The Builder Magazine

January 1916 - Volume II - Number 1

 

THE RELIGION OF ROBERT BURNS

BY BRO. GILBERT PATTEN BROWN, MASS.

ALL men possess some real worth. Creed is an invention of man. Genius is a gift of God to man. The very name "genius" signifieth original, unacquired gifts, born gifts: from the Latin of Gignor, to be born; or, older still, from the Greek of Gennao, to generate, to produce. A man may be a good historian, a grammarian, or a commentator: only a man of genius can be a painter, a statuary, or a poet. The poet is an original thinker. Whenever we find a man of rare intellect working out his own destiny, and showing himself mighty among his contemporaries, we are benefited by having come in contact with such a person. In one of that type is a fineness of nature. He is usually a seer. They have lived in all ages and have been found among all races of men. They belong to no particular class or creed and are usually deeply religious in their own way of reasoning. The gentleman of this monograph is without question Scotland's greatest son. He taught the world through his poems the difference between religion and creed.

 

"The rank is but the guinea's stamp

The man's the gowd for a' that."

 

Possibly no poet ever lived who possessed that original style and uniqueness of composition as Robert Burns, whose eyes first saw the light of this world on the twenty-fifth day of the rough old warrior January, 1759, in the quaint little village of Alloway. The cottage, under whose historic roof he was born, is still standing. The old parish books of records, dimmed with age, show his ancestry to have been of the best blood of Ayr and Alloway. The following is a brief account of this old (Celt) family: "Lawful son of William Burns of Alloway and Agnes Brown, his spouse," and "baptized by Mr. William Dalrymple: witnesses, John Tement and James Young."

 

MADE A MASON

 

The youthful days of Burns were spent amid rural surroundings, thus giving his young brain an opportunity to read of the philosophy of life from the open pages of the book of nature. His playmate in school was his modest brother Gilbert. The poet's maternal grandfather, Gilbert Brown, was a farmer, and known for his upright living, also his deep religious convictions. He differed from the creed of his forefathers as did the poet. Before arriving at manhood Burns became firmly grounded in the faith of "the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man." While a youth he had witnessed a funeral as conducted by the institution of Masonry. That sight he had never forgot. In beauteous Tarbolton, Ayrshire, was St. David's Lodge, No. 174, whose membership consisted of the "substantial, upright, and honest gentlemen" of the neighborhood. An extract from the pages of records of that historic body, under the date of July 4, 1784, reads,-

 

"Robert Burns in Lockly was entered an apprentice." Signed, "R. Norman." And, under the date of October 1, the record reads, "Robert Burns in Lockly was passed and raised, Henry Cowan being Worshipful Master, James Humphrey being Senior Warden, and Alex Smith, Junior; Robert Wadrown, Secretary, and John Manson, Treasurer; John Tammock, Tyler, and others of the brethren being present."

 

MORE LIGHT IN MASONRY

 

Robert Burns became extremely interested in his new and most fraternal home. The lessons he had learned therein had a very welcome place in his heart, and in a short time he wished for "more light in Freemasonry," by being made a regular "Royal Arch Mason." In due season he made application for further advancement in the ancient mysteries of the Institution. It is by the aid of the minutes of the old "record book" of "St. Abb's Lodge" of Leymouth, and under the date of May 19, 1787, that the author is able to give the following to his fraternal readers:-

 

"At a general encampment of St. Abb's Lodge, the following brethren were made Royal Arch Masons: Robert Burns, from the Lodge of St. James, Tarbolton, Ayrshire; and Robert Ainslie, from the Lodge of  St. Luke, Edinburgh. Robert Ainslie paid one guinea admission dues; but, on account of Robert Burns' remarkable poetical genius the encampment agreed to admit him gratis, and considered themselves honored by having a man of such shining abilities for one of their companions."

 

Previous to Robert Burns being made a Master Mason, St. David's Lodge, No. 174, and St. James' Lodge were consolidated under the name, "St. David's Lodge, No. 174, Ancient Freemasons," and later separated, each Lodge claiming their pride, "Bobbie" Burns, to hold membership therein.

 

Throughout Scotland the 24th of June is generally observed by the Masonic fraternity. In 1786 and in the early part of June, Brother Burns, being somewhat anxious to have a large attendance on the 24th (St John's Day), sent to his brother Mason, the Dr. John Mackenzie, a beautiful notice in poem form. It pleased its readers.

 

THE MASTER'S APRON

 

The attendance on that "St. John's Day" was large at renowned St. David's Lodge, and a more proud Freemason never stood in Masonic cloth than Robert Burns as he extended the warm hand of friendship and brotherhood upon that occasion. He was a frequent and most welcome visitor to Masonic meetings in many places of "Bonnie" Scotland. The following is from his talented pen:-

 

"There's many a badge that's unco braw

Wi' ribbons, lace, and tape on:

Let Kings and Princes wear them a'

Gie me the Master's apron

The honest craftsman's apron

The jolly Freemason's apron,

Bide he at hame, or roam afar

Before his touch fa's bolt an' bar,

The gates of fortune fly ajar,

'Gin he wears the apron.

For w'alth and honor, pride and power

Are crumbling stanes to base on:

Fraternity should rule the hour

And ilka worthy Mason,

Each free accepted Mason

Each ancient crafted Mason.

Then, brithers, let a halesome sang

Arise your friendly ranks alang.

Gude Wives and bairnes blithely sing

Ti' the ancient badge wi' the apron string

That is worn by the Maste Mason."

 

Our own William Cullen Bryant in his address at the Burns birthday centennial festival, Astor House, Nevi York, Jan. 25, 1859, spoke at length on Burns. The following is but a brief extract from his well-timed remarks:-

 

"Well has our great poet deserved this universal commemoration, for whohas written like him ? What poem descriptive of rural manners and virtues, rural life in its simplicity and dignity,--yet without  single false outline or touch of false coloring,--clings to our memories and lives in our bosoms like his 'Cotter's Saturday Night'? What humorous narrative in verse can be compared with his 'Tam O'Shanter'? From the fall of Adam to his time, I believe, there was nothing written in the vein of his 'Mountain Daisy': others have caught his spirit from that poem, but who among then, all excelled him? Of all the convivial songs I have ever seen in any language there is none so overflowing with the spirit of conviviality, so joyous, so contagious as his song of 'Willie brewed a Peck o' Maut.' What love songs are sweeter and tenderer than those of Burns? What song addresses itself so movingly to our love of old friends and our pleasant recollection of old days as his 'Auld Lang Syne,' or to the domestic affections so powerfully as his 'John Anderson'"?

 

The religion of Burns was truly the religion of a poet. "An irreligious poet is a monster," he said. "I despise the religion of a fanatic, but I love the religion of a man." So advanced has become the age of reason that these words alone make Burns mighty among the world's greatest philosophers. A true poet is a religious man. He sees goodness in all things: the works of Deity are to him ever visible.

 

SECTARIANISM

 

Years ago Scotland alone celebrated the birthday of Burns; but to-day people of many races, creeds, and tongues hold services commemorating that eventful day. We find many preachers of to-day laying their sacrifice of praise on the sacred altar of his cherished memory. Even the creed egoist or the race despot cares not to make war upon the name of Robert Burns. Form to him was nothing, sect had no welcome in his heart. The peddling politicians of sectarianism played upon his tender feelings, and, while he was yet young, forced him into arguments upon theological lines. In later years he frequently declared to the effect that the theological brawlings of his early life were not to be counted against him as hostile to religion. For true religion his respect was marked. See his philosophy in these lines,--

 

"In ploughman phrase, God send you speed,

Still daily to grow wiser;

And may ye better reck the rede

Than ever did th' adviser."

 

He wore no commercial smile, nor did he frown upon the riches of others. He was never known to speak disrespectfully of Jesus of Nazareth.

 

The following four lines are but a fragment of his poem as paralleled by him to the eighth chapter of John:-

 

"Then gently scan your brother man,

Still gentler sister woman;

Tho' they may gang a kennin' wrang,

To step aside is human."

 

For the sake of the songs of Burns the rational world has forgiven his sins.

 

Robert Burns died July 21, 1796, and was buried five days later at Alloway Kirk, Ayr. No grave in all Scotland is more cherished by the visitor than that of Robert Burns, who had many faults and who like all men made many mistakes in life, but whose tender heart gave to humanity some of the sweetest messages since the Sermon on the Mount, and whose name will live as long as biography has a charm for the children of men.

