The Builder Magazine
September 1915 - Volume I - Number 9
REGENSBURG STONEMASON'S REGULATIONS
(A NEW TRANSLATION FROM THE GERMAN)
BY BRO. F. W. KRACHER, OF THE DEPARTMENT OF GERMAN, STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
CONCLUDED.
(As before stated, the question with regard to the old German Stonemasons is, whether or not they were Freemasons, and opinions are divided. For the benefit of discussion we venture to offer this conjecture--we do not call it a theory--that they stood midway between the Guilds and the Freemasons. If we may believe Findel and others, the Stonemasons seem to have been in possession of the first Degree of Masonry, or the-substance of it--though one may hesitate to accept all the details, as given by Findel as to their ceremonies of initiation. Whether they had anything more--the Hiramic Legend, for example--has never been established. Perhaps they were men employed by the Cathedral Builders, and entrusted by them with the first principles of Masonry--as many think was the case with Egyptian Masons in respect to the Mysteries--and as such continued to exist and work even after the parent Order declined. At any rate, we shall be glad to have the Brethren examine this conjecture for what there is in it, putting it to the severest kind of test in behalf of the truth about the German Stonemasons.--The Editor.)
27. A master having charge of a book of the order shall take care of it according to his vow to the order. He must not copy it nor have it copied by someone else, he must not give it or lend it to any person, so that the book may always remain with the craft as the workers decided. But, if a member of the order should need to know a paragraph or two, these may be given to him by the master in writing. The master shall arrange to have the rules read aloud to all workers in the shops once every year.
28. If the question arise whether any member under complaint shall be expulsed, the master of the district shall not act independently. Two other masters who are in possession of the written rules, and who are empowered by their brethren, shall be summoned so that the council is made up of three. To this council shall be added the workers of the shop in which the trouble arose. The decision of the three masters, supported by the majority of the workers shall then be accepted by all the craftsmen.
29. In case two or more masters of the order should quarrel over affairs not directly connected with stone-masonry, this quarrel shall not be brought before any other court but that of the order, which shall decide in accordance with their understanding. The decision must, however, be submitted to the cities in which the quarrel took place, for approval.
30. That the ritual of the order may be properly observed with divine worship and other necessary ceremonies, each master shall donate to the order one "gulden" at his initiation. Hereafter he is to pay four "blappart" (small silver coin) annually into the treasury of the order. Each craftsman also pays four "blapparts"; the same every apprentice after finishing his term.
31. Each master and workman belonging to the order and employed in a shop, shall be in possession of a savings-box. Into this box shall be dropped one penny each week. The money is to be collected by the master and handed to the order once a year. With it shall be paid the church services and other expenses of the order.
32. All masters who have such boxes but in whose shops there is kept no book-(of account) of the order, shall hand it to the master who has the books once a year, and a church-service is to follow. If a master or craftsman dies in a shop where no book is kept, this must be reported to the next master who has a book of the order. After being informed of such a death, he shall have a mass read for the benefit of the departed soul, and the master and craftsmen who had worked with the deceased are to pay for it.
33. Any expense caused to a master or craftsman by the order shall be refunded out of the order's treasury; may it be little or much. If any one were to be brought before court in affairs pertaining to the order, or if one were thereby thrown into need, all masters and craftsmen should aid him in accordance with their vow to the order.
34. In case a master or craftsman becomes ill, or has to discontinue the work and is, thereby, confronted by need, he shall receive assistance from those masters having charge of the order's treasury. The one receiving help must, however, promise to repay all money received after his recovery. In case of death, so much of the clothing and other articles left behind, shall be sold, as is necessary to cover the debt.
This is the regulation book of the watchers (foremen) and craftsmen.
35. No master shall employ a craftsman who has induced a woman to adultery, or who leads an immoral life with women; who does not go to confession at least once a year as the church prescribes, or who has the evil reputation of gambling his clothes away.
36. If any workman ask unnecessarily for a leave of absence, he shall forfeit his privilege for another leave for one whole year. This applies to workmen in the shops and also such employed on the buildings.
37. If any master employs a traveling craftsman and wishes to discharge him, he may do so on a Saturday or the evening of pay-day, so that the man may be able to travel on. The same shall be done by a craftsman who wishes to leave. This rule does not hold good if just cause was given by either side.
38. No craftsman shall approach any one else for work except it be the master of the job or the overseer, and never without his master's or the overseer's knowledge.
Regulation of the Servants (Common Laborers.)
39. A master shall not employ any laborer who has not been born in wedlock. He must, therefore, endeavor to inform himself accordingly by asking the man whether his father and mother were really and truly married.
40. No builder or master shall make any laborer, who is still serving as an apprentice, a "parlierer" (watchman.)
41. No builder or master shall make any laborer a "parlierer" although he may have served his term as an apprentice, but who has not at least traveled one year.
42. If one has served as assistant to a mason and comes to a master, in order to learn from him the craft, he shall not be accepted as an apprentice unless he is to serve as such an assistant for three years.
43. No builder or master shall employ anyone as laborer and raise him to a finished apprentice within less than five years.
44. Should it happen that an apprentice leaves his master during his term without just cause, that apprentice shall not be employed by any other master. No fellow craftsman shall support him or associate with him in any way unless he can show testimonial that he has served the regular time and met all the requirements of the master. No one shall buy himself free before the time, unless he entered into marriage with the consent of his master, or who has some other just cause which may force him or the master to do so.
45. Should a laborer think that he is not treated rightly by his master for whom he is working, he may bring complaint in the place where he is at work, so that he may receive instruction and the wrong may be righted in accordance with the rules of the order.
46. Each master who has a book (permission) from the district of Strassburg, shall pay each Christmas a half gulden into the treasury of Strassburg. And this shall be done so long until the debt is paid which stands against that treasury.
47. Any master who has a book and whose work has completed so that he cannot employ his helpers any longer, shall send the book and all the money which belongs to the order to the builder at Strassburg.
48. On St. Marc's day, in the year of our Lord one thousand four hundred and fifty nine, four weeks after Easter, the following was decided upon in the meeting at Regensburg: The builder Jost Dotzinger, of Worms, in charge of the cathedral of "Our Lady" at Strassburg, shall be the highest judge of our order. The same shall be true in the case of his successors at the same work. (A similar decision was given before at Spyr, at Strassburg, and on the ninth day of April, in the year fourteen hundred and sixty four again at Spyr.) Master Lorenz Spenning, of Vienna, shall be the highest authority at Vienna for the whole country.
The present masters at Strassburg, Vienna, and Cologne, these three, or their successors shall constitute the highest authority of the order. They cannot be displaced without good and just cause.
49. This is the district which belongs to Strassburg: All the country above the Mosel; the country of the Franks down to the Thuringian forest, and Babenburg to the monastery near Eystetten; from Eystetten to Ulm, from Ulm to Augsburg, to the Adelburg near land of the Welsh (Flance); Meisen, Thuringia, Saxony, Frankfurt, and Hesse, and also Swabia shall be obedient to him.
To the district of Master Lorenz Spenning, builder of the cathedral St. Stephan, at Vienna, belong: Lambach, Styria, Werckhusen, Hungaria (along the Danube.)
Master Steffen Hurder, builder of St. Vincent at Bern, shall control the cantons.
Master Conrad, of Cologne, builder of the cathedral at that place, and all his successors, shall have charge over the rest of the shops which are now in the order or may, in a future period, be admitted to the same
50. Any master, parlierer, and fellow-craftsman, acting contrary to a secret or recorded paragraph, shall be called before such a council and reprimanded, if the complaint is founded on good authority. Any punishment meted out must be obediently complied with, as the vow demands. If one disregards the call without a good reason, he shall be fined in absentia. If he refuses to pay he may be brought before a secular or ecclesiastical court which shall decide what ought to be done to him.
51. Whoever wants to join this order, must vow to keep all rules which are written in this book or may be added in the future. Should the emperor, king, prince or any other authority, rightly or wrongly, object to his belonging to the order, he may act in such a manner that no harm can come to him. Any business with the order can be arranged thru fellow-workmen who are members of the order.
52. If it is every Christian's duty to work at his soul's salvation, it is much more so a duty of every master and craftsman whom the almighty God has endowed with the ability, to erect churches and other buildings and, thereby, to earn their living. Thankfulness should fill their hearts, and prompted by their Christian nature they should endeavor to increase the divine services, and by doing so earn their soul's salvation. Therefore, in honor of God Almighty, his worthy mother Mary, all the saints, and especially in honor of the holy four, and for the benefit of the souls of all persons who belong to this order or may join in the future, we, as stone-masons, have agreed upon these rules for ourselves and all our descendants: We will have celebrated one mass every year at the time dedicated to the holy four, namely in the munster at Strassburg, and there in the Chapel of Our Lady. This mass shall be one for our souls with all the ceremonies belonging to it.
53. This has been decided upon on the ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand four hundred and sixty four, in the representative meeting at Spyr, etc." (Then follows the names of the masters of the different delegations and their signatures and subscriptions. )
THE LANDMARKS OF MASONRY
BY BRO. SILAS H. SHEPHERD, WISCONSIN
CONCLUDED.
