August - September,1950
Contents
THE LODGE SUMMONS Lewis Cass, First Grand Master of Masons of Michigan
THE PHILALETHES SOCIETY NEWS OUR BOOK TABLE
Not Slothful In Business, Fervent In Spirit, Serving The Lord Charles Gottshall Reigner, F.P.S.
One Thought FREEMASONRY IN FOREIGN LANDS
By Richard J. Meek, M.P.S., Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada
A LODGE SUMMONS is a written notice to appear at a meeting of the Craft. Also known as a Lodge Notice, and a Trestle-Board, it has a long history, being a development of the Third of the Antient Charges.
The oldest known Masonic Manuscript, the "Regius," of 1390, now in the British Museum, tells us:
"That every mayster, that ys a mason
Most ben at the generale congregacyon,
So that he hyst resonably y-tolde
Where that the semble schal be holde;
And to that semble he most nede gon,
But he have a resenabul skwsacyon,
Or but he be unbuxom to that craft,
Or with falessehed ys over-raft,
Or ellus sekenes hath hym so stronge,
That he may not come hem amonge;
That ye a skwsacyon, good and abulle,
To that semble withoute fabulle."
This has been rendered into modern English by the late Brother J. T. Thorp, the celebrated Leicester Masonic scholar, as follows:
"That every master, that is a mason,
Must be present at the general congregation,
If he has been duly told
Where the assembly shall be held;
And to that assembly he must needs go,
Unless he have a reasonable excuse,
Or be disobedient to the craft,
Or with falsehood be overtaken,
Or else sickness hath him so strong,
That he may not come among them;
That is an excuse good and sufficient;
To that assembly without doubt."
Two centuries later in the Grand Lodge Manuscript, of 1583, we read: "Also that eu'ry mr and fellowe shall come to the assembly if that it be withn fyftie myles about him, yf he haue any warning.'
While the earlier Manuscripts gave fifty miles as the distance to attend the Assembly, succeeding versions gave twelve, seven, five, and even one mile. Various attendance charges have appeared in the English Book of Constitution, always being the Third Charge. Many daughter Grand Lodges to this day carry on the tradition.
An imperative note of warning is given in all the Manuscripts; our ancient brethren were faithful to their Craft and their obligations. One important reason was that these brethren were often called upon to adjudicate on disputes between members of the Craft. If their intercessions were of no avail, the disputing parties could "goe to the Comon Lawe."
As far as I can learn, the earliest summons to lodge meetings were by word of mouth, the tiler being the responsible executive. Until within living memory, some lodges in England continued to have their notices delivered personally by the tiler.
Lodge No. 47, Macclesfield, England (afterwards known as The Knights of Malta Lodge No. 50), has the following entry in their minute book: "1780. Mch. 9. Orderd that a plate be engravd for the purpose of printing Summons's, and that specimens of the same be laid before the Lodge the next Lodge night."
These early lodge notices were printed from an engraved plate in beautiful handwriting, often with Masonic symbols adorning the sheet.
Robert Burns, the Immortal Bard, was initiated into Freemasonry in 1781. Illustrated below is a summons as used then at St. James's Lodge, Tarbolton - a small village near Alloway, Ayrshire, the birthplace of Burns.
Brother Sitwell, a student of early French Masonic customs says that in the old lodges in France, each degree was entirely separate and distinct. Many remained as E.A., while only a few become Master Masons; and each degree had a separate summons form.
The term "trestle-board" was not originally a lodge notice according to Dr. Albert G. Mackey; it was a board used by the Master of an Operative Lodge to draw designs upon and apportion labor to the Craft. On the other hand a "tracing-board," a term often confused with "trestle-board," is a picture drawn on the floor of the lodge. These pictures were often merely tracings drawn in sand by the Master Mason for the edification of the apprentices. We are familiar with the three symbolical tracing-boards in almost every lodge of today. Some authorities claim the trestle-board was one of the first symbols introduced by Operative Masons into Speculative Masonry.
Our ancient brethren took their "warnings to appear" very seriously and we read from time to time in their proceedings of small fines being levied for non-attendance. In the more exclusive English Lodges of today it is customary to notify the Secretary if absence is anticipated. Hughan, in his "Master Masons' Handbook," published in 1890, says: "It is a matter of etiquette for officers to send an apology for non-attendance, while every member ought to send an apology, either written or by a brother."
While a lodge circular in some form or another is used by all lodges, there is a singular paucity of reference to them in Masonic literature. Even so prominent an authority as Mackey does not include the term 'Lodge Notice' in his Encyclopedia.
Often circumscribed by custom, a lodge summons may, by the use of variety and ingenuity, become a most interesting little circular. A few sentences about a charter-member, the building of the local Masonic Temple, associated organizations, and many other items of purely local interest, cause the monthly notice to be read in its entirety.
Small notices - convenient for slipping in one's pocket - are practical and allow for considerable scope. The tendency in the British Isles is for very large summons. The John of Gaunt Lodge summons, illustrated on Page 2, measured 12 inches by 10 inches, folded.
At the other extreme on the scale, we find lodge notices mimeographed with blank spaces for suitable inserts by the hard working Secretary. In perusing lodge notices one is struck by the perplexing variety of committees: Education, Sick and Visiting, Character, Posting, Grievance, Reception, Transportation, Lights, etc. While our ancient predecessors, the Operative Masons, fined brethren for absenteeism, today we often find an attendance committee reminding a brother of a meeting or special event.