 

THE SWEET SINGER

 

Thus do we find Robert Burns to have been a very religious man. Many of his poems are sermons worthy to be cherished by all lovers of literary worth. He frowned upon no man for his form of worship of the Deity. He despised the selfishness of man in commercial life:--

 

"The poor, oppressed, honest man

Had never sure been born

Had there not been some recompense

To comfort those that mourn."

 

Again he says,--

 

"Great Nature spoke, with benign

'Go on, ye human race

This lower world I you resign

Be faithful and increase.' "

 

To the memory of his daughter who died in 1795 he wrote two verses, one of which is as follows:--

 

"To those who for her loss are grieved,

This consolation's given:

She's from a world of woe relieved

And blooms a rose in heaven."

 

One of his truest friends was John Bushby, who was known for his faith in God and his honesty of purpose in worldly affairs. At his grave Burns wrote:--

 

"Here lies John Bushby, honest man!

Cheat him, Devil, if you can."

 

"Burns' Day," January 25th, is becoming a popular day of celebration, when, by those who love the tender side of humanity, race and creed are forgotten.

 

----o----

 

THYSELF IN CONTROL

 

From the Katha-Upanishad.

 

Know the Self to be sitting in the chariot, the body to be the chariot, the intellect the charioteer, and the mind the reins.

 

The senses they call the horses, the objects of the senses their roads. When he (the Highest Self) is in mlion with the body, the senses, and the mind, then wise people call him the Enjoyer.

 

He who has no understanding and whose mind (the reins) is never firmly held, his senses (horses) are unmanageable, like vicious horses of a charioteer.

 

But he who has understanding and whose mind is always firmly held, his senses are under control, like good horses of a charioteer.

 

He who has no understanding, who is unmindful and always impure, never reaches that place, but enters into the round of births. But he who has understanding, who is mindful and always pure, reaches indeed that place whence he is not born again.

 

But he who has understanding for his charioteer, and who holds the reins of the mind, he reaches the end of his journey, and that is the highest place.

 

----o----

 

"One of the first lessons taught a Mason is prayer, and what a mockery it is for a man to pray to the great God whose name he profanes. One reason why Masons lose interest is that they were not first made Masons in their hearts."

 

IRISH FREEMASONRY

 

BY BRO. J.L. CARSON, VIRGINIA

 

Although Ireland cannot boast of having had a Mason's Guild of its own, many of the cathedrals, churches and monasteries established up and down through the country were built by bands or companies of skilled workmen belonging to such guilds who came into "The Kingdom of Ireland" from across "The Channel."

 

The Cathedral of The Holy Trinity (now Christ's Church), Dublin, was built 1157-1230 by a company of such workmen from Somersetshire; Grey Abbey in the County Down was erected by a body of the brotherhood of operative builders from Whitby 1190 to 1200; builders from Southwark erected St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, about 1210; and Saint Mary's Church, Youghal; Saint Nicholas' Church, Carrickfergus; The Abbey Church, Bangor; County Down, and many others were "fitly framed together" by members of some of the skilled brotherhoods of operative Masons from across the Irish Sea, whose camps or lodges scattered over the face of the land, account for the large number of St. John's Lodges pre-existing the establishment of the Grand Lodge of Ireland.

 

That Speculative Masonry existed in Ireland previous to the Grand Lodge era we have ample proof. Of course, the early St. John's Lodges were purely operative, gradually becoming speculative, but at what date this change occurred, or of the circumstances leading up to the change, we have no intimation or knowledge. This we do know: that as early as 1688 Speculative Masonry was known and understood in Ireland. In that year John Jones in his tripos delivered at the commencement exercises of The University of Dublin, delivered before a mixed assembly of University men and prominent Dublin citizens, referred to Free Masonry in such terms as to leave no doubt that a general and wide-spread knowledge of the principles of the speculative element of our society were fully understood.

 

A LADY FREEMASON

 

In 1712 at Doneraile House County Cork, where a Speculative Lodge was being held in the Mansion of Lord Doneraile, The Right Honourable Betty St. Ledger, afterwards Mrs. Aldworth (sister of his Lordship), was admitted a Freemason, (she being the only Lady Freemason ever regularly initiated into our society, her initiation is one of the romances of Freemasonry.)

 

In 1717 at least four of these St. Johns or "Time Immemorial Lodges" met in the City of London with Antony Sawyer as Grand Master and inaugurated the first Speculative Grand Lodge of the World, The Grand Lodge of England. So in the year 1725 (or earlier) The St. Johns Lodges of Ireland united to form The Grand Lodge of Ireland, the oldest daughter of the Mother Grand Lodge.

 

 The Dublin papers of 1725 inform us, that on the 26th day of June, that year, the Grand Lodge of Ireland attended a public ceremony, parading the Streets of Dublin "on a most magnificent scale," from the same source we also learn that on the 28th of June "the Master and Wardens of the Ancient and Honourable Society of Freemasons were chosen, and the Right Honourable Richard Earl of Ross was elected Grand Master," after the installation "there was a splendid dinner consisting of one hundred and fifty dishes," "after dinner and music they went to the play where Mr. Griffith," (the Comedian, who was also the Grand Secretary) "and the Honourable Society sung a song in praise of Freemasonry." All this does not look as if it was "the first day out" for our ancient Irish Brethren, but as all the old records of the Grand Lodge have been "lost, strayed, or stolen," the exact date of the origin of this Grand Lodge cannot be definitely fixed, nor the number of Lodges assisting thereat. The "Munster Records," however, are the first authentic records of any Grand Lodge in Ireland, informing us that a Grand Lodge met at Cork on the 27th of December, 1726, The Honourable James O'Brien, third son of William 3rd Earl of Inchquin, being elected (3rand Master, and Springett Penn, Great Grandson of Admiral Penn and Grandson of the famous Pennsylvania Quaker, Deputy Grand Master. On August 9th, 1731, Lord Kingston, who had been elected Grand Master of England 1728 was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge in Dublin. He had also been elected in 1729 Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Munster; his acceptance of both important Irish offices served to fuse together the two bodies in 1731, into the Grand Lodge of Ireland as it stands to this day, proving the connection and good feeling then existing between the Premier Grand Lodge of England and the Grand Lodges of Ireland.

 

FIRST IRISH CONSTITUTIONS

 

In 1730 John Pennell transcribed and rearranged Anderson's Constitutions for the Grand Lodge of Ireland, making them the first Irish Constitutions, thus showing the identity of the systems of the Mother Grand Lodge of the World, and her eldest daughter the Grand Lodge of Ireland, previous to the establishment of the Grand Lodge of the Ancients, which deriving its ceremonial work, and methods of organization from the Grand Lodge of Ireland, was rather an offshoot of that Grand Lodge than a seceder from the Premier Grand Lodge of England.

 

In 1740 Laurence Dermott was initiated in Lodge No. 26, Dublin, and in 1746 was its Worshipful Master; he afterwards migrated to London and was practically the organizer of the Grand Lodge of the "Ancients." He was early appointed Grand Secretary and afterwards Deputy Grand Master, introducing the Irish working and all its methods of procedure, dubbing the followers of the premier Grand Lodge of England as "Moderns."

 

The Irish Craft and the Grand Lodge of the "Ancients" therefore worked pure ancient Masonry, holding fast to the "original intention" and the Ancient Landmarks, while the Modern Grand Lodge by its innovations, its errors of omission and commission, ran the risk of covering the landmarks with so much quasi-Masonic rubbish as almost to obliterate them altogether.

 

In 1766 Grand Secretary Crocker when changing his residence in Dublin lost a "small hair trunk" full of Grand Lodge records, and in 1801 Alexander Seton the newly appointed Grand Secretary, took the full of a "Hackney Coach" of manuscripts, books, and records from the home of Brother Crocker, which have never since been traced or recovered. Any student of the history of Grand Bodies can realize this loss; all the history of the Grand Lodge of Ireland previous to this late has been laboriously gathered together from outside sources. Alexander Seton (a Dublin Barrister) who captured the old records, left himself by this and his many irregularities as Grand Secretary open to a Chancery Suit, that ever famous Irish Orator and Brother Mason, Dan O'Connell (The Liberator) being Junior Council for the Grand Lodge. The suit went against Seton who immediately set about fomenting trouble for the Grand Lodge of Ireland.

 

FRILLS AND FEATHERS

 

At this period all known and many now unknown degrees were being worked in the Irish Lodges under no other authority than the Blue Lodge warrants. In fact, the power to grant the higher degrees was only governed by the ability to confer them.

