January,1951
Contents
Our Message HAROLD VAN BUREN VOORHIS, F.P.S.
MASONIC COMITY BROTHER JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
THE PHILALETHES SOCIETY NEWS MASONRY ON POSTAGE STAMPS
We ought to enter the new year with its duties and responsibilities with a high spirit of hopefulness and courage in our hearts.
The Spirit of Adventure
THAT is very important if the weeks and the months that are ahead are to have any considerable and worthwhile achievements in them. Great things are possible but we must be ready to make sacrifices and take risks for their realization. Unless we do that there is every reason to believe that they will not come. If we do not go forward in a high-spirited way our life will be very commonplace and monotonous. But dreaming alone will not do it. Joseph was a great dreamer. He looked into the future and saw his high position, but he made two mistakes and he had to pay for their correction. He thought that greatness consisted in being served by other people. That was one wrong idea that had to be changed and God had to treat him a little bit harshly to convince him that true greatness consisted in serving other people just as Christ did when he was upon the earth. He also thought that the path to greatness was smooth and easy.
That idea also had to be driven out of his mind, and it was through years of trial and toil that he reached the place where he was really great as prime minister of Egypt. The thing we all admire about Joseph is the fact that he stuck to it and worked hard to realize his dreams. We must translate our good thoughts into action.
Might it not be a very good time for us to begin to attempt to realize in positive reality some of those good things about which we have been dreaming? Suppose we start right now to fare forth into some uncharted sea of adventure that up to the present has only been a vision of hope and possibility. We have thought of reading or study, but somehow the time for starting never seemed to come. Suppose we make it come right now! We have planned a splendid service to some one, but have been postponing and postponing until our purpose has grown rather weak and spiritless. Why not put our courage to the sticking point.
We all need the spirit of adventure. We are getting flat and stale on many things that are very much worth while. It is a good time to begin to tone up and brace up.
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HAROLD VAN BUREN VOORHIS, F.P.S.
Harold Van Buren Voorhis was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, on January 3, 1894, the second of three sons of Thomas and Mary Peck (nee Bates) Voorhis. He is the eighth generation from Steven Coerte Van Voorhees, born in Holland in 1600, died in Flatlands (Brooklyn) Long Island, New York, who came to this country on the ship Bontehoe (Spotted Cow) in April, 1660.
Brother Voorhis was graduated from the Red Bank High School in 1912 and attended Cooper Union and Columbia University, both in New York City until the start of World War I. He served in the United States Navy (foreign service) for two years and the Naval Reserve for twelve years.
His business interests have been varied: Photographer, three years; Chemist (Bull & Roberts, Inc., New York City) 1912-1917; Chief Assayer (Ledoux & Co., New York City) 1920-1928; Decalcomania Manufacturing, two years; Executive Secretary of the Red Bank Chamber of Commerce, five years; Consulting Chemist, Secretary and Treasurer (Bull & Roberts, Inc.) 1943 to date, and Vice President of the Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Company, 1946 to date. He is also a certified Gas Chemist.
Brother Voorhis was married to Miss Lucille M. Hottendorf on July 2, 1932, the union being terminated by the courts in 1940.
In 1940 and 1941 he conducted five complete ground schools as Assistant Co-ordinator for the Civil Aeronautics Administration in Red Bank, New Jersey.
His memberships are many, including the American Canoe Association; American Friends of Lafayette (Fellow); American Indian Association; American Radio Relay League; Christmas Seal and Charity Stamp Society (Editor for nine years); Holland Society of New York (Vice-President for four different terms); Monmouth County Historical Society; Steamship Historical Society of America; Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Van Voorhees Association (one of the founders).
Brother Voorhis has so many Masonic affiliations that space does not permit a complete listing of them. He is a Past Presiding Officer in the Symbolic Lodge; Chapter; Council; Commandery; Priestly Order of the Temple; Masonic Rosicrucian Society (S.R.I.C.F.); Red Cross of Constantine; Grand College of Rites of the United States of America; Knight Masons of Ireland; Masonic Order of the Bath of the United States; five Councils of the Allied Masonic Degrees of the United States; Thrice Illustrious Masters Council of New Jersey; a Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners; a Priory of the York Cross of Honour, and Ye Antient Order of Corks. He is an officer in the Convention of Anointed High Priests of New Jersey, the American Lodge of Research, and VII Grand Pillar of the Holy Royal Arch Knight Templar Priests. Also a Thirty-Third Degree Mason of the Trenton, New Jersey, bodies of the A.A. Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States of America. He is active in Girard Mark Lodge No. 214. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Society of Blue Friars (Secretary-Treasurer); the Philalethes Society (Fellow); Order of the Eastern Star; Royal Order of Scotland; Orden de los Constructores Masones; National Sojourners; Heroes of '76, and a Grand Representative of a Grand Lodge, Grand Chapter, Grand Council and Grand Commandery near the Grand Bodies of New Jersey.
Our Brother is a member of several research bodies including The Ohio Chapter of Research; the American Lodge of Research of New York; the North Carolina Lodge of Research No. 666, North Carolina; Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, London, England, and Sydney Lodge of Research No. 290, New South Wales, Australia.
He holds numerous honorary memberships, including that in Alpha Lodge No. 116, F. & A. M., the only recognized Negro Lodge in the United States of America. He is a Past Grand Master of the Grand Council, R. & S.M., of New Jersey; Supreme Magus for life, of the S.R.I.C.F.; Grand Commander of the Order of the Bath of the United States; Past Sovereign Grand Master of the Grand Council, Allied Masonic Degrees of the United States; Past Grand Chancellor of the Grand College of Rites of the United States; Grand B of the Antient Order of Corks, and Past Grand Master General of the Convent General, York Cross of Honour of the United States of America. In addition he is Grand Historian of the Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masonry, and Grand Commandery, Knights Templar, both of New Jersey. On October 15, 1950, he became the Right Excellent Grand Superintendent of the Knight Masons of Ireland for the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States.
