Contents
The President's Corner Take Pen In Hand
Teen-age Ambassadors For Freemasonry Brotherhood of Man Under The Fatherhood of God
Who Speaks For Freemasons Sentiments of Sadness
Iowa's Masonic Magazines Preparing Audio-Visual Lectures
World of Freemasonry The Legend of the Shamir
The Masonic Hand MASONIC CHAIR MAKES HEADLINES
George Washington Masonic National Memorial Freemasonry and Domestic Architecture
Building Leadership The Parish Guilds of Medieval England
Jerry Marsengill, FPS Editor
2714 Park Place
Des Moines, IA 50312
Alphonse Cerza, FPS, Life, Assoc. Editor
237 Millbridge Road
Riverside, IL 60546
John Black Vrooman, FPS, Life
P.O. Box 402 Editor Emeritus
St. Louis, MO 63166
OFFICERS
Allen E. Roberts, FPS, President
Drawer 70, 1-A South Holly Ave
Highland Springs, VA 23075
John R. Nocas, FPS, 1st Vice President
P O. Box 2366
Inglewood, CA 90305
Jerry Marsengill, FPS, 2nd Vice President
2714 Park Place
Des Moines, IA 50312
S. Brent Morris FPS Executive Secretary
5088 Lake Circle West
Columbia, MD 21044
John Mauk Hilliard, FPS Treasurer
30 - 70 48th St. Apt. 3-G
Astoria, New York 11103
LIVING PAST PRESIDENTS
Philalethes Society
Lee E. Wells
Alphonse Cerza, FPS (Life)
Judge Robert H. Gollmar, FPS
William R. Denslow, FPS
Robert V. Osborne, FPS
Eugene S Hopp, FPS
Dwight L Smith, FPS
Robert L Dillard Jr., FPS
Bruce H. Hunt, FPS
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY EMERITUS
Carl R. Griesen, FPS
TREASURER EMERITUS
Ronald E. Heaton, FPS
CONTENTS
The President's Corner
Sands Elected Fellow
Take Pen In Hand
Teen-age Ambassadors For Freemasonry In Wisconsin
The Brotherhood of Man Under The Fatherhood of God
Who Speaks For Freemasons?
Sentiments of Sadness
lowa's Masonic Magazines
Preparing Audio-Visual Lectures
The Legend Of The Shamir
The Masonic Hand
Freemasonry And Domestic Architecture
Building Leadership
The Parish Guilds Of Medieval England
The Square & Compasses - Symbol or Emblem
Through Masonic Windows
On the Cover
The cover artwork is from the Macoy Masonic Print Collection, courtesy of the Masonic Supply Co., Inc. The print collection consists of 26 different pictures on 16 permalife sheets and is available for $25.00 plus $3.50 postage. A copy of this cover alone (without overprinting) is available for $5.50 including postage. Send your orders to P.O. Box 9759, Richmond, VA 23228
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The Annual Feast was an outstanding success. Richard Sands, FPS, gave an excellent lecture. The business was handled with dispatch. The food was good. The Certificate of Literature was presented to Keith Arrington, FPS.
The Executive Board has approved the "Grandfathering" of any chapter of the Society established before 1982. Those Chapters interested in obtaining a Charter should contact me as soon as possible. I'll need the name of the Chapter, where it meets and a copy of the bylaws. These Chapters must also conform to the regulations established. Those Chapters not heard from will be considered extinct and may no longer function under the name of the society.
To have a "Feast" or a "Workshop" in 1985 is a question we must resolve immediately. You decide. Drop me a postcard stating your preference. We'll abide by the decision of the majority.
We're beginning a new era. Naturally, I want it to be successful. You can help. Let me have your ideas for irnprovements in the Society, its publication or anything else you consider pertinent.
In the next edition you will have an opportunity to check the proposed revision in the Society's bylaws as approved by the Executive Board. You will be asked to submit changes or your approval.
YOUR magazine, and this column, will continue to keep you fully informed about YOUR Society.
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Sands Elected Fellow Arrington Presented Certificate of Literature
Richard H. Sands, Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Michigan was elected a Fellow of the Philalethes Society at its annual meeting held on February 10, 1984. Sands was also the annual Philalethes lecturer. Sands, a professor at the University of Michigan, has been active in many of the appendant bodies and was the moving spirit, for many years, of the Michigan Committee on Education and Service. Earlier in the year, Mervin B. Hogan, PhD, of Salt Lake City, Utah, was elected a Fellow of the Society. The number of fellows presently stands at forty.
Keith Arrington, Grand Librarian Emeritus of the Grand lodge of Iowa, received the annual Certificate of Literature for his series on lowa's Masonic Magazines. Arrington, a well known masonic student and researcher, has done research for most of the Masonic books published in the United States for the past 15 years. He is a former Grand Lodge Officer and was the guiding spirit for a member of years for the lowa Committee on Masonic Education. One of the founding members and a Past Master of Iowa Research Lodge No. 2, Keith Arrington is one of the greatest Masonic scholars whom lowa has produced from a long line of Masonic scholars.
The annual Philalethes Feast, was a dignified, interesting evening. This prestigious black tie dinner was attended by an overflow crowd of 93. Unfortunately, many had to be turned away from the feast because they failed to make advance reservations.
Officers installed for the coming biennium include, Allen E. Roberts. FPS, President; John R. Nocas, FPS, First Vice-President; J.E. Marsengill, FPS, Second Vice-President: S. Brent Morris, FPS, Executive Secretary and John Mauk Hilliard, FPS, Treasurer. Marsengill will continue as editor of the Philalethes Magazine.
Certificates of honorable mention for the literature award were presented to George H.T. French, FPS of Rosenberg, Texas and E.R. Castle. MPS, of Australia.
At the meeting of the Blue Friars, Wallace McLeod, well known Canadian Masonic Student and Past Master of QCA 2076 of London, England was selected as the Blue Friar for the year 1984. McLeod's paper left little doubt as to why he had been selected. It was a masterful work.
Brother Richard Sand's Philalethes lecture will be printed in a future issue of the magazine.
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Take Pen In Hand
Robert R. Clemons, MPS
What do the members of your Lodge, Chapter or other body get for their dues? As I write this, the notices are starting to make their annual migration - in with an amount payable; out with a check. For me, there are 29 different Masonic and related bodies: and they are easily divided into two groups: the 15 that send their members at least occasional notices, newsletters or bulletins, and the 14 that don't. There are three that don't even send a dues notice - I would get a letter if I were sufficiently behind that suspension became a consideration.
I try not to get behind. At one time or another, when I lived in the area of each, I was active; and they all have a place in my thoughts and heart. How much greater would be my regard if l would hear something from each at least once in a while. How much less likely the inclination to demit and save a few dollars each year.
A Lodge (any Masonic body) OWES its members something beside the dues card! For those who are resident and active this is obviously the participation and fellowship in all of the activities of the Lodge; but what of those who have moved away and kept the tie of dual membership, or those whom age, health or professional obligations prevent from participating? These are Brothers. lt is hardly acceptable to take $20, $30, or more each year, and provide only a card or receipt an return.
A few bodies - all those in the English Constitution, most Scottish Rite and Shrine, some others - provide a newsletter or trestleboard every month or for every meeting. This is excellent, but not essential. Postage and printing costs can take a terrible toll on lodge finances. A quarterly bulletin or even a single sheet twice each year can suffice. The essential point is that each Lodge must communicate! The minimum frequency is that which tells each member that he is a Brother, that he is remembered, and that the Lodge cares for more than his annual check.
An example is the lodge of which I was Master. My profession and employment forced me to move far out of the area, and it is impossible to visit, but I love that Lodge and am deeply concerned about its health and progress. Whenever I write and inquire, l get a letter - two or three pages as rule - giving all the news; but (1) why should I have to ask? and (2) when a reply is typed, why can't copies be sent to all the absent Brethren? Each member pays $35.00 a year; is 20 cents for a reproduction and 40 cents for postage for two newsletters a year too much to expect?
Most members of The Philalethes Society are also members of several other bodies. Are YOUR Masonic organisations keeping the ties of Brotherhood intact? Please, for the sake of the old, the ill, and those at a far distance, see that they are.
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Teen-age Ambassadors For Freemasonry In Wisconsin
by George A. Wallinger, MPS
The image of Freemasonry in Wisconsin is enjoying a mighty boost and tremendous good will is being generated by a show choir called "The Square and Compasses Swingers." They are made up of high school age students from all over the state of Wisconsin and are sponsored by the Grand Lodge F.&A.M. of Wisconsin. Members of DeMolay, Jobs Daughters, the Order of Rainbow and children with Masonic parentage are given priority but in order to ensure high quality of talent the group is open to young people with no Masonic affiliation as well. The present group consists of 9 instrumentalists and 16 vocalists comprised of 11 girls and 14 boys.
Performances are booked through the Junior Grand Warden who is also chairman of the youth activities committee of the Grand Lodge. The group sponsoring a performance is required to provide a suitable facility, transportation costs to bring the group together, a meal for the group and their adult leaders, and overnight housing for those who desire it.
Travel and all that is involved with it is a very important consideration because the "Swingers" come from all parts of the state. For example this year they include members from Superior and Kenosha which are 410 miles apart. Therefore, the number of concerts must be limited to no more than 12 and they must be on Saturdays or Sundays at times convenient to the performers.
The participants receive no pay but the joy and satisfaction of performing and the applause of the audience. Those who provide transportation receive a mileage allowance and there is a very dedicated cadre of parents who not only travel long distances but carry, set up, and operate hundreds of pounds of audio equipment.
The Square and Compasses Swingers are in their third year of existence. They are the brain child of Deputy Grand Master Darrell Aderman, who organized them in 1981 when he served as Junior Grand Warden. Aderman is a Professor at the University of Wisconsin Extension at Shell Lake and Regional Arts Director for the Extension Northwest Area, as well as Director of the Indianhead Center where these young people are trained.
Brochures are widely circulated through all of the Masonically sponsored youth groups as well as all of the Masonic lodges in Wisconsin. These brochures describe the program, list the criteria for selection, and include an application. The participants are chosen on the basis of the information submitted and auditions are scheduled when considered necessary. The application also requires the parents to commit their support.
The applicants chosen receive a scholarship to and are required to attend the UW-Extension Indianhead Center Show Choir Clinic for one week in July. They receive intensive training during that week putting in 10-12 hour days and evenings. The director is also required to be there and calls special rehearsals during this week as well as before each performance. Current director, Brother Robert Confare, is instrumental director of Wauwatosa West Sigh School and provides the continued leadership required for this unique ensemble. His wife, Sandy, designs the costumes which are worn by the "Swingers" in concert.
Obviously, many dedicated people are required to make this project continue to be successful. Improvements are constantly being made and the venture is continually being developed. A printed program with pictures of all the "kids" and listing their hometowns is being developed and a large sign indicating the name of the group and their sponsor, the Grand Lodge F. & A.M. of Wisconsin, will soon be completed.
In concert they present a varied program which appeals to all types of audiences. There are the "old favorites" of a generation or two ago as well as some of the currently popular modern upbeat music. Several of the "Swingers" develop choral and instrumental solos and small ensembles which become a featured part of every show. Their hour-long concerts regularly receive a standing ovation.
This worthwhile project serves many purposes:
1. Demonstrates support for young people.
2. Affords educational opportunities not available in individual schools.
3. Develops a positive community image for Masonry.
4. Cements a pride within the fraternity of developing "our" group.
5. Provides quality programming for Masonic functions statewide.
Needless to say, all of the people involved in this undertaking receive rewards beyond the usual. Besides the satisfaction of being Goodwill Ambassadors of Masonry, the opportunity to display their talents and receive the warm applause of the audience, the participants form friendships which last long beyond their membership in the group.
One of the "Swingers" wrote in a recent letter to the Junior Grand Warden, who supervises the group, "Once again I had a terrific time...performing with the 'Swingers.’ They all make you feel like you're a part of a big family. I get so excited whenever I talk about this group I feel like I'm going to burst."
They really have fun while they demonstrate that Freemasonry is alive and well in Wisconsin.
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The Brotherhood of Man Under The Fatherhood of God
by George H.T. French, FPS
It has frequently been asked when and how did the Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of God enter into our Ancient Craft Masonry. This article is a brave though feeble attempt to study the genesis and evolution of the lofty concept. However, it must be emphasized that this contribution will limit itself strictly to the question asked when and how? - and not enter into a doctrinal discourse on the subject, nor attempt to move the reader with an inspiring sermon.
William Harvey was not the creator of blood nor the promoter of its circulation; all he did was discover that the blood circulated. Other acute observers contributed their discoveries: Isaac Newton, the laws that govern motion; Galileo, the movement of the earth; and so on. And gradually there was built up a body of information which constitutes our scientific knowledge.
Likewise with Freemasonry. Our ancient brethren took items from the wisdom of the ages and amalgamated them into a body of precepts dedicated to the moral improvement of men good and true. One of those gradually developed concepts was the principle of the Fatherhood of God and consequent Brotherhood of Man.
