THE BUILDER MAGAZINE
January 1916
volume 2 - number 1
THE RELIGION OF ROBERT BURNS
BY BRO. GILBERT PATTEN BROWN, MASS.
ALL men possess some real worth. Creed is an invention of
man. Genius is a gift of God to man. The very name "genius" signifieth original,
unacquired gifts, born gifts: from the Latin of Gignor, to be born; or, older
still, from the Greek of Gennao, to generate, to produce. A man may be a good
historian, a grammarian, or a commentator: only a man of genius can be a
painter, a statuary, or a poet. The poet is an original thinker. Whenever we
find a man of rare intellect working out his own destiny, and showing himself
mighty among his contemporaries, we are benefited by having come in contact with
such a person. In one of that type is a fineness of nature. He is usually a
seer. They have lived in all ages and have been found among all races of men.
They belong to no particular class or creed and are usually deeply religious in
their own way of reasoning. The gentleman of this monograph is without question
Scotland's greatest son. He taught the world through his poems the difference
between religion and creed.
"The rank is but the guinea's stamp
The man's the gowd for a' that."
Possibly no poet ever lived who possessed that original
style and uniqueness of composition as Robert Burns, whose eyes first saw the
light of this world on the twenty-fifth day of the rough old warrior January,
1759, in the quaint little village of Alloway. The cottage, under whose historic
roof he was born, is still standing. The old parish books of records, dimmed
with age, show his ancestry to have been of the best blood of Ayr and Alloway.
The following is a brief account of this old (Celt) family: "Lawful son of
William Burns of Alloway and Agnes Brown, his spouse," and "baptized by Mr.
William Dalrymple: witnesses, John Tement and James Young."
MADE A MASON
The youthful days of Burns were spent amid rural
surroundings, thus giving his young brain an opportunity to read of the
philosophy of life from the open pages of the book of nature. His playmate in
school was his modest brother Gilbert. The poet's maternal grandfather, Gilbert
Brown, was a farmer, and known for his upright living, also his deep religious
convictions. He differed from the creed of his forefathers as did the poet.
Before arriving at manhood Burns became firmly grounded in the faith of "the
fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man." While a youth he had witnessed a
funeral as conducted by the institution of Masonry. That sight he had never
forgot. In beauteous Tarbolton, Ayrshire, was St. David's Lodge, No. 174, whose
membership consisted of the "substantial, upright, and honest gentlemen" of the
neighborhood. An extract from the pages of records of that historic body, under
the date of July 4, 1784, reads,-
"Robert Burns in Lockly was entered an apprentice." Signed,
"R. Norman." And, under the date of October 1, the record reads, "Robert Burns
in Lockly was passed and raised, Henry Cowan being Worshipful Master, James
Humphrey being Senior Warden, and Alex Smith, Junior; Robert Wadrown, Secretary,
and John Manson, Treasurer; John Tammock, Tyler, and others of the brethren
being present."
MORE LIGHT IN MASONRY
Robert Burns became extremely interested in his new and
most fraternal home. The lessons he had learned therein had a very welcome place
in his heart, and in a short time he wished for "more light in Freemasonry," by
being made a regular "Royal Arch Mason." In due season he made application for
further advancement in the ancient mysteries of the Institution. It is by the
aid of the minutes of the old "record book" of "St. Abb's Lodge" of Leymouth,
and under the date of May 19, 1787, that the author is able to give the
following to his fraternal readers:-
"At a general encampment of St. Abb's Lodge, the following
brethren were made Royal Arch Masons: Robert Burns, from the Lodge of St. James,
Tarbolton, Ayrshire; and Robert Ainslie, from the Lodge of St. Luke, Edinburgh.
Robert Ainslie paid one guinea admission dues; but, on account of Robert Burns'
remarkable poetical genius the encampment agreed to admit him gratis, and
considered themselves honored by having a man of such shining abilities for one
of their companions."
Previous to Robert Burns being made a Master Mason, St.
David's Lodge, No. 174, and St. James' Lodge were consolidated under the name,
"St. David's Lodge, No. 174, Ancient Freemasons," and later separated, each
Lodge claiming their pride, "Bobbie" Burns, to hold membership therein.
Throughout Scotland the 24th of June is generally observed
by the Masonic fraternity. In 1786 and in the early part of June, Brother Burns,
being somewhat anxious to have a large attendance on the 24th (St John's Day),
sent to his brother Mason, the Dr. John Mackenzie, a beautiful notice in poem
form. It pleased its readers.
THE MASTER'S APRON
The attendance on that "St. John's Day" was large at
renowned St. David's Lodge, and a more proud Freemason never stood in Masonic
cloth than Robert Burns as he extended the warm hand of friendship and
brotherhood upon that occasion. He was a frequent and most welcome visitor to
Masonic meetings in many places of "Bonnie" Scotland. The following is from his
talented pen:-
"There's many a badge that's unco braw
Wi' ribbons, lace, and tape on:
Let Kings and Princes wear them a'
Gie me the Master's apron
The honest craftsman's apron
The jolly Freemason's apron,
Bide he at hame, or roam afar
Before his touch fa's bolt an' bar,
The gates of fortune fly ajar,
'Gin he wears the apron.
For w'alth and honor, pride and power
Are crumbling stanes to base on:
Fraternity should rule the hour
And ilka worthy Mason,
Each free accepted Mason
Each ancient crafted Mason.
Then, brithers, let a halesome sang
Arise your friendly ranks alang.
Gude Wives and bairnes blithely sing
Ti' the ancient badge wi' the apron string
That is worn by the Maste Mason."
Our own William Cullen Bryant in his address at the Burns
birthday centennial festival, Astor House, Nevi York, Jan. 25, 1859, spoke at
length on Burns. The following is but a brief extract from his well-timed
remarks:-
"Well has our great poet deserved this universal
commemoration, for whohas written like him ? What poem descriptive of rural
manners and virtues, rural life in its simplicity and dignity,--yet without
single false outline or touch of false coloring,--clings to our memories and
lives in our bosoms like his 'Cotter's Saturday Night'? What humorous narrative
in verse can be compared with his 'Tam O'Shanter'? From the fall of Adam to his
time, I believe, there was nothing written in the vein of his 'Mountain Daisy':
others have caught his spirit from that poem, but who among then, all excelled
him? Of all the convivial songs I have ever seen in any language there is none
so overflowing with the spirit of conviviality, so joyous, so contagious as his
song of 'Willie brewed a Peck o' Maut.' What love songs are sweeter and tenderer
than those of Burns? What song addresses itself so movingly to our love of old
friends and our pleasant recollection of old days as his 'Auld Lang Syne,' or to
the domestic affections so powerfully as his 'John Anderson'"?
The religion of Burns was truly the religion of a poet. "An
irreligious poet is a monster," he said. "I despise the religion of a fanatic,
but I love the religion of a man." So advanced has become the age of reason that
these words alone make Burns mighty among the world's greatest philosophers. A
true poet is a religious man. He sees goodness in all things: the works of Deity
are to him ever visible.
SECTARIANISM
Years ago Scotland alone celebrated the birthday of Burns;
but to-day people of many races, creeds, and tongues hold services commemorating
that eventful day. We find many preachers of to-day laying their sacrifice of
praise on the sacred altar of his cherished memory. Even the creed egoist or the
race despot cares not to make war upon the name of Robert Burns. Form to him was
nothing, sect had no welcome in his heart. The peddling politicians of
sectarianism played upon his tender feelings, and, while he was yet young,
forced him into arguments upon theological lines. In later years he frequently
declared to the effect that the theological brawlings of his early life were not
to be counted against him as hostile to religion. For true religion his respect
was marked. See his philosophy in these lines,--
"In ploughman phrase, God send you speed,
Still daily to grow wiser;
And may ye better reck the rede
Than ever did th' adviser."
