THE BUILDER MAGAZINE
July 1919
volume 5 - number 7
THE
CRYPT AT MCALLISTER, OKLAHOMA
BY BRO. C.E. CREAGER,
OKLAHOMA
WHEN the Grand Council
of Royal and Select Masters of Oklahoma recently assembled at the Crypt on
"Mount Moriah," an atmosphere of Cryptic Masonry enveloped the brethren and
pervaded the entire session, for probably no body of men ever assembled in a
place more appropriate to the occasion.
The Crypt in which the
Grand Council held its Assembly is the home of Union Council No. 1, R. & S. M.,
located at McAlester, Oklahoma, a city of 20,000 busy people. It is situated on
a mountain four miles north of the city. The elevation is a little over a
thousand feet above the fertile valley, the city being built upon a knoll which
overlooks green prairies in every direction. Looking eastward, southward and
westward from the wooded cliff on which, or rather in which the buildings are
constructed, is a panorama which includes five different towns, the home of
40,000 people, thousands of cattle grazing upon the velvet prairie pasture, the
Oklahoma State penitentiary and two trunk line railroads and many beautiful
country drives stretching here and there like "so many threads of silver winding
o'er the plains." And hidden away beneath it all are coal mines representing
wealth of over fifty millions of dollars.
A temporary road leads
from the city to the top of the mountain, but in due time this is to be made
into a permanent and beautified drive which will form a link of a chain in
McAlester's famous "sky-line" drive.
The Crypt itself
consists of two buildings, thirty by ninety feet, built into the solid rock.
Each building is of two stories but the lower floors are in reality excavations.
The older and higher building contains the main assembly, preparation and lobby
rooms, which are on the upper floor. This floor is supported by nine arches of
natural stone. Immediately beneath the altar, on the upper floor of this
building, beginning at the last of the series of nine arches, is another
subterranean passage leading to the south and descending in a series of three,
five and seven steps to the second or lower building.
The upper building is
used entirely for degree work, while the lower is used for the conferring of the
"knife and fork" degree and such similar work as may be found necessary from
time to time.
Extending westward
from the upper building, with a roof of the same height, is a porch, the
balconies and eaves of which are appropriately inscribed. Even the style of
architecture is suggestive and interesting.
Within a triangular
enclosure near the northeast corner of the main building many interesting and
appropriate relics are deposited. This deposit is to be unearthed, and a new
deposit made, in the year of 2014, or Anno Deposit 3014.
Brother Edward H.
Doyle, one of the oldest and most interesting Masons in the Southwest, surveyed
the site and perfected the plans for the Crypt, after the idea had been fully
developed by himself and Brothers Springer, Essex and Voorhees. Brother E. T.
Richards, then of McAlester but now located in Kansas City, approved the idea
and the plans. Brothers Richards and Springer financed the project, assisted by
others, but no contribution in money or sentiment is more highly valued by the
companions than the active, prayerful and sincere cooperation of the ladies of
the Eastern Star, who feel as much at home on Mount Moriah as they do in their
own chapter room.
Several years ago the
Grand Council of Oklahoma took official action to encourage the project by
extending to Union Council concurrent jurisdiction with all other Councils
within the State. In consequence of this action pilgrimages are made to Mount
Moriah twice each year by Royal and Select Masters from all parts of the State,
and fortunate indeed is the candidate who is permitted to receive the Cryptic
degrees within this unique assembly room.
Complete arrangements
have not yet been completed for conferring the Super-Excellent degree, with its
unlimited possibilities, but it is hoped that within the near future the upper
floor of the second building can be properly equipped for this purpose. An
independent electric light plant has already been installed.
----o----
BY BRO. DUDLEY WRIGHT, ASSISTANT EDITOR "THE FREEMASON,"
LONDON
PART II THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERTIES
THE Eleusinian Mysteries, observed by nearly all Greeks,
but particularly by the Athenians, were celebrated yearly at Eleusis, though in
the earlier annals of their history, they were celebrated once in every three
years only, and once in every four years by the Celeans, Cretans, Parrhasians,
Pheneteans, Phliasians, and Spartans. It was the most celebrated of all the
religious ceremonies of Greece at any period of the country's history and was
regarded as of such importance that the Festival is referred to frequently
simply as "The Mysteries." The rites were guarded most jealously and carefully
concealed from the unnitiated. If any person divulged any part of them he was
regarded as having offended against the divine law and by the act he rendered
himself liable to divine vengeance. It was accounted unsafe to abide in the same
house with him and as soon as his offence was made public he was apprehended.
Similarly, drastic punishnent was meted out to any person not initiated into the
mysteries who chanced to be present at their celebraion, even through ignorance
or genuine error.
The Mysteries were divided into two parts-the Lesser
Mysteries and the Greater Mysteries. The lesser Mysteries were said to have been
instituted when Hercules, Castor, and Pollux expressed a desire to be initiated,
they happening to be in Athens at the time of the celebration of the Mysteries
by the Athenians in accordance with the ordinance of Demeter. Not being
Athenians they were ineligible for the honour of initiation, but the difficulty
was overcome by Eumolpus, who was desirous of including in the ranks of the
initited a man of such power and eminence as Hercules, foreigner though he might
be. The three were first made citizens, and then, as a preliminary to the
initiation ceremony as prescribed by the goddess, Eumolpus instituted the Lesser
Mysteries, which then and afterwards became a ceremony preliminary to the
Greater Mysteries, as they then became known, for candidates of alien birth. In
later times, this lesser festival, celebrated in the month of Anthesterion, at
the beginning of spring, at Agra, became a general preparation for the Greater
Festival and no persons were initiated into the Greater Mysteries until they had
first been initiated into the Lesser.
The ceremonies of the Lesser Mysteries were entirely
different from those of the Greater Mysteries. The Lesser Mysteries represented
the return of Persephone to earth which, of course, took place at Eleusis, and
the Greater Mysteries represented her descent to the infernal regions. The
Lesser Mysteries honoured the daughter more than the mother, who was the
principal figure in the Greater Mysteries. In the Lesser Mysteries, Persephone
was known as Pherrephatta, and in the Greater Mysteries she was given the name
of Kore. Everything was in fact a mystery and nothing was called by its right
name. Lenormant says that it is certain that the initiated of the Lesser
Mysteries carried away from Agra a certain store of religious knowledge which
enabled them to understand the symbols and representations which afterwards were
displayed before their eyes at the Greater Mysteries at Eleusis.
The object of the Lesser Mysteries was to signify occultly
the condition of the impure soul invested with a terrene body and merged in a
material nature. The Greater Mysteries taught that he, who, in the present life,
is in subjection to his irrational part, is truly in Hades. If Hades, then, is
the region of punishment and misery, the purified soul must reside in the region
of bliss, theoretically in the present life and according to a deific energy in
the next. They intimated by gorgeous mystic visions the felicity of the soul,
both here and hereafter, when purified from the defilements of a material nature
and consequently elevated to the realities of intellectual vision.
No one was permitted to attend the Mysteries who had
incurred the capital punishment for treason or conspiracy, but all other exiles
were permitted to be present and were not molested in any way during the whole
period of the Festival. No one could be arrested for debt during the holding of
the Festival.
Scarcely anything is known of the programme observed during
the course of the Lesser Mysteries. They were celebrated on the 19th to 21st of
the month Anthesterion and, like the Greater Mysteries, were preceded and
followed by a truce on the part of all engaged in warfare. The same officials
presided at both celebrations. The Lesser Mysteries opened with a sacrifice to
Demeter and Persephone, a portion of the victims ofiered being reserved for the
members of the sacred families of Eumolpus and Keryce. The main object of the
Lesser Mysteries was to put the candidates for initiation in a condition of
ritual purification and, according to Clement of Alexandria, they included
certain instructions and preparations for the Greater Mysteries. Like the
Eleusinian Mysteries, properly so- called, they included dramatic
representations of the rape of Persephone and the wanderings of Demeter, in
addition, according to Stephen Byzantium, to certain Dionysian representations.
Two months before the full moon of the month of Boedromion,
sphondophoroi or heralds selected from the priestly families of the Eumolpides
and Keryces went forth to announce the forthcoming celebration of the Greater
Mysteries and to claim an armistice on the part of all who might be waging war.
