THE BUILDER MAGAZINE

DECEMBER 1915

VOLUME 1 - NUMBER 12

THE HOUSE OF THE TEMPLE

BY THE EDITOR

WITH ceremonies solemn and impressive, yet simple in spirit and eloquent in form, the new House of the Temple was dedicated in Washington city, October 18th, the home of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in its Southern Jurisdiction. It was a lovely day, and more than five thousand people, including distinguished Masons from all over the country, witnessed the consecration of one of the most unique and imposing build ings on this continent - at once a monument to the founders of the Order and an emblem of the influence and power of the Rite. As the Grand Prior sprinkled the oil, consecrating the Temple to "Mutual Concession, Charitable Judgment, and Toleration," a White Dove flew from across the street, entered the building, then returned to the bright sunlight amid the acclaim of the assembly who interpreted it as a token in accord with the Spirit of Masonry and the eternal fitness of things.

Our Frontispiece shows the House of the Temple from the outside, and the accompanying illustrations disclose two of its stately chambers; but to describe such a building in a few words is too daring a thing to attempt. Truly, it is Freemasonry carved in stone; a great Symbol in itself, epitomizing by virtue of its Simplicity in Magnificence, its Grandeur and Beauty of conception, the Faith, the Philosophy, the Genius and the Prophecy of the Order - cemented here, once for all, in a noble emblem destined to withstand the storms of time and the mutations of human tortune. In design it is a Square crowned by a Triangle, approached by Three, Five, Seven and Nine steps, its gate guarded by a Sphinx on either side, bespeaking the Wisdom and Power of God; and so it will stand as one generation cometh and another generation goeth, a mute but eloquent witness of the truth that, if Man would build for Eternity, he must imitate on earth the House not made with hands. With right was it dedicated -

"To Purity, Innocence of Act, Word, and Thought; to Mutual Concession, Charitable Judgment, and Toleration; to Charity, Compassion, and Sympathy; to Justice, Night, and Truth; to Universal Benevolence and Good Will Towards Men; to Wise Legislation, Good Faith, Stainless Loyalty, and Honor; a Symbol of Gratitude, Veneration, and Love of God, and a pledge of Future Fidelity and Performance of Duty.

Masons of every land, of every Rite, will join in the words of the Sovereign Grand Commander - grave words fitly spoken - in which Prayer is blended with Prophecy, and Aspiration with Resolution, when he said:

"May guile and deceit, false pretense and hypocrisy never intrude within these doors; but let there always stand as vigilent tilers, sincerity and frankness, plaindealing and earnestness to forbid the approach of any unclean visitor. For the increase of loving kindness,

which is the soul of all religion, to be the shrine of honor and duty, inseparable as the Dioscuri; for the glorifying and magnifying of truth, which, sown in whatever barren and rocky soil, springs up and yields a hundredfold for use and blessing; for the conquest everywhere of the hydra of tolerance, hatred and persecution; for toleration to which Masonry erects its altars, garlanded with flowers; and to aid in establishing everywhere the dominion of God and faith in human nature, of hope, the chief blessing bestowed by Providence on man, and of charity, divinest of all the virtues, this House of the Temple has been consecrated.”

SYMBOLISM, THE HIRAMIC LEGEND, AND THE MASTER’S WORD

BY BRO. J. OTIS BALL, ILLINOIS

It sometimes seems that the foundation of all that has been written on any subject may be found in Plato. The careful Emerson says, "Plato only, is entitled to Omar’s fanatical remark, ’Burn the libraries; for their value is in this book.’" In Plato’s Phaedrus, we find the fundamental principles of public address, and one of the first principles given, is for the speaker to clearly define his terms in order that there be no misunderstanding or disagreement at the start.

I was very much impressed with Brother Gage’s definition of Symbolism at the beginning of his talk on Symbolism of the First Degree, and it will probably be well for us to briefly review his definition. We may be able to make it clearer in our minds, or

perhaps add some thought of value. Brother Gage dwelt upon the derivation and meaning of the word symbol. He found that the word came from the Greek, meaning to compare. A symbol is an expression of an idea by comparison. Abstract ideas are often best conveyed by comparison with concrete objects.

A symbol is also a sign, and the words sign and symbol are especially synonymous in their Masonic connection. The symbols of Masonry are the signs which guide the traveler along his journey through life and point to his destination. In olden times, when the weary pilgrims journeyed to the city of their desire--whether it was Mecca where the Mohammedans went to greet the rising sun, or Jerusalem where the Christians journeyed that they might walk upon the ground made holy by the foot-falls of the man of Nazareth--the signs along the way meant much to them. It is the same in Masonry. It is with a certain satisfaction and joy that we find these signs or symbols which point out the right road to travel and mark our moral and spiritual progress--much the-same as the signs along the way, marked the pilgrim’s progress in former times.

The study of these signs or symbols is called Symbolism, and the man who endeavors to find these signs in Masonry and to read them aright, is called a Symbolist. A Symbolist, in trying to understand the symbols of Masonry, not only benefits himself but he may also aid some other tired and weary pilgrim in his journey through life. Let us therefore, approach this subject of Symbolism in a thoughtful way; for if the symbols of Masonry are guide posts that will assist us in our earthly pilgrimage, then indeed, the effort is worth while.

In addition to defining Symbolism as the study of these signs in Masonry, let us also attempt to define Masonry. If each of us were handed a piece of paper and wrote a definition of Masonry, we would probably be surprised at the various ideas. Let us then, as Plato suggests, agree upon a definition. It has been said that one of the best ways to clearly fix in the mind what anything is, is to find out some of the things which it is not. We should have no difficulty in agreeing that Masonry is not politics, although some of the recent activities in our fraternity make us feel that there are those among our number who are attempting to make a political organization of the fraternity. While might makes right, we will hear brethren boast of the political achievements of the Masonic Fraternity and encourage hatred and prejudice, but politics is not Masonry.

There is a very great difference between Masonry and the Masonic Fraternity. The Masonic Fraternity is made up of men who follow, or who are supposed to follow, the teachings of Masonry; but men are prone to err. The fraternity is apt to wander from the fundamental principles of Masonry, and the mistakes are due to the frailty of man and the errors of his judgment, rather than to the principles of Masonry. In speaking of Masonry therefore, both of its history and characteristics, I do not refer to the Masonic fraternity.

If Masonry then, is not the fraternity, what is it? In referring to our Illinois monitor, we find the following sentence in the Secretary’s lecture, given in the ante-room before the candidate is admitted to the lodge: "Masonry consists of a course of ancient, hieroglyphic, moral instruction, taught agreeably to ancient customs by types, emblems, and allegorical figures." This is beautiful English, but is its full import immediately clear ?

The peculiar characters cut upon the rocks in the tombs of the ancient Egyptians are hieroglyphics. For many centuries they stood as the mute unknown secrets of ages past and gone. Modern researchers, however, successfully patched together and deciphered them, and the hieroglyphics and signs were finally read and understood. They were found to be clear pictorial representations of events and ideas, full of meaning-- but only to those who understood them. Masonry, being hieroglyphic, is taught by a system of signs or symbols which mean something to those who have studied them, but to others they mean nothing.

Why is Masonry hieroglyphic? Perhaps it is because of that old principle that something which we get for very little effort, is usually very little valued; but something for which we are required to expend more effort, we believe to be of more value. Just as the etymologist discovers the meaning of an old Egyptian hieroglyphic, after months of careful study and search; so do we find truth after careful thought. As our Ancient brother Pythagoras is said to have discovered the forty-seventh problem of Euclid, only after weary and tedious toil; so will we discover the secrets of Masonry only after we seek for them. Masonry, therefore, is hieroglyphic for the good reason founded upon a fundamental truth, that something which we get for nothing is worth nothing.

Masonry is moral, because it is in perfect accord with the established principles of truth--and that is real morality. We learn that this hieroglyphic, moral system is taught by types, emblems and allegorical figures. We speak of a man of a certain type, meaning that he has certain characteristics in common with men of the same class or type. Types are expressions of classification, by which we are able to fix general truths or characteristics in our minds and draw conclusions from them. Emblems are signs or symbols visible to the eye, which stand for something in addition to themselves, and they create in the mind a flow of thought. The square, for instance, in all ages has been an emblem of Masonry, but its use has become so common that "to be on the square" has a meaning to others than Masons.

Allegories are parables. In seeking why Masonry is taught in allegories instead of by logical statements of truth in direct form, we may answer that in many ages truth has been taught by allegories and parables, in order that the mind may conceive great and fundamental truths by comparison with simple things. Some think that Masonry is taught by types, emblems, and allegorical figures in order to conceal the thought, but it seems to me that they reveal the truth and make it clear and understandable. In the wonderful parable of the Sower, we learn of the seed that fell on fertile ground, the seed that fell among thistles, and the seed that fell on the rocks and stony places. Does the parable conceal the thought ? On the contrary, the parable or allegory makes the thought clear to the thinking mind, but only after a certain effort in thinking the thing through.

Call Masonry, then, a philosophy, a science, an art, or even a religion if you please, but retain the idea of a system of

hieroglyphic moral instruction taught by types, emblems, and allegorical figures. In this sense Masonry is indeed ancient, and we may trace four ideas in this peculiar system through many ages. These four principle ideas might even be called Land-marks. They are: a belief in one God, a teaching of Immortality, a symbolic idea of building, and a seeking after something which was lost.

We find these characteristics in Masonry from the time of the Ancient Egyptians in the mysteries of Osiris, where it is said Moses was initiated into the solemn rites which antedated the return of the chosen people of God; in the old Persian Mysteries of Mithras, where we find traces of an unusually clear conception of a life after death; and in Syria where we find the Dionysian Mysteries which came from Greece and were probably carried by the workmen of Tyre into Jerusalem when Solomon’s temple was built on Mount Moriah. We also find these four characteristics in the mysteries of Bacchus in early Rome; later in the Roman Collegia of Builders; and in the teachings of the peaceful Essenes along the Jordan, where some authorities conjecture that Jesus was initiated before the beginning of his ministry. In the middle ages we find this hieroglyphic moral system taught by types, emblems and allegories, among the Cathedral Builders; in the dark ages, we find it among the Comacine Masters on the little island in Lake Como; and we may trace it through the guilds of travelling Masons, to the Speculative Masonry of 1717, which we substantially teach today.

Our Iconoclastic friends, who are interested in the history of the fraternity, may smile at the dream of a symbolist, but bear in mind that we are not speaking of the fraternity when we use the word Masonry; we are speaking of that hieroglyphic, moral system taught agreeably to ancient customs by types, emblems and allegorical figures; and having four principal ideas: a belief in one God, a life after death, a symbolical idea of building, and the seeking after something which was lost. It is true that the careful student finds clouds of darkness occasionally hiding these real intents and purposes. At times we read of the ceremonies degenerating into the common and vulgar, as in the case of the mysteries of Bacchus at Rome. But like the hidden river which disappears under ground, only to flow out fresh and pure farther on; so we find these fundamental characteristics of Masonry occasionally hidden, but later coming to light.

Considerable has been written on all of these four characteristics, especially on the belief in one God and on the idea of building. Let us also look into the subjects of immortality and the seeking after something which was lost. These two subjects are so closely akin to the legends of Hiram and of the Master’s Word in our Masonry of today, that it may be well for us to see what meaning these two symbols had in the Masonry of Antiquity.

In the ancient Egyptian Mysteries, Osiris represented the spirit of the Sun, the principle of light and life. He was assailed by the powers of evil and was killed, and apparently the forces of darkness ruled. Isis went out to seek for him, and Osiris was later resurrected and brought to life. This story was portrayed in dramatic form in the Egyptian mysteries. The facts are verified by Plutarch, Plato, Epictetus, and others. Substantially the same story was told by Mithras in the old Persian Mysteries, of Dionysus in the Grecian and Syrian Mysteries, and of Bacchus in the early Roman rites. All were slain and then sought for, and finally raised or brought to life. A death and a life after death has been one of the fundamental teachings of Masonry in all ages. These old mysterious ceremonies have been an expression of that idea of immortality which seems to be ever present in the heart of man from remotest antiquity.

The ancient sun-worshipers saw the sun retire in the Fall and reach the Winter solstice. If, as some antiquarians think, the sun worship had its beginning in the far north, the old Norseman on the shores of the Arctic seas experienced a long period of night during the Winter. In the Spring, they saw the sun’s resplendant rays again light and warm the earth. The old legend was that the sun was slain and that during the period of darkness, the sun was dead; and that later the sun, as in the case of Osiris, Mithras, and Dionysus, was brought to life again and there was light and life. Ceremonies were instituted and the lesson of a life after death, was taught by a dramatic portrayal very similar in character to that of the legend of Hiram today.

In the legend of Hiram we may find the lesson of immortality, and we may also find one of the greatest tragedies ever conceived by man. Edwin Booth, the famous Shakespearian actor, referred to the legend of Hiram as the most sublime tragedy; and said that in its portrayal in a Masonic lodge, he would rather play that part without applause, than to play the greatest tragedy Shakespeare ever wrote. We may find in the journey of Hiram the symbol of Man’s journey through life. In this journey, man encounters many obstacles which may be symbolically referred to as enemies. They may be considered as accosting him from the three aspects of his being--the mental, spiritual and physical. Three of these enemies are Ignorance, Doubt, and Prejudice.

The encounter with ignorance may be considered as symbolical of the first effort made by man in his progress. Perhaps the twenty- four inch gauge, as the weapon used by ignorance, is symbolical of the mental and the idea that the knowledge which man already has, is sufficient. As he presses on in his journey for further light, Doubt is encountered. The little knowledge which man has, may be confined to material things, and there is doubt about those things which are not material. Perhaps the square, symbolical of the earth, may be used by Doubt and a correct understanding of great, eternal and spiritual truths prevented by confusion with earthly things. If man still presses onward, he may encounter a third and more deadly enemy--Prejudice--which often slays him and stops his progress. The word prejudice comes from the Latin, Prae meaning before, and Judicium meaning judgment. Prejudice is a previous judgment, clung to even after contrary facts are disclosed.

Our prejudices, or previous judgments, often come from the passions. Fear, hatred, jealousy, and love of the passionate sort, all engender prejudice. These passions have their abiding place in the physical.

In addition to the universally taught lesson of immortality, we find in the lodge a continued admonition to seek for the Master’s Word. But even after we have completed the several degrees, we do not find the Master’s Word. In the last degree of the Blue Lodge, we find that as Master Masons, we will have to be content with a substitute. All through the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, we find further indications of this continued seeking. At last, when a brother is made Sublime Prince of The Royal Secret, he still receives an admonition to advance, to progress, and to seek. "He is to advance and conquer in his heart those old enemies, Ignorance, Doubt, and Prejudice, and to seek the Master’s Word." That is the Royal Secret. In the degree of the Royal Arch, we are told that in a book there is a key to the Master’s Word. The Master’s Word is not a few meaningless syllables whispered in the ear, neither is it a few arbitrary characters. Neither is it the name of the Great Jehovah, unless it is considered in a symbolical sense, as representing Truth and Perfection. The key to the Master’s Word is in the book, which to us is the Holy Bible, the Great Light in Masonry. There, we will find the key to the Master’s Word, but not the Master’s Word itself.

What is this Master’s Word, and why this continual search? We find in the Masonic funeral service an allusion to a certain "pass" whereby we may obtain entrance into the Grand Lodge above. What higher conception could we have of the Master’s Word, than the pass whereby we can find immortality and entrance into the Grand Lodge on High? We are told that this pass is, "the pass of a pure and blameless life." The symbolism is perfect. Now we know why we will have to be content with a substitute, because on earth we will not attain the Master’s Word, "the pure and blameless life." We learn that Moses had this Master’s Word; his inspiration came direct from God himself. Solomon had the Master’s Word, until he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, then he lost the Master’s Word. It was buried amid the rubbish of his physical temple.

But since we cannot attain this Master’s Word, "the pure and blameless life," why are we so continually admonished to seek for it ? Why seek for that which we cannot find ? Why this ceaseless, endless search for perfection and truth, only to receive a substitute ? Because in the very seeking for the Master’s Word, "a pure and blameless life," we come nearer to it. Like the Cathedral Spires of Gothic Architecture, which point upward, although they never reach heaven; we find that in our seeking after perfection, we come nearer and nearer to it.

The seeking for the Master’s Word, therefore, is the real purpose of Masonry--that hieroglyphic moral system of types, emblems and allegories. It should be the purpose and the object of every true and worthy brother to find this Master’s Word. With the thought of the unity of God, the hope of immortality, and the seeking after the perfect life, we will build a temple that will be eternal. We will also exercise that charity toward the weaknesses and failings of others, which is incumbent on all Masons; and as taught in the Council Degrees of Royal and Select Masters, we will deposit in the secret vault true copies or counterparts of those sacred treasures of Mercy, Justice, and Love, which are in the Sanctum Sanctorum above. Then, after the destruction of this temple, the treasures or their counterparts will be found at the building of a second temple not made with hands but eternal in the heavens, and there we will find the true Master’s Word, "the pure and blameless life"--not here, but hereafter.

BUILDING DESIGNS BY BRO. ASAHEL W. GAGE, ILLINOIS

(If our readers are familiar with "Peer Gynt," by Ibsen, they will recall that the lovable scapegrace who is the hero of that drama is a man without a will, though kind of heart and full of dreams, and let his life go to waste, as the old Button-Maker said, for lack of a design in his living. Having no set purpose, no definite program of living, he followed the behest of whim, fancy and passion, which led him into far-wanderings and many sorrows and sins. Masonry, as Brother Gage points out, offers a man a life plan or design,

whereby he may organize his powers and build them into that greatest thing in the world-- a noble, strong, refined character; and more men fail for lack of character than for lack of ability.-- The Editor.)

The designs in which all are most interested are those for that spiritual building, that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. What that house is, St. Paul clearly indicated when he said: "Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God ?"

How to plan the erection of this temple, the Bible teaches in its historical account of the erection of the material temple. Life is grouped into three general divisions: youth, manhood, and old age. The development of humanity may also be divided into symbolic epochs. These divisions are typified by the three groups of laborers employed in the building of Solomon’s Temple.

The apprentices, or bearers of burdens, correspond to youth, and symbolize man before he became the predominant creature. His whole existence was a struggle against the inclemency of the elements, and the ferocity of the wild beasts; when he worked with and developed strength, symbolized by Thor’s hammer. His mind was not the highly developed, complex intelligence that it now is. He knew only simple and direct effort, symbolized by the straight line of the twenty four inch gauge. The working tools of the

apprentice teach the necessity of directness of thought and strength of character.

The fellowcrafts, or hewers, correspond to manhood, and symbolize man in the second stage of development when he notes the orderly or geometric processes of nature. He uses the plumb, square, and level, as working tools. He experiments, tests, and tries, and by the aid of his working tools, symbols of his faculties, he learns to use the materials and forces he finds about him. The ability to work with the fellowcraft tools makes life easier and more secure and gives opportunity for the development of the higher faculties.

The masters, or chiefs over the work, correspond to old age, to man developed until he becomes a builder, a designer, a creator, he molds all nature in forms of his own design. He grows corn of the quality he wants, the orange without seed, and the rose of a color to suit his fancy. His working tools are all implements, but more especially the trowel, the symbol of cementing, of uniting, of building.

The stones of which the temple is composed are thoughts, words, and deeds. The master with the trowel of constructive thought unites these symbolic stones into a temple of character. The Bible teaches that these stones must be perfected in the quarries where they are wrought. There will be no tools to alter them later for

neither hammer, nor ax, nor any tool of iron, is heard in the house while it is in building. The necessity for perfection of each thought, word, and act is therefore apparent.

The Biblical account of the building of Solomon’s Temple is most perfect symbolism. Being Truth, its application is universal and the lessons to be learned from it are limited only by the ability to understand its teachings. The benefits we receive are limited only by the ability to apply the teachings to the problems of life.

THE PLUMB-LINE BY BRO. WM. F. KUHN P. G. M., MISSOURI

"Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb-line in his hand. And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, a plumb-line. Then said the Lord, behold, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more." (Amos, VII: 7-8.)

The Degree of Fellow Craft deals with material interests of life and man’s intellectual nature. Its object is to stimulate every incentive to pursue and attain those things that go to make up man’s welfare and comfort in material things and in his mental development and

satisfaction. The Degree addresses itself to the workman in the clay grounds, to the man who is engaged in the realms of the intricate sciences, to the liberal arts, and to the practical application of all scientific knowledge to a useful end.

The Scriptural Reading to this Degree is, often, an enigma; and the only relation that this Reading bears to the Degree to the average Mason, is the occurrence of the word "Plumb-Line" which somehow has something to do with the erection of walls and buildings. To understand this Scriptural Reading and its relations to the Degree of Fellow Craft, it is necessary to know the history and the application of this vision of Amos.

Amos lived and taught in the year 787 B. C. during the reign of Jereboam II of the Kingdom of Israel. The reign of Jereboam was chiefly characterized by mere formal religion, the arrogant assumption of power, cruel oppression for the accumulation of wealth for himself and Nobles. The poor could not attain justice in the Courts, and justice became rank injustice. It was a reign of a typical, practical politician who feasted and fattened off the poor and oppressed. In this reign of wealth, and degradation of the poor, Amos, the Reformer, arose and with fiery eloquence denounced the social conditions existing. He speaks of himself as, "I was no prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd and dresser of sycamore." One of the ablest Commentators speaks of him as follows:-- "Amos was the first great social reformer in history; he was the tribune of the poor and oppressed. The rich and the rulers

and those in authority were the special objects of his attacks. By them he was silenced as a dangerous agitator and banished from the Kingdom."

It was to correct the abuses of the very things inculcated in the Degree of Fellow Craft, that he laid aside his shepherd’s crook to preach righteousness and justice. He might be called the prophet of the plumbline. Listen to his denunciations as he applies the plumb- line to the rulers.

Alas, for those who turn judgment to wormwood,

And cast righteousness to the ground,

Who hate him that reproves in the gate,

And who abhor one who speaks uprightly.

Therefore, because ye trample upon the weak And take from him exactions of grain,

Houses of hewn stone have ye built,

But ye shall not dwell therein;

Charming vineyards have you planted,

But ye shall not drink the wine.

They who lie on ivory couches,

And sprawl upon divans,

And eat lambs from the flocks And calves from the stalls,

They drawl to the sound of the lyre,

Like David, they devise for themselves instruments of song,

And drink bowls full of wine,

And anoint themselves with the finest oil,

But they do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.

It is not surprising that he was banished from the country; truth hurt just as much in the centuries of the past, as now. In his final effort to arouse the people, he made use of intensely graphic word pictures in the form of visions. In the Metric form they are as follows:--

Thus the Lord showed me,

And, behold, he was forming locusts,

When the late spring grass began to come up.

And when they were making an end

Of devouring the vegetation of the land,

I said, O Lord, Jehovah, forgive, I pray;

How can Jacob stand, for he is small ?

Jehovah repented concerning this;

It shall not be, said Jehovah.

Thus the Lord showed me,

And, behold, he was giving commands to execute judgment By fire--the Lord Jehovah.

And it devoured the great deep,

And had begun to devour the tilled land.

Then I said, O Lord, Jehovah, cease I pray;

How can Jacob stand, for he is small ?

Jehovah repented concerning this;

Neither shall this be, said Jehovah.

Thus the Lord showed me,

And, behold, the Lord was standing Beside a wall, with a plumb-line in his hand.

And Jehovah said to me,

What dost thou see, Amos?

And I answered, a plumb-line;

Then the Lord said, behold, I am setting a plumbline In the midst of my people Israel;

I will not again pass by them any more.

In placing the visions of the plague of locusts, of the drought, and of the plumb-line in their sequence, the meaning of the last line, "I will not again pass by them any more," is readily understood. The Lord’s hand was stayed in the first and second vision by the prayerful and faithful Amos, and the vengeance of the Lord "Passed by," but in the vision of the plumb-line, He set a standard of measurement that can never be changed. The plumb-line, the symbol of national and individual rectitude and justice, will stand forever. "He will not again pass by any more." It will endure and can not be stayed.

The third vision contains the very essence of true worth and greatness. The plumb-line is the test of values. Twenty-four centuries before Speculative Freemasonry was born, this simple shepherd held aloft the plumb-line whose symbolic meaning was the same then, as it is today--the standard of rectitude, justice, uprightness, and true manhood. As such it is one of the most impressive symbols in Freemasonry. As such it stands preeminent in the Degree of Fellow Craft; the symbol by which the value of the material interests of life must be gauged and by which the use of man’s intelligence must be tried. The symbolism is so plain, that it does not need any profound philosophy to unfold it, neither is it necessary to search for it along "geometrical lines." It stands clear, simple, and profound.

It matters not whether the Freemason toils, as a day laborer, in the clay grounds between Succoth and Zaredetha, or stands as the exponent of the liberal arts and sciences. There is but one standard for King or subject, rich or poor, educated or ignorant. The plumbline of moral rectitude must be applied to every walk in life.

A SONG IN THE HEART

Thou dost hear the ocean’s tale In the moonlight, very pale,

Since thy chamber opens wide One great casement toward the tide.

But another window looks

Over marshes and their brooks; And thy garden paths between Brooks and window intervene: When the evening breezes blow, Hear we in these paths below!

Lest the great, insistent sea - Day and night adjuring thee- By the secret word it sings,

Take too far from human things; For a little space apart Hear the singing in my heart!

Or if things eternal make So much music for thy sake, Hearken, from they seat above, The still vaster deep of love !

- Arthur E. Waite

PRAYER FOR PEACE

I prayed for peace: God, answering my prayer, Spake very softly of forgotten things,

Spake very softly old remembered words,

Sweet as young starlight. Rose to heaven again The mystic challenge of the Nazarene,

The deathless affirmation: Man in God,

And God in Man willing the God to be!

And there was war and peace, and peace and war, Full year and lean, joy, anguish, life and death, Doing their work on the evolving soul - The far fruition of our earthly prayer:

’Thy will be done !’ There is no other peace !

- W.S. Johnson.

"True Masonry is true Charity, not only in giving alms but in giving love in every day life. When Masons live up to their ideals we shall better know who are most benefited by Masonry."

"Habit is a cable - we weave a thread each day, and it becomes so strong we cannot break it; but this is also true of good habits. The law is the same, and wise is he who applies it to fortify his soul against evil "

PRIVILEGE

There’s no such thing as duty When motive prompts the act.

’Tis privilege, maid of beauty,

Made so by love’s sweet tact.

There’s no such thing as duty

Of soul unto its God,

For privilege, maid of beauty Goes where love first has trod.

There’s no such thing as duty In the race the heart is in.

But privilege, maid of beauty With love’s fleet wings, will win. There’s no such thing as duty,

’Tis but an empty name.

But privilege, maid of beauty Is slave to love’s sweet game.

There’s no such thing as duty,

And there can never be While privilege, maid of beauty Is love’s sweet alchemy.

*******

The thing the world calls duty

Can no true Mason make,

For privilege, maid of beauty Does it for love’s sweet sake.

- L. B. Mitchell, Michigan.

THE HISTORY OF THE RITUAL

(The history of the Ritual is most interesting, and should be written in more detail, so far as that is possible and proper for publication. Steinbrenner has a brief chapter on The Ritual in his History of Masonry, and Dr. Mackey published a lecture on "The Lectures of Freemasonry," in the old Quarterly Review of Freemasonry. (Vol. II, p. 297). The following article giving a brief story of the Ritual, appeared first in the Masonic Monthly, of Boston, in 1863, and has been several times reprinted--once in the New England Craftsman (Vol. VII) and in the Bulletin of the Iowa Masonic Library, (Vol. XV). It is of unusual value not only for its compactness, but for its revelation of the growth of the Ritual--as much by subtraction as by addition--and especially as showing the introduction of Christian imagery and interpretation, first by Martin Clare in 1732, and by Dunckerly and Hutchinson later. One need only turn to "The Spirit of Masonry," by Hutchinson--deservedly one of the most popular Masonic books ever written--to see how far this tendency had gone when it was checked in 1813. At the time of the Union a committee made a careful comparative study of all rituals in use among Masons, and the ultimate result was the Preston- Webb lectures now generally in use in this country.--The Editor.)

Of the thousands upon thousands of candidates who annually pass through the ceremonies of the several degrees conferred in Masonic Lodges, but very few know anything of the history of the ritual of the order. This is especially to be regretted, for the reason that there is, among the members of the craft generally, a strong aversion to any change, however slight, in anything connected with the Ritual, for fear that some of these ancient way-marks may be infringed upon or obliterated.

This veneration for the ancient usages and customs is highly commendable, and care should ever be taken that it be not weakened, as the stability, universality, and usefulness of the Order are, to a very considerable extent, dependant upon it. Rude hands must not be allowed to tamper with our ceremonies, our language or our usages. But it is of the greatest importance that there should be an intelligent appreciation of what really are "ancient" usages, and what actually constitute "landmarks" of the Order, as it is these alone that should be carefully preserved, and from which we should never suffer the slightest deviation. In the minds of many, every word of the Ritual, as it has come to their individual ears, is invested with all the sanctity of a landmark, to deviate from which, even in the slightest degree, would be a fatal stab at the heart of the venerated institution, and shake the foundation of the very temple itself.

In order that this fidelity to obligations, and to convictions, may be intelligently directed, so far at least as what are technically called Lectures of the Lodge are concerned, the following brief history has been prepared for these columns. The uninformed brother may safely rely upon the truthfulness of the narrative:

Previous to the revival of Masonry, in 1717, and the organization of our present system of Grand Lodges, and Chartered Lodges, the secrets of the Order were undoubtedly communicated and the instructions and explanations given, to candidates, in such form of language as the presiding master or warden could command at the time. If he were a person gifted in language, and his mind well stored with the facts and lessons of scriptural Masonic history, his explanations would be full and interesting, and his instructions clear and explicit. If, on the other hand, the presiding officer were less fortunate in these respects, the traditions and moral instruction would be set forth in style and language corresponding, even to a meagre and barren explanation of the vital points. It is very probable, but not certain, that these explanations and instructions--or "lectures," as they were technically called--by long usage and frequent repetition, gradually assumed very nearly a set form of words, which form was transmitted orally from one generation to another.

Soon after the reorganization of the Order, in 1717, the Grand Lodge of England ordered the ancient constitution and charges of the Order to be compiled and printed, which was done by Dr. James Anderson, a distinguished scholar, and Freemason. This volume, known as "Anderson’s Constitution," was published in 1723, and was the first printed book upon Freemasonry ever issued. (Since this article was written others have been found of earlier date.)

Simultaneously with the compilation of this book of constitutions, Dr. Anderson, assisted by Dr. Desaguliers, arranged the "lectures," for the first time, into the. form of question and answer. Dr. Oliver informs us that "the first lecture extended to the greatest length, but the replies were circumscribed within a very narrow compass. The second was shorter, and the third, called the Master’s part, contained only seven questions and examinations." So favorably were these improved "lectures" received that the Grand Lodge of England (then the only Grand Lodge in existence, except the old Grand Lodge, or Assembly, at York, which soon afterwards expired) adopted the form, and ordered them to be given in all the Lodges. Thus was compiled and disseminated the first regular form, or system, of Masonic "lectures."

The progress of the Order, subsequent to the date above mentioned, was unprecedented in all its previous history, and in a few years

the imperfections of Dr. Anderson’s lectures loudly called for a revision. This was finally accomplished in 1732, by Martin Clare, an eminent Mason, and who was afterwards Deputy Grand Master. Clare’s amendments consisted of but little more than the addition of a few moral and scriptural admonitions, and the insertion of a simple allusion to the human senses, and to the theological ladder.

A few years later, Thomas Dunckerly, an accomplished scholar, and who was considered the most intelligent Freemason of his day, considerably extended and improved the lectures. Among other things, he first gave to the theological ladder its three most important rounds.

According to Dr. Oliver, Dunckerly "added many types of Christ." This, be it remembered, was only one hundred years ago, and is an explicit statement of the addition of the first Christian allusions to be found in the ritual of Freemasonry.

The lectures of Dunckerly continued to be the standard in England until 1763, when Rev. William Hutchinson revised and improved them. Hutchinson boldly claimed the third degree to be exclusively Christian. He considered the three degrees to refer to the three great Dispensations, viz: The Patriarchal, the Mosaic, and the Christian. He even argued that the name "Mason" signifies or implies "a member of a religious sect, and a professed devotee of the Deity." He regarded the degrees as progressive steps, or schools

in religion. He believed that the knowledge of the God of Nature formed the first estate of our profession; that the worship of the Deity, under the Jewish law, is described in the second stage of Freemasonry; and that "the Christian dispensation is distinguished in the last and highest order." In the lectures of Hutchinson are first introduced the three great pillars, Wisdom, Strength and Beauty, as supports of a lodge. He also appears to have introduced, for the first time, the cardinal virtues of Prudence, Fortitude, Temperance and Justice. He also gave to the Star its Christian significance. In fine, he appears to have exerted his utmost in genuity to render the degrees emphatically Christian in their allusions and teachings.

Hutchinson’s system continued in force but a few years. His lectures gave place, in 1772, to the revision of William Preston. The latter not only revised, but greatly extended, the lectures, and his system continued to be the standard in England until the "Union" of the two Grand Lodges of that Kingdom, in 1813, when a committee, of which Dr. Hemming was the chairman and leading mind, compiled the form now generally used in the English Lodges, and known as the Hemming Lectures.

During the unhappy division of the craft in England, between 1739 and 1813, differences had also crept into the lectures, and at the Union above mentioned, the committee endeavored to compile a system which, while it should be in conformity to the spirit of Freemasonry, and in harmony with the ancient landmarks, should

be a sort of compromise between the forms in previous use by the two rival organizations.

The Hemming lectures differ widely from those of Preston, or from any others previously introduced. A few of these differences may properly be mentioned. English Lodges are now dedicated to Moses and Solomon, instead of to the two Sts. John, as before, and their Masonic festival falls on the Wednesday following St. George’s Day, April 23--that Saint being the patron of England. The symbolical working tools of an E. A. are "a 24-inch rule, a gavel and a chisel." Those of a M.M. are "a pair of compasses, a skirret and a pencil." The ornaments of a M. M.’s Lodge are "a porch, a dormer, and a stone pavement." Instead of following the example of his predecessors, in introducing new Christian allusions, Dr. Hemming expunged several in use previously. The system, however, never met the cordial approval even of English brethren, and though "beautifully elaborate," contains so many incongruities and departures from the more simple lectures of Preston that it can never he recognized as a universal system. The verbal ritual of Preston was introduced into this country by two English brethren, -- who had been members of one of the principal lodges of Instruction in London, and was by them communicated to Thomas Smith Webb, an accomplished and distinguished Mason of New England. According to the testimony of Webb himself, he made but little change in the system of Preston. In the first edition of his Freemason’s Monitor, published in 1797, he says:

"The observations on the first three degrees are principally taken from ’Preston’s Illustrations of Masonry,’ with some necessary alterations. Mr. Preston’s distribution of the first lecture into six, the second into four, and the third into twelve sections, not being agreeable to the present mode of working, they are arranged in this work according to the general practice." It appears plain that Webb followed Preston quite closely, and one who will take the trouble to compare, will find that Cross, and after him all the rest, have copied nearly verbatim from Webb, so that the exoteric portions of the ritual, as contained in our Monitors, Charts, Manuals and Trestle Boards, are but little more than reprints of Preston’s Illustrations of Masonry. In 1801-02 Benjamin Gleason, an intelligent and zealous brother, then a student in Brown University, at Providence, Rhode Island, received the lectures of Preston--as modified by Webb--directly from Webb himself. Gleason by his zeal and other excellent qualities, became a great favorite of Webb, through whose influence he was induced to become a Masonic lecturer. July 2nd, 1804, Isaiah Thomas, then Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, commissioned Brother Gleason as Grand Lecturer to the lodges under his jurisdiction, the Grand Lodge having left the subject of uniformity of work to his discretion, as Grand Master. Early in the year 1806 the Grand Master of New Hampshire, Thomas Thompson, wrote to the Grand Master of Massachusetts, requesting that committees might be chosen by the two Grand Lodges, to meet and confer upon Masonic subjects, and especially upon the subject of a uniformity of work and lectures. The proposition was favorably received, and such a committee was appointed. Rev. George Richards (editor of Richards’ Preston’s Illustrations of Masonry), Lyman Spaulding (Grand Secretary) and

John Harris represented New Hampshire; and Henry Fowle, Benjamin Gleason and Stephen Bean represented Massachusetts. The committee met at Newburyport in this state, and before rising adopted a report, signed by each member of the committee, from which we make the following extract: "The respective committees of Massachusetts and New Hampshire are also fully agreed, perfectly decided, and positively unanimous in their opinion, that the mode of work as exemplified by Brothers Gleason, Fowle and Bean, as practiced in Massachusetts, and adopted in New Hampshire, according to the acknowledgment of Brother Harris, Richards and Spaulding, is as correct as can possibly be expected under existing circumstances; and they deem it expedient that in the three degrees, every master of a Lodge should be indulged with the liberty of adopting historical details, and the personification of the passing scene, as most agreeable to himself, his supporting officers, and assisting Lodge."

