THE BUILDER MAGAZINE
June 1918
volume 4 - number 6
THE DIVINE GEOMETRY
BY BRO. H.L. HAYWOOD, IOWA
Text: Proverbs 8:27, "he set a compass upon the face of the
deep."
AFTER Euclid had shown Ptolemy his treatise on geometry the
king inquired, somewhat wistfully, "Cannot the problems be made easier?" to
which the geometer replied, "There is no royal road to geometry." True enough,
but geometry itself is a royal road, and one that will lead us to Divine things
if we will but follow it, as I now ask you to do.
It is difficult, if not impossible, for us to retrace our
steps into the ancient day when men had not yet learned the orderliness of
nature. Before the calendar was discovered or clocks invented the navigator
steered his ship by the landmarks on the coast, and the farmer planted his crops
by chance, for it was not known that the seasons repeat their regular ritual or
that the heavens are ruled by order. "They saw things come and saw them go, but
whence or whither they could not know." Everything changed or passed away and
all things seemed to be in an eternal flux. In the midst of that everlasting
stream of circumstance, that wildering maze of vicissitude, the early people
felt helpless, if not mocked, for it always seemed that Nature was making sport
of them. Even Renan, so far removed from them in time, recognized the pathos of
this, for he said that "Nothing is so painful as the universal flow of things,"
while Tennyson set the mood to his music of accustomed sweetness:
The hills are shadows, and they flow
From form to form, and nothing stands;
They melt like mist, the solid lands,
Like clouds they shape themselves, and go.
If the mutability of all things was so oppressive to the
recent thinkers, having at their hand science's unveiling of the lucid order of
the universe, how much more painful must it have seemed to human minds before
science came! "We are strangers before thee," they cried in their prayers, "and
sojourners, as all our fathers were: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and
there is no abiding."
Little wonder that the discovery of the North Star, one
fixed body among all the others that moved perpetually, was an event of such
importance that the simple folk worshipped it as a god and hung its symbol above
the altars of their temples ! Little wonder that Heraclitus, the first thinker
to state the fact with the thoroughness and system of philosophy, was called
"The Weeping Philosopher !" Where there is no stability the mind hangs in the
air and grows weary like a land bird at sea that finds no solid ground for its
feet.
It was for this reason that the discovery of numbers, and
especially of geometry, which is the application of numbers to form, was hailed
as a visitation from on high. This discovery was not made in a day but came so
gradually that men could hardly discern the lifting of the changing mists. And
it was after this wise it came, if we have rightly pieced together the fragments
of the story. The Egyptians lived along the Nile, their fields lying adjacent to
its current in order to profit from the rich deposits of its overflow. But this
very flood itself, source as it was of all fertility, gave rise to great
difficulties, for the rising waters obliterated all landmarks each season and
thus caused confusion among the owners of the fields. It was in their efforts to
discover some method of fixing their boundaries that the Egyptians learned how
to trace out the regular motions of the heavens, the periodicity of the seasons,
and the properties of numbers. How much the race is indebted to those
sun-browned workers in the fluviatile valley nobody can compute !
Inasmuch as numbers had won them order from chaos of their
first impressions these early peoples exalted mathematics to the level of
divinity, seeing in it, and rightly we may believe, a revelation, an uncovering,
of the Creative Mind. Triangles and squares were engraved on their monuments and
hung in their temples. The numbers three, five and seven were held especially
sacred for in them were many qualities not possessed by other numerals. The cult
of numbers arose at last and men formed secret societies for studying and
teaching the properties of geometry.
It was among these secret societies that there came at a
later day Pythagoras, one of the noblest of all thinkers, and the first to raise
mathematics to the level of an exact science. From his hidden schools in Greece
he taught his initiates the mystery of arithmetic, calling God "the Great
Geometrician" and telling his pupils that "All things are in numbers; crystals
are solid geometry."
Plato, also, the most opulent thinker of antiquity, found
in geometry a revelation of the Infinite Mind, looking upon it as the very
essence of religion, the knowledge of God. "What does Deity do all the while?"
one of his pupils asked him. "God is always geometrizing," was the reply.
"Geometry must ever tend to draw the soul towards truth." Over the portal of his
school he inscribed the legend: "Let no one who is ignorant of geometry enter my
doors."
What science is to all modern thinking the one science of
mathematics, "the sacred mathematics," was to early thinking; and those first
teachers felt it a sacred duty to transmit so valuable a knowledge to their
descendants. Therefore was it that, three hundred years before Christ, Euclid
wrote the treatise in which he embodied all that was known of the science at
that time. Indeed, the work of Euclid is still the standard treatise on the
subject, being used as the basis of every textbook in our schools. Better
methods for proving the problems have been worked out, and new propositions have
been discovered, but the fundamentals stand like adamant, and always will stand.
After the breakup of the ancient world and the general
inundation of culture under the Barbarian Invasion, geometry was lost. For
hundreds of years the people of Europe wandered among the mazes of chance and
caprice, as primitive men had done before them. Then at last along came Simon
Grynaeus, a contemporary of Luther, who rediscovered Euclid and gave his science
to the new peoples. How much this influenced the Reformation no historian has
yet undertaken to estimate but it is certain that it had far reaching
consequences and paved the way for modern science, which is itself a
superstructure built on mathematics.
If the earlier peoples were overjoyed to make their few
discoveries of the hidden but fixed order of Nature how delighted they would now
be to learn that all the endeavors of science have only served to make more
clear and more universal the reign of number and form throughout the universe.
For through a prophetic inspiration of the geometers we have had uncurtained to
us a spectacle of mathematical order throughout the universe which is as
revealing as it is beautiful.
Matter itself, immobile as it may appear to the eye, is in
reality a composite of atoms that move through the mazes of an everlasting
dance, every evolution of which seems timed to some exact pattern. Even the
chemical elements, which so long baffled the system makers, were proved by
Newlands to lie in a regular order of periodicity strangely grouped around the
number seven. Order is the first law of the elements. Crystallization is a solid
geometry. If one observes ice crystals forming across a window pane he will see
them grouping themselves together into symmetrical forms, intricate, involved,
beautiful, as if some unseen artist were at work depicting a scene from an
arctic fairyland.
Even when life gathers matter up about itself into its
organisms the same rhythm is preserved. Vitality is free and flowing, often
apparently erratic, and moving by the law of its own, yet it will always be
found at last to keep step with the geometrical motions of the world. If one
would expect the eternal harmony absent from any field surely it would be in
that little known realm which the insects inhabit; yet John Henri Fabre was so
impressed by the reign of numbers among these insignificant creatures that he
was moved to write this magnificent paragraph:
"He will admire as much as we do geometry the eternal
balancer of space. There is a severe beauty, belonging to the domain of reason,
the same in every world, the same under every sun, whether the suns be single or
many, white or red, blue or yellow. This universal beauty is order. Everything
is done by weight and measure, a great statement whose truth breaks upon us all
the more vividly as we probe more deeply into the mystery of things. Is this
order, upon which the equilibrium of the universe is based, the predestined
result of a blind mechanism? Does it enter into the plans of an eternal
Geometer, as Plato had it? Is it the ideal of a supreme lover of beauty, which
would explain everything? Why all this regularity in the curve of the petals of
a flower, why all this elegance in the chasings on a beetle's wing-cases? Is
that infinite grace, even in the tiniest details compatible with the brutality
of uncontrolled forces? One might as well attribute the artist's exquisite
medallion to the steamhammer which makes the slag sweat in the melting !"