The truce commenced on the 15th of the month preceding the celebration of the
Mysteries and lasted until the tOth day of the month following the celebration.
In order to be valid the truce had to be proclaimed in and accepted by each
Hellenic city.
All arrangements for the proper celebration of the
Mysteries, both Lesser and Greater, were in the hands of the families of
Eumolpides and Keryces. These were ancient Eleusinian families, whose origin was
traced back to the time when Eleusis was independent of Athens, and the former
family survived as a priestly caste down to the latest period of Athenian
history. Its members possessed the hereditary and sole right to the secrets of
the Mysteries. Hence the recognition by the State to their exclusive right and
privilege to direct the initiations and to provide each a half of the religious
staff of the temple. Pausanias relates that following a war between the
Eleusinians and the Athenians when Erectheus, King of Athens, conquered
Immaradus, son of Eumolpus, the subdued Eleusinians, in making their submission,
stipulated that they should remain custodians of the Mysteries, but in all other
respects were to be subject to the Athenians. This tradition is disputed by more
modern writers, but it was accepted by the Athenians and acted upon generally,
and the right of the two families solely to prepare candidates for initiation
was recognized by a decree of the fifth century B. C., the privilege being
confirmed afterwards at a convention between the representatives of Eleusis and
Athens. The Eumolpides were the descendants of a mythical ancestor, Eumolpus,
son of Neptune, who is first mentioned in the time of Pisastrus. On the death of
Eumolpus, Ceryx, the younger of the sons was left. But the Keryces claimed that
Ceryx was a son of Hermes by Aglamus, daughter of Cecrops, and that he was not a
son of Eumolpus.
The members of the family of Eumolpides had the first claim
upon the flesh of the sacrificed animals; but they were permitted to give a
portion to any one else as a reward or recompense for services rendered. But
when a sacrifice was offered to any of the infernal divinities the whole of it
had to be consumed by the fire; nothing must be left. All religious problems
relating to the Mysteries which could not be solved by the known laws were
addressed to the Eumolpides, whose decision was final.
The meaning of the name "Eumolpus" is "a good singer," and
great importance was attached to the quality of the voice in the selection of
the hierophant, the chief officiant at the celebration of the Mysteries and at
the ceremony of initiation, and who was selected from the family of the
Eumolpides. It was essential that the formulae disclosed to the initiates at
Eleusis should be pronounced with the proper intonation, for otherwise the words
would have no efficacy. Correct intonation was of far greater importance than
syllabic pronunciation. An explanation of this is given by Maspero who says:
The human voicee is pre-eminently a magical instrument,
without which none of the highest operations of art can be successful: each of
its utterances is carried into the region of the invisible and there released
forces of which the general run of people have no idea, either as to their
existence or their manifold action. Without doubt, the real value of an
evocation lies in its text, or the sequence of the words of which it is composed
and the tone in which it is enunciated. In order to be efficacious, the
conjuration should be accompanied by chanting, either an incantation or a song.
In order to produce the desired effect the sacramental melody must be chanted
without the variation of a single modulation: one false note, one mistake in the
measure, the introversion of any two of the sounds of which it is composed, and
the intended effect is annulled. This is the reason why all who recite a prayer
or formula intended to force the gods to perform certain acts must be of true
voice. The result of their effort, whether successful or unsuccessful, will
depend upon the exactness of their voice. It was the voice, therefore, which
played the most important part in the oblation, in the prayer of definite
request, and in the evocation- in a word, in every instance where man sought to
seize hold of the god. Apart from a true voice the words were merely dead
sounds.
The Hierophant was a revealer of holy things. He was a
citizen of Athens, a man of mature age, and held his office for life, devoting
himself wholly to the service of the temple and living a chaste life, to which
end it was usual for him to anoint himself with the juice of hemlock, which, by
its extreme coldness, was said to extinguish in a great measure the natural
heat. In the opinion of some writers celibacy was an indispensable condition of
the highest branch of the priesthood, but, according to inscriptions which have
been discovered, some, at any rate, of the hierophants were married, so that, in
all probability, the rule was that during the celebration of the Mysteries and,
probably, for a certain time before and after, it was incumbent on the
hierophant to abstain from all sexual intercourse. Foucart is of opinion that
celibacy was demanded only during the celebration of the Mysteries, although
Pausanias states definitely otherwise. In support of Foucart it may be stated
that among the inscriptions discovered at Eleusis there is one dedicating a
statue to a hierophant by his wife. It was essential that the hierophant should
be a man of commandng presence and lead a simple life. On being raised to the
dignity he received a kind of consecration at a special ceremony, at which only
those of his own rank were permitted to be present, when he was entrusted with
certain secrets pertaining to his high office. Prior to this ceremony he went
through a special purifactory rite, immersing himself in the sea, an act to
which the Greeks attributed great virtue. He had to be exemplary in his moral
conduct and was regarded by the people as being peculiarly holy. The
qualifications of a hierophant were so high that the office could not be
regarded as hereditary, for it would have been an exception to find both father
and son in possession of the many various and high qualifications regarded as
essential to the holding of the office. The robe of the hierophant was a long
purple garment; his hair, crowned with a wreath of myrtle, flowed in long locks
over his shoulders, and a diadem ornamented his forehead. At the celebration of
the Mysteries he was held to represent the Creator of the world. He alone was
permitted to penetrate into the innermost shrine in the Hall of the Mysteries
the holy of holies, as it were and then only once during the celebration of the
Mysteries, when, at the most solemn moment of the whole mystic celebration, his
form appeared suddenly to be transfigured with light before the rapt gaze of the
initiated. He alone was permitted to reveal to the fully initiated the mystic
objects, the sight of which marked the completion of their admission into the
community. He had the power of refusing admission to those applicants whom he
deemed unfit to be entrusted with the secrets. He was not inactive during the
intervals between the celebration of the Mysteries. It was his duty to
superintend the instruction of the candidates for initiation who, for that
purpose, were divided into groups and instructed by officials known as
mystagogues. The personal name of the hierophant was never mentioned: it was
supposed to be unknown, "wafted away into the sea by the mystic law," and he was
known only by the title of the office which he bore. Lucian refers to this in
one passage in Lexiphanes:
The first I met were a torch-bearer, a hierophant, and
others of the initiated, haling Dinias before the judge, and protesting that he
had called them by their names, though he well knew that, from the time of their
sanctification, they were nameless, and no more to be named but by hallowed
names.
In the Imperial inscriptions we find the titles suhstituted
for the proper names. The hierophant was compelled to avoid contact with the
dead, in the same manner as the Cohanim of the Jewish faith, and with certain
animals reputed to be unclean. Contact with any person from whom blood was
issuing also caused impurity. He was assisted by a female hierophant, or
hierophantide an attendant upon the goddess Demeter and her daughter,
Persephone. She also was selected from the family of the Eumolpides and was
chosen for life She was permitted to marry and several inscriDtions mention the
names of children of hierophantides. On her initiation into this high degree she
was brought forward naked to the side of a sacred font, in which her right hand
was placed, the priest declaring her to be true and holy and dedicated to the
service of the temple. The special duty of the female hierophant was to
superintend the initiation of female aspirants, but she was present throughout
the ceremony and played some part in the initiation of the male candidates. An
inscription on the tomb of one hierophantide mentions to her glory that she had
set the myrtle crown, the seal of mystic communion, on the heads of the
illustrious initiates, Marcus Aurelius and his son, Commodus. Another gloried in
the fact that she had initiated the emperor Hadrian.
Next in rank to the hierophant and hierophantide came the
male and female Dadouchos, who were taken from the family of the Keryces. They
were the torchbearers and their duty consisted mainly in carrying the torches at
the Sacred Festival. They also wore purple robes, myrtle crowns, and diadems.
They were appointed for life and were permitted to marry. The male Dadouchos,
particularly, was associated with the hierophant in certain solemn and public
functions, such as the opening address to the candidates for initiation and in
the public prayers for the welfare of the state. The office was frequently
handed down from father to son. Until the first century, B. C., the Dadouchos
was never addressed by his own personal name, but always by the title of his
office.