 

The Grand Lodge of Ireland therefore set about cutting all the "frills and feathers" from the Blue Lodges confining them to the first three degrees. Seton seized this as a pretext to agitate the provincial Lodges, misrepresenting the attempts of the Grand Lodge to bring the High Grades under a central control, set about the establishment of a rival Grand Lodge in Dublin known variously as "The Grand East of Ireland," "The Grand Lodge of Ulster," and "The Grand East of Ulster." The central and main plank in their platform being "that it appears to us that the innovations lately proposed to be placed on the High Masonic orders are unnecessary, inasmuch as these orders have hitherto enjoyed uninterrupted tranquillity without any ostensible head or controlling power." In 1805 about 200 Lodges revolted following Seton into the "Grand East of Ulster." Things for a time looked serious, but the Grand Lodge after a five years' struggle came out on top. By wise and liberal legislation speaking volumes for the good sense of the rulers of the Craft the effect of the schism died out with astonishing rapidity, and its very memory was speedily forgotten by all but the few students of Irish Masonic history. The History of the Grand Lodge of Ireland since this date has been the history of most other Grand Lodges. It had its ups and downs, its days of prosperity and adversity, but its Traditions, History and Ritual have been handed down pure and undefiled, and the glorious banner of the Craft still flies over a contented and prosperous jurisdiction.

 

CHETWODE CRAWLEY

 

The present Ritual was first adopted by the Grand Lodge in 1814. John Fowler "who had a master mind for ritual" exemplified the working before the Grand Lodge, and it was then and there decreed that "the work of John Fowler and no other" be the fixed standard for all future time. Fowler's exemplification introduced no novelties, omitted no essentials, simply put into concrete form the then existing but somewhat mixed ceremonies as they had been handed down from the beginning. Edward Thorp, a pupil of Fowler's, carried on the good work for many years. The late Judge Townsend and Harry Hodges, as well as our good Brother W. J. Chetwode Crawley, received their Masonic ritual from Brother Thorp, without "evasion or equivocation." R.W. Brothers Townsend, Hodges and Crawley have given of their best to the Grand Lodge of Instruction, so that the claim of the Grand Lodge of Ireland for the accuracy of its pure ancient Freemasonry is no vain boast. "Strict verbal accuracy" is demanded where there is neither a printed or written, recognized or unrecognized monitor or textbook, and this is the system by which this demand is attained.

 

A Brother in a Subordinate Lodge who shows ability and inclination to master the ceremonies, is nominated by his Lodge to attend the Grand Lodge of Instruction in Dublin. If he obtains a certificate of proficiency he becomes instructor to his Lodge. Two of the ablest of these ritualists in each province are annually elected Provincial Grand Instructors, who make regular visits to the Grand Lodge of Instruction, also visiting the Lodges in their province where no brother holds an instructor's certificate, or to any Lodge as instructed by the Provincial Grand Lodge or requested by the Subordinate Lodge. If "strict verbal accuracy" is demanded, so also is "strict uniformity of Masonic Clothing," no apron, jewel, or decoration other than those appertaining to the first three and Past Master's degree being allowed to be worn in a Blue Lodge. This rule is insisted upon in the case of visiting Brethren as well as members of the Lodge. The Grand Lodge meets in Dublin annually, the Grand Master being a life appointment and the Grand Officers the appointment of the Grand Lodge and the Board of General Purposes.

 

"THE JEWELS"

 

The Board of General Purposes arranges and decides almost all business details for the Grand Lodge, so that its decisions are usually a cut and dry ratification of the rulings of the Board of General Purposes. Provincial Grand Lodges meet quarterly, the Provincial Grand Master, usually a life appointment, is the nomination of the Grand Master. The Provincial Deputy Grand Master being the nomination of the Provincial Grand Master, it thus transpires, that the office of Provincial Senior Grand Warden is the highest elective position in the gift of the Irish Brethren.

 

"The Jewels" of Irish Masonry are the Masonic Orphan Boys School, the Masonic Female Orphan School, and the Victoria Jubilee Masonic Fund, all of which are supported with the generosity and good will characteristic of the Irish Freemason at home or abroad, for "Charity suffereth long and is kind."

 

 The first Military Warrant (No. 11) ever issued by any Constitution was granted on the 7th of November, 1732, to the First Battalion of the Royal Scots Regiment by the Grand Lodge of Ireland. Through the medium of these Military, Travelling, or Army Lodges, of which the Grand Lodge of Ireland and her Sistel Grand Lodge the "Ancients" issued many hundreds, Freemasonry reached the limits of every British possession, and claim may be laid for the lion's share in the spread of Freemasonry through the length and breadth of the English Speaking world.

 

In Ireland the Royal Arch was known as early as 1743, and the degree of Knight Templar in 1758. Tradition and generally accepted Lodge gossip leads us to believe both these degrees were worked in connection with Blue Lodges or as distinct organizations long previous to these dates. Many, if not all the Regiments stationed in Ireland having Military Warrants, adopted these degrees and worked them without let or hindrance under their ordinary Blue Lodge Warrants, thus s creating what were called "Black Warrants;" hence we account for the spread of the Royal Arch and Templa; degrees as well as those of Blue Masonry, whereve these regiments were drafted.

 

LAURENCE DERMOTT

 

The Grand Lodge of Ireland issued the first Grand Lodge Certificate ever handed a Mason by his Gran Lodge. The first of these certificates that ever crossed the sea was carried by Laurence Dermott and exhibited with pride by him in the Grand Lodge in London, thus proving his identity, and his ability to perform all the Masonic Ceremonies as worked in Ireland at that date. Warrant No. 1 of the Lodge meeting at Mitchellstown, Co. Cork, is the oldest existing document of its kind ever issued by any Grand Jurisdiction. Mitchellstown was on the estate of and near the Mansion of Lord Kingston, Grand Master; thus we account for its being warranted to that village. It is quite possible it first met in the Mansion itself. This Lodge claimed to have worked as a regularly constituted St. John's Lodge for fifty years previous to the issue of its Grand Lodge warrant. For many years these St. John Lodges held aloof from the Grand Lodge and did not apply for regular warrants of Constitution. In 1840 we find the following advertisement in the public newspapers: "Such Lodges as have not already taken out warrants, are ordered to apply for them to John Baldwin, Esq., Grand Secretary to the Grand Lodge, or they will be proceeded against as rebels." Indeed it was a frequent cause of riot and disorder when the "Regulars" or members of Lodges having received Grand Lodge Warrants, and the "Bush," "Rebel" or "Hedge" Masons, as those belonging to unwarranted Lodges were called, met at fairs, markets and funerals, trailing their coats down the center of the street, each claiming their regularity and yelling "If you want to raise a row or a ruction just tread on the tail of me coat." And I say to the readers of "The Builder," if you want to raise either of the aforesaid ancient ceremonies, just say a bad word about the Grand Lodge of Ireland, and I'm with you.

----o----

 

ON THE FAIR DAY

 

God went into the market-place of the world on a great fair-day.

All the stalls were kept by priests, who kept crying - the crowd:

"Which god will you buy ?"

"Mine is the only true god."

"Hold to the god of youl ancesters."

"My god compromises with sin and sells you indugences."

"My god is easy-going."

"My god is profitable."

"My god is fashionable."

"Come buy with gold."

"Come buy with observances."

"Come buy with trumpetings."

And God turned wearily away and said to the stars: "How long it

takes mankind to grow up."

--Elizabeth Gibson Cheyne.

 

 

REFLECTIONS ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF ALBERT PIKE

 

BY BRO. FRANK W. ELLIS, IOWA

 

FREEMASONRY has been defined as a science which includes all other sciences. The study of Morals and Dogma will lead to a keen appreciation of such a definition and that it is not only the most concise but one of the most comprehensive and furnishes an illustration of the immense scope of Morals and Dogma.

 

Dogma, according to Pike himself, is to be construed as doctrine or teaching, and so we have in Morals and Dogma a book which comprehends Masonic morality and teachings; usually expressed in a more scholarly and dignified way as Pike's Philosophy of Masonry.