The "regularity in the curve of the petals of the flower"
has attracted the attention of others as well as Fabre. Maeterlinck, who learned
so much from the veteran French naturalist, made a prolonged study of the Mind
that is at work in plants with what result anyone can read in a book of lovely
pages, "The Intelligence of the Flowers." Why are leaves set around the stem in
such mathematical regularity ? Why do flowers seem to love numbers, as the
trilium is partial to three, and the rose to five ? Surely it must be because
there is that in them which responds to the universal order. Like Plato's deity
they are always geometrizing.
An animal is a plant that has taken to moving about, and
just because it is so often apparently ungoverned in its movements, we lose
sight of the regular laws which rule among animals as much as among plants and
minerals. But those laws are there as many a scientist has proved. In the
Mid-nineteenth Century days, before the evolution theory was so well understood,
men fell to theorizing as if the universe had happened into existence through
chance. Life itself was defined as the result of a "fortuitous concourse of
atoms." The absurdity of this "thinking"--it was really an abdication of
thought--was never more clearly revealed than by the Duke of Argyll, whose work
on "The Reign of Law" is almost classical. The learned Duke took the wing of a
common bird and showed that the mechanism of flight is so unimaginably
complicated, so perfect, and solves so many mathematical problems, many of them
beyond the ken of a Lord Kelvin, that it tasks our credulity too much to be
asked to believe that this exquisite machinery could possibly have come through
"chance." In a more recent time, Sir Oliver Lodge has made the same use of the
human eye, an organ so intricate and nice in its adjustments and functions, that
a Swiss watch is simple by comparison.
What is true of the things we find on the earth holds good
in equal measure of the great bodies that sail round us through the sky. The
astronomer's charts are strangely like a page of Euclid. He has found that order
is the first law of the heavens as it is of Heaven. The wildest comet, careening
irresponsibly through space, moves in an orbit as rigidly fixed as the passing
of the hands about the clock. Surely it must be that an Infinite Mind has set
His compasses upon the face of the deeps of space, else how explain the
periodicity, the regularity, of the sidereal universe, the movement of any one
body of which may be predicted for thousands of years in advance!
This law of geometric harmony holds as true among the arts
of man as in those realms which are the art of God. Every building is geometric
demonstration. As we may read in the pages of a learned student of this: "The
language (geometry) spoke in the sloping wall and massive pillar and flat roof
of Egypt, or in the mighty piles of Chaldea, or in the Corinthian grace, or in
Roman boldness; the heart was that of the geometrician who spoke as he dreamed,
in anger, in epic, in poetry of stone and graceful curve--who planned by the
plumb and the square, by the secret of the arch and the balance of accurate
measure."
Even painting, when lightly understood, conforms to the
ancient patterns, being based on the principle described by one of its most
magisterial exponents: "All nature is modelled either like a cone, a sphere or a
cylinder. Painting is a colored mathematics of things." As for music, that is
geometry that has taken to wings, its freedom evermore being inbound in law. It
is the child of rhythm which is the purest manifestation of the law of numbers.
From of old it has been dreamed that the morning stars sang together, that the
rafters and beams of creation were laid deep in melody, that the spheres make
music as they move, that all "deep things are song." Of this truth every
musician is the priest as every poet is its apostle. As Dryden sings:
"From Harmony, from heavenly Harmony
This universal frame began;
When Nature underneath a heap
Of jarring atoms lay And could not heave her head,
The tuneful voice was heard from high,
Arise, ye more than dead!
Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry
In order to their stations leap,
And music's power obey.
From Harmony, from heavenly Harmony
This universal frame began:
From harmony to harmony
Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The diapason closing full in Man."
Yes, in Man, truly, for order holds in the soul as much as
in the heavens where the astronomer thinks God's thoughts after Him. Character
is no chance product but builds according to laws as immutable and as
ascertainable as any to be found in the builder's art. For the freedom of the
soul is not capriciousness, least of all lawlessness, but voluntary co-operation
with the fixed rules of the spirit. He who will build according to that
principle will erect a character as stable as that house which the wise
architect builded on the rock. Glorious will be the day when men learn the
geometry of the heart and square their actions to the fixed rules of moral life.
The significance of this geometry of the cosmos for our
faith has been know ever since men discovered it. At bottom there ale but two
philosophies: that which holds that this universe is a heap of dirt governed by
chance; and that which finds in it a reasoned reign of order resting in an
Infinite Mind. As between dirt and deity a man may make his choice, but surely
the thinker who sees everywhere the beautiful sweep of order will not for a
moment believe that this mighty music could have come to us out of the falling
atoms of chance. One might as well throw a handful of type into the air and
expect them to write a poem in their fall !
Twenty-five centuries ago Socrates labored to show the
little atheist, Aristodemus, that as a statue by Polytectetus could not possibly
have emerged from the quarries through mere chance, so is it impossible to
believe that the cosmos, infinitely greater in complexity as well as in beauty,
could ever have come into existence through mere fortuitousness. In the same
wise, Franklin, who may typify the modern thinker, exposed the fallacy of an
atheist astronomer friend of his. The astronomer was showing him an orrery,
which is a working model of the solar system, when Franklin said, "It is strange
that such a thing could build itself by chance." "Chance !" exclaimed the
astronomer, "I made that myself. How could so complicated a device have come by
chance?" "Then," said the philosopher, turning upon him, "how can you believe
that the solar system itself, of which this is a mere model, could have come by
chance ?"
Surely, when we have our minds with us, it must be apparent
that the everywhere present order of things is the revelation of a Divine
Orderer! Where there is so much intelligence there must be an Intelligence!
Where there is so much harmony there must stand near a great Musician! The
poetry of earth is the song of an Infinite Poet! The beauty of all creation is
the outshining, the splendor of an Eternal Artist !
Long ago a psalmist cried, "Whither shall I flee from Thy
presence?" We cannot flee from His presence. While we dig in the dirt He is
there, present in the dance of the atoms that compose the soil: while we walk
through the snow He draws His pictures about us in the traceries of the
crystals: the bird that wings above us is His angel, making hieroglyphics in the
air: the very tides move along the circle which His compasses draw upon the
deep. Everywhere He is. We live imbedded in His mind. To escape from Him is as
impossible as to climb out of the atmosphere !
Where there is so much order all must be ordered. King
Alphonso of Castile, looking out over the general muddle of affairs into which
Spain had fallen, doubted that a Mind ruled all. "If God had called me to His
councils," he sighed, "things would have been in better order." In these days
when it seems that the bottom has gone out of the world and chaos has come
again, we may fall into the mood of the old king. But let us despair not. The
plain is there; we have lost the perspective, or the key. It is said that the
frescoes on the ceiling of St. Peter's look like an inartistic jumble to the man
who climbs close to them; but from a station three hundred feet below they
spring up into a majestic beauty. They are wrought on too large a plan for a
close view. We humans, with our near-sightedness, our myopic eyes, are standing
too close to the program of creation; it may appear all jumble to us now. Let us
wait with patience. Some morning, soon or late, will find us on a mountain of
vision where we can see things as they are and watch the Divine Geometer draw
His circles across the deep.
----o----
WHERE THE RAINBOW NEVER FADES
It can not be that the earth is man's only abiding-place.
It can not be that our life is a mere bubble cast up by eternity to float a
moment on its waves and then sink into nothingness. Else why is it that the
glorious aspirations which leap like angels from the temple of our hearts are
forever wandering unsatisfied ?
Why is it that all the stars that hold their festival
around the midnight throne are set above the grasp of our limited faculties,
forever mocking us with their unapproachable glory ?