Montheism
The Fatherhood of God did not develop while man was polytheistic (poly many; theos god), and believed in a plurality of gods. It only started to grow after monotheism (mono one: theos god) or the belief in One God was laid down in the Torah, also called the Law of Moses: "The Lord our God, the Lord is One" (Deut. 6: 4); "Thou shalt have and no other gods before me' (Deut. 5:7): "Thou shalt worship no other God" (Ex. 34:14). The Jewish religion with its great affirmation of God's unity, "the Lord our God, the Lord is One", and its concept of that One God ruling the Universe through law and love, has become the spiritual fountainhead of more than half of the world's people of today.
Fatherhood
Firmly based upon the belief in One God, Amos the Prophet went one step further. He became the first to proclaim that God was Lord of the Universe and therefore Father of all mankind. He thus challenged the accepted belief that God was limited to being only the national deity of the Jews.
Amos was a shepherd who preached in the streets of Beth El, the religious center of the Northern Kingdom, about 750 B.C. The doctrine he proclaimed was both revolutionary and heretical, and brought down upon him the wrath of the people as well as of the priests, so that he was driven from the city. However, the seed of his idea took root in the hearts and minds of a few who became his disciples. They preserved his message for posterity, a part of which we now cherish in the Book of the Bible bearing his name.
Brotherhood
The concept advances even one more step with the glorious statement implied in the three questions formulated by the prophet Malachi in Chapter 2:10 of his Old Testament book:
Have we not all one Father? Hath not One God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother?
Malachi lived about 440 B.C. and clearly established the Brotherhood of Man, which was based upon the Fatherhood of God, which in turn was based on the Belief in One God. Hence the sequence: Monotheism - Fatherhood - Brotherhood.
Round about the same time others were thinking along similar lines - similar, but not identical. Confucius (551-479 B.C.) stated that "men of the four seas are kinsmen", and formulated a Brotherhood of Service, the basic principle of the system being the maintenance of jen (roughly sympathy) between men by keeping right relationships. This was emphatically asserted in the Confucian Golden Rule: "What you do not like when done to yourself, do not do to others."
One century before Christ the Roman orator Cicero voiced his opinion: the universe is rightly regarded as one commonwealth of men. An Epictetus, the Roman stoic philosopher born about A.D. 60 explained his conviction that all men were brothers since God was the Father of all.
When the Gentle Teacher of Nazareth came out on his three year mission he clearly stated that the Brotherhood of Man was based on the profound truth of the Fatherhood of God. Furthermore, that men being creatures of God were made to be Brothers, whether they willed it or not.
A few years after that the Apostle Paul stated the belief though in more forceful language: "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all". (Eph. 4:6).
It is not surprising, then, that the early Christians began referring to themselves as a Brotherhood, in perfect compliance with Christ's command "Love ye one another". In later centuries the term brotherhood was adopted by gilds, professions and monastic orders.
As for Freemasonry, the first known mention of the word Brother appears in the Regius Poem, circa 1390, which in Roderick H. Baxter's translation says:
But masons should never one another call, Within the craft amongst them all, Neither subject nor servant, my dear brother, Though he be not so perfect as is another.
After the 1717 formation of the first Grand Lodge, Dr. James Anderson and others insisted in the Book of Constitutions that the newly formed society should be bound by the moral ties of Brotherly Love and Charity, and projected the hope that a universal society of Masons would in time be developed.
Why a Brotherhood? For several reasons. Fraternity is a physical fact, as all humanity is essentially the same in physical structure. Again a quote from St. Paul "God hath made of one blood all nations of men." In the second place, fraternity is an intellectual fact. Was it not Socrates who made the discovery that humans, when they think deeply, disclose a common mind and a common system of truth? And loftier still, fraternity is a spiritual fact for there is an essential oneness of mankind spiritually.
Non-Sectarianism
The Brotherhood of Man very decidedly depends on the Fatherhood of God, and this is a very effective cohesive force which brings men together and keeps them together.
Unfortunately, against this centripetal force of a Belief IN God which brings men together, there are centrifugal forces emanating from Beliefs ABOUT God, which unhappily tend to separate men. Faith in God unites men, but belief about God - which is Theology - divides men. Yes, opinions especially theological are very divisive. Listen: Shortly before King Henry VIII of England died, in an address to Parliament he complained, not without a touch of pathos, that "there never more more dissension and lack of love between man and man, the occasions whereof are opinions only and names devised for the countenance of the same". This was during the turmoil of the Protestant Reformation. Oddly enough, the King ended up suggesting as remedy "be in charity one with another like brother and brother".
Dr. Anderson and the "fourteen learned brethren", when writing the Book of Constitutions in 1723, went one step further. They saw that instead of repairing a dissension it would be better to prevent it by limiting the public airing of clashing opinions. So in a rare stroke of inspired statesmanship they threw open the doors of Freemasonry by candidly declaring the Craft to be nonsectarian in the following words of the First Charge:
1 - Concerning God and Religion A Mason is oblig'd, by his Tenure, to obey the moral Law; and if he rightly understands the Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist, nor an irreligious Libertine. But though in ancient times Masons were charg'd in every Country to be of the 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, that is, to be good Men and true, or men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Denominations or Persuasions they may be distinguished; whereby Masonry becomes the Center of Union, and the Means of conciliating true Friendship among Persons that must have remain'd at a perpetual Distance.
Subsequent Masonic literature has frequently referred to this movement as deistic, implying that the "fourteen learned brethren" who participated in the writing of the Book of Constitutions were trying to propagate the doctrine of Deism, so prevalent in the early 1700s.
Deism (L., deus god) is a belief in the existence of God as creator of the world and final judge of men, but as remaining in the interval completely uninvolved in the activities of humans. It is based on the testimony of reason, with rejection of revealed religion and sectarism.
J.R. Clarke feels that those prominent Masonic leaders who wrote the First Charge did not wish to propagate any doctrine; they merely decided to reduce the religious requirement so that more good men could join the Craft without any mental reservation. The facts support this feeling. In the first place, the First Charge made it quite clear that a Mason will believe in God (not be a stupid atheist), he will be religious (not be an irreligious libertine, i.e., freethinker), and will keep his sectarian or denominational opinions to himself (particular opinions to themselves). Secondly, the two most prominent Masons who participated in the writing of the Book Of Constitutions were Ministers of the Gospel. Dr. James Anderson was a Doctor of Divinity and the Pastor of a Scotch Presbyterian Church in Swallow Street, Piccadilly, London. And Dr. John Theophilus Desaguliers, Past Grand Master, was the son of a French Huguenot Minister and himself a Minister who was appointed Chaplain to the Prince of Wales.
One of the recognised fundamentals of the Deistic philosophy is nonsectarianism. Hence, Anderson’s Charge to the Freemason to be nonsectarian lead some to consider this injunction as an expression of Deism. The Deistic doctrine, however, includes numerous other propositions that are not stated nor even implied in the First Charge. Consequently, the statement, or the implication, that Freemasonry is a philosophy of Deism is not strictly accurate. Says Alex Horne "It would therefore be well...if we all were to refrain in future from erroneously describing the philosophy of Freemasonry as broadly as philosophy of Deism, since it is only one small though important aspect of Deism that we are specifically enjoined to respect."
Knoop and Jones (A.Q.C. Vol. 56) limit themselves to referring to this Charge as only a "deistic principle", and as only showing "deist influenced being apparently reluctant (with good reason) to attribute to Freemasonry the wider and all-inclusive designation of "Deism." It might be preferable to use the term "non-sectarianism" when referring to the doctrine contained in the First Charge.
Freemasonry has lost nothing and gained much by adopting that "catholic" (i.e. universal) outlook, which attracts to its banner all believers who are good men and true. The position of those Freemasons who were sincere Christians at the time the First Charge was written in 1723 was not affected by the change, and there were many who held fast to the tenets of Christianity while they rejoiced in the Masonic fellowship and considered there was no conflict in so doing. Besides which, prominent men became Masons after 1723 who could not have done so earlier without mental reservation. Benjamin Franklin was one such case.
So profound a change as using the expression "that Religion in which all men agree" and leaving out all mention of Christianity must have been consistent with the thought of the age, otherwise the "fourteen brothers" and the Grand Lodge would not have approved it. However, in actual practice the change took almost one hundred years to become really effective, since Christian prayers and Christian references continued to appear in Three Distinct Knocks (1760), Jachin and Boaz (1762), The Spirit of Masonry ( 1775) and Browne's Master Key (1802). Notwithstanding which, during the 1700s many non-Christians were admitted into the Order.
Brotherhood Continued
While following the development of non-sectarianism, the story got ahead of itself chronologically. Upon resuming the study of the growth of Brotherly Love in the Craft, attention should be called to a document called The Grand Mystery of Free-Masons Discover'd (1724). In this exposure Brotherly Love appeared as one of three "particular points", but as evidenced in the following quotation not yet considered as a principle:
Q.. How many particular points pertain to a Freemason? A. Three: Fraternity, Fidelity, Tacity. Q. What do they represent? A. Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth, among all good Masons
Then followed Dr. Francis Drake, Junior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of York, who in his much publicized oration delivered in 1726 declared.
...to mention no more, our three Grand Principles of Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth to one another, are very shining Instances. . .
And for good measure, towards the end of his oration he repeated the triad: ...we may join Heart and Hand, and as it were, with one Voice issuing from the same Throat, declare our Principles of Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth, to one another.
Here, and for the first time, Brotherly Love is announced as one of three Grand Principles.
Although Brotherly Love was evidently known in London and York during the 1720's, either the Craft generally was apathetic to these new Principles or ignorant of them, because no further reference to them is found until twenty-three years later when the Rev. Brockell wrote in 1749: "Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth, oblige us not only to be compassionate and benevolent..." During that twenty-three year interval the Three Grand Principles were not even mentioned in important English exposures, such as Prichard's Masonry Dissected (1730) Three Distinct Knocks (1760), Jachin and Boaz (1762), and Solomon in all his Glory (1766). This suggests that they were not known by ritualists nor by lodges.
Furthermore, it ought to be noted that Laurence Dermott, Wellins Calcott and William Hutchinson, although favoring moral triads in their writings, did not use Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. This is important negative evidence: these three very prominent Masons either did not know (which seems absurd) or did not accept the triad.
The year 1772 witnessed the rise of a Masonic giant called William Preston, who, after zealously studying all existing practices and writings in England and other countries, exemplified before his Grand Lodge Officers the Ritual of and the Lectures on the Three Degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry. These he did not publish, but he did publish the "Remarks" explanatory of the Lectures in Illustrations of Masonry, 2nd. ed., 1775. When writing on the First Degree he plainly referred to Brotherly Love and Brotherhood:
By the exercise of Brotherly Love we are taught to regard the whole human species as one family - the high and the low, the rich and the poor - who, as created by one almighty parent, and inhabitants of the same planet, are to aid, support and protect each other. On this principle Masonry unites men of every country sect and opinion; and causes true friendship to exist among those who might otherwise have remained at a perpetual distance.
Preston's inspired words were subsequently used almost verbatim in their respective Masonic Monitors by Thomas Smith Webb (Albany, New York, 1797) and Jeremy Ladd Cross (New Haven, Conn., 1819). Beside which, when the union of the two Grand Lodges in England took place in 1813, Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth were incorporated into the Body of Masonry and sanctioned with the title of Three Grand Principles.
It seems that after the endorsement issued by Preston, our Fraternity began seriously considering the Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of God. There had always existed the principle of Brotherhood, but only recently in the history of Freemasonry; and endorsed by Preston, was the concept made available for teaching in a fraternal body, by one group of men to those fit to receive it.
This final remark - those fit to receive it - leads one to ponder on man's cultural evolution, which can be arbitrarily considered as taking place in three successive stages: 1. Natural; 2. Civilized; and 3. Moral. In his first or natural condition man is on the same level as the animals, all savagely striving for the survival of the individual, without concern for the interests or right to survive of any other living being. The key-word is survival at all costs.
At the second or civilized stage man has been educated to the extent that he has learned enough about himself and the Nature that surrounds him to survive without injuring or harming those around him. He is now capable of living in society, in a city, which is not a natural but an artificial environment. Predominantly this stage is ruled by the restrictive "Thou shalt nots" of the Ten Commandments and the Masonic Charges. It is a stage in which survival has been supplemented by respect.
In the third or moral stage man continues to survive without injury to those around him, but has acquired a new and lofty dimension: that of dedicating part of his time and effort to help, aid and assist the less fortunate of his fellowmen. This period is governed by the so-called Golden Rule and the teachings which Freemasonry presents in its "peculiar system of morality", and especially those in the Entered Apprentice Degree. It is a stage of survival and service, a manifestation of the Brotherhood of Man at its noblest.
The three above described stages portray man related to his physical surroundings, that is. Nature and his fellow men. There is, however, a fourth and more exalted stage, which is the concern of religion and not of Freemasonry, and which deals with man as a spiritual being enjoying a rewarding relationship with his Creator.
