December, 1947
Contents
Merry Christmas TRESTLEBOARD TRACES
THE THORNS AND STONES IN OUR PATH COURTESY
HOLY NIGHT FREEMASONS AT BASEL, SWITZERLAND
Interpretations of the Master Mason Degree LUTHER BURBANK, FREEMASON
FREEMASONRY IN FOREIGN LANDS COURAGE
Present Urgent Problems To Face EDWIN ERNEST GRUENER, M.P.S.
THE PHILALETHES SOCIETY NEWS The Lodge of the Holy Saints John
PEACE ON EARTH, GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN
Once again, with amazing rapidity, the seasons have swung their course along. Early afternoon shadows are lengthened. The sibilant lispings of the Junco Hiemalis and the startled alarm of the Jay, Cyanocitta Cristata, alone of all the feathered host of songsters of warmer days, are left us, with but occasional exception. The rest have gone. Winter is here.
Huge drifts diagonally piled across the roadway. Back of each pine and hemlock, in graceful undulation, drifted snow. Crisp whiteness crackles under foot. Chill winds sweep in over the ice-bound lake and cut deeply beneath the sturdy coat of man. The stars overhead push downward and take on new and brilliant beauty. Warm amber lights shine out from cozy fireside, with touch of cheer for the wayfarer without. Yet greater far is that cheer, that soul-warmth, which radiates from the holly-decked wreaths which hang on many a doorstep, for now has that season come again, wherein angelic hosts once shouted their glad hosannas and joined in that blessed antiphonal refrain of peace and good will. Christmas is here. Blessed is that man who may again sit upon Judean hills, and hear with the immortal three, that blessed hymn of joy and peace and hope. May the light of its truth be your guide star
May this be a merry Christmas and bring you much joy.
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I read a few months ago in the "Oregon Mason" that there was some talk of establishing a ninety-day period between the degrees. Masons everywhere feel that candidates are going through too fast, and that they finally achieve the right to wear the Square and Compass without knowing much more of the Fraternity than the required lectures. Oregon is, Masonically speaking, a progressive state and its Lodge of Research and the lecture members thereof are doing an excellent job of Masonic Education.
But how is it in your lodge and your state? Making a candidate wait for his degrees is, in my opinion, only half the story. If the lodge doesn't educate him beyond the lectures, then what difference does it make if he waits one year, ninety days or one day? What's your opinion?
* * *
Not long ago, a friend of mine asked me if I'd ever analyzed the name "Solomon." I've heard it spoken and read it perhaps as often as you have, but it was always just a name. My friend took a pencil and divided the name into three parts:
SOL - Latin, the sun.
OM - The Hindu sacred word, comparable to the Hebrew Jod-He-Vau-He (Jehovah) .
ON - The sacred appellation of the Egyptians for God.
I wonder if this had any influence on the old ritual writers and if there's a real, esoteric meaning behind it. Or is it only coincidence ?
* * *
The other night, watching Lodge open, I was suddenly struck by the manner in which the Master's words are passed to the Craft. The Master informs the Sr. Warden, who informs the Jr. Warden, who informs the brethren. It occurred to me that the Master, representing the Soul of man, receives the commands of God, symbolized by the VSL on the Altar. The Master transmits this command to the Sr. Warden, who can easily symbolize the mind and thought. From him the command passes to the Junior, who symbolizes the physical brain; and the Junior informs the Craft, who might symbolize the body and its various parts. Thus in a brief allegory, we are informed of the manner by which God's command is made manifest in us. Do you think that this might be at least a partial explanation of the ceremony?
* * *
What do you do to forward Masonic Light among the brethren of your lodge or among your friends? Knowledge in the selfish possession of one man alone might as well remain undiscovered. But knowledge given to many increases the Light by which Masons work.
L. E. W
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THE THORNS AND STONES IN OUR PATH
By Fernand Varache, M.P.S.
Paris, France
The Great Architect of the Universe has traced for us the path that we must follow through life and has provided the symbolic Blazing Star to light us on our way.
Man is not destined to live alone but must live with others in order that each may help to ease the burden of the other. Helping and loving our neighbor, we make life sweeter and easier for us all, hence the divine commandment "Love one another."
This is the great principle on which all societies striving to better human relations are founded; it is the great commandment of Masonry.
But our path is beset with thorns and stones .... with the thorns of ill-success of our endeavors to live up to our ideals and with the stones of the difficulties we encounter in an economic and material way.
To overcome all these obstacles must be our daily and constant endeavor, and in our way of life we must ever be guided by what our late Brother Oswald Wirth (F.P.S.) used to call "Masonism."
On the mental plane, we are frequently confronted by differences and conflicts of ideas. We need fairness and equity to explain our ideas patiently to others and at the same time listen to their points of view with serenity, as. true brothers should. Tolerance should be an absolute principle with us.