A vigorous entertainment committee can, with originality, turn an ordinary meeting into one of unqualified success. Music committees are found in many notices and no doubt the harmony of the lodge owes much to them.
Most notices contain an agenda of bare fact but occasionally imaginative secretaries make use of extra space by inserting quotations from some Masonic authority such as Gould, Mackey, or Pike, while others include items concerning the members, those ill in hospital or recently recovered; others having gone on or returned from a long journey, or observing anniversaries or other special events.
Usually lodge notices are destroyed after being read, but not so in the Old Country. The English lodge summons is, in my humble opinion, a finer example of the printers' art than over here, on this side of the Atlantic. Often quite a large size, with a coat of arms or Masonic emblem, the pre-war circular was a delight to behold. During World Wars I and II certain printing restrictions placed a limitation on the opulence of the summons. For instance instead of gold embossed square and compasses, only a printed blue device was allowed.
Many Old Country lodges publish a full list of members embodied within the summons. This is of particular interest to the brethren who live for the time being in other lands, or who have been absent for some reason for a while past. As the average membership of an English lodge is much smaller than in America, the problem is not as great as would at first appear.
Lodges composed of members with a common interest usually have the opportunity of a characteristic circular. Among these are those of German, or French descent. Illustrated is the clever design of "Schiller Lodge No. 41," A.F. & A.M., at Denver, Colorado.
The summons of Scottish Lodges show several officers unfamiliar to those in these far-away jurisdictions, and yet it is not surprising that we see listed a Bard, also a Piper; but I must confess an Architect and a Jeweler is somewhat puzzling.
Many large cities in the United States of America have publications covering the activities and notices of all Lodges, Chapters, Encampments, and every affiliated Masonic organization within the area. This gives the enthusiastic Freemason a wider field of choice for visiting and also keeps him abreast of the news of his Grand Jurisdiction.
A rare notice is illustrated, "The Worshipful Society of Freemasons, Rough Masons, Wallers, Slaters, Paviors, Plaisterers and Bricklayers." This is a summons of Present-day Operative Masons.
THE WORSHIPFUL SOCIETY OF FREEMASONS,
ROUGH MASONS, WALLERS, SLATERS, PAVIORS.
PLAISTERERS AND BRICKLAYERS.
Westminster Division
ABBEY ASSEMBLE
(Constituted February 9th, 1943)
Telephone: Romford 1476
RUSLAND,
52, HARROW DRIVE
ROMFORD, ESSEX
19th January, 1945
My Dear Sir and Brother,
I am instructed by the Deputy Master Mason, W.Bro. R R. Heath Vl to request your attendance at a regular meeting of the Abbey Assemblage to be held at 10, Duke Street, St. James, London. S.W 1, on Tuesday, 13th February, 1945, at 3.45 p.m. prompt.
Yours faithfully and fraternally.
J. H. HACK,
Clerk
Dates of future meetings: May 8th: July 10th and November 13th.
A collection of lodge notices or trestle-boards can be very interesting. Not only is it a pleasure to see a well-printed, colorful summons, but many little historical facts can be gleaned from a notice. For instance, on perusing a few notices at random on my desk, I find that "Loge le Progress de l'Oceanie, at Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, was founded in 1842 under the auspices of the Scottish Rite of France, but now works under the Grand Lodge of California; the list of Past Masters of this lodge show that King Kamehameha IV sat in the East on three different occasion. French, English, and Hawaiian names are sprinkled throughout their interesting "Bulletin."
Generally speaking, an English Summons is less verbose than those on this side of the Atlantic, the average Canadian publication following somewhat between the two impressions.
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Lewis Cass, First Grand Master of Masons of Michigan
By Charles Fey, M.P.S., Birmingham, Michigan
AMONG THE names in American history that of Lewis Cass will long be remembered for a multitude of achievements of major stature: Governor of Michigan at 31; Secretary of War under Andrew Jackson; Minister to France; United States Senator, and Secretary of War under Buchanan.
As in Government, so in Freemasonry he was a leader, influential in the organization of Two Grand Lodges and Grand Master of both.
Lewis Cass, born in Exeter, New Hampshire, October 9, 1782, the eldest son of Jonathan and Mary (Gilman) Cass, was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, and in 1799 removed with his father's family to Wilmington, Delaware, where he taught school, his father being stationed there under General Anthony Wayne, having joined the Army the day after the skirmish at Lexington, and fought for Independence of the Colonies at Bunker Hill, Trenton, Princeton, Germantown, Saratoga, and Monmouth.
In 1800 Cass set out for the Northwest Territory and crossed the Allegheny Mountains on foot, settling at Marietta, Ohio, where he studied law in the office of Governor Return Jonathan Meigs, and was admitted to the bar, in 1802, when only twenty years of age. In 1803, he began the practice of law at Zanesville, Ohio, and his abilities soon secured him a lucrative practice and a wide reputation.