And, finally, why is it that bright forms of human beauty
presented to our view are taken from us, leaving the thousand streams of our
affections to flow back in Alpine torrents upon our hearts?
There is a realm where the rainbow never fades; where the
stars will be spread out before us like islands that slumber in the ocean; and
where the beautiful beings which now pass before us like shadows will stay in
our presence forever. --George D. Prentice.
----o----
BOYHOOD HOME OF ALBERT PIKE
BY BRO. HAROLD L. BAILEY. VERMONT
Having noticed in a
back issue of THE BUILDER a statement to the effect that you would like material
relating to Albert Pike, I am sending you a photograph of the house in which he
spent his boyhood. I made this photograph several years ago to illustrate a
short write-up of the subject for the Boston Globe.
A painted sign with
its characters nearly effaced by time proclaims a deserted, weatherbeaten house
in the parish of Byfield, Massachusetts, as the "Home of Gen. Albert Pike."
Although not his birthplace it stands for all those things generally connected
with a man's first days and years in the world.
General Pike was born
in Boston, Dec. 29, 1809, but was brought to this house when but a few days old.
His boyhood days were spent in Byfield, and a letter from which Mr. John Ewell
quotes in his "Story of Byfield," (George E. Littlefield, Boston, 1904,
publisher) expresses General Pike's affection for his boyhood home. He said:
"Many, many long years
ago I gathered walnuts and shot squirrels on Long Hill. It saddens me to look
back along the procession of departed years, and to remember how long the Future
then seemed and how short the Past is. I wish I could be a boy for one single
day again and ramble over Long Hill in the frosty air of October, and at night
sleep the sound sleep of youth. . ."
Byfield is the name of
an old-time church parish, the territory of which embraced several towns.
General Pike's home was in a section of the parish now included in the town of
Georgetown, Essex County, about thirty miles north of Boston.
----o----
It is best to take life gladly as we strive,
And best to face toil bravely day by day.
We are companioned in this busy hive
With other strugglers in this clay.
No fate selects us solely for its mark,
And no misfortune that can e'er befall
But what find other strugglers in the dark,
For care is common unto one and all.
----o----
LAFAYETTE'S FRATERNAL CONNECTIONS
BY BRO. JULIUS F. SACHSE, GRAND LIBRARIAN, PENNSYLVANIA
Since the entry of America into the World War there have
come to us many requests for information concerning that notable French ally of
America during the War of the American Revolution, Brother General Lafayette. We
were unable to learn but little concerning the Masonic connections of Brother
Lafayette until we discovered, in the report of the Committee on Library of the
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania for 1916, notice of the proposed publication in
pamphlet form of the following article by Brother Sachse. By permission of this
Committee we are enabled to herewith present to our readers the result of
Brother Sachse's researches.
It is very unfortunate that the name of Brother
Lafayette's, Mother Lodge is not known. Possibly some of our members may be able
to further enlighten us on this subject.
NO original documentary evidence is known to be in
existence which records the initiation of General Lafayette in the Masonic
Fraternity, nor in what Lodge or when this took place. It has always been a
tradition in Masonic circles that General Lafayette was made a Mason in one of
the Military Lodges at Morristown, New Jersey, where a Festal Lodge was held
December 27, 1779, for which occasion the jewels and furniture and clothing of
St. John's Lodge, No. 1, of Newark, New Jersey, was borrowed. The meeting proved
a great success, sixty eight brethren being present, one of whom was General
Washington.
There is another tradition that General Lafayette was made
a Mason in a Military Lodge, which met at Valley Forge during the winter of
1777-78, hut no official records of such action have thus far been discovered.
It was this uncertainty as to the Masonic standing of
General Lafayette, which led to the resolution of September 6, 1824, in the
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania and the appointment of a Committee to satisfy
themselves that General Lafayette was an Ancient York Mason. That the Committee
was satisfied with their investigation is evinced by their report and the
subsequent action of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, which resulted in
enrolling Brother General Lafayette an Honorary Member of the R.W. Grand Lodge,
F. & A. M. of Pennsylvania.
Brother General Marie Jean Paul Joseph Roche Yves Gilbert
du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, revisited America in the year 1784, arriving at
New York August 5 of that year. After remaining a short time in New York he
hastened forward to visit General Washington at Mount Vernon, reaching
Philadelphia on August 10, where he was presented with an address by Brothers A.
St. Clair, William Irving and General Anthony Wayne. It is not known whether
General Lafayette visited any Masonic Lodges in Philadelphia during this visit,
nor whether there was any communication with the Grand Lodge. One of the chief
objects of this visit with General Washington was to present him with a
beautiful white satin apron bearing the national colors, red, white and blue and
embroidered elaborately with Masonic emblems, the whole being the handiwork of
Madam the Marquise de Lafayette.
This apron was enclosed in a handsome rosewood box when
presented to Washington. This apron was worn by Washington, September 18, 1793,
when he laid the corner stone of the capitol at the Federal City (Washington, D.
C.), and is now in the Museum of the Grand Lodge, F. & A. M., of Pennsylvania.
After the death of Washington this Masonic relic was presented by the legatees
to the Washington Benevolent Society, who received it October 26, 1816. They in
turn presented it July 3, 1829, to the Right Worshipful Grand Lodge, F. & A. M.
of Pennsylvania, and bears the following inscription:
"To the
"WASHINGTON BENEVOLENT SOCIETY.
"The Legatees of Gen. Washington, impressed with the most
profound Sentiments of respect for the Institution which they have the honor to
address, beg leave to present to them the enclosed relic of the revered &
lamented 'Father of His Country.' They are persuaded that the Apron, which was
once possessed by the man, whom the Philadelphians always delighted to honor,
will be considered most precious to the Society distinguished by his name, and
by the benevolent, and grateful feelings to which it owes its foundations. That
this perishable memento of a Hero whose Fame is 'more durable than Brass' may
confer as much pleasure upon those to whom it is presented, as is experienced by
the Donors.
"October 26th, 1816, "Is the sincere wish of the
"Legatees." Forty years later Brother Lafayette revisited the United States,
landing at New York as the nation's guest, August 15, 1824. He was accompanied
by his son George Washington Lafayette, and M. La Vasseur, his secretary, both
members of the fraternity. Tuesday, September 29, the party reached
Philadelphia.
At the Grand Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge of
Pennsylvania held September 6, 1824, just ninety-four years ago, the following
motion was made, seconded, and adopted:
"Resolved, that a Committee consisting of the Grand
Officers and Past Grand Masters be appointed to enquire whether General La
Fayette be an Ancient York Master Mason, and if he be, to adopt such measures,
as in their opinion will best evince the affection and gratitude of his Masonic
Brethren, to this friend and benefactor of the United States."
At an adjourned Quarterly Grand Communication held Monday,
September 26, 1824, the committee made the following report:
"The Committee appointed on the 6 Septr. to enquire whether
Gen. La Fayette be an Antient York Mason presented the following Report and
Resolution which as amended were severally adopted:--
"The Committee appointed by the Grand Lodge to ascertain
and Report whether General La Fayette be an Antient York Mason, and if so to
report such measures it would be proper for the Grand Lodge to adopt in relation
to this Brother, respectfully Report,
"That they have been led to believe that this distinguished
man, for whose attachment and services to this Country our fellow Citizens have
evinced the warmest feelings of affection and gratitude has long been an Antient
York Master Mason and has honored the institution by his patronage and added to
its usefulness and respectability by a devoted attention to its interests. When
all classes are zealous to display their good feelings upon his arrival amongst
us, it would seem to your Committee that in a City where the Masonic
institutions deservedly stand high, some testimony of respect is due from them
to so worthy a brother.