 

The Philosophy of Masonry, or any particular Masonic writer's philosophy, means the unfolding of the wisdom of Masonry. That is, we as Masons use the terrn philosophy as a science which treats of our particular system of teaching. We gather this knowledge or wisdom as a science or a philosophy from numerous sources; one can safely say it flows from innumerable fountains. Symbols, allegories, legends, occurrences from the Bible and many dramas, dress this wisdom attractively. The meaning of the symbols, the pictures produced by its allegories and legends and Bible occurences make clear the lessons of Masonry which are called Masonic Philosophy. Why, certain symbols and allegories and occurences teach these lessons, carries us into a broader and more diversified domain of philosophy, yea, even into the storehouses of knowledge of all time, which means a research that only the sage or profound scholar can ordinarily undertake. It might be well to remark, however, in this connection, that, given a fairly calm judgment and good mind, such a research will produce a scholarly result in one not blessed with book knowledge attained in colleges or schools. If the ordinary mind of the ordinary Mason is not roused or stimulated to activity for deep learning, he can nevertheless acquire and absorb the Masonic meaning and come to a Masonic understanding of the all instructive, all fruitful and all entrancing beauties of the symbols, the pictures made by the allegories and occurences depicted in Masonry. And when he gazes into the limpid depths of the streams that flow from these fountains and interprets and construes their songs and harmonies, the note that strikes his responsive chord is not difficult of comprehension.

 

THE PURPOSE OF MASONRY

 

It is not the purpose of Masonry to supplant or supersede religion. Masonry is only a help to religion. It is to teach us to have a firm belief in God and the immortality of the soul. Masonic philosophy has this end in view, and works for that consummation. Belief in the unity of God and immortality of the Soul is its basic, fundamental law, its eternal lesson and foundation. Its morals follow necessarily as a postulate, inevitably as a sequence. It is not the purpose of this paper to endeavor to strike the keys in perfect harmony with all the conceptions of Pike, borrowed or original, in his moral teachings or his philosophy, but rather to find some of them as one would hold to his ear the shell listening for the faint refrain of the cadences of the sounding deep. It is an effort to pluck and inhale the perfume and observe the beauty of some only of the flowers which grow in the garden of the Philosophy of Morals and Dogma.

 

Undoubtedly, as learned scholars have declared, the philosophy taught in Morals and Dogma is the reduction of all forces or impulses, spiritual and material, to dependency for their existence upon the Absolute. The Being who is Being, always was Being and always will be Being. The universe with all its ramifications, including life and inanimate matter, came from or emanated from God, the Absolute. Interpret our individual tenets as we may, nevertheless they lead to the final Unity, which is the Absolute. That as a necessary deduction from this doctrine of all springing from or owing existence to the Absolute or God, there is a doctrine of harmony arising from the action of contrary forces in everything, whether spiritual or material.

 

DOCTRINE OF EMANATION

 

The doctrine of the Absolute was taught by nearly all sages, philosophers, savants, oracles and learned men of all time. It was the doctrine of nearly all the esoteric institutions of all ages. And Pike skillfully deduces from the writings of nearly all learned men the theory of the operation of contrary forces producing harmony. Most commentators on Pike are content to state his philosophy in the most meager way or as a key to understand his Morals and Dogma and refer you to a study of his work, which is complimentary not only to his philosophy but also to the wealth of learning with which his pages glisten.

 

A cold or unadorned statement of the Doctrine of Emanation of everything from God, or the Absolute, and that such emanations or manifestations operated by the combined action of contraries, is an arid and barren harvest of the poetry and beauty and wisdom of Pike's philosophy. Such is the doctrine of the philosophy of Pike, and bare mention of it may be a sufficient clew or hint or incentive for the learned and the scholarly or the philosopher. It does not suffice, however, if we are to stimulate the ordinary Mason to a study of Pike's philosophy of Masonry. His philosophy is set in many constellations each composed of many different stars, many of the first magnitude.

 

The doctrine of the Absolute, if it may be called such for brevity, is not a new philosophy. It is older than written language and stretches away back to the first method of teaching by symbols and yet further into the dim recesses of remote and unknown antiquity when mortal thought first took form; if indeed it was not a part of the first mortal thought and there had its origin. Belief in God has been intuitive always. It is instinctive, a part and parcel of humanity, if perchance it is not more and came from communion with God by the patriarchs.

 

Harmony as a product of spiritual action must be the law of creation of all things because it could not be otherwise. That sacred subject cannot be solved by the human mind for the reason that it deals with the infinite which is above and beyond the human mind. Just so, the blue sky is a name only because it is not there. We look into infinity which the human eye cannot see. Neither can the human mind comprehend the operations of the Infinite. The grace and loveliness of Infinite Creation producing exquisite harmony in every form and shape and mould stimulates the human mind to endeavor to penetrate its mysteries, and every force of the human brain is strained to comprehend. It is the far and futile hope of science. It has agitated the highest and best and brightest and most profound intellects of all time who have endeavored to explain it by every symbol that the ingenuity of man could invent. Language, which is itself a symbol of thought, has been exhausted and tortured, to give clearness to an explanation. But all in vain. Human reason has its limit in human understanding. Pristine Truth is not within the purview of man's comprehension.

 

GOD AND IMMORTALITY

 

For the ordinary man the philosophy of Masonry as taught by Pike can bring him belief in the Unity of God and Immortality of the Soul resting upon human reason and human faith. This Pike's philosophy teaches its student on nearly every page. One can read and. study Morals and Dogma and discard the particular doctrine of every philosopher mentioned therein or to whom reference is made, and even the philosophy of the Book itself, and still its pages fairly teem with and pour forth a radiance of morality, founded upon the logic of immutable laws, which light the way to the goal of human perfection, or the Utopia of human excellence, because they are based or founded upon our law;--the Unity of God and Immortality of the Soul.

 

Why the morality of mankind, whether in an individual or nation, is founded upon these immutable principles is our philosophy. Pike warns us again and again that nature does not explain, that simple things only are explained. The revelation itself, while revealing, conceals because it cannot be otherwise. A real mystery is not a mystery because it is understood by only a few, the select. It is a mystery for the reason that it cannot be explained by language, for if it could be made plain or evidenced by words it never would have been a mystery, and would have been exposed when born. Hence, symbols convey a meaning which can exist only in the thought and in the mind or in the judgment of the intellect. Multiplying words does not reveal them. That process only covers or conceals them. For instance, in nature we know only the effect of fire, we do not know the cause. We know the effect of lightning or electricity, but not its cause. We may be able in such phenomena to discover the combination of the elements which compose them, but what acts upon these elements to produce the effects is a mystery yet unsolved. Likewise, another mystery, it does not seem that our comprehension, our wisdom, is intended to solve them. The more we use words to explain the insolvable, the unknown and the inscrutable the more we re-cover them with an opaque cloak or veil.

 

FORCE OF ELECTRICITY

 

God and the Immortality of the Soul are far more hidden and impenetrakle to the human mind than movement of matter. Fire and electricity are matter because it takes time for them to act. The marvelous force of electricity which comes and goes, with its terrifying effects, almost instantaneously, a cataract of fire from the sky, nevertheless is visible and takes time. The shrouded and obscure ether which we call void or space, by its friction, or for some other cause, retards light because though light travels with inconceivable rapidity time is consumed before it reaches the earth from the distant stars.

 

Our human reason is perhaps partially defined as meaning proof. Proof appeals to the judgment, to the intellect, in such manner as to be convincing. In other words, reason is, in our mind, the certainty of some existence or phenomena we can appreciate and understand. We all know there are such material things as dew, light, earth, plants, moon, stars, sun and buildings, trees or objects of any kind, or rainbows, or clouds or colors because we see them. Science explains many things indisputably. Many other effects we feel. We are certain that such things are true and that they exist. Our reason makes them known to us.

 

When reason ceases we must rely on faith, whether faith precedes or follows reason or operates with it simultaneously. A faith that is blind, that is covered or a matter of habit or an inheritance, is not a real faith. We should have a faith founded upon reason, that is, the certainty of conviction that never fears or trembles at the approach of doubt. Otherwise we are groping in the dark or walking in the shadows or in a perennial mist or fog.

 

STARS OF FAITH

 

Faith in God and the immortality of the Soul is one of the stars of first magnitude in the constellations which form the entire Philosophy of the Morals and Dogma, as it is in any philosophy of Masonry. Can we acquire by any philosophy a real conviction based upon never yielding faith ? Or must we abjure wisdom and always falter through the darkness? Or can we find a reason for the faith within us ? Pike says, yes ! Many other learned men say the same. Why? The Bible is a reason for faith and is entirely sufficient for many thousands. There can, however, be no harm in cumulating reasons for faith, if there can be any such piling up of proof outside the Bible. Likely, to all the proof for faith is there, if we would but find it.

 

The most appealing foundation for a faith founded upon reason is nature. Nature teaches by symbols; it does not explain. By analogy, if not otherwise, the lessons of Nature will produce an unyielding and inevitable faith. Nature, the Universe, is the work of the Absolute, the evidence of the thought of the Cause of Causes, God. Matter is never destroyed. The soul or spirit of man is from the Supreme Light and is indestructible by every demonstration of the Infinite.