The Hierocceryx, or messenger of holy tidings, was the
representative of Hermes, or Mercury, who, as the messenger of the gods, was
indispensable as mediator whenever men wished to approach the Immortals. He also
wore a purple-coloured robe and a myrtle crown. He was chosen for life from the
family of the Keryces. He made the necessary proclamations to the candidates for
initiation into the various degrees and, in particular, enjoined them to
preserve silence. It was necessary for him to have passed through all the
various degrees as his duties necessitated his presence throughout the
ceremonial.
The Phaidantes had the custody of the sacred statues and
the sacred vessels, which they had to maintain in good repair. They were
selected from one or other of the two sacerdotal families.
Among the other officials were: the Liknophori, who carried
the mystic fan; the Hydranoi, who purified the candidates for initiation by
sprinkling them with holy water at the commencement of the festival; the
Spondophoroi, who proclaimed the sacred truce, which was to permit of the
peaceful celebration of the Mysteries; the Pyrphoroi, who brought and maintained
the fire for the sacrifices; the Hieraules, who played the flute during the time
the sacrifices were heing offered they were the leaders of the sacred music,
who had under their charge the hynmodoi, the hymnetriai; the neokoroi, who
maintained the temples and the altars; the panageis, who formed a class between
the ministers and the initiated. Then there were the "initiates of the altar,"
who performed expiatory rites in the name and in the place of all the initiated.
There were also many other minor officials, known by the general name of
Melissae, i.e., bees, perhaps so-called because bees, being makers of honey,
were sacred to Demeter. All these officials had to be of unblemished reputation
and wore myrtle crowns while engaged in the service of the temple.
The officials, whose duty it was to take care that the
ritual was punctiliously followed in every detail, included nine Archons, who
were chosen every year to manage the affairs of Greece. The first of these was
always the King, or Archon Basileus, whose duty at the celebration of the
Mysteries it was to offer prayers and sacrifices, to see that no indecency or
irregularity was committed during the Festival and at the conclusion to pass
judgment on all offenders. There were also four Epimeletae, or curators, elected
by the people, one being appointed from the Eumolpides, another from the Keryces,
and the remaining two from the rank and file of the citizens; and ten Hieropoioi,
whose duty it was to offer sacrifices.
The sacred symbols used in the ceremonies were enclosed in
a special chamber in the Telestrion or Hall of Initiation, known as the
Anactoron, into which the hierophant alone had the right to penetrate. During
the celebration of the Mysteries they were carried to Athens veiled and hidden
from the gaze of the profane, whence they were taken back to Eleusis. It was
permitted only to the initiated to look upon these "hiera," as they were called.
These sacred objects were in the charge of the Eumolpides family.
Written descriptions, however graphic or eloquent, convey
but a faint impression of the wonderful scenes that were enacted; Aristides says
that what was seen rivalled anything that was heard. For nine centuries that
period of time being divided almost equally between the pre-Christian and
Christian eras they were the Palladium of Greek Paganism. In the latter part of
their history, when the restriction, as to admission began to be relaxed, and in
proportion to that relaxation, their essential religious character disappeared
and they became a mere ceremony, their splendour being their principal
attraction, until finally they degenerated into a mere superstition. Julian
strived in vain to infuse new life into the vanishing cult, but it was too late
the Eleusinian Mysteries were dead.
The Festival of the Greater Mysteries, and this was, of
course, by far the more important, began on the 15th of the month Boedromion,
corresponding roughly with the month of September, and lasted until the 23rd of
the same month. During that time it was unlawful to arrest any man present, or
present any petition except for offenses committed at the Festival, heavy
penalties being inflicted for breaches of this law, the penalties fixed being a
fine of not less than a thousand drachmas, and some assert that transgressors
were even put to death.
The following was the programme of the Festival:
First Day. The first day was known as the "Gathering" or
the "Assembly," when all who had passed through the Lesser Mysteries assembled
to assist in the celebration of the greater Mysteries. On this day the Archon
Basileus presided over all the cults of the city and assembled the people at a
place known as the Poikile Stoa. After the Archon Basileus, with four
assistants, had offered up sacrifices and prayers for the welfare of Greece, the
following proclamation was made by the Archon Basileus, wearing his robe of
office:
Come whoever is clean of all pollution and whose soul has
not consciousness of sin. Come, whosoever hath lived a life of righteousness and
justice. Come all ye who are pure of heart and of hand, and whose speech can be
understood. Whosoever hath not clean hands, a pure soul, and an intelligible
voice, must not assist at the Mysteries.
The people were then commanded by the hierophant to wash
their hands in consecrated water and the impious were threatened with the
punishment set forth in the law if they were discovered, but especially, and
this in any case, with the implacable anger of the gods. The Hierocceryx then
impressed upon all the duty of observing the most rigid secrecy with respect to
all that they might witness and bade all be silent throughout the ceremonies and
not utter even an exclamation. The candidates for initiation assembled outside
the temple, each under the guidance and direction of a mystagogue, who repeated
these instructions to the candidates. Once within the sacred enclosure all the
initiated were subject to a purification by fire ceremonial. All wore regalia
special to the occasion; this is evident from the wording of inscriptions which
have been discovered, but particulars of this regalia are wanting. We know that
extravagant and costly dresses were regarded by Demeter with disfavour and that
it was forbidden to wear such in the temple. Jewelry, gold ornaments, purple
coloured belts and embroideries were also barred, as were robes and cloths of
mixed colours. The hair of women had to fall down loose upon the shoulders and
must not be in plaits or coiled upon the head. No woman was permitted to use
cosmetics.
Second Day. The second day was known as Halade Mystae, or
"To the sea, ye mystae" from the command which greeted all the initiated to go
and purify themselves by washing in the sea, or in the salt water of the two
lakes, called Rheiti, on what was known as "The Sacred Way." A procession was
formed in which all joined and made their way to the sea or the lakes where they
bathed and purified themselves. This general purification was akin to that
practised to this day by the Jews at the beginning of the Jewish year. The day
was consecrated to Saturn, into whose province the soul is said to fall in the
course of its descent from the tropic of Cancer. Capella compares Saturn to a
river, voluminous, sluggish, and cold. The planet signifies pure intellect and
Pythagoras symbolically called the sea a tear of Saturn. The bathing was
preceded by a confession and the manner in which the bathing was carried out and
the number of immersions varied with the degree of guilt which each confessed.
According to-Suidas, those who had to purify themselves from murder plunged into
salt water on two separate occasions, immersing themselves seven times on each
occaeion On returning from the bath all were regarded as "new creatures," the
bath being regarded as a laver of regeneration, and the initiated were clothed
in a plain fawn skin or a sheep skin. The purification, however, was not
regarded as complete until the following day when there was added the sprinkling
of the blood of a pig sacrificed. Eaeh had carried to the river or lake a little
pig which was also purified by bathing and on the next day this pig was
sacrificed. On the Eleusinian coinage, the pig, standing on a torch placed
horizontally, appears as the sign and symbol of the Mysteries. On this day also
some of the initiated submitted to a special purification near the altar of Zeus
Mellichios on the Sacred Way. For each person whom it was desired to purify, an
ox was sacrificed to Zeus Mellichios, the infernal Zeus, and the skin of the
animal was laid on the ground by the Dadouchos, and the one who was the object
of the lustration remained there squatting on the left foot.
Third Day. On the third day pleasures of every description,
even the most innocent, were strictly forbidden, and every one fasted till
nightfall, when they partook of seed cakes, parched corn, salt, pomegranates,
and sacred wine mixed with milk and honey. The Archon Basileus, assisted again
by the four Epimeletae, celebrated in the presence of representatives from the
allied cities, the great sacrifice of the Soteria for the well-being of the
State, the Athenian citizens, and their wives and children. This ceremony took
place in the Eleusinion at the foot of the Acropolis. The day was known as the
Day of Mourning and was supposed to commemorate Demeter's grief at the loss of
Persephone. The sacrifices offered consisted chiefly of a mullet and of barley
out of Rharium, a field of Eleusis. The oblations were accounted so sacred that
the priests themselves were not permitted, as was usual in other offerings, to
partake of them. At the conclusion of the general ceremony each one individually
sacrificed the little pig purified in the sea the night before.