The report was approved by the respective Grand Lodges, and the Preston-Webb ritual continued to be taught by Brother Gleason. This is the committee from whom Rev. Jeremy L. Cross--long and well known as a Masonic lecturer, and as the author of the Masonic Chart, and other works-- claimed to have received the work and lectures, and to have been formally commissioned as lecturer. He also affirms that he never afterwards changed a word or a letter of the ritual as it was communicated to him by them. There are, however, some differences between the lectures as taught by Cross, and as taught by Gleason, though they are principally such as may be called non-essential.

In 1810, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts formally adopted the Preston-Webb ritual, and voted to employ Brother Gleason to communicate it to the Lodges under its jurisdiction. In the performance of this duty, he was employed most of the time for several years; and he continued to impart his instruction, at intervals, until his death, in 1847, visiting for that purpose various sections of the country.

LIFE SYMBOL

This old earth is a Great School of the Soul, in which are a multitude of shining symbols training us to discover the beauty about us and the wonder within. Nothing is valueless for our teaching, unless we are willing to close our eyes and ears to its testimony; nothing is merely what it seems. We meet a new friend, we hear a beatific song, we listen to a bird at dawn, we read a noble book, we look upon a lovely scene of land or sea or sky, and forthwith we are in the presence of the Eternal. Whenever we are thus summoned, if we answer with our hearts, the veil becomes thinner, the symbol more transparent. Often life is terrible and tragic, but let not its dark days deceive you; there would be no shadow without Light. If you want to find God in its shadows, God will find you. Life is a symbol, and its mystery hath in it the secret of unknown revelations.

Joseph Fort Newton.

I HAVE LOOKED

I have looked into all men’s hearts. Like houses at night unshuttered they stand, And I walk in the street, in the dark, and on either hand There are hollow houses, men’s hearts.

They think that the curtains are drawn. Yet I see their shadows suddenly kneel To pray, or laughing and reckless as drunkards reel Into dead sleep till dawn.

And I see an immortal child With its quaint high dreams and wondering eyes Sleeping beneath the hard-worn body that lies Like a mummy-case defiled.

I have looked into all men’s hearts. Oh, secret terrible houses of beauty and pain! And I cannot be gay, but I cannot be bitter again, Since I looked into all men’s hearts. --Fannie S. Davis. The Crack of Dawn.

WHAT IS MASONRY?

BRO. GEORGE THORNBURGH EDITOR THE MASONIC TROWEL, ARKANSAS

SPECULATIVE or Symbolic Freemasonry has been appropriately defined as "a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." By Symbolic Masonry we mean the performance of the work of an Operative Mason emblematically. We take tools of an Operative and use them as symbols to impress lessons of morality and virtue. For instance, the Operative Mason wears his apron to protect his clothing. The Speculative Mason is taught to wear his to remind him of a safe-guard or protection against the vices and superfluities of life. He should no more allow his moral character to be stained than the Operative his clothing. The Operative works according to design laid down for him by the architect of the building. The Speculative Mason takes the revealed will of God, the great Architect of heaven and earth, as his guide, and should endeavor to erect his spiritual building in conformity thereto. The Operative Mason uses the 24 inch gauge or measure to lay out his work. Speculative Masons use it to divide their time, that every moment may be profitably employed. Man is not placed upon earth to be indolent or inactive. He has a destiny to fill in the drama of life. The mind of man is so constituted that it must be employed. Inactivity is not compatible with its nature, and if not employed for good it will be for evil. Industry is the command of Masonry. Laziness is rebuked by the lesson of the bee-hive and the necessity of improving every opportunity is taught us by the hour glass, which shows how rapidly we are passing away.

Masons are taught to so divide their time as to have a part for the Worship of God, and the relief of distress; a part for refreshment and sleep, and a part for the business of life. To worship is the natural disposition of man; to worship God his highest duty. The only religious requirement for admission to the Masonic brotherhood is a belief in God and the immortality of the soul. This is a cardinal faith, the unity of the Fraternity, and the bond of fidelity among them. The man who holds that there was no Creating Spirit, that moved upon the wide empire of night and chaos, and no voice that said, "Let there be light," is not to be trusted with the mysteries of Masonry. The law of the land alone prevents such a one from immorality. He has no monitor within to hold him to a performance of his vows, or to restrain him from a violation of his pledges. But that man who believes in God has a rudder and an anchor. He may wander in darkness temporarily, the allurements of vice may lead him astray, but his conscience follows him through it all, and in the darkest gloom an all-seeing eye is upon him and a star lights him back to the path of rectitude and duty. It is well that no one can pass the center of an Entered Apprentice Lodge who does not willingly and fully declare his trust to be in God.

The gavel is an instrument made use of by Operative Masons for dressing rough stones and preparing them for the builder’s use.

Symbolic Masonry uses it to teach the importance and necessity of divesting the mind and the conscience of the vices of life and of cultivating the higher and nobler qualities of our being. The rough corners of vice, intemperance and profanity must be knocked off to "fit us as living stones for that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

The Operative Mason makes an important use of the plumb, square, and level. He uses the plumb to keep his work perpendicular, the level to keep it horizontal, and the square to keep it in form.

Speculative Masons teach impressive lessons by the use of these tools as emblems. The plumb admonishes .us to walk uprightly. To walk uprightly before God and man is one of the highest duties of a Mason, and he who does so will neither be a bigot nor a persecutor, but will act justly and love mercy.

By the square we are taught to square our actions and our dealings by the square of virtue and morality. By a faithful adherence to its moral precepts our actions and doings will be honorable whether we engage in high or low pursuits.

The level teaches us the great lesson of our natural equality. Man should not pride himself upon his birth or his worldly wealth. It is of but little consideration whether we were born high or low, if we are true to God, to our fellow-men and to ourselves.

The day will come when we must stand in the presence of our Maker stripped of everything save that which will entitle us to pass the judgment bar of an omniscent God.

Perhaps the most important symbol used by the Craft is the trowel. It is used by Operative Masons to spread the cement which unites the building into one common mass. We use it emblematically to spread the cement of brotherly love. The Order is composed of every class and condition in life, the high, the low, the rich, the poor, from Washington, the leader of the American army, to the private soldier; from Andrew Jackson, the President of a great republic, to the humblest citizen; each taking into the Order his individuality, but all cemented by the Masons’ trowel into one spirit. Every nationality comes, with its peculiar brogue, but all are taught by Masonry to speak the same language by signs and symbols. Religionists come to us with their widely differing doctrines, and are taught by Masonry to worship together one true and living God.

The Masonic trowel cemented the broken elements of a once divided people in the United States. Scarcely had the last sound of the deadly conflict of 1861-65 been hushed in the sweet embrace of peace, than the fraternal voice of Masonry was heard through the land calling the brothers from the South to join the brothers of the North, appealing in the tender language of brotherly love for the Masons of the ice fields of Maine and those of the orange groves of Florida to greet each other as companions in the General Grand Chapter Royal Arch Masons. The first reunion of any kind between the men of the two sections after the conflict was in this body; California, Maine and Louisiana formed a triangle of peaceful hands, raised a living arch and whispered the old love in the souls of these men who had for four dreadful years been engaged in fratricide. Be it said to the Honor of Masonry that the General Grand Chapter was never divided, nor did any part of it secede. While churches, societies, and families were being rent in twain, and the angry passion of war covered the land as a cloud of destruction, Masons of the South were hidden from those of the North but not lost. War could stand between but could not separate them. The great Masonic heart of the two sections beat in unison, as was shown upon the battle field, in the hospital and the prison. And when the angry cloud disappeared and the sunshine of peace darted its gladdening rays over the continent, the first words of reconciliation that crossed Mason and Dixon’s line were the resolutions of the General Grand Chapter inviting its long- separated children to meet around the old family altar. It, with one voice, and that the voice of a fond mother, said "Resolved, that all the Grand Chapters which have failed to meet in consequence of the recent war are declared to be in good standing in this body, and entitled to continue their relations with it. And they are most cordially and fraternally invited to unite with us, without reference to the past differences, and are most sincerely assured that they shall receive a fraternal, hearty and Royal Arch welcome."

That was the work of the Masonic trowel, and the fruit of the teachings of the Fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man. And yet Masonry is not a church. The church and Masonry have their blessed spheres, and between the two there is no conflict and should be no prejudice.

Masonry does not usurp the office of the church, and the church-- the Protestant Church--is not jealous of Masonry. Among the best and most loyal Masons are the thousands of leading ministers of the gospel who have assumed the vows of Masonry and indorse its tenets.

LET ME LIVE IN THE HEARTS OF MEN

There are selfish souls who by themselves Live ever themselves within.

There are those who stay in their pleasure haunts From the best things of life shut in.

And there are souls who are slaves to gain

And paying the price of the loan,

But let me live in the hearts of men And never without a home.

Let me live in the hearts of my fellow men, - The shelter I cannot buy,

The home that is real and of priceless worth And that God makes his ratings by.

My shelter may be within plainest walls Or ’neath a glittering dome,

But let me live in the hearts of men The only home that’s home.

Let me live in the hearts of my fellow men For I am as human as they,

And because I am proud to stand side by side With them in the strenuous way.

It may be that my treasures may take to wings And naught left but myself that I own,

So let me live in the hearts of men,

And that makes the world a home.

Let me live in the hearts of my fellow men Though the circle be ever so small.

It may be ’tis the littles that will make me great With the few who may quite know it all.

’Tis a tonic to jostle with the crowd to and fro Or trudge to the shut-in alone,

So let me live in the hearts of men And always "at home" at home.

Let me live in the hearts of my fellow men, Elsewhere would be just "marking time."

The life that is real is the life with my own And the plan that’s forever Divine.

’Tis the true home instinct of "home sweet home" Earth’s only protecting dome,

So let me live in the hearts of men.

At home on the journey home.

* * *

Let me live in the hearts of my fellow men Though the token may not always be there,

But ’tis never withheld by the brother of mine On whose breast gleams the compass and square. Unmeasured the joy is this living that’s real, Unmeasured the wealth that I own.

‘Tis a balm and a cure for the ills of the soul,

The home in the home that is home.

- L. B. Mitchell, Hart, Mich.

"Freemasonry is a moral order instituted by virtuous men, with the praiseworthy design of recalling to our remembrance the most

sublime truths in the midst of the most innocent and social pleasures, founded on liberality, brotherly love, and charity." - From an old Dutch Dictionary.

SYMBOLISM IN MYTHOLOGY BY BRO. C. T. SEGO, GEORGIA

MOST boys at some time come to the age when nothing pleases them so much as do stories of the exaggerated deeds of some far off hero. As William Tell they shoot arrows from their imaginary sons’ heads; as Jack-the-Giant-Killer they wage their mimic warfare on grosser foes; as Princes Charming they break into enchanted castles and kiss away the dreams from the eyes of Sleeping Beauty. But real as these heroes are to boyish minds, the student learns that maturer years render still more real the characters of his childhood stories. William Tell still has an unerring aim with his arrows; Jack-the-Giant-Killer still defeats his foes; and the Sleeping Beauty of flower and field wakes to new life each year under the ardent vernal kiss of the personified prince who shines as one of the lesser lights of Freemasonry. Many fairy tales are the folklore of yesterday, and this folklore was the highly symbolic philosophy and religion of the ancients. The minds of men in general do not readily grasp an abstraction. That is one of the reasons why we use symbols. We do not cheer firesides, and homes, and fields; nor thoughts, and hopes, and aspirations; we cheer the flag which symbolizes all those things. When only the ruins of a one time civilization mark the sites of New York and San Francisco, the eager archaeologist from Asia will discover pictures and statues of Uncle Sam and will believe that we present day Americans worshipped Uncle Sam as our tutelary god, our patron saint, and that we prayed to him for help in times of need.

There is a psychological need for symbols, a real demand for stories, which man has ever supplied. By descent through the ages these stories became legends and fairy tales. When they are employed for pastime purposes only, these stories become corrupted by recital and changed so as to be almost unrecognizable. The story of Sleeping Beauty illustrates this. Not at first does one recognize in the sleeping princess the glory of the springtime flower and the promise of autumn fruit. Equally changed is the prince, really the sun, who breaks through the confining walls of winter’s cold earth and claims his promised bride.

But when these legends are told not for amusement only but in order to secure a definite result, then their teachings never change. The effect must be always procured, and it can be procured only by following the prescribed formula. So the legend of the third degree, introduced into our body I do not know when, is the same today as it was when we first learned it. The Ancient Mysteries had many things similar to our teachings and classical mythology personified thoughts that are eternal.

The Sleeping Beauty falls into slumber after having received a prick from a distaff. In Grecian mythology the distaff is a boar’s tooth. The legend tells us that Adonis while hunting was killed by a savage boar. After the death of Adonis his soul went to Hades, which is here merely an underworld, a place of gloom and not a place of torment. But the goddess of love descended into Hades and prevailed upon Proserpine, its mistress, to allow Adonis to return to the earth for a certain time each year. This story is more readily understood than is the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. The youthful Adonis is the vegetative spirit of nature. The boar is winter, harsh, rough, and bristly. The goddess of love is the warmth of springtime which coaxes the vegetation to leave Hades.

These annual returns of Adonis were made the occasions of much symbolic ceremony. The god was mourned as dead; women went wailing through the streets in utter disregard of their usual care for their attire. The ordinary social conventions were broken down and unrestrained sex license prevailed among the celebrants. In later days the celebration was given over chiefly to courtesans. For into this celebration, as in many others, in time there came more or less phallic worship. The pomegranate was worshiped as a symbol of plenty, and so was corn. Enormous images of the male generative organs were carried in public processions and set up and worshiped as superhuman. Our maypole is a survival of those days, and our architecture is filled with many similar reminders.

Adonis is the Grecian form of the Hebrew word, Adonai, signifying Lord. In Babylonia, Phoenicia, and Canaan, Adonis was known as Tammuz. Ezekiel, the prophet, reproaches the Hebrew women for indulging in the celebration I have just spoken of. The name of the god is fixed today in the Jewish month Tammuz. Tammuz or Adonis afterwards became identified with the Egyptian Osiris of whom I shall speak later.

The worship of Dionysus, or Bacchus, or Orpheus, was of a nature like to that of Adonis with the difference that it is Orpheus’ wife, Eurydice, who dies and Orpheus who descends into Hades in search for her. By the magic of his music Orpheus induces Hades to consent that Eurydice may return to earth if Orpheus does not look back. But the eagerness of Orpheus to see his wife causes him to break his promise and he looks back only to see Eurydice return to Hades just as she had arrived at its exit. The same teaching is given here. Eurydice is flowers and vegetation; Hades is the death of winter; and Orpheus’ lute is the magic music of the springtime sun whose appeal nothing can resist. The story is a look beyond death to the resurrection and eternal life.

Likewise the Greek Persephone playing in the flowers is surprised by Pluto and carried to the infernal regions. Ceres, the mother of Persephone, seeks her until she finds her by the aid of the all seeing Helios (sun). Ceres asks the aid of the other gods, and after all their persuasion Pluto consents that Persephone shall stay on earth a part of the year, and with him in Hades for the remainder.

Here again we have the death, the search, and the resurrection annually recurring.

These myths were not confined to Asia and southern Europe. In one form or another they have been found all over the world. One illustration suffices. In Scandinavian mythology Balder the Beautiful is the god of spring, light, gladness. Blind Hoder, his very opposite, is the god of the dark and gloomy winter. Loki, the mischief maker, inspires Hoder to cast at Balder a dart of mistletoe, a winter plant. Balder falls dead, but the promise is given that he shall return and bring with him perpetual spring.

To the Mason, however, the most interesting mythological tales come from ancient Egypt. There Osiris, son of the earth and sky, brother and husband of Isis, was early identified with the setting sun and became the god of the dead. Osiris traveled in many foreign countries spreading the light of civilization. His wicked brother, Set, god of the desert, evil, and darkness, planned to take the life of Osiris. So Set made a chest the exact size of Osiris and offered to give the chest to whomever it would fit. When Osiris entered the chest, Set and his confederates closed the lid and cast the chest into the Nile, on whose water it was borne to the sea. The chest drifted ashore near the Phoenician coast and became imbedded in the trunk of a great tree which finally enclosed it. The king of the country, ignorant of this fact, caused the tree to be cut down and made into pillars for his house. But after long search Isis found the chest in the pillar, obtained permission from the king to

remove it, and carried the body to Egypt. After burying the body she went to visit her son Horus, the rising sun, the resurrected Osiris. While she was away Set found the body, tore it into fragments, and scattered them abroad. Isis again searched for the body, and found and buried its scattered parts. Horus, however, did not mourn, but rose and took vengeance on his father’s murderers.

In this legend we find Osiris doing good in the world. He is murdered and his body concealed. There is mourning and a search for his corpse. The body is found, raised, and carried to Egypt for more decent interment; and the murderers apprehended and punished by Horus, the god who rises in the east to open and govern the day. Every evening the murder is committed; every night the body of Osiris, the setting sun, is cut into fragments, or stars, and these stars or fragments of Osiris, scattered to the four quarters of heaven. Every morning Isis collects the fragments and they rise as Horus, the morning sun, or the resurrection of Osiris.

There are those who pretend to see all this in our mighty drama. The twelve fellowcrafts are the twelve signs of the zodiac which the sun occupies during the twelve parts of the year. The three fellowcrafts are the three winter months. Fell and cruel they raise their impious hands to destroy all the beauty of spring, the promise of summer, and the fruit of autumn. Then all the constructive work of creation is stopped; for there is no agency active that knows the designs of nature. The vegetative principles of nature cannot be lifted to life by the chilly snow or the steely stare of the stars; their grip is too insecure. No movement on the dead earth answers the like efforts of the pale moon; its forces are too feeble. It is only when the lord of the day comes in the vernal warmth of his love that the mysteries of life overcome the thralls of death, and foliage and flower and fruit are lifted into life by the strong grip of the mightiest force of nature.

This fancy may please those who like it. There is no harm gotten by believing it. But I am thinking that something is hidden here, even as there was something hidden in the Ancient Mysteries. The uninformed and thoughtless and careless found and still find ample satisfaction in the apparent, external teaching of these schools. They little thought and little think that these teachings are carefully arranged systems of morality veiled in allegory, and that the purpose of it all is to enable those who are duly and truly prepared, worthy and well qualified, to advance, of their own volition, of their own free will and accord, without either passive submission on one part or repressing dominance on the other, into a state of real mastery, a state of conscious unity with the mighty constructive forces of the Grand Architect of the Universe. And when this state is attained, then all things shall be seen in true perspective; many things now thought of first shall be thought of last; the small shall be magnified and the great reduced; and this life shall not seem an end in itself but merely a part of the life of the immortal soul of man.

ECCLESIASTES XII

Remember thy Creator

While the pulse of youth beats high,

While the evil days come not,

Nor the weary years draw nigh, When man can find no pleasure In the hollow things of earth,

And the heart turns sick and sad From the jarring sound of mirth.

Ere the light of stars is darkened, Ere the glorious sun grows dim, And the bitter sup of sorrow Is filling to the brim;

When the grinder’s song is low,

And the wailing mourners come Marching in the death-procession, As man goeth to his home.

Ere the golden bowl be broken,

Or the silver cord unwound,

The pitcher shattered at the well,

The broken wheel be found.

In the days when keepers tremble,

And the strong men bow the knee,

Then shall dust to dust return,

And to God the spirit flee.

--Bro. O. B. Slane

A MASONIC MEDIATION BY THE EDITOR

John Fort Newton

WHAT is the greatest thing in the world ? Surely the most important day in the life of a man is when he makes answer to that question, for it decides his beau ideal of excellence, of possession, of attainment. What he admires, he imitates. What he exalts in his dream, draws him upward toward itself, and subtly fashions him after its design. Always the idols of men are their ideals, and an ideal, a supreme end, desirable above all else, each man must have, and does have. Reason and action alike demand an ultimate purpose, as a condition of thought and a goal of endeavor. Shadows we are, hastening from night to night, through a gleam of day, whither are we tending and what is the prize of the race we run? What we live for determines what we are, what we are worth to ourselves, to our fellows, and to the world.

All men are in search of the greatest thing in the world, but few there be that find it, albeit the deepest secret is the most open. In the providence of God, things most needful to all men are common to all men. Though mysterious, they are universal. When we are young the Ideal seems far off, hidden in the dreamy splendor of distance; but when we grow older we come to realize that what we most need is not in the heavens or beyond the seas, but very nigh unto us even in our hearts. Lowell taught us this truth in his exquisite parable of the pilgrim in his long quest of God. At the end of a long journey he came to the holy mountain, and prayed that a sign might be given him that God was there and that he was accepted. Suddenly a rock broke open at his feet, and a lovely flower appeared and filled the air with fragrance; and as he plucked it he remembered that this same flower, so wearily sought and found, his little girl had brought to him when he started. plucked from his own doorway.

One thing is clear; the supreme good must be an indispensable good; without which no good thing is good; that which gives meaning and value to life. It must be such that we would choose it rather than anything else, if we must choose. It must retain its value in the retrospect, leaving no regret in the heart of him who vowed loyalty to it, even to the last full measure of devotion. It must be great enough to give free scope and play to all the manifold powers of man. It must be a sovereign good, a focalizing aim, which causes all the activities of life to cohere and converge toward a single point, harmonizing effort while it reveals the truth of what life is and what it means. It must account for the greatness we ascribe to every human being. What is it that can answer to this description? It is, certainly, not a palpable thing at all, nothing that we can touch with our fingers, like gold. Nor can it be a mere set of sensations, like health. It must be something as rich and deep as life itself, giving us a key to its rhythm, a glint of its radiance, a hint of its reason for being.

Reasoning backward from the deed to the desire, let us enquire of the men of action, the men of power, the masters of opportunity, with teeming brain and iron will and unwearied persistence, if they have found the great Ideal. A French writer of tales has told us of a Magic Skin, whose possessor might enjoy every wish, but the talisman shrank and grew smaller as each wish was granted. Life is such a talisman. All around us we see men sacrificing ease, rest and life itself, paying out days and years of their shrinking capital of time, for-what? Is it for real enrichment, for eternal value? Is it that their souls should be of finer grain, their minds trained and rich in thought, that they should understand somewhat of the world before they leave it ? Is all this tense unending struggle to make them masters of themselves, servants of men, the soul enriched by its poverty, and made sovereign by service? No! It is for dross, for the glory of self, for the trumpet of panegyric, for wealth, power and quickly fading fame, to be able to stand an inch above the Lilliputians round about them and command. These are the ideals of the market-place and the forum.

Must we then agree that men who follow such ideals are practical ? Manifestly not. They are drunken with desire, hypnotized by glittering baubles, somnambulists in a waking dream. Practical men seek for things worth while, refusing to barter the sands in the hour-glass for mere tinsel that withers with the getting; they do not give everything for nothing. He only is practical who seeks that which abides, upon which he can rely, and which brings some satisfaction of soul. Now and then into the market-place there comes a man pale with anguish, crying aloud, "Awake, ye sleepers!" They do-not awake, and they know in the deep heart of them the truth of the message, even when they deride the messenger. They may kill him with a hemlock, with fire, with a cross, but the word lives, and the messenger they at last honor. Out of this uneasiness, this startled sense of emptiness and error, this flashing vision of the better and the best, there come gleams of the greatest thing in life, of the casket containing the crown jewels of the moral sovereignty of man.

If we turn to the mighty thinkers we find Socrates saying that the highest good is knowledge; not mere facts, much less theories, but the living knowledge which lights the way to virtue. How noble he was, going about Athens urging upon young and old alike the greatest improvement of soul as the only endeavor worthy of man. Across the years we listen to his grand argument for the immortality of the soul, and hear him saying that such a discussion ought to close with prayer. Whereupon he uttered that brief and wise prayer, putting into a few words the sum of his desire:

"Mighty God, grant me to become beautiful in the inner man, and that whatever outward things I have may be at peace with those within. May I deem the wise man rich, and may I have such a portion of gold as none but a just man can either bear or employ. Do we need anything else, Phaedrus? For myself I have prayed enough."

"Yes, make the same prayer for me too," said Phaedrus, "for the possession of friends should be share and share alike."

How beautiful it is, reminding us of the prayer of the two boys in the Hindu poem, who asked that God might protect and enjoy them both and that their wisdom might grow bright together. Socrates thought it incredible that any man who had once seen the beauty of virtue and the horror of evil, could choose the evil way. Yet the men who do as well as they know are very few, as each of us can testify. Plato saw this fact, and he deemed the greatest thing in the world to be the purification of the mind of the lusts and passions of the flesh. He saw that humanity has only begun to emerge out of the mire and the clay. Some have risen head-high, others breast high, the eyes are clear, the lips are pure, and heart is free. Foot-loose none of us are. Every muddy, illogical thought is so much clay in the brain. Every malicious word is so much clay on the lips. Every impure glance is so much clay in the eyes. That we may wholly rise, that the lofty form of man may tower above our animal ancestry, that our spirits may stand erect as our bodies already do--this, as Plato saw it, is the great aim and end of life.

Aristotle, keenly searching for the purpose of purposes, the end of ends, found it in happiness--not pleasure, but the happiness of perfect, rational activity. Effort and activity are necessary, but activity implies an aim. Without it we drift; with it we steer. To be conscious of putting forth activity, involving all our powers, in behalf of the happiness that belongs to righteousness; to be a forward-working, effective agent --that seemed to Aristotle the supreme good for man. It meets all the tests. It is indispensable. It is lasting. It gives concentration and direction to life, yet saves us from becoming narrow. It rescues us from depression, which is intense, passive suffering. If now we put the three together, we have knowledge that lights the way to virtue, and effort to clear the clay out of our nature, the better to realize the happiness of right action and right being. Such is the answer of philosophy to the quest after the highest good, the net results of the toil of the finest minds, all summed up by Kant when he said that we should so live

that, if our life were made a universal law, or standard, it would make for the good of humanity.

Philosophy is ice; religion is fire. What we miss in philosophy is the power to move us to do what we know--knowledge aglow with emotion, made luminous by hope, the dream of the heart which rebukes the laggard? inspires the earnest, lends wings to the weary, and makes self-forgetting effort the cheap price of victory and attainment. However the great religions may differ as to the method of attainment, all of them give us something not found in philosophy-- a power to change the heart until man feels the meaning of renunciation, of humility, of union with the spirit of holiness. With Buddha the way of life was by repression of desire, and an all-embracing pity, awaiting absorption into the Divine. With Moses the sacramental word was Duty. Above all else, above faith, above asceticism, above love, above worship, even, is the august and awful call of duty. It is not simply the whisper of nature, a social custom, a mere inheritance. It is the deed. It is the motive. It is the life of God drawing man toward Himself and His will. Amid all uncertainties, this is the great open secret of life, the essence of religion, ethics, and all spiritual nobleness. It is not forbidding, but an obedience, glad, eager and grateful, to the high will of God in which there is peace.

Clearly, if we are to find the greatest thing in the world, it must be something wide and deep and rich enough to include the knowledge of Socrates, the purity of Plato, the happiness of

Aristotle, the pity of Buddha, and the grand moral idealism of Moses. What is it? What ideal is equal to this demand in height, depth, and comprehensiveness? When St. Paul would tell us of the ultimate good and glory of life he does not define it, which shows not only his wisdom but his sense of its greatness. There is a truth which begins where definitions end. It is not indefinite, but indefinable; not the vagueness of a confused mind, but the breathless wonder of a listening heart. Also, the Apostle uses a word not found in classic lore, rendered Love, Charity, Courtesy, but which no one may ever hope to translate. It includes all these, and transcends them. It is something which all words and phrases together cannot express-- a mystery, a wonder, a depth no plummet can fathom. It is the center of union, the cement of society, the fragrance and splendor of life. It is the essence of law, the inspiration of effort, the goal of endeavor, the measure of all excellence. It is the life of God in the soul of man.

First the Apostle shows how, without this one thing needful, life is empty, vain, and futile. Eloquence, no matter how angelic, is only sound and fury signifying nothing, "if I have not love." Knowledge, though it go down to the root of all mysteries, brings up no real reward unless it toils in a spirit of love. Prodigal philanthropy, and even the heroism of martyrdom --were they possible without it - lose their splendor. It is the secret of character, of the patience which suffers long and is kind, of the joy in goodness on which no shade of envy falls, of the humility that forgets self, of the dignity that never behaves unseemly, of the self-sacrifice that seeks not its own, aye, and of the white purity that thinketh no evil. It is the

secret, also, of an incredible and all-conquering confidence, able to endure all things because it sees where others are blind, and hopes where others despair - sees the beauty hidden and forgotten in the most sin-bespattered life, and, seeing, dares to believe in the unknown goodness of bad men, and in the Divinity that haunts our mortal dust. Hence its masterful defiances of pain and wrong, its sweet and unwearied conciliations, and its unshakable hold upon a handful of deathless hopes.

Then a ray of white eternal light, falling from some far off pilot star, shone for an instant upon the page, and in its radiance the Apostle wrote three words which in this sad, cynical, disillusioned world seem too good to be true: "Love never faileth." How can it be true in a world where "life is a count of losses every year," where so many fair things lose their beauty, and where in the muck and ruck of things so much that is pure and holy is defiled? Evermore the knowledge of one age becomes the foolishness of the next. Prophecies fail either by falsity or fulfillment, and poor stammering tongues are hushed in the great silence. But the greatest thing in the world remains, new every morning and unwearied at eventide, the cup of enchantment, the crown of triumph, the sovereign beauty which time nor chance can dim or defile. Yea, it lifts us out of the welter of sin and sorrow and immemorial misunderstanding, out of the shadow into that nameless, ineffable mystery in which faith is lost in vision, and hope is fulfilled in fruition, and where, at last, we "shall know even as also we are known."

AFTER DEATH SHALL WE LIVE AGAIN?

BY BRO. R. I. CLEGG, CLEVELAND, OHIO

SAYS Brother Fennell, in the July issue, "My greatest interest has centered around the problem of demonstrating the future life. . ." How can it be demonstrated? Not wholly by the monitorial evergreen. That is obviously misnamed. Neither by the acacia. These are but transitory symbols. Reminders rather are they than irrefragible and conclusive evidences. Contributory and maybe presumptive testimony it is true but mainly suggestive, not absolutely convincing to the antagonistic among the sceptical, not altogether satisfying to the friendly critic. For the evergreen shrivels at the approach of heat, and disintegrates into elemental dust at the touch of a mere ignited match. How illusory is it at a superficial glance if we so measure it as a firm foundation for our faith !

How then shall we Freemasons answer for our reliance on the life eternal? We may look to the Great Light. Is there anything further? Humbly I offer a few crude comments in reply.

First, Faith: Nature tells us of symmetry and order, even as we are taught as Fellowcrafts. Order is indicative of purpose. In that we perceive design. Beyond the art of the Builder, we recognize and reverence the Architect Sublime of the Universe.

Incomplete are our lives. Rewards and punishments are various and mysterious and to our defective sight they are ill-assorted and unequally applied.

Seeing here so much of the unfulfilled we must contritely, prayerfully and expectantly hold with humility as little children the hand of Him our Father when hence we go into the dark.

Second, the Hope Universal: How beautiful Robert Ingersoll voiced with eloquence the unquenchable ardor of men, even of the agnostic, for comfort in this problem. He the fighter most brilliant against faith religious could not but doubt his own conclusions when contemplating the mystery of the grave. Death, said he, may be but the closing forever of a door or the unfolding of pinions for flight, and dire was Ingersoll’s dilemma when without the chart of religion or the beacon light of its convictions.

While throughout the world men of all tongues in all the ages, wise and simple alike, have deemed-this belief in immortality to be at the very least a probability, and most men have admitted it to be a certainty, we may well ask ourselves why so fundamental and generally accepted conviction is indeed not to be classed with the axioms of the geometers. Assuredly more than hopeful is the lesson of this world-wide and world old acceptance.

Third, by Analogy: Force is eternal so far as investigation reaches. The conservation of energy is a principle accepted both by atheists and the faithful everywhere. Matter to the physicist disappears not but has protean forms. Nature’s changes and phenomena are ebbing and flowing constantly as a restless sea. Outward goes the tide, to be again driven back upon the shore. Upward to heaven rises the evaporated waters from the ocean to fall once more as rain upon the land, or as the shimmering pearly dew upon the flowers of the earth; or perhaps the drops unitedly tumble joyously adown the mountain side and the slender brook rushes boisterously or flows quietly along gentle slopes or leaps o’er Niagara’s brink back to the bosom of the deep waters whence it first emerged.

Into the earth’s waiting soil-drops the seed. A tiny plant is given birth. It grows and blossoms. Anon the seed reappears. Scattered by the vagrant winds or the industrious hand of man the seed is once more entrusted to the fruitful earth. Again and again it lives the unceasing succession of cycles.

So goes everywhere the busy round of Nature. As of the body so is reasonably the evolution of the soul. Can we not as a consequence, fairly by analogy alone, believe that the greater plants and twigs and trees of humanity, youths and maidens, men and women, may anticipate that in due course there will come just such renewed opportunities for the service of our God ?

And lastly, by our ripening knowledge: As children our facts are few. They are unrelated. We see them not at all in precise and accurate comparison with other truths that widening experience alone unfolds to us. When older we note a coherence where formerly was naught but scattered and broken links. The universe then becomes the more vividly to us a true unity.

Is there an apparently irregular motion of a star ? Science welcomes secrets but abhors mysteries. An astrophysicist in due season dares probe with mental means into the darkness. He places and appraises the source of commotion though he sees not neither does he feel save with the eye and hand of faith founded in the assurance that everywhere is operative law. Later when the mechanic improves his practice in optics the astronomer sees further than before into the heavens and announces the disturbing element as a hither to undiscovered star. Thus also in chemistry did Mendelief reason out his law of the periodicity of the elements. So likewise did Helmholtz see the relation of tone and overtone.

Therefore this coherent relationship of Nature, this suggestion on all hands that the present is but a promise, that the bud is only the

unopened flower, gives a deepening knowledge that an intelligent and altogether justifiable belief is that of immortality. Or surely we be less than the beasts and the herbs of the field in the economy and the systematization and the intention of the world.

From isolated facts the scientists unearth and grasp the general law. Is a measure of oxygen of a specific atomic weight? On trial he finds accordingly and says, Yes. He repeats the experiment. Again he secures the same evidence. The particular fact becomes with every repetition the emphasized proof of a universal law. All truth is but these related uniformities. From them we look further and trustingly into the future. Immortality is the fact that scientifically satisfies.

Here be briefly and in part the restful rocks on which at least one Mason builds his expectancy of meeting those he loved that have gone before.

WHAT is a MASTER BY BRO. S. W. WILLIAMS G. H. P., TENNESSEE

WHAT is a MASTER--and what does it mean ? A MASTER, in the highest and truest sense, is one who has climbed the rugged Path of Life; who has, by casting off the dross, so lightened his load that

he can rise into the true and pure Light that emanates from the presence of GOD.

One who has conquered SELF--and devotes his life to the aiding and uplifting of his fellows; who has purified his heart, and mind, and Soul by overcoming the baser parts of his nature, and dedicated his Passions to be used solely for God’s glory and honor; one who is ever ready and willing, at all times and under all conditions to sacrifice his own hopes, wishes and desires, if thereby he may be of service to a distressed Brother.

One who, not withstanding the jibes and jeers of the populace, will, like the Eagle fix his eye on the Sun, and rise higher and higher through the maze of difficulties that will beset him, till he falls prostrate at the feet of the Father, only to be "Raised" into an ecstacy of Light.

To be a MASTER, one must "Pass" through "the valley of the Shadow" and be able to soar through the Stars--ever ready and willing to go back into the sickening, scalding slime of Death itself to lend a Helping Hand.

To be a MASTER one must steel his heart and mind against the temptations and follies of this life and TRUST IN GOD--even as a

Child clutches and clings to its mother--he must have "Faith in God, Hope in a blessed Immortality, and Charity for all mankind"- - he must "Love those that hate, and pray for those who despitefully use him."

He may be scoffed and jeered at--abused, slandered and reviled-- but God will give unto him a Halo-- an AURA, if you will--and countless thousands will rise to "touch the hem of his garment" that they may be healed by his great strength, which is only that which the Father has given him.

The poor, the sick and the suffering will love him-- aye, they will cherish him, for he has been very good unto them; he has sympathized with them in their sorrows and rejoiced with them in their joys; he has whispered words of encouragement to them that has made it easier to climb the rugged Path of Life; he has brought sunshine, and cheer and happiness where before all was darkness, discouragement and distress.

SUCH AN ONE IS A MASTER--and has FOUND THE TRUE WORD--the WORD THAT WAS LOST.

"Be ye faithful unto death, and I will give you a Crown of Life."

MASONRY IN "THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN" BY BRO. CHARLES S. LOBINGIER, SHANGHAI, CHINA

(By the kindness of Brother Lobingier we present herewith a part of a report made by him to the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, in its Southern Jurisdiction, reciting how, on May 13th, 1915, he communicated the degrees of the Rite, from the 4th to the 32nd, to the following candidates from the Shanghai bodies:--Chow Tze Chi, of Federal Lodge No. 1, Washington, D. C. Pacnan Mienseng Whang, of Washington Lodge No. 21, New York; and Walter Alexander Adams, of Recovery Lodge No. 33, Greenville, S. C. This ceremony took place in the famous Temple of Heaven, Peking, China--described below--for the reason that Brother Chow, being a member of President Yuan’s cabinet, and unusually occupied with the trying diplomatic experiences with Japan, could not leave the capital for any purpose, nor, of course, could his secretary, Brother Whang. Yet they were extremely anxious to receive the degrees, and it seemed highly important to the Rite that their wishes be gratified. Hence the communication of the degrees in Peking, of which a very interesting account follows.--The Editor.)

