The Builder Magazine

July 1922 - Volume VIII - Number 7

 

The George Washington Masonic National Memorial

BY BRO. LOUIS A. WATRES, P.G.M., PA., PRESIDENT, THE GEORGE WASHlNGTON MASONIC NATIONAL MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION

TWELVE YEARS ago on the 22nd of February prominent Masons from several of our Grand Jurisdictions gathered at Alexandria, Virginia, to discuss the feasibility of erecting a fitting Memorial to Washington, the Mason. As they met in the historical lodge room of Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22, the sacred environment and the hallowed memories of him who presided over the lodge while he was Chief Magistrate fired them anew with the spirit of Masonry. Though fully conscious of the fact that the history of Washington, the Mason, is a saered heritage of the Republic, they strongly felt, as all Freemasons truly feel, that Washington's connection with Masonry and the inspiration he gave to the Fraternity are especially dear to the brethren. Remembering the invaluable services rendered by Washington to his country, and that to him and those Masons who were closely associated with him was due the fact that the fundamentals of Freemasonry were made a part of the basic law of our land, they resolved to erect at Alexandria a memorial which should reflect the gratitude of the Masons of the United States to him in whose memory it should stand in the coming years.

 

To carry out this high purpose, the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association was formed. That distinguished Mason, Brother Thomas J. Shryock, of Maryland, was elected President and plans were formulated under which the work was to proceed.

 

In this connection it is proper to say that ever since its inception one of the most inspiring minds in this great movement has been that of Brother Charles H. Callahan, of Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22. He is the author of that splendid volume entitled "Washington, the Man and the Mason." The data assembled by Brother Callahan and his fascinating was of presenting the facts relating to Washington, the Mason, have been and are of great assistance toward the consummation of our movement.

 

The brethren of Alexandria generously donated for the Memorial a little over two acres of land on Shooter's Hill on the commanding Arlington Ridge, and the Association has since acquired about twenty-nine acres, so that now the site contains approximately thirty-two acres. The National Cemetery at Arling ton is also located on the beautiful Arlington Ridge.

 

Each year since that first meeting the Association has assembled on the 22nd of February, and each year has seen marked progress in the movement.

 

In 1917 the Association resolved to broaden its organization and to commit the Masons of the United States to "the erection of a Temple costing not less than $500,000 with an endowment fund of $250,000.” As the importance of our great movement has developed, however, it has been resolved to make our objective as many dollars as there are Masons in the United States, approximately 2,500,000, and to arrange for every Grand Jurisdiction to fill its quota, which is as many dollars as there are brethren in the respecting jurisdictions.

 

At our convention in February we had paid in, in cash, $708,223.31, of which $577,100 was invested in United States Govermnent securities; the balance to be thus invested and cash retained sufficient to pay for the work for which contracts are now about to be let.

 

A number of the Grand Jurisdictions have already gone over the top. Massachusetts, with 92,000 Masons, has paid in, in cash, over $110,000, and the Grand Lodge has in addition thereto agreed to pay $5,000 when called upon. New Hampshire is one hundred per cent.; so is Connecticut. Rhode Island is over the top. So is the District of Columbia. Maryland and Delaware are over one hundred per cent. Pennsylvania has paid in $93,500. The States of Washington, Arizona and Utah are over the top. Illinois has paid in to our Treasurer $49,000, and there is a very substantial sum now in the hands of its Grand Treasurer. New Jersey has paid in nearly $50,000. Some of the Grand Jurisdictions are just getting at work, among them New York under the chairmanship of Past Grand Master Judge William S. Farmer. Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, the Dakotas, Missouri, Texas, and many others of the Western and Southern States are enthusiastic in the movement; and there is no possible doubt that the objective will be reached and that the money will be available as required.

 

One year ago the Board of Directors was authorized to employ an architect and to submit to our Twelfth Annual Convention plans and a model of the proposed Memorial Temple. Helmle and Corbett, of New York, were engaged as Architects, and S. Eugene Osgood, 33d, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was employed as Consulting Architect. It is also proposed to engage Olmsted Brothers, of Brookline, Mass., as Landscape Architects.

 

The plans and model prepared by the architects were approved by the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors and submitted to the Association on the 22nd of February last.

 

On that occasion the firm of architects was represented by Harvey Wiley Corbett. He is a graduate engineer of the University of California, and a graduate architect, Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris. He received a government diploma and is seven times a Medalist. The Nero York Chapter, American Institute of Architects, presented him with a Medal of Honor. He built the Springfield Municipal Group at Springfield, Mass.; the Bush Terminal Office Building, New York; the Bush Buildings, of London, England; and other notable structures.

 

S. Eugene Osgood, representing the firm of Osgood and Osgood, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a 33d Mason, Past Master of his Blue Lodge, and Past Commander-in-Chief of his Consistory. During the last fifteen years he has designed many notable Masonic Temples. He received his architectural training at Cornell University, and is the junior member of a firm that has been in continuous architectural practice for over forty-five years.

 

In presenting the model and plans to our Association for approval, Brother Corbett gave us in a most interesting manner a vision of the Memorial. In opening his remarks he said:

 

"The George Washington Masonic National Memorial is primarily a memorial to George Washington, the Man and the Mason. Its form is inspired by the great towers built in the ancient days of Greece and Rome to mark the entrances to their harbors and from whose summits permanent burning flares that could be seen for miles at sea, guided the mariner on his way. The great tower of the Memorial represents to the world at large the guiding spirit of Washington in statesmanship, and his revered precepts which for all time will set an example by which the Ship of State may direct its course.”

 

Brother Corbett, in continuing his description, did not undertake to go into the details of the plans, but gave us an excellent conception of what the work is to include.

 

The Temple will be in plain view of Washington, D. C., and will be passed by all who travel between the City of Washington and George Washington's old home at Mt. Vernon. The edifice will be surrounded by artistic landscaping, and will be reached by broad walks and stone steps ascending through seven terraces. From the topmost colonnaded tower of the Memorial, visitors will view for many miles around the region in which the immortal Washington passed a great part of his life.

 

The architecture is classic. The main masses of the building comprise a base in which will be located the great George Washington Memorial Hall and various Masonic rooms, and above this base will rise a form of tower.

 

The dimension of the edifice over all will be one hundred and sixty feet in width, by two hundred and thirty feet in depth, exclusive of its steps, terraces, and approaches. Its height to the summit of the covered observation platform crowning the tower will be two hundred feet.

 

One of the most stately features will be a great atrium, seventy feet wide, by one hundred feet deep, which will form the Memorial Hall, and in which it is now proposed to set a statue of George Washington. This great hall will be sixty-four feet in height, rising by a clerestory above the surrounding portion of the building. It will be flanked by great Ionic columns, forty feet high, and surrounded by a number of rooms devoted to Masonic interests, above the roof of which clerestory lights admit the light of day.

 

The entrance of the building will be expressed in a six-columned portico of pure Greek Doric design, forming an interesting contrast to the plain unbroken side walls of the Masonic rooms. The Memorial Hall will be reached through the portico by gradual steps.

 

Rising above the great Memorial Hall, and forming the second story of the tower, will be a museum room to house the many memorabilia of George Washington and his time, as well as interesting relics connected with Washington's service as Master of Alexandria, Washington Lodge. This museum will be fifty by seventy-five feet, with lofty ceiling and fine light. It will be reached both by stairs and elevators.

 

There will be a third level above the museum. Above it will be a covered observation platform. The three levels will be screened by stately colonnades.

 

These four elements will form the great tower, inspired by the classic towers which, as Mr. Corbett has stated, guided the mariners of old.

 

The broad steps and grassy terraces, adorned with shrubs, will add to the imposing and beautiful effect of the Temple.

 

The plans and model were unanimously approved by the Association, after which the President offered the following recommendation:

 

“That working drawings, specifications, etc., be completed as soon as possible, so that total estimates of cost can be procured; that contracts for the excavation and foundation units be awarded, with the end in view of laying the cornerstone some time in early fall; that further contracts be awarded from that point on up to and including the completion of the work, but with the distinct understanding that no contract, under any circumstances, shall be let until the money is actually in hand to meet it."

 

This recommendation was adopted by the Association.

