THE BUILDER MAGAZINE
July 1918
volume 4 - number 7
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN BROTHERHOOD
A LEAGUE OF MASONS
BY BRO. SIR ALFRED ROBBINS
PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF GENERAL PURPOSES, UNITED GRAND
LODGE OF ENGLAND
The spell of this
wonderful article is still upon me - I doubt whether it will ever disappear.
With consummate grace, with
all the niceties of expression to which our common tongue lends itself, this
eminent English brother speaks words which ought to ring in the ears of every
American Mason. Not content merely to say he yearns for the intimate fellowship
of his American brethren, he extends his own hand across the sea. Can we do less
than grasp it? With no professions that he understands America, and no
protestations that he sympathizes with our historic separation from the British
Empire, disclaiming in fact any Masonic responsibility for that separation, he
boldly and frankly says that in Revolutionary days England, under the leadership
of a king with German blood in his veins took a position which Masonry did not
then countenance, any more than it does so now; that English Masonry of today,
even as the English nation of this day, loses its regrets for that unhappy
separation in its joy over the reunion of the present in our common cause;
rejoices, indeed, in this thrilling consummation of the liberties then won; and
pledges, himself to the battles of the future in behalf of Masonic ideals,
inviting us to join him at the Masonic Altar, renew our vows to Masonry, and
then, hand in hand, keeping step one with another, go forward to accomplish the
destiny of our ONE Fraternity, Soberly, prayerfully consider the fraternal
alliance which his words contemplate. Dream if you will - but dream not too long
- over the wonderful possibilities of this joint effort in behalf of a war-torn
and suffering Humanity. Starting from this true to LEVEL, what cannot Masonry
accomplish? Let us not dream, let us act! Representatives? Ambassadors of Good
Will? Yes, let us have them, and let us USE them! Let our acts, not less than
our words, prove to Sir Alfred Robbins and the Grand Lodge of England that we
are as free and as fervent in spirit as they are!
"And may the day soon dawn, when all the earth shall be ONE
HOLY LAND, and all mankind ONE GREAT LODGE OF BRETHREN, and when all religions
of hate and fear shall have vanished away, and wars and persecutions be known no
more, forever!" EDITOR
ON the evening of
September 2nd, 1914, the United Grand Lodge of England held its first Quarterly
Communication after the outbreak of war. It was a moment fraught with fate, not
only for the British Empire, not alone for her Allies, but, as every Mason
present felt in his heart, for liberty, for humanity, for civilization itself.
The armies of France, of Britain, and of Belgium alike had been forced back in
the sudden overwhelming onrush of the invading hosts; the enemy were sweeping on
to the gates of Paris; the crowning mercy of the Marne was yet to come and was
hardly dared hope for; and darkness had descended on many a soul. It was Sedan
Day, the date fixed in the long-devised time-table of the enemy High Command for
triumphal entry into the French capital; and the grim anniversary loomed an omen
of evil out of the news that sobered all. In the Grand Temple of Freemasons'
Hall in that awe-inspiring hour, not a word of gloom, not a hint of despondency,
was to be heard. The Right Worshipful, the truly Right Worshipful Deputy Grand
Master of the English Craft - a legislator of prolonged experience, an
administrator of proved skill, and a member of His Majesty's Most Honourable
Privy Council - struck on the instant a clear note. He at once proposed, in
eloquent and moving terms, a resolution deeply appreciating the loyal and
devoted service to their country rendered by brothers of all ranks, and offering
an earnest prayer for their continued well-being. It was my privilege, as
President of the Board of General Purposes of Grand Lodge to second this; and my
closing words I echo today: "Those of us who are compelled to stay at home are
prepared to make what sacrifices they can in the present emergency. There is
probably not one of us who has not someone close to him concerned in this
struggle. They go forth knowing that they possess all our confidence and our
hope. We know our confidence will be justified. We earnestly pray our hope will
be fulfilled. Grand Lodge sends forth this message to those fighting for their
country, feeling confident it will cheer them in the hour of battle to know that
with them are their brethren's hearts."
At this moment, and
speaking, as I hope to do, to American Freemasons, especial interest attaches to
the words of our Deputy Grand Master in submitting the resolution: "We have all
come together in the hour of danger. We are gratified to have with us a Past
Grand Master of South Carolina. Although I cannot, perhaps, allude to him as
being entirely committed to this motion, because he belongs to the Grand Lodge
of another Jurisdiction and to a neutral country, yet we feel that he is of a
people who are bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. America is a neutral
country but I believe that our American brethren must appreciate, as we do, the
manner in which our brethren and countrymen have risen and flocked to the
service of King and Country in the hour of need." This proved a fitting prelude
to the most impressive demonstration of Anglo-American Masonic fraternity ever
known up to that time in the whole of the two-century annals of our Grand Lodge.
At the desire of the
Grand Master - H.R.H. The Duke of Connaught, at that moment serving the Empire
as Governor-General of the Dominion of Canada, there was read by our revered but
now departed Grand Secretary, Sir Edward Letchworth, this communication from the
Grand Lodge of Massachusetts:
"As your eldest child
in the Western hemisphere, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, while officially
avoiding partisanship in the civil conflict, nevertheless cannot let this hour
pass without advising your Grand Lodge of its deep concern for those of your
brethren and their dependants who are suffering in body or estate, and we wish
to offer all the Masonic succour within our power consistent with citizenship in
a neutral nation. I beg that you, not in any military or civic capacity, but
solely as Grand Master, will cause me to be informed of any such aid or comfort
to afflicted brethren or their families within our power to extend."
Promptly Grand Lodge
adopted with enthusiasm a second resolution, thus associating itself with the
Grand Master in thanks to Bro. Melvin Johnson, Grand Master of the Masons of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and in deep appreciation of his message as
voicing a sincerity of Masonic feeling especially welcome to the Grand Lodge of
England. "We are not insensible," exclaimed the Deputy Grand Master in making
the motion, "to the sympathy and love of our brother Masons in foreign
jurisdictions in this time of trouble and stress." "Grand Lodge," added the
Provincial Grand Master of Norfolk (the late Bro. Hamon le Strange) in
seconding, "must be deeply gratified by this mark of interest and sympathy shown
by our eldest child across the Atlantic. We deeply appreciate the truly Masonic
spirit shown by the Masons of Massachusetts, and their willingness to succour
the old country, from which they came, in its hour of need." A striking and even
dramatic episode immediately followed the resolution's unanimous acceptance. The
very first visitor of distinction from America ever known to have attended a
Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge of England was, as his name appears
on our records, "John Hammerton, Esq., P.G.M. of S. Carolina." As in April,
1738, so in September, 1914, that State had a distinguished representative in
Grand Lodge; and on this latter occasion it was Bro. J. Adger Smyth, Past Grand
Master of South Carolina, who thus addressed the assembled brethren:
"I am the
representative of the United Grand Lodge of England for the State of South
Carolina, and have served you in that capacity for thirty years. My father was
an Englishman, my grandfather was an Englishman, and my grandmother was a Scotch
woman. If my sympathies do not flow out to you, my brethren, in this hour of
distress and national anxiety, I am no living man. I wish you to know that I
represent the feelings and sentiment of the Grand Lodge of South Carolina when I
say to you, and the brethren in this country, that we heartily endorse and say
word for word what has been so well said by our brethren of the Grand Lodge of
Massachusetts."