AT my request, communicated through Bro. Chow, the Chinese government placed at our disposal for the ceremonies of the day, one of the buildings in the extensive enclosure in the south city known as the "Temple of Heaven." You will be the better enabled to appreciate just what this concession meant from the Chinese viewpoint from some descriptions of these famous buildings by leading writers on China:

"Within the gates of the southern division (Chinese City) of the capital," says Dr. Martin, (1) "and surrounded by the sacred grove so extensive that the silence of its deep shade is never broken by the noises of the busy world, stands the Temple of Heaven. It consists of a single tower, whose tiling, of resplendent azure, is intended to represent the form and color of the aerial vault. It contains no image and the solemn rites are not performed within the tower but on a marble altar which stands before it."

S. Wells Williams (2) thus describes it:

"Separated from the Altar of Heaven by a low wall, is a smaller, though more conspicuous construction called Kihuh Tan or ’Altar of Prayer for Grain.’ * * Upon its upper terrace rises a magnificent triple-roofed, circular building known to foreigners as the ’Temple of Heaven.’ It is no exaggeration to call this temple the most remarkable edifice in the capital or indeed in the empire. The native name is Ki-Pien Tien or Temple of Prayer for the Year."

The building set apart for our use was one almost as sacred, known as the "Emperor’s Robing Temple," "of exquisite form and color, the same wondrous blue tiles being used. It is from this temple that he comes to the great open-air sacrificial altar." (3)

This building was almost as well adapted to our purposes as if built expressly for a lodge room. It was already provided with an altar and the elevated throne in the rear opposite the entrance afforded a "gorgeous East." The light was not especially good but our Chinese candidates brought silver candelabras which afforded illumination quite sufficient. It was thoroughly in accord with the international character and spirit of the occasion that the doors and steps of the temple were draped with both American and Chinese flags. The five hued flag of China, though in use as such only since the inauguration of the republic, is really the embodiment of a bit of Chinese symbolry in which the number five, like the number three, figures prominently.

The Robing Temple is a most interesting structure in itself but its peculiar sacredness derives from its proximity to and connection with, the famous Altar of Heaven, opposite which it stands. Of this Mr. Williams (4) observes:

"The great South Altar, the most important of Chinese religious structures, is a beautiful triple circular terrace of white marble whose base is 210, middle stage 150, and top 90 feet in width, each terrace encompassed by a richly carved balustrade."

Liddell (5) calls it "* * * the most beautiful and impressive example of architecture in existence."

But the most appreciative description is from the pen of Dr. Martin, the veteran missionary:

"This is the high place of Chinese devotion," he says, (6) "and the thoughtful visitor feels that he ought to tread its courts with unsandalled feet." * * * "Dr. Legge, the distinguished translator of the Chinese classics, visiting Peking, actually put his shoes from of his feet before ascending the steps of the great altar. * * *"

"For no vulgar idolatry is here; this mountain top still stands above the waves of corruption and on this solitary altar there rests a faint ray of the primeval faith. * * *

"The tablet, which represents the invisible Deity, is inscribed with the name of Shang Ti, the Supreme Ruler, and as we contemplate the majesty of the empire prostrate before it, while the smoke ascends from his burning sacrifice, our thoughts are irresistibly carried back to the time when the King of Salem officiated as ’Priest of the most High God.’ "

It was amid such surroundings, hoary with antiquity and redolent with the piety of unnumbered generations, that the Chinese in Peking were first introduced to the philosophy of the Scottish Rite.

I recall that in 1899 the General Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters met in Colorado and while there improved their opportunities and startled the Masonic world by conferring a portion of their degrees on the summit of Pike’s Peak and the remainder in the famous Cave of the Winds near Manitou. These wonders of Nature certainly afforded an imposing background for their ceremonies but I believe you will agree with me that they were not more so than the environment with which we were so fortunately provided.

It was of course impracticable to confer the degrees in full form with only two assistants, one of whom stopped at the 18d. We, therefore, by way of introduction, conferred the 4d in short form, Dr. Anhaeusser acting as master of ceremonies. Then by way of preparation for the remainder, I read the candidates a composite lecture consisting of those passages in Morals and Dogmas, Ritual and Liturgy which deal with the sages and philosophy of China. It is really surprising to one who has not tested it, to learn how considerable these passages are and how accurately they reflect the thought of this ancient land--another proof of the broad scholarship and profound learning of their distinguished author!

When St. Paul delivered- on the Acropolis his famous discourse (7) by which he introduced amongst the cultured Athenians the strange faith from Palestine, he wisely sought to interest his hearers by quoting from "certain also of your own poets." So it seemed fitting, in introducing this new philosophy of the west in the capital of the oldest sovereignty on the globe, to lay special stress upon the extent to which that philosophy had drawn from the sages and thinkers of China.

The ceremonies of the 32d were not concluded until late in the evening and there was hardly time to return to the hotel and dress for the dinner which Minister Chow was giving at his home in honor of the event and to which not only the participants but other Masonic friends, Chinese and foreign, were invited. This was a most enjoyable and memorable affair. Your letter of May 13 was read and received with hearty applause and the unanimous feeling of the company was that the Masons of Peking, of whom there are many, must proceed to organize forthwith. A petition for a dispensation to open International Lodge in that city is already before the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts (of which China is a Masonic district) and the sentiment was that the next step should be the organization of a Lodge of Perfection. I believe that the field there is ready for our Rite and that the possibilities are almost unlimited. New China has entered the family of nations; her leaders need our principles and are naturally attracted to them. May we not fail to meet so great an opportunity.

(1) Lore of Cathay.

(2) The Middle Kingdom, 77.

(3) Liddell, China its Marvel and Mystery. (1909) 141.

(4) The Middle Kingdom, 76.

(5) China, Its Marvel and Mystery, 141.

(6) Lore of Cathay.

(7) Acts XVII, 22-31.

AN UNUSED TOOL

Today Freemasonry lies in the hand of the modern man largely an unused tool, capable of great achievements for God, for country, for mankind, but doing very little. For one, I believe that circumstances may easily arise, when the highest and most sacred of all freedoms being threatened in this land, Freemasonry may be its most powerful defender, unifying all minds and commanding our best citizenship.

--Bishop Potter.

EDITORIAL

(The Builder is an open forum for free and fraternal discussion. Each of its contributors writes under his own name, and is responsible for his own opinions. Believing that a unity of spirit is better than a uniformity of opinion, the Research Society, as such, does not champion any one school of Masonic thought as over against another; but offers to all alike a medium for fellowship and instruction, leaving each to stand or fall by its own merits.)

GETTING TOGETHER

We mix from many lands, we march for very far In hearts and lips and hands our staffs and weapons are;

The light we walk in darkens sun and moon and star.

It doth not flame and wane with years and spheres that roll Storms cannot shake nor stain the strength that makes it whole, The fire that moulds and moves it of the sovereign soul

TRULY, in Fellowship Masonry has its founts, and it is one of the aims of this Society, set forth from the beginning, "to enable Brethren in one section of the country to come in touch with Brethren similarly interested elsewhere." In this behalf, we are now ready to organize a Correspondence Circle among our Members, in which all are invited to join, and we have reason to believe, from inquiries broaching this matter, that a great many will take advantage of such an opportunity for closer fellowship. Indeed, the advantages are almost unlimited, not only for mutual inspiration and instruction, but also for the cultivation of warm and enduring friendships - than which, outside the home and the house of God, there is nothing fairer or finer on this old earth.

Therefore, in our last issue we asked our Members to tell us, in few words or many, in which aspect of our many-sided Masonry they are most interested. Every Mason loves Masonry - it is so noble, so beautiful, so benign, and it holds before us an Ideal of freedom, friendship and gracious living - but most of us will confess that some one aspect of it appeals to us more deeply than others; some one Rite, perhaps, or some one Degree which came to us in a dross- drained hour and helped us to find ourselves. One man loves Masonry for its religious tolerance, another for its large and wise philosophy, another for its simple and eloquent symbolism, and still another because it offers him a field in which to serve his fellow men in practical ways. Such choices, made almost unconsciously, are largely matters of taste, temperament, and habits of mind, and the glory of Masonry is that it is rich enough, deep enough, broad enough to unite and exalt many men of many minds.

Now it occurs to us that, by knowing the chief points of interest in Masonry on the part of our Members, we can arrange them into four or five groups - perhaps more - according to their interest and inclination; and that the members of each group would be glad to have a list of Brethren both in their own Jurisdiction and elsewhere who are similarly interested. In this way, although widely scattered, we can meet about the great fireplace in the House of Light and thrash things out, stimulating frank and fraternal discussion, the while we promote good-fellowship, deeper sympathy and mutual understanding. When the discussion is of sufficient interest and value to warrant its publication, the pages of The Builder are always at our command, and ye editor will welcome it most heartily. Any of our Members who are willing to permit their names to be given to other Brethren making inquiries, or who have any suggestions to offer as to this plan of Getting Together, will confer a favor by letting the Secretary know at an early date.

Brethren, we live in wild and desperate days when many ties are being broken or cut, and the world seems going to pieces amid the crash and tragedy of universal war. It behooves us to come closer together, and where better can we do this than in the House of Light at the Sign of the Square and Compasses ! Comrades in a great Cause, we must pass from the outer courts into the secret place of Fellowship, seeking every man his Brother!

"What is this - the vague aspiring In my soul towards unknown good,

For no selfish end desiring Blessings dimly understood?

’Tis the World-Prayer drawing nearer,

Claiming universal good,

Its first faint words sounding clearer,

Justice, Freedom, Brotherhood."

* * *

GEORGE FRANKLIN FORT -

It is a great pleasure to announce a forthcoming biography of the late Brother George Franklin Fort, one of the most brilliant of Masonic historians, whose work, "Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry," has become a classic among us, alike for its scholarship and its literary quality. The book will be written by Mr. A. E. Bear, and will contain, besides the biographical material not hitherto published, a number of articles by Brother Fort on Masonic subjects published locally or in fugitive form. Such a book should command a wide reading among Masons, not only because little or nothing has been written about Brother Fort, but because, as the late Brother Gould said in his History of Masonry, he was one of the finest scholars American Masonry has known.

Ye editor confesses to a double interest in this forthcoming biography, being a member of the Fort family - as his middle name betrays - as well as an ardent admirer of Fort as a Masonic historian. In order to spread news of this book we have secured for The Builder a personal sketch of Brother Fort, written by his brother, John H. Fort, accompanied by a very fine picture, to which will be added a critical study and estimate of G. F. Fort as a Masonic scholar and historian by Brother O. D. Street, of Alabama. The sketch and the appreciation, taken together, will serve to introduce to the Masons of this generation a man well worth knowing both for his character and his genius, and whose work is so worthy of study.

* * *

SANTA CLAUS A MASON?

My Brother, do not be too terribly wise about that Santa Claus business, for we are often most foolish when we fancy that we are wise, and most truly wise when we fear that we are foolish. If there is a Lost Boy back down the years - buried, it may be, under the litter of your labor or the dust of grinding toil - go find him on Christmas Day, if so you may learn to trust the great Father, for one day, as you did in the times when the heart was pure and life was new, before knowledge had troubled the waters of faith and our days were sicklied over with the pale cast of thought.

Look now at that Picture - a little Child and his Mother bending near, a stable his shelter, a manger his Cradle; the shepherds in their rough garb, the Magi with their rich perfumes; and over all the eternal mystery of love new-born, of truth announced by simple rustic sentiments and commanding the homage of hoary wisdom - and a Light linking a Babe with the far off, wandering Stars. Art will always love that scene, and music will celebrate it in everlasting song. It is easy to brush all this aside as the work of poetic fancy - too easy, indeed, since its mark on history remains, and the influence of that Child, on any theory of His origin, is the noblest force that has yet touched the life of our poor sad humanity.

Since that day Christmas has journeyed far, gathering many beauties in its train, until today it is a vast symposium of hope and joy and forward-looking thoughts. Puck, Cupid, Ariel and Santa Claus, airy spirits from elfland, have joined its choir, with Tiny Tim and his band of Arabs, each bringing some note of quaint and curious glee. Together they hold concert on that day, translating the dim, gray hieroglyphs of life into a symphony of hope, with many an odd and eerie variation borrowed front the pipes of Pan and the lyre of the reeds swaying in the glen. No wonder Shakespeare portrays it as a time when evil spirits dare not stir abroad, and the bird of dawn sings all night long, so hallowed and so gracious is that prophetic day.

For Christmas is a prophecy, a stray note of harmony in this discordant world, inducing a finer quality in our thoughts and a sweeter flow of our feelings toward one another. No one need sign a creed, or profess a dogma, to be happy on Christmas day, for then it is that we have one Universal Fellowship in which there are no sects, no parties, no saints, no sinners, and its altar is a Cradle. On that

Day, the son of toil who on other days may have regretted that tiny lips ever named him "father," sits happy by his fireside. On that Day the weary mother forgets her care, and is lifted, for a brief time, into something resembling joy. Wherefore this oasis in a desert of days that are but a muddled memory of what they ought to be ? Is there any explanation of this riddle? To our thought, yes. It lies in the fact that Christmas is a prophecy, looking not so much backward as forward to a coming, but perhaps distant, time, when men will learn to live by the Law of Love which on other days they deny - God knoweth why.

Despite a world at war, despite class hatreds, race rancors, and the riot of greed and strife and the struggle for place and power and pelf

- aye, despite the weariness of our own hearts waiting for the dawn - let us have hope born of faith in the might of love, the valor of forgiveness, and the final advent of that Christmas Day when

"Brotherhood of good,

Equal rights and laws,

Freedom, whose sweet food

Feeds the multitude

All their days and nights."

MASONRY IN THE HOME -

As Christmas is the great Home Day - the festival of Mother and Child, and all the sweet, ineffable associations which cluster about the oldest and most hallowed of our human fellowships - we beg to call attention to a wise address on "Masonry and the Home," by Brother T. Newburgh, delivered at the last quarterly meeting of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand. Seldom have we seen so much deep truth so fitly spoken as in this brief address which brings the point of the whole matter right home to each of us, editor and reader alike, and we feel that it is needed. Listen:

We must remember, Brethren, that as Freemasons we have our direct responsibilities. We are taught to practice every domestic as well as public virtue, and this cannot be done under our present system of confining all knowledge of the working of Masonry to the Lodge room. In my opinion, if the Freemason’s domestic circle was given a little more intelligent enlightenment as to the aspirations and tenets of Masonry it would certainly lead to a greater tolerance of our Order than it generally receives. The Masonic world we live in is seldom introduced into the home, with the result that a great many people form a most distorted and grotesque idea of its aims, objects and ideals. In this direction, I believe, we make a very serious mistake.

Our Order imposes - or seems to impose - by unwritten law or ancient custom, a foolish secrecy, which is not only injurious to the

harmony of the home, but derogatory to the best interests of the Order. Brethren, I know of nothing in our Masonry of today which should not have its place, and a very decided place in the average home. . . There are a few, a very few, who take pride in introducing Masonry into their homes, but these are exceptions to the rule. It is highly necessary for the well being of the home that the utmost sympathy must always prevail and if we were to bring our Masonrv more closelv into touch with our homes and home-life, it would be better for all concerned. Our Order is judged not by our ideas of it, but by the ideas we convey to others. . . Is it not true, Brethren, that the Masonry of to-morrow can only be maintained by the children of today? And such being the case, we should see to it that they are well prepared for such an honorable position by laying the foundations of a genuine, sympathetic harmony between the home and the Craft, and thus bring the two into closer union than they are at present.

Now, in my humble opinion the great mistake the average Freemason makes is in reference to the secrecy of our Order. Surely our beautiful charges and teachings are worthy to be scattered to the four cardinal winds of heaven. Alas, we seem to labor under the delusion that our obligations bind us to secrecy on all points. Needless to say, Brethren, our real secrets should always be guarded, but should we not bring ourselves down to actual facts, and ask ourselves, "What are the secrets of the Graft?" and in the analysis I venture to assert that the greater part of our ritual will find no place among those secrets. Brethren, let us abandon once and for all the foolish and ignorant attitude of regarding the moral and intellectual atmosphere of Masonry as a close corporation, to be spoken of only in whispers or within the secret precincts of our Lodge rooms.

* * *

PRACTICAL MASONRY -

There are signs to show that Masonry is becoming more effectively practical in the way of social service, doing many things which even the church cannot do. Here lies a rich field of labor, only it must be entered wisely and with care, so as not to involve our Lodges in such efforts in behalf of social betterment as require political agitation and action. But a large area of opportunity for social service remains open and free from such danger, and many of our Lodges are becoming active in good causes, applying the spirit of Masonry to the service of the common good. For instance, the Masons of Duluth won the thanks of that city for reducing the death-rate of the community, by their concern and service in the matter of infant mortality. A Lodge in Washington conducts a Bible-class in a moving picture show. In Kentucky a Lodge is reported to have given one thousand dollars to a community school. Meanwhile, the same spirit is assuming new and tangible shape in new forms of service among Masons themselves, as witness the number of employment bureaus in our cities conducted by Lodges. Up in Minnesota not long ago a Brother had his barn burned down, and a band of Masons appeared upon the scene and rebuilt it while he lay ill - "operative" Masons in very truth. These are a few examples out of many, showing in how many ways Masonry may render useful service to mankind and how well fitted it is for such labors.

* * *

CORRESPONDENCE IMPRESSIONS OF THE FIRST DEGREE

That which determines on which degree a Lodge is working is well known to every Master Mason and what we see and hear while not for the profane, is nevertheless exoteric and passes for the Ritual to those who do not understand its deeper or hidden meaning.

The square is a symbol of the material manifestation, the triangle is a symbol of the three aspects of God. When these are placed in proper relation to each other a result is accomplished (something started).

Three or more persons make a company and under certain conditions are empowered to work and to work for good. Let us for the purpose of argument transpose good and its opposite evil; the result requires no stretch of the imagination to see the chaos conjured up to despoil that which is sublime.

Be it said to the shame of the few who have exhibited emblems for mercenary purposes that through their act something wrong has been started, and evil is the progeny.

In the first degree the Square dominates everything, indicating that the work is for the material presence. It is true that Lodge business was conducted on the first degree, and if I mistake not, still is in England: however this fact should not be set up as a precedent to conclude that it is because the first is the most important, but as business is material, it does properly belong within the confines of a Lodge while at labor where things of material nature may be dealt with.

In like manner the two remaining degrees have their distinct functions and meanings which ring out clear as bells and are far, very far, from being elaborations.

One must not forget, however, that the E. A. degree is to deal with the material side only, so far as it may be refined, to be more fully developed and spiritually perfected in the sueceeding degrees.

The thinker is brought to light. Let no one assume that "The Masonic lessons" are practical lessons (materialistic), that they have a dollar and cents value, that the wage is a nonetary consideration and excuse himself, or hide behind the exoteric or literal ritualistic expression of the one who says "for the better support of himself and family."

Were the wage merely monetary, ther Masonry is unworthy the name and would long since have ceased and been forgotten. From any Masonic manual we learn that metal is a dense substance, in other words it belongs to this planet or sphere.

Man is a many sided creation. and while possessing a carnal body has his real being in the higher self. It is therefore fitting that in the beginning of his Masonic career that which is worldly, that which is of the Earth earthy, should be senarated from him that the person, the I, may be free.

When one reflects that the paper money in one’s pocket is a certificate (a check if you please) which is a demand for metal which our Government recognizes as the real money, this becomes clear. It is not within the pale of possibilities to imagine that the higher self can be paid a wage which is of the Earth earthy. Wage there is and the student of Masonry must find it. He and he alone, when he finds himself (his higher self) is on the road and from that time shall he receive wages and the more he labors the higher will be the wage, and the better support of himself and family.

The beginner soon finds that the step he is taking does not concern his worship of Deity, his political affiliations, his standing in the community nor indeed himself (he of the carnal mind), and the experiences through which he passes are not for others than those of the craft, yet to the well-informed members he may talk without restraint since by so doing the sooner will come the light of understanding.

The course of the candidate seeking knowledge cannot be likened to anything alternating darting from darkness to light, from light to darkness without end; as a matter of faet the direction is from East to West and from West to East and once he sees the light it is never lost. It is the light seen without eyes a luminary which is nearer, even dimmed, but leads the thinker on, and on, ever seeking more and more and more light.

All the written words of God are before him and by their power his promises become Holy resolutions, and the student of Masonry finds himself paroled in the custody of his own honor. Not, as some suppose, "bound whether we will or not.” The inner meaning is exactly the reverse of bound it is liberated. It is the freeing from all that enslaves, the unshackling of the higher self: and, armed with knowledge, man goes forth; he finds himself and is able to work and receive wages.

Masonry provides the beginner with the wherewithal and sees that he is properly fitted out to labor; and instructs him in the use of implements. All know the symbolism. Then he is assigned a place. He finds his responsibilities among his fellows, and that he is the living word of God.

- J. Oscar Bruce, New York.

* * *

A UNIVERSAL RITUAL

Dear Brother Editor: - In the September member of The Builder I notice an article under the subject of "What shall we do with the Ritual" and in reading this article over I am led to make the following remarks. In the first place, I would say leave it alone, at this time at least. "Why?" Because the time, energy and money, that would be required to bring about a so-called Universal Ritual could be put to a better advantage for the Fraternity.

In the next place, what particular benefit will the Fraternity derive from a Universal Ritual? I have never in my Masonic experience known of a case where a brother was refused any help, aid, or assistance on account of difference in Ritual, but I have known of cases where they were refused simply because they were not familiar enough with their own Ritual to prove themselves worthy of any aid or assistance. Now this was not the fault of the Ritual being different from some other Ritual, but the fault was in the Brother himself because he did not familiarize himself with his own Ritual. And in fact I am led to believe that we often get a good many ideas by coming in contact with the different Rituals while on the other hand I would like to ask if there wouldn’t be a certain degree of danger with a Universal Ritual, of becoming just a little bit careless or rather a handicap when it comes to admitting strangers within our lodge rooms. I am of the opinion that if we will only study our Rituals more it will be a good deal like rubbing up against a newly painted building, the more we rub against it the more the world will be convinced of its good effect. I am also convinced that we should watch our Petitions closer and see that we are getting nothing but the kind of material that is willing to spend time and energy to study the Ritual that we already have; then and then only will we have workers, and a difference in the Ritual will be a secondary consideration. How many of us have watched or even helped to bring young men to Further light in Masonry and that is about the last we see of them, except occasionally when there are Eats. There was something overlooked in the petition of that young man, and in fact I believe we as Masons should, when a friend asks us to sign his petition, stop the man right there and ask him if he knows what it means to be a Mason and if he will put forth every effort to live up to its teachings, and if these questions are answered in the affirmative and the man does really put forth such an effort, my guess is that we will have a member that will be of some service to the Fraternity. But I imagine in a good many cases the answer to the question would be something like this, "Well, there is so and so, I don’t see that he pays much attention to the teachings of

Masonry." This is only more evidence that some petitions have gone through that should not. A Brother said to me some time ago, "That the lodge had better quit taking in members and make Masons out of some that they now have." I am very much impressed with the plan that is adopted by Arcana Lodge No. 87 of Seattle, Washington, as outlined in the April number of The Builder; in fact I hope to see the time in the near future when our Grand Lodge will adopt something of the kind.

Fraternally yours,

C. L. Hargrave. Iowa.

* * *

GENERAL GRANT A MASON?

Dear Sir and Brother: - On page 247, of the October Builder, under the heading, "Questions," I note what P. G. M. Baird of the District of Columbia, says, ending, "Grant was reported as a Fellow Craft, but I have been unable to verify it."

In the Templar Correspondence of Illinois, 1902, (pages 131-139,) under the review of Oregon, by R. E. Sir John Corson Smith, Correspondent, will be found the story of the reports regarding

General Grant having received some Masonic Degrees, etc., and on pages 137-8, is a copy of a letter Sir Smith wrote about 1892 to the Rough Ashlar, Richmond, Virginia, telling all about his (Sir Smith’s) effort to give President Grant the Degrees " at Sight," and how he was prevented. (we might say providentially.) We say this, because we have yet to know of a "Mason made at sight" who was of any benefit to the Craft as a Mason, and President Grant was not called upon to say, as President Taft is reported in the daily Press, a short time since, "that he had cause to regret that he had not taken the Degrees in the regular way, he would then have known more about it."

Fraternally yours,

J. C. Kidd, Texas.

Weed and Millard Fillmore. With the last-named, anti-secrecy became an article of faith and an active principle throughout life. Opposed to any form of occultism and loving the daylight, Fillmore maintained consistently his moral convictions. Despite his connection in later life with the "NativeAmerican" party. this is true, for though nominated by the "Know Nothings," the burden of his speeches is loyalty to the Union, as the dominant passion of his life." (Griffis: "Millard Fillmore," p. 10).

Francis W. Shepardson, Illinois.

* * *

FAVORING GENERAL GRAND LODGE

Silas H. Shepherd, Wisconsin,

My dear Brother: - It seems to me to be an odd Masonic fact, that there seems to be no way for me to know that any body exists outside of our Grand Jurisdiction. Especially is it odd that as willing as I believe that I am to become acquainted with men of your manifest capacity, there seems to be no practical Masonic reason for my ever knowing that you exist at all.

Your study on the subject of "The Landmarks of Masonry" cannot be overestimated by any one who has any practical, in exchange for theoretical, purpose in Masonry.

I wish that I were worth while so that you could be more definite than to say that you are from "Wisconsin."

You demonstrate the State of Chaos as to Landmarks. The practical question is, "What are you going to DO about it? How will you cure it? I think that you disclose a fundamental reason for action.

The elder Parvin had an article on this subject in which he said that, "We have not yet defined what a landmark is."

I presume that you meant by your caption, "The Landmarks of Regular Masonry " We obliterate all other forms of Masonry by ignoring them.

When I was installed as Grand Master in 1908, the following words were read to me in a most serious voice as if I were being handed something of profound significance and of superlative importance:

"The Ancient Landmarks of the Order BY WHICH WE ARE DISTINGUISHED FROM THE REST OF MANKIND are particularly intrusted to your care. It therefore becomes your most sacred duty to see that during your incumbency, not the least of them be removed."

I called around me some of our Past Grands and said, I will bet $10.00 to ic that these words are plain bunk because you cannot hand me a list of Landmarks to protect. The Grand Lodge of Indiana cannot settle bv herself what they are. The Landmarks are fundamental to Regular Masonry and regular Masonry must get together and settle what they are and enforce loyalty to them.

At that session, our Grand Lodge declared for an organization which could have settled this question. Wisconsin among others laughed at the idea so our Grand Lodge tucked its tail between its legs and ran away from a practical attempt at settling this and other questions which are common to Regular Masonry

There hasn’t been enough headwork expended on Masonry in its 200 years of so called "Speculative" existence to even settle so fundamental a question as "What distinguishes us from the rest of mankind."

Your study is valuable if you follow it up, otherwise what was the use. I am a pragmatist practically.

The point I want to make is that you give us through The Builder, the enormity of the situation which you have brought to light and suggest an adequate cure. That is practical sense, isn’t it ?

Within the United States we are 48 different, regular, unarticulated Masonic Orders, Fraternities, sects cults, something I don’t know what. We have no brain center Nationally or internationally. Our Grand Lodge system means that we have 48 different ganglionic centers which attend to mere existence. You ought to be a part of a brain center for the benefit of Masonry. You at least, would succeed in showing us where "rubbish" is. Your next step will be to show us how to get rid of the rubbish.

Personally I would have no controversy as to what a Landmark is or what they are. My stunt in life pertains to organization. Let the different jurisdictions organize to decide and enforce any list that they want.

There is a logical next sten for you to take. I wonder if you take it. The officiary of Wisconsin has refused to participate with us in the "get together" movement which has been going on in the last six

years and which is the real cause of your study, whether you know it or not.

If you have any time, shoot some ideas straight across, into my head. I would like to see whether I would permit one to get inside.

Thanks for your articles. I value them.

Very truly yours

Chas. N. Mikels, P.G.M. Ind. ’08-’09.

* * *

OPPOSING GENERAL GRAND LODGE

Hartland, Wis., Oct. 2, 1915.

Dear Brother Mikels:

Your most interesting and valuable letter has my earnest attention. I feel that the article, which was an humble effort of a young student, has served its purpose. It was written to awaken thought and eventually to correct errors.

It would be presumption on my part to assume the office of Dr. of Masonic Law and offer a cure-all for the inconsistencies and errors that exist; but I did believe that by making some of those inconsistencies self evident it would awaken in the ripe scholarship of the craft an earnest effort to correct them.

You say that "there seems no practical Masonic reason for ever knowing that you exist at all." I see it in a far different light. The very knowledge that we have of each other and that each is an earnest seeker for that great light Truth is the very best Masonic reason for our knowing each other.

The term "Regular Masonry" is one on which I have ofter pondered. May the harpy day arrive when the spirit of brotherly love; the feeling of reverence for a common Father; and a bright hope of future life be the only test of regularity.

You compliment me with the idea that I olght to be a part of the brain center for the benefit of Masonry. I believe that as far as ability will permit, I am.

I am aware that many of our most earnest and able brethren are of the same opinion as yourself; that there should be an International or National organization. If either it would appear to me that an International would be the only rational one. A National Grand Lodge would be on the same principle as at present only on a larger scale.

The most pronounced harm was done when our American Masonic jurists formulated a system of Jurisprudence which was not only to govern themselves but others who were not consulted or recognized as having rights we were bound by the spirit of Masonry to respect.

When a sufficient number of our brethren become educated in the spirit as well as in the ritual, and I hold that a correct rendition of the ritual is a "thing of beauty," we shall have an adjustment of these errors.

I am of the opinion that our Research Society will prove a most valuable factor in the Education of Masons and that the light in the east is already driving away the clouds of chaos which have enveloped our beloved brotherhood.

If Masonry in the past 200 years had done nothing more than to give us Albert Pike the effort would have been nobly repaid.

It has given much to all of us who allow it to serve us. It has given me a greater faith not only in the future life but in this one as well. This makes it quite clear to me "what distinguishes us from the rest of mankind."

Is not a unity of spirit of greater value than any mere formal organization ?

Some of these things are too deep for us younger students and it will probably be well for me to listen and learn rather than attempt to expound, and if my future leisure will permit it is more congenial to me to gather the gems from the rubbish than to polish them.

I greatly appreciate your kind letter.

Fraternally and cordially yours,

Silas H. Shepherd.

THE BODY OF MASONRY

Dear Brother Newton: - In the Installation Service for the subordinate Lodges, as used in Wisconsin, occurs the following:- Question: "You admit that it is not in the power of any man or body of men, to make innovations in the body of Masonry ?" Answer: "I do." Now the phrase "body of Masonry" is one the content of which is very uncertain to the average Mason. There are those who construe it as referring particularly to the ritual, its language, its sequence of degrees, methods of recognition, and the like. Again, there are those to whom the teachings of the Fraternity as embodied in the words "Brotherly Love, Relief Truth, Temperance, Justice," and so forth, are the "ne plus ultra"; and they contend that such make up the "body" of Masonry. If you were installed in this Jurisdiction what would be in your mind when you answered, "I do ?" Fraternally yours,

W. G. Coapman, Wisconsin.

(Here is a question which we would very much like to have discussed, as the point raised by the letter has to do not simply with the installation service, but with other matters as well. Before giving our notion or interpretation, we should be glad to hear from a great many of our Brethren. The substance of the question as asked in the Grand Jurisdiction of Wisconsin, if not the same words, is asked in every Jurisdiction. We believe that a discussion of this question will be more interesting and valuable than any answer we might give to it. Let us hear from you, Brethren. - The Editor.)

* * *

THE MEN’S HOUSE

Dear Sir and Brother: - While serving in the United States Army in the Philippine Islands I ran across a pamphlet giving a description of a secret society among the natives there, called "The Katapunans." Not being a Mason at the time, I did not pay much attention to it, but since becoming a Mason I have thought about it and I see some similarity in some things to Masonry. I know that one of our men, when captured by the natives, was treated royally when they learned that he was a Mason. Could you find out anything about this order and publish it in The Builder?

Yours very truly,

W. A. Harper, Iowa.

(Nearly all primitive peoples, as far back as we can go, had their secret societies - indeed, the tribal life of olden time, so far as the men were concerned, was altogether a Secret Society called the Men’s House - a scientific discussion of which may be found in "Primitive Secret Societies," by Prof. Hutton Webster. Macmillan Co., New York. The Society to which Brother Harper refers is of this kind and perhaps sortie of our Members in the Philippine Islands will tell us what is known about it. Meanwhile, if Brother Harper can find a copy of Mid-Pacific Magazine for April 1913 he may read an interesting article entitled "Among the Meianesian ’Masons,"’ by H. F. Alexander, describing a similar secret order in New Hebrides. Details differ, but all such societies have a fundamental likeness in purpose and method - they initiate young men into manhood, obligate them to obedience to tribal law and train them in right doing, according to the standards of tie tribe, having first tested their courage and their physical and moral worth. Masonry has its roots in that ancient Man’s House of primitive society, and perpetuates its tradition and service. - The Editor.)

THE LIBRARY "IN A NOOK WITH A BOOK" MASONRY, WHEN, WHERE, HOW?

MANUALS of Masonry multiply, and one of the best we have seen is a little volume by Brother George Thornburgh, Past Grand Master of Arkansas, and editor of the Masonic Trowel, entitled "Masonry, When, Where, How?" As he tells us in the preface, it is not a picture book, nor a biography, but a history, and only incidentally are men mentioned in it - Washington and Pike excepted, and rightly so. The author holds that the reason why Masons as a rule know so little of the story of Masonry, is not because of a lack of interest in the subject, but for want of opportunity to inform themselves - few having the time or means to devote to large and expensive kooks which, in the end, do not make clear the truth. To meet the need of busy men, Brother Thornburgh has written a story of Masonry in plain language, boiled down and stripped of speculation, with a hope that it will be studied and appreciated by the Craft.

The result is a very interesting and valuable little book, beginning with the rites, rituals, oaths and degrees of old Operative Masonry, passing thence to the traditional history, and then to the growth and development of Speculative Masonry and its extension over the world. No doubt there will be differences of opinion as to many questions raised in this record, as when the author tells us that "Dr. Anderson, not knowing the ceremony of the Operative Master’s Degree, invented the legend of the Speculative third degree," taking it, doubtless, from the ancient Egyptian Mysteries. For our part, we question this statement in view of the facts, and we would be.glad to have Brother Thornburgh give his reasons for it in the pages of The Builder. Whatever view the author may hold as to the origin of Masonry, when he comes to tell us what Masonry is, what it teaches and how, and what it is doing for mankind, he is above reply.

Indeed, the little volume is packed full of useful information, not only as to the origin and degrees of Blue Masonry, but also as to the Capitular and Cryptic degrees, Templarism, the Scottish Rite, the Order of the Eastern Star, and the Mystic Shrine. Negro Masonry is touched upon, and the Morgan raid is handled very briefly and wisely; and the volume closes with a sketch of Masonry in Arkansas. There are biographies of Washington and Pike, also mention of the Poets Laureate of Masonry, Burns, Morris, and Hempstead, and a poem by each one of them. The spirit of the book is admirable, and its style is a model of simplicity and lucid statement of facts. Such books are needed in every Grand Jurisdiction, and we trust that the present volume will find many readers not only in Arkansas, but in the great company of the Craft of Builders everywhere.

* * *

THE PHILOSOPHY OF GOETHE

Brother Paul Carus, editor of The Open Court and The Monist, is a prodigious worker. Hardly a year passes that does not bring two or more books from his pen, works of scholarly research in widely differing fields. The last to reach us is a study of "Goethe, With

Special Consideration to his Philosophy," as beautifully printed as it is nobly written; and we are glad to note that it gives due place to the influence of Masonry in the life of that "myriad-minded man." Other biographers overlook this aspect of his life, when they do not actually belittle it. Brother Carus delineates to us Goethe the man, the poet, the thinker; and the man is almost a more attractive figure than the poet or the thinker. He was so sanely, so richly human; liberal but not skeptical; religious but not dogmatic; he worshiped God in Nature, and might be called either a pantheist or a monist- albeit, as the author tells us, he was more of a follower of Christ than is usually thought.

As has been said, the Masonic fellowship of Goethe meant more to him than some of his students have been willing to allow. He belonged to the Amalia Lodge, of Weimar, for which he wrote more than one Masonic poem, afterwards printed in his posthumous works in 1833. Wernekke, in his volume on "Goethe and the Royal Art," also makes note of his Masonic poems, some of which were set to music and sung in the Lodge. In speaking of the poem called "The Bequest," and in particular of the lines,

"No being into naught can fall;

The eternal liveth in them all,"

Brother Carus points out that "the Wise One" who indwells man is "the Omniscient Architect of the world - a Masonic idea"; and the meaning is that truth by which we live comes from God who marks the orbits of the stars and guides their courses. Lovers of Goethe will find this book a delight, and those not familiar with him could hardly ask for a more inspiring introduction to one of the great minds of the world.