 

Following the convention's adjournment the Board of Directors authorized the working plans to be proceeded with, and the work of excavating and the building of the foundation walls will be begun at a very early day.

 

It is hoped that the cornerstone may be laid on the 4th of November next, which will be the 170th anniversary of the entry of Brother Washington into Masonry. That should be made a grand, gala day for Masons from all over the United States. It should be made such an affair as will impress the brethren with the deep meaning of the important work we have on hand, and broad enough in scope to include not only the Grand Lodges of the forty-nine Jurisdictions, but all the Bodies affiliated therewith.

 

The lasting value of this Memorial building can not be measured by money. It will do much more thanhouse and preserve the priceless relics of Washington's lodge. It will be a center and rallying-point for Masons not only in our own country, but for members of the Fraternity in every land, and it will cement and strengthen Freemasonry. This great Memorial will serve to teach the power that inheres in a closer co-ordination of fraternal energy and will promote the unity of purpose which is so much to be desired.

 

----o----

 

THE MISSION OF MASONRY

 

BY BRO. OWEN SCOTT, GRAND SECRETARY, ILLINOIS

 

In the midst of our researches into the technical problems of Masonic history and cognate matters it is wise now and then to go aside into a place of vision in order to see Freemasonry as a whole, and in the spirit, lest we forget the great aims and ideals in the service of which we are all laboring.  What could be better for such a purpose than the following? Its author is among the workers in the forefront of one of our most powerful Grand Jurisdictions. He needs no introduction.

 

"For the structure which we raise,

Time is with materials filled;

Our todays and yesterdays

Are the blocks with which we build.

Let us do our work as well,

Both the unseen and the seen.

Make the house where God may dwell

Beautiful, entire, and clean."

 

 THE INSTITUTION of Freemasonry is the legacy of the ages gone. What began with the organization of a band of builders, like the stone cut out of the mountain, has grown until it fills the whole earth.  Where civilized man abides and opens the great light of truth and beauty, there stands Masonry like the monarch of the woods, immortal and invincible. Unlike the great tree, its foes come not from without, but from within.

 

The destruction of the creature of our speculative art impends only when defective materials have entered into its composition.  Our building is made of living stones and is eternal in the heavens.

 

In Freemasonry men are the artisans and the end is the building of manly character.  It has ever been the aim to build wisely and well.  We seek the nearest perfect materials.  We go into the quarries of everyday life and select the living stones offered, rough ashlars though they be. If moved by proper motives or, if standing upon firm foundations, the unfit are by th ballot cast out into the rubbish.  Do you say that this is ideal and that through over anxiety to be big and rich improper materials are put into our edifice? True, but that does not destroy the value of the ideal.  The lives of institutions, no less than those of men, are shaped and colored by their visions.  The key to noble doing is to see clearly and then to act in obedience to this highest vision.

 

The sculptor at work on a block of stone, appear to the passer-by to be doing a purely mechanical act. The observer sees but the chisel, the mallet, and the marble.  In the sculptor's brain is a presence we can not see.  It is the ideal form to be wrought out by his hand.  His vision makes him an artist; without it, he becomes merely a stone cutter.

 

So we are fashioned by our ideals.  Only as thes are true and beautiful can the life become noble an truly great.

 

Freemasonry is an institution of high ideals an lofty standards for human living.  That all do not reach these, does not diminish the power for good. The names of the mercenary and the ignoble blur our rolls of membership.  Unworthy men prostitute the symbols of the craft to base and unworthy ends. Would we contribute most to build up our great fraternity? Then we should regard fitness above fame and worth above wealth. If Masonry has a mission, an aim, it must not content itself with merely a beautiful ritual, faultlessly rendered.  If the exalted teachings of the Craft are to end with dramatic and spectacular exhibitions in lodge, there is little room or use for our fraternity in the affairs of men.

 

The first aim, therefore, is to uplift the individual life.  Each man who bows at our altar and assumes the solemn obligations placed upon him should rise with clearer purpose and loftier aim.  If he can but realize that as a Master Mason he has had given him the plans and specifications drawn by the Supreme Architect of the Universe for the erection of the sublime structure of his own character, he will have caught the real spirit and aim of Masonry.

 

On the contrary, if merely moved by desire to improve his business, to wear a Masonic charm or to be able to start in a mad chase for the "higher degrees," the newly made Mason has been spoiled in the making.  To be a real Mason is to be a better man in every relation of life.  A more loyal, loving, and considerate husband; a more devoted and indulgent father; a better citizen; a truer friend - are a few of the fruits to be gathered from the Masonic orchard.  Many are so intent upon selfish achievements that these are little esteemed.

 

The first and greatest aim of Masonry is toward a loftier individual manhood, a purer womanhood, and a more tender and promising childhood.  That Masons are builders can be seen by the name.  While the operative craftsman uses perishable brick or stone and cements it into one common mass, the speculative workman uses living stones, which when propery united with the cement of brotherly love and affection, constitutes an edifice eternal in the heavens.

 

By teaching men the doctrines of temperance, fortitude, prudence and justice, together with the many other lessens drawn from, and daily applicable to the activities of life, deep foundations are laid upon which loftiest character must stand.  When brotherly love, relief, and truth really enter into the fiber of a man's being, there is little room for the selfish and the debased.  His instincts and his aspirations are toward the uplift that comes from a joyful service to mankind.  That I am my brother's keeper is demonstrated in every avenue of life whether I am ready to concede it or not.  He who achieves fortune, fame, or power over the crushed form of his fellow has made a Mephisto bargain and will render his grievous service in the Inferno of his own creation.  Service and sacrifice are the crucible in which the base metals of greed, avarice, and selfishness are left as the dross of life.  If thy brother would have thee go with him one mile, that is thy duty.  When to this is added gladly, a second mile, that is a blessed privilege.  Masonry puts into a man's breast the sweet service of the second mile.

 

In everyday life the man who renders the scantest service to complete his obligations, will find his burden onerous and distasteful.  If in the employ of another, his tenure will hang by a slender thread.  If the force is to be reduced, he will be first to go. On the other hand, if one is concerned more in doing excellent work than in merely putting in a specified number of hours each day, his promotions will follow one after the other unsolicited. The one who willingly and regularly does more than he is paid for and who seeks to do those things which his employer prefers not to do himself will be indispensable and secure in his position.  Our eight hours for refreshment and sleep are that we may have and retain sufficient strength of body and mind to follow our usual vocations with vigor and success.  Both these are the basis for our worship of God through relief of our worthy, distressed brother.

 

Masonry's mission, therefore, to the individual is to uplift his character and establish a nobler manhood.

 

To the aggregate of individuals, constituting the social state, Masonry has a message of vast importance.  Civilization has ever had as a companion, our great fraternity.  Whether the one or the other is the cause or effect cannot easily be determined.  The warp cannot say to the woof of a fabric, "I have no need of thee." Each is so intermingled with the other that one cannot be injured without weakening the whole.  So where the great light of Masonry and the world - the Bible - has gone, there is civilization and there is also Freemasonry.  Without God's revelation to man in the Book of books, there has been and there can be little progress toward ethical standards.

 

Masonry has not been concerned with the dogmas of theology and the factional feuds of rival sects.  The church, organized religious thought and activity, stands supreme.  To this we reverently bow, modestly claiming the privilege of casting out the devils of human need in the name of the Master of men.

 

The product of Judaism and Christianity, the Holy Scriptures, is the great light of Masonry.  A belief in God and his Book is fundamental.  Hence no atheist can become or remain a Mason and be honest.  When he ceases to rely upon God as the Supreme Architect of the Universe, he owes it to himself and to the Craft to go out from us because he is not of us.

 

Thus founded on the eternal truth of the revealed word and leanang from this our duties to God and man, we, as Masons, are willing that the various schools of religious thought should settle the disputes of theology to their own liking.  On such a foundation members of all churches, whether Jew or Christian, come together and work as craftsmen of character without discord or difference.  Harmony is the strength of all institutions and especially of Freemasonry.

 

In times past the mistaken notion existed, that in some way Masonry was an antagonist of the church.  Masons themselves may have been to some extent responsible for this error.  In their enthusiasm for the lodge they were betrayed into saying some things regarding the relations of the fraternity and the church of the living God, not justified by the teachings of the Craft.  In these days there is a better understanding, so much so that a large proportion of the clergy and the laity of most religious denominations deem it an honor to wear, the white apron, the emblem of innocence and the badge of a Mason.