The thrill experienced
in that earliest moment of the tremendous struggle still proceeding can never be
forgotten. Every brother in Grand Lodge that night - from the venerable and
venerated Deputy Grand Master of the English Jurisdiction to the youngest Junior
Warden of a Private Lodge - had passed on his way into Grand Lodge a fine
portrait of America's first President, Masonically clothed, which stands
prominently forth, as a most honoured possession on the great staircase of
Freemasons' Hall. Entering Grand Lodge under the serenely smiling shade of
Washington, hearing, in Grand Lodge, united voices of cheer and hope from North
and South, typified by Massachusetts and South Carolina, the English Masons
felt, in Grand Lodge, an uplifting of the spirit of true Brotherhood which since
has deepened and at no time has failed. As from Grand Temple they went forth to
their homes, and midnight came, and Sedan Day, threatening so foul, passed with
gleam of hope, there were those of us who from our hearts echoed Lincoln's
immortal words. For we likewise that day had highly resolved that our dead
should not have died in vain; that our nation, under God, should have a new
birth of freedom; and that Government of the people, by the people and for the
people should not perish from the earth.
One further war-time
association between American and English Masons - and this even more intimate,
for they now had become Allies - is to be recalled. At the Bi-centenary
commemoration in June, 1917, of the first Assembly of the Grand Lodge of
England, eight thousand brethren learned with deep satisfaction that messages of
congratulation had come from the Grand Lodges of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania,
of Rhode Island and New Jersey, as well as of South Dakota, which I have the
honourable privilege to represent at Freemasons' Hall. In his opening address to
that vast meeting of Masons, the Grand Master accorded hearty greeting to all
the distinguished brethren from other Jurisdictions, emphasizing, amid loudly
approving cheers, his welcome to those from the United States. "They well know,"
said His Royal Highness, "that we hold fast to our immemorial and immovable
principles, and that, even in this time of very great difficulty to very many
among us, we, through the agency of our Masonic Institutions, are ever
broadening the avenues of benevolence towards those who fall by the way. And,
with the fear of the Great Architect of the Universe ever before our eyes, we
today dedicate ourselves anew to the supreme task of so maintaining Masonry in
its fullest splendour, that the result of our counsels and our acts shall be the
dispensing of justice to all men, the maintaining of the honour and safety of
the Realm, and the uniting and knitting-together of the hearts of all our
brethren in Love, Charity and Masonic Truth." Later, the Duke of Connaught added
these words of special welcome: "To our American brethren, we say how sincerely
we recognise that love of truth and loyalty to freedom which have led their
Nation to join with our own and with our Allies in the present struggle. From
its beginning we have felt that the cause which we defend is that of Masonic
Brotherhood in its noblest aspects, and that the victory of our cause will
ensure the spread throughout all lands of the Three Grand Principles on which
our Order is founded, and the triumph of which was never more necessary, and, we
trust, never more assured, than it is at this hour." And the loud acclaim which
arose from every part of the great assemblage testified the instant effect of
the appeal.
I have dealt thus in
detail with these circumstances because they are the most recent illustration -
and afforded in the present war-time - of the bond of unity which throughout our
Masonic history has existed between British and American Freemasonry. Boundaries
whether of nature or nationality have never, as such, served to sever from us
our brethren, wherever dispersed over the face of earth or water. "Masonry", it
is laid down in the very first of the Antient Charges of a Freemason, prefaced
to the Book of Constitutions, a copy of which is placed in the hands of every
English Initiate "is the centre of union between good men and true, and the
happy means of conciliating friendship amongst those who must otherwise have
remained at a perpetual distance." "It has ever flourished in times of peace,"
says the second, "and . . . Craftsmen are bound by peculiar ties to promote
peace, cultivate harmony, and live in concord and brotherly love." No one, and
especially today, will dispute these verities from of old; and in no direction
have they been more persistently testified than in the relations of
Anglo-American Freemasonry.
It is no exaggeration
to say that, if the rulers of the English States had displayed the same breadth
of wisdom and understanding towards her children and kinsmen in America as from
the very outset was shown by the rulers of the English Craft, there would have
been no War of Independence. The fullest liberty of self-government would, from
the beginning, have existed, and would have been sweetened by the strongest yet
simplest bonds of fraternal relationship, regard, and trust. Let us take of this
the surest test - that not of theory or of tradition but of recorded fact. In
1730, and on the Fifth of June - American Masonry's Independence Day - the Duke
of Norfolk, as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England, signed in London a
"Deputation to Daniel Cox, Esq., to be Provincial Grand Master of the Provinces
of New York, New Jersey and Pensilvania in America." In this instrument, the one
who was proud to describe himself therein as "Earl Marshal and Hereditary
Marshal of England, after the Princes of the Royal Blood, first Duke, Earl and
Baron of England, Chief of the Illustrious Family of the Howards," sent greeting
"To all and every our Right Worshipful, Worshipful and loving Brethren now
residing, or who may hereinafter reside, in the Provinces of New York, New
Jersey, and Pensilvania." He declared that, in response to the desire and
application of the Freemasons in those parts, Daniel Cox of New Jersey should be
ordained, constituted and appointed Provincial Grand Master of the three
Provinces "with full Power and Authority to nominate and appoint his Deputy
Grand Master and Grand Wardens for the space of two years from the Feast of St.
John the Baptist now next ensuing, after which time it is our Will and Pleasure
and We do hereby ordain that the Brethren who so now reside or may hereafter
reside in all or any of the said Provinces, shall and they are hereby I powered
every other year on the Feast of St. John the Baptist to elect a Provincial
Grand Master, who shall have the power of nominating and appointing his Deputy
Grand Master and Grand Wardens."
American Freemasons,
therefore, possessed the full choice of their immediate rulers in the Craft from
the earliest moment of organised existence. They had virtually selected their
first chief; they were directly empowered to elect every successor; and, in
return, all that was required was that they should observe the Book of
Constitutions, and forward to Masonry's central home an annual account of their
lodges and membership "together with such other matters and things as they shall
think fit to be communicated for the Prosperity of the Craft." There was no
question of "Taxation without Representation." The American lodges from the
beginning controlled their own finance, without either remittance or reference
to England. All that was suggested in this direction was that their ruler at
each annual gathering "at that time more particularly and at all Quarterly
Communications do recommend a General Charity to be established for the Reliefe
of poor Brethren of the said Provinces," this being the usual course adopted at
home. Freedom to choose their own chiefs; freedom to work in order and
regularity under those chiefs; freedom from overseas interference with their
finance - these were the cornerstones of the Charter of Independence sent from
England to American Masonry on June 5, 1730. They were not fully asked from
England by American citizenship until July 4,1776.
From the outset, the
relations thus happily and spontaneously established worked with smoothness.
American Provincial Grand Masters, on the rare occasion of a stay in England,
visited Grand Lodge and were placed in the official records with the rulers of
the Craft. Individual lodges occasionally communicated with the central
authority; but so little was there any idea of interference that the records of
Grand Lodge during the War of Independence may be searched in vain for trace of
intervention in the struggle or of intent to inqpose English ideas on American
Masons. Grand Lodge at the very beginning had accorded liberty of thought and
action, and it never departed from that original standpoint. Brethren remained
brethren despite constitutional dispute and civil discord; and even today in
some of our ancient lodges, closely allied by circumstance with Atlantic voyage,
each entrant to the Craft has the universality of Masonry forcibly impressed
upon him by allusions plainly dating from Continental times. "Wherever it shall
please the will of Providence to cast your lot," he is told, "whether you
traverse the banks of the Mississippi, whether you dwell amid the immeasurable
wilds of the scattered Indian tribes across the mighty Atlantic, aye, even on
the battle-field itself, you will everywhere find a brother who will greet you -
in every nation a brother, in every clime a home."
