THE BUILDER MAGAZINE
july 1922
volume 8 - number 7
The George Washington
Masonic National Memorial
BY BRO. LOUIS A. WATRES, P.G.M., PA., PRESIDENT, THE GEORGE
WASHlNGTON MASONIC NATIONAL MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION
TWELVE YEARS ago on
the 22nd of February prominent Masons from several of our Grand Jurisdictions
gathered at Alexandria, Virginia, to discuss the feasibility of erecting a
fitting Memorial to Washington, the Mason. As they met in the historical lodge
room of Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22, the sacred environment and the
hallowed memories of him who presided over the lodge while he was Chief
Magistrate fired them anew with the spirit of Masonry. Though fully conscious of
the fact that the history of Washington, the Mason, is a saered heritage of the
Republic, they strongly felt, as all Freemasons truly feel, that Washington's
connection with Masonry and the inspiration he gave to the Fraternity are
especially dear to the brethren. Remembering the invaluable services rendered by
Washington to his country, and that to him and those Masons who were closely
associated with him was due the fact that the fundamentals of Freemasonry were
made a part of the basic law of our land, they resolved to erect at Alexandria a
memorial which should reflect the gratitude of the Masons of the United States
to him in whose memory it should stand in the coming years.
To carry out this high
purpose, the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association was formed.
That distinguished Mason, Brother Thomas J. Shryock, of Maryland, was elected
President and plans were formulated under which the work was to proceed.
In this connection it
is proper to say that ever since its inception one of the most inspiring minds
in this great movement has been that of Brother Charles H. Callahan, of
Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22. He is the author of that splendid volume
entitled "Washington, the Man and the Mason." The data assembled by Brother
Callahan and his fascinating was of presenting the facts relating to Washington,
the Mason, have been and are of great assistance toward the consummation of our
movement.
The brethren of
Alexandria generously donated for the Memorial a little over two acres of land
on Shooter's Hill on the commanding
Arlington Ridge, and the Association has since acquired about twenty-nine acres,
so that now the site contains approximately thirty-two acres. The National
Cemetery at Arling ton is also located on the beautiful Arlington Ridge.
Each year since that
first meeting the Association has assembled on the 22nd of February, and each
year has seen marked progress in the movement.
In 1917 the
Association resolved to broaden its organization and to commit the Masons of the
United States to "the erection of a Temple costing not less than $500,000 with
an endowment fund of $250,000.” As the importance of our great movement has
developed, however, it has been resolved to make our objective as many dollars
as there are Masons in the United States, approximately 2,500,000, and to
arrange for every Grand Jurisdiction to fill its quota, which is as many dollars
as there are brethren in the respecting jurisdictions.
At our convention in
February we had paid in, in cash, $708,223.31, of which $577,100 was invested in
United States Govermnent securities; the balance to be thus invested and cash
retained sufficient to pay for the work for which contracts are now about to be
let.
A number of the Grand
Jurisdictions have already gone over the top. Massachusetts, with 92,000 Masons,
has paid in, in cash, over $110,000, and the Grand Lodge has in addition thereto
agreed to pay $5,000 when called upon. New Hampshire is one hundred per cent.;
so is Connecticut. Rhode Island is over the top. So is the District of Columbia.
Maryland and Delaware are over one hundred per cent. Pennsylvania has paid in
$93,500. The States of Washington, Arizona and Utah are over the top. Illinois
has paid in to our Treasurer $49,000, and there is a very substantial sum now in
the hands of its Grand Treasurer. New Jersey has paid in nearly $50,000. Some of
the Grand Jurisdictions are just getting at work, among them New York under the
chairmanship of Past Grand Master Judge William S. Farmer. Iowa, Minnesota,
Michigan, the Dakotas, Missouri, Texas, and many others of the Western and
Southern States are enthusiastic in the movement; and there is no possible doubt
that the objective will be reached and that the money will be available as
required.
One year ago the Board
of Directors was authorized to employ an architect and to submit to our Twelfth
Annual Convention plans and a model of the proposed Memorial Temple. Helmle and
Corbett, of New York, were engaged as Architects, and S. Eugene Osgood, 33d, of
Grand Rapids, Michigan, was employed as Consulting Architect. It is also
proposed to engage Olmsted Brothers, of Brookline, Mass., as Landscape
Architects.
The plans and model
prepared by the architects were approved by the Executive Committee and the
Board of Directors and submitted to the Association on the 22nd of February
last.
On that occasion the
firm of architects was represented by Harvey Wiley Corbett. He is a graduate
engineer of the University of California, and a graduate architect, Ecole des
Beaux Arts, Paris. He received a government diploma and is seven times a
Medalist. The Nero York Chapter, American Institute of Architects, presented him
with a Medal of Honor. He built the Springfield Municipal Group at Springfield,
Mass.; the Bush Terminal Office Building, New York; the Bush Buildings, of
London, England; and other notable structures.
S. Eugene Osgood,
representing the firm of Osgood and Osgood, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a 33d
Mason, Past Master of his Blue Lodge, and Past Commander-in-Chief of his
Consistory. During the last fifteen years he has designed many notable Masonic
Temples. He received his architectural training at Cornell University, and is
the junior member of a firm that has been in continuous architectural practice
for over forty-five years.
In presenting the
model and plans to our Association for approval, Brother Corbett gave us in a
most interesting manner a vision of the Memorial. In opening his remarks he
said:
"The George Washington
Masonic National Memorial is primarily a memorial to George Washington, the Man
and the Mason. Its form is inspired by the great towers built in the ancient
days of Greece and Rome to mark the entrances to their harbors and from whose
summits permanent burning flares that could be seen for miles at sea, guided the
mariner on his way. The great tower of the Memorial represents to the world at
large the guiding spirit of Washington in statesmanship, and his revered
precepts which for all time will set an example by which the Ship of State may
direct its course.”
Brother Corbett, in
continuing his description, did not undertake to go into the details of the
plans, but gave us an excellent conception of what the work is to include.
The Temple will be in
plain view of Washington, D. C., and will be passed by all who travel between
the City of Washington and George Washington's old home at Mt. Vernon. The
edifice will be surrounded by artistic landscaping, and will be reached by broad
walks and stone steps ascending through seven terraces. From the topmost
colonnaded tower of the Memorial, visitors will view for many miles around the
region in which the immortal Washington passed a great part of his life.
The architecture is
classic. The main masses of the building comprise a base in which will be
located the great George Washington Memorial Hall and various Masonic rooms, and
above this base will rise a form of tower.
The dimension of the
edifice over all will be one hundred and sixty feet in width, by two hundred and
thirty feet in depth, exclusive of its steps, terraces, and approaches. Its
height to the summit of the covered observation platform crowning the tower will
be two hundred feet.
One of the most
stately features will be a great atrium, seventy feet wide, by one hundred feet
deep, which will form the Memorial Hall, and in which it is now proposed to set
a statue of George Washington. This great hall will be sixty-four feet in
height, rising by a clerestory above the surrounding portion of the building. It
will be flanked by great Ionic columns, forty feet high, and surrounded by a
number of rooms devoted to Masonic interests, above the roof of which clerestory
lights admit the light of day.
The entrance of the
building will be expressed in a six-columned portico of pure Greek Doric design,
forming an interesting contrast to the plain unbroken side walls of the Masonic
rooms. The Memorial Hall will be reached through the portico by gradual steps.