(The study of the Landmarks of Masonry, by Brother Shepherd, is a piece of real Masonic Research, and is valuable as showing the confusion that obtains among the several Grand Jurisdictions in this country in the matter of Landmarks. In this connection, the Brethren might re-read the article on the subject, suggested by an essay of the late Brother T.S. Parvin, in the February issue of The Builder. It is interesting to note how many of the Grand Lodges adopt the list of landmarks as formulated by Dr. Mackey, and as interesting to observe how many are content with the unwritten law of the Order. For ourselves, if required to state what we believe to be the real Landmarks of Masonry, it would be after this fashion:--The Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood of Man, the Moral Law, the Golden Rule, and the Hope of a Life Everlasting.--The Editor.)
Maine-- Maine has no legislation as to what landmarks are. They follow Josiah Drummond's ideas.
Maryland-- Maryland has no list of landmarks. Art. II Constitution of 1906 defines the duty of the Grand Lodge; among other duties is one "to preserve and maintain the Ancient Landmarks." Article XXIX reads: "In all cases not particularly provided for in this Constitution, the Grand Lodge shall adhere to, and be governed by the Ancient Rules and Regulations of Masonry."
Massachusetts-- Massachusetts has never adopted any list of landmarks. They "feel safer in cultivating a spirit of reverence for the ancient customs and practices of the Order" than in attempting to define the Landmarks.
Michigan-- Michigan has no list of landmarks. The following is taken from the preface of the Michigan Blue Book of 1911: "The first place in the volume-- the place of honor--has been assigned to the "Ancient Charges and Regulations" not because they are, in form, binding on us, but because they are universally recognized as the beginning and basis of all the "written law" of the Craft; and also because they embody many of those "Ancient Landmarks" which give "metes and bounds" to the Rules and Regulations of Symbolic Masonry."
Minnesota-- Minnesota has adopted Mackey's twenty-five landmarks.
Mississippi-- The Old Charges and Regulations of 1723 are printed as a part of the Constitution of 1903. Frederic Speed enumerates eight landmarks which are sub-divided into many sections and were found among the papers of the late P. G. M. Giles M. Hillyer.
Missouri-- Missouri has no list of landmarks. Bro. John D. Vincil, conceded to be one of the best posted men on jurisprudence, disclaimed knowing what the landmarks were.
Montana-- Montana has the customary exception to its powers, viz: "Provided, always, that the ancient landmarks of the order will be held inviolate." Montana has no list of landmarks.
Nebraska-- Nebraska has never decided on any particular list of landmarks.
Nevada-- Nevada has a list of 39 landmarks which were adopted in 1872.
New Hampshire-- New Hampshire never officially defined what the landmarks are.
New Jersey-- New Jersey has a list of 10 landmarks which were adopted in 1903. New Jersey Proceedings of 1903 contains an interesting report on these 10 landmarks by the Committee on Jurisprudence.
New Mexico-- New Mexico has adopted Mackey's 25 landmarks.
New York-- "The Ancient Landmarks are those principles of Masonic belief, government, and polity which are the only part of Masonic Law or rule that may never be altered or disturbed, and such of them as are lawful to be written are usually, but not wholly, engrafted in a written Constitution." (Const. G. L. of N. Y. 1913.) On page 63 and 64 of the same book are the landmarks as defined by P. G. M. Joseph D. Evans, 10 in number.
North Carolina-- North Carolina has no list of landmarks, nor legislation defining them.
North Dakota-- North Dakota has no legislation defining or enumerating landmarks. They include in their Constitution the Ancient Charges and Regulations.
Ohio-- The Ohio Code states that "the Old Charges contain the fundamental laws" which is practically giving them sanction as landmarks. The Old Charges are a part of the Code.
Oklahoma-- At the Feb. 1915 Communication of the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma, they acknowledged and practically adopted the 25 landmarks of Mackey.
Oregon-- Oregon has adopted Mackey's 25 landmarks.
Pennsylvania-- The Ahiman Rezon contains the following on landmarks: "The Grand Lodge is the supreme Masonic authority except that it cannot change, alter or destroy the Ancient Landmarks." "The Past Grand Masters shall be regarded as the conservators of the ancient usages, customs and Landmarks." No landmarks are enumerated.
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations-- Rhode Island has no list of landmarks. The following is from the preamble to the Constitution of 1897: "Every Grand Lodge has inherent power and authority to make local ordinances and new regulations, for its own benefit and the good of Masonry in general--provided, always, that the ancient landmarks be carefully preserved."
South Carolina-- South Carolina has adopted Mackey's list of 25 landmarks.
South Dakota-- South Dakota Constitution of 1912 states that the Landmarks as defined by Dr. Mackey have binding force on South Dakota Masons.
Tennessee-- Tennessee has a list of 15 landmarks which are almost identical with those enumerated by Simons
Texas-- Chapter 2, Article 1, Sec. 4, of the Texas Code reads: "The Book of Constitutions of Masonry originally prepared by Dr. Anderson, approved A.D. 1723, contains the system of ancient laws and customs of the Craft, and is recognized as binding on points where this Constitution is silent; the old charges therein shall be appended entire hereto." This is the only light we can obtain on what the Grand Lodge of Texas thinks the landmarks are.
Utah-- Utah holds the "Old Charges of a Freemason" to be the landmarks. Christopher Diehl, a well known correspondence writer for years, had a list of landmarks which he submitted to the Grand Lodge of Utah; but they were never adopted.
Vermont-- Vermont adheres to the list of 25 landmarks of Mackey.
Washington-- Washington Constitution of 1913, Sec. 13, says: The action of Freemasons in the Grand Lodge and in their Lodges, and in their individual capacity is regulated and controlled 1. By Ancient Landmarks, and other unwritten laws of Masonry. 2. By Written- Constitutions, and general or special legislation. 3. By Usages, Customs and judicial action."
"Sec. 14 Landmarks.--The Ancient Landmarks include those principles of Masonic government and polity which should never be altered or disturbed."
No landmarks are enumerated.
West Virginia-- West Virginia has a list of 7 landmarks, a report on landmarks for the information of the brethren is given first place in the West Virginia Masonic Text Book. It contains lists by Mackey, Simons, Morris and Pike.
Wyoming-- Wyoming Grand Lodge considers the landmarks too deep a subject to comment on and does not attempt an enumeration of them.
Wisconsin-- Wisconsin has no legislation defining or enumerating the landmarks, but gives Mackey's 25 in code for their information of the brethren.
To recapitulate we find District of Columbia Minnesota New Mexico Oklahoma Oregon South Dakota South Carolina Vermont Virginia adopt Mackey's list of 25. Alabama Louisiana Mississippi Ohio Texas Utah
hold the old charges to contain the landmarks. Those having list of landmarks of their own and the number are Connecticut ...............Lockwood's 19 Kentucky .....................Grant's 54 New Jersey ...........................10 Nevada ...............................39 Tennessee ............................15 West Virginia .........................7
The others all hold that the landmarks are the most important and fundamental law of Masonry, but do not consider a list made by any man or body of men sufficiently accurate to apply to them.
In concluding this compilation we can hardly refrain from expressing a thought or so which has forced itself upon us.
The live questions of Masonic Jurisprudence are most all affected by the views entertained in regard to landmarks; take for example the question of physical qualification. To those who hold the view of Mackey, Lockwood, Simons and others that it is a landmark it appears quite different from the view taken by those who hold that the only landmarks are the fundamental principles of Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Man.
We can hardly grasp the logic of why the physical qualification should be deemed a landmark and leave to the local custom column the rule that an entered apprentice serve seven years before being passed. They were both the necessary rules of an operative Craft and the need of a longer apprenticeship would appear to be greater than the strict conformity.
Again the prerogatives of a Grand Master largely stand or fall on interpretation of the landmarks, as do also our recognition of other Grand Bodies.
We might make many comparisons and comments but believe that the landmarks, like the history and symbolism of Masonry, must be left mostly to individual interpretation.
For those who wish to read on landmarks and have not already done so we would refer them to:
Mackey's "Masonic Jurisprudence." Simon's "Principles of Masonic Jurisprudence." Lockwood's "Masonic Law and Practice." Maine Masonic Text Book. Macoy-Oliver Encyclopedia. Kansas Code 1913. Bassett notes. Kentucky Book of Const. 1910. Grant notes. Iowa Proceedings 1888-1889. Ars. Q. C. Vol. VII, XXIV, XXV. Mississippi Const. 1903. New Jersey Proc. 1903. Code of Dist. of Col. 1905, p. 191.
The correspondence reports of Bro. Joseph Robbins of Ill., and Bro. Upton of Wash., are rich in comments.
SUGGESTIONS ON TEMPLE PLANNING, CONSTRUCTION AND FINANCE
BY BRO. R.I. CLEGG, PRESIDENT, THE MASONIC TEMPLE ASSOCIATION, CINCINNATI, OHIO
AT a guess I suppose there are easily in excess of one hundred million dollars worth of Masonic temples in this United States. Do you doubt it? Figure it up for yourself. Take your own locality. Compare the ratio of the national population with the total number of persons in your vicinity. Do the same with the amount invested in local sites and buildings and their equipment. Appraise the property on its present sales prospects. What are your findings? Is the above figure really not a modest estimate?
