The Builder Magazine - October 1922

The Builder Magazine

October 1922 - Volume VIII - Number 10

The Religion of America

By BRO. JOSEPH FORT NEWTON, NEW YORK

America belongs to the soul as much as to the body, and therefore, like Olympus in the Homeric poems, is rightly found in the geography of the spiritual world. It would be better, perhaps, if we learned to think of it in this wise oftener than we do - better for America as well as for ourselves, and that in ways the most practical. At any rate such is the theme of the author of this beautiful essay, and he has won such fame as an interpreter of the religious implications of the American ideas as gives his words great weight. Readers of THE BUILDER will he interested to know that Brother Newton has recently produced a brilliant book entitled "Preaching in London"; it is published by The George H. Doran Company, 244 Madison Avenue, New York. In due time it will be reviewed in the Library Department.

RELIGION is a universal and elemental power in human life, and to limit its scope by restrictive adjectives would seem, at first glance, to be self-contradictory. For this reason, the idea of an American religion borders on inconsistency. Since all souls are alike genetically, and the divine life flows into all similarly; since human life pulsates to the same great needs, the same great faiths, the same great hopes, why speak of the religion of one nation as if it were unique? Is not the religious sentiment a supreme revelation of the essential unity of humanity, and the ultimate basis of brotherhood?

Exactly, but the very fact that religion is the creative impulse of humanity promises variety of form, of accent and expression. While humanity is one, in the economy of progress a distinctive mission and message is assigned to each great race, for the fulfilment of which it is held accountable before the bar of history. Naturally, in the working out of that destiny the impulse common to the race is given form, colour and characteristic expression by the social, political and intellectual environment in which it develops. Thus the religion of Greece with its myriad gods, albeit springing from the same impulse as that of Egypt, is yet different. And the modern man looks with a new wonder upon the various costumes in which the religious sentiment has appeared in different ages and nations, and rejoices in its variegated life as adding infinitely to its picturesque reality and philosophic interest.

By the same token, no one can read the story of mankind aright unless he sees that our human life has its basis and inspiration in the primary intuition of kinship with God. The state, not less than the church, science equally with theology, have their roots in this fundamental reality. At the center of human life is the altar of faith and prayer, and from it the arts and sciences spread out, fanwise, along all the avenues of culture. The temples which crowned the hills of Athens were works of art, dreams come true in stone; but they were primarily tributes to the gods - the artistic genius finding its inspiration and motif in religious faith. Until we lay firm hold of the truth of the essential religiousness of human life, we have no clue to its meaning and evolution. So and only so may anyone ever hope to interpret the eager, aspiring, prophetic life of America, whose ruling ideas and consecrating ideals have their authority and appeal by virtue of an underlying religious conception of life and the world.

For, it becomes increasingly manifest that this republic of ours - this melting-pot of all nations an races - has its own unique and animating spirit, its mission, and its destiny to fulfill. Just as to the Greeks we owe art and philosophy, to the Hebrews the profoundest religion, to the Romans law and organization, and to the Anglo-Saxons laws that are self-created from the sense of justice in the people; just so this nation has a distinct contribution to make to the wealth of human ideals. America is not an accident. It is not a fortuitous agglomeration of exiles and emigrants. Nor is it a mere experiment to test an abstract dogma of state. It is the natural development of a distinct life - an inward life of visions, passions, and hopes embodying itself in outward laws, customs, institution ways of thinking and ways of doing things - a mighty spiritual fact which may well detain us to inquire into its meaning. Because we are carving a new image in the pantheon of history it behooves us to ask whether or not from this teeming, multitudinous life there is not emerging an interpretation of religion distinctively and characteristically American. In a passage of singular elevation both of language and of thought, Hegel explains why he did not consider America in his Philosophy of History, written in 1823:

"America is the land of the future, where, in the ages that lie before us, the burden of the world's history shall reveal itself. It is the land of desire for all those who are weary of the historical lumber-room of old Europe. It is for America to abandon the ground on which hitherto the history of the world has developed itself. What has taken place in the new world up to the present time is only an echo of the old world - the expression of a foreign life; and as a land of the future, it has no interest for us here, for, as regards history, our concern must be with that which has been and that which is."

Written by a great - thinker who studied the history of the world as an unfolding of the divine life of man, and who searched every age for the footprints of God, those words are truly memorable. They are a recognition of the unique and important mission of our republic, and its unescapable responsibility in the arena of universal history. Much has happened since Hegel wrote, and the drama of our national destiny, as so far unfolded, is a fulfilment of his prophecy, as witness these words wherein one also of our own poets has set that history to music:

"This is the new world's Gospel: Be ye men!

Try well the legends of the children's time;

Ye are a chosen people, God has led

Your steps across the desert of the deep

As now across the desert of the shore;

Mountains are cleft before you as the sea

Before the wandering tribes of Israel's sons;

Still onward rolls the thunderous caravan,

Its coming printed on the western sky

A cloud by day, by night a pillar of flame;

Your prophets are a hundred to one

Of them of old who cried, 'Thus saith the Lord';

They told of cities that should fall in heaps,

But yours of mightier cities that shall rise

Where yet the lowly fishers spread their nets

The tree of knowledge in your garden grows,

Not single, but at every humble door."

THE RELIGIOUS QUALITY OF AMERICA

What, then, is the quality of the religious America as it has revealed itself in our national life? Socrates was right when he said that the real religion of Greece was not to be found in its temples. Emerson made a like remark with respect to the religion of England. Just so, much of the theology taught among us, even today, was transplanted to our shores from lands and times alien to our own, and, if taken literally, it would be incompatible with our fundamental national principles. It was the product of minds whose only idea of the state was that of an absolute monarchy, a shadow of vanished empires, a reminiscence of ages when the serfdom of the people and the despotism of constituted authorities were established conditions. Its idea of God, of man, of salvation are such as would naturally occur to the subjects of a monarchy, and this may be one reason why they hardly touch the actual life of men in our land. Fortunately our fathers kept

their theology and their politics apart, seemingly un-aware of the conflict between them. If Puritanism crystallized in grotesque forms about the idea of conscience, the genius of the Cavaliers was individualism. Out of these apparently antagonistic ideals, nurtured each upon its own soil within our national domain, has come that life which is destined to embody the religious spirit in a form peculiar to America. So that, if we would know the theology of America, to say nothing of its religion, we must go further than to the creeds of our churches, and find it in the life of the people, their temper, spirit and character.

Obviously, if we are to know the religion of America we must seek it in the Spirit of America, and what may that spirit be? Here we find an unusual diversity of judgment, both among native and foreign students, but they fall into two general classes. There are those who tell us that we are a crude, sordid folk, sodden in materialism, and others who are equally sure that we are a race of incurable idealists. Let us hasten to admit that both classes of our critics are right, and that it is precisely this blending of self-interest with other-selfness, this robust realism working on a basis of the ideal, seeking to make tangible the unbrought grace of life and its finer values, which constitutes the chief glory of our nation. What idealism alone leads to and ends in, India shows us. What its opposite results in, some think they see in the unimaginative, scientific efficiency of Germany. These two must be held together, that so our materialism may incarnate our idealism, and our idealism consecrate and transfigure our materialism.

Because this is so, because our national spirit has this dual aspect, it is a blunder to leave either element out of account in the interpretation of our history. Historians are apt to emphasize the purely material causes of our national growth, interpreting it as a matter of chance, of geographical environment, or, as is now the fashion, of economic necessity. Thus we find the grand traits of New England character attributed to the harsh climate, to sterile soil, to hostile conditions, while the Revolution and the Anti-Slavery movements are held to have been primarily commercial in their motives. It is not true. While no one can deny the influence of geography and industries, it is little short of blasphemy to overlook those deeper causes those glowing sentiments that have touched the hearts and fired the souls of our people. America is a land of commercial opportunity, but our hearts are not in our ledgers and our aspirations are not expressed in profits. What really rules this nation is a passionate attachment to the ideals of freedom and fraternity; and the soul of our people finds voice, not in the record of bank clearings, but in the far-flung visions of our national poets and heroes.