At the age of twenty-five he was elected to the Ohio Legislature and began his brilliant legislative career. He originated the bill which arrested the proceedings of Aaron Burr, and, as stated by President Thomas Jefferson, this was the first blow given to what is known as Burr's Conspiracy, a project led by Burr, intending as an invasion of Mexico, or a settlement of Western Lands. Public opinion, led by Thomas Jefferson, believed it to be a disunion scheme. Burr was tried for treason, but was acquitted, under a ruling by Marshall, on September 1, 1807.
Due to the marked ability of Cass in writing the document he was appointed by Jefferson as Marshall of the State of Ohio and held that office until the latter part of 1811, when he volunteered to repeal Indian aggression on the frontier. He was elected Colonel of the Third Regiment of Ohio Volunteers and entered the military service of the United States at the commencement of the War in 1812.
Having by a difficult march reached Detroit, he urged the immediate invasion of Canada, and was the author of the proclamation of that event. The first to land in arms on the enemy's shore, he with a small detachment of troops won the first battle, that of Tarantoe. He served under General William Hull, whose surrender of Detroit he strongly condemned. Many at that time thought that if Cass had had command he never would have surrendered Detroit. Cass also served under General William H. Harrison and rose from the rank of Colonel of Volunteers to be Major-General of Ohio Volunteers and finally to Brigadier-General in the regular United States Army.
The close of the war found him in command in Michigan, with headquarters at Detroit. This resulted in his making that city his home and becoming one of Michigan's distinguished citizens.
President Madison, in October, 1813, appointed him Governor of the Territory of Michigan, an area which was much larger than the present State. His position combined with the ordinary duties of chief magistrate of a civilized community, the immediate management and control as Superintendent of the relations with the numerous and powerful Indian tribes in that region, there being about 40,000 Pottawatomies, Miamis, Chippawas, and Delawares, against only ca. 6,000 white settlers.
During the eighteen years in which Cass held this post he rendered valuable services to the territory and the nation, having preserved peace between the whites and the treacherous and discontented Indians; established law and order; extinguished the Indian titles to vast tracts of land; instituted surveys; constructed roads; explored the lakes and sources of the Mississippi river, and promoted the adoption of representative government in the territory, as well as arranging many counties and townships of Michigan. His fair dealings with the Indians earned him the title of "Great Father of Detroit."
His relations with the British authorities in Canada, after the War of 1812, were at times very trying, as these officials persisted in searching American vessels on the Great Lakes and in arousing the hostility of the Indians of the territory against the American Government.
In July, 1831, President Andrew Jackson reorganized his cabinet and made Lewis Cass Secretary of War, and he continued as such until 1836. It fell to him, therefore, to direct the conduct of the Blackhawk and Seminole Wars.
In 1836, Cass was appointed Minister to France and he became very popular with the French Government and her people.
In 1842, when the Quintuple Treaty was negotiated by representatives of England, France, Prussia, Russia, and Austria for the suppression of the Slave Trade by the exercise of the Right of Search, Cass attacked it in a pamphlet, entitled, Examination of the Question now in Discussion between the American and British Governments concerning the Right of Search, and presented to the French Government a formal memorial which was probably instrumental in preventing the ratification of the treaty by France. Here he found himself in an awkward position in his stand against England, in her not relinquishing the Right of Seizure, which obliged him to relinquish his office in 1842.
His attitude on the question made him very popular in the United States of America and he was a strong, but unsuccessful, candidate of the Democratic nomination for the Presidency in 1844.
In January, 1845, he was elected by the Legislature of Michigan to the Senate of the United States, from which he withdrew upon his nomination, in May, 1848, as a candidate for the Presidency by the political party to which he belonged. He might have had the same honor in 1852, but declined. After the election of his opponent, General Zachary Taylor, to that office, the Legislature of the State of Michigan re-elected him to the Senate for the unexpired portion of his original term of six years.
On account of his eminently conservative attitude on all questions concerning slavery, General Cass has been accused of seeking favors of the Southern Democrats in order to further his political aspirations.
President Buchanan, in 1857, made him Secretary of War and in this position he at last had the satisfaction of obtaining from the British Government an acknowledgment of the correctness of the American attitude with regard to the right of search, or "visitation," as Great Britain's softened expression termed it. In December, 1860, he retired from the cabinet when President Buchanan refused to take a firmer attitude against secession by reinforcing Fort Sumter, thus closing a public career of fifty-six years. He remained in retirement until his death, at Detroit on June 7, 1866.
In 1806, he married Elizabeth (Selden) Spencer, of Virginia, and to them were born seven children. Mrs. Cass died March 31, 1853.
Lewis Cass saw the light of Freemasonry in American Union Lodge No. 1, F. & A. M., Marietta, Ohio, May 7, 1804. He became an influential member of the 4-days convention, held at Chillicothe on January 4, 1808, by representatives of American Union Lodge No. 1, of Marietta; Cincinnati No. 13, warranted by the GrLodge of New Jersey as Nova Cesaraea No. 10; Harmony No. 21; Sciota No. 2, and Chillicothe, warranted by the GrLodge of Massachusetts, in 1805, and known as Old Erie No. 2; and Amity No. 105 (now No. 5), at Zanesville, warranted by the GrLodge of Pennsylvania, in 1804. Lewis Cass introduced the resolution "that it is expedient to form a Grand Lodge in the State of Ohio," which was unanimously adopted. That Grand Lodge was organized January 7, 1808, and he wielded a powerful influence in shaping its affairs. At the second meeting, one year later, he was elected Deputy Grand Master, and served as chairman of the committee proclaiming the organization of that Grand Lodge to the Masonic world.