"They have been anxious to avoid unnecessary ostentation
and expense, but at the same time to treat this guest as becomes the
Institution, and his character.
"The Committee recommended for adoption the following
Resolutions:- "Resolved, that a Committee of seven be appointed whose duty it
shall be as soon as they have received Masonic information that Gen. La Fayette
is an Antient York Master Mason, to invite him to partake with his Masonic
Brethren of a Dinner to be prepared for the occasion.
"Resolved, that the same Committee shall be authorized to
procure the Dinner, receive Subscriptions and make all necessary arrangements
for the same at the price of five dollars for each subscriber.
"Resolved, that the use of the Grand Salon shall be
appropriated on the evening on which the Dinner is to take place to the
subscribers to the same.
"Resolved, that the Grand Lodge Room shall also be
appropriated to the use of the subscribers on that day, with the consent of the
Lodge whose day of meeting it may be and that an address suitable to the
occasion be delivered.
"James Harper,
Thos. Kittera,
S. Badger,
B. Newcomb,
J. K. Kane, Committee."
J. Randall,
The R.W.D.G.M. was pleased to appoint Brothers J. Randall,
J. S. Lewis, J. M. Pettit, D. E. Wilson, Robt. Toland, D. F. Gordon and Jas.
McAlpin on said committee.
On motion made and seconded,
"Resolved, that the Grand Secretary transmit a copy of the
Report and Resolutions to the R. W. Grand Master (Bro. John B. Gibson being
absent from the City on official Duties as Judge of the Supreme Court), and
respectfully invite his attendance in the City on the day when the Dinner to
Gen. La Fayette shall take place."
Saturday, October 2, 1824, Brother Lafayette visited the
navy yard, then on the Delaware River at the foot of Federal Street, attended by
the governor and citizens of the first distinction, escorted by the United
States Marines, a regiment of militia, several independent companies, and a long
civic procession.
After leaving the Philadelphia navy yard in the afternoon,
Brother Lafayette was escorted by a committee of the Grand Lodge from his
Lodgings at the house of Mrs. Nicholas Biddle, to the Masonic Hall on Chestnut
Street, north side between Seventh and Eighth Streets, where he attended an
Extra Grand Communication of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, as stated in the
minutes, viz.:
"Philadelphia, Saturday, 2 Oct., A. D. 1824, A. L. 5824.
"Extra Grand Communication.
"This being the day appointed for a Dinner to our
Distinguished Brother General La Fayette, in pursuance of a Resolution of the
Grand Lodge adopted on the 20 September ulto., about three hundred of the Craft,
including a large proportion of the resident members of the Grand Lodge,
assembled in the Hall at an early hour in the afternoon.
"The R. W. Deputy Grand Master and Grand Officers and
members, being seated in the Grand Lodge Room, the door was tyled, the Grand
Lodge opened in form at four o'clock P. M.
"Present:--
"Bro. James Harper, R. W. Deputy G. M., in the Chair.
"Bro. Thomas Kittera, R. W. Senior G. Warden.
"Bro. Saml. Badger, R. W. Junior Warden.
"Bro. John K. Kane, Acting Grand Secretary.
"Bro. Joseph S. Lewis, Grand Treasurer.
"Saml. A. Thomas, Depy. Acting Grand Secy.
"Bro. Randall Hutchinson, Senior Grand Deacon.
"Bro. George C. Potts, Grand Chaplain.
"Bro. Jas. McAlpin, Grand Sword Bearer.
"Bro. William Wray, Grand Steward.
"Bro. S. F. Bradford, R. W. Past Grand Master.
"Bro. Walter Kerr, R. W. Past Grand Master.
"Bro. Bayse Newcomb, R. W. Past Grand Master.
"Bro. Josiah Randall, R. W. Past Grand Master."
Representatives and Past Masters from nearly all of the
Lodges in the City and County of Philadelphia, and a large number of visiting
brethren among whom were the following: by special invitation-- Brothers George
Washington La Fayette; M. La Vasseur and Colonel Victor Dupont, of Delaware,
former aid to Brother La Fayette.
Bro. Jones, P. G. M., Grand Lodge of Georgia.
" E. Hicks, R. W. Grand Secy. Gd. Lodge N. York.
" Geo. B. Porter, Lodge No. 43.
" M. C. Rogers, " " "
" Charles Stewart, Bro. Wm. Gamble,
" I. M. Gamble, " T. delaPomerage.
On motion made and seconded, the following resolution was
unanimously adopted:
"The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania glorying in the honour
thus conferred on her by the visit of Brother Gilbert Motier de la Fayette, and
anxious to enrol among her members an individual so much distinguished by all
the Virtues which ennoble the Masonic Character, has Resolved, that all the
rights, dignities and privileges of a member of this Grand Lodge be, and the
same are hereby conferred on Bro. Gilbert Motier de la Fayette."
A committee was appointed to wait upon La Fayette at his
lodgings and conduct him to the Hall. Here he was met at the door by the Grand
Marshal and Grand Sword Bearer and received into the Grand Lodge with the
highest honours.
The R. W. Depy. Grand Master then rose and addressed Bro.
La Fayette as follows:
"Bro. La Fayette.
"The Freemasons of Pennsylvania welcome you to their home
with sincere and universal pleasure.
"Warmly participating in the sentiments which have every
where spontaneously burst from our fellow citizens in the lively gratitude for
the services you have rendered our Country, in admiration of your high and
various virtues, and in cordially reciprocating the attachment you have
uniformly evinced for our liberties and for our happiness, we owe in addition
the pride and sympathy of Masonic Brotherhood. Your meritorious life has,
indeed, justly illustrated our principles; and those who now surround you, feel
that like Washington, and Warren and Franklin, you have won their most
affectionate veneration, by shedding honour on their beloved fraternity. Always
contending General, in the great cause of human rights, your success has
equalled the disinterestedness and perseverance of your devotion. In America, as
the companion and friend of the wisest and best of mankind, you will ever be
regarded as one of the founders of the greatest, purest and happiest of
republics; while, in your native land it cannot he forgotten, that amidst the
storms of political revolution, and through every vicissitude of personal
fortune, you have stood an inflexible example of consistency, moderation and
firmness. These impressions common to the people of the United States, but most
dear to us, are now indelibly inscribed upon the records of history and will
pass to our latest posterity with the sanction of national unanimity. Receive
then most valued Brother, the most heartfelt benedictions of our sacred
institution; receive the homage of free and upright men, who love you as an
early benefactor and whose affection must remain as secure as your own virtues
and as permanent as your own glory.
"I have also the honour of presenting you with a Resolution
passed unanimously by the Grand Lodge during its present session constituting
you one of its members: I hope you will accept this as an additional evidence of
the high sense they entertain of your virtues and of the services you have
rendered to mankind in general and to Masonry in particular."
To which Bro. La Fayette made the following reply:
"Right Worshipful Grand Master and Brethren:--
"I have often thought that we owe as much to our enemies as
to our friends, and if this observation is true, it is most true, when applied
to us as Masons. It is to the enmity and the persecutions of a Francis the 2d
and Ferdinand the 7th that the Masons of Europe in Modern times have been
indebted for opportunities of proving through much suffering and peril, that our
principles are pure, and that their devotion to them is unchangeable. The Lodges
of Spain in particular have been the victims of Royal fears but though
dispersed, their members still are Masons, and though much oppressed, their
light has not been extinguished.