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MATHEMATICS AND THEOLOGY

Readers of The Builder will remember a little book on "Religion and Science," by Prof. Keyser, noted in our first issue; and if they read it they will be eager to see his new essay on "The New Infinite and the Old Theology." Here is the same breadth of outlook, the same firm grasp of great ideas, the same magic of style. What strikes one in this little book, however, is its revelation of the service of the science of mathematics to religious faith and the higher life of man. In this respect the essay is luminous, and might have been named, as the author once intended, the message of modern mathematics to theology. For the author is not of those shortsighted ones who think that, because so much has been made obsolete of late, theology is a defunct science. Not so. Nor will it ever be so while man has to face the dark mystery of the world, and the questions which attend the pensive mood or the tragic hour. As we may read: "I do not believe that the declined estate of Theology is destined to be permanent. The present is but an interregnum in her reign, and her fallen days will have an end. She has been deposed mainly because she has not seen fit to avail herself promptly and fully of the dispensations of advancing knowledge. When she shall have made good her present lack of modern education and learned to extend a generous and eager hospitality to modern light, she will reascend and will occupy with dignity, as of yore, an exalted place in the ascending scale of human interests and the esteem of enlightened men."

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"THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS"

From a tiny, tender little book by Arthur H. Gleason, whose lines are perfumed with the spirit of the gentle festival of which they speak, we venture to read a page, the while we wish our Brethren as merry a Christmas as any one may hope to have in a world so full of the woe of war. Listen, and meditate:

"Each year, for a handful of days, so brief, so swift to go, Lord Christ assumes the leadership. Each year we give Him Christmas week, permitting His will to prevail, His brooding spirit to rest upon us. Toward that gentle interlude - the days of the Truce of God - men longingly look through the tale of weary months. And when the brief term is ended, yearningly our thoughts turn back to that time when we were good together. His spirit breathes through the season, like faint music in the night. Strife, anger, and the hurry of little days are banished. To His lovingkindness we yield ourselves, as tired children lay down to rest. A while we dwell in His peace. Touched with mortality, as is all earthly beauty, the rapid days glide by, and we have lost them while the welcome is still on our lips. If His dominion over the hearts of men were more than a lovely episode, if He might abide, it would be well with us.”

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QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS

We are informed that the Sts. John were eminent patrons of Masonry and that our Order is dedicated to them. How is the above fact known to be absolutely true? And since what time has Masonry been dedicated to them?

Also, how do we know that Pythagoras was an eminent patron of Masonry, and when and where was he raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason? - H.A.H.

(1) The two Saints John were patrons of the Order in the sense that they taught Righteousness and Love, which are the foundations of Masonic character. Historically, their names no doubt became linked with Masonry soon after the advent of Christianity, when Christian builders put aside pagan deities as patrons and adopted the saints of the new faith. This came about gradually, and no date can be fixed. The Old Charges of Masonry make note of St. John’s Day as an ancient festival of the Order - which shows that it was older than the Old Charges. The Grand Lodge of England was organized, "according to ancient usage," on St. John’s Day.

(2) Pythagoras was not a Mason as we know Masonry today, nor was he ever raised to the sublime degree. Nevertheless, he was initiated into more than one of the great secret orders of antiquity, and founded one of his own, using numbers as symbols of moral truth and spiritual faith. He was thus a prophet of Masonry, a shining figure in that tradition of secret initiation and noble truth in which our Order stands, and which it perpetuates in the modern world.

* * *

Tell me, please, in what part of the world tides ebb and flow twice in twenty-four hours. My geography must be bum. I would also thank you to tell me what is an oblong square. These things make me wonder.

- J.K.P.W.

And no wonder, for, as the old farmer said when he saw a giraff for the first time, "There ain’t no sich animals." Such errors no doubt

crept in by virtue of the law of exaggeration for the sake of emphasis, and may easily be corrected - like the height of the Two Pillars which tower so high in some of our jurisdictions.

* * *

Is it not about time to stop tracing Masonry back to the beginning of time, as Oliver and others used to do ? Surely the actual facts, as we are able to establish them, are a better basis on which to build. - F.J.L.

Yes, and No. Despite his extravagant and often absurd claims for Masonry, much may be said in behalf of the theory of Oliver. In his "History of Initiation" he took us all over the world, showing us the rites used in many lands, and his book is often unreliable and always unscientific. Yet a man of science like Prof. Webster, in his "Primitive Secret Societies," confirms the main contention of Oliver, and traces the history of initiation still further back - to the Men’s House in early tribal life. Oliver erred in identifying those primitive initiations with Masonry as we know it, whereas they were only shadows of it. Secret lodges for the training of men in righteousness, honor, courage, and goodwill may be traced back even into prehistoric times, and this was what Oliver tried to tell us, albeit he got things mixed at times. Our point is that the Lodge, in one form or another, is one of the oldest, as it is one of the greatest, institutions of humanity; and Masonry continues its ministry today, as no other order may ever hope to do.

* * *

Replying to a Brother who asks about the degree of Past Master, we may say that, according to the early Atholl Regulations - that is, the body in England calling themselves the Ancients before the union of Grand Lodges in 1813 - only Masters and Past Masters were eligible for exaltation to the Royal Arch degree. This led to the invention of the "Degree of Past Master," which was conferred on Brethren who had never actually held a Chair in a Lodge in order to qualify them for the Arch Degree. ( See Hughan’s "History of the English Rite," Ed. 1909). The Degree of Installed Master was known at an earlier time, but that of Past Master, or as it is sometimes called in old minutes "Passed Master," came about as above stated.

* * *

I have seen repeated references in my Masonic reading to what is called "the Prestonian Lecture," but I have never been able to make out what it was. Perhaps you can tell me. - J.G.M.

William Preston, who died in 1818, left a sum of three hundred pounds as an endowment for the annual delivery of a lecture. The lecture was to be on the First, Second, or Third Degrees of Masonry according to the system practiced in the Lodge of Antiquity during his term as Master. (Gould’s History of Masonry, Vol. 3, p. 11). But whether it was a set lecture to be merely read or recited by the lecturer, or one to be prepared by him, is not clear from any record at hand. Some say one, some say the other. Several lecturers were appointed in various years, Brother Henry G. Warren being the last to receive payment in 1862. By the way this is not a bad idea to revive in our time. Suppose a wealthy Mason, or a Grand Lodge, should endow such a lectureship, and each year have some able man deliver a lecture on one of the three degrees - would it not mean a great deal?

Several questions have been received touching Negro Masonry, both as to its status and the best books dealing with it. The Grand Lodge of New Jersey has one Negro Lodge - or rather a mixed Lodge - under its obedience, the Alpha Lodge of Newark. When this became known, the Grand Lodge of Mississippi severed fraternal relations with New Jersey in 1909. Oklahoma followed the example of Mississippi, but in February, 1914, rescinded its action. With this exception Negro Masonry is a separate organization in this country. The American Freemason gives the following list of books dealing with Negro Masonry, the first named being the standard work:

"Negro Masonry," by Wm. H. Upton, obtained from H. F. Belt, 15 Court Square, Boston, Mass., price $1.50.

"History of Freemasonry Among the Negroes of North America," by Wm. H. Grimshaw. For sale by the author, care of Congressional Library, Washington, D. C.

"Prince Hall and his Followers," by G. W. Crawford. The Crisis, 70 Fifth Ave., New York, price $1.05.

"Negro Mason in Equity," by S. W. Clark. Obtained from J. J. Lee, Grand Secretary of the Prince Hall Masons, 1403 Granville Ave.. Columbus, Ohio.

* * *

Certainly the symbols of building and of geometry are among the oldest forms of human thought. They seem to be inwrought in Nature also. May it not be that they are the thought-forms of the Supreme Architect? - J.K.L.

Manifestly. Numbers, triangles, circles, squares, pentagons, hexagons are revealed in Nature round about us, from the dewdrop to the sun in his glory, from the frolic architecture of a snowflake to the orbits of the stars. They are in the structure of the universe, and must be the thought-forms of the Eternal, else they would not be the natural, self-sought forms of matter. "All things are in numbers," said Pythagoras; "the world is a living arithmetic in its development

- a realized geometry in its repose." Nature is a realm of numbers; crystals are solid geometry. Music uses geometrical figures, and cannot free itself from numbers without dying away into discord. As Plato said, "God is always geometrizing," and elsewhere he remarked that "Geometry rightly treated is a knowledge of the Eternal." When we use these great and simple symbols we do but think the thoughts of God after Him, as Kepler said when he looked through his telescope into the midnight sky. By the same token,

when we live our lives on the Level, by the Square, testing them by the Plumb, and keeping our passions circumscribed by the Circle, we are in harmony with the moral order of the world.

* * *

Several Brethren have asked us to return to the TK discussion long enough to define what we mean by mysticism. Perhaps it may be briefly stated after this manner: The Mystic - and all of us are mystics if we were wise enough to know it - is led by one insight, makes one passionate affirmation - that Unity underlies all diversity; a sense of the oneness of things, of the kinship of all life, never better stated than by Krishna in the Hindu poem:

"There is true knowledge. It is this:

To see one changeless life in all,

In the separate, One Inseparable."

Naturally, if this is really a universe, if unity underlies all things, then man must have some share of the nature of God; and upon this fact of the kinship of all men with God all our thinking rests, whether in science, philosophy, or religion. And since man is akin to God, he is capable of knowing God through what is godlike in

himself - that is, through his soul. Such is the insight of all mystical thinkers, from Plato to Emerson, and it is unshakable.

Howbeit, spiritual knowledge is different from mere intellectual information; not only different, but deeper. We know a thing mentally by looking at it from the outside, by comparing it with other things, by analyzing and defining it. Whereas we know a thing spiritually only by becoming like it. One may know the theory of music and yet not be a musician. One must love in order to know love, as it is written, "he who loveth is born of God and knoweth God, for God is love." Like is known to like, and the one condition of the highest knowledge is likeness to, and union with, the object of knowledge. As Eckhart said, God and the soul are one in the act of knowing.

Therefore, the quest of the mystic - and of every man in so far as he is a mystic - is for union with God; the knowledge that comes of character; for harmony. Here lies the meaning of our Masonic search for the Lost Word, which we can never really find until the Word is made flesh in our lives, until it is translated into our character. What though we knew the ultimate, ineffable Name and shouted it from the house-top, it would be only an empty sound, unless we had incarnated it in our lives. Of this process of spiritual refinement whereby, slowly and by struggle, the Eternal Word becomes first a whisper and then a melody within us, the Masonic Degrees are an allegory - only a symbol, and foolish is he who mistakes the symbol for the fact.

At the close of the year, when thoughtful men are wont to look before and after, and take stock of things done or left undone, and wish for light to lead them along the old, winding human way, we beg to transcribe the tribute of Heine to the Great Light in Masonry; one of the noblest tributes for that it comes from a man who was called a sceptic, and whose poetry was a blend of a smile, a tear, and a sneer:

"What a Book! Stranger still than its contents is for me its style, in which every word is, so to speak, a product of nature, like a tree, a flower, like the sea, the stars, like man himself. One does not know how, one does not know why, one finds it altogether quite natural. In Homer, the other great book, the style is a product of art, and the materials always, as in the Bible, are taken from reality, yet it shapes itself into poetic form as though recast in the melting pot of the human spirit. In the Bible there is not the slightest trace of art; it is the style of a memorandum book in which the Absolute Spirit entered the daily incident with the same actual truthfulness with which we write our washing list. A Book! Yes, it is an old honest book, modest as Nature, modest as the sun which warms us, as the bread which nourishes us; a book full of love and blessing as the old mother who reads it with her dear, trembling lips. With right it is named the Holy Scriptures. He who has lost his God can find Him again in this book; and he who has never known Him is here struck by the breath of the Divine Word."

ARTICLES OF INTEREST

A War-time Initiation, by A. S. Mackinzie. Southwestern Freemason.

Masonic Research, by Geo. E. Frazer. Illinois Masonic Review.

The First Degree A. W. Witt. Kansas City Freemason.

Lecture on the First Degree, D. S. Wagstaff. The TrestleBoard. Masonry in a Snowflake, Frank C. Higgins. Masonic Standard.

The House of the Temple. The New Age.

First Impressions of Masonry, R. E. Tipton. Bulletin Iowa Masonic Library.

* * *

BOOKS RECEIVED

Masonry, When, Where, How, by George Thornburgh, Little Rock, Ark.

Henry Codman Potter, by George Hodges. Macmillan Co., New York.

The American Indian as a Slaveholder, by A. H. Able. A. H. Clarke Co., Cleveland.

Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt, by Lewis Spence. F. A. Stokes Co., New York.

Lake Mohonk Conference on International Arbitration, 1915.

The Spirit of Christmas, by A. H. Gleason. F. A. Stokes Co., New York.

Aristocracy and Justice, by P. E. More. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.

CONTINUATION OF QUESTIONS ON “THE BUILDERS”

Compiled by "The Cincinnati Masonic Study School"

342a. What is the Masonic position toward Politics? Page 248.

347a. How did Plotinus view philosophy? Page 269 Note 1.

351a. What admonition is given to youth relative to the Soul? Page 279-291 to 296.

357a. What caused the creation of the Bible and the Church? Page 252 see note.

358a. What were some of the blackest pages of history; against whom and how did Masonry protest? Page 254.

359a. How did Ruskin use the word Church? Page 250.

361a. Why do men leave the church? Page 250

361b. Is Freemasonry a religion ? Page 250.

370a. What is said of the Supreme Mind and the righteous Will? Page 266.

371a. What attributes of the Soul lift man above the brute and bespeak his divinity? Page 270.

1. What is said of the triangle, square, cross and circle? Page 25,

33.

389a. What is said of the lesser and the greater Tetractys? Page 143.

1. What is the Seal of Solomon in Syria, Persia and India? Page 79

395a. What is said of "Gloves" as a symbol? Page 137.

396a. What is meant by Tiler? Page 138.

399a. For what purpose did Stuckley the antiquarian enter the order of Freemasonry in 1721 ? Page 203.

WASHINGTON

Like some lone mountain in the starry night, lifting its head snowcapped, severely white, into the silence of the upper air, serene, remote, and always changeless there! Firm as that mountain in the day of dread, when Freedom wept and pointed to her dead; grim as that mountain to the ruthless foe, wasting the land that wearied of its woe; strong as that mountain, heath its. load of care, when brave men faltered in a sick despair. So does his fame, like that lone mountain, rise, cleaving the mists and reaching to the skies; bright as the hems that on its summit glow, firm as its rocks and stainless as its snow.

Walt Mason.

I AM WAR

I am a pestilence Sweeping the world.

Hate is the root of me,

Death is the fruit of me,

Swift is my stroke;

Blood is the sign of me,

Steel is the twine of me, Thus shall ye know me: I am the’death of Life,

I am the life of Death,

I am War !

- Alter Brody, in the London Outlook.

* * *

WAS MILLARD FILLMORE A MASON?

On the tradition relating to Millard Fillmore as a Mason who recanted during the Morgan excitement these words from a recent biography written by Dr. William E. Griffis are interesting: "Out of this anti-Masonic agitation in New York State, a brilliant group of young politicians arose and appeared first in politics as anti- Masonic leaders. Three of them were William H. Seward, Thurlow

* * *

* * *

THE BUILDER MAGAZINE

SEPTEMBER 1915

VOLUME 1 - NUMBER 9

REGENSBURG STONEMASON’S REGULATIONS

(A NEW TRANSLATION FROM THE GERMAN)

BY BRO. F. W. KRACHER, OF THE DEPARTMENT OF GERMAN, STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

CONCLUDED.

(As before stated, the question with regard to the old German Stonemasons is, whether or not they were Freemasons, and opinions are divided. For the benefit of discussion we venture to offer this conjecture--we do not call it a theory--that they stood midway between the Guilds and the Freemasons. If we may believe Findel and others, the Stonemasons seem to have been in possession of the first Degree of Masonry, or the-substance of it-- though one may hesitate to accept all the details, as given by Findel as to their ceremonies of initiation. Whether they had anything more--the Hiramic Legend, for example--has never been established. Perhaps they were men employed by the Cathedral Builders, and entrusted by them with the first principles of Masonry--as many think was the case with Egyptian Masons in respect to the Mysteries--and as such continued to exist and work even after the parent Order declined. At any rate, we shall be glad

to have the Brethren examine this conjecture for what there is in it, putting it to the severest kind of test in behalf of the truth about the German Stonemasons.--The Editor.)

clothing and other articles left behind, shall be sold, as is necessary to cover the debt.

This is the regulation book of the watchers (foremen) and craftsmen.

Regulation of the Servants (Common Laborers.)

47* Any master who has a book and whose work has completed so that he cannot employ his helpers any longer, shall send the book and all the money which belongs to the order to the builder at Strassburg.

The present masters at Strassburg, Vienna, and Cologne, these three, or their successors shall constitute the highest authority of the order. They cannot be displaced without good and just cause.

To the district of Master Lorenz Spenning, builder of the cathedral St. Stephan, at Vienna, belong: Lambach, Styria, Werckhusen, Hungaria (along the Danube.)

Master Steffen Hurder, builder of St. Vincent at Bern, shall control the cantons.

Master Conrad, of Cologne, builder of the cathedral at that place, and all his successors, shall have charge over the rest of the shops which are now in the order or may, in a future period, be admitted to the same

so earn their soul’s salvation. Therefore, in honor of God Almighty, his worthy mother Mary, all the saints, and especially in honor of the holy four, and for the benefit of the souls of all persons who belong to this order or may join in the future, we, as stone-masons, have agreed upon these rules for ourselves and all our descendants: We will have celebrated one mass every year at the time dedicated to the holy four, namely in the munster at Strassburg, and there in the Chapel of Our Lady. This mass shall be one for our souls with all the ceremonies belonging to it.

THE LANDMARKS OF MASONRY

BY BRO. SILAS H. SHEPHERD, WISCONSIN CONCLUDED.

(The study of the Landmarks of Masonry, by Brother Shepherd, is a piece of real Masonic Research, and is valuable as showing the confusion that obtains among the several Grand Jurisdictions in this country in the matter of Landmarks. In this connection, the Brethren might re-read the article on the subject, suggested by an essay of the late Brother T.S. Parvin, in the February issue of The Builder. It is interesting to note how many of the Grand Lodges adopt the list of landmarks as formulated by Dr. Mackey, and as interesting to observe how many are content with the unwritten

law of the Order. For ourselves, if required to state what we believe to be the real Landmarks of Masonry, it would be after this fashion:--The Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood of Man, the Moral Law, the Golden Rule, and the Hope of a Life Everlasting.-- The Editor.)

Maine-- Maine has no legislation as to what landmarks are. They follow Josiah Drummond’s ideas.

Maryland-- Maryland has no list of landmarks. Art. II Constitution of 1906 defines the duty of the Grand Lodge; among other duties is one "to preserve and maintain the Ancient Landmarks." Article XXIX reads: "In all cases not particularly provided for in this Constitution, the Grand Lodge shall adhere to, and be governed by the Ancient Rules and Regulations of Masonry."

Massachusetts-- Massachusetts has never adopted any list of landmarks. They "feel safer in cultivating a spirit of reverence for the ancient customs and practices of the Order" than in attempting to define the Landmarks.

Michigan-- Michigan has no list of landmarks. The following is taken from the preface of the Michigan Blue Book of 1911: "The first place in the volume-- the place of honor--has been assigned to the "Ancient Charges and Regulations" not because they are, in form, binding on us, but because they are universally recognized as the beginning and basis of all the "written law" of the Craft; and also because they embody many of those "Ancient Landmarks" which give "metes and bounds" to the Rules and Regulations of Symbolic Masonry."

Minnesota-- Minnesota has adopted Mackey’s twenty-five landmarks.

Mississippi-- The Old Charges and Regulations of 1723 are printed as a part of the Constitution of 1903. Frederic Speed enumerates eight landmarks which are sub-divided into many sections and were found among the papers of the late P. G. M. Giles M. Hillyer.

Missouri-- Missouri has no list of landmarks. Bro. John D. Vincil, conceded to be one of the best posted men on jurisprudence, disclaimed knowing what the landmarks were.

Montana-- Montana has the customary exception to its powers, viz: "Provided, always, that the ancient landmarks of the order will be held inviolate." Montana has no list of landmarks.

Nebraska-- Nebraska has never decided on any particular list of landmarks.

Nevada-- Nevada has a list of 39 landmarks which were adopted in 1872.

New Hampshire-- New Hampshire never officially defined what the landmarks are.

New Jersey-- New Jersey has a list of 10 landmarks which were adopted in 1903. New Jersey Proceedings of 1903 contains an interesting report on these 10 landmarks by the Committee on Jurisprudence.

New Mexico-- New Mexico has adopted Mackey’s 25 landmarks.

New York-- "The Ancient Landmarks are those principles of Masonic belief, government, and polity which are the only part of Masonic Law or rule that may never be altered or disturbed, and such of them as are lawful to be written are usually, but not wholly, engrafted in a written Constitution." (Const. G. L. of N. Y. 1913.) On page 63 and 64 of the same book are the landmarks as defined by P. G. M. Joseph D. Evans, 10 in number.

North Carolina-- North Carolina has no list of landmarks, nor legislation defining them.

North Dakota-- North Dakota has no legislation defining or enumerating landmarks. They include in their Constitution the Ancient Charges and Regulations.

Ohio-- The Ohio Code states that "the Old Charges contain the fundamental laws" which is practically giving them sanction as landmarks. The Old Charges are a part of the Code.

Oklahoma-- At the Feb. 1915 Communication of the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma, they acknowledged and practically adopted the 25 landmarks of Mackey.

Oregon-- Oregon has adopted Mackey’s 25 landmarks.

Pennsylvania-- The Ahiman Rezon contains the following on landmarks: "The Grand Lodge is the supreme Masonic authority except that it cannot change, alter or destroy the Ancient Landmarks." "The Past Grand Masters shall be regarded as the conservators of the ancient usages, customs and Landmarks." No landmarks are enumerated.

Rhode Island and Providence Plantations-- Rhode Island has no list of landmarks. The following is from the preamble to the Constitution of 1897: "Every Grand Lodge has inherent power and authority to make local ordinances and new regulations, for its own benefit and the good of Masonry in general-provided, always, that the ancient landmarks be carefully preserved."

South Carolina-- South Carolina has adopted Mackey’s list of 25 landmarks.

South Dakota-- South Dakota Constitution of 1912 states that the Landmarks as defined by Dr. Mackey have binding force on South Dakota Masons.

Tennessee-- Tennessee has a list of 15 landmarks which are almost identical with those enumerated by Simons

Texas-- Chapter 2, Article 1, Sec. 4, of the Texas Code reads: "The Book of Constitutions of Masonry originally prepared by Dr. Anderson, approved A.D. 1723, contains the system of ancient laws and customs of the Craft, and is recognized as binding on points where this Constitution is silent; the old charges therein shall be appended entire hereto." This is the only light we can obtain on what the Grand Lodge of Texas thinks the landmarks are.

Utah-- Utah holds the "Old Charges of a Freemason" to be the landmarks. Christopher Diehl, a well known correspondence writer for years, had a list of landmarks which he submitted to the Grand Lodge of Utah; but they were never adopted.

Vermont-- Vermont adheres to the list of 25 landmarks of Mackey.

Washington-- Washington Constitution of 1913, Sec. 13, says: The action of Freemasons in the Grand Lodge and in their Lodges, and in their individual capacity is regulated and controlled 1. By Ancient Landmarks, and other unwritten laws of Masonry. 2. By Written- Constitutions, and general or special legislation. 3. By Usages, Customs and judicial action."

"Sec. 14 Landmarks.--The Ancient Landmarks include those principles of Masonic government and polity which should never be altered or disturbed."

No landmarks are enumerated.

West Virginia-- West Virginia has a list of 7 landmarks, a report on landmarks for the information of the brethren is given first place in the West Virginia Masonic Text Book. It contains lists by Mackey, Simons, Morris and Pike.

Wyoming-- Wyoming Grand Lodge considers the landmarks too deep a subject to comment on and does not attempt an enumeration of them.

Wisconsin-- Wisconsin has no legislation defining or enumerating the landmarks, but gives Mackey’s 25 in code for their information of the brethren.

To recapitulate we find District of Columbia Minnesota New Mexico Oklahoma Oregon South Dakota South Carolina Vermont Virginia adopt Mackey’s list of 25. Alabama Louisiana Mississippi Ohio Texas Utah hold the old charges to contain the landmarks. Those having list of landmarks of their own and the number are

Connecticut................. Lockwood’s 19 Kentucky......................... Grant’s

54 New Jersey ................................ 10 Nevada .................................. 39

Tennessee.............................. 15 West Virginia........................... 7

The others all hold that the landmarks are the most important and fundamental law of Masonry, but do not consider a list made by any man or body of men sufficiently accurate to apply to them.

In concluding this compilation we can hardly refrain from expressing a thought or so which has forced itself upon us.

The live questions of Masonic Jurisprudence are most all affected by the views entertained in regard to landmarks; take for example the question of physical qualification. To those who hold the view of Mackey, Lockwood, Simons and others that it is a landmark it appears quite different from the view taken by those who hold that the only landmarks are the fundamental principles of Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Man.

We can hardly grasp the logic of why the physical qualification should be deemed a landmark and leave to the local custom column the rule that an entered apprentice serve seven years before being passed. They were both the necessary rules of an operative Craft and the need of a longer apprenticeship would appear to be greater than the strict conformity.

Again the prerogatives of a Grand Master largely stand or fall on interpretation of the landmarks, as do also our recognition of other Grand Bodies.

We might make many comparisons and comments but believe that the landmarks, like the history and symbolism of Masonry, must be left mostly to individual interpretation.

For those who wish to read on landmarks and have not already done so we would refer them to:

Mackey’s "Masonic Jurisprudence." Simon’s "Principles of Masonic Jurisprudence." Lockwood’s "Masonic Law and Practice." Maine Masonic Text Book. Macoy-Oliver Encyclopedia. Kansas Code 1913. Bassett notes. Kentucky Book of Const. 1910. Grant notes. Iowa Proceedings 1888-1889. Ars. Q. C. Vol. VII, XXIV, XXV. Mississippi Const. 1903. New Jersey Proc. 1903. Code of Dist. of Col. 1905, p. 191.

The correspondence reports of Bro. Joseph Robbins of Ill., and Bro. Upton of Wash., are rich in comments.

SUGGESTIONS ON TEMPLE PLANNING, CONSTRUCTION AND FINANCE

BY BRO. R.I. CLEGG, PRESIDENT, THE MASONIC TEMPLE ASSOCIATION, CINCINNATI, OHIO

AT a guess I suppose there are easily in excess of one hundred million dollars worth of Masonic temples in this United States. Do you doubt it? Figure it up for yourself. Take your own locality. Compare the ratio of the national population with the total number of persons in your vicinity. Do the same with the amount invested in local sites and buildings and their equipment. Appraise the property on its present sales prospects. What are your findings? Is the above figure really not a modest estimate?

Evidently then, the subject is a most important one from mere financial consideration alone. But to take care of what we have already built is only a part of the problem involved. Not a Masonic paper giving free account of individual lodge and Grand lodge activities fails to tell in nearly every issue of building operations. They grow apace.

Look over the proceedings of your Grand Lodge wherever it may be. Note the laying of cornerstones and the dedications. Why, right here, within an hour’s ride on the street cars from where these words are written, six new buildings are actually in prospect of being added to or substituted for those now occupied by the fraternity.

With all this buoyant liveliness throughout the land in Masonic building developments we might expect to find on hand an abundant stock of information readily obtainable about every angle of Masonic temple architecture and finance. Such is not the case. Few know anything about it and fewer still tell what they know.

One far-sighted Mason of high official standing did order that plans should be deposited at his office of every structure built by the brethren under him. It was a wise thought. But it was never taken seriously to heart. Few complied with his request.

Nor have I heard of the same demand being made elsewhere although the plans, the stockholders’ regulations, the directors’ by­laws, sundry characteristic annual reports, copies of charters, details of building expenses and of maintenance charges - these and other

similar items easily occur to me as being very useful in finding a safe path for those who are new to the road. And few there be who in the natural course of events build more than one Masonic temple.

Many collect postcards of Masonic temples. Never have I found or even heard of any ascertaining temple costs and overhead expenses as diligently.

Inspectors critically follow the "work" and hesitate not to comment thereon. Alas, there are no masonic inspectors to bring in like fashion to temple managers the combined building knowledge of the Craft.

Not for the world would I urge that we start an unseemly wrangle about whether the executive officers of a Grand body should or should not go, or how far they may properly penetrate, into the private affairs of their subordinate branches. Some of the Brethren are touchy on these points. It does indeed bear tenderly on democratic independence and if the officialism became more pronounced it might by many be resented. As long as dues are paid, and while ceremonies are conducted in accordance with the prescribed forms, there is no excuse, say they, for further intrusion. Maybe so. Yet, after all, how many a sad termination of a too impetuous enterprise could have been avoided had the planners thereof been fortified by the dearly bought experience of others.

Furthermore, let me venture upon only a few of the comments that come to mind of the less complimentary aspects of temple building. Perhaps we may not then be so inclined to stand jealously upon the strict etiquette of lodge independence - much as I too esteem it. After a failure or two has been examined there is the more tendency to agree with the provision for some quickening and stiffening of an official oversight.

Does any lodge today lose out by negligence in the matter of bonds or insurance without everyone of us feeling shame and resentment ? And supervision is in many directions being officially exerted to check up existing conditions in these two particulars. Perhaps official superintendence could go further and with profit to all concerned.

Do not guess that this is any hasty assumption. There is a monumental building well known to thousands of the Craft where the name "Masonic" is blazoned on the sign of a saloon at the ground floor. Another "Masonic" building long had a series of theatrical exhibitions presented in its auditorium that were the despair of the local fraternity. The foregoing troubles were doubtless due to the drawing of unwise leases or in some similar manner losing the direct government of the premises.

One Masonic building has shown an excess expense per cubic foot of construction away by far over any other. This is a matter of architectural temerity that was in due course unpleasantly adjusted by the bond-holders.

A Masonic building hopefully erected as a dividend producer to serve a worthy charity has been a load upon the fraternity that seems as doubtful of soon being lifted as was Sinbad the Sailor from the shoulders of the Old Man of the Sea. This misfortune was occasioned by an excess of faith not ballasted by ample financial resources, but will probably be ultimately successful if given plenty of time and unremitting support.

There are other aspects of course. These are but a few typical and widely separated cases.

Of the devotion and self-sacrifice of the brethren in backing up building enterprises too much cannot be said. In one city they have I am told taxed themselves for $12 a year apiece as lodge dues. Surely the best of temples is deserved by them. At another city the brethren are paying $8 a year dues to their lodge to meet the expenses of a new home.

And in one more case I recall that the bodies Masonic from Blue Lodge to Shrine all pooled their funds, pledged their joint revenues, put the curb to all their banquets, and at last reports were emerging rapidly from the depths of a big debt.

Evidently there are ways and other ways of getting at the subject and of making a practical and a profitable study of it. Fain would I linger with this financial side of the discussion but the topic is ever a delicate one and I feel barred from entering too minutely into its consideration. Space, also, is precious and therefore I must be brief.

Books on theatres, churches and office buildings, are found in almost every public library. Our United States Government has thoroughly classified and tabulated its public buildings and their costs in published form. Volumes similarly prepared on Masonic temples are rarities as unknown as the dodo or the roc or the unicorn. So here I have jotted down a few hints about certain angles of the situation that may help those who have occasion to probe into the question, and there is really no telling when the trouble may infect any one’ neighborhood.

You will of course get an architect and it is best to get him early, and the best is never too good. Manifestly he should be a member of the Craft. There are many things to be discussed that cannot very well be freely talked over unless the architect is one of you. This point is all the more pertinent with the large undertaking. Sometimes before you get to the architect there are a few items that can be considered.

And first as to location: If you put your temple in the center of your town you will pay that much more for the site. But then it does get the eye of your fellow citizens and of visitors. It is pre-eminently an advertisement and should be prominently and favorably so. Everybody who "belongs" to the downtown temple is then equally treated as to the location and his travels thereto. Erect your temple in the outskirts and then some brother may have to come into the city from the suburbs and be forced to travel from the one extreme to the other end, to go all over town in fact to get to lodge.

When the far-off brother has a few neighbors as fellow members you may some day find that these long distance brethren are filing an application for another lodge to be instituted nearer to their homes. This can be a very proper thing to do but if there is a pressing mortgage on your lodge building you perhaps will not approve of their action so warmly as you would if the loan had been liquidated before they had made a move to leave you.

But don’t rashly assume offhand that being in the center of town necessarily builds up your lodge the more rapidly or that a downtown location is on that account a winner by reason of central attractions.

Let us examine a little history in such matters as they affect a certain city where the facts are within ready reach. Looking over the records for several years I find that lodges in the center of the city are paying less rent than those elsewhere but they also grow less rapidly. One chapter four miles from the main business section shows three times the growth in membership during the past six years over either of the two downtown Royal Arch bodies.

Mind you I am not in this discussion considering particularly whether large or small bodies are best or whether rates of growth slow or fast are most desirable in the long run. I have heard the argument that a Masonic temple should be given a central location because among other reasons it will there attract a larger attendance and the bodies will build up the more quickly. So far I have failed to find sufficient evidence to prove this contention. In fact I am inclined to believe the growth of lodges depends upon other factors to a large extent.

As to determining the rents for Masonic temples, you can find numerous varieties. One temple management has a cubic-foot specification so that occupancy of certain rooms having higher ceilings automatically increases the rents when these particular rooms are in use. A rent based upon relative areas, a square-foot rule, would be an obvious expedient and is probably common. The former case is somewhat rare I dare say but is by no means lacking of ingenuity in seeking an equitable solution of an awkward problem.

There are also to be found stipulations; e. g. that when a certain number of hours have elapsed during a communication an additional charge is made because you are then overlapping what is

deemed a regular meeting; and again where a specified number of regular meetings are alloted the tenant with a charge for all in excess thereof.

As to the amounts collected as rents they run up a long range. The highest rent so far heard of by me was about $2,000 per year for a lodge room and the necessary ante-rooms. As might be expected there were large requirements in the number of members and of meetings in this instance.

A Commandery demands plenty of locker facilities and often has a Red Cross room as well as the Chamber of Reflection. On this basis the rented area is large and the rent rises proportionately. If this equipment is used by but one or two bodies there is standing idle a big space for a considerable part of the year. This can be as much as a fourth or fifth of your building. Should you figure your rents in the ratio of building space allowance the amount soars for the Commandery. This circumstance is mentioned because rents easily become matters of argument and their adjustment is seldom equally acceptable to all parties.

A Chapter with the building equipped peculiarly for its uses will also find that the rent seems disproportionate to what may be charged for Lodges in the same structure. In all probability this variation may be made worse to the superficial observer because the number of Chapters is probably much less than that of the Lodges meeting in that building. Every night in the week may be assigned to a Lodge meeting in the temple of a large city or town while but two or three might be used by Chapters.

Special facilities must have an influence on the rent if you try fairly to fix the expenses. Therefore I am led to suggest to builders of temples that simplification is very desirable. Can the work of the Commandery not all be done in the one room? Many of the asylums have suitable stages capable of being more freely employed for any and all purposes that are now demanding additional rooms. Obviously I cannot discuss this question as thoroughly in print as I could well desire. My Templar brethren will understand and allow for this restraint upon me.

Somewhat the same thing could be said of the Chapter room. Any ceremony performed outside the main room is ritualistically wrong I humbly venture to aver. It cannot edify those who see it not. And I fear it cannot but lack the restraining control of the principal officers who for the time being like the rest of the audience are kept in the dark as to what is transpiring.

That all the brethren should see what is going on is I believe a fundamental requirement in temple planning. In several cases as I have here intimated it can be bestowed by a suitable use of the stage or platform with such additional accessories as may be built into and be a part of the main room.

Rhode Island bars the stereopticon, I am told. Certainly I never saw it used in my visits there. However I cannot say that the crudely painted canvas or "carpet" that is often used in lodges is any better than the blotchy colored slides that may take their place. Either is deplorable. A higher standard of excellence is desirable. May I not say so even more emphatically ?

Why not build in these symbols? Make them an integral part of your Lodge and Chapter interiors. Paint them in befitting beauty on the walls or carve them prominently and permanently where they can be shown the initiate with pride. Surely not in darkness but with enlightenment ought they to be appropriately presented and thus impressively and clearly displayed.

Palestine Lodge of Detroit has reproduced for itself the Chapter room of the famous cathedral at York. Its fine beams and lofty columns, its built-in organ, its ample scope with its compactness and convenience are admirably contrived and accomplished.

The Lodge rooms in the temple in New York City are also very charmingly designed and executed as are those at Philadelphia and elsewhere.

Appended are some references to published descriptions of Masonic temples and Shrine auditoriums found in leading architectural and building trade journals.

Masonic temple at Washington, D. C., AMERICAN ARCHITECT AND BUILDING NEWS, April 15, 1908.

Brooklyn Masonic temple, ARCHITECTS AND BUILDERS MAGAZINE, August, 1909.

Masonic Hall, New York City, ARCHITECTS AND BUILDERS MAGAZINE, Dec., 1909.