Rising above the great
Memorial Hall, and forming the second story of the tower, will be a museum room
to house the many memorabilia of George Washington and his time, as well as
interesting relics connected with Washington's service as Master of Alexandria,
Washington Lodge. This museum will be fifty by seventy-five feet, with lofty
ceiling and fine light. It will be reached both by stairs and elevators.
There will be a third
level above the museum. Above it will be a covered observation platform. The
three levels will be screened by stately colonnades.
These four elements
will form the great tower, inspired by the classic towers which, as Mr. Corbett
has stated, guided the mariners of old.
The broad steps and
grassy terraces, adorned with shrubs, will add to the imposing and beautiful
effect of the Temple.
The plans and model
were unanimously approved by the Association, after which the President offered
the following recommendation:
“That working
drawings, specifications, etc., be completed as soon as possible, so that total
estimates of cost can be procured; that contracts for the excavation and
foundation units be awarded, with the end in view of laying the cornerstone some
time in early fall; that further contracts be awarded from that point on up to
and including the completion of the work, but with the distinct understanding
that no contract, under any circumstances, shall be let until the money is
actually in hand to meet it."
This recommendation
was adopted by the Association.
Following the
convention's adjournment the Board of Directors authorized the working plans to
be proceeded with, and the work of excavating and the building of the foundation
walls will be begun at a very early day.
It is hoped that the
cornerstone may be laid on the 4th of November next, which will be the 170th
anniversary of the entry of Brother Washington into Masonry. That should be made
a grand, gala day for Masons from all over the United States. It should be made
such an affair as will impress the brethren with the deep meaning of the
important work we have on hand, and broad enough in scope to include not only
the Grand Lodges of the forty-nine Jurisdictions, but all the Bodies affiliated
therewith.
The lasting value of
this Memorial building can not be measured by money. It will do much more
thanhouse and preserve the priceless relics of Washington's lodge. It will be a
center and rallying-point for Masons not only in our own country, but for
members of the Fraternity in every land, and it will cement and strengthen
Freemasonry. This great Memorial will serve to teach the power that inheres in a
closer co-ordination of fraternal energy and will promote the unity of purpose
which is so much to be desired.
----o----
THE MISSION OF MASONRY
BY BRO. OWEN SCOTT, GRAND SECRETARY, ILLINOIS
In the midst of our researches into the technical problems
of Masonic history and cognate matters it is wise now and then to go aside into
a place of vision in order to see Freemasonry as a whole, and in the spirit,
lest we forget the great aims and ideals in the service of which we are all
laboring. What could be better for such a purpose than the following? Its
author is among the workers in the forefront of one of our most powerful Grand
Jurisdictions. He needs no introduction.
"For the structure which we raise,
Time is with materials filled;
Our todays and yesterdays
Are the blocks with which we build.
Let us do our work as well,
Both the unseen and the seen.
Make the house where God may dwell
Beautiful, entire, and clean."
THE INSTITUTION of Freemasonry is the legacy of the ages
gone. What began with the organization of a band of builders, like the stone cut
out of the mountain, has grown until it fills the whole earth. Where civilized
man abides and opens the great light of truth and beauty, there stands Masonry
like the monarch of the woods, immortal and invincible. Unlike the great tree,
its foes come not from without, but from within.
The destruction of the creature of our speculative art
impends only when defective materials have entered into its composition. Our
building is made of living stones and is eternal in the heavens.
In Freemasonry men are the artisans and the end is the
building of manly character. It has ever been the aim to build wisely and
well. We seek the nearest perfect materials. We go into the quarries of
everyday life and select the living stones offered, rough ashlars though they
be. If moved by proper motives or, if standing upon firm foundations, the unfit
are by th ballot cast out into the rubbish. Do you say that this is ideal and
that through over anxiety to be big and rich improper materials are put into our
edifice? True, but that does not destroy the value of the ideal. The lives of
institutions, no less than those of men, are shaped and colored by their
visions. The key to noble doing is to see clearly and then to act in obedience
to this highest vision.
The sculptor at work on a block of stone, appear to the
passer-by to be doing a purely mechanical act. The observer sees but the chisel,
the mallet, and the marble. In the sculptor's brain is a presence we can not
see. It is the ideal form to be wrought out by his hand. His vision makes him
an artist; without it, he becomes merely a stone cutter.
So we are fashioned by our ideals. Only as thes are true
and beautiful can the life become noble an truly great.
Freemasonry is an institution of high ideals an lofty
standards for human living. That all do not reach these, does not diminish the
power for good. The names of the mercenary and the ignoble blur our rolls of
membership. Unworthy men prostitute the symbols of the craft to base and
unworthy ends. Would we contribute most to build up our great fraternity? Then
we should regard fitness above fame and worth above wealth. If Masonry has a
mission, an aim, it must not content itself with merely a beautiful ritual,
faultlessly rendered. If the exalted teachings of the Craft are to end with
dramatic and spectacular exhibitions in lodge, there is little room or use for
our fraternity in the affairs of men.
The first aim, therefore, is to uplift the individual
life. Each man who bows at our altar and assumes the solemn obligations placed
upon him should rise with clearer purpose and loftier aim. If he can but
realize that as a Master Mason he has had given him the plans and specifications
drawn by the Supreme Architect of the Universe for the erection of the sublime
structure of his own character, he will have caught the real spirit and aim of
Masonry.
On the contrary, if merely moved by desire to improve his
business, to wear a Masonic charm or to be able to start in a mad chase for the
"higher degrees," the newly made Mason has been spoiled in the making. To be a
real Mason is to be a better man in every relation of life. A more loyal,
loving, and considerate husband; a more devoted and indulgent father; a better
citizen; a truer friend - are a few of the fruits to be gathered from the
Masonic orchard. Many are so intent upon selfish achievements that these are
little esteemed.
The first and greatest aim of Masonry is toward a loftier
individual manhood, a purer womanhood, and a more tender and promising
childhood. That Masons are builders can be seen by the name. While the
operative craftsman uses perishable brick or stone and cements it into one
common mass, the speculative workman uses living stones, which when propery
united with the cement of brotherly love and affection, constitutes an edifice
eternal in the heavens.
By teaching men the doctrines of temperance, fortitude,
prudence and justice, together with the many other lessens drawn from, and daily
applicable to the activities of life, deep foundations are laid upon which
loftiest character must stand. When brotherly love, relief, and truth really
enter into the fiber of a man's being, there is little room for the selfish and
the debased. His instincts and his aspirations are toward the uplift that comes
from a joyful service to mankind. That I am my brother's keeper is demonstrated
in every avenue of life whether I am ready to concede it or not. He who
achieves fortune, fame, or power over the crushed form of his fellow has made a
Mephisto bargain and will render his grievous service in the Inferno of his own
creation. Service and sacrifice are the crucible in which the base metals of
greed, avarice, and selfishness are left as the dross of life. If thy brother
would have thee go with him one mile, that is thy duty. When to this is added
gladly, a second mile, that is a blessed privilege. Masonry puts into a man's
breast the sweet service of the second mile.