He wore no commercial smile, nor did he frown upon the
riches of others. He was never known to speak disrespectfully of Jesus of
Nazareth.
The following four lines are but a fragment of his poem as
paralleled by him to the eighth chapter of John:-
"Then gently scan your brother man,
Still gentler sister woman;
Tho' they may gang a kennin' wrang,
To step aside is human."
For the sake of the songs of Burns the rational world has
forgiven his sins.
Robert Burns died July 21, 1796, and was buried five days
later at Alloway Kirk, Ayr. No grave in all Scotland is more cherished by the
visitor than that of Robert Burns, who had many faults and who like all men made
many mistakes in life, but whose tender heart gave to humanity some of the
sweetest messages since the Sermon on the Mount, and whose name will live as
long as biography has a charm for the children of men.
THE SWEET SINGER
Thus do we find Robert Burns to have been a very religious
man. Many of his poems are sermons worthy to be cherished by all lovers of
literary worth. He frowned upon no man for his form of worship of the Deity. He
despised the selfishness of man in commercial life:--
"The poor, oppressed, honest man
Had never sure been born
Had there not been some recompense
To comfort those that mourn."
Again he says,--
"Great Nature spoke, with benign
'Go on, ye human race
This lower world I you resign
Be faithful and increase.' "
To the memory of his daughter who died in 1795 he wrote two
verses, one of which is as follows:--
"To those who for her loss are grieved,
This consolation's given:
She's from a world of woe relieved
And blooms a rose in heaven."
One of his truest friends was John Bushby, who was known
for his faith in God and his honesty of purpose in worldly affairs. At his grave
Burns wrote:--
"Here lies John Bushby, honest man!
Cheat him, Devil, if you can."
"Burns' Day," January 25th, is becoming a popular day of
celebration, when, by those who love the tender side of humanity, race and creed
are forgotten.
----o----
THYSELF IN CONTROL
From the Katha-Upanishad.
Know the Self to be sitting in the chariot, the body to be
the chariot, the intellect the charioteer, and the mind the reins.
The senses they call the horses, the objects of the senses
their roads. When he (the Highest Self) is in mlion with the body, the senses,
and the mind, then wise people call him the Enjoyer.
He who has no understanding and whose mind (the reins) is
never firmly held, his senses (horses) are unmanageable, like vicious horses of
a charioteer.
But he who has understanding and whose mind is always
firmly held, his senses are under control, like good horses of a charioteer.
He who has no understanding, who is unmindful and always
impure, never reaches that place, but enters into the round of births. But he
who has understanding, who is mindful and always pure, reaches indeed that place
whence he is not born again.
But he who has understanding for his charioteer, and who
holds the reins of the mind, he reaches the end of his journey, and that is the
highest place.
----o----
"One of the first lessons taught a Mason is prayer, and
what a mockery it is for a man to pray to the great God whose name he profanes.
One reason why Masons lose interest is that they were not first made Masons in
their hearts."
IRISH FREEMASONRY
BY BRO. J.L. CARSON, VIRGINIA
Although Ireland cannot boast of having had a Mason's Guild
of its own, many of the cathedrals, churches and monasteries established up and
down through the country were built by bands or companies of skilled workmen
belonging to such guilds who came into "The Kingdom of Ireland" from across "The
Channel."
The Cathedral of The Holy Trinity (now Christ's Church),
Dublin, was built 1157-1230 by a company of such workmen from Somersetshire;
Grey Abbey in the County Down was erected by a body of the brotherhood of
operative builders from Whitby 1190 to 1200; builders from Southwark erected St.
Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, about 1210; and Saint Mary's Church, Youghal; Saint
Nicholas' Church, Carrickfergus; The Abbey Church, Bangor; County Down, and many
others were "fitly framed together" by members of some of the skilled
brotherhoods of operative Masons from across the Irish Sea, whose camps or
lodges scattered over the face of the land, account for the large number of St.
John's Lodges pre-existing the establishment of the Grand Lodge of Ireland.
That Speculative Masonry existed in Ireland previous to the
Grand Lodge era we have ample proof. Of course, the early St. John's Lodges were
purely operative, gradually becoming speculative, but at what date this change
occurred, or of the circumstances leading up to the change, we have no
intimation or knowledge. This we do know: that as early as 1688 Speculative
Masonry was known and understood in Ireland. In that year John Jones in his
tripos delivered at the commencement exercises of The University of Dublin,
delivered before a mixed assembly of University men and prominent Dublin
citizens, referred to Free Masonry in such terms as to leave no doubt that a
general and wide-spread knowledge of the principles of the speculative element
of our society were fully understood.
A LADY FREEMASON
In 1712 at Doneraile House County Cork, where a Speculative
Lodge was being held in the Mansion of Lord Doneraile, The Right Honourable
Betty St. Ledger, afterwards Mrs. Aldworth (sister of his Lordship), was
admitted a Freemason, (she being the only Lady Freemason ever regularly
initiated into our society, her initiation is one of the romances of
Freemasonry.)
In 1717 at least four of these St. Johns or "Time
Immemorial Lodges" met in the City of London with Antony Sawyer as Grand Master
and inaugurated the first Speculative Grand Lodge of the World, The Grand Lodge
of England. So in the year 1725 (or earlier) The St. Johns Lodges of Ireland
united to form The Grand Lodge of Ireland, the oldest daughter of the Mother
Grand Lodge.
The Dublin papers of 1725 inform us, that on the 26th day
of June, that year, the Grand Lodge of Ireland attended a public ceremony,
parading the Streets of Dublin "on a most magnificent scale," from the same
source we also learn that on the 28th of June "the Master and Wardens of the
Ancient and Honourable Society of Freemasons were chosen, and the Right
Honourable Richard Earl of Ross was elected Grand Master," after the
installation "there was a splendid dinner consisting of one hundred and fifty
dishes," "after dinner and music they went to the play where Mr. Griffith," (the
Comedian, who was also the Grand Secretary) "and the Honourable Society sung a
song in praise of Freemasonry." All this does not look as if it was "the first
day out" for our ancient Irish Brethren, but as all the old records of the Grand
Lodge have been "lost, strayed, or stolen," the exact date of the origin of this
Grand Lodge cannot be definitely fixed, nor the number of Lodges assisting
thereat. The "Munster Records," however, are the first authentic records of any
Grand Lodge in Ireland, informing us that a Grand Lodge met at Cork on the 27th
of December, 1726, The Honourable James O'Brien, third son of William 3rd Earl
of Inchquin, being elected (3rand Master, and Springett Penn, Great Grandson of
Admiral Penn and Grandson of the famous Pennsylvania Quaker, Deputy Grand
Master. On August 9th, 1731, Lord Kingston, who had been elected Grand Master of
England 1728 was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge in Dublin. He had also
been elected in 1729 Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Munster; his acceptance
of both important Irish offices served to fuse together the two bodies in 1731,
into the Grand Lodge of Ireland as it stands to this day, proving the connection
and good feeling then existing between the Premier Grand Lodge of England and
the Grand Lodges of Ireland.
FIRST IRISH CONSTITUTIONS
In 1730 John Pennell transcribed and rearranged Anderson's
Constitutions for the Grand Lodge of Ireland, making them the first Irish
Constitutions, thus showing the identity of the systems of the Mother Grand
Lodge of the World, and her eldest daughter the Grand Lodge of Ireland, previous
to the establishment of the Grand Lodge of the Ancients, which deriving its
ceremonial work, and methods of organization from the Grand Lodge of Ireland,
was rather an offshoot of that Grand Lodge than a seceder from the Premier Grand
Lodge of England.
