The Builder Magazine

September 1918 - Volume IV - Number 9

 

THE WAGES OF A MASON

BY BRO. J. GEORGE GIBSON, ENGLAND

THERE is no disgrace in working for wages. In these days there are some who prefer the word "salary" or that of "stipend" as more "genteel." In reality neither of these words is even a wee bit more "genteel" than the old, old word "wages." Has the world fallen out of love with the idea of receiving just that which represents some work done and no more? If so is there anything more honorable in the taking of what is not only the due but carries with it also a profit of a trade nature? These may be days of contracts and of unequal profits; but that does not, and should not, make us forget that there is nothing more honorable or ancient than the receipt of our just wages, which are the cash equivalent of the work we have done. It may sometimes inconveniently suggest the "work of one's hands," and therefore to some the menial task. This is, however, no objection, for he who receives that which represents what he has done receives that which will make him hold up his head with the greatest. He who accepts a profit may be equally honest in intention but yet may have to wonder at times just what his profit costs his fellow man. It may be significant or not according to the point of view, but the fact remains that in the new country where men are face to face with facts, deep underlying facts of life, there is none of this squeamishness as to the use of the word "wages." There is after all a great deal of the absurd in this attempt to gloss over the fact that we labour for wages, as though it were a something to be ashamed of that we are engaged in manual toil, instead of being matter for joy and glory that we are able to contribute to the art and wealth of the world about us.

 

All this talk of the "honorarium," the "fee," the "remuneration," and the like is the coinage of the "shabby genteel" who are ashamed of all that should give them the right to live and the right to a place in society. The sooner we get back to the place from which so many of us have fallen the better for the world and for our own manhood. There is no one so little of account among the respectable classes as the idler, who is not even an apprentice "working for his meat." And it is time that the world which can be taught by Masonry learned more the value of a regular occupation from the practice of which all received, not an allowance, but wages. Justice is not so blind as she is made out to be, and it is a fact that the rule in life is that we receive exactly the wage for the work we have done, and no more.

 

A Mason is not only the temple he builds but he is much more--the Builder. His life is his masterpiece, and woe to him if he works not of his best. Where are his wages but in the work itself ? All labour that is in accordance with the teaching of the tracing board goes unpaid for. And in life there is no deferred payment either. It is not kept from him until he can no longer use it in this lodge below, but the Great Warden settles with each man every day after each task is performed. "And each man's reward shall be according as his work shall be." This is the Law of Life: it is also the Masonic Law. But the condition is Labour. No playing at the forms of toil will be sufficient. The recital of the ritual, and the statement that we are prepared to be liberal beyond the dreams of the reformer will not avail us when we stand before our Master each evening. If we give liberally of that which we shall never miss, of that the loss of which costs us nothing, we are no richer at the end of our Masonic career than we were at the beginning. But if the gift of our goodwill is also the gift of our real toil, that is if it has cost us something, then the reward comes to us in the increased muscularity of our soul, and in the greater power by which we yield to the claims of need in the future. "He who would be. greatest must be servant of all." That is to say "he must serve." It is service that passes a man from the lower work of the bench to the higher, and it is service that creates within us the spirit of the true artisan.

 

It is no reason for shame that we are filled with the desire to covet earnestly the greater gifts. The Entered Apprentice need not hang his head at the thought that he would like, even he, to reach the seat of K. S. in his lodge. But if it be rank alone that draws him, then he is still in the outer courts of the Masonic Temple. A Master of his lodge who has never dreamed, and never executed the masterpiece is one who holds a high office unworthily. He holds rank without dignity. Office should come in the ordinary course of the development of a man's Masonic experience. To the best workman the best work. The king's scepter is a degradation to the throne if the king be too foolish to reign in equity. And a man's life capacity should be the surest nomination for office and for labour in the highest grades. To give the Craft its due it is only right to say that the weak Worshipful Master is the exception and the officers who are chosen are usually those who are best fitted for the duties of their office. But with the rapid augmentation of our numbers in these days of a favorably received Freemasonry there is just a danger that with the huge new membership there may creep in the profane standards, and then the weakening of the Masonic testimony. This is seen too often in the way in which brethren are hastened through the degrees to the exaltation in the Sublime Degree.

 

We sometimes wonder how many of the workmen know how to handle the chisel of life, and how many are capable of spending the wages they receive out of all reason before their work is completed. We have also met with Worshipful Masters who were not even word perfect in the ceremonies, and who did not seem to consider it necessary that they should take much trouble to impress upon the initiate lessons they had perhaps never understood themselves. More than that we have often wondered upon what grounds of efficiency some of the appointments to positions in the higher walks of Freemasonry have been allocated. Men whose whole lives have been devoted to the explication of the meaning of true Masonry are ignored excepting in the paragraph of the Masonic Press, while others whose service to Masonry, and whose development in the direction of the templar erection has been to say the least obscure have been pushed to the front, much to their discomfort. We have seen the social position outside the lodge qualify for high position within, and the potentiality of the true workman lost sight of. We are glad to know that such incidents are rarer than they were, but they should be impossible. Some kind of account should be kept of the wages due to the Mason by the Craft he works for. The Great Warden has his account and the reward will surely come; but it would tend to the strengthening of the bond of Freemasonry did the brethren know that their labours were all entered in the human book of remembrance.

 

And yet, when we come to think of the multitude who have in our own recollection been labouring at the bench to which they have been sent from the first, we cannot recall one of the real workmen who has become dissatisfied with his modicum of human recognition and left his tools before the great work of his life has been accomplished. Why is this? The answer is simple. They have received wages, though men paid them none. They who give receive, they who labour to give are enriched, they who sacrifice to give are yet more enriched. The neophyte on whose mind the profane impression is still evident may turn tired of the long period of toil to which he is called when he enters the lodge; but the veteran soon gives the call of profane ambition the goby since his Masonic ambition is to serve and enrich the world in which he is set apart to the ministry of service. He may have been robbed by the obtuseness of those who are in the front ranks of the army of those opportunities of usefulness which at one time he longed to win; but he has made the best use of those he won for himself, and looks back with satisfaction and forward with hope. His reward is in himself, and none can deprive him of the fruit of a long service. When we see the world about us moved by our spirit, when we know that as the result of our sacrifices a higher standard of benevolence is set up all over the world, and know that the angles that symmetry does not require are rubbed away, and that the anger that once spoiled many a good cause is now discredited, the mere pomp of place does not count with us, for these results are our wages, and we give the receipt for them with new resolutions that are even more ambitious than those that now are realized.

 

----o----

 

HARMONY

 

From Harmony, from heavenly Harmony

This universal frame began;

When Nature underneath a heap

Of jarring atoms lay

And could not heave her head,

The tuneful voice was heard from high,

Arise, ye more than dead!

Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry

In order to their stations leap,

And Music's power obey.

From Harmony, from heavenly Harmony

This universal frame began;

From Harmony to Harmony

Through all the compass of the notes it ran,

The diapason closing full in Man.

--John Dryden, 1631-1700.

 

----o----

 

FURTHER NOTES ON THE COMACINE MASTERS

 

BY BRO. W. RAVENSCROFT, ENGLAND

 

PART III

 

PERHAPS the most distinguishing feature of Comacine work is the campanile, and of all parts of their churches their towers retain more than any their individual character. They abound in Italy, but not elsewhere, these campanili of the eleventh and twelfth centuries and earlier, for in these remarks are not included the large number of much diversified form built in later times. At first plain, without corbel tables, pilaster strips or strings, and having a single opening at the top, afterwards adorned with two, three, sometimes four, round-arched openings, supported on shafts, much as some of our Saxon belfry windows are treated, they soar in many cases to quite a considerable height, and form the landmarks for miles around as well as being real belfries and not merely places of refuge or defense, such as church towers are often found to be further east.

 

They abound, as may be expected, around the Italian lakes, but also are plentiful in Rome and in fact are everywhere in Italy as has been already noticed.

 

As a type of all the rest and remarkable for its beauty and situation, is the campanile of the ruined church of sta. Maria close to Bellagio (see frontispiece.)

 

On the influence of Byzantine over Comacine art, one word may be allowed in connection with the sculptured and pictorial work of the two schools. While the former developed a spiritual side associated with mystery, the latter, where unaffected by this, manifested a grosser conception of the human body, and as in the eleventh century it came more under the influence of the Byzantine, so its pictorial and sculptured art became refined. This is well illustrated in the church of St. Pietro al Monte di civate, already referred to. (1)

 

Thus far, as to the relation between the two schools we have had under consideration, and it only remains to remark how strangely in many instances Greek, Roman and Comacine details appear to be jumbled together. At the church of S. Prassede Rome there is a doorway consisting of a Byzantine cornice, Roman egg and dart enrichment, dentils, chevrons and interlaced knot-work, while the capitals of the columns are after a debased Ionic treatment. A similar conglomeration appears in the vestibule of S. Mark's at Venice but without the interlaced work.