The opinions and ideas on which men differ the most are: belief in God, belief in the immortality of the soul, and confidence in the moral improvement of man. Peace of mind and peace between the members of the human race demand a strict adherence to the principle of tolerance, which is the only means by which we can ever hope to make Masonry universal and powerful. It will clear our path of all thorns.
On the material plane we must endeavor to study all economic problems, the number of which continues to grow from day to day as new scientific discoveries are made. Here, too, Masons must work unceasingly in order to remove every stone in our way.
Perseverance and courage will lead us to final happiness.
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Courtesy is a mark of good breeding. it commands respect. It is the polish that welcomes the customer cheers the fellow worker, and makes the day easier for every one.
Courtesy is a recognition of the rights of others. It is what we all want for ourselves. To be courteous, therefore, is to practice the Golden Rule.
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By James K. Remick, M.P.S.
San Diego, California
The worlds again swing into position, as they have done throughout the aeons, and our earthly home is once more at the point in the everascending spiral when the winter solstice is at hand, the nearest approach of the earth to the sun; another moment in eternity when the joyful ray of spiritual Light radiates throughout all creation, and all men of good will are more closely knit within common bounds.
The cosmic event, eternal in its recurrence, Christmas being its modern appellation, did not receive recognition only in the yesterday of nineteen hundred and forty-six years bygone. It has always been, and it will always be the period of rejoicing at the birth of New Light.
The "Holy Night" did not emerge for one night only, but, like the Principle of Masonry, it has been and is eternal. It is the benediction of Christian, Jew or Moslem, and not the private blessing of but a few. To be sure, civilizations as they have flourished and vanished have marked the event with distinctive labels; we may note the Hindus with their Krishna, the philosophies of the Druids, misnamed pagans, and the teachings of the ancient Egyptians.
The period known as Christmas, under the very law of the Cosmos that governs, brings out within men the wish to give, to bestow happiness upon their fellow beings. Brutish indeed is he who responds not to the influx and radiation of the Light Divine and refuse to light the candles upon the altar of his being.
As the Mighty Hand slowly and majestically turns the pages of the record of effort and progress, there appears the bright moment when humanity needs and merits an Avatar, a Teacher, a Way-Shower to point out, to those who can see and hear, the radiant pathway toward spiritual unfoldment and social achievement. A great soul, our Jesu Rabboni, graciously obliged at what we know as the opening of the Christian era, and what could be more fitting than that the Spirit Of the Presence amongst us should become embodied at that period when all Nature was in harmony to receive him.
So it has ever been. When human kind became crystalized in materialism and selfishness to the extreme danger of destruction, a Leader has been vouchsafed, a giant in strength, but who in tolerance and compassion has called to those who would listen, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
No civilization worthy of the name has ever been denied its Messiah, when, either through unfoldment or the trials of vicissitude, it was ready to receive Him. It is true that recalcitrant minorities may have accomplished His bodily removal, but His philosophies and His acts have in every case been incorporated into the souls of those who really count, in earthly maneuverings that endure.
Though earth may now be in torment, and hate active for an instant in the affairs of men, yet the cosmic sounding board is once again vibrant with the never-ending song of rejoicing; and while little men strut the earth in futility, the "Light of the World" is again renewed, even on the darkest night of the year, to bring creation to new fruitage and abundant harvest as the seasons wax and wane.
May the Christmas bells and the altar lights, in their unity of light and sound, bring all mankind, especially those of Masonic persuasion, into a renewal of the unity divine, and unfold within us the transcendent qualifications so essential to our being of the "Great White Lodge of Just Man Made Perfect."
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CONGRESS OF INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE OF FREEMASONS AT BASEL, SWITZERLAND
By Leo Fischer, F.P.S.
Thanks to our Brother Dr. Jan S. van Solkema, M.P.S., of The Hague, Holland, we are able to give a brief account of the 12th Congress of the International League of Freemasons held at Basel, Switzerland, on August 22-24, 1947. Active pre-parations in Switzerland, where the members had kept the League alive during the war, and in Holland, where a group of over 500 members had been reorganized since the liberation, had made the holding of this congress possible. No exportation of foreign currency being allowed from the Netherlands, the Dutch Brethren had to depend on the hospitality of the Swiss, who declared themselves ready to take care of 60 participants. Thus 60 (including 17 ladies) arrived at Basel on the 22nd and were hospitably received. On that same evening a meeting of delegates was held, at which Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Austria were represented. The Germans present attended as "friends."
On the 23rd, the general assembly was held. The officers, Past Grand Master Kurt von Sury presiding, reported on events since the last congress, held at Amsterdam in 1939. Present conditions for a growth of the League were pronounced unfavorable; but in spite of it, confidence in the future prevailed and much work was accomplished. The seat of the League was transferred from Switzerland to Holland, and the following officers were elected: Jan S. van Solkema, president; J. N. van den Ende, secretary and Jan C. W. Onderdenwyngaard, treasurer (all three of The Hague, Holland). Bro. von Sury turned the congress over to the new officers. The dues were fixed at 5 Swiss francs per annum, and it was decided that the next congress would be held at Amsterdam or The Hague.