Stephen Graham, having followed the Russian pilgrimage to the Holy City, came with the poor emigrants to America, and tells us that it was a journey from the most mystical of all lands to the most material. And yet, if we take Tolstoi as the typical man of Russia, of its strength and gentleness, and its strange lights and shadows, and place him alongside Lincoln, the most typical man of America, who will say that America is not also a land of mysticism? Indeed, when Lincoln fell fifty years ago, it was Tolstoi who said, "He was a Christ in miniature." To say that America is idealistic is only another way of saying that it is instinctively and intensely religious; that our national life is rooted in spiritual reality; and this profound religiousness has touched our history to finer issues, turning an almanac of prices into an Epic of Humanity - nay, into a chapter in the very biography of God.

Consider now the religious meaning of the basic ideas and aspirations of our American life. Before there was an American republic, thinkers in other lands had wrought out the gospel of liberty, equality, and fraternity as a speculative thesis; but our fathers proceeded from theory to practice, and that, too, with an unshakable faith in human nature. Holding that government must be by the people and of the people, they ceased theorizing and brought forth on this continent a nation dedicated to the truth that man has as inalienable right to be free-trusting the free man to guard his freedom and to find in his freedom the solution of whatever problems may arise. That is to say, they reversed the theological teaching of ages, and risked the fate of our nation on faith in the essential goodness of human nature and its kinship with God! Surely he is blind who does not see how radical is the religious meaning of this first principle of our American theology. America is a symbol of confidence in human nature; it assumes the inherent divinity and sacredness of man, and our history has justified that faith.

A HIDEOUS DOGMA

Since this is a government of the people, the hideous dogma of the state as an abstract entity, a collective fiction, leading a life of its own, above and beyond that of the men who compose it - the frightful dogma which makes the state a kind of mortal God who can do no wrong, an irresponsible Moloch whose necessity is law, and to which liberty and right are to be sacrificed - has no place in America! Thank God we know nothing of the atheism that the state must do what it has to do, law or no law, right or no right, and that reasons of state justify anything, no matter how infernal! No, we are the state, and if our nation is guilty of a crime, each of us is guilty, in his degree, of that crime. America, by the very genius of its national faith, repudiates the political infamy of Machiavelli and all his ilk, holding the moral law to be as binding upon the state as it is upon the life of the individual man. In other words, our fathers took God into account and had respect for His eternal moral order, when they founded this republic, basing it, as they did, upon a religious conception of life and the world.

Foreign critics have often pointed out how visionary and unworkable such a principle is: nevertheless it works. To be sure, it has its inconveniences at times. As Gerrit Smith used to say, living in an autocracy is like taking a voyage on a great ocean liner, and sailing smoothly over the sea. Its appointments are perfect, its service delightful, but we have nothing to do with the running of it. Whereas, living in a republic is like riding on a raft. It is less comfortable, our feet are wet half the time, and we have a lot of trouble - but we run the raft! Carl Schurz, in his talks with Bismarck, put it in another way. In a monarchy, he said, details are well handled but the general tendency is wrong. In a republic the details may be muddled, but the general trend and direction are right, and he thought it better to be right in great matters even if we handle the details of national life unskilfully, than to be efficient in minor matters and wrong fundamentally.

Always, a new idea of man implies and involves a new conception of God. It was natural for the men who bowed low when the glittering chariot of Caesar swept along the streets of Rome to think of God as an omnipotent Emperor, ruling the world with an arbitrary and irresponsible almightiness. For men who live in this land of the free such a conception of God is a caricature. The citizens of a republic do not believe that God is an infinite autocrat, nor do they bow down to divine despotism; they worship in the presence of an Eternal Father, who is always and everywhere accessible to the humblest man who lifts his heart in prayer. Republican principles necessarily involve faith in the Fatherhood of God. The logic of the American idea leads to faith in a Divine Love universal and impartial, all-encompassing and everlasting. Mayhap we find here a hint why so many men, like Lincoln and Hay, have lived outside the church, not because they were irreligious, but because the theology of the church is not in accord with the theology of the republic.

Also, America, itself a realized vision, is another name for Brotherhood. By a process of assimilation we have admitted men from all the nations of the earth into our national fraternity, extending to them the right of equal suffrage and citizenship. They walk with us along our avenues of trade; they sit with us in our legislative halls; they worship with us in our temples. Americans all, each race brings some rich gift of enterprise, idealism, and tradition, and all are loyal to our genius of liberty under wise and just laws many races without rancour, many faiths without feud. How many of us here today could repeat the words of John Hay:

"When I look to the springs from which my blood descends, the first ancestors I ever heard of were a Scotchman who was half English and a German woman who was half French. Of my more immediate progenitors, my mother was from New England and my father from the South. In this bewilderment of origin and experience, I can only put on the aspect of deep humility in any gathering of favourite sons, and confess that I am nothing but an American."

Thus we are giving an actual illustration of the Brotherhood of Man - an illustration that is also a prophecy. Here the genius of America is one with the teachings of all true religion, since the spirit of fraternity is the essence of both - having its springs in Love, its attainment in Sacrifice, and its mission in Service. May this spirit grow and flourish to the confounding of all inhumanity! America knows nothing of a Slavic race, nothing of a Teutonic race, nothing of a Saxon race, but only the Human race, one in origin and destiny, as it must be one in a great fellowship of sympathy and service. No wonder the religious spirit of America is victoriously optimistic. As James Bryce said, American patriotism is itself a religion, in its confidence in the ultimate triumph of its principle, and in its conviction that this nation has a mission as an evangelist of liberty and fraternity among men - as truly as the Hebrew had a mission of righteousness to the ends of the earth. Of the influence of this spirit upon theology, a great Frenchman has said:

"In a country where everything succeeds, where at the feast of life there is room for all, where every man sits by his fireside in peace, believes what seems true to him, and worships God in every way his heart loves best, it must be difficult to conceive of a heaven with a narrow gateway and a salvation limited to a few. The American is therefore naturally an optimist."

Such is the religious spirit as it has revealed itself in this land, coloured by the genius of republic, and the social, industrial and political conditions under which our nation has grown - a faith profound and fruitful, hearty, wholesome, joyous, facing the future with a soul of adventure, often beshadowed but never eclipsed, sometimes retarded but never defeated. If it is revolutionary, it is also redeeming, lifting humanity out of despotism into liberty, demanding the right of every man to stretch his arms and his soul, to seek that truth by which no man was ever injured, and to look up from the lap of Mother Earth into the face of God the Father, and climb "upward through law and faith to Love." It is a great and simple faith in God and man, in the law of right and the golden rule of love; it is religion of the future, vital with the vitality of the universe, the spirit of God moving in the heart of a great people - Emmanuel!

"Not in dumb resignation

We lift our hands on high;

Not like the nerveless fatalist

Content to trust and die.

Our faith springs like the Eagle

Who soars to meet the sun,

And cries exulting unto Thee,

O Lord, Thy will be done.

Thy will! It bids the weak be strong,

It bids the strong be just;

No lip to fawn, no hand to beg,

No brow to seek the dust.

Wherever man oppresses man

Beneath Thy liberal sun,

O Lord, be there Thine arm made bare,

Thy righteous will be done!"

----o----

WHO IS SWINGING THE AXE IN YOUR DISTRICT?

"'Is education a profession or a mission?' If any of you have any axes to grind, you had better leave them outside before you enter the hall.

" 'The progress of education is,' Dr. Jacks states, 'being seriously retarded at the present time by a number of ax-grinding interests with which it has somehow got itself associated. First of all there is the political ax, then the economic ax, and a third, more difficult to name, called the religious ax....

" 'Education, as it is now beginning to be understood, includes the whole culture of the citizen, his character as well as his intellect, his ideals in life as well as his technical aptitude. A certain effect of giving education its proper place in public life will be to raise the personnel of public life all round....

"'Nor will they get the best teachers in the elementary schools so long as that impression remains, which reduces teaching to one of the most dismal and uninspiring avocations pursued by man.' . . .