In 1740 Laurence Dermott was initiated in Lodge No. 26,
Dublin, and in 1746 was its Worshipful Master; he afterwards migrated to London
and was practically the organizer of the Grand Lodge of the "Ancients." He was
early appointed Grand Secretary and afterwards Deputy Grand Master, introducing
the Irish working and all its methods of procedure, dubbing the followers of the
premier Grand Lodge of England as "Moderns."
The Irish Craft and the Grand Lodge of the "Ancients"
therefore worked pure ancient Masonry, holding fast to the "original intention"
and the Ancient Landmarks, while the Modern Grand Lodge by its innovations, its
errors of omission and commission, ran the risk of covering the landmarks with
so much quasi-Masonic rubbish as almost to obliterate them altogether.
In 1766 Grand Secretary Crocker when changing his residence
in Dublin lost a "small hair trunk" full of Grand Lodge records, and in 1801
Alexander Seton the newly appointed Grand Secretary, took the full of a "Hackney
Coach" of manuscripts, books, and records from the home of Brother Crocker,
which have never since been traced or recovered. Any student of the history of
Grand Bodies can realize this loss; all the history of the Grand Lodge of
Ireland previous to this late has been laboriously gathered together from
outside sources. Alexander Seton (a Dublin Barrister) who captured the old
records, left himself by this and his many irregularities as Grand Secretary
open to a Chancery Suit, that ever famous Irish Orator and Brother Mason, Dan
O'Connell (The Liberator) being Junior Council for the Grand Lodge. The suit
went against Seton who immediately set about fomenting trouble for the Grand
Lodge of Ireland.
FRILLS AND FEATHERS
At this period all known and many now unknown degrees were
being worked in the Irish Lodges under no other authority than the Blue Lodge
warrants. In fact, the power to grant the higher degrees was only governed by
the ability to confer them.
The Grand Lodge of Ireland therefore set about cutting all
the "frills and feathers" from the Blue Lodges confining them to the first three
degrees. Seton seized this as a pretext to agitate the provincial Lodges,
misrepresenting the attempts of the Grand Lodge to bring the High Grades under a
central control, set about the establishment of a rival Grand Lodge in Dublin
known variously as "The Grand East of Ireland," "The Grand Lodge of Ulster," and
"The Grand East of Ulster." The central and main plank in their platform being
"that it appears to us that the innovations lately proposed to be placed on the
High Masonic orders are unnecessary, inasmuch as these orders have hitherto
enjoyed uninterrupted tranquillity without any ostensible head or controlling
power." In 1805 about 200 Lodges revolted following Seton into the "Grand East
of Ulster." Things for a time looked serious, but the Grand Lodge after a five
years' struggle came out on top. By wise and liberal legislation speaking
volumes for the good sense of the rulers of the Craft the effect of the schism
died out with astonishing rapidity, and its very memory was speedily forgotten
by all but the few students of Irish Masonic history. The History of the Grand
Lodge of Ireland since this date has been the history of most other Grand
Lodges. It had its ups and downs, its days of prosperity and adversity, but its
Traditions, History and Ritual have been handed down pure and undefiled, and the
glorious banner of the Craft still flies over a contented and prosperous
jurisdiction.
CHETWODE CRAWLEY
The present Ritual was first adopted by the Grand Lodge in
1814. John Fowler "who had a master mind for ritual" exemplified the working
before the Grand Lodge, and it was then and there decreed that "the work of John
Fowler and no other" be the fixed standard for all future time. Fowler's
exemplification introduced no novelties, omitted no essentials, simply put into
concrete form the then existing but somewhat mixed ceremonies as they had been
handed down from the beginning. Edward Thorp, a pupil of Fowler's, carried on
the good work for many years. The late Judge Townsend and Harry Hodges, as well
as our good Brother W. J. Chetwode Crawley, received their Masonic ritual from
Brother Thorp, without "evasion or equivocation." R.W. Brothers Townsend, Hodges
and Crawley have given of their best to the Grand Lodge of Instruction, so that
the claim of the Grand Lodge of Ireland for the accuracy of its pure ancient
Freemasonry is no vain boast. "Strict verbal accuracy" is demanded where there
is neither a printed or written, recognized or unrecognized monitor or textbook,
and this is the system by which this demand is attained.
A Brother in a Subordinate Lodge who shows ability and
inclination to master the ceremonies, is nominated by his Lodge to attend the
Grand Lodge of Instruction in Dublin. If he obtains a certificate of proficiency
he becomes instructor to his Lodge. Two of the ablest of these ritualists in
each province are annually elected Provincial Grand Instructors, who make
regular visits to the Grand Lodge of Instruction, also visiting the Lodges in
their province where no brother holds an instructor's certificate, or to any
Lodge as instructed by the Provincial Grand Lodge or requested by the
Subordinate Lodge. If "strict verbal accuracy" is demanded, so also is "strict
uniformity of Masonic Clothing," no apron, jewel, or decoration other than those
appertaining to the first three and Past Master's degree being allowed to be
worn in a Blue Lodge. This rule is insisted upon in the case of visiting
Brethren as well as members of the Lodge. The Grand Lodge meets in Dublin
annually, the Grand Master being a life appointment and the Grand Officers the
appointment of the Grand Lodge and the Board of General Purposes.
"THE JEWELS"
The Board of General Purposes arranges and decides almost
all business details for the Grand Lodge, so that its decisions are usually a
cut and dry ratification of the rulings of the Board of General Purposes.
Provincial Grand Lodges meet quarterly, the Provincial Grand Master, usually a
life appointment, is the nomination of the Grand Master. The Provincial Deputy
Grand Master being the nomination of the Provincial Grand Master, it thus
transpires, that the office of Provincial Senior Grand Warden is the highest
elective position in the gift of the Irish Brethren.
"The Jewels" of Irish Masonry are the Masonic Orphan Boys
School, the Masonic Female Orphan School, and the Victoria Jubilee Masonic Fund,
all of which are supported with the generosity and good will characteristic of
the Irish Freemason at home or abroad, for "Charity suffereth long and is kind."
The first Military Warrant (No. 11) ever issued by any
Constitution was granted on the 7th of November, 1732, to the First Battalion of
the Royal Scots Regiment by the Grand Lodge of Ireland. Through the medium of
these Military, Travelling, or Army Lodges, of which the Grand Lodge of Ireland
and her Sistel Grand Lodge the "Ancients" issued many hundreds, Freemasonry
reached the limits of every British possession, and claim may be laid for the
lion's share in the spread of Freemasonry through the length and breadth of the
English Speaking world.
In Ireland the Royal Arch was known as early as 1743, and
the degree of Knight Templar in 1758. Tradition and generally accepted Lodge
gossip leads us to believe both these degrees were worked in connection with
Blue Lodges or as distinct organizations long previous to these dates. Many, if
not all the Regiments stationed in Ireland having Military Warrants, adopted
these degrees and worked them without let or hindrance under their ordinary Blue
Lodge Warrants, thus s creating what were called "Black Warrants;" hence we
account for the spread of the Royal Arch and Templa; degrees as well as those of
Blue Masonry, whereve these regiments were drafted.
LAURENCE DERMOTT
The Grand Lodge of Ireland issued the first Grand Lodge
Certificate ever handed a Mason by his Gran Lodge. The first of these
certificates that ever crossed the sea was carried by Laurence Dermott and
exhibited with pride by him in the Grand Lodge in London, thus proving his
identity, and his ability to perform all the Masonic Ceremonies as worked in
Ireland at that date. Warrant No. 1 of the Lodge meeting at Mitchellstown, Co.
Cork, is the oldest existing document of its kind ever issued by any Grand
Jurisdiction. Mitchellstown was on the estate of and near the Mansion of Lord
Kingston, Grand Master; thus we account for its being warranted to that village.
