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 Masonic quotes by Brothers

THE BUILDER MAGAZINE

January 1922

volume 8 - number 1

The Lincoln Memorial

By The Editor

IN 1911 the Congress of the United States appointed a commission to erect in the city of Washington a suitable memorial to Abraham Lincoln. President William Howard Taft was made chairman. By the time these words appear in print the Memorial will have been opened to the public.

The Commission chose as chief architect Henry Bacon. Mr. Bacon selected as his co-workers Daniel Chester French, who was given charge of all sculpturing; and Jules Guerin, who was appointed to make the mural paintings. From the very first these three artists, each of international distinction in his field, worked in a spirit of unity so complete that it sets at naught the cheap canards about the temperamental egotisms of such men. Each linked hands with the other two, and the three together, after years of daily familiarity with the mind and soul of Lincoln, at last produced a new parthenon which will remain in the long hereafter of this nation an adequate and appropriate monument of him who is the chief treasure of these people.

The building stands in Potomac Park on a line due east and west with the Capitol and the Washington Monument. There is nothing of vulgar display about it, and it cost only about two million dollars, but every stone in it has been selected and wrought with loving care. Down to the last workman the great undertaking has come to completion unmarred by break or accident: there was no strike; no man was killed, or even seriously injured; not even when the great caissons were sunk beneath the ground, or when the twenty-three ton stones were brought from their quarries in the Colorado mountains. Artists and workmen wrought together in the fraternal spirit of the ancient guilds, as though the kindly and human presence of Lincoln himself were somehow real to every one of them.

The building is simple but impressive. The key to it is unity expressed through beauty and preserved in majesty. It is lovely to see from whatever point one may behold it, and the view from the old home of Robert E. Lee, as the writer himself will ever remember, is singularly appealing, especially as one bears in mind how much alike in soul were the two heroes whose paths diverged so widely. It is good to know that a bridge is planned to connect the site of the Memorial with the opposite shore, thus bringing the old north and the old south visibly and symbolically together, as they really are in these new times.

The central and dominating space in the Memorial building is reserved entirely for the great statue which has received from Lord Charnwood, the distinguished English biographer of Lincoln, the encomium of being the statue. It exhibits Lincoln as President, filled with unobtrusive but conscious power, a man who has grown up to his almost superhuman tasks, who neither shrinks nor blusters, and who easily passes from repose to action. The hands are expressive of capacity, but finely human; the feet are a little drawn together, as they always are in moments of urgent thought; the clothing is that of a man who cared little for the vanities, but who was not slovenly; and the great sculpturesque head, with its wide but sunken eyes, its familiar beard and its deep lines, is that of the veridical man, unspoiled by any attempt on the part of the sculptor to appeal to us by melodramatic exaggeration. The real Lincoln was not a man of over soft sentimentality and melancholy, with a weak body, but one consciously strong, whose secret was his magnificent mental power, and it is this Lincoln that inhabits the great Memorial.

The Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural are engraved in the walls. Their spirit and idea are translated into paintings by Guerin, and altogether speak the same word, that this man, who was neither a demi-god nor a demagogue, somehow embodied in himself that which this nation most seriously reverences in its secret soul.

The building as a whole, with its trees, its gradings and terraces, will become one of our national treasures, along with the Capitol and the House of the Temple. It is unspoiled by any exotic appeal, or by that which is merely flashy, temporary, and popular. It is, as John Hay said it should be, "isolated, distinguished and serene." To eulogize it is as vulgar as it is to eulogize the man whose name it has been set to commemorate forever.

OVERSEAS MASONIC CLUBS

ONE of the valuable labors of the Overseas Masonic Mission was its energetic campaign to secure the names and records of Military Masonic Clubs. Unfortunately but a few of the itinerant clubs were secured. Unless some active member of each of these clubs volunteers to forward the name and history of his organization Masonic Club its record will be forever lost. Many ot these clubs had an existence and did a splendid work. It is to be hoped that a movement may be started to preserve their records with those already registered.

These clubs in the Roster of the Overseas Masonic Commission are not chronologically placed. the oldest in time I have discovered in my search is the Knights of the Forest No. 102, Masonic Club. This club was within the 102d Regiment F. A. Its officers were designated as Chief-of-Section, Caisson Corporal, and Gunners. The club was organized at a camp in Brittany, on Oct. 30, 1917, during the final training for active service. As a part of the 26th Division, this regiment saw active service and the members of this Masonic Club acquitted themselves in true Masonic manner.