 

The philosophy of Pike, aside from certain profound conclusions, aside from its beautiful lessons of morality, and aside from its innumberable excursions into the theory of every effort at government and social problems and their effect, and aside from the worked over and quoted philosophy of the sages and scholars, reveals a lesson to the ordinary mind of the ordinary Mason so bright, so resplendent and so lovely as to be fascinating, even though he does not pretend to be metaphysical. And this is so whether or not Pike uses that lesson as an illustration or argument for his final consummation and whether original or borrowed or moulded in the crucible of his astounding mind.

 

FAITH AND REASON

 

Faith standing parallel with reason are certainly two of the great columns which Pike's philosophy constructs. Exercise your reason or judgment to make your faith strong. If your faith in God and immortality is proved to you, it is immutable and unchangeable ! The strongest winter winds of doubt will never make it cold or frosty, the hottest tropic blasts of vacillation will never make it shrivel or shrink, and no atmosphere of hesitation can ever warp or change its melodious cogency. The fixed certainty of faith must be acquired by yourself. It is yours instinctively and it needs only its refinement and education to make it manifest to you. All the accumulated knowledge of all the libraries of the world are powerless to transfer faith from their pages to your mind, but only one book may create in you that inestimable human gift; but without even one book you may gather the harvest of faith from one seed of wisdom planted by nature.

 

The great, so called, concealed mystery of Masonic philosophy is revealed by faith. The meanings of its symbols are made obvious by faith. When once acquired the conqueror may see the seven steps of the ladder, and as he climbs, looking upward, the clouds break, the horizon broadens and the light shines more and more clearly until it becomes the refulgence of certain immortality. Such a faith will reconcile existing evil with God's absolute wisdom and goodness. Faith with reason are not alone for the profound scholar sitting perched upon a pinnacle of inaccessible seclusion, but they are also for him who toils in the valley or works upon the mountainside, if his thoughts scale the heights along the way that nature has blazed with perpetual tokens. So reads the philosophy of Pike. Read, and reflect. Stimulate your mind by reading and exercise it by reflection.

 

THE SPAN OF LIFE

 

 The span of life is so brief, that the wonderful mechanism of man seems hardly worth while, but when we come to consider the wonders of nature; that the most minute forms of life like the infusoria or the animalcula, some of which live for an hour or a day only, and on the other hand the unspeakable and stupendous duration of the solar systems, we can gather some idea or conception by comparison of the microscopical and infinitesimal importance of man. It is largely this appreciation of the insignificance of self that leads to a real appreciation of the marvelous magnitude and prodigious phenomena of nature. Time blots out material life as we crush an ant with our heel or as a blotter takes up the ink. The brevity of life has been the theme of the bard and the inspiration of the philosopher. Every lesson of morality and truth and the virtues have been painted and sung and prosed from the inspiration of the shortness of life and the insignificance of man. However, because life is short and self is nothing is not a reason to decline to make the most of life. To improve our moral nature and find the means of multiplying our beneficence and to use our best effort for the improvement of our spiritual nature by the worship of the Grand Architect of the Universe, the interpretation of God's writing on the great pages of the Book of Nature and the amelioration of the evils of mankind are the great work of Masonry through its Philosophy. The pages of Pike shine with this philosophy and faith and reason, and apparently contraries working co-ordinately, are its beacon light. True there are many coruscations rising and falling, from and to the great central radiance or light of faith in God and the immortal Soul founded upon reason. For illustration let us take two quotations from Pike.

 

THE MIRACLE OF LIFE

 

"Here are two minute seeds, not much unlike in appearance, and two of larger size. Hand them to the learned Pundit, Chemistry, who tells us how combustion goes on in the lungs, and plants are fed with phosphorus and carbon, and the alkalies and silex. Let her decompose them, analyze them, torture them in all the ways she knows. The net result of each is a little sugar, a little fibrin, a little water--carbon, potassium, sodium, and the likc one cares not to know what.

 

"We hide them in the ground; and the slight rains moisten them, and the Sun shines upon them, and little slender shoots spring up and grow;--and what a miracle is the mere growth !--the force, the power, the capacity by which the little feeble shoot, that a small worm can nip off with a single snap of its mandibles, extracts from the earth and air and water the different elements, so learnedly catalogued, with which it increases in stature, and rises imperceptibly toward the sky.

 

"One grows to be a slender, fragile, feeble stalk, soft of texture, like an ordinary weed; another a strong bush, of woody fibre armed with thorns, and sturdy enough to bid defiance to the winds; the third a tender tree, subject to be blighted by the frost, and looked down upon by all the forest; while another spreads its rugged arms abroad, and cares for neither frost nor ice, nor the snows that for months lie around its roots.

 

"But lo ! out of the brown foul earth, and colorless invisible air, and limpid rain-water, the chemistry of the seeds has extracted colors--four different shades of green, that paint the leaves which put forth in the spring upon our plants, our shrubs and our trees. Later still come the flowers--the vivid colors of the rose, the beautiful brilliance of the carnation, the modest blush of the apple, and the splendid white of the orange. Whence come the colors of the leaves and flowers ? By what process of chemistry are they extracted from the carbon, the phosphorus, and the lime? Is it any greater miracle to make something out of nothing?

 

ACID AND ALKALIES

 

"Pluck the flowers. Inhale the delicious perfumes; each perfect, and all delicious. Whence have they come? By what combination of acids and alkalies could the chemist's laboratory produce them ?

 

"And now on two comes the fruit--the ruddy apple and the golden orange. Pluck them--open them ! The texture and fabric how totally different! The taste how entirely dissimilar--the perfume of each distinct from its flower and from the other. Whence the taste and this new perfume? The same earth and air and water have been made to furnish a different taste to each fruit, a different perfume not only to each fruit, but to each fruit and its own flower."

 

"We are all naturally seekers of wonders. We travel far to see the majesty of old ruins, the venerable forms of the hoary mountains, great water-falls, and galleries of art. And yet the world-wonder is all around us; the wonder of setting suns, and evening stars, of the magic springtime, the blossoming of the trees, the strange transformations of the moth; the wonder of the Infinite Divinity and of His boundless revelation. There is no splendor beyond that which sets its morning throne in the golden East; no dome sublime as that of Heaven; no beauty so fair as that of the verdant, blossoming earth."

 

One of these paints with language colored as highly as the foliage and flowers and with an aroma as beguiling as the perfume of his flowers, the force of material agencies like air, earth, water and light. Another comprehends the wonders of the sky, like the countless lamps of heaven hung out at night, or the wondrous beauty of the chromatic sunset which could only be painted with colorings from the angels' studio.

 

THE ETERNAL LAW

 

The fact that the earth is spherical, which we should never forget, and therefore has no beginning and no end in our minds, is symbolical of its Author; furthermore, its most material part, its dirt, is part even of the great celestial plan of the Universe and in combination with other agencies is obeying the same law of harmony as the solar systems or the same impulse or cause which agitates the human mind to think or the muscles to move or the worm to live.

 

Here again the lesson, the same eternal immutable law governs the growth of the blade of grass or the trembling leaf as it does the overarching heavens in which is displayed the refulgence of the midday sun or the calm glow of the moon or the patient reflections from the planets or the peaceful scintillations from the distant stars.

 

Faith is founded upon the sphere which our reason tells us has no end and no beginning; the highest and most perfect symbol and expression of harmony. The Soul, a manifestation of the infinite, indefinable, insolvable, the great mysterious gift from God--we cannot understand without solving the impossible and drawing aside the dark veil which covers immortality. If we cannot have demonstrated to us by indubitable proof one manifestation of the Infinite, the absurdity of any finite comprehension of the Infinite or Absolute is apparent. Faith is a human necessity, without it there is only a combination of fortuitous circumstances which we blindly call chance. Faith is the result of the reason and works with it hand in hand, as "light and darkness are the eternal ways of the Universe," now unfolding the morning dawn, or the brilliant day, now painting the heavens with beautiful colors and now shrouding the earth like the realms of Erebus, as a never ending panorama of eternal harmony. Faith is the companion and friend of reason and each are different but dependable one upon the other as the hemispheres of the brain. The arc of one is the arc of the other. They are both a part of the same circle which comprehends everything. The blade of grass is a part of the circle and so is the milky way, vast in extent and distance, yet only a pathway in the heavens. Space above is equal to space below. Space is balanced whether you stand upon the earth or upon the sphere so far away that its light has not yet reached us. The zenith and the nadir, the most remote points in the imagination, are also centers of circles so far away that space or distance become immeasurable as the immeasurable becomes the illimitable. The same unchangeable laws govern and control the throb of your heart as guide the destinies of the heavenly bodies whirling along on their voyage through space. Appreciate this and faith springs spontaneously from the reason! Science has demonstrated the unchangeableness of these laws. Nature reiterates again and again in the noiseless revolutions of the spheres or in the silent continuous growth of trees the immutability of these laws in thousands of years of never changing perfection. Faith is born from the reason that sees and appreciates the logical never ending panorama of nature's calm and peaceful and serene operation through the law of harmony in all cycles of infinite time.