Fourth Day. The principal event of the fourth day was a
solemn procession when the holy basket of Ceres (Demeter) was carried in a
consecrated cart, the crowds of people shouting as it went along, "Hail, Ceres!"
The rear end of the procession was composed of women carrying baskets containing
sesamin, carded wool, grains of salt, serpents, pomegranates reeds, ivy boughs,
and cakes known as poppies.
Fifth Day. The fifth day was known as the Day of Torches
from the fact that at nightfall all the initiated walked in pairs round the
temple of Demeter at Eleusis, the Dadouchos himself leading the procession. The
torches were waved about and changed from hand to hand to represent the
wanderings of the goddess in search of her daughter when she was conducted by
the light of a torch kindled in the flames of Etna.
Sixth Day. Iacchos was the name given to the sixth day of
the Festival. The "fair young god" Iacchos, or Dionysos, or Sacchus, was the son
of Jupiter and Ceres, and accompanied the goddess in her search for Persephone.
He also carried a torch, hence his statue has always a torch in the hand. This
statue, together with other sacred objects, were taken from the Iacchion, the
sanctuary of Iacchos in Athens, mounted on a heavy rustic four- wheeled chariot
drawn by bulls, and, accompanied by the Iacchogogue and other magistrates
nominated for the occasion, conveyed from the Caramicus to Eleusis by the Sacred
Way in solemn procession. The statue, as well as the people accompanying it, was
crowned with myrtle, the people dancing all the way along the route, beating
brass kettles and playing instruments of various kinds and singing sacred songs.
Halts were made during the procession at various shrines, particularly at a
fig-tree which was regarded as sacred, also upon a bridge built over the river
Cephissus where the by- standers made themselves merry at the expense of the
pilgrims. At each of the shrines sacrifices and libations were offered, hymns
sung, and sacred dances performed. Having passed the bridge the people entered
Eleusis by what was known as the Mystical Entrance. Midnight had set in before
Eleusis was reached so that a great part of the journey had to be accomplished
by the light of the torches carried by each of the pilgrims and the nocturnal
journey was spoken of as the "night of torches" by many ancient authors. The
pitch and resin of which the torches were composed were substances supposed to
have the virtue of warding off evil spirits. The barren mountains of the Pass of
Daphni and the surface of the sea resounded with the chant: "Iacchos, O Iacchos!"
At one of the halts, the Croconians, descendants of the hero Crocon, who had
formerly reigned over the Thriasian Plain, fastened a saffron band on the right
arm and left foot of each one in the procession. Iacchos was always regarded as
a child of Demeter, inasmuch as the vine grows out of the earth. Various symbols
were carried by the people, who numbered sometimes as many as thirty and forty
thousand. These symbols consisted of winnowing fans the "mystic fan of Iacchos";
plaited reeds and baskets, both relating to the worship of the goddess and her
son. The distance covered by the procession was 22 kilometres, but Lyourgus
ordered that if any woman should ride in a chariot to Eleusis she should be
mulcted in a fine of 8,000 drachmas. This was to prevent the richer women from
distinguishing themselves from their poorer sisters. Strange to relate, the wife
of Lyourgus was the first to break thig law and Lyourgus himself had to pay the
fine which he had ordained. He not only paid the penalty but gave a talent to
the informer. Immediately upon the deposit of the sacred objects in the
Eleusinion at the foot of the Acropolis, one of the Eleusinion priests solemnly
announced their arrival to the priestess of the tutelary goddess of Athens
Pallas Athene. Plutarch, in commenting upon lucky and unlucky days, says that he
is aware that unlucky things happen sometimes on lucky days, for the Athenians
had to receive a Macedonian garrison "even on the 20th of Boedromion, the day on
which they lead forth the mystic Iacchos."
Seventh Day. On the seventh day the statue was carried back
to Athens. The return journey was also a solemn procession and attended with
numerous ceremonies. Halts were again made at several places, like the
"stations" of Roman Catholic pilgrimage, when the inhabitants also fell into
line with the procession. For those who remained behind at Eleusis the time was
devoted to sports, the victors in which were rewarded with a measure of barley,
it being a tradition that that grain was first sown in Eleusis. It was also
regarded as a day of preparation for the initiation ceremony of the following
night. The return journey was conducted with the same splendour as the outward
journey. It comprised comic incidents, the same as on the previous day. Those
who awaited the procession at the bridge over the Athenian river Cephisson
exchanged all kinds of chaff and buffoonery with those who were in the
procession, indulging in what was termed "bridge fooling." These jests, it is
said, were to recall the tactful measure employed by a maid-servant named Iambe,
to rouse Demeter from her prolonged mourning. During the Peliponnesian war the
Athenians were unable to obtain an armistice from the Lacedaemonians who held
Decelea and it became necessary to send the statue of Iacchos and the
processionists to Eleusis by sea. Plutarch says: "Under these conditions it was
necessary to omit the sacrifices usually offered all along the road during the
passing of Iacchos."
Eighth Day. The eighth day was called Epidaurion because it
happened once that Aesculapius, coming from Epidaurius to Athens, desired to be
initiated and had the Lesser Mysteries repeated for that purpose. It therefore
became customary to celebrate the Lesser Mysteries a second time upon this day
and to admit to initiation any such approved candidates who had not already
enjoyed the privilege. There was also another reason for the repetition of the
initiatory rites then. The eighth day was regarded as symbolical of the soul
falling into the lunar orbi and the repeated initiation, the second celebration
of that sacred rite, was symbolical of the soul bidding adieu to everything of a
celestial nature, sinking into a perfect oblivion of her divine origin and
pristine felicity, and rushing profoundly into the region of dissimilitude,
ignorance, and error. The day opened with a solemn sacrifice offered to Demeter
and Persephone, which took place within the peribolus. The utmost precision had
to be observed in offering this sacrifice as regarding the age, colour, and sex
of the victim; the chants, perfumes, and libations. The acceptance or rejection
of a sacrifice was indicated by the movements of the animal as it approached the
altar, the vivacity of the flame, the direction of the smoke, etc. If these
signs were not favourable in the case of the first victim offered other animals
must be slain until one presented itself in which all the signs were favourable.
The flesh of the animal offered was not allowed to be taken outside the sacred
precincts but had to be consumed within the building.
The following is said to have been an Invocation used
during the celebration of the Mysteries:
Daughter of Jove, Persephone divine, Come, blessed queen,
and to these rites incline; Only-begotten, Pluto's honoured wife, O venerable
goddess, source of life: 'Tis thine in earth's profundities to dwell, Fast by
the wide and dismal gates of hell. Jove's holy offspring, of a beauteous mien,
Avenging Goddess, subterranean queen. The Furies' source, fair-hair'd, whose
frame proceeds From Jove's ineffable and secret seeds. Mother of Bacchus,
sonorous, divine, And many form'd, the parent of the vine. Associate of the
Seasons, essence bright, All-ruling virgin, bearing heavnly light. With fruits
abounding, of a bounteous mind, Horn'd, and alone desir'd by those of mortal
kind. O vernal queen, whom grassy plains delight, Sweet to the smell, and
pleasing to the sight: Whose holy forms in budding fruits we view, Earth's
vig'rous offspring of a various hue: Espous'd in autumn, life and death alone
To wretched mortals from thy pow'r is known: For thine the task, according to
thy will, Life to produce, and all that lives to kill. Hear, blessed Goddess,
send a rich increase Of various fruits from earth, with lovely Peace; Send
Health with gentle hand, and crown my life With blest abundance, free from
noisy strife; Last in extreme old age the prey of death, Dismiss me willing to
the realms beneath, To thy fair palace and the blissful plains Where happy
spirits dwell, and Pluto reigns.
Ninth Day. The ninth day was known as the Day of Earthen
Vessels because it was the custom on that day to fill two jugs with wine. one
was placed towards the east and the other towards the west, and after the
repetition of certain mystical formulae both were overthrown, the wine being
spilt upon the ground as a libation. The first of these formulae was directed
towards the sky as a prayer for rain and the second to the earth as a prayer for
fertility.