A profound cause
exists for this abiding alliance in spirit between American and British
Freemasons. They alike hold in highest regard honourable obligation, moral
responsibility, and human freedom. The "all men are created equal" of the
Declaration of Independence is but to emphasise the demonstration by the Level
that we have all sprung from the same stock, are partakers of the same nature,
and sharers in the same hope. The First Amendment to the Constitution of the
United States, directing that Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise, is in absolute
accord with the First Article of the Antient Charges, which enjoins: "Let a
man's religion be what it may, he is not excluded from the Order, provided he
believes in the Glorious Architect of Heaven and Earth, and practice the sacred
duties of morality." And nothing more completely could consort with the theory
and practice of American citizenship than the declaration of our Fourth Article:
"All preferment among Masons is grounded upon real worth and personal merit
only; that so the lords may be well served, the brethren not put to shame, or
the Craft despised."
These are of the
fundamentals of Freemasonry as known and practised by American and British
brethren alike; and they never better deserved remembrance than in this hour of
allied nationhood amid external strife. It is a time for the ideal to be a
beacon-light to the real, not to discover divergence but to cement union. "In
things essential, unity; in things non-essential, diversity; in all things,
charity." For two centuries, English and American Freemasons, standing side by
side, have worked hand in hand. Rendering services not of the lip but of the
life to the immortal truths - embodied in the principles of the Craft - not
wasting energy in mystical speculation, but bending strength to practical
endeavour - the union of hearts existing throughout our common Masonic history
should now lead to a union of hands. It is given to us of today to dissipate the
belief of the bygone that "Masonry has been always injured by war, bloodshed and
confusion." The nominal official relationships long established between the
majority of the Grand Lodges of the United States and the United Grand Lodge of
England should be extended to all, and in every case made more real. Let the
distinguished brethren thus accredited on both sides of the Atlantic act as
ambassadors, keeping each other in constant comradeship. Let there be organised
a system enabling representative English Masons visiting the United States and
representative American Masons coming to this country - for, when the present
stress ends, there will be even increased inter-visitation compared with pre-war
times - to attend lodge meetings at their desire during their stay. Let means be
devised for making us better acquainted with each other's ideas, each other's
ways, for the first condition of true friendship is full knowledge. Even now
there exists the nucleus of such a system in the two London lodges under the
English Constitution in special kinship with the United States, the one composed
of Americans by birth or association, the other of Americans alone. Development
of the idea would demand time, entail trouble, necessitate thought. But the
time, trouble, and thought alike would be well expended to bring the Craft in
both countries into closer communion and surer touch.
If we adopted this as
our ideal, means would be found to make it real. While Statesmen strive to
establish a League of Nations, let us set up, for ourselves and the brethren
with whom we always in principle and practice have been allied, a League of
Masons. Reverent recognition of The Eternal, resolute renouncement of the
political - these are the foundation and corner stone of our Masonic system. On
so sure a base, a superstructure can be raised embracing, as in a house of many
mansions, the vast Masonic family, independent as units, united as a whole.
Britain and America, Australia and New Zealand, Canada and the Cape, India and
the Isles beyond seas can dwell together under that roof. It may be but a
vision, and yet even as a vision it inspires. That first Grand Original who
stood upon Mount Pisgah could only see, could never enter, the Promised Land.
Yet even the sight gladdened his failing eyes after his long toilings to lead
his people into the light.
In the pursuit of so
high an endeavour, difficulties exist only to be dispersed; and never was it
more true that where there is a will, there is a way. Bound to each other by
ties of common origin, identical ideals, and never broken friendship, American
and British Freemasonry could render inestimable service, not only to the
Brotherhood, but to mankind, by more intimacy of association and intensity of
aim. What we have to do is at once to put ourselves to work and discover
whether, by making the best use of Masonry, lasting good may not be gained from
the present world-welter of war. It is a task worthy of the devotion of us all,
and Masons on both sides of the Atlantic should worthily rise to so supreme an
occasion. Then, even war will have its compensations. Out of the eater shall
come forth meat, and out of the strong shall come forth sweetness. The far-flung
battle-line shall give place to the far-flung brother-line; and, great though
will be our labour, our reward shall be sure.
----o----
FURTHER NOTES ON THE COMACINE MASTERS
BY BRO. W. RAVENSCROFT, ENGLAND
In presenting this article we wish again to emphasize that
Brother Newton says of Brother Ravenscroft's work on Page 88 of the March issue
of THE BUILDER. We have no hesitation in saying that this presentation of the
latest researches of our noted English brother is in our judgment the most
important contribution to the subject of the sources of Freemasonry as it now
exists which has been given to the Masonic world since the organization of this
Society. While perhaps not all Masonic scholars have agreed with the conclusions
of Brother Ravenscroft in his small but monumental book, "The Comacines," it
must be admitted that the new material herewith presented is of great value in
supporting his former contentions. Members of our Society will find cause for
gratification in the choice of THE BUILDER as the medium through which Brother
Ravenscroft gives us this added light, and we welcome the opportunity to still
further acknowledge our gratitude to our English brother for his continuing
interest in our work. EDITOR.
PART I
"You have often heard it said that Scotto was the founder
of Art in Italy. He was not: neither he, nor Cianta Pisano, nor Niccolo Pisano.
They all laid strong hands to the work, and brought it first into aspect above
ground; but the foundation had been laid for them by the builders of the
Lombardic churches in the valleys of the Adda and the Arno.
"It is in the sculpture of the round-arched churches of
North Italy bearing disputable dates, ranging from the eighth to the twelfth
century, that you will find the lowest struck roots of the Art of Titian and
Raphael." --From John Ruskin's "Two Paths."
SEVEN years ago I wrote a little book, published by Elliot
Stock, London, with the title, "The Comacines, Their Predecessors and Their
Successors." It closed with the following summary of the points I wished . __ to
emphasize:
1. Centuries before Christ and the foundation of Rome a
race of Hametic descent spread along the Mediterranean shores and afterward
became known in Syria and Asia Minor as Hittites, in Greece as Pelasgoi, and in
Italy as Etruscans.
2. Hittites were engaged in building the Temple at
Jerusalem, the fame of which spread far and wide.
3. The Romans learned their arts of building, decoration
and pottery, etc., from the Etruscans, who were the same race as the Hittites,
and carried with them some at least of their traditions.
4. In Rome developed Collegia of Artificers, and in early
Christian days these had traditions of King Solomon.
5. At the downfall of Rome the Gild of Artificers left and
settled in the district of Como, holding as their centre the Island of Comacina.
6. That thence they spread their influence over all Western
Europe and even to our own shores.
7. That they merged into the great Masonic Gilds of the
Middle Ages.
8. That as these Gilds died out their forms and ceremonies
were preserved to a great extent in our Masonic lodges; at any rate those under
the English and American Constitutions.
Since my book was published I have continued to make its
subject one of my principal studies and through the courtesy and influence of
Cav. A. G. Caprani, the owner of the island of Comacina, I have obtained
interviews with several Italian archaeologists who gave me valuable help in my
investigations. This resulted in the collection of notes and drawings which,
together with what I have been able to obtain by personal inspection in many
Italian towns and especially in the Como district, forms the basis of what I
have written in the present paper.
Of what I previously wrote on this subject I have had
scarcely any adverse criticism, but I have seen the Comacines described by one
writer as an "obscure association," while another refers to their story as a
myth. One is reminded thus of the traveler who stated that he knew the Lake of
Como from end to end and could positively assert that there was no island in it
whatever.
It is not my intention here to recapitulate what I have
already written, but rather by added evidence to substantiate the more important
points therein. At the same time by keeping before the reader the eight points
listed at the beginning of this article I hope as far as possible to make this
paper self-contained.
One would not lay too much stress on the first three of
these statements, especially on the first, which one has, of course, always
regarded as more or less hypothetical. The statements numbered two and three
have been repeatedly confirmed by American as well as English writers, but far
as one could find, nowhere traversed.