 

----o----

 

"Do not consider the principle business of the Lodge to procure fun and entertainment for its members; but to neglect to provide for entertainment at all is still worse."

 

 

“FATHER” TAYLOR: MAN AND MASON

 

BY THE EDITOR

 

(In its issue of last April the New England Craftsman published an interesting sketch of "Father" Taylor, one of the Chaplains of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in the last generation. Taylor was early interested in Freemasonry, having joined the Corner Stone Lodge at Duxbury, as the records reveal, March 6th, 1820, and he loved the Order to the day of his death. In the days of the anti-Masonic fanaticism, when many withdrew from the Fraternity, and its members sometimes slunk into meeting hastily, with caps pulled down over their faces, Taylor used to strut into the entrance with his hat tilted back on what he called his "organ of obstinancy." Good Bishop Heddin - under whose obedience, as a Methodist, he labored - tried to stop Taylor from marching in Masonic processions, to avoid occasion for stumbling, but to noavail. Taylor marched all the more boldly, and the Bishop said, "Well, Eddy will wear his apron in spite of us." Taylor was afterwards a member of the Columbian Lodge, Boston, constant in his attendance, and his prayer at the opening of the Lodge when the anti-Masonic excitement was at its height, was never forgotten: "Bless this glorious Order; bless its friends; yes, bless its enemies, and make their hearts as soft as their heads." He was also a Knight Templar of the Boston Commandery. We believe the Brethren will enjoy a further account of Father Taylor, who was not only a great Mason, but one of the most remarkable men of his day - perhaps the greatest natural orator America has known. - The Editor)

 

ROBERT Collyer tells of attending a prayer meeting one bright May morning in the old Hollis Street church, Boston. Cyrus Bartol - author of that remarkable book called "Radical Problems" - was the leader, and after a brief pause in the meeting he spoke to a man well on in years who was sitting on a front seat who rose to his feet. There was a rustle in the meeting, and a light of expectation in all faces, like the breath which touches the leaves in a garden. Collyer bent forward and heard a strangely sweet voice speaking about Doves. He had seen them that morning on his way to the meeting, crowding to a window to be fed by some friendly hand, and the sight reminded him of the words of the prophet: "Who are these that fly as doves to the window?"

 

As the speaker warmed to his theme, the old church seemed to be full of doves - one could hear the soft whirr of their wings. They came crowding in from the New England woods and the dove cotes at the North End - doves of the prophet's time, white and purple, out of the heavens and into the heavens. Then somehow those who listened were doves, come at the Father's call that morning to be fed from his hand, or longing to plume their wings and fly away and be at rest. It was the enchantment of pure genius - a pentecost of flying doves - and Collyer wist not who had wrought the wonder. So he asked a man who sat near him who it was, and the man answered, astonished that any one in Boston should ask such a question, "Why, that is Father Taylor!"

 

Collyer was a young man, and after the meeting Bartol introduced him to Father Taylor. The lad held out his hand shyly, and the old man did not offer his in return. Instead, he opened his great arms, caught the boy in a warm embrace, and kissed him. Thereafter they were friends to the end. That was Father Taylor - "Jeremy Talyor in butternut," as Harriet Marteneau called him - and the only man on this side of the sea Charles Dickens went to hear on his first visit; the man who charmed Jenny Lind, the elder Booth, Webster, Emerson, Everett, and all who heard him; and whose smile was so bright that his little daughter made up her mind that this was what made the flowers open in their living room.

 

LION AND LAMB

 

Edward Taylor was born on Christmas day in Richmond, Virginia, 1793 - into a forlorn world, because his mother, a Scotch governess, passed out of life as he came in. The little "bundle of a baby" fell into the care of a black mammy, whose love and gentleness ever after haunted his heart. Like Moses, drawn out of the bulrush ark, he was a foundling of providence, dowered with the mysterious power we call genius. He was a ruddy child, as of red earth the first Adam was made - a sort of lion, if one looked at him through the glasses of Darwin, but a lamb also, having the subtility of the serpent in his intellect and the sweet foolishness of the dove in his heart. Like the elder Booth who wanted prayers over some dead pigeons, so Taylor held funeral services over chickens and kittens who departed this life, and used not only persuasion, but a whip to gather his audience of pickinninies and put them in proper frame of mind - though the lash was doubtless as gentle as the oratory was wonderful. When he was seven he was one day picking up chips for the good woman to whom the charge of him had fallen, when a sea-captain passing by asked him if he did not want to be a sailor. Instantly he left the chips, ran to the house and shouted, "Good-bye mother," and was off sea as cabin boy.

 

In the biography of Taylor - by Gilbert Haven and Thomas Russell - the next ten years are called “a blank," and they were no doubt a hard experience, to which he rarely referred. Years later when he was taken by a friend to visit Dr. W. E. Channing, on leaving the house he observed to the friend, "Channing has splendid talents; what a pity he has not been educated!" By which he meant, no doubt, that there is a kind of education not to be obtained from books - such as he had acquired in the university of winds and waves, through whose long and trying curriculum, with many sharp examinations, he had passed. For ten years he endured hardness as a good sailor, and we next see him wandering on a Sunday morning into the Park street church, Boston, and leaving it with a hunger in his heart to be able some day to appeal to men like the great preacher he heard there.

 

STRANGE WARMING OF HEART

 

Another Sabbath found him in a Methodist chapel, and his heart was strangely moved by one who probed to the depths of that latent conscience and remorse which probably lie somewhere in the background of every soul. As he was going out a good man grasped his hand - as Methodists have a way of doing - and asked him about his soul. This was a double surprise, for the boy wanted human sympathy and here it was, and he was not aware until then that he had such a thing as a soul. And the upshot of it was that he was converted in the good old Methodist way - that is, converted all over, set on fire, all icicles melted and all sins burned up. It was the memory of this high and sunny hour that led him to tell his Unitarian friends that they were trying to raise wheat in the Arctic Circle, and that they might as well try to heat a furnace with snow balls as to save souls in their way.

 

In the war of 1812 Taylor went to sea on the Black Hawk, a privateer. She was soon captured by our friends the enemy, and her crew were sent as prisoners to Halifax, Nova Scotia. There was a rebellion among the boys when the chaplain read the prayers to them for King George, so they would not hear him. Taylor was known to be "a praying man" and he was asked to take the chaplain's place. He was quick and ready to do this, and after a time it dawned upon the boys that one who could pray so well might also preach, because, as they argued, it was only the difference between talking on your knees and on your feet. But Taylor could not read and he was puzzled about finding a text. The problem was easily solved. They found a Bible and one of the boys would read at haphazard until some text struck fire. So, reading one day, they came upon the words, "A good child is better than a foolish old king," and Taylor said, "That will do for a text," and he launched out into a story of our glorious Revolution, set them all afire, and came down heavily on foolish old King George to the vast delight of his audience. From that time he was chaplain on a prisoner's ration while the other man drew the pay.

 

YE ARE SPIES

 

Released from prison, the young apostle could not hide his light under a bushel - for that would have burnt the bushel, so he became an exhorter at the meetings on Methodist Alley. And the good Methodists - wise in this as in many things - were for giving him a license as a local preacher, despite the fact that he could not read; and two church officers were sent to hear him. Taylor was not supposed to know of their presence, but a kind friend told him, and he took for his text, "By the life of Pharoh ye are spies." All the same he was licensed to preach on a salary of nothing a year and board himself - the conditions on which I preached the first year of my ministry, and I am sure now that I got the best of the bargain ! To make his board Taylor hired out to a peddler in Ann street, who sent him down the coast with a load of tin notions. He came to Saugus in his journey, disposed of his wares, and then was moved to preach - sold his tins first, mark you, and preached afterward, not before - and won the heart of a dear old lady, who took him to her home, taught him how to read, and gave him the love of a mother. Later Amos Binney tried to send him to a theological school, but he stayed only six weeks and could stand it no longer.