At noon, speeches were made by Bros. Onderdenwyngaard, Emmery (Geneva), and Lempereur (Paris). The ladies were in the meantime entertained by their hostesses.
In the evening there was a general banquet with a program put on by artists of the Basel Stadttheater and a musician from Holland.
On the 24th a Masonic meeting was held conducted by Osiris Lodge, of Basel. Wor. Bro. Wildi was Master and Bro. Ollendorfer sang. At noon there was another banquet, with the ladies present. A crystal bowl with Masonic emblems was presented to the Lodges of Basel by the visitors from the Netherlands. Bro. Franz Mittelbach, of Stuttgart, known to many present as a militant Mason and now Master of a Lodge working with the cooperation of the American authorities, made an address.
The League wishes it understood that it does not do any Lodge work and does not pretend to be a Lodge or Grand Lodge. It is merely an international association of individual Masons, and as such it sends a fraternal message to all American Masons and invites them to membership on the basis of Anderson's Old Charges.
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Interpretations of the Master Mason Degree
By William H. Knutz, M.P.S., Evanston, Illinois
Albert Pike said "Symbolism is the soul of Masonry." It is, therefore, fitting that we give this subject careful study. A brief and comprehensive statement made by Brother Gage a number of years ago is very appropriate:
"The word 'symbol' is derived from the Greek, meaning "to compare." A symbol is the expression of an idea by comparison. Often, an abstract idea may be best conveyed by comparison with a concrete object. A dictionary definition of a symbol would be a sign or representation which suggests something else.
"Symbolism, therefore, is the science of symbols or signs, the philosophy or art of representing abstract truths and ideas by concrete things. Symbolism is suggestion, in sculpture and in painting by form and color, in language by words, in music by sounds. What allegory and parable are in literature, the same is symbolism."
To me allegory is symbolism dramatized and amplified into parable. The word "allegory" is also derived from the Greek and basically means "to say something different." Allegories are presented in various form and are designed to arouse curiosity and provoke thought by employing concealed meanings.
Symbolism and allegories are, by nature of their character, revelation by indirection, subject to various interpretations. It is, therefore, necessary for us to use great care as to which interpretations should be accepted and which rejected. Symbolism has led some writers and speakers into wild flights of fancy, to trace Masonry back to the building of the pyramids, and otherwise abuse the privilege of free speech.
It is not practical to attempt to discuss all the symbols found in the Master Mason degree in a few minutes; only the most significant will be outlined. It will help to compare the symbolism of all three degrees.
The E.A. degree is representative of youth and the desire to learn. The F.C. degree is representative of the prime of life, of skill and experience. The M.M. degree is representative of old age and of knowledge.
The symbolism of the E.A. and F.C. degrees is taken from the common tools of the builder. They are employed to teach lessons useful to us in every-day life. Honesty, morality and the need of seeking more Light in Masonry are stressed. These symbols may be described as practical.
The symbolism of the M.M. degree is much more advanced. Here we find the story of Hiram dramatized. Here, by means of this, allegory, we encounter death and are given the hope of attaining immortality. Here all the symbols of Masonry are incorporated. One symbol is outstanding and above all others. It is the lost word.
The "word" is ancient symbolism, common to several ancient races. This symbolism dates back to the Egyptian mysteries. It held a prominent place in the worship of the Children of Israel. The "word" is said to be the principal symbol of Masonry.
The "word" was held in such reverence in some nations that it could be pronounced but once a year, then only by a chief, and in a secret place. When written it was disguised or a substitute was used. In reading a substitute word was pronounced.
The possession of the "word" signified that the people were the chosen people of God, and that they would prosper. The loss of the "word" signified disaster.
Early Masonic writers said the "word" symbolized divine truth. Modern Masonic writers believe that it means much more than this, for the Bible says "In the beginning was the 'word,' and the 'word' was trend God.
Mackey has said "Were the 'word' to be abolished .... the whole symbolism of speculative Freemasonry would be obliterated."
You once said that you placed your trust in God. You are now Masons. You, therefore, belong to a group in society searching for the "word," and its true meaning. "Word," as we are now using the term does not mean a single pronouncement. It means many words - action and experience in living, all directing us to a better life.
You may never find the "word," or all of the words. What you do find may differ from that which your neighbor finds, yet both may be travelling in the same direction. Others may help you search. Ultimate success will depend on you alone.
References:
"The Three Degrees and Great Symbols of Masonry" - Newton, Gage, Haywood, Ball, Van der Gon. (The Little Masonic Library).
"The Meaning of Masonry" - Albert Pike. (The Little Masonic Library).
"The Great Light in Masonry" - Joseph Fort Newton. (The Little Masonic Library).