"You R. W. Sir, and Brethren, reposing under the cover of
your own peaceful institutions, hear of these things only by the report of those
who come to admire your prosperity and to share by your hospitality, the fruit
of your labours.
"I thank you for the honour you have just conferred on me,
and assure you that I shall never forget this mark of your kind distinction, by
which I am made the member of a body of which Franklin was the father and
Washington the associate."
The Brethren were now severally presented to Bro. La
Fayette, when Grand Lodge closed in harmony at half past five o'clock.
MASONIC DINNER
A sumptuous banquet prepared by Bro. Daniel Rubicam being
ready in the grand salon and adjoining banqueting room, the brethren entered in
tlle follow;ng order:
Sojourning Brethren,
Grand Tyler,
Grand Pursuivant,
Grand Stewards,
Grand Deacons,
Grand Chaplain,
"The following report was received from the Committee
appointed on the claim of William Christie for furn;ture supplied to the
Committee of arrangement
Grand Secretary, Grand Treasurer,
Grand Wardens,
Invited Guests,
Brother La Fayette, supported by the R. W. Acting G.M. and
D.G.M.P.T.
The decorations of the room were prepared under the
direction of Bro. Haviland, to whose refined taste and superior skill the
fraternity were under great obligation; the beautiful salon and banqueting room
never appeared to so great an advantage.
The brethren sat down at six o'clock in the afternoon;
feelings of hilarity, mirth and Masonic hrotherhood prevailed at the festive
board. After the removal of the cloth a number of excellent toasts were given,
followed by appropliate music from the Marine Band attached to the navy yard,
for whose services the fraternity were indebted to the politeness of Bro. I. M.
Gamble, commanding the marine corps on this station.
The company adjourned at a proper hour, much gratified with
the events of the day.
The session of the Grand Lodge was held in the Grand Lodge
Room on the second floor; the dinner was given in the large room or salon on the
east side of the lower floor; this room was not used for Masonic purposes, but
was rented out for social functions and exhibition purposes. Considerable
difflculty was experienced by the committee to get the use of this room for the
banquet, as appears from the final report of the committee presented to the
Grand Lodge at the Grand Quarterly Communication held Monday, March 5, 1827,
viz.:
for the dinner to Bro. Genl. La Fayette-in 1824, and on all
similar demands.
"On motion and seconded, the same was adopted. "To the
Grand Lodge of Penna.
"The Comme. to which was referred the accounts Or William
Christie and others, against the Committee of arrangements appointed by the
Grand Lodge on the occasion of General La Fayette's visit.
"Report,
"That it appears to the Committee that the following bills
contracted by the Committee of arrangements remain unpaid, viz.:--
"William Christie for Upholstery $151.88
Clark, for Carpentry $155.34
Myers and Jones, for Painting $40.00
Russell, Oil $4.87
Porterage and Advertising $2.85
Total $354 91
That there remains in the hands of said Committee an
unexpended balance of $88.86
Leaving a deficit of monies to amot of $266.09
which deficit this committee is of opinion is justly and
equitably chargeable upon the Grand Lodge."
To elucidate the opinion of the committee, it is proper to
recur to some of the circumstances which preceded, as well as those which
attended the reception of Genl. La Fayette. As soon as it was understood that
this illustlious Mason intended to visit the Grand Lodge a committee was
directed to devise measules worthy of the occasion and among the resolutions
reported by them was one for the arrangement of a festival of welcome. It was
proposed that the task of carrying this part of the arrangement into effect
should be confided to a special committee and that the members of the fraternity
should be generally invited; they further proposed that the price of tickets
should be fixed at seven dollars. The Grand Lodge approved of the plan which its
committee submitted, but probably not aware of the increased expenses attendannt
on all entertainments which were given at that season of general festivity, it
reduced the price of tickets to the sum of five dollars, and in part
compensation for this reduction, it determined that the grand salon should he
appropriated to the purposes of the festival.
It was not until the special committee, which was
afterwards appointed, had made the more expensive part of their arrangements,
that it was discovered that the Grand Lodge had no right to the salon without
the consent of the tenant in possession. To obtain that consent it was necessary
to pay fifty dollars to dislodge an Italian artist from the banqueting room, and
a further sum of $67.75 to procure another room for a concert which had been
announced for the evening at the salon. The sum of $117.75 was thus required to
procure accommodations which the Grand Lodge had stipulated it would furnish
gratuitously. The obligation of the Grand Lodge to reimburse this sum, if
necessary, has not been at any time questioned and needs no remarks.
The great number of the brethren who came forward as
subscribers, gratifying as the fact was to the committee, had the effect of
increasing disproportionately the expenses of the banquet. The furniture and
decorations belonging to the Grand Lodge were found altogether insufficient for
the suite of apartments which it became necessary to open. New furniture and
additional decorations were purchased by the committee and these have since been
sold by the Grand Lodge and the proceeds carried into its treasury, or they
still remain in its possession.
The committee of arrangements, while mindful that it was
their duty to welcome their patriarchal guest in a style which might become the
Lodge of which "Franklin was the founder and Washington a member," yet anxiously
avoided every application of the sinking fund to purposes not strictly within
its specified objects.
All their proceedings were characterized by as much economy
as was consistent with the occasion. All the expenses of making preliminary
arrangements were borne by themselves individually and when the moneys which
they had received were found to be inadequate, they at once, with the aid of a
few friends, applied a considerable sum of their own to meet the deficiency.
The state of their accounts, strictly audited, stands thus:
"They receive from subscribers in all $1,358.
and appropriated from the private funds exclusive of the
amt.
expended in preliminary arrangements $80.
Total $1,438.60
They paid bill amounting to $1,349.65
They yet owe $354.94 $1,704.59
Balance due from committee $266.09
"On a full view of the circumstances which have occasioned
this balance against the committee of arrangements, first, that no discretion
was permitted them in fixing the terms of subscription, the grand Lodge itself
having defined the price on views of the subject which the result has proved to
be incorrect; second, that a large portion of the balance was applied to procure
rooms, which the Grand Lodge had, from an erroneous idea of its rights, declared
should be given without cost; third, that the Grand Lodge has received a full
equivalent for the residue in the property which it has sold or still retains,
and fourth, that the doings of the committee were wisely and satisfactorily
ordered and that the deficiency has been entirely occasioned by causes over
which they had no possible control, the committee to which the accounts were
referred have agreed to present the following resolution.
"Resolved, that the R. W. G. M. be requested to draw his
order on the grand treasurer for the sum of $266.09 in favour of Br. James
McAlpin, treasurer of the La Fayette Comme. of arrangements.
"All of which is respectfully submitted.
"Philad., 5th, March, 1827." "(signed.)
"Saml. F. Bradford,
John K. Kane,
Saml. Badger,
Saml. H. Thomas."
Among other relics of Brother Lafayette, we have in our
Archives the "Golden Book of The Supreme Council for the Western Hemisphere."
This contains a copy of the patent conferring the 33d degree upon Brother
Lafayette by this Supreme Council; it also contains the following note written
and signed by Brother Lafayette, May 10, 1834, just ten days before his death,
"It is the extreme indulgence of the Supreme Council of the
United States, that elevated to the 33d degree in spite of the superiority in
knowledge and in services of many of my brothers, I owe to-day the favors, of
which I am not worthy, with which the great Council of the Occidental Hemisphere
has deigned to overwhelm me, I accept them with a deep gratitude and will seek
to merit them by my zeal. "May our ancient institution propagate everywhere the
Liberty, the Equality, the Philanthrophy, and contribute to the great movement
of social civilization which ought to emancipate the two Hemispheres.
