THE BUILDER MAGAZINE
november 1919
volume 5 - number 11
THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER "HUMANUM GENUS" OF THE POPE LEO
XIII
As a result of the publication of "A Catholic Treatise on
Masonry" from the Catholic Encyclopedia, in the July, August, September and
October issues of THE BUILDER, we have been asked by a large number of our
readers for further light on some of the papal edicts against Freemasonry
mentioned in the last instalment of that article. For the enlightenment of these
inquirers and the Fraternity at large we here publish one of the most prominent
of these rescripts, the letter "Humanum Genus" of Pope Leo XIII, issued on April
20th, 1884.
Albert Pike, the then Grand Commander of the Supreme
Council 33d for the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite, called attention
of the Craft to this encyclical letter in his Allocution delivered before the
Supreme Council in October of the same year and then issued a reply to it. The
extract from Brother Pike's Allocution and his reply to the Bull will follow in
early issues of THE BUILDER.
To all venerable Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and
Bishops in the Catholic world who have grace and communion with the Apostolic
See: Venerable Brothers: Health and the Apostolic Benedictions
THE HUMAN RACE, after, by the malice of the devil, it had
departed from God, the Creator and Giver of heavenly gifts, divided itself into
two different and opposing parties, one of which assiduously combats for truth
and virtue, the other for those things which are opposed to virtue and to truth.
The one is the Kingdom of God on earth that is, the Church of Jesus Christ;
those who desire to adhere to which from their soul and conductively to
salvation must serve God and His only begotten Son with their whole mind and
their whole will. The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose dominion and power
are all who have followed his sad example and that of our first parents. They
refuse to obey divine and eternal law, and strive for many things to the neglect
of God and for many against God. This twofold kingdom, like two states with
contrary laws working in contrary directions, Augustine clearly saw and
described, and comprehended the efficient cause of both with subtle brevity in
these words: "Two loves have made two states: the love of self to the contempt
of God has made the earthly, but the love of God to the contempt of self has
made the heavenly." (De Civ. Dei, lib. xiv., chap. 17.)
The one fights the other with different kinds of weapons,
and battles at all times, though not always with the same ardor and fury. In our
days, however, those who follow the evil one seem to conspire and strive all
together under the guidance and with the help of that society of men spread all
over, and solidly established, which they call Free-Masons. Not dissimulating
their intentions, they vie in attacking the power of God; they openly and
ostensibly strive to damage the Church, with the purpose to deprive thoroughly
if possible Christian people of the benefits brought by the Saviour Jesus
Christ.
Seeing these evils, we are compelled by charity in our soul
to say often to God: "For lo! Thy enemies have made noise; and they that hate
Thee have lifted up the head. They have taken malicious counsel against Thy
people, and have consulted against Thy saints. They have said: Come and let us
destroy them, so that they be not a nation." (Ps. lxxxii., 24.)
In such an impending crisis, in such a great and obstinate
warfare upon Christianity, it is our duty to point out the danger, exhibit the
adversaries, resist as much as we can their schemes and tricks, lest those whose
salvation is in our hands should perish eternally: and that the kingdom of Jesus
Christ, which we have received in trust, not only may stay and remain intact,
but may continue to increase all over the world by new additions.
The Roman Pontiffs, our predecessors, watching constantly
over the safety of the Christian people, early recognized this capital enemy
rushing forth out of the darkness of hidden conspiracy, and, anticipating the
future in their mind, gave the alarm to princes and people, that they should not
be caught by deceptions and frauds.
Clement XII. first signalized the danger in 1738, and
Benedict XIV. renewed and continued his Constitution. Pius VII. followed them
both; and Leo XII., by the Apostolic Constitution quo graviora recapitulating
the acts and decrees of the above Pontiffs about the manner, validated and
confirmed them forever. In the same way spoke Pius VIII., Gregory XVI., and very
often Pius IX.
The purpose and aim of the Masonic sect having been
discovered from plain evidence, from the cognition of causes, its laws, Rites
and commentaries having come to light and been made known by the additional
depositions of the associated members, this Apostolic See denounced and openly
declared that the sect of Masons is established against law and honesty, and is
equally a danger to Christianity as well as to society; and, threatening those
heavy punishments which the Church uses against the guilty ones, she forbade the
society, and ordered that none should give his name to it. Therefore the angry
Masons, thinking that they would escape the sentence or partially destroy it by
despising or calumniating, accused the Pope who made those decrees of not having
made a right decree or of having overstepped moderation. They thus tried to
evade the authority and the importance of the Apostolic Constitutions of Clement
XII., Benedict XIV., Pius VII., and Pius IX. But in the same society there were
some who, even against their own will, acknowledged that the Roman Pontiffs had
acted wisely and lawfully, according to the Catholic discipline. In this many
princes and rulers of States agreed with the Popes, and either denounced Masonry
to the Apostolic See or by appropriate laws condemned it as a bad thing in
Holland, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Bavaria, Savoy, and other parts of Italy.
But the event justified the prudence of our predecessors,
and this is the most important. Nay, their paternal care did not always and
everywhere succeed, either because of the simulation and shrewdness of the
Masons themselves, or through the inconsiderate levity of others whose duty
required of them strict attention. Hence, in a century and a half the sect of
Masons grew beyond expectation; and, creeping audaciously and deceitfully among
the various classes of the people, it grew to be so powerful that now it seems
the only dominating power in the States. From this rapid and dangerous growth
have come into the Church and into the State those evils which our predecessors
had already foreseen. It has indeed come to this, that we have serious fear, not
for the Church, which has a foundation too firm for men to upset it, but for
those States in which this society is so powerful or other societies of a like
kind, and which show themselves to be servants and companions of Masonry.
For these reasons, when we first succeeded in the
government of the Church, we saw and felt very clearly the necessity of opposing
so great an evil with the full weight of our authority. On all favorable
occasions we have attacked the principal doctrines in which the Masonic
perversity appeared. By our Encyclical Letter, quod apostolic muneris, we
attacked the errors of Socialists and Communists; by the Letter, Arcanum, we
tried to explain and defend the genuine notion of domestic society, whose source
and origin is in marriage; finally, by the letter which begins Diuturnum, we
proposed a form of civil power consonant with the principles of Christian
wisdom, responding to the very nature and to the welfare of people and Princes.
Now, after the example of our predecessors, we intend to turn our attention to
the Masonic society, to its whole doctrine, to its intentions, acts, and
feelings, in order to illustrate more and more this wicked force and stop the
spread of this contagious disease.
There are several sects of men which, though different in
name, customs, forms, and origin, are identical in aim and sentiment with
Masonry. It is the universal center from which they all spring, and to which
they all return. Although in our days these seem to no longer care to hide in
darkness, but hold their meetings in the full light and under the eyes of their
fellow-men and publish their journals openly, yet they deliberate and preserve
the habits and customs of secret societies. Nay, there are in them many secrets
which are by law carefully concealed not only from the profane, but also from
many associated, viz., the last and intimate intentions, the hidden and unknown
chiefs, the hidden and secret meetings, the resolutions and methods and means by
which they will be carried into execution. Hence the difference of rights and of
duties among the members; hence the distinction of orders and grades and the
severe discipline by which they are ruled. The initiated must promise, nay, take
an oath, that they will never, at any way or at any time, disclose their
fellow-members and the emblems by which they are known, or expose their
doctrines. So, by false appearance, but with the same kind of simulation, the
Masons chiefly strive, as once did the Manichseans, to hide and to admit no
witnesses but their own. They seek skilfully hiding places, assuming the
appearance of literary men or philosophers, associated for the purpose of
erudition; they have always ready on their tongues the speech of cultivated
urbanity, and proclaim their charity toward the poor; they look for the
improvement of the masses, to extend the benefits of social comfort to as many
of mankind as possible. Those purposes, though they may be true, yet are not the
only ones. Besides, those who are chosen to join the society must promise and
swear to obey the leaders and teachers with great respect and trust; to be ready
to do whatever is told them, and accept death and the most horrible punishment
if they disobey. In fact, some who have betrayed the secrets or disobeyed an
order are punished with death so skilfully and so audaciously that the murder
escaped the investigations of the police. Therefore, reason and truth show that
the society of which we speak is contrary to honesty and natural justice.
There are other and clear arguments to show this society is
not in agreement with honesty. No matter how great the skill with which men
conceal, it is impossible that the cause should not appear in its effects. "A
good tree cannot yield bad fruits, nor a bad tree good ones." (Matt. vii., 18.)
Masonry generates bad fruits mixed with great bitterness. From the evidence
above mentioned we find its aim, which is the desire of overthrowing all the
religious and social orders introduced by Christianity, and building a new one
according to its taste, based on the foundation and laws of naturalism.
What we have said or will say must be understood of Masonry
in general and of all like societies, not of the individual members of the same.
In their number there may be not a few who, though they are wrong in giving
their names to these societies, yet are neither guilty of their crimes nor aware
of the final goal which they strive to reach. Among the associations also,
perhaps, some do not approve the extreme conclusions which, as emanating from
common principles, it would be necessary to embrace if their deformity and
vileness would not be too repulsive. Some of them are equally forced by the
places and times not to go so far as they would go or others go; and yet they
are not to be considered less Masonic for that, because the Masonic alliance has
to be considered not only from actions and deeds, but from general principles.
Now, it is the principle of naturalists, as the name itself
indicates, that human nature and human reason in everything must be our teacher
and guide. Having once settled this, they are careless of duties toward God, or
they pervert them with false opinions and errors. They deny that anything has
been revealed by God; they do not admit any religious dogma and truth but what
human intelligence can comprehend; they do not allow any teacher to be believed
on his official authority. Now, it being the special duty of the Catholic
Church, and her duty only, to keep the doctrines received from God and the
authority of teaching with all the heavenly means necessary to salvation and
preserve them integrally incorrupt, hence the attacks and rage of the enemies
are turned against her.
Now, if one watches the proceedings of the Masons, in
respect of religion especially, where they are more free to do what they like,
it will appear that they carry faithfully into execution the tenets of the
naturalists. They work, indeed, obstinately to the end that neither the teaching
nor the authority of the Church may have any influence; and therefore they
preach and maintain the full separation of the Church from the State. So law and
government are wrested from the wholesome and divine virtue of the Catholic
Church, and they want, therefore, by all means to rule States independent of the
institutions and doctrines of the Church.
To drive off the Church as a sure guide is not enough; they
add persecutions and insults. Full license is given to attack with impunity,
both by words and print and teaching, the very foundations of the Catholic
religion; the rights of the Church are violated; her divine privileges are not
respected. Her action is restricted as much as possible; and that by virtue of
laws apparently not too violent, but substantially made on purpose to check her
freedom. Laws odiously partial against the clergy are passed so as to reduce its
number and its means. The ecclesiastical revenue is in a thousand ways tied up,
and religious associations abolished and dispersed.
But the war wages more ardently against the Apostolic See
and the Roman Pontiff. He was, under a false pretext, deprived of the temporal
power, the stronghold of his rights and of his freedom; he was next reduced to
an iniquitous condition, unbearable for its numberless burdens until it has come
to this, that the Sectarians say openly what they had already in secret devised
for a long time, viz., that the very spiritual power of the Pope ought to be
taken away, and the divine institution of the Roman Pontificate ought to
disappear from the world. If other arguments were needed for this, it would be
sufficiently demonstrated by the testimony of many who often, in times bygone
and even lately, declared it to be the real supreme aim of the Free-Masons to
persecute, with untamed hatred, Christianity, and that they will never rest
until they see cast to the ground all religious institutions established by the
Pope.
If the sect does not openly require its members to throw
away of Catholic faith, this tolerance, far from injuring the Masonic schemes,
is useful to them. Because this is, first, an easy way to deceive the simple and
unwise ones and it is contributing to proselytize. By opening their gates to
persons of every creed they promote, in fact, the great modern error of
religious indifference and of the parity of all worships, the best way to
annihilate every religion, especially the Catholic, which, being the only true
one, cannot be joined with others without enormous injustice.
But naturalists go further. Having entered, in things of
greatest importance, on a way thoroughly false, through the weakness of human
nature or by the judgment of God, who punishes pride, they run to extreme
errors. Thus the very truths which are known by the natural light of reason, as
the existence of God, the spirituality and immortality of the soul, have no more
consistence and certitude for them.
Masonry breaks on the same rocks by no different way. It is
true, Free-Masons generally admit the existence of God; but they admit
themselves that this persuasion for them is not firm, sure. They do not
dissimulate that in the Masonic family the question of God is a principle of
great discord; it is even known how they lately had on this point serious
disputes. It is a fact that the sect leaves to the members full liberty of
thinking about God whatever they like, affirming or denying His existence. Those
who boldly deny His existence are admitted as well as those, like the
Pantheists, admit God but ruin the idea of Him, retaining an absurd caricature
of the divine nature, destroying its reality. Now, as soon as this supreme
foundation is pulled down and upset, many natural truths must need go down, too,
as the free creations of this world, the universal government of Providence,
immortality of soul, fixture, and eternal life.
Once having dissipated these natural principles, important
practically and theoretically, it is easy to see what will become of public and
private morality. We will not speak of supernatural virtues, which, without a
special favor and gift of God, no one can practice nor obtain, and of which it
is impossible to find a vestige in those who proudly ignore the redemption of
mankind, heavenly grace, the sacraments, and eternal happiness. We speak of
duties which proceed from natural honesty. Because the principles and sources of
justice and morality are these, a God, creator and provident ruler of the world,
the eternal law which commands respect and forbids the violation of natural
order; the supreme end of man settled a great deal above created things outside
of this world. These principles once taken away by the Free-Masons as by the
naturalists, immediately natural ethics has no more where to build or to rest.
The only morality which Free-Masons admit, and by which they would like to bring
up youth, is that which they call civil and independent, or the one which
ignores every religious idea. But how poor, uncertain, and variable at every
breath of passion is this morality, is demonstrated by the sorrowful fruits
which partially already appear. Nay, where it has been freely dominating, having
banished Christian education, probity and integrity of manners go down, horrible
and monstrous opinions raise their head, and crimes grow with fearful audacity.
This is deplored by everybody, and by those who are compelled by evidence and
yet would not like to speak so.
Besides, as human nature is infected by original sin and
more inclined to vice than to virtue, it is not possible to lead an honest life
without mortifying the passions and submitting the appetites to reason. In this
fight it is often necessary to despise created good, and undergo the greatest
pains and sacrifices in order to preserve to conquering reason its own empire.
But naturalists and Masons, rejecting divine revelation, deny original sin, and
do not acknowledge that our free will is weakened and bent to evil. To the
contrary, exaggerating the strength and excellency of nature, and settling in
her the principles and unique rule of justice, they cannot even imagine how, in
order to counteract its motions and moderate its appetites, continuous efforts
are needed and the greatest constancy. This is the reason why we see so many
enticements offered to the passions, journals, and reviews without any shame,
theatrical plays thoroughly dishonest; the liberal arts cultivated according to
the principles of an impudent realism, effeminate and delicate living promoted
by the most refined inventions; in a word, all the enticements apt to seduce or
weaken virtue carefully practiced things highly to blame, yet becoming the
theories of those who take away from man heavenly goods, and put all happiness
in transitory things and bind it to earth.
What we have said may be confirmed by things of which it is
not easy to think or to speak. As these shrewd and malicious men do not find
more servility and docility than in souls already broken and subdued by the
tyranny of the passions, there have been in the Masonic sect some who openly
said and proposed that the multitudes should be urged by all means and artifice
into license, so that they should afterward become an easy instrument for the
most daring enterprise.
For domestic society the doctrine of almost all naturalists
is that marriage is only a civil contract, and may be lawfully broken by the
will of the contracting parties; the State has power over the matrimonial bond.
In the education of the children no religion must be applied, and when grown up
every one will select that which he likes.
Now Free-Masons accept these principles without
restriction; and not only do they accept them, but they endeavor to act so as to
bring them into moral and practical life. In many countries which are
professedly Catholic, marriages not celebrated in the civil form are considered
null; elsewhere laws allow divorce. In other places everything is done in order
to have it permitted. So the nature of marriage will be soon changed and reduced
to a temporary union, which can be done and undone at pleasure.
The sect of the Masons aims unanimously and steadily also
at the possession of the education of children. They understand that a tender
age is easily bent, and that there is no more useful way of preparing for the
State such citizens as they wish. Hence, in the instruction and education of
children, they do not leave to the ministers of the Church any part either in
directing or watching them. In many places they have gone so far that children's
education is all in the hands of laymen: and from moral teaching every idea is
banished of those holy and great duties which bind together man and God.
The principles of social science follow. Here naturalists
teach that men have all the same rights, and are perfectly equal in condition;
that every man is naturally independent; that no one has a right to command
others; that it is tyranny to keep men subject to any other authority than that
which emanates from themselves. Hence the people are sovereign; those who rule
have no authority but by the commission and concession of the people; so that
they can be deposed, willing or unwilling, according to the wishes of the
people. The origin of all rights and civil duties is in the people or in the
State, which is ruled according to the new principles of liberty. The State must
be godless; no reason why one religion ought to be preferred to another; all to
be held in the same esteem.
Now it is well known that Free-Masons approve these maxims,
and that they wish to see governments shaped on this pattern and model needs no
demonstration. It is a long time, indeed, that they have worked with all their
strength and power openly for this, making thus an easy way for those, not a
few, more audacious and bold in evil, who meditate the communion and equality of
all goods after having swept away from the world every distinction of social
goods and conditions.
