three to four
months, circulating the books among the Brethren that they might have the
advantage of reading such volumes as they desired. In order to make these
collections at that time, it became necessary to purchase from three to six
copies of many volumes of which we had only one copy on our shelves. Early after
the close of the Grand Lodge we issued to the lodges a list of the works in
these Travelling Libraries. From the many letters received, we found the
Brethren were interested in the plan of the Travelling Libraries and it was but
a short time until we found that, we would have to increase the supply to meet
the demand. In making up these Libraries we endeavored to include books bearing
not only on the History, but also the Traditions, the Philosophy, the Symbolism,
the Poetry and Ethics of Freemasonry, the Jurisprudence of the Order, as well as
volumes bearing upon Capitular and Templar Masonry, the A. & A. Rite, the Mystic
Shrine and the Order of the Eastern star, etc.
In the same report we stated that during the past year the
Travelling Libraries had been inaugurated; while they were intended more for the
smaller towns where the members of the lodges did not have the advantage of
public libraries, we found that even the lodges in the larger cities were fully
as interested and as desirous of securing one of the Traveling Libraries as were
the smaller lodges. We immediately issued a pamphlet stating how, and under what
conditions, these libraries might be secured, sending out a large poster calling
attention to the subject, asking that it be hung up in some conspicuous place in
the Tyler's room. Accompanying this poster was a little folder giving a
suggestive list of books for Masons-to read and stating that, "While all reading
of a Masonic nature will be beneficial to the average Mason, who merely seeks
relaxation with Masonic knowledge as an incidental feature, yet to the students
who aim after Masonic light and knowledge, and who have time to give to the
subject, we would advise against indiscriminate reading, and would suggest the
following of some method of reading that will result in much good. Lay out some
definite plan and commence a course of reading and follow it closely. Let the
line be what it may--history, symbolism, ceremony or jurisprudence, a clean cut
course is essential. Brethren desiring to do this may place themselves in
correspondence with the Librarian who will be glad to give such assistance as
lies in his power. He would suggest to all such persons the careful reading of
some such pamphlet as 'A Masonic Curriculum,' a guide to a course of study in
Freemasonry, by G. W. Speth, and then following out the suggestions found in
that little pamphlet." This year we had to increase the number of the Traveling
Libraries by purchasing additional books. We also began to receive special
requests from individual Brethren asking for the loan of books on special
subjects in which they were particularly interested.
Having thus inaugurated the system, we felt that we must
give the Brethren what they most desired, and in a short time, instead of having
a half dozen books of a certain title, we found it necessary to have two dozen
or more volumes of each.
The year following, 1912, in presenting our report, we
stated that nothing ever inaugurated by the Grand Lodge had met with greater
favor by the rank and file of our members than the Traveling Masonic Libraries.
Lodge after lodge has availed itself of the privilege of the loan of one or more
of these Libraries. In returning the Library, they frequently asked that an
additional collection be sent to them. We found it therefore necessary to
increase the number of our collections of which we now have quite a goodly
number. It was at this time we issued a little folder outlining a three years'
course of study, recommended by the Officers of the International Association of
Masonic Students of America.
The cases are made of hard wood and contain two shelves
capable of holding from thirty to forty volumes of regular sized books, with a
neat door locked with a Yale lock. The whole is put up in a good heavy box with
iron handles so as to be easily transported. The only expense in connection with
the loan of these Libraries is that the lodges shall pay the freight charges
which amount to about forty to sixty-five cents each way. A comparison of the
number of books loaned our members outside of the Traveling Libraries during the
pas years will give a better idea of the interest shown in the Library by the
Masons of Iowa.
In 1911-12.....177 Volumes were loaned 1912-13 ....229
Volumes were loaned 1913-14 ....413 Volumes were loaned
This year, 1914-15, the number will be greatly increased.
This does not include the volumes consulted at the Library.
No volume up to this had been lost, all being accounted for
when checked up at the Library on the return of the case.
Brother Block as Chairman of our Research Committee, in
speaking of this subject in his report in 1914, has the following to say
regarding the Traveling Libraries:
"One of the noteworthy results, due to a large extent to
the great interest and enthusiasm stirred up by the splendid work of our Masonic
lecturers, has been the striking increase in the use of our traveling Masonic
libraries.
"During the past year the number of libraries sent out has
been increased over 64 per cent and the number of books thus loaned has grown by
over 55 percent, and the number of readers of these has increased 53 per cent.
In addition to this the demand for these traveling libraries has grown to such
an extent that during the past year there has remained on file in the Grand
Librarian's office an average of three applications for libraries unfilled,
which means that the demand for these libraries has exceeded the supply by three
to one.
"All of this Masonic reading cannot be going on in the
state without its resulting in the making of Masons in truth and fact and more
than in name only. * * *
"We should be quick to satisfy a demand for such a library
as soon as it is made. We should strike the iron while it is hot and not allow
disappointment and delay to blight this newly awakened desire for Masonic study.
We should foster and encourage this new interest in Masonic research by every
means in our power. We should give the young Mason a chance to educate himself.
He is the one who will follow us and carry on the great work after we have
passed on to the great beyond. * * * The best part of American manhood is its
Masonic manhood. History proves that this has always been so. Let us do all in
our power to cause it to thrive, to prosper, and to grow, to blossom into an
ideal citizenship that shall be worthy of the great teachings of our good and
glorious order !"
It is not necessary to follow this work from year to year,
but I simply state that the success of the Masonic Travelling Libraries is no
longer being questioned. The Brethren of Iowa are beginning to realize fully the
value and importance of them and of their great Library, and year after year are
making better use of the same. Individuals are constantly making requests of the
Library for special works along the line in which they are most interested, and
these are being loaned to them for a period of thirty days. Where the book is a
rare or expensive one, it is sent by express at the expense of the borrower, but
where the book is one easily duplicated, it is sent by parcel post and returned
in like manner.
To show that this subject is attracting attention
elsewhere, we have only to state that we have had quite a number of requests for
loan of libraries from other states which we felt compelled to refuse, though we
frequently sent volumes from the Library to lodges and individuals in other
states
The Librarian of the Grand Lodge of North Dakota has
recently followed our plan and now has several traveling libraries circulating
among the lodges of that Jurisdiction.
In a later article we may give information relative to
Clippings, Papers and Addresses on Masonic topics which we have arranged in
scrap book form or put up in envelopes for mailing to our members, and also
information relative to topics covered and how they may be secured and made use
of by members of the Craft at large.
back to top
SCHOOLS OF INSTRUCTION.
Prof. John Pickard, University of Missouri.