On the tenth day the majority of the people returned to
their homes, with the exception of every third and fifth year, when they
remained behind for the Mystery Plays and Sports which lasted from two to three
days.
The ancient sanctuary in which the Mysteries were
celebrated was burnt by the Persians in B. C. 480 or 479, and a new sanctuary
was built, or, at least, begun under the administration of Pericles. Plutarch
says that Coroebus began the Temple of Initiation at Eleusis, but only lived to
finish the lower rank of columns with their architraves. Metagenes, of the ward
of Xypete, added the rest of the entablature and the upper row of columns, and
Xenocles of Cholargus built the dome on the top. The long wall, the building of
which Socrates says he heard Pericles propose to the people, was undertaken by
Callicrates. Cratinus satirised the work as proceeding very slowly:
Stone upon stone the orator has pil'd With swelling words,
but words will build no walls.
In the fourth century of the Christian era the temple at
Eleusis was destroyed by the Goths at the instigation of the monks who followed
the hosts of Alaric.
The revenues from the celebrations must have been
considerable. At both the Lesser Mysteries and the Greater Mysteries a charge of
one obole a day was demanded from each one attending, which was given to the
hierophant. The Hierocceryx received a half obole a day, and other assistants a
similar sum.
(To be continued)
----o----
SIGNIFICANCE OF MASONIC COLORS
BY BRO. HAROLD A. KINGSBURY, MASSACHUSETTS
WHY is my Master Mason's Lodge said to have a particular
color of transcending importance?" "Why is that particular color said to be
blue?"
The Mason who pauses in his Masonic journey to ask himself
these questions, or equivalent ones, has thereby set himself in the may of
investigating yet another phase of Masonic symbolism. For, in the attempt to
answer his two queries, the selfquestioner's first thought is that the lodge is
not possessed, in a physical sense, of a particular and transcendingly important
color, blue or otherwise; and, when he reminds himself that there are rational
explanations for practically everything in Masonry and that most of those
explanations are founded in symbolism, his second thought is that a color, a
particular color, is assigned to his lodge for symbolistic reasons, and that
that color has a symbolic meaning. Thus he is brought to a consideration of the
symbolism of colors and, more particularly, to a consideration of the symbolism
of blue.
If, now, he investigates the matter very briefly, running
over almost superficially the general subject of the symbolism of colors and
considering somewhat more deeply the symbolism of blue, the inquiring Mason
will, it is probable, arrive at substantially the following:
The assigning of symbolic meanings to colors is probably as
old as symbolism itself. To cite but one set of examples from the practices of
an ancient people: The Egyptians, those ancient masters of symbolism to whom the
investigator of the symbols used in Masonry first looks for explanations of
those symbols, made use of colors in their hieroglyphics to convey certain
definite ideas, each color being expressive of certain conceptions. Hieroglyphs
of the spirits of the dead were characterized by white. Men were marked out by
having their flesh red, while the flesh of the women was yellow. Sapphire was
the color of the Egyptian god Amon. Green was the color used for the flesh of
the god Ptah, founder of the world, the active creative spirit and the divine
intelligence, and was also the color used for the flesh of Lunus, the moon.
Russet- brown was the color given to the flesh of Thoueri, the concubine of
Typhon. And black was the color of Anubis, the god of the dead and of embalming.
The colors symbolically significant in Masonry are purple,
red, white, black, green, yellow, violet and blue. Each color has for its
purpose the teaching to the Mason of a valuable moral lesson or the calling of
his attention to some historical fact of interest Masonically, certain of the
colors serving both purposes at one and the same time.
Purple, being a mixture of blue and red, is, to the Mason,
the symbol of fraternal union because it is composed of the color adopted for
the Master Mason's Lodge and that adopted for the Chapter of Royal Arch
Companions, these two Masonic bodies being indissolubly connected since the
Royal Arch is an essential and component part of the present-day mutilated
Master Mason's degree. For this reason purple is adopted as the proper color for
the Mark, the Past, and the Most Excellent Master degrees, to symbolize the fact
that those degrees connect the Master Mason's degree with the Royal Arch.
Red is the color of fire, and fire was to the Egyptians the
symbol of the regeneration and the purification of souls. Hence, in the Masonic
system, red is the symbol of regeneration. Thus red is the color assigned to the
Royal Arch Degree since that degree teaches the regeneration of life.
White is the symbol of purity, the reasons for adopting
this conception being obvious. Therefore, in Masonry it is, properly, the color
adopted for certain of the garments of investiture of the candidate.
Black from the remotest antiquity has been the symbol of
grief and such is its significance to the Mason.
Green, being the unchanging color of the various evergreen
trees, shrubs, and so forth, is, in the symbolistic system of Masonry, the color
symbolic of the unchanging immortality of all that is divine and true. This
conception Masonry has received from the ancients, more particularly the
Egyptians. For example, with the Egyptians, as noted above, Ptah was pictured as
having green flesh. Also, the goddess Pascht, the divine preserver, and Thoth,
the instructor of men in the sacred doctrines of truth, were both painted with
green flesh. So the Mason, adhering once more, as he so often does, to the
conceptions of the Egyptians, chooses for his symbol of the immortality of the
soul which he knows to be divine and true an object, the acacia, whose color is
unchanging green.
Yellow was to the ancients the symbol of light. Though
unemphasized and seemingly almost unrecognised in Masonry yellow is,
nevertheless, a true Masonic symbolic color since it symbolizes to the Mason
that Great Thing to the finding of which his Masonic Search is devoted and to
the source of which his Masonic pathway leads the Light of Truth.
Violet is the symbol of mourning, the Mason here adopting
yet another of the conceptions of an ancient people, this time the Chinese.
Blue is the supreme color of Masonry. First, because it is
that color which, among all those used in Masonry, is the unquestioned Masonic
possession of every Mason. The Royal Arch Mason may attempt to appropriate to
himself the red, the Perfect Master may feel himself the exclusive proprietor of
the green and the black, and so on, but blue is acknowledged by every Mason to
belong to us all and no Mason, whatever his degree, questions the Master Mason's
ownership of blue. Second, blue is the supreme color because it has, coupled
with its universality, a place in symbolism which, both as regards importance of
lessons taught and as regards legitimacy as a symbol, is second to that of no
Masonic color.
The use of blue in religious ceremonials, and as a symbol,
comes to Masonry from many of the different peoples of antiquity. Among the
Hebrews various articles of the high priest's clothing were blue. one of the
veils of the tabernacle was blue. In his initiation into the Druidical Mysteries
the candidate was invested with a robe one of whose colors was blue. The
Babylonians clothed their idols in blue. The Hindoo god Vishnu was represented
as blue. And among the medieval Christians blue was considered a peculiarly
important color.
Blue was the symbol of perfection to the Hebrews, to the
Druids the symbol of Truth, to the Chinese the symbol of Deity, and to the
medieval Christians it was the symbol of immortality. So, for the Mason, the
color of his Master Mason's lodge is the symbol of perfection, truth,
immortality and Deity.
Finally and preeminently, and following the teachings and
conceptions of the Egyptians aald the Hindoos, blue is the symbol of that which
the Craftsman must, since he is a Mason, always revere and of that which his
Master Mason's lodge must, when its work and its teachings are properly
understood and accepted, cause him to Progressively revere the more Divine
Wisdom.
----o----
THE PORT OF MISSING MEN
Though the war with
its awful holocaust of human life is ended, and the world hopefully resumes the
arts of peace, the casualty lists with the long roster of the missing are still
breaking the hearts of thousands, and mothers, wives, sisters and sweethearts,
swayed alternately by hope and despair, who are eagerly seeking information
about the soldiers so close to their hearts.
To ease their
sufferings, the American Red Cross has undertaken a search for the missing. Its
searchlight, thrown on overseas battle fields, base hospitals, and embarkation
camps, has probed the mystery of many a boy's silence and brought news of his
whereabouts or death to the anxious family at home.
"Please send me news
of my boy," begged the mother of one private. "I only know he has been missing
since July 15. It is worse to be in doubt than to know he is killed." The young
man's name and his regiment were immediately filed, and sent abroad to be added
to the searcher's list that is published monthly by the Red Cross.