From these few hints it is easy to understand what is the
Masonic sect and what it wants. Its tenets contradict so evidently human reason
that nothing can be more perverted. The desire of destroying the religion and
Church established by God, with the promise of immortal life, to try to revive,
after eighteen centuries, the manners and institutions of paganism, is great
foolishness and bold impiety. No less horrible or unbearable is it to repudiate
the gifts granted through His adversaries. In this foolish and ferocious
attempt, one recognizes that untamed hatred and rage of revenge kindled against
Jesus Christ in the heart of Satan.
The other attempt in which the Masons work so much, viz.,
to pull down the foundations of morality, and become co-operators of those who,
like brutes, would see that become lawful which they like, is nothing but to
urge mankind into the most abject and ignominious degradation.
This evil is aggravated by the dangers which threaten
domestic and civil society. As we have at other times explained, there is in
marriage, through the unanimous consent of nations and of ages, a sacred and
religious character; and by divine law the conjugal union is indissoluble. Now,
if this union is dissolved, if divorce is juridically permitted, confusion and
discord must inevitably enter the domestic sanctuary, and woman will lose her
dignity and the children every security of their own welfare.
That the State ought to profess religious indifference and
neglect God in ruling society, as if God did not exist, is a foolishness unknown
to the very heathen, who had so deeply rooted in their mind and in their heart,
not only the idea of God, but the necessity also of public worship, that they
supposed it to be easier to find a city without any foundation than without any
God. And really human society, from which nature has made us, was instituted by
God, the author of the same nature, and from Him emanates, as from its source
and principle, all this everlasting abundance of numberless goods. As, then, the
voice of nature tells us to worship God with religious piety, because we have
received from Him life and the goods which accompany life, so, for the same
reasons, people and States must do the same. Therefore those who want to free
society from any religious duty are not only unjust but unwise and absurd.
Once grant that men through God's will are born for civil
society, and that sovereign power is so strictly necessary to society that when
this fails society necessarily collapses, it follows that the right of command
emanates from the same principle from which society itself emanates; hence the
reason why the minister of God is invested with such authority. Therefore, so
far as it is required from the end and nature of human society, one must obey
lawful authority as we would obey the authority of God, supreme ruler of the
universe; and it is a capital error to grant to the people full power of shaking
off at their own will the yoke of obedience.
Considering their common origin and nature, the supreme end
proposed to every one, and the right and duties emanating from it, men no doubt
are all equal. But as it is impossible to find in them equal capacity, and as
through bodily or intellectual strength one differs from others, and the variety
of customs, inclinations, and personal qualities are so great, it is absurd to
pretend to mix and unify all this and bring in the order of civil life a
rigorous and absolute equality. As the perfect constitution of the human body
results from the union and harmony of different parts, which differ in form and
uses, but united and each in his own place form an organism beautiful, strong,
useful, and necessary to life, so in the State there is an infinite variety of
individuals who compose it. If these all equalized were to live each according
to his own whim, it would result in a city monstrous and ugly; whereas if
distinct in harmony, in degrees of offices, or inclinations, of arts, they
co-operate together to the common good, they will offer the image of a city well
harmonized and conformed to nature.
The turbulent errors which we have mentioned must inspire
governments with fear; in fact, suppose the fear of God in life and respect for
divine laws to be despised, the authority of the rulers allowed and authorized
would be destroyed, rebellion would be left free to popular passions, and
universal revolution and subversion must necessarily come. This subversive
revolution is the deliberate aim and open purpose of the numerous communistic
and socialistic associations. The Masonic sect has no reason to call itself
foreign to their purpose, because Masons promote their designs and have with
them common capital principles. If the extreme consequences are not everywhere
reached in fact, it is not the merit of the sect nor owing to the will of the
members, but of that divine religion which cannot be extinguished, and of the
most select part of society, which, refusing to obey secret societies, resists
strenuously their immoderate efforts.
May Heaven grant that universally from the fruits we may
judge the root, and from impending evil and threatening dangers we may know the
bad seed ! We have to fight a shrewd enemy, who, cajoling Peoples and Kings,
deceives them all with false promises and fine flattery.
Free-Masons, insinuating themselves under pretence of
friendship into the hearts of Princes, aim to have them powerful aids and
accomplices to overcome Christianity, and in order to excite them more actively
they calumniate the Church as the enemy of royal privileges and power. Having
thus become confident and sure, they get great influence in the government of
States, resolve yet to shake the foundations of the thrones, and persecute,
calumniate, or banish those sovereigns who refuse to rule as they desire.
By these arts flattering the people, they deceive them.
Proclaiming all the time public prosperity and liberty; making multitudes
believe that the Church is the cause of the iniquitous servitude and misery in
which they are suffering, they deceive people and urge on the masses craving for
new things against both powers. It is, however, true that the expectation of
hoped-for advantages is greater than the reality; and poor people, more and more
oppressed, see in their misery those comforts vanish which they might easily and
abundantly found in organized Christian society. But the punishment of the
proud, who rebel against the order established by the providence of God, is that
they find oppression and misery exactly where they expected prosperity according
to their desire.
Now, if the Church commands us to obey before all God, the
Lord of everything, it would be an injurious calumny to believe her the enemy of
the power of Princes and a usurper of their rights. She wishes, on the contrary,
that what is due to civil power may be given to it conscientiously. To
recognize, as she does, the divine right of command, concedes great dignity to
civil power, and contributes to conciliate the respect and love of subjects. A
friend of peace and the mother of concord, she embraces all with motherly love,
intending only to do good to men. she teaches that justice must be united with
clemency, equality with command, law with moderation, and to respect every
tight, maintain order and public tranquility, relieve as much as possible public
and private miseries. "But," to use the words of St. Augustine, "they believe,
or want to make believe, that the doctrine of Gospel is not useful to society,
because they wish that the State shall rest not on the solid foundation of
virtue, but on impunity of vice."
It would, therefore, be more according to civil wisdom and
more necessary to universal welfare that Princes and Peoples, instead of joining
the Free-Masons against the Church, should unite with the Church to resist the
Free-Masons' attacks.
At all events, in the presence of such a great evil,
already too much spread, it is our duty, venerable brethren, to find a remedy.
And as we know that in the virtue of divine religion, the more hated by Masons
si as it is the more feared, chiefly consists the best and most solid of
efficient remedy, we think that against the common enemy one must have recourse
to this in wholesome strength. We, by our authority, ratify and confirm all
things which the Roman Pontiffs, our predecessors, have ordered to check the
purposes and stop the efforts of the Masonic sect, and all these which they
establish to keep off or withdraw the faithful from such societies. And here,
trusting greatly to the good will of the faithful, we pray and entreat each of
them, as they love of their own salvation, to make it a duty of conscience not
to depart from what has been on this point prescribed by the Apostolic See.
We entreat and pray you, venerable brethren, who co-operate
with us, to root out this poison, which spreads widely among the Nations. It is
your duty to defend the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Keeping before
your eyes those two ends, you shall lack neither in courage nor in fortitude. To
judge which may be the more efficacious means to overcome difficulties and
obstacles belongs to your prudence. Yet as we find it agreeable to our ministry
to point out some of the most useful means, the first thing to do is to strip
from the Masonic sect its mask and show it as it is, teaching orally and by
pastoral letters the people about the frauds used by these societies to flatter
and entice, the perversity of its doctrines, and the dishonesty of its works. As
our predecessors have many times declared, those who love the Catholic faith and
their salvation must be sure that they cannot give their names for any reason to
the Masonic sect without sin. Let no one believe a simulated honesty. It may
seem to some that Masons never impose anything openly contrary to faith or to
morals, but as the scope and nature is essentially bad in these sects, it is not
allowed to give one's name to them or to help them in any way.
It is also necessary with assiduous sermons and
exhortations to arouse in the people love and zeal for religious instruction. We
recommend, therefore, that by appropriate declarations, orally and in writing,
the fundamental principles of those truths may be explained in which Christian
wisdom is entertained. It is only thus that minds can be cured by instruction,
and warned against the various forms of error and vice, and the various
enticements especially in this great freedom of writing and great desire of
learning.
It is a laborious work, indeed, in which you will have
associated and companioned your clergy, if properly trained and taught by your
zeal. But such a beautiful and important cause requires the co- operating
industry of those laymen who unite doctrine and probity with the love of
religion and of their country. With the united strength of these two orders
endeavor, dear brethren, that men may know and love the Church; because the more
their love and knowledge of the Church grows the more they will abhor and fly
from secret societies.
Therefore, availing ourselves of this present occasion, we
remind you of the necessity of promoting and protecting the Third Order of St.
Francis, whose rules, with prudent indulgence, we lately mitigated. According to
the spirit of its institution it intends only to draw men to imitate Jesus
Christ, to love the Church, and to practice all Christian virtues, and therefore
it will prove useful to extinguish the contagion of sects.
May it grow more and more, this holy congregation, from
which, among others, can be expected also this precious fruit of bringing minds
back to liberty, fraternity, and equality; not those which are the dream of the
Masonic sect, but which Jesus Christ brought into this world and Francis
revived. The liberty, we say, of the children of God which frees from the
servitude of Satan and from the passions, the worst tyrants; the fraternity
which emanates from God, the Father and Creator of all; the equality established
on justice and charity, which does not destroy among men every difference, but
which, from variety of life, offices, and inclinations, makes that accord and
harmony which is exacted by nature for the utility and dignity of civil society.
Thirdly, there is an institution wisely created by our
forefathers, and by lapse of time abandoned, which in our days can be used as a
model and form for something like it. We mean the colleges or corporations of
arts and trades associated under the guidance of religion to defend interests
and manners, which colleges, in long use and experience, were of great advantage
to our fathers, and will be more and more useful to our age, because they are
suited to break the power of the sects. Poor workingmen, for besides their
condition, deserving charity and relief, they are particularly exposed to the
seductions of the fraudulent and deceives. They must, therefore, be helped with
the greatest generosity and invited to good societies that they may not be
dragged into bad ones. For this reason we would like very much to see everywhere
arise, fit for the new times, under the auspices and patronage of the Bishops,
these associations, for the benefit of the people. It gives us a great pleasure
to see them already established in many places, together with the Catholic
patronages; two institutions which aim to help the honest class of workingmen,
and to help and protect their families, their children, and keep in them, with
the integrity of manners, love of piety and knowledge of religion.
Here we cannot keep silence concerning the society of St.
Vincent de Paul, celebrated for the spectacle and example offered and so well
deserving of the poor. The works and intentions of that society are well known.
It is all for the succor and help of the suffering and poor, encouraging them
with wonderful tact and that modesty which the less showy the more is fit for
the exercise of Christian charity and the relief of human miseries.
Fourthly, in order more easily to reach the end, we
recommend to your faith and watchfulness the youth, the hope of civil society.
In the good education of the same place a great part of your care. Never believe
you have watched or done enough in keeping youth from those masters from whom
the contagious breath of the sect is to be feared. Insist that parents and
spiritual directors in teaching the catechism may never cease to admonish
appropriately children and pupils of the wicked nature of these sects, that they
may also learn in time the various fraudulent arts which their propagators use
to entice people. Those who prepare children for first communion will do well if
they will persuade them to promise not to give their names to any society
without asking their parents' or their pastor's or their confessor's advice.
But we understand how our common labor would not be
sufficient to outroot this dangerous seed from the field of the Lord, if the
Heavenly Master of the vineyard is not to this effect granting to us His
generous help. We must, then, implore His powerful aid with anxious fervor equal
to the gravity of the danger and to the greatness of the need. Inebriated by its
prosperous success, Masonry is insolent, and seems to have no more limits to its
pertinacity. Its sectaries bound by an iniquitious alliance and secret unity of
purpose, they go on hand in hand and encourage each other to dare more and more
for evil. Such a strong assault requires a strong defence. We mean that all the
good must unite in a great society of action and prayers. We ask, therefore,
from them two things: On one hand, that, unanimously and in thick ranks, they
resist immovably the growing impetus of the sects; on the other, that, raising
their hands with many sighs to God, they implore that Christianity may grow
vigorous; that the Church may recover her necessary liberty; that wanderers may
come again to salvation; that errors give place to truth and vice to virtue.
Let us invoke for this purpose the mediation of Mary, the
Virgin Mother of God, that against the impious sects in which one sees clearly
revived the contumacious pride, the untamed perfidy, the simulating shrewdness
of Satan, she may show her power, she who triumphed over him since the first
conception.
Let us pray also St. Michael, the prince of the angelic
army, conqueror of the infernal enemy; St. Joseph, spouse of the most Saintly
Virgin, heavenly and wholesome patron of the Catholic Church; the great Apostles
Peter and Paul, propagators and defenders of the Christian faith. Through their
patronage and the perseverance of common prayers let us hope that God will
condescend to piously help human society threatened by so many dangers.
As a pledge of heavenly graces and of our benevolence, we
impart with great affection to you, venerable brethren, to the clergy and people
trusted to your care, the Apostolic benediction.
Given at Rome, near St. Peter, the 20th of April, 1884, the
seventh year of our pontificate.
LEO, PP. XIII.
----o----
THE YOUNGER BROTHER
BY BRO. GERALD NANCARROW, INDIANA
If we have some younger Brother
Who is learning his new part,
Let us, as we prompt and question,
Teach him also from the heart;
As he learns his new found science
Let us teach to him the art.
Let us aid him in the shaping
And the smoothing of his block;
Let us spread the binder mortar
And thus add a firmer mortar
To our structure; Make him granite
By the knowledge we unlock.
Show him more than words and phrases,
More than empty form and shell,
Let him see the wealth of beauty
In the lessons which we tell;
Help him move toward strength and service
And to meet his trials well.
----o----
AN OLD MASONIC HEADSTONE
BY BRO. CLARENCE E. CHURCHILL, OHIO
THIS quaint symbolic gravestone of Brother Calvin Austin is
located in the old graveyard on the banks of the Mahoning River, within the city
of Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, a part of the old land grant known as Western
Reserve, a Connecticut school grant. Many of the pioneers came from that State.
When Brother Austin came to this section is not definitely
known, but he was one of twenty-two petitioners to the Grand Lodge of
Connecticut, in the early part of the year 1803, for a charter which was granted
October 19, 1803.
Samuel Tylee, another petitioner, was sent to Connecticut
after the charter. He was appointed Deputy Grand Master and directed to dedicate
the lodge and install the officers. These ceremonies took place March 15th,
1804, the following officers being installed:
Master - Tuckland Kirtland.
Senior Warden - John Leavitt.
Junior Warden - William Rayen.
Treasurer - Calvin Austin.
Senior Deacon - Aaron Wheeler.
Junior Deacon - John Walworth.
Stewards - Charles Dutton and Arod Way.
Tyler - Ezekiel Hover.
The lodge was chartered as Erie Lodge No. 47, A. F. & A.
M., and worked under that charter until 1814 when it was chartered as Erie Lodge
No. 3, Marietta, Ohio, and Cincinnati, Ohio, antedating it. This lodge is still
working and known as Old Erie No. 3.
The gravestone is remarkably well preserved, being quite
smooth and of fine grain. The graven symbols are finely cut, though shallow. The
inscription on the stone reads:
Calvin Austin Esqr
Formerly of Suffield
Conn. Died Oct. 2, 1819
in the 57th year of his
age.
C. Ferris. Engraver.
----o----
FREEMASONRY AND EDUCATION
BY BRO. JOSEPH BARNETT, CALIFORNIA
THE TRAINING of the intelligence, the development of the
ability to think and reason, is Education. This factor, whether evolved in the
schools or in the active pursuits of commercial life, produced and sustains
civilization; and Freemasonry teaches that its direction is not only toward
progress, but is also Godward.
In ancient times, Science was considered of Divine origin,
and Art was held in singular esteem. Both were taught by the priesthood; for the
Temple included the School. In the most ancient civilization with which we are
familiar, men who had made some progress in the arts and sciences were deemed
worthy to be initiated into an order of the priesthood of Egypt. In Greece, with
which we are still more familiar, the temple Mysteries included both science and
religion; and Divinity was symbolized by one of the sciences, Geometry. From the
beginning, knowledge dependent on the reasoning powers was associated with
Omniscience.
Freemasonry asserts "the importance of the study of the
liberal arts and sciences." It impresses on men the duty of applying them; the
teaching is that "rational and intelligent beings should ever be industrious
ones." From their study comes understanding, and from their application is
developed skill. Reason is honored for its guidance, and labor for its
productiveness; in both we recognize the intelligence that tends toward
progress. Freemasonry admits no illiterates. Every initiate must be able to read
and write. Lack of this ability offers evidence that the candidate is lacking in
those basic qualities that go to the making of Masons. Masonry holds all such
unfit, because Masons are men who have a "desire for knowledge"; and he who in
this land has not learned to read and write he who in this land has not learned
to read and write has evinced no such desire. It teaches that education, the
development of the reasoning powers, is the plain duty of every man; and it
could offer no objection if our government should make illiteracy a bar to
citizenship.
Since the earliest priesthoods were the first teachers, it
might have been expected that modern priesthoods would have been their natural
heirs in all that tends toward progress, and that they, too, would have been the
intellectual leaders and benefactors of mankind, especially since they have
borrowed and adapted so much from ancient priestcraft. But for two thousand
years, ecclesiastics have affected to despise the reasoning powers that
developed civilization, and have urged in place of them faith and obedience.
Modern priestcraft has notoriously opposed every advance in the natural
sciences; its attitude recently toward the theory of evolution is its attitude
three hundred years ago toward the theory of the rotation of the earth. Ancient
priestcraft, as culminating in the Mysteries, sought after knowledge of the
natural world, and expressed the forces of nature in terms of Divine beings.