It is quite possible it first met in the Mansion itself. This Lodge claimed to
have worked as a regularly constituted St. John's Lodge for fifty years previous
to the issue of its Grand Lodge warrant. For many years these St. John Lodges
held aloof from the Grand Lodge and did not apply for regular warrants of
Constitution. In 1840 we find the following advertisement in the public
newspapers: "Such Lodges as have not already taken out warrants, are ordered to
apply for them to John Baldwin, Esq., Grand Secretary to the Grand Lodge, or
they will be proceeded against as rebels." Indeed it was a frequent cause of
riot and disorder when the "Regulars" or members of Lodges having received Grand
Lodge Warrants, and the "Bush," "Rebel" or "Hedge" Masons, as those belonging to
unwarranted Lodges were called, met at fairs, markets and funerals, trailing
their coats down the center of the street, each claiming their regularity and
yelling "If you want to raise a row or a ruction just tread on the tail of me
coat." And I say to the readers of "The Builder," if you want to raise either of
the aforesaid ancient ceremonies, just say a bad word about the Grand Lodge of
Ireland, and I'm with you.
----o----
ON THE FAIR DAY
God went into the market-place of the world on a great
fair-day.
All the stalls were kept by priests, who kept crying - the
crowd:
"Which god will you buy ?"
"Mine is the only true god."
"Hold to the god of youl ancesters."
"My god compromises with sin and sells you indugences."
"My god is easy-going."
"My god is profitable."
"My god is fashionable."
"Come buy with gold."
"Come buy with observances."
"Come buy with trumpetings."
And God turned wearily away and said to the stars: "How
long it
takes mankind to grow up."
--Elizabeth Gibson Cheyne.
REFLECTIONS ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF ALBERT PIKE
BY BRO. FRANK W. ELLIS, IOWA
FREEMASONRY has been defined as a science which includes
all other sciences. The study of Morals and Dogma will lead to a keen
appreciation of such a definition and that it is not only the most concise but
one of the most comprehensive and furnishes an illustration of the immense scope
of Morals and Dogma.
Dogma, according to Pike himself, is to be construed as
doctrine or teaching, and so we have in Morals and Dogma a book which
comprehends Masonic morality and teachings; usually expressed in a more
scholarly and dignified way as Pike's Philosophy of Masonry.
The Philosophy of Masonry, or any particular Masonic
writer's philosophy, means the unfolding of the wisdom of Masonry. That is, we
as Masons use the terrn philosophy as a science which treats of our particular
system of teaching. We gather this knowledge or wisdom as a science or a
philosophy from numerous sources; one can safely say it flows from innumerable
fountains. Symbols, allegories, legends, occurrences from the Bible and many
dramas, dress this wisdom attractively. The meaning of the symbols, the pictures
produced by its allegories and legends and Bible occurences make clear the
lessons of Masonry which are called Masonic Philosophy. Why, certain symbols and
allegories and occurences teach these lessons, carries us into a broader and
more diversified domain of philosophy, yea, even into the storehouses of
knowledge of all time, which means a research that only the sage or profound
scholar can ordinarily undertake. It might be well to remark, however, in this
connection, that, given a fairly calm judgment and good mind, such a research
will produce a scholarly result in one not blessed with book knowledge attained
in colleges or schools. If the ordinary mind of the ordinary Mason is not roused
or stimulated to activity for deep learning, he can nevertheless acquire and
absorb the Masonic meaning and come to a Masonic understanding of the all
instructive, all fruitful and all entrancing beauties of the symbols, the
pictures made by the allegories and occurences depicted in Masonry. And when he
gazes into the limpid depths of the streams that flow from these fountains and
interprets and construes their songs and harmonies, the note that strikes his
responsive chord is not difficult of comprehension.
THE PURPOSE OF MASONRY
It is not the purpose of Masonry to supplant or supersede
religion. Masonry is only a help to religion. It is to teach us to have a firm
belief in God and the immortality of the soul. Masonic philosophy has this end
in view, and works for that consummation. Belief in the unity of God and
immortality of the Soul is its basic, fundamental law, its eternal lesson and
foundation. Its morals follow necessarily as a postulate, inevitably as a
sequence. It is not the purpose of this paper to endeavor to strike the keys in
perfect harmony with all the conceptions of Pike, borrowed or original, in his
moral teachings or his philosophy, but rather to find some of them as one would
hold to his ear the shell listening for the faint refrain of the cadences of the
sounding deep. It is an effort to pluck and inhale the perfume and observe the
beauty of some only of the flowers which grow in the garden of the Philosophy of
Morals and Dogma.
Undoubtedly, as learned scholars have declared, the
philosophy taught in Morals and Dogma is the reduction of all forces or
impulses, spiritual and material, to dependency for their existence upon the
Absolute. The Being who is Being, always was Being and always will be Being. The
universe with all its ramifications, including life and inanimate matter, came
from or emanated from God, the Absolute. Interpret our individual tenets as we
may, nevertheless they lead to the final Unity, which is the Absolute. That as a
necessary deduction from this doctrine of all springing from or owing existence
to the Absolute or God, there is a doctrine of harmony arising from the action
of contrary forces in everything, whether spiritual or material.
DOCTRINE OF EMANATION
The doctrine of the Absolute was taught by nearly all
sages, philosophers, savants, oracles and learned men of all time. It was the
doctrine of nearly all the esoteric institutions of all ages. And Pike
skillfully deduces from the writings of nearly all learned men the theory of the
operation of contrary forces producing harmony. Most commentators on Pike are
content to state his philosophy in the most meager way or as a key to understand
his Morals and Dogma and refer you to a study of his work, which is
complimentary not only to his philosophy but also to the wealth of learning with
which his pages glisten.
A cold or unadorned statement of the Doctrine of Emanation
of everything from God, or the Absolute, and that such emanations or
manifestations operated by the combined action of contraries, is an arid and
barren harvest of the poetry and beauty and wisdom of Pike's philosophy. Such is
the doctrine of the philosophy of Pike, and bare mention of it may be a
sufficient clew or hint or incentive for the learned and the scholarly or the
philosopher. It does not suffice, however, if we are to stimulate the ordinary
Mason to a study of Pike's philosophy of Masonry. His philosophy is set in many
constellations each composed of many different stars, many of the first
magnitude.
The doctrine of the Absolute, if it may be called such for
brevity, is not a new philosophy. It is older than written language and
stretches away back to the first method of teaching by symbols and yet further
into the dim recesses of remote and unknown antiquity when mortal thought first
took form; if indeed it was not a part of the first mortal thought and there had
its origin. Belief in God has been intuitive always. It is instinctive, a part
and parcel of humanity, if perchance it is not more and came from communion with
God by the patriarchs.
Harmony as a product of spiritual action must be the law of
creation of all things because it could not be otherwise. That sacred subject
cannot be solved by the human mind for the reason that it deals with the
infinite which is above and beyond the human mind. Just so, the blue sky is a
name only because it is not there. We look into infinity which the human eye
cannot see. Neither can the human mind comprehend the operations of the
Infinite. The grace and loveliness of Infinite Creation producing exquisite
harmony in every form and shape and mould stimulates the human mind to endeavor
to penetrate its mysteries, and every force of the human brain is strained to
comprehend. It is the far and futile hope of science. It has agitated the
highest and best and brightest and most profound intellects of all time who have
endeavored to explain it by every symbol that the ingenuity of man could invent.
Language, which is itself a symbol of thought, has been exhausted and tortured,
to give clearness to an explanation. But all in vain. Human reason has its limit
in human understanding. Pristine Truth is not within the purview of man's
comprehension.
