Contents
It Seems to Me Practical Application Of Masonry
Some Explorations in Masonry The Masonic Transition Period
Chat and Comment The Man, the Church and the Lodge
Harmony in Freemasonry Freemasonry Aids Reconstruction
South Africa Investigates Secret Recommended Masonic Reading
Kansas Masonic Digest To Understand Better
Masonic Initiation and the Present World Scottish Rite History One of Service
Those Dreadful Freemasons A DeMolay Boy Speaks
THE BLUE LODGE Oldest Masonic Lodge Building
Famous Site
Receives National Recognition
On Items of Masonic Research
Published bimonthly at Franklin, Indiana, by
THE PHILALETHES SOCIETY
John Black Vrooman, F.P.S., Editor
Box 402, St. Louis 66, Missouri
OFFICERS
Dr. Charles Gottshall Reigner, F.P.S., First Vice President
4035 Belle Avenue
Baltimore 15, Maryland
Robert H. Gollmar, F.P.S., First Vice President
1221 Oak Street
Baraboo, Wisconsin
William R. Denslow, F.P.S. Second Vice President
P.O. Box 529
Trenton, Missouri 64683
Carl R. Greisen, F.P.S., Executive Secretary
401 Masonic Temple
Omaha 2, Nebraska
Ronald E. Heaton, F.P.S., Treasurer
728 Haws Avenue
Morristown Pennsylvania
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
A. L. Woody, F.P.S.
1440 Burr Oak Road
Homewood, Illinois
Edward J. Franta, F.P.S.
Langdon, North Dakota
Dr. William L. Cummings, F.P.S.
228-230 Gordon Avenue
Syracuse 4, New York
Volume XVIII, No. 1
by JOHN BLACK VROOMAN, Editor
THAT we should become more able to get activity among the membership of our Society by greater use of small groups working in the many places in which our membership is located.
The annual meeting in Washington is splendid, to be sure, but it is not enough to have just this one meeting at which the members can gather, discuss, mix and enjoy Masonic fellowship - there should be a large number of small groups meeting as the occasion demands, and studying Freemasonry, talking over Masonic topics and above all, starting the stimulus of interchange of ideas and Masonic problems.
In several places there already are established good local Philalethes groups - in Chicago, in Oregon, in Kentucky and elsewhere, at which members of the Society meet occasionally, have well prepared and interesting papers, and at which meetings the brethren stimulate a local interest in the work of the Society.
It is my hope that we can emphasize the truth of that old song, so often quoted in which
The more we get together,
the happier we'll be
and we may make of our Society that vibrant and interestingly welded group of Freemasons, ever ready to discuss and talk about Masonic problems enjoy fellowship and make the local unit the focal point of our activities.
Every large city and town, in which there are presently members of the Society located, can stimulate activity by organizing a local Philalethes Club, Round Table, Cell, or whatever name is chosen by the group, with two or three meetings a year, a dinner or Table Lodge set up, with a good speaker, papers on interesting Masonic topics presented, a good discussion of the merits of the papers, and above all, that fine fellowship which does so much to sponsor the good will and feeling of the Philalethes Society.
It is not only that local groups can stimulate and foster a better understanding of Freemasonry among its members, but the real essence of Freemasonry is that togetherness which does so much for a better understanding of our interests and activities.
When such groups meet with some regularity and purpose, it is possible to have topics for discussion that will be good material for articles or papers that can be used in our Philalethes magazine, that the local brethren, as well as the membership as a whole, may reap the benefits of the discussion, and that international discussion and evaluation of the topics may produce a truly universal outlook on our problems, and that all of our members may be able to participate in the work in which we are engaged. This is a fundamental and a very interesting corollary which can do much to create and maintain interest in the overall work of the Society.
It is suggested that our members in all parts of the world - wherever located - make plans to organize a local unit of the Society, hold meetings, read papers, and above all, get that Masonic fellowship which is so essentially a part of our structure.
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Practical Application Of Masonry
1965 Masonic Workshop Will Be Interesting
UNDER THE ABLE DIRECTION of Charles F. Adams, M.P.S., chairman of the Masonic Workshop Committee, the 1965 gathering of the Philalethes Society promises to be one of the most interesting and valuable that has been projected for many years past.
The general theme of the Workshop has been announced to be How To Do It, and emphasizes practical application of the principles of Freemasonry in the presentation of the tenets, truths and usage of our Fraternity. Too little has been done in the past to find proper ways and means of getting at the facts of Freemasonry, and now, with a leadership of those who are able to present the facts, we shall have the best of our knowledge presented, with a thorough discussion of ways and means by which to get down to earth.
Three papers will be presented, and when it is considered that those who present these papers represent the top flight of Masonic leadership, it will be appreciated that what is given will be of the utmost value.
The first paper, The Preparation of Manuscripts for Publication in Masonic Journals, will be given by M.’.W.’. Brother Conrad Hahn, F.P.S., a member of the Committee on Masonic Workshop, and Executive Secretary of the Masonic Service Association. This will deal primarily with subjects of interest to Masonic students, and will pinpoint ways and means of writing for Masonic journals. Too often, writers for these publications have been either too technical or too vague in their presentation, and with such an outline, it should stimulate our members to write in an interesting and logical way.
The second paper will be presented by M.’.W.’. Brother Charles S. McGinness, M.P.S., Past Grand Master and present Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Kansas, and is entitled, The Technique of Writing for Masonic Publications Distributed to the Craft Generally.
It is the intention of the writer of this paper to cover a wide range of publications from the simple lodge bulletin or trestleboard distributed to members of a single lodge to larger publications designed for distribution to an entire city or county and finally to such splendid publications for distribution on a state-wide basis, such as the magazines which are sponsored by the Grand Lodges of Indiana, New York, Texas and Wisconsin.
It must also be realized that these four states are mentioned in alphabetical order without any thought of rating them on their merits. The whole panorama of Masonic publications will be considered, and estimated according to the importance of their influence.
The third paper, which will be presented by the Chairman of the Masonic Workshop Committee, M.’.W.’. Brother Charles F. Adams, M.P.S., will be one dealing with Masonic speeches for delivery to various sorts and sizes of audiences, including tiled meetings of single lodges, nontiled meetings, such as banquets, held in other places than lodge rooms, and meetings where nonmembers of the fraternity, either men or women, are present.
It is the expressed feeling of the writer of this paper that a different technique should be employed to produce that which is to be uttered by the mouth of a speaker and absorbed by the ears of listeners as distinguished from that which is put in writing by the hand of the author, and absorbed through the eyes of the reader. A listener must, of necessity, absorb everything the moment it is uttered or he will lose the thread of the story, whereas a reader is privileged to re-read, contemplate and reflect as he may desire.
In commenting upon the program, its contents and how it is to be presented, Brother Adams has the following to say:
"It is our hope that such a program will enable the members of the Philalethes Society and the members of the Allied Masonic Degrees who will attend the Workshop to be better enabled to diffuse Masonic information to the Craft in general. Perhaps, through our efforts, Masons generally will be more inclined to increase their knowledge of the Fraternity. We, of course, want to encourage the serious Masonic scholar and researcher to do even better work but we want to make some contribution to a larger field and in so doing, avoid the appearance of a mutual admiration society."
We have no doubt that the impetus of these papers will be conducive to better understanding of our problems, and will lead to more activities on the part of our members.
Masonic Week in Washington is always interesting to those who attend and take part in it. Prominent brethren from all parts of the world mingle and exchange ideas, and the Masonic fellowship that exists here is one of the outstanding features of the meetings.
The activities of the Philalethes Society and of the Allied Masonic Degrees will commence on Friday, February 19, with the Washington Hotel as headquarters. The annual meeting of the Executive Committee of the Philalethes Society will start the ball rolling, on that afternoon, with special emphasis placed on the activities for 1965, an evaluation of what has been accomplished the past year, with plans for expansion, for activity and a general laying out of what must be done to make 1965 better than the years gone by.
In the evening, the Masonic Workshop will be opened under the direction of Dr. Charles Gottshall Reigner, F.P.S., President, with a short resume of what has been done, introduction of the officers of the Society and other distinguished guests, and immediately following will be the splendid program, already outlined here. It indicates renewed interest in Masonic understanding, and bodes well for a successful year for the Society.
On Saturday, February 20, the Allied Masonic Degrees will commence their activities. We do not yet have a complete program of what will take place, but it has been customary for the Grand College of Rites, Allied Masonic Degrees, Corks, Holy Royal Arch Knight Templar Priests, Blue Friars, Rosicruciana and all the other research groups to meet on Saturday and Sunday. The annual banquet of the Allied Masonic Degrees will be held Saturday evening, February 20, with a prominent speaker to bring a message of inspiration.
Following the completion of the meetings of these groups, probably about noon on Sunday, the scene will shift to the Shoreham Hotel, where the annual Tea given by the Masonic Service Association for all visitors will be held.
Monday, February 22 will mark the annual meeting of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association, which will be at the Memorial at Alexandria. Virginia, with buses carrying the delegates and visitors to and from the meeting. Reports on the progress of the Memorial will be made, contributions will be received from all who care to make them, and the beautiful Memorial will be shown in all its beauty.
The Conference of Grand Masters of North America, and of the Conference of Grand Secretaries of North America will hold their meetings separately on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 23 and 24, with the annual Grand Masters' Banquet to be held on Wednesday evening, and that of the Grand Secretaries on Thursday evening.
The annual meeting of the Masonic Service Association of the United States, with a report on its Hospital Visitation activities, and other important matters, will be held on Thursday, February 25.
This will close Masonic Week, and if the past is a good criterion, the delegates will return to their homes with needed inspiration and understanding of the work Freemasonry is doing throughout the world. All members of the Philalethes Society are welcome to these meetings, and you are urged to attend.
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BY Z. WILLARD GUNCKEL, Grand Prelate,
Grand Commandery K.T. of Missouri
(A paper read at Missouri Lodge of Research Meeting, Springfield, Missouri, April 28, 1964.)
THE GOOD MASTER one day declared of himself, saying, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Without violence to it, I would paraphrase that statement thus: "I am the Way to Truth that leads to Life."
True Masons (and may there be no other kind) have set out on a quest. The end of that quest is "Truth" (How great is truth!) that leads to Life. As Masons we follow a course charted for us by the Son of man, the Son of God, who during his earthly pilgrimage went about doing good. At the time of our first introduction into the mysteries of our Order we were handed as a personal possession a clean, white leather apron. That very act signified expectancy. We were inducted into an Order of Workmen chosen to labor in a manner that would make us unashamed. For labor we must. We are taught that in order to achieve fulfillment we must recognize the dignity of labor - the socialistic trends of our time to the contrary notwithstanding.
There was placed before us as new initiates a trestleboard upon which were written designs and patterns, and in their accomplishment we were expected to be true and faithful servants. The designs upon the trestleboard were surrounded with a radiance of divinity. The words to which we listened were an address to our souls as well as to our natural ears. In substance we were told that the apron given us was a token of acceptance among the workmen. Furthermore, the deeply imbedded implication was to the effect that the apron must eventually become soiled with the marks of honest labor and that such marks would be evidence of worthiness.
This promptly leads me to make this observation. The members of our Masonic Order have, without search of fame or self-glory, distinguished themselves as bearers of the burdens of humanity - their poverty, their sicknesses, their deformities. Neither distances nor natural barriers have prevented them from offering themselves vicariously in their willingness to assist in the sick rooms and wards, to assist in recovering lost coins, and to aid in restoring character-pearls of great price.
In times of natural disaster the voice of distress has never gone unheeded. Sympathy, heavily weighted with material aids and substances, was and is now being given unsparingly. Each one of you Masons in this presence and four million others of your kind are this very hour entering the wards of sickness in our Veterans Hospitals. Your ministry to these men and women is without stint and without discrimination. You have already gained the hearts and confidence of these veterans. The cheer that comes upon the faces of these veterans, both Masonic and profane, finds its corresponding accent in some such expression as this: "Here comes Mr. Mason. " The veteran of Masonic progeny is made to feel anew that the cabletow of Masonic brotherhood remains strong and abiding about the soul structure. How often has this Mason said to your representative, "Your service here among us patients makes me so proud to be a Mason. " I am reminded that in the early Christian days, the pagan, looking upon these followers of the Good Way, would comment, "Look, see how they love one another."
I would ask your indulgence as I dip a bit into the rich reservoir of memory of 14 years during which, as your individual proxy, I served as "Mr. Mason." In more than in a mere figurative fashion, men called Masons emptied their purses into the treasury of Masonic service during the years of World War II. Your generosity, so in evidence during those nationally tragic days, was an act of monumental proportions. Your glowing record continues and your purse strings remain untightened as you continue to minister to personal needs and tragedies housed in our Veterans hospitals.
Our Centers of Service, during the late War II, were equal to those sponsored by other agencies. There was a slight difference, however, which made the Masonic home away from home, the place more frequently sought. Our multiplied services were free, our recreational features were equal to any elsewhere. For some reason it was a common saying among the soldiers-in-training voiced in these words, "Whatever service you need, go to the Masonic Center. " The atmosphere of our Centers was made as homey and as cordial as the skill of Masons could naturally exemplify.
I ask you to sit with me in memory's chair and look at the face of his Excellency, Brother Fred Latham, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma, currently the Grand Secretary of that body. Fred was reading from a growing file of correspondence which I had received from the Lodges and the homes of the soldier boys who were in training at Camp Gruber, a short distance East of Muskogee. Fred's tear-soaked handkerchief was laid aside as I offered him mine. One letter in particular, among many similar letters, was from a mother in Connecticut. Her boy Sammy was one of numerous Catholic boys who was a constant visitor to our Center; he was there as often as training duties would permit. This was done in spite of protests from his "spiritual father," his priest back home. Here he found fast friends. From this place he and others of his particular faith were invited into the hospitality of Mason's homes and hearts. This is a long story which must be shortened. Sammy's division moved out. I was at hand the night of its departure. A hearty wave of hands was finished when the trains had gone out of sight. The next we heard was that this division had been in a devastating campaign in Italy and that the losses were terrific. This Connecticut mother had lost her boy Sammy. He was our boy, too - as were all of them. The closing paragraph of the letter Fred was reading contained these words, "I want you to know that, as Sammy's mother, I appreciate so much the home and care you gave my boy. I shall ever be grateful to you Masons for this."