 

Merzario (I. Maestri Comacini) claims that the forerunners of the Comacines on leaving Rome took with them Roman art, but worked out their own style chiefly on basilican forms, and that it was only by degrees they came under Byzantine influence as they worked eastward.

 

That the Comacines were everywhere in Italy we have already seen, and now have to consider point number six: "They spread their influence over all Western Europe and even to our own shores."

 

Edgecumbe Staley, writing on the Gilds of Florence, states that the Comacines were consolidated by A. D. 590 and influenced the architecture of the whole of Italy but had no governing lodge, saying in the words of their motto that their Temple "was one made without hands."

 

Merzario writes (2) (I. Maestri Comacini, vol. I, p. 78):

 

"The Comacines remained still alive and went about scattered through many cities and provinces to exercise their art even after the fall of the Lombards, and that as the artists of Greece kept behind (followed) the long steps of Alexander in the countries captured by him in Asia and Egypt, and those of Rome behind the victorious Caesar upon the Rhone and the Rhine, so they followed closely upon the traces of the Conqueror of Desiderius, of the dominator of the Saxons and the Normans.

 

"Thus became cast the first seeds of that art which was altogether unknown and there rose on the surface of the earth and elevated itself in Germany and Gaul, with the physiognomy of the fathers, named in common Comacines, or Lombards, who had given birth to it or taught it."

 

Further on he continues (p. 80):

 

"The Frenchman, Quatremere de Quincy, in his Historical Dictionary of Architecture writes thus:

 

"'The Comacines, (as they called themselves in the Middle Ages,) that company of builders who, from the borders of the lakes of Como, of Lugano and Maggiore, with usage not yet interrupted scattered themselves through Europe to build edifices, some sacred, some profane, and in the Lombard laws with the name of Magistri Comacini, were honored by special privileges.

 

"'To these artificers--architects, sculptors, mosaicists or workmen who idealized and executed, is attributed the resurrection of art and its propagation in the Northern countries where it was introduced and propagated with Christianity. Certainly we owe to them that the heredity of the ancient age was not altogether derelict, and that at least by tradition and by imitation the practice of the constructor remained alive and produced works which even at this time are admired and recognized as more surprising in contrast with the ignorance of science in those obscure centuries.'"

 

One makes no apology for translating Merzario's quotations from other authorities, because they give a weight of added testimony not otherwise available.

 

Thus he continues (vol. I, p. 81) after mentioning the German Kugler and the Frenchman Ramee as most competent men in the history of art, and as holding similar views:

 

"We will add the opinion of other of our authoritative writers. The lamented Pietro Selvatico notes that the architecture which held sway from the eighth to the thirteenth century in Europe consisted of Byzantine and Roman elements conjoined, but in 800 became mixed with another which, in part produced from those, had nevertheless in itself elements so original as to construct an independent art. This, he says, is the Lombard or Comacine architecture call it which you like, which is distinguished by the low pitched roofs, by the always semi-circular arches rising from the columns in the facade resembling the Greek and Roman; it was indeed not enlarged in Italy quickly after being born, but taking root little by little, resulted in a sure, systematic unity after the first half of the ninth century.

 

"This, it cannot be denied, was the product of the union of the Masters of Como with the Romans and of their connection with Aquileja towards the Levant.

 

"Caimi, in the first page of a valuable work of his, writes:

 

"'Toward the beginning of the ninth century architecture, which in Italy presented a mixture of Roman and Byzantine elements, commenced to develop under a more original and characteristic form and, without repudiating the origin of its being, took normal and special rule, from which came to be constructed that manner or architectonic style which, from the country, was called Lombard. That style spread rapidly, not in the country of Italy alone, but in many regions of Northern Europe especially through the works of those associations or companies of Freemasons who were better known under the name of Comacine Masters.

 

"Professor Camille Boito makes to stand out more clearly still the figure and merit of our Masters, 'The Comacine Masters.' He writes:

 

"'Some have wished to demonstrate a secret society having the monopoly of the architectural arts for the space of several centuries while others have wished to make them out ignorant masons or but little more called here and there in Italy and in foreign countries to manual labour. It is certain that in every case they had great importance and that Como would not cede to other provinces the ancient merit of having been the cradle of a new art, wise and beautiful in its own time, from which art was born after a series of transformations the pointed arch styles which found so much favour in Germany, France and England, and also the ways of our art of the thirteenth century, so rich in artistic variety, so free, so refined, of the art in fact which at length, renewed, beautified, civilized, was able to become perhaps the base of the Italian art of the future."'

 

On page 91 Merzario writes:

 

"From the declaration of an almost contemporary author it appears quite clearly that the Lombard artificers had, after the dispersion of the Lombards, a school in Rome--a quarter to themselves near that of the Franks and Saxons, who were protected by Charlemagne and his successors. From this school must have derived that community and brotherhood which we see extended between the Lombard and German artists with the faculty for the Lombards to go into Germany, where they found fellow-disciples and friends, and the name 'Tedeschi' given in successive periods to the Lombard artificers, who in great part were Comacines."

 

Merzario traces the footsteps of the Comacines as following the Lombards in their descent upon Sicily where they came in contact with the Normans, also into Germany where their mark is seen in the Cathedral of Spires, Worms, Magdeburg and other cities but enough has been quoted from this author for our purpose here. Comacine influence on the Norrnans was in two directions, northward and southward, and in evidence of the former a few references may here be permitted.

 

Paul the Deacon (De gestis Longobardorum, book 3, ch. 6) states that at the beginning of the seventh century Pope Gregory "the great" sent certain "religious" to England, who, following in the footsteps of the blessed Augustine, of Melitus, John and others, were directed to visit and bring under obedience the divided Britons of the world ("divisos orbe Britannos") who had only once seen the face of the Romans. These brought with them certain artificers who were to raise up the temples of the faith and who, coming from Italy, most probably belonged to those Craftsmen, which had the use and privilege of such construction.

 

The Venerable Bede tells us how S. Benedict Abbott of Wearmouth, in A. D. 674, wishing to build his church went into France to collect masons who could erect it after the manner of the Romans, and when these had completed their work in order to the furnishings of the church he had recourse to the country of the Romans for things he could not procure in France or England.

 

Richard, Prior of Hagustald, narrates how S. Wilfred, about 674, made pilgrimage to Rome and became enamored of the beautiful churches and buildings there, and that having in mind to build a church in honour of S. Andrew of Hagustald near to York, he brought together in Italy and France and in other countries as many builders and industrious artificers as he could find and conducted them into England.

 

It is said that in these writings of Bede and the Prior words and phrases are to be found which were in the edict of King Rothrares (A.D. 643) and in the "Memoratorio" of Liutprand (A. D. 713) thus connecting the work of S. Benedict and S. Wilfred with the Comacines.

 

W.S. Calverley, writing of Stephens, says ("Notes on the Early Scriptured crosses, etc., in the Diocese of Carlisle" 1899, p. 44):

 

"According to his view the latter part of the seventh century was a period of great artistic energy under Wilfreth and other Romanizing leaders, and at that date these scrolls and interlacings were learnt from Lombardy and not from Ireland. For example, the tomb of the Irish Saint Columbanus at Bobbio, which one would expect to find ornamented with the so-called Irish art, is decorated merely with the patterns then in vogue in Rome, while in Lombardy--not in Ireland--interlaced scrolls were used early in the seventh century."

 

Dr. Colley, F. S. A., in a paper read before the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, published in 1913, says:

 

"The three decorative interlacements (on a font at stone, near Aylesbury,) may indicate a Byzantine influence. Such designs had much vogue in Italy during the eighth century and were brought to the north of Europe by Italian monks. The intreccio that runs round the rim of the font is threefold and represents the Trinity in Unity, that on the (heraldic) right having neither beginning nor end means eternity, while the other, an endless band interlacing a circle, teaches that Infinity is controlled by a Unity."

 

S. Ninian, it is known, was a great friend of S. Martin of Tours and from him obtained masons skilled to work in stone.

 

A little book published by Talbot, London, entitled "Lives of the Saints" says (p. 216):

 

"Both the churches of Ripon and Hexham were built after the Roman manner--that is the basilican type with the altar in a chord of a western apse by which the celebrant faced the east when saying mass."

 

Mr. George Coffey, in his guide to Celtic antiquities in the Dublin National Museum, notes that while the intreeeia of Italy were almost universally three stranded, those of Greece and Central Syria, as well as Ireland, consisted mainly of two strands. Certainly those in England are rarely of three strands, but generally of two or one only. Mr. Coffey seems to think the Lombard pattern was derived from both Roman and Greek sources. Whatever the origin of the Comacine intreccia may be, it would seem to be pretty clear that the three-stranded form was their particular one, and may be taken generally as indicative of their work.

 

Interlaced patterns in these islands are chiefly found on crosses, fonts, and other such details and of these crosses especially there remain a great number.