"We are beginning to wake up to the fact that education is co-extensive with the whole of a man's life and that fact is causing a tremendous revolution. The establishment of continuation schools and the movement for adult education, which is going ahead with a rapidity we do not realize, are significant of the profound change in the public mind as to the whole meaning and scope of education. In other words, the truth is beginning to dawn that unless education is kept up, it is not education at all. Therefore the education to begin with must be one that can be kept up, or it is not education. From the very beginning the eye of the teacher must be fixed on the whole life which he is beginning to teach....

" 'Of all vocations,' said Dr. Jacks, 'it seemed to him that that of the teacher ought to be the most delightful, the most inspiring and the most romantic, and it would come the most delightful when its true significance had been grasped by the public.� � - Dr. L. P. Jacks, Oxford - M.S.A. Bulletin No. 8.

----o----

IN HOC SIGNO MINCES

BY BRO. DOUGLAS D. MARTIN. EDITOR THE DETROIT MASONIC NEWS

Comes the tramp of feet to the drums' dull beat

And the flash of plume and steel,

As with martial tread, 'neath a Cross of Red

The ranks of the Templars wheel.

See the ancient sign of an honored line,

Half white - half black as hate,

That de Bouillon reared and the Moslem feared

At the old Damascus gate.

Hear the battle song of a day long gone

When the Templars drew their steel,

That the Cross might stand in the Holy Land -

Though they died for their high ideal.

As in days of old when their fraters bold

Went forth in faith to die,

So they march today in their brave array,

The Cross of their creed held high.

In knightly endeavor, striving forever

To merit their frater's fame;

Oh, honor their pride, who have never denied

Their love for their Captain's name.

----o----

THE AMERICAN MASONIC FEDERATION AND ITS CLAIMS TO HIGHER DEGREES

BY BRO. CHARLES C. HUNT, IOWA

In THE BUILDER for September, Brother Hunt furnished an account of the claims of the American Masonic Federation, of which Mathew McBlain Thomson was head, to its Blue Lodge titles, along with a very clear exposition of the groundlessness of such claims. He now presents a second article to deal in a similar manner with that same clandestine organization's claims to the Higher Degrees. In THE BUILDER for November will appear a third article to give an account of the trial held at Salt Lake City last May at which Thomson and two of his fellow conspirators were convicted of fraudulent use of the mails, fined, and sentenced to a federal penitentiary. The three articles together will constitute an exceedingly interesting study of the moot points in Masonic history and jurisprudence, as well as tell the story of one of the most famous cases in American Masonic history.

Brother Charles C. Hunt was born in Cleveland, Ohio, November 9, 1856. He moved to Monticello, Iowa, and there lived until 1888 when he left to attend Grinnell College from which he graduated in 1892. After teaching school for a few years he became Deputy Treasurer of Poweshiek County, Iowa; after twelve years in that office, he became County Treasurer for six years, and State Examiner for four years. He was raised in Lafayette Lodge No. 52, A.F. and A.M., July 24, 1900; was Worshipful Master, 1904-1908 inclusive; was exalted in Hyssop Chapter, No. 52, R.A.M., Malcom, Iowa; Knighted in De Paynes Commandery No. 6, Oskaloosa, Iowa; and received the 32 degree, A.&A.S.R. in Des Moines Consistory No. 4. He was Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Iowa, 1919-1920. Since 1917 he has been Deputy Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Iowa. Brother Hunt's numerous Masonic writings, many times reprinted, have made his name familiar to Masons the country over.

IN MY former article I considered the case of Thomson's so-called American Masonic Federation principally from the standpoint of the Craft degrees. Mathew McBlain Thomson, however, in 1900, before the organization of the American Masonic Federation, had formed a Council to work what he called the Scottish Rite degrees, from the fourth up. He claimed to have authority to do this by virtue of a charter issued to him on the second day of April, 1898, by the "Scottish Grand Council of Rites," and which reads as follows:

"PATENT

"Unto all Free and Accepted Masons of whatever degree, Greeting: Know that we, the Most E. and R. Sovereign Grand Master and High Priest of the Scottish Grand Council of Rites authorize and empower our trusted and well beloved Frater, Cousin and Brother in the Bond, Matthew McBlain Thomson, xlvii, 3,3, 90, 96, to confer on any worthy Mason any degree recognized and wrought under our Grand Council, and to establish Councils, Conclaves or Tabernacles for working the same, in any country where there is not already a Grand Body working such degrees, and this shall be his warrant for so doing.

"As witness our hand and the seal of Grand Council, at Airdrie, Scotland, this twentieth day of April, A. D. 1898.

"PETER SPENCE,

"M.E. and R., S.G.M. and H.P."

The Peter Spence who signed this patent was a member of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and thus a semblance of authority was given to Thomson by this instrument. Later, Peter Spence withdrew from the so-called Grand Council of Rites, that body having been declared to be clandestine by the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and thus Thomson lost whatever colour of title he may have had to these degrees. For it must be remembered that this so-called patent was the only authority he had or claimed to have for this purpose.

In connection with this patent, Thomson traces his Chain of Title to the higher degrees as follows:

"Chain of Title of the Higher Degrees or the Early Grand National Scottish Rite, Ancient and Accepted, from time immemorial in Scotland to the 'Confederated Supreme Councils' Incorporated into the American Masonic Federation in the United States of America, together with a few brief explanatory notes.

"The Craft Degrees known as 'Blue' and the Higher Degrees as 'Red,' 'Green,' 'First Black,' 'Second Black,' 'White' and 'Purple.'

"It will be understood that 'Mother Kilwinning' was the great chartering or Mother Lodge of Scotland, having granted many charters for working the Craft degrees under shelter of which was worked the higher degrees.

"The higher degrees were divided into two classes known as 'Charter Degrees', 'Side Steps'; the former were conferred only at stated assemblies and with a required number present; the latter could be conferred by individual Fratres, and this system was continued to the year 1800, when the degrees were worked, not under shelter of the Craft Charters, but under shelter of a Templar authority obtained from the Early Grand High Knight Templars of Ireland.

"As the Charter of Renunciation granted by the Early Grand Encampment of Ireland to the Scottish Encampments only provided for the government and working of the Royal Arch and Templar Degrees, the other degrees of the system were given a separate government under control of Patriarchs, entitled 'The Grand Council of Rites,' which governed the Green, White and Purple degrees, the Templars still being in a sense in control, as the Grand Commander of the Encampment was invariably the Grand Master of the Council.

"The Grand Council of Rites worked all the degrees which it had previously worked from Times Immemorial, and also as worked under shelter of the Templars, with this exception, that it no longer worked the Templar Degrees. The full title of the high degrees as worked by the Grand Council of Rites, are known as 'The Early Grand National Scottish Rite, Ancient and Accepted.'

"Mother Kilwinning of Time Immemorial."

"Charter granted by Mother Kilwinning to the Craft lodge designated 'High Knight Templars' of Ireland, dated October 8, 1779, from which eventually was formed the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of Ireland."

"Tabernacle or Council of Patriarchs who conferred the high degrees and 'Side Steps' under shelter of the Craft charters and in the Craft lodges."

"The Early Grand Encampment of High Knights Templars of Ireland claiming a previous existence for more than a century, grants charter to the Fraters of Scotland in 1800."

"Owing to a law passed in Scotland and by virtue of that law, the Grand Lodge of Scotland forbade her daughter lodges from working any degrees but those of E.A., F.C., with Mark, Master Mason and the Installed Degree; therefore, the Fratres in Scotland applied in 1800 to the Early Grand Encampment of Ireland and received Templar charters under which the Patriarchs worked them under shelter of the Craft charters."

"In 1822 the Fratres of Scotland applied for and received their Independence from Ireland's Early Encampment, and Robert Martin became their first Grand Commander."

"In 1822 the Tabernacle or Council of Patriarchs, becoming tired of sheltering under other wings, with the consent of the Early Grand Encampment, branched off and changed their name to that of the Grand Council of Rites of Scotland."

"On the 20th day of April, 1898, the Grand Council of Rites of Scotland, through Peter Spence, Grand Commander and High Priest, granted a patent to M. McB. Thomson, as the Representative in the United States of America, to form Councils, Conclaves, etc."