Brother Voorhis is particularly noted for his Original researchers on Negro Freemasonry, Androgenous Masonry, and Masonic Rosicrucianism, having published books on all three subjects. In addition he has written several other works including a long study of the Masonic affiliations and activities of General Lafayette. He is also noted for a yearly list of the World's oldest Freemasons which contains those who have been members of the Craft for seventy years or more. The sixteenth such list was published by the Masonic Service Association of the United States, Washington, D.C., in July, 1950, and contains twenty-two records of living Freemasons falling in this category. The complete list on file covers nearly four hundred such brethren.
Brother Voorhis is a member of the recently formed Committee on the Lindsay Report for the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States. His brochures and research papers fill several large volumes.
Harold Van Buren Voorhis was made a Master Mason in Mystic Brotherhood Lodge No. 21, F. & A. M., Red Bank, New Jersey, on June 11, 1920. He is one of the original Forty Fellows (No. 15) of The Philalethes Society, formed in 1928, only Brother Reginald V. Harris. F.P.S., of Nova Scotia (No. 9), antedating his membership
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Long ago it was the custom in Scotland, when one entered the Lodge as an initiate, for the Master to appoint an "intended as he was called; that is, a teacher to instruct him in the Ritual and its meaning. What a pity that such a custom should have fallen into disuse.
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Our members are invited to submit questions on any subject pertaining to Freemasonry which we will endeavor to elucidate after due investigation of the subject matter. If this is done in the proper spirit, we shall all benefit from such research.
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By Harry L. Haywood, F.P.S.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
I BEGIN this small survey of a very large subject by asking the reader to join with me in the study of the history and meaning of a word. The Latin - speaking peoples of two thousand years ago had two words, one of which was cum, which meant "with," or together," the other of which was eo, which meant "to go." By combining these two (and Latin-speaking peoples were fond of combining two or more words) they formed the word comitatus, which meant that it was possible for a number of things to go together in such a way as to become one thing. Any women working in her own kitchen has long since learned how to combine a number of different things in such a way as to produce one thing, as when she combines flour, salt, lard, baking powder and water to make biscuits, but this is not quite what the Latins meant by comitatus. Their point was that a number of things could be combined to make one thing without sacrificing the identity and separateness of the various things. It was from this usage that we Masons have our English word comity. (The term has little or no connection with the word "committee." ) This word which we Masons have used for generations has suddenly become of world importance, and for two reasons.
Towards the end of World War II a number of nations met in conference in San Francisco to see if they could work out a scheme by which many nations could act as if they were one nation. What they then began is being continued now, and the organization which is called the United Nations, is nothing other than an attempt to make fifty or sixty worlds into one. The problem is: how can a large number of separate and independent nations so combine as to leave undestroyed their separateness and independence? If one may trust the public prints, including daily papers and weekly magazines, the problem thus far remains unsolved.
Since this is an informal and unimportant study, signed by my own name, I may be permitted by my readers to express my own feelings about the attempt to melt down two or three hundred nations into a single world state. I do not like the idea. I should vastly prefer to see the opposite occur. I should like to see Holland become more Dutch than it is, Belgium more Belgian, France more French, England more English, and America more American. In these days of vast mechanization no one of us is half as individualistic as he ought to be. The flavor and color of life is as important as the unity of life.
In the meantime the men of religion have had troubles of their own. If there is only one God, why so many religions? If Christ is the only shepherd or Christianity, why so many denominations ? If Moses was the one law-giver of the Hebrew peoples, why so many Jewish sects? If Buddha was the supreme lord of his religion, why so many Buddhist denominations? If Confucius was the one founder of Confucianism, why so many Confucianist churches? These questions arise of themselves, and no man can prevent their doing so - these and questions like them.
In a book which I published three years ago I insisted that after a thousand years of its history and its dearly-bought experience and wisdom, Freemasonry has something to offer the world which has nothing to do with Freemasonry. If a problem has been solved by an organization, a society, a fraternity, why should men go through the agony of solving it for a second time? If Freemasonry has found the answer to a question, why should any man labor to find the answer all over again? It is the contention of these paragraphs that Freemasonry long ago found the answer to the question which so bedevils the United Nations and the churches.
That question can be stated in few words: how can a unity be established among many nations without destroying the identity and independence of those nations? How can there be religious unity without destroying the individuality and independence of all the religions? How can Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Greek Orthodox find a way to unite? Personally, I should like to see Presbyterians more Presbyterian than they are, Methodists more Methodist, Baptists more Baptist, and Greek Orthodox more Orthodox. I believe that Freemasonry has found the answer to such questions.
At the end of the Revolutionary War the fathers of our nation found themselves confronted by a problem which seemed to be insoluble. How could there be a single and sovereign government of the whole United States without sacrificing the independence and sovereignty of the thirteen independent nations which composed it? The Constitutional Convention of 1787 attempted to answer the question by setting up a Federal Government with ample powers reserved to the state governments. This was approved by the thirteen separate governments, and has been our scheme of political government ever since. The debate over that scheme, and as to where the Federal Government leaves off and the state governments begin, has gone on ever since, will continue to go on as long as our nation survives. We shall always have splinter political parties; but also we shall always have two germinal parties, one of which will ask for more power for the Federal Government, the other of which will ask for more power to the state governments. One thing is certain: we shall always have the most costly political government ever devised because we shall always have to pay for fifty separate governments, one for each state and one for the nation.