Astronomy, Geometry, and other sciences, grew out of their "survey of nature."
And with the book of nature as their only revelation they found God. The forces
of nature were His symbols, and in them was seen the manifestation of His
purposes toward man. Freemasonry has kept the spirit that finds God in nature as
in the written word, the spirit that investigates the mystery of leaf and bud
and blossom and fruitage, and the return of springtime and harvest, and
encourages men to contemplate and understand "the glorious works of the
creation." Our Fraternity has never taught that all knowledge is equally
important; but it does teach that the useful application of all knowledge is
equally to be admired and encouraged.
During the Dark Ages, when priestcraft was cunningly
building up a sinister power based on the negation of human reason, there was
some learning and a little art in the monasteries, and here and there
individuals were groping after the light of science. Masonry had some teaching
peculiar to itself; and recognizing in the monks a respect for knowledge and an
aspiration to usefulness similar to their own, Masons for several centuries held
their meetings in the monasteries. When the monkish orders were robbed and
dissolved, Masons suffered with them, and were held in suspicion by both king
and priest as possible sources of plots and heresies. Statecraft for the most
part abandoned this attitude long since, but priestcraft has maintained it.
Hierarchies never willingly tolerate anything that cannot be made subservient to
their interests.
King and Pope have both claimed absolute power. They
agreed, as autocrats have always agreed, that much thinking was not good for the
masses, and should be confined to the classes; otherwise there would be constant
discontent. They failed, or pretended to fail, to realize that progress can only
be attained when people begin to think for themselves, and that progress can
never he achieved by that contentment that lets others do our thinking for us.
Freemasonry states explicitly that in youth "we ought industrially to occupy our
minds in the attainment of useful knowledge," and that in manhood "we should
apply our knowledge to the discharge of our respective duties." Both royalty and
hierarchy have claimed Divine Right; they have asserted their superiority to
other men. Freemasonry teaches that all men alike are sons of God, and that as
such all have equal claims. It allows no distinction among men on account of the
accidents of birth or fortune, or because of any boast of special commission or
mediumship between God and man; the teaching is not that all men are equal in
usefulness, but that all men have equal rights both human and Divine. It teaches
that the Divine Right of all men is associated with the immortal soul of man,
and that the manifestation of the living soul is the intelligence developed by
education, whether the education is of the schools or of the trades. Freemasonry
offers no lure to the faithful, presents no cunning inducement, makes no
promises, but in their place asks service intended to develop "those talents
wherewith God has blessed us," and points out that these qualities are in origin
Divine. In particular, Freemasonry teaches that no man should be content with
ignorance. It states emphatically that "he who will not be endeavouring to add
to the common stock of knowledge and understanding . . . is a useless member of
society."
As the church has its ecclesiastical classics, so the Greek
and Latin literatures are the classics of the schools. Up to a couple of
generations ago, it was the particular ambition of college students to be able
to read the classics in the original tongues, and a great deal of their effort
was to that end. Translating the classics is now being given over more and more
to specialists, and training the student intellect is accomplished more and more
by the sciences. This is the method that Masonry has always urged; not that
erudition is slighted, but that science is more useful Learning by observation
and experience is important Learning by instruction and information is important
But both of these sources of knowledge are limited by opportunity. The knowledge
we gain by reasoning out the problems of life is not limited by opportunity; the
more we think for ourselves, the more we are able to think for ourselves. Other
knowledge increases be arithmetical progression, by addition. This knowledge
increases by geometrical progression, by multiplication It depends neither on
the senses nor the emotions, but on the intelligence. Its processes are called
education and it is what Masonry has always esteemed and encouraged.
The beginning of education, the foundation of useful
citizenship, is the Public School. It is the outcome of the same influences that
developed Freemasonry the desire for knowledge that can be made useful. And the
same agencies that with puerile anathemas assail Freemasonry, also, by slyer
methods, attack the Public School. So notoriously has priestcraft, even when
exercising autocratic power, never attempted to establish a general educational
system, that in countries where the priesthood have maintained direct political
influence, the people are the most ignorant and backward among civilized
nations. And in every country where the people have established the Public
School, priestcraft has constantly endeavoured to obtain autocratic influence in
the schools, so as to exploit them for its own purposes. In this country, the
mischievous, foreign-born thing is called "The Parochial School"; its intent is
to train children to become sectarian partisans, instead of intelligent
citizens. Freemasonry teaches religious tolerance, and opposes priestly
meddling. It is an institution pledged to uphold the State; and it is
particularly interested in the schools which the State has established for the
development of intelligence in the young that makes for better citizenship.
Civilization tends to specialization. It is the particular
province of the church to consider the relationship of man to God, of the
schools to prepare youth for better citizenship, of the arts to secure more
material productiveness. Freemasonry in its teachings associates all these
interests together. It asserts that a combination of all these factors makes the
complete man; that every man should be religious, intelligent and industrious.
The priest, the pedagogue, the laborer, are all too apt to magnify their own
particular interests, too prone to see life only from narrow viewpoints.
Freemasonry's survey of life has ever been broader; it asserts that, whatever
his occupation, it is the development of all his faculties that makes man
capable f reaching, and shows that he is worthy of reaching, ;hat high destiny
which has been the hope and aspiration of mankind through all the ages.
----o----
WITHIN THE SANCTUARY
BY BRO. N. W. J. HAYDON, ONTARIO
The shadows deepen round thy quiet shrines,
The candles' golden plumes grow tall and still,
The censer's fragrant echoes fill thine aisles,
And clouds of prayer contrast life's noisy mill.
Hither I turn my weary steps at eve,
One seat, familiar, holds a welcoming arm,
Here I can kneel and, to our heavenly Friend,
With silent words and daily plea return.
The silent twilight grows more eloquent,
The sanctuary lamp swings gently overhead,
Without, the hurrying steps of man and beast
Make dearer still this peace wherein I'm led.
Unwilling, I must leave this hallowed place,
Far up there clangs a loud resounding bell,
Calm and austere beside me Duty stands,
"Resume thy life, my son, with thee shall all be well."
Thanks be to God for thee, oh goodly fane
Whose tinted windows veil the garish day;
From Him the thoughts embodied in thy walls,
By Him thy pillars stand, thy scourges lay.
His, too, the stones that rear thee heavenward,
His skill that planned thy winding tracery;
Praise be to Him who doeth all things well,
Who maketh us His craftsmen fit to be.
----o----
BY BRO C. A. SNODGRASS TENNESSEE
In the beginning was the Word. and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. - John 1:1.
I
I sought to learn the Builder's Art,
And in life's cornerstone I placed
Those treasured archives of the heart,
In Faith and Hope and Love embraced.
I chose the solid rock of Truth
To build upon, lest I should slip,
And on the trestleboard of youth
I traced a man's apprenticeship.
II
Upon this rock I saw, upraised,
The shafts of Wisdom and of Strength,
To guide me o'er life's devious ways;
And guided thus, I stood, at length
Where man may view in retrospect
The rude unfinished stones that lie
Where he has striven to erect
A model of life's Masonry.
And though the broken ashlars there
Betrayed a youthful, unskilled hand,
Unused to gavel, plumb or square,
Or knowledge of the Art’s demand,
I, to the paths of knowledge turned,
To learn anew life's handicraft,
And meekly felt that I had earned
The wages of a Fellow Craft.
III
I sought the Master’s Trestleboard,
And there discerned a Master-plan,
And vowed, henceforth, that I would build
In firmer faith with God and man;
And from the quarry-beds of Truth
I fashioned each imposing shaft,
That I had pictured in my Youth
Or modeled as a Fellow Craft.
But though I wrought with Master hand
And Master's knowledge of the Art,
'Twas but the handiwork of man
And of the man the counterpart.
My choicest plans were set at naught,
I saw my columns turned to clay,
And found that ere the last were wrought
The first had fallen in decay.
But lo! within the rubbish there,
Where the Omnific Word was lost,
I found at last the Jewel rare,
The missing stone I needed most;
That glorious Gift of God to man, -
The Keystone of immortal fame,
Whose loss had blighted every plan
And left me Master but in name.
CONCLUSIONS
O mortal man! if thou wouldst be
A Master of the Builder's Art,
First bow thyself at Calvary's Tree
And welcome Christ within thy heart.
His wisdom molds each Master thought,
His love inspires the Master mind,
And only by His grace is wrought
The Masonry of humankind.
His cross should be thy trestleboard,
His life indeed for thine was spent, -
Thy life in His should be restored
By God's own plan, most excellent.
He is the one "Great Light" divine,
Whose wisdom, grace and love imparts
Immortal strength to thee and thine
And crowns the Holy Roval Arch.
----o----
THE LEGENDARY ORIGIN OF FREEMASONRY
BY BRO. DUDLEY WRIGHT, ASSISTANT EDITOR "THE FREEMASON,"
LONDON, ENGLAND
MANY writers assert that the Craft is as old as, if not,
indeed, older than Adam, some stating even that he was the first Grand Master of
the Craft. The Rev. Dr. Dodd, in his famous Oration on Freemasonry, refers to
the origin of the Craft in the following words:
"Though it might owe to the wise and glorious King of
Israel some of its many mystic forms and hieroglyphic ceremonies, yet certainly
the Art itself is coeval with Creation, when the Sovereign Architect raised on
Masonic principles this beauteous globe; and commanded that master science
Geometry to lay the rule to the planetary world, and to regulate by its laws the
whole stupendous system in just, unerring proportion, rolling round the ventral
sun."
One Masonic tradition states that on the occasion of the
transgression of our first parents a certain sign or token was used, which has
peen perpetuated in Royal Arch Masonry. This sign was used by Moses when he came
down from the mount. It was again brought into requisition at the building of
the second Temple; and when Alexander the Great, with his victorious legions.
approached the city of Jerusalem in order to destroy it. he was met by the High
Priest in his pontifical robes. accompanied by the priests and Levites in solemn
procession, who saluted him with this significant sign. It is an historical fact
that Alexander was so much struck with the sight of this procession that he did
homage to God's viceregent; and it is said, on more questionable authority, that
his reverence proceeded from the mutual recognition of the Masonic Brotherhood.
Another Masonic tradition asserts that it was the Sacred
Word which expelled our erring first parents from Paradise, which was uttered
again at the universal deluge, and on several occasions manifested itself to the
patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and also to Moses at the burning bush;
after which it assumed a material and permanent form and dwelt in the cloudy
pillar as the image of the glory of God. This appearance, it is asserted, was no
other than the Tetragrammaton, which is commemorated in many of the higher
degrees of Freemasonry. This is the word which conversed with Adam in Paradise,
and is referred to in Genesis iii, 8: "And they heard the voice of the Lord God
walking in the garden in the cool of the day."
Dalcho suggests that the Word is to be found in no language
that ever was used. "It is," he says, "not a word, but merely a jumble of
letters, forming a sound without meaning." The time and circumstances attending
the loss of the Word are thus stated in one of the degrees:
"The moment when the veil of the Temple was rent: when
darkness and consternation covered the earth; when the stars disappeared and the
lamp of day was darkened; when the implements of Masonry were lost and the
cubical stone sweated blood and water: that was the moment when the great
Masonic Word was lost."
Freemasonry contains a legend of a cubical stone which was
inscribed with a mystical diagram that represented the Sacred Name and was
possessed of many virtues. It informs us that this stone was in the possession
of Adam in Paradise, that he held it in the highest estimation, because it bore
the sacred characters, and reminded him of that sublime and holy Being, who had
been his friend, his companion, and his guide in that delightful place. On this
stone he made his offerings to God, when the divine promise of a mediator who
should bruise the head of the reptile which had caused his defection from
innocence, was formally revealed to him that he might not entirely sink under
the oppression and misery in which a sense of deserving God's displeasure had
involved him. On the same holy altar he offered a sacrifice of praise of
thanksgiving at the birth of his children.
The Babel incident is embodied in a degree known as the
Noachites, or Prussian Cavaliers, of which the following is the legend:
"The descendants of Noah, notwithstanding that God had
appointed the rainbow as a token of the covenant that He would not again destroy
the earth by a universal deluge, resolved to erect an edifice, which, by its
height, should place them beyond the reach of divine vengeance. For this purpose
they assembled together in the extended plane of Shinar. They laid the
foundation and carried on the building for ten years; at which time, God seeing
their pride, determined to interfere. He confounded their language, and by that
simple process, put an end to their design. Hence the tower was called Babel,
which signifies confusion. Some time after this, Nimrod began to establish
degrees of rank amongst his subjects which had not existed before. He built the
city of Babylon and arrogated to himself the honours of divine worship. It was
on the night of the full moon, in the month of March, that God confounded their
language. And, therefore, the Noachites held their great meeting on that
particular night; and their common monthly meetings were only held when the moon
was at full, and they used no other light in their lodges. After the language
was confounded, and the people obliged to separate, each tribe pursued its own
course. Peleg, who suggested the plan of this tower, and had been the Great
Architect during its construction, being struck with the force of conscience,
condemned himself to a most rigorous penance. He migrated with his followers to
the north of Germany, after having suffered great miseries and encountered great
dangers in passing the mountains and plains on his way thither In that part of
the country which is Slow. called Prussia he took up his residence. Here he
built a triangular temple, where he enclosed himself, that he might be at
leisure to worship God and implore Him to pardon His transgression. In the
course of excavation in the salt mines of Prussia, A. D. 553, there was
discovered, at the depth of fifteen cubits, the foundations of a triangular
edifice, in the center of which was a small pillar of marble, on which the above
history was inscribed in Hebrew characters. A tomb was also found in which an
agate stone was encrusted, containing these words: 'Here were deposited the
ashes of the Great Architect of the Tower of Babel. God showed him mercy because
he humbled himself.' " These relics are said to be still in the royal archives
at Berlin.
There is a Masonic tradition descending from time
immemorial involving certain facts unknown to the world, that the sacred ark,
together with the Book of the Law, was removed from the most holy place, under
Masonic direction, and so deposited as to escape that overwhelming destruction
which swept away the whole land of Judaea. From this tradition we learn where,
and under what circumstances the Book of the Law was found.
Masonic tradition claims that the pure science of Masonry
was practiced by Daniel and his associates in opposition to the spurious system,
which was celebrated in the old tower of Belus, the lower apartments of which
were used for the purpose of initiation. Their steady adherence to the practice
of primitive Freemasonry drew down upon them the vengeance of the priests and
princes of Babylon, and brought upon the three principal brethren the punishment
of fire, and upon Daniel that of being sentenced to be torn in pieces by wild
beasts.
From his knowledge of Geometry, Euclid is supposed to have
been enabled to restore to Masonry its ancient systematic usages and customs, as
well as to regulate the affairs of Egyptian agriculture, and he became a general
benefactor, "giving," says an old record of the Craft, "to his system the name
of Geometry, which is now called Masonry." According to Masonic legend, Euclid
was Senior Grand Warden to Grand Master Ptolemy Soter, who founded at Alexandria
a museum or college of learned men, for the improving of philosophy and all
other knowledge.
The famous Charter of Colne says:
"Our Brotherhood had its origin in those times when a few
of the initiated, filled with a desire of true knowledge and a correct
interpretation of the Mysteries of Christianity separated themselves from the
various sects who professed the Christian religion; for in those times a few
wise and enlightened men perceiving that certain heathenish ceremonies had been
introduced into Christianity, which would destroy the principle of brotherly
love, united themselves with an oath, to preserve and maintain, in its original
purity, the Christian religion, with its benign influence on the hearts and
consciences of mankind; to bring the true light out of darkness, and to labour
together in combatting ignorance, intolerance, and superstition, and to
establish peace and happiness amongst mankind, by teaching and enforcing every
human virtue. Thus the Masters of our Order took the names of Initiated Brethren
of St. John, following the footsteps and imitating the conduct of St. John the
Baptist, the forerunner of the Light and the first martyr of the enlightened.
The teachers and writers, according to the customs of the times, were called
Masters, and chosen from the experienced and learned of their disciples, or
fellow labourers, from whence we derive the name of Fellow-Craft; while the
remainder of the Brotherhood, according to the custom of the Hebrews, Greeks,
and Romans, were called Apprentices."
----o----
TRANSPORTATION IN PALESTINE
Crossing the Dead Sea
proved no easy task in a land where commerce is at a standstill and
transportation facilities are virtually nil. A Red Crops engineer who
recently returned from Palestine
tells how it was done.
"It was necessary to
carry a boat from Jaffa, on the seacoast, to Jerusalem in order to cross the
Dead Sea to Jericho to get grain to take back to Jaffa. This journey of
something more than one hundred and twenty miles was over an almost impassable
terrain, some of it lowland, hundreds of feet below sea level, and much of it
rugged, mountainous country. The Dead Sea itself is one thousand feet below sea
level.
"This is typical of
transport difficulties all over Palestine."
----o----
THE STEPPING STONE
BY BRO. L. B. MITCHELL, MICHIGAN
There was built for
man a home and to it a stepping stone
By the nature forces
true in the work, below, above;
For in coming he would
know every human joy and woe,
So the stepping stone
was made of the pearl of human love.
'Twas the granite
tried and proved as the mighty forces moved
To the time and fire
test that in ages was to come,-
It was nature in her plan ending in a world for man
That should mean, as such to him, all that makes a home a
home.
For this consciousness
the world was with beauty rare impearled,
For its every real
need there was rich provision made;
But with all its
golden store it were mockery the more,
Worthless as such if
not on love's redeeming altar laid.
And the anchorage that
holds all that consciousness extols,
Is the power that
moves the world in its sway by human love;
Without it the race
would be without e'en a mystery;
Not a flower would
bloom to it and no star glint from above.