Tuscan temple, St. Louis, BRICKBUILDER, July, 1909.

Brooklyn Masonic temple plan, BRICKBUILDER, July, 1909.

Masonic temple, Washington, D. C., BRICKBUILDER, July, 1909.

Irem temple, Wilkes-barre, Pa., BRlCKBUILDER, July, 1909.

Masonic temple, Colorado Springs, Col., BRICKBUILDER, July, 1910.

Masonic temple, Camden, N. Y., BRICKBUILDER, Sept., 1913. Masonic temple, Memphis, Tenn., BRICKBUILDER, Sept., 1914. Masonic temple, El Paso, Texas, WESTERN ARCHITECT, Feb.,

1914.

Shrine temple, Jacksonville, Fla., WESTERN ARCHITECT, June,

1914.

This list is by no means exhaustive but is fairly representative. A complete showing is desirable but will take more of my time than can just now be devoted to it.

I am also reminded that these observations are extending to considerable length, much more so than I had intended. Yet the subject is a prolific one and of it much could be said. There comes to mind temples whose acoustics are poor, where the ventilation and heating has not been deemed to have, as it undoubtedly does have, a vital influence upon the hearing excellencies of an auditorium. There are lodge rooms where the lighting is execrable. There is one in particular where the officer most frequently heard must constantly face masses of light in the direct line of vision. Nothing can be more irritating. Of halls poorly provided for entrance and

exit there are not a few. But the majority are noble of appearance and conducive to the dignified presentation of our ceremonies.

Of the financing of temples little has been said. Much could have been recited. It is indeed an important undertaking Wise are they who take no step therein without the advice of a competent attorney, and remembering always that corporation law and realty practice are specialties in which many lawyers and businessmen are not adepts. Care is essential therefore at every step. Leave nothing to chance and take nothing for granted.

HOW BEAUTIFUL

How beautiful the thought that men From the tools of their employ Could make them teach the grander things That gave them highest joy, - That gave the substance of all good,

That made life’s duties plain,

That gave the world a brotherhood And forged its golden chain.

How beautiful, as we turn back

The written scroll of time To find that need made common cause For things the most sublime, - The things that lighten every load,

That bring to life a joy

Unknown save where these "working tools"

Gave men their chief employ.

How beautiful to know that while Religions cannot save Nor creeds, nor yet beliefs, nor all That may the soul enslave,

That men, in guilds, most practical And to each other true Have set the pace for all the world What it should be and do.

How beautiful, in this our day When the operative is past,

That there remains with us the gold Their labors have amassed, - The priceless wealth of toilers true Merged in a brotherhood That emulated through the years Will mean man’s greatest good.

-   L. B. Mitchell, Michigan.

THE ASCENDING SCALE

Symbolically toward the skies The Masonic temple rises,

And we patronize its courts to prize And win still more its prizes.

-   L.B.M.

THE FOUNT OF YOUTH

Brother, you will never, never be Nearer the fount of perpetual youth Than you are right here in Masonry, -

Brotherly love, relief and truth.

-   L.B.M.

ANOTHER VIEW OF "THE GREAT WORK"

BY BRO. T.M. STEWART, OHIO

NOT in the spirit of hostile criticism, but in the kindly spirit of one Brother to another, I wish to refer to the criticism of the book, entitled, "The Great Work," in the June number of The Builder. I have not only read, but carefully studied, "The Great Work," and the other two books of the Harmonic series, and I do not, after a careful reading of the criticism referred to, find myself sharing the critic’s views as illustrated in the comments made on the two short extracts quoted.

In the first place, let me call attention to the mistake of confusing the title of the book with the author’s work as writer or editor. The treatise is characterized as "more curious than great," but the book does not claim to be great. "The Great Work" is "The Living of a Life" in conformity with one’s own best intelligence and highest ideals of Equity, Justice and Right at any given time. This is the teaching of the criticised book, "The Great Work," and all its students soon learn to discriminate between those things which are purely personal and selfish, and those things which make for a greater unfoldment of one’s own capacities and powers. In this way learning by doing, and thus by experience discovering how difficult it is to "live the life."

In the criticism we read: "The writer of "The Great Work" is all the while handicapped by the idea that he is the keeper of a wonderful treasure of truth, which must be carefully guarded from the eye of the profane, lest it be betrayed into the hands of those who are not worthy or well qualified to receive it."

But the handicap is not of the making of "The Great School," nor is it the fault of the author of "The Great Work." Let me quote from the book, "The Builders," by Joseph Fort Newton, as to guarded secrets:

"God shields us from premature ideas, said the gracious and wise Emerson; and so does nature. She holds back her secrets until man is fit to be entrusted with them, lest by rashness he destroy himself. Those who seek find, not because the truth is far off, but because the discipline of the quest makes them ready for the truth, and worthy to receive it. By a certain sure instinct, the great teachers of our race have regarded the highest truth less as a gift bestowed than as a trophy won. Everything must not be told to everybody. Truth is a power, and when held by untrue hands it may become a plague."

Now contrast the foregoing with the following quotation from "The Great Work" to discover exactly the same spirit in regard to secret teachings:

"The questions referred to (why secrecy) have been put by the skeptical, the critical, and the hypercritical; without taking into account the fact that unusual knowledge is obtainable only under specific conditions which may also be unusual. Some of the (questions) are as follows: "1. If there be Masters, or Wise men, why do they not present themselves to the world and prove their identity as such ?

"2. Why withhold anything from anybody, if it is true?

"3. If the men who possess it are honest, and the knowledge they possess is of value to humanity, what excuse or reason can there possibly be for ’Secrets’ or for ’secrecy?’

"4. If the School of Natural Science has, in truth, solved the sublime problem of another life, has discovered the Principle of Nature to which that problem is related, and has wrought out a definite and scientific formulary in conformity with which others may solve the same great problem for themselves, and if all this wonderful knowledge is as important for the welfare of humanity as it would seem to be then why has not the Great School given it to the world long ago? In other words, why hide their light under a bushel? Why not open wide the doors of their treasure-house to whomsoever may come ?

"In substance, if not in actual form, these same questions have been asked many times, and by many different individuals. They have been put in such manner and with such ingenious inflection as clearly to indicate that those who have asked them believe them to be ’unanswerable.’ They have, in truth, been asked by those whose very tone, emphasis, look and manner combine to convey the challenge: ’Answer me if you dare.’

"In the spirit of courtesy and candor, and with the utmost good will toward, and consideration for, those whose accusing and condemning attitude of mind makes the task one of great difficulty, it is the purpose, here and now, to answer these questions as fully and as frankly as their nature and importance would seem to justify. This is done, not alone for the benefit of those who have asked them, but also for as many others as may desire to understand the fundamental principle of Ethics which underlies them all." (The Great Work, Page 192.)

For a-complete answer to the foregoing questions see Chapter XII, "The Great Work." Again in the criticism, in The Builder, paragraph two, we read:

"Indeed one has a right to be suspicious of a book, which makes claim of knowing what is unknown to all the world and the rest of mankind, which leaves the inference that the noblest and most reverent scholars of the world are not worthy to receive its revelation."

On the contrary, the book (The Great Work) is "ADDRESSED to the PROGRESSIVE INTELLIGENCE of the AGE," and it clearly and definitely elucidates that point throughout the text.

The article in The Builder (did I not have great respect for its Editor in his knowledge of the teaching and his intention "to render justice to all men") would convey to me a misrepresentation of the real position, purposes, and claims of the author of "The Great Work."

Relying on our mutual respect for the truth and for the laborious work necessary to a true foundation for studious opinions, I am requesting publicity for "Another View of The Great Work," because I am sure many members of the National Masonic

Research Society have found as much helpful inspiration from a study of that book, as they have found satisfaction in reading one of the latest of Masonic books, viz., "The Builders." Because the method of the "Great Work" is "personal effort," that is the individual must live the life to know the doctrine. This same idea is enunciated on page 63 of "The Builders," viz., "Fitness for the finer truths cannot be conferred; it must be developed."

Again the criticism in "The Builder" magazine says:

"For not one of the statements (as to the antiquity of the GREAT SCHOOL) is there the slightest shred of evidence, not even a shadow of a basis in fact."

The name "The Great School" is the modern name of an ancient school whose "membership is composed of a voluntary association of men whose lives and labors are dedicated and devoted to the acquirement and perpetuation of knowledge in the broad and unlimited field of science--physical, spiritual, psychical and ethical-- and to its application to the development of individual life, individual intelligence, individual conscience, individual liberty, individual morality, and individual happiness." To these devotees of science in its broadest and best sense, may be added such students as have come to them for infinite instruction in the various departments of their knowledge. . . . "For reasons which appear to them both imperative and just, their work of investigation, experiment, demonstration and instruction is prosecuted and accomplished under the protecting shield of personal confidence and secrecy." ("The Great Work," pages 40-41.)

In the foregoing quotation we have the purposes of The Great School disclosed, the purposes are as ancient as the school itself. The "basis in fact" for the existence of the school will in time disclose itself when we learn to what extent these ideals and purposes were held and taught by the ancient members of The Great School, as indicated and evidenced in the following citations:

TESTIMONY OF GROTE.

"The allegorical interpretations of myths has been by several learned investigators connected with the hypothesis of an ancient and highly instructed body of priests, having their origin either in Egypt or in the East, and communicating to the rude and barbarous Greeks religious, physical and historical knowledge under the veil of symbols." (Grote’s History of Greece--Everymans’ Library Edition, Page 81, Vol. II.)

STATEMENTS OF PHILO.

"They have also ancient authors who were once heads of their school, and left behind them many monuments of the methods used in their allegorical works. . . . He who is the senior most skilled in the doctrines, comes forward and discourses, with steadfast eyes and steadfast voice, with reason and thoughtfulness; not making a display of word-cleverness, as the rhetoricians and sophists of today, but examining closely and explaining the precise meaning in the thoughts, a meaning which does not merely light on the tips of the ears, but pierces the ears and reaches the Soul and steadfastly abides there." (Philo "On the Contemplative Life." By Fred C. Conybeare, Oxford 1895.)

THE EXPERT OPINION OF THE LEARNED MEAD

"These secret brotherhoods (of Ancient Egypt) left no public records; they kept themselves apart from the world and the world knew them not.          But it is just  these  communities, which were the

links in the chain of heredity           of the Gnosis," i.e. Knowledge       of the

things that are.             ("Fragments    of a Faith Forgotten," by G.          R. S.

Mead, Page 61.)

"Most of these mystic schools and communities, whether of Greek or Egyptian or Jewish descent, when they came in contact with each other, gave and received . . . and so modified their preconceptions and enlarged their horizons." ("Fragments of a Faith Forgotten," by G. R. S. Mead, Page 95.)

The foregoing quotations are but a few of many of the same nature that could be made. They indicate that ancient communities or schools of learning have existed in remote times, and without going into the question of chronology, the world old quest reaches far back into the ages.

For instance, "The Babylonians were not content with merely editing their ritual and religious hymns or their myths about the gods and heroes; they also compiled commentaries and explanatory text-books which gave philological and other information about the older religious literature." ("The Origin and Growth of Religion," by A. H. Sayce, Page 16.)

The main characteristic of the ancient teaching was the profound secrecy in which the traditions were kept, we therefore have to rely on the spirit and purposes of ancient teaching and veiled symbolic allusions. It is certain, that the mystery-side of religion was initiation into a higher knowledge; the highest praise is bestowed upon the Mysteries by the greatest thinkers among the Greeks, who are witnesses to the purity of the teaching, which enabled men to live better lives here and to depart from this life with the certainty of immortality. Pythagoras is said to have been initiated into the Egyptian, Chaldean, Orphic and Eleusinan mysteries. He is known or remembered in India today under the name Yavancharya, or the Ionian teacher.

Now as to "records" the existence of which is in doubt in the minds of many because of the partial statement quoted from the book, "The Great Work" -- and included in the fourth paragraph of the criticism in The Builder, together with the critic’s questions: "Did he (T.K.) ever see those records of immemorial time, reaching thousands of years back of Moses? Did he ever see any one who did see them ? If so, how does he know that they are authentic? By what science for the testing of documents did he determine their authenticity?"

In the same paragraph on page 43 of the book, "The Great Work," from which The Builder quotes we read:

"These (records) cover a consecutive and unbroken chain backward from the immediate present to a time many thousand of years before the Mosaic period." But we may also read in that same paragraph: "For a number of years, however, he (T.K.) has been in personal touch with members of The Great School, and during that time has received from them a definite and personal instruction, from which it may not be deemed impertinent or presumptuous to present for the thoughtful consideration of the reader the following brief and incomplete summary."

The answer is complete. As a student in the Great School, in personal touch with its members, commissioned by them to present an outline of its methods, purposes, and teachings to the modern world, he doubtless has in proofs all, and more, than the question demand. That a complete and satisfactory answer is not vouchsafed any and every one on demand, I may be permitted to again quote from "The Builders":

The "one great secret (of Freemasonry) is that it has no secret. Its principles are published abroad in its writings, its purposes and laws are known, and the times and places of its meetings. Having come down from dark days of persecution when all the finer things sought the protection of seclusion, if it still adheres to secret rites, it is not in order to hide the truth, but the better to teach it more impressively to train men in its pure service, and to promote union and amity upon earth. Its signs and grips serve as a kind of universal language, and still more as a gracious cover for the practice of sweet charity-- making it easier to help a fellow man in dire plight without hurting his self-respect. If a few are attracted to it by curiosity, all remain to pray, finding themselves members of a great historic fellowship of the seekers and finders of God. It is old because it is true; had it been false it would have perished long ago. When all men practice its simple precepts, the innocent secrets of Masonry will be laid bare, its mission accomplished, and its labors done." (The Builders, Page 244.)

To which all Masons, as well as all students of the Great Work say, "So mote it be"--because it is exactly the position of the Great Work.

Further in regard to books, manuscripts and records, the existence of which is doubted by some and denied by others:

"Egyptian research has independently arrived at the conclusion that the pyramid-builders were at least as old as the fourth millennium before the Christian era. The great pyramids of Gizeh were in course of erection, the hieroglyphic system of writing was already fully developed, Egypt itself was thoroughly organized and in the enjoyment of a high culture and civilization, at a time when, according to Archbishop Usher’s chronology, the world was being created." ("The Origin and Growth of Religion," by A. H. Sayce, Page 33, 34.)

The collective researches of Orientalists, and especially the labors of late years of the students of comparative Philology and Religion have led them to conclude, that, an immense number of manuscripts and even printed works known to have existed, are now to be found no more. They have disappeared without leaving the slightest trace behind them.

Were they works of no importance they might, in the natural course of time, have been left to perish, and their very names would have been obliterated from human memory. But it is not so; for as now ascertained most of them contained the true keys to works still extant, and entirely incomprehensible, for the greater portion of their readers, without those additional volumes of commentaries and explanations. (For the missing works of Lao Tze

and Confucius, see "Lectures on The Science of Religion," by Max Muller, Page 185.)

The ancient teachings to which allusion is made, can be followed in the remains of every ancient nation, and underlie the spiritual (but not spiritualistic) teaching of the present time.

Tradition asserts that thousands of ancient parchments were saved when the Alexandrian Library was destroyed by Julius Caesar, B.C. 48; in A. D. 390; and 640 A. D. by the General of Kaliph Omar. (Consult Moses of Khorene, National Historian of Armenia.) Thousands of Sanscrit works disappeared during the reign of Akbar. The universal tradition in China and Japan, is, that the true old texts with the commentaries have long since passed out of the reach of profane hands; the disappearance of five or six times the matter contained in our Bible, besides 80,000 or more Buddhist tracts, (The Legends and Theories of the Buddhists," by Spencer Hardy) to say nothing of the loss of the sacred Babylonian Commentaries, and the loss of the Symbolic key to Egyptian hieroglyphic records.

"The number of separate works in Sanscrit, of which manuscripts are still in existence, is estimated by Professor Max Muller to amount to about 10,000, which makes him exclaim, ’what would Plato and Aristotle have said, if they had been told that at that time there existed in that India, which Alexander had just discovered, if not conquered, an ancient literature far richer than anything they possessed at that time in Greece?’

"We can readily conceive that amongst these manuscripts there are dramas and works of fiction innumerable, and treatises in

literature and science, but there is little hope of their being completely investigated and sifted, and only like nuggets in a mine are the really valuable works likely to be found accidentally." ("Hindu Astronomy," by W. Brennand, page 132.)

These traditions make interesting study--but time prompts the assertion of a companion tradition in India of subterranean abodes, of large corridors filled with tiles, cylinders and other records, to reappear in some more enlightened age, when bigotry shall no longer blind the human mind and prevent careful study of the facts before judgment is pronounced. ("Historie des Vierges: Les Peoples et les Continents Disparus.")

Purely Brahamanical consideration, based on greed of power and ambition, allowed the masses in India (as in Egypt) to remain in ignorance of great truths; and exactly these same causes compelled the Initiates among the early Christians to remain silent because some of the uninitiated Church Fathers, who had never developed so as to know the truth, disfigured the order of things.

"Once more we may repeat that there was early intercourse between Egypt and Babylonia and that in this intercourse the prevailing influences came from the East." ("Archaeology of Cuneiform Inscriptions," by Prof. A. H. Sayce, page 144.)

The chief of an ancient Hindu Pagoda said to Colonel Tod, who was better loved by the natives than any other Englishman:

"Shahib, you lose your time in vain researches. The Bellati India (i.e. the India of foreigners) is before you, but you will never see the Gupta India (secret India.) We are the guardians of her

mysteries, and would rather cut out each other’s tongues than speak."

Again referring to The Builder, our Brother critic says: "Why did not the Great School begin its work at home, and lift India out of the shadow of superstition and the paralysis of pessimism." Passing by the work the School has endeavored to do the world over, we may quote the criticised book, "The Great Work":

In India as in Egypt "the tide of civilization at last reached its height. The material prosperity of a nation or a people, when it rises to a certain point, seems of itself to develop a subtle poison whose cumulative effects will, in due time, manifest themselves physiologically within the body politic. First comes the spirit of selfishness, then the desire for power, then the struggle for wealth, then the practice of dishonesty, then the oppression and suppression of the weak, then the protest of the injured, then the internecine strife, then the final struggle for existence, and in the end spiritual darkness and national death.

"The poison of unassimilated material prosperity was in the blood of Egypt. The spirit of selfishness took possession of her people. The struggle for position and power began. Dishonesty prevailed. Oppression and domination followed. Suffering and sorrow were everywhere. The cry of the subject was unheard and unanswered. Death had set its irrevocable seal upon the proudest of nations. Egypt died. The history of her death struggle is the tragic story of the approaching and appalling spiritual darkness which finally settled over that beautiful land of sunshine." (The Great Work, page 56.)

Here is the reason why the India of today is what we know her to be instead of that which she might have been. Egypt died. India sleeps.

As we may read in the book, "The Builders":

"Nevertheless, if life on earth be worthless, so is immortality. The real question, after all, is not as to the quantity of life, but its quality--its depth, its purity, its fortitude, its fineness of spirit and gesture of soul. Hence the insistent emphasis of Masonry upon the building of character and the practice of righteousness; upon the moral culture without which man is rudimentary, and that spiritual vision without which intellect is the slave of greed and passion. What makes a man great and free of soul, here or any whither, is loyalty to the laws of right, of truth, of purity, of love, and the lofty will of God. How to live is the one matter; and the oldest man in his ripe age has yet to seek a wiser way than to build, year by year, upon a foundation of faith in God, using the Square of Justice, the Plumb-line of rectitude, the Compass to restrain the passions, and the Rule by which to divide our time into labor, rest and service to our fellows. Let us begin now and seek wisdom in the beauty of virtue and live in the light of it, rejoicing- so in this world shall we have a foregleam of the world to come--bringing down to the Gate in the Mist something that ought not to die, assured that, though hearts are dust, as God lives what is excellent is enduring." (The Builders, page 275, 276.)

So then let us include in this communication Max Muller’s testimony as to the influence of ancient teachings in old India:

"If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions of some of them, which well deserve the attention, even of those who have studied Plato and Kant, I should point to India." (What India Can Teach Us, by Max Muller.)

A modern formulation of the ancient spiritual science, whose ancient home is India, may be quoted in this connection from "The Great Work" and is that which "attention" is called:

"And finally, it is hoped that when the work is finished it will impress upon every reader in such manner as to inspire him to immediate action, the paramount fact that it is to his own best interest, his own greatest good and his own largest possibility of happiness, both now and in the future of this life, both here and in the life to come, to enter at once upon the noble and ennobling task of ’Living a Life’ in conformity with Nature’s Constructive Principle, and never thereafter to falter until he shall arrive at the goal of individual Mastership, whether that be in this life or in the great hereafter." (The Great Work, Page 209.)

In the foregoing we have referred to the high ideals and lofty purposes of the Great School as disclosed in the book, "The Great Work," contrasting them with similar ideals and purposes as revealed in the book, "The Builders." Both books are the work of Masons. Both aim to show the traditions of the past and to inculcate the personal effort necessary to be a man, not merely in form, but in faith, in spirit, and still more in character. So mote it be.

(As an open forum for fraternal discussion, The Builder is very glad to have the friends of TK present their claims, and no one of them is more welcome to do so than Dr. Stewart, of the Cincinnati Masonic Study School, whose attainments as a student of Masonry entitle him to be heard on any theme of Masonic interest. Happily he is not one of those, of whom there have been a few, who regard any difference of opinion as a personal insult. Far from it. His article is admirable in spirit, like the man himself, and we need not say that it is equally choice in statement and form. Howbeit, we beg him to believe that we never for a moment made the mistake of imagining that TK, in the title of his book, described it as Great. Not so. Our reference was to the estimate of the book by other Brethren who called it "the greatest Masonic book in the world"; hence our remark that it seems to us "more curious than great." For the rest, we may take the points of the article in order:

First in respect of the Secrecy employed by the alleged Great school. Brother Stewart quotes from our little book, The Builders, to prove, what we never at any time denied, that everything must not be told to everybody. But that is not the question at all. It is not the secrecy of the teaching of the supposed Great School that we criticise, but the fact that the existence and history of the School are kept secret. Masonry also employs a secret method of teaching, but its existence is no secret. Its Old Charges, its history, and even a part of its ritual are written and may be read by all. Not once have we suggested, much less demanded, that TK betray any of the secret doctrine of the Great School, but he should at least be willing to prove that such a School exists. Brother Stewart reminds us that prominent Masons have talked with TK and convinced themselves

that such a School does exist; but surely that need not be a matter to be talked of in whispers behind closed doors.

Second, even if such a Great School exists, having headquarters "in the far off India"--and as to this we make no question, for there are many Great Schools in India and elsewhere and have been time out of mind--that does not prove that it has existed from the beginning of time, with records antedating the days of Moses and the pyramids. Grote, Philo, Mead and others are quoted by Brother Stewart to prove what we have never questioned, that religious and philosophical schools existed in ancient times. Manifestly so. The Mysteries were such. The Greek schools of Philosophy were such. We may even go back to the Men’s House of primitive tribal life, which was a secret Lodge in which every youth, when he became of age, was initiated into the law, legend, and religion of his people -­with ceremonies not unlike those used today. But Brother Stewart, by his own quotations, proves too much. He shows that there were many Schools--whereof Yarker has written so learnedly in his "Arcane Schools"--myriads of Schools, not one Great School superintending the education of humanity, creating Buddhism, early Christianity and Freemasonry, as TK affirms. So that, his quotations are quite wide of the mark, so far as this discussion is concerned.

Third, as to the "records" of the hypothetical Great School, Brother Stewart is content to show, what we have not called in question, that there were many precious records treasured by men in "the gray years of old." some of which, alas, were destroyed. But that has nothing to do with the matter in hand. TK claims that the records of his Great School have been preserved intact, and that they run back into pre-historic times, telling the story of man’s slow climb out of darkness toward the Light--including a record of the life of Jesus who, it is alleged, was a member of the School. His statement to this effect is definite and unqualified; not a theory, as Brother Fenell pointed out, but an affirmation. Some of us make request for proof of it. And it is not enough to tell us that TK has talked with members of the Great School and found that it is true. Without betraying any of her secrets. Masonry publishes her most ancient documents to the world. If the alleged Great School has such documents, why not ask it to do likewise--the more so that it purports to possess a hidden life of Jesus and the true story of the origin of Masonry? As a matter of fact, the statements of TK are impossible of proof, in the nature of things, and he knows it. Brother Stewart quotes the words of TK to the effect that for a number of years he has been in personal touch with members of the Great School and knows what he is talking about, and says that "the answer is complete." It is not complete. It is no answer at all. It does not even touch the question, much less answer it. Nor does the passage quoted from The Builders help his case in the least.

Fourth, very graciously Brother Stewart proceeds to show that the spirit and moral teaching of the Great Work are in harmony with the teaching which we tried to set forth in the closing chapters of The Builders. Exactly. Moral science, and the laws of the life of the spirit, are as much agreed upon, the world over, as are the propositions of mathematics. Life has no meaning save as we see it as a Great School for the building of character, and its deepest satisfactions, as well as its highest joys, are to be found in doing the will of Him "in whose great hand we stand." Masonry is a Great

School of spiritual faith and moral culture; all that is secret about it is its method of teaching--which is true, as we pointed out in The Builders, of all the Arcana Schools of old. Still, the moral teaching of Masonry is one thing and its history is another; and in The Builders we kept the two apart, treating tradition as tradition, legend as legend, history as history, and we insist that TK should do the same. Masonry stands in a great Secret Tradition, an epitome of universal initiation, deriving, no doubt, from many Arcane Schools; using its history, its traditions, its symbols and dramas the better to bring young men to discover the greatest of all Secrets, at once the most open and the most hidden--the kinship of the soul with God its Father, and of life as love and comradeship, here and hereafter.--The Editor.)

A TALE OF THE TRAIL

This life’s a middlin’ crooked trail, and after forty year Of knockin’ round, I’m free to say th’ right ain’t always clear;

I’ve seen a lot of folks go wrong - get off th’ main high road,

An’ fetch up in a swamp somewhare, almost before they knowed;

I don’t set up to be no judge of right and wrong in men,

I ain’t been perfect all my life an’ may not be again;

An’ when I see a chap who looks as though he’s gone astray,

I want to think he started right - an’ only lost his way.

I like to think the good in folks by far outweighs the ill;

Th’ trail of life is middlin’ hard an’ lots of it uphill;

There’s places where there ain’t no guides or signboards up, an’ so It’s partly guess work and part luck which way you chance to go. I’ve seen th’ trails fork some myself, an’ when I had to choose,

I wasn’t sure when I struck out if it was win or lose;

So when I see a man who looks as though he’d gone astray,

I want to think he started right - an’ only lost his way.

I’ve seen a lot of folks start out, with grit and spunk to scale

Th’ hills that purple over there, an’ somehow lose th’ trail;

I’ve seen ’em stop an’ start again, not sure about th’ road,

An’ found ’em lost on some blind trail, almost before they knowed;

I’ve seen ’em circlin’, tired out, with every pathway blind,

With cliffs before ’em, mountains high, an’ sloughs an’ swamps behind;

I’ve seen ’em circlin’ through the dusk when twilight’s gettin’ gray,

An’ lookin’ for th’ main high road - poor chaps who’ve lost their way.

It ain’t so far from Right to Wrong - th’ trail ain’t hard to lose;

There’s times I’d almost give my horse to know which one to choose;

There ain’t no guides or signboards up to keep you on th’ track;

Wrong’s sometimes white as driven snow, an’ Right looks awful black.

I don’t set up to be no judge of right or wrong in men;

I’ve lost the trail sometimes myself, an’ may get lost again;

An’ when I see a chap who looks as though he’d gone astray,

I want to shove my hand in his an’ help him find th’ way!

-   Selected

UP THE ROAD

Friends of mine along the way,

Whither bound this windy day?

Join us, friend, our way is one,

Up the road, till day is done.

Up the road toward light of Home, Shining far for all who roam, Shining for us brothers all,

Lest we falter, lest we fall.

Up the road, with words of cheer Fit to banish every fear,

Helpful deeds and kindly smiles, Easing so the wind-swept miles.

Up the road we brothers all !

Brave to answer every call;

Up the road, till day is done And the goal at last is won.

-   Charles S. Newhall, in the Survey.

SHE WOULD BE A MASON

By James C. Naughton

The funniest story I ever heard,

The funniest thing that ever occurred,

Is the story of Mrs. Mehitable Byrde Who wanted to be a Mason.

Her husband, Tom Byrde, is a Mason true,

As good a Mason as any of you;

He is tyler of Lodge Cerulean Blue,

And tyles and delivers the summons due.

And she wanted to be a Mason too - This ridiculous Mrs. Byrde.

She followed him round, this inquisitive wife, And nabbed and teased him half out of his life; So to terminate this unhallowed strife He consented at last to admit her.

And first, to disguise her from bonnet to shoon This ridiculous lady agreed to put on His breech - Ah! forgive me, I meant pantaloons; And miraculously did they fit her.

The lodge was at work on the Master’s degree; The light was ablaze on the letter G;

High soared the pillars J. and B.;

The officers sat like Solomon wise;

The brimstone burned amid horrid cries;

The goat roamed wildly through the room,

The candidate begged them to let him go home, And the devil himself stood up in the east,

As proud as an alderman at a feast,

When in came Mrs. Byrde.

Oh, horrible sounds! oh, horrible sight!

Can it be that Masons take delight In spending thus the hours of night ?

Ah! could their wives and daughters know The unutterable things they say and do Their feminine hearts would burst with woe. But this is not all my story,

For those Masons joined in a hideous ring, The candidate howled like anything And thus in tones of death they sing (The candidate’s name was Morey):

"Blood to drink and bones to crack,

Skulls to smash and lives to take,

Hearts to crush and souls to burn - Give old Morey another turn,

And make him all grim and gory."

Trembling with horror stood Mrs. Byrde, Unable to speak a single word;

She staggered and fell in the nearest chair, On the left of the Junior Warden there,

And scarcely noticed, so loud the groans,

That the chair was made of human bones.

Of human bones! on grinning skulls That ghastly throne of horror rolls - Those skulls, the skulls that Morgan bore ! Those bones, the bones that Morgan wore ! His scalp across the top was flung His teeth around the arms were strung - Never in all romance was known Such uses made of human bone.

That brimstone gleamed in lurid flame, Just like a place we will not name;

Good angels, that inquiring came

From blissful courts, looked on with shame

And tearful melancholy.

Again they dance but twice as bad They jump and sing like demons mad!

The tune is "Hunkey Dorey" - "Blood to drink and bones to crack,

Skulls to smash and lives to take."

Then came a pause - a pair of paws Reached through the floor, up sliding doors,

And grabbed the unhappy candidate !

How can I without tears relate The lost and ruined Morey’s fate?

She saw him sink in a fiery hole,

And heard him scream, "My soul! my soul!" While roars of fiendish laughter roll And drown the yells for mercy!

That ridiculous woman could stand no more - She fainted and fell on the checkered floor ’Midst all the ’diabolical roar.

What then, you ask me, did befall

Mehitable Byrde ? Why, nothing at all -

She had dreamed she’d been in the Mason’s hall.

FREEMASONS AS BUILDERS

A Series of Researches into the Operative Efforts of the Craft

1. THE TEMPLE AT INDlAlNAPOLlS

BY BRO. ELMER F. GAY, P.G.M. OF INDIANA

THE Masonic Temple of Indianapolis is owned jointly by the Grand Lodge F. & A.M. of Indiana and the Indianapolis Masonic Temple Association. The latter Association is composed of eleven directors representing eight Blue Lodges, two Chapters Royal Arch Masons and Raper Commandery No. 1, K. T. Each party owns an undivided one-half of the building and real estate.

The building has a frontage of 130 feet on Illinois Street, facing west and a depth of 150 feet on North Street. It is of Ionic style of architecture and is faced on all four sides with Bedford stone, backed with brick. The walls are unusually heavy, being five feet thick at the foundation. There are no windows above the first floor, except some are glass on the Illinois Street front, which are for decorative purposes only. Artificial ventilation is used exclusively in the building. The air is taken from the street level, and, after being thoroughly washed, is forced through heaters to all parts of the Temple.

The first floor is used exclusively for Grand Lodge purposes. The main foyer is about 40x50 feet, which, with the double stairways, is finished in Italian marble. At the right of the foyer are the quarters of the Grand Secretary, on the left the Grand Lodge Library and check room for the entire building.* Directly in the rear is the Grand Lodge Auditorium which has a large, well equipped stage as well as 1,200 leather upholstered opera chairs, and, as Indiana has but one representative from each lodge at the Grand Lodge meetings, ample accommodation is provided for many years to come.

The Temple is four double stories high, which allows for four mezzanine floors in the west end. The first floor mezzanine has two kitchens and three dining rooms, each with a seating capacity of about two hundred. They are divided by folding doors which may be opened, throwing the three into one room, if desired.

The Second and Third floors are exactly alike, and each contain two Blue Lodge rooms, size 50X70, a tyler’s room, preparation room, two examination rooms, smoking room, and a large social room, size about 60x35 feet. The two social rooms are divided by collapsible doors which, when opened, make a room about 35x120 feet, used for dances, receptions, etc.

In the west end of the lodge rooms is a balcony containing a pipe organ, choir and lantern rooms. The gallery is reached by two sets of stairs, each containing three, five and seven steps. The four lodge rooms are named the Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite, and differ only in the style of furnishing. The second and third mezzanine are devoted exclusively to the use of candidates, each lodge room having six individual preparation rooms. The fourth floor is devoted to the use of the Chapters, Council and Commandery, and contains an Asylum, Red Cross room, Armory and social room, for the use of the Commandery, a Chapter room with necessary anterooms for use of the Chapters and Council. The asylum and Chapter room each contain a pipe organ.

The fourth floor mezzanine contains a kitchen and banquet room, capable of seating about 350. This room is for the exclusive use of the bodies using the fourth floor of the Temple.

The specially prepared roof is used by the Commandery as a drill room and by the other bodies for garden entertainments. The basement is used for boilers and machinery purposes. Two Chapters of the Order of the Eastern Star meet in the lodge rooms on the second floor. This Temple is used only by York Rite Masons, the Scottish Rite and Shrine having separate Temples of their own.

*     (No coats or hats are allowed above the first floor, all persons being required to check their clothing in the main check room off the lobby, from which two high speed elevators take you to any floor desired.)

EDITORIAL

(The Builder is an open forum for free and fraternal discussion. Each of its contributors writes under his own name, and is responsible for his own opinions. Believing that a unity of spint is better than a uniformity of opinion, the Research Society, as such, does not champion any one school of Masonic thought as over against another; but offers to all alike a medium for fellowship and instruction, leaving each to stand or fall by its own merits.)

WAR AND THE MYSTIC TIE

ALAS ! it seems decreed that the nations must at last make a desolation, and call it Peace. Anything may happen in these wild and fateful days in which we live, when the whole world is half mad and half of it wholly mad. Many things fair and fine have already been crushed by racial rancors and national hatreds running riot in a vast eruption of savagery, and the end is not yet. Dreadful days lie ahead of us, when the very existence of civilization will hang in the balance, and nothing will be heard but the thunder of great guns and the hot steps of the Lords of Hell as they ride to ruin - nothing, save a wail of woe following the evening sun around the world!

Much of what we call modern thought passed quietly away into sleep at midnight on August 4th, 1914, and the Clock of Time was set back for an age. Since that dark date tie after tie by which men were bound together, has been broken, until little is left but the Law of the Jungle - that he may take who has the power and he may keep who can. Science turned traitor, and by its very skill in the mastery of force has changed the beautiful earth into a human slaughter­house. The Church failed, having lost what it claimed to possess, the power to uplift and guide the nations, to draw men to each other, and to base human life on love of man for his fellow. Socialism, with its vague humanitarian mysticism and its fine rhetoric of a cosmopolitan philosophy, collapsed like a house of cards in a storm.

Last of all, the mystic tie of Masonry seems to have given way under the pressure of world-war; the Grand Lodge of England, after a memorable debate, having severed relations with its Teutonic Brethren - the Masons of Germany having already repudiated their

Brethren in England, France, and Italy. No doubt it was inevitable that men should act so, looking at each other, as they do, across a million graves where sleep the fathers of dream-children never to be born! We do not chide, we only grieve. Nor do we let go of faith, as not a few have done, for the cynical dogma that humanity, so far from being the offspring of God, was begotten by the Father of Lies, upon the daughter of a Thief - its culture a veneer covering an immobile animalism which nothing can alter or influence.

No, no ! Albeit we do recall that during the blood and fire and tears of our own Civil War, when States were divided and Churches were rent asunder, the Masonic tie was not broken. While it could not avert the tragedy of war, it did mitigate the horror of it, building rainbow bridges across the battle lines, and many a man in Gray planted a Sprig of Acacia on the grave of a Brother in Blue. Today, those graves where heroes sleep together have sunk level with the sod, and the men who met as foes at Gettysburg have tented together as friends, each paying tribute to the valor of the other. From this fact let us take hope that, no matter how virulent and violent the present war may be, this, too, shall pass away, and the hatred which glows like a furnace today will give place to thoughts of gentleness and pity.