The late J. Tavenor Perry, F.R.I.B.A., in an article
communicated to the "Architect" of July 24th, 1914, entitled "The Origin of Lion
Bases," traces direct Hittite influence on the lion bases found throughout
Italy, and so intimately associated with the later Comacine work, his argument
being that the use of beasts in connection with architecture especially as
supporting the columns of porches, doorways, etc., was popular from the tenth
century throughout Italy and parts of Southern France. These beasts, although by
no means exclusively so, took generally the form of lions and were certainly
much in vogue for a considerable time.
Mr. Tavenor Perry traces a striking likeness between
Hittite lions, as revealed in sculptured remains, supporting pillars and
doorposts, and those of Italy, and, differing from Riviora, who claims Etruscan
source for the latter, concludes that the idea was brought home by returning
Crusaders who, as they passed through the Hittite country, saw and carried home
the recollection of the beasts in question.
This suggestion that the lion inspiration was originally
Hittite, makes intelligible the associations of lions with King Solomon's
throne, as also the Etruscan development of guardian lions. In this connection
it is worthy of mention that during recent excavations at Corstopitum, near
Corbridge on Tyne and Hexham, a lion, remarkably like those of the Comacine
type, was discovered, of which the report of the excavation committee said:
"The lion, though in some respects a familiar Roman type,
embodies artistic tendencies which break loose from Roman art and anticipate the
Middle Ages."
The discovery of this lion in English soil properly
suggests the enquiry as to how far it is associated with Comacine work in
England to which a further reference in these pages will be made. A few notes
relating to the Collegia of Artificers will help to confirm point four.
Pliny in a letter to the Emperor Trajan at the end of the
first century refers to a college of workmen. This is confirmed by Professor
Baldwin Brown in "From Schola to Cathedral" (Douglas, Edinburgh, 1886), while
Villari in "The Barbarian Invasion of Italy" (Fisher Unwin, London, 1902),
refers to there being found after the sack of Rome no artificers skilled to
design buildings there.
Professor Merzario in his "Maestri Comacini," vol. I, p.
54, (Milan, 1893), tells us that when Constantine went to Byzantium, A. D. 328,
he was accompanied by artificers who worked in Roman style. He also says there
is reason to believe that unions of architects, workers in marble, painters,
wall builders, joiners and other workmen existed in Rome to about the year 400
A. D. and that down to the fall of Imperial Rome there were similar unions in
other important cities of Italy, particularly in Ravenna and Milan, which for
many years were seats of Empire (vol. I, p. 36).
With regard to point five that "At the downfall of Rome the
Gild of Artificers left and settled in the district of Como, holding as their
centre the island of Comacina," there are to hand many items of interest.
It is to be presumed that no one questions the association
of a Gild of Artificers with the Lake of Como from somewhere about A.D. 500 to
the time when they were finally driven from the Island of Comacina by the men of
Como, A. D. 1169. Two charters granted the Gild by Lombard Kings, that of
Rotharis, A.D. 643, and that of Liutprand, nearly one hundred years later,
beside many other documental references, give evidence of this. Nor will it be
denied that these artificers developed a style of their own which probably
underwent modifications according to the extent to which it was subjected, from
time to time, to external influences.
But what may not be thought conclusive is that these were
the men who, for five centuries at least, made their mark on, nay, were the
chief factors in the development of architecture in Italy and Western Europe. In
other words, that the Comacine Gild practically fills the hiatus which has been
supposed to exist between the downfall of Rome and the development of what is
generally understood as medieval architecture in Italy and the West. The point
then is to establish that the Comacine influence was as widespread as is claimed
for it.
But first as regards their connection with the Roman
Collegia, and examination of some of their plans and of the detail of their
ornament together with the general use of the semi-circular arch will render
assistance. Wherever else the Comacine Masters may or may not have worked, they
are clearly responsible for the buildings of their period in the district of
Como, and indeed of the Lombardy plain generally, for the Lombards were no
builders, and hence needed skilled assistance in the construction of their
buildings.
Now whether we take the ground-plan of a Comacine Oratory,
Church or Cathedral, we shall find its prototype chiefly at Rome. There is a
small building of the eleventh century in the Comacine district known as the
Oratory of S. Benedetto in Civate, and its plan, as well as the shaping of its
roofs, shows striking similarity to one of the oldest Christian buildings in
Rome, "The Memorial Cella" in the Cemetery of S. Callisto, each plan consisting
of a rectangle with three semicircular apses placed so as to form a kind of
chancel with transepts; the "Cella" dating from the end of the third century.
The plan of the Comacine Church of Sta. Maria del Tiglio, at Gravedona on Lake
Como, is also similar. And in this connection it is noteworthy that in one of
the oldest but most recently discovered of the Catacombs at Rome, that of
Priscilla, there is a second century chapel called, because of some of the
inscriptions it contains, the Greek chapel, almost identical in plan with these.
(Figs. 1, 2 and 3.)
In this district also are the Churches of S. Pietro at
Monte (Fig. 3a), S. Andrea at Lenno, S. Giacomo at Spurano, the Church of the
Ospedaletto between Campo and Sala, and the Church at Piona, with many others,
all consisting of rectangular aisleless naves and semicircular apses following
the plan of the larger Scholae at Rome. Then there are Baptisteries, such as
that at Lenno, to all appearance modeled on the plan of early Christian ones in
Rome, some dating from the establishment of Christianity by Constantine. And
there are the larger churches, such as S. Benedetto di Monte Oltirone, (Fig.
3b), S. Giovanni at Bellagio, S. Eufemia on the Island of Comacina, S. Abbondio
at Como, and hosts of others all following, with slight modifications, the
general type of plan used for a Christian basilica in Rome in the early
centuries of Christianity. Clearly so far as the general types of plan are
concerned the Comacines, at any rate in their churches close at home, drew their
inspiration from Rome.
In the development of the capitals of columns we get
distinct traces of Roman influence both on the Island of Comacina and the
district around. Three instances will suffice to explain this.
In the ninth century Crypt of S. Stefano at Lenno, with
some variations, occurs the later type of Roman volute--the acanthus and even
the aloe leaves of debased Roman capitals (Fig. 4). The capitals of some of the
columns in the Church of S. Abbondio, Como, are obviously derived from Roman
corinthian capitals and in the Baptistery at Gravedona the influence of the
acanthus is unmistakable.
In this connection the association of the Comacine Masters
with the Quatuor Coronati perhaps does not count for much, since these four
martyrs were probably not only the patron saints of the Comacines, but also of
other Gilds of Artificers, as certainly they were in subsequent times; but it is
interesting to record the dedication of Comacine Churches to their memory as
four as well as to individual members of them such as that of S. Carpoforo, just
outside Como.
The antiquary, Sig. Ugo Monneret de Villard, who has been
for a considerable time studying the Comacine district and has recently
published the result (1) of his explorations on the Island of Comacina, and of
research in the Archives of Milan and Como, etc., relating thereto, all carried
out under the authority of the Italian Government, regards the Comacine Masters
as the descendants of the Roman Collegia, but doubts the correctness of the
statement that they fled from Rome, contending that they had before its fall
established Collegia throughout Lombardy and elsewhere in the Roman Empire, and
that from Rome's enemies rather than directly from Rome, they fled to Comacina.
He also thinks that the Gild, as such, ended with the
twelfth century, and this would synchronize with the fall of Comacina, albeit at
the dissolution of the Gild the individual members carried away traditions in
many directions.