"The Masters' Word" - C. C Hunt
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Masonry does not change human nature, and cannot make honest men out of born knaves. -
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By Reynold E. Blight, F.P.S., Los Angeles, California
LUTHER BURBANK was one of the greatest men of the past generation. Naturalist, thinker, scientist, creative genius, Freemason, his contributions to human welfare shall bless generations yet unborn. His monument is not hewn from granite rock. His memorial consists of new flowers and fruits, created by his genius, by which human life is enriched and nourished. Under his wizard-like touch wayside weeds sprang into shapes of beauty and age-old flowers blossomed with new and exciting fragrances while original and luscious fruits came into being to rejoice the heart and appetite of man. Quality wheat and the Burbank potato will forever supply the needs of the hungry, and the ten-year-old walnut tree as far advanced as one hundred years of growth will provide shade and nourishment for centuries to come.
Burbank was a creative artist. By crossing and selection he actually brought new types into existence. By matching affinities, cultivating the superior individuals and breeding up the excellent qualities and characteristics, he created new flowers and fruits with the capacity to reproduce themselves indefinitely. In the realm of flora and fauna he was a god.
We call him a wizard, but in his work there was no whim or chance, no magic, no legerdemain. We say he was a miracle-worker, but he did not interfere with nature's processes. He cooperated with nature. He invoked no supernatural power, but applied intelligent direction to natural processes. New creations resulted. Successes did not happen. The result was foreseen and every new fruit or flower was a triumph of logic.
Industry, intelligence and hard work! "I have often produced 1,000,000 types," he said, "to find one or two that were superlatively good." Then he repeatedly crossed the good with the good to "fix" the new character. Indefatigable industry and unswerving purposes were necessary. He would not be put by, but when he had determined to produce a certain species he kept at it until he bent nature to his will. Nature is a loyal and efficient servant, but only to the masterful man.
Burbank loved nature and this deep love developed within him a sixth sense. His penetrating eye discerned the secret power, the inner potency, and nature responded to his call. Plant life is akin to human life. "Whoever believes there is a great gulf between plant life and human life. is wrong," he declared. "I have seen a waterplant that is half plant and half animal. I hated to cut into it, because, when I did so, it seemed to have vitals." To the great naturalist, nature was beautiful, was instinct with mind, was friendly. He proved Emerson's assertion: "In the presence of nature a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows." There was a subtle sympathy between Burbank and the shrubs and plants. They partook of a common spirit. They worked together. The mind of Burbank worked with the mind in the plant; and this cooperation produced new worlds. One Intelligence informs the cosmos.
It is easy to understand that Luther Burbank was an earnest Freemason. It was very appropriate that in recognition of his great services to humanity the Supreme Council of the A.A. Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, should confer on him the high honor of the Thirty-third Degree of Freemasonry. His work, his philosophy, his ideals were thoroughly Masonic and he rejoiced in the association with his Masonic brethren.
A few timorous souls were shocked when Burbank declared himself an infidel, but a careful reading of his works reveals little reason for alarm. He did not mean that he was an atheist; far from it. That horticultural laboratory in Santa Rosa was truly a temple of worship, similar in spirit and purpose to the adjacent Masonic Lodge of which he was a loyal and devoted member. To Burbank's mind the Great Architect of the Universe was not a celestial mechanic who fashioned the cosmos and then set it going in space, but a loving and creative intelligence, working according to divine and beneficient laws, with whom man can cooperate and work in perfecting and beautifying the world. He could not harmonize the Great Companion, the Glorious Cooperator, with the harsh, capricious God of the obscurantist creeds.
Bulwer-Lytton wrote a whole Scripture when he penned:
There is no unbelief:
Whoever plants a seed beneath the sod,
And waits to see it push away the clod . . .
He trusts in God.
Seeing a universe of law and order, Burbank repudiated the cosmogonies of caprice and "pistareen-Providence," to use an Emersonian phrase. Gazing upon a cosmos of beauty and joy, he refused to acknowledge a God of cruelty and injustice, who would doom millions of helpless creatures to unending torment. Watching for a lifetime the beautiful workings of the evolutionary processes, he dared cherish the gospel of eternal hope. He rejected the creeds of hatred and fear and proclaimed his religion of faith, of charity and of triumphant optimism. There are many who believe his religion settled close to the heart of the Great Lover of Men, who taught his compassionate creed so long ago on the flowerclad hills of Palestine.
Luther Burbank is a promise of the greater genius that yet shall be. The ancient Persian poet exhausted his power in a whining plaint
Ah Love, could you and I with Fate conspire, To seize this sorry Scheme of Things entire, Would we not shatter it to Bits and then Remold it nearer to the Hearth’s desire?
The modern Californian wasted no time in lachrymose complaints. He yielded to no ruthless Fate. He became a co-worker with God in the creation of an ideal universe, and demonstrated how evolution, under the direction of intelligence and a noble purpose, could turn a sour and prickly apple into a luscious peach, a spiked cactus into an edible vegetable, and an ugly weed into an American Beauty rose. And why not an Old Scrooge into a Sir Philip Sidney, a Caliban into an angel? And further, Main Street into a Celestial City? Bring about the triumph of the mortal sentiment in all the relations of life!