Evidently then, the subject is a most important one from mere financial consideration alone. But to take care of what we have already built is only a part of the problem involved. Not a Masonic paper giving free account of individual lodge and Grand lodge activities fails to tell in nearly every issue of building operations. They grow apace.
Look over the proceedings of your Grand Lodge wherever it may be. Note the laying of cornerstones and the dedications. Why, right here, within an hour's ride on the street cars from where these words are written, six new buildings are actually in prospect of being added to or substituted for those now occupied by the fraternity.
With all this buoyant liveliness throughout the land in Masonic building developments we might expect to find on hand an abundant stock of information readily obtainable about every angle of Masonic temple architecture and finance. Such is not the case. Few know anything about it and fewer still tell what they know.
One far-sighted Mason of high official standing did order that plans should be deposited at his office of every structure built by the brethren under him. It was a wise thought. But it was never taken seriously to heart. Few complied with his request.
Nor have I heard of the same demand being made elsewhere although the plans, the stockholders' regulations, the directors' by-laws, sundry characteristic annual reports, copies of charters, details of building expenses and of maintenance charges - these and other similar items easily occur to me as being very useful in finding a safe path for those who are new to the road. And few there be who in the natural course of events build more than one Masonic temple.
Many collect postcards of Masonic temples. Never have I found or even heard of any ascertaining temple costs and overhead expenses as diligently.
Inspectors critically follow the "work" and hesitate not to comment thereon. Alas, there are no masonic inspectors to bring in like fashion to temple managers the combined building knowledge of the Craft.
Not for the world would I urge that we start an unseemly wrangle about whether the executive officers of a Grand body should or should not go, or how far they may properly penetrate, into the private affairs of their subordinate branches. Some of the Brethren are touchy on these points. It does indeed bear tenderly on democratic independence and if the officialism became more pronounced it might by many be resented. As long as dues are paid, and while ceremonies are conducted in accordance with the prescribed forms, there is no excuse, say they, for further intrusion. Maybe so. Yet, after all, how many a sad termination of a too impetuous enterprise could have been avoided had the planners thereof been fortified by the dearly bought experience of others.
Furthermore, let me venture upon only a few of the comments that come to mind of the less complimentary aspects of temple building. Perhaps we may not then be so inclined to stand jealously upon the strict etiquette of lodge independence - much as I too esteem it. After a failure or two has been examined there is the more tendency to agree with the provision for some quickening and stiffening of an official oversight.
Does any lodge today lose out by negligence in the matter of bonds or insurance without everyone of us feeling shame and resentment ? And supervision is in many directions being officially exerted to check up existing conditions in these two particulars. Perhaps official superintendence could go further and with profit to all concerned.
Do not guess that this is any hasty assumption. There is a monumental building well known to thousands of the Craft where the name "Masonic" is blazoned on the sign of a saloon at the ground floor. Another "Masonic" building long had a series of theatrical exhibitions presented in its auditorium that were the despair of the local fraternity. The foregoing troubles were doubtless due to the drawing of unwise leases or in some similar manner losing the direct government of the premises.
One Masonic building has shown an excess expense per cubic foot of construction away by far over any other. This is a matter of architectural temerity that was in due course unpleasantly adjusted by the bond-holders.
A Masonic building hopefully erected as a dividend producer to serve a worthy charity has been a load upon the fraternity that seems as doubtful of soon being lifted as was Sinbad the Sailor from the shoulders of the Old Man of the Sea. This misfortune was occasioned by an excess of faith not ballasted by ample financial resources, but will probably be ultimately successful if given plenty of time and unremitting support.
There are other aspects of course. These are but a few typical and widely separated cases.
Of the devotion and self-sacrifice of the brethren in backing up building enterprises too much cannot be said. In one city they have I am told taxed themselves for $12 a year apiece as lodge dues. Surely the best of temples is deserved by them. At another city the brethren are paying $8 a year dues to their lodge to meet the expenses of a new home.
And in one more case I recall that the bodies Masonic from Blue Lodge to Shrine all pooled their funds, pledged their joint revenues, put the curb to all their banquets, and at last reports were emerging rapidly from the depths of a big debt.
Evidently there are ways and other ways of getting at the subject and of making a practical and a profitable study of it. Fain would I linger with this financial side of the discussion but the topic is ever a delicate one and I feel barred from entering too minutely into its consideration. Space, also, is precious and therefore I must be brief.
Books on theatres, churches and office buildings, are found in almost every public library. Our United States Government has thoroughly classified and tabulated its public buildings and their costs in published form. Volumes similarly prepared on Masonic temples are rarities as unknown as the dodo or the roc or the unicorn. So here I have jotted down a few hints about certain angles of the situation that may help those who have occasion to probe into the question, and there is really no telling when the trouble may infect any one' neighborhood.
You will of course get an architect and it is best to get him early, and the best is never too good. Manifestly he should be a member of the Craft. There are many things to be discussed that cannot very well be freely talked over unless the architect is one of you. This point is all the more pertinent with the large undertaking. Sometimes before you get to the architect there are a few items that can be considered.
And first as to location: If you put your temple in the center of your town you will pay that much more for the site. But then it does get the eye of your fellow citizens and of visitors. It is pre-eminently an advertisement and should be prominently and favorably so. Everybody who "belongs" to the downtown temple is then equally treated as to the location and his travels thereto. Erect your temple in the outskirts and then some brother may have to come into the city from the suburbs and be forced to travel from the one extreme to the other end, to go all over town in fact to get to lodge.
When the far-off brother has a few neighbors as fellow members you may some day find that these long distance brethren are filing an application for another lodge to be instituted nearer to their homes. This can be a very proper thing to do but if there is a pressing mortgage on your lodge building you perhaps will not approve of their action so warmly as you would if the loan had been liquidated before they had made a move to leave you.
But don't rashly assume offhand that being in the center of town necessarily builds up your lodge the more rapidly or that a downtown location is on that account a winner by reason of central attractions.
Let us examine a little history in such matters as they affect a certain city where the facts are within ready reach. Looking over the records for several years I find that lodges in the center of the city are paying less rent than those elsewhere but they also grow less rapidly. One chapter four miles from the main business section shows three times the growth in membership during the past six years over either of the two downtown Royal Arch bodies.
Mind you I am not in this discussion considering particularly whether large or small bodies are best or whether rates of growth slow or fast are most desirable in the long run. I have heard the argument that a Masonic temple should be given a central location because among other reasons it will there attract a larger attendance and the bodies will build up the more quickly. So far I have failed to find sufficient evidence to prove this contention. In fact I am inclined to believe the growth of lodges depends upon other factors to a large extent.
As to determining the rents for Masonic temples, you can find numerous varieties. One temple management has a cubic-foot specification so that occupancy of certain rooms having higher ceilings automatically increases the rents when these particular rooms are in use. A rent based upon relative areas, a square-foot rule, would be an obvious expedient and is probably common. The former case is somewhat rare I dare say but is by no means lacking of ingenuity in seeking an equitable solution of an awkward problem.
There are also to be found stipulations; e. g. that when a certain number of hours have elapsed during a communication an additional charge is made because you are then overlapping what is deemed a regular meeting; and again where a specified number of regular meetings are alloted the tenant with a charge for all in excess thereof.
As to the amounts collected as rents they run up a long range. The highest rent so far heard of by me was about $2,000 per year for a lodge room and the necessary ante-rooms. As might be expected there were large requirements in the number of members and of meetings in this instance.
A Commandery demands plenty of locker facilities and often has a Red Cross room as well as the Chamber of Reflection. On this basis the rented area is large and the rent rises proportionately. If this equipment is used by but one or two bodies there is standing idle a big space for a considerable part of the year. This can be as much as a fourth or fifth of your building. Should you figure your rents in the ratio of building space allowance the amount soars for the Commandery. This circumstance is mentioned because rents easily become matters of argument and their adjustment is seldom equally acceptable to all parties.
A Chapter with the building equipped peculiarly for its uses will also find that the rent seems disproportionate to what may be charged for Lodges in the same structure. In all probability this variation may be made worse to the superficial observer because the number of Chapters is probably much less than that of the Lodges meeting in that building. Every night in the week may be assigned to a Lodge meeting in the temple of a large city or town while but two or three might be used by Chapters.
Special facilities must have an influence on the rent if you try fairly to fix the expenses. Therefore I am led to suggest to builders of temples that simplification is very desirable. Can the work of the Commandery not all be done in the one room? Many of the asylums have suitable stages capable of being more freely employed for any and all purposes that are now demanding additional rooms. Obviously I cannot discuss this question as thoroughly in print as I could well desire. My Templar brethren will understand and allow for this restraint upon me.
Somewhat the same thing could be said of the Chapter room. Any ceremony performed outside the main room is ritualistically wrong I humbly venture to aver. It cannot edify those who see it not. And I fear it cannot but lack the restraining control of the principal officers who for the time being like the rest of the audience are kept in the dark as to what is transpiring.
That all the brethren should see what is going on is I believe a fundamental requirement in temple planning. In several cases as I have here intimated it can be bestowed by a suitable use of the stage or platform with such additional accessories as may be built into and be a part of the main room.