"And by virtue of that Patent Fratre M. McB. Thomson, through the assistance of the Supreme Council of Louisiana (of which M. McB. Thomson was also a member), the Confederated Supreme Councils of the United States were formed, and on the 23rd day of April, in the year 1907, the said aforementioned Confederated Councils received formal recognition from the Grand Council of Rites of Scotland."

"Again on the 9th of January, 1912, M. McB. Thomson, by virtue of his Patent and by Consent of the Grand Council of Rites of Scotland, the Confederated Supreme Councils were incorporated as an incorporation within a corporation; that is to say, filed as in the American Masonic Federation, and the Grand Council of Rites formally have recognized the same and thus we are members of the Imperial Confederation of the World, receiving our Charters and Diplomas from the Grand Council of Rites of Scotland, and each member being registered of Scotland."

"Confederated Supreme Councils of the Early Grand National Scottish Rite, Ancient and Accepted, in the A.M.F."

THOMSON'S TEMPLAR THEORY

"Hugh De Payence and eight others in 1118 banded themselves together by vows to protect the Palmers or Pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem."

"From this small beginning the Templars grew in power and favour until they had scattered throughout Europe more than 9,000 Manors."

"The Templars were established on the South Esk in Scotland in the twelfth century, during the reign of David I (1121-53), and further grants were given by his grandson, Malcolm IV, William the Lion, and by Alexander II."

"Philip the Fair of France, and Clement V, Pope of Rome in 1309, caused the dispersion of the Templars everywhere excepting in Portugal and in Scotland. In Portugal by Dispensation of the Pope of Rome they took the name of the Order of Christ."

"In Scotland it continued its existence side by side with the Knights of St. John until 1560, when Sir James Sandilands, Preceptor of Torphican, surrendered to the Scottish Parliament all of the Priory lands. In the meantime the Templars had become merged into the Order of Masonry, as may be seen by old records in the Scotch lodges."

"The Templar degrees were conferred by the Tabernacle or Council of Patriarchs as related heretofore in connection with 'Side Steps.'"

"Mother Kilwinning being the Custodian of such degrees, the brethren in Ireland applied for and received a Charter to confer Craft degrees under shelter of which they also conferred the high degrees, the charter being of date October 8th, 1779."

"By virtue of Charter from Mother Kilwinning was formed the Grand Encampment of Ireland."

"Council of Patriarchs conferred the Templar degrees in Craft lodges under shelter of Craft charters until the year 1800, when they applied for and received Charters from the Early Grand Encampment of Ireland."

"From 1800 to 1822 there were 59 Encampments chartered in Scotland from Ireland and two more, No. 60 and No. 61, unchartered."

"In June, 1822, Fratre Robert Martin was made Provisional Grand Master of the Provisional Grand Encampment, and in July of the same year, after Encampments No. 60 and No. 61 had received their Charters, Robert Martin was made the first Early Grand Commander of the Early Grand Encampment of the Temple and Malta of Scotland with complete independence of the Early Grand of Ireland."

"The Early Grand Encampment of Ireland having ceased to exist as such, the Scottish Branch, both by time immemorial and by virtue of the Irish charters, is thus the Mother of all such degrees. The oldest in existence."

"The Early Grand Encampment of Scotland gave to M. McB. Thomson power and authority as their representative to form Encampments, etc., in the United States of America and elsewhere. Therefore there is not a link missing.

It seems strange that one with Thomson's intelligence could have called this a Chain of Title. Even as it stands it is very vague and the inferences drawn from it are by no means sound, even if the statements made are accepted as true, which we cannot do.

It is true that Mother Kilwinning lodge was the great chartering lodge of Scotland, and that in 1779 she chartered a lodge in Dublin. But this charter granted authority to confer the Craft degrees only, and although this Dublin lodge did as a matter of fact, confer the Templar degrees, the authority to do so, if it existed at all, came from other sources. In fact, on at least three occasions, that is in 1811, 1813 and 1827, being applied to in regard to the Templar degrees, Mother Kilwinning Lodge asserted that "The brethren of Kilwinning Lodge have never gone further in practice than three step Masonry."

HIS TEMPLAR CLAIMS FALL TO PIECES

It should be noted that while Thomson traces the Templar degrees through Mother Kilwinning, by way of Ireland, back to Scotland, he does not make a consistent chain. He states that through Mother Kilwinning was formed the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of Ireland, but he traces the Scotch Templars from the Early Grand Encampment of Ireland, whose source he does not trace, nor does he show any connection between the two Encampments he mentions.

D. Murray Lyon, whom Thomson recognizes as an authority on Masonry in Scotland, says that the Order of Knights Templar "was introduced into Edinburgh in 1798 by brethren serving in a regiment of English Militia, then quartered in that city, under a warrant emanating from Dublin. In all probability it was in virtue of a dispensation from this Military Encampment that the first Grand Assembly of Knights Templar was set up in the Scottish metropolis. It was constituted in 1906 under an Irish charter, and in 1810 it originated a scheme for instituting a Supreme Court of the Order in this country."

He does not trace it to Mother Kilwinning or to the Dublin lodge chartered by Mother Kilwinning, nor is the Templar body referred to by him the same body from which Thomson claims a charter.

The fact is that prior to 1909 there were two bodies claiming to control the Templar degrees in Scotland. It is not necessary to consider the question as to which had the best claim to regularity, because the two united on April 3, 1909. It is, however, a fact that the one mentioned by Lyon was generally recognized throughout the Masonic world while the one to which Thomson belonged was not.

Sometime after the union of these two bodies some of Thomson's associates brought suit in the Supreme Court of Scotland to have the amalgamation set aside. The Court, however, held the union valid, and in rendering opinion, among other things, said:

"Without going further back in the history of Masonry than 1900 it appears that in that year there were two governing bodies of Templar Masons in Scotland, Grand Encampment and the Great Priory called the Chapter General up to 1906. Into the origin and earlier history of these respective bodies it is not necessary to inquire.

"A feeling that it was in the interests of Templar Masonry that these bodies should unite began to take definite shape certainly not later than 1904.

"An amalgamation was effected on 3rd April 1909."

"I am satisfied that amalgamation was desired and in the end eagerly desired by the vast majority of Grand Encampment Templar Masons. One of the moving causes was undoubtedly the failure on the part of those associated with Grand Encampment to obtain recognition from similar bodies, not only in Scotland, England and Ireland, but in other parts of the world, and notably in America. The fact of this non-recognition is clear, the reason for it is not so clear, although it is impossible to ignore that the working of spurious degrees by a body called the Scottish Council of Rites, several of whose officers were members of Grand Encampment, was to some extent at least, prior to the close of 1906, the cause of it."

Thomson claimed to have power and authority from the Grand Encampment of Scotland to form encampments in the United States and elsewhere. This was not the case since as stated above, the only authority from Scotland which Thomson was able to produce was the patent from the so-called Grand Council of Rites, and this Grand Council did not have, or claim to have, any authority over the Templar degrees.

Thomson published in his magazine, "The Universal Freemason," in 1911, the report of the Grand Commander to the Council of Rites at its meeting held in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1910. In this report it was stated that the Grand Lodge of Scotland, the Supreme Royal Arch of Scotland, and the Grand Encampment of Scotland had each certain Masonic degrees over which it had control, and that there was no conflict between them and the Grand Council of Rites. The statement continues: "These Supreme Masonic jurisdictions, like our own Council, are all separate and distinct bodies and do not cross or conflict with each other." This being so, the patent from the Grand Council of Rites, even if it were recognized as a regular body, could not grant authority to confer the Templar degrees.

SCOTTISH GRAND COUNCIL OF RITES

In regard to the Grand Council of Rites from which he claimed authority, Thomson has the following to say.

