THE BUILDER MAGAZINE
september 1916
volume 2 - number 9
THE STORY OF "OLD GLORY" -- THE OLDEST FLAG
BY BRO. JNO. W. BARRY, IOWA
PART III
Again Dec. 27, 1779, at Morristown, N. J., St. John, the
Evangelist's Day is celebrated. This meeting held in Arnold Tavern pictured in
Fig. 24 where the secretary records 104 present with "Bro." Washington's name
(40) at the head of the "visitors" but unfortunately only the last name of each
is given, which makes identification in a few cases uncertain, so instead of
saying ALL were officers in Washington's Army, 'tis best to say "nearly all."
From St. Andrew's Lodge to Lexington in 1775, working in unity and celebrating
St. John's Day Dec. 27, 1779, in a meeting attended by Washington and nearly all
his officers!--Truly, it is akin to the unobserved power in an electric
generator, actuating every move to establish Old Glory in honor. In the usual
history there are of course only distant references to Masonry at this time, but
enough remains of lodge records to show the inner workings.
GENERAL GRAND MASTER PROPOSED
This meeting of Dec. 27, 1779, was the meeting that called
the first Masonic convention Lodge in America to arrange for a "General Grand
Master" in and over the said "Thirteen United States of America." The Convention
Lodge met the first Monday in February following. Bro. Mordecai Gist was
unanimously elected president. Such an ardent patriot was he, that he named one
of his sons "Independence" and the other "States." Later he was G.M. of South
Carolina.
Bro. Otho Holland Williams, a bright, brave and brawny
Mason, was secretary. As to the Masonic Convention about the only result has
been a series of like meetings from time to time down even unto our day--but
there is no General Grand Master yet. But the meeting is itself a proof that the
thought of those brothers was active in matters far beyond the scope of ordinary
lodge meetings in time of peace. They had a vision of a great, free country--and
by their effort the vision became the FACT.
AMERICAN UNION LODGE AND WASHINGTON LODGE NO. 10 JOINT
HOSTS TO OVER 500
In October, 1779, Washington Lodge No. 10, another military
lodge, was instituted with General John Patterson, Master; Col. Benjamin Tupper
and Major William Hull, wardens. It met in Starkean's Hall at West Point. This
curious lodge building is shown in No. 2541. On June 24, 1782, (42) a joint
celebration of St. John's Day was given in honor of the birth of the dauphin of
France. The event occurred at West Point in the "Colonnade," a peculiar
structure erected by American Union and Washington Lodges for the purpose. It is
shown in Fig. 26. (43) Here came Gov. Clinton and other leading men and women of
New York and other states to this the only really international celebration of
St. John's Day on record. Here over 500 dined and after 13 toasts had been
drunk, each announced by 13 guns, "Bro. John Brooks," later governor of
Massachusetts, made an able address (44) --and it wasn't devoted exclusively to
Masonry either.
What a striking proof of Masonry's part in establishing Old
Glory-- not theory--not assertion--but the record of a joint meeting of military
lodges acting as hosts not alone to the military officers but to civil officers
as well in Masonically honoring France-- all engaged in the same effort to
establish the great symbol--Old Glory.
THE TEMPLE OF VIRTUE
In 1782, the military lodges were very active in
Washington's Army at Newburgh, N. Y., and the need of a larger meeting place was
apparent. On Christmas, 1782, Washington in public orders approved the plan of
Israel Evans of American Union Lodge for a public building and Benjamin Trupper
of Washington Lodge No. 10 was made superintendent of construction.
In No. 27 (45) is the picture of the "Public Building" as
it was called in official papers but known to the soldiers as "The Temple of
Virtue." The full record of "The Temple" is in newspapers of the time now on
file in The Newburgh Historical Society at Newburgh, N. Y.
"The Temple of Virtue" was the meeting house of
Washington's camp at Newburgh in 1782-3. The original drawing is 7 feet long and
18 inches wide, showing the Temple of Virtue surrounded by the huts of the
soldiers. The original sketch, now owned by Luther Tarbell of Boston, was made
by William Tarbell of the Seventh Massachusetts Regiment. The late Major E. C.
Boynton of the Newburgh Historical Society had a copy made which is now in the
Washington's Headquarters Building, Newburgh. The original is several sheets of
foolscap pasted together and for ink, the juice of butternuts was used. "The
Temple" is minutely described by Major General William Heath giving the capacity
and other details. (46) In 1891 the Masons of Newburgh erected a monument there,
shown in No. 28. It commemorates a Masonic service never exceeded. The Masons of
Newburgh in 1891 joined with the Newburgh Revolutionary Association in erecting
the above monument on the site of the "Temple of Virtue." The inscription on the
granite tablet on the EAST side is as follows: "This tablet is inserted by the
Masonic Fraternity of Newburgh in memory of Washington and his Masonic Compeers
under whose direction and plan the "Temple" was constructed and in which
communications of the Fraternity were held in 1783." On the "South" the tablet
there reads:--
"On this ground was erected the "Temple" or new public
building by the army of the Revolution 1782-83. The birthplace of the Republic."
(47)
This monument marks the last meeting place of American
Union Lodge as an Army Lodge, but as a regular lodge it is today No. 1 on the
register of Ohio. After the Revolution John Heart then its Master with Rufus
Putnam and others of the members settled at Marietta, Ohio, and later revived
this famous lodge and Rufus Putnam "made" in it became first Grand Master of
Ohio.
ANOTHER "WEST GATE" SCENE
Above all, this monument commemorates the very Keystone of
Masonic service in making Old Glory possible. The war had cost $123 per capita,
the exhausting effect of which will be better understood when compared with $96
the cost per capita of the late Civil War. (48) So in 1783, Congress found
itself in so poor and penniless a situation that it was utterly unable to pay
the soldiers even the small amounts long due them. A hat cost $400, a suit of
clothes $1600 and a year's pay of a captain would not buy a pair of shoes. (49)
Most of the soldiers were waiting and many were exceedingly anxious to receive
that which was due them and some of them were determined to wait no longer.
Someone in Gate's command circulated unsigned letters among the officers urging
that as the war was over--if ever they were going to get their pay it should be
"NOW" before they laid down their arms and called a meeting in the "Temple" for
March 15, 1783. Here was the direct opportunity for a military dictator--a
king--a czar. It was a test of Washington's sincerity of purpose in working
eight years without pay for the principle of liberty. What did he do?
As soon as Gates called the meeting to order Washington
arose and made what eminent historians agree is the most effective speech ever
made in America. He well knew for more than seven years they had larbored,
honestly toiling, encouraged and buoyed up by the promise that when the war was
over they should receive that for which they wrought. And now he was asking them
to wait longer and to have an abiding faith in the justice of the republic they
had spent eight years to establish. There in the "Temple" where they had met as
Masons this address was received as if from the Master of the Combined military
lodges. Among many other things said, he made them this vow:--
"For myself, a recollection of the cheerful assistance and
prompt obedience I have experienced from you under various vicissitudes of
fortune, and the sincere affection I feel for the army I have so long had the
honor to command will oblige me to declare in this public and solemn manner that
for the attainment of complete justice for all your trials and danger, and the
gratification of every wish, so far as may be done consistently with the great
duty I owe my country and these powers we are bound to respect, you may fully
command my services to the utmost extent of my ability." (50)
It was in the course of this address that he stopped to
read a letter from Congress and excused himself for putting on his
glasses--saying "I have grown old in your service and now find myself growing
blind." (51) When he finished he withdrew to leave them free to act and behold
there could not be found even the traditional three to persist in their
murderous designs.