 

There is no doubt that intercourse between Italy and our Western shores in the early Middle Ages was fairly intimate, and since the pagan Saxon hold on England would prevent it being overland, especially in regard to church matters, such intercourse was necessarily by sea. Hence the association of the Irish Round Towers with those of Italy gets confirmation, and indeed seems to be increasingly held (see Arch. Review fol October, 1908, and following numbers).

 

A comparison of other details found in Italy and England will give some interesting results.

 

Some of the oldest Comacine capitals, side by side with richly carved ones, are massive cushion capitals, such as are to be found in the Crypt of S. Vincenzio at Gravedona.

 

The illustration of the capital of a column in S. Giaeomo di Como (Fig. 11) should be compared with the Norman capital from Winchester (Fig. 12), and one from the Como Museum with that from Milford Hants, and another from Selham Sussex (Figs. 13, 14 and 15).

 

Outside the apse of S. Sisto Viterbo (a roundarched church) an arcade occurs in which the interlaced pattern is alternated with the dog-tooth of almost Early English type (Fig. 16) . At S. Pietro Ancona a similar arcade is notched with an early dogtooth ornament while at the same church another arcade is surmounted with a chevron and running ornament of what we should call Norman character (Figs. 17 and 18).

 

On the west front of S. Paolo Pisa (a generally round-arched church) occur two pointed arches in the arcading having chevron treatment as at Wimborne Minster Dorset.

 

The lion excavated at Corstopitum near Hexham, already mentioned, (3) is obviously of the same family as those of the Comacines in Italy and its proximity to Hexham gives added reason for regarding it in this light.

 

The use of pilaster strips, common to the Italian campanile and the Saxon or early Norman Tower, suggests a relationship between the two and as regards plan there is not wanting good evidence of the Comacine influence on English work.

 

Not long since discoveries were made in connection with Abbot Wulfric's round church at S. Augustines Canterbury and, writing thereon in the Times, Mr. G. McN. Rushforth, F. S. A., mentions several round churches as having existed in England, saying it was about 68 A. D. that Wilfrid built the round church of S. Mary at Hexham, while Riviora points out that all these circular plans are derived directly or indirectly from Roman models, and that in choosing this form for the church of the Holy Sepulchre, Constantine did but follow the pattern of a typical Roman Mausoleum on the grand scale.

 

 The plan of Canterbury Cathedral as it existed before 1076 carries out the Comacine idea, even to the two apses, one at each end and the campanili flanking the aisles, north and south.

 

Comment on all this is surely superfluous. It speaks for itself, and indeed it would appear that most authorities are agreed that from North Italy English architecture received both its inspiration and realization in its earlier days. That it was through the Comacines rather than through the Milanese or Lombard school (if indeed there were two distinct schools) one would submit is practically demonstrated in the foregoing comparison of the chief peculiarities of the two schools. (4)

 

That the Comacines merged into the great Masonic Gilds of the Middle Ages, and that as these declined, forms and ceremonies held and practiced by them were to a great extent preserved in the speculative Masonry of the present day, particularly that practiced under the English and American Constitutions, is still doubted by some and denied by one or two.

 

Merzario would have us believe that the Comacines, from whom he appears to derive a large number of other schools of medieval architecture, could be traced down to 1800 A. D., but such opinion would want a great deal of evidence to make it acceptable.

 

Sig. Monneret de Villard, who takes the view that they were a school distinct from other contemporary ones, holds that as an organized body they ceased to exist after the twelfth century.

 

A good illustration of the way in which symbols were transmitted even from the Temple of Solomon to the medieval Craftsmen and thence to our speculative Masonry, is to be found in the two pillars at Wurzburg Cathedral already mentioned. It has been pointed out that they were originally situated on either side of the porch but are now in the body of the Cathedral (their relative positions reversed), and that these shafts are interlaced in a manner already referred to in these pages.

 

One has thought it worth while to make some careful inquiries with regard to these pillars and hence before the commencement of the present war I was able to ascertain, on what I have reason to believe to be competent authority, that these pillars originally supported three archways of a porchway or entrance just within the nave, having over them a gallery approached by a staircase. In this position they would correspond to the arrangement of the porch at S. Pietro al Monte di civate, and they are said to be of the same date (Fig. 3a).

 

To get the knot effect they had to be clustered shafts, and like those at Arlezo (see Fig. 9) one appears to have more of these shafts in number than the other. This is significant, but what is more so is the fact that one capital bears on it the word B..... and the other the word J..... If these words were added at some recent time there would be nothing much in the argument, but as one is told as the result of expert examination the writing is of the same date as the columns, viz., before the end of the twelfth century, then it would seem to be a fair and reasonable conclusion that the Medieval Gilds had traditions of King Solomon's Temple, and also that our speculative system did take over signs and symbols, etc., from the operative lodges. The position of the pillars and their inscriptions admit of no other conclusion.

 

One wonders whether this particular form of knot rather than the intreccia of the Comacines is not that which is still named in Italy as Solomon's knot. If so, this would be yet another association worthy of notice.

 

The carving of working tools in connection with the Gild work of the Middle Ages is not without significance. The representation of a square or a plumbrule in the Catacombs, such as may be seen in the Lateran Museum, probably merely indicated the trade of the person commemorated, but when as in the representation of the Quatuor Coronati at Or S. Michele at Florence, are found the compasses, the level, the plumb-rule and the square, and in addition to these one of the four masons describing on the reversed capital of a column, a circle, at the same time that he applies a square, the conclusion is obvious that they have a deeper signification.

 

Again, at Assisi, on the Comacine Lodge, as well as on the Castle, the open compasses containing a rose are to be seen, and in the Castle work also a mason's square. Other working tools are also depicted in the well-known Isabella Missal in the British Museum.

 

And as regards the Four Crowned Martyrs themselves, while not pressing too far from this connection any conclusion, it is well to call to mind a few, outstanding facts.

 

Sarcophagi are claimed as theirs in their church in Rome, founded in their honour, and in connection with which a Gild of Marble Cutters to the present time celebrate mass on the last Sunday of the month. Over the door of their chapel (S. Sylvestro, A. D. 1198- 1215) there is a fresco of the four with the inscription "statuariorum et Lapicidarum Corpus Anno MDLXX."

 

Edward Condor, in his paper contributed to "Ars Quatuor Coronatorum," (vol. 27, part 2), not only shows the strong obligation placed upon the Craft generally in London to attend mass on the 8th November, the festival of the Quatuor Coronati, as set forth in the ordinances and regulations of the body, A. D. 1841, but adds:

 

"The legend of the Four Crowned Martyrs (5) is purely Italian in its inception and spread with the Craft into Germany, Gaul and Britain. There is evidence of the legend in MSS of the seventh century A. D., and a church was built in their honour at Winchester, in the eighth 'century. (6)

 

"The festival was fixed for November 8th in the Sarum Missal of the eleventh century and from that date to the Reformation in the sixteenth century the day was regularly honoured in the English Church."

 

To this, be added, that the Masonic Lodge having perhaps the widest association in the world, viz., the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, in London, significantly associates its name with these martyrs.

 

The Masonic association with the two Saints, John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, finds some counterpart in the same association of these Saints with the Comacines illustrated in the frequent dedication of many of their churches to one or the other of these, as well as the dedication of the Island of Comacina to st. John the Baptist, whose annual festival, with much religious ceremony and high pageant, is still attended on the Island on Midsummer Day, by people from far and near.

 

Once more, and finally, from Merzario (page 93):

 

"It is at that time and to that movement of thought of studies and of persons particularly set on foot by the Comacines that certain writers make to rise the institution of Masonic unions or lodges, and of the primitive Masonry. Troya says that the curious or secret societies of the Comacines which under the Lombards had been circumscribed, although public, and lived without mysteries and without arrogance, began after Charlemagne to restrict themselves into more compact societies, to form their secret statutes, to have private rights and occult language, and to look forward to a proselytism international and almost European."

 

Hope has written:

 

"Lombardy was the cradle of the Association of Freemasons, and it is from these Societies or Gilds initiated by the Comacine Masters that he and various historians, Italian and not Italian, derive the Companies of Freemasons which diffused themselves from Italy to England, in Scotland, in Germany, in Switzerland, in Provence and Spain, and were the origin of the Freemasons lodges composed at first of architects, constructors and their colleagues only."

 

Taking together all these items of evidence, what conclusion can be reached other than that link by link we have a chain extending from the Roman Collegia through the Comacines to the Medieval Gilds of the Middle Ages, and our speculative lodges of today, with traditions and associations clearly handed on unbroken.

 

As a frontispiece to the July issue of THE BUILDER is reproduced an old print, now in the Como Museum, showing the Island of Como as it was supposed to be in the day of its strength.

 

(1) See page 198, THE BUILDER, July.

(2) Peculiarity of some of the expressions in the transcripts made in these pages from Merzario is probably due to the translation from Italian to English being somewhat literal.

(3) See page 196, THE BUILDER, July.