"The Scottish Grand Council of Rites occupies a unique position among Masonic high grade bodies, claiming as it does to be self-existing, the parent of many, the offspring of none. It is the custodian and preserver of those legendary and philosophical degrees so dear to bygone generations of earnest and enthusiastic Masons, though little known to their present day successors, if we except the noble and zealous band of Masonic students who prize knowledge more than ribbons and jewels. It embraces within its bosom all Rites and Systems which have in the coarse of time been grafted on, or gathered around, the parent stem of Scottish Masonry, excepting always the Craft, Royal Arch and Knight Templar degrees, controlled by Grand Lodge, Supreme Grand Chapter and Grand Encampment, and which, by its constitution, it acknowledges to be the property of these Grand Bodies, and with which it has neither the right nor inclination to interfere. That the principal degrees embraced in the various Rites (these Rites themselves being but modern methods of arranging or grouping ancient degrees) were known to our Ancient Brethren and practised by them in Scottish Craft lodges in the eighteenth century, is admitted by all Masonic historians, and can be amply proved by old diplomas and documents still existing, and that when forbidden by Grand Lodge to work other than the Craft degrees in the Blue Lodge, they transferred their knowledge and continued their work in the then recently organized Templar Encampments, of which they became the leading spirits, is equally well known. Here, however, after a time the spirit of change and reconstruction manifested itself, and the possessors of the higher grades becoming tired of sheltering under the shadow of other wings, sought at last an abiding place of their own, where Scottish Masonry, which had enriched the Masonic systems of the world, could be governed in the land of its birth by Scottish Masons in a worthy and fitting manner, without foreign aid or interference, and the result was the Scottish Grand Council of Rites.

"During the years which have passed since the force of circumstances compelled the Grand Council to withdraw from the shelter of Grand Encampment, numerous degrees which have been worked by Grand Chapter and Grand Encampment have been placed under its control and many other degrees and orders which had been introduced into Scotland from foreign sources, such as the Sat Bhai, the Mystic Shrine, the Eastern Star, etc., have there found a shelter also."

From this it will be seen that even in his own account he admits that the Grand Council of Rites had no authority over the Craft, Royal Arch or Knight Templar degrees, and that with the bodies working these degrees "it had neither the right nor inclination to interfere." It will be noted however that the Grand Council of Rites does claim jurisdiction over practically all Masonic degrees except those of the Craft, Royal Arch and the Temple. It will, therefore, be well to consider briefly the nature of this organization and its claims to recognition.

Practically all we know about it is information furnished by Thomson himself or men associated with him. D. Murray, Lyon does not mention it in any of his writings. Gould refers to it, but is careful to say that his information comes from Mathew McBlain Thomson. Waite mentions it, but questions the source of his information and says it is "frankly partisan." If it had any standing at all in Scotland, some reference to it would have been found in the writings of D. Murray Lyon, as nothing of importance to Masonry in that country seems to have escaped his observation.

PERSONNEL OF GRAND COUNCIL OF RITES

Joseph Inglis, as Chairman of the Jurisprudence Committee of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, made an investigation of this body and found that it had no building of any kind, or any office in Scotland except the living rooms of its Secretary, Robert Jamieson, a time-keeper to a firm of engineers. The membership of this body is under fifty, consisting principally of enginemen and miners in and around Ayrshire, Scotland; quite decent fellows, according to Brother Inglis, but easily deceived in matters Masonic. It would seem that if this body was not organized by Thomson himself it had fallen under his influence to such an extent as to grant him anything he desired.

It is true, as stated by Thomson, that originally the degrees of the Chapter and Commandery were conferred under a lodge warrant. It is probably true that other degrees were also so conferred, but this practice did not long continue. At no time was it held that the Craft lodges had control of these degrees. The control was vested in those who had the degrees and the Craft charter authorizing them to meet as Master Masons was also used by them as authority to meet as Royal Arch Masons, Knights Templar, etc. Possibly this was because there was no general head over such degrees. Possibly it may have been because these degrees were considered an outgrowth of the Craft degrees, or it may have been because of numerical weakness. At any rate, as these degrees grew in favour the sentiment that each should have an organization of its own became so strong that Grand Chapters, Commanderies and Encampments were formed, and after the formation of such bodies, the degrees ceased to be conferred under lodge charters, it being generally recognized that the bodies formed by the possessors of the degrees alone had such control. It should be noted that such bodies were formed by the Masons who had certain definite degrees meeting and forming the organization to control those degrees. They were not formed by virtue of a charter from any other Masonic body.

Such an organization, after being regularly formed, was generally conceded to be the only authoritative body from which a charter to confer the degrees embraced in the organization could issue. The result was a multiplicity of organizations in addition to the Craft lodges, variously known as Lodges, Chapters, Commanderies, Priories, Councils, Conventions, Conclaves, Preceptories, Encampments, etc., of different kinds and degrees. Each of these had control of its own set of degrees, and each to a large extent was independent of the others.

This is one explanation of the growth of Masonic rites, in fact some writers define a Masonic rite as the arrangement of a number of Masonic degrees into a single system. Thus, we have the Capitular Rite, the Cryptic Rite, the Scottish Rite, etc.

A UNION SUGGESTED

Sometime about the middle of the nineteenth century a few Masons in England, among whom were Hughan and Gould, advocated the union of all these rites into a single system under the wing of a "Grand Council of Rites." This suggestion, however, was not seriously considered by the Masons of England, and there seems to have been no results from it, but these suggestions may have been the origin of the plan which Thomson later worked out.

Hughan in 1870 referred to a "Council of Rites" as working well in Ireland and Scotland but the organization he described was very different from the body which Thomson used in these later years. According to Hughan the Council of Rites of Scotland was simply a working agreement by which each Grand Body recognized the jurisdiction of the others, and that the degrees of each rite should follow each other in regular and recognized order. He says that in Scotland, "the Grand Lodge recognizes the three Craft degrees alone, including the Mark. The Grand Chapter gathers under its wing the degrees of Mark Master, Past Master, and Excellent Master, and requires them to be taken before the Royal Arch degree, which in turn is a prerequisite for Knight Templary. This same Grand Chapter issues warrants to work the Royal Arch Mariner and the Red Cross degrees. The 'Royal Order' must be joined before a candidate can be received into the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, and thus there is a gradation acknowledged throughout, and all the degrees, excepting the Mark, are kept apart from the Craft.

"In Ireland, the Grand Lodge displays much more system, and has developed, within the last few years, a most excellent method whereby to regulate and control all the degrees beyond the third. The Constitutions provide for the members not being permitted to wear any jewel, medal or device belonging to any order or degree beyond that of Master Mason (in which, however, the jewel of a Past Master of a lodge is included) in the Grand Lodge, and strictly prohibit as unlawful all assemblies of Freemasons in Ireland, under any title whatever purporting to be Masonic, not held by virtue of a warrant or constitution from Grand Lodge, or from one of the other Masonic bodies recognized by and acting in unison with it."

The bodies named by Hughan as recognized by the Grand Lodge of Ireland are: 1 - The Grand Lodge; 2 - Grand Royal Arch Chapter; 3 - Grand Encampment of Knights Templar; 4 - The Supreme Council, Ancient and Accepted Rite. The degrees of Masonry must be taken in the order named. Thus, the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Rite could not be taken until the petitioner had received all the degrees of the Lodge, Chapter, and Commandery. There is also a system by which reports are made between the different bodies, so that brethren suspended, expelled or restored in one body can be similarly treated in the others.

It will be thus seen that the Council of Rites described by Hughan was an arrangement between the various Masonic bodies and not an independent organization controlling those bodies. Such an organization as Thomson described the Scottish Grand Council of Rites to be could only be formed by the virtually unanimous agreement of all the Masonic bodies concerned throughout the world. It certainly could not be formed by any organization, Masonic or otherwise, assuming control of Masonic degrees. It was because of the fact that the Scottish Grand Council of Rites did thus attempt to assume control over Masonic degrees that it was declared clandestine by the Grand Lodge of Scotland.

As to the Scottish Rite degrees proper Thomson claims that they originated in Scotland and were afterwards introduced into France by the Chevalier Michael Andrew Ramsay, where they were worked over into various rites, among them that of Perfection, which later grew into what he calls the clandestine branch of the Scottish Rite in America. It is impossible in this short article fully to state and answer his contention in regard to this, and I can only briefly say that his claim is that the American Scottish Rite came from France, not Scotland, while his authority came direct from Scotland and is the only regular branch of Scottish Rite Masonry.