In this connection it may be desirable to recall the Greek
name given to the Island of Comacina by one Abbot Floriano, "Christopolis," by
reason of its having become a place of refuge for the many peaceful Romans who
fled for security from the Lombard invasions and from the strife, turmoil,
bloodshed and devastation of which the Lombardy plain and its surrounding
districts was the unhappy scene. Not only would the Island be some little
security against the Lombards, but also against Teutonic invasion from the
Northeast, and from the valleys round the lakes; for the progress of
Christianity in this district was but slow and the formation of the Episcopal
see of Como was comparatively late
Fortified very strongly, the crowded little Island would
thus become as fitting a home as could be found for the Magistri who made it
their centre and marvelously contrived to carry on their craft in the
surrounding district through ages of turmoil and internecine war. Refugees from
their conquerors, they were in course of time called back when Craftsmen and
builders were needed by the Lombards, and these Craftsmen would bring with them
stone, marble and wood, since the Lombardy plain could not supply such
materials.
Thus much for the relation between the Comacines and the
Roman Collegia, but it is not suggested that the Comacines developed their style
and worked out their buildings unaffected from without by other influences.
On the contrary it is evident that a Byzantine character
was given to a good deal of their work, especially as it moved Eastward; and
while asserting the claim for individual character in it against the criticism
which complains that they are credited with what does not belong to them, it
cannot be denied that, in the development of their style, Byzantium had some
part. Indeed the suggestion of the following notes is that it was to a
considerable extent through the Comacines that Byzantine art found expression in
the West.
Up to the commencement of the great schism in the eighth
century, it would be natural to expect Eastern influence to be direct and easy;
but from that time onward it would be equally natural to look for its cessation,
or at least diminution. And yet it seems to have been maintained right through
the centuries, even to the twelfth, in which it is clearly discernable. How was
this ?
For the following reasons one would venture to believe that
it was through the Comacines largely and in spite of the separation of the
Churches, that its flow was more or less maintained. First, the Comacine
district proper may be said to have extended from the plain of Lombardy at least
as far as Istria. Secondly, this district was under the Ecclesiastical
jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Aquileja, and hence looked to Byzantium rather
than Rome. Thirdly, Sig. Caprani says:
"The badge of the former inhabitants of the Island Comacina
was most likely at the time when the town was destroyed (A. D. 1169) a Byzantine
Cross, as they depended in Ecclesiastical matters from the Patriarch of
Constantinople. Their descendants, the people of Varenna, are still called 'Patriarchini,'
by way-of allusion to their Ecclesiastical allegiance to Byzantium instead of
Rome. (2)
"It is supposed that this continued after the fatal year
1169, and the fact that in the parish of Varenna the Ambrosian Rite is observed
instead of the Roman that is observed in all the parishes of the province of
Como, may be in consequence of their political lien with Milan as their former
adherence to Constantinople, was probably the reason for not depending from Rome
in religious matters."
As a postscript to the above, Sig. Caprani adds:
"Referring to what I have already brought to your notice of
what is related in the Revista Archaeologia of Como, 1908, I observe that the
Byzantine Cross precedes the inscription found on a capital of the cloister of
Voltorre (on Lake Varess), which includes the assumption that it was built under
the direction of Magister Lanfrancus, one member of the Comacine Gild.
"This Magister Lanfrancus was perhaps the same who, in
1099, with increased fame, an acknowledged architect, began the renovation of
the Cathedral of Modena and directed those works, at least until the end of
1106, called 'Mirabilis artifex mirificus edificator,' and who, in a tablet
placed on the back of the apsis at Modena, is remembered with the following
epitaph:
"Ingenio clarus Lanfrancus Doctus et aptus est operis
Princepo Hujus Rectorque Magister.
Fourthly. It is a matter of history that in A.D. 553 an
Aecumenical Council was held in Constantinople (the fifth acknowledged by the
Christian Church) and condemned as heresy the writings of three deceased Bishops
known as the "Three Chapters," two of which, however, had been previously, at
the Council of Chalcedon (A. D. 451), acquitted.
It appears that in A. D. 557 the Archbishop of Aquileja
called together his suffragans and rejected the act of this council of 553,
thereby estranging themselves in this particular matter from the Church's
accepted view, both Eastern and Western. At the same time they constituted their
Archbishop "Patriarch of Aquileja." At the close of the sixth century Pope
Gregory the Great sought to bring them into line but they refused to obey his
summons to Rome. In connection with these events there appears on the scene a
Bishop of Como, Agrippinus, who died about 620 A.D., or perhaps, as some say, a
little earlier, and whose seventh century epitaph is still to be seen in the
Church at Isola on the mainland close to Comacina whence this epitaph was
brought, Agrippinus having been buried on the Island. In this epitaph testimony
is given to the part Agrippinus played in the controversy on the side of
Aquileja. Since that time repeated efforts have been made to bring the district
under the authority of Rome, but until the eighteenth century with but small,
and that intermittent. success.
S. Carlo Borromeo tried it, as many of his predecessors had
done, and yet it remained Eastern in its obedience until Aquileia. in a
re-distribution of authority, lost its importance and ceased to have its
jurisdiction. The point of all this for our purpose is obvious, since
geographically as well as through religious attitude of its hierarchy this
district could not be other than a direct and easy channel for the flow of
Eastern ideas in matters of art as well as religion.
Lastly, the Church of S. Pietro al Monte di Civate
(eleventh century Comacine work, Fig. 3a) had its altar three-quarters of the
length of the church toward the West, in such a manner as that the celebrant
faced the East and the people, according to the more ancient and oriental rite.
This in the West at so late a date is very exceptional and a clear indication of
the association. Taking together then these five points and remembering the
connection between the Church and Gilds in the Middle Ages it is surely
justifiable to suggest that its was to a great extent through the Comacines that
Byzantine art owes largely such acceptance as it found in the West.
(To be continued)
(1) "Isola Comacina."
(2) In an article on Varenna recently published in an
Italian journal occurs the following: Nel 1169 gli abitanti di Cristopoli
(another name for Comacina) dai Comaschi cacciatidale Isola Comacina si
refugiarono a Varenna portandovi il loro rito patriarchino dicui non sono del
tutto estinte le traccie.
----o----
"GOING WEST"
In our study paper "Approaching the East," by Brother
Haywood, which appeared in the April Correspondence Circle Bulletin, was
discussed the meaning of the expression "Gone West." Our members, especially
those who belong to lodges or study clubs where our "Bulletin Course of Masonic
Study" is being used, will find the following item which recently appeared in
"The Christian Commonwealth" of much interest:
In his "First Expedition to Africa," Livingstone tells of
his encounter with a lion, in which he reveals a very interesting fact. Once
the-beast had him by the shoulder, and had shaken him like a rat, all sense of
terror and pain vanished. The shock produced, naturally, a condition of
anesthesia. This seemed to the explorer a merciful provision of Nature to lessen
the pain of death.
A similar, less intense, though more prolonged condition of
anesthesia seems to supervene where men spend days and months in the presence of
imminent death. The presence of death itself seems to produce an anesthetic
effect. In pre-war days death, viewed at a distance by the average healthy man,
had, to say the least, a very sinister aspect. Today all is changed. Men poke
fun and talk slang in the dread presence. Humanity's propensity for humour will
not stop short even here. Cartoons from the trenches show how true this is. To
hob-nob with death seems to deprive it of the horrors it assumed when we knew it
only as a nodding acquaintance. Anesthesia is produced by the very thing we
feared.
The soldier refers to it in phrases which may well be
classed under the heading of verbal anaesthetics. Take, for example, such a
phrase as "Gone West." Here is a verbal charm before which grimness and
ghastliness disappear. Instead, the mind is filled with suggestions of golden
romance, sunset splendour, and a new world of distant mysteries.