Those were among the many high days when I was so very happy to be a servant of my Masonic brethren. Masonry was ministering, and continues in like ministry in the name of Him who, in His earthly days, went about doing good.
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Virginia Craftsmen Visit Scottish Lodges
The Virginia Craftsmen as they appeared prior to the exemplification of the Sublime Degree of Master Mason according to the Ritual of Virginia in Lodge St. Thomas No. 306, Larkhall, Scotland, on August 14, 1964. Allen E. Roberts, F.P S., President of the Craftsmen, is standing to the left of Dougal MacIntyre, Chairman of the Glasgow Compass Trenton Association who, along with the Partick and District Compass Association, was the host of the Virginians during their twenty day visit to Scotland. Before the conclusion of the communication in Lodge St. Thomas, Allen Roberts, Past Master of Babcock Lodge No. 322, Highland Springs, Virginia, and Babcock's Worshipful Master, Robert A. Hamilton, were made Honorary Members of the Scottish Lodge. The Virginia Degree Team received tremendous applause in each of the four Lodges in which it appeared.
The Virginia Craftsmen is an organization of Master Masons of Virginia Lodges, and has been in existence since September 11, 1962. The team, and their wives, have traveled to Louisville, Kentucky; Torrington, Connecticut, and Trenton, New Jersey. A serious bus accident involving the group as they were returning from a Masonic engagement in Virginia last April prevented them from appearing in Harrisburg, Arkansas, in May. They left Richmond, Virginia, for Glasgow, Scotland, on August 5 and returned on the 25th. During their visit they made many friends for American Freemasonry.
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BY DWIGHT W. ROBB, M.P.S. (Mass.)
THE TRANSITION of old Lodges originally operative to becoming speculative is easily traced in the records of at least three Lodges in Scotland. The first two Lodges listed below are now working as speculative Lodges, the third became extinct in 1866.
Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel).
Lodge Mother Kilwinning.
Lodge of Aitchison's Haven.
It is an understood fact that the old operative Lodges came into being as an organization to control the masons craft or trade, and they are usually located in or near the larger cities where there was more demand for the masons skills, of which more will be later considered.
The Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) No. 1, is probably the only "surviving masonic body which can boast the possession of its minutebooks as far back as 1598." The first volume covers the period from 1598 to 1686 and it shows that on "The 3 day off Joulie 1634" three "gentlemen-non-operative" members were initiated. This is the "earliest record of the admission of non-operatives in the whole of Scotland," before 1736, when the Grand Lodge of Scotland was formed this Lodge had given up all pretense of controlling the masons' trade.
Lodge Mother Kilwinning, No. 0, located in Kilwinning, a small town about 22 miles south west of Glasgow, was also an operative Lodge, initiating their first candidate, not of the masons' trade, in 1674. This Lodge like Mary's Chapel, also continued to exercise their control over the masons trade long after they had initiated their first non-operative candidates, becoming, however, a speculative Lodge before joining the Grand Lodge of Scotland at its organization in 1736.
Aitchison's Haven Lodge, formerly located in Midlothian County, near Edinburgh, but now extinct, initiated their first non-operative member in 1672.
So far, in England, no such old records have apparently survived of Lodges initiating non-operative masons into their membership, before the first Grand Lodge in the world was organized in 1717, however in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford University, will be found Elias Ashmole's diary, in which he wrote, that in 1646 he "was made a Free Mason at Warrington, in Lancashire." And this entry is followed with a list of other non-operative masons present, all of whom have been identified as persons not connected in any way with the masons' trade.
Ashmole was born in Lichfield in 1617 and died in London in 1692. He was a man of many interests, including astrology, heraldry and antiquarian research. He also was a writer of many treatises, on various subjects, of which alchemy was one.
The next time Ashmole mentions Freemasonry in his diary was in 1682, wherein he stated that, on March 10th, he "received a summons to appear at a Lodge to be held the next day, at Masons Hall London." The next day he wrote in part, as follows; - "Accordingly I went & about Noone was admitted into the Fellowship of Free Masons; . . ., I was the Senior Fellow among them (it being 35 years since I was Admitted). We all dyned at the halfe Moone Tavern, in Cheapside, at a noble dinner prepared at the charge of the Newaccepted Masons."
"The Masons Hall London," refered to in Ashmole's diary, is no doubt, the Lodge, now known to have been attached to, but not a part of The Masons Company of London, that we will now consider, after which the Lodge itself will be discussed briefly.
The oldest records of The Masons Company of London that have corne down to the present time, is an account book whose first entry bears the date of 1620, in which is recorded the receipts and expenditures of both the Company and the Lodge. Other records of the Company will be found in the Guildhall in London, including a list drawn up in 1376, of those guilds or companies, entitled to send representatives to the Comon Council of the City of London and the Masons Company is recorded as having elected four of their members to represent them in that body.
In 1472 a grant of arms was obtained, which honor indicates that this Company had become a guild of some substance. Nine years later they were granted permission to wear "clothing," thus becoming one of the livery companies of the City of London. This wearing of "clothing" means that they had their own style of uniform. In 1677 a Royal Charter of Incorporation was issued to them. During the periods just cited, the Company had made several changes in their name, but always retaining the word mason or freemasons in it.
As far as The Masons Company of London was concerned, the Company controlled the masons craft or trade within the limits of the City of London and Westminster only.
Those joining the inner body or Lodge of the Company are referred to in the cash book as "Coming on the Accepcon."
The following interesting items are also found in the cash book:-
One of the expense entries pertaining to the Lodge reads as follows:- "17 June 1630 Pd goeing abroad & att a meeteing at the hall ye Masons yt to be accepted." Evidently, before a candidate was accepted, he was investigated, to see if he was of good report and properly vouched for.
Other entries show that the Company made good any deficit incurred by the Lodge for banquets, when the sale of tickets did not produce sufficient funds to pay the cost of the feast .
And again, it shows, that the if intiation fee paid by non-members of the Company joining the Lodge to be twice that paid by those who had obtained their "Freedom of the Company. "
Once an apprentice had obtained his "Freedom of the Company" he was under no obligation to join the Masons Hall Lodge and as a matter of fact many never did. Today it is not known the number of degrees conferred on their candidates, but it is believed that they had a two degree system, i.e., Entered Apprentice and Fellow of Craft or Master. The officers of the Lodge comprised of a Master, Warden and other assistants, and what the ritual and degree ceremonies may have been is not known.
The Mason Company of London still exists as a livery company, and today its activities are now purely benevolent and charitable, and has no interest in the masons trade. (H. Carr, Secretary of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 of London.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A.Q.C. Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 of London. Volumes 9, 1896; 24, 1911 and 27, 1914.
Freemasons' Guide and Compendium, B. E. Jones, London 1957
Transition from Operative to Speculative, Harry Carr, London 1957
Lodge Mother Kilwinning, No. 0, Harry Carr, London, 1961.
The Minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel), No. 1, Harry Carr, London, 1962
Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, Macoy, New York, 1961.
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HOW'S THAT AGAIN?
Somehow, a Lodge notice in a Texas newspaper got scrambled, and invited all "Masonic Masons" to attend a special meeting of the Lodge (a regular one, by the way). At first glance, we said, "just another blooper," and then the thought struck - maybe it wasn't scrambled after all. When it comes down to it, that's a pretty succinct way to describe what we're looking for - Masonic Masons.
- The York Rite (New Mex.)
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News, achievements and items of interest about our
Fellows and Members - Discussion and comment on
- Pfan Mail and Observations -
Mutual Topics.
Our President, Dr. Charles Gottshall Reigner, F.P.S., has been elected Chairman of the Committee on Educational Institutions, Synod of Virginia, Presbyterian Church, U.S. He is a Ruling Elder and a member of the Session of Franklin Street Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, Maryland. This past May he was elected to the Board of Trustees of Perkiomen School, Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, the college preparatory school of which he is a graduate and where he took the entrance examinations for Princeton University.
Brother Eugene S. Hopp, M.P.S., was the Grand Orator, and delivered his oration, Dedicated to Freemasonry, Virtue and Universal Benevolence, at the annual communication of the Grand Lodge of California last fall.
The Pennsylvania Freemason of recent date, has the following to say about our Brother R.W. William E. Yeager, M.P.S.:
"Long an advocate of Masonic education, Brother William E. Yeager, Sr., Past Grand Master and Chairman of the Grand Lodge Committee on Masonic Culture, is still dedicated and most active in this important phase of Freemasonry.
"Brother Yeager has been serving as Chairman of the Grand Lodge Committee on Masonic Culture since early in 1954 with the exception of a three-year period from 1960 through 1963. Many of the various booklets, pamphlets, etc., used in our current Masonic Culture program were published under his guidance and supervision.
"His feeling that all candidates for the degrees of Freemasonry should have pre-initiatory orientation in certain facts of Freemasonry, prompted the publication of the sets of eight Masonic Culture pamphlets. These eight pamphlets are now being used by the Lodge Committees on Masonic Culture to teach candidates prior to the First Degree and following each of the Three Degrees.
"Brother Yeager contends that the well-informed Mason is bound to be more dedicated and active in his Lodge in particular and in Freemasonry in general . . . recently he was elected Grand Captain General Supreme Council, 33d, of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. " Sincere congratulations to our Brother for his hard work.
We have been in the hospital again, and have not been able to keep up with all the latest chatter about our members, but we are now on the mend, and able to carry on our usual work and activities.
At the annual sessions of the Supreme Council, 33rd degree, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, we learn with pleasure that several of our members have been elevated to the 33rd degree. Our congratulations to Brother G. Wilbur Bell, M.P.S., (who was also recently elected and installed Grand Generalissimo of the Grand Encampment, Knights Templar, U.S.). Also, to Waldron Biggs, M.P.S., elected to receive the 33rd degree.
Two of our members have suffered heart attacks, but from the grapevine, we learn that they are greatly improved. Keep it up!
Brother Al Crump, M.P.S., Past Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of Illinois, K.T., and Grand Warder, Convent General, Knights of the York Cross of Honour, and Bruce H. Hunt, F.P.S., Grand Secretary-Recorder of the York Rite Bodies of Missouri, were both stricken. We hope to see both of them at the meetings in Washington during Masonic Week.
It is always interesting to note the reaction to our editorials. In writing in the December issue about penalties, we have received several replies. It is good to have discussion on these matters, and we reproduce one of these divergences of opinion, with our own comment on it. It is from Brother Bliss Kelly, M.P.S., of Oklahoma, who writes as follows:
"Perhaps the wording of Masonic obligations should be worked over a little, but it must be admitted that the 'terrible penalties' of these obligations are the things which impress candidates (are they? - Editor) and make them realize the solemnity and importance of Masonry. Without them, or with merely a reference to them as 'ancient,' Masonry becomes 'milk toast,' without backbone or substance sufficient to maintain its importance.
"It is amazing, however, that the critics of these obligations do not seem to understand the English language which is used. I have lectured (or talked) to many Masonic Lodges in this state (Oklahoma) about these obligations, and find that the thinking of members, regardless of age, is divided; 5/10 understand the penalties are very binding but realize that no Mason would have the temerity to try to enforce them; 4/10 think that the penalties are symbolical, as they have been told that Masonry is symbolical, and only about 1/10 really analyse the language used and know exactly how they are to be enforced. That language is that the candidate binds himself under a penalty of having certain things done to himself. He then understands that such penalty can be no more than symbolical, and that he, himself, is the only one who is to carry out or execute the penalty."
The fact is, that men do not stop to think, and the average Mason, when confronted with these gruesome penalties, thinks only of the very ancient and real penalties, carried out without fear or favor, and used, to be sure, to inspire respect for and awe of a violation of their obligations. Penalties, in those days, were not only punishment, but were evidence that the realities of life were to be experienced to the full. To violate any obligation, to break any law, was to incur the penalties which such an infraction necessitated.
No right-thinking man would expect that such penalties were to be exacted - why then imprecate them? True as it is that man is mindful of his obligations, and must suffer for a violation of them, none of us look except with horror on the exemplification of these penalties. No, I say that it might be possible to make the substitution of the words "ever holding in remembrance the ancient penalties."
Now Brethren, let us have some more comment on this very interesting subject. The matter is certainly not closed, and we should like to have your views on the matter.
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Certificate Of Literature Award An Incentive To Our Members
One of the activities of the Philalethes Society of which we are proud is the Certificate of Literature award, presented each year to that member of the Society who, in the opinion of the special award committee appointed by our President, has the most outstanding contribution to our magazine, The Philalethes. This year's committee, composed of Brothers Alphonse Cerza, F.P.S., Life, chairman; William E. Yeager, M.P.S., and Alex Horne, M.P.S., has not yet announced its verdict of the winner for the year 1964, but it is expected that the winner will be named at the annual Masonic Workshop, in Washington, February 19, 1965.
The Certificate of Literature award was first set up in 1956, when it became evident that many of those who were contributing to our magazine were doing an outstanding job, and should be given some recognition. The idea caught fire, and the enthusiasm of the officers of the Society soon made it evident that this was something that could have a great effect upon the literary life of the Society.
James R. Case, F.P.S., Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut, was the first winner of the award in 1956, followed in order by Allen Cabannis, P.G.M. of Mississippi; Ronald E. Heaton, F.P.S., our fine Treasurer; the late Roscoe Pound. F.P.S.. and internationally known scholar; Dr. William L. Cummings, F.P.S., erudite writer on AntiMasonry; Norman C. Dutt, world traveler and writer, and last year, Andrew J. White, P.G.M. and Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge F. & A. M. of Ohio. We look forward with interest to the naming of the current winner. These awards are evidence of the esteem and scholarship manifested by our winners.
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Don't Fail to Make Your Contribution
BY KENNETH F. CURTIS, F.P.S.