(4) Notwithstanding the two views of Merzario and Monneret it is not unreasonable to point the probability of the derivation of the Milanese from the Comacine school, seeing that in the early days of the Lombards when they required artificers they sent for the Comacines, having none of their own.

(5) For an interesting article on the Church of the Quatuor Coronati, Rome, having special reference to its recently restored cloister, by Professor Forbes, see Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. 27, part I.

(6) There may be a little mistake here since a church was built to the honour of the Quatuor Coronati, in Canterbury, early in the seventh century. Possibly there was another at Winchester, but evidence is wanting.

 

----o----

 

THE LYRIC ARGUMENT

 

I sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds and bowers,

Of April, May, of June, and July flowers;

I sing of May-poles, hock-carts, wassails, wakes,

Of bridegrooms, brides, and of their bridal cakes.

I write of Youth, of Love, and have access

By these, to sing of cleanly wantonness;

I sing of dews, of rains, and piece by piece,

Of balm, of oil, of spice, and ambergris;

I sing of times trans-shifting, and I write

How roses first came red, and lilies white;

I write of groves, of twilights, and I sing

The Court of Mab, and of the Fairy King.

I write of Hell; I sing and ever shall

Of Heaven, and hope to have it after all.

--Robert Herrick, 1591-1674.

 

----o----

 

FLOWERS

 

Spread golden flowers on my life,

And do it very often;

I'll need them in my daily strife

But not upon my coffin.

--John A. Joyce.

 

----o----

 

SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES

 

BY BRO. OLIVER DAY STREET, ALABAMA

 

PART II--THE SYMBOLISM OF THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE

 

THE ceremonies of initiation, passing, and raising, as well as the lectures explanatory of them, are necessarily brief; want of time and the danger of over-burdening the candidate require that they should be so. The Mason, therefore, who relies solely upon what he sees and hears in the lodge will obtain a very inadequate conception of Freemasonry. He may and doubtless will be more or less affected by our ceremonies; it could scarcely be otherwise, so solemn and impressive are they, but he will fail to discover and understand some of the greater truths which lie hidden beneath the surface, and can never become truly speaking a "bright Mason."

 

Nearly every Masonic symbol or ceremony (like all true allegories) has two (sometimes more) significations, one literal, the other symbolical. The literal meaning, usually the more apparent, is often of great interest, frequently affording striking evidences as to the origin and antiquity of Freemasonry. But it is the symbolical or allegorical meaning, usually the more recondite, which appeals most to the thoughtful mind.

 

Nor is it unfortunate that the more important lessons are somewhat veiled from observation. We do not prize what we obtain easily; it is that for which we have striven or paid a big price which we value. If, therefore, from beneath the surface of these familiar ceremonies any of us by our own studies and reflections are enabled to discover and bring to light truths which have lain somewhat hidden, the appreciation of them is keener and the impression produced deeper and more lasting than if they had been open to superficial observation. For this reason many of the greatest lessons of Freemasonry are wisely hidden away as prizes for the studious and the diligent only. The "mysteries" and the "secrets" of Freemasonry are not synonymous terms; the mysteries continue such forever even to the Mason who will not study and read. Do you feel that Masonry is an idle and frivolous thing, unworthy of the attention of serious men? If so, did you ever reflect whether the fault was yours or that of the institution? Unless you are sure that you know what Freemasonry is and what it teaches and what are its designs and that you thoroughly understand its methods of teaching withhold your condemnation till you have made it the subject of a little serious study, because, as observed by an eminent authority, the character of the institution is "elevated in everyone's opinion just in proportion to the amount of knowledge that he has acquired of its symbolism, philosophy and history."

 

Freemasonry is a many sided subject. There is something in it which arrests and appeals to the shallowest mind or the most frivolous moral character. At the same time, there is much in it which has chained the thought and attention of the world's greatest intellects and wisest philosophers. It presents many aspects for study and investigation, either of which will amply repay the efforts of the intelligent mind and will lead to knowledge not merely curious, as some suppose, but of the utmost practical value.

 

I am forced to refer again to one line of thought touched on in the preceding lecture because I regard it as fundamental to the study and understanding of any part of Freemasonry. This idea is that Freemasonry is an elaborate allegory of human life, both individually and collectively, in all its varied aspects, past, present, and future; that the lodge represents the world into which mortal man is introduced, lives, moves, has his being and eventually dies; that it also represents the place or state of the redeemed in the life which we believe follows this; that the lodge-member typifies the individual man; that its organized membership represents mankind united into human society; that the ideal lodge-member, ruled by love, wisdom, strength and beauty, typifies man raised from this state of imperfection to one of perfection.

 

Of all the ceremonies of the lodge, the Fellow Craft degree, when viewed by itself is the most difficult and I believe the least generally understood. Preston, who wrote the first Monitor tells us that "such is the latitude of this degree that the most judicious may fail in an attempt to explain it." In Akin's Georgia Manual we read that the "splendid beauty of the Fellow Craft degree can be seen only by the studious eye and that the Master vho would impress it upon the candidate must store his mind with the history, traditions and ritualism of this degree."

 

A flood of light, however, is at once shed upon the subject when we consider it a part of a human allegory, of which the Entered Apprentice and Master's degrees are respectively the beginning and the completion.

 

Let us then briefly consider it in this manner and endeavor to reach a clearer understanding of its meaning. That we may the better perceive just where it falls into the complete scheme, it will be necessary first to consider for a moment the Entered Apprentice and Master's degrees.

 

We are told in the Master's lecture that the Entered Apprentice represents youth; the Fellow Craft, manhood; and the Master Mason, old age. A little study will serve to show us how completely this simile is justified.

 

The introduction or first admission of the Entered Apprentice candidate into the lodge, therefore, typifies the entrance of man upon the world's stage of action or in other words, the birth of the child into this life. The distinguished Masonic scholar, Dr. Mackey, says that the Entered Apprentice is a "child in Masonry" and we read in many Monitors that "the first or Entered Apprentice degree is intended symbolically to represent the entrance of man into the world in which he is afterwards to become a living and thinking actor. In English working the candidate is reminded that his admission into the Entered Apprentice lodge "in a state of helpless ignorance was an emblematical representation of the entrance of all men on this their mortal existence." (1)

 

The preparation of the candidate and the plight in which he is admitted an Entered Apprentice strikingly symbolizes the helpless, destitute, blind and ignorant condition of the newly born babe. Yea, it is even certain that there are features preserved in Masonic symbolism which allude to that part of life preceding even birth and which hint at the phenomena of coition, generation, conception and gestation of the child in its mother's womb. These things rightly considered are as much a part and as pure and holy a part of a human life as birth or death, and could no more be omitted from any complete representation of it. Let no one, therefore, imagine that he has found anything impure in Freemasonry because he has discovered in it symbols and ceremonies which once undoubtedly bore phallic significations.

 

We may, therefore, say that the Masonic system epitomizes allegorically the life of man from the moment he is begotten through every stage of existence, conception, gestation, birth, infancy, childhood, youth, manhood, old age, death, the resurrection and everlasting life. Did any greater theme ever engage the attention of any society? Anything that pertains to any of these great subjects and which tends to strengthen, to elevate or to ennoble the human mind and character is properly a part of Freemasonry.

 

The first important lesson impressed upon the candidate after his entrance into the lodge is intended to signify to us that the very first idea that ought to be instilled into the mind of the child is a reverence and adoration for the Deity, the great and incomprehensible author of its existence. From beginning to the end, the Entered Apprentice degree is a series of moral lessons. This is a hint so broad that one need not be wise in order to understand that the moral training and education of the child should precede even the development and cultivation of its intellect. How many parents and teachers fail just at this point! They polish and adorn the minds of their children and pupils with great diligence at the same time neglecting their moral training, and when too late find that often they have made of them smart criminals.

 

The placing of the young Entered Apprentice in the northeast corner of the lodge in imitation of the ancient custom of laying the corner stone of a building in the northeast corner, signifies that as an Entered Apprentice he has but laid the foundation whereon to build his future moral edifice, that of life and character. It aptly and fully symbolizes the end of the preparatory period and the beginning of the constructive period of human life.

 

The admonition there given him is to the effect that, having laid the foundation true, he should take care that the superstructure is reared ill like manner; in other words, that his life, his moral temple be kept in harmony with the moral precepts which have been given him in the Entered Apprentice degree.

 

This likening of the human body to a temple of God is an ancient metaphor. Jesus' employment of it in speaking of his own body was but in keeping with a common practice among Jewish writers and teachers of his time. It immensely dignifies the physical body of man and teaches that, when kept clean both in the literal and the moral sense, it is a fit place for even Diety himself to dwell.

 

This body so powerfully and yet so delicately contrived that often apparently slight causes produce death, we have no right to defile or abuse with any kind of excess. No mechanism was ever so delicately adjusted and no careful engineer would ever think of putting even too much oil upon a fine piece of machinery. Yet excessive indulgence in food, drink, or other appetites works far greater injury to our bodies.

 

The lesson is that we have no more right to defile or abuse our bodies than had the Jew to defile the Temple of God upon Mount Moriah.