In everyday life the man who renders the scantest service
to complete his obligations, will find his burden onerous and distasteful. If
in the employ of another, his tenure will hang by a slender thread. If the
force is to be reduced, he will be first to go. On the other hand, if one is
concerned more in doing excellent work than in merely putting in a specified
number of hours each day, his promotions will follow one after the other
unsolicited. The one who willingly and regularly does more than he is paid for
and who seeks to do those things which his employer prefers not to do himself
will be indispensable and secure in his position. Our eight hours for
refreshment and sleep are that we may have and retain sufficient strength of
body and mind to follow our usual vocations with vigor and success. Both these
are the basis for our worship of God through relief of our worthy, distressed
brother.
Masonry's mission, therefore, to the individual is to
uplift his character and establish a nobler manhood.
To the aggregate of individuals, constituting the social
state, Masonry has a message of vast importance. Civilization has ever had as a
companion, our great fraternity. Whether the one or the other is the cause or
effect cannot easily be determined. The warp cannot say to the woof of a
fabric, "I have no need of thee." Each is so intermingled with the other that
one cannot be injured without weakening the whole. So where the great light of
Masonry and the world - the Bible - has gone, there is civilization and there is
also Freemasonry. Without God's revelation to man in the Book of books, there
has been and there can be little progress toward ethical standards.
Masonry has not been concerned with the dogmas of theology
and the factional feuds of rival sects. The church, organized religious thought
and activity, stands supreme. To this we reverently bow, modestly claiming the
privilege of casting out the devils of human need in the name of the Master of
men.
The product of Judaism and Christianity, the Holy
Scriptures, is the great light of Masonry. A belief in God and his Book is
fundamental. Hence no atheist can become or remain a Mason and be honest. When
he ceases to rely upon God as the Supreme Architect of the Universe, he owes it
to himself and to the Craft to go out from us because he is not of us.
Thus founded on the eternal truth of the revealed word and
leanang from this our duties to God and man, we, as Masons, are willing that the
various schools of religious thought should settle the disputes of theology to
their own liking. On such a foundation members of all churches, whether Jew or
Christian, come together and work as craftsmen of character without discord or
difference. Harmony is the strength of all institutions and especially of
Freemasonry.
In times past the mistaken notion existed, that in some way
Masonry was an antagonist of the church. Masons themselves may have been to
some extent responsible for this error. In their enthusiasm for the lodge they
were betrayed into saying some things regarding the relations of the fraternity
and the church of the living God, not justified by the teachings of the Craft.
In these days there is a better understanding, so much so that a large
proportion of the clergy and the laity of most religious denominations deem it
an honor to wear, the white apron, the emblem of innocence and the badge of a
Mason.
Masonry's Mission in the state is one of peace and
fidelity. Good citizenship can only be fostered by a society whose members are
taught lessons of obedience to law.
Freemasonry is the first law and order league in the world.
From the minutest details in ritual all the way up through its ethical teachings
and wonderful philosophy of human action it stands immovable for order. In no
human institution is greater emphasis placed upon the ancient customs and usages
than in the acient Craft. Even to such an extent has this gone that some look
upon this conservatism as partaking somewhat of fogyism and fossilism. The
landamrks are our common law. This charter of liberties may sometimes be in
some doubt in its application and re-adjustment to changed conditions of modern
times.
It is conceded that it is not in the power of a man or a
body of men to make innovations in the body of Masonry. In this age of
organization in all its scope, many societies, patterned more or less after this
ancient instituton have sprung up. Many of these mixing fraternity and the
business of insuring against sickness and death have led some of those, less
thoughtful, upon dangerous ground.
Some lodges and many brethren can see no reason why Masonry
should not leave its impregnable fortress of pure fraternity to enter into
competition with societies which occupy a different place and are organized for
distinctly different, yet useful, purposes. Through all this Masonry has stood
like the rock of Gibraltar against the beatings of the ocean of modern orders.
So thoroughly have the laws and customs evolved through the ages been adhered to
that our Royal Craft stands today greater and better than in any age since its
foundation. Every Mason whether in humble or exadted station in life learns and
practices lessons of equality.
The President of the United States sits as a loyal and
faithful member of his lodge. Presidents, judges, senators, congressmen,
governors they may be when in the world, but in the lodge they are Masons and
meet upon the level, act by the plumb, and part upon the square with men of all
places and conditions.
Farmers, mechanics, teaehers, ministers, and those in
professional or other vocations of life form a society of friends and brothers
among whom no contention should ever exist, except that noble contention, or
rather emulation of who best can work and best agree. Standing as it does upon
such foundations, the equality of merit and thorough obedience to law, it is
easy to perceive how profoundly Freemasonry contributes to good government.
Our republic in fact is built upon precisely this basis.
All men are equal before the law of the land and must obey it. Social
distinctions may exist by reason of wealth or station. Society may be divided
into clans and classes, but by the genius of our republican institutions, all
men are created equal. Opportunity opens the doors of success to those able and
worthy to enter. The ignoble and the indolent and the shiftless may rail at
their want of luck, but their failure is from within not from without. Masonry
regards no man for his worldly wealth or honors. Worth of the man is its only
concern. Being moved by these principles it cannot fail to be a powerful factor
in the state. Universal peace is largely in the keeping of such agencies as our
great brotherhood. All over the world men come together as friends and
brothers. Discord is frowned upon peace is encouraged. The vast army marching
under Freemasonry's banner of "peace on earth good will toward men" must move
mightily in the direction of universal amity and concord.
Peaceable settlement of international difficulties is
rapidly coming. The great Hague tribunal may have falled to avert the war
between Russia and Japan, but its mighty voice has penetrated to the ends of the
earth commanding universal peace. Silent but potent means are gradually wearing
the rocks of bloodshed and strife away. In this great movement toward
millennial peace, Masonry is a willing worker. She says to those battling for
conquest or for glory or for power:
If I were a voice, a convincing voice,
I'd be borne on the restless wind,
And wherever I saw warring nations torn,
I'd creep to the hearts full of spite and scorn,
With love's own chain to bind," and tell them to be free.
Our fraternity's mission in the state is distinctly for
good citizenship and for universal peace.
The voice of Masonry not only appeals to the individual
life in the upbuilding of character; to the man's religious thought in the
broadest toleration and yet with greatest emphasis; to the state in sustaining
law and order; but it recognizes as one of its special fields of missionary
endeavor the relief of want and woe and suffering. It looks upon the worthy
distressed brother, his widow and orphan as its chief concern. Our fellow man
is our brother. Though we may be of another race or creed we are yet taught
that our charity is universal.
It may be the Jew, robbed, wounded, half dead by the
Jericho roadside, yet the Samaritan, despised and shunned, stoops to bind up the
wounds and ministers to the wants of his enemy in distress. This is the spirit
ot Freemasonry. With Abou Ben Adhem we teach that those who would stand highest
in love to God must prove their claims by practical love to man. In almost
every Grand Jurisdiction in our great country in some practical, effective form
provision is made for aged and indigent Masons, their wives, their widows, and
helpless orphans. The particular methods adopted to meet the exigencies in
various states differ according as one theory or another may have gained sway.
In all cases, however, there is absolute unity in the willingness to provide for
the aged brother and his dependents when the storm and stress of life have
come. In our state with its vast fraternal army crossing the 200,000 mark,
Masonry is marching with no faltering step toward its highest achievement. In
the ranks there may be honest difference of opinion concerning methods, but when
our commander speaks we all gladly obey. Our Grand Lodge, composed as it is, of
the picked fruit of Illinois' superb manhood, is invincible and infallible.