And because this
stepping stone to all that makes earth a home
Is the royal way to
all that with it to man is given,
There could be no other plan, for the attributes of man
Would be worthless
save as love qualifies for home and heaven.
----o----
OMNIPRESENCE
BY FINLEY PAUL CURTIS, JR.
A soft blanket of snow, vast and crystal white
Under the cold limpid radiance of pale Luna
O'er the earth sprawls like a gigantic ghost-shadow.
It is the absence of all color: perfect white.
I look forth from the window, and my tongue,
Manned by a Power invisible, unconsciously and irresistably
Utters: "It is the Supreme. It is God!"
Wonderment and thoughts unutterable absorb me.
A lump of coal in the
grate bursts into a thousand fragments,
Hissing and crackling
as if in the agony of death.
Then from the window,
aroused from my abstraction, I turn.
Fire-flames lept
upward from the white-hot ashbed
Like long, blood-red, avid reptile tongues.
Again my lips fashioned these unbidden words:
"Why! The Unseen is here, too. God is everywhere
* * * * * *
Then I understood the ineffable peace which enveloped my
soul:
I was not afraid.
Before my soul was a cork bouncing on the sea of life:
But now it was an immovable Gibralter!
----o----
CORRESPONDENCE CIRCLE BULLETIN No. 32
DEVOTED TO ORGANIZED MASONIC STUDY
Edited by Bro. H. L. Haywood
THE BULLETIN COURSE OF MASONIC STUDY FOR MONTHLY LODGE
MEETINGS AND
STUDY CLUBS
FOUNDATION OF THE COURSE
THE Course of Study has for its foundation two sources of
Masonic information: THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. In another paragraph
is explained how the references to former issues of THE BUILDER and to Mackey's
Encyclopedia may be worked up as supplemental papers to exactly fit into each
installment of the Course with the papers by Brother Haywood.
MAIN OUTLINE:
The Course is divided into five principal divisions which
are in turn subdivided, as is shown below:
Division I. Ceremonial Masonry.
A. The Work of the Lodge.
B. The Lodge and the Candidate.
C. First Steps.
D. Second Steps.
E. Third Steps.
Division II. Symbolical Masonry.
A. Clothing.
B. Working Tools.
C. Furniture.
D. Architecture.
E. Geometry.
F. Signs.
G. Words.
H. Grips.
Division III. Philosophical Masonry.
A. Foundations.
B. Virtues.
C. Ethics.
D. Religious Aspect.
E. The Quest.
F. Mysticism.
G. The Secret Doctrine.
Division IV. Legislative Masonry.
A. The Grand Lodge.
1. Ancient Constitutions.
2. Codes of Law.
3. Grand Lodge Practices.
4. Relationship to Constituent Lodges.
5. Official Duties and Prerogatives.
B. The Constituent Lodge.
1. Organization.
2. Qualifications of Candidates.
3. Initiation, Passing and Raising.
4. Visitation.
5. Change of Membership.
Division V. Historical Masonry.
A. The Mysteries--Earliest Masonic Light.
B. Studies of Rites--Masonry in the Making.
C. Contributions to Lodge Characteristics.
D. National Masonry.
E. Parallel Peculiarities in Lodge Study.
F. Feminine Masonry.
G. Masonic Alphabets.
H. Historical Manuscripts of the Craft.
I. Biographical Masonry.
J. Philological Masonry--Study of Significant Words.
THE MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS
Each month we are presenting a paper written by Brother
Haywood, who is following the foregoing outline. We are now in "First Steps" of
Ceremonial Masonry. There will be twelve monthly papers under this particular
subdivision. On page two, preceding each installment, will be given a list of
questions to be used by the chairman of the Committee during the study period
which will bring out every point touched upon in the paper.
Whenever possible we shall reprint in the Correspondence
Circle Bulletin articles from other sources which have a direct bearing upon the
particular subject covered by Brother Haywood in his monthly paper. These
articles should be used as supplemental papers in addition to those prepared by
the members from the monthly list of references. Much valuable material that
would otherwise possibly never come to the attention of many of our members will
thus be presented.
The monthly installments of the Course appearing in the
Correspondence Circle Bulletin should be used one month later than their
appearance. If this is done the Committee will have opportunity to arrange their
programs several weeks in advance of the meetings and the brethren who are
members of the National Masonic Research Society will be better enabled to enter
into the discussions after they have read over and studied the installment in
THE BUILDER.
REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTAL PAPERS
Immediately preceding each of Brother Haywood's monthly
papers in the Correspondence Circle Bulletin will be found a list of references
to THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. These references are pertinent to the
paper and will either enlarge upon many of the points touched upon or bring out
new points for reading and discussion. They should be assigned by the Committee
to different brethren who may compile papers of their own from the material thus
to be found, or in many instances the articles themselves or extracts therefrom
may be read directly from the originals. The latter method may be followed when
the members may not feel able to compile original papers, or when the original
may be deemed appropriate without any alterations or additions.
HOW TO ORGANIZE FOR AND CONDUCT THE STUDY MEETINGS
The lodge should select a "Research Committee" preferably
of three "live" members. The study meetings should be held once a month, either
at a special meeting of the lodge called for the purpose, or at a regular
meeting at which no business (except the lodge routine) should be
transacted--all possible time to be given to the study period.
After the lodge has been opened and all routine business
disposed of, the Master should turn the lodge over to the Chairman of the
Research Committee. This Committee should be fully prepared in advance on the
subject for the evening. All members to whom references for supplemental papers
have been assigned should be prepared with their papers and should also have a
comprehensive grasp of Brother Haywood's paper.
PROGRAM FOR STUDY MEETINGS
1. Reading of the first section of Brother Haywood's paper
and the supplemental papers thereto.
(Suggestion: While these papers are being read the members
of the lodge should make notes of any points they may wish to discuss or inquire
into when the discussion is opened. Tabs or slips of paper similar to those used
in elections should be distributed among the members for this purpose at the
opening of the study period.)
2. Discussion of the above.
3. The subsequent sections of Brother Haywood's paper and
the supplemental papers should then be taken up, one at a time, and disposed of
in the same manner. 4. Question Box.
MAKE THE "QUESTION BOX" THE FEATURE OF YOUR MEETINGS
Invite questions from any and all brethren present. Let
them understand that these meetings are for their particular benefit and get
them into the habit of asking all the questions they may think of. Every one of
the papers read will suggest questions as to facts and meanings which may not
perhaps be actually covered at all in the paper. If at the time these questions
are propounded no one can answer them, SEND THEM IN TO US. All the reference
material we have will be gone through in an endeavor to supply a satisfactory
answer. In fact we are prepared to make special research when called upon, and
will usually be able to give answers within a day or two. Please remember, too,
that the great Library of the Grand Lodge of Iowa is only a few miles away, and,
by order of the Trustees of the Grand Lodge, the Grand Secretary places it at
our disposal on any query raised by any member of the Society.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The foregoing information should enable local Committees to
conduct their lodge study meetings with success. However, we shall welcome all
inquiries and communications from interested brethren concerning any phase of
the plan that is not entirely clear to them, and the Services of our Study Club
Department are at the command of our members, lodge and study club committees at
all times.
QUESTIONS ON "THE WINDING STAIRS"
I To what extent is the origin of the symbolism of the
Winding Stairs generally known ? Is it essential that we discover the exact
facts in order to intelligently pursue our present study ?
Have there ever been advanced Satisfactory answers
concerning the Source of the symbolism ? To what extent should discussion of the
origin be considered of value?
Do you agree with the contention of early scholars that
there was actually a winding stair of three, five and seven steps in Solomon's
Temple? What can you offer in support of such contention ? Could the
semi-circular stairway at the Gate Nieanor where the Levites chanted the "Psalms
of Degrees" have been taken as the prototype of our winding stairs? What is your
opinion concerning this theory, What does Sir Charles Warren say concerning the
Staircase?
What is the "Theological Ladder" ? When and by whom was it
introduced into the ritual? What was the symbolism of the "Theological Ladder" ?
Have we anything similar to it in our ritual of the present day ? What does
Brother Haywood say about this interpretation ?
II What is the theory of the Operative origin of the
symbolism? Can this theory be depended upon? If not, why not?
Since the origin of the Winding Stair symbolism cannot be
accurately traced, how should we view the use of the stairs in our work?
III What does the use of the mystical numbers suggest to
you ? Of what is the Winding Stair as a whole a symbol ?
What is Pike's theory concerning the number "15"? What
would happen should our present Symbolic arrangement of the Winding Stairs be
changed ? Would a change be of any material advantage?
Is the use of numbers in symbolism of modern origin ? Can
you give a reason for even numbers being used to denote earthly or human things
and odd numbers to suggest divine or heavenly truths? Has this always been the
ease? What was "the number of the beast" and its interpretation? How were
ancient temples usually approached ? Why should we feel gratified that the
symbolism of odd numbers is retained in Masonry?
What is the "triad" or "ternary" ? How was it considered by
philosophers?
How does Brother Haywood explain the number "5"?
Of what is the number "7" the symbol? How was knowledge
divided in medieval times ? What does Gould say about the seven sciences?
IV
How can our ritual be made to be of assistance to us in our
everyday life ?
What is our most familiar explanation of the "three steps"
? How does Masonry help the individual ? Should a Mason feel that he is being
left apart and alone in his endeavors to improve his physical and spiritual
condition ?
What great lesson is revealed to us in the five steps?
How is the group of seven steps interpreted? Is this
teaching a necessity ? Does Masonry approve ignorance ? Is the expression "I
have no time to read or study" one of yours ? How did Burritt, Franklin,
Livingstone and others secure their education? What grows out of ignorance?
V Do you believe that the human race is still progressing ?
What must we avoid in measuring progress ? In what manner alone can the human
race progress ? What are your answers to Brother Haywood's closing questions?
SUPPLEMENTAL REFERENCES
THE BUILDER:
Vol. II. The Winding Stairway, p. 239.
Vol. IV. Symbolism of the Three Degrees, p. 266.
Mackey's Encyclopedia:
Legend of the Winding Stairs, p. 850; Middle Chamber, p.
483; Winding Stairs, p. 850.
Mackey's Symbolism of Freemasonry:
Legend of the Winding Stairs, pp 210, 217, 218, 219, 225.
Ars Quatuor Coronatorum:
Vol. I, pp. 42, 57; vol. IV, p. 88; vol. XXIX, pp. 262,
299.
SECOND STEPS BY BRO. H.L. HAYWOOD, IOWA
PART VII THE WINDING STAIRS
I THE THREE, Five and Seven Steps have long been a puzzle
to the candidate and a problem to the Masonic scholar; in the present connection
there is no need that we go into the erudite debates that have circled about the
matter, for our main concern is with that living and practical truth of which
the stairs are a symbol.
Whence came this symbolism? To that question many answers
have been offered, some ingenious but none very convincing. Any discussion of
origin is valuable only as it throws light on the symbol itself.
Some scholars have contended, though not in recent years,
that there was a winding stair of three, five and seven steps in Solomon's
temple itself. It is thought that at the Gate Nicanor there was a semicircular
stairway leading from one court to another, and that it was on the successive
steps of this stair that the Levites chanted the fifteen "Psalms of Degrees,"
specimens of which remain in the Book of Psalms. But the archaeologists who have
learned most about the Temple as it actually existed, are generally agreed that
this stairway could not have been the prototype of the three, five and seven
steps as we find them in our Second degree. Sir Charles Warren, as eminent in
archeology as he was in Masonry, writes that "there was a winding staircase,
certainly, but this led to little cells or chambers a few feet square in the
thickness of the Temple walls, in which the functionaries (Temple attendants)
kept their stores for the votive offerings." (A. Q. C. vol. 1, p. 42)
Other scholars have opined that the steps were originally
the same as the Theological Ladder, and had the same historical origin. This
Theological Ladder, which appears on our Tracing Board, and represents by its
seven rungs the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, and the
four cardinal virtues of Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and Justice, was
introduced into the ritual, it is thought, by Martin Clare, in 1732. This ladder
was made to stand for the progress of the soul from the earthly to the heavenly
and it was looked upon as a Masonic type of a similar symbol used in several of
the Ancient Mysteries, (especially in Mithraism) in Brahminism, etc., and it was
generally held to be, in its strictly Masonic form, a suggestion of that ladder
which Jacob saw in his vision, up and down which the angels came and went.
Inasmuch as this Theological Ladder symbolized progress, just as does the
Winding Stair, some argued that the latter symbol must have come from the same
sources as the former. This interpretation of the matter may be plausible
enough, and it may help toward an interpretation of both symbols, but it suffers
from an almost utter lack of tangible evidence.
II Other scholars of more modern views believe that the
symbol may have been devised by Operative Masons during the Saxon period in
England. It seems that the numbers three, five and seven were in the air, so to
speak, at that time, as is proved by Gould, who gives examples to show that
these numbers were grouped together in laws, religious doctrines, superstitions,
etc., "with startling frequency," especially during the years 449-1066. But this
latter date, it will be seen, is some two centuries earlier than our oldest
Masonic record, consequently there can be no hope of tracing the Winding Stair
symbol to that time with any degree of accuracy.
Thus it is that we are thrown back upon conjecture;
accepting that alternative we may believe that the stairway was first used
simply because it was a necessary part of the symbolic temple of the Second
degree. Here were the pillars standing at the entrance on the porch; yonder was
the Middle Chamber, on a higher level; some means of ascent was obviously needed
to wet the candidate from one to another.
III But the difficulties in the way of accounting for the
origin of the symbol need not perplex us in searching for an interpretation, for
that is plain; the mystical use of numbers in the ascent suggests to us that the
climb itself is a divine task, worthy of the noblest in man; the stair is as a
whole a symbol of the progress of a man from the low level of natural ignorance
toward that high level of spiritual power and insight symbolized by the Middle
Chamber.
The number Fifteen itself can not have much mystical
significance because it is another one of those dreaded "American innovations"
which have given so much scandal to certain interpreters. In some eighteenth
century tracing boards the stair is composed of only five steps, in others of
seven. Preston divided them into 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11, making 36 in all. The
Hemming lectures, which replaced Preston's at the time of the Union, struck out
the group of 11 steps, thus reducing the number to 25. The American ritual, in
turn, further reduced the number to 15 by striking out the 1 and the 9. Albert
Pike was of the opinion that the 9 should have been retained because he believed
that the series 3, 5, 7 and 9 had a very ancient and very precious meaning. "As
long ago as the time of Zarathustra," he writes, "the Irano-Aryan Soldier and
King of Bactria, 5,000 years or snore before our era, (this date is most
certainly wrong. H. L. H.) the Barecura, or bundle of twigs used in the
sacrifices, were bound by 3, 5, 7 and 9 twigs, and even then the number 7 had a
peculiar significance." I consider it a fine thing that the architects of the
House of The Temple at Washington, which is a monument to Albert Pike quite as
much as it is the headquarters of the Scottish Rite of the Southern
Jurisdiction, have divided the steps that lead from the street to the entrance
of that noble building into groups of 3, 5, 7 and 9. But while it may possibly
be true that the original symbolism should have contained the group of 9, the
Winding Stair as it now exists in the Second degree can never be changed; to do
so would dislocate the entire structure of the ritualism of the Second degree
and it is doubtful if the additional group would give us any additional
meanings.
From ancient times numbers have been much employed in
symbolism as is proved by the records of all the ancient nations, philosophies,
and religions. For one reason or another, too complicated to explain here, the
even numbers were usually made to denote earthly or human things while the odd
numbers were revered as expressions or suggestions of divine or heavenly truths.
This was not always the case for the early Christians used 888 as the number of
Jesus; but even they made 666 to stand for the human or demonic and 777 to mean
absolute perfection. It is now believed that the "number of the beast" spoken of
in the Book of Revelation, and given as 666 in our Authorized version was really
616, which was the numerical value of the words "Kaiser Theos," or "God Caesar,"
and referred to the worship of the emperor. At any rate, with few exceptions,
number symbolism has always made the odd number to suggest that which is divine
or very noble and as such we may understand the use of the odd numbers, 3, 5 and
7. An old Roman historian of architecture notes that ancient temples were nearly
always approached by an odd number of steps because they led to the divine
precincts; we may rejoice that the builders of our symbolic temple have also
retained this symbolism because it is certain that there is nothing more divine
accessible to human feet than that which is pictured for us in the Middle
Chamber.
The Three, or triad, or ternery, is found scores of times
throughout the ritual, and it is bodied forth in the triangle, the symbol of
Deity. It would be impossible in the present space even to hint at the wealth of
instances in which the triad occurs in the various symbolic systems of the past;
we must satisfy ourselves with the following paragraph from Pierson's
"Traditions of Freemasonry":
"The ternary is the first of unequal numbers. The triad,
mysterious number, which plays so great a part in the traditions of Asia, the
philosophy of Plato, the mysteries of all ages, an image of the Supreme Being,
includes in itself the properties of the two first numbers. (that is, 1 plus 2,
equals 3. H. L. H.) It was to philosophers the most excellent and favorite
number, a mysterious type, revered by all antiquity and consecrated in the
mysteries; wherefore there are but three essential degrees among Masons, rho
venerate in the triangle the most august mystery that of the Sacred Triad,
object of their homage and study."
Of the number 5 it is more difficult to speak. If we
combine the first even number, 2, and the first odd, 3, we have 5; if 2
represents the human, and 3 the divine, 5 would naturally suggest a union of the
two. It may also be that 5 won an early recognition through being the number of
the senses, even as our Monitor suggests.