SCOTTISH RITE DID NOT ORIGINATE IN SCOTLAND

In answer to this, it is perhaps enough to say, as was proved at Thomson's trial, that no one of the so-called higher degrees originated in Scotland, and that the only recognized branch of the Scottish Rite in Scotland, as in the rest of the world, descended from the Charleston body, and this branch entered Scotland by way of France.

Thomson, in "The Universal Free Mason," Volume 2, Page 100, says in regard to the various rites of Masonry:

"The Grand Council of Rites of Scotland controls all the supplementary degrees not controlled by Grand Lodge, Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter and Grand Encampment of Knight Templars: it will be interesting to trace how the several Rites and Orders which it controls came into its

possession.

"The primitive Early Grand Scottish Rite is the oldest practised by the Grand Council: it consists nominally of XLVII degrees; as, however, three of those are the property of Grand Lodge, two of the Royal Arch Chapter and seven of the Grand Encampment, the actual degrees of the E.G.S.R. controlled by Grand Council is thus only 35. These are all degrees of work and while some of them are peculiar to this Rite, others are common to all the Rites, they having been taken from Scotland originally as we have shown above. The Rite of Misraim came into possession of Grand Council from Ireland in 1820: the Rite of Memphis from England in 1852.

"The Grand Council in 1822 after its formal separation from the Grand Encampment and establishment as a separate body authorized the segregation of the 30 degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Rite which had before worked as part of the E.G.S. Rite and since then has issued a separate diploma for them thus arranged.

"The Eastern Star was given to Coila Council Ayr by the author of the degree, Rob. Morris, while on his route to the Holy Land in 1860-1, and by it to Grand Council. The Mystic Shrine was given by Bro. Florence, its founder, to the brethren of Glasgow Council.

"The Sat Bhai was brought to it by Scottish brethren from the East Indies: and the Order of St. Lawrence reached it by way of Canada."

Of the most of this it is sufficient to say that there is no evidence to support the statements here made, and even if they were true, it would give no authority for chartering bodies in any country where there were similar bodies already in control. As a matter of fact, the Grand Council of Rites assumed an authority it did not have even in Scotland, to say nothing of the other countries. Therefore, as stated above, it fell under the condemnation of the Grand Lodge of Scotland; and Masons under the jurisdiction of that Grand Lodge were forbidden to affiliate with it. Thomson and Jamieson held membership in lodges under the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and for continuing to be concerned in conferring clandestine Masonic degrees, were tried, found guilty and expelled from Masonry by that Grand body.

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HIGH SPOTS IN EDUCATION

"As one of the features of the national conference of school supermtendents, now in session in Chicago, the Institute for Public Service is staging its usual exhibit of what it calls 'high spots in education.' The schools of the entire country have been combed for material with the result that there is established a veritable clearing house of information and suggestion. Whatever is novel or important anywhere is illustrated by chart or model. Doubting Thomases who contend that parental interest in education is practically nil will find, for example, a series of posters showing cities and even countries in which every school has its parent-teachers association and one city school where 1400 fathers regularly attend 'fathers association' meetings. Other late developments to which the attention of educators is directed are improved systems of vocational guidance and training, the best methods of school publicity, adaption of radio equipment to school purposes, and the progress of the movement away from the little red schoolhouse and toward the central building to which the pupils are brought in busses. Special mention is also made of one suburban city which pays its elementary teachers $4500 a year and looks upon this unprecedented salary as a sound investment." - The Christian Science Monitor, March 1922 - M.S.A. Bulletin No. 8.

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"NOT MADE WITH HANDS�

In dream I saw the very House of God,

Eternal in the heavens, not made with hands;

Its living stones souls gathered from all lands;

League on celestial league, and rod on rod

With everlasting joy the wonder glowed.

Impregnable to all assaults it stands;

Above the sea, above its shifting sands;

Nor resting on cold earth's reluctant sod.

Myriads of angels, each with heavenly span,

According to the measure of a Man,

Laid to the line stone on translucent stone.

Rapt in song's glory the seraphic choir,

To harp and cymbal, trumpet, lute and lyre,

Haloed with music the One Timeless Throne.

- George Benson Hewetson.

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MEMORIALS TO GREAT MEN WHO WERE MASONS - SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON

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

SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON was the first Master of St. Patrick's Lodge in New York. He was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1715 or thereabouts; and died in Johnstown, N. Y., July 11th, 1774. Johnson was a brigadier general, a colonial officer, baronet, and one of the most picturesque figures in a colorful and exciting time. He came to this country at the behest of his uncle, Admiral Sir Peter Warren, who owned large estates in the valley of the Mohawk, and who was anxious to have his brilliant young nephew take charge of his holdings. Accordingly the young Johnson established himself in the Mohawk valley at a place which Sir Peter called Warrensburg, and which was about twenty-four miles from Schenectady.

Johnson, who was a trader by instinct, and who seemed to have a sixth sense with Indians, soon learned many dialects and won the respect and esteem of the tribes by his fair treatment and good faith. The Mohawk Indians adopted him with the title of sachem, and they gave him as his name Wariaghejaghe, which means in English, "He who has charge of affairs." When bickerings arose among the various Indian commissioners Governor Clinton of the colony appointed Johnson justice of the peace, made him colonel, and put him in military charge of the Six Nations.

In 1748 Johnson was given command of all colonial troops for the defense of the frontier, and proved to be an excellent organizer. In 1750 he was appointed a member of the Provincial Council. One of his most famous exploits as a leader among the Indians was in quieting their disturbances at Onondaga, at which time he acted under commission from the Governor.

Johnson built a home on the North side of the Mohawk river that became famous in the annals of colonial times: it was a great stone mansion built like a fortress: indeed it was fortified and it came to be called Fort Johnson.

Johnson was a delegate to the celebrated Congress at Albany in 1754; and he was a notable figure in the grand council held with the Indians on that occasion. General Braddock commissioned him "sole superintendent of the affairs of the Six Nations, their allies and dependents": later on he was created a major general. As major general he was made commander-in-chief of the Provincial forces in the famous expedition to Crown Point: and he was in command of the forces that defeated Baron Dieskau at Lake George (Johnson gave its name to that lake), which victory saved the colonies from the ravages of the French, prevented an attack on Oswego, and went far to undo the disastrous consequences of Braddock's defeat at Monongahela. Historians are of the opinion that the honors of the battle at Lake George were, in strict right, due to General Lyman, but Johnson was commander-in-chief and to him was accorded the glory of winning a conflict of strategic importance: the British Parliament created him a baronet and voted him 5,000 pounds in order to uphold the dignity of his new title.

In 1756 Baron Johnson received from George II a commission as "Colonial Agent and sole Superintendent of the Affairs of the Six Nations and Other Northern Indians," which office he held as long as he lived. It was at this same period that he and his Indian forces took part in the abortive attempt to relieve Oswego and Fort William Henry. A year later he was with Abercrombie at the repulse of Ticonderoga. After Prideaux was killed Johnson succeeded to the command and routed the French under General Aubrey. He was in command of the Indian forces in the defense of Amherst, and was present at the capitulation and surrender of Canada to the British. All this, in a way that I have not space here to describe, had much to do with the securing of intellectual, political and religious liberty in what later became the United States.

King George gave Sir William a tract of one hundred thousand acres of land north of the Mohawk: this was a Royal Grant, and came to be called "Kingsland." It is probable that the Six Nations would have joined Pontiac in his rebellion in 1763 if it had not been for Johnson's influence.

Sir William is to us Masons an interesting figure because he was a member of the Fraternity at a time when Masonic lodges reflected the crudeness and roughness of colonial days. He was, as I have already said, a very picturesque figure and in many ways his career was one of the most remarkable in our history. He was domineering, ambitious and bold as a buccaneer, afraid of nothing, and a lover of action; he despised the conventions of polite society and went his own way regardless of opinion. This is shown in his alliance with the famous Molly Brant, sister of the Indian Chief Joseph Brant who became a member of a Masonic lodge, so it is supposed, in England. Earl W. Gage has given an account of this in "The Journal of Masonic History" (vol. 3, page 429) which I shall quote: "In early boyhood he (Joseph Brant) became a favorite with Sir William Johnson and the laughing black eyes of his handsome sister, Molly Brant, so fascinated the rough baronet that he took her to Johnson Hall, as his wife. Sir William believed that Indians could be tamed and taught the arts of civilized life, and he labored with great energy, and not without some success in this difficult task."