At the end of the Revolutionary period the Masons of America were confronted by what appeared to be the same insoluble predicament. At one extreme were those who believed that the solution was to be found in a single, national Grand Lodge for the whole of the United States. At the opposite extreme were those who deemed it better to have as many Freemasonries as there were states. As the sequel turned out neither extreme was right. Out of their long history, and from their vast, funded experience and wisdom, American Freemasons found a way out which leaned neither to the right hand nor to the left.
Their way out is that which is called Masonic Comity. After reading up and down this system of Comity for a number of years, and with much time to think about it, I have reached the point where I do not hesitate to describe it as a masterpiece of statesmanship. Nor must a reader permit himself to suspect that I make such a statement out of a fond enthusiasm for Freemasonry. If I were a professional historian and a non-Mason I should make the same statement providing I possessed sufficient facts to warrant me in making a statement at all. It would be a cold statement because the facts are cold facts.
At the end of the Revolution there were in America a number of Masonic statesmen of the finest calibre. If the question before them was fiendishly difficult to solve, it was very easy to frame: how have a single, indivisible Fraternity of Ancient Craft Freemasonry within the United States without infringing upon the independence of sovereignty of the Grand Lodges (of which there are now forty-nine)? The system of Comity was the solution.
I am not suggesting that those Masonic statesmen conjured up the solution out of their own minds, in the form of a theory, or as a transcendental abstraction; what they did was far more laborious and took much more patience. They saw that even before the Revolution, Grand Lodges had begun to send out filaments of rule and custom toward each other; and they also saw that after the Revolution these filaments were increasing in number. Their statesmanship consisted of persuading the whole Craft to wait with patience, to bide its time, and to trust the experience of all the Grand Lodges together more than the ideas or theories of a few. After a century and a half of the practice of Comity we can be happy that the Craft accepted that leadership, because now we no longer are in danger of the nightmare of a single, national Grand Lodge at the one extreme, or, at the other, of a congeries of Grand Lodges behaving like atoms which repel each other, which could be nightmarish.
If a man analyzes the Code of any one of the American Grand Lodges he will find among its laws, provisions, rules, and regulations a certain number which look outwards toward other regular and duly constituted Grand Lodges. It does not follow (and could not) that a law enacted by one Grand Lodge would be in force in another Grand Jurisdiction. The writs of Grand Lodge law never run in other Grand Lodges. If Indiana enacts such a law it is not binding in Missouri, or Ohio, or Iowa, or Michigan; it is binding in Indiana only. Nevertheless, and even so, other Grand Lodges understand these laws well enough, and the purpose of them, and one Grand Lodge tries to keep step with every other one - and usually they succeed in doing so.
It would be stretching the meaning of words to say that these laws are to Freemasonry what international law is among nations; but it would not be stretching the meaning very far, and there is a close similarity between the two; so close, that it is a puzzle to guess why no competent jurisconsult, versed in the civil as well as in Masonic jurisprudence, has never written a book about the subject. If any one were to essay the task he easily could fill a volume of 400 pages.
Within the present limitations it is impossible to describe each and every one of the elements which compose Masonic Comity - it is impossible even to name them all; the reader must fill in the picture for himself.
Once each year the Grand Masters and the Grand Secretaries hold their own conferences at Washington, D.C. The larger number of Grand Lodges are members of both the Washington Memorial Association and the Masonic Service Association. Whenever a Grand Lodge publishes a volume of its Annual Proceedings it sends a copy without cost to every other Grand Lodge. Grand Masters and Grand Secretaries not only carry on a continual correspondence with each other, but visit each other. Any Masonic newspaper or magazine is free to circulate outside its own state. If any Grand Lodge publishes a book or a booklet it usually will send copies to every other Grand Lodge - at the very least it will do so on request. Grand Lodges are always happy to exchange information with each other, and many Grand Lodges exchange "Courtesy Degrees." If a Mason who holds membership in one state meets with misfortune in another state half way across the continent the Masons in the latter place will extend immediate relief and then will notify his home Lodge. Always, a Mason who is a member in good standing in one state may demit to a Lodge in another state. In the meantime, and like a shuttle ceaselessly working, Masonic literature is omnipresent throughout the Fraternity; a book published in New York is not confined to New York, but can be read anywhere, and usually it is. All such things, and to use the word once again, are filaments which quietly bind us together into a single seamless robe - and so mote it be!
The principle of Comity is very old in the world, and has been practiced among peoples, nations, societies, and organizations since history began. If a man is of the opinion that Comity could be more easily practiced among Grand Lodges than elsewhere, he does not know Grand Lodges; no other constituted societies in the world are more jealous of their independence and their sovereignty. If Comity can be worked among forty-nine Grand Lodges it can work anywhere. There is no reason why we should not have unity among nations, and among religions and denominations, without destroying the identity and independence of the nations and the religions. ( Reprinted by permission from "The Indiana Freemason," edited by Laurence R. Taylor, M.P.S. )
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We all meet around the Masonic Altar on a common level and grasp the cabletow. It leads us from darkness to light, and from ignorance to knowledge. This symbol may seem of small importance to many and its meaning is little understood.
Symbolically, the cabletow may be said to be of two divisions, as a line used for a tug-of-war. The ends represent the power of good pulling against the power of evil; light against darkness; truth against ignorance. It also may be said to have a short end and a long end. The short end restrains us in evil desires, thoughts and speech and in our language, profane, false, and slanderous. The long end has no limit for it stretches out to the afflicted, the destitute, the widow and the orphan, and to those of all creeds, affiliation, and station in life, where succor may be given to a distressed humanity. This long end extends to the end of our lives where we may look back along the line with a hope to have recorded a life well spent and entitling us to a just reward.
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So many Gods, so many creeds; So many ways that wind and wind; when all on earth this old world needs, is just the art of being kind.
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BROTHER JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
By John Urzidil, M.P.S., Kew Gardens, Long Island, N.Y.