The aggregate wisdom of the Craft as shown in the actions
of this Grand Body can safely be depended upon to settle aright all questions
arising from our great charities. There is little more than the mere mercenary
in conferring favors and privileges upon persons from whom we expect an
equivalent in return. When a man has nothing to give in exchange for the favors
of his brethren it is a genuine blessing to those who are willing to make for
him a home and a competency of comfort.
This is the philosophy of our home for the aged and
indigent.
The recipients of the willing service of their brethren
have the happy reflection of a well spent life. Their eyes are dim, their
natural strength abated and their ears dulled by age and infirmity. They are
waiting until the hour glass shows the sands of life fully run. The silver cord
may be almost loosed, the golden bowl be nearly broken, the pitcher be frail at
the fountain or the wheel unsteady at the cistern, and yet they feel the gentle
but mighty arms of a great fraternity upon which they can lean with absolute
security. The everlasting embrace of human brotherhood gives them solace in
their helplessness.
There can be no more noble or unselfish service that any
Mason can render than to one who can neither help himself nor make a return for
what others do for him. Equally is this true of the aggregate of our great
Craft in supplying the needs and comforts of life to those who are now cared for
as a special privilege. The law of growth is in doing. Unselfish service will
increase not only the ability to serve but with this growth will come added
power. Timid hearts may have shrunk from the magnitude of the task of providing
for our worthy distressed brother wherever he may be found. But the pitiful sum
from each affiliated Mason so far entirely adequate for all needs, would
willingly be increased many fold if necessity demanded.
Afffliated bodies based upon and drawing their inspiration
from Ancient Craft Masonry would esteem it an honor as well as a privilege to
Participate in financing our great institutions now sheltering young and old
from the storms of adversity.
Only the sentimental and the artistic sit to contemplate
and admire the glories of the setting sun. Every activity, every thrill of life
springs toward the dawn. Man shakes off the drowsiness of a sleep of
recuperation as the morning's new light calls him to the achievements of the
coming day. Every bird joins in the glad jubilee of the morning. The world of
life turns toward the rising sun for a new baptism for new duties. So, while we
may view with satisfaction the aged as they near the sundown of their existence
with the solid comforts their able and willing brethren supply them, we turn
with a new thrill of joy and expectation toward those who in the morning of life
are looking to us for succor and assistance.
Among the choicest fruits gathered from our great old tree
of fraternity is, therefore, the care and support of the children of youth and
of three steps upon the master's carpet are the our system of fraternal
charities. In manhood with all its power and its glory we look toward toward
youth and toward second childhood and greet them with open hearts and purses to
fit the one to fill our places and to bring ease and comfort to those who have
fought and lost the battle of life. In the world at large egoism is well nigh
universal. In Masonry the altruistic spirit softens and beautifies the
otherwise harsh and disagreeable outlines of character. It is the Hiram Abiff
which beautifies and adorns what the wisdom of a Solomon and the strength of the
Tyiian have produced. If we would make Freemasonry eternal we must make sure
that we do not allow eternal conflict between the mercenary and the unselfish to
result in the destruction of the noble sentiment that "the greatest of these is
charity." Our ritual is a classic. Its structure is mechanically perfect. To
master it and present it effectively is a great accomplishment. Our growth and
strength have been in proportion to its unity and beauty. Yet a ritual without
the soul of Masonry is dead. It is a skeleton of dry bones hung together by
wires as may be seen in the doctor's office or the class room of the medical
college. Our care for the old and young in our homes is not our whole duty. In
every lodge in city, town, or hamlet, are abundant needs for the kindly and
friendly offices of the individual Mason. Organized charity, so-called, does
not supersede the generous duty of the Craftsman. If he has really imbibed the
true spirit of our wonderful brotherhood he will not allow the sun to go down
without the relief of every worthy distressed brother within the length of his
cable-tow.
Neither will the measurement be by any circumscribed
standards. Wherever there is a human sigh, a pain of anguish, a sorrow-stricken
heart or a fevered brow this cable tow will be found sufficient to reach it.
The mission of Masonry is to every corner of the world, in which may crouch
distress or suffering or want. It goes to uplift, to gladden, and to beautify.
To uprear noble, manly character whether in society, in religion, in the state,
or in the infinite relations of individual life is Masonry's divinest mission.
----o----
"The world wants men, large hearted, manly men.
Men who will join its chorus and prolong
Its psalm of labor and its song of love.
The age wants heroes: Heroes who shall dare
To struggle in the serried ranks of truth,
To clutch the monster Error by the throat,
To bear opinion to a loftier scat,
To blot the era of oppression out
And lead a universal freedom in."
----o----
No man is without some quality, by the due application of
which he might deserve well of the world; and whoever he be that has but little
in his power should be in haste to do that little, lest he be confounded with
him that can do nothing. - Dr. Johnson
----o---
Morals are more needed than mathematics; right living will
do more for us than right spelling; graciousness is more esential than grammer;
equity is a nobler tribute than eloquence.
----o----
MEMORIALS TO GREAT MEN WHO WERE MASONS - MAJOR GENERAL
ARTHUR ST. CLAIR
BY BRO. GEORGE W. BAIRD, P.G.M., DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
GENERAL ST. CLAIR was
born in Scotland, in 1734, of noble family. After graduating at the University
of Edinburgh he served an apprenticeship with Dr. William Hunter of London. His
father had died when he was as yet a boy: after the loss of his mother in 1757
he purchased the remaining time of his indentures and bought a commission in the
Royal American regiment of foot. He was in the fight at Louisburg, N.S., under
Generals Amherst, Wolf, and other English general officers. He participated in
the capture of Quebec in 1759, and it was he who seized the colors which had
fallen from the hands of a dying soldier on the Plains of Abraham and bore them
to victory.
The writer has always
believed that the defeat of the French at that time had more to do with the
establishing of freedom, the inherent rights of man, and equality on this
continent than our own Revolution!
St. Clair married Miss
Bayard, a French Huguenot of Boston, whose fortune, added to his own, made him
quite independent. He resigned from the British Army in 1762 to reside in
Boston. Two years later he moved to Bedford, Pennsylvania, where partly by
purchase and partly by grant, he had secured a tract of land. Here he
established his residence and erected a grist mill. He was elected surveyor of
the Cumberland District and justice of a court, recorder of deeds, and clerk of
the Orphans Court.
All this he abandoned
at the approach of the Revolutionary War. In 1775 he was commissoned a Colonel
by Hancock, president of the Congress at that time. In a letter to Witherspoon,
St. Clair said, "I hold that no man has a right to withhold his services when
his country needs them. Be the sacrifices ever so great, it must be yielded upon
the altar of patriotism."
He raised the famous
Second Pennsylvania regiment, filling his ten companies in a few weeks. His
first service was at Quebec, where he arrived in time to cover the retreating
American armies. He commanded at the disastrous fight of Three Rivers, after the
death of General Thompson. He was in the fight of Ticonderoga, and was promoted
to the rank of Brigadier. After being with Washington in New Jersey at the
battles of Trenton and Princeton, he was made Major General. It was at this time
that he became so endeared to Washington. He met some reverses later which, in
appearance, might have caused us to reflect on his character as a military
leader: but fortunately Jared Sparks has preserved for us the real facts and
thus saved his admirable record. Spark says of him, "Time proved that he had
acted the part of the skilful and judicious officer."
His subsequent career
was all brilliant. He was appointed to the command of West Point when General
Arnold had flunked; and he was a member of the court that convicted Major Andre.