These, at least, if nothing more definite, are suggested,
and these do draw the sting and sweeten the bitterness a little. It is
surprising what effect even a beautiful phrase may produce. And this is but one
of many verbal anesthetics which we gladly use today.
It may surprise some of us to be told that "Going West" was
a phrase well known to the old Egyptians, to the men of the Torres Straits,
Fiji, Brazil and India. And they used the phrase with more definite conceptions
than our soldiers do today. Let us see what some of those conceptions were.
The belief in an under-world, to which the souls of men
journeyed, was common, of course, to the Hebrews, Greeks and Romana Certain
tribes as far apart as South Africa and Mexico had a similar belief. If such a
place existed it was only natural that it should have an entrance. And
speculation, of course, was rife as to where the entrance was. The Romans
believed it to be in the Comitium. In Ireland there is an old legend, which
tells how Sir Oswain and a monk, Gilbert, discovered the entrance in an island
of Lough Derg, in Donegal.
These, however, were purely local, and there was the
suggestion of an entrance obvious to all. The sun, it was thought, passed into
the under-world at his setting and emerged from it at dawn. Obviously, then, the
sunset was the real entrance to the spirit abodes.
A conception arose, therefore, in some races that it was
essential to journey with the sun, and under his charge to pass the clashing
gates that guarded the entrance to the land of spirits. Such was the "Going
West" of primitive man in Australia, Polynesia, India and Brazil. Among the
Aryan races such a picture did not, however, prevail--to the Romans, e. g., it
was unknown.
Amid the more primitive peoples it did exist, and was by
some extended to embrace the idea of two worlds. To the idea of the gloomy
underworld was added that of islands of the blessed which lay in the sunset, and
to which went only the virtuous and the brave. The underworld was for bad men
only. The nether world thus assumed a gloomier aspect. But the islands of the
blessed were happy and fruitful abodes of joy and peace.
No such conceptions as these are present to the modern
soldier; and whether his phrase "Gone West" can be traced back to any such
origin or not, the fact remains that we have here a phrase which provides an
esthetic, hides the terror of death, and suggests instead the distant glory of a
new romance.
----o----
THE MEANING OF OUR RED CROSS
The red in our cross stands for sacrifice, for giving life,
as the warm, crimson blood gives life to the body. The cross has the same length
on all four sides of its arms, to signify that it gives life equally to all,
high or low, east or west. It stands alone always, no words or markings on it,
to show that the Red Cross workers have only one thought--to serve. They ask no
questions, they care not whether the wounded be ours or of another people--their
duty is to give, and to give quickly.
The Red Cross stands on a white ground, because real
sacrifice can come only from pure hearts. Service must come, not from hate, but
from love; from the noblest thoughts and wishes of the heart, or it will fail.
That is why children love this flag. It is drawing them by millions in the
schools of our land, in a wonderful army of rescue under the President, to make,
to save, to give for others. And some day the children of all lands, under the
Red Cross, will teach the grown people the ways of understanding and of
friendship; the beautiful meaning of the Red Cross which is echoed in their
lives.--H. N. MacCracken.
----o----
THE FIRST DEGREE
The first degree in Masonry inculcates a knowledge of
himself, and rightly understood, teaches the Initiate how he may "in the
beginning" re-create himself. Man becomes king of the brutes by subduing or
taming them. Brutes are fit types of our passions and are the instinctive forces
of nature. Physical laws are millstones; if you are not the miller, you must be
the grain. To attain the sanctum sanctorum, you must possess four indispensable
capacities: an intelligence illuminated by study; an intrepidity which nothing
can check; a will which nothing can break; and a discretion which nothing can
corrupt and nothing intoxicate. "To know, to dare, to will, and to keep silence"
were the four indispensable conditions for gaining admission into the ancient
mysteries and are true today for real initiates. Have you really studied
yourself ? Are you insensible to temptation ? Have you overcome the vortices of
vague thoughts? Are you without indecision? Do you consent to pleasure when you
will or when you should? To be able and to forbear is to be twice able. To learn
self-conquest is to learn life. The intelligence and will of man are instruments
of incalculable power and capacity. Properly directed imagination is a helpmeet,
coupled with intelligence and will, that will make man almost omnipotent. Who
would be a slave to his senses when he may be a king and reign with power and
intelligence?
--Rob Morris Bulletin.
----o----
All our wants, beyond those which a very moderate income
can supply, are purely imaginary.
--Bolinbroke.
----o----
If a man makes me keep my distance, the comfort is, he
keeps his at the same time.
--Dean Swift.
----o----
THE BUILDER JULY 1918
THE FAITH THAT IS IN THEM--A FRATERNAL FORUM
EDITED BY BRO. GEORGE E. FRAZER
PRESIDENT. THE BOARD OF STEWARDS
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Wildey E. Atchison, Iowa.
Geo. W. Baird, District of Columbia.
Joseph Barnett, California.
John W. Barry, Iowa.
Joe L. Carson, Virginia.
Jos. W. Eggleston, Virginia.
Henry R. Evans, District of Columbia.
H. D. Funk, Minnesota.
Joseph C. Greenfield, Georgia.
Frederick W. Hamilton, Massachusetts.
H. L. Haywood, Iowa.
T. W. Hugo, Minnesota.
M. M. Johnson, Massachusetts.
John G. Keplinger, Illinois.
Harold A. Kingsbury, Connecticut.
Dr. Wm. F. Kuhn, Missouri.
Julius H. McCollum, Connecticut.
Dr. John Lewin McLeish, Ohio.
Joseph W. Norwood, Kentucky.
Frank E. Noyes, Wisconsin.
John Pickard, Missouri.
C. M. Schenck, Colorado.
Francis W. Shepardson, Illinois.
Silas H. Shepherd, Wisconsin.
Oliver D. Street, Alabama.
H. W. Ticknor, Maryland.
Denman S. Wagstaff, California.
S. W. Williams, Tennessee.
(Contributions to this Monthly Department of Personal
Opinion are invited from each writer who has contributed one or more articles to
THE BUILDER. Subjects for discussion are selected as being alive in the
administration of Masonry today. Discussions of politics, religious creeds or
personal prejudices are avoided, the purpose of the Department being to afford a
vehicle for comparing the personal opinions of leading Masonic students. The
contributing editors assume responsibility only for what each writes over his
own signature. Comment from our Members on the subjects discussed here will be
welcomed in the Question Box and Correspondence Column.)
QUESTION NO. 11--
"Shall each American lodge appoint one of its members as a
personal representative in the lodge and in the home community of and for each
member of the lodge who is on War duty in France?
"If so, shall each such personal representative be made
responsible for furnishing personal letters, magazines, books, gifts, etc., to
his Masonic brother in France?
"What other systematic scheme do you propose that will as
effectually remind Masons in France of their Masonic brothers at home, as the K.
of C. buildings remind Catholic soldiers of their Catholic brothers at home?"
Rotate the Work.
In the ritual of an ancient organization, one undergoing
trials says, "My brother, my brother, hast thou forgotten me?"
Our enlisted Masonic brethren must not be neglected, even
though they are well looked after by those in National authority, and even
though we have subscribed liberally to the Y.M.C.A. for that particular purpose.
All material needs are doubtless well cared for. What Masonry should do is to
supply the personal friendly and sympathetic and appreciative element. Each of
the boys in France should receive a letter from the lodge from time to time. And
the boys should be encouraged to write the lodge, so that those less fortunate
than themselves may be cheered up by learning that the lodge is not forgotten
amid new and interesting experiences in foreign lands.
It would be an unreasonable burden on Secretaries of lodges
to ask them to write to all the members in camp. Nor is it likely that any
individual or group of individuals appointed permanently would accept such duty.