 

In the Third degree the matter pressed upon our attention are the closing years of life, death and the vast hereafter. The xii chapter of Ecclesiastes, the most beautiful and affecting description of old age in all literature, is introduced. We are also told that the events it celebrates occurred just before the completion of the Temple, which is but a figurative way of saying that the period of life symbolized by the Master's degree is that just preceding its close, just before the completion of the moral and spiritual temple. (2) It is, therefore, with the greatest propriety that the Master's degree is said to represent old age.

 

If then the Entered Apprentice represents childhood and youth, and the Master Mason old age, the Fellow Craft degree should, in order to complete the allegory, represent middle life and its labors, and this is precisely what it does with the greatest beauty and consistency.

 

Although the candidate for the Fellow Craft degree is to be regarded as a seeker after knowledge, yet the first section of this degree consists chiefly of a reiteration of the moral teachings of the First degree. This is to remind the young man as he is about to enter upon the serious labors and struggles of life that virtue is to be always the first consideration, that no knowledge, no success which is purchased at the sacrifice of morals, honor or integrity is to be prized. This lesson is repeated more than once in the course of this degree, admonishing us that, no matter how engrossed in the affairs of life we may become, we should never suffer the allurements of coveted gains to seduce us from the pathway of strict rectitude and justice.

 

Although thus reiterating and emphasizing the moral precepts of the First degree, the Fellow Craft degree is as distinctly intellectual in its purpose and spirit as the Entered Apprentice is moral. The great theme of the Second degree is the attainment of knowledge, the cultivation of the mind and the acquisition of habits of industry. (3) This feature becomes prominent in the second section of this degree. Preston, who, as already observed, wrote what might he termed the first Monitor, says that while the First degree is intended "to enforce the duties of morality," the Second "comprehends a more diffusive system of knowledge." We read in Simon's Monitor that "the Entered Apprentice is to emerge from the darkness to light; the Fellow Craft is to come out of ignorance into knowledge." Dr. Mackey expresses it thus: "The lessons the Entered Apprentice receives are simply intended to cleanse the heart and prepare the recipient for that mental illumination which is to be given in the succeeding degree," and further he says, "The candidate in the Second degree represents a man starting forth on the journey of life with the great task before him of self-improvement," and that the result is to be the development of all his intellectual faculties and the acquisition of truth and knowledge. In England, the candidate is informed that while in the Entered Apprentice degree "he made himself acquainted with the principles of moral truth and virtue, he is in the Fellow Craft degree permitted to extend his researches into the hidden mysteries of nature and science," and that he is "led in the Second degree to contemplate the intellectual faculty and to trace it from its development, through the paths of heavenly science, even to the throne of God himself." Brother J. W. Horsely, Rector of St. Peter's Cathedral, London, thus expresses the idea: "Generally, therefore, we may say that the Third degree represents and enforces the blessedness of spiritual life and the duty of progress therein, as the Second degree performs the same office for the intellectual life, and the first for the moral life." (4)

 

THE JEWELS OF A FELLOW CRAFT

 

The very means of gaining admission into a Fellow Craft lodge* * *, alluding to the three jewels of Fellow Craft, are made to typify the processes of communicating, acquiring and preserving knowledge. "The attentive ear receives the sound from the instructive tongue and the mysteries of Freemasonry (as indeed all other knowledge) are safely lodged in the repository of faithful breasts."

 

THE WORKING TOOLS

 

The plumb, square, and level were the appropriate tools of the operative Fellow Craft Mason. To the Master or Overseer fell the duty of superintendence, to the Entered Apprentice that of gathering and rough hewing of the materials, but to the Fellow Craft fell the labor of actual construction. This involved the laying of level foundations and courses, the erection of perpendicular walls and the bringing of the stones to perfectly rectangular shape. These labors necessitated the constant use by the operative Fellow Craft Mason of the plumb, square and level. Their operative uses very appropriately symbolize the analogous processes in the building of human character. This symbolical application of these implements of the builder is by no means recent; it dates back even among the Chinese more than 700 years before Christ. Five hundred years before Christ what we call the Golden Rule was by the Chinese called "the principle of acting on the square." Mencius, the great Chinese philosopher, who lived in the third century before Christ, teaches that men should apply the square and level to their lives, and speaking figuratively says that he who would acquire wisdom must make use of the square and compasses.

 

BOAZ AND JACHIN

 

Solomon, in accordance with the common practice of his day, placed two immense and highly ornate pillars or columns at the entrance of his temple. It is well known that King Hiram did the like for the great temple to Melcarth erected by him at Tyre. Many other instances might be cited. Whence originated this custom has been a matter for much speculation. We have seen what was the ancient conception of the form of the earth. To their world the Strait of Gibraltar appeared to be a veritable door of entry. On either side of this entrance rose two enormous rock promotories, Abyla and Calpe, (now called Gibraltar and Ceuta) which completely commanded egress and ingress and are familiarly known as the Pillars of Hercules. They were believed by the ancients to mark the western boundary of the world, Many have seen in these two vast columns of stone, set by nature to the entrance of the then known world, the counterparts of the pillars so often set by the ancients at the entrance to their temples, which were to them, as the lodge is to us, symbols of the world.

 

The first objects that engage the attention of the Fellow Craft on his way to the Middle Chamber are the representatives of these pillars at the entrance to Solomon's Temple. In addition to the explanation given in the lodge, they undoubtedly have also an allusion to the two legendary pillars of Enoch upon which tradition tells us all the wisdom of the ancient world was inscribed in order to preserve it "against inundation and conflagrations." Standing at the very threshold of Solomon's Temple, as well as of the Fellow Craft lodge, they admonish us that after a proper moral training the acquisition of wisdom is the next necessary preparation for a useful and successful life. (5) Their names, Boaz and Jachin, possess also a moral signification, meaning together that "in strength God will establish His house." Symbolically applied to the candidate, they mean that God will firmly establish the moral and spiritual edifice of the just and upright man.

 

THE GLOBES

 

The idea that the globes upon the two brazen pillars represent the globes celestial and terrestrial is certainly modern. The globular form of the earth was unknown to the ancients. Except to a few profound thinkers like Plato, the conception of the earth as a sphere was utterly foreign. Not until about the time of the discovery of America did this fact become generally understood.

 

Moreover, the Bible, at least in English translations, says nothing of any globes upon the pillars, but distinctly states that there were "made two chapiters of molten brass to set upon the tops of the pillars," and that "upon the tops of the pillars was lily-work." 1 Kings vii, 16, 22. The more recent revisions of the Bible call the "chapiters" by their more familiar name of "capitals." The learned Jewish Rabbi, Solomon Jehudi, speaks of them as "pommels," a word signifying a globular ornament. It is well known that many of the architectural features and ornamental designs of Solomon's Temple were borrowed from the Egyptians. The so-called "lily-work" was unquestionably some form of water-lily or lotus pattern of ornamention so common in ancient architecture and which even now is employed in conventionalized forms nearly everywhere. It sometimes assumes the form of the lotus leaf, at others of the full blown blossom, and at others still of the bud. Our common "egg and dalt" pattern is a development therefrom.

 

At the time of Solomon, one of the most frequent and at the same time one of the most beautiful of the lotus or water-lily designs was the lotus-bud capital, which often assumed an egglike or oval shape. It is accurately indicated by the word "pommel," and indeed this term is employed in some of our Masonic Monitors in lieu of the term "globes." There seems little reason to doubt that the two Brazen Pillars were columns of the Egyptian style with the lotus-bud capitals. Their great diameter as compared to their height (about six diameters) is another strong evidence of their Egyptian derivation. Furthermore, we know that winged globular ornaments, sometimes of immense size, were extensively employed by the Egyptians in adorning the entrances to their temples.

 

The lotus or water-lily was the sacred plant of the Egyptians and among other things signified "Universality." The conclusion, therefore, seems reasonable that, if there was anything like globes on the two Brazen Pillars, they were not true globes of the earth and of the heavens, but representations of the lotus-bud. If so, though the symbol has not been accurately perpetuated, the symbolism has.

 

There is another ancient conception to which the idea of globes upon the pillars may be related. From remotest times men must have observed that numerous forms of life proceeded from an egg. This observation gave rise to the belief which we know to have been widely disseminated in ancient times, and which modern science has almost completely confirmed, that life in every form proceeds from an egg. This supposed universal source of life became to the ancients the symbol of the source of things universal. In other words, the egg was the symbol of the Universal Mother. It is easily perceivable that to a people entertaining these ideas, globes or eggs mounted upon columns would convey the idea of universality.

 

LILY-WORK

 

In addition to the lotus capitals, no doubt the two pillars were, in keeping with the universal custom of the time, further ornamented with various forms of the lotus or water-lily design. The familiar token of peace with us is the palm branch, but to the Egyptian and the Jew this office was fulfilled by the lotus or water-lily. It is, therefore, with precise accuracy that we say that the lotus, or Egyptian water-lily, (an entirely different plant from our lily,) denotes peace.