THE REAL WASHINGTON
This event showed the REAL Washington, and makes one desire
to know how the real man looked. There have been so many pictures of him and so
widely differing that it may be well to show the real appearance of the man. By
order of the legislature of Virginia, Jean Antoine Houdon of Paris, France, the
most noted sculptor of his time, came to Mt. Vernon in 1785 and made a plaster
cast of Washington's face and head. This plaster cast is still preserved at Mt.
Vernon and is considered by competent judges to be the true Washington. The
statue itself is in the Capitol at Richmond. Lafayette pronounced it "a
facsimile of Washington's person."
A nearer view of the face shows the real Brother Washington
as he looked about the time he faced the "Roughians" in the "Temple," and made
that supreme effort in behalf of American liberty now symbolized in Old Glory.
This must ever rank as the most important victory on
American soil, namely the converting of those officers and armed men to a full
belief in the proposition that
"Beneath the rule of men entirely great, The pen is
mightier than the sword." From that day "Old Glory" became in very truth the
symbol of liberty.
THE FIRST FLAG CAPTURED TAKEN BY A BROTHER MASON
Masonry was not confined to Washington's immediate command.
In Fig. 29 is shown a photograph of the first flag captured and that too by Bro.
Montgomery October 18, 1775, who a little later lost his life that Old Glory
might live. This flag is one of the most valued trophies in the United States
and is preserved with care in the flag room at West Point.
THE GREATEST BAYONET CHARGE
In Fig. 30 is shown an event which brought Masonry
conspicuously before the world. It is Old Glory's first bayonet charge. European
commentators rank it as one of the greatest in the annals of war.
When Bro. Washington asked Mad Anthony Wayne if he thought
he could storm Stony Point, Irving says Wayne replied that "he could storm hell
if Washington would plan it." Washington did plan it and arranged for the attack
to be made as soon after "low twelve" as possible. Here is Wayne's letter
announcing the result:--
"Stony Point, 16th July, 1779, 2 o'clock A. M. Dear
General: The fort and garrison, with Colonel Johnson, are ours. OUR OFFICERS AND
MEN BEHAVED LIKE MEN DETERMINED TO BE FREE."
MASONRY PERPETUATES THE MEMORY OF THAT FAMOUS CHARGE
Famous as was this charge, yet it gave rise to a Masonic
event whose remembrance will be green even when the charge is forgotten, for in
it the constitution and warrant of an English military lodge were captured.
Wayne turned them over to Gen. Samuel Holden Parsons at the time S. W. of
American Union Lodge. Bro. Parsons returned them under a flag of truce with the
following letter:--
"West Jersey Highlands, July 23, 1779, (52)
"Brethren:--When the ambition of monarchs or jarring
interests of States call forth their subjects to war, as Masons we are disarmed
of that resentment which stimulates to undistinguished desolation; and however
our political sentiments may impel us in the public dispute, we are still
brethren and our professional duty apart ought to promote the happiness and
advance the weal of each other.
"Accept, therefore at the hands of a brother the
Constitution of the Lodge Unity No. 18, to be held in the Seventeenth British
Regiment, which your late misfortunes have put in my power to return to you.
"I am. Your Brother and Obedient Servant. Samuel H.
Parsons.
To Master and Wardens of Lodge Unity No. 18 upon the
Registry of England." (52)
LOYAL, PENNSYLVANIA WARRANTS AN ENGLISH LODGE
The astounding thing is not that Brother Masons returned
the warrant but the resulting discovery that the warrant of Unity Lodge 18 had
been issued by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. It is only recently that such
act could be explained as no record was ever made of it by the Grand Secretary.
At the battle of Princeton Jan. 3, 1777, the warrant of this unity (169) 18 was
captured and now and ever since has been in possession of Union Lodge No. 5 A.
F. & A. M., Middletown, Delaware. (53) When the regiment occupied Philadelphia,
the Provincial Grand Lodge fell under Tory dominion and a new warrant was issued
to Unity Lodge, but changing from the original number of 169 to 18, under which
it worked until 1786 when a warrant from Scotland was applied for, as evidenced
by the long letter sent from Shelsburne Barracks, Nova Scotia, March 28, 1786,
to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania from which the following extracts are made:--
"Right Worshipful Brethren: We the Worshipful Master &
Wardens of Lodge Unity No. 18 held in this Brittanick Majesty's 17th Reg. of
Foot, & under Your Register--having heard a Report which is spread through this
Province of Our Warrant being by you Cancelled & that one of the same Number has
been granted to a Lodge in Pennsylvania....
"We have taken this method of acquainting you that we have
wrote to Our Mother Grand Lodge in Scotland, willing to obtain a Duplicate of
Our Ancient Warrant No. 169 without as yet receiving any Answer, & we not
Expecting that Our said Warrant No. 18 would have been Declared Void, till we
might have Obtained the Duplicate of our said antient Warrant.....
"We have further to Request you should do us the honor of
Communicating to our Worthy friend & Brother General Parsons, the high sense we
have of His Unexampled Goodness, in restoring to us our Warrant which happy for
us fell into his hands.... His Generous Sentiments shall ever be Remembered by
every Brother of No. 18 with the Gratitude due to such benevolence of heart.
"Daniel Webb, Master."
"OLD GLORY" IN MASON'S CARE UPON THE SEA AS WELL AS ON THE
LAND
When our brothers on Bunker Hill thrice repulsed the king's
hardened regulars fresh from the campaigns of Clive in India the world stood on
tiptoe asking what kind of men those Americans were. But when in 1775 our "Navy"
of 8 ships with 114 guns was sent to cope with England's 112 battleships with
714 guns, the world was too dazed for utterance.
It was a saying of Jones who first raised "Old Glory" on a
ship of war, that "Men mean more than guns in the rating of ships. (54) Nor was
the proof long in coming. Our "Navy" sailed in December, and in March, 1776, 8
ships with 150 cannons and 130 barrels of powder were captured. During the war,
in 18 sea engagements, 17 were won by Old Glory. The closing record stood thus:
captured 785 British ships, 15 war ships, 12500 prisoners--all by a force of
only 3000 men. (55)
The most famous was the Bon Homme Richard against the
Seraphis--a victory of undying renown for Bro. John Paul Jones. In Fig. 31
(Color Plate) is shown the flag he then used, now revered as the only existing
flag of Bro. Jones and that UNWHIPPED American navy.
When, in 1906 the body of Bro. Jones was brought from Paris
to Annapolis for more decent interment, his Masonic petition was published as
was also the action of his Paris Masonic Lodge, where he was so well known. This
lodge after Jones' great victory had his bust made by Jean Antoine Houdon--the
most famous sculptor of his time.
So when you read the entrancing story of our navy in the
Revolution, remember Masonry's part in its planning and in its winning.