Many thanks to the Membership for your efforts on behalf of our increase during the past year.
Most of us have made resolutions for 1965, let us include with them a dedication to obtain at least one new member during the months ahead. If we can't find that member, we can nominate one or more for membership. All we need to do is to send in the names and addresses to your Membership Chairman, Kenneth F. Curtis, F.P.S., 2455 Raeford Road, Orlando, Florida 32806.
We did reasonably well in 1964, but I know we can do better. Immediate action by each Brother will accomplish results. We all have Masonic friends we can talk to about the Society - we can tell them about its historical background, its aims and purposes. What we need is to go into action with a will to accomplish our contributions towards our lifeline.
Procrastination is a time-killer. Each day that we say to ourselves - "I'll do it tomorrow," means one more day of inaction on the project for that year. This line of attack weakens our ability and enthusiasm for the project as the time passes.
They say a tourist once landed on an island in the down-under region of the Pacific and immediately fell beneath its charm for it was a tropical paradise. He missed his boat, he heard its whistle but was having such a good time he decided to sail on the next one. He waited so long he had to purchase another passage, he missed the next boat but was sure he would sail on the one following. He never left the island for he decided to wait for a couple of more months, the months grew into years and eventually he forgot about leaving for he had gone native.
Now this can happen to you and me, we can soon forget about our contribution by obtaining a new member or sending in some nominations, that is, if we don't act with a single purpose in mind. Let us all make a determined effort to not miss the boat in '65. The Society needs new members. We should give our Masonic friends the same opportunity that some member in the past gave to us. The membership of the Society and your Membership Committee welcomes your assistance and really appreciates your effort which means so much to us.
Won't you make your contribution in '65 and not miss the boat?
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The Man, the Church and the Lodge
BY FORREST DELOSS HAGGARD, M.P.S. (Kansas)
(A paper read at the Midwest Conference on Masonic Education, St. Louis, Missouri. October 23, 1964.)
THIS PAPER is presented because of both a real and an assumed conflict between the Fraternity of Freemasonry and organized religion. There seems to be considerable concern today about Masonry's status in the eyes of organized religion.
This whole area of religion and fraternity is up for exploration today because it represents one factor in our existence in a revolutionary world. We can no more afford to ignore this relationship than we can afford to ignore any of the other complex cultural, sociological or economic factors affecting the life of man upon this planet. If we are to make a contribution, or even to survive, then we must come to a relevant understanding of what is actually taking place about us.
We are losing membership in a world that has an exploding population. The population of the United States was 179 million in 1960 and it is predicted that it will be 300 million by the year 2000. It is said that 25% of all the people who ever lived are alive today.
We are in an era of great mobility. We have been told that, in the past six years, over 156 million Americans changed residences. We know that over 75 % of our present population are in a relatively few metropolitan complexes. Based on present trends, I seriously doubt that any community, in the Great Plains area, of less than 2,500 has a future. And yet, very few Grand Lodges have taken time and pains to chart their loss and growth pattern or the birth and death location of symbolic Lodges.
Let us begin by defining areas of concern. First the Lodge: The Fraternity is, to me, man's organized attempt in an orderly way to proceed in a direction of life that is oriented towards what he feels is Creation's design for him within this universe. It is, if you please, man's grasp for God. It is, of course, a fellowship of men, a system of morals, a philosophy. In some of its original concepts, it was to be a center of union and the means of conciliating true friendship among persons who must have remained at a perpetual distance.
There is some effort today to prove that Masonry is not a religion. This was not always so. (1) Today our literature is filled with such statements as: "It cannot be too strongly asserted that Masonry is neither a religion nor a substitute for religion.... Masonry, therefore, is not a competitor with religion, though in the sphere of human conduct it may be hoped that its teachings will be complementary to that of religion." (2)
Or:
"Masonry never intended to take the place of the church in modern society for it offers no plan of salvation. It has never said 'look to me and you shall be saved.' It can be said that Freemasonry in a measure is dependent upon the Church, for the Church accepts man as a fallen being who must be redeemed, while Freemasonry takes him only in a high moral state endowed with capacity for individuality and culture." (3)
Yet in the beginning the Old Charges read: "but though in ancient times Masons were charged in every country to be of that religion of that country or nation, whatever it was, yet 'tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves." And in 1789, George Washington said to the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church meeting in New York City that:
"I trust the people of every denomination, who demean themselves as good citizens, will have occasion to be convinced, that I shall always strive to prove a faithful and impartial Patron of genuine, vital religion." (4)
All this is to state that to attempt to prove that Masonry is or is not a "religion" is to miss the point. I would certainly not claim that Freemasonry is a religion especially when in conversation with a member of the clergy but I would use such a point of conversation only as a spring board in order that I might make a positive statement to him as concerns the true nature of the fraternity.
Perhaps we need a brief definition of the "Church." This is difficult as the various bodies of Christianity, for example, cannot even come to a single definition among themselves. Let me say that the Church is God's grasp for man. Strictly speaking, the Church is not an organized religion. In fact, the founder of Christianity died because, for one reason, of his resistance to organized religion. The Church is basically a people called out by God and blessed by His spirit.
Now the majority of Masonic publications and articles make one error in this definition. They are correct in stating that our critics include the Roman Catholic Church (hierarchy), the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church (officials) and various other smaller bodies. But they are not correct in stating that the "church," meaning free Protestant tradition, is critical. In this instance, when they say "the church," they mean "certain of the clergy. " This error of equating the Protestant Church and its clergy is not uncommon but it is an error.
There is a second error in that the word "critical" may be misunderstood. Recently the Chief Executive of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. spoke in Kansas City and was quoted as follows: "There is a danger of denominational differences hardening and producing 25 culture churches, each as irrelevant to the needs of the times as the Masons or the Knights of Columbus. (5) Now this statement does not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of all members of the Presbyterian denomination. Neither does it necessarily tell us that Dr. Blake is opposed to the Fraternity of Freemasonry. In the very beginning of this paper, I implied that in many areas the Craft is irrelevant to the culture in which we now exist.
Therefore, I cannot say that I see a conflict between Freemasonry and the Church! The ideals and purposes of the Masonic Fraternity are in harmony with the Spirit and goals of the Church. Much of our ritual paraphrases the teachings of the Church. The desired outcome of Freemasonry is in line with the goals of religious education. If a conflict exists, then, it exists in the man. This could be a conflict as simple as the competition for the time, energy and talent of human beings in any given community, or this same conflict within the personal life of an individual. And it could be a conflict as complex as the ego-centricity of the clergyman who cannot tolerate any threat to his status as the "Chosen of God" or the conflict of an individual who has not resolved completely his own affairs with God and attempts to do this through the Fraternity. But it is at this "man level" that conflict or cooperation is established.
Let me illustrate this proposition: The clergy might see the Lodge as a well oiled machine in the community that competes with him for the lives of individuals (men, women, boys and girls). Or the clergy might see the Lodge as a handmaiden to his own purposes and ministry and use this fraternity, in the highest sense, for the promotion of what he feels to be his destiny and High Calling.
The Lodge might see the Church as a divided, bickering and somewhat hypocritical group of differing institutions or it might see it as the people of God blessed with His spirit. The Lodge might see in the individual clergyman an opponent or opportunity for fraternity and understanding.
The occasion might well be a Masonic Funeral and some difference of opinion. It might be when a Lodge desires to share in Divine Worship by attendance on one of the Saint John days. It might even be on the moment of his preaching a sermon "against secret societies." In any event you need to inform the brother of the great protestant pastors who have been Masons. He needs to know that, when he stands against Masonry, he has for his companions the members of the Roman Church and the advocates of dictatorship. He needs gentle words of wise counsel whispered in his ear by an active member of his congregation - by a man of community substance in faith and well-being whom he can respect.
It was by just such a man that I became interested in Masonry!
Now I have some practical suggestions that can apply both to the local Lodge as well as to the higher bodies such as Grand Lodge, and areas of cooperation between Grand Lodges. These are based on the supposition that light is the cure for darkness and that knowledge is the remedy for ignorance.
I. A program of education is urgent and necessary. This program must be leveled, first, at the general body of Masonry. Why? For example, to combat the new and concentrated attack upon us by the Roman Church as illustrated in their newest book entitled "Christianity and American Freemasonry." (6) This book, which is available to the public, purports to reveal the exact procedures in the degrees of Masonry. It is not aimed, however, at the general public. It is aimed at the average, nominal Blue Lodge Mason! It is calculated to lower his estimation of his own institution. It is well written and well executed. It is founded on the hope that the average Mason does not know the true secrets of Freemasonry! We need a book such as might be titled "The History of Freemasonry in America" and written within this decade! Such a work would take time and money to produce and print. Most of the present books are at least 25 years old - and Brethren, this world has changed more in the past ten years than it had in all the time preceding!
Now such a positive historical work needs to be placed, by proper jurisdiction, in the public libraries and in the libraries of our Bible Colleges and Seminaries. The libraries of our training centers for clergymen have little or no well written positive statements on Freemasonry !
II. We need to look at the public ceremonies of our fraternity. Let us take the funeral service. This is under observation by a good many Masonic scholars. (7) Most articles are critical of the ceremony. Among other things it is claimed that the funeral ceremony invades the function of the Church; repeats the service which precedes it; is inexpertly done; is theologically unsound; (8) is a sombre and melancholy thing and is objected to by members of the clergy. In specific instances, no doubt, all of these may be true. I would agree that it needs careful attention and, from personal experience, would state that it should either be done expertly or be abolished or, better yet, that it be restudied in the light of our present culture so that it might present a true image of Masonry, both to the family and the public.
III. We need to use our Masonic brethren who are clergymen! This is illustrated in such articles as the one titled "Eminent Clergyman Challenges Masons to Action"; this is the story of Dr. Daniel Poling, editor of the Christian Herald and quotes him as saying:
"I arrived at the decision that Masonry is a vital and dynamic force in America, and in the world, for everything high and worthy to which my life has long been committed . . . And there is something more. Masonry occupies, in my opinion, a unique position of opportunity and obligation in the Human Order today." (9)
I received Masonic encouragement from men like the former Dr. I.N. McCash, president of Phillips University, member of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, and well known Mason; and from Dr. Frank Marshall after whom the great Marshall Building is named at the Graduate Seminary at Enid, Oklahoma.
Every Lodge should use its own local pastors who are Masons and make public their Masonic connections. Recently both the state and national publications of the Brotherhood I serve, carried the story and picture of my own and our congregation's participation with the Masonic Fraternity on St. John the Baptist Day.
IV. And last and most important of all, the best approach to a good relationship between the Masonic Fraternity and the Church is the activity of the Mason in his local congregation. It is true that "our answer to opponents of the Craft is good conduct, good works and a noble example." (10) I say since both Church and Lodge are made up of men it is within the Man that the cooperation must be fostered.
Brethren, we live in a dark and troubled age. The forces of evil are combined against the forces of good. Even good words, like the word "square," for example, have been twisted around by the perverted minds of a sick generation until they stand for just the opposite of their original intent and purpose. In this kind of a world we need the most solid support of a good community. The support that encourages honesty, courage, loyalty and faith, and that puts human meaning into these words. That support is an uncrushable triangle so joined that, no matter how tumbled or twisted, it forms a solid base on which to stand. That triangle may be formed by the union of the Man - the Church and the Lodge!
Bibliography
(1) The Short Talk Bulletin; Masonic Service Association of the United States Washington 1, D.C.; Vol Xll No. 10 (1934) and Vol XXXVI No. 8 (1958)
(2) Transactions of the Masters and Past Masters Lodges No. 130 of New Zealand January 1963 (News Digest 7-26-63) Kansas City, Kansas
(3) The Evolution of Freemasonry; Delmar Duane Darrah, Masonic Publishing Co. Bloomington Illinois 1920 pp 294-298
(4) The Writings of George Washington, Ed by John C. Fitzpatrick, Vol 30, pp 339n
(5) The Kansas City Times (The Morning Kansas City Star), Dr. Eugene Carson Blake Stated clerk of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., May 29, 1964 Vol 127, No. 130 (reported by James M. Johnson, member of the Star's staff)
(6) Christianity and American Freemasonry; by Wm. Whalen, 1958, Bruce Publishing Co. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
(7) As in The Philalethes; Philalethes Society, Franklin, Indiana Vol XV No. 6 (1962); and Vol XVI No. 3 (1963)
(8) By Andrew J. White, Grand Secretary, A.F.&A.M., Ohio Vol XVI No. 3 Philalethes
(9) The Philalethes Op Cit Vol XV No. 1
(10) Let There Be Light, A Study of Anti-Masonry; Masonic Service Association Washington 1, D.C., by Alphonse Cerza, April 1954
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BY CHARLES G. REIGNER F.P.S., President
IN THE AUGUST, 1964 issue of The Philalethes, I had some things to say about "Fundamental Freemasonry" That discussion stemmed from "The Constitutions of the FreeMasons," published in London, England in 1723, often referred to as "Anderson's Constitutions of 1723."
Section 2 of Charge VI carries the heading, "Behaviour after the Lodge is over and the Brethren not gone." It is the principles set out in that Section about which we want to think in this article. First, let us read the complete Section.
"You may enjoy yourselves with innocent Mirth, treating one another according to Ability, but avoiding all Excess, or forcing any Brother to eat or drink beyond his inclination or hindering him from going when his Occasions call him, or doing or saying anything offensive, or that may forbid an easy and free Conversation, for that would blast our Harmony and defeat our laudable Purpose. Therefore, no private Piques or Quarrels must be brought within the Door of the Lodge, far less any Quarrels about Religion or Nations or State Policy, we being only, as Masons, of the Catholick (that is universal) Religion above-mention'd (in Charge l); we are also of all Nations, Tongues, Kindreds, and Languages, and resolv'd against all POLITICKS, as what never yet conduc'd to the Welfare of the Lodge, nor ever will. This Charge has been always strictly enjoin'd and observ'd, but especially ever since the Reformation in BRITAIN, or the Dissent and Secession of these Nations from the Communion of Rome."