THE field occupied by this society is so exceedingly broad
that a mere catalogue of the work to be accomplished would occupy a considerable
space. In this letter I would touch upon only two or three points. In spite of
the great work which has been done by Masonic historians in the past I am fully
persuaded that the search for original documents with reference to the early
history of Masonry may yet be continued with the hope of discovering evidence of
much interest and value, and I trust that the Masonic Research Society may in
the near future secure such financial backing as will enable it to support able
and earnest Masonic workers in such a manner that they, freed from the necessity
of working for daily bread, may devote themselves entirely to the cause of
furthering our knowledge with reference to the origin, development, and growth
of our great institution. The work of such men might well be devoted to research
in the great libraries of the world, securing such information as may have
escaped the research of earlier historians.
Apart from the study of manuscripts, inscriptions, and
writings of the men of by-gone days, I believe much good could be accomplished
by investigations of the great buildings of the world to show how from the
beginning of time the secrets, traditions, and practices of the Craft have been
handed down from race to race, from civilization to civilization, and from
nation to nation. In other words to show the unbroken continuity of Masonic
tradition in the architecture of the world. This, as the field of work, has been
less thoroughly cultivated by the Masonic historians of the past. These two
suggestions have reference to the broadening and deepening of our Masonic
knowledge, but there is another field which may well be cultivated by the
Masonic Research Society.
It would be well to have active Masons understand that a
thorough knowledge of the ritual is only the beginning and not the end of
Masonic work. Too often earnest and sincere Masons feel that they have
accomplished something which is very much worth while, when they have simply
succeeded in learning with more or less accuracy the ritual. Now an accurate
knowledge of the ritual is a very essential thing, and we cannot lay too much
stress upon it, but if that is all there is in Free Masonry, then Free Masonry
is not a very important matter.
If, on the other hand, we regard such ritualistic knowledge
as a mere beginning and go on to build upon this as a foundation and endeavor to
erect a perfect moral and Masonic structure above this foundation, then we are
really moving out on the right path.
I do not think, however, that we can lay down a curriculum
of Masonic study extensive and varied, with the hope of persuading the great
mass of Free Masons to go through with this or to enter upon the study with the
idea of going through with an extensive curriculum. Free Masons are ordinarily
men who have passed the School and College age, and are busy with the affairs of
life, and any proposition which involves extensive and long continued labor in
order to arrive at the expected goal will tend to repel rather than to attract.
On the other hand, it seems to me that it would be pedagogically sound to
prepare a series of interesting topics which might be pursued with great
pleasure by Free Masons, and then present these to our lodges in such an
attractive form that the one or the other topic would be sure to appeal to
members in our subordinate lodges. The appeal once made and study once begun,
the field of vision would broaden so rapidly and pleasantly that men would be
led on and on and yet on to the study of this or that phase of the work and
would find their interest growing and increasing as the years go by. Leadership
of this kind would be effective in accomplishing great good.
To bring this matter effectively before our subordinate
bodies it would be necessary to hold schools of instruction of a little
different type than those we are accustomed to hold, schools of instruction in
which the best workers and strongest men in the subordinate lodges could be
brought together and inspired with a love for and desire for increased Masonic
knowledge. These men then can be depended upon to direct the lodges to which
they belong. * * * IV--
THE CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL METHOD IN MASONRY.
R. J. Lemert, Helena, Montana. No matter how much of value
there may be in the Masonic institution, no matter what the richness of its
philosophy, or the suggestiveness of its symbolism, it can never fulfill its
mission until its votaries become better versed in its fundamental tenets, more
keenly aware of its ultimate purpose and its possibilities. In the ordinary
affairs of the world at large it is axiomatic that education is an absolute
essential to good citizenship; and this is no less true in the affairs of
Masonry. No one can comprehend the true object of this great fraternity of ours
until he has delved deeply into the history, the philosophy and the traditions
of Masonry, and has discovered for himself the True Word--the true mission, the
true working tools--of a Master Mason.
The Masonic education of the members of our institution can
be accomplished only by one of two methods--by the study of books, or by oral
lectures. The National Masonic Research Society, under whose auspices this
magazine is published, has devoted itself to the task of stimulating study by
the former method, while the Masonic Lecture Bureau believes that it has evolved
a plan which will be of incalculable benefit to American Masonry.
Brother C. C. Hunt, editor of the "Masonic Standard," that
excellent New York journal of the Craft, has aptly designated the plan of this
Bureau "the correspondence school method, applied to Masonry," an expression
which tells the story perfectly. For as the correspondence school carries the
means of education to men and women who are remote from schools and colleges, so
does the Masonic Lecture Bureau place at the disposal of lodges and study clubs
in every part of the country entertaining, instructive and reliable lectures
upon every phase of Freemasonry.
The plan of the Bureau is unique. Distinguished students of
the institution are associated with the Bureau in the capacity of contributing
lecturers, furnishing manuscripts upon many topics, some of which have been
delivered to small gatherings of the brethren in the past, but most of which
have been especially prepared for the present purpose. When these are received
at the home office of the Bureau, in Helena Montana, they are carefully copied
upon the typewriter, scores of copies of each being made, and are then ready to
be rented to such lodges as may desire the service.
The scope and arrangement of the lecture course has been
the subject of most careful consideration, but upon the theory that the history
of Masonry--or rather of those things which have become Masonry--is history of
civilization, the first course of eight lectures has been arranged as follows:
No. 1--The Origin of Freemasonry.--This is an introductory
lecture, preparatory for the succeeding numbers. It outlines briefly the
principal theories, some fifteen in number, which been advanced during the past
200 years to account for our institution, and lays the foundation for fuller
discussion.
No. 2--The Beginnings of the Human Race.--A discussion of
the scientific theories regarding the creation of man and the rise of
civilization, showing the probable source from which all religions and
philosophies have sprung.
No. 3--The First Initiations.--A wonderful lecture, showing
the rise of the white race and the civilizing of ancient India, the land of
mystery, which many writers agree was the home of initiation.
No. 4--The Mysteries in Egypt.--A fascinating account of
the transplanting of the philosophy of India into the ancient land of the
Pharaohs, with a discussion of the amazing civilization which flourished there
for thousands of years.
No. 5--The Mysteries of Isis and Osiris.--A continuation of
No. 4, carrying the subject still further, and telling all that is known of the
ceremonies of initiation which many writers believe to have given birth to our
own.
No. 6--Persia and the Wise Men of the East.--This lecture
treats of the great teacher, Zoroaster, and the marvelous system of religious
philosophy which he founded, a system which was in part adopted by those early
Christians who were opposed to the papal idea.