(40) Vide Grand Lodge Conn. V. 1, p. 37.
(41) Vide History of The Town of New Winsdor, p. 81.
(42) Vide Grand Lodge Conn. V. 1, p. 45 and 46.
(43) Vide Chas. A. Brockaway--American Union Lodge p. 14.
(44) Vide American Union Lodge, Grand Lodge Connecticut, V.
1, p. 46.
(45) Vide History of New Winsdor, p. 81. Also American
Union Lodge Charles A. Brockaway, p. 12.
(46) Vide History of New Winsdor, p. 81.
(47) Vide New Age 1908 Charles A Brockaway's article. Also
History of the Town of New Windsor, p. 81-3.
(48) Military Policy of the United States. Maj. Gen. Emory
Upton, Senate Document No. 499, p. 66.
(49) Vide same, p. 51.
(50) Vide Irving's Washington, V. 4, p. 55.
(51) Vide Journal of American History.
(52) Vide Old Lodges of Pennsylvania, Julius F. Sachse, p.
362. Original letter and later correspondence now in possession of Pa. Grand
Lodge
(53) Vide Old Lodges of Pa., Julius F. Sachse, p. 388.
(54) Vide Paul Jones Commemoration U. S. Gov. Print.
(55) Vide Hamilton L. Carson, p. 135 Sq., VI Modern
Eloquence.
----o---
MASONIC LIGHT
Sometimes within the shadows of the night,
There slips from out the hollow of my hand.
A concept of the True, Eternal Light
I do not understand.
Yet I despair not, and will always strive;
Putting behind me, failures that are past,
With Purity, to Think, and Act, and Live
Till I can hold it fast.
----o----
MASONIC SOCIAL SERVICE: A HOSPITAL FOR
CRIPPLED CHILDREN
BY BRO. JOSEPH C. GREENFIELD, GEORGIA
MASONRY is pre-eminently a constructive
institution. Founded upon an operative art, claiming descent directly from a
band of actual workmen, it is essentially a "building up" fraternity. But it has
changed from an operative to a speculative art. Its members no longer roam over
the country erecting cathedrals and monuments of public interest, and affixing
their own peculiar marks to the hewn stones they used. They now appeal to the
spiritual and philosophic part of man's nature, to the intellectual and not to
the material side of his being. But the craft is still none the less a building
one. It now builds character; it builds humanitarian impulses; it rounds out and
completes the altruistic sentiment; it impels men to the recognition of their
duty to distressed and unfortunate humanity.
The world today is full of eleemosynary
institutions. Homes, Hospitals, Retreats of one kind or another, appeal to the
hearts of men for aid and support. It would appear on the surface that almost
every phase of human need had been provided for. And yet one of the most
striking of these phases has been neglected, and that is the cure or benefit of
helpless children, who through disease, poverty, heredity or neglect have become
crippled and deformed, and who can only look forward to a life of pain,
humiliation and dependence.
The number of institutions devoted to this
class of sufferers is so small that they can almost be counted on the fingers of
one hand. Many surgeons will not treat them at all; results are often slow, and
when it is remembered that as a rule the majority of those afflicted are from
that class of citizenship utterly unable to meet the heavy charges made by those
competent to effect a cure, the outlook is almost hopeless.
Realizing this fact, recognizing that a
wondrous field for a charity that would be constructive in its nature, and
beneficial to the social fabric in general, was before them; and in
acknowledgment of a duty owed to humanity; the Scottish Rite Bodies located in
Atlanta, Georgia, in September, 1915, opened up, and put into successful
operation, the Scottish Rite Convalescent Hospital for Crippled Children. This
is not a Home, nor an Orphanage, nor a Retreat, - it is a Hospital for the cure
of such afflictions. Operations are performed when necessary, and every
attention known to modern medical skill is given the little patients.
The Institution is operated along the
broadest possible lines. It is purely a Charity; there never has been, nor will
there ever be, any pay wards. The most progressive and skillful faculty in the
South serves every department. The question of religious affiliation, of State
residence, of Masonic connection, is never asked. The urgency of the case, and
its probability of cure governs the question of precedence in the admission of
applicants. Already children from Florida, from Alabama, from both the
Carolinas, as well as from Georgia, have been inmates. The only queries are: Can
the child be benefited? and, Is the parent or guardian unable to pay for the
service ?
Many of the cases are of surpassing
interest. One little girl had curvature of the spine so aggravated that the left
shoulder was only four inches from the hip. When placed in the plaster, and
asked if she was in pain, she said: "Yes, but just think, I am going to be
straight." Another, a bright boy of sixteen, who walked or rather crawled on his
hands and knees, had his legs operated on. After the casts were taken off, he
leaned upon a crutch, and said to a visitor: "This is the first time I ever
stood erect." Still another in addition to deformed feet, had hands so twisted
that he was unable to lift food to his mouth. His feet were corrected, his hands
operated on, and he can now clasp yours, can minister to his own needs, and in
time will be a normal man.
And thus the story goes, club feet, spinal
curvature, infantile paralysis, Pott's disease and a dozen other kindred
ailments have come to the institution. In connection with it a free clinic is
operated, and local cases are cared for there, and in their homes; thus leaving
the hospital proper for the use of those from a distance.
Although the hospital has only been in
operation about six months, already one hundred and fifty‑two patients have
received attention either at the institution itself, or at the clinic.
Every type of infantile deformity has come
under our care. The processes of cure are oftimes tedious and long drawn out.
Patients are sent home for a brief season and come back to have their bandages
or casts removed or new operations performed. Starting with room for twenty
constant patients, so carefully have the plans been worked out, that none stay
longer than is absolutely necessary, and thus every human being that loves his
fellows; that feels the facility is being worked at full pressure. Several
perfect cures have already been effected, and all under treatment promise a
return to normal childhood, or a close approach to it.
You should go out and see what is being
done with the money of the Rite. The scene is sad, but uplifting and inspiring.
You will come back a better man for your visit, and proud of the fact that you
are a unit in a fraternity that is doing so much to make wealth producers
instead of wealth consumers, and is opening up to hopeless and helpless children
a future from which many of the clouds have been driven, and some portion of the
happiness of living to which they are entitled, made possible for them.
Plans are now being perfected, looking to
a great extension of the Institution and to placing it on a stable and permanent
basis. It is the desire of the Board of Governors to erect fireproof concrete
buildings, with operating rooms, nurses' homes, isolation wards and all the
equipment of an up‑to‑date, progressive and effective organization. To do this,
outside assistance must be secured. It was not intended at the outset that the
Scottish Rite bodies should assume all the burden of its support. Their limit
has almost been reached, and the need is so urgent that the great loving heart
of humanity must be enlisted. It is intended that the Scottish Rite Masons of
Atlanta and Georgia shall control its actions and direct its policy. It is their
institution; it was originated by them; they are now fostering it; and it is a
visible expression of their love for the distressed and afflicted.
But a charity of this kind is universal in
its appeal. It appeals to Scottish Rite Masons because it was begun and is being
carried on by them. It appeals to all Masons, because it epitomizes within
itself that great fundamental doctrine of the Craft - the Brotherhood of Man.