Searchers travel
through the base and military hospitals, through rest camps and embarkation
camps, carrying with them their book of missing men. Everywhere they go they get
into communication with patients and other soldiers stationed at the same
command as the missing men. In a recent case, a young lieutenant was found in
Debarkation Hospital No. 3 who knew one of the missing men and had seen him die.
His story as written into the record was that Private Sand, the missing soldier,
had been killed on July 15th at the battle of the Marne, while saving the
lieutenant's life. The news was immediately wired the bereaved mother. She is
now waiting to meet the lieutenant for whom her son went to his death and to
learn from him the details of the tragedy. And the lieutenant will make this
trip to see the boy's mother even before he goes home to his own family.
----o----
A REAL QUEEN
In a great marble mansion on Avenue B,
Where Want never came, nor gaunt Poverty,
Stood a woman bejeweled, decked in a rich gown
Of satins and silks; - on her head a grand crown.
The masque-ball was over; - she had posed as a queen.
Her crown was of gold, and bright was its sheen.
Worn out with the waltz, the tango and glide.
She fell on the couch that stood at her side.
The bauble she prized she had carefully laid
On a cushion of velvet, exquisitely made.
A deep sleep came o'er her, when out of the gloom
A majestical Presence stood in her room.
A seamless robe garbed Him, and in His sweet face
Nor rancor nor malice e'er found resting place.
From each hand and each foot there gleamed a red scar,
Standing out in the darkness as though 'twere a star.
He stood by her side, and, glancing around,
Stretched forth His scarred hand and lifted the crown.
"I say to thee, woman, how gained thou the right
Such jewels to wear, or this diadem bright?
Dost know that only to those who have striven
The poor and the needy to lift up to Heaven, -
To feed and to clothe them, and love them for Me,
Is given the crown of My glory to see ?
Think not that thy selfish indifference may
Pass unnoticed by in Judgment - that Day
When I make up My jewels and gather from far
All who are found worthy when judged at My bar.
If thou would'st have treasure in Heaven, I trow,
True service to others you clearly must show
Has been freely giv'n in My Name, and for Me,
In that Day when, as King, thy record I see.
For I was a stranger, hungry and cold;
Ye came not to Me, nor gave of thy gold
My thirst to assuage, My hunger to stay,
Nor spoke the kind word thou could'st easily say.
The poor ye have with you; - their burdens are Mine;
'The least of these' need thee, - for mother-love pine.
This crown and these jewels will crumble to dust
If worn by the selfish, cold-hearted, unjust."
* * * * * * *
The Presence then vanished. The lesson well-learned,
A new motive possessed her; her footsteps she turned
Toward tenement houses and slums of the city,
Where poverty drew from her heart all its pity;
And finding an urchin without home or mother,
She kissed its soiled cheek, then gave it another;
And on her way home, with some one to love her,
A childish voice prattled, "Are you my new Muvver?"
* * * * * *
That night while she slept, in her room there appeared
The same Presence majestic, but nothing she feared.
His voice broke the stillness; - 'twas the voice of her
Lord, -
And in reverent silence she heard His sweet word:
"Daughter, thy deed hath brought Heaven to thee;
Who receiveth such child in My Name receives Me."
- Frank Drew Hall, 33d Hon.
Fargo, N. D., Oct. 20, 1915.
----o----
OASIS IN THE MUD
One American soldier-humorist has remarked that Brest, the
French city from which the boys start for home, is about four miles square and
four miles deep. Since the rains have made that place a quagmire of mud, the
efforts of the Red Cross have been devoted largely to supplying a few dry spots,
and the little rest huts with something to read and a place to smoke in dry
comfort, are greatly appreciated.
----o----
A CATHOLIC TREATISE ON MASONRY
FROM THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPAEDIA
We have been asked many times "What are the objections of
the Roman Catholic Church to Freemasonry?" and "Why can not a Catholic become a
Freemason?" Believing that our readers would be interested in the article on
"Masonry" which appears in "The Catholic Encyclopaedia," we are herewith
reprinting it by permission of the publishers of that work.
PART I NAME AND DEFINITION
LEAVING aside various fanciful derivations we may trace the
word mason to the French macon (Latin maito or machio), "a builder of walls" or
"a stone-cutter" (cf. German Steinmetz, from metzen, "to cut"; and Dutch
vrijmetselaar). The compound term Freemason occurs first in 1375 according to a
recently found writing, even prior to 1155 (The Freemason's Chronicle, 1908, I,
283, frequently referred to in this article as Chr.) and, contrary to Gould
(Concise Hist., 109, 122), means primarily a mason of superior skill, though
later it also designated one who enjoyed the freedom, or the privilege, of a
trade guild (Gould, "Hist.", I, 278, 279, 410; II, 153 sqq.). In the former
sense it is commonly derived from freestone-mason, a mason hewing or building in
free (ornamental) stone in opposition to a rough (stone) mason (A. Q. C., VIII,
35, 155 sq.; Boos, 104 sqq.). This derivation, though harmonizing with the
meaning of the term, seemed unsatisfactory to some scholars. Hence Speth
proposed to interpret the word freemasons as referring to those masons claiming
exemption from the control of the local guilds of the towns, where they
temporarily settled (A. Q. C., X, 10-30; IX, 167). In accordance with this
suggestion the "New English Dictionary of the Philological Society" (Oxford,
1898) favours the interpretation of freemasons as skilled artisans, emancipated
according to the medieval practice from the restrictions and control of local
guilds in order that they might be able to travel and render services, wherever
any great building (cathedral, etc.) was in process of construction. These
freemasons formed a universal craft for themselves, with a system of secret
signs and passwords by which a craftsman, who had been admitted on giving
evidence of competent skill, could be recognized. On the decline of Gothic
architecture this craft coalesced with the mason guilds (A. Q. C., XI, 166-168).
Quite recently W. Begemann (Vorgeschichte, I, 1909, 42-58)
combats the opinion of Speth (A. Q. C., X, 20-22) as purely hypothetical,
stating that the name freemason originally designated particularly skilled
freestone-masons, needed at the time of the most magnificent evolution of Gothic
architecture, and nothing else. In English law the word freemason is first
mentioned in 1495, while frank-mason occurs already in an Act of 1444-1445
(Gould, "Concise History," 166 sq.). Later, freemason and mason were used as
convertible terms. The modern signification of Free in which, since about 1750,
the word has been and exclusively understood, dates only from the constitution
of the Grand Lodge of England, 1717. In this acceptation Freemasonry, according
to the official English, Scottish, American, etc., craft rituals, is most
generally defined: "A peculiar (some say 'particular' or 'beautiful') system of
morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." Mackey (Symbolism of
Freemasonry, 1869, 303) declares the best definition of Freemasonry to be: "A
science which is engaged in the search after the divine truth." The German
encyclopedia of Freemasonry, "Handbuch" (1900, I, 320 sq.), defines Freemasonry
as "the activity of closely united men who, employing symbolical forms borrowed
principally from the mason's trade and from architecture, work for the welfare
of mankind, striving morally to ennoble themselves and others and thereby to
bring about a universal league of mankind (Menschleitsbund), which they aspire
to exhibit even now on a small scale." The three editions which this "Handbuch"
(Universal Manual of Freemasonry) has had since 1822 are most valuable, the work
having been declared by English-speaking Masonic critics "by far the best
Masonic Encyclopedia ever published." ("Transactions of the Lodge Ars Quatuor
Coronatorum," XI [London, 1898], 64).
ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY
Before entering upon this and the following divisions of
our subject it is necessary to premise that the very nature of Freemasonry as a
secret society makes it difficult to be sure even of its reputed documents and
authorities, and therefore we have consulted only those which are acknowledged
and recommended by responsible members of the craft, as stated in the
bibliography appended to this article. "It is the opprobrium of Freemasonry,"
says Mackey (Encyclopedia, 296), "that its history has never yet been written in
a spirit of critical truth; that credulity . . . has been the foundation on
which all Masonic historical investigations have been built, . . . that the
missing links of a chain of evidence have been frequently supplied by gratuitous
invention and that statements of vast importance have been carelessly sustained
by the testimony of documents whose authenticity has not been proved." "The
historical portion of old records," he adds, "as written by Anderson, Preston,
Smith, Calcott and other writers of that generation, was little more than a
collection of fables, so absurd as to excite the smile of every reader" (Chr.,
1890, II, 145). The germs of nearly all these fantastic theories are contained
in Anderson's "The Constitutions of Free Masons" (1723, 1738) which makes
Freemasonry coextensive with geometry and the arts based on it: insinuates that
God, the Great Architect, founded Freemasonry, and that it had for patrons,
Adam, the Patriarchs, the kings and philosophers of old. Even Jesus Christ is
included in the list as Grand Master of the Christian Church. Masonry is
credited with the building of Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel, the Pyramids, and
Solomon's Temple. Subsequent authors find the origin of Masonry in the Egyptian,
Dionysiac, Eleusinian, Mithraic, and Druidic mysteries; in sects and schools
such as the Pythagoreans, Essenes, Culdees, Zoroastrians, and Gnostics; in the
Evangelical societies that preceded the Reformation; in the orders of knighthood
(Johannites, Templars); among the alchemists, Rosicrucians, and Cabbalists; in
Chinese and Arabic secret societies. It is claimed also that Pythagoras founded
the Druidic institution and hence that Masonry probably existed in England 500
years before the Christian Era. Some authors, considering geological finds as
Masonic emblems, trace Masonry to the Miocene (?) Period (Donnelly, "Atlantis
the Ante-diluvian World"); while others pretend that Masonic science "existed
before the creation of this globe, diffused amidst the numerous systems with
which the grand empyreum of universal space is furnished" (Oliver, I, 20, sq.).
It is not then difficult to understand that the attempt to
prove the antiquity of Freemasonry with evidence supplied by such monuments of
the past as the Pyramids and the Obelisk (removed to New York in 1879) should
have resulted in an extensive literature concerning these objects (Chr., 1880,
I, 148; II, 139; 1884, II, 130; Gruber, 5, 122-128). Though many intelligent
Masons regard these claims as baseless, the majority of the craft (see, for
instance, "The Voice" of Chicago, Chr., 1885, I, 226) still accept the statement
contained in the "Charge" after initiation: "Ancient no no doubt it is, having
subsisted from time immemorial. In every age monarchs (American rituals: "the
greatest and best men of all ages") have been promoters of the art, have not
thought it derogatory to their dignity to exchange the sceptre for the trowel,
have participated in our mysteries and joined in our assemblies" (English
ritual, 1908, almost identical with other English, Irish, Scottish, and American
rituals). It is true that in earlier times gentlemen who were neither operative
masons nor architects, the so-called geomatic Masons (see Gould, "Hist.", I,
408, 473, etc.) joined with the operative, or domatic, Masons in their lodges,
observed ceremonies of admission, and had their signs of recognition. But this
Masonry is by no means the "speculative" Masonry of modern times, i. e., a
systematic method of teaching morality by means of such symbols according to the
principles of modern Freemasonry after 1723. As the best German authorities
admit ("Handbuch," 3rd ed., I, 321; Begemann, "Vorgeschicte, etc.," 1909, I, 1
sqq.), speculative Masonry began with the foundation of the Grand Lodge of
England, 24 June, 1717, and its essential organization was completed in 1722 by
the adoption of the new "Book of Constitutions" and of the three degrees:
apprentice, fellow, master. All the ablest and most conscientious investigations
by competent Masonic historians show that in 1717 the old lodges had almost
ceased to exist. The new lodges began as convivial societies, and their
characteristic Masonic spirit developed but slowly. This spirit, finally, as
exhibited in the new constitutions was in contradiction to that which animated
the earlier Masons. These facts prove that modern Masonry is not, as Gould
(History, II, 2, 121), Hughan (A. Q. C., X, 128) and Mackey (Encyclopedia, 296
sq.) contend, a revival of the older system, but rather that it is a new order
of no greater antiquity than the first quarter of the eighteenth century.
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES AND SPIRIT
There have been many controversies among Masons as to the
essential points of Masonry. English speaking Masons style them "landmarks," a
term taken from Deut., xix, 14, and signifying "the boundaries of Masonic
freedom," or the unalterable limits within which all Masons have to confine
themselves. Mackey (3, 17- 39) specifies no less than twenty-five landmarks.
The same number is adopted by Whitehead (Chr., 1878, I, 187, 194 sqq.) "as the
pith of the researches of the ablest Masonic writers." The principal of them
are: the method of recognition by secret signs, words, grips, steps, etc.; the
three degrees including the Royal Arch; the Hiram legend of the third degree;
the proper "tiling" of the lodge against "raining" and "snowing," i. e.,
against male and female "cowans," or eavesdroppers, i. e., profane intruders;
the right of every regular Mason to visit every regular lodge in the world; a
belief in the existence of God and in future life; the Volume of the Sacred Law;
equality of Masons in the lodge; secrecy; symbolical method of teaching;
inviolability of landmarks (Mackey, "Jurisprudence," 17-39; Chr., 1878, I, 194
sqq.; 1888, I, 11). In truth there is no authority in Freemasonry to constitute
such "unchangeable" landmarks or fundamental laws. Strictly judicially, even the
"Old Charges," which, according to "Anderson's Constitutions," contain the
unchangeable laws, have a legal obligatory character only as far as they are
inserted in the "Book of Constitution" of each Grand Lodge (Fischer, I, 14 sq.;
Groddeck, 1 sqq., 91 sqq.; "Handbuch," 3rd ed., II, 154). But practically there
exist certain characteristics which are universally considered as essential.
Such are the fundamental principles described in the first and sixth articles of
the "Old Charges" concerning religion, in the texts of the first two English
editions (1723 and 1738) of Anderson's "Constitutions." These texts, though
differing slightly, are identical as to their essential tenor. That of 1723, as
the original text, restored by the Grand Lodge of England in the editions of the
"Constitutions," 1756-1813, and inserted later in the "Books of Constitutions"
of nearly all the other Grand Lodges, is the most authoritative; but the text of
1738 which was adopted and used for a long time by many Grand Lodges, is also of
great importance in itself and as a further illustration of the text of 1723.
In the latter, the first article of the "Old Charges"
containing the fundamental law and the essence of modern Freemasonry runs (the
text is given exactly as printed in the original, 1723): I. Concerning God and
Religion. A Mason is obliged by his Tenure, to obey the moral law; and if he
rightly understands the Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist (Gothic letters)
nor an irreligious Libertine (Gothic letters). But though in ancient times
Masons were charged in every country to be of the religion of that country or
nation, whatever it was, yet 'tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them
to that religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to
themselves: that is, to be good men and true or Men of Honour and Honesty, by
whatever Denominations or Persuasions they may be distinguished; whereby Masonry
becomes the Centre of Union and the Means of conciliating true Friendship among
Persons that must have remained at a perpetual Distance."
Under Article VI, 2 (Masons' behaviour after the Lodge is
closed and the Brethren not gone) is added: "In order to preserve peace and
harmony no private piques or quarrels must be brought within the door of the
Lodge, far less any quarrels about Religion or Nations or State Policy, we being
only, as Masons, of the Catholick Religion above mentioned, we are also of all
Nations, Tongues, Kindreds and Languages and are resolved against all Politicks
(printed in the original in Gothic letters) as what never yet conduced to the
welfare of the Lodge nor ever will. This charge has been says strictly enjoin'd
and observ'd; but especially ever since the Reformation in Britain or the
dissent and seccession of these Nations from the communion of Rome.