GOD AND IMMORTALITY
For the ordinary man the philosophy of Masonry as taught by
Pike can bring him belief in the Unity of God and Immortality of the Soul
resting upon human reason and human faith. This Pike's philosophy teaches its
student on nearly every page. One can read and. study Morals and Dogma and
discard the particular doctrine of every philosopher mentioned therein or to
whom reference is made, and even the philosophy of the Book itself, and still
its pages fairly teem with and pour forth a radiance of morality, founded upon
the logic of immutable laws, which light the way to the goal of human
perfection, or the Utopia of human excellence, because they are based or founded
upon our law;--the Unity of God and Immortality of the Soul.
Why the morality of mankind, whether in an individual or
nation, is founded upon these immutable principles is our philosophy. Pike warns
us again and again that nature does not explain, that simple things only are
explained. The revelation itself, while revealing, conceals because it cannot be
otherwise. A real mystery is not a mystery because it is understood by only a
few, the select. It is a mystery for the reason that it cannot be explained by
language, for if it could be made plain or evidenced by words it never would
have been a mystery, and would have been exposed when born. Hence, symbols
convey a meaning which can exist only in the thought and in the mind or in the
judgment of the intellect. Multiplying words does not reveal them. That process
only covers or conceals them. For instance, in nature we know only the effect of
fire, we do not know the cause. We know the effect of lightning or electricity,
but not its cause. We may be able in such phenomena to discover the combination
of the elements which compose them, but what acts upon these elements to produce
the effects is a mystery yet unsolved. Likewise, another mystery, it does not
seem that our comprehension, our wisdom, is intended to solve them. The more we
use words to explain the insolvable, the unknown and the inscrutable the more we
re-cover them with an opaque cloak or veil.
FORCE OF ELECTRICITY
God and the Immortality of the Soul are far more hidden and
impenetrakle to the human mind than movement of matter. Fire and electricity are
matter because it takes time for them to act. The marvelous force of electricity
which comes and goes, with its terrifying effects, almost instantaneously, a
cataract of fire from the sky, nevertheless is visible and takes time. The
shrouded and obscure ether which we call void or space, by its friction, or for
some other cause, retards light because though light travels with inconceivable
rapidity time is consumed before it reaches the earth from the distant stars.
Our human reason is perhaps partially defined as meaning
proof. Proof appeals to the judgment, to the intellect, in such manner as to be
convincing. In other words, reason is, in our mind, the certainty of some
existence or phenomena we can appreciate and understand. We all know there are
such material things as dew, light, earth, plants, moon, stars, sun and
buildings, trees or objects of any kind, or rainbows, or clouds or colors
because we see them. Science explains many things indisputably. Many other
effects we feel. We are certain that such things are true and that they exist.
Our reason makes them known to us.
When reason ceases we must rely on faith, whether faith
precedes or follows reason or operates with it simultaneously. A faith that is
blind, that is covered or a matter of habit or an inheritance, is not a real
faith. We should have a faith founded upon reason, that is, the certainty of
conviction that never fears or trembles at the approach of doubt. Otherwise we
are groping in the dark or walking in the shadows or in a perennial mist or fog.
STARS OF FAITH
Faith in God and the immortality of the Soul is one of the
stars of first magnitude in the constellations which form the entire Philosophy
of the Morals and Dogma, as it is in any philosophy of Masonry. Can we acquire
by any philosophy a real conviction based upon never yielding faith ? Or must we
abjure wisdom and always falter through the darkness? Or can we find a reason
for the faith within us ? Pike says, yes ! Many other learned men say the same.
Why? The Bible is a reason for faith and is entirely sufficient for many
thousands. There can, however, be no harm in cumulating reasons for faith, if
there can be any such piling up of proof outside the Bible. Likely, to all the
proof for faith is there, if we would but find it.
The most appealing foundation for a faith founded upon
reason is nature. Nature teaches by symbols; it does not explain. By analogy, if
not otherwise, the lessons of Nature will produce an unyielding and inevitable
faith. Nature, the Universe, is the work of the Absolute, the evidence of the
thought of the Cause of Causes, God. Matter is never destroyed. The soul or
spirit of man is from the Supreme Light and is indestructible by every
demonstration of the Infinite.
The philosophy of Pike, aside from certain profound
conclusions, aside from its beautiful lessons of morality, and aside from its
innumberable excursions into the theory of every effort at government and social
problems and their effect, and aside from the worked over and quoted philosophy
of the sages and scholars, reveals a lesson to the ordinary mind of the ordinary
Mason so bright, so resplendent and so lovely as to be fascinating, even though
he does not pretend to be metaphysical. And this is so whether or not Pike uses
that lesson as an illustration or argument for his final consummation and
whether original or borrowed or moulded in the crucible of his astounding mind.
FAITH AND REASON
Faith standing parallel with reason are certainly two of
the great columns which Pike's philosophy constructs. Exercise your reason or
judgment to make your faith strong. If your faith in God and immortality is
proved to you, it is immutable and unchangeable ! The strongest winter winds of
doubt will never make it cold or frosty, the hottest tropic blasts of
vacillation will never make it shrivel or shrink, and no atmosphere of
hesitation can ever warp or change its melodious cogency. The fixed certainty of
faith must be acquired by yourself. It is yours instinctively and it needs only
its refinement and education to make it manifest to you. All the accumulated
knowledge of all the libraries of the world are powerless to transfer faith from
their pages to your mind, but only one book may create in you that inestimable
human gift; but without even one book you may gather the harvest of faith from
one seed of wisdom planted by nature.
The great, so called, concealed mystery of Masonic
philosophy is revealed by faith. The meanings of its symbols are made obvious by
faith. When once acquired the conqueror may see the seven steps of the ladder,
and as he climbs, looking upward, the clouds break, the horizon broadens and the
light shines more and more clearly until it becomes the refulgence of certain
immortality. Such a faith will reconcile existing evil with God's absolute
wisdom and goodness. Faith with reason are not alone for the profound scholar
sitting perched upon a pinnacle of inaccessible seclusion, but they are also for
him who toils in the valley or works upon the mountainside, if his thoughts
scale the heights along the way that nature has blazed with perpetual tokens. So
reads the philosophy of Pike. Read, and reflect. Stimulate your mind by reading
and exercise it by reflection.
THE SPAN OF LIFE
The span of life is so brief, that the wonderful mechanism
of man seems hardly worth while, but when we come to consider the wonders of
nature; that the most minute forms of life like the infusoria or the animalcula,
some of which live for an hour or a day only, and on the other hand the
unspeakable and stupendous duration of the solar systems, we can gather some
idea or conception by comparison of the microscopical and infinitesimal
importance of man. It is largely this appreciation of the insignificance of self
that leads to a real appreciation of the marvelous magnitude and prodigious
phenomena of nature. Time blots out material life as we crush an ant with our
heel or as a blotter takes up the ink. The brevity of life has been the theme of
the bard and the inspiration of the philosopher. Every lesson of morality and
truth and the virtues have been painted and sung and prosed from the inspiration
of the shortness of life and the insignificance of man. However, because life is
short and self is nothing is not a reason to decline to make the most of life.
To improve our moral nature and find the means of multiplying our beneficence
and to use our best effort for the improvement of our spiritual nature by the
worship of the Grand Architect of the Universe, the interpretation of God's
writing on the great pages of the Book of Nature and the amelioration of the
evils of mankind are the great work of Masonry through its Philosophy. The pages
of Pike shine with this philosophy and faith and reason, and apparently
contraries working co-ordinately, are its beacon light. True there are many
coruscations rising and falling, from and to the great central radiance or light
of faith in God and the immortal Soul founded upon reason. For illustration let
us take two quotations from Pike.
THE MIRACLE OF LIFE
"Here are two minute seeds, not much unlike in appearance,
and two of larger size. Hand them to the learned Pundit, Chemistry, who tells us
how combustion goes on in the lungs, and plants are fed with phosphorus and
carbon, and the alkalies and silex. Let her decompose them, analyze them,
torture them in all the ways she knows. The net result of each is a little
sugar, a little fibrin, a little water--carbon, potassium, sodium, and the likc
one cares not to know what.