January 3, 1810, he was elected Grand Master, being then but twenty-eight years of age. He was honored with reselection each time for the next three years.
On April 9, 1816, he made his first visit to Zion Lodge No. 1, F. & A. M., Detroit; applied for and was admitted to membership therein. Six days later the Lodge, having just resumed labor after an interval of four years, he was elected Worshipful Master, but declined due to pressure of public business. However, he continued to be an active and influential member for a number of years.
At the organization of the Grand Lodge of Michigan, July 31, 1826. Brother Cass was elected Grand Master and held this office during the existence of that Grand Body, from July 1826 to an unknown date in 1829. A meeting was held during 1829. but the record of it is lost. At that time the anti-Masonic crusade was sweeping over the country and its influence could not but be felt in Michigan. With all his interest and love for the institution of Masonry, Lewis Cass was, above and beyond all, a politician with unbounded ambitions and aspirations. Acknowledged to be one of the ablest statesmen in the nation, there was no position in the gift of the people to which he did not aspire. This ambition, with the fact that political anti-Masonry was assuming national proportions, doubtless influenced him in recommending, in 1829, that the Lodges in Michigan suspend all Masonic work until the excitement should be allayed.
One of the last acts of Grand Master Cass before he asked the Lodges to cease labor was that of giving life to a little Lodge at Stoney Creek, near Rochester, Michigan. It was to be known as No. 7, but it did not receive a Charter before Grand Lodge surrendered to public sentiment. All obeyed except Stoney Creek. It alone continued to work and by so doing it could hardly be called 'regular,' as there was no Grand Lodge and under other circumstances might well and properly have been disciplined. Its members were made of sterner stuff than some; it refused to disband or to discontinue meetings.
It first met in the home of Nathaniel Millered, but due to pressure brought upon him and his family by his church, he asked the Lodge to find other quarters. Next it met in the home of Joshua B. Taylor, and later at Orionville in Jesse Decker's home, and perhaps also in the log school house.
To fully understand just how brave were these brethren, or how great a storm they had to defy, the reader must have a fairly clear picture of how great this anti-Masonic feeling really was. With families divided, brother arrayed against brother, father against son, even wives were against their husbands. The Baptist Church at Pontiac, Michigan, in the spring of 1829, began to be greatly agitated on the subject. A committee reported "that we entirely disfellowship the institution of Freemasonry." Stoned Creek Lodge later removed to Rochester and it is now known as Rochester Lodge No. 5, F. & A. M.
Cass received his Capitular Degrees in American Union Chapter No. 1, R.A.M., of Ohio, about 1804-1805. He became a charter member of Munroe Chapter No. 1, R.A.M., Detroit, February 3, 1818, at which time he became the first King and, in 1819, High Priest.
Other than installing John Mullet as Grand Master of the Third Grand Lodge of Michigan, in November, 1844, there is no record of Lewis Cass having been active in the Symbolic Lodge, or the Royal Arch Chapter, nor is there any record in the Grand Secretary's office that Zion Lodge No. 1 reported him as a member from 1844 on. This is also true of the Grand Chapter. R.A.M., records.
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New Members
HARVEY N. BROWN; Falls Church, Virginia (Recommended by Wm. Ernest Lyon, M.P.S.)
RALPH S. BROWN; Guthrie, Oklahoma (Recommended by Bliss Kelly, M.P.S.)
FRED W. DeCAMP; Newark, New Jersey (Recommended by Sherwood V. Westlake, M.P.S.)
JAMES S. DUNN; Kimberley, South Africa (Recommended by William Moister, F.P.S.)
MARION S. DUPUIS, Sacramento, California (Recommended by Avery Dean Curl, M.P.S.)
JOHN C. HUBBARD, M.D.; Oklahoma City, Okla. (Recommended by Bliss Kelly, M.P.S.)
VICTOR L. JONES; Burbank, California (Recommended by Lee Edwin Wells, F.P.S.)
HAROLD H. KINNEY; Santa Monica, California (Vouched for by Brother Frank C. Wolff, P.M., Secretary, Ocean Park Lodge No. 369, F. & A. M.)
MARION SNYDER; Lebanon, Ohio (Vouched for by Brother Stanley Hirschbach, Worshipful Master, Lebanon Lodge No. 26, F. & A. M.)
FRANK H. WILSON; Melrose, Massachusetts (Vouched for by Brother Albert F. Fjord, Worshipful Master, Wyoming Lodge, A. F. & A. M.)