No. 7--The Mysteries in Other Lands.--Showing the growth of
the Mystery idea among the Greeks, Romans, Phoenicians and other peoples, and
their methods of imparting philosophical and religious instruction
No. 8--Moses and the Rise of the Jewish People.--A
discussion of the founder of the Hebrew nation in the course of which new light
is thrown upon the sources of his knowledge and inspiration.
That this choice of topics was a wise one is evidenced by
the number of appreciative and commendatory letters which have been received at
the offices of the Bureau from lodges which have already availed themselves of
the service. No better evidence of the wisdom of the plan could be asked than
the fact that out of several hundred lodges which have commenced the use of the
lectures, not a single one has discontinued the service.
The eight lectures mentioned above do not, of course,
represent all that the Bureau has to offer. Many other papers of the historical
series are now under preparation, covering the time from the close of the eighth
lecture to the present, including discussions of the Roman Collegia, the
Dionysian Architects, the Gnosis, Early Christianity, the Johannites,
Pythagoras, the Manicheans, the Comacines, the Steinmetzen, the Crusades, the
Knights Templars, King Athelstan, the Rosicrucians, and numerous other topics
set forth in the literature of the Bureau.
A series of so-called "optional" lectures is also in
preparation. These do not form parts of a connected series, as do the eight
listed above, but each is complete in itself. Two papers of especial merit, in
this series are now offered: "Masonry and the Church," from the pen of Brother
the Rt. Rev. Frederick W. Keator, Bishop of Olympia, Wash., a scholarly and
non-sectarian discussion of the interrelation between the Craft universal and
the Church universal; and "A Brief Resume of the History of the Royal Arch
Degree," by Brother E. H. Van Patten, P. G. M., of Dayton, Wash.
None of the lectures offered by the Bureau are sold, being
rented only to such regular lodges or study clubs as may desire them. (*) A
small fee is required, not for the purpose of making of the Bureau a moneymaking
institution, but because there are a multitude of items of expense connected
with the administration of the plan, and it is desired to make the Bureau self
supporting.
Such is, in brief, an outline of the plan of the latest
entrant into the field of Masonic education. The Bureau will be glad to send any
of the lectures listed above to properly qualified applicants, upon request, and
it invites correspondence regarding its work. It will especially welcome
additional contributors to the lecture course.
(*) Lodges or study clubs wishing to use any of the
lectures offered by the Bureau may secure the rent of them at the rate of $1.50
each. Correspondence should be addressed to the Secretary, Helena, Montana.
back to top
THE CENTER OF THE LODGE
The East, the West, the South, the North
In our Temple's oblong square
Are ofttimes mentioned for their worth,
In their symbolism rare.
Not so the center. When 'tis passed
By the initiate on his way
It seems so soon to be outclassed
In the grand old mystic play.
As I recall impressions rare
While I saw not the light,
While sweet surprises met me where
I least surmised they might,
While mental thrills came thick and fast
As my conductor led,
The sweetest things of all the past
Seemed in the center said.
And O the prayer that there was given,
In pleadings all for me!
Was this appeal to highest heaven
The prayer of Masonry?
And the meaning of that soulful plea
Is all the mind can span;
For it contained all that can be
For the best there is in man.
And I was asked in whom I placed
My soul's eternal trust.
My answer any doubt effaced
That I'd be true and just.
And friendship's token to me there
Was given, and words of cheer;
For I knew not the way, nor where
New dangers might appear.
And so, as I recall the past -
The place, the prayer, the cheer -
There will remain while life shall last
The memories so dear,
Of that sweet center which I know
Makes all that comes more bright,
As ever on and on I go
To realms of further light.
- L. B. Mitchell, Michigan.
back to top
WINTER
Now the wailing wind of Winter
Sighing o'er the Summer's dead,
Comes a sweeping thru the branches
Creaking, croaking overhead.
This is Nature's funeral service
As it moans the dying year,
Anld we seek the chimney corners
Feeling shivery, creepy, queer.
Yet we know that Spring is coming
When this requiem is done
And we may rejoice in gladness
At the turning of the sun.
So it is with life's long battle
As we reach its closing stage
And our hair in frosty whiteness
Chimes the winter of old age.
We have lived as Spring and Summer,
Tho perhaps we knew it not
And we reaped the fruits of Autumn
Just as Nature judged we ought.
Now while in the midst of Winter
Looking forward to the Spring,
Let us feel as ever youthful
Tho the frost hides everything.
If we then recall the winters
With their cold and frosty breath,
How the Spring did surely follow;
Then we know there is no death.
- Arthur B. Rugg,
Minneapolis, Minn.
back to top
SERVICE
All service ranks the same with God:
If now, as formerly He trod
Paradise, His presence fills
Our earth, each only as God wills
Can work - God's puppets, best and worst,
Are we; there is no last nor first.
- Browning.
back to top
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MASONRY
Five Lectures Delivered under the Auspices of the Grand
Master of Massachusetts Masonic Temple, Boston
BY BROTHER ROSCOE POUND, PROFESSOR OF JURISPRUDENCE IN
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
V A TWENTIETH-CENTURY MASONIC PHILOSOPHY
WE have long outgrown the notion that Masonry is to be held
to one purpose or one object or is to be hemmed in by the confines of one
philosophy. If we are taught truly that the roof of the Mason's workshop is
nothing less than the "clouded canopy or starry-decked heavens," nothing that
goes on beneath that capacious covering can be wholly alien to us. Our
Fraternity is to be of all men and for all men; it is to be of all time and for
all time. The needs of no one time and of no one people can circumscribe its
objects. The philosophy of no one time, of no one people, and much more of no
one man, can be admitted as its final authority. Hence it is no reproach to
Masonry to have, along with lessons and tenets for all times, a special lesson
and a special tenet for each time, which is not to be insisted on at other
times. Truth, after all, is relative. Vital truths to one time cannot be put
into pellets or boluses to be administered to all times to come. If the Craft is
to be perpetual, it must appeal to each time as well as to all times; it must
have in its traditions something that today can use, although yesterday could
not use it and tomorrow need not. We are a Craft of workmen. It is our glory to
be engaged in useful service. Our rites and usages are not merely a proud
possession to be treasured for their beauty and antiquity. They are instruments
imparted to us to be used. Hence we may properly inquire, what can we make of
this wonderful tradition of which we are the custodians that will serve the
world of today?
One is indeed rash who essays a philosophy of Masonry after
such masters as Krause and Oliver and Pike. But I have tried to show heretofore
how largely their philosophies of Masonry grew out of the time and the
philosophical situation at the time when they severally thought and wrote. Thus
Preston wrote in the so-called "age of reason," when Knowledge was supposed to
be the one thing needful. Krause wrote moral philosophy, so-called, was a chief
concern in Germany, and he was primarily a leader in the philosophy of law.