 

THE NET-WORK

 

The net work which adorned the capitals or chapiters of the pillars might be more familiarly described as "lattice-work." Curious specimens of this ornamentation are found in ancient and medieval architecture, particularly in that of the Magistri Comacini, or Comacine Masters of Northern Italy. Many of these are of the most beautiful and intricate designs and without either beginning or end. A more appropriate emblem of unity than these could not be conceived.

 

It is interesting to note in this connection, that recently a woman, and of course a non-Mason, Mrs. Baxter, writing under the nom de plume of Leader Scott, has in her splendid book, "The Cathedral Builders, adduced much evidence to prove that our modern Freemasonry is derived from these same Magistri Comacini, and through them from the Collegia Fabrorum, or Colleges of Builders, of the pre-Christian Roman era. To my mind, one of the strongest of these evidences is the common possession and employment of this net-work ornamentation.

 

This tracing of our society back to the Roman Building Societies of the eighth century before Christ, (if it can be sustained,) carries us back to the time when we know that building societies were common not only in Rome, but in Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Palestine. Indeed, it is impossible to explain the erection of such architectural wonders as the great pyramids and temples of Egypt, Asia, Greece and Rome, without supposing the existence at that time of building societies, or associations of architects, embracing within themselves the most brilliant intellects and skillful workmen, not only then living, but whose superior the world has never since seen; in other words, precisely such a society as our traditions teach built King Solomon's Temple. Evidences of ancient history point to the existence of such a brotherhood, known as the Dionysian Architects, at Tyre, the home of the two Hirams at the time of the building of the Temple and it was to this place, according to Scripture, that Solomon sent when he wanted artisans competent to carry out his great design.

 

THE POMEGRANATE

 

The pomegranate, which also adorned the capitals of the pillars, is a symbol of great antiquity, but its meaning seems to have been sacredly guarded. Pausanias, who wrote about 160 A. D., calls it aporreto teros logos,--i. e. a forbidden mystery. Ancient deities were often depicted holding this fruit in their hands and this, Achilles Statius, Bishop of Alexandria, says "had a mystical meaning." The Syrians at Damascus anciently worshipped a god whom they called "Rimmon," and this we know to be the Hebrew word for pomegranate.

 

Cumberland, Bishop of Peterborough, a most learned antiquarian, guessed that on account of the great number of its seeds a pomegranate in the hand of a god denoted fruitfulness or fecundy. This corresponds closely enough with the meaning that we, as Masons attach to it,--that of plenty.

 

OPERATIVE AND SPECULATIVE MASONRY

 

The candidate is informed that there are two kinds of Masonry, operative and speculative; the one, the erection of material edifice to shelter us from the inclemencies of the seasons; the other, the building of that moral, religious and spiritual edifice, human life and character, that house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. He is reminded of the historical fact that our ancient brethren wrought in both kinds of Masonry, but we work in speculative only. With this distinction in mind, the candidate is expected to be able to grasp the allegorical meanings of the succeeding ceremonies.

 

THE WINDING STAIRS

 

In the Winding stairs an architectural feature of Solomon's Temple is seized upon to symbolize the journey of life. It is not a placid stream down which one may lazily float, it is not even a straight or level pathway along which one may travel with a minimum of exertion; it is a devious and tortuous way, requiring labor and effort for its accomplishment. This is appropriately symbolized by a winding stairway. It teaches us that our lives should be neither downward nor on a dead level, but, although difficult, progressive and upward.

 

SCIENCE OF NUMBERS

 

The Winding stairs consist of 3, 5 and 7 steps, numbers which among the ancients were deemed of a mysterious nature. This introduces us to what is to us one of the most curious bodies of learning of the ancient world, what is known as their Science of Numbers, many fragments of which are scattered throughout Masonry. It is exceedingly difficult for the modern mind to get any grasp whatever upon what is meant by this so called science, so highly speculative was it. It does not allude as its name might seem to indicate, to any of the mathematical sciences, or anything akin to them. It was a system of moral science or philosophy, wherein numbers were given symbolical meaning and the letters of the alphabet were given numerical values; whence words were supposed to have certain occult significations according to the sums or multiples of the numerical equivalents of its letters. The elaboration of this idea was productive of what is known as the Hebrew Kabala. Pythagoras is reputed to have introduced this school among the Greeks and according to Aristotle he taught that "Number is the principle of all things and that the organization of the Universe is an harmonic system of numerical ratios." (6) To illustrate, the soul was made to correspond to the number 6, and 7 was the counterpart of reason and health.

 

The numbers 3, 5 and 7 had many meanings among the Jews which are not elucidated in the lodge. The preservation in our ritual of hints of this learning of a past age is now chiefly valuable to us as a proof of the antiquity of Masonic symbolism. (7)

 

THE THREE STEPS

 

Adopting the method of these ancient worthies but varying the meaning, we make the number 3 to allude to the organization of our Society with its three degrees and its three principal officers. Among the earliest realizations of every man is that no man lives to himself alone; that he is dependent upon his fellow creatures and they upon him; that he owes them and they owe him mutual aid, support and protection; that to secure these advantages some must rule and some must at least temporarily obey; that there must be classes and that progress from one class to another must depend upon proficiency in the former. This state of mutual obligation and mutual dependance of men upon one another we call Society. The Three steps, alluding to the three degrees and the division of our society into those who govern and those who obey, leads to the ideas of organization and subordination in the lodge. We have seen that the lodge symbolizes the world; so its organization symbolizes that of the world into society and governments. Dr. Mackey says "that the reference to the organization of the Masonic institution is intended to remind the aspirant of the union of men into society and the development of the social state out of the state of nature. He is thus reminded in the very outset of his journey of the blessings which arise from civilization and of the fruits of virtue and the knowledge which are derived from that condition. In the allusion to the affairs of the lodge and the degree of Masonry as explanatory of the organization of our own society, we clothe in symbolic language," says Dr. Mackey, "the history of the organization of society" in general. (8) This feature is brought out prominently in many Monitors.

 

No representation of the pathway to knowledge would of course be complete without some allusion to the means by which it is to he acquired. Thus are the allusions to the five senses of human nature to be understood. A moment's reflection will prove to us that through them we gain all our knowledge and that without them we could learn nothing. What wonderful and noble faculties and yet how seldom even thought of by us and how little appreciated and understood! No nobler or more interesting subjects for study exist in all the realms of nature than hearing, seeing, feeling, smelling, and tasting. What a truly marvelous organ is the eye, which can without contact make us sensible of the presence, the form and the color of objects at a distance and through which we obtain our knowledge and appreciation of all that is beautiful in nature. The senses of hearing and feeling are scarcely less wonderful and are equally important. A little reflection will also furnish us with additional reasons to those given in the lodge why hearing, seeing and feeling are most revered by Masons. They are in every way the most important. Consider for a moment the relatively small part of our knowledge that comes through tasting and smelling, and how utterly useless these two senses were to our ancient brethren in their operative labors. Then consider again how helpless a human creature would be who possessed neither hearing, seeing or feeling. Helen Keller is rightly considered a marvel, yet she is bereft of only two of these, hearing and seeing. Deprive her of her finely attenuated sense of feeling and it would have been impossible for her to have made any progress whatever in knowledge. Commenting on this part of the ritual, Thomas Smith Webb says, "To sum up the whole of this transcendant measure of God's bounty to man, we shall add that memory, imagination, taste, reasoning, moral perception and all the active powers of the soul present a vast and boundless field for philosophical disquisition which far exceeds human inquiry." We could have none of these without the five senses, and they are, therefore, introduced as symbols of intellectual cultivation. (9)

 

The disquisition upon the five senses of human nature which appears in our American Monitors may be found in the English Monitors also which preceded the revision of Dr. Hemming in 1813. He eliminated all reference to them and they are still missing from authorized English "work." We feel that in some way Dr. Hemming must surely have failed to catch the meaning of this part of our symbolism. Dr. George Oliver, an eminent and learned English Mason, deplores the omission and says that it ought by all means to be restored.

 

Having thus indicated to the candidate something of the importance and the means of acquiring knowledge, the proper fields of study and investigation are next pointed out.