Let us look thoughtfully at the first sentence in this Section 2 of Charge VI. The whole purpose of the admonitions contained in that sentence is to promote harmony in Freemasonry. Any practices which would have the effect of defeating that laudable purpose are to be shunned.
Whatever else Freemasonry is - and it is many other things - it is a friendship and a fellowship. While the basic purpose of Freemasonry is the serious one of building character in the individual Mason, the fraternity is still a thoroughly human institution. It encourages "innocent mirth" - all those social graces which mark the intercourse of thoughtful men.
Although all Masons stand on an equal footing in the Lodge, the Charge instructs us to treat one another according to ability. Abilities vary. One brother brings one kind of Ability to the Lodge; another brings an entirely different kind of ability. Working together, Masons bring into the Lodge an all-pervasive sense of harmony and cooperation.
"Innocent mirth," the Charge declares, must never be carried to excess in any direction. One of the basic purposes of Freemasonry is to teach Masons to keep their passions in restraint - to act and speak, in and out of the Lodge, with a kindly forbearance and a due regard for the feelings and sensibilities of others. We are strictly enjoined not to do or to say "anything offensive or that may forbid an easy and free conversation." Any action or language that sets at nought the high principles of Freemasonry, that degrades the Name of God, that outrages the sense of decency in any respect is bound to be offensive to Masons who are sincerely endeavoring to put into practice what they are taught in the Lodge.
Once more we see how Freemasonry goes to the very root of things. It is concerned always with development of character in the individual Mason. It stands apart from organized religion not because it does not believe in religion. It does. But always its basic purpose is the promotion of harmony based on that religion in which all men agree.
The development of harmony and the sense of brotherliness would obviously be defeated if "private piques and quarrels" were countenanced within the Lodge. Inside the tyled door we meet as Masonic Brethren. Personal quarrels and disagreements of all kinds, says the Charge, must stop outside the door.
Harmony is indeed the strength and support of all well-regulated institutions. Family harmony is the chief blessing of the home. Wherever people are at dagger's point, there can be no harmony. Any organization which is characterized by constant dissension and disharmony is limited in what it can accomplish. Every Mason who shows by his attitude and his actions that he is working for harmony and cooperation does something toward bringing about that spirit of true fellowship which his own attitude and actions exemplify. The dedicated Mason has a sympathetic attitude of mind and heart. He believes in the principle of live and help live - not live and let live. Anyone who merely tolerates other people puts himself on a kind of pedestal above his fellow men.
It goes without saying that we all err and fail. There's more than a grain of truth in a stanza by Joaquin Miller in his poetic defense of Lord Byron:
In men whom men condemn as ill
I find so much of goodness still,
In men whom men pronounce divine
I find so much of sin and blot,
I do not dare to draw a line
Between the two, when God has not.
Whenever I think of that stanza I think also of Albert Pike's straightforward statement in Morals And Dogma: "There can be no genuine Brotherhood without mutual regard mutual charity, and mutual allowance for faults and failings. Those who gloat over the failings of another . . . cannot even be friends, much less Brethren."
What Cicero wrote more than two thousand years ago applies with peculiar force to the fellowship and friendship of Freemasonry: "Whereever you turn yourself, friendship is at hand - shut out of no place never out of season, never irksome. And thus friendship renders prosperity more brilliant and adversity more supportable by dividing and communicating both prosperity and adversity in their seasons."
It is against the background of harmony and friendship that we shall do well to ponder the section of Charge VI about which we have been thinking. Religion and politics are two phases of life that have kept men apart down through the ages. The genius of Freemasonry for harmony and fellowship brings and keeps Masons together in those basic fundamentals which lie deep beneath the externals of our mortal life.
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Unlike the United States, Great Britain, or rather, England, has one governing body, the Grand Lodge of England. The members of the Royal family are quite often Masons and often the Grand Master is a member of royalty. The present grand Master is the Right Han. The Earl of Scorbrough, K.G., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., G.C.V.O., T.D.
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Freemasonry Aids Reconstruction
BY ALLEN E. ROBERTS, F.P.S.
7. The Final Days of Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction
AFTER the infamous impeachment trial, the Mason in the White House went about the affairs of state quietly and efficiently. And the Republican Convention named U.S. Grant, a one-time friend of President Johnson, as its candidate for the Presidency. The Democratic Convention discarded the Chief Justice, Andrew Johnson, and other hopefuls, and on the 22nd ballot chose Lincoln's war-time political enemy, Horatio Seymour of New York, to oppose Grant.
"It was a weird campaign," wrote Claude G. Bowers. "The candidates were opposite. Seymour was a profound student of government and politics; Grant knew nothing of either. Seymour was a tireless politician; Grant had voted but once before 1864. Seymour was a polished orator; Grant was Orator Mum. Seymour had a long public record in civil service; Grant, none. In training and qualifications, there was no comparison." Seymour traveled and spoke frequently; Grant sat quietly in Galena. But Grant won the election with a popular vote plurality of 309,584, out of 5,716,082 votes cast.
Andrew Johnson refused to ride in the carriage with Grant to the inauguration; he finally decided he would not attend the ceremonies on March 4, "to witness the inauguration of a man whom he knew to be untruthful, faithless, and false," reported Welles. At noon, he rose from his desk, shook hands with each Secretary of his Cabinet, and left to stay at the home of a friend until he could return to his beloved Tennessee. His Administration was ended.
But Johnson could not remain away from the political wars for long. He was highly incensed with the manner in which Grant was operating as President and let it be known by saying: "When I accepted the Presidency . . . I did not accept it as a donation, or as a grand gift establishment; I did not take it as a horn of plenty, with sugar plums to be handed out here and there." And in July he visited Washington where he was greeted by large crowds who roared their approval when he denounced both Congress and Grant.
In March, 1875, Andrew Johnson returned once again to the District of Columbia. This time as Senator from Tennessee. He lost no time in attacking the corruption and unethical conduct of the Grant Administration. And the galleries cheered! But it was to be the last time the people of the country were to hear him speak, for with the adjournment of Congress, he hurried home; a home he was to leave only once more.
In July Johnson visited his granddaughter and while chatting with her, he fell to the floor, his left side completely paralyzed. The next day, almost at the same hour, a second stroke paralyzed his whole body and the sorrowful cry went around the world - "Andrew Johnson is dead!"
The former President had requested that no minister of religion be called to conduct his funeral - a highly understandable request when the bitterness incited from behind far too many pulpits of the country against him is recalled. The family respected his wishes and called upon the Fraternity he loved to make the arrangements for his funeral. The Masons from the adjoining towns arrived in droves; they packed his body in an ice-filled pine box and carried it tenderly early Sunday morning to Greeneville.
Signs of sorrow were everywhere in evidence in the town of Greeneville Monday. Telegrams arrived from every section of the nation. Reporters from the largest newspapers in the country arrived. The small town could hardly cope with the tremendous crowd that arrived to pay their final respects to the tailor who became President and championed the United States Constitution.
Andrew Johnson's body was wrapped in a new silken American flag with 37 stars; symbolizing the Union he loved and for which he had bravely fought. His lifeless fingers grasped its folds. "Pillow my head on the Constitution of my country," he had requested. "Let the flag of the Nation be my winding sheet." The first copy of the Constitution he had ever owned, bought in 1835 and full of notes and comments, became the pillow he desired.
Greeneville Lodge No. 119, of which both Andrew Jackson and Andrew Johnson had been members, requested permission to move Johnson's body to the Lodge. On Tuesday morning it was done. Later in the day it was moved to the Court House where people walked slowly by it for hours. And special trains continued to bring people from every walk of life to Greeneville, Tennessee, to pay homage to a man who had endured more for the sake of the Constitution of the United States than any man before or since.
Eighteen sorrow-stricken men carried the body of Johnson through a line of Knights Templar with crossed swords, then to a waiting carriage, as Dickenson's Light Guard Band played Webster's "Funeral March." The long procession moved slowly to the top of a conical-shaped hill, a half-mile from town, to the place which Johnson had chosen as his final resting place. There, the Masons took over under the leadership of U.A. Rouser, who was known as the "most skillful mechanic in the city of Knoxville." When he had finished the ritual of the Masonic funeral service, the Masonic choir sadly chanted
Christian warrior at the pealing
Of the solemn vesper bell
Round the Triform altar kneeling
Whisper each, Immanuel."
Two years later, a monument was erected over the grave of Andrew Johnson by his children. It was a marble shaft, surmounted by an American eagle; the American flag draped the upper portion; into its side was carved a copy of the Constitution; underneath were the words: "His faith in the people never wavered" !
His faith in the American people was well founded. A year after Johnson's death, the people overwhelmingly rejected the Radical Republicans - but the Radicals were handed the Presidency. Hayes became President! His cohorts stole the election with the help of The New York Times, United States troops, and the connivance of Grant. The hour for a change in the political policies of the country had arrived. The changes advocated by Johnson were to become acceptable to the people of the North. The South's redemption from military despotism had become a reality.
Claude G. Bowers wrote in 1929: "So appalling is the picture of these revolutionary years [1865-77] that even historians have preferred to overlook many essential things. Thus, Andrew Johnson, who fought the bravest battle for constitutional liberty and for the preservation of our institutions ever waged by an Executive, until recently was left in the pillory to which unscrupulous gamblers for power consigned him, because the unvarnished truth that vindicates him makes so many statues in public squares and parks seem a bit grotesque "
Throughout the period of Reconstruction, Freemasonry had acted "Silently, noiselessly, but at the same time steadily and successfully," said the Foreign Correspondent for the District of Columbia, "to soothe the unhappy, to sympathize with their misfortunes, to compassionate their miseries, and to restore peace to their troubled minds." He went on to add: "Thus may it ever be, until the arrival of that period, foretold on prophetic vision, when there shall be no want to relieve, no sorrow to assuage."
Freemasonry, as an institution, and individual Masons, after many years of charitable and loving work, helped cement and heal the wounds caused by the Civil War. It helped end that crisis as it had many before it, and with the aid of God, will solve those of today and tomorrow.
- The End -
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South Africa Investigates Secret
Organizations For Subversive Data
BROTHER FRANK H. WILSON, M.P.S., writes the Editor, sending a clipping from the Masonic Journal of South Africa of recent date, with the following pertinent comment:
"Apropos of your article on page 76 of the October issue of the Philalethes - 'By What Right does Government Interfere in Civic and Fraternal Affairs?' - I am wondering if you have been following the Editorials in the Masonic Journal of South Africa?
"Apparently they have sensed something going on down there, so in the September issue they have an editorial 'The Enquiry into Freemasonry. ' I am enclosing the article which I have torn out of my copy. If you haven't seen it I know you will be interested. "
Indeed I am interested!
There seems much unrest everywhere, and secret societies, clubs and other organizations are all under scrutiny for many reasons. It is an indication of the care with which the Craft must pursue its activities, and leads us to believe that we must take another look at world events, at world tensions and at world contacts. Besides that, we must again look inwardly, to be sure that we are not becoming complacent and are not letting unqualified and hazardous leadership take over.
Here is a portion of the text in the Masonic Journal of South Africa. It is not our intention to analyze or draw conclusions, but to present the facts, by which, we hope, all of us may better understand the whole situation.
"On 31st July, 1964 the following Government Notice, issued by the Department of the Prime Minister, appeared in the Government Gazette: "APPOINTMENT OF A COMMISSION OF ENQUIRY INTO SECRET ORGANIZATIONS .
"It is hereby notified for general information that the State President has been pleased to appoint the Honourable Justice D.H. Botha, Judge of Appeal of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa, as the only member and as Chairman of a Commission of Enquiry into Secret Organizations, with the following terms of reference:-
"To enquire into and submit a report on - the conduct of any secret organization, including Freemasonry, the Afrikaner-Broederbond and the Sons of England; and on - the secret activities of any other organisation which comes, or is brought, to the Commission's attention and which, in the opinion of the Commission, calls for enquiry in terms of the purpose of its appointment: in respect of anything which renders such organization guilty of - any form of treason or intrigue, or of attempts to obtain for itself domination of, or of harmful or unlawful influencing of, or of subversive activities against, the people or the State or any of its organs such as the Central Government, the Provincial authorities or the Administration of Justice; . . . attempts to subvert the relations between the English and Afrikaans speaking peoples with the object of bringing about strife and national discord and of undermining national unity; . . . . subversion in any form of the morals, customs and way of life of the people of South Africa by circumventing or transgressing the country's laws or by any other means; becoming a serious danger to peace and order in the body politic by exerting influence in an impermissible manner in the economic and cultural spheres; attempts to dominate the Prime Minister, Ministers, Administrators or any other persons in authority in an effort to use him or them in the service of an organization in such a manner that, as far as the performance of his or their official duties is concerned, loyalty is in the first place shown to the organization and not to the State.
"The Commission shall have power to summon, swear and interrogate witnesses, call for documents, visit offices and to take such further action as may in its opinion be necessary to complete its enquiry satisfactorily, provided that in carrying out its task and in drafting its report the confidential nature of anything which comes to its notice as part of its enquiry, but which does not form part of findings disclosing the guilt of any organisation or person of any of the above-mentioned contraventions, is not violated."
What are the implications of these regulations? It means that the Brethren who are selected to give evidence on behalf of the Order of Freemasons will be able to discuss openly with the Commissioner many matters which concern nobody but Freemasons and which, in fact, are regarded by them as of a private, personal and even sacred nature, without any fear that what they communicate to a man of the integrity and standing of Mr. Justice Botha will be bruited about by sensation-seeking newspapers.
It assures that anything which is told to the Commissioner by representatives of the Order, but which does not disclose Freemasonry's guilt of any of the contraventions enumerated in the Commission's terms of reference, will forever remain locked up in the safe and secret repository of his heart.
For this the Order should be, and, we are sure, is grateful to the Prime Minister.
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BY ALPHONSE CERZA, F.P.S. (Life), Ill.