"We hide them in the ground; and the slight rains moisten
them, and the Sun shines upon them, and little slender shoots spring up and
grow;--and what a miracle is the mere growth !--the force, the power, the
capacity by which the little feeble shoot, that a small worm can nip off with a
single snap of its mandibles, extracts from the earth and air and water the
different elements, so learnedly catalogued, with which it increases in stature,
and rises imperceptibly toward the sky.
"One grows to be a slender, fragile, feeble stalk, soft of
texture, like an ordinary weed; another a strong bush, of woody fibre armed with
thorns, and sturdy enough to bid defiance to the winds; the third a tender tree,
subject to be blighted by the frost, and looked down upon by all the forest;
while another spreads its rugged arms abroad, and cares for neither frost nor
ice, nor the snows that for months lie around its roots.
"But lo ! out of the brown foul earth, and colorless
invisible air, and limpid rain-water, the chemistry of the seeds has extracted
colors--four different shades of green, that paint the leaves which put forth in
the spring upon our plants, our shrubs and our trees. Later still come the
flowers--the vivid colors of the rose, the beautiful brilliance of the
carnation, the modest blush of the apple, and the splendid white of the orange.
Whence come the colors of the leaves and flowers ? By what process of chemistry
are they extracted from the carbon, the phosphorus, and the lime? Is it any
greater miracle to make something out of nothing?
ACID AND ALKALIES
"Pluck the flowers. Inhale the delicious perfumes; each
perfect, and all delicious. Whence have they come? By what combination of acids
and alkalies could the chemist's laboratory produce them ?
"And now on two comes the fruit--the ruddy apple and the
golden orange. Pluck them--open them ! The texture and fabric how totally
different! The taste how entirely dissimilar--the perfume of each distinct from
its flower and from the other. Whence the taste and this new perfume? The same
earth and air and water have been made to furnish a different taste to each
fruit, a different perfume not only to each fruit, but to each fruit and its own
flower."
"We are all naturally seekers of wonders. We travel far to
see the majesty of old ruins, the venerable forms of the hoary mountains, great
water-falls, and galleries of art. And yet the world-wonder is all around us;
the wonder of setting suns, and evening stars, of the magic springtime, the
blossoming of the trees, the strange transformations of the moth; the wonder of
the Infinite Divinity and of His boundless revelation. There is no splendor
beyond that which sets its morning throne in the golden East; no dome sublime as
that of Heaven; no beauty so fair as that of the verdant, blossoming earth."
One of these paints with language colored as highly as the
foliage and flowers and with an aroma as beguiling as the perfume of his
flowers, the force of material agencies like air, earth, water and light.
Another comprehends the wonders of the sky, like the countless lamps of heaven
hung out at night, or the wondrous beauty of the chromatic sunset which could
only be painted with colorings from the angels' studio.
THE ETERNAL LAW
The fact that the earth is spherical, which we should never
forget, and therefore has no beginning and no end in our minds, is symbolical of
its Author; furthermore, its most material part, its dirt, is part even of the
great celestial plan of the Universe and in combination with other agencies is
obeying the same law of harmony as the solar systems or the same impulse or
cause which agitates the human mind to think or the muscles to move or the worm
to live.
Here again the lesson, the same eternal immutable law
governs the growth of the blade of grass or the trembling leaf as it does the
overarching heavens in which is displayed the refulgence of the midday sun or
the calm glow of the moon or the patient reflections from the planets or the
peaceful scintillations from the distant stars.
Faith is founded upon the sphere which our reason tells us
has no end and no beginning; the highest and most perfect symbol and expression
of harmony. The Soul, a manifestation of the infinite, indefinable, insolvable,
the great mysterious gift from God--we cannot understand without solving the
impossible and drawing aside the dark veil which covers immortality. If we
cannot have demonstrated to us by indubitable proof one manifestation of the
Infinite, the absurdity of any finite comprehension of the Infinite or Absolute
is apparent. Faith is a human necessity, without it there is only a combination
of fortuitous circumstances which we blindly call chance. Faith is the result of
the reason and works with it hand in hand, as "light and darkness are the
eternal ways of the Universe," now unfolding the morning dawn, or the brilliant
day, now painting the heavens with beautiful colors and now shrouding the earth
like the realms of Erebus, as a never ending panorama of eternal harmony. Faith
is the companion and friend of reason and each are different but dependable one
upon the other as the hemispheres of the brain. The arc of one is the arc of the
other. They are both a part of the same circle which comprehends everything. The
blade of grass is a part of the circle and so is the milky way, vast in extent
and distance, yet only a pathway in the heavens. Space above is equal to space
below. Space is balanced whether you stand upon the earth or upon the sphere so
far away that its light has not yet reached us. The zenith and the nadir, the
most remote points in the imagination, are also centers of circles so far away
that space or distance become immeasurable as the immeasurable becomes the
illimitable. The same unchangeable laws govern and control the throb of your
heart as guide the destinies of the heavenly bodies whirling along on their
voyage through space. Appreciate this and faith springs spontaneously from the
reason! Science has demonstrated the unchangeableness of these laws. Nature
reiterates again and again in the noiseless revolutions of the spheres or in the
silent continuous growth of trees the immutability of these laws in thousands of
years of never changing perfection. Faith is born from the reason that sees and
appreciates the logical never ending panorama of nature's calm and peaceful and
serene operation through the law of harmony in all cycles of infinite time.
----o----
"Do not consider the principle business of the Lodge to
procure fun and entertainment for its members; but to neglect to provide for
entertainment at all is still worse."
“FATHER” TAYLOR: MAN AND MASON
BY THE EDITOR
(In its issue of last
April the New England Craftsman published an interesting sketch of "Father"
Taylor, one of the Chaplains
of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in the last generation. Taylor was early
interested in Freemasonry, having joined the Corner Stone Lodge at Duxbury,
as the records reveal, March 6th, 1820, and he loved the Order to the day of his
death. In the days of the anti-Masonic fanaticism, when many withdrew from the
Fraternity, and its members sometimes slunk into meeting hastily, with caps
pulled down over their faces, Taylor used to strut into the entrance with his
hat tilted back on what he called his "organ of obstinancy." Good Bishop Heddin
- under whose obedience, as a Methodist, he labored - tried to stop Taylor from
marching in Masonic processions, to avoid occasion for stumbling, but to noavail.
Taylor marched all the more boldly, and the Bishop said, "Well, Eddy will wear
his apron in spite of us." Taylor was afterwards a member of the Columbian
Lodge, Boston, constant in his attendance, and his prayer at the opening of the
Lodge when the anti-Masonic excitement was at its height, was never forgotten:
"Bless this glorious Order; bless its friends; yes, bless its enemies, and make
their hearts as soft as their heads." He was also a Knight Templar of the Boston
Commandery. We believe the Brethren will enjoy a further account of Father
Taylor, who was not only a great Mason, but one of the most remarkable men of
his day - perhaps the greatest natural orator America has known. - The Editor)
ROBERT Collyer tells
of attending a prayer meeting one bright May morning in the old Hollis Street
church, Boston. Cyrus Bartol - author of that remarkable book called "Radical
Problems" - was the leader, and after a brief pause in the meeting he spoke to a
man well on in years who was sitting on a front seat who rose to his feet. There
was a rustle in the meeting, and a light of expectation in all faces, like the
breath which touches the leaves in a garden. Collyer bent forward and heard a
strangely sweet voice speaking about Doves. He had seen them that morning on his
way to the meeting, crowding to a window to be fed by some friendly hand, and
the sight reminded him of the words of the prophet: "Who are these that fly as
doves to the window?"