His last battle was at Yorktown. After the war he was elected to Congress, of
which he served as president. Later, he was made governor of the Northwest
Territory.
Notwithstanding his
brilliant and honorable career he died poor. In the eighty-fourth year of his
life he undertook a journey to Youngstown, and was found dead on the road the
next morning. Whether he was buried by charity or not his biographers do not
say, but they do say this, which will be of keen interest to my reader:
"In the cemetery at
Greensburg, Pennsylvania, there is a neat little sandstone monument erected by a
Masonic lodge with this inscription:
"The earthly remains of Major General Arthur St. Clair are
deposited beneath this humble monument, which is erected to supply the place of
a nobler one, due from his country."
That a nobler monument
was due there is no question, but the lodge that erected the sandstone memorial
probably had in mind the kind of countrymen who then lived. But times have
changed. When the writer first heard of that memorial he took steps to induce
the Sons of the American Revolution to consider the erection of that "nobler one
due from his country," but while making the effort found that Brother John S.
Sell, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania had, on the 15th day of
August 1913, unveiled a "nobler monument" in granite, an exact duplicate of the
old sandstone memorial, except for the explanatory inscription on the east
panel: even the quaint style of lettering is closely imitated. On the east Danel
this is added:
"Beneath this monument also lies Phoebe Bayard, wife of
General St. Clair. She died September 18th, 1818."
A new and deeper
foundation was placed under this granite monument than had existed under the
old.
General St. Clair was
a member of N. C. Harmony Lodge. No. 2. in Ohio.
----o----
THE HOLY SAINTS JOHN
BY BRO. BENJAMIN WELLINGTON BRYANT, CALIFORNIA
CONCLUSION
WE NOW COME to the era of Grand Lodges, and the resultant
crystallization of ritual. Here it will be interesting to follow the growth of
the Johannine idea through the various rituals and ritualistic revisions of the
eighteenth century. The collection of ritualistic and Monitorial allusions
which I have been able to gather is probably far from complete, but I, believe
that they are fairly representative and hence sufficient for the purpose of the
present paper. Possibly some brother having access to other Johannine formulae
may be able to add further items of interest. From a bare reference in the
earliest catechisms, we find it developing into the historical extravagances of
the tradition in its full flower. Thence, with the broadening of Masonic
thought bringing better understanding of the true import of the Regulation of
1723, we see it finally declining to the less pretentious form in use at the
present time. Here we have an excellent opportunity to follow the sectarian
tendency which held the Fraternity in so firm a grasp during the eighteenth, and
well into the nineteenth century. This tendency, it appears, was at last
checked largely through the labours of Bro. Pike and Bro. Mackey, the latter
drawing much of his inspiration from the former. (We are prone to think of
Albert Pike as distinctively the exponent of the high degrees, but we should not
forget the debt of gratitude we owe to him and to those brethren whom he
gathered about him for their influence in extending the horizon of thought in
Blue Lodge Masonry, for what Bro. Roscoe Pound denominates "Masonic
Protestantism." (33))
In the earliest lectures in use under the "revived" Grand
Lodge after 1717 we find the formula: "From whence came you? A. From the holy
Lodge of St. John. Q. What recommendation do you bring from thence? A. A
recommendation from the brothers and fellows of that right worshipful and holy
lodge of St. John from whence I came, who greet you thrice heartily." (34) In
1721 we find a hint of the developing sectarian tendency in the lecture, which
nevertheless still retains the pleasant ring of goodfellowship expressed in the
earlier form: "God's good greeting be to this happy meeting. And all right
worshipful brothers and fellows of the right worshipful and holy Lodge of St.
John. Q. Why do you denominate it the holy Lodge of St. John? A. Because he was
the forerunner of our Saviour, and laid the first parallel line to the Gospel."
(35) The Chetwoode Crowley Ms. quotes allusion from the Catechism of 1723: "Here
am I, the youngest and last entered apprentice, as I am sworn by God and St.
John, by the Square and Compass and common judge." (36) (Possibly "common judge"
is a corruption of "common guage"). "The Grand Mystery" published in 1725 gives
the following in the Catechism: "Q. What Lodge are you of? A. The Lodge of St.
John," and later in the same: "How many angles in St. John's Lodge? A. Four,
bordering on Squares." (37) In the ritual as improved by Desaguliers and
Anderson, both of whom were clergymen, we find a further sectarian development
of the reference, for it is explained that the lodges were called St. John's
Lodges because: "he was the baptizer and forerunner of our Saviour; and
announced him as the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world." This
corresponds with the French ritual of 1730: "D. Comments appele cette Loge? R.
La Loge de S. Jean," and the passage was thus explained: "Il fait toujours
repondre ainsi que c'est le nom de toutes les Loges." (38) Dr. Oliver also
quotes from the second edition of Anderson's Constitutions of 1738 as follows:
"In France these festivals are celebrated on the same days but they are call
'Fetes Solstitiales; hommage au G. A. D. l'U." (39), which would seem to
indicate that the French brethren still retained a solstitial form of the
tradition at a time when the Craft in Britain were abandoning it in favour of a
more theological version. In the year 1732 Martin Clare prepared a revision of
the ritual, but I have not been able to find any quotations from it. Oliver
credits him with a continuance of the Johannine tradition, but Dr. Mackey sees
in this revision the beginnings of an attempt to counteract the sectarianizing
or Christianizing tendency which had hitherto been on the ascendant. (40)
Evidently some of the brethren were beginning to awaken to the real spirit of
the Regulation of 1723, but there was yet a long road ahead, as we shall see.
The Clare lectures appear to have prevailed with some
revision until the adoption of those of Dunckerley in 1770. Dunckerley's
lectures give the earliest example where an allusion is incorporated in the O.B.
which I have been able to locate. It is as follow s: "In the presence of God and
this right worshipful and holy lodge dedicated to God and Holy St. John," and
the asseveration corresponded to it, "so help me God and Holy St. John." (41) To
Dunckerley is also ascribed the first introduction of the "lines parallel." (42)
His formula runs thus: "This code is embordered by two perpendicular parallel
lines, representing St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist who were
perfect parallels in Christianity as well as in Masonry." (43)
In what is known as the "Old York Lecture," used about the
same time, we find a most elaborate catechism of a type which must have
delighted the heart of Dr. Oliver:
"Q. Our Lodges bong finished, furnished and decorated with
ornaments, furniture and jewels, to whom they were consecrated?"
"A. To God."
"Q. Thank you, brother, and can you tell me to whom they
were first dedicated?"
"A. To Noah, who was saved in the Ark."
"Q. And by what name were the Masons then known?"
"A. They were called Noachidee, Sages, or Wise Men."
"Q. To whom were the lodges dedicated during the Mosaic
dispensation?"
"A. To Moses, the chosen of God, and Solomon, the son of
David."
"Q. And under what name were the Masons known during that
period?"
"A. Under the name of Dionysiacs, Geometricians, or Masters
in Israel."
"Q. But as Solomon was a Jew, and died long before the
promulgation of Christianity, to whom were they dedicated under the Christian
dispensation?"
"A. From Solomon the patronage of Masonry passed to St.
John the Baptist."
"Q. And under what name were they known after the
promulgation of Christianity?"
"A. Under the name of Essenes, Architects, or Freemasons."