Cries Emerson: "I look for the new Teacher that shall follow so far those shining laws that he shall see their rounding complete grace; shall see the world to be the mirror of the soul; shad see the identity of the law of gravitation with purity of heart; and shall show that the Ought that Duty is one with Science, with Beauty and with Joy."
La Place, sweeping the midnight sky with his telescope, exclaimed: "I am thinking God's thoughts after him!" Luther Burbank, too, thought God's thoughts and how beautiful they are!
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By Leo Fischer, F.P.S.
France. On April 12, 1947, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt Lodge, of Paris, held a solemn memorial service in open Lodge on the second anniversary of the death of the great Craftsman after whom the Lodge was named. The ceremony was held in the building of the Grand Orient of France, under the joint presidency of the Grand Master of that body and of the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of France. Representatives of the Embassadors of the United States of America, and of Greece and China, were present, besides 35 officers of the French Grand Bodies mentioned and 72 Masters of Lodges. Some forty leading officials and citizens were among the large number of non-Masons who attended the ceremony. The allocution of the occasion was pronounced by the Master of the Lodge, Wor. Bro. Jules Regenstreif, who, in a touching and eloquent manner, described the life of the great man who, "by his indomitable energy and his ardent faith in our humanitarian ideal, saved civilization from the servitude by which it was mentioned and won an imprescriptible right to the gratitude of all free men." The music was of a high order and the number of persons crowding the vast hall and its approaches was estimated at close to 1,400.
Holland. In the morning of June 14, 1947, the Grand Orient of the Netherlands held its annual "Masonic Gathering" in the beautiful building of the Grand Orient at The Hague, followed by the "Open Grand Lodge" in the afternoon. The principal speaker in the morning was Bro. M. ten Cate, and Grand Orator Dr. Ir. N. van Harpen delivered the Grand Oration in the afternoon. According to the traditional procedure, a message was sent to the Queen of the Netherlands assuring her of the loyalty of the Craft of that country, in reply to which a message of thanks was sent on June 18th, by order of the Queen.
The German invaders had caused considerable damage to the beautiful "Ordegebouw" in The Hague which has been largely repaired; but it was considered necessary to reconsecrate the premises and this was done in a solemn ceremony held on June 5, 1947, nine days before the annual communication of the Grand Orient. This ceremony was followed by the constitution of a new Lodge, "Via Lucis." The Grand Master, Dr. L. J. J. Caron, presided at both ceremonies.
Italy. Prof. Tito Signorelli, Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of Italy, recently reported recognized by the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, will take charge of the publication of a new Italian Masonic review, "Acacia," which will be the official organ of the Supreme Council and Grand Orient of Italy, with headquarters at No. 1 Via Giustiniani, in Rome. The new magazine will be a monthly publication of 24 pages and will be illustrated.
The rival "Orthodox Supreme Council of the 33rd and last Degree," at Bari, whose Grand Commander is Liborio Granone, protested under August 16, 1947, in an open letter addressed to Sov. Grand Commander John H. Cowles, against the recognition of the "Palazzo Giustiniani" organization. His body also has an official organ, the "Bolettino Massonico." Bro. Granone wields a sharp and skillful pen, and we may look for some hard-fought journalistic jousts between the two publications.
Switzerland. The Swiss Grand Lodge "Alpina" held its 95th annual communication on May 30th, last, at Interlaken, and on August 23rd and 24th, the International League of Freemasons met for its 12th congress at Basel.
Finland. We are glad to learn from Bro. Jean Sibelius, M.P.S., that in spite of his advanced age and of the trying winter, he is well and is still busy composing music. His retirement to his country house at Jarvenpaa, which had given rise to rumors among his friends that all was not well, was due to his desire to work in perfect peace and quiet. We rejoice to hear such good news from our famous Brother whose wonderful music has won him so many hearts all the world over.
Denmark. Prince Harald, a brother of the late King Christian X of Denmark, has been elected Grand Master of the National Grand Lodge of Denmark. Bro. Alex. Troedsson continues discharging his duties as Grand Secretary in the same efficient manner as he has been doing for many years.
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TRUE COURAGE is a spiritual victory and cannot be marked with a physical label. It is developed and strengthened - as is everything - by exercise. Its index is not in squareness of purpose; not in firmness of lips, but in fashioning the lips to speak the truth; not in depth of chest, but in depth of soul; not in confident tread, but in walking uprightly.
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Present Urgent Problems To Face
By Jean Roumilhac, M.P.S., Marseilles, France
THE FOUNDATIONS of human institutions have been dramatically shaken by two World Wars within a quarter of a century and also by ceaseless class strife. Mankind is now anxiously watching the process of disintegration ensuing therefrom.
The existing gap between Man and the Community is widening daily.
The material and moral links which brought individuals to unite in their search for progress and perfection are now so tenuous that every sensitive person feels they are on the verge of breaking.