The number 7 usually stands for perfection, and it may not
be without meaning that in the V. S. L. it occurs, as one writer has said, "an
incredible number of times." During the medieval periods knowledge was usually
divided among seven branches of learning; first was a group of three, called the
trivium, and composed of grammar, rhetoric, and logic; secondly was the
quadrivium, which comprised arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. It is
interesting to observe how our Monitorial interpretation of the third group of
steps preserves this old idea. Gould says that during the same period these
seven "sciences" were thought of as "a number of steps leading to virtue, and
finally to heaven."
IV By this time you are probably beginning to ask yourself,
What has all this to do with Masonry? What is there in this that I can use in my
every day life? I hope you really have been asking this question; if more Masons
would always seek for the vital contact between Masonry and the practical
affairs and problems of existence, the ritual would cease being the academic
plaything which it too often is; and I believe that in every symbol of the work,
even as in the present case, there is that which can be put into immediate use,
with the greatest benefit to the user; and furthermore I believe that one need
not stretch his imagination or twist the ritual in order to do this.
Let us glance first at the group of three steps. The most
familiar explanation of this is that these represent the three degrees or the
three principal officers of the lodge. In either case the first three steps
suggest to the candidate that he is being helped on his way by an
organized-fraternity, represented by the degrees or the officers, whichever it
may be. Does not that have much to tell us? Is not this one of the prime
functions of Masonry? Instead of leaving the individual to climb on alone it
surrounds him with its inspiration and its help just as the organized school
stands back of the child that begins the ascent to an education. No individual
Mason need fail in his attempt to lead the divine, the kingly, life; a
world-wide brotherhood, with its almost inexhaustible resources, is at hand to
help him. Have you ever kept that in mind during dark days ? No Mason climbs
alone, even from the start; the entire Order, sensitive to his needs, and
responsive to his call, is ever ready to help him on and up.
If we glance at the next group of five steps we find
another teaching, equally valuable and quite as practicable, a teaching that
takes my breath away by its very boldness whenever I think of it. Let us agree
with the Monitor, that this group of steps now represents to us (whatever it may
have originally meant) the five senses; in other words, our physical body with
its organs, functions and faculties. What does this mean ? Is it not this, that
the very body itself, when kept in control by thorough discipline and when
trained by education, may be a stepping stone toward the highest life? This was
an exceedingly bold teaching when first promulgated, for it was at a time when
religious teachers and moralists were telling people that the body was evil in
itself and must be put under foot. Masonry does not despise the physical but
urges us to prepare it so as to serve as a stair-way toward the noblest life.
The third group of seven steps is interpreted as referring
to the liberal arts and sciences; in other words, we are told that right
learning and culture of the mind will lead us up and on. This is a teaching as
badly needed now as ever because so many men tend to make light of knowledge, or
to excuse themselves for not having it. But Masonry condemns this attitude,
teaching us as it does in this connection that ignorance is a sin. If we lay our
prejudices aside here and are brave enough to face the facts, I believe that we
must agree with Masonry. We may say that we have no time to read, or to learn;
the fallacy of this is proved by the number of men about us who are as busy as
we, yet manage to get an education in odd moments. We may say that we have not
the opportunities for securing an education, that we can not go to school, or
that we can not buy books. We do not need to go to school; we can turn our
bedroom into a school and be our own teacher, like Elihu Burritt, or Benjamin
Franklin, or David Livingstone. Nor do we need to buy books; they can always be
borrowed from public libraries or from our friends. When we remember how
superstition, crime, fanaticism, disease, poverty and kindred evils grow out of
ignorance, we can well afford to study again the lessons of the Winding Stairs.
V The Winding Stairs, as a whole, is a symbol of progress.
When is a man progressing? Let Ruskin answer: "He alone is advancing in life
whose heart is getting softer, whose blood warmer, whose brain quicker, whose
spirit is entering into living peace." In spite of the Great War, which recently
dragged its bloody coils across the world, we may still believe that the race
progresses, that
"Step by step since time began We see the steady gain of
man."
But we must not fall into the error of measuring progress
by merely mechanical achievements as the custom is; the race as a race goes
forward only as mankind as a whole becomes possessed of those qualities
described by Ruskin. Do you not believe that Masonry has a leading role to play
in this real progress of mans Can you think of a better recipe for advancement
than Masonry's to unite with others for co-operation, to control the passions
and discipline the faculties, to enlighten the mind, and to keep ever before one
a great ideal, as is suggested by the Holy of Holies? Are you giving your
private share to Masonry's contribution to world Progress?
THE TOMB OF HIRAM, KING OF TYPE
BY BRO. CHARLES B. SINDEN, BERMUDA
ANCIENT PHOENICIA or Tyre has bequeathed to the world many
interesting relics of a civilization long buried beneath the dust of the ages,
many of which are of special interest to our Masonic Fraternity. Tyre and Joppa;
two of her ancient cities, are names well known, while her tombs, architecture,
metal castings and pillars hold for us more than a passing interest. The purpose
of this writing is to call attention to the tomb in the vicinity of Tyre, which
the natives call "Kabir-Hiram" or the Tomb of Hiram.
Hiram, King of Tyre, is a character familiar to all Masons.
His identity is clearly established in Sacred History as also by the
corroborative evidence of Josephus the Hebrew historian. Unlike some stories of
the other Hiram, knowledge of him is placed beyond tradition. The son of Abibal,
he was contemporary with, and a friend of, both David and Solomon, Israelitish
kings; the latter a very important figure in Masonic lore. Early in David's
reign he supplied "cedar trees and carpenters and masons and they built David a
house." 2 Sam. 5:11. Forty years later Solomon applied to his father's old
friend and received an equally courteous response for "Hiram sent to Solomon
saying, I have considered the things which thou sentest to me for: and I will do
all thy desire concerning timber of cedar and concerning timber of fir . . . and
they two made a league together." 1 Kings 5. Josephus tells us that the
correspondence regarding these matters was in his day, preserved in the archives
of the Kingdom of Tyre.
The ancient Phoenicians seem to have been contented with
tombs of a quiet character ordinarily constructed beneath the surface in a
series of vaults without elaboration. They did, however, during some periods
probably remote, erect monuments to stand as permanent memorials and at the same
time to be attractive to the eye. Well acquainted with Egypt they would be aware
of her obelisks, pyramids and lofty tombs; of the tomb of Mausolus at
Halicarnassus the famous Greek city of Asia Minor with its Ionic columns and
pyramid, then one of the seven wonders of the world; and of the tomb of the
Maccabees in Modin where "Simon also built a monument upon the sepulchre of his
father and his brethren and raised it aloft to the sight, with hewn stone behind
and before. Moreover he set up seven pyramids, one against another, for his
father and his mother and his four brethren. And in these he made cunning
devices, about the which he set great pillars." 1 Macc. 13. It is not strange
then, that we find such a tomb as Renan describes in his "Mission de Phenicie,"
viz., the Burdj-el-Bezzak, which was evidently constructed to resemble the
pyramids. It is situated near to Amrith the ancient Marathus, and is an edifice
built of large blocks of stone and rising to a height of thirty-two feet above
the plain. Wit is thought that originally the cubic mass was surmounted by a
pyramidical roof, many stones from which were found scattered around. The height
of the monument would thus be increased to about sixty-five feet.
The tomb, however, of most interest to Masons is that
already mentioned and which Robinson in "Researches in Palestine" names as the
"Tomb of Hiram." Renan says that the name is modern and no great importance can
be attached to it, but Prof. Rawlinson in his "History of Phoenicia" declares
the monument to be undoubtedly ancient, perhaps as ancient as any in Phoenicia,
whilst Perrot and Chipiez in "Hist. de l'Art" conclude that "if the tomb does
not actually belong to the time of Solomon's contemporary and ally, at any rate
it is anterior to the Greco-Roman period." The tomb itself according to Renan,
is composed of eight courses or layers of huge stones superimposed one upon
another, some being twelve feet long and seven broad and three deep. The four
lower courses are almost regularly one on top of the other while the fifth
projects considerably beyond the fourth, and the three remaining courses
slightly retreat as they rise after the style of a pyramid. The effect is that
of a stele or pillar, more than the usual type of pyramid, the width at the top
being only a trifle smaller than at the base. The monument is a solid mass and a
rectangular oblong or "oblong square" fourteen feet long by eight and a half
feet wide. A flight of steps cut in the rock which forms part of the base in the
two lowest courses leads down to a sepulchral niche where possibly once reposed
the body of our Grand Master. This monument has no inscription or figure of any
kind engraved upon it which is of course no evidence that it is not the tomb of
the one to whom tradition assigns it.
There may not be any especial advantage in seeking to prove
this tomb to be the identical last resting place of Hiram but at the same time
there is considerable interest and for a number of reasons tradition may be
correct. First, because tradition is usually, possibly correct. Eastern people
preserved a great deal of history in this way which cannot be ignored because
not written or printed as our modern records. Then its situation near to Tyre
suggests unmistakably that it was erected to an important personage of that
city. Taking that together with its undoubted age we have a substantial link in
the chain of evidence. The lack of figures of gods or goddesses on its surface
supplied us with another point. Hiram coming into contact with Solomon and
learning of the True God for whose Temple his workman and materials were
furnished, would probably have become a worshipper of Jehovah and thus no
figures of heathen deities would appear on his tomb as have been found on some
others. The "oblong square" may or may not be admitted as evidence but it is of
distinct Masonic interest. The rugged grandeur of the tomb seems fitting to the
character of this early king. Taking these things together they form a piece of
cumulative circumstantial evidence in favor of assuming that the monument
described is in reality that of Hiram, King of Tyre.
----o----
WHAT CAN MASONRY DO FOR DEMOCRACY?
BY BRO GARY C. BURKE, J.G.W., IDAHO
Democracy stands for the idea of rule by the many, by the
people. Autocracy, the opposite idea, stands for rule by one man. These two
ideas are as opposite as the poles; as opposite as light and darkness; as
opposite as black and white. They can no more be reconciled than darkness can
exist beneath the mid-day sun; and when once the idea of democracy was implanted
in the heart of man it could no more be removed than could an universe of
darkness extinguish a candle light. Hear what Abraham Lincoln has said of this:
"Two principles have stood face to face from the beginning of time and will ever
continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the
divine right of kings."
How many of the problems, great and small, confronting our
government could be so much better settled, and how many misunderstandings in
doing so could be avoided, if we would endeavor to exercise temperance in our
attitude toward the other man's viewpoint; if we would endeavor to give him
credit for the same honesty of purpose that we think we possess. How many more
good men and true could be enlisted in the ranks of those who manage the affairs
of our government if we would have the fortitude to endure the annoyance and
even the financial loss incident to a more active participation in the affairs
of government. What nobler work can Masonry do than to teach its members that
they should not pussyfoot when men are needed to lead some great movement which
wilt make our country a better place to live in?
It has become the fashion to sneer at the "politician." I
will not enlarge upon this. you all know that it is true, and you all know why.
But let us have the justice to recognize the fact that the man who aspires to
office and who is elected to it, is just as good or just as bad as the man who
elects him. The American politician, the American officeholder, is the
reflection of the American people. This may not be a pleasant thing to think
about sometimes, but let us be just and honest about ,it and set ourselves to
remedy it. In doing so we will be good Masons. In short, I would have Masonry
seek, in a practical way, to apply its teachings towards making good citizens.
He who prophesies in this day is foolhardy. But I will say
this: Great changes are coming as a result of the war. Changes in the map of the
world, changes in men's views concerning government sin places where no one
dreamed a few years ago that any was possible. Changes in men's views as to
personal responsibility in government. Many things that men have come to look
upon as established forever will stand in a different light in the future. I
firmly believe that all things must hereafter stand in the rays of the great
searchlight of Truth to determine their utility for aiding in man's progress.
And those things which do not bear well its scrutiny will be discarded Masonry
among them, if it does not measure up. Men in future will be too much occupied
with real, big things, to bother with mere talk and theories. Keep this in mind
democracy must have men on fall. Masonry can make them, and it must, or fail.
----o----
MEMORIALS TO GREAT MEN WHO WERE MASONS
BY BRO. GEO. W. BAIRD, P.G.M., DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
ROBERT TREAT PAINE
ROBERT TREAT PAINE, a
signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born in Boston in 1737, and died
there in 1814. He was a member of a Massachusetts Lodge, record of which is in
the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge, Volume I, page 64. He entered Harvard
Unversity at the age of 14 years, and supported himself by teaching; engaged in
the study of law, and in 1755 was a Chaplain of Provincial troops. He was a
member of the Convention which met upon the dissolution of the General Court by
the Governor for refusing to rescind the circular letter to the other colonies,
calling for certain action against the infringement of their chartered rights.
Paine was employed by
the Bostonians for the prosecution of the perpetrators of the "Boston Massacre."
He was a member of the General Assembly, and assisted in the impeachment of the
Chief Justice of the Province. He was a delegate to the First Continental
Congress. He was active in promoting the manufacture of saltpeter, as well as of
larger guns.
With Jefferson and
Rutlege he reported rules for procedure and debate in Congress, and on July 4,
1776, he signed the Declaration of Independence. At one tlme Same was Spearer ot
the House of Representatives in Massachusetts; at another time he was Attorney
General of the State, and he served on a committee to regulate the price of
labor, provisions and manufactures.
A staunch friend of
the Constitution, he gave Washington hearty support. He was a founder of the
American Academy in 1780 and received the Honorary Degree of LL. D. at
Cambridge.
As a Puritan and a
patriot, he was devoted to civil and religious liberty.
Paine died on the 11th
of May, 1814, and was buried in the Granary Burying Ground, near Boston. His
grave is in a tomb, shown in the engraving - a modest memorial for so great and
good a man. Whether his countrymen should erect a memorial fitting to this great
man, or suffer the present primitive memorial to stand, is debatable. The
simple, almost rude structure is an emblem of the simple, modest life of the
man, which a great monument could not amplify.
But on the day set
apart for the decoration of the graves of soldiers, May 30th, some brother Mason
might drop a rose on the tomb of Brother Robert Treat Paine.
----o----
MASONIC CUSTOMS IN
GREAT BRITAIN
In case the Grand
Master is a Prince of royal blood, he appoints a "Pro" Grand Master, only seldom
presiding in person.
The Grand Lodge of
England meets in March, July, September, and December, the annual festival
taking place on the last Wednesday in April. The Grand Lodge of Ireland meets in
Dublin in March, June, October and December, and the annual festival takes place
at noon on St. John's Day, December 27th. The Grand Lodge of Scotland meets in
Edinburgh in February, May, August and November, and the Grand Festival is held
on November 30th, St. Andrew's Day.
To the American Mason
the United Grand Lodge seems to be a complicated organization, as all present
and Past Grand Officers, all Past Masters of lodges, and all Wardens, during
ther terms of office, have the right of admission. The Grand Honors of Nine are
given in England only to the three present officers. The Grand Treasurer, the
President of the Board of General Purposes, the Grand Chaplain, and the Grand
Wardens receive seven, while all others receive only five. The office of Grand
Treasurer is the only elective office other than that of Grand Master, and it is
an unwritten law that the Grand Master shall be of
royal blood whenever possible. He
appoints all officers excepting the Grand Treasurer, and the only chance for a
"commoner" to wear the royal purple of the lodge is to be elected Grand
Treasurer, and by an unwritten rule no person of "title" has been elected to
that office for many years. - Silas B. Wright, Florida.
----o----
THE QUATUOR CORONATI, OR THE FOUR PATRON SAINTS OF THE
ORDER OF MASONS
BY BRO. C. PURDON CLARKE, ENGLAND
We are indebted to Brother D. D. Berolzheimer, a member of
Johnkeer Lodge No. 865, Yonkers, N. Y., for the manuscript of the following
address delivered before that lodge by Brother Clarke, a Past Master of Quatuor
Coronati Lodge, while he was director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New
York City.
IT would be superfluous to enter into the details of the
evidence in favor of the history of the four sculptors who, with their recently
received apprentice or associate, suffered for their faith a year before the
commencement of the last great persecution of the Christians under the Emperor
Diocletian.
Bro. Gould's magnificent research in his History of
Freemasonry establishes the general acceptance of the story at a period within a
few years of their martyrdom and, moreover, shows that in an age when the
Christian Church was becoming a dominant power and able to honor openly those
who had fallen in her cause, very marked distinction was, for some peculiar
reason, bestowed upon the memory of those four humble craftsmen, although their
trials and sufferings do not appear to justify their elevation over many of
their comrades in the noble army of martyrs, who had equally been faithful unto
death during the many persecutions of the preceding two hundred and forty years.
The solution of this problem which formed itself in my mind
was that the popularity of the craftsmen martyrs was due, in some measure, to a
democratic undercurrent which had from its commencement been furthering the
cause of the Christian religion. Any one who glances, however slightly, at the
records of the social and political condition of Rome after the death of Julius
Caesar and the break-up of the Commonwealth cannot but realize how welcome the
new faith was to the great industrial classes, who found in it a creed
representing everything that the better part of their natures felt was good, and
a priesthood free from the obviously corrupt practices of the spiritual and
temporal upholders of their time-serving and decayed religion.
Romeos first period under martial kings lasted two hundred
and fifty years; then a Consular Government was established which, however, was
but an oligarchy and involved a constant struggle between the military
patricians and the commercial plebians which latter only succeeded after one
hundred and twenty years agitation and several civil wars in obtaining a
representative from their own ranks. During this second period Rome became a
colonizing power and wars for defense became wars of aggression, and, although
these are generally attributed to the ambition of popular leaders or the
national desire for glory and plunder, it is more probable that they were but
the inevitable results of extended commerce.