Rhode Island bars the stereopticon, I am told. Certainly I never saw it used in my visits there. However I cannot say that the crudely painted canvas or "carpet" that is often used in lodges is any better than the blotchy colored slides that may take their place. Either is deplorable. A higher standard of excellence is desirable. May I not say so even more emphatically ?
Why not build in these symbols? Make them an integral part of your Lodge and Chapter interiors. Paint them in befitting beauty on the walls or carve them prominently and permanently where they can be shown the initiate with pride. Surely not in darkness but with enlightenment ought they to be appropriately presented and thus impressively and clearly displayed.
Palestine Lodge of Detroit has reproduced for itself the Chapter room of the famous cathedral at York. Its fine beams and lofty columns, its built-in organ, its ample scope with its compactness and convenience are admirably contrived and accomplished.
The Lodge rooms in the temple in New York City are also very charmingly designed and executed as are those at Philadelphia and elsewhere.
Appended are some references to published descriptions of Masonic temples and Shrine auditoriums found in leading architectural and building trade journals.
Masonic temple at Washington, D. C., AMERICAN ARCHITECT AND BUILDING NEWS, April 15, 1908.
Brooklyn Masonic temple, ARCHITECTS AND BUILDERS MAGAZINE, August, 1909.
Masonic Hall, New York City, ARCHITECTS AND BUILDERS MAGAZINE, Dec., 1909.
Tuscan temple, St. Louis, BRICKBUILDER, July, 1909.
Brooklyn Masonic temple plan, BRICKBUILDER, July, 1909.
Masonic temple, Washington, D. C., BRICKBUILDER, July, 1909.
Irem temple, Wilkes-barre, Pa., BRlCKBUILDER, July, 1909.
Masonic temple, Colorado Springs, Col., BRICKBUILDER, July, 1910.
Masonic temple, Camden, N. Y., BRICKBUILDER, Sept., 1913.
Masonic temple, Memphis, Tenn., BRICKBUILDER, Sept., 1914.
Masonic temple, El Paso, Texas, WESTERN ARCHITECT, Feb., 1914.
Shrine temple, Jacksonville, Fla., WESTERN ARCHITECT, June, 1914.
This list is by no means exhaustive but is fairly representative. A complete showing is desirable but will take more of my time than can just now be devoted to it.
I am also reminded that these observations are extending to considerable length, much more so than I had intended. Yet the subject is a prolific one and of it much could be said. There comes to mind temples whose acoustics are poor, where the ventilation and heating has not been deemed to have, as it undoubtedly does have, a vital influence upon the hearing excellencies of an auditorium. There are lodge rooms where the lighting is execrable. There is one in particular where the officer most frequently heard must constantly face masses of light in the direct line of vision. Nothing can be more irritating. Of halls poorly provided for entrance and exit there are not a few. But the majority are noble of appearance and conducive to the dignified presentation of our ceremonies.
Of the financing of temples little has been said. Much could have been recited. It is indeed an important undertaking Wise are they who take no step therein without the advice of a competent attorney, and remembering always that corporation law and realty practice are specialties in which many lawyers and businessmen are not adepts. Care is essential therefore at every step. Leave nothing to chance and take nothing for granted.
----o----
HOW BEAUTIFUL
How beautiful the thought that men
From the tools of their employ
Could make them teach the grander things
That gave them highest joy, -
That gave the substance of all good,
That made life's duties plain,
That gave the world a brotherhood
And forged its golden chain.
How beautiful, as we turn back
The written scroll of time
To find that need made common cause
For things the most sublime, -
The things that lighten every load,
That bring to life a joy
Unknown save where these "working tools"
Gave men their chief employ.
How beautiful to know that while
Religions cannot save
Nor creeds, nor yet beliefs, nor all
That may the soul enslave,
That men, in guilds, most practical
And to each other true
Have set the pace for all the world
What it should be and do.
How beautiful, in this our day
When the operative is past,
That there remains with us the gold
Their labors have amassed, -
The priceless wealth of toilers true
Merged in a brotherhood
That emulated through the years
Will mean man's greatest good.
- L. B. Mitchell, Michigan.
----o----
THE ASCENDING SCALE
Symbolically toward the skies
The Masonic temple rises,
And we patronize its courts to prize
And win still more its prizes.
- L.B.M.
----o----
THE FOUNT OF YOUTH
Brother, you will never, never be
Nearer the fount of perpetual youth
Than you are right here in Masonry, -
Brotherly love, relief and truth.
- L.B.M.
ANOTHER VIEW OF "THE GREAT WORK"
BY BRO. T.M. STEWART, OHIO
NOT in the spirit of hostile criticism, but in the kindly spirit of one Brother to another, I wish to refer to the criticism of the book, entitled, "The Great Work," in the June number of The Builder. I have not only read, but carefully studied, "The Great Work," and the other two books of the Harmonic series, and I do not, after a careful reading of the criticism referred to, find myself sharing the critic's views as illustrated in the comments made on the two short extracts quoted.
In the first place, let me call attention to the mistake of confusing the title of the book with the author's work as writer or editor. The treatise is characterized as "more curious than great," but the book does not claim to be great. "The Great Work" is "The Living of a Life" in conformity with one's own best intelligence and highest ideals of Equity, Justice and Right at any given time. This is the teaching of the criticised book, "The Great Work," and all its students soon learn to discriminate between those things which are purely personal and selfish, and those things which make for a greater unfoldment of one's own capacities and powers. In this way learning by doing, and thus by experience discovering how difficult it is to "live the life."
In the criticism we read: "The writer of "The Great Work" is all the while handicapped by the idea that he is the keeper of a wonderful treasure of truth, which must be carefully guarded from the eye of the profane, lest it be betrayed into the hands of those who are not worthy or well qualified to receive it."
But the handicap is not of the making of "The Great School," nor is it the fault of the author of "The Great Work." Let me quote from the book, "The Builders," by Joseph Fort Newton, as to guarded secrets:
"God shields us from premature ideas, said the gracious and wise Emerson; and so does nature. She holds back her secrets until man is fit to be entrusted with them, lest by rashness he destroy himself. Those who seek find, not because the truth is far off, but because the discipline of the quest makes them ready for the truth, and worthy to receive it. By a certain sure instinct, the great teachers of our race have regarded the highest truth less as a gift bestowed than as a trophy won. Everything must not be told to everybody. Truth is a power, and when held by untrue hands it may become a plague."
Now contrast the foregoing with the following quotation from "The Great Work" to discover exactly the same spirit in regard to secret teachings:
"The questions referred to (why secrecy) have been put by the skeptical, the critical, and the hypercritical; without taking into account the fact that unusual knowledge is obtainable only under specific conditions which may also be unusual. Some of the (questions) are as follows:
"1. If there be Masters, or Wise men, why do they not present themselves to the world and prove their identity as such ?
"2. Why withhold anything from anybody, if it is true?
"3. If the men who possess it are honest, and the knowledge they possess is of value to humanity, what excuse or reason can there possibly be for 'Secrets' or for 'secrecy?'
"4. If the School of Natural Science has, in truth, solved the sublime problem of another life, has discovered the Principle of Nature to which that problem is related, and has wrought out a definite and scientific formulary in conformity with which others may solve the same great problem for themselves, and if all this wonderful knowledge is as important for the welfare of humanity as it would seem to be then why has not the Great School given it to the world long ago? In other words, why hide their light under a bushel? Why not open wide the doors of their treasure-house to whomsoever may come ?
"In substance, if not in actual form, these same questions have been asked many times, and by many different individuals. They have been put in such manner and with such ingenious inflection as clearly to indicate that those who have asked them believe them to be 'unanswerable.' They have, in truth, been asked by those whose very tone, emphasis, look and manner combine to convey the challenge: 'Answer me if you dare.'
"In the spirit of courtesy and candor, and with the utmost good will toward, and consideration for, those whose accusing and condemning attitude of mind makes the task one of great difficulty, it is the purpose, here and now, to answer these questions as fully and as frankly as their nature and importance would seem to justify. This is done, not alone for the benefit of those who have asked them, but also for as many others as may desire to understand the fundamental principle of Ethics which underlies them all." (The Great Work, Page 192.)
For a-complete answer to the foregoing questions see Chapter XII, "The Great Work." Again in the criticism, in The Builder, paragraph two, we read:
"Indeed one has a right to be suspicious of a book, which makes claim of knowing what is unknown to all the world and the rest of mankind, which leaves the inference that the noblest and most reverent scholars of the world are not worthy to receive its revelation."
On the contrary, the book (The Great Work) is "ADDRESSED to the PROGRESSIVE INTELLIGENCE of the AGE," and it clearly and definitely elucidates that point throughout the text.
The article in The Builder (did I not have great respect for its Editor in his knowledge of the teaching and his intention "to render justice to all men") would convey to me a misrepresentation of the real position, purposes, and claims of the author of "The Great Work."
Relying on our mutual respect for the truth and for the laborious work necessary to a true foundation for studious opinions, I am requesting publicity for "Another View of The Great Work," because I am sure many members of the National Masonic Research Society have found as much helpful inspiration from a study of that book, as they have found satisfaction in reading one of the latest of Masonic books, viz., "The Builders." Because the method of the "Great Work" is "personal effort," that is the individual must live the life to know the doctrine. This same idea is enunciated on page 63 of "The Builders," viz., "Fitness for the finer truths cannot be conferred; it must be developed."