Oliver wrote under the influence of Romanticism in England, at a time when
German idealism was coming into English thought. Pike wrote under the influence
of the reaction from the materialism of last half of the nineteenth century and
under the influence of the nineteenth century metaphysical method of unifying
all things by reference to some basic absolute principle.
In the same way a present-day philosophy of Masonry will
necessarily relate itself to present-day modes of thought and to the present
situation in philosophy. Consequently we may predict that it will have four
characteristics.
1. Its metaphysical creed will be either
idealistic-monistic--or else pragmatist-pluralistic. Although my personal
sympathies are with the latter view, so that in a sense I should range myself
with Preston and Krause rather than with Oliver and Pike, I suspect that our
twentieth-century Masonic philosopher will adhere to the former. He will
probably hold, to quote Paulsen, that "reality, which is represented to our
senses by the corporeal world as a uniform system of movements, is the
manifestation of a universal spiritual life that is to be conceived as an idea,
as the development of a unitary reason, a reason which infinitely transcends our
notions." Hence he will probably range himself with Oliver and Pike. But he will
despair of comprehending this reason through knowledge or through tradition or
of completely expressing it in a single word. And so, if by chance he should be
a pragmatist, the result will not be very different, since the philosophy of
Masonry is a part of applied philosophy and the results count for more than the
exact method of attaining them. Moreover in the three following characteristics,
idealist and pragmatist will agree, merely coming to the same results by
different routes.
2. Its psychology will be voluntaristic rather than
intellectualistic; that is, under the influence of modern biology it will insist
upon giving a chief place to the will. It will have faith in the efficacy of
conscious human effort.
3. What is more important for our purpose, its standpoint
will be teleological. To quote Paulsen once more: "Ethics and sociology,
jurisprudence and politics are about to give up the old formalistic treatment
and to employ instead the teleological method: purpose governs life, hence the
science of life, of individual as well as of collective life, must employ this
principle." In other words, as it would have been put formerly, the philosophy
of Masonry will be treated as a part of practical rather than of pure
philosophy.
4. It will have its roots in history. This is the
distinguishing mark of modern philosophical thought. The older philosophies
conceived of reality along the lines of mathematics and of the physical
sciences. Today we endeavor to interpret nature historically. As Paulsen says,
we essay to interpret it "according to a logical genetical scheme."
Such are the lines which modern philosophy is following,
and such, we may be confident, are the lines which the philosophy of Masonry
will follow, unless, indeed, some philosopher of the stamp of Krause, capable of
striking out new paths in philosophy at large, should busy himself with this
special field. Can we construct a philosophy of Masonry that will conform to
these lines ? In attempting to answer this question, I should lay down three
fundamental principles at the outset: (1) We must not be dogmatic. We must
remember that our ideal is the ideal of an epoch, to serve the needs of time and
place. (2) Nevertheless we must seek an end. We must have before us the idea of
purpose, since we are in the realm of practical philosophy. (3) We must base our
conception of the ideal of our Masonic epoch and our idea of purpose upon the
history of institutions. Thus we get three modes of approach to our immediate
subject.
1. Let us first turn to the current philosophies and
inquire what they may do for us. How far may we build on some one or on all of
them? What does Masonry call for which they can or cannot give?
The oldest and perhaps the most authoritative system of
philosophy current today is absolute idealism, in many forms, indeed, but with a
recognizable essential unity. This philosophy puts life in a world of thought.
It thinks of the world of experience which we perceive through our senses as
appearance. Reality is in the world of thought. But these are not two distinct
worlds. Rather they are related as cause and effect, as that which animates and
that which is animated. It regards God, not as a power outside of the world and
transcending it, but as that which permeates it and connects it and gives it
unity. It regards reality as a connected, a unified whole and conceives that
life is real in so far as it is a part of this whole. Hence it conceives we must
turn steadfastly and courageously from the superficial realm of appearance in
which our senses put us, and set ourselves "in the depth of reality"; we are to
bring ourselves into relation with the whole and to develop ourselves from
within so as to reach the whole. To use Eucken's phrases, each life is to
"evolve a morality in the sense of taking up the whole into one's own volition"
and subjecting "caprice to the necessity of things," that is, to their necessary
inner interconnection. In this theory of life, the central point is spiritual
creative activity. Everything else is but the environment, the means or the
logical presupposition. Man is to be raised above himself and is to be saved by
spiritual creation.
This philosophy of scholars and for scholars is not a
philosophy for Masons. Indeed Pike said of his idealistic system of Masonic
philosophy that it was not the Masonry of the multitude. And for this very
reason that it is essentially aristocratic, the old idealistic philosophy is
fighting a sure though obstinate retreat in our democratic age. There are
periods of creative energy in the world and there are periods in which what has
been created is organized and assimilated. In the periods of creation, those to
whom spiritual creative power is given are relatively few. In a period of
assimilation they are few indeed. In such a time, to quote Eucken, the life
pictured by the idealist "tends to become mere imagination." "The man imbued
with [its] spirit . . . easily seems to himself more than he is; with a false
self-consciousness talks and feels as if he were at a supreme height; lives less
his own life than an alien one. Sooner or later opposition must necessarily
arise against such a half life, such a life of pretence, and this opposition
will become especially strong if it is animated by the desire that all who bear
human features should participate in the chief goods of our existence and freely
co-operate in the highest tasks. . . And so the aristocratic character of
Immanent Idealism produces a type of life rigidly exclusive, harsh and
intolerable."
Another type of philosophy, which has become more and more
current with the advance of science, has been called Naturalism. This philosophy
rejects the spiritual life entirely, denying its independence and holding it
nothing but a phase or an incident of the existence revealed by the senses.
There is no spiritual sphere. Of itself, the spiritual can create nothing. Nor
is life anything in itself. All things are valued in terms of biology and of
economics. Nothing is intrinsically valuable. Truth means only correct
adjustment to the environment; the good is that which best preserves life; the
moral is that which makes for social life; the beautiful is a form of the
useful. Self preservation is the real inspiration of conduct. I need not argue
that this is not a philosophy for Masons, who have faith in God for one of their
landmarks. Whatever else we may be consistently with a naturalistic philosophy,
we cannot be Masons. For if there is any one test of a Mason it is a test wholly
incompatible with this rejection of the spiritual.