 

Masonry's Mission in the state is one of peace and fidelity. Good citizenship can only be fostered by a society whose members are taught lessons of obedience to law.

 

Freemasonry is the first law and order league in the world. From the minutest details in ritual all the way up through its ethical teachings and wonderful philosophy of human action it stands immovable for order.  In no human institution is greater emphasis placed upon the ancient customs and usages than in the acient Craft.  Even to such an extent has this gone that some look upon this conservatism as partaking somewhat of fogyism and fossilism. The landamrks are our common law.  This charter of liberties may sometimes be in some doubt in its application and re-adjustment to changed conditions of modern times.

 

It is conceded that it is not in the power of a man or a body of men to make innovations in the body of Masonry.  In this age of organization in all its scope, many societies, patterned more or less after this ancient instituton have sprung up.  Many of these mixing fraternity and the business of insuring against sickness and death have led some of those, less thoughtful, upon dangerous ground.

 

Some lodges and many brethren can see no reason why Masonry should not leave its impregnable fortress of pure fraternity to enter into competition with societies which occupy a different place and are organized for distinctly different, yet useful, purposes.  Through all this Masonry has stood like the rock of Gibraltar against the beatings of the ocean of modern orders.  So thoroughly have the laws and customs evolved through the ages been adhered to that our Royal Craft stands today greater and better than in any age since its foundation.  Every Mason whether in humble or exadted station in life learns and practices lessons of equality.

 

The President of the United States sits as a loyal and faithful member of his lodge.  Presidents, judges, senators, congressmen, governors they may be when in the world, but in the lodge they are Masons and meet upon the level, act by the plumb, and part upon the square with men of all places and conditions.

 

Farmers, mechanics, teaehers, ministers, and those in professional or other vocations of life form a society of friends and brothers among whom no contention should ever exist, except that noble contention, or rather emulation of who best can work and best agree.  Standing as it does upon such foundations, the equality of merit and thorough obedience to law, it is easy to perceive how profoundly Freemasonry contributes to good government.

 

Our republic in fact is built upon precisely this basis.  All men are equal before the law of the land and must obey it.  Social distinctions may exist by reason of wealth or station.  Society may be divided into clans and classes, but by the genius of our republican institutions, all men are created equal.  Opportunity opens the doors of success to those able and worthy to enter. The ignoble and the indolent and the shiftless may rail at their want of luck, but their failure is from within not from without.  Masonry regards no man for his worldly wealth or honors.  Worth of the man is its only concern.  Being moved by these principles it cannot fail to be a powerful factor in the state. Universal peace is largely in the keeping of such agencies as our great brotherhood.  All over the world men come together as friends and brothers.  Discord is frowned upon peace is encouraged.  The vast army marching under Freemasonry's banner of "peace on earth good will toward men" must move mightily in the direction of universal amity and concord.

 

Peaceable settlement of international difficulties is rapidly coming.  The great Hague tribunal may have falled to avert the war between Russia and Japan, but its mighty voice has penetrated to the ends of the earth commanding universal peace.  Silent but potent means are gradually wearing the rocks of bloodshed and strife away.  In this great movement toward millennial peace, Masonry is a willing worker.  She says to those battling for conquest or for glory or for power:

 

If I were a voice, a convincing voice,

I'd be borne on the restless wind,

And wherever I saw warring nations torn,

I'd creep to the hearts full of spite and scorn,

With love's own chain to bind," and tell them to be free.

 

Our fraternity's mission in the state is distinctly for good citizenship and for universal peace.

 

The voice of Masonry not only appeals to the individual life in the upbuilding of character; to the man's religious thought in the broadest toleration and yet with greatest emphasis; to the state in sustaining law and order; but it recognizes as one of its special fields of missionary endeavor the relief of want and woe and suffering.  It looks upon the worthy distressed brother, his widow and orphan as its chief concern.  Our fellow man is our brother.  Though we may be of another race or creed we are yet taught that our charity is universal.

 

It may be the Jew, robbed, wounded, half dead by the Jericho roadside, yet the Samaritan, despised and shunned, stoops to bind up the wounds and ministers to the wants of his enemy in distress.  This is the spirit ot Freemasonry. With Abou Ben Adhem we teach that those who would stand highest in love to God must prove their claims by practical love to man.  In almost every Grand Jurisdiction in our great country in some practical, effective form provision is made for aged and indigent Masons, their wives, their widows, and helpless orphans.  The particular methods adopted to meet the exigencies in various states differ according as one theory or another may have gained sway.  In all cases, however, there is absolute unity in the willingness to provide for the aged brother and his dependents when the storm and stress of life have come.  In our state with its vast fraternal army crossing the 200,000 mark, Masonry is marching with no faltering step toward its highest achievement.  In the ranks there may be honest difference of opinion concerning methods, but when our commander speaks we all gladly obey. Our Grand Lodge, composed as it is, of the picked fruit of Illinois' superb manhood, is invincible and infallible.

 

The aggregate wisdom of the Craft as shown in the actions of this Grand Body can safely be depended upon to settle aright all questions arising from our great charities.  There is little more than the mere mercenary in conferring favors and privileges upon persons from whom we expect an equivalent in return.  When a man has nothing to give in exchange for the favors of his brethren it is a genuine blessing to those who are willing to make for him a home and a competency of comfort.

 

This is the philosophy of our home for the aged and indigent.

 

The recipients of the willing service of their brethren have the happy reflection of a well spent life.  Their eyes are dim, their natural strength abated and their ears dulled by age and infirmity.  They are waiting until the hour glass shows the sands of life fully run.  The silver cord may be almost loosed, the golden bowl be nearly broken, the pitcher be frail at the fountain or the wheel unsteady at the cistern, and yet they feel the gentle but mighty arms of a great fraternity upon which they can lean with absolute security.  The everlasting embrace of human brotherhood gives them solace in their helplessness.

 

There can be no more noble or unselfish service that any Mason can render than to one who can neither help himself nor make a return for what others do for him.  Equally is this true of the aggregate of our great Craft in supplying the needs and comforts of life to those who are now cared for as a special privilege.  The law of growth is in doing.  Unselfish service will increase not only the ability to serve but with this growth will come added power.  Timid hearts may have shrunk from the magnitude of the task of providing for our worthy distressed brother wherever he may be found.  But the pitiful sum from each affiliated Mason so far entirely adequate for all needs, would willingly be increased many fold if necessity demanded.

 

Afffliated bodies based upon and drawing their inspiration from Ancient Craft Masonry would esteem it an honor as well as a privilege to Participate in financing our great institutions now sheltering young and old from the storms of adversity.

 

Only the sentimental and the artistic sit to contemplate and admire the glories of the setting sun.  Every activity, every thrill of life springs toward the dawn. Man shakes off the drowsiness of a sleep of recuperation as the morning's new light calls him to the achievements of the coming day.  Every bird joins in the glad jubilee of the morning.  The world of life turns toward the rising sun for a new baptism for new duties.  So, while we may view with satisfaction the aged as they near the sundown of their existence with the solid comforts their able and willing brethren supply them, we turn with a new thrill of joy and expectation toward those who in the morning of life are looking to us for succor and assistance.

 

Among the choicest fruits gathered from our great old tree of fraternity is, therefore, the care and support of the children of youth and of three steps upon the master's carpet are the our system of fraternal charities.  In manhood with all its power and its glory we look toward toward youth and toward second childhood and greet them with open hearts and purses to fit the one to fill our places and to bring ease and comfort to those who have fought and lost the battle of life.  In the world at large egoism is well nigh universal.  In Masonry the altruistic spirit softens and beautifies the otherwise harsh and disagreeable outlines of character.  It is the Hiram Abiff which beautifies and adorns what the wisdom of a Solomon and the strength of the Tyiian have produced.  If we would make Freemasonry eternal we must make sure that we do not allow eternal conflict between the mercenary and the unselfish to result in the destruction of the noble sentiment that "the greatest of these is charity." Our ritual is a classic.  Its structure is mechanically perfect.  To master it and present it effectively is a great accomplishment.  Our growth and strength have been in proportion to its unity and beauty.  Yet a ritual without the soul of Masonry is dead.  It is a skeleton of dry bones hung together by wires as may be seen in the doctor's office or the class room of the medical college. Our care for the old and young in our homes is not our whole duty.  In every lodge in city, town, or hamlet, are abundant needs for the kindly and friendly offices of the individual Mason.  Organized charity, so-called, does not supersede the generous duty of the Craftsman. If he has really imbibed the true spirit of our wonderful brotherhood he will not allow the sun to go down without the relief of every worthy distressed brother within the length of his cable-tow.