Again the criticism in "The Builder" magazine says:
"For not one of the statements (as to the antiquity of the GREAT SCHOOL) is there the slightest shred of evidence, not even a shadow of a basis in fact."
The name "The Great School" is the modern name of an ancient school whose "membership is composed of a voluntary association of men whose lives and labors are dedicated and devoted to the acquirement and perpetuation of knowledge in the broad and unlimited field of science--physical, spiritual, psychical and ethical-- and to its application to the development of individual life, individual intelligence, individual conscience, individual liberty, individual morality, and individual happiness." To these devotees of science in its broadest and best sense, may be added such students as have come to them for infinite instruction in the various departments of their knowledge. . . . "For reasons which appear to them both imperative and just, their work of investigation, experiment, demonstration and instruction is prosecuted and accomplished under the protecting shield of personal confidence and secrecy." ("The Great Work," pages 40-41.)
In the foregoing quotation we have the purposes of The Great School disclosed, the purposes are as ancient as the school itself. The "basis in fact" for the existence of the school will in time disclose itself when we learn to what extent these ideals and purposes were held and taught by the ancient members of The Great School, as indicated and evidenced in the following citations:
TESTIMONY OF GROTE.
"The allegorical interpretations of myths has been by several learned investigators connected with the hypothesis of an ancient and highly instructed body of priests, having their origin either in Egypt or in the East, and communicating to the rude and barbarous Greeks religious, physical and historical knowledge under the veil of symbols." (Grote's History of Greece--Everymans' Library Edition, Page 81, Vol. II.)
STATEMENTS OF PHILO.
"They have also ancient authors who were once heads of their school, and left behind them many monuments of the methods used in their allegorical works. . . . He who is the senior most skilled in the doctrines, comes forward and discourses, with steadfast eyes and steadfast voice, with reason and thoughtfulness; not making a display of word-cleverness, as the rhetoricians and sophists of today, but examining closely and explaining the precise meaning in the thoughts, a meaning which does not merely light on the tips of the ears, but pierces the ears and reaches the Soul and steadfastly abides there." (Philo "On the Contemplative Life." By Fred C. Conybeare, Oxford 1895.)
THE EXPERT OPINION OF THE LEARNED MEAD
"These secret brotherhoods (of Ancient Egypt) left no public records; they kept themselves apart from the world and the world knew them not. But it is just these communities, which were the links in the chain of heredity of the Gnosis," i.e. Knowledge of the things that are. ("Fragments of a Faith Forgotten," by G. R. S. Mead, Page 61.)
"Most of these mystic schools and communities, whether of Greek or Egyptian or Jewish descent, when they came in contact with each other, gave and received . . . and so modified their preconceptions and enlarged their horizons." ("Fragments of a Faith Forgotten," by G. R. S. Mead, Page 95.)
The foregoing quotations are but a few of many of the same nature that could be made. They indicate that ancient communities or schools of learning have existed in remote times, and without going into the question of chronology, the world old quest reaches far back into the ages.
For instance, "The Babylonians were not content with merely editing their ritual and religious hymns or their myths about the gods and heroes; they also compiled commentaries and explanatory text-books which gave philological and other information about the older religious literature." ("The Origin and Growth of Religion," by A. H. Sayce, Page 16.)
The main characteristic of the ancient teaching was the profound secrecy in which the traditions were kept, we therefore have to rely on the spirit and purposes of ancient teaching and veiled symbolic allusions. It is certain, that the mystery-side of religion was initiation into a higher knowledge; the highest praise is bestowed upon the Mysteries by the greatest thinkers among the Greeks, who are witnesses to the purity of the teaching, which enabled men to live better lives here and to depart from this life with the certainty of immortality. Pythagoras is said to have been initiated into the Egyptian, Chaldean, Orphic and Eleusinan mysteries. He is known or remembered in India today under the name Yavancharya, or the Ionian teacher.
Now as to "records" the existence of which is in doubt in the minds of many because of the partial statement quoted from the book, "The Great Work" -- and included in the fourth paragraph of the criticism in The Builder, together with the critic's questions: "Did he (T.K.) ever see those records of immemorial time, reaching thousands of years back of Moses? Did he ever see any one who did see them ? If so, how does he know that they are authentic? By what science for the testing of documents did he determine their authenticity?"
In the same paragraph on page 43 of the book, "The Great Work," from which The Builder quotes we read:
"These (records) cover a consecutive and unbroken chain backward from the immediate present to a time many thousand of years before the Mosaic period." But we may also read in that same paragraph: "For a number of years, however, he (T.K.) has been in personal touch with members of The Great School, and during that time has received from them a definite and personal instruction, from which it may not be deemed impertinent or presumptuous to present for the thoughtful consideration of the reader the following brief and incomplete summary."
The answer is complete. As a student in the Great School, in personal touch with its members, commissioned by them to present an outline of its methods, purposes, and teachings to the modern world, he doubtless has in proofs all, and more, than the question demand. That a complete and satisfactory answer is not vouchsafed any and every one on demand, I may be permitted to again quote from "The Builders":
The "one great secret (of Freemasonry) is that it has no secret. Its principles are published abroad in its writings, its purposes and laws are known, and the times and places of its meetings. Having come down from dark days of persecution when all the finer things sought the protection of seclusion, if it still adheres to secret rites, it is not in order to hide the truth, but the better to teach it more impressively to train men in its pure service, and to promote union and amity upon earth. Its signs and grips serve as a kind of universal language, and still more as a gracious cover for the practice of sweet charity-- making it easier to help a fellow man in dire plight without hurting his self-respect. If a few are attracted to it by curiosity, all remain to pray, finding themselves members of a great historic fellowship of the seekers and finders of God. It is old because it is true; had it been false it would have perished long ago. When all men practice its simple precepts, the innocent secrets of Masonry will be laid bare, its mission accomplished, and its labors done." (The Builders, Page 244.)
To which all Masons, as well as all students of the Great Work say, "So mote it be"--because it is exactly the position of the Great Work.
Further in regard to books, manuscripts and records, the existence of which is doubted by some and denied by others:
"Egyptian research has independently arrived at the conclusion that the pyramid-builders were at least as old as the fourth millennium before the Christian era. The great pyramids of Gizeh were in course of erection, the hieroglyphic system of writing was already fully developed, Egypt itself was thoroughly organized and in the enjoyment of a high culture and civilization, at a time when, according to Archbishop Usher's chronology, the world was being created." ("The Origin and Growth of Religion," by A. H. Sayce, Page 33, 34.)
The collective researches of Orientalists, and especially the labors of late years of the students of comparative Philology and Religion have led them to conclude, that, an immense number of manuscripts and even printed works known to have existed, are now to be found no more. They have disappeared without leaving the slightest trace behind them.
Were they works of no importance they might, in the natural course of time, have been left to perish, and their very names would have been obliterated from human memory. But it is not so; for as now ascertained most of them contained the true keys to works still extant, and entirely incomprehensible, for the greater portion of their readers, without those additional volumes of commentaries and explanations. (For the missing works of Lao Tze and Confucius, see "Lectures on The Science of Religion," by Max Muller, Page 185.)
The ancient teachings to which allusion is made, can be followed in the remains of every ancient nation, and underlie the spiritual (but not spiritualistic) teaching of the present time.
Tradition asserts that thousands of ancient parchments were saved when the Alexandrian Library was destroyed by Julius Caesar, B.C. 48; in A. D. 390; and 640 A. D. by the General of Kaliph Omar. (Consult Moses of Khorene, National Historian of Armenia.) Thousands of Sanscrit works disappeared during the reign of Akbar. The universal tradition in China and Japan, is, that the true old texts with the commentaries have long since passed out of the reach of profane hands; the disappearance of five or six times the matter contained in our Bible, besides 80,000 or more Buddhist tracts, (The Legends and Theories of the Buddhists," by Spencer Hardy) to say nothing of the loss of the sacred Babylonian Commentaries, and the loss of the Symbolic key to Egyptian hieroglyphic records.
"The number of separate works in Sanscrit, of which manuscripts are still in existence, is estimated by Professor Max Muller to amount to about 10,000, which makes him exclaim, 'what would Plato and Aristotle have said, if they had been told that at that time there existed in that India, which Alexander had just discovered, if not conquered, an ancient literature far richer than anything they possessed at that time in Greece?'
"We can readily conceive that amongst these manuscripts there are dramas and works of fiction innumerable, and treatises in literature and science, but there is little hope of their being completely investigated and sifted, and only like nuggets in a mine are the really valuable works likely to be found accidentally." ("Hindu Astronomy," by W. Brennand, page 132.)
These traditions make interesting study--but time prompts the assertion of a companion tradition in India of subterranean abodes, of large corridors filled with tiles, cylinders and other records, to reappear in some more enlightened age, when bigotry shall no longer blind the human mind and prevent careful study of the facts before judgment is pronounced. ("Historie des Vierges: Les Peoples et les Continents Disparus.")
Purely Brahamanical consideration, based on greed of power and ambition, allowed the masses in India (as in Egypt) to remain in ignorance of great truths; and exactly these same causes compelled the Initiates among the early Christians to remain silent because some of the uninitiated Church Fathers, who had never developed so as to know the truth, disfigured the order of things.