Closely connected with naturalism are a variety of social
philosophies which have come to have much vogue and in one form, socialism, have
given rise to an active propaganda involving almost religious fervor. These
philosophies reject the individual life, and hence the individual spiritual
life. So far as the individual will is regarded it is because of a social
interest in the individual social life. As political or social philosophies some
of these systems have very great value. But when they are expanded into
universal systems and make material welfare in society--a very proper end in
political philosophy--the sole end of the individual life, when they reject the
spiritual independence of the individual by making "the judgment of society the
test of truth" and expect him to submit his views of good and evil to the
arbitrament of a show of hands, when they ignore individual creation and think
only of distributing, they run counter to Masonic landmarks, so that we cannot
accept them and continue to be Masons. For we hold as Masons that there is a
spiritual part of man. We hold that the individual is to construct a moral and
spiritual edifice within himself by earnest labor, not to receive one ready-made
by a referendum to the judgment of society. Understand me. I do not assert that
modern social philosophies are to be cast out utterly. In law, in politics, in
social science some of them are achieving great things. But we must think of
them as applications, not as universal systems. The problem of the individual
life, the demands of the individual spiritual life, which they ignore, are
matters of vital concern to the Mason, and he calls for a philosophy which takes
account of them. To quote Eucken once more, we cannot assent that the "world of
sense is the sole world of man" nor can we "find life entirely in the relation
to the environment, be it nature or society."
By way of revolt from naturalistic and social philosophies
a modern movement has arisen which has been called aesthetic individualism. It
is distinctly a literary and artistic movement and for that very reason ignores
the mass of humanity and falls short of our basic Masonic requirement of
universality. But it demands a moment's consideration as one of the significant
modes of modern thought. In aesthetic individualism, we are told, "the center of
life is transferred into the inner tissue of self-consciousness. With the
development of this self-consciousness, life appears to be placed entirely on
its own resources and directed towards itself. Through all change of
circumstances and conditions it remains undisturbed; in all the infinity of that
which happens to it, it feels that it is supreme. All external manifestation is
valuable to it as an unfolding of its own being; it never experiences things,
but only itself." Hence to the aesthetic individualist the end is to "make all
the relations and all the externals of life as individual as possible." He is
not to sacrifice the present to the future; he is to reject everything that
subjects the development of life to universal standards; he is to ignore all
those conventions that fit men into the social order and instead is to cultivate
a free relation of individual to individual. To those who accept this doctrine
"what is usually called morality is considered to be only a statute of the
community, a means by which it seeks to rob the individualist the end is to
"make all the relations and all the itself." This philosophy of artists and for
artists is too palpably impossible for the Masonic philosopher to require
further discussion.
If we turn from these disappointing modern theories of the
end of life to systems of applied philosophy, we may do better. Here the
idealists have a more fruitful program. Where Hegel regarded all things as the
unfolding of an idea either logically or in experience, the recent followers of
Hegel, who are the most active force in recent social philosophy, say rather
that all social and political and legal institutions are manifestations of
civilization. To them the idea which is unfolding in all things human is not
some single metaphysical principle; it is the complex idea of human
civilization. Our institutions are resultants of the civilization of the past
and of attempts to adapt them as we received them, to the civilization of the
present. Our task as members of society is to advance civilization by exerting
ourselves consciously and intelligently to that end. Every man may do this in
some measure in his time and place. So every man may, if he will, retard or
obstruct civilization in some degree in his time and place. But from the fact
that he is a man and as such a factor in society actually or potentially, he is
charged with a duty of exerting himself to maintain and advance civilization, of
which as the ultimate idea, society is a mere agent. So far as we may, we must
each of us discover the principles which are presupposed by the civilization of
today and we must exert ourselves consciously to mold institutions thereto and
to regulate conduct thereby. The universal thing, the reality is civilization
among men. To paraphrase a well-known formula, God is the eternal, not
ourselves, that makes for civilization. Here, then, we have a modern system that
comports with the fundamenta of Masonry and with our philosophical demands. It
recognizes the spiritual side of man as something which civilization both
presupposes and develops. It has a God. It is not for a scholarly or artistic
aristocracy. It is of and for all men as partakers in and, if they will be,
agents of a universal human culture. Moreover it meets our first requirement. It
is not dogmatic. It recognizes that civilization is something that is constantly
advancing and hence is changing. It realizes that civilization, for that very
reason, is a matter of time and place and hence that the principles it
presupposes at any time and place, which we take for our ideals, are ideals of
an epoch and principles to serve the needs of time and place. And yet all these
stages transient forms of human culture merge in a general and a constantly
growing human civilization which is the reality both in ourselves and outside of
ourselves.
2. Again the new idealism of practical philosophy meets our
second requirement. Even though its adherents recognize that they have no
absolute formula for all times, for all places, for all peoples, they have an
end, they put before us a purpose. Each of us and all of us are to make for
human civilization. Each of us by developing himself as a civilized, in the real
sense, as a cultured man according to his lights and his circumstances can find
reality in himself and can bring others and the whole nearer to the reality for
which we are consciously or unconsciously striving--the civilization of mankind.
The knowledge which Preston sought to advance, the perfection of man at which
Krause aimed, the relation to God which Oliver sought to attain and the harmony
and through it control of the universe which Pike took for the goal, may well be
regarded as phases of and as summed up in the one idea of human civilization.
3. How far does this new idealism, or as its adherents call
it, this neo-Hegelianism, meet our third requirement? Has it a sound basis in
the history of human institutions generally and the history of our institution
in particular? Here at least the Masonic neo-idealist is upon sure ground.
Anthropologists and sociologists have shown us that next to
the family, which indeed antedates society, the most primitive and most
universal of social institutions is the association of grown men in a secret
society. The simplest and earliest of the institutions of social man is the
"men's house"--a separate house for the men of the tribe which has some
analogies among civilized peoples of antiquity, e.g. the common meal of the
citizens at Sparta, the assembly of the men in the agora in an ancient Greek
community and the meeting of the Roman citizens in assembly in the ancient
polity of the Roman city. In this men's house of a primitive tribe is the center
of social life. Here the most precious belongings of the community, its
religious emblems and its trophies taken in war, are preserved. Here the young
men of the tribe gather as a visible token of their separation from their
families and their entrance upon the duties and responsibilities of tribal life.
Here the elders and leaders have seats according to their dignity and
importance. Women and children may not enter; it is the house of the grown men.
This wide-spread primitive institution develops in different ways. Sometimes it
results in what are practically barracks for the fighting men of the community,
as at Sparta and among some primitive peoples today. Sometimes it becomes a
religious center and ultimately in substance a temple. Usually it becomes the
center of another stage of social development, that is, of what anthropologists
call "the puberty initiation ceremonies" and thence of still another stage, the
primitive secret society. And as these societies develop, replacing the earlier
tribal puberty initiations, the men's house, as the seat of these organizations,
becomes the secret lodge. Hence in this oldest of social institutions, rather
than on the highest hills and in the lowest dales of our lectures, we may find
the first Masonry.