 

Neither will the measurement be by any circumscribed standards. Wherever there is a human sigh, a pain of anguish, a sorrow-stricken heart or a fevered brow this cable tow will be found sufficient to reach it.  The mission of Masonry is to every corner of the world, in which may crouch distress or suffering or want.  It goes to uplift, to gladden, and to beautify.  To uprear noble, manly character whether in society, in religion, in the state, or in the infinite relations of individual life is Masonry's divinest mission.

----o----

 

"The world wants men, large hearted, manly men.

Men who will join its chorus and prolong

Its psalm of labor and its song of love.

The age wants heroes: Heroes who shall dare

To struggle in the serried ranks of truth,

To clutch the monster Error by the throat,

To bear opinion to a loftier scat,

To blot the era of oppression out

And lead a universal freedom in."

 

----o----

 

No man is without some quality, by the due application of which he might deserve well of the world; and whoever he be that has but little in his power should be in haste to do that little, lest he be confounded with him that can do nothing. - Dr. Johnson

 

----o---

 

Morals are more needed than mathematics; right living will do more for us than right spelling; graciousness is more esential than grammer; equity is a nobler tribute than eloquence.

 

----o----

 

MEMORIALS TO GREAT MEN WHO WERE MASONS - MAJOR GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR

 

BY BRO. GEORGE W. BAIRD, P.G.M., DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

 

GENERAL ST. CLAIR was born in Scotland, in 1734, of noble family. After graduating at the University of Edinburgh he served an apprenticeship with Dr. William Hunter of London. His father had died when he was as yet a boy: after the loss of his mother in 1757 he purchased the remaining time of his indentures and bought a commission in the Royal American regiment of foot. He was in the fight at Louisburg, N.S., under Generals Amherst, Wolf, and other English general officers. He participated in the capture of Quebec in 1759, and it was he who seized the colors which had fallen from the hands of a dying soldier on the Plains of Abraham and bore them to victory.

 

The writer has always believed that the defeat of the French at that time had more to do with the establishing of freedom, the inherent rights of man, and equality on this continent than our own Revolution!

 

St. Clair married Miss Bayard, a French Huguenot of Boston, whose fortune, added to his own, made him quite independent. He resigned from the British Army in 1762 to reside in Boston. Two years later he moved to Bedford, Pennsylvania, where partly by purchase and partly by grant, he had secured a tract of land. Here he established his residence and erected a grist mill. He was elected surveyor of the Cumberland District and justice of a court, recorder of deeds, and clerk of the Orphans Court.

 

All this he abandoned at the approach of the Revolutionary War. In 1775 he was commissoned a Colonel by Hancock, president of the Congress at that time. In a letter to Witherspoon, St. Clair said, "I hold that no man has a right to withhold his services when his country needs them. Be the sacrifices ever so great, it must be yielded upon the altar of patriotism."

 

He raised the famous Second Pennsylvania regiment, filling his ten companies in a few weeks. His first service was at Quebec, where he arrived in time to cover the retreating American armies. He commanded at the disastrous fight of Three Rivers, after the death of General Thompson. He was in the fight of Ticonderoga, and was promoted to the rank of Brigadier. After being with Washington in New Jersey at the battles of Trenton and Princeton, he was made Major General. It was at this time that he became so endeared to Washington. He met some reverses later which, in appearance, might have caused us to reflect on his character as a military leader: but fortunately Jared Sparks has preserved for us the real facts and thus saved his admirable record. Spark says of him, "Time proved that he had acted the part of the skilful and judicious officer."

 

His subsequent career was all brilliant. He was appointed to the command of West Point when General Arnold had flunked; and he was a member of the court that convicted Major Andre. His last battle was at Yorktown. After the war he was elected to Congress, of which he served as president. Later, he was made governor of the Northwest Territory.

 

Notwithstanding his brilliant and honorable career he died poor. In the eighty-fourth year of his life he undertook a journey to Youngstown, and was found dead on the road the next morning. Whether he was buried by charity or not his biographers do not say, but they do say this, which will be of keen interest to my reader:

 

"In the cemetery at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, there is a neat little sandstone monument erected by a Masonic lodge with this inscription:

 

"The earthly remains of Major General Arthur St. Clair are deposited beneath this humble monument, which is erected to supply the place of a nobler one, due from his country."

 

That a nobler monument was due there is no question, but the lodge that erected the sandstone memorial probably had in mind the kind of countrymen who then lived. But times have changed. When the writer first heard of that memorial he took steps to induce the Sons of the American Revolution to consider the erection of that "nobler one due from his country," but while making the effort found that Brother John S. Sell, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania had, on the 15th day of August 1913, unveiled a "nobler monument" in granite, an exact duplicate of the old sandstone memorial, except for the explanatory inscription on the east panel: even the quaint style of lettering is closely imitated. On the east Danel this is added:

 

"Beneath this monument also lies Phoebe Bayard, wife of General St. Clair. She died September 18th, 1818."

 

A new and deeper foundation was placed under this granite monument than had existed under the old.

 

General St. Clair was a member of N. C. Harmony Lodge. No. 2. in Ohio.

 

----o----

 

THE HOLY SAINTS JOHN

 

BY BRO. BENJAMIN WELLINGTON BRYANT, CALIFORNIA

 

CONCLUSION

 

WE NOW COME to the era of Grand Lodges, and the resultant crystallization of ritual.  Here it will be interesting to follow the growth of the Johannine idea through the various rituals and ritualistic revisions of the eighteenth century.  The collection of ritualistic and Monitorial allusions which I have been able to gather is probably far from complete, but I, believe that they are fairly representative and hence sufficient for the purpose of the present paper. Possibly some brother having access to other Johannine formulae may be able to add further items of interest.  From a bare reference in the earliest catechisms, we find it developing into the historical extravagances of the tradition in its full flower.  Thence, with the broadening of Masonic thought bringing better understanding of the true import of the Regulation of 1723, we see it finally declining to the less pretentious form in use at the present time. Here we have an excellent opportunity to follow the sectarian tendency which held the Fraternity in so firm a grasp during the eighteenth, and well into the nineteenth century.  This tendency, it appears, was at last checked largely through the labours of Bro. Pike and Bro. Mackey, the latter drawing much of his inspiration from the former. (We are prone to think of Albert Pike as distinctively the exponent of the high degrees, but we should not forget the debt of gratitude we owe to him and to those brethren whom he gathered about him for their influence in extending the horizon of thought in Blue Lodge Masonry, for what Bro. Roscoe Pound denominates "Masonic Protestantism." (33))

 