It appeals to the business man, because it
tends to relieve the community of those who may in the future become a charge on
the public treasury.
It appeals to parents who rejoice in the
fact that their own loved ones are perfectly formed and normal boys and girls.
It appeals to every human being that loves
his fellows; that feels the tender touch of a little child's love and gratitude;
that can feel sympathy for a baby bearing the burden of neglect and disease; to
every one that recognizes that he has been placed on earth for a purpose, and
that a great part of that purpose is the radiation of hope and happiness among
those with whom he comes in contact, or whose needs are brought before him.
To the end that our hopes may be brought
to fruition, and that our opportunities for doing good may be made commensurate
with the demands upon us, we invite the co‑operation of every one who abhors
suffering and loves humanity.
----o----
TOLERATION
BY BRO. WM. F. KUHN, P.G.M. MISSOURI
The superficial thinker ascribes all intolerance in the
world to religious creeds, and, ignorantly, thinks that the great day of
universal toleration will be ushered in, when all creeds are torn down and
destroyed. He fails to recognize the fact that it is not so much a question of
creeds, but that intolerance is the natural product of a dwarfed and misshapen
intellectuality, the adopted child of a sterile spirituality; that toleration is
the offspring of a broad and comprehensive intellectual development and the
legitimate heir of a virile, active and sympathetic spirituality.
Man is the only animal which has evolved the power of
speech; speech implies words, or the sign of an idea; words are the precursors
of thought. To think is to reason and to form a judgment; reason and judgment
are the basis of a belief. Man is a believing being, because he thinks. Even a
disbelief, however paradoxical it may seem, is, when reduced to its ultimate
analysis, a belief.
A creed is but a systematized belief, whether such belief
or beliefs refer to the physical, intellectual, or moral nature. It is
impossible to conceive of a man, with his intellectual nature, without a belief,
and it is equally impossible to conceive of a man with his spiritual nature,
without a creed. If such a sentient being exists, he is either suffering from an
intellectual, or a spiritual vacuity, or both. A man without an intellectual
belief would be an intellectual monstrosity, and a man without a religious creed
would be a spiritual idiot. It might be well to note the man, or any
organization of men, who talk loud and long about dogmas and creeds, who rail at
churches for their supposed intolerance, because, if you scratch such a man or
such an organization, you will find under the epidermis a most intolerable bigot
or bigots, and so full of creeds to bursting. An intellectual belief and a
religious creed are a part of man; the two are so intimately interwoven in his
two-fold nature that to divorce them would destroy the personality of the man.
An intellectual or scientific belief is made up of the same material as a
religious creed. If the science of Geology and Palaeontology can borrow millions
of years, if the physical sciences demand an ion, if the science of evolution
postulates a primordial cell, why should it be thought incredible or
unscientific for our spiritual nature to postulate a God? No, it is neither
incredible nor unscientific for the pilot-man to use his religious creed as the
chart, his intellectual belief as the compass, that will enable him to guide his
ship by treacherous shoals, through the narrows, through the darkness and storm,
into the sunlit harbor of a well rounded and successful life.
A belief in God and immortality is a great and universal
fact; a fact that science and philosophy must recognize. The underlying truth
and force of all religions, is man's belief in a God and a hope of eternal life.
Religion did not give birth to this faith and hope, but this creed of a belief
in God and a hope of eternal life gave birth to religion. That man is a
religious being, is a universal phenomenon. This religious sentiment is "Like
the finger of God writing upon the soul, age by age a new and ever renewing
destiny." It is ever reaching out and endeavoring to comprehend a Supreme
Intelligence, an Infinite Creator, a just, holy and benevolent Father. This
effort of our spiritual nature is not derived from any of our physical senses;
for no physical sensation can be transformed into hope, love, or faith. Man
knows that his spiritual nature and the phenomena of his spiritual nature can
not be described in the terms of the physical universe. A thought can not be
measured by a rule. Spiritual pain or joy can not be weighed in a balance. Hope
and love can not be solved by the binomial theorem, nor can our soul's desire be
revealed by mystical numbers.
This belief in God and hope in eternal life has its root
deep in the heart of humanity. The wise sage and the untutored savage have alike
pondered the question, "If a man die, shall he live again?" The cradle asks the
question, "Whence came I," and the coffin asks, "Whither go I?" Man is conscious
of his duality, although he may be unacquainted with the simplest philosophical
or metaphysical speculation. Primitive and childlike man, in the early history
of the race, grasped in his feeble way that there is a God and that he was
immortal. Even the barbarian may cry:--
"Whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire
This longing after immortality ?
Or whence this secret dread
And inward horror of falling into naught?
Why shrinks the soul back on herself
And startles at destruction?
'Tis the Divinity that stirs within us,
'Tis Heaven itself that points an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man."
Man, therefore, as he stands in the presence of his
intellectual and spiritual nature, worships, and builds for himself a creed.
Whether the creed that he erects is tolerant or intolerant depends, absolutely,
on his conception of Deity. It might be said, as a man's God is, so is he. The
early Hebraic creed considered God as a God of terror, of vengeance, and of
wrath; that he was a tribal, racial, or national God only. About such a belief
was built a self centered, intolerant creed. Intolerant because it was selfish,
for selfishness is the mother of intolerance. But the belief as taught,
especially, by the Prophet Isaiah, and which today shines with such an effulgent
splendor in the life and teachings of Christ, is far different. It teaches that
God is a God of love, a God of forgiveness; that the Kingdom of God is not an
empty ceremonial or outward display, but it is in the hearts of men; that its
fruits are justice, mercy and service; a kingdom not established by the sword
and by race prejudice, but a kingdom of the Fatherhood of God and the
Brotherhood man. Such a creed is free of selfishness; it is altogether
altruistic. It is tolerant, because it bears within the Gospel of Love.
"Teach me to feel each other's woes,
Each other's burdens bear."
The Gospel of Love is the world's panacea for intolerance.
Freemasonry has such a creed. It is even dogmatic and unchangeable. It is, "I
believe in God, the Father Almighty." This does not mean a belief in some notion
of a God, some abstract formula, some metaphysical or geometrical demonstration,
but it means the God as revealed in the sacred volume on our Altar, as taught in
that "Inestimable gift of God to an."
Freemasonry in this short creed has no quarrel, or is it
intolerant to Jew, Gentile, Mohammedan or Hindu for their faith and trust as
revealed in their Sacred Books. Freemasonry has no quarrel with the an who has
no conception of Deity and who has no sacred Book from which to draw his
inspiration and hope; but Freemasonry believes in God, the Father, and he who
can not accept this simple creed must remain outside of our portals.
This simple dogmatic creed is the very fundamental
principle of Freemasonry. It is the cleavage between belief and unbelief; upon
it we build our beautiful system of morals; upon it we base our belief in the
brotherhood of man. Freemasonry without its belief in God, the Father, and its
imperative corollary, the Brotherhood of man, would be a sham and a sacrilegious
pretense. Upon this creed Freemasonry must stand. If we can not accept it, then
let us take down our Charters, close the sacred Volume on our Altar, lock the
doors of our halls and temples, and retire from the world's moral activities as
a soulless and spiritless Fraternity.