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Recent visitors at the home of President Walter A. Quincke, F.P.S., included: George R. Harvey, F.P.S., of Berkeley, California; James R Malott, F.P.S., of Globe, Arizona; Allister J. McKowen, F.P.S., of Los Angeles, Jerry Marker, M.P.S., of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Mrs. Marker; Charles P. Barrett, M.P.S., of Los Angeles, and Chan L. Rogers, M.P.S., of Los Angeles, and Mrs. Rogers
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The Philalethes - August-September, 1950; Volume 5, Number 6. - Walter A. Quincke, F.P.S., Editor. - 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 or volume: January; February; March; May (April-May); July (June-July); September (August-September) - November (October-November), and December. No advertising in any form solicited or accepted. When requesting a change of address, please give the old as well as the new addresses, including your postal zone number, if you have such. Annual subscription, in the U.S.A., $3.00, elsewhere, $4.00, payable in advance at par in Los Angeles. - The columns of "Philalethes" are reserved for the literary contributions of the Fellows and Members of the Society, and the material is selected for its quality and timeliness rather than upon name. All published articles, however, express the ideas and opinions of their contributors only, and in no way need they be the opinion of the Society. Member-Editors of Craft magazines, here and abroad, are privileged to reprint any articles first published in "Philalethes," with the exception of "masterpieces," which are the sole and exclusive property of The Philalethes Society. - The Society's current year book, "The Informant," tells the story since its inception and enlightens one on our scope and purpose. A copy will be mailed free of charge to any Freemason requesting the same and giving the name, number and location of the Symbolic Lodge in which he holds membership.
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"Indo-Aryan Deities And Worship," by Albert Pike. ( Publisher: Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction; House of the Temple; Washington, D. C. )
This is a scholarly work, though it is not for the reader who likes his information pre-digested. There are several points of value in this work. Perhaps the greatest is that it clearly outlines the beginnings of man's approach to Deity, his first formal statement of religious feeling, of those terms wherein he attempts to at least vaguely define his gods.
Secondly, in this study of the ancient Aryans are the seeds of those later developments in religious and philosophical thoughts that were to shape themselves into various world movements, in Greece, Rome, the Near East. In these Aryan deities one can find the beginnings of Plato and the Greek philosophers who followed in his train - Zoroaster and (at a long distance) the Kabbalists and the Gnostics.
Pike, in listing the many Vedic deities, brings out one point that is quite surprising. The ancient Aryan religious poets did not, apparently, create their gods helter-skelter to fit each natural phenomena as it was observed. There was a crude sense, but very definite, of a Being that encompassed all the lesser or partial attributes of Godhead, and all the Gods seem to be a species of emanations therefrom. Nor is this the involved Emanation theory of the later Kabbalists. Agni, abstract fire, was this supreme deity, or approached closely to such a conception. Indra, Varuna, all the rest personified limited attributes of the unlimited power and aspects of Agni.
The Mason will in this volume encounter the thought that inspired the Vedic Hymns. Those, whose leanings are toward the mystical and occult, will find much food for thought. Here are the Vedic gods as they were perceived by the ancient Aryans themselves, and not as later degenerated by Hindu believes or as interpreted in our own time by those who have their own particular mystical system to forward.
Albert Pike taught himself Sanskrit at a very late period in his life. He, then, studied the Sanskrit texts, comparing various translations with each other and with his own studies. This book is the result, originally written laboriously with pens still in the possession of the Scottish Rite. The Southern Jurisdiction published the book in a limited edition of 800 copies, of which my copy is No. 544. So there cannot be too many of them left.
But, I give you fair warning again. This book is not easy reading. It requires mental "labor in the quarries." Unless you are willing to give that, leave the book alone. But if you are willing to labor, the rewards are rich in a deeper understanding of the very roots of religion.
L.E W.
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Not Slothful In Business, Fervent In Spirit, Serving The Lord (Romans 12, II)
By Max Fischer in "Alpina," Vol. 76, March, 1950; Switzerland
Translated from the German by Frank H. Reinsch, M.P.S., Los Angeles, California
WHEN I BEGAN to look for a theme for a lecture some time ago, the question arose in my mind as to what significance we Masons have, whether we have left any visible traces, any authenticated and permanent values in the history of mankind or even in the annals of our own country; whether the human spirit at one time or another might have taken a different course in its millennial progress if we had not existed. In other words, whether mankind has ever received spiritual sustenance from our ideas, visibly or invisibly, from which it might have derived strength for any significant and noteworthy accomplishment. In this quest, my spirit wandered through the history of ideas, beginning with the Hymns of the Rig-Veda of ancient India, then to the Chinese Book of Odes, then to the Eleusinian mysteries, and from there to Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. Then the way led through the Platonic Academy of Florence, with a brief visit to Pico della Mirandole - directly to John Locke's "Essay concerning human Understanding." As time moves on, Leibnitz, the father of German Enlightenment, impresses us deeply - more deeply than the theological theses of French Positivism; then by way of the socialists we arrive at the materialistic contemporaries of Feuerbach and finally, at the stern transcendentalism of Kirkegaard and his reference to the entire stage on which life is played, which has been interpreted as symbolizing the practical field of activity for ethical conviction.
On this journey through the centuries, my attention was arrested by a sermon delivered by an inconspicuous High Church preacher in a little town in Scotland about the middle of the nineteenth century in the presence of Queen Victoria. The text of the sermon was: "Not Slothful in Business, Fervent in Spirit; Serving the Lord." ("Nicht traege im Geschaeft; Feurig im Geist; Dem Herrn Dienst-bar). This sermon, which was published by the Queen at the time, is pervaded by a spirit which we might call truly Masonic. The Victorian preacher assails the prevailing flaccid notion that one may document a so-called Christian life by doing "pious deeds," just as one purchases membership in a club by paying annual dues. According to this young preacher, religion makes itself manifest less effectively through single or collected "pious deeds," than through a comprehensive attitude which conditions all the decisions of one's life with vitality unostentatiously derived from religious sources. Today we would say. that in all situations one should always act in accordance with inner principles, simply with unconscious abandon - in the present instance, in accordance with Christian convictions. Just as no one thinks of the chemical composition of the air when he breathes, or of Newton's law of gravitation when he falls, just so should the human spirit be able to act involuntarily and as a matter of course, impelled by principles in accord with his philosophy of life and his concepts of the world.