Brotherhood is Precarious
It is easy to think of the Brotherhood of Man as something solid, firm and permanent. How could it be otherwise when it is based on the Fatherhood of God? However, such is not the case, for it can be fostered or hindered. Brotherhood can be fostered by intercommunication and consequent understanding. The interchange of news and men and techniques and merchandise produces a growing sense of the unity of humanity a feeling of fraternity. And brotherhood can be sustained if there be unity of spirit even if uniformity of opinion is absent.
Unfortunately, brotherhood is also subject to hindrances, both in its development and in its survival. Remember the religious wars of yore? A uniform Belief IN God has been debased into conflicting Beliefs ABOUT God. Sectarianism itself can disrupt universal brotherhood if it is allowed to discriminate against those of differing religious convictions and practices. In this context of obstructed brotherhood it is meet to carefully weigh the following words uttered by the Greek fabulist Aesop: "The strong and the weak cannot keep company."
Today, under the pressure of increasing population especially in the cities, many lodges have misguidedly allowed their membership rolls to become so swollen that the spirit of brotherhood has become nothing more than a theory. Under those conditions most members do not know one another even by name.
Conclusion
Brotherhood is not a cause, but an effect. It is the outward evidence and token of a moral activity having its center deep-seated in Freemasonic philosophy.
There is no better way to conclude than by plagiarizing excerpts from some of Dr. J.F. Newton's writings:
Masonry does not attempt universal Brotherhood all at once, but knowing that in order to have Brotherhood there must first be Brothers, it labors to that end. Hence, it selects such men as desire Brotherhood and seem to be capable of its adventures and obligations, and seeks to train them to live the brotherly life in an unbrotherly world.
In the noisy clamor of that world, Masonry does not strive and cry aloud, indulging in agitations and the making of programs. It works in quieter, gentler ways, teaching men the precepts of the brotherly life, knowing that by as much as the world fills up with men of "the larger heart and the kindlier hand" by so much will humanity's dreams of a juster, gentler, happier world come true.
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by Burton Kessler, MPS
Who speaks for Freemasons in the United States? Historically, Freemasonry has had many voices, multiple jurisdictions, and regional differences. Is it not appropriate to entertain the thought of a national organization unencumbered by internal jurisdictional friction, narrow geographic interests, and a variety of contrasting bylaws, edicts or traditions: a national organization speaking for Freemasons with loyalty owed only to the nation of Freemasons? Unless one accepts the Conference of Grand Masters as a working, authoritative, or powerful planning body, no one speaks for Freemasons on a national scale. I submit no one does. Why not the Philalethes Society. Is it not already a nation-wide organization dedicated to seeking and beaming more Light? Does it not have a membership located throughout the United States rich in knowledge, capable in leadership, fertile in thought, and filled with experience? Does not our Society already possess a reputation and heritage as a prestigious organization perceived as such both inside and outside the United States? Why shouldn't the Philalethes Society seek and offer Light in Masonry by examining policy questions common to most if not all Masonic jurisdictions, by discovering displaying and honoring leadership quality, by continuing to provide information to those who seek more Masonic knowledge. Let the Philalethes Society be a voice of prestige, leadership and knowledge providing instructive tongues for attentive ears and speak on behalf of a national Freemason constituency.
In fulfilling this task there should continue to be room in our magazine for thoughtful essays on topics such as qualities of Masonic leadership, membership characteristics and Masonic relationship to communities. There should also be room in our magazine for a column which allows readers to ask questions about Freemasonry and receive answers from acknowledged Masonic scholars within our Society. Such questions often spark significant research production and ignite lively debate. l agree with Brother Smith's strong argument that the prime mission of our Society "is responsible authentic Masonic research and information": but let us not exclude potential stirring of blood and brain by eschewing a national leadership role. To enforce Brother Smith’s credo let us encourage the development of a title, certification, or diploma which would be awarded for demonstrated research knowledge in areas of Masonic philosophy, history, geography, or sociology. Why shouldn't achievement in these fields be recognised, accepted, and equated with demonstrated knowledge of Masonic ritual? Preferably this newly awarded array of talent would function under the aegis of each Grand Lodge, be designated by appropriate title, and perhaps be considered ex officio Grand Lodge officers. To facilitate the perception of the Philalethes Society as a nationally prestigious organisation, why can't we hold our Annual Assembly and Feast in different cities every year? This would allow members and non-members to become better acquainted with our Society, its mission and membership. To further aid this perception I strongly support Brother Smith's idea of an annual, commissioned Philalethes Society Lecture by a distinguished Freemason which would be delivered at the Annual Assembly and Feast and then hopefully be published in our magazine. In addition the outgoing President of our Society should be encouraged, if not required, to deliver a Presidential Address at our annual meeting. This address should be a State of the Society report but could also take the form of a scholarly lecture based on research or a carefully reasoned philosophical statement each or all of which would then be published in our magazine.
I have tried to answer Brother Dwight Smith's question. "Where Do We Go From Here". Perhaps it is better to saw that I have responded and that there is no one answer but many answers to his question. Hopefully many answers will be forthcoming in word and deed from fellows, members, and friends of the Philalethes Society. If not now, when?
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by Leland J. Ameen, MPS
My message will be found to be slanted toward those sentimental relationships that seem now-a-days to be missing between fathers and their sons, and even grandparents, uncles, distant relation, or even the lost art of personally sponsoring young people. My message will also be found to reveal an extension and an examination of Journalistic thinking attended by some explanations of DeMolay's structure and its attendant supplications.
Many times parents lose their line of communication with their children, and much too late, they cannot comprehend where their mistake was. They next tell their clergy, or some other chosen counsel, that they made every available effort to maintain a respectful and understandable rapport with their young sons. But have they? Of course not. If you doubt this journalistic comment, I invite you to interrogate any juvenile authority on this tender subject. Perhaps your own children don't apply to this subject matter, but as parents, you really don’t know, and you do need to realize that your boy might be a good influence on a less fortunate boy. Many parents today are simply not taking the time to share in their boy’s victories or defeats or to participate in public with him at least twice monthly, and really be there when the boy accomplished something that deserved his Dad's personal notice and applause.
Masonry's writers its editors, speakers and many other interested Masons simply cannot understand why fathers can't connect, seriously, and solidly, with an organization that teaches their children to love their mother and father, their country, and their community, and all in that related order. What we can understand is the visual reminder of parent participation's nearly total absence, and this uncompromising lack of concern adds a charade of hypocrisy to every loving and respectful act performed for someone else's children, and when the Chapter's superiors endeavors to supplant an adult's physical omission with pretense, the glaring negation of so sad an offense is magnified.
Masonry's leaders are awed beyond comprehension that they have, in many areas, provided you and your children a veritable theatre of performing arts, some of which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and parents still continue to ignore such spiritual and moral invitations that emerge from these Temples of Masonry. Is it possible that such invitations could cease, with this continuation of adult apathy, and then someday, some interested person might surface to inquire - what ever became of our DeMolay Chapter? Perhaps Masonry's young son may even wonder aloud at home about this, and the parent may be compelled to resort to evasive answers, that point away from parental negligence as the contributing factor for its untimely abandonment. One thing is factual THE CHILDREN OF TODAY HAVE NOT CHANGED - IT'S THE PARENTS THAT CHANGED! In Demolay, your children are provided every element available for the development of manly little hearts, while they are provided with proper programming so as not to interfere with their school work. In fact DeMolay accelerates youth to higher levels of achievement in their school work, and also at home.
Now is the season, and these are some of the reasons for some real giving. Why don't we ALL make a serious, adult effort, to give from ourselves to some youth, whether he belongs to us or not, the sponsorship that will enable him to experience DeMolay? The cost is less than something downtown, and this gift endureth forever! The small monetary fee for his lifetime certificate is in some cases no more than your annual dues at Blue Lodge! or its appendant bodies. It will enable you to promote and practice a friendship, and develop a fellowship, with someone that you probably love dearly. This is also a fine gift from grandparents, who sometimes are loneIy, and are secretly wishing for ways to get closer to their grandchildren or for whatever reason.
DeMolay is not hurting from the lack of Blue Lodge sponsorship, or from mercenary pangs, but they are miserable from those paternal pangs that are related to abhorrent apathies that only you can rectify by your own persona] attendance and attention thereto: We pray you accept this invitation -
It's careful men we pray to be for a little fellow follows we Let us not dare to go astray for fear he'll go the selfsame way.
We cannot once escape his eyes. What-eer he sees us do, he tries. The base in us, he must not see: This little chap, who follows we.
He thinks we Masons are good and fine, and he believes our every word and sign. A Widow's Son, he strives to be. This little chap, who follows we.
We pray thy blessings on the man we've raised and structered to thy plan. O MASTER, grant our promise be in that little chap, who follows we.
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The Battling Editors
by Keith Arrington, FPS
The men may be more interesting than their magazines. This is a war story, the story of battles fought in the pages of three nineteenth century Masonic periodicals and of the protagonists who wielded the vicious pens.
Brother Albert Pike, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council, A. & A. Scottish Rite for the Southern Jurisdiction, was introduced to the grand Lodge of lowa in session at Davenport in 1871 by Past Grand Masters Theodore S. Parvin and James R. Hartsock. He was most cordially welcomed by Grand Master John Scott.
This event presented three of the combatants in the story to follow. Each was a rugged individualist, a pioneer who had made his own way from early life. Joining these giants of lowa Masonry there was to he a midget, Sidney Smith, fifty inches tall and Junior Grand Warden in 1886. His role in the battles was peripheral: he, though inclined to be impartial, was handed stones to cast.
Iowa Masonic archives do not contain much information on James R. Hartsock. His Masonic career ended in disgrace. As Joseph E. Morcombe wrote in his "History of the Grand Lodge of lowa," "After events were untoward and sad and no other Masonic hand has before essayed."
Born in 1818, Hartsock came to Iowa Territory from Pennsylvania in May of 1838, moving to Iowa City in 1842. In 1861, he was appointed postmaster by President Lincoln. After six years, political changes forced him from the job but he was reappointed by President Grant and held the job until 1872. He was for many years active in state and national politics. He was among those most prominent in the organization of the Republican party when the slavery question disrupted the Democratic party. Hartsock was sergeant-at-arms when the Iowa senate met for the first time in the new capital at Des Moines.
John Scott and T.S. Parvin were both Ohioans. Born in 1824, Scott was admitted to the bar in that state in 1845 and then migrated to Kentucky. Enlisting in the Kentucky volunteers during the Mexican War, he was captured and a prisoner of war for ten months. Returning to Kentucky, he was editor of the Kentucky Whig at Mt. Sterling. He moved to Nevada, Iowa, in 1856, organized and was first Master of Lodge No. 99. In Grand Lodge he was Senior Grand Warden in 1859, Deputy Grand Master in 1867 and Grand Master in 1869 and 1870. With Dr. E.A. Guilbert and William Langridge, he served as Custodian of the Work in 1860.
Upon his retirement from the Grand Master's office, he announced that he desired no further Masonic honors, and did not attend Grand Lodge for a number of years.
Scott’s membership in the Scottish Rite is pertinent to the telling of the story. Of this he wrote: "We are by no means proud of it, and have never written "32nd degree" as description of our Masonry, and yet our date in the Scotch Rite is earlier than that of any one in the West, as far as we know. Parvin is one of the oldest. He had the Rite from Pike. Pike had the Rite from Mackey. We had the Rite from Mackey, June 15th, 1856. This was three years before Parvin got the Rite at the hands of Pike."
The office of Grand Secretary naturally threw Theodore S. Marvin into the several controversies, but he possessed the scrappy self confidence which always welcomed the opportunity to do battle. A young lawyer-school teacher, the future Grand Secretary came to the new lowa Territory in 1858 as the personal secretary to the first Governor, Robert Lucas. He immediately entered into the political, cultural and educational scene in the frontier towns and was instrumental in organizing two of the four Iowa Lodges which received their charters from the Grand Lodge of Missouri. Serving as Grand Secretary from the organization of the Grand Lodge in 1844 until his death in 1901, with one year out to be Grand Master; being credited with starting and building the great library collection of the Grand Lodge. Marvin unquestionably exerted more influence on Masonry in lowa than any one man in its history.
The Hartsock Parvin battle was the real story of The Western Freemason. The controversy was over lowa's ritual what it should be and who was to decide it. It also was a conflict of personalities.
Just where it all began is difficult to determine. Certainly there was conflict between the two at the organisation of the Grand Lodge in 1844. At that time, Parvin desired and expected to be elected Grand Secretary and to see Ansel Humphreys elected Grand Master. Hartsock also had his eye on the position of Grand Secretary and did some politicking to try to capture the job.
Three "Mormon" lodges which had been working under dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Illinois hoped to become a part of the new Grand Lodge of lowa. In consideration of his help for their cause, Hartsock was promised their support for his election as Grand Secretary. In the shuffle, Hartsock was defeated but so was Ansel Humphreys. Parvin and Oliver Cook were elected to the two posts. The "Mormon" lodges were not permitted in and, in time, disappeared.