In the earliest lectures in use under the "revived" Grand Lodge after 1717 we find the formula: "From whence came you? A. From the holy Lodge of St. John. Q. What recommendation do you bring from thence? A. A recommendation from the brothers and fellows of that right worshipful and holy lodge of St. John from whence I came, who greet you thrice heartily." (34) In 1721 we find a hint of the developing sectarian tendency in the lecture, which nevertheless still retains the pleasant ring of goodfellowship expressed in the earlier form: "God's good greeting be to this happy meeting.  And all right worshipful brothers and fellows of the right worshipful and holy Lodge of St. John. Q. Why do you denominate it the holy Lodge of St. John? A. Because he was the forerunner of our Saviour, and laid the first parallel line to the Gospel." (35) The Chetwoode Crowley Ms. quotes allusion from the Catechism of 1723: "Here am I, the youngest and last entered apprentice, as I am sworn by God and St. John, by the Square and Compass and common judge." (36) (Possibly "common judge" is a corruption of "common guage"). "The Grand Mystery" published in 1725 gives the following in the Catechism: "Q. What Lodge are you of? A. The Lodge of St. John," and later in the same: "How many angles in St. John's Lodge? A. Four, bordering on Squares." (37) In the ritual as improved by Desaguliers and Anderson, both of whom were clergymen, we find a further sectarian development of the reference, for it is explained that the lodges were called St. John's Lodges because: "he was the baptizer and forerunner of our Saviour; and announced him as the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world." This corresponds with the French ritual of 1730: "D. Comments appele cette Loge? R. La Loge de S. Jean," and the passage was thus explained: "Il fait toujours repondre ainsi que c'est le nom de toutes les Loges." (38) Dr. Oliver also quotes from the second edition of Anderson's Constitutions of 1738 as follows: "In France these festivals are celebrated on the same days but they are call 'Fetes Solstitiales; hommage au G. A. D. l'U." (39), which would seem to indicate that the French brethren still retained a solstitial form of the tradition at a time when the Craft in Britain were abandoning it in favour of a more theological version.  In the year 1732 Martin Clare prepared a revision of the ritual, but I have not been able to find any quotations from it.  Oliver credits him with a continuance of the Johannine tradition, but Dr. Mackey sees in this revision the beginnings of an attempt to counteract the sectarianizing or Christianizing tendency which had hitherto been on the ascendant. (40) Evidently some of the brethren were beginning to awaken to the real spirit of the Regulation of 1723, but there was yet a long road ahead, as we shall see.

 

The Clare lectures appear to have prevailed with some revision until the adoption of those of Dunckerley in 1770.  Dunckerley's lectures give the earliest example where an allusion is incorporated in the O.B. which I have been able to locate. It is as follow s: "In the presence of God and this right worshipful and holy lodge dedicated to God and Holy St. John," and the asseveration corresponded to it, "so help me God and Holy St. John." (41) To Dunckerley is also ascribed the first introduction of the "lines parallel." (42) His formula runs thus: "This code is embordered by two perpendicular parallel lines, representing St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist who were perfect parallels in Christianity as well as in Masonry." (43)

 

In what is known as the "Old York Lecture," used about the same time, we find a most elaborate catechism of a type which must have delighted the heart of Dr. Oliver:

 

"Q. Our Lodges bong finished, furnished and decorated with ornaments, furniture and jewels, to whom they were consecrated?"

"A. To God."

"Q. Thank you, brother, and can you tell me to whom they were first dedicated?"

"A. To Noah, who was saved in the Ark."

"Q. And by what name were the Masons then known?"

"A. They were called Noachidee, Sages, or Wise Men."

"Q. To whom were the lodges dedicated during the Mosaic dispensation?"

"A. To Moses, the chosen of God, and Solomon, the son of David."

"Q. And under what name were the Masons known during that period?"

"A. Under the name of Dionysiacs, Geometricians, or Masters in Israel."

"Q. But as Solomon was a Jew, and died long before the promulgation of Christianity, to whom were they dedicated under the Christian dispensation?"

"A. From Solomon the patronage of Masonry passed to St. John the Baptist."

"Q. And under what name were they known after the promulgation of Christianity?"

"A. Under the name of Essenes, Architects, or Freemasons."

"Q. Why were the lodges dedicated to St. John the Baptist?"

"A. Because he was the forerunner of our Saviour, and by preaching repentance and humiliation, drew the first parallel of the Gospel."

"Q. Had St. John the Baptist any equal?"

"A. He had; St. John the Evangelist."

"Q. Why was he said to be the equal of the Baptist?"

"A. Because he finished by his learning what the other began by his zeal, and thus drew a second line parallel to the former; ever since which time Freemason's lodges in all Christian countries, have been dedicated to the one, or the other, or both of these worthy and worshipful men." (44)

 

To understand the next version of the tradition we must return to the year 1740, when Chevalier Ramsey, as Orator of the Grand Lodge of France, promulgated the Templar theory in an oration delivered before that body. Mackay and Gould both quote from that oration, the part referring to the subject under consideration being as follows: "During the time of the holy wars in Palestine, several principal lords and citizens associated themselves together, and entered into a vow to re-establish the temples of the Christians in the Holy Land; and engaged themselves by an oath to employ their talents and their fortune in restoring architecture to its primitive institution.(?) They adopted several ancient signs and symbolic words drawn from religion by which they might distinguish themselves from the infidels and recognize each other in the midst of the Saracens.  They communicated these signs and words only to those who had solemnly sworn, often at the foot of the altar, never to reveal them.  This was not an oath of execration but a bond uniting men of all nations into the same confraternity. Some time after our order was united with the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.  Hence our lodges are, in all Christian countries, called Lodges of St. John." (45)

 

That oration must have created a profound sensation among the Craft in England as well as in France, and we find in this extract from a lecture in use in the north of England late in the century, a reply to it: "Our lodges are untruly said to be dedicated to St. John because the Masons who engaged to conquer the Holy Land chose that saint for their patron.  We should be sorry to appropriate the Balsarian sect of Christians to St. John as an explanation of this principle.  St. John obtains our dedication as being the proclaimer of that salvation which was at hand by the coming of Christ; and we as a set of religious men, assembling in the true faith, commemorate the proclamations of the Baptist.  In the name of St. John the Evangelist, we acknowledge the testimonies which he gives, and the divine Logos which he makes manifest." And again in the same lecture: "Our beauty is such as adorns all our actions; is hewn out of the rock, which is Christ; raised upright by the plumb-line of the Gospel; and squared and levelled by the horizontal of God's will in the holy Lodge of St. John; and as such becomes the temple whose maker and builder is God." (46)

 

Dr. Oliver also cites another version of similar import which he ascribes, rather indefinitely, "to our transatlantic brethren," and which is certainly an ingenious attempt to propitiate all parties and sects:

 

"The dedications are made to these Saints, not as Christians, but as eminent Masons; and if we are gratuitous in bestowing such a character upon them, this does not affect the merit of the argument, because the dedication is made under the supposition that such was their character.  They are honoured by us, not as Saints, but as good and pious men - not as teachers of religion, but as bright examples of all those virtues which Masons are taught to reverence and practice.  And if it incidentally happens that they were also Christians, such a circumstance should, with a tolerant Jew, be objection to the honours paid to them; but with th sincere Christian a better reason." (47)

 

The Ramsey idea was adopted by the notorious imposter Finch, who incorporated a passage upon the oration of 1740 into one of his rituals: "What is the chief reason why our lodges are dedicated to St. John? A. Because in the time of the Crusades, the Masons having united themselves with the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem to fight against the infidels, they adopted that Saint as their tutelary protector and being victorious in their conflicts with the Saracens, they unanimously agreed that all Masonic lodges should in future be dedicated to him." (48)

 

There is another version which Mackey quotes from an old lecture adopted into the Prestonian system, which, while it bears some resemblance to the old York lecture, is less ambitious in its historical claims.  It is said that a group of early Christians did actually send a deputation to the Evangelist, who was then at Ephesus, requesting him to give them a code of rules for their observance, "that the identity of their faith might be preserved as an exclusive society" (49) and the story of that event may have inspired some eighteenth century ritualist to compose this beautiful bit of Masonic fiction:

 

"From the building of the first temple at Jerusalem to the Babylonish captivity, Freemason's lodges were dedicated to King Solomon; from thence to the coming of the Messiah they were dedicated to Zerubbabel the builder of the second temple; and from that time to the final destruction of the Temple by Titus, in the reign of Vespasian, they were dedicated to St. John the Baptist; but owing to the many massacres and disorders which attended that memorable event Freemasonry sunk very much into decay; many lodges were entirely broken up, and but few could meet in sufficient numbers to constitute their legality; and at a general meeting of the Craft, held in the city of Benjamin, it was observed that the principal reason for the decline of Masonry was the want of a Grand Master to patronize it.  They therefore deputed seven of their most eminent members to wait upon St. John the Evangelist, who was at that time Bishop of Ephesus, requesting him to take the office of Grand Master.  He returned for answer, that though well stricken in years (being upwards of ninety), yet having been initiated into Masonry in the early part of his life, he would take upon himself that office.  He therefore completed by his learning what the other St. John effected by his zeal, and thus drew what Freemasons term a 'line parallel'; ever since which time, Freemasons lodges in all Christian countries have been dedicated both to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist." (50)

 

The Preston lectures were the standard in England until the reconciliation between the "Ancient" and "Modern" factions in 1813, when the Hemming lectures were adopted as a compromise ritual.  In the Hemming system the Johannine dedication was eliminated, the parallel lines were said to represent Moses and Solomon, and the lodges dedicated "to God and his service." (51) Thus our English brethren silenced, so far as these two Saints were concerned, all possibility of a charge of sectarianism.  The change was not made without protest however; many brethren withdrew from the Fraternity rather than accept the new lectures, and as previously noted, even as late as 1848, Dr. Oliver was inspired to write and publish his "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," which would indicate that the change was still rankling in the hearts of numbers of the English brethren.