Most of the clubs were in permanent camps, depots, and headquarters cities. They were offered by brethren from high and low military rank, and from among welfare workers. One club - Gondrecourt Masonic Club, A.P.O. Kiowas offered by Salvation Army men - R.M. Dilley and a brother Hale. These brethren together with other brethren working in this welfare organization did awn active Masonic work for the Craft.

The following roster is as complete as any yet attempted by any Masonic writer. It comprises the list secured by the Overseas Masonic Mission together with nasnes of clubs secured by the writer through various channels. The rosters of these clubs are mostly in the hands of the brethren of Sea and Field Lodge No. 1, New York, from whom information can be had.

----o----

THE POT OF INCENSE

BY BRO. FRANK C. HICKMAN, MICHIGAN

What beauty this that I behold!

What means this burning, smoking urn!

This carved and tasseled pot of gold;

Its meaning I cannot discern.

How fraceful, tho' inanimate!

So silent, yet bespeaking good, How stately too: I venerate!

I would I only understood.

Ah! Now I hear a still small voiee.

It whispers wisdom unto me.

Enraptured, oh, how I rejoice!

To learn the truth, to know, to see.

"An emblem of a pure heart;"

A token of fraternity.

"A sacrifice of good report;

"Acceptable to Deity."

"And as this glows with fervent heat,"

"Continually our hearts should glow,"-

"With gratitude" and love replete,

To Him from Whom all blessings flow.

----o----

"SKETCH FOR THE HISTORY OF THE DlONYSIAN ARTIFICERS" BEING REPRINTED

We have had many requests for copies of this work, which was published in London in 1820. It has been out of print since a short time after its publication and copies have been unprocurable at any price. Now those brethren who are interested in securing a copy may do so by writing the publisher of The Montana Mason, Great Falls, Montana, in which publication it being reprinted in serial form in the issues for November, December, January and February.

----o----

The fountain of beauty is the heart, and every genero thought illustrates the walls of its chambers. - Emerson.

THE DUE GUARD

BY BRO.  WILDEY E. ATCHISON, IOWA

IT IS OFTEN noted that Masonic writers hesitate to offer any explanation of the term "due guard," averring that it is merely a form of words which was once in use, but is now grown obsolete, as if that were genuine explanation.  Scholars should not close the book of interpretation merely because a thing has fallen out of use.  Mackey's Encyclopedia, so it seems, has dropped into this error.  On page 222 of the first volume of that useful compendium we read that "Due Guard" is a mode of recognition which derives its name from its object, which is to "duly guard" the person using it in reference to his obligation.  Dr. Mackey then goes on to say that this term is "an Americanism" and therefore of recent origin, though he refers to a ritual of 1757 in which it is used.

Now there is reason to believe that "due guard" goes back to a time long prior to 1757, or to 1727, or to 1717, and that it came very reasonably from a phrase which was once the name of a town, whereby hangs a long tale, too long for the telling here, though it may be attempted at a later date.

Those who have read aught of the history of book-and paper-making know that these two trades were in the very van of those enlightened ones who led that great movement against the papacy, and all connoted thereby, which resulted at last in the Reformation and the Renaissance.  Now it happens, as has been shown conclusively by various scholars working as specialists in this field, that these "Reformers before the Reformation" had to work in secret, and by means of signs and watchwords, lest they be detected by the authorities and therefrom suffer grievous evils.

Always there was a movement against the seven tyrannies of Rome but it was not until the beginning of the thirteenth century that this movement assumed such formidable movements as led the Holy Father to send out Bulls of destruction, which Bulls and their carrying out, left on the pages of history the reddest and angriest scars that Clio has to look upon.