GOETHE, a member of Anna Amalia zu den drei Rosen Lodge, Weimar, Germany, was initiated an Entered Apprentice on June 23, 1780, at the age of thirty. He gave the pair of gloves, presented to him at that solemn occasion, to his beloved friend, Frau von Stein. One year later, he passed to the Fellowcraft Degree and, in 1782, he was raised Degree of Master Mason. Soon after, and because of an internal Masonic controversy concerning 'system - differences,' the Weimar Lodge ceased to labor but it was reopened in 1808. Goethe himself used his influence to renew the Masonic life in Weimar, under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Hamburg. The Duke Carl August, as well as the famous poet Christopher Martin Wieland, petitioned the Lodge which soon could boast of many outstanding personalities among its membership. In 1815, Goethe's son August became a member too.
Although his vast duties as a Minister of State, his literary and scientific work preventing him from attending all regular conventions of the Lodge, Goethe always expressed deep interest in its activities. His Masonic conviction reflects in many of his secular, Masonic writings and poems. One encounters the influence of Masonic principles almost everywhere e.g. in his play "Der Grosskophta"; in his interesting draft of a second part of Brother Mozart's "Magic Flute," and in poems like "Edel sei der Mensch, hilfreich und gut . ." (Noble be man, helpful and good). Goethe's great novels, "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship," and "Wilhelm Meister's Travels" abound in Masonic allusions. The so-called "Lehrbrief" (indenture of an apprentice), which is inserted in "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship," became an essential part of the ritual of many German and Central European Symbolic Lodges. Goethe partook of the work of his Lodge with many very remarkable Masonic speeches, as e.g. his magnificent commemorative address (1813) for Brother Christopher Martin Wieland, or his address (1821) to the memory of five other brethren of the Lodge. In addition he wrote many poems and songs intended for various Masonic occasions e.g. the "Bundeslied" (Song of the Covenant); the "Symbolum;" the poem "Trauerloge" (Funeral Lodge); the beautiful "Lasst fahren hin das Allzufluechtige" (Let's banish now all nimble matters . .). and several poetical toasts and Masonic dedications.
The fiftieth anniversary of his Masonic affiliation was celebrated most solemnly in Weimar in 1830.
When Goethe passed on, in 1834, Brother Friedrich von Mueller, then Chancellor of State, delivered the commemorative address which is considered one of the best Masonic speeches ever held in any German Lodge.
Some fundamental traits of Goethe's personality connect him with America: his love of life; his love of activity and effort: his love of the Present and his conception of organic freedom in harmony with order. None of the German classics showed a greater understanding of America and of her achievements. Nevertheless, it required a long period of development and a certain historical perspective before Goethe's significance was fully appreciated by the New World.
The pillars of culture rise from the bases of national worlds but they support the architraves of a supranational temple of spirit. Dante, Rousseau, Shakespeare, Franklin, Goethe, Tolstoi grew out of their national orbits and became eventually the teachers and guides of occidental mankind. Goethe's suprauational mind brought him into disfavor with his nationalist countrymen even in his lifetime. It was on the other hand, that supranational mind which made him an intimate of the international public.
Notwithstanding all specialization, the American character shows a deeply rooted inclination to many-sided efficiency. It is to this prerogative that Goethe offers an outstanding example. Creative in all forms of poetry, drama and fiction, he was at the same time, statesman and practical organizer of the dukedom of Weimar. Moreover, he contributed to the enlargement of knowledge in almost all spheres of science: in optics; in mineralogy; in botanics; in osteology; with his general theory of metamorphosis; with his discovery of the Os Intermaxillare; with his doctrine of original phenomena and of architypes. All these scientific endeavors were formative elements of his cosmopolitanism. "The world is about to adopt science a universal fatherland," he wrote in 1822.
Although a poet, dramatist, and writer, a politician and a scientist, he had other merits. He developed a distinct and deep relationship to music and to the fine arts, too. For a long time, Goethe was considered devoid of understanding music and a mere amateur and dilettante in the fine arts. As a matter of fact, however, his judgment about music was very sound and his ideas about art were progressive even from our modern view. Many of his drawings of the various periods of his life are of remarkable accomplishment and could pass for very good achievements if they were not signed by him. As early as 1815 he said: "Only if the subject does no more matter to art, only if art becomes completely absolute, the subject being merely the vehicle, the acme is attained."
It could not make much sense to add another study to the thousands already published on Goethe or to rhapsodize his greatness anew, were it not possible to show him as an actual, still living force. If one believes in the duration and future of occidental culture, in its effectiveness in building up and preserving new generations, one must believe in Goethe. However, he who does not maintain confidence in western culture and civilization, to him not Dante nor Shakespeare, Franklin, Rousseau, Goethe nor Tolstoi will be worth a farthing. To the other portion of the public the great representatives of human spirit are not merely historical petrifactions. They can be proved to be, on the contrary, active contemporaries of ours and they should be proved such indefatigably. For the truth, as Goethe once said to
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Facsimile of the Diploma presented to Goethe by "Amalia" Lodge
DEM
HOCHVEREHRTEN RUHMGEKRONTEN
MEISTER
IN DER KONIGLICHEN KUNST
UND EDELSTEM VORBIED
MAURERISCHER TUGEND
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
IHM
DER IN WEISHEIT SCHONHEIT STARKE
AUF LANGER SEGENSREICHER BAHN
FUR MIT - UND NACHWELT
GLORREICH VORGELEUCHTET
MIT HELLEM FORSCHERBLICK
TIEF IN DAS INNRE DER NATUR GEDRUNGEN
DER WAHRHEIT HEILIG FEUER
BEWAHRT GENAHRT VERBREITET
UND
DURCH DEN ZAUBER DES GESANGES
WEIT GETRENNTE VOLKER
ZU HEITRER GEISTGENOSSENSCHAFT VEREINIGT
IHM WEIHET
DIESE URKUNDE
DER EHRENMITGLIEDSCHAFT
ZU FROHSTER FEYER
DER FUNFZIGSTEN WIEDERKEHR DES TAGES
SEINER AUFNAHME IN IHRE HALLEN
DIE LOGE AMALIA ZU WEIMAR
ALS PFAND
INNIGSTER VEREHRUNG DANKBARKEIT UND LIEBE
am 23, JUNI 1830
(Translation by Frank H. Reinsch, M.P.S.)