Have no doubt; the men in arms across the sea are not different from us. Soon they will have their Decoration Days, and over the graves of their uncomplaining dead will be drawn closer together, seeing with eyes purified by suffering that the truth which each fought for was but a fragment, a gleam, of a greater truth, and that courage, sacrifice and heroic aspiration are the virtues of all peoples. Men who are now enemies will see each other as they are, and then

they will he enemies no more, but friends, even as our North and South, once arrayed in long lines of blue and gray, are now united and free. The Great War will purge the bitterness of spirit from the peoples and a common sorrow will fall upon them like a benediction, the while they turn their energies to the upbuilding of the civilization which their conflict threatened to destroy.

*   * *

WASHINGTON’S MASONIC LETTERS -

Having just returned from a visit to Mount Vernon, we found awaiting us a copy of "Washington’s Masonic Correspondence as Found Among the Washington Papers in the Library of Congress," compiled from the original records, under the direction of a committee on library of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, with annotations by the venerable Brother Julius F. Sachse. It is a noble volume, containing copies and fac-similes never before published, the William Williams painting of Washington the Mason, now in the Alexandria-Washington Lodge, serving as a frontispiece - with sixteen other illustrations well selected and exquisitely mounted. This historic volume was prepared under the supervision of Grand Master J. Henry Williams of Pennsylvania, and its publication is a notable event in the annals of Masonic literature, alike for its beauty and its value. A detailed review of it will appear later, but we must say at once that it sets at naught, now and forever, all the statements, arguments and libels of the fanatics of the anti-Masonic craze of the last century that Washington never belonged to the fraternity, or that he had but a languid interest in its affairs. The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, in its publication of this volume, has rendered a distinguished service to Freemasonry, laying the Craft under abiding obligations of gratitude and goodwill.

*   * *

FREEMASONS AS BUILDERS -

Elsewhere in this issue Brother Clegg gives us a wide vision of the seriousness of the building problem faced by Masons all over the United States, as the Fraternity, more and more, demands larger and better quarters. If he calls attention to mistakes, more than to successes, it is to warn those who contemplate a new Temple, of the pitfalls in their path. We gladly give space to his article, because he speaks from experience, and because his counsel is beyond peradventure timely and good.

Happily, however, not all Masonic temples have brought with them serious troubles. In many cases Lodges are fortunate to have practical men with big hearts, and long experience, who have been able to build into a Masonic temple in a simple but comprehensive way those elements of convenience which make the "work" of the Lodge, as well as the social features, a joy to those who participate therein. Such a case is that at Indianapolis. Here the Grand Lodge of Indiana, and the enthusiastic Brethren of the city of Indianapolis have joined hands in the erection of a commodious, convenient, and, as we think, almost an ideal Masonic Temple.

The Grand Lodge has its auditorium, Library and Grand Master’s and Grand Secretary’s suite all on the main floor. Above are quarters for the Blue Lodges, Chapters and Commanderies of Indianapolis, and the detailed floor plan of the Blue Lodge floor shows how carefully every comfort, as well as necessity, of the foundation degrees in Masonry has been considered. If anything, even more ingenious has been the method by which the conferring of the Chapter and Commandery degrees has been made easy. And best of all, every detail of all of these degrees is brought out in the hall itself - the Brethren can see the whole degree, in every case (with but a single exception).

We hope that our illustrations of this wonderful temple will convey all this to the Brethren, particularly those who may be interested in Temple construction in a practical way, now, or in the immediate future. From time to time we shall publish drawings of other temples - always with a view of bringing before the Craft those elements which are vital and essential, and which may easily be incorporated into almost any Masonic Temple, no matter what its cost.

*   * *

MASONIC BOOKS -

So many and so urgent have been the requests of Brethren to know how and where they may obtain Masonic books, that we venture to suggest that they take the matter up with the Torch Press Book Shop, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Ye editor has no interest in this firm, save that he has dealt with it for many years, and, knowing it to be courteous, efficient and in all ways trustworthy, he does not hesitate to commend it to Brethren in quest of books and to Lodges seeking to form libraries. Many of our best Masonic books are out of print, but may be had at second-hand, and as the Torch Press Book Shop deals in books both old and new, and is in constant touch with book-

dealers both in this country and abroad, it will be able to aid the Brethren. Meanwhile, ye editor offers his advice and assistance - such as it is - both to the Book Shop and to any of his Brethren free gratis and for fun, wishing to do all within his power to bring good books and good men together.

*   * *

CORRESPONDENCE WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THE RITUAL?

Dear Brother: - So much is there that finds ready response in my heart that I hesitate to pick out a sentence from Brother Robert Tipton’s essay, page 155, The Builder, and give it less than praise. He says: "I for one shall be happy to welcome the movement that will strive to banish the antiquated terminology and render our ritual into easy unambiguous English." Maybe I do not quite get at the meaning he wishes to convey. For that matter, I am open to conviction on very many questions pertaining to the fraternity. Further testimony is therefore always welcome. But as to the ritual, is it not a fact that it has suffered more by excess of editing than by lack of the "blue pencil" ?

Today I doubt if any two Grand Lodges approve the same ritual. Familiar as I am with the "work" in several states I cannot recall any uniformity after you cross the lines of official jurisdiction. If then we have no more satisfactory conformity than is now finally or tentatively exhibited by all the revision committees that have labored over the problem I doubt very much the result of so broad a commission as the one outlined by my Brother Tipton.

There might be some advantage in having a uniform ritual but I fear that the results obtainable would not justify the effort. The ritual in each state has grown to its present arrangement by small and infrequent additions and subtractions. Familiar as each is at home, it would not have the prestige abroad over a similarly accepted one. It seems impossible that there would be any general give and take process that could be agreed upon for a revised ritual for universal use.

However, I have sometimes thought a plan not impossible of acceptance might be something after this style: Before we try to bring these oft-tinkered rituals up to date, why not travel the other way? Is it practicable to unearth the earlier forms of the ritual and then in each state secure authority to give them or one of them, the oldest preferably, once in a while ? A lodge of my acquaintance was wont to get its older members once a year to present a degree as it used to be done in the long ago. These meetings were always well attended. They were indeed events to be remembered. Nevertheless the wisdom of this sort of thing is I daresay debatable.

Yet there is one way in which Brother Tipton’s own Grand Lodge can set an example. It owns the Bowers-Spencer-Hughan eighteenth century ritual which is mentioned freely in that interesting book, "The Origin of the English Rite." The first of the two degrees there given would be suitable for lodge presentation. The third degree might raise objection. Into the reason for this I need not go. Taking the degree work from that ritual that seems admissible for rendition by the lodge members and I am sure it would meet Brother Tipton’s desires. I beg of him to look it over when he goes on his pilgrimages to the Masonic Library at Cedar Rapids.

If there is to be a simplification of the ritual attempted anywhere the unique possession of the Grand Lodge of Iowa is well worth entrance for that honor. Would it not be well at some annual gathering of your Grand Lodge for some enterprising brethren to put on that work with the attendant lecture of the famous Peter Gilkes? And may it be my good fortune to be among those present!

R. I. Clegg, Cincinnati.

*   * *

THE REALIZATION OF THE TRUTH

Esteemed Brothers: - "TK and the Great School" is not such an important Masonic subject as "The problem of demonstrating a future life" that Brother Fennell propounds in his letter to you, and which has been solved by TK and his "Great School," let us hope, and which, no doubt, was the problem of the Ancient Mysteries in whose strenuous degrees many are said to have disappeared forever.

This problem of the race, which too, is fast becoming the deeper problem of Modern Masonry, as indirectly acknowledged in the reply, "that the immortality of the soul is the polar expedition of philosophy, as it is the polar star of faith." In which case it must become the final purpose and object of all great educational movements, must and will be solved.

The word "polar" left out of the above quotation might leave the expedition open to include the hot sands of the desert perhaps, or at least, convey a warmer feeling for the subject, but we suppose, "ye Editor" wishes to keep perfectly cool.

Now the two prominent "landmarks" or great milestones of Freemasonry are first, a belief in God, and next a belief in immortality, and then the degrees proceed to show us how we can become one of those "living stones eternal in the heavens." In other words, demonstrate the mortal belief in immortality; but still, keeps before us the speculative or doubtful success of the enterprise and the unusual difficulties to be overcome. This would corroborate TK in his constructive principle with a lot of doubt thrown in, and the fear that the constructive teaching might prove destructive at any moment.

The egoistic claim of a Great School of very wise brothers who know all, is only characteristic of nearly all the Oriental teaching, and not out of keeping with the speculative knowledge implied to P.G.M’s, and S.G.C’s, of Masonry. It may be attractive to many but need not bother us who have some imagination of our own. It is along the same lines of scripture teaching that the "Jews" are the special selected people of God, or God’s chosen people, all right possibly, in a spiritual sense, but does not look well literally, for we think God is no respecter of persons.

Another question that stands out quite prominently as we proceed, is the fact that these advanced Adepts who are represented to be back of the several movements of human education differ among themselves, and the different groups disagree as to the great Truth and as to method and practice. This alone carries a doubt of their Great Knowledge, outside the belief of their followers, for Truth cannot disagree, it is One, and God Truth, and Spirit, are used as synonymous terms for Divine Perfection.

The principal weakness of the teaching of the TK, as presented in the "Great Work" is its seeming neglect of God, that Divine Shove which is the inspiring hope of humanity, and making "Personal Responsibility" the keynote of endeavor. In this sense it is unmasonic, for Scripture distinctly teaches that the "carnal mind" (sense or human mind) is enmity against God and cannot understand spiritual ideas at all.

In place of God, it gives us a "Constructive Principle" of nature which does not always work constructively and is very dangerous, and an Elder Brother who is ruler of this planet earth, a Planetary God subject to still higher authority, which is pantheism, even if it prove true that there really exists such personal ruler.

As a matter of plain fact, Sin, Disease, and Death,: are the names that include all the troubles of humanity, and the Holy Bible is the text book accepted by this Western civilization, as containing the remedy for it all. In it, the great teacher, Christ, tells us, that if we keep his sayings we - shall never die. It also tells us that the strength of sin is the law, and the result of this law of sin is death. And right here lies the problem for Masonry, Christianity, or any other benevolent society, for when this enemy, death, is destroyed, it is the last enemy of man and eternal happiness is attained.

Now if the carnal mind is enmity against God, (which is the one Truth we all want) and the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God, then worldly wisdom will never solve the problem, and yet, this same book tells us that by man came death and by man must come the resurrection. So man must solve it and it naturally becomes the most inspiring problem of the age, and all great minds will give it attention.

The best and most logical explanation, I have seen, of that law which is the strength of sin and the cause of death, is given in "Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures," by Mary Baker Eddy; she is truly Masonic in placing God first foremost and all the time, as the "greatest help in time of trouble," and agrees with the ancient Hermetic teaching in claiming that "all is Mind," but Divine not mortal, and further agrees with the ancient Sages, (who are the only Great Learned Men that seem tangible) that the Divine Mind is one Mind, and the All and source of all; therefore, the question would not be the "demonstration of a future life," but the Realization of the Truth of the Continuity of Life, now and always, and that every expression of life is that life.

"Life Understood" by F. L. Rawson, an eminent English scientist, the second edition of which has just been published, is also an eye- opener along this line.

Fraternally yours

Arthur B. Rugg, Minneapolis.

*   * *

UNAFFILIATED MASONS

Dear Brother: - There is a subject about which I wish to say a few words - in regard to the great army of our unaffiliated members. They are, most of them, aside from their one fault of non-affiliation, good men and Masons. Some of them have become non-affiliated through carelessness, having left the jurisdiction of their Mother Lodge. They have let time slip by, unconsciously, until the amount due their Lodge is so large that it would be a hardship for them to pay the sum required for reinstatement. I have known this sum to go as high as twenty-five and thirty dollars, an amount remarkably large for a workingman, with a family, to spare. Often times he cannot possibly do so, and a member is lost. Why did not the Brother state his case to the Lodge ? it may be asked. I will answer. I have in mind a Brother who had something like twenty-five dollars charged against him in his home Lodge, and he had met with misfortune through illness in his family - his wife died leaving him with a large family to care for. He saved ten dollars and sent his Lodge. I as secretary, under the seal of our Lodge, wrote them the conditions. They refused to reinstate him until the full amount was paid, and kept the ten dollars. I know of other cases of like kind.

We are adding new material to the building of the Great Work, some of it good, some bad. No doubt some of it which has been consigned to the rubbish heap may fit in some niche and be found valuable. There will come a day when every stone in the "great edifice" will be tried by fire to see if it is square and sound and true, and if in the highways or byways we find one that has the right mark upon it, why not rejoice? In other words, why not hold out an inducement to the unaffiliated and see what tie result will be? What do you think of it? If the secretary of the Lodge, or the master, would make it easier for them to resume work in the quarries, perhaps they would do so.

Fraternally

L. C. Stewart, Florida.

MASONIC EFFICIENCY

Dear Brother Editor: - I am very much interested in the plans and purposes of the Research Society, and I will tell you why. In common, as I believe, with many other Masons, I have many times wondered at the apparent lack of definite purpose in Masonry, aside from the ritual work; and as one ponders the matter it is really surprising that so much interest can be maintained as is the case. I believe the explanation is to be found in that vague conviction, which seems to lurk in the mind of even the least informed Mason, that Truth of some important kind is concealed about the premises. And to be candid, it is usually most effectually concealed, so that truly, only he who seeks, and seeks diligently, may find.

The question, as I see it, is this: Is Masonry anything more than a means of manicuring morals and massaging out the lines in the characters of men? Most of us believe it is. If it only means a process of making men respectable - a purveyor of genteel amusement to keep men out of mischief - the Lodge has certainly been mistaken in the past, and is doomed in the future. A Masonry that will make men hate evil and make them sacrifice for good, will certainty be taken seriously. Anything less will not even be laughed at. As I understand it, you are seeking to make Masonry efficient by making it intelligible, and I am with you to the world’s end, and back again.

Yours fraternally,

Oscar Wayman, Texas.

* * *

THE FIRST SCOTTISH RITE MASON

Dear Brother: - I want to tell you something that I am sure will interest you. I have the material in detail covering the life of Moses Michael Hays, who was the first Scottish Rite Mason made on the North American continent. You will remember that Morin was commissioned by the Grand Orient of France to carry the Rite of Perfection to North America. Morin came to San Domingo with the Grand Constitutions and there commissioned Francken as Deputy. Francken came to Boston and there commissioned Hays. Hays later commissioned Spitzer and Snitzer commissioned John Mitchell, who established the Rite of Perfection at Charleston, the forerunner of the Mother Supreme Council. Now very little has been known about Hays, but every Scottish Rite Mason both of the Northern and Southern jurisdictions, should be interested in being made familiar with the man whose patent connects his own directly with the royal origin of the 32d Degree. While rummaging in the Boston Masonic Library I came upon an old patent presented to the library years ago by E. W. Myers, of Richmond, Va. It is either the original or a copy of the patent given Hays by Francken. I am inclined to the opinion that it is a copy, but I shall try to identify the penmanship so far as Francken is concerned, as I know where some writing known to be his can be found. If the penmanship of this patent and that of Francken’s known writing are identical, I have discovered, as you can see, a document that is the foundation stone of both the Supreme Councils. But that is merely incidental to the life of Hays. His title to his place as the first Scottish Rite Mason in America is established incontestably in other ways.

Fraternally

C. D. Warner, Mass.

(This is indeed interesting, and we sincerely hope that Brother Warner will push his researches through, and give us the results of his findings. The pages of The Builder are open to him to spread before the Craft whatever of interest he may unearth in the archives. His articles on Masonic subjects in the Christian Science Monitor attracted wide note, and justly so, alike for their matter and manner, and we shall be very glad to hear from him when he is ready to publish his studies. - The Editor.)

MEMORIALS TO GREAT MEN WHO WERE MASONS

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

In 1853, when the subscriptions for the Washington Monument were waning, and the people were becoming restive, Congress appropriated $50,000 for an equestrian Statue of General Washington, and Brother Clark Mills, a local artist, was awarded the contract. Mr. Mills enjoyed an excellent reputation as a sculptor.

It was decided to erect this bronze memorial in the Circle at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue, New Hampshire Avenue and twenty-second street and K street. This circle is one of the places which the eccentric L’Enfant had designed for a little fortification, which he thought would be necessary when mobs and riots were in operation. But it had been turned into a Park, and in this centre the statue may be seen from many directions.

The statue shows the General in his Continental uniform, with a drawn sword in his hand, facing the east. The bust is a copy of that of the famous Houdon, and is regarded as perfect. The pose of the General and the apparent activity of the beautiful horse were highly eulogized at the time.

The horse, of course, in an equestrian statue, is a conspicuous part of the group: the animal appears as nature made him: his limbs are not obscured by fashionable raiment, which future ages might not be pleased with: the uniform of the Generals however, is a very beautiful one, and one that Americans should never tire of looking upon; that of the Continental Army.

This work of art was dedicated on the 22d of February, 1860, by the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, with Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4 in attendance. Washington Commandery No. 1 was the escorting body.

The Grand Master, George C. Whiting, after executing the usual ancient rites, turned to the President of the United States, Brother James B. Buchanan, Past Master of Lancaster Lodge No. 43 of Pennsylvania, and said:

"Mr. President. This gavel, prepared expressly for the purpose, was used by Washington, as President of the United States, and as Grand Master of Freemasons pro tempore, in laying the corner stone of the Capitol of the Nation, on the 18th of September, 1793, and I have now the honor of requesting, in the name of the Fraternity, that you, his brother and his successor, will likewise employ it in the crowning act of dedicating this statue.”

The President of the United States, on receiving the gavel from the Grand Masteir, made a beautiful dedicatory address.

The writer is probably one of the few Masons, now living, who witnessed this historic dedication, and the recollection is one of lasting pleasure.

WHAT IS FAITH?

What is faith but risking all To the realness of the call ?

Faith may never be to know - It may always be to grow.

-   E.G. Rockwell.

BURDENS

Not always do they rob life of its charms,

At times they lend a glory and a glow;

A woman with a baby in her arms,

A pine tree bending heath a weight of snow.

-   A.D. Patterson.

THE LIBRARY

"IN A NOOK WITH A BOOK"

AN ATTIC PHILOSOPHER

THREE or four Brethren have asked why we did not name "The Pleasures of Age," by Emile Souvestre, among the very best books on old age. Because we feared that others might have as hard a time finding it as we had years ago, when we came upon it in an old second-hand book shop where we were wont to browse betimes in the times that come not back. It is indeed a gracious book, sweet, meditative, and wise, one of the few books that treat of the last scene of life without bitterness, which even Cicero did not escape. Also, Souvestre did not know old age, save by imaginative insight, for he died at the age of forty-eight when life was at high noon.

Besides, we like his "Attic Philosopher" better, the more so because we once had a prejudice against the book before we knew it, thinking that it must be the musings of some thin, wan cynic, pinched by poverty, and writing his bitter thoughts from an Attic. Imagine our surprise and delight when we saw the book itself - coming as it did, on a day so dull that if we had gone seining in the ocean of ideas we could hardly have caught a minnow. Instead of a book of sharp cynicism and acid wit, we found one of the wisest, sweetest, most wholesome books it has ever been our joy to meet.

The Philosopher in the Attic gives us his grave and kindly wisdom in the form of a diary, or journal - less learned than Amiel, but with equal observation and insight. He teaches virtue by ridiculing vice, and such bitterness as he feels is clothed in a garb of mirth, and is

soon washed away by the waters of Marah. He sees the misery of the world without despising it, and its cowardly tricks without hating it. He learns not to judge by appearances; he shows the joys of the poor and the sadness of the rich. He tells stories, reviews books, records gossip, paints landscapes, studies human nature because he loves it; smokes, dreams, and remembers - and through it all blows the sweet air of the country and the perfume of a simple faith in God. Hear some of his sayings:

"Let a man learn to be at home in his own heart, and he will surely learn how much there is to do at home."

"O Philosophers ! find us amusement without brutality, and enjoyment without selfishness!"

"Ah! if men only knew in what a small dwelling joy can live, and how little it costs to furnish it !"

"We award the palm to Charity, but let us give it to Moderation - the great social virtue. Even when it does not create the others, it stands instead of them."

"Trustfulness prevents sorrow, if not from coming, at least from staying. I put my judgment in place of providence, and the happy child is changed into an anxious man.

"Is it not true that beyond goodness, prudence moderation, humility, and self-sacrifice itself, there is one great truth, which alone can face misfortune? And that, if a man has need of virtues for others, he has need of religion for himself ?"

Ay, here is meat for the mind, food for the soul, and light along the path. Yet it is not a book of proverbs, but of vivid human life from day to day, with its sorrows, its homely joys, its deep and quiet consolations. There are the old fruit woman, the soldier who loved flowers, the two sisters on their first trip to the country, the old veteran to whom love of France was a kind of worship - with memories of old days an scenes far off, and gentle thoughts of the dead who live in our hearts, and therefore never die. It is a wise book, equally for what it remembers and for what it forgets, giving alms to oblivion while laying up that treasure which neither time nor death can rust. Truly, if one can have such a kind heart and such a sweet faith, it matters little where he lives - whether in a Attic or in a Palace - for he will be cleansed of envy of evil, of restless fret and fear, finding God everywhere.

*   * *

Speaking of best loved books, ye scribe may be permitted to tell a story, while we chat together in the Library. Once on a time he found himself lonely, ill, and far from home - having fallen unconscious on the street of a strange city, where he was picked up by two brother Masons and cared for till he was healed of sun-stroke. When able to be about, he went for a walk, and, seeing the sign of a Book-shop, he ventured in to see what he could find for the mending of his spirit. There, in a tiny case of curious old books, he found a volume which proved to be one of the best friends of his life. It was entitled "Some Fruits of Solitude," by William Penn, and in his loneliness ye scribe sought to learn what solitude had taught a great and wise man.

Courage, common sense, a resolute cheerfulness, and, above all, a sense of being "never less alone than when alone" - such was the message, perhaps one had better say medicine, of that gracious little book. Later he found "More Fruits of Solitude," from the same pen, which, in his opinion, are richer, juicer, and grown by a sunnier wall of experience. They are two little baskets of ripe wisdom wherein, if a man will look, he will find apples of gold - a blend of honest, homely shrewdness and heavenly spirituality, qualities rare enough and still more rarely growing together. Years afterward, in reading the Letters of Stevenson, he learned that Robert Louis had much the same experience with the same little book in the old days in San Francisco.

Why are not such books written now-a-days? It would seem that we are so smitten with the curse of being busy - a kind of St. Vitus’ dance of doing things - until we are almost bankrupt in the real business of living. Meditation is almost a lost art among us. We hardly know how to be alone, much less to be quiet and think things through - or, better still, to listen to those voices which will tell us, if we have ears to hear, what life means. Penn was a Quaker, that is to say, a Quietist, and he has put into simple words what he learned in the School of Silence. Hear him a moment:

"How many people come into, and go out of the world, ignorant of themselves, and of the world they have lived in."

"Do good with what thou hast, or it will do thee no good. Riches lie in bags; Happiness in content - which wealth can never give."

"No religion is better than an unnatural one. To be furious in religion is to be irreligiously religious." "They that love beyond the world cannot be separated. Death cannot kill what never dies. Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas."

"Humble, meek, merciful, just, and devout souls are everywhere of one religion; and when death hath taken off the mask, they will know one another, though the divers liveries they wear here make them strangers."

This last saying - a favorite with Lincoln - ye scribe can never forget, and it expresses his real feeling in regard to religion. If only this truth had been kept in mind and heart, how much bigotry and bitterness would have been avoided - but, alas, so many liveries make men strangers, even enemies. No part of the ministry of Masonry is more benign than the way in which, by the fine art of friendship, it leads men to this discovery made by Penn long ago; and so, happily, we do not have to wait for Death to take off the mask to know and love our fellow men.

*   * *

QUESTIONS

Dear Brother: - Nothing has been published in The Builder more helpful to the average member of the Craft than the questions compiled by the Cincinnati Masonic Study School. Lodges in this section are some distance apart, and we have no Past Master’s Societies or Research Guilds, and it is hard for the less informed Brethren to get anything that will create interest for more light. It is in appreciation of what the Cincinnati School and the Research

Society are doing, through The Builder, that I make this expression. Yours fraternally. E. J. Matthiesen, La Cross, Kan.

Many thanks for your words of good cheer. Others have written letters of like tone, which confirm us in the belief that we have found a method and a point of contact with the greatest of all problems before this Society - to awaken the interest of Masons in the study of Masonry. We are glad to announce that, when the series of questions on "The Builders” is finished, other books will be taken up in the same manner, by the kindness and industry of the Cincinnati School - for example, "The Story of Freemasonry," by W. G. Sibley, published by the Lion’s Paw Club, Gallipolis, Ohio.

* * *

Will you be kind enough to tell me whether or not the Emperor of Germany is a Mason? I have seen it stated both ways, even in Masonic journals, and I am puzzled to know the truth. - J. L. B

No, Kaiser Wilhelm is not a Mason. The story probably comes from the fact that every King of Prussia, since the time of Frederick the Great, with the exception of Frederick William IV and the present Emperor, were Masons. The only monarch in Europe associated with the Craft, we believe, is the King of Sweden, who is Grand Master of Masons in Sweden - the Crown Prince being Deputy Grand Master.

*   * *

Please tell me the origin and meaning of the word cabletow. Has it any other than a Masonic usage ? I have searched in vain for any clear explanation of it. Perhaps others would also be interested in your answer. - H.T.S.

Until recently the word cable-tow was of exclusive Masonic usage, but the Standard Dictionary (1913) defines it as "a rope or line for drawing or leading; in Freemasonry, symbolizing, in the second and third degrees, the covenant by which Masons are bound." Just why it should thus be limited to the second and third degrees, is strange. Mackey, in his Encyclopedia, says the word is "purely Masonic" and that the German "Kabeltau" is the probable derivation. Lawrence, in his "Practical Masonic Lectures," says that Mabel is a word from the Dutch, signifying a great rope, which, being fastened to the anchor, holds the ship fast when she rides; and that Tow is a word from the Saxon, which means to hale or draw, and is applied, nautically, to draw a barge or ship along the water." (Lecture II) Albert Pike found the origin of the word in the Hebrew "khabel," which meant rope, cord, cable attached to an anchor, (Prov. 23:34) and that Tu or To as a suffix, meant "his" - that is, "his anchor rope." In Ezk. 18: 12, 16 and 23:15, and in Job 22:6 the same "Mabel" meant binding or pledge, and " to bind as with a pledge." And in Ezk. 18:7 is the word "Khabel-to," meaning "his pledge." By the length of the cable-tow is meant, so Pike held, "the scope and intent and spirit of one’s pledge."

Such is the confusion with respect to the origin of the word, and as to its symbolism the confusion is equally great. Pike seemed to hold that it has no symbolical significance at all, the use to which it is intended to be put in case of need divesting it of every semblence of a symbol. With this Mackey agrees, remarking that it is used merely as a physical device for controlling the initiate - which might

conceivably be true in the first degree, but is obviously an error in the references to it in the other degrees. Lawrence held that the cable-tow is a symbol of the obligation of a Mason, the Mystic Tie binding the initiate to God, to the Order, and to Righteousness; a tie which both binds and draws, and which holds a man fast, lest he drift like a ship at sea. Rowbottom, in his "Origin of Masonic Ritual," gives the cable-tow as a symbol which teaches the candidate that he is bound with a cord whose running noose of indigence and want, tightening with unrelenting severity, will bring no less disaster to the careless and indolent who try to evade the duties of their lives. Paton, in his "Freemasonry, Its Symbolism," (Chap. XLV) insists that the cable-tow is a simple and natural symbol of the tie which unites the Fraternity, and its use may perhaps be referred to the figurative language in which the Lord speaks to the Prophet Hosea, when remonstrating with guilty Ephraim: "I drew thee with the cords of a man, with bonds of love." (Hosea 11:4)

So there, now, you have it all laid out, confusion worse confounded as to both origin and meaning. We have our own views as to the symbolism of the cable-tow, but before we give them we wish to hear from others; and to that end we invite discussion. Let us hear from you, brethren

*   * *

There is a word familiar to Masons often translated, "What, the Builder!" and sometimes, "What, is it the Builder?" I am not familiar with the Hebrew, but somehow this phrase never had any deep meaning for me. Have you any suggestion in the matter? - T.S.M.

Albert Pike felt very much as you do about that word, and he was wont to translate it "marrow-in-the-bone." At first sight this seems no better than the accepted rendering, but hear now his explanation of it. As "medulla" in Latin means marrow, the inner part, the quintessence; and in Greek the brain was called the "muelos," or marrow, of the skull; and as "Os," a bone, in Latia, meant also the kernel, Pike contended that the Hebrew word in question had a similar meaning. "Marrow-in-the-bone" was used, Pike held, as a trite phrase to conceal a deep truth, after the manner of Pythagoras. Really the "marrow-in-the-bone" meant the Divine Word in the Universe. For example, the true Word of a Mason was the Hebrew name of God - which has been lost - the Pater Agnostos, the Unknown Father and invisible God, incomprehensible by the human intellect, and therefore nameless. The substituted word - substituted of necessity, since no one may name the nameless One - is the symbol of, and represents "the first born of Creation, the Eternal Word, or Logos, in whom shines the image of God, so far as man can know Him, by whom all things were made." If you will think for a moment, you will discover that this gives a very wonderful interpretation to the word we use, especially in the scene in which it is used.

By an odd turn of things, five Brethren have asked about the 47th Problem of Euclid. One is a young man who tells us, frankly, that he does not know what the problem is and would like to have it stated. Another wants to know why Pythagoras used it as a symbol, and what it symbolized. Another asks if it may not have a practical meaning and use for Masons today.

(1)       The problem is as follows: - In every right-angled triangle, the sum of the squares of the base and perpendicular is equal to the square of the hypotenuse - that is, the line which connects the ends of the other two sides. If, for instance, the base be three measures and the perpendicular four, of the same length each, the hypotenuse will be five. If it be not, the base and perpendicular form either an obtuse or acute angle, and the triangle is not right-angled. If a Mason was carrying up the corner of a building, and wished to know whether it was square, he measured three feet from the corner one way and four the other. If the line drawn from the termini was more or less than exactly five feet, he had not made a square corner. Such was the problem and the practical use made of it by the old operative Masons.

(2)     It is said that when Pythagoras discovered this theorem he sacrificed a hundred oxen. Why? As a mathematical problem it is of no more importance or interest than fifty others in Euclid; and of much less than many of them. Pythagoras never styled other problems symbols, much less as "a Great Symbol." Why did he use it as such? Certainly he did not consider the figure, the right-angled triangle, as a figure, a symbol. No, its symbolism was in the numbers three, four, five - especially three and four, the sum of which is the always sacred number Seven. Why was seven sacred to Pythagoras? Seven what? Perhaps the seven Divine potencies in the theology of the Median Magi, under whom he studied in Babylon. Of the seven, three were feminine and four masculine. As the three female powers were of the world of Nature - in the theory of olden time - they were represented as a horizontal line, or base, of the right-angled triangle, and the four male forces by which Deity acts upon nature, were the perpendicular; and the hypotenuse represented the Deity Himself, Ahura Mazda, containing in Himself the four male powers.

(3)     So far Pythagoras. But what may the problem mean to us? Such use of the problem evokes no profound meaning, much less enthusiasm, in a modern man - save as it may bring to mind the familiar truth of the Father-Mother God of all great religions. Therefore we beg to suggest a very practical meaning and use of the problem, after this manner: - Just as the old Masons used this problem to test whether their work was square, may we not employ it for the more noble and glorious use of testing whether our lives are square and true with the order of the world ? How may a man know that his acts are right ? By the judgment of Conscience? But conscience is not infallible. It tells us to do right, but it does not tell us what is right. Let Conscience be one measure from the corner, what is the other measure, or standard, by which the moral test may be made complete? Here again we pause for discussion, and we shall be eager to hear the Brethren talk it over. It is a problem of vital practical import, with which every man is confronted almost every day - by what method can it be solved?

*   * *

ARTICLES OF INTEREST

Ancient Masonry, by F. W. Krueger. Square and Compass.

Henry Price, First Grand Master of Masons in America, by C. D. Warner. Galveston (Texas) News.

The Secrets of Freemasonry, by E. B. Guild. American Freemason.

The Scarab as a Symbol in the Book of the Dead, by T. M. Stewart. The New Age.

Masonic Training for Youth, by A. G. McChesney. The New Age.

History of the Origin of the Original Grand Lodges and the Royal Arch, by J.F. Carson. Virginia Masonic Journal.

*   * *

BOOKS RECEIVED

Love and the Freemason, by Guy Thorne. Wernie Laurie, London.

Oriental Consistory Magazine, Vol. 6, Chicago.

Washington’s Masonic Correspondence, by J. F. Sachse. Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

The Bible of Today, by A. Blakistin. Cambridge University Press.

Property Concepts of the Early Hebrews, by M. J. Laure. University of Iowa.

What Can I Know? by G. T. Ladd. Longmans, Green Co. New York.

The Modern Mystic’s Way, by W. S. Palmer. Duckworth & Co., London.

THE BUILDERS

As the mighty poets take Grief and pain to build their song:

Even so for every soul,

Whatsoe’er its lot may be - Building as the heavens roll,

Something large and strong and free - Things that hurt and things that mar Shape the man for perfect praise;

Shock and strain and ruin are Friendlier than the smiling days

-     J.W. Chadwick.

AMEN

Give me strength to help him on;

If a blinder soul there be,

Let me guide him nearer Thee.

Make my mortal dreams come true With the work I fain would do;

Clothe with life the weak intent,

Let me be the thing I meant;

Let me find in Thy employ Peace that dearer is than joy;

Out of self to love be led And to heaven acclimated,

Until all things sweet and good Seem my natural habitude.

-   Whittier.

WHENCE COMES SOLACE?

Whence comes solace? Not from seeing,

What is doing, suffering, being;

Not from noting Time’s monitions;

But in cleaving to the Dream And gazing at the Gleam Whereby gray things golden seem.

-   Thomas Hardy.

THINK ONLY THIS

If I should die think only this of me:

He told the truth it was given him to see,

And tried to help his race along the way Toward that better, brighter far off day.

-   J.F.N.

WHERE IS REST?

Rest is not quitting the busy career;

Rest is the fitting of self to one’s sphere.

’Tis the brook’s motion, clear without strife, Fleeing to ocean after its life.

’Tis loving and serving the highest and best;

’Tis onwards ! unswerving - and that is true rest.

-   John S. Dwight.

THE BUILDER MAGAZINE

JULY 1915

VOLUME 1 - NUMBER 7

MASONIC MEMORIALS

BY BRO. GEO. W. BAIRD, P.G.M., D.C.

HISTORY is often perverted in its memorials, and memorials are the enduring evidences which impress the minds of generations and generations.

Few people take the trouble to snake careful inquiry into even current events. Most of us read the head-lines in the daily papers, and form hasty conclusions. Life is too short, we say, to delve into details of much that is passing. The head-lines are often ambiguous, and sometimes are contradicted in the text below them.

A monument or statue to memorialize a man usually invites attention to his most important act, and this is never lost sight of either by its projectors or by the artist.

In the Capital of the Nation there are, in the Parks and Streets, more than 50 memorials of heroes, idols, and events besides those under cover in the Public Buildings. Though more than half of these memorialize men who were Masons, there is no Masonic emblem nor word to indicate it, with one exception.

Enthusiasts are making history. It has been said there is nothing true in history excepting the dates: but it still continues.

The first statue erected in Washington was that of Columbus, sculpted by the great Persico, situated on the buttress on the east side of the Capitol. It shows Columbus in the armor and the uniform he wore, as a discoverer, and the memorial is called Discovery. The bust is a replique of one in Madrid, modeled during the life of Columbus, and believed to be a good por trait. But, not satisfied with this, the Knights of Columbus, Ancient Order of Hibernians et al. secured al appropriation from Congress of $150,000 to erect an other statue of Columbus which is shown in a cloak such as is worn by Monks, and even the portraiture is not at all like that of Persico’s statue. This is all the more remarkable since it has been pretty well prover that Columbus was a Spanish Jew. Certainly he never wrote excepting in the Spanish Language.

But our essay is upon the effigies in the Parks of Washington, which memorialize Freemasons, though that quality may be incidental.

So many of these memorials are of military men that the stranger at once gets the idea that we are a terribly war-like people, while we claim to be peace lovers.

Some of these memorials are dual: there are two of Washington, two of Lincoln, and two of Columbus.

The first and greatest is that of Washington. An obelisk, square, upright and perfect, plain on the outside, white and smooth; but on the inside there are sculptured memorial stones, presented by States, Grand Lodges, Foreign Governments, Societies and individuals. The

site was selected by Washington himself, and is on the exact meridian of Washington City, a mile due east of the Capitol, and is due south of the Executive Mansion (now called White House.)

It was intended to build it by subscription, and to make it 600 feet high; the highest structure in the world: but the subscriptions ceased before the Civil War came on, when the obelisk was but 54 feet high, and work ceased. The corner stone was laid by the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia on the 4th of July, 1848, and it was dedicated by the Grand Lodge in 1885.