It would require but a very slight further extension of discord for our civilization to fall into a fathomless abyss. Great powers face one another with threats and formidable means of destruction while within their own boundaries the effects of poverty, of lubricous ambitions, or sordid green of excessive will to oppress and of endemic class war, permeate through their ruling institutions which are brought to rot and ruin at a growing speed.
Man is also battling within his own personality. His faith in existing creeds and beliefs is vanishing since he can realize that they neither have been, nor will be, able to put a stop to the present decline. His love for his fellow-man is offset by the ever-growing fierceness of the struggle for life.
His moral standards and his ideals are deteriorated by a conjunction of oppressive forces which constantly wear off his own faculties of thinking, of using that free judgment which is the pride of man, to the extent that entire populations are being turned into mere robots.
Anyone looking at the mere superficial appearance of the present human tragedy would adopt the pessimistic view of the misanthrops and would let our civilization fall into the impending disaster.
Freemasons cannot adopt such a passive static attitude. Whatever be the limit of perfection a Mason may have reached, whatever be the level of moral and intellectual happiness which may result from his hard acquired wisdom and culture, a Freemason should never forget his duties to his fellow beings, his links with the community and his binding recognition of the brotherhood of man.
Mankind is going through one of those formidable social mutations which history records. Some are yet fresh to our minds, such as the Renaissance; the Declaration of Independence, the French Revolution. The world is giving birth to a new order. Notions of space and time being no longer what they were but two centuries ago, how can we expect the far less permanent social constructions to be everlasting? Would it be reasonable to expect such institutions to remain stagnant in a fast moving world?
When all creeds and beliefs fail, man in his search for a new moral and material equilibrium within the general phenomena of life, it is our duty, as Masons, to act as guides for humanity.
There is a gap for us to fill, there is a promise for us to keep.
However hard and intricate may be the path to a brighter light, however heavy to move and hard to polish may be the ashlars with which to build the larger Temple, if we go back to our sources of wisdom we shall find enough faith, strength and courage to guide and provide our fellow men with a new material and moral abode.
In our belief in what some of us call the Unity and Permanency of Life and others the Fatherhood of God, we gather enough faith to fathom the moves of the Cosmos.
Our recognition of the Brotherhood of Man is a promise that we shall use our wisdom for the benefit of the whole community.
Freemasonry is thus Universal both in her creed and in her reach.
The opportunity has come for Freemasons to show at last that we can rise to the level of our origin and our ideals. It will require a hard struggle for Freemasons to fight the deep-rooted prejudices, the egoistic tendencies resulting from antagonistic social conditions the mental limitations and prejudices set up by centuries of race, nation, class and clan distinctions. It will also require a great sacrifice for the existing Masonic bodies to bodies break down the barriers they have build around what they believe to be the only truth, tradition and regularity.
The differences which have gradually arisen between the various Masonic bodies throughout the world and which keep them apart even in the face of the common dangers are mere trifles when compared with the benefit derived from a more tolerant and more realistic view of the various interpretations of our common ideal.
No particular Masonic body can boost of a monopoly of the truth. Our original characters have suffered local variations due to local habits and local character. It is ample time that we should admit this and to examine how far we have all drifted from the original sources of wisdom which were never meant to be an immutable dogma or a revealed truth.
The situation, the world over, demands a more realistic and dynamic attitude than indulging in academic discussions of relying upon ancient interpretations evolved to suit outdated national conditions. The present circumstances offer a new and possibly the last test for Masonic thought and Masonic leadership to show their worth. Should we fail, there is no indication that any other human institution is capable of preventing our present civilization from falling into a chaos of blood and destruction.
Should we rise to the occasion, those future institutions and those moral standards of which mankind is in search and in such sore need could bear the Masonic seal of good-will and brotherhood.
All this implies a good many practical decisions such as:
Immediate resumption of Masonic relations throughout the world.
Rehabilitation of Masonic Institutions wherever they have disappeared or declined.
Methodical inquiry into existing moral and material conditions in the various countries.
International exchange of information about present philosophical, intellectual and social trends of thought in the various countries.
Freedom of information and culture.
Freedom of thought.
Freedom of expression.
Freedom of displacement.
Freedom from material want.
Freedom from oppression.
The establishment of close fraternal relations between all Masonic bodies throughout the world does not mean that we should create a totalitarian Masonic block. It is a fortunate tendency on the part of Masons and of Lodges to maintain their own character and never to accept oppression within either the Lodge or the Grand Body. National Grand Lodges could cooperate on the same footing of mutual tolerance.
When one looks into the motives which keep Masonic bodies apart in the world, one begins to wonder whether Masons are unable to raise themselves to the height of their ideal or whether adverse forces are at work to maintain such a state of things.