" (signed) Lafayette."
Brother Lafayette died in Paris May 20, 1834. At an Extra
Grand Communication of the Grand Lodge held Tuesday, June 24, 1834, his decease
was announced to the Grand Lodge whereupon:
"On Motion made and seconded, The following Preamble and
Resolutions were unanimously adopted:
"Whereas, the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania have learned with
the deepest emotions of sorrow, the decease of their illustrious Brother and
Member, General Lafayette, 'an individual so much distinguished by all the
virtues which ennoble the Masonic character,' and
Whereas the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania feel it a mournful
duty to pay the last tribute of their respect to the memory of a Brother, the
last Major General of the Revolutionary Army, the disciple of Washington, the
companion of Franklin, and the steadfast friend of civil and religious liberty.
"Therefore Resolved, That the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania
deeply deplore the loss of their revered and beloved Brother and Member, General
Lafayette, whose labours in the cause of American Independence and of rational
liberty and ardent devotion to the Fraternity, have endeared his memory to every
Member of this venerable order.
"Resolved, That the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania sympathize
most sincerely with the amiable family of their deceased Brother, in the
irreparable bereavement they have sustained, in the death of their excellent
father.
"Resolved, That as an humble testimonial of our respect for
the memory of our deceased Brother, the Jewels, Hangings, and other Furniture of
the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, be placed in mourning for the space of twelve
months.
"Resolved, That a correct Portrait of our deceased brother
be procured, and placed in a conspicuous part of the Grand Lodge Room.
"Resolved, That Brothers George M. Dallas, Thomas Kittera,
Robert Toland, Cornelius Stevenson, and John M. Read, be a Committee to
communicate the foregoing Resolutions to the family of Brother General
Lafayette.
"Resolved, That the foregoing Preamble and Resolutions be
published in the public journals of the day." The Grand Lodge having closed,
the Fraternity proceeded to the salon where they were gratified by hearing a
very beautiful and instructive Masonic address from Bro. George M. Dallas, R. W.
Dep. Grand Master.
The Grand Lodge was again opened, when upon motion made and
seconded it was unanimously resolved:
"That the thanks of this Grand Lodge be presented to Bro.
Dallas for his truly Masonic and admirable address delivered this day and that
he be requested to furnish a copy of it for publication."
The following is an extract from the very eloquent address
delivered before the Fraternity, on this day, by Brother Geol ge M. Dallas, R.
W. Deputy Grand Master.
"I would close here, did I not feel that the commemorative
purpose of the day may for a moment, be with propriety interrupted by a
reference to the recent departure of our illustrious friend and brother, Gilbert
Motier De Lafayette. This truly good and eminently great man died suddenly, at
the Capital of his European Country, and in the bosom of his family, on the
morning of the 20th of May last, and in the seventyseventh year of his age.
"It will be recollected by some whom I address, that on the
2d of October, 1824, General Lafayette, then the Guest of a Nation to whose
service he had dedicated his early enthusiasm, fortune and blood, was, in that
chamber, invested with all the rights, dignities and privileges of a member of
this Grand Lodge 'a body,' to use his own emphatic words, 'of which Franklin was
the father and Washington the associate.'
"Both hemispheres were alike the theatre of the virtues and
exploits of this exalted Mason. In both he passed, unscathed in honour, through
the ordeal of sanguinary revolution, in both he shone the firm, faithful and
fearless champion of human liberties and rights, in both he riveted himself, by
the loftiest and the gentlest qualities, in universal respect and affection, and
in both his death is now sincerely mourned as a common calamity. In the memory,
as in the life of their joint citizen and soldier, America and France have a
lasting bond of sympathy and union. In this respect, as the moral link to
connect two distant and powerful nations in mutual good will, his position on
the records of immortality is without parallel.
"While we join in the sad and solemn rites every where
performing by our countrymen, in melancholy attestation of their deep veneration
and undying gratitude for an early and indefatigable public benefactor, we
cannot but own one added pang, though accompanied by one peculiar pride as
kindling memory suggests that he also was a Mason."
On July 21, 1834, commemorative exercises were held at Zion
Lutheran Church, southeast corner of Fourth and Cherry Streets, in which the
Grand Lodge participated.
Other mementos of Brother Lafayette in the Museum of the
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, beside the Washington Apron, are the two relics of
Brother Lafayette's visit to Philadelphia in 1824.
1. A piece of candle and holder used to illuminate one of
the window panes of Independence Hall during the procession, September 28,-1824.
2. A memorial cotton handkerchief upon which is printed his
portrait, scene of his arrival at New York on the ship Cadmus, and the memorial
arcll erected in front of Independence Hall, through which General Lafayette and
the procession passed at his reception, September 28, 1824.
3. A largefull length oil portrait of Brother General
Lafayette in the upper corridor.
4. A study in oil said to be from life in the library.
5. Copy of Houdan's marble bust of Brother General
Lafayette in the Library.
6. Two silk badges worn at the funeral procession and
commemorative service of Zion Lutheran Church July 21, 1838.
7. Two engraved French portraits in Washington alcove in
museum.
8. A number of Lafayette medals in the museum collection.
9. A Lafayette Silver Dollar coined by the United States in
the year 1900. 10. Four Masonic Lodges in Pennsylvania are named after this
distinguished brother, viz.:
No. 71, Philadelphia,
No. 194, Selinsgrove,
No. 199, Lock Haven,
No. 652, Carnegie.
In conclusion to illustrate how the memory of Brother
Lafavette is honored in both Masonic and civil life in the United States, as a
matter of fact, there are no less than thirty Masonic Lodges named after Brother
Lafayette in twenty-six states in the Union.
In the United States, there are fourteen villages, eleven
towns, five counties, one parish and one city which bear the name of our honored
brother, the Marquis General Lafayette.
As above stated, it was resolved at the Extra Grand
Communication held June 24, 1834, that a correct portrait of Brother Lafayette
should be procured and placed in a conspicuous part of the Lodge room.
It appears that after this resolution was adopted, the sum
of eighty dollars ($80) was collected towards obtaining this portrait.
At the Annual Grand Communication held Monday, December 28,
1835, when Washington Hall in South Third Street above Spruce Street was
dedicated and consecrated to Masonic uses, on motion of Brother F. Cooper and
seconded, it was resolved that a committee of five be appointed to receive the
amount collected June 24, 1834, with further authority to solicit donations from
Lodges and members within this Masonic jurisdiction, and as soon as a sufficient
sum shall have been collected, to have a likeness of Lafayette painted by an
eminent artist, and to have the same put up in a conspicuous place in the Grand
Lodge Room.
The R. W. Grand Master was pleased to appoint on said
committee Bros. F. Cooper, Geo. Fox, W. Mayweg, S. Wonderly and A. Quniton.
Nothing appeared to have been done in this matter until four months later, when
the following amendment was offered at an adjourned Extra Grand Lodge held April
18, 1836.
"On motion of Bro. Geo. Fox and seconded, the Resolution
adopted on the 28th December last, relative to a Painting of Bro. Lafayette was
reconsidered and the following offered as an Amendment thereof and adopted,
viz.:--
"Resolved, that the Committee appointed on the 28th Decr.
1835, be authorized to solicit donations from Lodges and members within the
jurisdiction and when a sufficient sum shall have been Collected to procure a
full length painting of Benjamin Franklin, and a portrait of Lafayette, and have
said paintings placed in a conspicuous situation in the Grand Lodge Room."