I AM WRITING this approximately two months before this will be read. It is reported to me that the printing presses are working overtime to produce the 1964 Proceedings of the Missouri Lodge of Research plus a bonus book to be mailed to the members of this fine research Lodge. The 1964 Proceedings will consist of the history of Military Lodges. The "bonus" book is entitled "The Masonic World of Ray V. Denslow," prepared by Brother "Wes" Cook, of Missouri. Over a period of many years the late Ray V. Denslow wrote for the Missouri Grand Lodge Proceedings a summary of Masonic events throughout the world; these items appeared under the title "Masonic World." Brother Cook has picked out the choicest bits from these annual reviews for publication in this "bonus" book.
Both these books ought to be available for non-members of the Missouri Lodge of Research by the time this issue of our magazine reaches your hands. If interested, communicate with Educational Bureau, P.O. Box 529, Trenton, Missouri.
Brother James R. Case has conducted a thorough research project as to the Masonic membership of the governors of the State of Connecticut. The result has been published as an appendix to the 1964 Proceedings of that Grand Lodge.
Brother Case presents a short biographical sketch of each governor of Connecticut who was a Mason and gives all the important facts about each. A limited number of the tenpage presentation is available. If interested in securing a copy, please communicate with James R. Case, 43 Highland Avenue, Bethel, Connecticut.
Some months ago a French lawyer, Alec Mellor, wrote a book entitled "Our Separated Brethren, The Freemasons." The author is a Roman Catholic and the book contains the "Nihil Obstat" which officially states that the book contains nothing contrary to the Roman Catholic doctrine. The book has had wide reader acceptance in French-speaking areas. The theme of the book is that political intrigue against the church brought the condemnation of the Craft by the church; that these political activities have long ceased; and the time has arrived for a reappraisal of the subject.
The book has been translated into English and is available from George G. Harrap & Co., 182 High Holborn, London, W.C. 1, England, at the net price of 30s.
The book is interesting for the new point of view expressed. Undoubtedly, the idea was encouraged by the ecumenical movement sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church. Only time will tell, but the more than two year delay in making a clear expression on the subject of liberty of conscience and freedom of religious belief raises some serious questions of the sincerity of the Church Fathers.
The Southern California Research Lodge has published its first volume of papers in a beautiful, blue loose-leaf cover. The subjects cover a variety of interesting topics such as: The American Plan of Free Public Schools, Circumabulation, Clandestine Masonry, The Development of the Ritual, Duties of a Mason, The Historical Backgrounds of Masonry, and others.
Copies are available at $6.00 a copy from Brother Milton E. Ammann, 2709 East 220th Street, Long Beach, California.
The Noble Sales Co ., of 1314 N. First Street, Apartment 428, Phoenix 4, Arizona, is making available reprints of many famous and important books and booklets which have long been out of print. The most recent of these reprints are:
"The Secret Instructions of the Jesuits"; originally published in 1610. This booklet of rules clearly sets forth the Machiavelian conduct-rules. Available at $1.25 a copy.
"The Great Historical Forgeries Upon Which Papal Authority is Founded," by a leading Roman Catholic historian. Available at $1.25 a copy.
"Fifty Years in the Church of Rome," by Charles Chiniquy. This leading recital of experiences of a Roman Catholic priest of the last century who was defended successfully by Abraham Lincoln has long been out of print. Available at $3.75 a copy.
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Honors Editor
It was in October, 1939 that Floran A. Rodgers, M.P.S., Editor and Publisher of Kansas Masonic Digest, joined the KMD staff. The publication was an 8 page, plain magazine with interesting news items but no pictures. Since that time it has grown to an average of 40 pages per month and is a well printed, well edited magazine filled with pictures, news and information of interest to more than 300,000 members of the Masonic and Associated groups in Kansas.
KMD is recognized by all the Masonic Grand Bodies of Kansas as an outstanding Masonic publication. For 20 years a weekly Masonic news program was carried on radio, giving important coming events and presenting interviews with distinguished Masonic personalities in Kansas and the nation that made the Masonic news. The KMD popular Masonic news program "What's Going on Masonically in Kansas" was the first regularly scheduled live news program on KARD-TV, Channel 3, Wichita, outside of their own programs. Also included on the program were distinguished Masonic personalities, locally and throughout the state and nation, each week. The KMD staff also presents the Masonic Calendar which has appeared in the Wichita Eagle for the past 35 years.
For the past 20 years the editor has taken pictures of local Masonic events and state meetings, and KMD has on file at the present time more than 60,000 negatives.
Recently a Masonic map was compiled, showing every town in the state geographically located, and the key designated all Masonic and Associated groups located in that respective town. Editor Rodgers has been active in the quarries of Masonry and is a Past Presiding officer of the Lodge, Chapter, Council, Commandery, and is also a member of many other Masonic groups.
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BY ROBERT W. VORHES. M.P.S.
A VAST AMOUNT of reading material comes over my desk every day in the form of Magazines, Bulletins, Philosophical writings, etc., - all asking the same two vital questions - WHY - and - WHERE?
Why this material existence?
Where did we come from, and where are we going?
Most frequently, we endeavor to keep the answers to the first question purely material; while regarding the second, we delve into the spiritual.
When we attempt to explain the Spiritual with the Material, the true answer completely eludes us. We must therefore attempt to reduce them to one common denominator - and that must be either Material or Spiritual. Since it would be ridiculous to try to evaluate Spirit from a Material standpoint, we shall completely eliminate the Material, and prove throughout, with Bible quotations, that all is Spirit and that material elements are purely a figment of the imagination of one grasping at straws. It is impossible to mix Spiritual and Material ideas. Neither can you rationally coordinate one with the other, and it would be useless to try.
We, as Masons, are all very familiar with the Book of Genesis. In Genesis 1:27 we read:- "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." There are no words in this passage which are above the comprehension of the youngest child. It contains no difficult words with which to confuse the reader - it is just a plain and simple statement of facts. Since we profess to believe in an all-creative God, then we must also believe in this statement of His creation in the first chapter of Genesis, the 26th verse, where it states: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," followed by the very definite affirmation in the 27th verse (quoted above).
Now, let us proceed to the Second chapter of Genesis, verses 6 and 7. Here we find no reference to God saying anything whatsoever about Creation. It merely says: "But there went up a mist from the Earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground." Either the Spiritual creation of man, as related in the first chapter of Genesis, is correct, or the material dustcreated man, referred to in the second chapter, is correct. They cannot both be correct, for the reality of these statements is as far apart as the North and South Poles. Under the circumstances, wouldn't it seem only natural to choose the Spiritual man, made in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26), and base our beliefs on all creations as being Spiritual, leaving the material to "the dust of the ground. "
Understanding the question, "Where did we come from - and where are we going," is not difficult when we choose the one account of creation and don't try to accept both. We have been making our own problem by trying to explain the Spiritual creation and existence from a material standpoint. Considering such a mixture logically, we realize that it cannot be done any more than oil and water not mix. One of the first laws of Chemistry is that it is impossible to mix two opposites. You accept that as a fact - a material fact, and you would not try to force such a mixture, or to try to explain it from a spiritual standpoint. It just cannot be done, so why should we try to explain spiritual facts from material ideas?
Now that we have eliminated the material man, we will continue with our reading of the Bible, where we find further proof of the Spiritual in First John, chapter 3, verses 1 and 2 - "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the Sons of God . . . Beloved, now are we the sons of God ....
Could it be that our difficulty is in not being able to rise above the material? Are we trying to visualize God in our image - a big all-powerful material individual sitting on a throne in some far off place in the sky - when the Bible tells us plainly that "God is Spirit." He is omnipresent - everywhere. Therefore we must worship him in Spirit, as filling all space, possessing all power. Can that which fills all space be material?
You may call this philosophy by any name you choose, but that is not the important fact. The important fact is that this is provable. Whatever can be proved, just has to be true, or the Truth. And that is what we are seeking - the Truth about creation - the Truth about our existence. What other reasoning do we need in order to attain a better understanding? I know of none. Therefore, if we will cease attempting to explain Spirit from a Material angle, we shall then understand man as being complete and whole - in the "true image and likeness of God," as the Scriptures declare.
Could it be that people are too busy today to stop and think an idea through to completion ? Must someone else do their thinking for them? Are they too busy chasing that all-American dollar and letting the really worth while things in life slip by? If your life were to be cut off in the next moment, without warning to enable you to prepare your business affairs - just how much would you be missed in those affairs after the next 30 days?
"The best things in Life are free." I wish that I might claim this statement as my own, but it has been repeated so many times that the originator's identity has long ago been lost. Might I suggest that we take time out from our busy lives to try to interpret from a Spiritual view point (not a material), just how true this statement is. For example: there is health, happiness, the beauty of nature, the song of the birds, the contentment of the rippling stream, the sound of the breeze, the love of man for his fellow man, and the list goes on and on without end. How insignificant even wealth is, when we stop to consider these truly worth while possessions in life that are absolutely free.
It is said that "retirement was not relaxing into an inactive life, but was only rising to a complete understanding of Life and passing that better understanding on to others."
Therefore, in order to understand better, we must first know better; and to know better, we must stop to recognize the best, the free things in Life which are ours without any effort on our part. Materialism and the physical may destroy us. Hesitation, relaxation and timely thought will allow us more refreshed vigor for the morrow.
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Masonic Initiation and the Present World
BY KENNTH D. GEMMELL. M.P.S.
THE PROBLEMS of declining membership and of lack of interest amongst Masons engaged the attention, once again, of the latest Grand Masters' Conference, held last February at Kansas City, Missouri. And well might the Grand Masters discuss them, since these are problems that go to the very roots of present-day life and society and of Masonic principles; of Masonic action and its correlation with that life and society.
There seems to be a simple-minded generalized opinion that our Order is competing for the attention of the Brethren with all manner of other, more pleasurable, activities and pursuits (which is true in the case of many Masons, unfortunately), and, by inference, that the Fraternity is losing the battle. And, which is worse, that little can be done to win it.
Yet, many suggestions have been advanced in order to correct the conception of the reasons for the existence of the problems, and make abstraction of their radical, fundamental, nature. Therefore, they only scratch the surface of the trouble and can never hope to arrive at a satisfactory solution.
In order to establish a broad basis for effectual action, it is first necessary to make a summary diagnosis of our time; then examine the nature of Masonic Initiation, and what it can, and should, mean in the present state of man's life and society.
We are, in effect, on the threshold of a new era. A world which is being born before our very eyes, but ignored by the majority. We are not travelling to a future of definitive tranquillity, but rather towards unsuspected dangers and incessant inventions and discoveries. The question is: How will man learn to use the means that are to be offered him? Someone has said that human society in the last fifty years has progressed more than in the preceding two thousand. It has, materially that is.
The dialogue is joined by philosophers, scientists and sages, who through analysis of the theme "The crisis of our times," try to formulate a vision of the rising world.
In the modern era new energies were discovered, steam and electricity, which revolutionized the means of production and brought about grave social problems; in the contemporary era, we find the disintegration of the atom, electronics, space craft, automation. From scientific discoveries issue forth great technical inventions: the internal combustion engine, the turbine, radio, cinematography, television, jet propulsion, the electronic "brain," atomic energy.
All this disrupts the balance of man's spiritual world, and the clash of movements of thought accelerate the process: materialism, spiritualism, pragmatism, existentialism. Especially the latter: expression of the pessimism and desperation, of the hate and pain left by both World Wars.
Continuing the summary diagnosis of our time we can mention, without elaborating, the preponderance of the collective and the nullification of the particular, or individual, thence a decline in responsibility; sectarianism, proselytism and the abuse of propaganda; conformism. Such planning that suppresses originality, personal initiative and discreet liberty of action. Crises of every nature: of liberty and self-determination; of economic, social and political systems; of moral and ethical values; of faith, religious and non-religious; of culture and education.
Youth, in general, feels uncomprehended. And indeed there is uncomprehension between parents and their offspring, and between society and youth. Youth feels frustrated because opportunities are not immediate. They wish to satisfy all of their longings without having undergone the stages of sacrifice experienced by preceding generations; they wish to live the full life, without comprehending life. And so it is also with emerging nations, who demand rapid admission to knowledge, culture, technical know-how: the good life.
Dishumanization of relationships, of art, of education. Sudden transformations, which make individual and social adjustments difficult. Underdevelopment. Conflict between oppressed and oppressors; orthodox and unorthodox; totalitarians and democrats; individual and mass.
Authentic Freemasonry and real Masons can not be the instruments of profane influences and passions, which destroy and divide. That the spirit of many Brethren has fallen under these influences, or rather, that they have not rid themselves of them after joining the Order, reflects weakness in our institutional structure, weakness in our spiritual formation. In synthesis, inadequate Masonic formation, consequent weakness in our action.
We must adopt an uncompromising attitude, in accord with our Principles. But this attitude must of necessity be a true reflection of a resolute and vigorous disposition, attitude being determined, as it is, by many factors, such as personality, culture, Initiation and meditation vis-a-vis reality.
This is the task of Masonic education, which should conduct the forming of the moral and psychical growth of the Brethren, who are to live in permanent solicitude for an always changing world.
Here is the essence and the "raison d'etre" of a Mason's life: guardian of progress, paladin of justice, indefatigable sower of universal fraternity and human solidarity, generous laborer who kneads in his hands the yeast of love amongst men.
Masonic Initiation is supposed to give men a stout moral and spiritual formation, which will withstand and defeat profane influences, thereby benefiting all men.
We have examined the present state of society, and the purposes of Masonic Initiation. In the face of these, the crux of Freemasonry's problems is: Are we truly Initiating men into the mysteries of life's purposes and destiny, or are we guilty of dispensing to men the disembowelled ghost of the doctrine?
The only reply is an intense reiteration of our postulates, principles and doctrines, with a spirited and virile attitude, which will produce the archetype of order, of peace, of fraternal love, of high ethics and noble morals, of industry and progress, which will stand out clearly above the profane tumult and which will inspire emulation in those bewildered, mystified beings who long, nevertheless, for better days for suffering humanity.
The challenge is great. Freemasonry gives us the means, and our duty is clear. Have we the will; have we the leadership to accomplish it? Herein lies the future usefulness of this, our great and noble Fraternity.