In the battle at the head of Lake George, already mentioned, which occurred in 1755, Baron Dieskau, who had command of the French, was wounded and captured. Sir William Johnson took the distinguished captive into his own home and nursed him back to health. After Baron Dieskau returned to France he sent Johnson an elegant sword: the two enemies had become fast friends. In one of the skirmishes that led up to this battle Colonel Ephraim Williams was killed. After his death it was discovered that he had left his property to be used as an endowment fund for establishing a college. This was the way in which Williams College began. These incidents serve to show how thrilling was life in those early days.

Sir William Johnson gave great attention to agriculture and was the first to introduce sheep and blooded horses into the valley of the Mohawk. He lived like a lord and was hospitable to the limit. His grave is in St. John's Episcopal Church Yard, in the city of Johnstown, N. Y., and is marked by a very modest slab of marble on which his name is legibly inscribed.

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CHIEF JOSEPH BRANT'S MASONIC AFFILIATION

By a singularly happy coincidence three letters discussing the Masonic career of Chief Joseph Brant were sent to THE BUILDER at the time Brother Baird's article, printed above, was preparing for the press. They dovetail so interestingly into the story of Sir William Johnson that we insert them here as a kind of codicil to that story in preference to printing them in The Correspondence Department, for which columns their three authors prepared them. - Editor.

WAS BRANT MADE A MASON IN ENGLAND ?

BY BRO. A. D. GIBBS NEW YORK

I have read with interest the story in the March BUILDER, page 71, by Brother Arthur C. Parker of New York on "American Indians in Freemasonry." He states that Chief Joseph Brant was a Mason and a member of St. Patrick's Lodge, of which Sir William Johnson was Worshipful Master.

St. Patrick's Lodge, No. 4 (originally No. 8), was chartered in 1766 by the Provincial Grand Lodge of New York, with Sir William Johnson as its Master. In Johnson Hall, at Johnstown, N. Y., which still stands, is a room equipped with ancient lodge furniture which the caretaker informs us is the original furniture of the lodge. It certainly bears every evidence of antiquity.

Sir William Johnson occupied this home until his death in the spring or summer of 1774. Sir William was married "by Indian custom" to Molly Brant, a sister of Chief Joseph Brant. Brant was, of course, a frequent visitor at the Johnson home and for a time acted as secretary to Sir William. It is well known that Brant was a Freemason and one would easily and naturally be led to believe that he was made a Mason in the lodge over which his "brother-in-law" presided as Master.

However, if we are to believe Masonic history, such is not the case. We are told in the Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Revised Edition (Mackey & McClenachan), that Brant was made a Mason in London in 1776. Stone's "Life of Brant" informs us that Brant went to England late in 1775, and returned early in March, 1776. England, at that time, was desirous of securing the active support and assistance of the Indians of the Six Nations, and Brant was their leading chief. His support was necessary. While in London he was shown every attention and treated like royalty. His portrait was painted by a famous artist. If it is true that he was initiated in London, it is reasonable to suppose that his initiation formed a part of the honors extended to him by the British people. In any event, he returned to America thoroughly won over to the British cause. He was landed secretly near New York City and found his way through hostile country to Canada.

At this time, March 1776, Sir John Johnson, a son of Sir William, resided in Johnson Hall, where St. Patrick's Lodge is said to have held its meetings. Whether Sir John was an offlcer in this lodge I cannot say, but he was at that very time Provincial Grand Master of New York State, or Colony. Sir John was from the first an active Tory, and was at this time uncter parole to general Schuyler. In May, 1776, he broke his parole and fled to Canada, where he became Brant's superior officer and with Chief, now Captain Brant, conducted many raids on the Mohawk Valley. From May, 1776, to the close of the Revolutionary War Brant and Johnson entered the valley only as enemies of the patriots who remained. From this time on St. Patrick's Lodge must have been under the control of the supporters of the America cause, and Brant and Sir John would have hardly dared to try to meet on the level with the brethren regardless of Masonic ties.

Under these circumstances or facts, if they are facts, is it possible that Brant was ever a member of St. Patrick's Lodge at Johnstown? Brant resided in Canada after the war, outside of the jurisdiction of our Grand Lodge.

History records several instances where Brant heeded the sign of distress. There is no record showing that Rt. W.�.G.�.M.�. Sir John Johnson ever heeded any sign of distress, Masonic or otherwise. He waged ruthless and barbarous warfare against old friends, neighbors and Masonic brothers, many of whom must have been members of his own lodge.

It is, of course, possible that Brant may have taken some degree of Masonry in St. Patrick's Lodge before the war with England, and that further degrees were conferred in England. Unless this is the case, I don't see how he could have been a member of that lodge.

This subject and the history of St. Patrick's and other Mohawk Valley lodges are worthy of study and research, and I for one would appreciate more light on the subject.

* * *

OLD-TIME ACCOUNTS OF BRANT

BY BRO. ARTHUR C. PARKER, NEW YORK

I have been much interested in the letter from Brother Archie D. Gibbs, of Norwich, N.Y., relative to the Masonic affiliations of Captain Joseph Brant, the noted Mohawk Indian. Brother Gibbs mentions my "article" in the March number of THE BUILDER and questions my statement that Brant was a member of St. Patrick's Lodge of Johnstown, N. Y.

Permit me to state that the article quoted was sent to THE BUILDER merely as a letter replying to the questions raised by Brother Slane regarding American Indians who had been or were Masons. The subject of the letter was not especially concerning Joseph Brant I must confess that in my hurried writing, I accepted the popular tradition that Brant was a member of his brother-in-law's lodge, the current belief in which is natural enough.

Brother Gibbs suggests that Brant may have been a Mason in England. Upon looking over my files I fail to find any direct evidence of this, though the inferential and indirect evidence seems to point out that this is the fact.

In looking over "The Freemasons' Library and General Ahiman Rezon," by Samuel Cole, (Baltimore, 1826), I find the following quotation from the Hudson Whig, (N. Y.):

"The following interesting anecdote will illustrate the important influence of Freemasonry in the most distressing and eventful scenes of military life. At the battle of the Cedars, thirty miles above Montreal, on the St. Lawrence, Capt. M'Kinsty, of Col. Patterson's regiment of continental troops, was twice wounded, and taken prisoner by the Indians. His intrepidity as a partisan officer, had excited the fears and unforgiving resentment of the savages. They determined to put him to death. Already had the victim been bound to a tree and surrounded by the faggots intended for his immolation. Hope had fled; and in the agony of despair he uttered the mystic appeal which the brotherhood of Masons never disregarded; when, as if heaven had interposed for his preservation, the warrior Brandt interposed and saved him. The Indian Warrior had been educated in Europe; and had there been initiated in the mysteries of Freemasonry. Feeling the force of his obligation, he immediately preserved his brother's life, and ultimately obtained his ransom. Captain M'Kinsty died in June 1822." - Hudson Whig. (Undated).

The name M'Kinsty is a mispelling for McKinstry, and the spelling "Brandt" is used for Brant. To continue this story, I quote from the handbook of Hudson Lodge, (N. Y.), No. 7, and from a footnote on page 20:

"The history of Brother John McKinstry's wonderful escape from a horrible death has often been told. He was a captain in the continental army and being wounded at the Battle of Cedar, was captured by the Indians and carried away for torture by fire. He was bound to a stake and fire applied, when the Captain, in his extremity, although surrounded only by savages, made the grand hailing sign of distress of a Master Mason. This was seen and recognized by Thayendanagea, chief of the Mohawks, also known as Joseph Brant, who was a Mason. Brant instantly rushed to his assistance, rescued him from the flames (he is said to have ransomed him from his captors with an ox), took him to his wigwam and cared for him. Later he sent him to his home in safety. After the bitterness engendered by the war had passed away, Brother McKinstry was visited by Brant at his home in Greendale, opposite Catskill-on-the-Hudson. In 1805 he had the pleasure of sitting in this lodge (Hudson No. 7) with his red brother, on the spot still occupied by the lodge. (See minutes of communication, Dec. 16th, 1908)."