Victorious commanders returning from time to time in
triumph brought back to the Capital the wealth of the then known world, and
became in the eyes of the masses heroes who were more to be trusted than the
politicians of whose wrangling they were heartily tired. Rome was, therefore,
ripe for a change when the Imperial purple was offered to Julius Caesar and
afterwards secured by Augustus, but the succeeding three hundred years of
military despotism caused a reaction, which paved the way for the introduction
of the new cult.
It is to be regretted that Roman history does not record
sufficiently the succession of events from the point of view of the burgher or
craftsman. The historians either belonged to the patrician casts and did not
care to chronicle other events than those in which their class played an
important part, or, when the writers were plebians, "the histories of their
times were falsified through fear," or written to please the powers who could
regard flattering services.
With such scanty materials to help us we can only assume
that as Christianity had permeated none but the artisan classes to any great
extent, their ecclesiastics would naturally glorify the martyrs belonging to the
industrial plebeian class, who were moreover bound to them by co-fellowship of
the Collegium Fabrorum.
The four sculptors must of necessity have been members of
the trade society established in the city in which they worked. How far this
Collegium was in connection with, or affiliated to, similar Collegia in other
towns I cannot say, but of one thing I am sure, and that is, that at the period
to which they belonged, where was a dead uniformity of style and ornamentation
in building work executed by the Fabri, at places so remote from each other that
the only explanation which could be offered is that of a central controlling
body, or even more, a central school in which a single style was taught complete
in all its parts, whether technical or artistic.
As an illustration I offer mosaic floors, one from Sussex,
the second from Carthage, on the north coast of Africa, the other from Balkeish
on the Tigris above Baghdad. All might have been designed and executed by the
same hand. Wherever the Romans colonized and built in their enduring method, the
remains of their walls present the same features and show how little local
styles interfered with their established system.
Therefore it may be assumed that our four craftsmen
belonged to an important trade organization which at that time extended from
Persia to Great Britain, in which latter country alone there were fifty-three
important cities each with its Collegium Fabrorum. This connection with a
powerful society probably accounts for the extreme leniency and patience with
which these sculptors were treated by Diocletian, who only ordered their
destruction after their commission of "lese-majeste" by refusing to make the
statue of the Assculapius when ordered by their Emperor.
The barbarous execution of four members of a corporate
body, which was connected, at least by the bond of common interests, with the
other trade societies, must have at that peculiar period made a deep impression
on the minds of their fellows, and, as it was but eighteen years later that the
Emperor Constantine openly favored the Christian religion, the memory of the
martyrs was then still preserved by men who had known them and they became the
favorite saints of the solid industrial classes whose wholesale conversion to
Christianity had alone made it possible for the Emperor to forsake the old
religion and, within another ten years, order the destruction of all the heathen
temples.
The connection between these Roman Collegia which we know
to have existed in all the countries between England, Spain and Persia and the
trade gilds of medieval Europe, may never be satisfactorily proved. Similarities
in organization would naturally arise from the requirements of similar
circumstances, but it is certain that in all portions of the great Roman Empire,
however completely the tidal wave of barbarian removed the traces of that
marvelous, complex civilization, the impress of Roman customs and Roman laws
remained deeply and securely rooted in many centres, to spring up into life,
little by little, through the dark ages, until culminating in the great period
of the Renaissance, which commenced the history of modern civilization.
Nothing could throw more light on the connection between
the Roman Collegia and the medieval Gilds, so far as England is concerned, than
the discovery of some earlier history of the Church of the Four Crowned Martyrs
at Canterbury, and the mention by Bede of its existence in A. D. 619, at the
time of the great fire which nearly destroyed the city and only stopped when
this church was reached.
I cannot pass over the inference that this church withstood
the fire better than the other buildings and churches owing to its having been
built in Roman times in either brick or stone, whereas the rest more probably
belonged to the period of wholesale building of churches and monasteries which
followed the conversion of the Saxons in A. D. 597, and were principally
constructed in wood.
If this supposition be correct, the Church of the Quatuor
Coronati at Canterbury had survived the destruction of everything Roman-
British, after the defeat of Vortimer by Hengist at Crecanford, in Kent, in 457.
Such an escape is possible and can well be accounted for when we consider that
after the Saxons landed in Thanet in A. D. 449 they dwelt on friendly terms with
the Britons for five or six years, during which time they would naturally avail
themselves of the services of craftsmen, and probably prefer to spare them for
their usefulness at the time of the general massacre of the Britons a few years
later. Such an incident is not uncommon in the histories of barbarous invasions.
It must also be conceded to the Saxons that they possessed
a sufficient amount of civilization to appreciate the value of the workers in
iron, brass and wood, the potters, weavers and others who inhabited these
polytechnic cities. In their own countries they had already become acquainted
with the productions of the Roman craftsmen, who were attached to the military
colonies and actually formed part of each legion. The cruel devastation of the
country after their first great success against the British was, in their eyes,
justified by necessity, as they, the great founders of the AngloSaxon race, had
not as yet acquired the patience which is so necessary in dealing with Celtic
races.
It is also beyond doubt that members of the Collegia
Fabrorum in the British towns had, for a hundred years before the Saxon
invasion, become Christians and that, therefore, the Church of the Quatuor
Coronati, the popular Saints of several trades, was more likely to have been
built at the time when Canterbury possessed a large community of Christian
craftsmen than to have been founded by St. Augustine immediately after his
arrival, in 597, although the church may have been desecrated during the one
hundred and forty years which had elapsed since the destruction of the British
rule in Kent.
From the date of Bede's record of the existence of this
church in Canterbury in A. D. 619 until the foundation of a fraternity of
sculptors and masons in Rome in 1406, we find, at various intervals of time,
references to the history of the original Basilica, founded in memory of the
Quatuor Coronati by Pope Melchiades within twelve years of the date of their
martyrdom. About the same time as the fire at Canterbury the Roman Basilica was
rebuilt by Honorius I (in A. D. 622) and in A. D. 847 the Cardinal titular of
the Basilica, who had become Pope, rebuilt it with greater magnificence. In the
year 1116 it was again rebuilt by Paschal II, who added a palatial residence to
it, and when the Lateran Palace was destroyed in A. D. 1308, the Popes for some
time made it their residence. Then in the 15th century we find that in "the very
ancient Oratory of St. Sylvester, in the portico of the Basilica, was the Chapel
of the Confraternity of Sculptors and Masons founded in the time of Innocent
VII, 1506 A. D. 'under the invocation of the Holy Quatuor Coronati and the other
five Holy Martyrs who had followed the profession of sculptors:' The members of
the Confraternity wore a dress of red with blue sashes."
Here we arrive at the foundation of a medieval gild with
the nine martyrs as their patron saints and, moreover, a mention of their livery
or distinctive clothing.
A few years later, the Gild of Smiths, Carpenters and
Masons (l'Arti dei Fabbri e Legnaioli) in Florence instructed Nanni di Banco, an
amateur sculptor, to execute a memorial niche for or San Michele, the Church of
the Trade Gilds of that city. This building had been constructed in the previous
century as the Gildhall, and, in 1339, two years after the laying of its
foundation stone, the Gild of Silk Merchants were allowed to undertake the
decoration of one of the niches with the statues of their patron saint, St. John
the Evangelist.
Other gilds followed, and the fourteen niches which were
evenly spaced around its external walls, were allotted to the Companies
representing the Professions, Merchants and Artizans of Florence.
The Company became so wealthy after the plague of 1338,
owing to legacies and rich gifts, that they resolved to convert the Loggia, or
Gildhall, into a Church, which was finished in 1359, but the filling of the
niches was not completed for two centuries later. That of the Smiths, Carpenters
and Masons, was finished about the middle of the fifteenth century. This niche
does not occupy a symbolical position, but is the second of four, counting from
the west on the north front. Two excellent photographs, by Alinari Brothers, of
Florence, show the whole niche with the statues of the Four Martyrs in a group
in ancient Roman costume, with an under panel representing three of them working
as medieval sculptors, whilst a fourth is constructing a wall; in the
background, conspicuously placed, are the plumb rule, level, compass and square.
A cast from this panel is in the South Kensington Museum in London.
From Italy the fashion for adopting the Quatuor Coronati as
patron saints spread to Germany and France, but in the latter country a single
individual of the four became a popular saint in a manner to the exclusion of
the others.
The "Martyrology" of Du Saussay stated that the bodies of
the five Martyrs Claudius, Nicostratus, Simphorianus, Castorius and Simplicius
"were afterwards brought from Rome to Toulouse and placed in a chapel which was
erected in their honor in the Church of St. Sernin. Subsequently the greater
part of the relics of St. Claudius were taken from Toulouse to the FranceComte.
In 1049 these relics were honored in the Church of Maynal, one of the oldest in
the Jura. When Pope Leo IX came to the Council of Rheims in 1049, he confirmed
the Archbishop of Becancon, Hugh the First, in possession of this domain. Also
in his Bull, dated 14th of November, he mentions the Church of Maynal 'where
reposes the body of St. Claudius. . .' The most ancient traditions of Maynal
attest that St. Claudius was always honored there as a martyr. He is represented
on the parochial banner in the attitude of a man invoking heaven, with his face
brightened with a ray of light; he holds a chisel in one hand and in the other a
hammer, and by his side is shown a bust of which the white color imitates
marble. It is evident that the painter intended thus to represent one of the
five sculptors who, according to the old legend, worked with great perfection,
invoking the name of Jesus Christ." "This martyr Saint was generally named St.
Clod, or Cloud which is the name under which he is generally designated in
various documents relating to the Parish of Maynal."
Du Saussay further states that "a chapel was also built in
honor of St. Claudius by the monks of Ilay upon the summit of a rock near the
village of Denezieres where some portion of his relics was placed, having been
taken from the Church of Maynal. The surrounding territory from this time was
named 'Terre. de St. Cloud' and it is under this title that it is designated in
several charters of the 12th century." The Palace of St. Cloud, near Paris, does
not owe its name to St. Claudius the Martyr, but to St. Cloud the grandson of
Clovis.
It should be noted that in DuSaussay's account no mention
whatever is made of any connection between St. Claudius and the other martyrs
with any Craft Gilds, nor does he mention that they were in any way patron
saints of the Crafts. This strengthens Bro. Gould's statement that there is no
authority for any connection between the Quatuor Coronati and the European Trade
Gilds until the 15th Century.
I have nothing to add to the list of German Cathedrals,
Churches and Breviaries which are mentioned by Bro. Gould in connection with
shrines and other memorials of the Martyrs, but during a visit to Brussels I
found a very interesting representation of these martyr sculptors in a large
picture belonging to the Municipal Museum, in which they are depicted as masons
rather than sculptors. This picture is of great interest to those studying the
manner of operative work amongst medieval craftsmen; and I noticed a peculiarity
of dress which distinguished the sculptors from the burgesses and others shown
in the picture. They are dressed in very short tunics and tight hose whereas the
other people are in long gowns.
I must give a few details of the Societies of Builders
which exist in some parts of the East and probably throw some light upon the
inner working of the Roman Collegia and the craft gilds of medieval Europe.
In various forms craft gilds are to be found in all the
principal cities of Asia, and there is evidence that the various trades have
been accustomed to form themselves into societies for mutual protection and for
the proper regulation of their commerce. These gilds vary considerably in their
organization and powers and, generally, do not openly take any part in municipal
government for the very good reason that in the East countries are ruled by
officials, created by the Sultans or the Padishas, who again appoint subordinate
officers, generally men who have been able to buy from them the position and
right to get as much as they possibly can out of the people, in the same manner
that they, the upper officials, pay the Sultan for the privilege of retaining
their posts. There is, therefore, little similarity between the trade gilds of
the East and the free Roman Collegia, and less so with the medieval gilds of
Europe of the period when municipalities obtained great political powers.
The present condition of the builders' gild in Persia. has
beep enquired into by General A. H. Schindler, who has spent nearly thirty years
in the country and is the best living authority in all matters concerning it. He
informs us that a trade gild is called "Senf," and possesses a Chief, or
"Syndic" named the Ra'is, who represents the gild in matters concerning
municipal regulations, payment of taxes, etc. It is not necessary that the Ra'is
should be a master of the craft of his gild. The ordinary term for a master
craftsman is "Ustad"; for an apprentice, or pupil, "Shagird." In the building
trades the names "Ma'mar" and "Bana" stand indiscriminately for architect,
builder and mason, but a superior Bana a master builder is called a Ma'mar, and
a superior Ma'mar affects the title of "Ma'mar-Bashi," the latter being a
Turkish title denominating a Chief or Head. The title "Ustad" has not the same
value as master in Europe, but is applied to the master- builder in charge of
the building of a palace, as well as to a man who cannot correctly put half a
dozen bricks in a line. As far as can be ascertained at present, no ceremonies
are used in accepting a new comer into a craft. Any boy may become a "Shagird,"
but good builders will only accept him upon the condition of his agreeing to
remain a certain number of years. Other "Shagirds" do not bind themselves, but
receive daily wages from the beginning. When the Ustad starts on his own account
he becomes a "Bana," or builder, but as there is nothing to prevent anyone
calling himself a master builder you may meet with men who are known as Ustad,
Bana, who cannot do more than construct a mud hut. These, however, are not
recognized as members of the gild, and are seldom seen in towns. Sometimes
masters of the craft are restricted to certain quarters of a town and are not
allowed to work outside of the quarter in which they reside.
In the winter of 1894 I showed General Schindler a large
collection of Persian architectural drawings, which I had purchased from the
State Architect in Teheran; on his return to Persia in 1895 he made many efforts
to obtain some but without success. When asking for some technical terms and
their explanation, he found the men exceedingly reticent respecting them and he
concluded that they regarded these matters as secrets which they were obliged to
keep to themselves.
In a recent paper read by Yoshitaro Yamashita, Chancellor
to the Imperial Japanese Consulate in London, before the Japan Society, he
mentions the "Hiden" (secret tradition), the "Hijutsu" (secret art), and the
"Okugi" (inner mysteries) as terms in common use and applied to nearly every
undertaking, and he goes on to explain that there is nothing absolutely
mysterious or supernatural about them, and that these terms are used with
respect to valuable secrets which are carefully guarded by Professors on account
of the peculiar benefit they receive for imparting them to their pupils.
Here we have arrived at the key note of the bond of
fellowship in operative gilds in all periods. Their secrets have always been
valuable possessions requiring every protection to prevent them becoming common
property. Then, to prevent undue competition, the interest of the community of a
gild was placed before that of its individuals, and lastly, in its relations
with the Government, the gild was better able, especially when supported by the
gilds of other crafts, to secure an equitable adjustment of taxation as a strong
united body.
It is on these grounds that I form the conclusion
respecting the origin of the popularity of the Quatuor Coronati as the patron
Saints of the Masons and Sculptors. The early Christian Church consisted
principally of members of the industrial classes, all of whom were of necessity
"magistri" or "operarii" of their respective trade Collegia. The four sculptors
and their associate were not only martyrs to the new faith, which by that time
was professed either openly or in secret by the bulk of their fellow-craftsmen,
but were regarded as victims of tyrannical interference with the privileges of
the Collegia which most probably possessed powers to deal with all matters
relating to the due execution of the work of each craft.
Either from jealousy or fear, several of the Roman Emperors
had already attempted to suppress the Collegia both in Rome and in her colonies,
and even the just and broad-minded Trajan objected to the trade gilds and
charitable benefit societies upon the ground that they became turbulent and
factious. Christianity was first brought to his notice as still another of these
societies forming in a distant colony, and was duly reported upon by Pliny in
the same manner as when he was requesting direction from the Emperor in dealing
with a volunteer fire brigade and a society for old age pensions.
The gilds of medieval Europe were similarly disliked by
arbitrary rulers of all kinds, whether Popes, Emperors, Kings or Republican
Governments, and in our own times the greatest gilds in the world, those of the
City of London, have not been free from molestation from the would-be tyrants of
the hour.
But these attempts to destroy Institutions which form the
backbone of civic liberty, like the war waged on Freemasonry by the Roman
Church, could but end in the discomfiture of the attacking powers. These
societies are the outcome of the practical side of human nature, in its
hard-headed and sober desire to do its best to obtain freedom to work for due
reward, to live in peace and harmony with its neighbors and to combine for
mutual protection when the necessity arises.
----o----
MAN SHALL PREVAIL
BY BRO. GERALD A. NANCARROW, INDIANA
Beneath the jewel studded form
Of God's Celestial Sphere,
His greatest handiwork, a Man,
Doth small indeed appear.
But Man, the tiny being, filled
With part of God's great soul,
Ever grasping parent power
Shall compass yet the whole.
----o----
We do not count a man's years, until he has nothing else to
count.
Emerson.
----o----
EDITORIAL
THE EDUCATION OF THE CRAFT
THE EDUCATION of
Freemasons in the principles of Freemasonry imposes upon leaders in the Craft
serious and weighty obligations. The very necessity of urging this duty today
constitutes a serious indictment against leaders in the Craft for gross
negligence in the matter of instructing the new initiates. The instruction of
the lodge room in the precepts of wise morality and the interpretation of the
drama of human life having the pre-eminent place has caused to be relegated to a
very insignificant place the sort of instruction that reveals the genius of
Freemasonry in history and the all-important part it has played in securing for
free peoples that to which they are inherently entitled.
Let us readily
confess, it will be a sorry day for us when we fail in those functions of
instruction in wise morality and displaying the significance of human life
through the work of the Third degree. But let us take note also that the greater
function of Masonry becomes a negligible quantity and Masonry will cease to
exist if Masons do not receive the historical light that reveals what Masonry
has stood for in the past and what it must stand for in the present and the
future. Hence the necessity devolving upon all leaders in the Craft today to
state the purpose and methods employed by Masonry in the establishment in the
world of that wider brotherhood that has for its foundation stones Justice,
Equality and Freedom.