"Q. Why were the lodges dedicated to St. John the Baptist?"
"A. Because he was the forerunner of our Saviour, and by
preaching repentance and humiliation, drew the first parallel of the Gospel."
"Q. Had St. John the Baptist any equal?"
"A. He had; St. John the Evangelist."
"Q. Why was he said to be the equal of the Baptist?"
"A. Because he finished by his learning what the other
began by his zeal, and thus drew a second line parallel to the former; ever
since which time Freemason's lodges in all Christian countries, have been
dedicated to the one, or the other, or both of these worthy and worshipful men."
(44)
To understand the next version of the tradition we must
return to the year 1740, when Chevalier Ramsey, as Orator of the Grand Lodge of
France, promulgated the Templar theory in an oration delivered before that body.
Mackay and Gould both quote from that oration, the part referring to the subject
under consideration being as follows: "During the time of the holy wars in
Palestine, several principal lords and citizens associated themselves together,
and entered into a vow to re-establish the temples of the Christians in the Holy
Land; and engaged themselves by an oath to employ their talents and their
fortune in restoring architecture to its primitive institution.(?) They adopted
several ancient signs and symbolic words drawn from religion by which they might
distinguish themselves from the infidels and recognize each other in the midst
of the Saracens. They communicated these signs and words only to those who had
solemnly sworn, often at the foot of the altar, never to reveal them. This was
not an oath of execration but a bond uniting men of all nations into the same
confraternity. Some time after our order was united with the Knights of St. John
of Jerusalem. Hence our lodges are, in all Christian countries, called Lodges
of St. John." (45)
That oration must have created a profound sensation among
the Craft in England as well as in France, and we find in this extract from a
lecture in use in the north of England late in the century, a reply to it: "Our
lodges are untruly said to be dedicated to St. John because the Masons who
engaged to conquer the Holy Land chose that saint for their patron. We should
be sorry to appropriate the Balsarian sect of Christians to St. John as an
explanation of this principle. St. John obtains our dedication as being the
proclaimer of that salvation which was at hand by the coming of Christ; and we
as a set of religious men, assembling in the true faith, commemorate the
proclamations of the Baptist. In the name of St. John the Evangelist, we
acknowledge the testimonies which he gives, and the divine Logos which he makes
manifest." And again in the same lecture: "Our beauty is such as adorns all our
actions; is hewn out of the rock, which is Christ; raised upright by the
plumb-line of the Gospel; and squared and levelled by the horizontal of God's
will in the holy Lodge of St. John; and as such becomes the temple whose maker
and builder is God." (46)
Dr. Oliver also cites another version of similar import
which he ascribes, rather indefinitely, "to our transatlantic brethren," and
which is certainly an ingenious attempt to propitiate all parties and sects:
"The dedications are made to these Saints, not as
Christians, but as eminent Masons; and if we are gratuitous in bestowing such a
character upon them, this does not affect the merit of the argument, because the
dedication is made under the supposition that such was their character. They
are honoured by us, not as Saints, but as good and pious men - not as teachers
of religion, but as bright examples of all those virtues which Masons are taught
to reverence and practice. And if it incidentally happens that they were also
Christians, such a circumstance should, with a tolerant Jew, be objection to the
honours paid to them; but with th sincere Christian a better reason." (47)
The Ramsey idea was adopted by the notorious imposter
Finch, who incorporated a passage upon the oration of 1740 into one of his
rituals: "What is the chief reason why our lodges are dedicated to St. John? A.
Because in the time of the Crusades, the Masons having united themselves with
the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem to fight against the infidels, they adopted
that Saint as their tutelary protector and being victorious in their conflicts
with the Saracens, they unanimously agreed that all Masonic lodges should in
future be dedicated to him." (48)
There is another version which Mackey quotes from an old
lecture adopted into the Prestonian system, which, while it bears some
resemblance to the old York lecture, is less ambitious in its historical
claims. It is said that a group of early Christians did actually send a
deputation to the Evangelist, who was then at Ephesus, requesting him to give
them a code of rules for their observance, "that the identity of their faith
might be preserved as an exclusive society" (49) and the story of that event may
have inspired some eighteenth century ritualist to compose this beautiful bit of
Masonic fiction:
"From the building of the first temple at Jerusalem to the
Babylonish captivity, Freemason's lodges were dedicated to King Solomon; from
thence to the coming of the Messiah they were dedicated to Zerubbabel the
builder of the second temple; and from that time to the final destruction of the
Temple by Titus, in the reign of Vespasian, they were dedicated to St. John the
Baptist; but owing to the many massacres and disorders which attended that
memorable event Freemasonry sunk very much into decay; many lodges were entirely
broken up, and but few could meet in sufficient numbers to constitute their
legality; and at a general meeting of the Craft, held in the city of Benjamin,
it was observed that the principal reason for the decline of Masonry was the
want of a Grand Master to patronize it. They therefore deputed seven of their
most eminent members to wait upon St. John the Evangelist, who was at that time
Bishop of Ephesus, requesting him to take the office of Grand Master. He
returned for answer, that though well stricken in years (being upwards of
ninety), yet having been initiated into Masonry in the early part of his life,
he would take upon himself that office. He therefore completed by his learning
what the other St. John effected by his zeal, and thus drew what Freemasons term
a 'line parallel'; ever since which time, Freemasons lodges in all Christian
countries have been dedicated both to St. John the Baptist and St. John the
Evangelist." (50)
The Preston lectures were the standard in England until the
reconciliation between the "Ancient" and "Modern" factions in 1813, when the
Hemming lectures were adopted as a compromise ritual. In the Hemming system the
Johannine dedication was eliminated, the parallel lines were said to represent
Moses and Solomon, and the lodges dedicated "to God and his service." (51) Thus
our English brethren silenced, so far as these two Saints were concerned, all
possibility of a charge of sectarianism. The change was not made without
protest however; many brethren withdrew from the Fraternity rather than accept
the new lectures, and as previously noted, even as late as 1848, Dr. Oliver was
inspired to write and publish his "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," which would
indicate that the change was still rankling in the hearts of numbers of the
English brethren.
This concludes our review so far as European Masonry is
concerned. In this country Thomas Smith Webb had already published his Monitor,
which was based on the Prestonian system, prior to the Reconciliation, and by
the time that event took place his system had evidently gained sufficient
foothold largely to counteract whatever influence the Hemming system might
otherwise have exerted, and, supported by the, anti-British feeling engendered
by the then recent Revolution and by the troubles which the young Republic was
still having with the motifer country, was sufficiently strong to prevent the
young American Grand Lodges from abandoning the Johannine in favour of the
Solomonic formula. The first edition of Webb's Monitor appeared in 1797,
coincident with the movement to sever the Royal Arch from the Blue Lodge system,
in which he was a leading spirit. In 1813, while the Reconciliation was being
consummated in England, he was serving as Grand Master of Rhode Island, thus,
perhaps unwittingly, adding the weight of that dignity to the side of the
balance against any change that might have taken place.
The edition of the Webb Monitor to which I have access is
the fifth, published in 1866, but does not appear to have been revised to any
extent. In it the formula is as follows:
"By a recurrence to the chapter upon the dedication of
lodges it will be perceived, that although our ancient brethren dedicated their
lodges to King Solomon, yet Masons professing Christianity dedicate theirs to
St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, who were eminent patrons of
Masonry." (52)
Webb also uses the phrase: "who were perfect parallels in
Christianity as well as in Masonry."