"Once more we may repeat that there was early intercourse between Egypt and Babylonia and that in this intercourse the prevailing influences came from the East." ("Archaeology of Cuneiform Inscriptions," by Prof. A. H. Sayce, page 144.)
The chief of an ancient Hindu Pagoda said to Colonel Tod, who was better loved by the natives than any other Englishman:
"Shahib, you lose your time in vain researches. The Bellati India (i.e. the India of foreigners) is before you, but you will never see the Gupta India (secret India.) We are the guardians of her mysteries, and would rather cut out each other's tongues than speak."
Again referring to The Builder, our Brother critic says: "Why did not the Great School begin its work at home, and lift India out of the shadow of superstition and the paralysis of pessimism." Passing by the work the School has endeavored to do the world over, we may quote the criticised book, "The Great Work":
In India as in Egypt "the tide of civilization at last reached its height. The material prosperity of a nation or a people, when it rises to a certain point, seems of itself to develop a subtle poison whose cumulative effects will, in due time, manifest themselves physiologically within the body politic. First comes the spirit of selfishness, then the desire for power, then the struggle for wealth, then the practice of dishonesty, then the oppression and suppression of the weak, then the protest of the injured, then the internecine strife, then the final struggle for existence, and in the end spiritual darkness and national death.
"The poison of unassimilated material prosperity was in the blood of Egypt. The spirit of selfishness took possession of her people. The struggle for position and power began. Dishonesty prevailed. Oppression and domination followed. Suffering and sorrow were everywhere. The cry of the subject was unheard and unanswered. Death had set its irrevocable seal upon the proudest of nations. Egypt died. The history of her death struggle is the tragic story of the approaching and appalling spiritual darkness which finally settled over that beautiful land of sunshine." (The Great Work, page 56.)
Here is the reason why the India of today is what we know her to be instead of that which she might have been. Egypt died. India sleeps.
As we may read in the book, "The Builders":
"Nevertheless, if life on earth be worthless, so is immortality. The real question, after all, is not as to the quantity of life, but its quality--its depth, its purity, its fortitude, its fineness of spirit and gesture of soul. Hence the insistent emphasis of Masonry upon the building of character and the practice of righteousness; upon the moral culture without which man is rudimentary, and that spiritual vision without which intellect is the slave of greed and passion. What makes a man great and free of soul, here or any whither, is loyalty to the laws of right, of truth, of purity, of love, and the lofty will of God. How to live is the one matter; and the oldest man in his ripe age has yet to seek a wiser way than to build, year by year, upon a foundation of faith in God, using the Square of Justice, the Plumb-line of rectitude, the Compass to restrain the passions, and the Rule by which to divide our time into labor, rest and service to our fellows. Let us begin now and seek wisdom in the beauty of virtue and live in the light of it, rejoicing- so in this world shall we have a foregleam of the world to come--bringing down to the Gate in the Mist something that ought not to die, assured that, though hearts are dust, as God lives what is excellent is enduring." (The Builders, page 275, 276.)
So then let us include in this communication Max Muller's testimony as to the influence of ancient teachings in old India:
"If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions of some of them, which well deserve the attention, even of those who have studied Plato and Kant, I should point to India." (What India Can Teach Us, by Max Muller.)
A modern formulation of the ancient spiritual science, whose ancient home is India, may be quoted in this connection from "The Great Work" and is that which "attention" is called:
"And finally, it is hoped that when the work is finished it will impress upon every reader in such manner as to inspire him to immediate action, the paramount fact that it is to his own best interest, his own greatest good and his own largest possibility of happiness, both now and in the future of this life, both here and in the life to come, to enter at once upon the noble and ennobling task of 'Living a Life' in conformity with Nature's Constructive Principle, and never thereafter to falter until he shall arrive at the goal of individual Mastership, whether that be in this life or in the great hereafter." (The Great Work, Page 209.)
In the foregoing we have referred to the high ideals and lofty purposes of the Great School as disclosed in the book, "The Great Work," contrasting them with similar ideals and purposes as revealed in the book, "The Builders." Both books are the work of Masons. Both aim to show the traditions of the past and to inculcate the personal effort necessary to be a man, not merely in form, but in faith, in spirit, and still more in character. So mote it be.
(As an open forum for fraternal discussion, The Builder is very glad to have the friends of TK present their claims, and no one of them is more welcome to do so than Dr. Stewart, of the Cincinnati Masonic Study School, whose attainments as a student of Masonry entitle him to be heard on any theme of Masonic interest. Happily he is not one of those, of whom there have been a few, who regard any difference of opinion as a personal insult. Far from it. His article is admirable in spirit, like the man himself, and we need not say that it is equally choice in statement and form. Howbeit, we beg him to believe that we never for a moment made the mistake of imagining that TK, in the title of his book, described it as Great. Not so. Our reference was to the estimate of the book by other Brethren who called it "the greatest Masonic book in the world"; hence our remark that it seems to us "more curious than great." For the rest, we may take the points of the article in order:
First in respect of the Secrecy employed by the alleged Great school. Brother Stewart quotes from our little book, The Builders, to prove, what we never at any time denied, that everything must not be told to everybody. But that is not the question at all. It is not the secrecy of the teaching of the supposed Great School that we criticise, but the fact that the existence and history of the School are kept secret. Masonry also employs a secret method of teaching, but its existence is no secret. Its Old Charges, its history, and even a part of its ritual are written and may be read by all. Not once have we suggested, much less demanded, that TK betray any of the secret doctrine of the Great School, but he should at least be willing to prove that such a School exists. Brother Stewart reminds us that prominent Masons have talked with TK and convinced themselves that such a School does exist; but surely that need not be a matter to be talked of in whispers behind closed doors.
Second, even if such a Great School exists, having headquarters "in the far off India"--and as to this we make no question, for there are many Great Schools in India and elsewhere and have been time out of mind--that does not prove that it has existed from the beginning of time, with records antedating the days of Moses and the pyramids. Grote, Philo, Mead and others are quoted by Brother Stewart to prove what we have never questioned, that religious and philosophical schools existed in ancient times. Manifestly so. The Mysteries were such. The Greek schools of Philosophy were such. We may even go back to the Men's House of primitive tribal life, which was a secret Lodge in which every youth, when he became of age, was initiated into the law, legend, and religion of his people -- with ceremonies not unlike those used today. But Brother Stewart, by his own quotations, proves too much. He shows that there were many Schools--whereof Yarker has written so learnedly in his "Arcane Schools"--myriads of Schools, not one Great School superintending the education of humanity, creating Buddhism, early Christianity and Freemasonry, as TK affirms. So that, his quotations are quite wide of the mark, so far as this discussion is concerned.
Third, as to the "records" of the hypothetical Great School, Brother Stewart is content to show, what we have not called in question, that there were many precious records treasured by men in "the gray years of old." some of which, alas, were destroyed. But that has nothing to do with the matter in hand. TK claims that the records of his Great School have been preserved intact, and that they run back into pre-historic times, telling the story of man's slow climb out of darkness toward the Light--including a record of the life of Jesus who, it is alleged, was a member of the School. His statement to this effect is definite and unqualified; not a theory, as Brother Fenell pointed out, but an affirmation. Some of us make request for proof of it. And it is not enough to tell us that TK has talked with members of the Great School and found that it is true. Without betraying any of her secrets. Masonry publishes her most ancient documents to the world. If the alleged Great School has such documents, why not ask it to do likewise--the more so that it purports to possess a hidden life of Jesus and the true story of the origin of Masonry? As a matter of fact, the statements of TK are impossible of proof, in the nature of things, and he knows it. Brother Stewart quotes the words of TK to the effect that for a number of years he has been in personal touch with members of the Great School and knows what he is talking about, and says that "the answer is complete." It is not complete. It is no answer at all. It does not even touch the question, much less answer it. Nor does the passage quoted from The Builders help his case in the least.
Fourth, very graciously Brother Stewart proceeds to show that the spirit and moral teaching of the Great Work are in harmony with the teaching which we tried to set forth in the closing chapters of The Builders. Exactly. Moral science, and the laws of the life of the spirit, are as much agreed upon, the world over, as are the propositions of mathematics. Life has no meaning save as we see it as a Great School for the building of character, and its deepest satisfactions, as well as its highest joys, are to be found in doing the will of Him "in whose great hand we stand." Masonry is a Great School of spiritual faith and moral culture; all that is secret about it is its method of teaching--which is true, as we pointed out in The Builders, of all the Arcana Schools of old. Still, the moral teaching of Masonry is one thing and its history is another; and in The Builders we kept the two apart, treating tradition as tradition, legend as legend, history as history, and we insist that TK should do the same. Masonry stands in a great Secret Tradition, an epitome of universal initiation, deriving, no doubt, from many Arcane Schools; using its history, its traditions, its symbols and dramas the better to bring young men to discover the greatest of all Secrets, at once the most open and the most hidden--the kinship of the soul with God its Father, and of life as love and comradeship, here and hereafter.--The Editor.)