We perhaps realize even more clearly today the discrepancy between things as they are and as they could be or really ought to be; in our own frame of reference, between our better insight and our own actions.
As Freemasons we should represent a tremendous and constant force since the first days when lodges were formed, if we could succeed in acting with this unconscious abandon in accordance with the teachings of our numerous symbols, if we were not compelled to begin over and over again with the three steps of apprenticeship. This contract between what we could and should be and what we really are has often puzzled those outside our circle and has gained us the unflattering reputation of being hypocrites among those who do not distinguish between apostles and artists, and who, therefore, assume that there is little evidence of sincerity in our idealistic claims.
In explanation of this dilemma, be it said that we are not only firm believers in a higher destiny and in the potency of the good in human beings, we are also seekers for truth and erring mortals on this steep and stony pathway which leads to the goal where love, beauty and truth stand side by side like the ancient graces; where faith, knowledge and will are reunited after having gone their separate ways since the late Middle Ages.
When we return to our first question regarding the traces of Freemasonry in recorded history, we note with surprise when we study the works of the historians that they take little or no notice at all of the spiritual movement which had its beginning on June 24, 1717, on Saint John the Baptist's Day, with the founding of the English Grand Lodge. To be sure, there are historians who assign us an honorable role in their chapters on the eighteenth century as a social expression of the Age of Enlightenment, but in the historical writings of our own Switzerland, we find little or nothing about the position or activities of Freemasons. Even historians who were themselves Freemasons, as for example Heinrich Zschokke, in his "History of Switzerland," published in 1834, does not mention the secret societies. Neither do later historians, such as Dierauer, Schneider, Daguet. Daendliker, Vuillemin, Strickler, and Oechsli. At most they note the founding of the Grand Lodge ALPINA - associating us with the Swiss Archers Society, the Swiss Singing Society, and the student club Zofingia. The only exception is the historian Henne-Am Rhyn, in whose "History of the Swiss People," published in 1878, I found an excellent and just appreciation of the Masonic Lodges and their beneficent influence, particularly during the mediation proceedings when the forces of freedom and progress, which had been forced to remain inactive during the period of war and revolution, could again extend their influence. During the preceding epoch they had championed popular rights and conducted a bitter campaign against the purchase of appointment to public office, the so-called "Barettlihandel."
We can explain the fact that Freemasonry nevertheless occupies a modest position in the historical writing of our Switzerland only by assuming that the historians knew nothing about us because no archives were placed at their disposal by "secret societies," or that they intentionally maintained secrecy, if they were brothers, because they felt obliged to do so. This is doubtless true in the case of our two famous brothers, Bluntschli and Hottinger, whose excellent "History of the Republic of Zurich" appeared in 1856, at a time therefore, when Modestia Lodge, of which the authors were members, had already been working for more than eight decades.
But another matter, a third consideration, may have contributed to this secretive treatment of the lodge in historical writing, and here I come to an important point. Anderson's basic principles, as set forth in the "Ancient Charges," prescribe complete abstinence from any "quarrels about religion, nations, or state policy," so that our own brothers, when they wrote history, clearly understanding the interests of the lodges themselves, endeavored to shield us from every political orientation and from assuming any fixed position.
The question as to the influence of the lodge in the world must then be formulated to better advantage as follows: What values and progress and benevolence were initiated by Freemasons in the past, and are being furthered by them in the present? Having thus stated the question, we already feel more at ease, for great is the number of historical figures who derived inspiration for their lifework from the Masonic way of life, whose activities were guided by the lodestars of symbol and ritual. May the deeds of the brethren who have preceded us be an example and an incentive to us present-day Masons, that we, too, may give our best to our time, and do it with upright hearts. Thus the lodge is perhaps not a social-political power, but rather a school for developing traits of personality. Brother Eisenhower, who as allied supreme commander had seen so much misery in World War II, stated his creed of the free human being in these words: "We believe that the personal freedom which has its roots in human dignity is man's greatest treasure," and, likewise, let us reiterate with Brother Goethe: "Say what you will, yet valid in the end is the individual."
The unifying influence of Masonry manifests itself too often when different personalities, even those with contradictory inclinations, join hands in forming the chain of brotherhood in the lodge. The history of our own lodge reveals cases when the bitterest political opponents, such as the liberal-radical Dr. Ludwig Keller, and the rather conservatively-minded Johann Kaspar Bluntschli, joined hands at the Lindenhof and did not dare to bring their political feud into our midst.
It is, of course, an old truism that we are to be mutually concerned about each other under all circumstances. We have seen many a friend leave our chain and we have stood at his graveside with the consolation that we parted from him in peace and that we exchanged a pleasant word with him before he unexpectedly departed to join the silent chain.