It is a natural instinct, so sociologists tell us, that
leads men of the same age, who have the same interests and the same duties, to
group themselves accordingly and to separate to some extent from other groups.
In obedience to this instinct, we are told that four classes of the male members
of a tribe set themselves off: (1) The boys who have not yet arrived at puberty;
(2) unmarried youths; (3) mature men on whom the duties and responsibilities of
tribesmen rest, and (4) old men, the repositories of tribal wisdom and the
directors of the community. On the attainment of puberty, the boy is taken into
the men's house and as it were initiated into manhood. In due time he becomes
tribesman and warrior. In process of time his eldest son has himself reached
manhood and the father becomes an elder, retired from active service. Thus the
men of the tribe become in substance a secret association divided into two or
three grades or classes out of which, we are told, as a later development, grow
the degrees of primitive secret societies. For the passage from one of these
classes to another almost universally among primitive peoples is accompanied by
secret initiatory ceremonies, and among almost all primitive peoples, the
initiatory ceremonies at puberty are the most solemn and important event in a
man's life. Usually they are more or less dramatic. They begin with some sort of
ordeal. Often there is a symbolic raising from death to life to show that the
child is dead and that a man has risen in his place. Often a great deal of
symbolism is employed and there follows something very like a lecture,
explaining the ceremony. Always they involve an impressive instruction in the
science and the morality of the tribe and an impressive inculcation of
obedience.
In time these initiatory ceremonies degenerate or develop,
as the case may be, into tribal secret societies pure and simple, and with the
progress of civilization and the rise of political and religious systems these
societies also decay or lose their character. Thus eventually, out of this
primitive institution of the men's house, which on one side has grown into
political organization, on another side, through the initiatory ceremonies, no
less than six institutions are developed among different peoples. First there
are political, magical and more or less fraudulent secret societies, which are
extremely common in Africa today. Second, there are clan ceremonies, becoming in
time state ceremonies and state religions. Antiquity abounds in examples of the
importance which men attached to these ceremonies. For example, the dictator
Fabius, at a critical moment in the campaign against Hannibal, left the army in
order to repair to the proper place and perform the clan sacrifices as head of
the Fabian gens. Third, there are religious societies, with elaborate ceremonies
for the reception of the novice. Such societies exist in Thibet and among the
Hindus in striking forms. Fourth, there are the mysteries of antiquity, for
example, the Egyptian and the Eleusinian, or sometimes a mixture of the third
and fourth, as in the case of the Essenes. Fifth, there are trade societies on
the fraternal model, such as the Roman collegia and the trade and operative
guilds. Finally there are purely charitable associations, such as the Roman
burial societies. Each of these, it will be noted, develops or preserves some
side of the primitive tribal secret society. The political and magical societies
develop or preserve their political and medical traditions; the clan ceremonies,
their function of promoting solidarity by ancestor worship; the religious
societies, their moral and religious functions; the mysteries, their symbolical
instruction; the trade societies, their function of instruction in useful
knowledge; the charitable societies, their function of binding men to duties of
relief and of mutual assistance. All preserve the memory of their origin in a
tribe of kinsmen by the fiction of brotherhood which they strive to make real by
teaching and practice.
The relation of Masonry to this development of societies
out of the primitive men's house, as described by non-Masonic scholars with no
thought of Masonry, is so obvious, that we may no longer laugh at Oliver's
ambitious attempts to find Masonry in the very beginning of things. But apart
from its bearing upon Masonic history, this discovery of the anthropologists is
significant for Masonic philosophy. For in this same men's house are the germs
of civilization; the development of the men's house is a development of
civilization, and its end and purpose and the end and purpose of all the
legitimate institutions that have grown out of it have been from the beginning
to preserve, further and hand down the civilization of the tribe or people. In
our universal society, therefore, the end is, and as we study our old charges
and our lectures we see it has always been, to preserve, further and hand down a
universal, human civilization.
Thus we are enabled to answer the three problems of Masonic
philosophy.
1. What is the end of Masonry; for what do we exist as an
organization? The answer of the Masonic neo-idealist would be that our end in
common with all social institutions is to preserve, to develop and to transmit
to posterity the civilization wrought by our fathers and passed on to us.
2. What is the place of Masonry in a rational scheme of
human activity ? What is its relation to other kindred activities? The answer
would be, that it is an organization of human effort along the universal lines
on which all may agree in order to realize our faith in the efficacy of
conscious effort in preserving and promoting civilization. What other human
organizations do along lines of caste or creed or within political or
territorial limits hampered by the limits of political feeling or local
prejudice, we seek to achieve by universality--by organizing the universal
elements in man that make for culture and civilization.
3. How does Masonry achieve its end? Our answer would be
that it makes for civilization by its insistence on the solidarity of humanity,
by its insistence on universality and by the preservation and transmission of an
immemorial tradition of human solidarity and of universality. So conceived, this
tradition becomes a force of the first moment in maintaining and advancing
civilization. And in this way we connect on the one hand with the practical
systems of Preston and of Krause. The ideal of the eighteenth century was
knowledge. The ideal of the nineteenth century was the individual moral life.
The ideal of the twentieth century, I take it, is the universal human life. But
what are these but means toward the advance of human culture? And on the other
hand we connect also with Oliver and with Pike. For they were idealists and so
are we. Only they sought a simple, static idea of which the universe was a
manifestation or an unfolding. We turn rather to a complex and growing idea and
claim to do no more than interpret it in terms of the ideals of the time and
place.
My brethren, we of all men, owe it to ourselves and to the
world, to be universal in spirit. Universality is a lesson the whole world is
learning and must learn. But we ought to know it well already. We ought to be
upon the front bench of the world's school, setting an example to our more
backward school-fellows. Wherever in the world there is a lodge of Masons, there
should be a focus of civilization, a center of the idea of universality,
radiating reason to put down prejudice and advance justice in the disputes of
peoples, and in the disputes of classes, and making for the peace and harmony
and civilization that should prevail in this great lodge of the world.