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Scottish Rite History One of Service
Grand Minister of State, Richard A. Kern, of the Supreme Council, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, reviewed the one hundred and fifty years of the Northern Supreme Council, in a talk at the conferring of the Thirty-third degree, at Boston, Massachusetts, September 25, 1963. It is so interesting and informative, that we take the privilege of reprinting it in part for the edification of our readers.
LESS THAN A HUNDRED YEARS after the organization of our Grand Lodge of England, The Northern Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite began its first one hundred and fifty years of service.
Even in the conservative soil of its origin, degrees and symbols multiplied. Within a generation a Dermott and his schismatic "Antients" launched a rival Grand Lodge as a curb and a rebuke to the "Modernistic" trends of the Mother Grand Lodge.
Crossing the English Channel, Freemasonry's growth was still less restrained. There arose multiple degree activities that ran the gamut from individually owned degrees to intricate systems, which to this day tax the skill and patience of the historian.
Everywhere Freemasonry took on something of the genius and spirit of the people and the times. Just south of the Channel it w a s influenced by the liberalism that marked the oncoming social revolution, including its full freedom of belief or unbelief and the political implications of the Napoleonic wars. A conservative reaction to all this on the other side of the Channel brought healing to the schism in England in 1813. But to this day it accounts for certain divisive factors in the Symbolic Craft.
During the eighteenth century currents and counter-currents of Masonry flowed across the Atlantic: "Moderns" and "Antients" into the British Colonies; Gallic and Iberian Masonry into the West Indies and Latin America; then countercurrents again back to continental Europe, and also, as a result of troubles in the West Indies, to North America.
Remember now some of the quotes you have just heard from Masonic philosophers: "Individual ownership of degrees"; "uncontrolled elaboration of ritual"; "rival Rites and Bodies"; "innovation piled upon innovation"; "a Babel of confusion." Ill.’. Brother Dalcho summed it up in one word: Chaos.
To bring order out of this chaos. Brother Dalcho and his three associates organized the first Supreme Council at Charleston in 1801 - probably the greatest single contribution to Masonry, excepting only the formation of the Grand Lodge of England.
Order was not achieved so easily. Clandestine, irregular, spurious groups and bodies continued, particularly in and around New York City. The outcome was the establishment of the Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, in 1813 under the aegis of the Mother Supreme Council.
We were reminded by the Grand Prior that an institution is the lengthened shadow of a man. That man for us was our first Grand Secretary General, Ill.’. John James Joseph Gourgas.
Gourgas took office with the country at war. The war ended, but not the fraternal confusion. The Morgan episode in 1826 lighted the fires of anti-Masonic agitation which continued for thirteen mortal years. In 1832 when the fury was at its height, the Sovereign Grand Commander, three years younger than Gourgas, laid down the gavel and retired to a life in the country.
Gourgas was made of sterner stuff. He took up the Grand Commander's gavel and wielded it for nineteen years, at first almost single handed. He revived the almost dormant Supreme Council, aided by his younger colleague, I l l.’. Giles Fonda Yates, who had kept the Valley of Albany functioning through those dark years.
In 1851, at the age of 73, Gourgas withdrew from office and retired to the little town of Weston, Massachusetts, to be with his family and his books.
The anti-Masonic scourge passed but schism and war returned. By 1863 three Supreme Councils were competitors in our Northern Jurisdiction. Again the brethren turned to the 86-year-old sage in Weston. His wise advice set in motion a program which created the Union of 1867, two years after his death.
To protect the interests of the Active Members of the two uniting Councils (the third had voluntarily gone out of existence), the agreement of union provided for sixty-six Actives in this Supreme Council, twice as many as the maximum in any other Supreme Council. We have never filled all those places. Nevertheless, with forty-three Active Members we are the largest Supreme Council from the standpoint of Active Membership.
Even in early troubled days, other Supreme Councils had been formed in Spain and France and in Italy by the Mother Supreme Council; in England by us. Today no less than thirty-five are functioning.
A landmark of Freemasonry is obedience to the law of the land. This is the chief reason why Grand Lodges do not cross national boundaries. We confer, we advise with one another, but we do not bind ourselves to action.
Of all branches of Masonry, the Scottish Rite is particularly well fitted by its continuity of organization to make contact, to promote harmony and to practice a common philosophy with our brethren in other lands.
International Congresses of Supreme Councils began at Lausanne in 1875, meeting thereafter at irregular intervals. The Seventh, in 1956 at Havana, initiated three helpful advances: (1) International Congresses to meet every five years; (2) the president of one Congress would hold office until the next one convened; (3) an Office of Information would publish a Bulletin, informative in content, in three languages.
The Eighth International Congress met at Washington, D. C. in 1961. Its president, Grand Commander Luther A. Smith, 33d, Southern Jurisdiction, continues in office until 1966. Then the Ninth Congress meets in Paris. Grand Commander Charles Riandey, 33d, of France will be named president.
The Sovereign Grand Commanders of the Americas assemble every five years. The fourth meeting was held in Lima, with the Supreme Council of Peru as host.
The European Grand Commanders have been meeting every year, frequently with guest observers from other parts of the world. The 18th such Conference, marking the 50th Anniversary of the Supreme Council of the Netherlands, assembled last May in The Hague.
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A MIDDLE-AGED LADY, with a black alpaca dress, worn shiny at the elbows, with a cheap shawl and a cheap bonnet, and her hands puckered up and blue, as though she had just got her washing out, went into the office of a prominent Mason some time ago and took a chair. She wiped the perspiration from her face on a blue-checkered apron, and when the Mason looked at her with an interested brotherly look, as though she was in trouble, she said:
"Are you the boss Mason?"
He blushed, told her he was a Mason, but not the highest in the land. She hesitated a moment, fingered the corner of her apron, curled it up like a boy saying a piece in school, and asked:-
"Have you taken the whole two hundred and thirty-three degrees of Masonry?"
The brother laughed and told her that there were only thirty-three degrees, and that he had only taken thirty-two. The other degree could only be taken by a few who were recommended by the Grand Lodge, and they had to go to New York to get the thirty-third degree.
The lady studied a minute, unpinned the safety pin that held her shawl together and put it in her mouth, took a long breath, and said:-
"Where does my husband get the other two hundred degrees then?"
The prominent Mason said he guessed her husband never got two hundred degrees unless he had a degree factory. He said he didn't understand the lady.
"Does my husband have to sit up with a madman three nights a week?" she asked, her eyes flashing fire, "And do they keep a lot of sick Masons on tap, for my husband to sit up with the other three nights?"
The prominent Mason said he was thankful few Masons died, and only occasionally saw one mad enough to call for Masonic assistance.
"But why do you ask these questions, madam?" said the prominent Mason.
The woman picked the fringe of her shawl, hung down her head, and said:-
"Well, my husband began to join the Masons about two years ago, and he has been taking degrees or sitting up with somebody every night since. He has come home twice with the wrong pair of boots on, and when I asked him how it was, he said it was a secret he could not reveal under penalty of being shot "by degrees." I have kept a little note of it, and I figure up that he has taken 233 degrees, including the Grand Sky Fugle degree, with his lip cut and his ear hanging by a piece of skin."
"O! madam," said the prominent Mason, "there's no Sky Fugle degree in Masonry. Your husband has deceived you."
"That's what I think," said she as a baleful light appeared in her eye. "He said he was taking the Sky Fugle degree and fell through the skylight. I had him sewed up, and he was ready for more degrees. After he had taken about 150 degrees I told him I should think he would let up on it, and put some potatoes in the cellar for winter. But he said once a man got started on the degrees he had to take them all, or he didn't amount to anything. Sometimes a brother Mason comes home along with him in the morning, and they talk about a 'full flush,' and about their 'pat hands,' and 'raising 'em out.' One night when he was asleep I heard him whisper, 'I raise you ten dollars,' and when I asked him what he meant, he said that they had been raising a purse for a poor widow. Another time he rose up in bed, after he had been asleep, and shouted, 'I stand pat,' and when I asked him what he meant, he said he was ruined if I told it. He said he had spoken the password, and if the brethren heard of it, they would put him out of the way. Mister, is 'I stand pat' your password ? "
The Mason told her that it was not - that the words she had spoken were expressions used by men when playing draw poker and he added that he didn't believe her husband was a Mason at all, but that he had been prevaricating all these years.
She sighed and said: "That's what I thought when he came home with a lot of ivory chips in his pocket. He said they used them at the Lodge to vote on candidates, and that a white chip elects and a blue chip rejects a candidate. If you will look the matter up and see if he has joined the Masons, I will be obliged to you. He says he has taken all the 233 degrees, and now the boys want him to join the Knights of Pythias. I want to get out an injunction to prevent him from joining anything else until we get some underclothing for winter. I'll tell you what I will do. The next time he says anything about Sky Fugle degrees, I will take a washboard and make him think that there is one degree in Masonry that he has skipped; and now good-bye. You have comforted me greatly, and I will lay awake tonight till my husband comes from the lodge with his pat hand, and I will make him think he has forgot his ante."
The lady went out to a grocery to buy some bar soap, and the prominent Mason resumed his business with a feeling that there is cheating going on all around.
- Masonic Journal, South Africa
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California Meeting a Success
On November 30, 1964, there was held a joint meeting of The Philalethes Society and the Southern California. Research Lodge, at the Lynwood Masonic Temple, Lynwood, California.
The brethren began to gather at about 6:30 p.m. and had a nice visit until 7:00, when a delicious dinner was served in the dining room of the Temple. At 8:00 o'clock promptly the meeting was called to order by the Worshipful Master of the Southern California Research Lodge, Brother Attilio Parisi. Every seat in the lodge hall was occupied by a Master Mason. After the introduction of the Masonic leaders of the community, Brother Milton E. Ammann, the immediate Past Master of the Lodge, introduced Brother Alphonse Cerza, a Fellow and Past President of our Society, who spoke on the subject "A Review of Masonic Books, Periodicals, and Literature." There was a spirited discussion on various topics of interest after the presentation of the formal talk.
During the discussion Brother Jim Mills, of Hollywood, stated that there was in the process of preparation a LP record entitled "The Story of Freemasonry" which would be ready for distribution to the general public some time next spring. Many questions were asked of him about the record.
The meeting was most successful and it was suggested that such cooperative projects should be encouraged. One member of the Society urged that a local chapter be formed of the Philalethes members so that they might meet periodically and discuss matters of mutual interest
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(A Paper Read at the Midwest Conference on Masonic Education, Cedar Rapids. Iowa. October 24, 1963.)
I AM JOHN CHERRY, a Freshman at Coe College, and a member of Cedar Rapids Chapter No. 10, Order of DeMolay. During my four and onehalf year membership, I have held several offices, including the chairs of the three councilors - Junior, Senior, and Master. I have participated in the ritual work of the Second Degree and have delivered the Flower Talk for three years. Last year, Cedar Rapids Chapter accorded me the J. Charles Young, "DeMolay of the Year" Award; and in June of this year, I, along with three other members of the Chapter, was elevated to the rank of Chevalier, the highest honor the Supreme Council can bestow upon an active member.
I wish to present to you gentlemen a deductively organized picture of the Order of DeMolay, from the general Order itself to the single member (in this case, what DeMolay means to me). Therefore, let us start with an outline of DeMolay, its history and present day organization.
The Order was founded in Kansas City, Mo., in 1919 by the late Frank S. Land and nine young men of high school age. Within twelve years this group and succeeding Chapters had installed over 1,000 Chapters all over the world with a membership in excess of 100,000 young men. DeMolay declined during the depression years, but began rehabilitating itself after the Second World War and today there are more than 2,000 Chapters in 14 countries and territories and over 3,000,000 young men have knelt before DeMolay altars in the forty-four years of the organization's existence.
A DeMolay is a young man between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one who has been voted on and approved by the brethren of his Chapter, knelt at the altar, and taken the Vows of a DeMolay, regardless of his race, religion, or lack of Masonic relations. Upon reaching the age of twenty-one, a DeMolay ceases to be an active member, however he then acquires the status of a Senior DeMolay and always carries with him the principles he has learned in the Chapter room.
The purpose of the Order of DeMolay is to develop the character of the young men who are listed within its roll call, and to inculcate in them those traits which are essential to the men who will one day guide the destiny of our nation. The Order attempts to achieve this goal, as does Freemasonry, through the teaching of those precepts which necessarily constitute the foundation upon which the character of a leader must be built. In DeMolay, these sine qua non precepts take the form of the seven jewels in the Crown of Youth. These represent the cardinal virtues of our Order; Filial Love, Reverence for God, Courtesy, Comradeship, Fidelity, Cleanness, and Patriotism.
DeMolay and Masonry are similar in many aspects, some of these being less tangible than others. One of the more abstract aspects is the amount of time which a member devotes to his Chapter. As you are all aware, there are some men who are Masons in name only - they have paid their dues and been brought to light by their brethren, but are seldom seen in the lodge room thereafter. Others, men such as yourselves, toil zealously for the advancement of the Order. This same theory applies to DeMolay as well. I know, as do you gentlemen, that in fraternal bodies as in many other facets of life, the old adage, "You only get out of something what you put into it" is a truism and the ultimate measure of the success a member of a Chapter will obtain. It is impossible to say in definite terms how many hours or days one devotes to his Chapter. This will vary according to the size of the body with which you are affiliated and extent of your aspirations. However, the undeniable fact is, if one wishes to reap any rewards at all from his affiliation, be they in the form of token recognition or more important spiritual benefits, one must be willing to relinquish any given amount of time that may be necessary for the accomplishment of his personal goal.
Another aspect of similarity comes to bear in our attempt to impress upon the newly initiated the concept that the teachings of the Order are to be carried into his daily life and not laid aside with his ritual robe as he leaves the Chapter room.