The subject of early Hudson and Mohawk valley lodges, cited by Brother Gibbs as worthy of further expansion, is an interesting one and should be treated in a special article. I have some notes along this line but feel that it is best not to treat of this in a letter.

Suffice to say, in conclusion, that Brother McKinstry remained an ardent Mason during the remainder of his life. He was one of the founders of Hudson Lodge. This lodge was chartered March 7, 1787, the charter being a copy of the famous "Athol Charter," devised by Prince John, Duke of Athol, Grand Master of Masons of England, of the Ancient York Grand Lodge.

The story of Joseph Brant, Indian warrior, British collegian, Tory raider, Anglican lay reader, Chief of the Mohawks, founder of a church and school, at once a savage and a gentleman, should be written for THE BUILDER. There is a splendid monument to Brant at Brantford, Ontario, and his grave closely hugs the walls of the church which he established and which Queen Anne endowed.

* * *

BRANT'S ASSISTANCE TO MASONS IN DISTRESS

BY BRO. ALANSON SKINNER, WISCONSIN

I regret that I cannot add very much to the able discussion of the Masonic career of Brother Joseph Brant given by Brothers Gibbs and Parker. I distinctly recall having run across a statement in some contemporary document to the effect that Brother Brant was made a Mason in England, and that, if I am not mistaken he visited a lodge on Staten Island, New York City, when the boat upon which he was returning was still lying off the Narrows. But I am unable to have access to any of the local historical documents which may contain this data, and I hate to trust my memory.

Brother Brant is said to have saved worthy distressed Brother Masons from his own warriors and their more savage Tory instigators at the famous Cherry Valley massacre, and it is further said, and generally credited, that when Lieutenant Boyd was captured by the Seneca during Sullivan's punitive expedition into the Iroquois country in 1778, Brant rescued him on hearing Boyd give the grand hailing sign of distress, and tried to save his life. However, during Brant's absence, the infamous Tory Colonel Butler ordered or permitted the Seneca to torture Boyd to death.

It seems to me that Brother Parker is of all Masons in the best position to obtain information on Brother Brant, for Brother Parker has at his command the resources of the New York State Museum and its library, besides the most intimate knowledge of the Iroquois, their history and customs of any man in America, unless it be Brother Wm. M. Beauchamp of Syracuse, N. Y. If either of these brethren can be persuaded to write the story of Brant for us, the Craft will be the richer in light and knowledge.

----o----

AT THE BORO BOEDOR

Watching the dawn upon its turrets break

(New beauties leaping to each ray of light),

Methought I heard Christ calling (as one might

Call to an older brother): "Buddha, wake!

Come toil with me. From thy calm eyelids shake

The dreams of ages; and behold the sight

Of earth still sunk in ignorance and night.

I took thy labor - now thy portion take.

Too vast the effort for one Avatar.

My brave disciples are not overwise,

Our kindred creeds they alo not understand;

My cross they worship, yet thy temples mar.

Dear brother Buddha, from Nirvana rise,

And let us work together, hand in hand."

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

----o----

THE EGYPTIAN INFLUENCE ON OUR MASONIC CEREMONIAL AND RITUAL

BY BRO. THOMAS ROSS, P.G.M., NEW ZEALAND

(CONCLUSION)

PASSWORD

THE PASSWORD leading from one of the degrees is said to take its rise from a circumstance detailed in the Book of Judges that occurred in the early history of Israel. Although the meaning of the word is in Hebrew, synonymous with an ear of corn or a flood, yet the episode from whence the word arose gives no reason for using it, as we do, to denote plenty. If on the other hand, we turn to the characteristics attributed to the Egyptian goddess Isis, we find that she fills the conditions exactly. Isis was the Great Mother Goddess, she was also the goddess of Agriculture, of Corn, and of Maternity; she represented fruitfulness on land and sea and in the air, as the mother goddess she is shown full-breasted, the mother and nourisher of mankind; she was the tutelary deity of the husband-man and the sailor. Her misfortunes and sufferings, when nursing the child Horus, appealed to every Egyptian mother (see Fig. 17). Not only was she the mater dolorosa of Egypt, but she enlisted the sympathies of the Roman mothers and Italian painters delighted to do her honour centuries after, though under a totally different name (see Figs. 18 and 18a).

Isis was best known in Asia and Europe, as a corn goddess, under the names of Ceres, Cybele and Demeter, and always we find her portrayed with the ear of corn, the sign of plenty. In the Vatican there is a statue of Isis, with the child Horus standing by her side. You will observe the sculptor has departed considerably from the Egyptian model (see Figs. 19 and 19a). Isis is now the Roman Matron and Horus is now Harpocrates, the Roman God of Silence. In her right hand she holds the sistrum, in the left a jar of water, the sun and the crescent moon is on her head and her robe is trimmed with ears of corn.

In a mural painting in Pompeii we find her as Demeter, seated, a basket of corn on her arm, while with her left hand she supports a torch, emblem of the heat that produces fruitfulness (see Fig. 20). As Ceres we have her standing with a sheaf of corn on her right arm, supporting a torch in her left

hand, while her headdress is a coronet made from ears of corn. A relief from Athens shows her seated on a throne holding the disk in her left hand, while in her right there is a basket of corn. At her side is a lion, symbol in Egypt of the sun's heat and strength (Figs. 21 and 22).

When we consider the universality of the worship of Isis, as the mother goddess and goddess of fruitfulness, is it not a fair assumption to make that Isis, who was believed to cause the waters of the Nile to rise and thus bring abundant harvest, would be the password carried away by our Hebrew brethren when they departed from Egypt? Any of the pictures of Isis, Ceres, Cybele (and you must note the similarity of sound with the word), would be in exact accord with an ear of corn near to water - meaning plenty.

PENALTIES

In the Book of the Dead there are many passages referring to the penalties meted out to those who fail in their obligation to the Great Architect. The fear of mutilation of the body and its several parts made the Egyptians exceedingly attentive to the embalming and preserving, not only of the body itself but also of the bowels. They were taken out of the body and after being mummified, were put into four jars and placed in the tomb alongside the mummy. These vessels were called Canopic jars: they had as lids the distinguishing emblems of the four sons of Horus - the head of an ape, a man, a jackal and a hawk - and represented the four cardinal points, N. S. E. W. (Fig. 23).

When we read that the goddess Sekhet "tears out the bowels and kicks them into the fire," we can readily understand the care and caution the Egyptians would exercise against the calamity of having the bowels burnt to ashes, and these ashes scattered to the four cardinal points by having them deposited in these receptacles.

The following quotations are from the Book of the Dead: "Let not my head be cut off, let not my brow be slit."-Chap. xe. "Let not my head be taken off or my tongue torn out - Chap. xc. "Take ye not this heart into your grasp." - Chap. xxvii. "Let not my heart be torn away from me, let it not be wounded, and may neither wounds, nor gashes, be dealt upon me." - Chap. xxix. B. Many more quotations could be given, but these are sufficient to show the close connection between the Egyptian religion and our ritual.

PERAMBULATIONS

The processions referred to in the religious texts are all in one direction and follow the course of the sun in the northern hemisphere from E. to S., S. to W. and W. to N. The Book of the Am Tuat, or underworld, a companion work to the Book of the Dead, teaches that the sun god died every day at sunset, that he was carried in the divine bark through an underground river or passageway during the twelve hours of night, at the twelfth hour he was reborn when he emerged in the eastern horizon to take up his daily round in the firmament. During these twelve hours he went through twelve regions, each of which was guarded by doors. At every door wardens were stationed, described as "the gods who open the gates to the great soul." On approaching the gate the word was given, when these wardens were commanded to "open the doors and unfold the portals of the hidden place."

The sixth division is the domain of Osiris (Fig. 24), where may be seen the outer and inner doors guarded by wardens. The corridors are swept by fire, and in the interior sits Osiris, judge of the dead and "Lord of Hades, Earth and Heaven."