The extent to which the lodge is an institution concerned with individual persons, rather than with the world of political and social phenomena, becomes quite clear to us when we ask ourselves about our own attitude toward the lodge. This attitude can be only one of the heart and of the mind, an attitude of the whole personality toward an institution which in its origin and nature is a part of the moral world. This moral world is not determined by weights, quantities, or social and political influences; it is on the contrary a world of values. The values of good and evil, of right and wrong stand in the center of this moral world, and in relation to these, the values of individual members are established. In this world of values there are simple truths which remain hidden from many who are great and mighty, while they reveal themselves to one who quietly listens, such truths as have found expression in our symbols and rituals from time immemorial and upon which we may rely when life thrusts us into a night so stormy that we must needs recall the words of the prophet: "My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. He hath builded against me, and encompassed me with gall and travail. He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out, he hath made my chain heavy." (Lamentations 3, 4-7).
In such a stormy night of life, Masonic ideas and symbols come to us like an ethereal smile, a breath of the love of the living God, like a Saint John rose of love, truth and beauty, a tip of the seamless garment of God.
Just as the Christian narrative speaks of the experience of Pentecost when the disciples were freed from their earthly limitations, just as every religion and every philosophical doctrine recognizes a condition of happy exaltation - be it the "End of the eightfold path" of Buddha, the "Tao" of Lao-tse, the "Telos" of Aristotle, or called by some other name - just so do we at our Saint John festival experience a breath of this supreme happiness. We feel the greatness of the ideas embodied in our symbols, and our rituals which appeal to the love, freedom, and dignity of man and give us a foregleam, a distant image of "that divined Being." (Goethe, "Das Goettliche") .
We are not, nor do we want to be, in the words of the "Ancient Charges," stupid atheists or irreligious libertines, and consequently, on this day of the Rose Festival, we divine the meaning of the words of the prophet which give expression to his vision of the Kingdom of God on earth: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." (I Cor. 2. 9.)
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How complete the Temple of Solomon was symbolic is manifest, not only from its continual reproduction of the sacred numbers and of astrological symbols, in the historical description of it; but also from the details of the imaginary reconstructed edifice, seen by Ezekiel in his vision. The Apocalypse completes the demonstration and shows the Kabalistic meanings of the whole. - Albert Pike.
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Charles Gottshall Reigner, F.P.S.
Charles Gottshall Reigner is a nationally-known author, educator and publisher. He is listed in "Who's Who In America", "Who's Who In American Education"; "Who's Who In Commerce and Industry"; "Who's Who In The East," and "Who Knows - And What."
Undergraduate and graduate students at Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, New York University, and University of Pittsburgh, he holds the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Education, and Bachelor of Laws. Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia, an outstanding liberal arts college, founded in 1776, conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature. The Citation for the degree referred to the recipient as "teacher, man of letters, successful business man, devoted churchman."
He began his career as a teacher in Trenton, New Jersey; Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh schools. At various times he has also served as a member of the faculty of the Summer Sessions of the University of California, University of Washington, Syracuse University, and Bowling Green (Kentucky! College of Commerce.
During World War I he was an Executive Secretary to the Director of Purchase, Storage, and Traffic, Quartermaster Corps, United States Army. Throughout World War II he served as a member of the Selective Service Appeal Board for Baltimore.
In 1919 he became associated as Editor with the H. M. Rowe Company, Educational Publishers, founded in 1867, with offices in Baltimore, Chicago, and San Francisco. He was elected President of the Company in 1926 and continues in that capacity. He is the author of numerous textbooks used in schools and colleges throughout the United States and Canada, as well as the author of "Enduring Values"; "The Clearer Vision," and "Anchored Roots" - books of essays and poems.
Dr. Reigner is Past President of the Kiwanis Club of Baltimore, Inc.; Past President, Maryland Division, Travelers Protective Association of America Past President, Alpha Rho Chapter (John Hopkins University) of Phi Delta Kappa, national honorary fraternity in education; Past President, National Shorthand Teachers Association, served as Chairman, Committee on Brotherhood Week in Baltimore, National Conference of Christians and Jews. He is now President of the Presbyterian Social Union of Maryland.
Currently he is a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee, Baltimore Goodwill Industries, Inc.; member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee, West Baltimore General Hospital; member of the Board of Managers, Maryland Bible Society; member of the University Club Baltimore; member of the National Shorthand Reporters Association; life member of the National Education Association; member of the National Association of Secondary-School Principals; honorary member of Rho Chapter (Ohio State University) of Delta Pi Epsilon, graduate fraternity in business education; member of the Horace Mann League of the United States.
His philanthropies include "The Charles G. Reigner Apartments" of Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia; "The Charles G. Reigner Doctors' Library" and "The Charles G. Reigner Medical Record Library," West Baltimore General Hospital; "The Charles G. Reigner Education Reading Room," School of Christian Education, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, N.J.; "The Charles G. Reigner Collection," The Library, Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia.
Brother Reigner is Past Master of Concordia Lodge No. 13, A.F. & A.M., of Maryland; Past High Priest, Jerusalem Chapter No. 9, Royal Arch Masons, of Maryland; Eminent Past Commander, Beausant Commandery No. 8, Knights Templar, of Maryland; Past Venerable Master, Chesapeake Consistory, A. & A. Scottish Rite, of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction. tie was coroneted a Thirty-Third Degree Mason at the House of the Temple, Washington, D.C., on October 19, 1945.