 

This concludes our review so far as European Masonry is concerned. In this country Thomas Smith Webb had already published his Monitor, which was based on the Prestonian system, prior to the Reconciliation, and by the time that event took place his system had evidently gained sufficient foothold largely to counteract whatever influence the Hemming system might otherwise have exerted, and, supported by the, anti-British feeling engendered by the then recent Revolution and by the troubles which the young Republic was still having with the motifer country, was sufficiently strong to prevent the young American Grand Lodges from abandoning the Johannine in favour of the Solomonic formula.  The first edition of Webb's Monitor appeared in 1797, coincident with the movement to sever the Royal Arch from the Blue Lodge system, in which he was a leading spirit.  In 1813, while the Reconciliation was being consummated in England, he was serving as Grand Master of Rhode Island, thus, perhaps unwittingly, adding the weight of that dignity to the side of the balance against any change that might have taken place.

 

The edition of the Webb Monitor to which I have access is the fifth, published in 1866, but does not appear to have been revised to any extent.  In it the formula is as follows:

 

 

"By a recurrence to the chapter upon the dedication of lodges it will be perceived, that although our ancient brethren dedicated their lodges to King Solomon, yet Masons professing Christianity dedicate theirs to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, who were eminent patrons of Masonry." (52)

 

Webb also uses the phrase: "who were perfect parallels in Christianity as well as in Masonry."

 

I have also a copy of the Macoy Monitor of the middle nineteenth century which gives a version apparently based upon the Ramsey theory as enunciated by Finch:

 

"Lodges in ancient times were dedicated to King Solomon ... and continued to be so dedicated until after the Crusades.  Among the various orders of knights engaged in those chivalric wars, none were more conspicuous than the magnanimous order of the Knights of St. John.  Many brethren of our ancient Craft also went forth to aid in redeeming the sepulchre of the Saviour from the hands of the infidel; between these and the Knights of St. John there existed a reciprocal feeling of brotherly love.  On the plains of Jerusalem they entered into a solemn compact of friendship, and it was mutually agreed between them that henceforth all lodges whose members acknowledge the divinity of Christ, should be dedicated to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, who were two eminent patrons of Freemasonry." (53)

 

Finally, and to us most interesting of all, is the "Manual of the Lodge," by Dr. Mackey, published in 1862, wherein we find the earliest publication of the version which seems to be most generally in use among American Grand Lodges at the present time:

 

"Our ancient brethren dedicated their lodges to King Solomon because he was our first Most Excellent Grand Master; but modern Masons dedicate theirs to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist who were two eminent patrons of Masonry." (54)

 

To this Bro. Mackey adds a note in which, as in his Encyclopedia, he lays particular stress upon the solstitial character of the Johannine festivals and dedication. It was as follows:

 

"The two parallel lines, which in the modern lectures represent St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, really allude to particular periods in the sun's annual course.  At two particular points in this course, the sun is found on the zodiacal signs, Cancer and Capricorn, which are distinguished as the summer and winter solstices.  When the sun is at these points he has reached his greatest northern and southern limit.  These points, if we suppose the circle to represent the sun's annual course, will be indicated by the points where the parallel lines touch the circle.  But the days when the sun reaches these points are the 21st of June and the 22nd of December, and this will account for their subsequent application to the two Sts. John, whose anniversaries the Church has placed near these days." (55)

 

Thus we find that, while the Johannine tradition cannot be accepted as based on veritable historical fact in the sense of regarding the Baptist and the Evangelist as having been personally connected with the Fraternity, yet its recognition by the Craft, in one or another of its varied forms, dates from most remote antiquity.  In modern speculative Masonry there are no missing portions in the line of descent from the "revival" of 1717 until the present time. In the words of Dr. Oliver:

 

"In the original lectures compiled by Sayer, Payne, and Desaguliers, and as improved by Anderson, Desaguliers and Cowper; in the revisions of Dunckerley and Martin Clare, twice repeated, and in the extended rituals of Hutchinson, Preston and others, the St. Johns occupy their place as patrons of Masonry. In no one ritual, whether ancient or modern, in use during the 18th century, have they been omitted." (56)

 

We must remember that the centuries prior to the birth of speculative Masonry knew little or nothing of the almanac and the calendar as popular conveniences, and hence the annual festivals of pagan times and the Saint's days which took their places under Christian influence were indispensable aids in marking the years and the seasons.  In Britain, even long after 1534 when the yoke of the Vatican was thrown off, the religious thought remained strongly under its influence and there was little change from the church customs of the earlier allegiance.  What more natural then, than that our brethren of that period should preserve the midyear and midsummer festival of the Baptist as the date for their annual assemblies.  Later when the need for more frequent fraternal communication became manifest, the Evangelist's day in midwinter was the most logical companion date.

 

But in spite of the narrow and almost iron-clad theology of the time, the close of the sixteenth century, as Bro. Waite notes in his "Real History of the Rosicrucians," beheld a great wave of mysticism spreading over central Europe, and thence into England, France, Italy, and Denmark. (57) In England this movement found its chief expression through the Rosicrucian school of thought and we find that the influx of speculatives during the seventeenth century brought in the Fraternity such men as Ashmole, Vaughn, Sir Robert Moray (or Murray), Wren, Locke, Boyle, and others of strong Rosicrucian tendencies, and of sufficient learning and prominence to be Fellows of the Royal Society.  The Rosicrucian philosophy embodied much of that universal religion which is the basis of Freemasonry, but its adherents found it wise to conceal its broad principles under a veil of Christian mysticism in that age when any open and free statement of such doctrine would have subjected them to persecution or ostracism.  These men must have understood, as possibly the operatives of their day did not, the astronomical origin of the Johannine festivals, and from the standpoint of that knowledge, might very possibly have lent their influence to the more regular observance of those dates.  Coming upon the scene during the period when the stage was unwittingly being set for the "revival" or "revolution of 1717," they must have lent a very considerable influence to the shaping of the circumstances which led up to that event. Viewing the Johannine dedication and festivals in the light of solstitial observance which had been celebrated from most remote antiquity, and thus truly in harmony with the liberal spirit, not only of Rosicrucian, but also of Masonic faith, it seems even more probable that we are indebted in considerable measure to those early mystics for the perpetuation of this custom of the Craft.

 

With the revival in 1717 the ritual fell into the hands of such orthodox ministers of the Gospel as Dr. Anderson and Dr. Desaguliers, who would, of course, see the observances in their Christian, rather than in their solstitial and mystical aspect.  Under their hands it was shaped into a Christian tradition, and the ritualists who followed them apparently adopted their lead and further developed it as we have seen.  It is most fascinating to trace, through the early meager references and the later wild fabrications of tradition, the development from the early dedication and festival observance, through the full bloom of a sectarian legend down to our modern unassuming and inoffensive version. It is not surprising, when this one item could develop into such full flower that many other fabulous statements could gain circulation and credence among the brethren.  Bro. Gould quotes and condemns a number of these.  According to one, "27,000 Masons accompanied the Christian princes in the Crusades." Another was the statement that Martin Luther was received into the Society on Christmas night, 1520, just fifteen days after he had burned the Pope's Bull; and still other, and even more absurd were that the Craft was introduced into Britain, A. M. 2974, by "E-Brank, King of the Trojan race, and into Ireland by the prophet Jeremiah." (58)

 

According to Bro. Mackey, a reaction from the sectarian influence and the flights of imagination of the earlier ritualists began to become manifest in the Clare revision, (59) though I have found no quotations from it bearing upon the subject of the present paper.  Neither have I found any from the ritual used by the Dermott or "Ancient" faction unless the "old York lecture" above quoted belonged to them.  However, the opponents of the Christianizing tendency apparently finally made their voices heard and gained a signal victory in the adoption of the Hemming lectures.  I am not prepared to discuss the wisdom of that change other than to remark that one argument in its favour is that it removed one point of temptation beyond the reach of those susceptible to its influence.  Here in America we seem to have gradually receded from the more sectarian versions to the unassuming one in general use at present which apparently gives no offence to our brethren of the Jewish faith.