As the speaker warmed
to his theme, the old church seemed to be full of doves - one could hear the
soft whirr of their wings. They came crowding in from the New England woods and
the dove cotes at the North End - doves of the prophet's time, white and purple,
out of the heavens and into the heavens. Then somehow those who listened were
doves, come at the Father's call that morning to be fed from his hand, or
longing to plume their wings and fly away and be at rest. It was the enchantment
of pure genius - a pentecost of flying doves - and Collyer wist not who had
wrought the wonder. So he asked a man who sat near him who it was, and the man
answered, astonished that any one in Boston should ask such a question, "Why,
that is Father Taylor!"
Collyer was a young
man, and after the meeting Bartol introduced him to Father Taylor. The lad held
out his hand shyly, and the old man did not offer his in return. Instead, he
opened his great arms, caught the boy in a warm embrace, and kissed him.
Thereafter they were friends to the end. That was Father Taylor - "Jeremy Talyor
in butternut," as Harriet Marteneau called him - and the only man on this side
of the sea Charles Dickens went to hear on his first visit; the man who charmed
Jenny Lind, the elder Booth, Webster, Emerson, Everett, and all who heard him;
and whose smile was so bright that his little daughter made up her mind that
this was what made the flowers open in their living room.
LION AND LAMB
Edward Taylor was born on Christmas day in
Richmond, Virginia, 1793 - into a forlorn
world, because his mother, a Scotch governess, passed out of life as he came in.
The little "bundle of a baby" fell into the care of a black mammy, whose love
and gentleness ever after haunted his heart. Like Moses, drawn out of the
bulrush ark, he was a foundling of providence, dowered with the mysterious power
we call genius. He was a ruddy child, as of red earth the first Adam was made -
a sort of lion, if one looked at him through the glasses of Darwin, but a lamb
also, having the subtility of the serpent in his intellect and the sweet
foolishness of the dove in his heart. Like the elder Booth who wanted prayers
over some dead pigeons, so Taylor held funeral services over chickens and
kittens who departed this life, and used not only persuasion, but a whip to
gather his audience of pickinninies and put them in proper frame of mind -
though the lash was doubtless as gentle as the oratory was wonderful. When he
was seven he was one day picking up chips for the good woman to whom the charge
of him had fallen, when a sea-captain passing by asked him if he did not want to
be a sailor. Instantly he left the chips, ran to the house and shouted,
"Good-bye mother," and was off sea as cabin boy.
In the biography of
Taylor - by Gilbert Haven and Thomas Russell - the next ten years are called “a
blank," and they were no doubt a hard experience, to which he rarely referred.
Years later when he was taken by a friend to visit Dr. W. E. Channing, on
leaving the house he observed to the friend, "Channing has splendid talents;
what a pity he has not been educated!" By which he meant, no doubt, that there
is a kind of education not to be obtained from books - such as he had acquired
in the university of winds and waves, through whose long and trying curriculum,
with many sharp examinations, he had passed. For ten years he endured hardness
as a good sailor, and we next see him wandering on a Sunday morning into the
Park street church, Boston, and leaving it with a hunger in his heart to be able
some day to appeal to men like the great preacher he heard there.
STRANGE WARMING OF HEART
Another Sabbath found
him in a Methodist chapel, and his heart was strangely moved by one who probed
to the depths of that latent conscience and remorse which probably lie somewhere
in the background of every soul. As he was going out a good man grasped his hand
- as Methodists have a way of doing - and asked him about his soul. This was a
double surprise, for the boy wanted human sympathy and here it was, and he was
not aware until then that he had such a thing as a soul. And the upshot of it
was that he was converted in the good old Methodist way - that is, converted all
over, set on fire, all icicles melted and all sins burned up. It was the memory
of this high and sunny hour that led him to tell his Unitarian friends that they
were trying to raise wheat in the Arctic Circle, and that they might as well try
to heat a furnace with snow balls as to save souls in their way.
In the war of 1812
Taylor went to sea on the Black Hawk, a privateer. She was soon captured by our
friends the enemy, and her crew were sent as prisoners to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
There was a rebellion among the boys when the chaplain read the prayers to them
for King George, so they would not hear him. Taylor was known to be "a praying
man" and he was asked to take the chaplain's place. He was quick and ready to do
this, and after a time it dawned upon the boys that one who could pray so well
might also preach, because, as they argued, it was only the difference between
talking on your knees and on your feet. But Taylor could not read and he was
puzzled about finding a text. The problem was easily solved. They found a Bible
and one of the boys would read at haphazard until some text struck fire. So,
reading one day, they came upon the words, "A good child is better than a
foolish old king," and Taylor said, "That will do for a text," and he launched
out into a story of our glorious Revolution, set them all afire, and came down
heavily on foolish old King George to the vast delight of his audience. From
that time he was chaplain on a prisoner's ration while the other man drew the
pay.
YE ARE SPIES
Released from prison,
the young apostle could not hide his light under a bushel - for that would have
burnt the bushel, so he became an exhorter at the meetings on Methodist Alley.
And the good Methodists - wise in this as in many things - were for giving him a
license as a local preacher, despite the fact that he could not read; and two
church officers were sent to hear him. Taylor was not supposed to know of their
presence, but a kind friend told him, and he took for his text, "By the life of
Pharoh ye are spies." All the same he was licensed to preach on a salary of
nothing a year and board himself - the conditions on which I preached the first
year of my ministry, and I am sure now that I got the best of the bargain ! To
make his board Taylor hired out to a peddler in Ann street, who sent him down
the coast with a load of tin notions. He came to Saugus in his journey, disposed
of his wares, and then was moved to preach - sold his tins first, mark you, and
preached afterward, not before - and won the heart of a dear old lady, who took
him to her home, taught him how to read, and gave him the love of a mother.
Later Amos Binney tried to send him to a theological school, but he stayed only
six weeks and could stand it no longer.
EDWARD AND DEBORAH
So a full license was
given him, and he was sent to Marblehead to take charge of an infant church
there. And there he met Deborah, a maid to win the love of any man, and soon the
young prophet was vastly in love. Shortly after he was moved to Hingham - four
miles away - and one day he went up on the hill to gaze toward Marblehead, with
a telescope to assist his heart, when in a flash the thought struck him and he
leaped to his feet with the cry, "Bless my heart, this is our wedding day and I
forgot all about it!" It was long after the hour set, but Deborah knew that if
Edward ran he would run only one way. Still, one wishes that we had a report of
their meeting next morning, to see how genius rose to the high demand when he
told her how it was. They were married, and there was no need for the minister
to say tor better or worse," for there was no worse - it was all and always for
the better.
At Duxbury, where he
and Deborah lived, he disturbed the long-enduring slumber of that fine old town,
and some of the ministers were jealous of him. One of the ministers - the
Unitarian pastor, meeting Taylor on the street, said, "So young man, ye have
come to preach in Duxbury, have ye?" "Yes," replied the young man, "the Lord bid
us preach the gospel to every creature." "To be sure," snorted the old man, "but
he never said every critter should preach the gospel, sir," and went away in
wrath. And next Sunday Taylor prayed that every white hair on that old man's
head might be hung with a jewel of the Lord. He also prayed,
specifically, that the Lord might "bless
meek Burr, and proud Pratt, and save wicked old Alden, if you can !"
About this time, 1828,
the good Methodists began to feel concern for those "who go down to the sea in
ships," and it was surely the good God who guided them in selecting Edward
Taylor for this ministry. He began in a dingy chapel on Methodist Alley, but the
room was soon too small - many people from fashionable churches going to hear a
man with a golden voice and a heart of fire. Nathaniel Barret; a Unitarian
layman, wrote notes to a hundred of his friends, mainly of that faith, calling
them together. He laid the matter before them, and it was decided to build a new
meeting house for Taylor. So the Unitarians built a chapel for the Methodist
evangelist, and that was in accord with the eternal fitness of things. They
asked Taylor what he wanted, and he said they might leave out the Corinthian
columns and give him the shavings. But they gave him, instead, of their best,
and that was none too flood..