He is a Fellow of The ,Philalethes Society; member of Concordia Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters of Maryland; member of Baldric Club (Knights Templar); Member of The Royal Order of Scotland; member of Baltimore Forest No. 45, Tall Cedars of Lebanon; member of Boumi Temples Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; Past President of The Scimeter Club of Boumi Temple; member of Baltimore Court No. 82, Royal Order of Jesters.
Associate Editor of "Boumi Temple News," Brother Reigner is the author of many articles on the history and philosophy of Freemasonry, published in various Masonic magazines. In 1949 The B Square Fellowship, Baltimore, published his brochure, "Tale Degrees of Masonry." He is currently chairman of the Committee on Library, Grand Lodge, A.F. & A.M., of Maryland, and chairman of the Committee on Correspondence, Grand Commandery, Knights Templar of Maryland.
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That all Shriners are Freemasons is patent to all and we like to believe that the various degrees received on the road to the "Mystic Shrine" have further impressed the lessons of the three Symbolic Degrees.
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BY REV. SCHUYLER E. CRONLEY, M.P.S.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA
Just one thought away
From the limits of mortal mind
Lies the land of Holy promise
God's gift to all mankind.
Just one thought farther
On past the finite vision
Within the realm of Infiniteness
Man finds his true commission.
Just one thought more
Before the perfect work is done;
A powerful, perfect thought:
My God and I are one!
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By CHARLES E. HOMES, F.P.S
Montreal (P.Q.), Canada
South America. - We have so many reports activities from South and Central America, one, entire issue of "Philalethes" would not suffice to carry a complete story. However, we mention that the InterAmerican Masonic Conference, with headquarters at Santiago, Chili, issued a message of congratulation and greeting to the Masons of America on the occasion of the 173rd anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, of 1776. This is a nice gesture which pays tribute to Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Truman. The resolution includes mention of The Philalethes Society, as playing an important part in bringing concord among men and preaching tolerance and peace among "all peoples who love justice, peace and liberty."
And we reciprocate this kindly greeting by recording, in turn, our heartfelt fraternal sentiments to our Brethren in the Southern part of the American hemisphere on the occasion of the Bath anniversary of the birth of the South American Liberator, Brother Simon Bolivar, which occurred on July 24th.
France. - One of the best Masonic periodicals published in France prior to World War II was Les Annales Maconnique, edited by Brother Edouard Plantagenet, a former Venerable Master of Goethe Lodge No. 379, Paris, who, in 1938, was a brilliant member of The Philalethes Society. His articles and booklets on Masonic topics were better than good. When France was overrun by the Germans and Professor (?) Bernard Fay was placed in charge of the Secret Societies Bureau by the Gestapo and he sent all the prominent Masons he could reach, belonging to lodges affiliated with the Grande loge de France (S.R.), and the Grand Orient, to concentration camps, one of the thousand that did not return was Edouard Plantagenet. News has recently come to us that he was "liquidated" in the gas chamber at Buchenwald. This was to be expected since he was really an anti-Hitlerian German whose real name was Engel, and he was of Jewish origin.
Scotland. - Masonry in Scotland does not publicize its doings as do the affiliates of the United Grand Lodge of England. In consequence we seldom hear from the land of the heather. Our Brother George Prentice, M.P.S., recently favored us with assorted Masonic news, which we pass on to you.
During July, Mary's Chapel Lodge No. 1, of Edinburgh, celebrated the 350th anniversary of its earliest minute - the oldest Masonic minute of a lodge meeting in existence. Four Grand Masters took part in this celebration : The Earl of Galloway (Scotland); the Duke of Devonshire (England ); Raymond Brooke (Ireland) and Roger Keith (Massachusetts), upon whom an honorary membership in the aforementioned Lodge was conferred by Lord Saltoun, Past Grand Master of Scotland. On July 29, a Banquet was held in the Music Hall of the Temple, followed on the next day by a Ball in the Assembly Room. The celebration closed with a special Church service in St. Giles' Cathedral.
Last November (1949) a remarkable ceremony was held in the Royal Arch Hall of Edinburgh, when the Officers of the Grand Priority of Scotland, under the leadership of V. E. Fr. A. R. Cunningham, PPKCT, installed the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, KTCMG, as Grand Master of the Temple of Scotland. Deputations from the Grand Priory of England, Wales, and Ireland were present at this memorable meeting which so many eminent Masons attended.
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By V. M. BURROWS, M.P.S. - Long Beach, California
I have seen the sun at its setting;
I have seen the moon in the night;
I have seen the stars that twinkle
With tiny pencils of light.
I have seen the grey old ocean,
And mountains towering high;
I have seen the waste of the desert,
And blue of the cloudless sky.
I have asked the essential meaning,
Of parts of the universe;
And whether all is progress,
For better, or for worse.
There comes a Voice that tells me,
That huge, friendly System so grand,
Is friend to every human,
Who will lend a helping hand.
A helping hand to progress,
Aiding his fellow man;
Each doing for the other,
The little that he can.
We do not learn by science,
Or by logic, eternal truth;
We find that faith is needed,
To furnish sufficient proof.
Proof of the virtue of friendship;
Proof of the value of love;
Proof of the All-Seeing Eye;
Governing from Above.
And proof of the power of prayer,
When calamity may befall;
To lift us out of trouble,
By the strength of the Lion's Paw.