 

EDWARD AND DEBORAH

 

So a full license was given him, and he was sent to Marblehead to take charge of an infant church there. And there he met Deborah, a maid to win the love of any man, and soon the young prophet was vastly in love. Shortly after he was moved to Hingham - four miles away - and one day he went up on the hill to gaze toward Marblehead, with a telescope to assist his heart, when in a flash the thought struck him and he leaped to his feet with the cry, "Bless my heart, this is our wedding day and I forgot all about it!" It was long after the hour set, but Deborah knew that if Edward ran he would run only one way. Still, one wishes that we had a report of their meeting next morning, to see how genius rose to the high demand when he told her how it was. They were married, and there was no need for the minister to say tor better or worse," for there was no worse - it was all and always for the better.

 

At Duxbury, where he and Deborah lived, he disturbed the long-enduring slumber of that fine old town, and some of the ministers were jealous of him. One of the ministers - the Unitarian pastor, meeting Taylor on the street, said, "So young man, ye have come to preach in Duxbury, have ye?" "Yes," replied the young man, "the Lord bid us preach the gospel to every creature." "To be sure," snorted the old man, "but he never said every critter should preach the gospel, sir," and went away in wrath. And next Sunday Taylor prayed that every white hair on that old man's head might be hung with a jewel of the Lord. He also prayed, specifically, that the Lord might "bless meek Burr, and proud Pratt, and save wicked old Alden, if you can !"

 

About this time, 1828, the good Methodists began to feel concern for those "who go down to the sea in ships," and it was surely the good God who guided them in selecting Edward Taylor for this ministry. He began in a dingy chapel on Methodist Alley, but the room was soon too small - many people from fashionable churches going to hear a man with a golden voice and a heart of fire. Nathaniel Barret; a Unitarian layman, wrote notes to a hundred of his friends, mainly of that faith, calling them together. He laid the matter before them, and it was decided to build a new meeting house for Taylor. So the Unitarians built a chapel for the Methodist evangelist, and that was in accord with the eternal fitness of things. They asked Taylor what he wanted, and he said they might leave out the Corinthian columns and give him the shavings. But they gave him, instead, of their best, and that was none too flood..

 

A WALKING BETHEL

 

The chapel was built in the shape of a ship, in dark finish, with low ceiling, ample and inviting. Behind the pulpit an artist hung a painting of a ship in distress, stormed tossed and driven. Taylor called this temple "Bethel," remembering the ladder of Jacob whereon angels ascended and descended in a dream that was also a prayer. And Edward Everett called Taylor himself "a walking Bethel." Two sailor boys stood in front of the chapel one day, and one who could spell proceeded to make out the name over the door: "B-e-t, that's beat; H-e-l, that's hell, here's where the old man beats hell, let's go in." And they came in numbers, a wilderness of wild human souls, and the genius of Taylor shone like a beacon in the night. But so many others came that he had to make a rule that the sailor boys should be seated first, and if they filled the seats the rest must stand. Sailor Jack saw the point, and sat on his dignity.

 

To the sailor boys he was a friend and father, and so it came about that he was called "Father" Taylor - and a higher tribute was never paid to a Christian minister. Taylor had the freedom of the city. He knocked at every door, Orthodox, Episcopal, Catholic or Radical, and everywhere he was welcome, and everywhere he was at home, being large enough, and wise enough, to see the good in every faith. By the same token, he would have no doors to his pulpit, and one day when a minister refused to enter because Henry Ware, a Unitarian, was to sit there - a way some men had in those days of proving that they were Christians, by failing to be gentlemen - Taylor prayed fervently: "Lord, there are two things we need to be delivered from in Boston - bad rum and bigotry. Which is the worst Thou knowest, I don't, Amen." When some one said in his hearing that Emerson would surely go to hell, he cried out: "Go there ! Why, if he went there he would change the climate and the tide of emigration would set in that way.”

 

THE GREAT ORATOR

 

Of all American orators he was the most original and inimitable in his genius and style. If you would know by what spell he swayed men, the cultured equally with the unlearned, read the little essay on Father Taylor by Walt Whitman, in "November Boughs." There you will see, as far as such things can be put into words, why it was that great actors when they came to see "how he did it," forgot what they came for and retreated behind their pocket-handkerchiefs to hide their sobs. There were great orators in Boston - Everett with his studious grace, Webster with his majesty, and Choate with his oriental fancy - but no one carried men away in a chariot of fire as Taylor did; and this power in him surprised no one more than it did himself. He was a possessed man, and in his rapt moods he became a live transparency in which men saw those things of which it is not lawful to speak. And, joined with this, was that winged wit, that fine and sure sanity, that common sense which his heavenly genius glorified. Here are some of his sayings:

 

"A man should not preach like he had killed somebody," he said when a brother was too solemn.

 

He compared getting ready to preach to fermentation: "When the liquor begins to swell and strain and hum and fizz; then pull the bung !"

 

"When a man is preaching at me I want him to take something hot out of his own heart, and shove it into mine - that is what I call preaching."

 

One day, preaching on amusements, he paid eulogy to Jenny Lind as "the sweetest song-bird that ever alighted on our shores." A man sitting on the pulpit steps asked if a person dying at one of her concerts would go to heaven. Taylor's eyes became two points of green fire, and he said: "A good man will go to heaven, sir, die where he may, and a fool will be a fool wherever he lives, though he sits on my pulpit stairs."

 

A man caught in the Millerite craze insisted on telling the sailor boys to get their ascension robes ready, as the world was coming to an end, and Taylor cried out, "Cut his boot-straps and let him go up, so the meeting can go on !"

 

"Emerson, I think, is the sweetest soul God ever made, but he knows no more about theology than Balaam's ass knew about Hebrew grammar. There seems to be a screw loose in him somewhere, but I never could find it, and listen as I may, I can find no jar in the machinery."

 

WIT AND WISDOM

 

To a minister who had taught the dogma of infant damnation, he said: "It's no use, brother, preaching sermons like that, because if what you say could be true, your God would be my devil."

 

"Webster is too bad to trust with anything good now, and too good to throw away; he is the best bad man I ever knew."

 

"Niagara is like the love of God; it never freezes up in winter, never dries up in dog days, and you never come to it for water and go away with an empty bucket."

 

And so, like a Niagara, the stream of his wit and wisdom flowed on, leaping, sparkling, and seemingly inexhaustible, until it emptied into the great sea. In April, 1871, he passed on - or over, as the French say -  going out with the ebbing tide, as "an old salt" should. Just before he died some one said: "There is rest in heaven, and you will soon be there."

 

"Go there yourself," he said, "I want to stay here."

 

"But think of the angels, all waiting to welcome you," he was told.

 

"I don't want angels, I want folks." And then in an instant the old radiance returned and he said: "Angels are folks, too, and ours are among them."

 

So passed the waif, sailor, privateersman, prisoner, and preacher - a big, fiery, fatherly, joyous man whose heart God had touched - and Boston paid honor to one of her first citizens, if not to the greatest natural orator that ever lived. And there was sorrow on the sea, for many a sailor boy felt a lump climb into his throat and a strange tightening about the heart, when he learned that Father Taylor was no more.

 

----o----

 

MASONRY AND RACE PATRIOTISM

 

One of the lessons of the past year is the inadequacy of nationalism as a humanizing and civilizing force. Men are killing each other in Europe for no other reason than that they are living under flags of different colors and on opposite sides of imaginary boundary lines. There is no ground in nature or reason for their flying at each others' throats. Patriotism is no virtue when it dwarfs the sympathies and narrows the soul's horizon; it is simply bigotry and selfishness, and becomes a menace to the world. John Paul Jones, America's first naval hero, called himself a citizen of the world, and though a Scotchman by birth fought for the Colonies because he thought they stood for a wider patriotism than had obtained before. He stood for America because he regarded America as standing for man as man. His enthusiasm was for the human race rather than for a nation. Love of country is a noble passion, but not as noble as the love of man. The Christ looked beyond the boundaries of land and race and threw the cords of his sympathy and affection around the world.

 

Masonry has a distinct interest in this, and has played a big part in its promotion in the past. It has an opportunity for the assertion of world-patriotism so unique and inviting that it amounts to a mission. Brotherhood is among our fundamentals; the ties that bind us are fraternal and natural and are embarrassed by no consideration of flag or clime. There is no such thing as an alien Mason; we are all brethren wherever we live and by whatever national name we may call ourselves. We can put fresh emphasis on this in these days of strife and hate. The American Mason has the opportunity of a millenium to teach and live the brotherhood the order stands for. Whatever barriers may separate Masons of the countries at war the American is on terms of fraternity with them all and can help them back to the same fellowship with each other.