Moreover, the idea of universality has a special message to
the Mason for the good of Masonry. Every world-organization hitherto has been
wrecked ultimately upon its own dogmatism. It has taken the dogmas, the
interpretations, the philosophy of its youth for a fixed order of nature. It has
assumed that universality consisted in forcing these dogmas, these
interpretations, this philosophy upon all times to come. While it has rested
serene in the ruts made by its own prosperity, the world has marched by it
unseen. We have a glorious body of tradition handed down to us from the past,
which we owe it to transmit unimpaired to the future. But let us understand what
in it is fundamental and eternal, and what is mere interpretation to make it of
service to the past. Let us while we have it use it well to make it of service
to the present. Yet let us fasten upon it nothing hard and fast that serves well
enough to make it useful today, but may make it useless tomorrow. As the
apprentice stands in the corner of the lodge, the working tools are put in his
hands and he is taught their uses. But they are not his. They are the tools of
the lodge. He is to use them that the Worshipful Master may have pleasure and
the Craft profit. The Grand Master of the Universe has entrusted to us the
principles of Masonry as working tools. They, too, are not ours, they belong to
the lodge of the world. We are to use them that He may have pleasure and the
Craft of humanity that labors in this wide lodge of the world may profit
thereby.
back to top
THE ESTABLISHMENT AND EARLY DAYS OF MASONRY IN AMERICA
By Brother Melvin M. Johnson, Grand Master of Masons in
Massachusetts
Chapter I
NO study of Modern Masonry is intelligible without an
understanding of the events of the year 1717. This has been generally known as
the year of the "Revival of Masonry." More properly, it should be called the
year of Masonry's Transmutation or Reincarnation, for then occurred a remarkable
change in the structure of the institution. And an equally remarkable change in
its substance and character focuses upon that year. Prior thereto, Masonry was
an operative institution with speculative features. In 1717, it became a
speculative institution and promptly dropped all operative features except the
use of tools and implements of operative Masons as symbols. Prior to that year
there never had been a Grand Lodge, although there were occasional Assemblies of
Masons of vicinities. Since that time Grand Lodges have been the controlling
authority of the Institution. Prior to that time, "a sufficient number of Masons
met together within a certain district with the consent of the Chief Magistrate
of the place, were empowered to make Masons, and practice the Rite of Masonry
without a Warrant or Constitution." On the 24th of June, 1717, at the Goose and
Gridiron Tavern in Saint Paul's Churchyard, London, the Grand Lodge of England
was organized, and among a variety of regulations which were proposed and agreed
to at this meeting was the following:
"That the privilege of assembling as Masons, which had
hitherto been unlimited, should be vested in certain lodges or assemblies of
Masons convened in certain places; and that every lodge to be hereafter
convened, except the four old lodges at this time existing, should be legally
authorized to act by a warrant from the Grand Master for the time being, granted
to certain individuals by petition, with the consent and approbation of the
Grand Lodge in communication; and that without such warrant no lodge should be
hereafter deemed regular or constitutional."
This regulation in a more elaborate and accurate form was
among those compiled by George Payne in 1720 when he was Grand Master, and
adopted by the Grand Lodge of England on Saint John the Baptist's Day in 1721,
as follows:
"No set or number of Brethren shall withdraw or separate
themselves from the lodge in which they were made Brethren, or were afterwards
admitted members, unless the Lodge becomes too numerous; nor even then, without
a Dispensation from the Grand Master or his Deputy; and when they are thus
separated, they must either immediately join themselves to such other Lodge as
they shall like best, with the unanimous consent of that other Lodge to which
they go (as above regulated) or else they must obtain the Grand Master's Warrant
to join in forming a new Lodge."
"If any set or number of Masons shall take upon themselves
to form a Lodge without the Grand Master's Warrant the regular Lodges are not to
countenance them, nor own them as fair Brethren and duly formed, nor approve of
their acts and deeds; but must treat them as rebels, until they humble
themselves, as the Grand Master shall in his prudence direct, and until he
approve of them by his Warrant, which must be signified to the other Lodges as
the custom is when a new Lodge is to be registered in the list of Lodges."
(Anderson's Constitutions )
These Regulations were adopted for the government of all
lodges thereafter, at least so far as the Grand Lodge of England extended its
jurisdiction. That jurisdiction was almost immediately extended by deputation
and otherwise throughout England and over all British possessions. An edition of
the printed Regulations was first printed for the use of the lodges in and about
London in 1723. The first edition printed in America was that published by
Franklin in Philadelphia in 1734, though copies of the English edition, both in
print and in manuscript, are known to have been previously in the possession of
the brethren of Boston, Mass., and Portsmouth, N. H., and regarded by them, as
by Franklin, as the constitutional and fundamental law of the Masonic
Fraternity.
In considering the history of Masonry as well in America as
elsewhere, it is necessary to remember, therefore, that before the adoption of
these regulations, Lodges were regular though meeting without Charter, Warrant,
Deputation, or other specific authority than that which was inherent in the
Masons themselves. Such meetings may properly be called "Lodges according to the
ancient custom," but subsequent to the adoption of these regulations no Lodge in
the world has been regular, unless organized prior to 1717, or unless meeting by
authority of a Gland Lodge or its Grand Master. Always bearing this sharp line
of demarkation in mind, we may turn to a study of the early days of Masonry in
America.
1606.
"The Masonic emblems, Square and Compass, with the date
1606, large and deeply cut on a flat slab of trap rock and much worn by time and
weather, but still quite distinct, were discovered in 1827 upon the shore of
Goat Island in Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia. Historians have concluded that this
was a stone upon which the French had engraved the date of their first
cultivation of the soil in memorial of their formal possession of the country."
This is the earliest footprint of Masonry in America, but
about it we probably shall never know more, though we may well infer that Masons
enthusiastic enough to have left this monument would have met and worked
"according to the ancient custom."
1656 or 1658.
There is a legend of modern fabrication that certain
Hebrews were given the "Degrees of Maconrie" in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1656
or 1658. The authority for this legend is claimed to be a document, dilapidated
and indistinct "found among the effects of a distant relative of Brother N. H.
Gould." Persistent inquiry has failed to gain a view of this precious document
or a clue to its whereabouts. No credit is given to it by the Masonic students
of Rhode Island and it is doubtless a figment of someone's vivid imagination. I
challenge its production for inspection. If the stories told about it are true,
then its falsity is self-evident for in those days there were no such things
known as "degrees" in Masonry. There were ranks among the workmen but "degrees"
were unknown until after 1717. The "Degree" system of Blue Lodge Masonry was
fabricated in part from the earlier ceremonial of making, by Desaguliers, Payne,
Anderson and their collaborators during the decade following the organization of
the Grand Lodge of England, in 1717.
1705
No presence of Masons or Masonry in the Western Hemisphere
is historically established until 1705. The senior Mason of America of whose
membership there is historical proof is Brother Jonathan Belcher, Colonial
Governor of Massachusetts from 1730 to 1741, who was born at Cambridge, Mass.,
January 8, 1681. After graduating at Harvard in 1699, he visited England
remaining for six years, and in 1704 was there made a Mason. He returned to
Boston in 1705, remaining there as Governor until 1741. Governor Belcher was an
enthusiastic Mason. On Saint John the Baptist's Day in 1737 occurred the first
public procession of the Fraternity in America, Governor Belcher being in the
line as it passed from his official residence to the Royal Exchange Tavern in
King St., Boston, where the Feast of Saint John was celebrated. He was
entertained by the Fraternity of Boston on February 9, 1743-4, and soon after
sailed for England where he visited the Grand Lodge, bearing testimonials from
the First Lodge in Boston. To his son, Andrew, reference will be made later.