"Uniformity of the Work" was the big issue of the time when James Hartsock introduced his Western Freemason. A scant two decades had passed since the migration of pioneers from the east had carried Masonry into the new Territory and with it a duke's mixture of ritual. No attempt will be made here to tell the complete story of Iowa ritual, though bits of the story are vital to the feud between James R. Hartsock and Theodore S. Parvin.
The Western Freemason was the creation of Hartsock, the "first Mason initiated west of the Mississippi river and north of the Missouri line." His raising was at the river town of Burlington in December of 1840. This was Parvin's lodge and in it twenty-two men were raised during the first year.
Hartsock was gone from Iowa during some of the following years, spending at least part of this time in Louisiana. Somewhere along the line he picked up some ritual which was different from that taught in Iowa. Ansel Humphreys, who had served for some time as a Master of a lodge in Connecticut, probably was primarily responsible for the ritual as Iowa had it.
Described as "Past High Priest of Louisiana and present Grand High Priest of Iowa," Hartsock was listed as editor when the first number of The Western Freemason was published at Iowa City in April, 1857. The thirty-two page, six by nine journal was offered for one dollar per year, "in advance." Actually, it seemed that several thousand copies were sent out, unsolicited, in the vain hope that everyone would mail their dollars in.
The name of the publication was justified "upon the frontier of civilization and being perhaps the first and only periodical of the kind west of the Mississippi river."
By the time the fourth issue appeared, John Kennedy, the printer, had gone out of business. The change to a new printer was to the benefit of the paper with a neater printing job and a change to a single rather than a double column format.
An additional change was that the cover now listed T.S. Parvin and J.F. Sanford, Grand Master, as corresponding editors. On the back cover of this issue was an advertisement for Iowa Medical College at Keokuk with J.F. Sanford, Dean. This college offered "entire course $80. Matriculation fee $5. Dissecting fee $5. Graduation fee $25."
In light of the events to come it is worth noting that at the Grand Convocation in 1857, G.H.P. Hartsock presented to P.G.H.P. Parvin a gold jewel in appreciation for "invaluable services rendered." And, in the August Western Freemason, Hartsock gave high praise to Parvin, the Grand Secretary, for the "zeal, research and devotion he has brought to the management of the affairs of the Grand Lodge. To him the Grand Lodge is indebted for the proud position she now sustains as one of the most flourishing Grand Lodges in the United States." And, significantly, "He has become one of the ablest Masonic jurists in the land. We regard his decisions and opinions (as a general thing) on jurisprudence as law."
The enlisting of Parvin as a contributing editor and the flattery printed about him do not exactly jibe with what Parvin wrote in The Evergreen in 1872: "It was generally believed through the state at the time that The Western Freemason was started to secure the overthrow of the "work" then practiced by Grand Master Sanford, and to introduce what was then and since known as "the Hartsock work."
Parvin continued: "That the editorship of the fourth volume was assumed by the writer for the sole purpose of setting aside the Hartsock work we never denied and always affirmed and, in this, we were successful. While Brother Harts sock succeeded only as Grand Master and editor, the overthrow of his work was consummated by the Grand Lodge authoritatively and permanently through the labors of that journal as their conductor. This success was, however, greatly due to the large and enlightened corps of assistants the editor had, in the persons of Brothers Benton, Guilbert, Scott, Langridge and others. The Western Freemason accomplished the purpose for which it was started and continued, and would have itself continued but that its publishers went to the war and the editor, while giving his time and labor would not give his money - for he had none to give. It was not supported by the lodges, chapters and commanderies and it proved a losing concern to publishers and editors."
James Hartsock was elected Grand Master in June of 1858. John Scott became Senior Grand Warden and Dr. E.A. Guilbert, Junior Grand Warden. Soon, The Western Freemason began to carry the official rulings of the Grand Master on jurisprudence and to relate his travels around the state. During his first year as Grand Master - he served two terms - Hartsock visited 116 of the 147 lodges, teaching his variation of the ritual as well as examining the record books of the lodges. This was quite a feat when you consider the conditions of travel at that time.
It would seem that the Grand Master believed in what he was doing. He was putting all of his energy into establishing in every lodge in the state a Uniform Ritual. The ritual he was teaching was the ritual that he knew and the ritual he believed to be correct.
By January of 1859, Editor Hartsock was forced to admit to his readers "We fear we have too many irons in the fire," and announced that his partner would take charge of the department during his temporary absence. It was inevitable, in light of the financial plight of the paper, that the Editor's swan song came in the twelfth number of the third volume. The paper was to be published by "Sir Kts. Calvin and Ball." Calkin, Hartsock's partner in the photography business, had done work on the paper before.
In October, the magazine moved to Muscatine under J.W. Eystra, with T.S. Parvin as editor. In his typical fashion, the new editor shot some barbs in the first issue: "We have always believed that the Western Freemason was prematurely ushered before the public and had the founder consulted the wants of the fraternity or the wisdom of its rulers, one stone would never have been presented for inspection."
Never one to hide his light under a bushel, Grand Secretary-Editor Parvin wrote: "I have given a quarter of a century of the best period of my life to Masonry. I have enjoyed of the honors an over-partial brotherhood can bestow, have passed every round of our mystic ladder, and for fifteen years stood upon the top-most (secretariat of a young but full-grown Grand Lodge) and viewing the field of labor on all sides have no place to seek, no power to covet, no friends to promote, and hence no selfish ends to advance; but shall labor assiduously to extend the area of knowledge of my brethren, not of ritual only - a very small matter - but the sum total of Masonic literature." Of the magazine he said, "The work is designed primarily for home consumption."
New publisher Eystra printed a notice to subscribers: "In no instance will the magazine be sent without advance payment." The May issue, number eleven of the volume, carried the publisher's note: "The publisher must be paid or the Craft cannot expect to retain his services." While a next issue was referred to, it did not appear and The Western Freemason vanished from the scene. It had been a readable magazine, a good magazine when you consider the inexperience of the editors and publishers. It offered a variety of Masonic information in its pages, in contributed articles along with some copied from other sources. It deserves to be remembered for more than the quarrel for which it provided the forum.
During his short tenure as editor of the magazine Parvin wrote several articles on Uniformity of the Work. Speaking of "younger brethren who go ahead too fast to look back unless arrested by some stumbling block wisely fallen in their path" he speaks of the laws of the order in Iowa on the work and points out that the subject "at a very early day arrested the attention of the fathers of Masonry before the boys in the order were born. Every step taken in the last ten years has carried us further from the goal of our ambition." He then traced "the work" from a period prior to the organisation of the Grand Lodge.
Parvin stressed that Grand Lodge law made the Grand Lodge and not the Grand Master, the custodian of the work. He related that the first five Grand Masters had exemplified the Webb Work (as restored by the Baltimore Convention) in open Grand Lodge. Even Hartsock, acting as Deputy for Grand Master McCleary, had "worked the old, alias Humphrey, alias Webb work." For the first thirteen annual communications, the work taught was the same. In 1856, Hartsock was able to "engraft many of his views upon the work adopted" at a sparsely attended Grand lodge of Instruction held at Iowa city during severe winter weather. Parvin refused to teach or accept this changed work. Grand Master Hartsock has set at naught the work of the Grand Lodge while professing in his inaugural "to build upon the foundation laid by his worthy predecessors, and as far as possible establish a perfect ceremonial uniformity."
The Grand Secretary commented: "The Grand Lodge of Iowa, heartily sick of the manner in which the 'work and lectures' have been hawked about as merchandise, at its last session put a stop upon the "one man power" and elected 'Custodians of the Work' consisting of Brothers John Scott, E.A. Guilbert and William B. Langridge." Thus gradually the "bastard work" of Hartsock was cleansed from Iowa ritual.
A third combatant, with his own private battle with Parvin and the Grand Lodge, appeared in the pages of the Western Freemason in 1858. John Scott contributed two articles, one being a caution to watch the ballot box and the other a discourse on what Masonry is.
Scott's magazine, created soley for the purpose of arguing and publicising his case, was "The Lodge." It was introduced in October of 1892 at Nevada. Iowa, being published monthly until the following April when it became a quarterly. Only one volume of twelve issues was published, ending in March 1894.
"A monthly journal devoted to the interests of Freemasonry, the publication is a business matter and is conducted on business principles. A copy of Mrs. Scott's "Indian Corn as Food" will be sent postpaid as a premium for a club of ten subscribers." Seventy-five cents a year paid for the sixteen page octavo size paper. Advertising was carried in each issue.
Very little news or other literary matter found space in any number of the publication, its columns being crowded with statement and restatement of Scott's arguments.
"Cerneauism" was the disturbing factor. "Cerneauism" had invaded Iowa, was feared by some who Scott termed "high riters" and was being ruthlessly combated. The so-called Cerneau Scottish Rite was flourishing in Ohio at the same time. Considered clandestine by the established Scottish Rite bodies, this variation was said to have been implanted in the United States in 1807 by Joseph Cerneau and was sometimes referred to as the Americanized Scottish Rite.
Enough Iowa Masons joined this clandestine Scottish Rite to alarm T.S. Parvin, who was Sovereign Grand Inspector General for Iowa of the A. & A. S.R. of the Southern Jurisdiction. A new Chapter 37 was added to the Code of the Grand Lodge, declaring membership in the Cerneau Order a Masonic offense.
Scott contended this was of no concern to the Grand Lodge. He argued that the Grand Lodge should be concerned only with Lodges and Grand Lodges, that other bodies were simple social organizations which Masons had a right to join if they chose. His repeated thesis was that only Lodges and Grand Lodges are Masonic, that all other bodies are creatures which have attached themselves to Masonry. And, that the consideration of these bodies had no place in Grand Lodge.
Invective and condemnation of Grand Secretary Parvin and Grand Master Phelps occupied so much of Scott's time and space that he didn't get around to stating the facts of his quarrel with them.
In like manner, the Grand Secretary censored and abbreviated the Grand Lodge proceedings to the extent that the clear facts are not available there.
In any event, some lowa Masons were expelled for membership in this "clandestine" Scottish Rite Order. The Grand Master issued an edict forbidding the election to office in the lodge of members of the Cerneau order. Grand Master Phelps later claimed: "So far as I know not a single Master of a lodge belongs to that order." Scott retorted: "Many know that there are Cerneaus holding important offices in Iowa lodges and that Grand Master Phelps had knowledge of these facts and that he has not performed the duty of enforcing this "law of the Grand Master."
John Scott, as Worshipful Master of Lodge No. 99 at Nevada, appeared at Grand Lodge in 1891. He was not a Cerneau member at any time. Apparently he did lift his powerful voice in protest against the Grand Master's actions in regard to the Cerneaus. He appeared to be fighting for a principle that he believed in and in defence of those Masons he felt had been wrongfully expelled or "black listed."
As a result, the Grand Master arrested Scott's Jewel of office, deposing him from the Mastership and refusing to permit him to represent his lodge in the Grand Lodge sessions. However, Past Grand Master Scott was able to take his seat. Nevada Lodge re-selected John Scott as Master in 1892, but he still was not permitted to take his seat as Master.
Twelve issues of a magazine devoted exclusively to this theme, particularly when the problem was not clearly stated, became tiresome. Invective and name calling got in the way of honest argument of a just cause.
The final battle was fought at Grand Lodge in 1893. A hotel room was rented at Davenport as headquarters for "the repeal of Chapter 37" Candidates for Grand Master and for Grand Secretary in opposition to Phelps and Parvin were run and, though making a good showing, both failed of election. Repeal of Chapter 37 was defeated - Scott claimed votes that had been promised were switched at the last minute.
The illustration of the ritual at Grand Lodge by the Custodians was novel, according to Scott. "Had the Custodians and some of the visitors known it then would have greatly enjoyed the fact that the floor work was done mostly by Cerneaus: not the clandestine sort, but real Joseph Cerneau Scottish Riters!"
It was after this session that much of the steam went out of "The Lodge." Scott still presented his old arguments, but other material did get into the magazine occasionally. He never again returned to Grand Lodge. There was only a veiled hint in the twelfth issue of the magazine that this might be the last published. Scott, too, it seemed, had wearied of constant reiteration of his "facts."
A wealthy man, he later served in the State Senate and was Lt. Governor.
Sidney Smith wrote of The Smallest Masons in the second number of his "Iowa Masonry." "Robert H. Huzza, of Lodge 483, Brooklyn, N.Y., is said to be the smallest man ever made a Mason. His height is 33 inches. Charles S. Stratton. "General Tom Thumb." was 35 inches high and a 32nd degree Mason.
"Sidney Smith, the editor and proprietor of Iowa Masonry is fifty inches tall. He was made a Mason in September, 1879, and has received all the degrees save the thirty-third. He is a Past Master, High Priest, Prelate, and Past Junior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Iowa (1886). He is a confirmed old bachelor 34 years of age, and wedded only to Masonry." Before the year was out, however, little Sidney took a bride at Little Rock, Arkansas.