 

We have long since abandoned the belief that the two Johns in person were patrons of the Fraternity.  Both Gould and Mackey recognize their symbolical character. (60) Dr. Mackey thus defines a symbol in the Masonic acceptance of the word: "A symbol is defined to be a visible sign with which a spiritual feeling, emotion or idea is connected." (61) This thought should be ever borne in mind in the study of Masonic ritual and symbolism, for in no other way can much of our system of speculative Masonry be interpreted.  As the operative art of our ancient brethren was deemed a high and noble science, so their organization, well worthy of so noble a fate, has been bequeathed to us as a Speculative Fraternity, and has become, by some yet unexplained method, the repository of a wonderful science of symbols based partly upon the builder's art and partly upon ancient mystical religion and philosophy.

 

It is well to remember that the whole purpose of symbolism, in the sense used by Bro. Mackey, in the ages which saw its origin as a development of the earlier picture writing, was to convey or reveal truth only to such as were duly and truly prepared, worthy and well qualified; and that its early authors were remarkable adepts in the art of so concealing those truths which they held to be too sacred for the unworthy profane.  It is well to remember these facts in approaching the study of Masonry, for we may thus, if we in our turn "are duly and truly prepared," open the way to clues which will lead to the discovery of some of those vast treasures of hidden truth which modern Freemasonry has inherited from those schools of the secret wisdom of antiquity, - the Ancient Mysteries, and from some of their later successors.

 

Nowhere in the ritual or monitors of the Craft is there a more perfect example of this, nor one more easily demonstrated when we find its key, than in the great natural truths so carefully hidden behind the meager references remaining in our work to the two characters which are the subjects of the present paper.  I would not minimize the importance of the moral which the monitor attaches to them, but would emphasize my belief that this represents only a fraction of the real lesson.  Their festivals, engrafted as we have seen, upon the old solstitial festivals which were so prominent in the Light-religions of antiquity, give us a miniature statement of the whole philosophy of Masonry, which is a mystery-drama of human life.  Falling upon June 24th and December 27th, dates so close to the summer and winter solstices as to leave no doubt as to their origin, they give us more than a hint of the close relation of man with the phenomena of the visible universe, - "the microcosm in the macrocosm. For our Masonic purposes, it matters little what particular story we ascribe to these dates; the fact of our observance of them as ancient festivals of the Fraternity preserves the spirit of the symbolism; and whether we observe them as the midsummer and midwinter solstices under the beautifully poetical phraseology of the Osiric, Eleusinian or Druidic Mysteries, or as the feast days of Christian saints traditionally alleged to have lent their patronage to our Fraternity, the fundamental lesson is the same.

 

The reputed character of the Baptist and of the Evangelist adapts their festivals very readily to the symbolism.  The feast of the Baptist recalls to our memory his inflexible fidelity and martyrdom for his faith, and thus, while reminding us of another martyrdom for similar high principles which is familiar to all Masons, furnishes a worthy ideal for Masonic consideration.  In the rite of baptism from which his distinctive title is derived is symbolized the cleansing of the heart from the dross of selfishness and vice, and the spiritual initiation of the soul into the knowledge of the mysteries of eternal life.  Thus the festival of his birth very appropriately coincides with the summer solstice, when all visible nature is at the zenith of life, light, and joy.  On the other hand, the festival of the Evangelist who is so fortunately represented as a man in the winter and wisdom of life; who so insistently proclaimed the gospel of brotherly love; and whose writings teem with allegories of the mystical initiation into the secrets that lie beyond the veil of material vision, is very properly assigned to that period of the year when life has reached its full maturity and seems about to depart from the earth.  Considering all this he too becomes a worthy and appropriate figure for Masonic recognition.

 

We therefore find in these two figures, so peculiarly and even mysteriously connected with Masonry, that broad symbolism which admits of universal interpretation and appreciation.  It is truly in harmony with the spirit of "that religion in which all men agree" and is therefore really Masonic. Their festivals falling upon the two extremes of the year well represent the cycle of nature and of human life, and thereby give us a key to the whole philosophy of Masonry.  Though of Christian derivation, their Masonic interpretation carries the same lesson for the Jew and the Theist as for the Christian brother. They tell of the eternal cycle of existence, of manifestation and disappearance, of activity and repose, which is the eternal and immutable law of God, and which is so fittingly expressed in our familiar phrase: "From labour to refreshment and from refreshment to labour again."

 

33. "Philosophy of Freemasonry," Pound, p. 66.

34. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 26.

35. Ibid, p. 34.

36. "Essays," Gould, p. xix

37. "History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. 4, pp. 281-2.

38. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 27.

39. Ibid, p. 67.

40. "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Martin Clare."

41. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver; p. 27.

42.  "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Dunckerley."

43. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 35.

44. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 27; also "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Dedications."

45. "History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. 3, p. 341; also "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Ramsey."

46. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 29.

47. Ibid.

48. Ibid, p. 20.

49. "Annot. on John," Kitto.

50. "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Dedication."

51. Ibid, article on "Parallel Lines."

52. "Freemason's Monitor," Webb, P. 31, 5th Edition, republished, Cincinnati 1866.

53. "Masonic Manual," Robert Macoy, 15th Edition, New York 1858.

54. "Manual of the Lodge," Mackey, New York, 1862.

55. Ibid, p. 57.

56. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 32.

57. "Real History of the Rosicrucians,"  Waite, p. 39, New York 1888.

58. "History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. P. 127.

59. "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Lectures."

60. "History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. 3, p. 79; also "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," article on "Dedication."

61. "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on "Symbols."

 

----o----

 

CROSS AND FLAG

BY FREDERICK L. HOSMER

 

From "Flag Day," edited by B.H. Schauffler, and published by Moffat, Yard & Company

 

From age to age they gather, ail the brave of heart and strong,

In the strife of truth with error, of the right against the wrong;

I can see their gleaming banner, I can hear their triumph song;

The Truth is marching on!

"In this sign we conquer"; 'tis the symbol of our faith,

Made holy by the might of love, triumphant over death;

He finds his life who loseth it, forever more it saith:

The Right is marching on!

 

The earth is circling onward, out of shadow into light;

The stars keep watch above our way, however dark the night;

For every martyr's stripe there glows a bar of morning light;

For Love is marching on!

 

Lead on, O cross of martyr faith, with thee is victory!

Shine forth, O stars and reddening dawn, the full day yet shall be!

On earth his kingdom cometh, and with joy our eyes shall see:

Our God is marching on!

 

----o----

 

A LONG MARCH THROUGH THE NIGHT

 

United by his fellow men by the strongest of all ties, the tie of a common doom, the free man finds that a new vision is with him always, shedding over every daily task the light of love. The life of Man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach, and where none may tarry long. One by one, as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent death. Very brief is the time in which we can help them, in which their happiness or misery is decided. Be it ours to shed sunshine on their path, to lighten their sorrows by the balm of sympathy, to give them the pure joy of a never tiring affection, to strengthen failing courage, to instil faith in hours of despair. Let us not weigh in grudging scales their merits or demerits, but let us think only of their need,of the sorrows, of the difficulties, perhaps the blindnesses, that make the misery of their lives; let us remember that they are fellow-sufferers in the same darkness, actors in the same tragedy with ourselves. And so, when their day is over, when their good and their evil have become eternal by the immortality of the past, be it ours to feel that, where they suffered, where they failed no deed of ours was the cause; but wherever a spark of the divine fire kindled in their hearts, we were ready with encouragement, with sympathy, with brave words in which high courage glowed.

 

- Bertrand Russell.