To the very honored, highly renowned Master of the
Royal Art and noblest exemplar of Masonic virtue
JOHANN WOLFGANG von GOETHE
to him who is a glorious pioneer in wisdom, beauty, and strength for us and for posterity in a long and blessed career, who pressed deeply into the inner recesses of nature with the eve of a gifted investigator; who preserves, augments, and disseminates the holy fire of truth, and who has united widely separated peoples in happy spiritual fellowship through the magic of poetry; to him is dedicated this certificate of
HONORARY MEMBERSHIP
in joyous celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the day of his admission into its halls by
AMALIA LODGE AT WEIMAR
as a token of most sincere respect, gratitude, love, on the 23rd day of June, 1830.
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his intimate Eckermann, "should be repeated ever and ever again because the error around us, too, is constantly voiced."
The mere fact, then, that on August 28, 1949, two centuries have passed since Goethe's birth offers only a superficial motive for further publications on him. The other much more important fact is that his wisdom is of an almost stupendous actuality at present. Today we find ourselves in a trying period similar to that characterized by Goethe when, studying the history of the Reformation, he remarked: "A sad view of boundless confusion, error fighting error, selfishness fighting selfishness, the truth now and then just heaving a sigh." In such a phase of anxiety no help can be expected from child-like hopes for lucky chances. Only a mature optimistic belief in life as such may save us; only that unyielding trust in the eventual possibility of a mutual form of moral human coexistence which is to be achieved by stubbornly continuing the struggle against prejudices and false delusions.
In that endeavor Goethe can fortify our mind and action. He coined the formula that "Mankind in its total alone is the true human being." He was a protagonist of world solidarity. Preservation of personality and individuality was to him the noblest human privilege. He wanted it always linked with that toleration which alone can produce the maximum rate of general well being. No one could fight more forcefully than Goethe against prejudice and false delusions. He knew their secret and dangerous power. "In Rome," he once pointed out to his secretary Riemer, "aside from the Romans, a people of statues still existed; in the same way there is also, aside from this real world, a world of delusions, almost more powerful than the world people are living in." The great effort of his long life was aimed at defeating this deluded world by reason, recognizance, knowledge, and science.
This did not mean that Goethe disregarded the natural limitations of all things human. His attitude toward religion, so very often assailed by misinterpreters, can be clearly explained by an angle which disproves all obstinately repeated assertions that he was a sort of a modern pagan. He thought it necessary to look as deeply as possible into everything that could be considered a subject or research. In many provinces of science he excelled by his precursorship as to the basic principles involved and by his prefigurative mind as to the methods. Some of his ideas were accepted as legitimate scientific rules only in our time.
With amazing exactitude Goethe prophesied the political, social and even the economic development and future of the United States of America. Already at the dawn of the nineteenth century he emphasized his friendly feeling for and patronage of the less favored smaller European nations. About the human soul and man's psychological reactions he discovered facts and stated truths which by today's psychology and psychotherapy are proclaimed the most recent scientific achievements. Being presential in all his thinking and being opposed to every hypertrophy of merely historical conception, he remained contemporaneous to later generations. A really presential thinker is not concerned with transient actualities but and with values of an unchangeable, authentic and lasting character. Everything changeable always turns its presence into the past. Only what is unchangeable retains a permanent presence. The Bible, Homer, the Greek tragic poets, Shakespeare - they will remain modern under any circumstances. So will Goethe! Nevertheless, his concern with lasting values never detracted him from the real actual life. What he was after were the hidden links between both spheres.
There was a time not long ago when in almost every German house one could see Goethe's works in beautifully bound editions. It has been said that, in spite of this fact, the German people plunged into a moral catastrophy unparalleled in history. This conclusion does not disprove Goethe, however. For the Bible, too, the world's greatest best seller of all times, is to be found on still many more private shelves, and how small, in comparison with these billions of copies, is the number of true Christians? Nevertheless, we do not cease to adhere to the Bible. The Germans simply failed to reach their Goethe-maturity just as the great majority of Bible owners did not grow Bible-mature. It is certain, however, that Goethe and what he represents must be fully perceived not only in Continental Europe but in America as well if spiritual world-solidarity is to become a fact.
Facsimile of Masonic Poem, by Goethe, dedicated to "Amalia" Lodge, in 1830, commemorating his Fiftieth Masonic anniversary and praising Masonic virtues and solidarity.
(Translation by Frank H. Reinsch, M.P.S.)
Fifty years today are over,
Neither joys nor sorrows last.
Fifty years so quickly over!
They have joined the solemn past.
But the urge to noble striving,
Brotherlove, and friendship true,
In our Bond age-long surviving,
Ever prove themselves anew.
They will always be resplendent,
Strewn like modest stars above,
Far and near with light benignant,
In the realm of right and love.
Let us then, with glad endeavor,
Try to dignify mankind;
Just as though were forever
One in soul and heart and mind.
Weimar, 1830 Goethe
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NEW MEMBERS
W. S. Armstrong; Oakland, California (Recommended by Arthur H. Triggs, M.P.S. )
C. M. Dunnicliff; Friant, California ( Recommended by A. Dean Curl, M.P.S.)
David R. Lane; Berkeley, California ( Recommended by Arthur H. Triggs, M.P.S.)