Twenty-five thousand copies of the first issue of "Iowa Masonry" dated January 1892 were sent out, claimed by Editor Smith to be the largest edition of any Masonic periodical ever published. The neatly printed octavo size journal sported a green cover with a sketch of the Iowa Masonic Library building adorning it. A frontispiece carried photos of all of the elective Grand lodge officers for the year. The sixteen page monthly carried advertising and the price was one dollar per year.
Although Sidney Smith was a resident of Sac City, he evidently thought that Cedar Rapids, with the presence of the Library and the office of the Grand Secretary, was the more logical place of publication. A typesetter telegrapher and newspaper man, Smith hoped to "faithfully reflect the official and social proceedings of the craft of Iowa in particular, and the rest of the Masonic world in general." To this end he did have the promise of T.S. Parvin, the Grand Secretary, for a series of articles under the title of "An Hour Among the Old Records." The regular series promised failed to materialise beyond three efforts in that direction by Brother Parvin. This was quite like the record Parvin established after promising to supply articles for E.A. Guilbert and "The Evergreen."
A poem opened each number of the magazine, in the custom of the day. These and the short stories which were often carried were often the work of Lura E. Brown, who became Mrs. Sidney Smith.
Short news items, in keeping with the stature of the editor, on the various bodies, on Masonry and on most any other subject regularly filled pages of the publication. There were a few longer articles, mostly clipped from other sources. No signed articles by the editor appeared. His contribution seemed to be in collecting and assembling the material, although he did have editorial comment on occasion.
It was often difficult to tell whether Sidney Smith was doing the writing or if it was from the pen of T.S. Parvin. Certainly, Parvin's views were reflected in the reporting, especially when mention was made of the controversy between Parvin and Past Grand Master John Scott, which was then in progress.
Numbers ten and eleven of the journal were combined, because of a delay brought on by illness in the editor's family. Publication ceased with the completion of the first and only volume in December, the editor observing that the venture had not been so profitable as had been hoped. At this time, John Scott, its "The Lodge", commented: "Coming from the shadow of the Grand Secretary's office was too heavy a load. Had it been sent out from Sac City, it might have lived for many a year. Brother Smith is deservedly very popular among the brethren and had he felt able to walk alone he might still have been on foot."
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Preparing Audio-Visual Lectures
by Hugh A. Cole, MPS
While optical and sound systems are extensively used in business and educational fields, relatively few have ventured their application within the craft. Aside from the quality films produced by Allen Roberts, and the pre-recorded tapes available from the Masonic Service Association, only a handful of other productions by appendent bodies or Grand Lodges come to mind. Were we to embark on an instruction, enlightenment, or entertainment program series we might soon exhaust the available Masonic-oriented material. This need not necessarily limit our endeavor. Locally produced slide-illustrated presentations on a vast array of topics are within our ability and capacity!
Topics may first be assigned a priority according to timely need, available resources, or complexity Scholars must research and write up the papers unless currently available texts are used. IIlustrations suited to the papers or text must be assembled or drawn up by a talented brother. Permission must be obtained in advance for the use of published papers or texts. Some illustrations may be prepared by photographing posed scenes, or drawn pictures and charts. Slides selected from vacations or events may also lend themselves to suit the paper or text. Avoid violating our solemn obligations through choice of material and illustrations.
Often an event, lecture, discussion, conversation, or instruction may be tape recorded and later played back to those not attending the original occasion. Photographic transparent slides related to the event or persons involved may be shown on a screen while the audience listens to the recorded message. With planning and preparation the combined message and illustrations become a program. As familiarisation and experience is gained titles and credits may be added as introductory music is played via the pre-recorded tape. Sound effects and background music may be experimented with as additional features.
Brother Joseph Vance of Lombard, Illinois plays the narration accompanying his slides on one channel of a stereophonic tape recorder. The other channel of the same tape plays prerecorded background music. Brother Vance follows a chart near the slide projector or mentally knows when to operate the slide changing mechanism. For the past dozen years he has presented a series of programs for Masonic as well as non-Masonic audiences.
If the music and narration are confined to one channel on the pre-recorded tape, the other channel may contain 1,000 cycle impulses which become the cues for operating the slide changing mechanisms. An electronically knowledgeable brother could construct an Automatic Sequencer which would "listen to and obey" these impulses and operate the control on the slide projector. They are commercially available but for many times more expense than they may be built! Thus the slide projector and tape recorder program would function automatically.
Brethren Dennis E. McCormack and Derrick Hobson of Erdington, England choose a similar system to Brother Vance except they play pre-recorded music on the tape recorder while reading the narration from a lectern on some occasions and following the same system as does Brother Vance on others. To conceal the optical and sound system from view, these brethren arrange a set of suitable flags in front of it. There are lasting impressions created by these brethren over the past decade among our English brethren. Recently, they came to America where they presented programs for the Grand Lodge of Florida, Florida lodges, Pennsylvania lodges, and at the Scottish Rite Library and Museum in Lexington, Massachusetts.
My own system consists of two slide projectors mounted in a special stand, one above the other. They are of the same make, similar model, and have a common lens size. The two slide projectors are positioned to superimpose images alternately on a single screen. Two black slides (discarded goofs) were etched with a pin on the dull or emulsion side, being careful not to puncture them. On one slide the lines run vertically and horizontally, crossing the center. On the other slide the lines run diagonnally from corner to corner and crossing in the center. Each projector is separately focused on the screen. Then both are turned on together and adjusted so the crossed lines for each register at the same point on the screen.
Dimmer switches are wired into the lamp lead inside each slide projector and enable me to fade out one projector while the other illuminates a slide. Slide changing mechanisms are operated while the projector is dimmed. Slides are alternately illuminated in sequence by the two projectors as the narration, introductory and background music, and sound effects are played on one channel of a stereophonic tape recorder. I listen to the other channel via head phones. Unheard by the audience, this channel contains prerecorded cues for operation of the two slide projectors.
A third dimmer switch controls a lamp located near and aimed toward the screen. This lamp is illuminated when the room lights are extinguished. As the program begins this lamp is gradually faded out. It remains out until the close of the program when it is gradually re-illuminated. All these units in the system require a prolific maze of cords which gather into a control console box (built at nominal cost) and from which a single power cord seeks out the power outlet for the room. Actually, the system operates very satisfactory on 110-130 volts and the dimmer switches are rated for 600 amps. Technical details are omitted as your photographic and electronically knowledgeable brethren will have them for you! As an indication of the wide application for such equipment, these are some of the titles of topics I have prepared; "Adam to Solomon." "A Universal Brotherhood," "Our Ancient Brethren." "Freemasonry in America," "Freemasonry in Illinois." "The Great Seal and Masonry." "George Washington, a Man and a Mason, Parts I & II," "Brother Franklin's Travels, Parts I & II." Others await time and research!
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On October 20, 1983, Harry Carr put down the working tools of this transitory life, but he left us a large literary legacy to enjoy for years to come. Brother Carr was a gentleman and a true Masonic scholar. For years he labored hard and well in the quarries of the Craft, and acquired the reputation of being the world's greatest Masonic scholar of his day. For years he presented many important talks before Masonic groups all over the world on subjects of vital interest, was editor and secretary of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, and he wrote many fine articles for Masonic periodicals. He has left us a book entitled "Harry Carr's World of Freemasonry" which reproduces fifteen of his most popular talks and articles. It is a volume that can be read with pleasure and profit for many years.
Available at $19.00 a copy, from Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Co., 3011 Dumbarton Road, Richmond, Va. 293228.
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by Lewis J. Birt, MPS
From one of our lectures we hear the words: "There was not heard the sound of axe, hammer or any tool of iron in the house while it was in the building...." What is the source of that statement? In the first Book of Kings, Chapter 6, verse 7, we find: "And the house when it was in the building was built of stories made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in the building."
In building such an edifice as King Solomon's Temple we must concede that it would have been incredibly difficult to fit all the parts together without the use of some metal tools. There are many stories. Rabbinical tales and Mussulman legends, about how this incredible feat was accomplished. Of course, we must remember that King Solomon was known in both the Jewish and Moslem accounts to be a great wizard or enchanter; that is, he was endowed with what those writers referred to as magical or mystic powers.
King Solomon had once been given the choice of wealth, power or wisdom. His choice was wisdom for he knew that with wisdom, he could achieve either power or riches. Thus he was given the gift of supreme wisdom and he was said to be in possession of the Ineffable Name of Deity. He had also been warned in a vision that he should not use any tool of iron in the building of the Temple of God.
After Solomon had assembled the men and materials, as directed by his Father David, for the construction of the Temple, he consulted with his chief advisor Shimei about this taboo on the use of iron. Shimei told the wise king that he should use the mysterious material SHAMIR. When Solomon asked what this mysterious substance was, he was told that it had been created on the evening before the first Sabbath by the Almighty. Shimei also told him that it was this mysterious substance that had been used by Moses to write the Ten Commandments on the tablets of stone, and by which the names of the twelve tribes had been engraven on the stones of the breastplate of the High Priest of Israel.
"Where can this mysterious SHAMIR be found?" asked the wise king.
"O King, no man knows where it can be found," was the reply of the king's advisor. "But it is written that the sea eagle knows."
King Solomon, in company with his chief general Benaiah, went in search of the sea eagle. Knowing in his supreme wisdom the way to talk to the animals and the birds, even the insects, King Solomon; was aware of the fierce devotion; of the fierce mother sea eagle had for its young. As the mother eagle left the nest to seek food for the flock, the King ordered Benaiah to cover the nest with a crystal globe, which he did.
When the mother eagle returned to feed her young, she was unable to penetrate the crystal dome with her beak or her strong talons. Being unable to reach her young the mother eagle flew high and into the west beyond the vision of the wise king and his chief general. As they waited and after some considerable time, the mother eagle returned with a small object in her beak. She landed near the crystal dome and touched it with the object in her beak. It immediately split in two and she was able to get to her young.
The astonished King Solomon spoke to the sea eagle asking, "What is that material and where did you get it?" The eagle replied that it was found in the Mountains of the Sleepers. "Take me there," commanded the King. The sea eagle guided the two men to the mountains and showed them the source of the SHAMIR.
The two collected a sufficient quantity of the mysterious material and brought it to the site of the Temple in Jerusalem. It was given over to the workmen, and so the Temple was erected in silence and harmony without the sound of axe, hammer or any tool of iron.
Now we come to the question: What was this mysterious substance called the SHAMIR? If you search through all the legends from various sources that describe it, you will find these facts:
1. The SHAMIR was the seventh of the ten miracles that were created in the evening of twilight on the first Friday of creation. There are many legends which say that it was capable of splitting or marking the hardest of all substances.
2. Its size was about that of a grain of wheat or barley, although its form varied in the stories told about it. Some said that it was a worm or an insect that crawled across a substance, no matter how obdurate, that the substance would be split cleanly. Iron was broken by its very presence; stone split when it was placed on the stone like the pages of a book.
3. The SHAMIR was stored in balls of wool or layers of bran and then placed in a lead box. On reading one account, a person could get the idea that this was a form of energy, and with the need for a lead container one might think of atomic energy
4. It is said that Moses was enabled with the use of the SHAMIR to engrave the names of the twelve tribes of Israel on the stones of the breastplate. One account states that he wrote the names in ink on the stones and then held the SHAMIR over them and the names were etched in the stones. It reminds us of a photo etching process with a form of pure energy.
5. The SHAMIR; was the vital ingredient in the erection of the Temple without iron tools and excessive noise. The Temple of God was to be a place of harmony among all men and thus could not be a place of tumult and confusion.
6. Mysteriously the SHAMIR disappeared after the Temple of Solomon was completed. Some accounts say after the completion of the Temple: while other accounts claim that it disappeared after the destruction. This much can be said that the legends concerning it all date to events before the destruction of King Solomon's temple. The last use of it was at the building.
Thus, we find that a certain mysterious or magical substance was used in the building of King Solomon's Temple so that there was no need for any use of iron in the building. Usually when such a ban or taboo was ordered in ancient times, the story would be handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation, so that the story would be magnified out of proportion and enter the realm of legend. Of course, the practical sometimes prevails and the question comes up - "Was there a logical reason whereby no tool of iron was used at the erection of the Temple of Solomon?" Consider some of these possibilities.
First, when we consider the legend of the SHAMIR, we might consider the word itself. The word SHAMIR has its origins in Persia. As the word came from East to West, we find these variations:
in the Greek - SMERIS or SMIRIS in the Latin - SMERICULUM in the Italian - SMERIGLIO in early French - EMERiL in the late French and middle English — EMERI
Which is about what we have today. EMERY, as we know and use it today is an abrasive: that is, it is a hard substance that can be pulverized by a sharp blow into a powder that will not wear away so that it can be used as a material that will reduce or polish stones, metal wood, and other surfaces. So it could well have been the material that was used to fit the stones of King Solomon's Temple. Through the word of mouth transmittal it became glamorized into the mysterious insect - the SHAMIR.