 

THE FIVE ORDERS IN ARCHITECTURE

 

The five steps are said to allude further to the five orders in architecture, the Tuscan, the Doric, the Ionic, the Corinthian and the Composite. Their origins and their relative merits are pointed out, and we are told something of architecture in general. We would naturally expect something on this subject in a society derived from one of actual builders and architects, and here we have an internal evidence of the great age of Freemasonry. This is a flotsam which has been wafted to us down the stream of time from that remote period when Freemasonry w as an organization of operative Masons. To our speculative society it typifies all the other useful arts and serves to convey to the intelligent mind the truth that architecture considered as one of the fine arts is a subject well worthy of our study. It is through architecture that every great people have left the enduring records of their fame. Books perish and decay, but from their buildings, which still remain, we know for a certainty of the great nations of antiquity. George Moller, in his charming essay on Gothic Architecture, speaks of these architectural remains as "documents of stone" and declares that they "afford to those who can read them the most lively picture of centuries that have lapsed." (10)

 

THE SEVEN LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

 

Other fields of study are said to consist of the seven liberal arts and sciences and are enumerated as grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. In our Fellows Craft's charge we are recommended to study "the liberal arts and sciences which tend so effectually to polish and adorn the mind." In England ("Emulation Working,") the candidate is informed that he "is expected to make the liberal arts and sciences his future study, that he may 'the better be enabled to discharge his duties as a Mason, and estimate the wonderful works of the Almighty." (11)

 

It is, of course, obvious at a glance that these seven subjects enumerated above by no means exhaust the fields of knowledge now open to man, but the time once was when they did. And herein is another incontestible evidence of the great age of Freemasonry and its ceremonies. I cannot do better than quote Dr. Mackey again. He says that in the seventh century, that is to say 1300 years ago, "these seven heads were supposed to include universal knowledge. He who was master of these was thought to have no need of a precepter to explain any books or to solve any questions which lay within the compass of human reason; knowledge of the trivium (as grammar, rhetoric and logic were then denominated,) having furnished him with the key to all language, and that of the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy) having opened to him the secret laws of nature." At a period, says Dr. Mackey "when few were instructed in the trivium and very few studied the quadrivium, to be master of both was sufficient to complete the character of a philosopher."

 

The term trivium means the three ways or paths, and quadrivium the four ways or paths to knowledge. Hence it is with the greatest propriety that it is said that we are taught in the Fellow Craft degree to explore the paths of heavenly science. (12)

 

There is another interesting feature of the total number of steps of the Winding Stairs, fifteen in all. This was an important symbol among the Jews, because it was the sum of the numerical equivalents of the Hebrew letters composing the word J A H--one of the names of Deity.

 

It will also be noted that the number of each series of steps, three, five and seven, as well as the total number of steps, fifteen, is odd. As we have seen, odd numbers were by the ancients regarded with greater veneration than were even numbers. Vitrivius, the great Roman architect, who flourished just before Christ, states that the ancient temples were always approached by an odd number of steps. The reason, he says, was that commencing with the right foot at the bottom, the worshipper would find the same foot in advance when he entered the temple, and that this was considered a favorable omen. The thoughtful Mason cannot fail to be struck with the coincidence here indicated.

 

GEOMETRY

 

Preeminence is given by our ritual to the science of Geometry. This now appears strange, but if we regard its history we will cease to be surprised. It and its allied branches, (trigonometry, architecture and astronomy), was the only exact science known to the ancients, but the perfection to which they had reduced it is even now constantly surprising us. By it all mathematical calculations were made. Arithmetic and algebra were then unknown. The astonishing results obtained by them from an application of geometrical processes were well calculated to impress the mind. As the only exact science known to them, it was the most appropriate emblem of moral perfection, in an age when everything had its symbol. We accordingly read in our Masonic Monitors that of the seven liberal arts and sciences, "Geometry is the most revered by Masons"; that "it is the foundation of architecture and the root of mathematics"; that it is "the first and noblest of sciences"; that it is "the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry is erected"; that by it "we may curiously trace nature through her various windings to her most concealed recesses"; and "discover the power, the wisdom and the goodness of the Grand Artificer of the Universe"; that "Geometry or Masonry, originally synonymous terms, being of a divine and moral nature, is enriched with the most useful knowledge"; that "while it proves the wonderful properties of nature, it demonstrates the more important truths of morality."

 

It cannot be denied that to the present generation and in our present state of learning, Geometry is nothing of the kind. To anyone except a Freemason, and to the great majority of them, the idea that Geometry inculcates moral truth is utterly foreign and incomprehensible. Those members of the craft who have ever thought of the matter at all, as a rule look upon these expressions as crude extravagances, as distorted attempts to attach a speculative meaning to a science or an art which had never properly borne any other than a practical signification. We are not surprised, it is true, to find still incorporated in our system these inheritances of a past age and simply tolerate them as such without any serious attempt to ascertain their meaning or to measure their significance.

 

While, as stated, Geometry does not at present enjoy any such an enviable distinction among the sciences as that claimed for it in our Masonic ritual, yet the time once was when it was precisely so regarded by the wisest of men on earth. (13)

 

What then is the significance of these ideas of a past age in our Masonic system ? It seems to me to afford the strongest internal evidence of the great age of our Masonic ritual and symbolism. (14)

 

The seven liberal arts and sciences, as thus enumerated in the lodge, are not now to be understood literally, but rather as a symbol of what they once were in fact, namely, the entire domain of human knowledge and research. No one man is, of course, expected to cultivate the whole of this vast field, but this part of the ceremony of passing urges upon us the importance and the duty of constantly applying our minds to the attainment of wisdom in some of its forms. We have no right to be idle. It is a sin against God, ourselves and society.

 

Contemplate the despicable figure of the habitual loafer who sits on the curbstone or whittles away his days, telling anecdotes which could not be repeated in respectable society. Listen to the "loud laugh of his vacant mind," see what a large share of his time, that most priceless gift of God, he wastes in indolence or in the pursuits that are either unprofitable or positively hurtful. Is it any wonder that so many men fail in life and that the progress of the race as a whole is so exceedingly slow ? What a multitude of drones there are in the hive who are not only to be fed and clothed by the industrious, but who are positive hindrances and stumbling blocks in the way of those industrious ones who would progress. Note how almost invariably you find the idler on the wrong side of every question that arises in his community. See how he resents with bitterness the prosperity of his moral and industrious neighbor and falls into a habit of chronic antagonism to him. They will not work; fed and clothed they must be; if they cannot dead-beat a living, they turn to crime in order to get it. What a great lesson then is here taught by Masonry! Whatever others may be, Masons have no right to be idlers and loafers. It is our God given privilege and our solemn duty to work, work, work, not because a night is coming when man's work is done, but that we may be able to do better work and more work in that brighter day that all good Masons expect to see when this life has passed away.

 

THE WAGES OF A FELLOW CRAFT

 

In the Middle Chamber we are informed what the wages shall be to the faithful Craftsman who has observed the moral and the divine law and wasted not his time in idleness or vice. We are told that they shall be corn, wine and oil. Such was literally true to our ancient operative brethren, as our old documents abundantly prove. With us, of course, they are not received in the realistic sense, but emblematically. From a remoteness of time when the memory of man runneth not to the contrary, the spica, or ear of corn, has symbolized plenty; wine has symbolized health; and oil has symbolized peace.

 

The faithful Fellow Craft is, therefore, assured that his wages, his reward, shall be plenty, not mere sufficiency but plentitude to supply all his physical, moral and spiritual wants; health of body, mind and soul; peace in this life, in the hour of death, and in the life to come. Are not these wages worthy of the laborer? Verily, do they not include all things that can in any wise contribute to our real comfort and happiness?

 

Idleness and vice surely lead to their opposites, poverty, disease and despair.

 

While I have by no means exhausted the subject this, my brethren, is briefly the meaning and purpose of the Fellow Craft degree, and, if you do not already, I am sure that a little study and reflection will lead you to agree with me that in beauty and purity and loftiness of conception this degree is worthy to keep company with those splendid degrees of Entered Apprentice and Master Mason.

 

(1) Mackey's Symbolism, p. 307.

(2) Idem.

(3) Idem.

(4) Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. XII. p. 2.

(5) Mackey's Symbolism, p. 219.

(6) Univ. Cyc., vol. 9, p. 560.

(7) Mackey's Symbolism, pp. 219, 225.

(8) Idem, p. 221.

(9) Idem, p. 222.

(10) Mas. Mag. vol. 6, p. 427; Mackey's Symbolism, pp. 222, 223.

(11) Yarker's Arcane School, p. 118.

(12) Mackey's Symbolism, pp. 223, 224.

(13) Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. X, p. 82, Freeman, vol. XLVIII, p. 417.

(14) Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. V, p. 168.

 

----o----

 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON MASONIC RESEARCH OF THE GRAND LODGE OF WISCONSIN

 

To further the study side of Masonry to such an extent as possible, was the purpose for which this Committee was appointed. The idea was not new; many of our Past Grand Masters have earnestly desired to promote a more thorough knowledge of Masonry, and in 1915, Past Grand Master N. M. Littlejohn, offered the following resolution, which was adopted: "Resolved, That at the meetings of subordinate lodges when there is no degree work, the Worshipful Master shall have prepared and introduce exercises of an interesting and instructive character, such as an address, the reading of interesting articles, recitations, music or other proper entertainments calculated to keep the members interested in the work of the order."