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The Philalethes - January, 1951; Volume 6, Number 1. - Walter A. Quincke, F.P.S., Editor. The official publication of The Philalethes Society, 274 South Burlington Avenue, 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, 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. - The columns of "The 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.
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Books and Pamphlets Received
"Die Kette," July, and August, 1950, issues; Vereinigte Grossloge in Berlin, Germany.
"The Louisiana Freemason," June, 1950; Grand Lodge of Louisiana, F. & A. M.; New Orleans, La.
"L'Acacia Masonica, " October, and November-December, 1949, issues; Direzione E Amministrazione; Via Giustiniani. I.P.P., Rome, Italy.
"The News Letter," September, October, and November, 1950, issues; The Supreme Council, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction; Boston, Mass.
"Revista Masonica de Chile," August, September, and October, 1950, issues; Oriente De Santiago, Chile.
"Masonic Review, 4th Quarter of 1950; Box 235 Brookfield, Missouri.
"Alpina," October, and November, 1950, issues; Grand Lodge ALPINA, Geneva, Switzerland.
"The Illinois Cryptic Mason," December, 1950; Grand Council, Royal and Select Masters, Illinois.
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Masonry makes men better, but there is no human agency that could make men perfect. If a man is a Freemason we have the right to presume he is a fairly good man, but do not condemn Freemasonry if a few Freemasons turn out differently. Even the Great Teacher Himself had a Judas. The aim and purpose of Freemasonry is to receive none but good men, and to keep them good or make them better.
- South Australian Freemason.
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By John A. Mirt, M.P.S., Chicago, Illinois
FOR THE Masonic student interested in historic research is recommended the postage stamp. It is a never-ending field for study; a field the surface of which has barely been scratched.
To the Masonic philatelist, is something more than a thing of intrinsic value. He regards it for what it usually is - a memorial. But more than that, a stamp arouses curiosity and tests his ability.
Does the stamp tell a Masonic story? That is the question in his mind. Therefore, every postage stamp which passes through his hands presents a challenge. Since one thousand or more varieties are issued by the nations of the world every year, he never is at a loss for study material.
Sometimes the answer is found in the most unusual places. And when it is found, the student frequently uncovers the beauties of Freemasonry's historic background, or a story of Masonic principles at work. A case in point is a 70-centimes postage stamp issued by the French government in 1939. On it is pictured the magnificent Gothic Cathedral in Strasbourg, France, which was constructed in the 13th century, with some additions in succeeding centuries. It is noted for its elaborate tracery, rich sculpture and beautiful windows.
Erected before Speculative Masonry was established, the question arose: Did the Cathedral have anything to do with Operative Masonry? I found this answer, of all places, in the "Masonic Centennial History of the Grand Lodge of Ohio," published in 1876. And that publication went back nearly a century to another source: "Essay on the Cathedral of Strasbourg," written by the French Abbe Grandidier, in 1872. In his essay the French Abbe gave an account of Operative Masonry which bears repeating. His story goes:
"The Masons of those fabrics and their pupils, spread over the whole of Germany - to distinguish themselves from the common workmen, formed themselves into the Fraternity of Masons, to which they gave the German name 'Huetten,' which signifies lodges; but they all agreed to recognize the authority of the original one at Strasbourg, which was named 'Haupt-Huetten,' or Grand Lodge.
"The different Masters of the individual lodges assembled at Ratisbon, where they drew up on the 25th of April, 1459, the Act of Fraternity, which established the chief of the Cathedral of Strasbourg and his successors as sole and perpetual Grand Masters of the Fraternity of Freemasons of Germany. In 1498, Emperor Maximilian confirmed their privileges in a diploma which was successively renewed by Charles V, Ferdinand, and successors.
"Their lodge as tribunal judged without appeal all cases brought before it, according to the rules and statutes of the Fraternity, which was renewed and printed in 1563. The members of the Society had no communication with other Masons, who merely knew the use of the trowel and mortar. They adopted for characteristic marks all that belonged to the profession, which they regarded as an art far superior to that of the simple mason.
"The square, level and compasses became their attributes. Resolved to form a body distinct from the common herd of workmen, they invented for use among themselves rallying words and tokens of recognition, and other distinguishing signs. This, they called the sign of words - das wortzeichen, le salut, der gruss. The Apprentices, Companions, and Masters were received with ceremonies conducted in secret. They took for their motto, 'Liberty.' They were a Fraternity and practiced a secret art or technology.
"The Freemasons carried the architecture of their country throughout the whole of Europe. They indentured their apprentices; initiated only those who were to form members of their body. They bound them to secrecy by imposing oaths. They carefully concealed, and even destroyed, documents which might disclose their knowledge. They formed a secret language that they might describe their art to each other without uninitiated persons understanding them; and they formed a code of secret signs that they might recognize each other as Masons, though personally unknown to each other, and keep strangers from getting into fellowship with them.
"The Lombard kings having been very zealous in spreading the Christian religion, the Freemasons were largely employed in filling their dominions with churches and monasteries. They spread into other countries in search of work. They became troops of laborers following in the tracks of Christian missionaries, and building the churches required for the converts. In fact, no sooner did a missionary reach a remote place to convert the inhabitants than a troop of Freemasons appeared, ready to raise a temple in which they might worship. As an edifice advanced, they sent for more of their brethren; and being authorized by the Pope, backed by kings and upheld by the sanctity of their work they demanded and obtained materials, carriages, and manual assistance from the neighboring gentry.
"They also imposed conditions on the parishes in which they labored. Thus a covenant was entered into between a lodge of Freemasons and the church wardens of Parish Suffolk, in the reign of Henry VI, that each Mason be furnished with a pair of leather gloves and a white apron, and that a lodge, properly tiled, should be built for their meetings at the expense of the parish."