The source of emery in the early days, possibly in the time of Solomon, was on the island of Naxos one of the Cyclades group in the Agean Sea, not too far off the coast of Greece. It is about one hundred miles East of Athens, one hundred and twenty miles from Rhodes, and roughly eight hundred miles Northwest of Jerusalem. Even today one of the chief exports of Naxos is emery although there are many commercially produced abrasives that have generally replaced emery.
Now, we might ask - Does the legend of the SHAMIR have a place in Masonry? Or, the use of IRON in any ritual? There is one instance of the legend of the SHAMIR in the ritual which is related by Dr. George Oliver sometime in the early 19th century. He relates an instance in the "Old York Lectures" where there was a reference to an insect - the SHERMA - which he said was used to polish or shape the stones of the Temple. Here follows:
Q. What were the real secrets of the Master Workmen?
A. Not the signs, words and tokens as mistakenly recorded, but the wonderful properties of that noble insect, the S __ A, which cut and shaped all the holy vessels in King Solomon's Temple. . . In truth they illegally conspired to extort from H A B the secrets of the S __ A, the wonderful creature that could cut stones...
NOTE: The blanks in S __ A, would be filled with letters to make SHERMA, which is probably a misspelling or corruption of SHAMIR. Such was not an uncommon error of the early days.
Another reference to "IRON" may be found in the ritual as exposed by Samuel Prichard, in his "Masonry Dissected," (1730) which has this note:
N.B. If any working Masons are at Work, and you have a desire to distinguish Accepted Masons from the rest, take a piece of Stone, and ask him what it smells of: if he immediately replies neither Brass, Iron or Steel, but of a Mason: then by asking him how old he is, and he replies, above Seven, which denotes he has passed Master.
That rather obscure mention of SHERMA in a little known ritual does show how some of the rabbinical legends crept into the early Masonic ritual. The whole story of the SHAMIR points out that the use of iron was forbidden at the erection of the Temple. There are many possible reasons for the ban of iron tools. Of course, we must first note that iron was not in common use at that period in history. There are some historical references which indicate that it was known, such as in the Minoan civilization on Crete, or the "iron chariots of the Canaanites." There is some belief that the Philistines used "iron" weapons against David's armies, but generally the use of iron was rare at that period of history. And the fact that it was almost solely used for weapons because of its hardness may have been a reason for a ban on its use in the construction of a Temple of peace.
The Law of Moses as laid down in the Books of Exodus and Leviticus did not specifically ban the use of iron. It was probably unknown to the Children of Israel at that time. Their tools were made of copper, brass or bronze. In Exodus 20:25, however, we find this: -
"and if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it."
This prohibition, or taboo, on the use of dressed stone in the making of any stones for use in the Temple or any article of stone to be used as sacred furniture would no doubt become a standard in any work of the Children of Israel after the time of Moses. This could well have been one of the reasons for the ban on iron in the erection of the Temple.
There may have been other reasons why iron was shunned by primitive peoples at the time of the discovery of how to prepare iron for use. For instance, iron tools when struck against each other or against stone will produce sparks. Fire and sparks are things of wonderment and destruction to people who have little understanding of their cause and fearful of their power. In many pagan rites fire is an important part of their rites, so any metal that could produce fire would be considered by them with a certain amount of fear. There is a modern parallel that might be cited tools that are used in an area with highly flammable materials such as petroleum products or gaseous elements are of bronze so that they will not cause sparks and consequent conflagation. So even today there are situations where there are no-no's on "any tool of iron."
Iron has another unique quality in that it is subject to or affected by magnetism. Although magnetism was not understood at that period of history, there may have been some limited knowledge of it. There are in nature certain natural magnets, called lodestones, which may have been somewhat available. The effect of these lodestones could well induce the fear that iron was possessed by mysterious powers, probably evil powers, and the people would wish to keep these from their places of worship. When something in nature terrifies or confuses people, they tend to shy away from it. When they understand the matter, they tend to do away with their taboos. It is a well known fact that witch-doctors, priests, et al., have often used these little understood phenomena to control primitive people.
And yet another quality of iron that would cause it to be avoided is the fact that it might discolor the stone. It is believed that the stones used in the Temple of Solomon were quarried near the present Damascus Gate of the city of Jerusalem. These are today known as "Solomon's Quarries." The stone taken from them is a form of dolomite (sort of a soft limestone-like material) which, when first removed from the quarry is moist and workable. On exposure to air the stone sets or hardens. If iron tools were used on this type of stone, traces of iron might be left which would rust and discolor the stone. Thus iron would be considered as a material that is unclean or pollutant to the Temple.
So if we look around enough we can dig up any number of probabilities as to why the expression "nor any tool of iron" was used in the Books of Kings when describing that prohibition at the erection of the Temple. All of them could be listened to but none could ever exceed the fascination of the legend of the Shamir.
Now that we have looked at the facts that deal with the prohibition of the use of iron at the building of the original Temple, and at the ritual as we have found it over the years from the founding of our first Grand Dodge in 1717, what can we say of the use of iron in Masonry?
First, from the reading of the Great Light, we find that at the building of the Temple, iron was forbidden because it would defile or pollute the House of the Lord.
Second, Masonry is a beautiful system of morality veiled in allegory, and illustrated with symbols." So says our ritual. The use, or prohibition of iron, as with all Masonic symbols, should teach us that we should bide by the moral standards of the Craft, and avoid all those things which would tend to pollute or defile our standards of morality.
As IRON is plentiful and convenient so must we always regulate our conduct that we do not take the easy and convenient way of life, we must make the difficult choices that will lead us in the way of TRUTH, allegorically represented by the pure LIGHT that we are always seeking in our progress through Masonry.
The Temple of Solomon was built silently without the "sound of axe, hammer. or any tool of iron." It was built by the hands of men according to the plan laid down by the Almighty. If we as men of God, and not as unvielding men of iron, will use the stones and timbers which he has provided, and bring our own Knowledge and Experience like those prepared stones and timbers at Jerusalem, for the service of God, then we shall build our Temple, that Temple of our present lifer silently and surely on the sound foundations of Truth and Wisdom and we shall surely dedicate it to the service of the Almighty.
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by Donald J. Van Kirk, MPS
Have you ever contemplated the human hand? A wonderous device created by the Great Architect of the Universe for man to use through a lifetime of service.
But how do we use our hands.? Of course we use them to hold our tools for our usual occupation, we use them to caress our loved ones, to correct an erring child, accentuate our speech, to create the visions of our mind, to assist someone in trouble but lastly, to shake someones hand in a greeting.
That is something we do nor do enough. A simple handshake can mean so very much to a stranger, a visitor or a newly raised brother. It is something that does not cost you anything and which makes it even more precious to those who receive it because it is something that you have given freely of yourself.
Unfortunately, many of us think too lightly of a handshake. When we give it in a half-hearted manner as one would wave at a passing train in the night; those who receive such a grasp can also real the insincerity of it.
In this age of high technology and ever rapidly expanding communication there are many ways that we can make ourselves known to our fellow man. Each of these methods as they let us communicate faster, and with less thought; increasingly removes the human element. The one undefineable, but necessary part of a truly meaningful communication with our brethren.
When was the last time you walked into a lodge room and saw a stranger walked up to him, extended your hand and firmly with warmth and sincerity shook his hand and introduced yourself???
If it takes you more then a minute to respond, it has been too long. We of the Masonic fraternity are taught Friendship, Morality and Brotherly Love. These words require a commitment from you, yes, that means you have to do something. I'll make it easy for you: smile, stick your hand out and in a firm and warm manner shake someones hand.
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MASONIC CHAIR MAKES HEADLINES !
A Masonic Chair has made the headlines! It was made by Benjamin Bucktrout in Williamsburg in 1767 for an unknown Masonic Lodge. It's walnut and mahogany and it is perhaps the most elaborately carved of the ceremonial furniture made in America. It's 67 1/2 inches high "with three fluted columns topped by classical acanthus leaf capitals, crowned by an arched crest sail. The back is decorated with three dimensional carvings of Masonic symbols including calipers, trowel, square and a gilded Bible open to the Book of Kings I, Chapter VII. Of special interest is a carved bust of Matthew Prior, an English philosopher and poet, capping the center column and flanked by a gilded sun and moon." It is said the chair was taken to Edenton, North Carolina, in 1778 to protect it during the war. It became a possession of Unanimity Lodge No 7. In the 1930s it learned of the value the chair and kept in encased. The Williamsburg Foundation offered the Lodge over $200,000. plus a replica to cost about $32,000. The offer was accepted. The chair will have its resting place in the city of its birth.
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Want to Know More About the George Washington Masonic National Memorial ?
Just Ask for the Free Newsletter
As a Mason you can be justly proud of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. Now, you can learn more about the Memorial by asking for the "Pride of All Freemasons" newsletter. Just send your name and address to: George Washington Masonic National Memorial, PR Office, 440 Hancock St., Quince, MA 02171.
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Freemasonry and Domestic Architecture
by Mervin B. Hogan, FPS
When thinking of structures utilized for ecclesiastic, monumental, or civic purposes, as examples, we rather intuitively relate their design and presence to a professional architect who successfully applied the principles and arts of architecture to the fulfillment of his creative concepts. As we view the vast majority of the homes around us housing families in their daily routines, the thought of an architect having been related to them rarely enters our minds. No doubt these contrasting situations follow naturally from the well known fact that families with ordinary or average incomes and means scarcely ever consider an architect when they are planning to build or buy a home.
The American public customarily looks to the tract developer, the contractor, or the builder for the plans, specifications, and design of a domestic residence. Probably less frequently, such a client interested in building a home will purchase house plans and the related paper work marketed by a firm or service advertising this packaged material: frequently in the Sunday supplement. At best, it is perfectly clear in these cases that any possible architectural talent is several steps removed from the finished, functioning home.
In some parts of the country homes are purchased from dealers or catalogs. These ready-built houses are factory made in mobile sections and are designed for the general market. The various sections are assembled on the designated site and the house is completely finished by local contractors or building firms.
With the cornerstone of Freemasonry confronting him when he compiled The Constitutions of the Free-Masons at London in 1723, Dr. James Anderson devoted himself extensively to architecture and building. His wisely worded opening paragraph reads:
"ADAM, our first Parent, created after the Image of God, the great architect of the Universe, must have had the Liberal Sciences, particularly Geometry, written on his Heart; for even since the Fall we find the Principles of it in the Hearts of his Offspring, and which, in process of time, have been drawn forth into a convenient Method of Propositions, by observing the Laws of Proportion taken from Mechanism: So that as the Mechanical Arts gave Occasion to the Learned to reduce the Elements of Geometry into Method, this noble Science thus reduced is the Foundation of all those Arts, (particularly of Masonry and Architecture) and the Rule by which they are conducted and performed."
To a present day reader, Dr. Anderson's wording possibly seems somewhat strained and unnatural; that is stilted and archaic. Actually he was essentially expressing himself esoterically and after the manner of the day. He had been influenced unquestionably by writers prior to his time.
An historically significant pioneer in bridging the chasm between astrology and astronomy was Johannes Kepler (1571-1630). In the "Dedication" of his Mysterium Cosmographicum (1596) he states:
"I need not stress how important a witness my subject [astronomy] is for the act of creation, questioned as it is by philosophers. For here we may behold how God, like a masterbuilder, has laid the foundation of the world according to order and law, and how He has measured all things so carefully, that we might well judge it is not nature that human art copies, but that God in His very creation was thinking of the way in which man yet unborn would be building one day.'" (1) *
In his "Preface to the Reader" of the same work (2) he further comments:
"I believe that the causes of most things in the world are to be found in God's love for man. No one would deny that in adorning the dwelling places on earth, God was constantly thinking of their future tenants, since the purpose of the world and of all creation is man." (3)
A few years later, 1619, in his Harmonices Mundi; Kepler makes another observation:
"Geometry existed before the Creation, is co-eternal with the mind of God, is God himself (what exists in God that is not God himself?); geometry provided God with a model for the Creation and was implanted into man, together with God's own likeness - and not merely conveyed to his mind through the eyes." (4)
At the more recent date of 1959 in his complacency shattering Darkness at Noon, the talented engineer and author, Arthur Koestler, advises:
"Geometry is the purest realisation of human reason but Euclid's anioms cannot be proved. He who does not believe in them sees the whole building crash." (5)
It might be stressed at this point that there is no more obvious nor fundamental application of geometry before us than to astronomy and architecture. And having risen to the sublime, let us descend again to the mundane.
This may appear to be a peculiar moment to discuss architect-designed homes. Many people are wondering what kind of family residences will be around in the near future, or whether ever-rising costs may not drive them almost out of existence. Condominiums and apartments are mushrooming at a shocking rate. Inflation and high interest rates pose prohibitive or highly restrictive building conditions. Surveys, studies, and reports of many kinds indicate that an appalling portion of the population simply cannot afford a decent home; let alone an architect designed home.