If the foundation of Masonry in America is to date from the
first presence here of members of the Craft, then precedence must be given to
Boston as its first home in the New World.
1715.
A legend, which unfortunately has been given undue credence
by some Masonic historians, relates that one John Moore, collector of the Port
of Philadelphia as early as 1703, wrote a letter in 1715 in which he speaks of
having "spent a few evenings in festivity with my Masonic Brethren." I do not
doubt the presence of Masons in various parts of the American Colonies in 1715
including both Philadelphia and Boston but regard statements about the "John
Moore letter" as pure fabrication. If Horace W. Smith ever had it, as alleged,
it ought to be produced or its absence accounted for. Careful inquiry among his
acquaintances discloses repeated but unsuccessful attempts to see it. I am
unable to find any one among his contemporaries or among those having had the
best opportunities to talk with Mr. Smith and to see the document, if it
existed, who believes there ever was such a letter. I should not have given it
any notice in this article had it not been for the fact that Bro. Newton has
referred to it in "The Builders," accepting this and some other erroneous
statements of Brothers Hughan and Stillson at their face value. These Brothers
were learned historians of the highest standing, but they were not infallible.
Even Homer nods.
1720.
Rev. Mr. Montague, who many years ago was settled at
Dedham, Mass., was on a committee to investigate the title of King's Chapel in
Boston to certain property rights. While investigating this subject abroad he
discovered that a Lodge of Masons had met in King's Chapel, Boston, in 1720,
though the meetings were shortly discontinued. Bro. Sachse, the learned
historian and librarian of Philadelphia, has kindly informed me that
confirmation of the assertion that Masonic meetings were held in Boston in these
early days is to be found in the library of the American Philosophical Society.
1721.
The official records of the port of Boston show that on
September 18, 1721, the vessel "Freemason" owned in Boston, cleared from there
for the West Indies. Her Boston owner or owners must have been of the Fraternity
to choose this name. It seems fair to assume though here my reasoning is solely
upon probabilities--that Belcher and the ship-owner were not the only Masons in
Boston in those days. Boston was then quite a populous town containing many
immigrates from England. The type of her citizens favors this conclusion. Is it
not likely that they met together?
The above historical facts, coupled with Masonic tradition
and sound reasoning, lead irresistibly to the conclusion that Lodges "according
to the ancient custom" met in Boston and doubtless in other of the British
Colonies of America prior to the adoption and promulgation of the above
Regulations of 1721. They were perfectly regular "according to the ancient
custom." It was not usual in those days to make, much less to preserve, records
of these evanescent Lodges, and therefore we are without historical evidence of
most of the Masonic occurrences of these early days.
If, then, Masonry in America is to date from the first
meetings of Masons upon her newly settled shores, it must date from the Lodge
held in King's Chapel in 1720 and precedence be given to Boston.
1730.
We learn from the Pennsylvania Gazette of December, 1730,
printed by Benjamin Franklin, and from an account book kept by him which begins
June 24, 1731, that Lodges were then meeting in Philadelphia. All Masonic
historians agree that these were Lodges "according to the ancient custom," that
it to say without Warrant or other extraneous authority. Such lodges, however,
since the promulgation of the above Regulations of 1721 were irregular and
clandestine.
If this be not granted as an axiom, it certainly must be
conceded that they were such from the moment that England asserted her authority
over the colonies here, for there does not exist in the United States or Canada
a single regular Lodge today which is not held by authority derived directly or
mediately from what is today the Grand Lodge of England--the body organized in
1717.
In making this assertion, I am not unmindful of those
charters or warrants emanating from the schismatic Grand Lodge of "Ancients"
which played prodigal for half a century but which more than a century ago
returned home and was welcomed with open arms by His Royal Highness the Duke of
Sussex, Grand Master of the legitimate Grand Lodge, who thereafter for many
years presided over the re-united family.
Authority over the colonies was definitely asserted at
least as early as June 5, 1730, when the Grand Master of England issued a
Deputation to Brother Daniel Coxe, as Provincial Grand Master for the Provinces
of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania for the period of two years. There is
no evidence whatever that Daniel Coxe ever exercised this deputation, or even
that he was on this side of the ocean during the two years therein named. Indeed
historians are agreed that during that period he remained in England,
endeavoring to perfect his title to nearly half the Continent of North America
which he claimed to own by virtue of a grant to his father, who was physician to
Charles I. and Charles II. Had Coxe ever exercised this deputation, he would
have been the founder of duly constituted Masonry in America, but the
non-exercise of his deputation renders his name a negligible one in the history
of Freemasonry in this country. It is certain that Coxe was in England as late
as Jan. 29, 1731, for on that day he was present at a meeting of the Grand Lodge
of England. During that year he was registered as a member of Lodge No. 8 at the
Devil Tavern within Temple Bar. This was the year after the issuance of his
deputation. I can find no indication of his presence in America between 1728 and
1734, before which latter date his commission had long since expired.
1731.
Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston Jan. 17, 1706. He
left Boston in October, 1723, although he was again in Boston the following
year. On October 11, 1726, he arrived in Philadelphia after a trip to London. In
1730 Franklin was not a Mason. He was then twenty-four years old and was
publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette. In its issue of December 8, 1730, he
republished what had been circulating for some time in England as an exposure of
Masonry. This may have aroused his interest in the Institution, for in February,
1731, he was made a Mason in Philadelphia in a Lodge which, though without a
Warrant or Charter, apparently made Masons as did the various irregular
assemblies or Lodges referred to above. On June 26, 1732, the Pennsylvania
Gazette speaks of Franklin as Junior Grand Warden. That Franklin himself
recognized the irregular character of whatever Masonry there then was in
Pennsylvania will subsequently appear.
1733.
We now come to the time of the appearance of Henry Price as
Provincial Grand Master in America. Henry Price was born in London, 1697, as
appears by his original gravestone now in the Masonic Temple, Boston. It is
recorded upon this gravestone that he removed to Boston in 1723. If so, he
returned to England, for it is recorded in the minutes of the Grand Lodge of
England that in 1730 Price was a member of Lodge No. 75, meeting at Rainbow
Coffee House in York Buildings. This Lodge is now The Brittannic, No. 33.
Under date of April 2, 1733, the Right Honorable and Right
Worshipful Anthony Lord Viscount Montague, Grand Master of the Free and Accepted
Masons of |