When we ask Masons and Masonic bodies to cooperate in a methodical inquiry into the existing social and intellectual conditions, it is not intended that we should indulge in party or national politics. We know only too well how noxious partisan politics are for Masonic Institutions. Our approach to such problem should be kept on scientific grounds. However explosive present social and intellectual problems be, they undoubtedly exist. No other Institution can dispassionately analyze their causes and manifestations better than Freemasonry. Of course, we quite understand that Masons may be reluctant to engage in such studies, when our rites offer us both teachings and safeguards, yet undoubtedly, the world is in need of the good will and the good faith which we can offer it and however it may hurt us to come down from our tower of meditation, we have to accept it lest we are brought down against our will by the impending violence.
There is little doubt that the purpose of Freemasonry is to teach man to develop a personality; to tend to universality, to be sensitive to universal harmony and to promote the Brotherhood of Man.
Let us once and for all - during our present troubled times - be conscious of our purpose and let us have enough courage to achieve the same however heavy be the burden.
We can not afford to pay again the heavy price of lost opportunities.
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(Photograph on Cover Page)
Born at the turn of the century in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, Brother Gruener is now a resident of Pittsburgh. In Word War II he was a private for a time with the Army Air Forces. An accountant, he is now associated with the Aluminum Company of America.
His Masonic record is outstanding. He received his Master Mason degree in 1921 and the York Rite degrees in 1922. The next year he affiliated with the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite and joined the Mystic Shrine and the Grotto. In 1930 he served Allegheny Lodge No. 223, F. & A. M., as Wor. Master, and at the same time was M.E. High Priest of Mizpah Chapter No. 288, R.A.M. In 1931 he was elected Thrice Illustrious Master of Allegheny Council No. 38, R. & S. M., and served as the Eminent Commander of Allegheny Commandery No. 35, K.T., in 1937-1938. All of the foregoing bodies are located in Pittsburgh.
Brother Gruener holds memberships in many bodies, including the North Carolina Lodge of Research No. 666; American Lodge of Research, New York; Missouri Lodge of Research; Allied Masonic Degrees; Knights of the York Cross of Honour; Fellow of the Grand College of Rites, of the United States of America.
Active in several other bodies allied to Freemasonry, he is at the present District Deputy Grand High Priest of Pennsylvania. We are proud, indeed, to present Brother Gruener as a Member of the Philalethes Society.
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The Philosopher
I saw him sitting in his door, trembling as old men do; his house was old, his barn was old, and yet his eyes seemed new.
His eyes had seen three times my years, and kept a twinkle still, though they hod looked at birth and death and three groves on a hill.
"I will sit down with you," I said, "and you will make me wise; tell me how you hove kept the joy still burning in your eyes."
Then, like an old-time orator, impressively he rose. "I make the most of all that comes, and the least of all that goes."
The jingling rhythm of his words echoed as old songs do; yet this had kept his eyes alight till he was ninety-two!
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New Members
Louis Davis; Moncton (New Brunswick); Can.
Harry Stephenson Hale; Princeton, Kentucky.
Chester Hodges; Cincinnati 2, Ohio.
Benjamin Harrison Linville; Long Beach 5, California.
(To prevent the unauthorized use of the names of our new members, street names and numbers have been omitted. However, upon request, any member in good standing of "The Philalethes Society," desiring to correspond with our new members, will be informed of their complete addresses. - The Editors).
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The Philalethes - December, 1947; Volume 2 Number 6. Board of Editors: Walter A. Quincke, F.P.S.; Leo Fischer F.P.S., and Lee Edwin Wells, F.P.S. - The official publication of The Philalethes Society, 274 South Burlington Ave., Los Angeles 4, California, where all communications should be directed. - Publication schedule: Eight (8) issues per year; during January; February; March; May (April-May); July (June-July); September (August-September); November (October-November), and December. No advertising in any form is solicited or accepted. Annual subscription: $3.00, payable in advance, at par at Los Angeles, to the Philalethes Society. - Editor-Members of Craft magazines, here and abroad, are privileged to reprint, in part or in full, any articles first in "The Philalethes," providing due credit is given as to its source. - The Philalethes Society was founded October 1, 1928, and is an International Body of Freemasons who seek more Light and Freemasons who have Light to import. Its year book, "The Informant," tells the story since its inception and a copy will be mailed free of charge to any Freemason requesting same.
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Important Announcement
To conform with the beginning and close of The Philalethes Society's fiscal year, the current issue of "The Philalethes" (December, 1947) will be the last one of Volume 2.
The January, 1948, issue will mark Number 1, Volume 3.
Paid-up subscribers will receive, of course, the eight (8) issues of "The Philalethes" to which they are entitled. - The Editors.
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Good temper, like a sunny day, sheds a ray of brightness over everything; it is the sweetener of toil and the soother of disquietude! - Washington Irving.
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WE SHOULD MAKE TIME for reading, regular time for consistent reading; for who can afford to be without any of the qualities that reading develops?
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A little appreciation now and then is relished by the least conspicuous of men.