 

----o----

 

A MASONIC BANK

 

Our Porto Rico brethren have conceived the novel idea of establishing a "Masonic Bank," which has become one of the "great banking institutions of San Juan," to use the words of Grand Secretary J. G. Torres. In a little more than a year its original capital has been multiplied nine times over, its deposits exceed $150,000, and its loans also exceed this sum. It has branches in Sabana Grande and Lares and agencies at three other points. The stock is quoted at a premium of 7 1/2% and is expected to go higher. It pays interests on open deposits which permanently exceed $500.00; it has enabled the brethren as well as profanes to hold their fruits instead of having to sell them at low prices; it has freed the poor from the grip of the usurers by making loans as small as $25.00 at the legal rate of interest; it has encouraged thrift and saving; it has aided Grand Lodge with necessary advances; and has assisted the lodges in building, buying and enlarging their temples. It is declared to have increased greatly the prestige of our institution. The bank, though owned and operated by Masons, is not controlled by Grand Lodge. - Proc., Grand Lodge of Alabama.

 

----o----

 

A PARSEE HYMN

 

BY BRO. GERALD NANCARROW, INDIANA

 

Thou God of Earth, and Air, and Sea;

Thou never dying Fire,

To Thee within and round about

We, part of Thee, aspire.

 

Thou art the flame within our hearts,

Thou countless Gods in One;

Thou are the light above the hills,

The Moon, the Stars, the Sun.

 

Before the worlds rose in the vast

There shone Thy Deathless Ray;

From dust to Suns, from Suns to dust

All is Thy endless day.

 

And ever through our darkness, yea,

Until no more is night,

Before us shining on our path

Art Thou, Unwaning Light.

 

----o----

 

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE EARLY DAYS OF TEMPLARISM

 

BY BRO. STANLEY C. WARNER, PAST GRAND COMMANDER, COLORADO

 

Brother Stanley Clark Warner was born at Wilton, in Lenox County, Ontario, Canada, June 25, 1863.  He attended Victoria University at Coburg, Ontario, and graduated from that institution in May, 1884, with the degree of B.A.; studied law and was admitted to the bar in the Province of Ontario in May, 1887, entering into the practice of his profession at Napance, Ontario. He is now engaged in a steadily increasing legal practice in Denver, Colorado.

 

Brother Warner was raised in Doric Lodge No. 316, A.F. & A.M., Toronto, Canada, on May 19, 1887, later affiliating with Union Lodge No. 7 at Napanee, serving that lodge as Secretary and Senior Warden and chosen as Worshipful Master in December, 1889.  He was a District Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Canada in 1891-92, and served one year on the Board of General Purposes of that Grand Lodge.  In January, 1906, he affiliated with Albert Pike Lodge No. 117, at Denver, Colorado.  He has served the Grand Lodge of Colorado on various committees, being Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence since 1917.  He has been an indefatigable worker in all Masonic Bodies in Denver.  In the Grand Commandery of Colorado he was elected Grand Commander on October 24, 1920.

 

LARGE numbers of our members and, in fact, many of our Templar speakers, are still imbued with the fiction that modern Masonic Templarism has a direct connection with and is the lineal descendant of the Knights Templar Order, instituted in 1113 by Hugh DePayne to protect pilgrims on their journey to the Holy Land, and one often hears both publicly expressed and inferentially suggested that our present Grand Master holds his office in direct accession to the martyred Jacques De Molai, whom an avaricious king of France, with the concurrence of an infamous Pope of Rome, burned at the stake in Paris, March 18, 1313: this despite the fact that this pleasing fiction has been discarded by numbers of our prominent Masonic writers and historians during the last quarter of a century, Sir Knight Colman in his Centennial address to the Grand Encampment in 1916 upon the subject of the early history of that body, said:

 

 "There is no probability, hardly even any possibility, that our modern Order of Christian Masonic Knighthood is directly connected with the ancient Order of Christian Knights whose name and date we proudly bear and whose valiant character and Christian virtues we emulate."

 

Dr. Rugg, Past Grand Master of the Grand Encampment, in his Centennial address to the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, said:

 

"Tradition and common belief have their value, but they must not be allowed to offset historic evidence.  It is the part of unwisdom to cling to a theory that has been generally discarded by those who have made the most extensive and careful examination of the grounds on which it rests.  In this case the most reliable authorities concur in judgment that Masonic Templary, as recognized in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, is not historically connected with or lineally descended from the chivalric orders of the Crusades."

 

Sir Hopkins, Past Grand Master of the Grand Encampment, at the Conclave held in Louisville in 1901, said:

 

I readily admit that we can not show an indisputable title to this inheritance, but the claim is precious although the title may not be secure.  I would fain believe that the founders of the Order did not leave the organization which they founded and cemented with their blood to become the plaything of chance or to rest upon the uncertain tenure of the will or whim of a rapacious king and a weak pope.  I am disposed to admit that it is only a sentiment, but it is one to which some of us cling tenaciously and which we only surrender when we recognize that tradition must yield to history."

 

Sir Knight Parvin, Past Grand Recorder of Iowa and for many years closely connected with the Grand Encampment, has said:  "The popular theory under which so many writers view the origin and history of Templar Masonry would trace it back by some mysterious line of connection to the Order of Malta which was dissolved in 1798, or back to the Order of the Temple, which ceased to exist in 1313, and the latter theory, even at this day, has many advocates. A better and truer theory, is to credit the whole system of Masonic Templarly to the inventive genius of the ritual makers of the eighteenth century."

 

Lieut. Col. W.J.B. MacLeod Moore, Supreme Grand Master, ad vitam, of the Sovereign Great Priory of Canada, frequently declared in his annual allocutions that Freemasonry was not the successor of the military Templars.

 

The published addresses of the distinguished Templars to which references have been made are not of easy access to the membership of our Order, and in presenting a short account of our early history at this time, we have in mind that the information will be thereby more generally available to such Templars as are interested therein.  We make no claim of any personal research, but simply present to you the facts as collected from the works of Eminent Sir Knights who have made a life study thereof.

 

Four long centuries elapsed after the death of Jacques De Molai and the destruction of the ancient Order before history or even Masonic tradition suggests the existence of Masonic Templarism.  During these four centuries civil history is silent as to the Templars, and little is known or related of the Masonic Order.  Masons met without charter or other authority, initiated candidates, often without even an organized lodge or without record of the same, this by a claim of inherent right, and with no intent or desire to make their proceedings public.  It was only in 1717 that the Masonic Fraternity assumed an organized existence, and it was shortly after this date that we find the first suggestion of the Modern Templar Degree.  The long cherished alleged connection of the two orders through Scottish sources rests largely upon the fact that among the adherents of the Stuart Pretender who fled to France after his defeat in the early part of the eighteenth century, was one Chevalier Ramsay, a Mason, a gentleman of much culture, and a tutor of the Second Pretender, Charles Edward.  This distinguished exile, while in France, is said to have developed a Masonic system with a sixth degree, designated the Knight of the Temple, and during one of his visits to Scotland, to have created Knights Templar there.  With the Pretender's approval he attempted to use his Masonic connection to aid the exiled Stuarts, and in grafting upon Masonry a Military Order, he may have had in mind the assistance which it might be to his benefactor.  Masonic authorities differ as to the truth of these statements, but in any event the Templar Degree was occasionally conferred in Great Britain during the middle of the eighteenth century, and encampments of the Order were during that period formed at London, York, Bristol, and Salisbury, more or less intimately connected with Craft Masonry.

 

Moore says that "Templarism was first introduced into the British Empire in the Masonic lodges known as the Ancients under the Duke of Athol, who was also Grand Master of Scotland, in the eighteenth century," and that about 1780 the Templar Degree was merged into the Masonic system, following the Royal Arch in the sequence of additional degrees.

 

W. Redfern Kelly, G.C.T., in a series of articles in the Toronto Freemason, published since this speech was first written, says that the records of the York Grand Lodges, designated also the Grand Lodge of all England, of date June, 1780, announced that lodge as asserting authority over five degrees or orders of Masonry, the Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, Master Mason, Royal Arch and Knight Templar, and also show the conferring of the Templar Degree at York, England, on November 29, 1779.  He further asserts that this Grand Lodge was the only one which officially recognized the Order of the Temple as being Masonic, in either Great Britain or Ireland during the eighteenth century.

 

The history of the Order of the Temple, by Sir Patrick Colquh