Those who wrote books, those who printed books, and those who manufactured the paper and binding of these books, were naturally in the closest federation so far as all intellectual aims were concerned, and the members of these allied trades, so it may be safely said, formed a kind of great unorganized fraternity which worked underground in behalf of enlightenment.  The paper-makers were in the habit of watermarking their stock with emblematic devices which were understood by the initiated; and the printers used for head-pieces and tail-pieces, and for initial ornaments, such cunning figures as, to those on the inside, meant very much; and the authors themselves, by a clever use of capital letters and such makeshifts, were able to flash to the scattered friends of Learning that they had many brethren here and there though they might know it not.  A watermark was very often a call across the dark by one brother to another in order to carry a word of hope, recognition, and encouragement.

Now it happens that one of the towns at the very centre of the French paper-making trade was called "Dieu le garde," which, in our more familiar speech, connotes "God Guard It." In after years usage changed the name to various forms, such as Dulegard, Daulegard, etc., but it is evident that the French of that community never forgot the origin of the unusual name.

What more natural thing than that the Albigensian paper-makers should hit upon this name of one of their towns as an excellent device to use in their water-marks! Many such watermarks exist.  One of them, a copy of which lies before me as I write, carries an elaborate symbolism in which one may detect the emblems of Light, of Brotherly Love, of the Bright and Morning Star, of the Spirit of Truth, etc., with a band across the bottom in which are the letters that spell "Daulegard."

But what has this to do with Freemasonry? This, that it seems very reasonable to suppose that among the various institutions the members of which in those days had completely outgrown the puerile superstitions enforced by the papacy must have been the Masonic lodges.  I believe that this will some day be proved by documentary evidence.  I am convinced myself that others of the fraternities existing in secret at that time, such as the various schools of the Alchemists, and, later, the Rosicrucians, had some connections with the Masonic Fraternity, and left in its symbolism certain emblems and ideas of their own.  In other words, Freemasonry in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries was one of many secret fraternities the members of which were devoted to a campaign of enlightenment (which in those days meant anti-Rome) and it therefore fell heir to a whole stream of occult and symbolical lore which was devised to meet the situation at the time, which situation was that men could not, except at the peril of their lives, speak in public what every man of intelligence knew in his private mind.

Among these devices, symbols, or emblems thus inherited was this favourite paper-maker's device, "Dieu le garde," "God Guard It." This hypothesis seems reasonable to me; it has a host of facts behind it; and it gives to the expression as we have it a meaning and some significance, a thing that cannot be said of the Mackey hypothesis that "Due Guard" means to "guard

duly."

----o----

I hold that Christian grace abounds

Where chaity is seen; that when

We climb to Heaven, ‘tis on the rounds

Of love to men

- Alice Carey.

----o----

MASONIC BIBLIOGRAPHY BY BRO. SILAS H. SHEPHERD, WISCONSIN

The homely adage that one cannot make rabbit soup until he has captured his rabbit is brought home to the Masonic student times without number, for if there is anything difficult to capture it is a Masonic Bibliography. And they who undertake to fashion the same, and who succeed therein, even in small measure, deserve the plaudits of the Craft. All this by way of introducing one of the most successful essays in Masonic Bibliography that has ever come to the ink-stained ye editor. The literary engineer responsible for the success of this venture is Bro. Silas H. Shepherd who has been for years a member of the Committee on Masonic Research of the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin, and whose name is familiar to our readers, albeit not as familiar as it should be, and will be, we trust. "Masonic Bibliographies and Catalogues" is published in paper bindings by the above mentioned Committee, and is number 11 in the series of their publications. Bro. Shepherd has been assisted by Brothers Henry A. Crosby and George C. Nuesse, his colleagues on the Committee.

FOREWORD

NO PHASE of Masonic study is more fascinating than to acquire an intimate knowledge of its books, their authors, or the several editions of the more important works, such as the "Book of Constitutions," "The Pocket Companion," Preston's "Illustrations of Masonry," the "Old Charges" and the Webb "Monitors."

The following list of bibliographies and catalogues, and the few references to works containing information of bibliographical nature may be welcome to those who realize the importance of securing this information, not only for their own pleasure, but that they may be better prepared to lead those who are taking their first steps in the pursuit of Masonic knowledge. It may also be of assistance to lodge librarians with limited experience.

The compilation of the present list is the first of its kind since H.J. Whymper's "Catalogue of Bibliographies, etc.," issued in 1891. Only 100 copies of that work were printed, consequently it is very scarce and practically unavailable. The following list was first published in "Masonic Tidings" by our Committee, and has since been revised and enlarged.