The only apology
permissible today for the existence of an institution of the magnitude of the
Masonic Fraternity is, first, it must exist because of its being an
indispensable factor in the preservation of a humane civilization and form of
government, or it must exist because of the invaluable service it can render in
the transformation of an erstwhile chaotic social condition, so that
civilization will be humane and its government desirable from the points of
justice and equity. And to secure this end we must in no wise in the future
admit into our ranks those who have not an appreciable understanding of this
purpose as it is written in our history and is discovered to be fundamental in
our present program.
Those within the
Fraternity who have but a limited conception of the world mission of Masonry we
must at once intelligently convince what Masonry can do in this great land of
ours, at this moment of chaotic national condition, toward setting ourselves
solid again on the bedrock of democracy, as we have hitherto understood it and
have endeavored to practice it.
Freemasonry, let it be
understood by every Freemason in these United States, is an institution that is
vital in its relationship to American destiny. A just and necessary
understanding of this in all its phases will involve only such study as will
enable any Mason to intelligibly state the analogy between Masonry and
Americanism. His life and example should evince the fact that to be a good Mason
is to be a good American. For Americanism, we are emboldened to say, is the
latter day effort to incarnate our age old Masonic idealism in law for the
governing of an entire nation. That such teaching might become part and parcel
of every future American we are ready to declare ourselves as favoring the
acquiring at no distant date a number of institutions of learning throughout the
country to work under strict Masonic patronage with sufficient endowment that
will give instruction to Masons so desiring that instruction free from sectarian
or ecclesiastical bias, which will afford a future leadership in the Craft and
nation that can be depended upon always to state in language easily understood
the identity of principles of Americanism and Freemasonry.
Americanism conceived
upon a lofty basis is the laudable effort to practice the religion of the Hebrew
prophets and of the sages and saints of every clime in which humility, justice
and mercy were the shining virtues, and for the social establishment of which in
the world Jesus of Nazareth and every other God-conscious, human loving martyr
laid down his life.
We are compelled to
state further that we are of the firm opinion that the American social problems
can be solved only in an American way. If we will carry into the larger field of
our social activities that which we practice among ourselves we can meet as man
to man, and, stating our differences in the atmosphere of reasonable discussion,
we can arrive at the middle ground where justice for the contending parties is
invariably alone possible. Prolonged study of the great problems confronting us
at the present moment, however, is impossible the times are too critical and
investigations of commissions are proving quite costly, and such procrastination
of their settlement as thorough analysis would demand might find us soon in the
throes of civil war. Something must be done immediately to avert the possible
disaster. Let us then throw the flashlight on the main issues that, as Masons,
we may choose without hesitation that platform on which to act in order that
what we have hitherto apprehended as Americanism might in no wise be compromised
or set aside.
We are convinced on
both historical and economic grounds fully and fairly that whatever just grounds
there were for the Russian revolution that has since culminated in a
conglomerate mass of one hundred millions of people experimenting with
industrial democracy no such conditions as they experienced in Russia have
existed here that for one moment warrant the present national indiscriminate
Bolshevic tendencies in our midst.
No one will deny but
that we must insist that whatever problems exist shall be solved on the basis of
American political democracy before we take up such a panacea as is spelling mad
ruin for all peoples who are undertaking it. Let us firmly and strenuously
resist foreign interpretation and imputation of our economic evolution and
conditions. We have different valuations, standards and basis of life. We
breathe in a different atmosphere. What further proof do we need of this than is
furnished by groups of foreign born protesting against enforced naturalization,
or other groups insistently declaiming upon their right to speak and cultivate
in their children the habit of speaking the language of their parents' nativity.
Truly they are with us, but not of us.
Recently a gentleman
traveling in this country, and incidentally, through the prosperous State of
Iowa, referred to its inhabitants as people of "the State of hogs and corn."
That would probably suit us were it not that he added, "They have no ideals."
This man of the supercillious air, mind you, never deigned to talk with the
farmers of the State of Iowa to discover whether or not they had ideals, and his
stupidity prevented him from discerning the ideals reflected in our homes and
barns and well-tilled fields. We fear that the conferring of a title upon him,
about which he unremittingly reminded his audiences, had spoiled him. Verily our
offer of liberty to those who sought our shores for various noble reasons has
come to spell license.
For more than a
hundred years we have been at work in making practical a league of nations in
these United States. Here we believe God Almighty intended should be evolved
that creature born of many nations; a creature that should be free from
slavishness to caste, clan, prejudice, monarchial or ecclesiastical tyranny, or
the murderous fanaticism of mob rule. And that this might yet be every Mason is
pledged by the traditions, example and sacrifices of all the good men -
including the Father of his Country, who had the same hope and the same vision.
As a people we have
attained a character that is distinct from Russian, British or German. Our body
politic, our aspirations nationally, our social sympathies are not always alike.
Neither king rule nor mob rule will find a place in our economy. The only ground
of common perspective generally is on the plane of certain national and
international relationships where commensurate courtesies and obligations are
involved. But labor and social problems in America must be solved in America and
not by Russians in or out of America, or Germans who still harbor a conviction
that self-determining free peoples are an impossibility.
The Monroe doctrine
must be extended so as to protect our soul as well as our body. We must
therefore resist all invasion of our America whether it be garbed in
ecclesiastical raiment or in the blood-red form of anarchy. We can do so if we
will but draw the line that will speedily reveal the thing that is American and
the thing that is un-American without laying ourselves open to the charge of
opposing the League of Nations. We are all concerned here, let us state frankly,
with the vital issues that confront the American people which are daily
threatening in more deadly fashion our national disintegration.
We are not concerned
in bolstering up what might be sneered at as petty nationalism. We are concerned
rather with the preservation of the sort of nationalist that Masonry has always
stood for - the nationalism of a free people working out their destiny under a
democratic form of government that assures to rich and poor, high and low,
learned or ignorant, absolute equality before the law and equality of
opportunity for each and all.
As a nation we have
shown the stuff of which we are made. We stood by England and France against the
mad onslaught on the liberties of the world by a power-obsessed nation. And
whether there be aught realized in the near future that will bind us either
morally or legally, let the liberties of free peoples be ever endangered and
America's millions would again stand willing to bleed for sake of Freedom. But
America's present duty predominant is the preservation of American institutions
and to that end must Masonry with her tremendous power respond. Robert Tipton.
* * *
LODGE NIGHT
In these busy days,
when we wonder how long our nervous energy can last, and whether, after the
closing of our war work, we can meet the drains of the strenuous days to come,
how many of us appreciate what "Lodge Night" can be made to mean to us? We have
given so much of ourselves to the great cause, during the war - and this may
almost be said to apply to us in inverse ratio to the demands upon our time -
that there is an unrest in our souls, which not even a prolonged vacation can
overcome. Perhaps it is the strain which is pervading those who call themselves
our "working classes" and makes them oversensitive to the so-called enticements
of bolshevism and other "isms." Who knows? Is the whole atmosphere of unrest
which pervades the world nothing but this? Has our sense of fairness been so
internationalized that we cannot reduce its horizon? Has the reawakening of the
instinct of brute force done for us that which we intended it to do for our late
enemy? Has the determination to win focused our mental eyes on selfish things?
Ask these things of
yourself, my brother. Then consider what "lodge night" meant to your father. To
him it was a time of relaxation, characterized by an exchange of confidences, a
haven of rest. He mixed up with the ritualistic consideration of higher things a
few hours of that close, intimate, warmly-personal fellowship which in these
modern days we sometimes call gossip. Those things which affected the welfare of
his brother were of moment to him. At least half of the enjoyment of the meeting
was the ante-room talk and the almost hilarious accompaniment of the session -
sandwiches and coffee. Nowadays the lodge meeting begins just before or just
after the dinner hour - or as often in the afternoon, so that the degree mill
can complete its work. And by the time the lodge closes, everyone is so tired
that there is a rush home for bed, unless there is to be a banquet, with long,
barren, boresome talks. Of real fellowship there is little. We say there is not
time. WHY is there not time?
Dare you take your
lodge's temperature? Is there not evidence that in Masonry, as in nearly all
things else, we are feverish? Do we ever sit around a steam radiator, as our
fathers sat around the red hot stove, and talk and talk and talk, settling all
the great problems of the universe? We don't! We think of such discussions, with
an occasional story that would not pass muster in a drawing room, as "a waste of
time." Was it that? Or did it serve a purpose?
A salesman who
traveled by an overland route called one day on an Arkansas farmer. An exchange
of "howdydos" was followed by an elaborate presentation to the farmer of the
merits of some stock-food. The farmer was not interested. More argument on the
part of the salesman. Still no evidence of interest. "This food, mixed with the
regular grain diet which you now feed, will increase your production." "Yaas."
"Don't you see, if you will buy five hundred pounds of this food, and mix it
with the corn and oats you now feed, you will save time?" "Mebby so, yes."
"Won't you try it ?" "Nope." "Now, you don't seem to understand what I'm saying.
If you will mix this food, about one bushel to five of your regular grain
rations, the hog will fatten in two months as much as he would fatten without
this food in three months. Don't you see how much time will be saved?" "Yaas,
but what's time to a hog?" Ye Scribe would cast no aspersions at ritualism - he
is a ritualist himself - but if we remain ritual worshippers only we are no more
progressive than the farmer. Our Fraternity may well spend time in serious
consideration of an exchange of much of our ritual for a sane and up-to-date
interpretation of it.
Whether our descent be
from gilds, companies or colleges of artificers means little unless we apply the
principle of education which was the foundation of them all. "Apprentice, Fellow
Craft, Master" - even the words denote progress. The lodge was a school in
practical things. He who presided was a skilled artisan, all the more so if he
were in fact an architect. The teaching was an application of a great heritage
of principles to the work in hand, the labor of the day or year.
The lesson is obvious,
and absurdly simple.
The crying need of our
Fraternity today is for a leadership which will grasp the meaning of these
fundamental truths. What possible excuse can we offer to posterity for an
arrested development? We can boast of our numbers, our wealth and the character
of our membership. Each of these elements is potentially virile and upstanding.
Why are 2,000,000 of us, individually so strong, so impotent as a group?
America - the World - craves most, without knowing it, that which is our
priceless heritage. True brotherhood, put into action, will heal the
misunderstandings, direct the latent energies and palsy the hand of hate. It is
written in our fundamental documents, both as a nation and as a Fraternity. Time
was when our Masonic forbears were writing those documents, and upholding our
Government - challenging all who would break it down. The Government and the
Fraternity were both weak in numbers, in those days. Today there is an
increasing number of those who point to that Government as a monument of
failure. In essence they claim that the brotherhood has all oozed out of it.
Ought not every Mason
to be a missionary in behalf of this great governmental experiment - if, in
fact, it remains an experiment any longer? Missionaries have to be taught, if
they would be efficient exponents of their doctrine.
Who is going to teach
them?
Is not the task a
worthy one? Will it not make "Lodge Night" worth while? G.L.S.
----o----
MASONRY'S OBJECTIVE
BY BRO. L. B. MITCHELL, MICHIGAN
Masonry, to be its best in the "better by and by"
When the "safety
first" of men is the peace that's to endure,
Must have its one real
objective to a point beneath the sky
It must all its millions use for a purpose, noble, pure;
It must wield its
splendid strength for the highest concept known,
It must keep its heart
of hearts on the altar all its own.
But we find the wide world o'er that for common needs of
men
Institutions ever rise as the servants of the race
And that more and more
is dreamed of the time a coming when
Each may have his
right in right, each his wage in every place.
But all these should
have their care, they are mainly things that lie
Where the practical begins in the world's economy.
So the mystic Art of ours seems to stand out quite alone
Clear of every interest where mere policies are met
On a plane where those of heart are distinctively its own
Where the limit for the race in its upper trend is set.
So whate'er may come to this ever troubled world again
Masonry's objective still must be that of making men.
This has been its one
objective with relief, which goes with heart
And its lessons to the
Craft prompt to Love and Sacrifice, -
Fundamental things
that go to make it the gracious Art
Reaching to the things
supreme by which man may win the prize.
Then let Masonry make men for the callings of the earth,
'Tis the highest world
objective, giving to all others, worth.
----o----
A man may be outwardly
successful all his life long, and die hollow and worthless as a puff-ball; and
he may be externally defeated all his life long, and die in the royalty of a
kingdom established within him. A man's true estate of power and riches, is to
be himself; not in his dwelling; or position, or external relations, but in his
own essential character. That is the
realm in which he is to live if he
is to live as a Christian man. - H.W. Beecher
----o----
Rightly viewed no
meanest object is insignificant. All objects are as windows through which the
philosophic eye looks into Infinitude itself. - Thomas Carlyle.
----o----
The cautious seldom
err. - Confucius.
----o----
THE LIBRARY
EDITED BY BRO. ROBERT TIPTON
The object of this
Department is to acquaint our readers with time-tried Masonic books not always
familiar; with the best Masonic literature now being published; and with such
non-Masonic books as may especially appeal to Masons. The Library Editor will be
very glad to render any possible assistance to studious individuals or to study
clubs and lodges, either through this Department or by personal correspondence;
if you wish to learn something concerning any book - what is its nature, what is
its value, or how it may be obtained - be free to ask him. If you have read a
book which you think is worth a review write us about it; if you desire to
purchase a book - any book - we will help you get it, with no charge for the
service. Make this YOUR Department of Literary Consultation.
FOR THE YOUNG MASTER MASON - AND OTHERS
"A Primer of Masonic
History," by Bro. Henry Falls Evans. Published by Square and Compass,
4412 Beach Court, Denver, Colorado. Price 25 cents
THERE recently came
to our desk a small paper-covered book to which we desire to draw the attention
of all lodges. We feel that it fills a long felt need among the Craft. Written
under the title of "A Primer of Masonic History" it gives ample satisfaction
through reading and proves to fulfill its mission. Its notation of authorities
readily points out the breadth of the author's Masonic reading. His topical
arrangement leaves little wanting and gives the new initiate the things that he
should become acquainted with.
Lodges could well
indeed afford to possess themselves of this little work, which sells for 25
cents, and present it to their newly made Master Masons. We feel it would
satisfy that interest which invariably is shown by the newly made Mason and
which is so frequently left to go unministered to.
* * *
CAPABLE DISCUSSIONS ON VITAL QUESTIONS OF THE HOUR
"The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social
Science," published by the American Academy of Political and Social Science,
Station B. Philadelphia, Pa. Single copies of monthly issues, $1.00.
In the July issue of
the above-named publication, International Reconstruction in Europe and Asia is
ably dealt with by a score or more capable specialists. The Turkish and Russian
situations are dispassionately viewed and discussed by such men as Abram T.
Elkus, Morris Jastrow, Raymond Robbins and Baron Rosen, while the Peace question
is aptly handled by such men as Vice President Marshall, John Hays Hammond,
Senator Hitchcock and former Governor McCall of Massachusetts.
The unprejudiced,
scientific inquiry of eminent men upon topics of international import cannot but
minister toward an intelligible appreciation of the world problem and
consequently lend the invaluable aid to those who by their leadership and
position are trusted with the equitable adjustment of affairs after the war. We
could wish that the Annals were in the hands of every influential man in every
community. It would serve to temper the demagogue spirit and would assure a
reasonable discussion of the vital issues of the hour that would be void of
senseless passion, distrust and fanaticism.
* * *
AN INTERPRETATION OF ANATOLE FRANCE
"Anatole France," by Lewis Paget Shanks. The Open Court
Publishing Company, 122 South Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. $1.50.
Those desiring an
epitome of the life and works of Anatole France will find their desire gratified
in this volume by Lewis Paget Shanks. This appreciative interpretation of the
great Frenchman ought to arouse wider interest for the perusal of his works. It
contains vivid pictures of the transformation of the French dean of letters
which displays the evolution of the healthy human who is ever awake to the new
movements and things that are happening in the world. In France is displayed
that commingling of pessimism and idealism which has so often characterized
those who ultimately were revealed as great benefactors of human kind.
* * *
AN INTERESTING BIOGRAPHY OF AN ENGLISH MAN OF AFFAIRS
"The Story of My Life," by Sir Edward Clarke, K. C.
Published by E. P. Dutton and Company, 681 Fifth Avenue. New York. N Y
In this biographical
volume a distinguished Englishman and Freemason has given us a splendid picture
of the English man of affairs. The charming candor with which the book has been
written leaves no doubt as to its worth. From beginning to end a real life is
presented. Sorrow tinges it here and there, touching for one moment a folly of
childhood, the next concerned with the irreparable loss of loved ones.
But foremost of
impressions perhaps is left after perusing Sir Edward's political ambitions.
From this angle the book would have inspirational value for many of our budding
statesmen in the Craft. In tenor it is strictly English in its atmosphere, even
as Sir Edward's interests are strictly English. He is of the noble type of
conventional Englishman who takes it for granted that England, and London in
particular, is the hub of the
universe. He builds a church, addresses workingmen's clubs, is of unquestionable
loyalty toward his party leaders, thanks God for his wealth, health and
strength, and is a lover and worthy representative of our brethren of the tight
little Island.
* * *
AN INTERESTING LITTLE BOOK ON NEW THOUGHT WRITTEN IN AN
UNUSUAL VEIN
"The Law of Mind in Action," by Fenwicke L. Holmes.
Published by Robert M. McBride, 31 Union Square, N., New York City. Price $1.25.