It would probably be more fruitful if men were appointed for one such service,
to be succeeded by others from time to time. And one man might write a letter to
each of three or four men once or so in a year, either in his own name or in the
name of the lodge. Most members would probably gladly do their share, and would
take special pleasure in writing to those with whom they were intimately
acquainted.
As regards books and packages, it would be still easier to
interest members. Everyone would make some sacrifice in that way. But it is not
at all certain that such things would reach our boys. Every ton of ship space is
urgently needed for other purposes. Even if packages should reach France, there
is no probability of immediate transportation to the front. For the present it
would probably be wasted effort to send anything but first-class mail. Joseph
Barnett, California.
* * * The Plan Works. I am strongly in favor of having
every American lodge assign to an individual member the pleasing duty and
responsibility of keeping another member, absent on service, informed of affairs
at home.
Those who have had opportunity to visit the battle front
state that nothing is more helpful to the soldiers than a cheery letter from
home. I can see how a brother, who caught the idea, might make of such an
assignment an opportunity for real service, not only encouraging his fellows in
the trenches, but also finding his own patriotism strengthened by reason of
constant thoughtfulness about things that might be of interest to the absent
one.
College fraternities are making much of a similar plan.
Each brother in service, whether known to the correspondent or not, is kept
posted on affairs in the college, current events, and every possible item which
might be of interest to one remote from the ordinary source of news. There is no
reason for thinking that a work which has found abundant justification among
college boys should not also commend itself in actual experience to those of
maturer years. Francis W. Shepardson, Illinois.
* * * Let the Secretary Write. It seems to me that the
Secretary of a lodge is the proper person to furnish personal letters,
magazines, books, gifts, etc., to members serving in the army in France. Such
work would add to his duties, but he is the proper channel for all lodge
activities, such as the getting out of notices, bulletins, etc. He is familiar
with the personnel of the lodge. Why transfer such activities to another? He
might be given clerical assistance, however. The members of a lodge are better
acquainted with the Secretary than with any individual member thereof. The
members drop out, leave for other jurisdictions, etc., but the Secretary
remains.
It seems to me that the combined Grand Lodges of the United
States should take up the matter of establishing Masonic centers with our army
in France; appointing a general committee and asking for funds from each
jurisdiction to maintain such centers. We do not want to compete with the
Y.M.C.A. in its particular line of work, but we could have centers where the
brethren might meet and exchange views and obtain assistance when necessary.
Henry R. Evans, District of Columbia.
* * *
Special Deputies. I think the positive suggestions
contained in the question are both of them admirable.
I do not think that our brethren at the front need the same
kind of mental treatment as is administered to the Catholics through the K. C.
buildings. I think there is some confusion of thought prevalent among us with
regard to this particular matter.
The K. C. work is not primarily fraternal in the sense that
ours is, but it is the Catholic substitute for the Y.M.C.A. with increased
emphasis on the religion side.
The method of Masonic communication adopted by this Grand
Lodge is the appointment of a special deputy with each military or naval unit in
which there is any considerable number of Massachusetts men. These special
deputies interest themselves in the promotion of Masonic clubs which are
intended to organize Master Masons, and serve generally as a center around which
the Masonic interests of the command may gather and as the means of regular
communication between the brethren and the Grand Master and Grand Lodge.
Frederick W. Hamilton, Massachusetts.
* * *
A Committee of Earnest Men.
I do not approve of appointing one member of a lodge to
look after the comforts and interests of each soldier member. This is a lodge
matter; every brother thereof should have the same burden on his heart and
conscience. It is unfair, although easy, to put onto the other fellow the duties
one should assume for oneself. On an average, only about ten per cent of a lodge
roster is in the service. It would be manifestly unjust to put the work on
one-tenth of the membership and let the other nine-tenths drift into the slacker
class. Furthermore, it would be better for the nine-tenths themselves if they
had a personal interest in the matter. It would keep war needs constantly before
them, stimulate the fires of patriotism, and make them realize they are an
important, integral unit in the fight.
If anything is done, it should be by a committee. I realize
that committees are too often unsatisfactory and that one member thereof
generally does the work. But this committee should be carefully selected, not
named haphazard, as is too often done in Masonic lodges. It should demand and
receive active support and assistance from every member and should insist on
each one doing his part. Community effort is more productive of results than
individual effort when wisely and tactfully handled. A band of earnest men
acting as a unit can accomplish much, while the individual is limited by his
ability or his inclination.
I note your question seems to refer to our brethren while
in France. I believe the time to look after them is before they go, and after
they come back. This man's army is going to France for strenuous work; it may be
the last stand for freedom of thought and pure democracy of government. While
over seas there will be little time to read books and magazines, and the soldier
with a sixty pound pack on his back will not care to increase it, no matter how
sweet the spirit of the giver. But, before he leaves America, he is ofttimes
home-sick; many times anxious about those he is leaving behind, and ignorant
largely of what is on the other side. And when he comes back, he will be
confronted with lost years of effort for himself and with questions regarding
the future. Joseph C. Greenfield, Georgia.
* * *
Teach Masonry at the Cantonments.
The idea does not appeal to me. I would want no one to
represent me or to feel that he was in any way responsible for my acts, wants or
needs.
As a member of the Masonic fraternity I would like to feel
that my entire home organization took an interest in me but I would not want
that interest focused in any one individual outside of my family.
"What would remind me of my brethren at home as the K. of
C. buildings remind Catholic soldiers of their Catholic brethren at home ?"
I would want no gifts, but I would welcome newsy and
cheerful letters--many of them--and the privilege and ability to have Masonic
intercourse with Masons of my own and of all other nationalities on and behind
the firing line. But how many of us are equipped for such fellowship ?
Let me illustrate. Thousands of young men are drafted into
the service. Before going to France they are intensively trained for six to nine
months or a year. Then they are in a fair way to care for themselves. Now
consider what we Ancient Free and Accepted Masons do for our recruits. We take
them in today and tomorrow they are Master Masons, entitled to all the rights
and privileges of the fraternity. Most of them learn nothing but the catechism.
True, a lot of brethren do assemble and enjoy themselves with the constant
repetition of the ritual but let us give Masonic "meat" to the serious minded
men who are going abroad. This will, in time, leaven the whole body of the
Craft. How would I accomplish this ? By establishing Masonic schools at each
cantonment in the United States and in France and putting them in charge of such
a man as Frank C. Higgins, who would teach us something worth while of Masonry
so that we would not appear as intellectually poor Masonic relations when we
come into contact with English, French and other brethren. Then let our Grand
Lodges rescind their decrees relative to non-intercourse with other nations so
that we can fraternize with Masons of every land and nation whom we are likely
to meet. That's what I would like to have you do for me if I were going to
France. I'd take chances with my fellows--Masons and non-Masons--on getting the
material things in life. John G. Keplinger, Illinois.
* * * "The Junior Warden." I absorb this inquiry as I would
a timely admonition, as I think it needed. The question "Am I my brother's
keeper?" thus comes home to us as men and Masons. Why do I say "men-and Masons"?
By the ceremony of Masonic transubstantiation we have taken to ourselves a real
heritage, separating us throughout our conscious lives from the common
grovelling serfdom of ignorance, wherein we would say for examine, do live the
beasts of the field who weave not, neither do they lay up treasures for the
winter's day, but die with the grass. So when we call upon Masons, we call upon
men, made Masons, who, by vow and practice have risen to the dignity of Masters,
not slaves. This mastery is of self alone. When we have thus risen to our feet
upon this great battlefield we become like those heroes upon the fields of
France. We become then, mindful of the other fellow first. So men charge with
bayonet and sword, through ringing, singing, screeching rain of shot and shell,
and when the fight has lulled, go back again to seek upon the sodden field some
brother who has fallen wounded sore, that this brother may by his side hobble
back to life. This is the spirit of the field and trench, the humanity of a
Christ, above the self that was once first--the Masonry above the ego of the
world.