 

Brother John A. Marquis, President of Coe College

 

----o----

 

"The world judges Masonry by the public walk of those who compose its membership. If that walk is crooked, the institution is not held blameless."

 

----o----

 

BUILDING AND BUILT UPON

 

"I am afraid you may not consider it an altogether substantial concern. It has to be seen in a certain way, under certain conditions. Some people never see it at all. You must understand, this is no dead pile of stones and unmeaning timber. It is a living thing. When you enter it you hear a sound - a sound as of some mighty poem chanted. Listen long enough, and you will learn that it is made up of the beating of human hearts, of the nameless music of men's souls - that is, if you have ears to hear. If you have eyes, you will presently see the church itself - a looming mystery of many shapes and shadows, leaping sheer from floor to dome. The work of no ordinary builder !

 

"The pillars of it go up like the brawny trunks of heroes; the sweet flesh of men and women is moulded about its bulwarks, strong, impregnable; the faces of little children laugh out from every corner stone; the terrible spans and arches of it are the joined hands of comrades; and up in the heights and spaces are inscribed the numberless musings of all the dreamers of the world. It is yet building - building and built upon. Sometimes the work goes on in deep darkness; sometimes in blinding light; now under the burden of unutterable anguish; now to the tune of great laughter and heroic shoutings like the cry of thunder. Sometimes, in the silence of the night-time, one may hear the tiny hammerings of the comrades at work up in the dome - the comrades that have climbed ahead."

 

Bro. Charles Rann Kennedy.

 

----o----

 

FREEDOM'S GOD'S DESTINY FOR MAN

 

If there did not exist a God, the protector of innocence and liberty, I would prefer the condition of the lion, ranging uncontrolled the desert and the forest, to that of a captive at the mercy of a mean tyrant, who, an accomplice of his crimes, will provoke the anger of Heaven: but no; God has destined man for freedom. He protects him, that he may exercise the heavenly gift of free will. - Simon Bolivar

 

THE PERFECT YOUTH

 

BY BRO. GEO. W. WARVELLE, ILL.

 

Our action of last year, confirming the decision of the year preceding relative to the eligibility of maimed candidates, has attracted much attention and produced widely varying opinions. In the main, however, the opinions are favorable and it is certain that the precedent we have set will be followed in many jurisdictions. I use the word "precedent" advisedly, for no jurisdiction had before then taken so radical a position with respect to physical requirements. Rut, all that was needed was a leader. Illinois, to its honor, assumed the office, and many will follow.

 

In Pennsylvania candidates must be physically faultless. In Washington, it would seem, much the san1e rule prevails, but in most of the jurisdictions an imperfection of the body or loss of a member will not debar a candidate if by artificial aid he is able to "conform to the requirements of the ritual." Last year the Grand Chapter of Washington approved a decision to the effect that "a brother with one foot off at the ankle, otherwise a sound man, although he has an artificial foot" is not eligible for the Chapter degrees.

 

Where this rigid rule of exclusion prevails the palpably unfraternal character thereof is usually defended by a recourse to the "ancient landmarks." It seems almost unnecessary to say that there are no ancient landmarks of Royal Arch Masonry and about the only ancient requirement for exaltation is, that the candidate must "have regularly passed the chair." In fact, the present rule of physical perfection, as applied in the Lodge, is mainly due to the strict interpretation by American ritualists of the old laws of the operative society. In England physical defects or deformities create no bar to the admission of candidates whose moral character is sound. And this is in consonance not only with fraternal spirit but with reason. To deny admission to a maimed candidate, however worthy he may otherwise be, is an act utterly at variance with the principles of Freemasonry as a speculative institution.

 

NEW AGE, NEW TESTS

 

Commenting upon this subject, Comp. J. L. Seward, of New Hampshire, makes the following pertinent remarks:

 

"Capitular Masonry has no landmark aside from its dependence upon symbolic Masonry. It simply requires that an applicant shall be a Master Mason. It leaves the requirements for symbolic Masonry in the hands of that branch of Freemasonry.

 

"At the same time, we believe that the landmarks with respect to physical qualifications in symbolic Masonry should be interpreted with regard to the age in which they were originated, and with respect to the original purpose. The purpose was to initiate men who were most fit for the work in hand. At that time it was operative stone work, requiring strength, muscle and excellent bodily development. How is it today? What do we require of a modern Mason ? We should still require that he be qualified for our work. But what is our work ? It is wholly of a moral, charitable and intellectual character. Physical perfection, as it is called, develops good athletes, pugilists, ball players and circus performers. Even our modern colleges and universities are greatly overvaluing men of this stamp. Do Freemasons wish to be understood as placing the emphasis of the qualifications upon a standard so low and so grossly coarse? Doubtless a certain regard should be had for the physical condition of an applicant, but that should be minimized in comparison with the emphasis which we ought to place upon the moral and intellectual qualifications."

 

UNFRATERNAL REQUIREMENTS

 

About the best argument for the abolition of this useless and unfraternal requirement, that has come to my notice, is made by Comp. Arthur E. Stevens, G. H. P. of Michigan. Commenting thereon he says:

 

"What is this law of physical perfection and from whence did it derive its origin ?

 

"The law of the old charges which declares that a candidate must be a perfect youth, 'having no maim or defect in his body,' was a practical rule adopted by operative Masons, not for any symbolic reason, I take it, but merely for utilitarian reasons.

 

"The medieval guild of Catholic builders for whom the old charges were made was a body of superior workmen jealous of its position. It considered itself better than any local guild or ordinary masons, as it was, for its members constructed works of stone which the average mason of this day could not undertake. It did not want any apprentice who, when he had learned his trade and arrived at manhood, was not the equal in skill and physical ability of his fellows. From their viewpoint physical perfection was as important or more so than moral perfection. This was practical and operative, not symbolical or mystical.

 

"The working tools of the operative mason have become to us symbolic of spiritual truths and the physical perfection required of the ancient apprentice should become to us but a symbol of that moral and spiritual perfection which we demand in our candidates, with due allowance for the essential imperfection of human nature. But even this view need not be considered in Royal Arch Masonry. Those who apply to us for further light are of necessity Master Masons, and if they have proven themselves to be morally such as we are authorized to receive what right have we to debar them from Capitular Masonry?

 

"The argument has often been made that a man should be able to prove himself a Mason in all the ways provided.

 

"Presuming a brother maimed has become a Royal Arch Masonr and granting that he could not in all the ways provided prove himself one, does Capitular Masonry suffer. Is the brother forced from the companionship of his own Chapter, where he undoubtedly will find the most pleasure to be derived from his membership ? Or will he not be incited by the fact of his physical disability to so perfect himself in Masonic knowledge that if necessary he can make himself known as a Royal Arch Mason to the satisfaction of the most critical examiners? Or if he can not, will not the loss be his and his alone ?

 

"Companions, can we think that we are bound to deprive our unfortunate brother of the privilege of such additional light in Masonry as we are able to furnish, because in ancient times operative masons chose only those who were sound and capable of handling and setting stones? Or even, if in our conscience we believe that Master Mason Lodges are bound to take physical disability into consideration, are we also bound to believe that Chapters should do the same ? I do not believe that you so think and I therefore recommend that Article 10 of the Constitution be amended by striking out Section 4, and that Sections 5, 6, 7 and 8 be renumbered as 4, 5, 6 and 7 respectively."

 

THE OLD CHARGES

 

I am pleased to report that Grand Chapter rose to the occasion and effected the reform the G. H. P. recommended.

 

The foundation for the modern theory of faultless physical condition of candidates, is based on that part of Anderson's compilation of the Ancient Charges which reads as follows:

 

"No Master should take an Apprentice unless he be a perfect youth, having no maim or defect in his body, that may render him incapable of learning the art, of serving his Master's lord and of being a brother."

 

The development of the theory into what we may call the "American rule," is largely due to the comments and interpretations of the late Cornelius Moore. His edition of the Old Charges was for years received by American Lodges with the reverence paid to Holy Writings and his commentary was regarded as almost inspired.

 

To be consistent, however, the advocates of th perfect youth doctrine should exclude from the congregation of the faithful all old, infirm and maimed Craftsmen. That is, the same rule that debars the admission of the "imperfect" youth,