Regardless of current economics, home ownership is part of the enduring all American dream which young and old families alike anxiously anticipate embracing. For some years now young families especially have accepted the burden of large long-term mortgages as the means of realising their fond personal hopes. Inflation and other adversities have joined every-growing interest rates in jointly stifling the domestic dream of the more recent aspirants.
Actually only those fortunate individuals and families having the requisite financial resources can give serious thought or attention to acquiring an architect-designed residence these days. The great majority of would be homepurchasers must accept the most prosaic approaches to the realization of their hopes and aspirations.
The domestic residence architect provides his client a distinctive professional service. Clients seek his services because they expect something special; they want an attractive and livable new home with a personality and character of its own. Working with an architect should be a pleasant and satisfying experience for each individual as well as the collective family itself.
Realistically the potential client must have enough money (or its equivalent - credit) to finance the anticipated project. Without this mandatory resource the planning process will be extremely difficult and the envisioned building will never be completed.
The client must have some knowledge of the principles and techniques of architectural practice and an understanding of the several professional services offered by the architect. This minimal background is necessary if the client and the architect are to communicate effectively and thereby enable the architect to achieve the results which will make the client satisfied and happy.
The clients' marriage should be reasonably successful; that is compatible and harmonious. The economic, technical artistic and functional features associated with the planned residence will inevitably raise varying individual reactions, especially emotions. In a more recent marriage the spouses are inexperienced in working together in the face of demanding and ultimate consequences. They may also find it most difficult to visualise how they will wish to live 25 years from now; especially since each will probably have a view point contrasting markedly with that of the other.
The location of the proposed building lot as to the neighborhood and its immediate surroundings is of utmost seriousness. These characteristics should be pleasing and satisfactory to both the wife and husband. The proximity of neighbors, the view to be seen from the home, the likely presence of children vs. senior citizens, and other related environmental elements are of real future consequence.
People who have been clients of artist-architects know that a successfully designed home is a highly gratifying personal experience. Architecture is to a truly creative architect a way of life; that is, to some extent, design for art and architecture's sake. The professional practice of architecture calls for something more than just making a living; the client is something more than only another office account.
The creative architect works best with an informed and understanding client who enable the architect to be artistically and imaginatively creative while making a living professionally at the same time. Specifically the architect and the client have as their common interest the final home which each can be proud of in his own way. The architect adds one more work of art to the community and his professional dossier, while the client enjoys the status and satisfaction of living in a custom-built, life enhancing house.
The arts are usually related. The design of a house is somewhat like writing a play. The building site is the stage. The cast of characters are the members of the household who, in their search for the good life, provide the plot. The character and personality of the family reflect themselves in the house and yard since they complement each other.
Initially the architect and the family shape the house and then the house influences the development and growth of the family. Finally the total experience produces the home.
Footnotes
1. Translation given by Werner Heisenberg, The Physicist's Conception of Nature, London. pg.74
2. The full title translated is: A Forerunner to Cosmographical Treatises, containing the Cosmic Mystery of the admirable proportions between the Heavenly Orbits and the true and proper reasons for their Numbers, Magnitudes, and Periodic Motions, given by Arthur Koestler, The Watershed, p. 44
3. Heisenberg, Loc. cit., p. 72
4. Translation given by Arthur Koestler, The Sleepwalkers (1959): and The Watershed (1960), p. 60.
5. Translation by Daphne Hardy, New York, 1941, p. 100.
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Part two of a six part series on Masonic Leadership
by Allen E. Roberts, FPS
The leadership of any progressive organization realizes new leaders must be constantly developed. I prefer to use the term "grown." Why? Because contrary to the thinking of many, leaders aren't born - they are developed, or grown.
Let's be honest, though. The leadership of many organisations and these include Lodges and Grand Lodges, don't really want to develop leaders. They don't want anyone to come along who will "out-shine" them. Proof? How often have you heard a former presiding officer say. "We didn't do that in my year. We're not going to do it now."
"I'm against raising the dues. I didn't have any extra money to spend when I was the Master." I've heard these, and many other such statements within the past month. And the list can go on indefinitely.
Then we must ask: Does the leadership have the patience and perseverance to train new leaders? Do we really grant to spend the money necessary to develop the leaders of tomorrow?
There are two types of leaders in every organisation. Douglas McGregor considers them "Theory X" and "Theory Y" managers, or leaders. "X" believes workers must be coerced and controlled; "Y" feels workers want to work and are capable of self-motivation.
I agree with his thinking, so I call these leaders - Obstructive and Constructive, because this is more descriptive for us non-managerial types. It should be readily apparent that the Obstructive leader will accomplish little, or nothing, in a voluntary organization such as Freemasonry. Unhappily, we have far, far too many of this type throughout the Fraternity.
Constructive leaders are needed if Freemasonry is to prosper. They will put the welfare of the Craft above their own egos. They will surround themselves with "strong" men and assist them in every way to be better than previous administrations. They recognize the world is changing. Differing skills are needed to build the organization. They are willing to take the time and spend the money necessary to gross the leaders of tomorrow.
Space is short, and I believe we all can readily recognise the Obstructionists who surround us, so we'll concentrate on putting Constructive leadership to work.
We quickly learn in management that we get things done through other people. To accomplish anything that's meaningful, we must learn to work with others. To do this we must have a working knowledge of the principles of management. I know it has been claimed management and leadership aren't necessarily the same thing. True. But try being a leader without being somewhat of a manager!
There are thousands of management consultants. All have differing ideas. They must have to survive. But most (never all) do agree there are certain principles a Constructive manager must follow. These are: PLANNING * GOAL SETTING * ORGANIZING * STAFFING * COMMUNICATING * CONTROLLING.
We'll cover each of these at some length in future articles. For now I'll summarize them for our purpose of building leadership in Freemasonry.
PLANNING allows us to accomplish the GOALS we set. Goals must be set realistically. They should not be overly difficult to achieve, nor should they be too simple. They should be established by ALL who will be required to reach them. Your goals may mean nothing to me, but if I help you set them they become mine, also. You can bet your tin whistle I'm going to do everything in my power to reach the goals I set!
Planning is also important in ORGANIZING, STAFFING, COMMUNICATING, and CONTROLLING. In fact, there's no way one can be a leader without knowing how to plan. These are necessary for building leadership. And, frankly, we have a greater nucleus of leaders in Freemasonry than you will find in any other organisation. We have never used them within the Craft as we should. We have been ignoring them and many potential leaders. Why?
Because they have characteristics we've been warned against. They may look too much like "trouble-makers." They're aggressive because they want to do a top-notch job. They seek perfection, but realize they'll never reach it. Here are some other things to look for in the potential leader: He Desires criticism; Seeks responsibility; Has ideas and is creative; Solves problems; Works toward goals; Initiates action; Is independent; Adjusts to reality.
If this doesn't sound like the type of man you want on your team, see if this explanation will convince you.
Constructive criticism, not praise, gives him the evaluation of what he has done. He's tough on himself. He's continuing to try to improve.
He needs responsibility. He wants jobs that have a certain amount of risk (not physical) to them. He wants to be creative; to work toward goals he has helped set. The tougher the job the better.
Solving knotty problems is fun to him, not work. He wants to put the pieces together. He realizes no one man knows all the answers, so he will seek advice with these problems. Then he wants to be left alone to complete the job. He's not a "book and rule" person. He develops short and long range goals for himself. He'll help his superiors plan theirs if they will let him. These goals will be kept flexible so they can be adjusted to reality.
Notice the word "fun." That's the key! If we enjoy what we do, if we have fun doing it, we'll contribute to the success of any organisation. FUN! That's what we've got to have in Freemasonry. My late friend Conrad Hahn put it this way: "Masons should radiate the joy of wisdom." This joy and fun in Freemasonry can come in a countless number of ways.
Festivity was what helped build the Grand Lodge system of Freemasonry in the early 1700's. Exposes frightened the leadership in England. The "fun" was taken out of Masonry. This helped bring about the formation of the "Antients" in 1751. The festive board once again became an important part of the meetings. The reunion of 1813 once again took away the festivity and brought back "formality."
The festive board brought "fun" into Freemasonry in the early days in America. Then all types of organizations "for the betterment of man" sprang up. For varying reasons Masonry went along with much of their preaching. The festive board was abolished. It must be revived if the Craft is to reach its full potential. It will come back with Constructive leadership.
What does a Constructive leader look like? It's hard to say. He'll come in many shapes and sizes. But you can be certain the Constructive leader will always: Give recognition; Encourage creativity; Request assistance, Accept blame; Give credit; Seek advice; Practice participation.
The forefathers of today's Freemasons knew that man must have recognition. (This will be developed at length later.) We're supposed to recognize this even now, aren't we? Don't we hear the Senior Warden tell us he's charged to "Pay the Craft their wages, if any be due." How often this is ignored! Men who have more than earned their "penny" are allowed to leave the Lodge without receiving a pat on the back.
I've said this several times since I put it into the script for my first full length leadership film: "Industry and schools too often use the lord-serf, or cattle baron approach to education. The belief than one man knows everything, a few know a little, but the masses know nothing, is almost as prevalent today as it was a hundred years ago. This is definitely the obstructive approach to education. It prevents growth; it represses creativity."
Every day I find this statement strengthened even in this "enlightened" age. Yet, this approach never has and never will work in Freemasonry. Frequently the members know more than the leaders. This causes boredom to set in. It causes the Lodges and Grand Lodges to disintegrate.
The type of men we have in Freemasonry won't be driven. The Constructive leader knows this. So he requests their help, then leaves them alone to get the job done. He gives them credit for their accomplishment. If anything goes wrong, he takes the blame. Then he'll try to determine why it went wrong so it won't happen again.
Only the obstructionist doesn't seek advice. The work is too complex for anyone to be an expert in everything. This brings about participation. With participation anything can be accomplished, without it success is dubious.
The year before I became Grand Chancellor of the Grand College of Rites I learned a Board had decided the College would be disbanded the year after I served as Grand Chancellor. When I took office I informed the members I had no intention of presiding over a dying organisation. There were many untapped avenues the Fellows in the College could follow. Several were outlined. The Fellows of the College were asked to help. They did. We had an excellent year. And the College has continued to grow. The man I had the pleasure of starting in line five years ago, Jerry Marsengill, will preside over a prosperous and growing Masonic organisation.
It's easy to quit. And too many have given up. This is why we must have Constructive leadership - now. We must start looking for the leaders of tomorrow. We must build the future leadership by using what Constructive leadership is available today.
Freemasonry's problem? It's not the lack of leadership as we often hear. We have an abundance of leaders. We are not using them in Masonry. We're driving them into other organisations where they feel they can serve a useful purpose. Where they can put their creativity to work.
A man uses less than 20% of his creative ability in his avocation. That's what the experts say. I believe its lower. But at least 80% of this creative force is wasted. What an asset this would be in Freemasonry - if we would put it to work!
Let's do it. Let's put Constructive leadership to work. Let's build our Masonic leadership.
(Next: Putting Planning to work for Freemasonry)
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The Parish Guilds of Medieval England
Forerunners of Freemasonry
by Thomas E. Weir, MPS
Modern speculative Freemasonry draws deeply for its ritual, ideals, and organization from the well of the ancient trade guilds of Europe. (1) The trade guilds, in turn, gained much of their heritage from the "Parish Guilds" of England, the grass roots religious and social institutions which flourished in the fourteenth century. It must be remembered that only two of the ancient trade guilds of London were chartered before the fourteenth century, the Fishmongers and the Saddlers, both in 1272. That is not to say that there were not trade guilds before this time. There is evidence of the existence of guilds in Old Testament times. However, the late thirteenth century saw the budding of the guild as a social, religious, and trade organisation, stabilized until the industrial revolution by a royal charter. In the fourteenth century, it came to full flower.
The individually organised and independent local societies played little or no part in sweeping events of the tumultuous reigns of Edward III and Richard II. For all practical purposes, the parish guilds have been overlooked by history even more than they have been overlooked by historians. Nevertheless, their place in history has been silently preserved in the English Public Record Office since 1388.
In that year, the "Merciless" Parliament of the hardpressed and hapless lying Richard II took effective government out of the hands of the twenty-one year old monarch. His uncle, the Duke of Glouchester, and a handful of other lords imposed their will on King and country. Although better known for the slaughter of the King's favorites, this Parliament also passed a law requiring the sheriffs of the counties of England to inventory the parish guilds in their jurisdiction and to send to Westminster as account of the history, administration, and property of each. (2) The optimistic might assume that the interest of the government was in the protection and encouragement of these worthy groups. Unfortunately, the law itself indicates that the purpose of the inventory was to provide a ready source of wealth, should the government wish to take it. (3) The sheriffs made substantial returns of the requested information. Six hundred years later, these reports are still on hand at the Public Record Office in London, the English equivalent of the American National Archives.
Researchers are fortunate not only that the original records exist but that a little over a hundred years ago, Toulmin Smith translated the ordinances of one hundred of these guilds into English. (4) American readers can find a few examples of his work in Edith Rickert's Chaucer's World.