My lodge has sixty-five Masons in the war. We have four
hundred at home. We have a large "field committee" constantly in touch with the
absent ones. We publish a lodge paper, "The Junior Warden," that goes each month
with its chats and home news to each boy in the army. The mail, too, is well
loaded with these publications from everywhere.
I am not seeking argument, but I would say that one copy of
"The Junior Warden" would look as big as the Vatican buildings and farm, to a
soldier in the field because we as Masons have not asked him to divide his
fealty. The "Junior Warden" means more to such a man than club houses could mean
to a man not sufficiently free to form an intelligent idea of anything. We sow
the seed in prolific soil. It puts nothing above Country. A man gets pretty
close to God when he fights for his Flag. Masonry means Country first and in
that service we find heaven within our grasp with all its realization, beatitude
and glory. Masonry holds the key to every barrier that ofttimes seems to
obstruct and nearly bar our upward, onward march. Denman S. Wagstaff,
California.
* * * Have Postal Cards in the Lodge Room. I firmly believe
in any plan which will cause our lodges to give proper care and attention to the
brethren at the front. The suggestion of appointing a member as a personal
representative of each brother is good. Some Michigan lodges are appointing
committees of various size who see that each brother gets a letter at least once
a month and a present of some kind once a month.
Some lodges have adopted the circular letter plan, the
letter being specially written and containing not only lodge doings but also
information about the families of the boys. One lodge has adopted the most
admirable plan of having cards at its lodge room and each brother attending a
meeting is requested to then and there write a card to a brother in service.
It appears to me that each lodge must determine the most
effective course for itself. The principal thing is to see that the boys are
reminded of their brethren back home and feel that the lodges have an interest
in them.
By the way, one of the Canadian brethren, recently returned
wounded from the trenches, told me that the most valuable packages that could be
sent to the boys in France are those containing tobacco, good soap and a bath
towel. These articles are practically unobtainable at the front, and a good
smoke and a real bath and rub-down constitute the height of luxury for the
soldiers when they return from the front trenches. Louis H. Fead, Michigan.
* * *
Help the Y.M.C.A. I think it would be well for the brethren
to give to the Secretary (the only paid officer of the lodge) excerpts from
personal letters received from brethren at the front from which the Master
should formulate and disseminate information to the members in open lodge. This
would increase the work of the Master and Secretary, but it would also make them
more interesting personages to the members.
The best scheme that presents itself to me at this moment
by which to keep the soldier brethren mindful of their lodges at home, is to
help, aid and assist the Y.M.C.A. units at the front, and identify them with the
fraternity; to keep our soldier boys provided with Christian, Masonic, Patriotic
and Americanized literature; to make it possible for them to fraternize with
Masons in Europe, and to encourage them to kill the Huns.
The adherents to the food administration scheme believe the
best way to win the war is to consume less food; the fuel administration
adherents believe it may be done by burning less fuel, while the girl who sells
Liberty Bonds believes it may be won by purchasing the bonds. My own belief is
that the best way to end the war is to kill Huns.
While the soldier in the cantonment has leisure to play
ball, write letters, attend dances and receive the coddling of sentimental
maidens, he will not find these conditions when he reaches the firing line. In
fact the boys on that line are harassed, hungry, in momentary danger of death;
spending sleepless nights, plagued by vermin, suffering from sores and fevers,
and their thoughts are probably more concerned with the making and
transportation of the munitions which they need for defense, than of literature
or love letters from lodges. They probably deplore a strike in a munitions
factory at home and regret that they have relatives engaged in that enterprise.
George W. Baird, District of Columbia.
* * * A Sympathetic and Effective Plan. I think it would be
an excellent idea to have a personal representative or Masonic god-father in
each lodge and home community for the member who is on war duty in France. It
would surely be appreciated by their families, and by the boys. However, I think
the best service could be obtained by calling for volunteers instead of having
them officially appointed. It seems to me the most sympathetic and effective
plan for keeping in touch with the Masonic brother in France would be through
personal correspondence with the brother and letting it be known to his friends
on this side that all gifts could be sent through him. This would help the Post
Office as well as the soldier Mason.
New York is not waiting for the co-operation of other Grand
Lodges but is going to establish Masonic centers of its own. The best scheme to
effectively remind brothers in France of the brothers at home seems to me to be
through a National Council of Defense. I am a warm admirer of Brother
Schoonover's plan. Joseph W. Norwood, Kentucky.
* * *
Georgia Lodge Sends "The Builder" to Each Member in the
Army in Addition to a Letter Every Week. I suggest that each lodge that has
members now serving in the National Army, either at home or abroad, subscribe
for THE BUILDER for each member so employed. The Secretary of Columbia Lodge No.
7 has been instructed to prepare a list of those of its members now in the Army,
order THE BUILDER sent to them and to write each a letter telling him of the
action of the lodge and requesting him to leave the magazine, when read, upon
the table in the Y.M.C.A. By this we hope to let our boys have a monthly
reminder that we are interested in them but we hope further to put good Masonic
literature where it will be effective in educating young manhood and leading
them to a lofty conception of Masonry.
Our Secretary has been instructed further to prepare lists
of our Army boys in groups of four, making four lists each containing the same
four names, but the names so arranged that No. 1 on list No. 1 shall be No. 2,
No. 3 and No. 4 on the other lists. Each of these lists will be taken by some
brother who agrees to write one letter a week. He will in this way write to four
men in four weeks, and as each name appears on four lists, it will insure each
man a letter every week. It will be more interesting to receive letters
regularly from foul men at home than from only one as would be the case if only
one man were appointed as correspondent for each soldier.
----o----
Hal Riviere, Georgia.
CRAFTSMEN
The word "craft" is a very ancient one, signifying an art,
mystery or science, which we as Masons claim to possess and impart in the
"work." It meant the knowledge and skill, together with the practical
application of the same, by which an artisan carried on his work, which
constituted a system of knowledge of a distinctive or peculiar character. The
"arts, parts and points" of Masonry consist of a system of science, philosophy
and morals, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. It is so far
interwoven with religion as to lay us under obligation to pay that rational
homage to the Deity which is due from a creature to its Creator. Its foundations
lie in teaching man how to live a higher and more perfect life, and nearer the
conception of a Christ.
Well-meaning, but improperly instructed Craftsmen, for many
generations, have endeavored to turn the Craft aside from its God-given message,
and-to make of it an institutional organization masonic homes, asylums,
endowments and schools have too frequently proven sources of envy, discord and
confusion among the Craft. The lesson of the degrees is to teach the individual
the benefits of Friendship, charity and brotherly love, so that by his own
Self-denial, he may be purified. Institutions are good in their proper sphere,
and as society is constituted today, are a necessity. As individuals and as
taxpayers, We should support them by every means in our power. When we take up
such work as craftsmen, there is a grave danger that We may thereby make them
the keepers of our masonic conscience; washing our hands of our personal
responsibility thereby losing the "rights, lights and benefits," which is the
real value of the "work" and which we have so earnestly asked for. We must guard
the "Craft" against pharisaical and smug respectability, which our crosses,
double eagles and crescents tend to foster, and see that the Degree mills turn
out something more highly polished and Ornamental than gate-posts. It should be
impressed upon the mind of every Initiate, that Masonry is not a mutual benefit
organization and that by becoming a craftsman he receives nothing of a
"metallic" or pecuniary value. Too often the eastern skies at dawn are murky
with clouds and the darkening eve brings a sense of relief. Let no Initiate come
within our portals with an untruth upon his lips or in his heart, that so
Masonry may not prove |