A WALKING BETHEL
The chapel was built
in the shape of a ship, in dark finish, with low ceiling, ample and inviting.
Behind the pulpit an artist hung a painting of a ship in distress, stormed
tossed and driven. Taylor called this temple "Bethel," remembering the ladder of
Jacob whereon angels ascended and descended in a dream that was also a prayer.
And Edward Everett called Taylor himself "a walking Bethel." Two sailor boys
stood in front of the chapel one day, and one who could spell proceeded to make
out the name over the door: "B-e-t, that's beat; H-e-l, that's hell, here's
where the old man beats hell, let's go in." And they came in numbers, a
wilderness of wild human souls, and the genius of Taylor shone like a beacon in
the night. But so many others came that he had to make a rule that the sailor
boys should be seated first, and if they filled the seats the rest must stand.
Sailor Jack saw the point, and sat on his dignity.
To the sailor boys he
was a friend and father, and so it came about that he was called "Father" Taylor
- and a higher tribute was never paid to a Christian minister. Taylor had the
freedom of the city. He knocked at every door, Orthodox, Episcopal, Catholic or
Radical, and everywhere he was welcome, and everywhere he was at home, being
large enough, and wise enough, to see the good in every faith. By the same
token, he would have no doors to his pulpit, and one day when a minister refused
to enter because Henry Ware, a Unitarian, was to sit there - a way some men had
in those days of proving that they were Christians, by failing to be gentlemen -
Taylor prayed fervently: "Lord, there are two things we need to be delivered
from in Boston - bad rum and bigotry. Which is the worst Thou knowest, I don't,
Amen." When some one said in his hearing that Emerson would surely go to hell,
he cried out: "Go there ! Why, if he went there he would change the climate and
the tide of emigration would set in that way.”
THE GREAT ORATOR
Of all American
orators he was the most original and inimitable in his genius and style. If you
would know by what spell he swayed men, the cultured equally with the unlearned,
read the little essay on Father Taylor by Walt Whitman, in "November Boughs."
There you will see, as far as such things can be put into words, why it was that
great actors when they came to see "how he did it," forgot what they came for
and retreated behind their pocket-handkerchiefs to hide their sobs. There were
great orators in Boston - Everett with his studious grace, Webster with his
majesty, and Choate with his oriental fancy - but no one carried men away in a
chariot of fire as Taylor did; and this power in him surprised no one more than
it did himself. He was a possessed man, and in his rapt moods he became a live
transparency in which men saw those things of which it is not lawful to speak.
And, joined with this, was that winged wit, that fine and sure sanity, that
common sense which his heavenly genius glorified. Here are some of his sayings:
"A man should not
preach like he had killed somebody," he said when a brother was too solemn.
He compared getting
ready to preach to fermentation: "When the liquor begins to swell and strain and
hum and fizz; then pull the bung !"
"When a man is
preaching at me I want him to take something hot out of his own heart, and shove
it into mine - that is what I call preaching."
One day, preaching on
amusements, he paid eulogy to Jenny Lind as "the sweetest song-bird that ever
alighted on our shores." A man sitting on the pulpit steps asked if a person
dying at one of her concerts would go to heaven. Taylor's eyes became two points
of green fire, and he said: "A good man will go to heaven, sir, die where he
may, and a fool will be a fool wherever he lives, though he sits on my pulpit
stairs."
A man caught in the
Millerite craze insisted on telling the sailor boys to get their ascension robes
ready, as the world was coming to an end, and Taylor cried out, "Cut his
boot-straps and let him go up, so the meeting can go on !"
"Emerson, I think, is
the sweetest soul God ever made, but he knows no more about theology than
Balaam's ass knew about Hebrew grammar. There seems to be a screw loose in him
somewhere, but I never could find it, and listen as I may, I can find no jar in
the machinery."
WIT AND WISDOM
To a minister who had
taught the dogma of infant damnation, he said: "It's no use, brother, preaching
sermons like that, because if what you say could be true, your God would be my
devil."
"Webster is too bad to
trust with anything good now, and too good to throw away; he is the best bad man
I ever knew."
"Niagara is like the
love of God; it never freezes up in winter, never dries up in dog days, and you
never come to it for water and go away with an empty bucket."
And so, like a
Niagara, the stream of his wit and wisdom flowed on, leaping, sparkling, and
seemingly inexhaustible, until it emptied into the great sea. In April, 1871, he
passed on - or over, as the French say - going out with the ebbing tide, as "an
old salt" should. Just before he died some one said: "There is rest in heaven,
and you will soon be there."
"Go there yourself,"
he said, "I want to stay here."
"But think of the
angels, all waiting to welcome you," he was told.
"I don't want angels,
I want folks." And then in an instant the old radiance returned and he said:
"Angels are folks, too, and ours are among them."
So passed the waif,
sailor, privateersman, prisoner, and preacher - a big, fiery, fatherly, joyous
man whose heart God had touched - and Boston paid honor to one of her first
citizens, if not to the greatest natural orator that ever lived. And there was
sorrow on the sea, for many a sailor boy felt a lump climb into his throat and a
strange tightening about the heart, when he learned that Father Taylor was no
more.
----o----
MASONRY AND RACE PATRIOTISM
One of the lessons of
the past year is the inadequacy of nationalism as a humanizing and civilizing
force. Men are killing each other in Europe for no other reason than that they
are living under flags of different colors and on opposite sides of imaginary
boundary lines. There is no ground in nature or reason for their flying at each
others' throats. Patriotism is no virtue when it dwarfs the sympathies and
narrows the soul's horizon; it is simply bigotry and selfishness, and becomes a
menace to the world. John Paul Jones, America's first naval hero, called himself
a citizen of the world, and though a Scotchman by birth fought for the Colonies
because he thought they stood for a wider patriotism than had obtained before.
He stood for America because he regarded America as standing for man as man. His
enthusiasm was for the human race rather than for a nation. Love of country is a
noble passion, but not as noble as the love of man. The Christ looked beyond the
boundaries of land and race and threw the cords of his sympathy and affection
around the world.
Masonry has a distinct
interest in this, and has played a big part in its promotion in the past. It has
an opportunity for the assertion of world-patriotism so unique and inviting that
it amounts to a mission. Brotherhood is among our fundamentals; the ties that
bind us are fraternal and natural and are embarrassed by no consideration of
flag or clime. There is no such thing as an alien Mason; we are all brethren
wherever we live and by whatever national name we may call ourselves. We can put
fresh emphasis on this in these days of strife and hate. The American Mason has
the opportunity of a millenium to teach and live the brotherhood the order
stands for. Whatever barriers may separate Masons of the countries at war the
American is on terms of fraternity with them all and can help them back to the
same fellowship with each other.
Brother John A. Marquis, President of Coe College
----o----
"The world judges
Masonry by the public walk of those who compose its membership. If that walk is
crooked, the institution is not held blameless."
----o----
BUILDING AND BUILT UPON
"I am afraid you may
not consider it an altogether substantial concern. It has to be seen in a
certain way, under certain conditions. Some people never see it at all. You must
understand, this is no dead pile of stones and unmeaning timber. It is a living
thing. When you enter it you hear a sound - a sound as of some mighty poem
chanted. Listen long enough, and you will learn that it is made up of the
beating of human hearts, of the nameless music of men's souls - that is, if you
have ears to hear. If you have eyes, you will presently see the church itself -
a looming mystery of many shapes and shadows, leaping sheer from floor to dome.
The work of no ordinary builder !
"The pillars of it go
up like the brawny trunks of heroes; the sweet flesh of men and women is moulded
about its bulwarks, strong, impregnable; the faces of little children laugh out
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