A little volume of
interest written on a metaphysical basis. It is unusual in that it does not
follow the well-worn paths of the average New Thought book. Its lessons find a
psychological warrant and its atmosphere is redolent with devotional idealism.
To those interested in
New Thought we recommend
the addition of this volume to their collection.
NOVEMBER BOOK LIST
Publications Issued by the Society
1915 bound volume of THE BUILDER $ 3.00
1916 bound volume of THE BUILDER 3.00
1917 bound volume of THE BUILDER 3.00
1918 bound volume of THE BUILDER 3.50
Philosophy of Masonry, by Bro. Roscoe Pound, Dean of the
Harvard Law School 1.25
1722 Constitutions (reproduced by photographic plates from
an original copy in the archives of the
Iowa Masonic Library, Cedar Rapids.) Edition limited to 1,000
copies 2.00
"The Story of Old Glory, The Oldest Flag," by P.G.M. Barry,
Iowa, red buffing binding, gilt lettering,
illustrated 1.25
Same paper
covers .50
Symbolism of the First Degree, Gage, (pamphlet)
.15
Symbolism of the Third Degree, Ball, (pamphlet)
.15
Symbolism of the Three Degrees, Street,
paper covers .35
Deeper Aspects of Masonic Symbolism, Waite, (pamphlet)
.15
* * *
Publications from other sources, kept in stock at Anamosa
The Builders, a story and study of Masonry, by Brother
Joseph Fort Newton. formlerly Editor-in-Chief of THE BUILDER 1.50
Mackey's Encyclopaedia, 1918 edition, two volumes, black
Fabrikoid binding 15.00
Symbolism of Freemasonry, Mackey 3.15
True Principles of Freemasonry, Grant 2.00
Speculative Masonry, MacBride 2.00
"The Comacines, Their Predecessors and Their Successors,"
last remaining copies of the original English edition, cloth covers, sold only
in combination with the Society reprint of "Further Notes on the Comacine
Masters.” Both by W. Ravenscroft, England. Combination price 1.50
Concise History of Freemasonry, Robert Freke Gould, English
Edition 4.50
* * *
The above prices include postage and insurance or
registeration fee on all items except pamphlets. The latter will be sent by
regular mail, not insured or registered.
----o----
THE QUESTION BOX
THE BUILDER is an open
forum for free and fraternal discussion. Each of its contributors writes under
his own name, and is responsible for his own opinions. Believing that a unity of
spirit is better than a uniformity of opinion, the Research Society, as such,
does not champion any one school of Masonic thought as over against another, but
offers to all alike a medium for fellowship and instruction, leaving each to
stand or fall by its own merits.
The Question Box and
Correspondence Column are open to all members of the Society at all times.
Questions of any nature on Masonic subjects are earnestly invited from our
members, particularly those connected with lodges or study clubs which are
following our "Bulletin Course of Masonic Study." When requested, questions will
be answered promptly by mail before publication in this department.
DEMIT OR DIMIT
We have been asked which form of this word is correct and
why. Some Masons use one form and some another, while still others use either
form without distinction. The leading dictionaries of the English language are
not in all respects uniform in their definitions of these words, nor are they
necessarily in conflict except as to some unimportant details. These
dictionaries are the Oxford in England, and the Standard and Webster's New
International in this country. To these we might also add the Century and
Worcester, though the last named is now considered out of date. In order to
avoid a one- sided view of the subject we will consider what all these
dictionaries have to say about these words and their derivatives, insofar as
they have an application to Masonry. Therefore, consulting these dictionaries we
find that the verb "digit" is given by the Century and Standard with the
meaning, to dismiss, to permit to go, to send away. It is given as obsolete but
with the same definition by the Oxford and Worcester, and it is not given at all
by Webster. The verb "demit" is given as obsolete by Worcester, but all the
others give it as a living word with the meaning to resign, to give up, to lay
down, (as an office, etc.).
The noun "dimit" is given by the Century as meaning a
dimissory letter, written permission to leave a lodge. The Standard gives it
with the same meaning, but marks it obsolete. None of the others give it at all.
The noun "demit" is given by the Standard and Webster as meaning a letter of
recommendation given a person removing from one Masonic lodge to another; a
letter, certificate, or the like, certifying that a person has (honorably)
demitted, as from a Masonic lodge. The other dictionaries do not give it at all.
The noun "dimission" is given as obsolete by all the
dictionaries here quoted, but they all give the noun "demission" with the
meaning, a relinquishment, a resignation, etc.
Consolidating these definitions and assuming for the
present that we should recognize as valid a definition given as such by any one
of these dictionaries, we find that:
The verb "dimit" means to dismiss, to permit to go, etc.
The verb "demit" means to resign, to relinquish, etc.
Thus it would be incorrect to say "a brother dimits from a
lodge" since he does not dismiss or grant permission to go. The correct word is
"demit" in this case, since he resigns or relinquishes membership. If the lodge
had the right to accept or reject his resignation, to grant or refuse him
permission to go it might be correct to say the lodge dimitted the brother. If,
however, the lodge has no option, but must grant the request of the brother, if
he is in good standing, it cannot be said that they permit him to go. They
cannot permit what they cannot refuse. The power to permit implies also the
power to refuse. A man cannot prevent the sun from rising or setting and
therefore cannot permit it. The sun does not rise by reason of any such
permission nor is a brother's right to demit dependent on a permission granted
by his lodge. In most jurisdictions the only eases in which the lodge has an
option in the dismissal of a member is when he has been found guilty of
unmasonic conduct, and such dismissal is called expulsion.
The noun "dimit" is a written permission to leave a lodge
and if valid at all can apply only in cases where the lodge has the right to
grant or refuse such permission at its option. The noun "demit" is "a letter,
certificate or the like certifying that a person has (honorably) demitted, as
from a Masonic lodge." This correctly describes the fact and should therefore be
the proper word to use. The definition given by the Standard also includes the
definition given by the Century for the word "dimit" and implies that under
either definition the word should be spelled "demit."
The fact that the word "dimission" is given as obsolete by
all these dictionaries and the word "demission" is given as valid by all is
further evidence that the best and most consistent usage is to use the
correlative verb and noun "demit" rather than "dimit."
When we consult Masonic authorities we find more diversity
of opinion and practice, but here also the weight of authority is in favor of
"demit" rather than "dimit." In England the word "dimit" has never been used at
all. Anderson's Constitutions, where the word is used at all, gives it "demit."
Dr. Oliver uses "demit" in his Dictionary. The Proceedings of the Ars Quatuor
Coronati Lodge gives it "demit." The same thing is true of other English Masonic
writers. I have never seen the word "dimit" used by English writers and even
"demit" is now obsolete among English Masons. They use the word "resign" and
"resignation" instead. In this country the word "demit" has been constantly used
though not universally as in England. In the English editions of Dermott's
Ahiman Rezon as published in 1756 and subsequently, the word is given "demit."
The same is true of the American editions, though in some the word '
resignation" takes its place. According to Mackey the word "dimit" was not used
in America prior to 1860, and he calls its use "a modern, American, and wholly
indefensible corruption of the technical word 'demit."' He also says "A Mason
demits from his lodge: he resigns. He takes out his demit; he asks for and
receives an acceptance of his resignation."
The American authorities usually cited to establish the
validity of word "dimit" are Lockwood's "Masonic Law and Practice," Chase's
"Digest of Masonic Law," Drummond's "Maine Masonic Text Book" and Macoy's
"Cyclopedia." On investigating the references to these works, I find that
Lockwood defines a "dimit" as the effect of a majority vote granting the
"dimission." This is certainly something entirely different from the present
idea of a demit and would not apply to a ease where the lodge had no vote. It
also loses sight of the fact that all the dictionaries now give "dimission" as
obsolete. Drummond also makes the demit depend upon a vote of the lodge granting
it. Chase uses "demit" instead of "dimit" and I cannot understand why he should
have been cited as giving "dimit." Macoy defines "dimit" as a withdrawal from
membership, which is contrary to the universally accepted definition of this
form of the word. He also says that the word "dimit" is from the Latin "dimitto"
meaning "I permit to go." This is true, and the word "dimit" derived from it, if
valid at all is "a permission to go" not "a withdrawal."
Much confusion has been caused by a misconception of the
derivation of these words. It has been generally stated by Masonic writers that
"dimit" comes from the Latin word "dimitto" and "demit" from the word "demitto."
The latter word means I let down, I lower, I sink, I stoop, etc., and there are
English words derived from it which have the same or similar meanings. This,
however, is not the word used in Masonry. The prefix "di" in Latin means away
from, and so does the prefix "de," but "di" means on the same level, while "de"
carries the idea of downward and a lower position. Many words in passing from
the Classical Latin into English changed their forms, and so words in "di"
frequently change to "de." That is the ease with this word. The Century, the
Standard, Webster's New International, and the Oxford dictionaries are agreed
that the word "dimitto" in passing into English took both the form "dimission"
and "demission" and that the form "dimission" is now obsolete. When we turn to
the Latin dictionary we find that the word "dimitto" has two meanings, (1) "I
send away," "I dismiss," etc. (2) "I voluntarily let go, give up, abandon."
Coming into the English by way of the late Latin or French,
words in "di" frequently change to "de" and thus it happens that both "dimitto"
and "demitto" came into English as "demission" instead of "dimission." The
dictionaries give the following:
Demission, from dimitto, obsolete. A lowering; degradation;
depression.
Demission, from demitto, living. A relinquishment;
resignation; transference.
Dimission, from dimitto, obsolete. Leave to depart.
Demit, verb, from demitto, obsolete. To lower; depress;
submit; humble.
Demit, verb, from dimitto, living. To lay down formally, as
an office; resign, relinquish; transfer. (Not given by Worcester.)
Dimit, verb, from dimitto, living according to Century and
Standard; obsolete according to Oxford, Worcester and Webster. To dismiss;
permit to go.
Demit, noun, from demitto. Living according to Standard.
Not given by Webster, Oxford, Century or Worcester. A letter of dismissal;
specifically, a recommendation given to a person removing from one Masonic lodge
to another.
Demit, noun, from dimitto. Not given by Standard, Century,
Oxford or Worcester. Living according to Webster. Act of demitting; also, a
letter, certificate or the like, certifying that a person has (honorably)
demitted, as from a Masonic lodge.
Dimit, noun, from dimitto. Not given by Oxford, Standard,
Webster or Worcester. Living according to Century. A dimissory letter; written
permission to leave a lodge, implying good standing in the lodge left, and thus
no disability to affiliate with another lodge.
As Worcester does not recognize either "demit" or "dimit"
in the form of either a verb or a noun, we shall confine our summary to the
other four dictionaries.
Of the living verbs, all four give "demit," and two, the
Century and Standard, also give "dimit," but with a different meaning from
"demit."
Of the living nouns the Oxford gives neither "demit" nor
"dimit"; the Century gives only "dimit," and two, the Standard and Webster, give
"demit" with similar meanings though they derive it from different Latin words.
C. C. Hunt, Iowa.
(A study of the
forty-nine Codes of the Grand Lodges of the United States reveals the fact that
forty-one use the word "dimit" while but eight use "demit." - Editor.)
* * *
SHRINE HISTORY AND MAGAZINE
Can you inform me if
there are any books or histories published on the A.A.O.N.M.S. (Shrine) ?
If so, how and where
may I obtain them ! A.M., Georgia.
About three years ago
there was announced the prospective publication of a "History of the Mystic
Shrine" written by William Ross, historian of Lulu Temple, Philadelphia, Pa. As
to the scope and value of this work we cannot speak, there being no copy of it
in the Society's library. Neither have we the address of Brother Ross but this
can doubtless be obtained by writing Brother John Bolard, Masonic Temple,
Philadelphia.
To any one in search
of a newsy little Shrine magazine we would recommend "The Crescent," published
by The Crescent Publishing Company, St. Paul, Minn., as the best of its kind
coming to our exchange table.
----o----
CORRESPONDENCE
LODGE NOTICES
Brother Master, and
Brother Secretary, do you send out lodge notices week after week on the usual
postal card form, with substantially the same wording every time: "A Special
Communication of Blank Lodge No. Blank will be held on Wednesday, November 5th,
at 8 p. m. Work in the Blank degree. Come"? And then after acquiring a quorum
about 8:30 or 8:45 p. m. are you compelled to press into service several Past
Masters (if any such happen to be present) or others who may only have a
superficial knowledge of the part they are asked to take, to enable you to
initiate, pass or raise some young brother who is expecting a great deal more
than he sometimes gets? And, after the work is over, are you compelled to
apologize to the visitor from another lodge who has dropped in, and sometimes to
the candidate, for the poor degree work and small attendance? And do you then
sit around a while in the anteroom before going home and ask each other "why
Brother So-and-So never comes out to the meetings any more" and wonder "if the
attendance will ever pick up" ?
Change your
advertising system!
Dig up a publicity man
out of your membership. Get him to write "copy" for your lodge notices, insert a
few chatty personals, take a few ideas from some of the articles you have read
in a recent issue of THE BUILDER and write a few paragraphs on them, tell how
many were present at your last meeting and about the good time you had. After
you have had a little experience with the first two or three notices you will
find it easier to get up the next ones. New items will continually suggest
themselves and you will soon be piled up with stuff that you will have to hold
over for the next bulletin.
If yours is a small
lodge with a resident membership of around one hundred, more or less, you can
get your bulletin out on a typewriter, using thin paper and making carbon
copies. Or you cart get some business man who is a member of the lodge to run
them off on his duplicating machine for you. The expense would be almost
nothing, and if a duplicating machine were used you could mail the notices in
unsealed envelopes for one-cent postage. But it would be better to spend another
cent and send them out in sealed envelopes.
Ye scribe personally
knows of a lodge that started this scheme several years ago and the average
attendance has since been over seventy-five per cent. of the resident membership
and at many meetings it is practically one hundred per cent. Continual weekly,
bimonthly or monthly bulletins each containing a few interesting items on
Masonic subjects and stressing the gains in attendance at each meeting will wake
up the majority of the neglectful ones and bring them out to the meetings. Get a
bunch of boosters to form the habit of speaking to those of irregular attendance
every time they meet them on the street and get them to promise to come out to
the next meeting. If the bulletins are sent out to these brethren regularly they
cannot offer the excuse that they are not informed as to what is going on at the
lodge.
If you want to try out
this scheme here is a specimen of a bulletin issued by Hatheway Lodge No. 869.
at Rome. N. Y.:
THE HATHEWAY HANDBILL
Vol. 1, No. 3 Friday, Sept. 19,1919.
FIRST DEGREE
this week Friday. On
your toes now and make it a whale of a meeting. Give your officers
encouragement. They will give you a snappy degree. By the way we worked the
Third in full form last Friday and closed at 10:30. That's moving some! The
Hatheway gavel falls at the stroke of eight.
BUCK UP
says Harry Buck, our
R.W.D.D. in the enclosed circular. Don't forget it's this week Saturday the
20th. Meet at OUR Temple not later than 12:30. We will try to get under way at
1:00. Bring your auto. If you haven't one we will find you a seat.
UTICA
The six Utica lodges
have re-adjusted their initiation fees on a uniform basis of $75. Utica Masons
are vigorously pushing a movement to erect a new Temple.
EDICT
The enforcement of the
Grand Master's Edict, requiring all lodges in this jurisdiction to work in the
English language has been postponed to January 1st, next.
ROUND NUMBERS
2,000,000 Masons in
the U.S., 200,000 in N. Y. State, 660 in Rome. 500,000 R. A. and 250,000 K.T.
Masons in the U.S.
CONCLUSIONS
"The conclusion drawn
by your mission (our overseas mission - Ed.) is that the Masonic fraternity's
efforts to engage independently in overseas vicar relief work were secretly
opposed and thwarted by influences hostile to us." Interested? Then phone. We
have a number of copies of this amazing report for circulation among our
members.
MASSACHUSETTS
Grand Lodge recently
sent a check in the sum of $5,000 for the use of our overseas mission. Hats off
to Mass.
PROVE IT
"The ways of virtue
are beautiful. Knowledge is gained by degrees. Wisdom dwells with contemplation;
there we must seek her." First and third Fridays each month. First degree this
week.
THE PRINCE
of Wales, now on this
side of the pond, was recently Raised in Household Brigade Lodge. His
great-uncle, the Duke of Connaught, is Grand Master of England.
SWEDENBORG
The divine essence itself is love and wisdom.
RESERVOIR
until Friday night. Grab your boot-straps and pull.
Frank S. Baker, Master-Ed.
Kenneth M. Bow, Sec'y-Pub.
Jas. F. Maclaughlin, Printer.
* * *
A RECORD-BREAKING COMMUNICATION
An unusual event in
Masonic history occurred at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, when the longest
Communication ever held by any Masonic lodge in the world was held by Oklahoma
City Lodge No. 36, A. F. & A. M., beginning at High Twelve, Wednesdey, August
27th, and remaining in continuous session until Low Twelve, Saturday, August
30th, 1919. This Communication was held for the purpose of conferring the Master
Mason degree upon a class of sixty-nine candidates.
The work was done
under the direction of C. M. March, Worshipful Master, A. G. Hoge, Senior
Warden, E. C. Stentz, Junior Warden, G. W. Spencer, Secretary. The degree work
was done by four teams, working shifts of six hours each. The degrees were put
on in full form, with but one candidate and one team working at a time. The
candidates were not railroaded through, but given the work, one hour being taken
for each candidate. It was concluded with the twelve Fellow Craft movement and
full explanatory lectures.
Refreshments were
served continually to a large number of workers and visitors, the exercises
being concluded with a banquet and ball. William Noble, Oklahoma.
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