Freemasonry is not a church. It does not design to
establish a universal church, as some would foolishly believe, neither does it
purpose to disestablish any church; it makes no war on church-creeds, but is
tolerant toward every religious faith and belief; it respects and honors every
genuine believer, whatever his individual or his church creed may be. No man who
believes in the Fatherhood of God can be other than tolerant.
"There is a wideness in God's mercy
Like the wideness of the sea;
There's a kindness in his justice
Which is more than liberty.
For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of man's mind
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind."
The most tolerant teacher that ever lived, was presaged by
the Prophet when he said: "And his name shall be called Wonderful, the Prince of
Peace." Why ? Because "He united love to God, with love to man; courage to
caution, perfect freedom from form, and reverence for the substance in all
forms, hatred for sin and love for the sinner." He turned duty into happiness,
wrote the laws into the heart, helped us to walk in the spirit of love; for love
begets toleration, and by it lifts the world to the highest plane of peace and
good will. Listen to the great moral code that he gave to man :--
"Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye
also unto
them."
Hear his dogmatic creed which amounts to a positive
command:--
"Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart,
with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself."
"This commandment I give unto you, that ye love one
another."
The following are the graces that flow from obedience to
this creed:--
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down
his life for his friend."
"But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith."
"Neither do I condemn you, go, sin no more."
"Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Are these intolerant words ? They are old and may even
sound trite, but they are the very soul of toleration, welling up from a deep,
profound spirituality, and are ringing clearer, stronger, deeper and fuller as
years roll into thousands of centuries.
This self same spirit of toleration should be the crowning
glory of Freemasonry. To the critics of Freemasonry, the religious zealot, on
the one hand, who denounces Freemasonry as Godless, and, on the other hand, to
the dwarfed intellectual and spiritual concept that declares Freemasonry is
intolerant because it demands a belief in "The one living and true God," we can
but quote the words of the peace-loving Whittier:
"Who fathoms the eternal thought ?
Who talks of schemes and plans ?
The Lord is God. He needeth not
The poor device of man
I walk with bare, hushed feet the ground
Ye tread with boldness shod,
I dare not fix with mete and bound
The love and power of God."
Toleration should be written deep in the soul of every
member of our Fraternity. For Freemasonry is out of necessity an aid to every
agency that has for its end the amelioration of the human family. While it is
not a church, it draws its inspiration from the same source and walks hand in
hand with the church in the broad field of humanity's need. It can not from its
very inception antagonize religion, because it stands today as the proud
champion of religion and religious liberty; the foe of irreligion and
irreligious liberty; for freedom, but not license; for tolerance, but not
anarchy; for civil liberty, but not tyranny; for purity, but not shame; for
patriotism, but not treason; for sobriety, but not intemperance; for hope, but
not despair; for love, but not hate. Freemasonry knows no nationality, but its
kingdom is in the hearts of men. Its power lies not in the sword on the field of
battle, but in the silent, yet potent, force of the individuality of its
members. It has a foundation, tolerant, solid, eternal. Upon it we erect our
moral temple and adorn it with the foliage and flowers of a life whose feet are
swift to run on missions of love, whose knees are ever humble in the recognition
of Divine favors, whose heart is expanding in charity, whose hand will raise the
fallen, and whose lips will bring joy and gladness. It is altruistic, not
egotistic. The spirit of Freemasonry is preeminently progressive, and while it
not only inculcates moral truths, it also demands advancement along the line of
scholastic development. It is the promoter and encourager of every art and
science that has for its end the uplifting of man. It would appeal to the
aesthetic, to the philosophic, and would surround the mind and heart with
everything that can beautify and adorn man.
The spirit of Freemasonry is that which tuned the harp for
the immortal strains of a Handel; a Haydn, and a Mendelssohn; that touched the
deep and majestic tone of a Milton, the spiritual sweetness of a David, the
genius of an Addison, a Whittier, a Longfellow, and a Tennyson; that sounded the
depths of unlimited space and brought forth the music of countless worlds to the
enchanted ear of a Kepler and a Newton; that descended into the earth and
unfolded its pages, penned in the rocks of centuries, to a Gray and Agassiz;
that touched the brush of a Raphael and the chisel of an Angelo and made canvas,
fresco and rocks speak in living realities. That spirit that came like a gentle
wind and dispersed the metaphysical fog of ancient philosophy, dethroned its
selfishness and placed it upon the only sure foundation, that "I am my brother's
keeper."
From such a creed will bloom into eternal freshness and
renewing youth, that all prevading sweetness, that calm reliance, that loving
toleration as expressed by Whittier:
"No offering of my own I have,
Nor works my faith to prove;
I can but give the gifts He gave,
And plead his love for love.
And so beside the silent sea
I wait the muffled oar,
No harm from Him can come to me,
On ocean or on shore.
I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air;
I only know I can not drift
Beyond his love and care."
----o----
ANOTHER YEAR
It is a great thing to have forty years
behind you without any great catastrophe and shame. As time goes on, I think I
feel more and more vividly a sense of relief when those I love are safely
through another year: the sense of relief is still keener in relation to myself,
for I suppose every man thinks his own perils the greatest. The ice cracks in
such unexpected places - the ship is too apt to strike on rocks where the chart
gave no warning of them - that mere safety seems to me a much greater reason for
thankfulness than it used to be. To do some great thing is the ambition of
youth; to do quiet duty honestly and without serious falls, satisfies the heart
when youth disappears.
- R. W. Dale.
----o----
BROTHERHOOD
There shall rise from this confused sound
of voices
A firmer faith than that our fathers knew,
A deep religion which alone rejoices
In worship of the Infinitely True,
Not built on rite or portent, but a finer
And purer reverence for a Lord diviner.
There shall come from out this noise of
strife a groaning
A broader and a juster brotherhood,
A deep equality of aim, postponing
All selfish seeking to the general good.
There shall come a time when each shall to
another
Be as Christ would have him - brother unto
brother
There shall come a time when knowledge
wide extend
Seeks each man's pleasure in the general
health
And all shall hold irrevocably blended
The individual and the commonwealth;
When man and woman in an equal union
Shall merge, and marriage be a true
communion.
There shall come a time when brotherhood
shows stronger
Than the narrow bounds which now distract
the world;
When the cannons roar and trumpets blare
no longer,
And the ironclad rusts, and battle flags
are furled;
When the bars of creed and speech and
race, which sever,
Shall be fused in one humanity forever.
- Lewis Morris.
----o----
SHAKESPEARE
Others abide our question. Thou art free.
We ask and ask - thou smilest and art
still,
Out topping knowledge. For the loftiest
hill,
Who to the stars uncrowns his majesty,
Planting his steadfast footsteps in the
sea,
Making the heaven of heavens his
dwelling‑place,
Spares but the cloudy border of his base
To the foiled searching of mortality;
And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams
know,
Self‑schooled, self‑scanned, self‑honored,
self‑secure,
Didst tread on earth unguessed at - Better
so!
All pains the immortal spirit must endure,
All weakness which impairs, all griefs
which bow,
Find their sole speech in that victorious
brow.
- Matthew Arnold.