I have also a copy of the Macoy Monitor of the middle
nineteenth century which gives a version apparently based upon the Ramsey theory
as enunciated by Finch:
"Lodges in ancient times were dedicated to King Solomon ...
and continued to be so dedicated until after the Crusades. Among the various
orders of knights engaged in those chivalric wars, none were more conspicuous
than the magnanimous order of the Knights of St. John. Many brethren of our
ancient Craft also went forth to aid in redeeming the sepulchre of the Saviour
from the hands of the infidel; between these and the Knights of St. John there
existed a reciprocal feeling of brotherly love. On the plains of Jerusalem they
entered into a solemn compact of friendship, and it was mutually agreed between
them that henceforth all lodges whose members acknowledge the divinity of
Christ, should be dedicated to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist,
who were two eminent patrons of Freemasonry." (53)
Finally, and to us most interesting of all, is the "Manual
of the Lodge," by Dr. Mackey, published in 1862, wherein we find the earliest
publication of the version which seems to be most generally in use among
American Grand Lodges at the present time:
"Our ancient brethren dedicated their lodges to King
Solomon because he was our first Most Excellent Grand Master; but modern Masons
dedicate theirs to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist who were two
eminent patrons of Masonry." (54)
To this Bro. Mackey adds a note in which, as in his
Encyclopedia, he lays particular stress upon the solstitial character of the
Johannine festivals and dedication. It was as follows:
"The two parallel lines, which in the modern lectures
represent St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, really allude to
particular periods in the sun's annual course. At two particular points in this
course, the sun is found on the zodiacal signs, Cancer and Capricorn, which are
distinguished as the summer and winter solstices. When the sun is at these
points he has reached his greatest northern and southern limit. These points,
if we suppose the circle to represent the sun's annual course, will be indicated
by the points where the parallel lines touch the circle. But the days when the
sun reaches these points are the 21st of June and the 22nd of December, and this
will account for their subsequent application to the two Sts. John, whose
anniversaries the Church has placed near these days." (55)
Thus we find that, while the Johannine tradition cannot be
accepted as based on veritable historical fact in the sense of regarding the
Baptist and the Evangelist as having been personally connected with the
Fraternity, yet its recognition by the Craft, in one or another of its varied
forms, dates from most remote antiquity. In modern speculative Masonry there
are no missing portions in the line of descent from the "revival" of 1717 until
the present time. In the words of Dr. Oliver:
"In the original lectures compiled by Sayer, Payne, and
Desaguliers, and as improved by Anderson, Desaguliers and Cowper; in the
revisions of Dunckerley and Martin Clare, twice repeated, and in the extended
rituals of Hutchinson, Preston and others, the St. Johns occupy their place as
patrons of Masonry. In no one ritual, whether ancient or modern, in use during
the 18th century, have they been omitted." (56)
We must remember that the centuries prior to the birth of
speculative Masonry knew little or nothing of the almanac and the calendar as
popular conveniences, and hence the annual festivals of pagan times and the
Saint's days which took their places under Christian influence were
indispensable aids in marking the years and the seasons. In Britain, even long
after 1534 when the yoke of the Vatican was thrown off, the religious thought
remained strongly under its influence and there was little change from the
church customs of the earlier allegiance. What more natural then, than that our
brethren of that period should preserve the midyear and midsummer festival of
the Baptist as the date for their annual assemblies. Later when the need for
more frequent fraternal communication became manifest, the Evangelist's day in
midwinter was the most logical companion date.
But in spite of the narrow and almost iron-clad theology of
the time, the close of the sixteenth century, as Bro. Waite notes in his "Real
History of the Rosicrucians," beheld a great wave of mysticism spreading over
central Europe, and thence into England, France, Italy, and Denmark. (57) In
England this movement found its chief expression through the Rosicrucian school
of thought and we find that the influx of speculatives during the seventeenth
century brought in the Fraternity such men as Ashmole, Vaughn, Sir Robert Moray
(or Murray), Wren, Locke, Boyle, and others of strong Rosicrucian tendencies,
and of sufficient learning and prominence to be Fellows of the Royal Society.
The Rosicrucian philosophy embodied much of that universal religion which is the
basis of Freemasonry, but its adherents found it wise to conceal its broad
principles under a veil of Christian mysticism in that age when any open and
free statement of such doctrine would have subjected them to persecution or
ostracism. These men must have understood, as possibly the operatives of their
day did not, the astronomical origin of the Johannine festivals, and from the
standpoint of that knowledge, might very possibly have lent their influence to
the more regular observance of those dates. Coming upon the scene during the
period when the stage was unwittingly being set for the "revival" or "revolution
of 1717," they must have lent a very considerable influence to the shaping of
the circumstances which led up to that event. Viewing the Johannine dedication
and festivals in the light of solstitial observance which had been celebrated
from most remote antiquity, and thus truly in harmony with the liberal spirit,
not only of Rosicrucian, but also of Masonic faith, it seems even more probable
that we are indebted in considerable measure to those early mystics for the
perpetuation of this custom of the Craft.
With the revival in 1717 the ritual fell into the hands of
such orthodox ministers of the Gospel as Dr. Anderson and Dr. Desaguliers, who
would, of course, see the observances in their Christian, rather than in their
solstitial and mystical aspect. Under their hands it was shaped into a
Christian tradition, and the ritualists who followed them apparently adopted
their lead and further developed it as we have seen. It is most fascinating to
trace, through the early meager references and the later wild fabrications of
tradition, the development from the early dedication and festival observance,
through the full bloom of a sectarian legend down to our modern unassuming and
inoffensive version. It is not surprising, when this one item could develop into
such full flower that many other fabulous statements could gain circulation and
credence among the brethren. Bro. Gould quotes and condemns a number of these.
According to one, "27,000 Masons accompanied the Christian princes in the
Crusades." Another was the statement that Martin Luther was received into the
Society on Christmas night, 1520, just fifteen days after he had burned the
Pope's Bull; and still other, and even more absurd were that the Craft was
introduced into Britain, A. M. 2974, by "E-Brank, King of the Trojan race, and
into Ireland by the prophet Jeremiah." (58)
According to Bro. Mackey, a reaction from the sectarian
influence and the flights of imagination of the earlier ritualists began to
become manifest in the Clare revision, (59) though I have found no quotations
from it bearing upon the subject of the present paper. Neither have I found any
from the ritual used by the Dermott or "Ancient" faction unless the "old York
lecture" above quoted belonged to them. However, the opponents of the
Christianizing tendency apparently finally made their voices heard and gained a
signal victory in the adoption of the Hemming lectures. I am not prepared to
discuss the wisdom of that change other than to remark that one argument in its
favour is that it removed one point of temptation beyond the reach of those
susceptible to its influence. Here in America we seem to have gradually receded
from the more sectarian versions to the unassuming one in general use at present
which apparently gives no offence to our brethren of the Jewish faith.
We have long since abandoned the belief that the two Johns
in person were patrons of the Fraternity. Both Gould and Mackey recognize their
symbolical character. (60) Dr. Mackey thus defines a symbol in the Masonic
acceptance of the word: "A symbol is defined to be a visible sign with which a
spiritual feeling, emotion or idea is connected." (61) This thought should be
ever borne in mind in the study of Masonic ritual and symbolism, for in no other
way can much of our system of speculative Masonry be interpreted. As the
operative art of our ancient brethren was deemed a high and noble science, so
their organization, well worthy of so noble a fate, has been bequeathed to us as
a Speculative Fraternity, and has become, by some yet unexplained method, the
repository of a wonderful science of symbols based partly upon the builder's art
and partly upon ancient mystical religion and philosophy.