After this the matter slumbered for six years, wllen it was
revived at the Quarterly Grand Communication held Monday, March 7, 1842, by the
following minute:
"On motion duly made and seconded, the Grand Secretary was
directed to endeavour to procure information respecting collections made for
Likeness of Benjm. Franklin and Lafayette and report at next quarterly
Communication."
No action was taken in reference to the portrait for the
next six years, when the matter was again brought to the notice of the Grand
Lodge at the Grand Quarterly Communication held Monday, March 6, 1848, by a
comrmunication on the subject from Phoenix Lodge, No. 130, viz.:
"The following was received and referred to Past Grand
Masters Bros. Newcomb, Barger and Page.
Phil., Feby. 21, 1848. To Wm. H. Adams,
Rt.W.G.Secy. of G.L. of Pa. Dr. Sir & Bro.
"The following Resolution was on motion & seconded
unanimously Adopted at a meeting of Phoenix Lodge No. 130, held at Masonic Hall
South 3rd St., Wednesday evening, February 16th, A. L. 5848.
"Resolved, That the representatives of this Lodge be
directed to call the attention of the Grand Lodge to the fact that there has
been for a number of Years in the hands of Past Grand Master Bro. Jno. M. Read,
a sum of money, raised by Subscription for the purpose of procuring a portrait
of Bros. Franklin & Lafayette, that the said Portrait has never been purc1lased
and request the Grand Lodge to appoint a Committee to examine into the matter
and ask P. G. Mastel Jno. M. Read to account for the same.
"Extract from the Minutes. "Signed. Wm. S. Schultz, "Secy.
Lodge No. 130."
This was referred to Past Grand Masters Bro. Newcomb,
Barger and Page, wllo at the Quarterly Communication September 4, 1848, made the
following report, which was received and the resolution adopted, viz.:
"To the R.W. Grand Lodge of Penna.
"The Committee appointed in relation to the money
subscribed and paid for the purpose of procuring a portrait of Lafayette and
Franklin.
"Respectfully report, That a Sum of money for that purpose
subscribed was paid into the hands of Bro. John M. Read who cannot at present
find the subscription paper containing the precise amount, but believes it to be
about Eighty Dollars which Sum he is ready to pay over as the Grand Lodge may
direct and when the amt. can be ascertained to correct the same.
"Your Committee respectfully offer the following
Resolution. Resolved, that the Grand Treasurer call upon Bro. Read & receive
from him the above mentioned Sum of Eighty Dollars.
"Phil., Sept. 4, 1848.
"Signed. B. Newcomb,
Wm. Barger,
Jas. Page, Committee."
At the Grand Quarterly Communication held March 5, 1849,
the
following was offered by Brother John Thomson, R. W. G.
Treasurer,
and adopted, viz.:
"Whereas, there is in the hands of the Grand Treasurer the
sum of Eighty dollars contributed some years since by certain members of the
Grand Lodge for the purpose of a likeness of Bro. La Fayette and as said sum is
insufficient to accomplish the object intended therefore Resolved, That the
Grand Treasurer be instructed to add from the funds of the Grand Lodge $20 to
the $80 contributed and with the sum purchase one share Masonic loan for the
purpose of furthering the object intended."
It appears that the portrait of Lafayette which was
formerly in the Grand Lodge room and now in the second story corridor of the New
Temple was not procured until after the New Chestnut Street Hall was dedicated
in 1855.
No record has been found as to who the artist was or what
was the amount paid for same.
----o----
THE NEW PATRIOTISM
Fly the flag at half-mast
For the life that has been split,
For the wealth that has been built
On the bones of men;
Fly the flag at half-mast
Till the day breaks again.
Fly the flag at half-mast
For the greed that would not die,
For the hate that scorched the sky
With envenenomed fire;
Fly the flag at half-mast
For the deeds of men’s ire.
Fly the flag at half-mast
For the love that has been slain,
For the conflict’s bloody stain
On the hopes of men;
Fly the flag at half-mast
Till the day breaks again.
- T.C. Clark
----o----
Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm
and superstitution - Adam Smith.
----o----
GEORGE FRANKLIN FORT, MASONIC HISTORIAN
BY JOHN HENRY FORT, NEW JERSEY
The following biographical sketch of Brother George
Franklin Fort, author of "The Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry,"
written at our request by his brother, Mr. John Henry Fort of New Jersey, is
intended as an introduction to an article to appear in the next issue of THE
BUILDER, The Masonic Writings of George Franklin Fort, by Brother Oliver D.
Street of Alabama.
GEORGE FRANKLIN FORT was born at Absecon, Atlantic County,
New Jersey, on November 20th, 1843. His father was Rev. John Fort, a member of
the New Jersey Methodist Episcopal Conference, who entered the ministry in the
old days of the itinerancy and whose father was one of the founders of the faith
in New Jersey. George Flanklin Fort was named after his uncle, Dr. George
Franklin Fort, who was Governor of New Jersey from 1851 to 1855. In later years
the State historian accredited the uncle with the authorship of the work by
confusing the names. George F. Fort was descended from an old Norman
French-Anglo-Saxon ancestry. The original Fort, or "Le Fort," was the Captain of
the Body Guard of William the Conqueror at Hastings in 1066 and his descendents
remained in England till 1695, when Roger Fort settled at Hampton-Hanover,
afterwards New Mills and now Pemberton, Burlington County, New Jersey, upon a
plantation which has remained in the family for generations. His family settled
in New Jersey when the population was probably not over five thousand, as
against nearly two million now. The period was an epochal one in the State and
the Fort family were distinctly active in the development of the State. His
great-great grandfather on his mother's side, William Emley, was a surveyor to
the Crown and acted as Colonial Governor of New Jersey and helped to survey the
lines dividing East and West Jersey. He was quite a linguist and of
Scotch-English descent, coming from Yorkshire.
George F. Fort's family were not only very prominent in New
Jersey, in having contributed two governors to the State, both born in the old
homestead at Pemberton, but also were honored by having two Assemblymen and one
State Senator in the Legislature, and one Judge of the Supreme Court, and two of
the Court of Errors and Appeals. The family had several ministers and
physicians, all prominent, and in the Revolutionary days contributed ten members
to the Continental Army, both the Line and Militia. With an ancestry dating back
to the Vikings and in which several languages had been spoken, it is not
surprising that George F. Fort easily acquired a knowledge of and mastered
seventeen languages and dialects. He read Latin, French, Spanish and Italian
with as much ease as English, and amused himself with reading the works of noted
writers in these languages. He read and spoke German as fluently as English and
his several trips to Europe widened his knowledge and perfection. He attended
lectures at Heidleburg University and studied Anglo-Saxon and several dialects
for historical purposes. The acquiring of a language with him was a sort of
heredity and if no glossary was available he would dig out certain roots from
dictionaries and in a short time would construct a grammar and glossary and soon
be reading the language as readily as English. It was a gift.
Mr. Fort studied law with Abraham Browning of Camden, then
the leading attorney of the State and at one time Attorney General, when family
prestige and ability made the appointment instead of political influence as in
modern times. While he was successful in his practice his tastes were of a
literary character and he regularly pursued a literary course. There is no
question but that he was one of the most learned men of the century and his
knowledge was not confined to archaic research and antiquities, but was
universal. Science, belles-letters, literature, mathematics, astronomy and
ancient history, all alike claimed his attention. He was a modest and retiring
man and any attempt to draw him out or into a discussion was fruitless, but if
something happened whereby he expressed an opinion, his erudition was apparent
at once and in a few moments extemporaneously a magnificent oration was
delivered upon any subject he spoke upon. It was like a prophet speaking and
when finished evidenced the depth of learning and greatness of thought.