"Bibliographie der Freimaurerischen Literatur," by August Wolfstieg, published by A. Hopfer, Burg, B.M. 1911-1913, 3 volumes, is the most complete Masonic bibliography ever compiled. It is printed in Roman type, with the titles and authors of the listed works given in the language they were written in, which makes the compilation of value even to those with a knowledge of English only. It was published at 73.50 marks, but is now quoted to American buyers at 850 marks.

Claude Antoine Thory, a French Masonic writer of the Nineteenth century, included in his "Acta Latomorum" (1815), a bibliography of the principal Masonic works from 1717 to that date, and was the pioneer in this field. H.J. Whymper says: "The bibliography in Thory's Acta Latomorum is the first genuine bibliography we possess."

Dr. George B. F. Kloss, a distinguished German Masonic writer, compiled "Bibliographie der Freimaurerie und der mit ihr in Verbindung gesetzten geheimen Gesellschaften" in 1844. This contained a list of over six thousand works in many languages, with critical notes on the more important, making it of great value even at present.

The recent production of Wolfstieg's Bibliography culminates a series of bibliographical works in France and Germany of which Reinhold Taute's "Maurerische Bucherkunde" (Leipzig, 1896), and Paul Fesch's Bibliographie de la Franc-Maconnerie" (Paris, 1912) good examples.

An English translation of Wolfstieg's work would receive a warm welcome, but a complete and thorough bibliography of Masonic literature in English would be of greater value if it contained ISCONSIN entary notes as have been given by Hughan, Dring, Carson, Whymper, Parvin, Mackey and others.

Many of the catalogues listed in this compilation are out of print and scarce. Copies of those marked * are possessed by the writer, and have only been acquired after several years of search and at considerable expense.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite

Ancient and Accepted Rite See "Supreme Council." See "England, Supreme Council."

Abell, A. G.

See "California, Library of the Grand Lodge of." (No 10.)

1. Adelaide

Catalogue of works in the Library of St. Alban's Lodge No. 38, Adelaide, So. Australia, 1899.

This catalogue is listed as "No. 295," in Wolfstieg's "Bibliographie."

Armitage, Edward

See "England, Supreme Council." (No. 33.)

2. Bain, George Washington

Catalogue of Masonic Books, Engravings, Medals, Jewels, Curios and Certificates in possession of George Washington, Bain, Durham. With interesting Archaeological Notes by W.J. Hughan and J.R. Riley. 8vo. Sunderland, 1893, 39 pages.

3. Bain, George Washington

Catalogue of Masonic Books offered for sale by Brother G.W. Bain. Sunderland, March, 1895.

Duplicate copies offered for sale.

Bangs, Merwin & Co.*

Catalogue of Important Masonic Books.

See"Steinbrenner, G. W." (No. 147.)

4. Barthelmes, R. (M. D.)

Bibliography of Freemasonry in America. New York, 1856. 8vo.

Baxter, Rodk. H.

See "Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076."(No. 125.)

5. Bengal (India)

Catalogue of the Library belonging to the District Grand Lodge of Bengal, 1910. 26 pages.

6. Bernard

Catalogus Manuscriptorum Angliae, Oxford, 1697, contains earliest known record of the Regius MS.

Biggs, Rev. Henry S.

See "Leicester, England." (No. 84.)

7. Bombay Masonic General Library

Catalogue of the Bombay Masonic General Library, Bombay, 1868.

8. Bower, Robt. F.

A list of special Masonic wants of Robt. F. Bower. (MS.) Keokuk, Iowa, 1878.

9. Boyden, William L.

Classification of the Literature of Freemasonry and Related Societies. By William L. Boyden, Washington, D. C.,

Although this is not a bibliography, it shows the vast ramification of the literature of Freemasonry, and is intimately connected with bibliography. "A system of card membership record for Masonic bodies and a scheme of classification for Masonic books," by Frank J. Thompson, Fargo, N. D., 1903, and the "Librarian's Report" of the Grand Lodge of Iowa for 1918 may also be noted as of interest to librarians.

10. California, Library of the Grand Lodge

Catalogue of the Books on Masonry in the Library of the Grand Lodge of California. October, 1872. By A. G. Abell Grand Secr