To judge the relationship between the parish guilds and the modern Masonic Fraternity we know, let us examine some of their characteristics.
MEMBERSHIP. Membership in the guild was open to all who lived in the bounds of the parish, both men and women. Priests were excluded from membership, but the guilds employed priests to say prayers at their altar in the parish church and to provide other professional services. In some guilds, employment of a chaplain was to be an essential of the operation of the body "if funds are available." (5) The nobility were excluded from some guilds. They were admitted to others only if they would set aside their precedence and pretentious airs and agree to behave as the other members. (6) Yet other guilds welcomed those of high degree. King Edward III, Queen Phillipa, Queen Anne, and King Richard II were all members of the Fraternity of Corpus Christi in the City of London. (7)
The idea seems to have been that the guilds worked best when the leadership and membership were all on the same level as the ordinary member of the community.
LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION. The guilds, like the trade guilds of the period, were led by a warden or master, assisted by one or two deacons. Each guild was organized within the bounds of a single parish, the area served by a single church. It must be remembered that the term parish in England at this period meant both a religious and a political area. The guilds were attached to and held their meetings within the local churches of their parishes. Each guild was dedicated to one or more patron saints. Since the principal announced purpose of a guild was religious devotion and service to its patron saint, the activities of the guild focused on the mileposts of the Christian year, Christmas. Easter, and the day of the patron figuring prominently in the activities of the guild. (8)
FUNCTIONS. The religious obligations of the guild were set forth in its charter. The charter of the Society of the Holy Trinity in St. Botulph's without Aldersgate included a calendar with daily masses of which sixty-five were "red letter days" of special importance to the guild. (9) Guild members were to attend mass "for the reformation of morals." (10) In addition, the guild furnished wax candles for the church, an important consideration in a day when most candles were made of tallow. The guild might, if its resources permitted, provide the church with a stained glass window or other significant embellishment. (11)
Probably the enduring effect of the parish guild is its impact as a social institution. The most visible aspect of their social activity was the annual dinner on the day of the their patron saint. The importance of the feast is emphasized by the fact that members of the Guild of St. Anthony were to attend church and a dinner on St. Anthony's Day. They were to give one penny each to the church. The dinner cost two shillings and six pence (thirty pence) whether the member was present or absent. (12) Guilds offered an opportunity for expression of feelings and exercise of leadership skills. The practical social work of the guild was to provide care for the sick and poor of the parish and to insure decent burial for the dead. (13)
EMERGENCE OF THE TRADE GUILD AS A RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL INSTITUTION. In 1377, London had fifty-one trade guilds whose members were considered fit to serve on the city council. In less than a hundred years, the number had doubled. In fourteenth century London, the trade guilds and parish guilds existed side by side. The trade guilds played a continuing, important part in the civic and political life of the city and, on occasion, of the nation. The parish guilds were limited to social and religious activities. It is the opinion of D.W. Robertson that the new guilds being organized in this period tended to pattern themselves after the existing parish fraternities. The following example will explain the process.
The Walbrook, which now runs underground past the Mansion House (Lord Mayor's residence) and down the hill to the Thames, used to provide, in more rustic days, an ample supply of water for cleaning and soaking furs. A community of skinners formed in the neighborhood of the Church of St. John Walbrook below Cheap. A parish guild. The Fraternity of Corpus Christi, was formed in the church. The fraternity secured a royal charter in 1327, which not only set forth the usual religious and social regulations, but also specified the standards for finished furs and allowed the fraternity to appoint inspectors to police the fur trade in the city and its suburbs. In 1393, the fraternity became a livery company and, in time, acquired the "Copped Hall" in Dowgate, (14) to serve as headquarters.
CONCLUSION. The parish guilds which were so commonplace in the England of six hundred years ago, were religious, benevolent, and social organizations whose ideals of meeting on the level and acting by the plumb gave them a nobility of purpose and stability of service that are worthy of our notice today. In a time of grinding poverty and uncertainty of life, when few were able to enjoy the dignity inherent in life, except the nobility and princes of the Church, these groups of common people provided spiritual encouragement and social enrichment for their day, and a splendid example of friendship, brotherly love, and charity for ours.
Footnotes
1. Fay Bernard, Revolution and Freemasonry 1680-1800, Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1935. p. 114.
2. Robinson, M. Fethergill: The Spirit of Association, London: John Murray, 1913. p. 16.
3. Robertson. D.W.: Chaucer's London, New York, John Wilet and Sons, p. 168.
4. Smith, Toulmin: English Gilds. The Original Ordinances of More than One Hundred Early English Gilds, London: EETS, 1870. Cf. Rickert. Edith, Compiler, Chaucer's World, New York & London: Columbia Univ. Press. pp. 396-400.
5. Smith. op. cit., p. cxxxiii
6. IBID., p. cxxxix.
7. Robertson. D.W., op. cit., p. 85.
8. Charter, Society of the Holy Trinity in St. Botulph's without Aldersgate, British Library Phillips 3795
9. Ibid.
10. Ordinances of the Fraternity of St. Catherine. 1421, Guildhall Library MS 5535
11. Smiths op. cit., p. cxxxiii.
12. To the Honor of God. St. Mary, St. Anthony, and All Saints. Guildhall Library MS 11570, p. 9.
13. Smith. loc. cit.
14. Op. cit., p. 81, p. 84.
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The Square & Compasses Symbol or Emblem
by Donald J. Van Kirk, MPS
When you place the Square & Compasses on your lapel, are you putting on an emblem or a symbol? Many of our brethren today have forgotten the symbolism and are only reflecting to the outer world the emblem of an organization they belong too. To each of us the Square & Compasses symbolizes something that cannot always be put into words.
To Washington and the Masons of his day, it meant a Lodge room and brethren where they could meet and discuss their daily trials & tribulations without fear of treachery, to others it was a post office or a news-stand where they could get the latest news from home. To many it was a respite from the turmoil of the world which would never be the same after the American Revolution.
Our World history is replete with stories of how the Square & Compasses have saved the lives of brethren either through the Sign of Distress or the recognition of the Symbol itself.
Some men have just enjoyed meeting with other men and the fellowship that ensued while just sharing a common meal.
To the majority of men it means a way of life. We know the meaning of the inner spiritual temple of man and must show that to our uninitiated friends.
We must always chose to serve rather than he served. We feel we are privileged to belong to the Craft and search for the deeper meaning which has held it together, some say for thousands of years.
Is the vast organization of Masonry merely ordained to teach grown-up men of the World the symbolic meaning of a few simple builders tools, or to impress upon us such elementary virtues as temperance and justice? The children of every school are taught these. Or just to enforce such simple principles of morals such as brotherly love, which every church and religion teaches; or of truth, which every infant learns upon his mother's knee. The Craft whose work we are taught to honour with the name of a "science" a "royal art," has surely some larger end in view than merely inculcating the practice of social virtues common to all the world and by no means the monopoly of Freemasons. Of Course, but how do we communicate it? - By living the ritual that we know so well. We all came seeking spiritual rebirth. The first degree is the comprehensive portrayal of the entrance of all men into, first, physical life, and second, spiritual life; or more eminently the degree of self discipline and purification. For he who is not pure in body and mind and who is enslaved by passions and desires of this world, is by the very fact of his uncleanliness, prevented from passing on.
After purification comes contemplation and enlightenment, which are the special subjects of the second degree. Here he is taught to persist with fortitude and with prudence, to develop the highest within him with "Fervency and zeal." The third degree symbolically passes him through a great and striking change: A re-birth a regeneration of his whole nature. He has been "sown a corruptible body"; and in virtue of self-discipline and self-development he has undergone, there has been raised in him "an incorruptible body" and death has been swallowed up in the victory he has attained over himself. How can you feel this meaning of the Craft? By learning the meaning behind the words of the rituals. Take part, live the part, get taken up into the vary nature of it and then you will begin to feel the light.
No one can communicate the deeper things in Masonry to another. Every man must discover and learn them for himself, although a friend or brother may be able to conduct him on the right path of understanding.
Only when we begin to feel the symbolism of Masonry can we truly say "I wear the symbol and not the emblem of our Craft."
References:
Sources of Masonic Symbolism, Alex Horn. 1981; Missouri Lodge of Research.
The Meaning of Masonry, W.L. Wilmhurst; Bell Publishing Co., New York. N.Y.
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GET A NEW MEMBER TODAY!
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by Allen E. Roberts
Universality? Brotherhood? You be the judge. Officials from the United Grand Lodge of England were scheduled to install the officers of the Grande Loge Nationale Francaise. Representatives of the new Grand Lodge of Spain were present. The officers from the UGL refused to enter the tiled quarters. Charitably, the representatives from Spain left. The installation then proceeded.
The Grand Lodge of New Jersey has added another device to its "hotline." Medical supplies and apparatus can be obtained by calling an 800 number. The Grand Lodge of Ohio also has an 800 number to the Grand Secretary's office.
The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania is to be congratulated on many counts. One is the grant that has made Masonic announcements widely available. Few Masonic publications don't carry one of these "advertisements" stating it's a "message from The George Washington Masonic National Memorial." It's through the generosity of the GL of PA these have been made possible.
It was my pleasure to be a guest of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania on December 26-27. I saw my good friend William A. Carpenter, MPS, installed Grand Master. I was also able to congratulate (for what it's worth) Samuel C. Williamson, MPS. for the outstanding job he did while he served as Grand Master for the past two years. Under his leadership Pennsylvania Freemasonry has become much more visible and viable. Without question this progressive leadership will continue. An advance copy of the The Pennsylvania Freemason announces "Project Solomon II" (a registered trademark of the Grand Lodge). Its goal is "the rebuilding of Freemasonry in Pennsylvania within a period of four years to a minimum of 250,000 members." Among other things this is termed "a building plan which will organize the craft; and provide the working tools so that Masons will know what to say and how to effectively communicate with non-masons." You'll be kept informed as the plans progress.
What's going on? A good Brother sent me a front page article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette dated December 9. It claims a warning came on November 26: "The Vatican said in a recent ruling that Catholics who join the Masons would be committing a grave sin and would be barred from Holy Communion." According to Catholic officials in this country, this is a contradiction of what they had been advised in 1974 and again in 1981. Has the Vatican again joined those Protestant denominations opposed to Freemasonry? And at a time when Masonic officials are urging Lodges to welcome Catholics with open arms?
Wonderful! John Black Vrooman, FPS, Life, the long-time editor of The Philalethes, was the first recipient of "The Truman Medal" of the Grand Lodge of Missouri. No one is more deserving of this, or any Masonic honour. John has devoted his life to the cause of Freemasonry. Much of this was spent in the Hospital Visitation program of The Masonic Service Association. In an interview published in The Freemason John put it this way: "I want to earn my bread. We were put in this world not to see what we can get out of it but what we can do for it." Without question, he has followed this philosophy every day of his 85 years.
The Grotto devoted much of its Fall 1983 edition to youth groups connected with Freemasonry. Among the groups mentioned was the "Order of the Golden Key." In speaking of college fraternities it noted: "Historically, the American college fraternity and the United States of America were born in the same year..."Although many of these fraternities had members of the Masonic Fraternity among their founders, and had their rituals written and insignia designed by Masons, only four were founded exclusively by college Masons." These were named as Acacia, 1904; Square and Compass, 1917, Sigma Mu Sigma, 1921; and the Order of the Golden Key, 1925. "The ritual was written by a college Masons for college Masons with the purpose of giving them a comprehensive understanding of the Rites of Initiation and of Masonic philosophy." The ritual was translated from the ritual of a French Table Lodge of 1783. It is an interesting degree. And it's good to note many Lodges throughout the country are holding Table Lodges, with varying rituals.
An intriguing advertisement appeared in The Victorian Mason: "MASONIC PORT, This unique blend of Port, aged in oak, and appropriately labeled 'Masonic Special Reserve Port' will enhance the beauty of any bar, particularly our brethren." This column reported on the outstanding work of Freemasons of Australia during the devastating brush fires. It is good to report further that an appeal for funds to help the victims resulted in contributions of almost $136,000. And "Operation Green Thumb" by the Grand Lodge asked its members to "TUB A SHRUB, POT A PLANT, SOW A SEED." As a result Victoria is beginning to become green again.
Worth thinking about? During a meeting of a Philalethes Society Chapter it was noted that thousands of dollars are spent each year to send delegates to Masonic conferences. These delegates are usually Grand Lodge officials. At these conferences some excellent papers are presented. The discussions are usually timely. Those present should be enlightened. The problem? The money is too often wasted. The lessons aren't sifted down to the local level. What is spread at these conferences is chopped off before the delegate returns to his jurisdiction. What can be done about it? I'll try to address this during one of the articles on "Leadership."
A Masonic temple was saved by the timely intervention of DeMolays, the Grand Master of Masons in Indiana notes in The Indiana Freemason. During a meeting a peculiar odor was noticed. A search found an inside wall in the dining room smouldering. The fire department responded quickly, and included many off-duty firemen. "The fire was extinguished and a major disaster averted," wrote the Grand Master.