In 1882 Congress made an appropriation to finish the Monument, and it then passed into Government possession. It was determined that the foundation was not strong enough, and Col. Thos. L. Casey, of the U. S. Engineers, was accorded high honor for the masterly manner in which he accomplished the difficult work of underpinning and strengthening the foundation, which he did before adding a single course of stone. The shaft is 55 feet square at the base and 555 feet high. Its weight is estimated at 81,120 tons. The walls, at the base, are 15 feet thick. There is now an elevator in the monument, so its ascent is not hard. There is a spiral stair case reaching nearly to the top from which stairs the many memorial stones may be examined.

Among the first contributions were beautiful stones from Masonic Lodges, from the States, many cities, Societies, etc.

The memorial stones, up to the present, number 151, but the Secretary of War has recently refused the Grand Lodge of Louisiana the privilege of placing a stone, and has said he will permit none others excepting from States.

From Individuals there are 6 memorial stones. From Militia Companies 6           “          “

From Fire Companies 8                   “             “

From States, 7 Cities           50         “             “

From Labor Unions 8                       “             “

From Benevolent Societies 1          “             “

From Masonic Bodies 24 memorial stones. From the Red Men        2          “          “

From the Odd Fellows        10         “             “

Temperance Societies          4          “             “

Sons of America                     1           “             “

S. of T.R.I.                                1           “             “

Schools and Colleges            9          “             “

Whig Party                               1           “             “

Washington Light Infantry 1                  “           “

Dramatists                                1           “             “

Ancient Order of Hibernians 1               “           “

Oldest Inhabitants                 1           “                 “

Sunday Schools and Churches 3          “           “

Medical Society

Cherokee Indians

Switzerland

Greece

Siam

Brazil

Turkey

China

Japan

Wales

^Egyp^t

Newspapers

Masonic Memorial Stones are from the Grand Lodges of District of Columbia, Ohio, Kentucky, New York, Maryland, Illinois, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Virginia; and from Mt. Lebanon Lodge of Pa.; La Fayette Lodge of N. Y.; Washington Lodge of Roxbury, Mass.; and Naval Lodge of D. C.

There were, at that time, only 30 States in the Union, but, it will be seen, not all of the Grand Lodges in those States presented Stones.

Many of the stones are beautifully sculptured and lettered and bear the names and rank of the Grand Officers. Some have patriotic and endearing inscriptions appropriate to the subject.

THE MASONIC SIGN.

What fact more conspicuous in modern history than the creation of a gentleman? Chivalry is that, and loyalty is that. The word gentleman must hereafter characterize the present and a few preceding centuries, by the importance attached to it, is a homage to personal and incommunicable qualities. An element which unites persons of every country; makes them intelligible and agreeable to each other; and is somewhat so precise that it is at once felt if an individual lack the Masonic sign, cannot be any casual product. It is made of the spirit, more than of the talent of men, and is a compound result, into which every great force enters as an ingredient, namely, virtue, wit, beauty, nobility, power.

-   Emerson.

CHINESE WISDOM.

He who has no ambition is like an ax without edge.

When you know yourself thoroughly, you know every one else.

The last step must be as steady as the first in climbing a hill.

Youth jumps and slips; age picks its steps and crosses safely.

Be as cross to yourself as you are to others; as sweet to others as to self.

If you insist on everyone being like you, look in the mirror.

With learning, as with weeds, get at the root.

Prejudice is the thief of persuasion.

-   J.S. Thomson. China Revolutionized.

THE MEMORIAL TO WASHINGTON

Address Delivered Before the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association

BY BRO. J. CLAUDE KEIPER, P.G.M., DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

I   am bidden by the Worshipful Master of Alexandria-Washington Lodge to speak of the work of the Washington Memorial Association, whose avowed purpose it is that here in Virginia, not greatly distant from the place of his birth, nigh to the home he loved and cherished, the hallowed spot where his ashes repose; here in Alexandria, the community in which his Masonic virtues were best known and best regarded, and where he presided as Master over the labors of his brethren, here, even in the shadow of the church in which he worshiped, there shall rise a memorial to the only man in all our history who was at the one time Master of his Masonic Lodge and President of the United States, a national memorial to Washington the Mason, a Craftsman who in no respect was ever unworthy of his work.

It is not my purpose to present to you statistical abstracts of the progress of the movement, the number of grand jurisdictions which have approved it, nor the amount of the fund so far collected for the purpose of the Memorial. These matters, important though they best may well be left to the consideration of the devoted men who constitute the Association and who are giving freely of their time and their talents in what is to them a labor of love.

Monuments commemorative of the patriotism of Washington, his valor and prowess as a military leader, memorials designed to perpetuate his wisdom and virtue as a statesman have been erected throughout all our land by a loving and grateful people, but nowhere, so far as I know, save in the hearts of his appreciative brethren, has there been erected a memorial of the character contemplated by this Association.

Need I say more to justify the work in which it is engaged? It is true that Masonic memorials to individual brethren are comparatively rare and this is not because our Fraternity has been influenced by a desire to conceal from public knowledge who among the Nation’s great have wrought greatly for the upbuilding of the Craft. I take it that it is rather because Masonry has recognized the truth that idealized conceptions in bronze and marble, however beautiful in themselves, can avail little to add to the luster of a name or embellish an achievement, and further that as an ancient and honorable institution it would be inconsistent with its dignity to be boastful of the connection with it of any man, however distinguished his career or exalted his station. It is our boast that in Masonry all are on the one plane of perfect equality, and a remarkable illustration of this is found in the life of Washington himself,

concerning whom there was published a few weeks ago in one of the Boston papers an incident telling how he, the General of the American Army, was one day observed seated in the tent of an Army Lodge as a mere member while a corporal presided therein as Master, exemplifying thereby the basic principle of our Fraternity to which I have alluded, a principle announced with undying emphasis by that other great Virginian when he wrote into the Declaration of Independence, the assertion that all men are created equal.

Therefore it is that the Association for which I speak does not approach the erection of this Memorial with the primary purpose of gratifying a vainglorious spirit. It is true that one of the results of its work will be the proclamation to all the world of Washington’s connection with Masonry. But there are other and higher aims and there will be other and higher results. One of them will be wholly utilitarian, for within the memorial building will be provided a place of safe deposit for the priceless relics that now adorn the Lodge room of the local Masonic bodies. And what a splendidly personal interest in him do they inspire in us as we reverently gaze upon them! More than that. How strong will be their appeal, how profound their impression upon the brethren from the East and from the West, from the North and from the South, as they gather in after years at what I hope and believe will be the shrine of Freemasonry in the United States, the Mecca toward which will be set the feet of Craftsmen in ever-increasing thousands.

To present properly another result let me go back to that time, now more than 150 years gone, when, as a young man just attaining his majority, Washington first learned of Masonry and its truths. Can any one doubt that its beneficent teachings exerted a powerful influence upon a mind and character already predisposed toward them by inherent morality and integrity ? An influence that was strongly felt and plainly manifested in the formation, upon allied principles, of a government in whose making there were associated with him so many Masons. Therefore it is that this Memorial will symbolize more than his connection with our fraternity, proud of it as we are and may rightfully be; therefore it is that over and above all mere personal considerations it will stand a living monument to the benign influence of Masonic teachings in the formation of a great government, under which millions of free people have found happiness, obtained justice and through which, under the providence of God, they and their posterity shall long enjoy the blessings of untrammeled liberty.

My friends, seated here tonight on the natal day of our revered brother and gathered for its appropriate commemoration, I beg you to indulge me a moment further as I ask you to go back with me in imagination to a similar occasion, exactly 90 years ago, when Alexandria-Washington Lodge, on February 21,1825, entertained one of Washington’s best loved associates in the War for Independence, General La Fayette. You are familiar with the details. Picture for yourselves that devoted friend of Liberty entering the Lodge room clothed in the Masonic habiliments of Washington. Picture the subsequent assembly around the banquet table and listen to the toasts proposed. First, as a matter of course, was one to Washington, extolled as “First in cabinet, first in the field and first in the principles of Masonry.” Then one to the President of the United States, James Monroe, whose name will ever be affectionately associated with the doctrine of preserving American soil for the propagation of the principles of American liberty. And then one to “Our Illustrious Brother and Guest, La Fayette. His brethren take peculiar pleasure in receiving him in that Lodge over which their beloved Washington was pleased to preside.” And now hearken to the response. Note that it might well have been a prophecy of our present undertaking as he says, “The Masonic Temple of Alexandria, and the illustrious, venerated name under which it has been consecrated.” Surely in closing I can leave with you no higher wish than that this saying of nearly a century ago may become the animating and inspiring watchword of our whole Fraternity until its efforts to erect a national memorial to Washington the Mason shall be crowned with complete success.

THE MYSTIC LADDER

TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH BY THE LATE BRO.

EDWIN A. SHERMAN

THE mystic ladder pertains particularly to us as Knights Kadosh, as the type of our order. It is composed of two ascents or supports that remind us of the compact which took place between Philip the Fair and Pope Clement the V, and the strength of that union which was given against our predecessors. The reunion of the two ascents or supports, and the seven steps of which it is composed, give an exact idea of the seven conditions which Philip imposed on Beltian de Goth, when he was Archbishop of Bordeaux, to be seated in the chair of St. Peter, when he obligated him to participate in the destruction of the Knights Templars.

And so you likewise complete your obligations and swear implacable hatred to the enemies of that Order which was the pattern of all the virtues; and we now have the obligation of employing all our forces for the total ruin of evil and priestly tyrants, upon whose heads must fall the blood of Jacques de Molay and his martyred companions.

After the death of Benedict XI, which occurred on the 6th of July, 1304, the cardinals assembled to elect a new Pope, and were divided into two bands, one French and one Italian.

Philip the Fair, King of France, had projects which he could not carry out without the assistance of the Pope who should be elected. His party fomented the divisions in the conclave to favor his designs. He ordered search to be made for Beltian de Goth, then Archbishop of Bordeaux, and in the conference which took place he informed him of his projects and the power he had to elect him Pope, affirming that an oath would be required of him to execute seven propositions which would be made known to him excepting the seventh which he had guarded in reserve until the moment of its execution. Devoured by the heat of his ambition to be seated on the PONTIFICAL Throne, that Prelate accepted the bribe and sold himself.

Philip made known to him the first six conditions, which are foreign to the history of our order: and after having exacted and received his oath for the execution of the seventh, and holding as hostages the brothers and nephews of Beltian, the Archbishop arrived in effect to be Pope, and took the name of Clement V. He established his see at Avignon, in France, where he put in execution the first six conditions which he had accepted. When the favorable moment arrived for the execution of the seventh, Philip the Fair declared that it consisted in the total extermination of the Knights Templars throughout all Christendom, which was done as far as possible in his power, and that of the monarchs with whom he was allied.

Clement adopted the following ruse: He first caused a new crusade to be preached in Europe, and even in Syria; he then sent the following letter to Palestine to the Grand Master of the Templars and Hospitaliers:

"We inform you, my brethren, that we have been urgently solicited by the Kings of Aragon and Cyprus for aid to the Holy Land. We order you to come to France as secretly as possible, to deliberate with us. You will also be careful to bring with you large sums to equip a numerous army."

Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of Templars, obeyed the injunctions of the HOLY FATHERS; but Foulques de Villeret, the Grand Master of the Hospitalliers, occupied with the siege of Rhodes, could not quit his army, and thus delayed the ruin of his Order. The unfortunate De Molay sailed for France, and by a trap, fell into the hands of his enemies. The Pope had agreed that the Knights of the Temple should be arrested at the same time, in different Christian Kingdoms, and that they should be handed over to the Inquisitors as suspected of heresy: that their property should be seized in the name of the church and that they should be put to death at the stake and upon the scaffolds, after having been put to the torture to make them avow to imaginary crimes.

The execution of this frightful plot was not deferred: the Pope informed the King of Aragon, Castile and of Portugal to annihilate the Templars, and on the day appointed they were all arrested and plunged into the dungeons of the Inquisition. The iniquity of the Judges was such that they pardoned a murderer named Squin de Florian, who had been confined with a Knight Templar, because he deposed that his companion had revealed to him the crimes and impurities at the reception of Templars. Squin de Florian, the robber and assassin was received at a public audience by Philip the Fair and Pope Clement the V, laden with presents and glorified for his religious zeal.

After such encouragement to informers, thousands of them arose on all sides and the duties of the Inquisitors became easier.

They were also sufficiently encouraged by Philip the Fair and Clement the V who presided over an auto da fe. In Italy, Austria, Spain, and particularly in France, a prodigious number of scaffolds were erected, which consumed the unfortunate victims of the cupidity of a Pope and the avarice of a King.

So perished the gallant De Molay, the last Grand Master of the Templars, and his brave companions in arms, betrayed, imprisoned, tortured and cruelly slaughtered by order of the Head of the Church and the Kings of the realms.

These bloody executions having terminated the two execrable tyrants divided between themselves the riches of the Templars. Philip kept the land and Clement took all the ornaments of gold and silver, and the coined money, which enabled him to reward the infamous panderings of his nephew and the Countess de Foix.

But God had at last marked the end of the term of this criminal existence. Whilst the Pontiff was being transported to Bordeaux his malady increased; they were obliged to stop his litter at Roquemare on the Rhone, in the Diocese of Nimes, where Clement died on the 20th day of April, 1314.

As soon as Clement the V had closed his eyes, his treasures were pillaged. The cardinals seized on enormous sums of coined money. Bernard, Count de Lornogne, nephew and minion of the dead Pope, carried off chalices and ornaments worth more than a hundred thousand gold florins ($5,347,000.) The Countess de Foix stole as her share all the jewels of the HOLY FATHER, and there were no minions nor mistresses of the Cardinals who were not enriched by the spoils of the Sovereign Pontiff.

Jean Villani says that "in the midst of this disorder in which every one was so desirous of pillage, they only left an old traveling mantle to cover the dead body of Clement, and that was in part consumed by a candle falling on the bed where it lay."

For two whole years the Christian World was surrendered to the most deplorable anarchy. Philip the Fair followed Clement to the grave and the summons to them by De Molay at the stake "to meet him at the Bar of God within one year" had been fulfilled. (Philip IV, the Fair, was born at Fontainebleu, France, in 1268. He came to the throne in 1285. Crowned at Rheims Jan. 6th, 1286. Died Nov. 29th, 1314, from an accident while hunting.) In 1316 James de Ossa (or "Jimmy Bones" as he was called) was elected Pope, by himself placing the tiara on his own head, proclaiming himself Pope, by the name of "John the twenty-second," on the 21st of September of that year. He established the infamous "Apostolic Chancery" with a scale of prices for indulgences for every sort of crime which by its extortion and greed prepared the way for the light and dawn of the Great Reformation in the 16th century, until the sun of Liberty burst forth at last over the world, creating new Nations on the Continent of America, which free men and Freemasonry, amidst blood and tears, have consecrated as their own and our own beloved Scottish Rite, from the birth and organization of the American Republic and Nation, the United States of America, which can never be dissolved. Cato Perpatria.

HOW TO STUDY FREEMASONRY

BY BRO. R. I. CLEGG, OHIO

(In the Symposium on this subject, the final installment of which was published in our last issue, the writers dwelt, at our suggestion, particularly upon the manner in which groups of students might enter upon the many phases of Masonic study to best advantage. Herewith Brother Clegg brings us, out of his wealth of Masonic experience, much that the individual student may do for himself, and by himself. We know from our correspondence that his article answers a question which from the beginning has been uppermost in the minds of many of our members, and answers it in a most practical way. As to method, Brother Clegg’s presentation of the subject is simple and easily followed, whether one has fellow- workers near at hand or not. The material for study, as outlined, is as authentic as it is interesting, and therefore of great importance. Also, he shows what needs to be kept in mind, that those hard-

working, practical men who do so much to strengthen and perfect the organization of Masonry, though they may not be learned in books, are Masonic students and builders.--The Editor. )

No easy task is it to give an answer that will fit all cases. Everything depends upon the Freemason who is to do the studying of Freemasonry and upon the particular angle of Freemasonry that appeals to him. For that matter, how many of us would think alike as to what was most interesting and most important? Even as to definitions of Freemasonry itself our ideas will not uniformly run on parallel tracks.

So right here we may for convenience sake just as well say that for the purpose of what I am about to set down at this time I will take Freemasonry to be anything that has especial relationship to Freemasons. He that knows himself to be a Freemason (and any member of the Craft fully knows how to apply the needful tests) will also be aware that when Freemasonry is mentioned here by me it relates specifically to him and to such as he and to none other.

Having already mentioned in these columns the very real difficulty of preparing a narrow and precise definition of Freemasonry that will meet the attacks of the most critical, I shall now as in the foregoing attempt make it broad enough to include all possible points of interest to the brethren.

Just as we have seen the awkwardness of meeting everybody’s requirements as to the subject matter, so too we find that there is variety galore in the students themselves. There are those Freemasons whose ideas about the study of Freemasonry are singularly restricted. They associate study with textbooks. To their view the studious Freemason is necessarily a bookworm. The fact is that some most studious Freemasons are not book lovers.

Many of what I may term the executive class of Freemasons are devoted students of the Craft and of every branch thereof. Of this office-holding class filling all sorts of ritualistic positions and responsibilities there is included a countless array caring little and heeding less the historical accounts of the genesis of the various governing bodies. To them the present and the future are of paramount importance. Engrossed as they are in their personal affairs of business and the steady flood of labor in initiations and in allied services, they have no time to spare for literary enjoyment or for actual bookish research even if by any possibility they could create in themselves a taste for it.

Research to a large extent they may pursue and yet not be aware of it as such. Circumscribed as they are by the devotion of their energies to the consideration of the fraternity’s progress as bounded by their own career and their own affiliations, these men oft write with no uncertain pen records of lofty worth. Look you! What a wealth of study is woven into the construction and the financing of the Masonic buildings myriadly dotted over this broad land of ours! What eloquent histories are imperishably graven into these monumental memorials! Every stone therein is an eternal tribute to the zeal of the few or many students banded in the brotherhood of Freemasonry and whose joy it was to house their ceremonies in a fitting home.

Furthermore, every man holding office in our mystic circle, or expecting to at some time have an office and meantime preparing himself to fill the place he anticipates, is to that extent a student and very often an ardent student of Freemasonry.

It will thus be seen that there are various grades of Masonic students. We have those whose chief concern is with the immediate present and the near future, and then again we have those who look further afield. How then shall we prepare a course of instruction that meets all the requirements of the worthy brethren already mentioned and that will also serve for those who seek to plumb other and deeper depths ? And that is not all the difficulty. How shall we take due care of the many who have little to spend on books and who must therefore make the most of a very limited outlay. Neither can we overlook those of the unselfishly ambitious whose thoughts run lavishly toward the founding of a library to be an appropriate adjunct to some Masonic edifice of highest quality and purpose.

Begin at the beginning. Let us first assume you have no books.

Both of the above books are inexpensive and splendid possessions. Gould’s larger History and Mackey’s really comprehensive Encyclopedia are highly desirable additions to the above list but they are high in price, though fully worth all they cost. The History of Freemasonry and Concordant Orders is delightfully written and

is a scholarly work. Mackey and Singleton’s History is in the same category. Gould’s Concise History will fill all the student’s wants for some time.

So far I have paid attention to the larger class. I have weighed the possibilities open to the brother whose desire runs easily ahead of his modest pocketbook. We have contemplated something less than a ten-dollar expenditure. Let us now deal briefly with those whose means are more ample.

(a)    Write to the Secretary, Brother A. G. Pitts, Equity Building, Detroit, Mich., for a copy, it costs only ten cents, of the Masonic Curriculum reprinted by Palestine Lodge. This is the work of the late George Speth of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, the justly celebrated research body of Masonic students. If you can obtain all the books cited by Brother Speth you cannot but possess a very useful working library.

(b)    Write to Brother Frank Marquis, President of the Masonic Library Association at Mansfield, Ohio, for a list of the volumes collected by that enthusiastic body. The catalogue contains most useful notations to many of the books and the list forms an example and a guide.

Please note that to secure all the foregoing works would demand much time and about two thousand dollars for books.

(c)     A subscription to the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, 2076, of London, will bring a lot of information every year. Many of the Masonic bodies on the membership list published by the Quatuor Coronati Lodge issue publications of their own that are of decided

importance. These are such treasures as the works printed under the auspices of the German Union of Freemasons, the Lodges of Research at Manchester and at Leicester, England; the several Lodges of Installed Masters at Leeds and elsewhere in England; the Masters and Wardens Lodge at Christchurch, New Zealand; the Masonic Bureau at Neuchatel, Suisse (Switzerland); the Masonic Library Association at Cincinnati, Ohio, and so on.

(d)    President Scott Bonham of the latter organization prepared some years ago a little handbook containing suggestions on the buying and the reading of Masonic works, and he has also in the same treatise a very good compilation of Masonic words that are frequently mispronounced.

(e)     Let me not overlook a series of three cards devised by Robert H. Corey, Registry Division, Post Office, Cincinnati, Ohio. These cards list the topics that are of greatest pertinence to the young Freemason and they may even be profitably handed to him one by one as he receives the lodge degrees. These lists are admirable. As was to be expected, they give references to such books as are easily obtained from the local Masonic library.

A good Masonic friend of mine once told me of having invested some twenty-five dollars in books on Freemasonry and yet he could never get up interest enough to read them. Evidently something else was wanted that he did not buy with the books. Books are only a part of the thing. A taste must be cultivated for the information.

My friend, himself, had out of his long experience a fund of Masonic data that was and is very interesting to me. Undoubtedly there were angles of Freemasonry that would have been entertaining and instructive to him.

What then was the fault with the books that he bought? They did not fit. His purchase was no more appetizing to him than you would expect any job lot of books to be to him or anyone else. Thus it is obvious that the peculiar tendencies of the individual brother must be taken into consideration or the road to learning will be dry as dust.

Therefore take notice that a worker in the Royal Arch cannot but be keenly interested in the pamphlet on the Chapter Degrees prepared by Dr. Wm. F. Kuhn of Kansas City. There is much charm in the books by Addison and Porter for the Knight Templar. Robertson’s Cryptic Rite is exceedingly attractive to the devotee of the Council. Brockaway’s History of Aurora Grata has Scottish Rite importance far beyond the membership of that century-old landmark among Eastern Masonic keepers of the faith. Ravenscroft’s book upon the Comacines is in all too small compass the effort of a Freemason of standing among antiquarians to dig out of the remote past historical truths of consequence to all of us. The many essays of George W. Warvelle of Chicago on the Council and the Chapter and the Red Cross of Constantine are unique and ever to be treasured by the fortunate to whom they travel. In the same class are the productions of Librarian J. F. Sachse of the Grand Lodge Library at Philadelphia. Of the several productions of General Albert Pike they are all to be coveted, especially by the Scottish Rite Mason. These are but specimens of what may profitably be added to the possessions of the brother whose peculiar interests and connections require special information.

And finally, my brethren, let me not overlook in closing the "Builders," by Brother Joseph F. Newton. It is charmingly written and enumerates many references to further sources of Masonic light. Of general appeal to all Freemasons it may well be deemed one the first selected for the founding of a home library.

ON THE NATIONAL MASONIC RESEARCH SOCIETY

BY BRO. ROBERT TIPTON, IOWA

THE day in which we live is presenting for Masonry an unequaled opportunity for service. By reason of the many problems we are facing, Masonry can serve the common good as never before. The riches of her Holy of Holies she can bring as a benign gift for the uplift of man. Her truths can be told on highway and byway and her transcendent hope for the abolition of human strife which in this latter day is measured so much in blood and tears is not too far away to be realized. Her task indeed is gigantic, but are her resources not mighty? And truth and justice are eternally on her side. The establishing of the gracious world-wide brotherhood must no longer be conceived of as a “far off divine event.” Masonic idealism with its triune basic principle of freedom, toleration, and justice incorporated in the economy of states, nations and empires, alone furnishes the foundation upon which friendship, morality and brotherly love can become possible.

To create that human and divine enthusiasm that will bring a mutual understanding of the rights of men and nations stands then as the pre-eminent mission of Masonry today. We rejoice in the knowledge of the part that Masons have played in great movements of enlightenment in history. It is with sadness that we mark how the noblest and bravest of our order have had to suffer for their conviction, how they were stoned, starved and crucified. They lived when it required an unusual degree of physical as well as moral courage to be a Mason. Let us hope that their glorious example of heroism and their deathless passion for truth has not been in vain, and may we, inspired by their zeal and love, be as true to our visions and ideals, ready if needs be, to lay down our lives for them. Happily it is rare that our modern prophets and teachers of truth are muzzled, but there stalks throughout the land a mighty spirit that is opposed to the truth as Masons see it, and history grimly warns us of the fanaticism of bigotry and its cruelties and persecutions, so to awaken and teach and tell the truth that the world might be better, because of its having lived, I conceive to be the great purpose of the National Research Society.

II

We can all then expect much, and heartily welcome the new society with its brilliant coterie of leaders. In the spirit of scholarship, on the lofty plane of reason governed by the spirit of charity, fairness and common sense can we alone hope to convince the world of the rightness of Philosophy and Religion and Government as Masonry declares it. I prophesy today that the new society will prove to be, in Masonry, the most powerful agency of any for the realization of the universal ideal, if our loyal and generous support is graciously and unselfishly given.

The fundamental appeal of the new society is for the education - the higher education, if you please - of Masons in all that pertains to Masonry. To insure an efficient understanding of the place of the order in modern life through a studious research into the traditions and work of the order, is its first great care. As I view its mission the task assumes religious proportions. Can that indeed be called anything else but religion, which enjoins us to govern our life and work by that of which the Holy Bible, square and compasses are the symbols. The society then is assuming a most serious and solemn engagement for the good of the order.

III

I presume it to be a common experience among members of the Craft to find frequently among the brethren a regrettably limited conception of the nature of Masonry. And no doubt there frequently is to be found an unpardonable ignorance. Masonry. I feel, has become popular and cheap and some of its glory has become shadowed by pins and badges. Quantity has come to obsess quality. What if we had today to face the sore trials of our Masonic forebears, think you that you would find among the Craft, those whose physical and moral courage you question? It is a weighty tie that binds us and such a one that demands the highest human excellence. Masonic culture demands an intellectual morality, and this presumes capacity and desire for learning on the part of the Masonic aspirant. Are we then asking the unreasonable when we insist that our brother should know something of the traditions, history and influences of the order. The wilful ignorance of the mission of the order, especially when we find it among professors and ministers and others who should manifest the scholarly instinct,

is unpardonable. I confess it often provokes me to question why they ever joined the order. Equally sad to me is that enthusiastic Mason who sees nothing in the order but its lip service, and who, having acquired such literal proficiency in the lodge ritual, tries to convey the impression that the first, midmost and last of Masonry rests in the possession of a good memory and a fair measure of dramatic instinct.

IV

It seems that a subtle form of Pharisaism has crept into our midst - which makes much of pots and pans and loud exclamations to the disparagement and neglect of the more abiding things, the fruits of the spirit of our noble order. It becomes pathetic when we view the unstability of our Pharisaism. Some one has said that the use of common Masonic terms - hoary with age - frequently are void of meaning to these much lauded proficient Masons. What, it is asked, is the meaning of Cowan and Cable tow, and before the question those who have been solemnly instructed to inculcate the principles of learning stand open mouthed in amazement, and it is surely quaintly humorous if not ludicrous to often listen, as some of us patiently do, to the sepulchral voices of many reverent Master Masons solemnly speaking the words they have not the slightest knowledge of their meaning. It is worse than the pious nonsensical chanting in the Latin of an ignorant priest. I for one shall be happy to welcome the movement that will strive to banish the antiquated terminology and render our ritual into easy unambiguous English. This, however, is but a minor feature after all but it serves to indicate the predominant feature of our order to so many Masons. To a multitude of initiates I often fear the Craft is nothing but a big club, something from which to acquire prestige, a sort of a mutual aid society without the usual embellishments of commercialism - good enough as a religion since its observances are on a religious plane, yet not religion. O, I tell you the absurdities of conception born of ignorance is appalling. Let us wake up and rudely shock the Craft into the sobriety of thought that will make every man understand how serious and holy a thing it is to be a Mason, and how necessary a knowledge and love of Masonry is to the need of the world.

The National Research Society is heralding a new day and Masonry is to be congratulated on the response of her sons - her scholar sons

-    whose great hope and supreme desire is to make scholars of all Masons - for in character the New Society is a University, and it, leaders for the most part are University bred men whose single passion is the good of the order, and more, even convincing the world by its words and deeds that Masonry is for the world. I have no desire to be iconoclastic and it may seem that I have been so, in arraigning the deficiencies I see in our midst. I plead to but one ambition, even the laying on Masonic hearts the fact that we are too indifferent to the deeper nature of our Order, and that the work of the new Society necessitates the loyal support of every man in our midst. In this alone appears to me to be possible the invigorating of our organic life so that we may vindicate before the world our claim to being the greatest benefactor of the race.

CONTENTMENT.

Let us learn to be content with what we have. Let us get rid of false estimates, set all the higher ideals - a quiet home; vines of our own planting; a few books full of the inspiration of genius; a few friends worthy of being loved, and able to love us in return; a hundred innocent pleasures that bring no pain or remorse; a devotion to the right that will not swerve; a simple religion empty of all bigotry, full of trust and hope and love - and to such a philosophy this world will yield all the joy it has.

-   David Swing.

A MASONIC LESSON FROM A RAINDROP

BY CHARLES N. MIKELS, P. G. M. OF INDIANA

The Sun was created a long time before it was even partially understood. Those who were blind thought that its purpose was to "dispense light." Much was said about light. Somebody learned that Sahara was a desert and yet had an ocean of light. The desert lacked something practical.

Then people conceived the idea that maybe the Sun had more than one purpose; that it made heat and power; that heat and power were necessary to make light serviceable; that heat made raindrops and raindrops made power.

Unintelligent observation nearly spoiled the reputation of the Sun. He seemed to many, to peep over the horizon simply to flirt with

the wavelets of the sea. He stimulated them until they were ready to fly to pieces. He called them pet names in vibrations so rapid that human ear could not register them. The wavelets wanted something genuinely hot. They wanted to get near something which had a burning heart. Finally the sea submitted to a change of form and part became something better. The sea vaporized and the vapor aspired to the Sun.

This Maker of Light caused a never-ending modification of conventional water. The vapor climbed on steps of air until it obscured the light of the Sun itself. Then it received "a new name" and was called a Cloud.

Even the clouds are misunderstood. They drift and drift until they strike against a cold and fruitless mountain top. The immovable mountain could not understand a change. The cloud meant to softly caress the mountain and moisten its dry brow, but there was no welcome. The clouds were chilled. This drifting dust of the sea shrank and crowded together in sensitiveness; centralized in sympathy; had no real helpfulness until it did centralize. A raindrop fell as a result.

The cloud died in giving birth to a raindrop. While it fell, a sunbeam from the heart of the Sun, shot into the raindrop, ran around its walls, saw that it was an improvement over the sea and came out a rainbow of Hope with a message of Change. It seems odd that God cannot be satisfied with things as they are but must put on a policy of change. Even a rainbow changed sunbeam.

Crazy with disappointment, the raindrop started down the mountainside, homesick for the sea. It traveled in foreign countries.

It dodged around boulders which hindered its progress. No immovable "forms" could stop it. It saw other homesick raindrops and "joined" them in a common purpose. Enough of them form a tricklet, a streamlet, a rivulet, a river, yet a river is nothing but a few million heart-sick raindrops sprinting for their cradle in the sea.

A raindrop has a "rough and rugged road to travel from the mountain top of yesterday to the sea of tomorrow. It is little but it is mighty. It is slow, but is persistent. Harness a raindrop to the horns of Gravitation and it will dig a canyon. But what use has the world for a canyon, a big gash in the bosom of earth, which has to be bridged or stop travel? A canyon is a purposeless, brainless, heartless monument to waste energy until you make another change.

Fraternalize a raindrop, a grain of sand and a changed sea shell and you can dam a canyon which is an unused opportunity. Then you can turn the canyon’s liquid energies into heat and light and power. You have to add head and heart and hand to do it. You put the hoe of purpose into the hands of intelligent method under the direction of common-sense and imagination, to get a new result out of old forces in a new way.

Twin raindrops as alike as two peas, did two things. One acted conventionally and caused waste. The other sprung an innovation and warmed the world.

There is a lodge room on the banks of the Niagara River, in which to learn many mysteries. Its covering is a clouded canopy or starry- decked Heaven. Many have paid an initiation fee in car fare and hotel bills to visit it. A few people "work" there. A few return. The great majority of initiates never come back. All wear an indistinct memory as a badge of membership.

The Falls are one of the mysteries of God. Many have admired its age. Some have been awed with its tireless voice of Omnipotence. Others marvelled at its unmastered might. Generally people had no practical purpose when they went there and had none when they left. The river was nothing but raindrops and the Falls were nothing but a jump of raindrops which could not wait.

After the centuries had grown weary with waiting for God to tell some man what is the great mystery of the Falls, an innovator stood on the same spot and saw the same sights. The waste challenged his wit and opened his heart. God whispered to him that the Falls were meant to be used, and not looked at merely. Wonderful, age-old mystery! Practice, and not theory!

This spectator talked about changing the situation. Every sightseer who had no ideas, called him crazy. This particular spectator decided that God created Niagara River and Niagara Falls for a practical purpose; that the purpose had never been seen or had been forgotten; that God never meant waste of time or opportunity or power.

In his sincere simplicity this unconventional, unsophisticated soul had heard of people who said often and far and wide, that the thing they most desired was "light," "more light," "further light." He thought that they meant it, but they didn’t; they merely wanted to talk about wanting it. There it was running away, enough to answer their wildest dreams and not a soul would permit the answer to

their own wishes because it came in a new way. They did not see the end from the beginning. They had no imagination. They did not know how. The idea was too big for them to grasp easily and at once.

This sightseer was obsessed by the thought that he had had a wireless message from God; that he alone understood the situation. He suggested that some of these Niagara raindrops be diverted to practical uses instead of stereopticon views.

What a storm of indignation broke upon his head! Change is never practical in prospect. An established change is a habit. The Falls were perfect as they were. Let well enough alone. They are as they were yesterday. That is good enough for tomorrow. He was laughed at but the laugh did not take. He fought first to get the world used to the idea. It did get used to his thought. Nothing can head off, permanently, the reign of a sound idea.

This fellow, who was of no official importance, argued that a practical engineer should dream out the details of a practical plan to cause raindrops to manufacture and deliver light and to deliver heat and power with light. He argued for a constructive instead of a "stand pat” policy. He argued that men with burning hearts should replace men who sit on the brakes of progress. He argued for a central light plant instead of the raindrop system. Everybody said that there could be none, because there had been none. But there was.

What difference did it make to this innovator that the President, Senators, Congressmen, Governors, Legislatures, all the officiary of habit, were against him! What difference did it make because those

who want ideas digested and fed to them as if they were young mental robins, insisted on sleeping in comparative darkness, on the brink of a good thing! It was his business to wake them. He was talking about the purposes of God. God wanted the world to actually and really have more light, heat and power.

The world did not care what God wanted. People wanted that to which they were accustomed. The bottomless canyon of habit intervened. Niagara Falls had always been "an ancient landmark" of waste, and waste is a virtue when it is old enough.

People of petrified purposes fought him, doubted him, hindered him. The dynamic heart of this custodian of God’s purposes of helpfulness, hammered the idea into the heads of men for their own good. He literally hammered, repeated, reiterated until he forged the key of attention which opened the door to their brain cells so that an idea could walk in. He aroused interest; study followed; purpose ripened; judgment acquiesced; some assisted. Everybody knows what happened. The right was permitted to prove that it was right. The right prevailed. The logic of efficiency conquered. The raindrops were commanded to turn aside. They co­ordinated for the benefit of man. These sovereign, independent raindrops were organized and directed by a combination of masterful intelligences possessed of a combined purpose.

More light and heat and power followed. Everybody is used to the idea today, hence it is safe. Men of those days shied at this practical idea of helpfulness just as western broncos shy at a stray page from the Bible. The bronco does not understand the Bible. He never tried. If he knew anything he knew that the usual place for a page

of the Bible is in a property room of a Church, home or Lodge. An active page from the Bible in a strange place has to be explained to men even.

God has plenty of time to wait and he has plenty of patience. Man has but three score and ten years so he has to be in a hurry to see ideas bud, blossom and bear fruit. The persistence of this dreamer of innovations, made him a pest to all whose heads were asleep.

And yet all but this dreamer were mistaken. It did not hurt the world nor mar Niagara Falls to change its purpose and plans. There was less light when these raindrops had no leadership. Light is applied theory. It is intelligent practice. Heat is not frenzied fancy. It is useful every day and not merely on Saturday night on or before full moon. Power is not fiction. It is fact, helpful fact. It is sane to secure more light, to secure aggressive heat, to increase power by change.

With the potential power of a river of God’s, Masonry has rambled and twisted through the bed of two speculative centuries without the direction of organized premeditation. To change the figure, it has plowed a great furrow in history. But it never had a headplowman who knew anything about intensive farming.

Masonry has stood pat in the face of God’s manifest policy of evolution, and has prided herself on the fact. It even glories in repeating words, phrases, paragraphs, degrees which have lost their fitness like the Fellow Craft’s degree.