----o----
HAPPINESS
It's not in titles nor in rank,
It's not in wealth like Lon'on bank,
To purchase peace and rest.
If happiness hae not her seat
And center in the breast,
We may be wise, or rich, or great,
But never can be blest.
- Robert Burns.
----o----
THE DOCTRINE OF THE BALANCE
BY JOSEPH FORT NEWTON
READERS of Albert Pike will recall the stately pages with
which Morals and Dogma closes, setting forth, in a manner unforgetable, the
Doctrine of the Balance. Many had taught this truth before time out of mind, no
one more impressively than the man whom Pike was richly indebted, (1) but his
exposition is none the less his own. With vast labor he brings together his
findings, showing that to this result the wisdom of the ages runs, what the
sages have thought equally with what the mystics have dreamed. Always it is a
triad, suggested by the ancient idea of the number Three, the singular, the dual
and the plural, the odd and even added, and the great emblem of the
Triangle--symbol of perfection. It is seen in all Masonic symbolism, from end to
end and at every step of the Mystic quest for the secret which every Mason is
seeking.
Eloquently, and with every variation of emphasis and
illustration, he lays the matter before us, carrying it into all the fields of
human activity and aspiration. Sympathy and Antipathy, Attraction and Repulsion,
Fate and Freedom, each a fact of life and a force of nature, are contraries
alike in the universe and in the soul of man, wherein we see eternity in
miniature. As the earth is held in its orbit by the action of opposing forces,
so truth is made up of two opposite propositions, as peace lies in the union of
motion and rest, and harmony is the fruit of seeming war. Here he finds the
solution of the problem of the One and the Many, of the Infinite and the Finite,
of Unity amidst Manifoldness: the principle of the Balance, the secret of the
universal equilibrium:
"Of that Equilibrium in the Deity, between the Infinite
Divine Wisdom and the Infinite Divine Power; from which result the Stability of
the Universe, the unchangeableness of the Divine Law, and the Principles of
Truth, Justice, and Right which are a part of it; . . Of that Equilibrium also,
between the Infinite Divine Justice and the Infinite Divine Mercy, the result of
which is the Infinite Divine Equity, and the Moral Harmony or Beauty of the
Universe. By it the endurance of created and imperfect natures in the presence
of a Perfect Deity is made possible; . .
Of that Equilibrium between Necessity and Liberty, between
the action of the Divine Omnipotence and the Free-will of man, by which vices
and base actions, and ungenerous thoughts and words are crimes and wrongs,
justly punished by the law of cause and consequence, though nothing in the
universe can happen or be done contrary to the will of God; and without which
co-existence of Liberty and Necessity, of Free-will in the creature and
Omnipotence in the Creator, there could be no religion, nor any law of right and
wrong, or merit or demerit, nor any justice in human punishments or penal laws.
And, finally, of that Equilibrium, possible in ourselves,
and which Masonry incessantly labors to accomplish in its Initiates, and demands
of its Adepts and Princes (else unworthy of their titles between the Spiritual
and Divine and the Material and human in man; between the Intellect, Reason, and
Moral Sense on one side, and the Appetites and Passions on the other, from which
result the Harmony and Beauty of a well-regulated life." (2) And so on, through
a passage of singular elevation both of language and of thought, we are led by
an ancient truth which becomes a vision in the mind of a nobler thinker. My
design is not to add to his exposition, but to apply it with emphasis and
illustration, if so that it may be brought home to our "business and bosom" and
be of real service to us in the life which we live together, and in the life
which each must live alone. For it is the high service of Masonry that it puts a
man in the straight path which the wisest of the race have walked, leading him
midway between the falsehood of extremes, and bringing the highest teaching of
the past to the uses of the present. After all, how to live is the one matter;
and he is wise who joins the goodly Shakespeare gospel of Courage, Sanity and
Pity with that other Gospel of Faith, Hope, and Love. Every man will need all
the aid he can get, unless he be content, as no real man can be, to live in the
world as a mere looker-on at a drama in which others are actors,
"In God's vast house a curious guest, Seeing how all works
take their flight."
From bottom to top life is a contradiction and a paradox,
and the beginning of wisdom is to know that fact and adjust ourselves to it.
Light and darkness, heat and cold, mind and matter, fate and free-will,
asceticism and indulgence, socialism and anarchy, dogmatism and doubt, reason
and authority--no man may ever hope to live long enough, much less to think
deeply enough, to harmonize these paradoxes. The way of wisdom is to accept both
facts in each case, as the Two Pillars of a Temple of Truth, and walk between
them into the hush of the holy place. Either one, without the other, is only a
half-truth which ends in perversion, if not in insanity, turning the hearty,
wholesome, clear seeing spirit of manhood into the pitiful narrowness and
hardness of a bigot or a fanatic.
For example: "All is free- that is false: all is fate--that
is false. All things are free and fated-- that is true." (3) It is possible to
make an argument in behalf of fatalism so freezing that one is left with the
feeling that he is no more responsible for his thoughts and acts, than he is for
the shape of his head and the color of his eyes. Having listened to such an
argument, each of us may say, as Dr. Johnson did, (4) "I know I am free, and
that's the end on it." On the other side, one can present a thesis in proof of
the freedom of man so convincing that fate seems a fiction. Both are true, and
the great truth consists of two opposites which are not contradictory--that it
is the Fate of man to be Free if he fights for it, approves himself worthy of
it, uniting his will with the Will of the Master of the World! Otherwise, we men
are slaves journeying downward "to the dust of graves," slaves of greed and
passion and a fatal folly.
Asceticism is one extreme, indulgence another. One would
repress every natural instinct in behalf of a pale, wan purity; the other would
follow every fancy, driven hither and yon by every gust of passion, at the mercy
of every caprice. Between the two lies temperance, keeping the balance between
two absurdities, making a right use of everything, and abusing nothing; its
motto the wise words of the old Greeks, "In nothing too much." Socialism seems
to hold that the State is everything, the Individual nothing--or at best only a
cog in a vast machine, an atom in an indistinguishable blur. Anarchy makes the
State nothing, and the Individual everything--each a law unto himself, and chaos
at the end. Between the two lies the way of wise government in which "Freedom
slowly broadens down from precedent to precedent," or grows gladly up from the
life of a just and intelligent people. There are certain things which every man
must surrender in behalf of the common good, and other things which it were a
sin to abdicate, the while a shifting, zig-zag line runs between dividing the
man from the mass.
By the same token, in religion Dogmatism affirms
everything, makes a map of the Infinite, and an atlas of Eternity, so certain is
it of things whereof no man knoweth. It talks of God as if He were a man in the
next room. It knows the origin of all things, and the final destiny of humanity.
Doubt denies everything, questions the competence of the human mind to know
Divine things, leaving us with the assurance that nothing is certain but
uncertainty; nothing secure but insecurity. Again it is the doctrine of the
balance, as in the natural world peace is found amid the poise of powers.
Between dogmatism and doubt is a wise and reverent Faith, which dares to say,
"Now we know in part--a tiny part, no doubt--but knowledge is real as far as it
goes, and what we know gives us confidence in the vast Unknown. And so we make
bold to trust the ultimate decency of things and the veiled kindness of the
Father of men, assured that He who has brought us to where we are will lead us
to where we ought to be !"