Subsequently, a mention of the Abbe's account was found in J. G. Finders "History of Freemasonry," published in 1865. Brother Findel, editor of the German Masonic Journal, "Die Bauhette," reported that the Abbe, a non-Mason, "was the first writer on the subject of Freemasonry who ventured to hint at the existence of an historical connection between the Fraternity of Freemasons and that of the Stonemasons.' He revealed that the Abbe's account was contained originally in a private letter to a lady, dated November 24, 1778. That letter began:
"You, Madam, have doubtless heard of that celebrated Society, transmitted to us from England, which bears the name of Freemasonry. Its members are spread throughout Europe, and are much more numerous than perhaps either the honour or the interest of the Association require. I shall not here, however, speak of this body in terms either of eulogy or of satire. I shall not even inquire into the motive for the inviolable secrecy which it demands, or the peculiar oath which belongs to it. I am not initiated into its secrets, and I find myself unworthy to 'see the light'."
It seems, however, that he had occasion to examine the archives of the Cathedral and the various manuscripts therein preserved. Consequently, he wrote in his letter:
"I hold in my profane hands authentic documents and real records, dating more than three centuries back, which enable us to see that this much boasted Society of Freemasons is but a servile imitation of an ancient and useful fraternity of actual Masons whose headquarters were formerly at Strasbourg."
After describing the workings of the Strasbourg Masons, the French Abbe concludes:
"You will doubtless recognize, Madam, in these particulars, the Freemasons of modern times. In fact, the analogy is plain - the same name "Lodges" signifies the place of assembly; there is the same order in their distribution, the same distribution of Masters, Companions, and Apprentices; and both (sic) are presided over by a Grand Master. They have particular signs, secret laws, statutes against the profane; in fine, they can say one to the other 'My Brethren and my Companions know me for a Mason'."
Supplementing this account of Abbe Grandidier, the Ohio Grand Secretary, R.W. Brother John D. Caldwell, narrates a quaint tradition. He goes on to say:
"The story runs that, once in every twelve-month, on the eve of St. John, when the quiet burghers of that ancient city are wrapt in peaceful slumber and the hour of midnight clangs out from the loud-tongued bell which hangs in the Cathedral tower, the spirits of the stonemasons by whose hands the sacred pile was erected arise from the tomb and once more visit the scene of their former labors.
"Up from the dark and gloomy crypt, along the columned aisles and vast dim nave, across the white and gleaming marble floor, checkered with ghostly shadows that stream from pictured orient past the stone-carved statutes that keep watch and ward with their swords and sceptres, comes the long train of death-like, night-wandering shadows. Clad in their quaint medieval costumes, the Masters with their compasses and rules, the Craftsmen with their plumbs and square and levels, the Apprentice lads with their heavy gavels, all silently greeting their companions, old and dear, with time-honored salute and token, as of yore.
"While the last note of the deep-mouthed bell is still trembling in the air, reverberating from arch to arch, and dying away amid the frozen music of the traceried roof, forth from the western portal streams the shadowy throng. Thrice around the sacred edifice winds the waving, floating train, brave Old Erwin * himself leading the way; while far up above, above the sculptured saints who look down upon the sleeping city, up where, at the very summit of the feathery, fairy-like spire, the image of the Queen of Heaven stands, there floats a cold, white-robed female form, the fair Sabina, old Erwin's well-behaved child, whose fair hands aided him in his work.
"In her right hand a mallet, in her left a chisel, she flits among the sculptured lace-work of the noble spires like the Genius of Masonry. With the faint blush of dawn the vision fades, the phantom shapes dissolve, and the masons return to their sepulcher, there to rest until the next St. John's eve shall summon them to earth."
Perhaps you can understand now why a Masonic philatelist handles a postage stamp with care and reverence. It, like this 70-centimes stamp of France, might have a story of Freemasonry to tell.
(*) Erwin von Steinbach, master of the works at the building of the Strasbourg Cathedral and head of the German Fraternity of Stonemasons.
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If we examine the foundations of Masonry, we find that it rests upon the most fundamental of all truths, the first truth and the last, the sovereign and supreme Reality. Upon the threshold of its Lodges every man, whether prince or peasant, is asked to confess his faith in God the Father Almighty, the Architect and Master-Builder of the Universe. That is not a mere form of words, but the deepest and most solemn affirmation that human lips can make. - Joseph Fort Newton, Litt. D.
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The Masonic ideal was brought to Chile (August, 1850) by a group of foreigners who had nothing to do with political differences and religious discussions which were rampant during the middle of the last century; it did not come to battle or attack, it came as a seed which the Wind of Progress caused to fall on fertile ground, there to take root with robust vitality - Orested Frodden, Grand Master of Masons in Chile.
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By living to the best of our ability we can make each day so beautiful that even though our spirit should suddenly pass on, the influence of our efforts would go on down through the ages.
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THE CHILDREN of Israel were told to make an ark of shittim wood. This was an imperishable wood with a pleasing odor similar to the acacia nilotica or acacia seyal. It grows on the deserts of Arabia and the trees become quite large. The fruit is a sort of flat bean or pea and seeds are contained in the pod and are like those of a lupine. There are thorns in clusters.
In Kentucky on the Kentucky River cliffs at the Brooklyn bridge not far from Danville and ca. fifty miles from the capital, Frankfort, there is shittim wood, not many trees, but some, according to Rebecca Cooke Herbert of Norfolk, Va. She says that residents thereabouts claim that it blooms only every seven years and in May. Also in Kentucky and Tennessee there is the so-called cotton tree which some believe is the same as that from which the wood of the Ark of the Covenant was made, and some believe a small western tree and a tree growing in some of the southern states may be the same.