DeMolay, however, is not entirely composed of serious ritual work. Our own Chapter sponsors several semiformal dances throughout its active year. In the fall of each year, we present to those boys who have accomplished certain goals, token recognition for their achievements at an annual Awards Banquet. The awards include merit bars for proficiency in ritual, attendance at church, participating in various sports, for conducting installations, and numerous other facets of Chapter activities; a Blue Honor Key for those who have signed on the top line often petitions; and the local DeMolay of the Year Award to the boy who the Advisory Board deems as having contributed the most to the Chapter.
To me personally, DeMolay stands for many things. It placed upon me, as on all of its members, the obligations set forth in the DeMolay ritual which we vowed never to break as we, at the Chapter altar, knelt and sealed our vows on the open Bible. For me, as for a few of my brethren, it added still greater responsibilities as we emerged from the ranks and rose, ultimately, to the station in the East, that of the Master Councilor.
As I progressed toward this office, I had numerous opportunities to further my education. I compiled the scribe's reports, learned the ritual work for the various offices, acquired experience conducting a business meeting, and even acquired a short course in journalism as I chronicled the Chapter's activities for the monthly editions of the "Masonic News" and the "El Kahir Karavan."
Through my membership, I have gained acquaintance with many people. Here I refer both to the brethren of my Chapter and to dignitaries of Masonic Bodies and the Shrine through our installations and occasions such as this one.
When I think of DeMolay, I think of the friends I have made, of the comradeship present during our visits to other Chapters and trips to Conclaves. Most of all, I think of the inexpressable and intangible richness this experience has brought into my life. Yes, this, and a whole lot more, is what DeMolay means to me. I thank God for this organization, and I wish that every young man in the world had open to him this wonderful experience of being a member of the Order of DeMolay.
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At one time Golden Rule Lodge No. 5 of Stanstead, Quebec, occupied a Lodge room bisected by the international boundary. It had entrances from the Canadian and Vermont sides, and the membership was just as international as the site.
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BY NORMAN C. DUTT, F.P.S.
THE COLOR BLUE has gradually become the name for the Symbolic Lodge in Freemasonry. This is particularly true in the United States where the term is used extensively. The term is used sparingly in England, lightly in Ireland and casually in other countries. The proper name in most of the world is Craft Lodge, and by that term Lodges are so designated by the Grand Lodge A.F. &A.M. of New Zealand. It is true that we teach all of the three degrees by symbols, and in all due propriety and nomenclature 'Symbolic Lodge' is and will remain the correct term.
The Australians are known to call a Craft Lodge The Blue, and to address the Royal Arch Chapter as the Red Lodge, and this appears to be in the way of respect. This also holds true from observation in this country, that when mentioning the Blue Lodge, it is with reverence and respect, though there have been a few brethren and very few that have used the term as a form of derision.
Most of the best Masonic authorities hold that all colors of the rainbow are fit and proper for Freemasonry, and that is, perhaps, why Lodges under the Scottish Constitution are permitted to have their own distinct aprons, and it is quite common in Scotland to see the Tartan of the different clans grace the habiliments of the Craft. The official color of the Grand Lodge of Scotland that adorns its aprons is thistle green. The Grand Lodge of the Netherlands uses white, but its constituent Lodges may have their own individual aprons with no restrictions as to color or size.
Cardinal, crimson, scarlet and just plain red, is the dominant color of most of the Central and South American Lodges. It is used a great deal in Mexico by those Lodges that follow the Ancient and Accepted Rite in the first three degrees. The two Grand Lodges in France not recognized by the majority of the Masonic world use red as the proper color of the symbolic Lodge aprons. One of the reasons being known to every Royal Arch Mason, as to why this color is used. There are a few Craft Lodges in England to this day, whose aprons are edged in red and are known as Red Apron Lodges, and in the USA New York has a few Red Apron Lodges.
Why is a Masonic Lodge called the 'BLUE LODGE' and why are the three degrees of Freemasonry called the Blue Degrees? These are questions that are often asked by many Craftsmen and the newly initiated in search of light. Perhaps they have heard the name applied so generally, and so often that it has been accepted as a matter of course or practice. Then again Craftsmen have been galvanized into a state of shock by hearing some reputed authority state there is no such a thing as the 'Blue' Lodge or the 'Blue' degrees. In those lands named in the opening paragraph, Freemasons there are justly entitled to call their craft Masonry 'Blue', for reasons that are both ancient and traditional.
The color of old Freemasonry was blue, and interpreted to be sky blue. Dark blue became the official color of the United Grand Lodge of England long after the lighter shade had been used for years. The use of this color is of long standing as in 1759 the "Blue Lodge of St. John" No. 198, A.F.&A.M., of Dublin, Ireland, issued a certificate to a member, the ribbon thereon being sky blue. The Grand Lodge of Ireland which obtained its official forms from England, has always used the light blue, as the proper color of the ribbons of seals on original warrants running back to 1730 as the records indicate.
The Holy Scriptures mention this color in many places. In Exodus 25:4 and 35:6 it states: - "The colors offered to God were blue and purple and scarlet." Again in Exodus 26:1 - "The curtains of the Tabernacle were to be blue," and we find in Exodus 26: 31 that the veil on the pillars was also blue. Blue was the color on the screen for the door of the tabernacle, Exodus 26:31 and also 2 Chronicles 3:14. The screen for the gate of the court was to be blue, Exodus 27:16 and 28:18, and it further states that many other things in and about the tabernacle were to be blue, purple and scarlet. It is to be noted that these three colors are always mentioned in that order. The book of Numbers 4:5-6, states that the Ark of the Covenant was to be covered with a "cloth of blue" on all journeys. Blue was the color of the first veil and is fittingly applied to the first degrees in Freemasonry.
The Toltecs, then the Aztecs of Mexico colored their animals with blue in sacrificing them to their supreme god, and when humans replaced the lower forms of life, they too were dyed blue prior to this ritual.
Blue was the principal color of the war chiefs of the Aucanian Indians, a fierce and proud people who lived in that part of South America now the Republic of Chile. These Indians, and praise be to them, were never conquered by the various bands of organized gangsters disguised in army uniforms and military accouterment, under the sanction of a greedy and avaricious foreign monarch, carrying a Christian religious banner, and better known as Spanish Conquistadors who tried for years to subdue them.
The Egyptians esteemed blue as a sacred color. The Chinese in their mythical philosophy represented blue as the symbol of Diety. The Hindus assert their god - Vishnu - was represented by celestial or sky blue. The prophet Jeremiah tells us (Jeremiah 10:9), the ancient Babylonians clothed their idols in blue. Your writer has been informed that the Moslem reserved the color blue for certain designated holy men, and the honor of wearing it had to be earned. The Teutonic races used a blue banner as an emblem of fidelity and fortitude, and in their processions to signify faithfulness and friendship.
Our earth is covered with water to the extent of seven tenths of its surface, and the color ranges from the cold steel looking blue of the polar regions to the warm inviting friendly darker blues of the tropical and semi-tropical waters. Those frigid waters in the far north and south can mean death in a matter of seconds to the individual who may by chance fall into those waters. These perilous waters are inhabited by the vicious and crafty Killer Whale whose blue-black colored back becomes a perfect camouflage for his home and raiding grounds in the briny deep. This villain is also the ancient arch enemy of the full dress suited Penguin of the Antarctic, whose blue-black back glistens with a sheen seldom seen by the human eye when the sun catches him on the ice.
The warmer waters of the earth are the home of the blue-grey backed Porpoise, one of the most intelligent of creatures and belongs to the class of mammals, the same as homo sapiens. He is one inhabitant of the salty deep that the marauding and voracious shark fears.
Nature offers the color blue such as the oceans which is a mantle of mystery and with it is enveloped symbolizing the unostentation of our ministry. The sea is nature's hieroglyph of Mystery. No eye can sweep its farthest bounds. No fathom line can sound its utmost depths. No heart can fully interpret the weird message which its waves are ceaselessly sounding. Its mighty work of purifying and refreshing the world is wrought in silence. Its beneficent vapors steal along the viewless highways of the air and descend in gracious rains to feed spring and fountains upon far off mountain sides. They pour their gracious waters o'er the earth and cause it to bud and bloom so that flower and leaf, tree and plant are only sea foam wonderously and secretly. How akin is this to Freemasonry?
Blue is the color of the sky, which surrounds this terrestrial globe. Its majestic dome, over-arching all nature, pictures the universality of our Masonry. The sky knows no geography, no chronology, no binding lines in society. Its starry arch is raised over every meridian. The lustre of its azure beauty gleams with as bright a radiance upon this soiled and ageworn world as it did upon the groves of Eden in the golden morning hour of time. Its splendors are unrolled with impartial hand before the gaze of prince and pauper. It sheds its dews upon the evil and the good. It rains its sunbeams upon the just and the unjust. So universal and so impartial is the spirit of our ministry for the well being of man.
Have you ever closely observed a Bunson Burner when it is functioning in all its grandeur, or watched the flames from an ordinary gas stove? How blue those flames are as they spread and extend their fingers of heat upward generating the warmth that is energy. During my college days with my laboratory partner, Doctor Jim, the sobriquet so handed him by his fraternity brothers, and he later became an M.D., thus earning the title. No, we did not belong to the same fraternity in case you are interested, but we used to observe the Bunson burner in the tower laboratory of the science building, and with schoolboy levity we would place it in one of the north windows, and try to center it in the middle of the lake in the background, its blue flame standing out sharp and clear. We would try it in one of the south windows using the background of another lake, and though we never achieved centering it due to the contour of the boundry of those lakes we were still fascinated by its glow. Our main game was to try and line it on the top of the white dome of the state capitol to the east, which we could see across the library and the lower campus, and in the business center of the city.
The texture of that flame is best explained by the following from the Zohar: Quote:- In the Zohar (i 51), for a scientific reason it is written: "Who so wishes to have an insight into Sacred unity let him consider a flame rising from a burning lamp. He will see a two fold light, a bright white and a black or dark blue light; the white light is above, and ascends in a direct line, whilst the blue or dark light is below, and seems to be the Chair of the former, yet both are so intimately connected together that they constitute only one flame. The seat however, formed by the blue or dark light is again connected with the burning matter which is underneath. The white light never changes its color, it always remains white; but in the lower light various shades are observed, while the lowest light moreover takes two directions - above, it is connected with the white light, and below with the burning matter."
Blue is the color of the sapphire. The costliness of the jewel betokens the spirit of sacrifice involved in our mystery. All good things cost. The civilization which we enjoy is the fruit of toil and tears. The way of ministry is oft times to be trodden with bleeding brow and aching feet. Its crowns are thorny. Its cup is ofttimes bitter and its cross heavy to bear, but its spirit is the sapphire which bespeaks man's true nobility.
In Freemasonry Blue is the emblem of universal brotherhood and friendship and "instructs every one of us that in the mind of every Freemason those virtues should be as extensive as the blue canopy of Heaven itself. "
REFERENCES:
1. Holy Bible
2. Zohar
3. Masonic Essays of H. L. Haywood
4. Masonic Symbolism by C. C. Hunt
5. Proceedings Quatuor Coronoti
6. Proceedings Grand Lodge F. & A. M., New York
7. Encyclopedia Britannica
8. American Peoples Encylopedia
9. Morals & Dogma
10. The Indians of South America by Juan E. Escalante
11. The Natives of Chile by Bernet Mitre
12. History of Freemasonry in Ireland by Lepper and Crossle
13. Highways & Byways of Freemasonry J.I. Lawrence
14. Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia
15. Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
16. Keys of Freemasonry by Charles E. Green
17. Examination of the Masonic Ritual by Maj. Sanderson
18. The Perfect Ashlar by Lawrence
19. The Republics of South America (Oxford 1937)
20. Virginia Text Book by John Dove
21. Masonry Defined - Johnson
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Welcome to
New Members
We are pleased to welcome the following new members into the Philalethes Society since the last issue of the magazine:
ALEM LEE LaBAR, 2323 Elm Street, Billings, Montana.
JOSEPH R. HERRIN, JR., 1923 Bermuda St., Shreveport, Louisiana.
HAROLD H. HARNED, P.O. Box 81, Oakland, Maryland.
LELAND B . ARNETT, 1812 S.W. High St., Portland, Oregon 97201.
ADIN D. HENDERSON, 1841 Markham Way, Sacramento, Calif. 95818.
DONALD W. LARKINS, 122 West 3rd, Fairbury, Nebraska 68352.
BENJAMIN B. CAMP, 913 Carlisle Blvd., N.E., Albuquerque, New Mexico.
JESSE WOOD McDANIEL, JR., 6707 Buffalo Speedway, Houston, Texas 77005.
GEORGE R. FITEZ, Masonic Temple, 34 N. 4th St., Columbus, Ohio 43215.
ERWIN A. SALISBURY, 2150 Stephen Terrace, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
ATTILIO G. PARISI, 1115 E. Cordove St., No. 400, Pasadena, California.
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Kansas Grand Lodge Pioneers
Two Big Events
The year 1964 will go down in the history books as one in which the Grand Lodge of Kansas did unusual things. Two of these events are now history.
On October 21 the Grand Lodge of Kansas was opened in a Special Communication at the site of an old Indian Battle ground south west of Lyons and on the historic Santa Fe Trail. There, with a full moon showing in all of its autumn splendor, appropriate ceremonies were conducted to pay honor and respect to all pioneering Masons of Kansas who travelled the Trail and broke open the great prairies for settlement. A special dedication ceremony was undertaken and the Cow Creek site was used for the purpose of paying proper tribute to early day Masons and the Lodges which they established along the trail. The principal address was delivered by E.’. Paul Amos of Shawnee Mission, the president of the Santa Fe Trail Association.
Again on the night of November 11, the Grand Lodge was opened during a history making excursion via the Santa Fe Railroad from Newton to Dodge City at which time, special recognition and a proper tribute was paid to "the many distinguished Masons who have been and still are active in the railroading business." Special mention was made of Cyrus K. Holliday, Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Kansas for six years, 1861 to 1866, both inclusive. R.’.W.’.Holliday was the founder of the Santa Fe Railway and one of the founders of the city of Topeka. Even greater recognition was given to an unnamed and now unknown conductor who exerted great influence upon the Masonic indoctrination of our present M.’.W.’. Grand Master shortly after he was made a Mason.