It is well to remember that the whole purpose of symbolism,
in the sense used by Bro. Mackey, in the ages which saw its origin as a
development of the earlier picture writing, was to convey or reveal truth only
to such as were duly and truly prepared, worthy and well qualified; and that its
early authors were remarkable adepts in the art of so concealing those truths
which they held to be too sacred for the unworthy profane. It is well to
remember these facts in approaching the study of Masonry, for we may thus, if we
in our turn "are duly and truly prepared," open the way to clues which will lead
to the discovery of some of those vast treasures of hidden truth which modern
Freemasonry has inherited from those schools of the secret wisdom of antiquity,
- the Ancient Mysteries, and from some of their later successors.
Nowhere in the ritual or monitors of the Craft is there a
more perfect example of this, nor one more easily demonstrated when we find its
key, than in the great natural truths so carefully hidden behind the meager
references remaining in our work to the two characters which are the subjects of
the present paper. I would not minimize the importance of the moral which the
monitor attaches to them, but would emphasize my belief that this represents
only a fraction of the real lesson. Their festivals, engrafted as we have seen,
upon the old solstitial festivals which were so prominent in the Light-religions
of antiquity, give us a miniature statement of the whole philosophy of Masonry,
which is a mystery-drama of human life. Falling upon June 24th and December
27th, dates so close to the summer and winter solstices as to leave no doubt as
to their origin, they give us more than a hint of the close relation of man with
the phenomena of the visible universe, - "the microcosm in the macrocosm. For
our Masonic purposes, it matters little what particular story we ascribe to
these dates; the fact of our observance of them as ancient festivals of the
Fraternity preserves the spirit of the symbolism; and whether we observe them as
the midsummer and midwinter solstices under the beautifully poetical phraseology
of the Osiric, Eleusinian or Druidic Mysteries, or as the feast days of
Christian saints traditionally alleged to have lent their patronage to our
Fraternity, the fundamental lesson is the same.
The reputed character of the Baptist and of the Evangelist
adapts their festivals very readily to the symbolism. The feast of the Baptist
recalls to our memory his inflexible fidelity and martyrdom for his faith, and
thus, while reminding us of another martyrdom for similar high principles which
is familiar to all Masons, furnishes a worthy ideal for Masonic consideration.
In the rite of baptism from which his distinctive title is derived is symbolized
the cleansing of the heart from the dross of selfishness and vice, and the
spiritual initiation of the soul into the knowledge of the mysteries of eternal
life. Thus the festival of his birth very appropriately coincides with the
summer solstice, when all visible nature is at the zenith of life, light, and
joy. On the other hand, the festival of the Evangelist who is so fortunately
represented as a man in the winter and wisdom of life; who so insistently
proclaimed the gospel of brotherly love; and whose writings teem with allegories
of the mystical initiation into the secrets that lie beyond the veil of material
vision, is very properly assigned to that period of the year when life has
reached its full maturity and seems about to depart from the earth. Considering
all this he too becomes a worthy and appropriate figure for Masonic recognition.
We therefore find in these two figures, so peculiarly and
even mysteriously connected with Masonry, that broad symbolism which admits of
universal interpretation and appreciation. It is truly in harmony with the
spirit of "that religion in which all men agree" and is therefore really
Masonic. Their festivals falling upon the two extremes of the year well
represent the cycle of nature and of human life, and thereby give us a key to
the whole philosophy of Masonry. Though of Christian derivation, their Masonic
interpretation carries the same lesson for the Jew and the Theist as for the
Christian brother. They tell of the eternal cycle of existence, of manifestation
and disappearance, of activity and repose, which is the eternal and immutable
law of God, and which is so fittingly expressed in our familiar phrase: "From
labour to refreshment and from refreshment to labour again."
33. "Philosophy of Freemasonry," Pound, p. 66.
34. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 26.
35. Ibid, p. 34.
36. "Essays," Gould, p. xix
37. "History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. 4, pp. 281-2.
38. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 27.
39. Ibid, p. 67.
40. "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on
"Martin Clare."
41. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver; p. 27.
42. "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Dunckerley."
43. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 35.
44. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 27; also
"Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Dedications."
45. "History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. 3, p. 341; also
"Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Ramsey."
46. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 29.
47. Ibid.
48. Ibid, p. 20.
49. "Annot. on John," Kitto.
50. "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on
"Dedication."
51. Ibid, article on "Parallel Lines."
52. "Freemason's Monitor," Webb, P. 31, 5th Edition,
republished, Cincinnati 1866.
53. "Masonic Manual," Robert Macoy, 15th Edition, New York
1858.
54. "Manual of the Lodge," Mackey, New York, 1862.
55. Ibid, p. 57.
56. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 32.
57. "Real History of the Rosicrucians," Waite, p. 39, New
York 1888.
58. "History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. P. 127.
59. "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on
"Lectures."
60. "History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. 3, p. 79; also
"Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," article on "Dedication."
61. "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on
"Symbols."
----o----
CROSS AND FLAG
BY FREDERICK L. HOSMER
From "Flag Day," edited by B.H. Schauffler, and published
by Moffat, Yard & Company
From age to age they gather, ail the brave of heart and
strong,
In the strife of truth with error, of the right against the
wrong;
I can see their gleaming banner, I can hear their triumph
song;
The Truth is marching on!
"In this sign we conquer"; 'tis the symbol of our faith,
Made holy by the might of love, triumphant over death;
He finds his life who loseth it, forever more it saith:
The Right is marching on!
The earth is circling onward, out of shadow into light;
The stars keep watch above our way, however dark the night;
For every martyr's stripe there glows a bar of morning
light;
For Love is marching on!
Lead on, O cross of martyr faith, with thee is victory!
Shine forth, O stars and reddening dawn, the full day yet
shall be!
On earth his kingdom
cometh, and with joy our eyes shall see:
Our God is marching
on!
----o----
A LONG MARCH THROUGH THE NIGHT
United by his fellow
men by the strongest of all ties, the tie of a common doom, the free man finds
that a new vision is with him always, shedding over every daily task the light
of love. The life of Man is a long march through the night, surrounded by
invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope
to reach, and where none may tarry long. One by one, as they march, our comrades
vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent death. Very
brief is the time in which we can help them, in which their happiness or misery
is decided. Be it ours to shed sunshine on their path, to lighten their sorrows
by the balm of sympathy, to give them the pure joy of a never tiring affection,
to strengthen failing courage, to instil faith in hours of despair. Let us not
weigh in grudging scales their merits or demerits, but let us think only of
their need,of the sorrows, of the difficulties, perhaps the blindnesses, that
make the misery of their lives; let us remember that they are fellow-sufferers
in the same darkness, actors in the same tragedy with ourselves. And so, when
their day is over, when their good and their evil have become eternal by the
immortality of the past, be it ours to feel that, where they suffered, where
they failed no deed of ours was the cause; but wherever a spark of the divine
fire kindled in their hearts, we were ready with encouragement, with sympathy,
with brave words in which high courage glowed.
- Bertrand Russell.
----o----
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