The shittah tree is known in the United States on the West Coast, according to the encyclopedia, as cascara buckthorn, but it is a soft and weak wood.
Several interesting points relative to shittim or acacia are recorded by William M. Thomson, D.D., in his book, "Southern Palestine and Jerusalem," published by Harper & Brothers in 1882. The valley in which David slew Goliath is supposed to have been one location where these trees grew in great numbers. This is Wady es Sunt, the Valley of Elah. Sunt means acacia. According to II Chronicles 20:26, the people of Jerusalem assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah. Dr. Thomson says there are ruins of a village south of Tekoa and that the valley opposite them must be the valley of Berachah, the valley of blessing. There is a spring and along the entire course of the resulting stream, down to the shore, are luxuriant jungles of tall cane, thickets of thorny acacia, the dom and other trees of low bushes.
The writer also speaks of the "acacia thickets of shittim on the east bank of the Jordan, which even now extend nearly to the shore of the sea."
The shittah tree is discussed in the Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature. Shittim wood is mentioned in several places in Exodus, and in Isaiah 41:19. Much doubt has been raised as to the exact wood used in making the articles of the tabernacle, and as to whether it was imported or native to the wilderness. If native it probably is the acacia. It is quite possible that some of this wood may have been brought to the coast of the Red Sea as an article of commerce from Egypt. It is not improbable, too, that the wood brought from India to the coast of the Red Sea by the name of "sheeshum or seesum," which is very similar in sound to shittim, was used in making altars, tables, maybe the Ark of the Covenant and other appurtenances as well as parts of the tabernacle. Being a valuable foreign wood then in commerce and the name phonetically similar, good grounds are afforded for the belief that it was shittim wood of the Scriptures. However, no proof appears that shittim was an imported wood. The greater probability is that it was a wood of the tree of the deserts. The valley of Shittim, mentioned in Joel 3:18 must have been west of the river Jordan, in the neighborhood of Jerusalem. This valley cannot now be distinguished and is probably a descriptive word denoting that the tree by that name grows in dry soil.
There is a tree of the genus of acacia found in Egypt and in the Arabian desert. It grew abundantly in the valleys of that region where the Israelites wandered for forty years. We think the probability is that the shittim wood denoted the acacia wood in general. This tree grows from 15 to 20 feet in height.
The 'acacia seyal,' hard, fine-grained and yellowish-brown, is especially valuable for cabinet-work and is more likely the wood used to make the articles used in the Jewish religious ceremonies and the tabernacle, which was itself a wooden framework covered with curtains carried through the wilderness during the Exodus, as a place of sacrifice and worship.
In Masonry the acacia is of interest symbolically. It symbolizes the immortality of the soul. The sprig of acacia is carried at Masonic funerals and appears upon Masonic gravestones. Also, the acacia is a symbol of initiation.
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"All I have seen teaches robe to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.
J. Guthrie Ludlam M.P.S.
Brother Ludlam was born on a farm near Springfield, Illinois, on December 9, 1875, and passed on after a short illness on August 18, 1950. Services were conducted by the Wadlow's Mortuary at St. Paul's Methodist Church, Lincoln, Nebraska. Wor. Brother Perry J. Morton, Past Master of Lincoln Lodge No. 19, A.F. & A.M., delivering the Masonic oration, with interment at Lincoln Memorial Park. Surviving are his wife, Lena C. Ludlam; two daughters, Mrs. Mabel Lamb and Mrs. John Messer; two sons, Earl and Julius G.; a sister, Mrs. Anna Dickerson, and four grandchildren.
Our Brother was initiated an Entered Apprentice July 8, 1930, passed to a Fellowcraft, August 19, 1930, and was raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason on September 23, 1930, in Lincoln Lodge No. 19, A.F. & A.M., Lincoln, Nebraska. On January 10, 1936, he was elected its Master. He was a 32nd Degree, K.C.C.H., member of the A. & A. Scottish Rite of Freemasonry; a member of Sesostris Temple, A.A.O.N.M.S., and Electra Chapter, O.E.S. He was elected to membership in The Philalethes Society on September 4, 1947.
At the time of his death he was a member of the Board of Directors, "The Masonic News, Inc.," of Lincoln, Nebraska, and all who knew him shall suffer a distinct loss from his absence from the community as a Christian, a Mason, and a man who loved his fellow men.
(signed) ALLISTER J. McKOWEN
Secretary
"The Philalethes Society"
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A long time ago Caesar was put "on the spot" by Brutus' mob because he had too much ambition. Caesar's dream of world dominion, with himself as universal ruler, disturbed his friends to such an extent that they finally concluded they would serve charity by doing away with him.
Ever since then Caesar's brand of ambition has been an unpopular and dangerous quality. It is nothing more or less than a ruthless striving for power and wealth without a decent human regard for the rights of others.
Such an ambition was Napoleon's - an alliance of unusual energy and intelligence with greed, tyranny and lust for power. Society is in a bad way when one of its strongest and ablest members goes out of his mind and rides roughshod over his fellows.
The imperial aims of the Caesars, Napoleons and Capones of history, with their trail of bloodshed and misery, tend to leave ambition in rather bad odor with the saner element of the human family. Because after the smoke has cleared away and the tyrant is dead or imprisoned, they are usually left wondering why they followed the ambitious madcap and whether his success was important enough to be worth the loss of a single life, the maiming of a single enemy.
And yet ambition, properly groomed and bridled, can be an entirely palatable and even "clubby" human attribute. The desire to grow and push ahead is a perfectly pardonable impulse and one that should be encouraged. There is no reason why a man should not be permitted to reap the full benefit of his talents as long as he does not infringe on the liberty of others. In other words, as long as he remembers that "his right to stretch his arms stops where his neighbor's nose begins."