In the text of 1738 the same articles run (variations from
the ed. of 1723 are given in bold-face type): 1. Concerning God and Religion. A
Mason is obliged by his Tenure to observe the moral law as true Noahida (sons of
Noah, the first name of Freemasons) and if he rightly understands the craft, he
will never be a stupid atheist or an irreligious libertine nor act against
conscience. In ancient times the Christian masons were charged to comply with
the Christian usages of each country where they travelled or worked; but Masonry
being found in all nations, even of diverse religions, they are now generally
charged to adhere to that religion, in which all men agree, (leaving each
Brother his own particular opinion), that is, to be good men and true, men of
honour and honesty, by whatever names, religions or persuasions they may be
distinguished; for they all agree in the three great articles of Noah, enough to
preserve the cement of the lodge. Thus Masonry is the centre of their union and
the happy means of conciliating true friendship among persons who otherwise must
have remained at a perpetual distance. VI. 1. Behaviour in the Lodge before
closing: . . . No priate piques nor quarrels about nations, families, religions
or politics must by any means or under any colour or pretence whatsoever be
brought within the doors of the lodge; for as Masons we are of the most ancient
catholic religion, above mentioned and of all nations upon the square, level and
plumb; and like our predecessors in all ages, we are resolved against political
disputes, as contrary to the peace and welfare of the Lodge.
In order to appreciate rightly these texts characterizing
modern "speculative" Freemasonry it is necessary to compare them with the
corresponding injunction of the "Gothic" (Christian) Constitutions regulating
the old lodges of "operative" Masonry till and after 1747. These injunctions are
uniformly summed up in the simple words: "The first charge is this that you be
true to God and Holy Church and use no error or heresy" (Grand Lodge Ms. No. 1,
Gould, "Concise History," 236; Thorp, Ms. 1629, A. Q. C., XI, 210; Rawlinson Ms.
1729-39 A. Q. C., XI, 22; Hughan, "Old Charges"). The radical contrast between
the two types is obvious. While a Mason according to the old Constitution was
above all obliged to be true to God and Church, avoiding heresies, his
"religious" duties, according to the new type are essentially reduced to the
observation of the "moral law" practically summed up in the rules of "honour and
honesty" as to which "all men agree." This "universal religion of Humanity"
which gradually removes the accidental divisions of mankind due to particular
opinions "or religious," national, and social "prejudices," is to be the bond of
union among men in the Masonic society, conceived as the model of human
association in general. "Humanity" is the term used to designate the essential
principle of Masonry (Groddeck; "Handbuch," 3rd ed., I, 466 sqq.). It occurs in
a Masonic address of 1747 (Oliver, "Remains," I, 96; 332). Other watchwords are
"tolerance," "unsectarian," "cosmopolitan." The Christian character of the
society under the operative regime of former centuries, says Hughan (Chr., 1876,
I, 113), "was exchanged for the unsectarian regulations which were to include
under its wing the votaries of all sects, without respect to their differences
of colour or clime, provided the simple conditions were observed of morality,
mature age and an approved ballot" (see also Chr., 1878, I, 180; 1884, II, 38;
etc., Gould, "Conc. Hist.," 289 sq.). In Continental Masonry the same notions
are expressed by the words "neutrality," "laicite," "Confessionslosigkeit," etc.
In the text of 1738 particular stress is laid on "freedom of conscience" and the
universal, non-Christian character of Masonry is emphasized. The Mason is called
a "true Noahida," i. e. an adherent of the pre- Christian and pre-Mosaic system
of undivided mankind. The "3 articles of Noah" are most probably "the duties
towards God, the neighbour and himself" inculcated from older times in the
"Charge to a newly made Brother." They might also refer to "brotherly love,
relief and truth," generally with "religion" styled the "great cement" of the
fraternity and called by Mackey (Lexicon, 42) "the motto of our order and the
characteristic of our profession."
Of the ancient Masons it is no longer said that they were
obliged to "be of the religion" but only "to comply with the Christian usages of
each Country." The designation of the said "unsectarian" religion as the
"ancient catholick" betrays the attempt to oppose this religion of "Humanity" to
the Roman Catholic as the only true, genuine, and originally Catholic. The
unsectarian character of Masonry is also implied in the era chosen on the title
page: "In the year of Masonry 5723" and in the "History." As to the "History"
Anderson himself remarks in the preface (1738): "Only an expert Brother, by the
true light, can readily find many useful hints in almost every page of this book
which Cowans and others not initiated (also among Masons) cannot discern."
Hence, concludes Krause (Kunsturkunden, 1810, I, 525), Anderson's "History" is
allegorically written in "cipher language." Apart, then, from "mere childish
allusions to the minor secrets," the general tendency of this "History" is to
exhibit the "unsectarianism" of Masonry. Two points deserve special mention: the
utterances on the "Augustan" and the "Gothic" style of architecture and the
identification of Masonry with geometry. The "Augustan" which is praised above
all other styles alludes to "Humanism," while the "Gothic" which is charged with
ignorance and narrow-mindedness, refers to Christian and particularly Roman
Catholic orthodoxy. The identification of Masonry with geometry brings out the
naturalistic character of the former. Like the Royal Society, of which a large
and most influential proportion of the first Freemasons were members (Begemann,
"Vorgeschichte," II, 1910, 127 sq., 137 sq.), Masonry professes the empiric or
"positivist" geometrical method of reason and deduction in the investigation of
truth (Calcott, "A Candid Disquisition, etc.," 1769; Oliver, "Remains," II,
301.) In general it appears that the founders of Masonry intended to follow the
same methods for their social purposes which were chosen by the Royal Society
for its scientific researches (Gould, "History," II, 400). "Geometry as a method
is particularly recommended to the attention of Masons." "In this light,
Geometry may very properly be considered as a natural logic; for as truth is
ever consistent, invariable and uniform, all truths may be investigated in the
same manner. Moral and religious definitions, axioms and propositions have as
regular and certain dependence upon each other as any in physics or
mathematics." "Let me recommend you to pursue such knowledge and cultivate such
dispositions as will secure you the Brotherly respect of this society and the
honour of your further advancement in it" (Calcott; Oliver, ibid., II, 301-303).
It is merely through inconsistency that some Grand Lodges of North America
insist on belief in the Divine inspiration of the Bible as a necessary
qualification and that not a few Masons in America and Germany declare Masonry
an essentially "Christian institution." According to the German Grand Lodges,
Christ is only "the wise and virtuous pure man" par excellence, the principal
model and teacher of "Humanity" ("Sign.", 1904, 45 sq., 54; Gruber [5], 49 sqq.;
Idem [41, 23 sq.). In the Swedish system, practised by the German Country Grand
Lodge, Christ is said to have taught besides the exoteric Christian doctrine,
destined for the people and the duller mass of his disciples, an esoteric
doctrine for his chosen disciples, such as St. John, in which He denied that He
was God (Findel, "Die Schule der Hierarchie, etc.", 1870, 15 sqq.; Schiffmann,
"Die Entstehung der Rittergrade," 1882, 85, 92, 95 sq.). Freemasonry, it is
held, is the descendant of the Christian secret society, in which this esoteric
doctrine was propagated. It is evident, however, that even in this restricted
sense of "unsectarian" Christianity, Freemasonry is not a Christian institution,
as it acknowledges many preChristian models and teachers of "Humanity." All
instructed Masons agree in the objective import of this Masonic principle of
"Humanity," according to which belief in dogmas is a matter of secondary
importance, or even prejudicial to the law of universal love and tolerance.
Freemasonry, therefore, is opposed not only to Catholicism and Christianity, but
also to the whole system of supernatural truth. The only serious discrepancies
among Masons regarding the interpretation of the texts of 1723 and 1738 refer to
the words: "And if he rightly understands the Art, he will never be a stupid
Atheist or an irreligious Libertine." The controversy as to the meaning of these
words has been particularly sharp since 13 September, 1877, when the Grand
Orient of France erased the paragraph, introduced in 1854 into its
Constitutions, by which the existence of God and the immortality of soul were
declared the basis of Freemasonry (Bulletin du Grand Orient de France, 1877,
236-50) and gave to the first article of its new Constitutions the following
tenor: "Freemasonry, an essentially philanthropic, philosophic (naturalist,
adogmatic) and progressive institution, has for its object the search after
truth, the study of universal morality, of the sciences and arts and the
practice of beneficence. It has for its principles absolute liberty of
conscience and human solidarity. It excludes none on account of his belief. Its
device is Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." On 10 September, 1878, the Grand
Orient, moreover, decreed to expunge from the Rituals and the lodge proceedings
all allusions to religious dogmas as the symbols of the Grand Architect, the
Bible, etc. These measures called out solemn p |