----o----
A TALE OF THE TRAIL
This life's a middlin' crooked trail, and after forty year
Of knockin' round, I'm free to say th' right ain't always clear;
I've seen a lot of folks go wrong - get off th' main high road,
An' fetch up in a swamp somewhare, almost before they knowed;
I don't set up to be no judge of right and wrong in men,
I ain't been perfect all my life an' may not be again;
An' when I see a chap who looks as though he's gone astray,
I want to think he started right - an' only lost his way.
I like to think the good in folks by far outweighs the ill;
Th' trail of life is middlin' hard an' lots of it uphill;
There's places where there ain't no guides or signboards up, an' so
It's partly guess work and part luck which way you chance to go.
I've seen th' trails fork some myself, an' when I had to choose,
I wasn't sure when I struck out if it was win or lose;
So when I see a man who looks as though he'd gone astray,
I want to think he started right - an' only lost his way.
I've seen a lot of folks start out, with grit and spunk to scale
Th' hills that purple over there, an' somehow lose th' trail;
I've seen 'em stop an' start again, not sure about th' road,
An' found 'em lost on some blind trail, almost before they knowed;
I've seen 'em circlin', tired out, with every pathway blind,
With cliffs before 'em, mountains high, an' sloughs an' swamps behind;
I've seen 'em circlin' through the dusk when twilight's gettin' gray,
An' lookin' for th' main high road - poor chaps who've lost their way.
It ain't so far from Right to Wrong - th' trail ain't hard to lose;
There's times I'd almost give my horse to know which one to choose;
There ain't no guides or signboards up to keep you on th' track;
Wrong's sometimes white as driven snow, an' Right looks awful black.
I don't set up to be no judge of right or wrong in men;
I've lost the trail sometimes myself, an' may get lost again;
An' when I see a chap who looks as though he'd gone astray,
I want to shove my hand in his an' help him find th' way!
- Selected
----o----
UP THE ROAD
Friends of mine along the way,
Whither bound this windy day?
Join us, friend, our way is one,
Up the road, till day is done.
Up the road toward light of Home,
Shining far for all who roam,
Shining for us brothers all,
Lest we falter, lest we fall.
Up the road, with words of cheer
Fit to banish every fear,
Helpful deeds and kindly smiles,
Easing so the wind-swept miles.
Up the road we brothers all !
Brave to answer every call;
Up the road, till day is done
And the goal at last is won.
- Charles S. Newhall, in the Survey.
----o----
SHE WOULD BE A MASON
By James C. Naughton
The funniest story I ever heard,
The funniest thing that ever occurred,
Is the story of Mrs. Mehitable Byrde
Who wanted to be a Mason.
Her husband, Tom Byrde, is a Mason true,
As good a Mason as any of you;
He is tyler of Lodge Cerulean Blue,
And tyles and delivers the summons due.
And she wanted to be a Mason too -
This ridiculous Mrs. Byrde.
She followed him round, this inquisitive wife,
And nabbed and teased him half out of his life;
So to terminate this unhallowed strife
He consented at last to admit her.
And first, to disguise her from bonnet to shoon
This ridiculous lady agreed to put on
His breech - Ah! forgive me, I meant pantaloons;
And miraculously did they fit her.
The lodge was at work on the Master's degree;
The light was ablaze on the letter G;
High soared the pillars J. and B.;
The officers sat like Solomon wise;
The brimstone burned amid horrid cries;
The goat roamed wildly through the room,
The candidate begged them to let him go home,
And the devil himself stood up in the east,
As proud as an alderman at a feast,
When in came Mrs. Byrde.
Oh, horrible sounds! oh, horrible sight!
Can it be that Masons take delight
In spending thus the hours of night ?
Ah! could their wives and daughters know
The unutterable things they say and do
Their feminine hearts would burst with woe.
But this is not all my story,
For those Masons joined in a hideous ring,
The candidate howled like anything
And thus in tones of death they sing
(The candidate's name was Morey):
"Blood to drink and bones to crack,
Skulls to smash and lives to take,
Hearts to crush and souls to burn -
Give old Morey another turn,
And make him all grim and gory."
Trembling with horror stood Mrs. Byrde,
Unable to speak a single word;
She staggered and fell in the nearest chair,
On the left of the Junior Warden there,
And scarcely noticed, so loud the groans,
That the chair was made of human bones.
Of human bones! on grinning skulls
That ghastly throne of horror rolls -
Those skulls, the skulls that Morgan bore !
Those bones, the bones that Morgan wore !
His scalp across the top was flung
His teeth around the arms were strung -
Never in all romance was known
Such uses made of human bone.
That brimstone gleamed in lurid flame,
Just like a place we will not name;
Good angels, that inquiring came
From blissful courts, looked on with shame
And tearful melancholy.
Again they dance but twice as bad
They jump and sing like demons mad!
The tune is "Hunkey Dorey" -
"Blood to drink and bones to crack,
Skulls to smash and lives to take."
Then came a pause - a pair of paws
Reached through the floor, up sliding doors,
And grabbed the unhappy candidate !
How can I without tears relate
The lost and ruined Morey's fate?
She saw him sink in a fiery hole,
And heard him scream, "My soul! my soul!"
While roars of fiendish laughter roll
And drown the yells for mercy!
That ridiculous woman could stand no more -
She fainted and fell on the checkered floor
'Midst all the 'diabolical roar.
What then, you ask me, did befall
Mehitable Byrde ? Why, nothing at all -
She had dreamed she'd been in the Mason's hall.
FREEMASONS AS BUILDERS
A Series of Researches into the Operative Efforts of the Craft
1. THE TEMPLE AT INDlAlNAPOLlS
BY BRO. ELMER F. GAY, P.G.M. OF INDIANA
THE Masonic Temple of Indianapolis is owned jointly by the Grand Lodge F. & A.M. of Indiana and the Indianapolis Masonic Temple Association. The latter Association is composed of eleven directors representing eight Blue Lodges, two Chapters Royal Arch Masons and Raper Commandery No. 1, K. T. Each party owns an undivided one-half of the building and real estate.
The building has a frontage of 130 feet on Illinois Street, facing west and a depth of 150 feet on North Street. It is of Ionic style of architecture and is faced on all four sides with Bedford stone, backed with brick. The walls are unusually heavy, being five feet thick at the foundation. There are no windows above the first floor, except some are glass on the Illinois Street front, which are for decorative purposes only. Artificial ventilation is used exclusively in the building. The air is taken from the street level, and, after being thoroughly washed, is forced through heaters to all parts of the Temple.
The first floor is used exclusively for Grand Lodge purposes. The main foyer is about 40x50 feet, which, with the double stairways, is finished in Italian marble. At the right of the foyer are the quarters of the Grand Secretary, on the left the Grand Lodge Library and check room for the entire building.* Directly in the rear is the Grand Lodge Auditorium which has a large, well equipped stage as well as 1,200 leather upholstered opera chairs, and, as Indiana has but one representative from each lodge at the Grand Lodge meetings, ample accommodation is provided for many years to come.
The Temple is four double stories high, which allows for four mezzanine floors in the west end. The first floor mezzanine has two kitchens and three dining rooms, each with a seating capacity of about two hundred. They are divided by folding doors which may be opened, throwing the three into one room, if desired.
The Second and Third floors are exactly alike, and each contain two Blue Lodge rooms, size 50X70, a tyler's room, preparation room, two examination rooms, smoking room, and a large social room, size about 60x35 feet. The two social rooms are divided by collapsible doors which, when opened, make a room about 35x120 feet, used for dances, receptions, etc.
In the west end of the lodge rooms is a balcony containing a pipe organ, choir and lantern rooms. The gallery is reached by two sets of stairs, each containing three, five and seven steps. The four lodge rooms are named the Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite, and differ only in the style of furnishing. The second and third mezzanine are devoted exclusively to the use of candidates, each lodge room having six individual preparation rooms. The fourth floor is devoted to the use of the Chapters, Council and Commandery, and contains an Asylum, Red Cross room, Armory and social room, for the use of the Commandery, a Chapter room with necessary anterooms for use of the Chapters and Council. The asylum and Chapter room each contain a pipe organ.
The fourth floor mezzanine contains a kitchen and banquet room, capable of seating about 350. This room is for the exclusive use of the bodies using the fourth floor of the Temple.
The specially prepared roof is used by the Commandery as a drill room and by the other bodies for garden entertainments. The basement is used for boilers and machinery purposes. Two Chapters of the Order of the Eastern Star meet in the lodge rooms on the second floor. This Temple is used only by York Rite Masons, the Scottish Rite and Shrine having separate Temples of their own.
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* (No coats or hats are allowed above the first floor, all persons being required to check their clothing in the main check room off the lobby, from which two high speed elevators take you to any floor desired.)
EDITORIAL
(The Builder is an open forum for free and fraternal discussion. Each of its contributors writes under his own name, and is responsible for his own opinions. Believing that a unity of spint is better than a uniformity of opinion, the Research Society, as such, does not champion any one school of Masonic thought as over against another; but offers to all alike a medium for fellowship and instruction, leaving each to stand or fall by its own merits.)
WAR AND THE MYSTIC TIE
ALAS ! it seems decreed that the nations must at last make a desolation, and call it Peace. Anything may happen in these wild and fateful days in which we live, when the whole world is half mad and half of it wholly mad. Many things fair and fine have already been crushed by racial rancors and national hatreds running riot in a vast eruption of savagery, and the end is not yet. Dreadful days lie ahead of us, when the very existence of civilization will hang in the balance, and nothing will be heard but the thunder of great guns and the hot steps of the Lords of Hell as they ride to ruin - nothing, save a wail of woe following the evening sun around the world!