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The Lodge of the Holy Saints John
MASONIC FESTIVAL DAYS:
Saint John the Baptist - June 24th - Summer-solstice
Saint John the Evangelist - December 27th - Winter-solstice
"This Lodge is now closed!" The gavel fell, most of the Brethren rushed for the door. A few stayed behind and shook my hand - "You're now one of us, John, for evermore. Come over some evening. I'll teach you the rite, and you'll be ready for Fellowcraft night."
Then l was alone on the rain-swept street, pondering what it had all been about, when they made an Entered Apprentice of me, my pray'r for admission allowed. My mind was confused, as l walked along, like the clouds drifting past in an aimless song.
Over that hill there, and I'll be home. A good night's rest will make me forget that l really had looked for a good deal more, but probably wasn't quite ready as yet. There were a lot of big words, and solemnity, too - their meaning? l wondered, if anyone knew.
Now I stood on top and gazed below, where the folks were waiting to turn out the light, to ask me, "How was it, John, are you better or worse than you were when you left us early this night?" What could l tell them? Just as l had gone. I'm still the same, the same old John!
"The same old John," l thought out loud. Of a sudden the haze that had covered my mind dropped off like a curtain, the sky was swept clear, not a cloud to be seen. Then I knew I was blind all through the evening while time wore on, until someone mentioned the Lodge of Saints John.
I closed my eyes, there, on the top of the hill, and flung my arms out wide, to grasp the supports of that endless World where only the Just may abide. The "point in the center," no longer a sign, became my own Self, as l entered its shrine.
There l was, right before me, a dream come true, its portals wide open. l strove to attune my Self to the greatest of wonders revealed - from June to December, from December to June. Eternally speeding and urging me on to the Lodge of the Perfect - of the Holy Saints John.
Walter H. Brown, F.P.S., Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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"PEACE ON EARTH, GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN"
The joy of LIFE
"Who, in order to reach his own appointed joy, steadily endured the cross. - Hebrews 12:2.
THE greatest need of our lives is to capture that joy of living which is the rightful heritage of every human. But we are so engaged in the business of worry about things that might happen, or that have happened, that we hove no time to rejoice. No doubt the cause is partly that life in our time is too mechanical and too materialistic, but that is only saying that we hove lost our contact with things spiritual. For all those who hold hands with ill-fortune, all the people who go to make the vast army of unhappiness, ail these are they who hove lost their introduction to God, or having known Him have now become bad friends; for those who know Him bear this testimony: That He has mode joyful all the aspects of their life.
Joy and happiness are the rightful companions of life; indeed, it is not life without them. Man was not born for any of the thousand and one theories that politicians and economists would have us believe, not to make great empires, to become rich, great or powerful, but to live joyfully and happily. The one who supremely realized this was He for whom the angels sang at His birth, whose birthday has become the occasion for the happiness and joyfulness of Christmas. We need again and again to remember that the joy of Christmas is ours for all time, if we but reach out and possess it. It is our "appointed" joy, written into the constitution of the universe, the gift of our Father and the hallmark of His Fatherhood and His love for His children.
His Appointed Joy
Jesus saw the heavens forever declaring the glory of God, and the firmament showing forth His handiwork; the sun rising on the evil and the good; the rain falling on the just and the unjust alike; ail these were manifestations of a life full to the brim of joy, for it was lived in the love of a Father so great that He could not stoop to reprisals in His quest for the heard of all men. In nature Jesus saw the finished work of that Father's love in the birds flying without care and the flowers beautiful without toil. This was as it ought to be; this was their "appointed" joy.
Yet for the great part of His public ministry Jesus was a homeless man and at the end He came to His death by the most painful torture. But, despite that, or rather, through that, He still realized His appointed joy. Perhaps because He knew so well the joy that ought to be the lot of men He was so well aware of its lack in the lives of those He met. In them His ear caught the grinding of interior friction of mishandled lives which wears away the strength of men and leaves them fear-haunted, spent, strained and unhappy. From that deep insight came the amazing invitation: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden light." That light burden is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. How hard it is for those who are glorifying themselves, by whatever means, to realize the lightness of like’s burden to them that strive to fulfil the purposes of God; how hard it is for them whose labour is the labour of selfishness to realize there is no burden in the task dictated by love. Jesus does not promise to take away the toil or remove the burden, His promise is that the toil shall become joy and the weight of the burden disappear when His yolk is taken upon the shoulders. So He pictures the farmer, not in a contemplative mood watching his crops flourish in the quiet of summer's eve, but at his task, labouring despite discouragement, seeing much of his sowing wasted, but rewarded at last by the joy of the hard-harvest; that is the joy appointed for him.
To the Glory of God
Let us not be filled with foolish wonder that our worship fails to bring the songs of praise spontaneously to our lips if our work has been for our own glorification. The joy of life comes only to us when the tasks done by our hands have been to the glory of God; our work and worship are one in the Father's purpose, and in them we must glorify Him and none other if the joy appointed for us is to be ours. This is the burden of Christ, that our lives shall be dedicated to the glory of God wherever we are and no matter what we do. That burden is indeed light, it is the very joy of living.