Of this fundamental paradox of life the Cross is the
symbol. Older than Christianity, as old, almost, as human life, it is the
supreme symbol of the race. When man first emerged from the "old dark backward
and abysm of time," he had a cross in his hand. Where he got it, what he meant
by it, many may conjecture but no one knows. The Cross, like life itself, is
also a collision and a contradiction--its four arms pointing every whither,
making it the great guide-post of free thought. As long as a man keeps his
poise, never forgetting the profound paradox at the heart of all high thought,
he may think as far and as fast as his mind can go. For many of us, of course,
the Cross is hallowed anew and forever by the name of One whose life was a
tragedy, whose love was heroic in its gentleness, who wins by "that strange
power called weakness," whose character is the sovereign wonder of the world,
and whose spirit is the holiest tradition of humanity.
Since this is so, since the way of sanity, if not of
salvation, lies in keeping our balance, why is it that men lose their poise ? No
man of us, when he thinks of the days agone, but recalls acts which he not only
regrets, but which puzzle him by their strange stupidity. He would give almost
as much to be able to understand them as he would to forget them. Why is this
so? Shakespeare has much to teach us here, much of abiding profit to remember,
if so that we may understand the past and make a better use of the future. He
everywhere shows that tragedy is the fruit of treachery, and that treachery has
its roots in obsession (5) -- some one thing that gets so close to the mind that
it can see nothing else, blinds it, preys upon it, making a man first a fanatic,
and then, it may be, a criminal. Macbeth was a man of noble nature; his wife was
a lovely lady. They became obsessed with ambition for place and power, and to
what dark depths of sin and shame that mad blindness led them that terrible
tragedy tells us. This lesson, taught so often by our supreme poet, is for each
of us, teaching us to keep our poise, and to flee an obsession as a plague.
Whatever fastens itself upon the mind, shutting out the light, marring the
proportions and perspectives of things, forebodes disaster.
Perhaps it is physical passion. If so, it will turn love
into lust and make the world a bawdy-house. It may be political ambition, and a
man throws everything to the winds in order to win, forgetting that no office on
earth is worth the sacrifice of integrity--and, also, if he wins by trickery he
is unfit to hold it. It may be religion. Think of the crimes unspeakable, the
brutalities unbelievable, which have been committed by men in a frenzy of
fanatical bigotry--dipping their hands in blood and thinking they were doing the
will of God ! They were madmen. Plato said that all men are more or less insane,
and that the man whom we put in a straight-jacket is only a little more
emphatically out of his mind than the rest of us. The more reason, then, why we
should keep our poise and walk the quiet way of sanity and charity, in love of
God and man.
After this manner we expound the Doctrine of the Balance,
as taught by Pike, reminding our Brethren, as we remind ourselves, that the
wisdom of life lies in freedom, serenity, and forgiveness, in victory by
selfsurrender to the highest laws of life, and that we dare not turn either to
the right or the left. By such teaching men become happy and free; in this way
we may grow old without being sad, and wise without being cynical; and learn, at
last, that everlasting gentleness which is the highest wisdom man may win from
the hard facts and the often strange medley of his days. Let us also lay to
heart the prayer quoted by Pike:
"Let Him, the ever-living God, be always present in thy
mind; for thy mind itself is His likeness, for it, too, is invisible and
impalpable, and without form. As He exists forever, so thou also, when thou
shalt put off this which is visible and corruptible, shalt stand before Him
forever, living and endowed with knowledge."
(1) Eliphas Levi. Digest of his Writings. translated by A.E.
Waite, especially pp. 79-83.
(2) Morals and Dogma, pp. 859-60.
(3) Life of F.W. Robertson, p. 32, note.
(4) Life of Johnson, by Boswell.
(5) Shakespeare, by John Masefield.
THE USE AND SYMBOLISM OF COLOR IN MASONRY
BY BRO. FRANK C. HIGGINS, NEW YORK
The subject of color in connection with Masonry is one
which has received very little attention from students, in the past, but it is
nevertheless one which is susceptible to some extremely fascinating speculations
and, to the writer's notion, deserves greater attention than has hitherto been
accorded it.
In Symbolic Masonry we encounter reference to but three,
the alternating black and white of the Mosaic pavement denoting the "dual
principle"; the pure white of the Lily and the Blue color attributed to the
Lodge and the Heavens which it is said to imitate in certain particulars. From
the latter consideration we derive various notes of blue in lodge regalia and
decorations. The Green of the Acacia, though not dwelt upon, supplies the final
note on Immortality.
In Capitular Masonry, the prevailing color is Red and much
weight is given to the colors of the four Veils, respectively Scarlet, Blue,
Purple and White, which are self-evidently representations of those employed in
the Tabernacle and subsequent Temples of Israel. Red is the color of Vulcan, god
of Fire, whom the Jews called Tubal-Cain and whose number is 9, or 3 times 3.
If we are willing to accept the theory that in the original
intention of the sequence of Masonic degrees, "Symbolic" Masonry was to
represent the birth, education or development and final test of the perfected
soul, and "Capitular" Masonry to symbolize the return of the liberated soul to
the source of its being, we shall have no difficulty, whatsoever, in
assimilating the presence of these colors in Lodge and Chapter, as indicated,
with the ancient Semitic philosophy, in which Old Testament Theology and,
consequently, Masonry, had its rise.
The old Chaldean cosmogony, which impressed the Egyptian,
Phoenician and Hebrew cults alike, regarded the Soul as a spark of the Divinity,
precipitated to Earth, through the spheres of the Seven planets and the Zones of
the Four Elements, gathering in the course of its journey, its mental, moral and
spiritual attributes from the first group and its physical elements from the
second.
The original King Solomon's Temples were the Zigurrats of
Salmannu Sar* (Shalmanesar) of which the seven stepped or staged Temple of Bel
at Borsippa, the trans-Euphratean suburb of Babylon, was, perhaps, the leading
example. They were square edifices, like a nest of seven boxes, one above the
other, on a diminishing scale and joined by outer staircases. Beginning with
Saturn the most distant and slowest of the planets to make a complete circuit of
the ecliptic, they responded to the correct sequence of the heavenly bodies in
question, as known to the ancients, and had attributed to them the colors of the
spectrum, in the order of their refrangibility.
The lowermost or Saturn stage was, however, colored black,
the next or Jupiter stage was Orange colored, the Mars stage Red, the Sun stage
gold, the Venus stage pale yellow, that of Mercury blue, and that of the Moon
silver. Blue is therefore the color universally symbolic of Hermes and the
Hermetic philosophy on which Freemasonry is based.
Each of these stories was a temple to the presiding god of
the Planet it represented and a school of the science attributed to it. Thus the
final stage in the education of the neophyte was in the "Blue" edifice, prior to
his admission to the uppermost or, by reason of the peculiar construction of the
Temple, middle chamber, which was the observatory of the Priest Astronomers and
Astrologers, who were the interpreters of the will of the gods to mankind and
the direct servitors of their divine messenger Nebo, Mercury or Hermes.