 

Many Masters of lodges endeavored to carry out the spirit of the resolution; but in too many cases the degree work was apparently so strenous that tirrle was not to be found at the regular communications for the lodge to improve itself in Masonic knowledge beyond the ritualistic work. The ritual is the foundation of all Masonic knowledge; it is the key to the secrets that are worth while; but we believe the Master Mason should not be permitted to infer that he has received the sum of Masonic knowledge, but should have the way to the beauties of its literature clearly pointed out to him. If the regular communications of the lodge are so far taken up with degree work as to make it impracticable we believe an occasional special communication for the purpose of helping the brethren and inducing others to become interested would be of great benefit to the lodge and to its membership. It has always been found that the Mason who has a broad conception of Masonry is the most helpful to his lodge and to the Craft and it will reflect credit on the lodge to have a high percentage of such Masons.

 

Immediately after its appointment your Committee met and formulated plans. A circular letter was sent to every lodge asking for the names of those brethren who would be interested, and upon receiving replies, a communication, outlining plans of study, containing sugggestions for the formation of study clubs, giving a short list of the most available and reliable books for popular reading and a notification that the Committee would use the Masonic Tidings for supplying short outlines of topics of interest. We also invited the brethren to call upon us for any assistance we could give them.

 

With the co-operation of Masonic Tidings, we have been able to furnish the brethren with seven of the outlines of Masonic study.

 

A copy of "The Encyclopedia Handbook" has been sent to all brethren who have expressed an interest in the work of the Committee, and we believe this book will induce many of the brethren to use Mackey's Encyclopedia in their search for more light. The "Handbook" itself contains a fund of the most useful information to every Mason.

 

A pamphlet entitled "What is Freemasonry ? Whence did it originate?" written for the purpose of arousing an interest in the study of Masonic history and philosophy has been issued by the Committee.

 

Your Committee held a meeting at the Scottish Rite Cathedral on March 29th, at which time we invited representatives from Milwaukee lodges to be present, and plans were discussed for promoting the study side of Masonry in Milwaukee. Several earnest, zealous and well qualified brethren in Milwaukee are working hard to inculcate a love of Masonic literature among the brethren and one lodge has quite materially improved its library.

 

Your Committee has received the co-operation of several talented and well informed brethren in the organization of a "Lecture Bureau"; and these brethren are now ready to respond to calls for lectures from study clubs or lodges who desire them. We feel that this is one of the best results we have accomplished.

 

In response to inquiries, your Committee has assisted brethren in the selection of Masonic books and answered inquiries as to where they might be procured.

 

A meeting of the Committee has been held every month and in several cases oftener and the appropriation of $300.00 which this Grand Lodge voted for its use has been used with economy. The expenditures have totaled $91.14, leaving an unexpended balance of $208.86.

 

Our work is for your inspection, and should it meet with your approval we recommend that a Committee on Masonic Research be appointed for the coming Masonic year and that $300.00 be appropriated for their use. Fraternally submitted,

 

Signed by entire committee.

 

Report was adopted by Grand Lodge, June 11th, 1918.

 

----o----

 

FOR THE MONTHLY LODGE MEETING

 

CORRESPONDENCE CIRCLE BULLETIN -- No. 20

 

DEVOTED TO ORGANIZED MASONIC STUDY

 

Edited by Bro. H.L. Haywood

 

THE BULLETIN COURSE OF MASONIC STUDY

FOR MONTHLY LODGE MEETINGS AND STUDY CLUBS

 

FOUNDATION OF THE COURSE

 

THE Course of Study has for its foundation two sources of Masonic information: THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. In another paragraph is explained how the references to former issues of THE BUILDER and to Mackey's Encyclopedia may be worked up as supplemental papers to exactly fit into each installment of the Course with the papers by Brother Haywood.

 

MAIN OUTLINE

 

The Course is divided into five principal divisions which are in turn subdivided, as is shown below:

 

Division I. Ceremonial Masonry.

A. The Work of a Lodge.

B. The Lodge and the Candidate.

C. First steps.

D. Second steps.

E. Third steps.

 

Division II. Symbolical Masonry.

A. Clothing.

B. Working Tools.

C. Furniture.

D. Architecture.

E. Geometry.

F. Signs.

G. Words.

H. Grips.

 

Division III. Philosophical Masonry.

A. Foundations.

B. Virtues.

C. Ethics.

D. Religious Aspect.

E. The Quest.

F. Mysticism.

G. The Secret Doctrine.

 

Division IV. Legislative Masonry.

 

A. The Grand Lodge.

1. Ancient Constitutions.

2. Codes of Law.

3. Grand Lodge Practices.

4. Relationship to Constituent Lodges.

5. Official Duties and Prerogatives.

B. The Constituent Lodge.

1. Organization.

2. Qualifications of Candidates.

3. Initiation, Passing and Raising.

4. Visitation.

5. Change of Membership.

 

Division V. Historical Masonry.

A. The Mysteries--Earliest Masonic Light.

B. Studies of Rites--Masonry in the Making.

C. Contributions to Lodge Characteristics.

D. National Masonry.

E. Parallel Peculiarities in Lodge Study.

F. Feminine Masonry.

G. Masonic Alphabets.

H. Historical Manuscripts of the Craft.

I. Biographical Masonry.

J. Philological Masonry--Study of Significant Words.  

 

THE MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS

 

Each month we are presenting a paper written by Brother Haywood, who is following the foregoing outline. We are now in "First steps" of Ceremonial Masonry. There will be twelve monthly papers under this particular subdivision. On page two, preceding each installment, will be given a list of questions to be used by the chairman of the Committee during the study period which will bring out every point touched upon in the paper.

 

Whenever possible we shall reprint in the Correspondence Circle Bulletin articles from other sources which have a direct bearing upon the particular subject covered by Brother Haywood in his monthly paper. These articles should be used as supplemental papers in addition to those prepared by the members from the monthly list of references. Much valuable material that would otherwise possibly never come to the attention of many of our members will thus be presented.

 

The monthly installments of the Course appearing in the Correspondence Circle Bulletin should be used one month later than their appearance. If this is done the Committee will have opportunity to arrange their programs several weeks in advance of the meetings and the Brethren who are members of the National Masonic Research Society will be better enabled to enter into the discussions after they have read over and studied the installment in THE BUILDER.

 

REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTAL PAPERS

 

Immediately preceding each of Brother Haywood's monthly papers in the Correspondence Circle Bulletin will be found a list of references to THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. These references are pertinent to the paper and will either enlarge upon many of the points touched upon or bring out new points for reading and discussion. They should be assigned by the Committee to different Brethren who may compile papers of their own from the material thus to be found, or in many instances the articles themselves or extracts therefrom may be read directly from the originals. The latter method may be followed when the members may not feel able to compile original papers, or when the original may be deemed appropriate without any alterations or additions.

 

HOW TO ORGANIZE FOR AND CONDUCT THE STUDY MEETINGS

 

The Lodge should select a "Research Committee" preferably of three "live" members. The study meetings should be held once a month, either at a special meeting of the Lodge called for the purpose, or at a regular meeting at which no business (except the Lodge routine) should be transacted--all possible time to be given to the study period.

 

After the Lodge has been opened and all routine business disposed of, the Master should turn the Lodge over to the Chairman of the Research Committee. This Committee should be fully prepared in advance on the subject for the evening. All members to whom references for supplemental papers have been assigned should be prepared with their papers and should also have a comprehensive grasp of Brother Haywood's paper.

 

PROGRAM FOR STUDY MEETINGS

 

1. Reading of the first section of Brother Haywood's paper and the supplemental papers thereto. (Suggestion: While these papers are being read the members of the Lodge should make notes of any points they may wish to discuss or inquire into when the discussion is opened. Tabs or slips of paper similar to those used in elections should be distributed among the members for this purpose at the opening of the study period.)

 

2. Discussion of the above.

 

3. The subsequent sections of Brother Haywood's paper and the supplemental papers should then be taken up, one at a time, and disposed of in the same manner.

 

4. Question Box.

 

MAKE THE "QUESTION BOX" THE FEATURE OF YOUR MEETINGS

 

Invite questions from any and all Brethren present. Let them understand that these meetings are for their particular benefit and get them into the habit of asking all the questions they may think of. Every one of the papers read will suggest questions as to facts and meanings which may not perhaps be actually covered at all in the paper. If at the time these questions are propounded no one can answer them, SEND THEM IN TO US. All the reference material we have will be gone through in an endeavor to supply a satisfactory answer. In fact we are prepared to make special research when called upon, and will usually be able to give answers within a day or two. Please remember, too, that the great Library of the Grand Lodge of Iowa is only a few miles away, and, by order of the Trustees of the Grand Lodge, the Grand Secretary places it at our disposal on any query raised by any member of the Society.

 

FURTHER INFORMATION

 

The foregoing information should enable local Committees to conduct their Lodge study meetings with success. However, we shall welcome all inquiries and communications from interested Brethren concerning any phase of the plan that is not entirely clear to them, and the services of our Study Club Department are at the command of our members, Lodge and Study Club Committees at all times.

 

QUESTIONS ON "THE LIGHTS"

 

I Why do you suppose that the old operative Masons made use of the "sho