The address of the evening was delivered by Bro. Jack E. Lester, a retired Asst. General Manager of the Santa Fe. All the program was carried out in the Parlor Car No. 3117 while the train was enroute, and so far as anyone knows is the first time that a Grand Lodge has been so convened. The two car special was carried by The Santa Fe Chief and returned to Newton later that night.
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Oldest Masonic Lodge Building Is In Halifax, North Carolina
Has English Bible and Mahogany Chair Over 163 years old
By COL. FRED A OLDS
THE OLDEST BUILDING erected in America or England for Masonic uses, now standing, is Royal White Hart lodge (the latter word being old English for "Deer") in the town of Halifax. It was built in 1769, and has been in use continuously ever since. It was chartered March 21st, 1767, by Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort, and Grand Master of Masons in England. In the register of English lodges it is Number 403. In April, 1769, it was "Resolved by Royal White Hart lodge to build a Masonic Temple at Halifax, North Carolina," then an important place in this British Colony. Joseph Montfort of the town gave a deed for the land and other members of the Lodge subscribed a thousand dollars (in English money).
Work began at once and the building was occupied before 1769 ended. It is of wood, thirty feet square and two stories in height, painted white, with green blinds, chimney and foundation of red brick. It is now the oldest Masonic lodge building in the world.
In the time before 1769 there is no history of any Masonic lodge building used exclusively for that purpose, as it was the custom to use taverns (hotels). The Grand Lodge of England met at that period in the Crown and Anchor Inn, in the great street called the "Strand," in London. Before Royal White Hart "Temple" was built in Halifax, its members held their meetings in brother William Martin's tavern, which bore the sign of "The Thistle."
Royal White Hart Lodge is nearly two years older than "Masonic Hall" in London. The records of the latter show that February 6, 1771, fifty-five subscriptions were made for this structure, totaling 126 pounds (English money), of which the largest one was 10 pounds and ten shillings, by Joseph Montfort of Halifax.
In the Lodge room of Royal White Hart is a very handsome English Bible, of date 1769, printed by Thomas Basket, printer to the University of Oxford, England. There is also a splendid Chair, of Mahogany, of date May 20, 1765, which has 3 steps, and was used by the Worshipful Master before the lodge building was completed. Also a pair of large silver candlesticks, which cost 11 pounds sterling in London. The silver jewels of the first officers of the lodge are yet in use.
The first Masonic meeting in Halifax was held at the home of Andrew Traughton April 26, 1764. The oldest minutes set out that the Master of the Lodge was then called Grand Master, and that there also was a Deputy Master. There was only one other Lodge in the country where the Master was so called, this being the old lodge at Fredericksburg, Virginia.
The Grand Master of England, the Duke of Beaufort, issued a Commission, of date January 14, 1771, to Joseph Montfort as "Provincial Grand Master of and for America." This is the only such honor ever conferred. The very large and beautifully written commission is in the North Carolina Hall of History, where it is on deposit by the Grand Lodge of North Carolina.
Grand Master Montfort's grave is in a few yards of Royal Hart "Temple," above described, and is annually decorated with the Flags of Great Britain and the United States, within an iron fence of handsome design. The grave is viewed each year by many visitors from all parts of the world and is one of the most highly treasured Masonic relics.
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General Alexander Smyth, a tedious speaker in Congress, observed: "You, sir, speak for the present generation; but I speak for posterity."
"Yes," said Mr. Clay, "and you seem resolved to speak until the arrival of your audience."
- Life of Henry Cloy by Epes Sargent
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Famous Site Receives National Recognition
As the result of a study by the National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings, evaluated by the Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings, and Monuments, and approved by the Secretary of the Interior, the Kit Carson Home in Taos, New Mexico, has been designated as a Registered National Historic Landmark.
In 1910, with aid from the Grand Lodge of New Mexico and several Masonic Lodges of New Mexico, Bent Lodge No. 42 purchased the Kit Carson Home property to preserve the house of its most famous member, Brother Kit Carson. A stipulation in its agreement with the Grand Lodge requires Bent Lodge to maintain and preserve in perpetuity the Kit Carson Home as a memorial to Brother Kit Carson. The acquisition of the status as a Registered National Historic Landmark culminates the fifty years of effort by members of Bent Lodge No. 42 to establish a permanent memorial to Brother Kit Carson.
Pre-ceremony activities included participation by Kit Carson III, dressed in an original Mountain Man outfit of his maternal Grandfather, Tom T. Tobin; R.’.W.’.Bro. Reo J. Benson wearing a trapper's costume; and Bro. Lawrence Shearsmith in an early Mexican costume - the entry of the Kit Carson Home in the Historical Parade of the Taos Fiesta held at 10 a.m. on July 25, 1963. At noon a luncheon for the distinguished guests, National Park Service Officials, and Mayor of Taos was held in the patio of the unique Taos Inn. Acting as host and hostesses were W.’.Bro. Jacob M. Bernal, Mrs. Bernal, and Mrs. Jack K. Boyer.
At 1 o'clock, the ceremony of receiving this status began in front of the famous old home. To get everybody into a fiesta mood, several lively old Spanish tunes were played by three Spanish musicians. This was followed by the raising of the first American flag to fly over the Kit Carson Home. For this special occasion a 36 Star Flag, a replica of the one under which Brother and General Kit Carson served during the Civil War, was attached to the lanyard by the sole surviving daughter-in-law, Mrs. Charles Carson; Miss Leona M. Wood, grand-daughter; and Mrs. Adelaide Secrest, senior assistant at the Kit Carson Home and wife of deceased Bro. Donald Secrest. The flag was raised by Kit Carson III.
Acting as Master of Ceremonies was W.’. Bro. Jacob M. Bernal, Chairman of the Kit Carson Memorial Foundation, Inc., who, after appropriate comments of the occasion, introduced the Mayor of Taos, Honorable Floyd Santistevan. Mayor Santistevan welcomed the distinguished visitors, National Park Service Officials, and other guests to Taos and to the dedication. He commented on the benefits to Taos and to the Carson Home on its status as a National Historic Landmark.
The new Director of the Southwest Region, National Park Service, Mr. Dan Beard, and Mrs. Beard were then introduced. Making the official presentation of the Certificate designating the Kit Carson Home as a Registered National Historic Landmark was Mr. Robert Utley, Southwest Region Historian, National Park Service, Santa Fe. In his comments Mr Utley explained the meaning and process of attaining this status and read the following report upon which the National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings based their decision and selection of the Kit Carson Home as a Registered National Historic Landmark:
"The Kit Carson House, located on Kit Carson Avenue in Taos, symbolizes the fur trade, the mountain man and the free trapper of the Southwest. In it lived perhaps the most renowned of all the mountain men.
"Taos in the second quarter of the 19th century was the rendezvous point and winter quarters for many of the trappers in the west and southwest. Among the better known were the Bent and Robidoux brothers, Ewing Young, Ceran St. Vrain, Hugh Glass, Milton Sublette, Pegleg Smith, Baptiste LaLande, Bill Williams and, most noted of all, Kit Carson. These men were free trappers, in contrast to the employees of the fur company brigades of the northern Rockies.
"From Taos the trappers worked a great arc of country, from the headwaters of the Rio Grande and Arkansas Rivers across deserts to the San Juan, the Gila, the Salt, and the Colorado. In the process, they opened up trails to California and were the first Americans to make a lodgment there that would be important to the Americans in the War with Mexico.
"George Ruxton, the British traveler, adventurer and writer, who knew mountain men well, described Carson at 30 years of age as 'first in every quality which constitutes excellence in a mountaineer, whether of indomitable courage, or perfect indifference to death or danger; with an iron frame capable of withstanding hunger, thirst, heat, cold, fatigue and hardship of every kind; of wonderful presence of mind and endless resource in time of great peril; . . . no name was better known in the mountains - from: Yellow Stone to Spanish Peaks, Missouri to Columbia River - than Kit Carson.' Carson's subsequent fame as a guide for the exploring expeditions and as an army officer in the Southwest in the Indian wars equalled his earlier reputation as a mountain man.
"The Kit Carson House was built in 1825. Carson bought the house in 1843 when he married Josefa Jaramillo, daughter of a leading family of Taos. The place became their permanent home for the next 25 years, or until 1868, the year death claimed them both. To this home Carson returned from his duties as guide for John C. Fremont, as Indian Agent, and as Army officer the Indian Campaigns.
"Bent Lodge No. 42, of the Masonic Order, bought the Kit Carson Home in 1910 and restored it to its historic appearance. It is administered as a historic house museum by the Kit Carson Memorial Foundation, Inc."
Mr. Utley presented the Certificate to W.’. Bro Jacob M. Bernal who accepted it in the name of the Kit Carson Memorial Foundation and of its parent organization, Bent Lodge No. 42. Bro. Bernal, in turn, gave it to W.’. Bro. Jack K. Boyer, Director of the Kit Carson Home, who placed it in the entrance office to the Kit Carson Home.
The principal speaker of the dedication ceremony, Mr. Kit Carson III, grandson of Brother Carson, was presented, and he spoke as the official representative of the Kit Carson descendants who were present and for those not able to attend. In his talk, he expressed the appreciation of the Carson family to the Grand Lodge of New Mexico and to the members of Bent Lodge No. 42 and of the Kit Carson Memorial Foundation for their years of untiring efforts to preserve the home of his Grandparents and for having it open as a historic home to the public for its enjoyment and enlightenment on the life of this famous Westerner.
After this most interesting talk, W.’. Bro. Jack K. Boyer then introduced to the public some of the Carson descendants who attended and sat on the speakers platform which was the portal of the famous home:
After the ceremony in front of the old Home was over, a delightful reception was held in the beautiful Carson Patio where delicious punch and cookies were served to several hundred guests. Mrs. Jacob Bernal and Mrs. Jack Boyer headed a committee of the wives of the members of the Kit Carson Memorial Foundation who planned and held the reception.
The dedication ceremony was broadcast over the Taos Radio Station, KKIT, named after our famous Brother. A tape recording was made also by Station KKIT for the Archives of the Kit Carson Home Library.
- The New Mexico Freemason
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Notes, Queries and Information On Items of Masonic Research
BY JAMES R. CASE, F.P.S.
1965 - No. 1
THE NUMBER OF LETTERS CONTAINING QUESTIONS which relate to matters of fact in Masonic history and biography, seem to justify their treatment in a column separate from the Editor's CHAT & COMMENT, where they have previously appeared.
Our members and readers are invited to send in material appropriate for use in this column, especially information concerning research currently under way. The Editor will assist the sponsor of this column, which is supervised and run by Brother James R. Case, F.P.S. but ALL COMMUNICATIONS should be addressed to the Editor.
It should be noted that this page is for the EXCHANGE of information and opinion, and does not pretend to provide the final answer to any query.
164 - Open Bible. (April, August 1964) The querist is referred to the Knight Temolar magazine for September 1964 where a report on the business transacted at the recent Triennial Conclave in Philadelphia reads in part (page 26) as follows - "A resolution was passed requiring that an open Bible should be used in all conclaves of Grand Encampment, each Grand Commandery, Constituent and Subordinate Commanderies and that it should be opened at the 28th chapter of Matthew. " This however does not answer the "why" in the original query.
169 - John Glover. (June 1964) We hear from Frank H. Wilson, M.P.S. of Melrose, Mass., that the former home of John Glover is situated where the boundaries of Marblehead, Swampscott and Salem come together. It is now a fashionable North Shore eating place and Brother Wilson with his family had Thanksgiving there this year. The Dictionary of American Biography says Glover was born in Salem. His first regiment was recruited from "the area." But loyal Marbleheaders maintain first claim on the General and his amphibians.
175 - Salt. (October 1964) A reader has called our attention to an illustrated lecture on "Salt" delivered by Brother William B. Wilkinson at a special meeting of the American Lodge of Research held in Ithaca, New York, on April 23, 1960. We would like to hear from Brother Wilkinson, specifically in regard to the use of salt in Masonic ceremony, if he has any notes on such a practice.
176 - Lodge at South Pole. (October, December 1964) We are told that the 1961 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Alabama comments on the fact that a Mason from that jurisdiction attended a Masonic meeting aboard the U.S.S. Ataka while cruising in Antarctic regions. An account of the meeting and photographs were deposited in the Library of the Grand Lodge. Will some M.P.S. who has access to the Library send in a story on the event?
An undated (but probably 1964) clipping from a New London, Connecticut, newspaper which came in recently without comment, is an obituary of Gilbert M. Mitchell of Salisbury, Massachusetts, who died in the Naval Hospital at Philadelphia aged eighty-one. He served as an infantryman in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War, as a seaman in the United States Navy, helped fight the fire which followed the earthquake in San Francisco in 1906, prospected for gold, was commissioned in the Navy during World War II, also served in the Merchant Marine, and was an autograph collector. "He was an ardent Mason and is credited with organizing and becoming Master of a Lodge while in Little America on a Byrd Expedition." Who can fill in that brief outline of what looks like an interesting story?
179 - South Carolina Lodge Numbers. Mordecai Gist was in possession of a warrant for Lodge No. 27 under the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. This was one of the constituent Lodges of the Ancient York Grand Lodge in 1787. What number did Lodge No. 27 take on the new Grand Lodge registry? Louis Kirshtein, M.P.S., Charleston. South Carolina.
180 - Form of Opening. What is the difference between "due" and "ample" form in opening Lodges? Does it apply to other formalities such as laying cornerstones? U.M.L., N.Z.
181 - Denominational Affiliation. A brother from California who has been reading in detail the pertinent Masonic Service Association Digests compiled by Ronald E. Heaton, F.P.S., inquires "is there a book or set of books (or any reference) which indicates the religious affiliations of members of the First and Second Continental Congresses, Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Signers of the United States Constitution, and of General Officers of the Continental Army?"
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In Idaho City, which is a ghost town, stands a Masonic Temple where there is one meeting each year and it stands upon the one piece of ground which has never been mined for gold.