The Hebrews in their re-fashioning of the Chaldean cult,
substituted the imagery of Jacob's seven stepped ladder, which figure the
Egyptians were also familiar with, as evidenced by the numerous little seven
stepped ladder amulets found in their sarcophagi and, later, in Roman graves.
The Veils of the Temples were clearly symbolical of the elemental Zones. Water,
Fire, Air and Earth, in Hebrew respectively Iammim, Nour, Rouach and Iebeschah,
the initials of which words, "I. N. R. I.," having the numerical value of 10,
50, 200, 10, or 270, gave the cabalistic number of incarnation, founded upon the
nine months, of thirty days each, of human gestation and which was also the
number of the identified Osiris and Horus, among the Egyptians; the hypothenuse
of a right-angle of 162 by 216.
Red stood for the element Fire, Blue for Air, White for
Earth, and Purple for Water, the latter, presumably, because purple color was
derived from a shell fish, the murex Purpurea of the Tyrians. Their signs were
the Lion, Eagle, Bull and Man of Masonic heraldry. The Egyptians, who
manufactured colored glass and must have made experiments with light, observing
that red and green produced black, made these three colors representative of the
J, V. and H. of their secret Supreme Being, HUHI, who was none other than our
mighty Jehovah. Alternating stripes of Red, Black, Green, Black, standing for
the Tetragrammaton, being the chief characteristic of the Apron worn by the
celebrating Hierophants of the Mysteries of Isis. In their requisitions for
Architects to construct their sacred edifices the Hebrews always specified that
they be workers in the four symbolic colors and the symbolic metals which also
belong to the planetary septenary quoted.
Bezaleel and Aholiab, builders of the Tabernacle in the
Wilderness, were "filled with wisdom of heart to execute all manner of work of
the engraver, and of the designing weaver and of the embroiderer in blue, and in
purple and in scarlet yarn and in linen thread."
The gold, silver and copper employed were respectively
sacred to the Sun, Moon and Planet Venus, while the Onyx stone and Shittim or
Acacia wood, so lavishly employed, were symbols of the planet Mercury, which, to
them, became the "Angel of the Lord," Raphael.
The celebrated Tyrian Architect, builder of King Solomon's
Temple, is likewise described as skillful to work in gold, in silver, in copper
and in iron, in stone, in wood, in purple, in blue, in fine linen and in
crimson, and also to execute any manner of engraving-- again a list of symbolic
materials embracing the metals of the Sun, Moon, Venus and Mars, the last two
indicative of the physical qualities of Attraction and Repulsion, which engender
Vibration and which Science is even now identifying as the great cosmic energy.
In the book of Kings the Tyrian Architect is called "Hirm"
and in the book of Chronicles "Churam," but there is no doubt of them being the
same individual. It will be recollected that Uri, the father of Bezaleel, is
described as a "Son of Chur," which was Chr-Mse, "Son of Horus," the origin of
the name "Hermes." The name Churam is the Egyptian Horus-Ammon, the name of the
Month of the Ram, in which the Hebrews celebrated their Passover but which the
Jews called Abib. (Now called Nisan.)
It is no stretch of imagination whatever to attach the
surname Abib to the Hirm of "Kings" as a substitute for the Churam Abi of
"Chronicles," when we are again confronted with 5, 10, 200, 40, 1, 2, 10, 2, or
270, the very number of Osiris-Horus we have already referred to.
Many Egyptian sculptures show the figures of Priests
holding before the Monarch or the gods, purifying offerings of Fire and Water,
the elements of which it was said the Earth had been created and by which it
would be destroyed. If, finally, a most delightful theory may be advanced, we
would (in our recognition of the advancement of the ancient Seers in many
branches of Art and Science which we have only tardily come to justly credit
them with), like to presume that part of the universal adoration of Light as the
dwelling place of the Deity and the primordial source of substance employed in
material creation, consisted in an appreciation of color, as a property of
light.
We are perfectly satisfied, that the seven prismatic colors
were recognized in the earliest ages of the civilized World. We know that the
ancients were acquainted with the manufacture of glass and that in possession of
this latter substance, they could scarcely avoid something which is constantly
occurring to the astonishment of children, handling glass or crystal in the
sunlight, the production of the colors of the rainbow. Why, then, were four
colors only selected for the symbols of Matter and the Veils, representing the
Elements, by our ancient Brethren ? All scientists have heard of Wollaston's
celebrated experiment, performed in 1801 for the purpose of discovering the
ultimate composition of light. We quote the language of his paper in the
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of Great Britain in 1802. He
says:
"I cannot conclude my observations on the dispersion of
light without remarking that the colours, into which a beam of white light is
separable by refraction, appear to me to be neither seven, as they are usually
seen in the Rainbow, nor reducible by any means, that I can find to three, as
some persons have conceived, but that by employing a very narrow pencil of light
four primary divisions of the prismatic spectrum may be seen with a degree of
distinctness, that I believe has not been described or observed before."
"If a beam of daylight be admitted into a dark room by a
crevice, 1-20 of an inch broad, and received by the eye at a distance of ten or
twelve feet through a prism of flint glass, free from veins, held near the eye,
the beam is seen separated into the four following colors only: Red, a yellowish
Green (which might pass as a muddy White), Blue and Violet." The very diagram
employed by Wollaston to illustrate this experiment, a human eye viewing the
four ultimate colors through a triangular prism, suggests above all things the
notion of the all-seeing eye, in the Triangle, viewing His Creation as a
compound of the four elements, as those only known to and symbolized by ancient
Science. The student desirous of pursuing this subject farther will find
extensive notes on the Biblical and Classical employment of the seven prismatic
colors, in Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, which detail various ancient
conceptions in an interesting manner.
*Literally, "King Solomon," also paraphrased by the
Hebrews, Sar Salom, "Prince of Peace."
----o----
EVERY NATION
No theory of neutrality, be it never so just, and
experience of national isolation, be it never so remunerative, can secure for
the United States of America immunity from the pains and penalties of Europe's
agony, or can make the struggle of other nations only a harvest time for
American manufacturers of munitions of war. When humanity goes up to its
Golgotha, it means the blood-sweat of Gethsemane for every nation.
--J. A. Macdonald. Democracy and the Nation.
----o----
WHAT IS RELIGION?
"Religion is now seen to be the spirit of all thought, the
inmost soul of all our music, our art, and our great literature. What the church
calls salvation, the outer world calls the civilization of man. What the church
calls Heaven, science designates as the triumph of the human spirit. What is
best for man here is best for man forever, for eternity is but the lengthening
of our human night or day. The greatest missionary movement on earth is the pity
of man for man."
--Dand Swing.
THE VEHMGERICHTE
BY BRO. E. J. WITTENBERG, CAL.
(In answer to a number of enquiries as to the possible
influence of The Vehmgerichte on Masonry, we reproduce from the Bulletin of the
Los Angeles Consistory the following brief essay by Brother E. J. Wittenberg,
read--as we think very happily and appropriately--at the conclusion of the
presentation of the Twenty-first Degree of the Scottish Rite. Brother Gould, in
his History of Masonry, takes up the question of the supposed influence of this
old German court on blue Masonry, and does not think much of it. There are
resemblances and some analogies, but nothing more. Still, further light may
reveal other things, and further light i |