In early life he became prominent in Masonic circles and
with several friends and an older brother established Trimble Lodge No. 117, A.
F. & A. M., at Camden, New Jersey, his residence. The new lodge aimed at a
higher personality than the other lodges and did not meet with immediate
success. Mr. Fort in order to infuse life into the lodge of which he was first
Senior Warden and had then become Worshipful Master, inaugurated a series of
lectures and while others spoke, his great knowledge upon the antiquities of
Freemasonry attracted so much attention and comment that he was urged to pursue
his researches and write a work upon the subject, which he afterwards did, first
visiting the Libraries of Europe and many of the old Cathedrals, the British
Museum, Library at the Vatican and the Bodlein at Oxford. This work was named
the Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry. It was immediately recognized
by the literally world as the authority, and the Encyclopedia Britannica in all
succeeding editions recognized it as authoritive and quoted it on the subject of
Freemasonry. Immediately the literary men of the world began to write him for
opinions upon other Masonic subjects and this caused him to write "A Historical
Treatise on Early Builders' Marks," and a monograph entitled "Medieval
Builders." Later he wrote the Medical Economy of the Middle Ages. The latter was
written after, as associate editor of his brother's newspaper, he criticised the
statement of a prominent physician at the 100th Anniversary of the New Jersey
Medical Society "that medicine had no history beyond Galen and Hippocrates," and
a committee from the Association requested him to write a history of the ancient
cult.
Mr. Fort was a regular contributor to the several
newspapers owned by his youngest brother, John H. Fort, upon Masonic subjects.
Some of them were fugitive and others in series. They were copied in the Masonic
Journals of France, England, Australia, and the leading magazines, and often
created a learned controversy, but his knowledge of languages always enabled him
to give authoritive data. Some of the critics thought he should literally
translate his authorities, as but few could read the original. This he always
refrained from doing as he claimed the quotation was the authority. Among his
correspondents were such men as Hughan, Gould, Woodford and other Masonic
writers and antiquarians. His books were reviewed by all the great newspapers of
the world such as the New York Herald, Sun, Times, World, the London Times,
Globe, Blackwoods Magazine and Masonic Journals, the Chaine d'Union of Paris,
the Melbourne Australian, all the Philadelphia papers, especially the Ledger,
Press, Record, Bulletin, Telegraph and the Keystone. Gould, the Masonic writer,
said of him "Fort has succeeded where all others failed in making the study of
our antiquities an interesting task." Other writers said "his history of
Freemasonry is as interesting as a Romance of the Middle Ages." The Golden Age
of New York characterizes it as "a work of which members of the craft may well
be proud." The Encyclopedia Britannica says of it, "the book is instructive as
throwing light on certain phases of Middle Age life." In fact the newspaper
criticisms are all highly eulogistic and place the History as the highest
contribution to Masonic literature. All his other works were just as favorably
received by the press of the world. The criticisms are in many languages and
would fill a volume in themselves. In a scrap book of Mr. Fort's are not only
the notices of the press but letters in many languages from the literatti of the
world and most of his fugitive articles which are well worth publishing
collectively in book form. All his other works were equally as well received.
Mr. Fort has been compared to such writers as Hallam, Draper, Lecky, Macauley,
and other archaic, historic and antiquarian writers, and all refer to his
writings as showing vast erudition and research.
George F. Fort was primarily educated in the Public Schools
of New Jersey in the various towns his father was stationed at as a pastor, and
afterwards graduated from Pennington Seminary, a Methodist Institution of
learning, under the direction of the New Jersey Annual Conference. His after
studies of the various languages and literature were by his own effort and
attendance of lectures abroad and by visits to European Institutions of
Learning. Mr. Fort has given to America the credit of being the standard writer
upon Masonic and Medical histories.
Mr. Fort was a member of Trimble Lodge No. 117, A. F. & A.
M., of which he was practically the founder. He was the first Senior Warden and
Second Worshipful Master. He lived to see the lodge become the largest in
membership in New Jersey. He was a Knight Templar, belonging to Cyrene
Commandery Vale (No. 7) of Camden, Vanhook Council No. 8, Royal and Select
Masters, Siloam Chapter Royal Arch Masons, Excelsior Consistory 32nd Degree, and
all the intermediate Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite degrees. It has been stated
that he was also a 33rd Degree Mason, it having been conferred upon him in
Europe.
In December, 1877, York Lodge of England in recognition of
his great services to Freemasonry, conferred upon him Honorary Life Membership
and sent him a specially engraved certificate bearing a picture of the crypt in
York Minster where the lodge anciently met. The original certificate from York
Lodge is now in possession of Trimble Lodge No. 117 of Camden.
Mr. Fort spent a long time in Europe on different trips and
was well acquainted there in Masonic circles. He was made the Grand
Representative of the Grand Lodge of England to the Grand Lodge of New Jersey by
the then Prince of Wales, Grand Master of Masons of England, who afterwards
became the King of England as Edward VII.
George F. Fort died at the home of his nephew while on a
visit at Atlantic City, a few miles from where he was born, on March 30th, 1909.
Mr. Fort was practically a recluse the latter years of his life. His health was
poor and his literary tastes naturally caused him to avoid society. For years he
was editor of the Keystone, a Masonic Journal published in Philadelphia, and a
contributor to the America Notes and Queries and several newspapers published by
his brother John H. Fort. Some time before his death he told a friend he had
finished a History of Norse Mythology and claimed he had in the destruction of
the God Baldur by the other Mythological Norse Gods discovered the origin of the
story of Hiram Abif. He stated the work was ready for the printer but he was
holding it back as he had been unable to secure a font of Norse type and was
afraid he would have to have it cast to give the data exact. Since his death no
trace has so far been found of the manuscript. In all probability this valuable
history may be lost and the researches of a master mind for nearly a half
century gone to waste. His scrap book would be a most interesting publication if
edited by someone skilled in Masonic lore. There are many articles of rare
interest that never got beyond local readers.
Mr. Fort's works are on the shelves of most all the
prominent libraries of the world, such as the East India Library, British
Museum, Congressional Library at Washington, and Institutions of learning
everywhere, and thousands of private libraries. His own library was entirely
filled with works in foreign languages and were upon historic, antiquarian and
archaic subjects. He was at one time Judge Advocate of the Sixth Regiment
National Guard of New Jersey with rank of Captain.
----o----
FOR THE MONTHLY LODGE MEETING
CORRESPONDENCE CIRCLE BULLETIN---No. 19
DEVOTED TO ORGANIZED MASONIC STUDY
Edited by Bro. Robert I. Clegg
THE BULLETIN COURSE OF MASONIC STUDY FOR MONTHLY LODGE
MEETINGS AND STUDY CLUBS
FOUNDATION OF THE COURSE
THE Course of Study has for its foundation two sources of
Masonic information: THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. In another paragraph
is explained how the references to former issues of THE BUILDER and to Mackey's
Encyclopedia may be worked up as supplemental papers to exactly fit into each
installment of the Course with the paper by Brother Clegg.
MAIN OUTLINE
The Course is divided into five principal divisions which
are in turn subdivided, as is shown below:
Division I. Ceremonial Masonry. A. The Work of a Lodge. B.
The Lodge and the Candidate. C. First Steps. D. Second Steps. E. Third Steps.
Division II. Symbolical Masonry.< | 