Much of what we call modern thought passed quietly away into sleep at midnight on August 4th, 1914, and the Clock of Time was set back for an age. Since that dark date tie after tie by which men were bound together, has been broken, until little is left but the Law of the Jungle - that he may take who has the power and he may keep who can. Science turned traitor, and by its very skill in the mastery of force has changed the beautiful earth into a human slaughter-house. The Church failed, having lost what it claimed to possess, the power to uplift and guide the nations, to draw men to each other, and to base human life on love of man for his fellow. Socialism, with its vague humanitarian mysticism and its fine rhetoric of a cosmopolitan philosophy, collapsed like a house of cards in a storm.
Last of all, the mystic tie of Masonry seems to have given way under the pressure of world-war; the Grand Lodge of England, after a memorable debate, having severed relations with its Teutonic Brethren - the Masons of Germany having already repudiated their Brethren in England, France, and Italy. No doubt it was inevitable that men should act so, looking at each other, as they do, across a million graves where sleep the fathers of dream-children never to be born! We do not chide, we only grieve. Nor do we let go of faith, as not a few have done, for the cynical dogma that humanity, so far from being the offspring of God, was begotten by the Father of Lies, upon the daughter of a Thief - its culture a veneer covering an immobile animalism which nothing can alter or influence.
No, no ! Albeit we do recall that during the blood and fire and tears of our own Civil War, when States were divided and Churches were rent asunder, the Masonic tie was not broken. While it could not avert the tragedy of war, it did mitigate the horror of it, building rainbow bridges across the battle lines, and many a man in Gray planted a Sprig of Acacia on the grave of a Brother in Blue. Today, those graves where heroes sleep together have sunk level with the sod, and the men who met as foes at Gettysburg have tented together as friends, each paying tribute to the valor of the other. From this fact let us take hope that, no matter how virulent and violent the present war may be, this, too, shall pass away, and the hatred which glows like a furnace today will give place to thoughts of gentleness and pity.
Have no doubt; the men in arms across the sea are not different from us. Soon they will have their Decoration Days, and over the graves of their uncomplaining dead will be drawn closer together, seeing with eyes purified by suffering that the truth which each fought for was but a fragment, a gleam, of a greater truth, and that courage, sacrifice and heroic aspiration are the virtues of all peoples. Men who are now enemies will see each other as they are, and then they will he enemies no more, but friends, even as our North and South, once arrayed in long lines of blue and gray, are now united and free. The Great War will purge the bitterness of spirit from the peoples and a common sorrow will fall upon them like a benediction, the while they turn their energies to the upbuilding of the civilization which their conflict threatened to destroy.
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WASHINGTON'S MASONIC LETTERS -
Having just returned from a visit to Mount Vernon, we found awaiting us a copy of "Washington's Masonic Correspondence as Found Among the Washington Papers in the Library of Congress," compiled from the original records, under the direction of a committee on library of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, with annotations by the venerable Brother Julius F. Sachse. It is a noble volume, containing copies and fac-similes never before published, the William Williams painting of Washington the Mason, now in the Alexandria-Washington Lodge, serving as a frontispiece - with sixteen other illustrations well selected and exquisitely mounted. This historic volume was prepared under the supervision of Grand Master J. Henry Williams of Pennsylvania, and its publication is a notable event in the annals of Masonic literature, alike for its beauty and its value. A detailed review of it will appear later, but we must say at once that it sets at naught, now and forever, all the statements, arguments and libels of the fanatics of the anti-Masonic craze of the last century that Washington never belonged to the fraternity, or that he had but a languid interest in its affairs. The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, in its publication of this volume, has rendered a distinguished service to Freemasonry, laying the Craft under abiding obligations of gratitude and goodwill.
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FREEMASONS AS BUILDERS -
Elsewhere in this issue Brother Clegg gives us a wide vision of the seriousness of the building problem faced by Masons all over the United States, as the Fraternity, more and more, demands larger and better quarters. If he calls attention to mistakes, more than to successes, it is to warn those who contemplate a new Temple, of the pitfalls in their path. We gladly give space to his article, because he speaks from experience, and because his counsel is beyond peradventure timely and good.
Happily, however, not all Masonic temples have brought with them serious troubles. In many cases Lodges are fortunate to have practical men with big hearts, and long experience, who have been able to build into a Masonic temple in a simple but comprehensive way those elements of convenience which make the "work" of the Lodge, as well as the social features, a joy to those who participate therein. Such a case is that at Indianapolis. Here the Grand Lodge of Indiana, and the enthusiastic Brethren of the city of Indianapolis have joined hands in the erection of a commodious, convenient, and, as we think, almost an ideal Masonic Temple.
The Grand Lodge has its auditorium, Library and Grand Master's and Grand Secretary's suite all on the main floor. Above are quarters for the Blue Lodges, Chapters and Commanderies of Indianapolis, and the detailed floor plan of the Blue Lodge floor shows how carefully every comfort, as well as necessity, of the foundation degrees in Masonry has been considered. If anything, even more ingenious has been the method by which the conferring of the Chapter and Commandery degrees has been made easy. And best of all, every detail of all of these degrees is brought out in the hall itself - the Brethren can see the whole degree, in every case (with but a single exception).
We hope that our illustrations of this wonderful temple will convey all this to the Brethren, particularly those who may be interested in Temple construction in a practical way, now, or in the immediate future. From time to time we shall publish drawings of other temples - always with a view of bringing before the Craft those elements which are vital and essential, and which may easily be incorporated into almost any Masonic Temple, no matter what its cost.
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MASONIC BOOKS -
So many and so urgent have been the requests of Brethren to know how and where they may obtain Masonic books, that we venture to suggest that they take the matter up with the Torch Press Book Shop, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Ye editor has no interest in this firm, save that he has dealt with it for many years, and, knowing it to be courteous, efficient and in all ways trustworthy, he does not hesitate to commend it to Brethren in quest of books and to Lodges seeking to form libraries. Many of our best Masonic books are out of print, but may be had at second-hand, and as the Torch Press Book Shop deals in books both old and new, and is in constant touch with book-dealers both in this country and abroad, it will be able to aid the Brethren. Meanwhile, ye editor offers his advice and assistance - such as it is - both to the Book Shop and to any of his Brethren free gratis and for fun, wishing to do all within his power to bring good books and good men together.
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CORRESPONDENCE
WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THE RITUAL?
Dear Brother: - So much is there that finds ready response in my heart that I hesitate to pick out a sentence from Brother Robert Tipton's essay, page 155, The Builder, and give it less than praise. He says: "I for one shall be happy to welcome the movement that will strive to banish the antiquated terminology and render our ritual into easy unambiguous English." Maybe I do not quite get at the meaning he wishes to convey. For that matter, I am open to conviction on very many questions pertaining to the fraternity. Further testimony is therefore always welcome. But as to the ritual, is it not a fact that it has suffered more by excess of editing than by lack of the "blue pencil" ?
Today I doubt if any two Grand Lodges approve the same ritual. Familiar as I am with the "work" in several states I cannot recall any uniformity after you cross the lines of official jurisdiction. If then we have no more satisfactory conformity than is now finally or tentatively exhibited by all the revision committees that have labored over the problem I doubt very much the result of so broad a commission as the one outlined by my Brother Tipton.
There might be some advantage in having a uniform ritual but I fear that the results obtainable would not justify the effort. The ritual in each state has grown to its present arrangement by small and infrequent additions and subtractions. Familiar as each is at home, it would not have the prestige abroad over a similarly accepted one. It seems impossible that there would be any general give and take process that could be agreed upon for a revised ritual for universal use.
However, I have sometimes thought a plan not impossible of acceptance might be something after this style: Before we try to bring these oft-tinkered rituals up to date, why not travel the other way? Is it practicable to unearth the earlier forms of the ritual and then in each state secure authority to give them or one of them, the oldest preferably, once in a while ? A lodge of my acquaintance was wont to get its older members once a year to present a degree as it used to be done in the long ago. These meetings were always well attended. They were indeed events to be remembered. Nevertheless the wisdom of this sort of thing is I daresay debatable.
Yet there is one way in which Brother Tipton's own Grand Lodge can set an example. It owns the Bowers-Spencer-Hughan eighteenth century ritual which is mentioned freely in that interesting book, "The Origin of the English Rite." The first of the two degrees there given would be suitable for lodge presentation. The third degree might raise objection. Into the reason for this I need not go. Taking the degree work from that ritual that seems admissible for rendition by the lodge members and I am sure it would meet Brother Tipton's desires. I beg of him to look it over when he goes on his pilgrimages to the Masonic Library at Cedar Rapids.
If there is to be a simplification of the ritual attempted anywhere the unique possession of the Grand Lodge of Iowa is well worth entrance for that honor. Would it not be well at some annual gathering of your Grand Lodge for some enterprising brethren to put on that work with the attendant lecture of the famous Peter Gilkes? And may it be my good fortune to be among those present!
R. I. Clegg, Cincinnati.
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