Four or five times in these centuries, some incarnation of Fortitude, has dared to challenge the perfection of Masonry just as Preston

did. He was an innovator. He was a Masonic heretic demanding the light of education. He made a change, a radical change, a helpful change. We are used to his change now, so we forgive him, we applaud him. New styles in thoughts, ideas, practice and purposes are no more popular than new shoes. Maybe the shoes will not fit. When soles wear out, you have to get new ones or go to bed and sleep.

Preston jarred the brain cells of his co-temporaries. He compelled them to think. He compelled them to think when they did not wish to think, of things with regard to which they did not wish to think. So did Krause, Oliver and Pike. They should have been expelled as disturbers of the age-old peace. Why in the world, did they not let well enough alone? Wasn’t Masonry growing in numbers fast enough; collecting initiation fees enough, wearing badges enough, building enough Temples ? What more could you want ! Practical purposes of the heart are less easily understood than practical purposes of dollars.

Your National Masonic Research Society isn’t an innovation. No one need to be afraid. You have simply jumped back one hundred and fifty years to get a little of the purposes of Preston. You have resurrected a part of a dead purpose. He talked of education in general. You talk of Masonic education in particular. This purpose is narrow enough to be safe. Certainly you are safe. God is probably applauding you while we fear lest you let the logic of Truth guide you fearlessly, no matter where it takes you. You might find out what God meant Masonry to do and be and how.

You cannot prevent our learning at least one thing from Preston, Krause, Oliver and Pike. They slipped the straight jacket of habit from their minds and hearts. They proved that there is a mental peace which is stagnation.

Masonry has an unpremeditated and unspeakable responsibility because it has permitted nearly 2,000,000 men in this country alone, to pass its ritualistic doors. If Masonic Truth is being eagerly, frequently, heartily, personally incorporated in the lives of 90 per cent of these members, under the direction of Grand Masters, Past Grand Masters and Grand Lodge Officers, Masonry is a practical, vitally effective fraternal order and these officers should be crowned with "Well done."

If you have to drum up quorums, apologize for lack of attendance and interest when degree work is done, if scarcely 10 per cent of the 2,000,000 members get under the influence of Masonry at all, there is a lack of heat and power at least.

Sovereign raindrops running independently through a channel of habit, without real purpose, without practical plans, without power, without head, call for another of God’s inspired changes.

Runaway raindrops are an emblem of waste. Waste is inefficiency. Masonry is a progressive science if there is progress. Does it fit the modern heart or is there a lot of lost motion? Is Masonry efficient? Could it be made better? Can you make it better? Will you make it better? How?

The first thing to do is to get your Masonic bearings. Understand it as it is. Is Masonry efficient?

THE MYSTERY OF WORDS WELL SAID.

There is a mystery of words well said,

And many labor in that craft; but few Avail to win the worship which is due The Master, of his work accredited.

To some the days their own fulfillment bear,

Night healeth all their languors, and content Sweetly attends their task’s accomplishment-- A measured portion, and an equal care.

But these are not the Master--not the priest Of those high mysteries of words well said;

But lesser workmen, toiling in his stead:

For evermore his travail is increased Until that he shall frame that greater Word Whereat, sublime and perfect, walks the Man;

As once where Pison and Euphrates ran Eastward from Eden, garden of the Lord.

--John Edmund Barss.

THE INNER LAW.

For the commandment is not hidden from thee; neither is it far off. It is not in heaven that thou shouldst say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

--Deuteronomy XXX.

THE POWER OF LOVE.

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself have formulated empires. But upon what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon Force. Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon Love, and at this moment millions of men will die for Him.

--Napoleon.

FOUNDATION STONES

BY BRO. FRANK L. HAYCOCK

ANOTHER year has ended: another year has commenced. If the old year has had its lessons for us, let us hope the new will have even more. And though we may not hope to make Masonry different, or more than what it is, and has been, we may still strive to come in closer contact with its principles and precepts, and seek its secrets still deeper, that we may have a better understanding of its hidden meaning.

For there is a hidden meaning yet. Let no brother presume to have grasped the meaning of all of our ceremonies: let no one think that the lectures so far as they go in our three degrees of symbolic Masonry are even intended to convey the true meaning of our initiatory ceremonies.

In Masonry, as in the arts and sciences, "there is no Royal road to learning." What we learn we must seek for: what is buried we must uncover.

But as was the case with our traditional sprig of Acacia, the place is marked, the way is pointed out, the line is drawn that we may or must follow. If we lose the road it is our own fault. If the real secrets persist in remaining heled, we must dig if we would find them. Rubbish must be cleared away. Our highest reasoning powers must be invoked; and the best that is in our intellect be brought to bear.

As I went over in my own mind what I might have to offer to the brethren on this occasion, I was minded to give it the title "Foundation Stones"; and later I was reminded of a little verse from our Great Light; and the thought struck me that any discourse pertinent to Masonry, must of necessity, partake somewhat, if not fully, of a moral or at least of an ethical nature; and I wondered if a text would be out of place. If not, then the text I would take, or rather the text I would in my humble way endeavor to enlarge upon, is in Proverbs, and reads, "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." And in

Proverbs also by the way, there is another verse that is applicable, which says, alluding to wisdom and understanding:-- "Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace." This verse is a poetic gem by itself, but the thought in it is far grander than all the poetry that was ever written.

To those whom I fail to impress with what I am about to say, I would recommend a reading of that beautiful book of Proverbs, especially the 2nd, 3rd and 4th chapters.

When we leave the Apprentice degree behind, with its teachings of Morality and Virtue, and arrive symbolically at the foot of the winding stairs, many things are pointed out to us that demand our close attention if we would improve our opportunities. Unfortunately, it seems, there is so large a scope covered within a short time dealing with the different arts and sciences, that even with the closest concentration, most of us are unable when we hear it, for even many times, to retain or grasp its connection with Masonic principles.

This is confirmed in my mind by an incident that occurred in this very Lodge many years ago, when. I heard one of the principal officers of our Grand Lodge remark, speaking of this degree, that, he "could write a better degree himself."

But when within the middle chamber, the meaning of the letter "G" is explained to us, we should then begin to conceive the true import of the meaning of various things. I shall always contend, that while the lodge may be as its members make it, Masonry itself is founded so firmly, and rooted so deeply in enduring verities, that if all of one lodge, or of many lodges should depart almost wholly from everything Masonic, but its forms and ceremonies, yet no one could justly say that Masonry is as Masons make it. It is the fact of its "Foundation Stones" that I seek to show - the fact that it has endured so long conclusively proving their existence.

All through this degree the attempt is made to link together, operative and speculative Masonry; and we are told near the end, speaking of geometry and architecture, "Geometry, the first and noblest of sciences is the basis upon which the superstructure of Masonry is erected."

To my mind, that does not mean just what it says. The superstructure of Masonry was never erected upon a simple science; but, the application of geometry to the science of astronomy did, by determining the fact of a regular and systematic order in the movements of the heavenly bodies, inspire in men’s minds a greater, firmer, and a larger respect for a supreme governing power whom we sometimes term the Grand Artificer of the Universe.

Later we are told:--"A survey of Nature and the observation of her beautiful proportions, first, &c--

This idea of a foundation is something that all men have inherently considered. We have always sought to know what was at the bottom of things. It is natural for man to turn to the acquisition of wisdom when purely animal wants and desires are satisfied. In this one thing more than in anything else, man differs from the rest of the animal kingdom. And, as one generation thrives upon the gathered knowledge and accumulated wisdom of those who have

been before, we pay our debt to humanity by adding a little bit more and passing it to posterity.

The first architect, what of him? His first structures were made with the idea of stability and security, if we are to believe the tales told of the cave-men. Then probably came rude huts with growing trees used as corner posts, poles from one to the other, and other poles on them, a covering of wild grass or skins for roof, brush woven together for walls. As architecture advanced, men were not satisfied with what was purely for utility in dwellings and structures, and the idea of ornamentation crept in; and this at times in the past has been carried to such an extreme, that the cheap and gaudy embellishments of certain periods would seem ridiculous in a building of today. Some of our plainest structures, that follow symmetrical lines, we now consider the most pleasing to the eye.

But even in our towering buildings with their noble spring of arch, piercing of sky-line, heavy cornice, and symmetrical ornaments, do we, in admiring their general pleasing effect to the eye, consider what the architect was forced to consider! namely, the solid foundation on which it must rest, and the strength so cunningly hidden, to form the support of its towering superstructure? A tall, beautiful building, shorn of what goes to make up its general finished appearance, has about as much beauty as a hay rack. The extreme height of some of the structures of today, demand extremes in foundations, and these go deeper and yet deeper, and the builder is but following natural laws in his plans and provisions.

And here is the lesson that architecture teaches to Masons--that we should embellish and adorn our minds with useful knowledge; but that our principles should conform to the laws of God, as the architect’s plans conform to the laws of nature and of physics. The Masonic edifice is founded on firmest supports, else we could not build thereon. We cannot build without starting squarely over and upon these underlying truths and fundamental principles.

As it is with Masons, so with all society and the State as a whole; for what is good for Masons is good for all. Masonry may be big enough some day to embrace all mankind. I have no doubt but what it will when mankind shows itself worthy. I believe that Masonry in its inception, (that is, modern Masonry) was intended to be helpful to society, to improve the social state, through inspiring in men’s minds, the necessity of considering the existence of a supreme Being who was all wise--who had prescribed laws for all human acts- -who, to discourage men from attempting to rear an artificial state, had so arranged things that men might not with impunity ignore the least of his laws-- that any infringement, any departure from what the "great intelligence" had said should be, would result only in confusion and suffering.

As one writer has put it, "the core and essence of our belief is, that there is in social relations, as in physical relations, a law, an order, a law which everywhere coincides with the divine law, an order which shows intelligence and beneficence."

As society grows and becomes more complex, we, who superintend the building must, if we are true Masons and real builders, go more and more to the bottom of things--seek further and further for the governing laws which we are taught exist--endeavor with all the intelligence at our command to interpret the true meaning of the search for the "Master’s word."

The higher we go in the scale of civilization, the deeper we must delve into the question of what supports it, just as, the higher the architect goes up with his structure, the deeper he must go down with foundation.

I consider it a privilege and an honor to be placed with a society whose fortune it is to make men wiser, better, and consequently happier. It should be a noble work, and to do it and do it well, the "foundation stones" should be sought out and securely placed.

If our acts, either as an individual or as a Lodge, or in the State and the community as a whole, will bear the supreme test of having "acknowledged Him" let us not think it strange that the result is misery and suffering, and poverty with all its attendant ills.

We are but children of one Father, Brotherhood and interdependence are but facts in Nature. Our simplest reasoning powers, following the lines of least resistance, are our surest guide, and lead us into safest paths. One writer has truly said "No consecrated absurdity could have stood its ground in this world, if the man had not silenced the objections of child."

Vanity makes fools of us all. Who are we anyway, that we should do aught but be guided by our Creator in all our ways? Does any man come into this lodge, subscribing to his belief in the existence of, and acknowledging that he puts his trust in a Supreme being, imagine that he has any powers whatever, except those with which he is endowed by God? All that man is existed before he ever saw the light. The very elements that compose his physical being were tangible matter long ago; and may have been used by other earthly inhabitants, and may be so used again and yet again.

If man has power independent of what he draws from nature, or if his inner intellect is other than a part of God, then indeed we all are gods. But such is not the case, "As a swallow darting through thy hall, such, O! King is the life of man."

In this world we live in, nothing escapes, nothing elementary is ever, or has ever been, waste or, destroyed.

We do not change the form, location, and shape of things. In this short life of ours we either do, or do not, add to the sum of human knowledge; and what more laudable than to study who we are, where we came from, why we are here, and what it is intended that we should do? How may we better pay our debt to those who were before us, than to bequeath to those to come, a larger store of understanding, something to assist them in the problems that will constantly confront them?

If we build upon the sands, or if we use not "foundation stones" true and tested, then our lives have been for naught, our work of no avail. We not only have done nothing, we have made accomplishment more difficult for those who follow us, as they must first wreck what we have built and lay the foundations true and solid, in order that the fabric of that temple, erected to God, and dedicated to the holy Saints John, may rise true and plumb, and endure forever in the Kingdom of God.

EDITORIAL

(The Builder is an open forum for free and fraternal discussion. Each of its contributors writes under his own name, and is responsible for his own opinions. Believing that a unity of spirit is better than a uniformity of opinion, the Research Society, as such, does not champion any one school of Masonic thought as over against another; but offers to all alike a medium for fellowship and instruction, leaving each to stand or fall by its own merits.)

THE TRESTLE BOARD.

AFTER six months service as Editor of the journal of this Society, it may not be amiss to look back for a moment and see how far we have come and what has been done, keeping in mind the original designs on the Trestle Board. Detailed report of the activities of the Society has been made by its Secretary, and what we give here are some impressions which have come to us in the course of our labors. Editors have their troubles, so we infer from the preface to the Masonic Calendar of the Province of Buckinghamshire, England, in which the Editor of that volume says:

“They say a reasonable amount of fleas is good for a dog - keeps him from brooding over being a dog, maybe. And so I suppose a reasonable amount of worries is good for an Editor - keeps him from brooding over being an Editor, maybe. With some Secretaries gone to the war and others gone to the dogs, with some of the old ones that are left gone out of their senses and some of the new ones never having had any senses to go out of, the compilation of the Calendar for 1915 will stand out forever it my memory as one of those rugged hilltops, like measles and matrimony and first cigars, which one does not want to have to climb more than once during life’s weary pilgrimage.”

Happily we have met no such fate, albeit our experiences have been sufficiently varied and laborious to keep us from brooding over being an editor, and from taking on any airs by virtue of that fact. Of course we have had our difficulties, as we expected, but our labors have been delightful, if somewhat exacting, and use would fain believe not altogether in vain. Meantime, the fact that stands out like a star is the enthusiasm and co-operation of the Craft in an enterprise which they are now certain is one of great importance and promise, and to which they lend their earnest support. The wonder is that the difficulties have not been greater, for it was a new and untried undertaking, and if they have not been as trying as anticipated it is due to the deeply felt need for such a Society, and to the remarkable response to its appeal in behalf of the Study Side of Masonry.

Chief among our delights has been the closer contact with Masonic students from one end of the land to another, and beyond the seas, and their quick recogniton of the need and purpose of this Society. When we began our labors we knew only a few of our fellow- workers in the field of Masonic study, but they have made themselves known and have shown their readiness to serve, offering the choice results of their researches. Besides, they have undertaken arduous tasks at our request, the fruits of which the Craft will harvest in due time, and not a few of them have responded to our need, often on short notice, with articles of the first order of worth. They have been wise in counsel, fruitful in suggestion, and in all ways possible have made us aware of their interest and eagerness to assist in a labor which means so much for the better understanding of Masonry and the better ordering of its thought and endeavor.

Meanwhile we have learned many things - a fact which some of our Brethren will be glad to know, for they have told us that we have much to learn, including not a little which we still think is not so - and one of them is the obvious need for real scholarship and clear thinking in Masonry. The London Freemason notes with amazement, not unmixed with amusement, that an American Lodge listened to an extensive paper upon “Jesus Christ - A Mason,” and remarks that “American Masonic journals have published, in ten years or less, more nonsensical imaginative rubbish than English Masons would tolerate in a century.” English journals, it adds, closed their columns against a number of incredulous fallacies some years ago. Perhaps this criticism is justified, and if so, it does but emphasize the necessity for this Society and its journal which seeks, with the aid of the best Masonic students of the land, to clear the air and set authentic Masonic truth in the light.

Absurdities there are in plenty, as we can testify - they have beseiged us, clamoring to be heard - and to deal with them asks for skill and patience. Some would shut them out entirely, as the Freemason has done; others would explode them on the spot, and thereby wound the feelings of good but misinformed men; but some of us prefer to meet them gently and with charity, the while we tell the truth so simply and plainly that they can be seen for what they are and put where they belong. Admit that every kind of fantastic nonsense is being taught in the name of Masonry, it only shows how much work lies before Masonic students and serves as a challenge to them to bestir themselves in behalf of sound learning and the spread of the truth. What the late Robert Gould did for Masonic history must now be done, especially in America, for Masonic symbolism and philosophy, and in this difficult labor The Builder hopes to have no small part in the years to come.

Not much can be done in six months towards working out the program outlined in the Foreword to The Builder. Nevertheless, a beginning has been made, and Masons everywhere are coming to realize that such a program, if worked out - as it can be, and will be in time - will permanently influence the future of American Masonry in ways which no man can measure. In the presence of this possibility, we may well renew our vows to keep inviolate the Masonic inheritance handed down to us, turning neither to the right nor to the left from the path marked out by ages of experience, and never for a day forget the great design drawn on the Trestle Board of The Order. While we are writing essays, editing journals, discussing symbolism and philosophy, let us always remember that the best thing about Masonry is that it wins the homage of elect youth, teaches them to pray to the God in whom their fathers trusted, and upon the open Bible which their mothers read asks them to take oath to be good men and true, chaste of heart and charitable of mind, to build their characters upon the homely old moralities, and to estimate life by its sanctity and service.

Masonry is not everything; it is a thing as distinctly featured as a statue by Phidias or a painting by Angelo. Perpetuating the Men’s House of primitive society, it is a world-wide fraternity of God-

fearing men, founded upon spiritual faith and moral truth, using the symbols of architecture to teach the art of building character; a historic fellowship in the search for truth and the service of man, whose sacramental mission it is to make men friends and to train them in righteousness, liberty, and charity. By as much as this mission is fulfilled, by so much will humanity be healed of the wounds of war, the crime of greed, the shame of lust, and all injustice and unkindness.

*  * *

So unqualified an endorsement of the aims of this Society and the ideals of its journal - as well as the spirit of its Secretary and its Editor - as that given by the Grand Lodge of Indiana at its last communication, in the special report on the Study Side of Masonry, is of far-reaching significance. It was gracious and most encouraging, and it means much to have two such Grand Jurisdictions as Iowa and Indiana give their sanction to a movement for Masonic education truly national in scope, and whose purpose it is to promote good-fellowship, free discussion, sound learning, and practical efficiency in Masonry. No doubt other Grand Lodges will take due notice and govern themselves accordingly, as we believe they realize, what ought by this time to be plain, that this Society is no scheme for the floating of a magazine, but the largest organized body of Masonic students in the world, founded by the authority of the Grand Lodge of Iowa to diffuse the kindly light of Masonry.

*  * *

We regret that the second chapter of the “Early History of Masonry in America,” by Grand Master Johnson of Massachusetts, has been

delayed, owing to the pressure upon our columns; but it will appear in due course, setting forth the claims of the old Bay State in forthright manner. Interest in the Society has grown so rapidly, and articles have come so thick and fast, that it is not always easy to select where there is so much that is good and timely. None the less, every article, every suggestion, every question - of which there are a multitude - receives due consideration, and if the Editor is not always able to reply to his correspondents at once, he begs his Brethren to believe that it is not humanly possible to do so

*  * *

As this issue of The Builder will reach its readers on or before Independence Day, we call special attention to the address of Brother Keiper, Past Grand Master of the District of Columbia, on the Washington Memorial to be erected at Alexandria, Va., because of the admirable and impressive way in which it states the spirit, purpose and symbolism of that enterprise. The speaker portrays the movement in its higher and deeper meanings, as a proposal to build not simply a monument to a great man and Mason, but to uplift a shrine whither pilgrim multitudes may go and renew their homage to the Spirit of Masonry which found embodiment in the Constitution of this Republic, and vow new allegiance to the principles of civil and religious liberty which Washington and his Masonic compeers wrought into the organic law of this nation.

*  * *

CORRESPONDENCE.

A CORRECTION.

Dear Sir and Friend: - If it had not been for poor health and pressure of work, I would have written last month in regard to the misstatements contained in Professor Pound’s lecture about my father in the April number of The Builder. It is incorrect to say that my father did not enter Harvard because he was too poor: I have stated the truth briefly in the biographical sketch of him in the introduction to the volume of his poems, but shall amplify it somewhat in my Life. But I cannot wait for that to contradict the assertions about his connection with the Indians in the Civil War. At first I was very indignant that Prof. Pound should have revived that old slander; but, on reflection, I concluded that it was well that I should have a chance to refute it. It is absolutely untrue.

My father did not go into the Indian Territory to raise regiments to fight in the Confederate Army against Union troops; nor did he voluntarily take them into the battle of Elk Horn. He went to the Indian Territory as Commissioner from the Confederate States to make treaties with the Indians, and succeeded so well that he was made Brigadier General in conmand of that Territory. He made a stipulation, however, which was agreed to by the Confederate government, that the Indians were not to be called out of the Territory to fight, but were to be organized solely for defense, in case of invasion. The Major-General commanding the Trans-Mississippi Department broke this agreement, and ordered my father to join him with all the forces under his command. My father protested bitterly, stating that some of the Indians were not civilized or disciplined, and it would not be possible to prevent them from fighting in their old savage way. His protests were over-ruled and his advice flouted; and the blame was left on him. It was this and other high-handed proceedings of other Commanding Generals, that caused him to resign from the Confederate Army.

I heard some of these facts from my father himself, and the rest from members of his staff, especially from Major Fayette Hewitt, who after the war was made Quartermaster General of the State of Kentucky by Governor Stevenson. I feel sure you will give as wide publicity to this correction as to the erroneous statement, which casts such a reflection upon my father’s memory.

Very sincerely yours

Lilian Pike Roome.

*  * *

TK AND THE GREAT SCHOOL.

Dear Brother: - have read with much interest your review of “The Great Work,” by TK. I, too, have read the book more than once, and have also studied somewhat the writings of other men along somewhat the same line. My greatest interest has centered around the problem of demonstrating the future life - that is, the continued existent of the individual after physical death. I note your statement, “Moreover, he (the editor) holds that this kind of search for certainty is not only useless, but dangerous, in that it is seeking for something which is manifestly not ordained for humanity.” Would it be presumptuous if I asked you to further elucidate this passage in your review? It would be most interesting to me, and, I think to others who have studied the problem if you give us further instruction along the line of the following questions:

1. Why is the search for evidence of the fact of another life (after physical death) useless and dangerous? Could you give us any positive information along this line ? Have you proven it as positively as you assert it?

My reason for making this request is this. TK states very positively that evidence of the fact of a life after death is obtainable, and offers to enable the student to make the demonstration of the truthfulness of his assertions. If, therefore, you are correct, he is most assuredly wrong. If he is right, then it must be that you are in error. While I have not proven that he is correct, yet I firmly believe that he is. Inasmuch, however, as I recognize that belief is of very little importance as compared with actual knowledge, I am very anxious to gain all the information possible on this subject.

You also state that no evidence of the existence of the Great School is forthcoming. Before making this statement did you make a request of any member of the Great School for any evidence along this line? Your statement would leave one to infer that it is not possible to obtain this evidence. Is that a fact ? I have understood from one of his friends that TK is willing to discuss with others matters pertaining to the School, and he has stated in his magazine

that he is willing to meet men in the interests of science. Have you tried to meet him? If there is no such School, then TK is a liar, and I have been wasting my time in reading his books. Moreover, if he is lying, he should be exposed. His statements, as you know, are as positive as those which you make, and are not attributed to mere belief. Besides, from the nature of the thing he must know whether or not this Great School is in existence, since he claims to be a member of it.

If, on the other hand, he is correct, it would seem that he should not refuse a reasonable request for information. Seriously, I believe that the matter here touched upon would be of interest to a good many Masons, for TK’s books are pretty widely read among the Craft. I know personally a good many Masons who feel that his Great Work is, indeed, the greatest Masonic book ever written; and if this rapidly growing estimate is incorrect, The Builder, in my opinion, could do no better work than to stop it.

Sincerely and fraternally,

Joe Fennell, Jr., Kentucky.

(Many thanks for this straightforward letter. Taking first things first, let it be said that the immortality of the soul is the polar expedition of philosophy, as it is the polar star of faith. There is a sense in which it may be said to be scientifically demonstrated, in the same way that all the great conceptions of science and philosophy are true

-    because the integrity of the human mind, and the rationality of human experience, make its reality a necessity. (Brother Fennell will be interested in a chapter on this subject in a recent book, “Is Death

the End?” by J. H. Holmes.) Now as to the questions which he formulates so concisely:

(1)     Never once did we intimate that all search for evidence of the fact of another life, after physical death, is useless and dangerous, but only that specific kind of uncanny search, and other methods of like sort, recommended by TK - that is, inducing a state of consciousness or unconsciousness, by means of ascetic practices, in which the mind leaves the body and travels in the unseen world and works and receives the wages of a Master. With all possible respect, we still hold such methods to be dangerous to body and soul alike, if for no other reason, that they think to find the truth by putting the mind of man to sleep, or at least by setting at naught its greatest powers and achievements. Moreover, such methods are useless as to results, first, because they have not yet revealed any important or substantial fact. Second, they are not needed, for that Eternity is here, we live in it, and the sky begins at the top of the ground. When a man lives as becomes a citizen of Eternity, life discloses its own eternal quality, and death is seen to be only an incident in the immortal life.

(2)    Surely the age-long experience of humanity, and of its loftiest and finest minds, is worthy of consideration. Time out of mind, men of all ages and races have been seeking certainty as to a life beyond death - trying to prove what they cannot help believing - but they have not found it to their satisfaction. Is it not “manifest,” then, that it is not ordained that man should attain to actual knowledge of what lies behind the heavy drapery of death ? Also, is it not clear, as we have tried to point out in our review, that such an arrangement is not only a fact, but that it is wisest and best ? There are those who

would throw the grand old Bible out the window, but Masons are not of that ilk. It lies open on our altar, and if we look into it as we should it will tell us the truth - that “the just shall live by faith.”

Concerning the alleged Great School, it is beside the mark to tell us to go and talk it over with TK in his office. Nor is it necessary to call him a liar or any other ugly name. TK may sincerely believe that such a Great School exists, that it has existed from time immemorial, that it has records, as he says reaching back beyond the time of Moses, that it has a monopoly of all high truth and has superintended the education of the human race: he may believe all this, and more besides, but that does not make it so. Fifty thousand men may believe it, still that does not make it true. If such a School exists, having in its keeping such astonishing documents, it ought to be an easy matter to convince the scholars of the world of that fact. Nor is it a thing to be talked over in whispers behind closed doors in a dark room, or in a back alley. When we ask for proof, ask to have the documents Produced, it is surely “a reasonable request for information,” the more so when it purports to possess the Lineal Key to the origin and story of Masonry.

There is a sense in which we may say that all seekers after truth constitute a kind of secret School, a united but unincorporated fraternity, who recognize one another without hesitation or hindrance in every part of the world. (See the beautiful Valediction to the Collected Poems of Edward Waite, descriptive of this sodality in quest of attainment and light.) But that is not what TK has in mind. No; as Brother Fennell says, his language is too specific and positive to be a mere statement of opinion or belief; he affirms as a fact that such a Great School actually organized, has existed in all

ages, and possesses records running back into the darkness of prehistoric time, and that Buddhism, early Christianity, and Freemasonry are so many efforts of that Great School to instruct the race and lead it into the light of truth. If Brother Fennell accepts all this on the ipse dixit of TK, that is his right, and no one will say him nay; but he ought not to be impatient with those of us who ask for some semblance of evidence.

There is much that is wise and true in “The Great Work,” especially in the thesis which the author sets forth so logically and cogently in the earlier chapters of the book. Albeit, his thesis is neither new nor revolutionary, but has in one form or another been familiar enough from the days of Aristotle down to our own. Therefore we should read the book, like all other books, with discrimination and care, accepting what approves itself as reasonable and is justified by the facts. But if we take the book as it is, without criticism and without proof, we may as well burn the books of the late Robert Gould - to name no other - and go back to the days when Masonic history was a tissue of fables, and each writer tried to outdo the rest in reciting the most fantastic legends.

If we have written earnestly about this matter, it is because we are in earnest about it. For TK himself - a noble and gracious man, we make no question - and for Brother Fennell and all those who follow his leadership we have the utmost respect and fraternal goodwill. Nevertheless, we believe that while the “Great Work” has done good, it has also done great injury to the cause of authentic Masonic research - not intentionally so, but actually so in fact - in that it has started many Masons on the wrong track, and would, if it were accepted as a standard, expose the Order to just ridicule. As Brother

Fennell has said The Builder can do no better work than to show that “the growing estimate of the book is incorrect” - no better work, indeed, unless it be to bring Brethren to discuss the matter with the same freedom and frankness as Brother Fennell has done in his good letter, and as we have tried to do in our response. - The Editor.)

*  * *

“MAGNA EST VERITAS ET PRAEVALET.”

Dear Brother. - In the May issue of The Builder, in the article on the early History of Masonry in America, by Grand Master Johnson, of Massachusetts, the following erroneous statement appears:

“Brother Sachse, the learned historian and librarian of Philadelphia, has kindly informed me that confirmation of the assertion that Masonic meetings were held in Boston in these early days is to be found in the library of the American Philosophical Society.”

I have never met Brother Melvin M. Johnson personally nor mentioned the year 1720 in this connection to any one. What I did say to Brother Niskerson and Davis upon different occasions was that I had at one time found a reference to Freemasonry in Boston, in the early thirties of the eighteenth century; it may have been in 1730, or a couple of years later; the date however was prior to 1733. The first I knew of this statement about 1720, was in the September Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. I at once wrote to Brother Johnson asking him to correct this statement, and I have his letter to me under date of February 15th, 1915, wherein he states:

“I have rewritten my Address on the Early History of Masonry in America in several rather important particulars, and furnished it to Brother Newton for publication in The Builder. I shall see to it, however, that the statement quoting you is made accurately, as I have requested that he send me the proofs for revision.”

I see now that this has not been done: in the interest of truth, I will ask you to correct that misstatement. “Magna est veritas et praevalet.”

Very fraternally yours,

Julius F. Sachse, Philadelphia.

(Perhaps this error occurred in our office, by not catching all the corrections indicated by Brother Johnson. If so, we are very sorry. When Brother Johnson has finished stating the case for Massachusetts, we hope that Brother Sachse, or some one else, will set forth the claims of Pennsylvania with equal force of fact and logic. When that is done, we hope to have a word in regard to this much debated matter, the more because Brother Johnson thinks he caught us napping in the Builders.

-    The Editor. )

*  * *

SLIPPED A COG.

Dear Brother: - In your reply to a question about the influence of Masonry in Latin-America, did you not slip a cog? Fosdick has a chapter on French Masonry in this country, but I do not find anything touching upon Latin-America. The uninitiated in this subject might run over much without seeing it. The key is found in the influence of Francisso Miranda who formed La Gran Reunion Americana in London, of which a branch was The Sociedad de Lautaro, or “Caballeros Rationales.” Among the books touching upon it may be mentioned Pennington’s “Argentine Republic,” Hirst’s “Argentina,” and Chisholm’s “Independence of Chile,” especially the last named.

The librarian of the Northwestern University has just returned from two years not fruitless search for historical materials in South America. The books brought are almost entirely in the Spanish and Portuguese tongues. In the hour I spent while they were unpacking I found three chapters dealing with the matter, in Mitre’s Life of San Martin, and of Bolivar.

Cordially yours,

Henry B. Hemenway, Evanston III.

(For once we thank the good stars for having slipped a cog, if it has induced Dr. Hemenway to break his silence, for he is an authority on all matters pertaining to Latin-America, including its Masonic history. Now that the ice is broken, if Brother Hemenway does not give us the result of his researches, we are tempted to refuse ever again to play in his backyard, or climb his apple tree. Surely such a terrible threat will induce him to write the article we wanted him to write for The Builder which will be most welcome he may be sure. Brother Lemert of the Masonic Lecture Bureaux has also made some researches in this interesting field, and we shall be glad to know his findings. - The Editor.)

O. HENRY’S LAST POEM.

(Found among his papers after his death.)

Hard ye may be in the tumult Red to your battle hilts;

Blow give for blow in the foray,

Cunningly ride in the tilts.

But when the roaring is ended Tenderly, unbeguiled - Turn to a woman a woman’s heart And a child’s to a child.

Test of the man if his worth be In accord with the ultimate plan That he be not, to his marring,

Always and utterly man.

That he bring out of the tumult,

Fitter and undefiled,

To a woman the heart of a woman - To children the heart of a child.

Good when the bugles are ranting

It is to be iron and fire,

Good to be oak in the foray - Ice to a guilty desire.

But, when the battle is over (Marvel and wonder the while)

Give to a woman a woman’s heart And a child’s to a child.

FAITH

If I, from my spyhole, looking with purblind eyes upon the least part of a fraction of the universe, yet perceive in my one life’s destiny some broken evidences of a plan, and some signals of an over-ruling goodness, shall I then be so mad as to complain that all cannot be deciphered?

-   R.L. Stevenson

GOD’S WORLD.

God must be glad that one loves his world so much -

I can give news of earth to all the dead

Who ask me: - last year’s sunsets, and great stars That had a right to come first and see ebb The crimson wave that drifts the sun away - Those crescent moons with notched and burning rims That strengthened into sharp fire, and there stood, Impatient of the azure - and that day In March, a double rainbow stopped the storm - May’s warm, slow, yellow moonlit summer nights - Gone they are, but I have them in my soul !

-   Robert Browning.

A FRIEND IN NEED

“A friend in need” - my neighbor said to me - “A friend indeed is what I mean to be;

In time of trouble I will come to you,

And in the hour of need you’ll find me true.”

I thought a bit and took him by the hand:

“My friend,” said I, “you do not understand The inner meaning of that simple rhyme,

A friend is what the heart needs all the time.

-   Henry van Dyke.

EACH HIS OWN HELL.

Let this much be stated as to those who deliberately and willingly sell their birthright for a mess of pottage, making a brazen compromise with what they hold despicable, lest they should have to win their bread honorably, men need to spend no declamatory indignation upon them, They have a hell of their own; words cannot add to the bitterness of it.

-   John Morley

THE LIBRARY “IN A NOOK WITH A BOOK”

(In spite of the fact that many books have piled up waiting for attention, while we have been reviewing “The Great Work” - or, some insist, reviling it - we are glad to sit still while Brother Lobingier, of Shanghai, China, reads a page from Zola; the more so because he comes from afar, and also because what he reads contains within it a striking suggestion of the necessity for Masonic Research and for the deepening and better ordering of Masonic thought. Of course, Zola did not know Masonry from the inside, else he would not have thought of it as a rival Church, much less a sect competing with other sects. Nevertheless, the point he raises asks for deep pondering, and never more so than today.)

EMILE ZOLA ON MASONRY.

The late Emile Zola was proposed for membership in the French Academy but, largely thru prejudice, he failed to attain that coveted distinction. Nevertheless, if not an “immortel” he was at least an “intellectuel” and his novels, which were much on the “problem” order, exerted a powerful influence not only in France but thruout the civilized world,

It is interesting as well as profitable to learn the attitude of such a man toward our ancient craft. M. Zola evidently knew only the continental variety and that entirely from the outside. In his celebrated novel entitled “Rome” (part of a famous trilogy including “Lourdes” and “Paris”) M. Zola thus describes his hero’s (and probably his own) conception of the subject:

“Freemasonry had hitherto made him smile; he had believed in it no more than he had believed in the Jesuits. Indeed, he had looked upon the ridiculous stories which were current - the stories of mysterious, shadowy men who governed the world with secret incalculable power - as mere childish legends. In particular he had been amazed by the blind hatred which maddened certain people as soon as Freemasonry was mentioned. However, a very distinguished and intelligent prelate had declared to him, with an air of profound conviction, that at least on one occasion every year each Masonic Lodge was presided over by the Devil in person,

incarnate in a visible shape! And now, by Cardinal Sarno’s remarks, he understood the rivalry, the furious struggle of the Roman Catholic Church against that other Church, the Church over the way. Although the former counted on her own triumph, she none the less felt that the other, the Church of Freemasonry, was a competitor, a very ancient enemy, who indeed claimed to be more ancient than herself, and whose victory always remained a possibility. And the friction between them was largely due to the circumstance that they both aimed at universal sovereignty, and had a similar international organization, a similar net thrown over the nations, and in a like way mysteries, dogmas, and rites. It was deity against deity, faith against faith, conquest against conquest: and so, like competing tradesmen in the same street, they were a source of mutual embarrassment, and one of them was bound to kill the other. But if Roman Catholicism seemed to Pierre to be worn out and threatened with ruin, he remained quite as sceptical with regard to the power of Freemasonry. He had made inquiries as to the reality of that power in Rome, where both Grand Master and Pope were enthroned, one in front of the other. He was certainly told that the last Roman princes had thought themselves compelled to become Freemasons in order to render their own difficult position somewhat easier and facilitate the future of their sons. But was this true ? Had they not simply yielded to the force of the present social evolution ? And would not Freemasonry eventually be submerged by its own triumph - that of the ideas of justice, reason, and truth, which it had defended through the dark and violent ages of history? It is a thing which constantly happens; the victory of an idea kills the sect which has propagated it, and renders the apparatus with which the members of the sect surrounded themselves, in order to fire imaginations, both useless and somewhat ridiculous. Carbonarism did not survive the conquest of the political liberties which it demanded; and on the day when the Catholic Church crumbles, having accomplished its work of civilization, the othe: Church, the Freemasons’ Church across the road, will in a like way disappear, its task of liberation ended. Nowadays the famous power of the Lodges, hampered by traditions, weakened by a ceremonial which provokes laughter, and reduced to a simple bond of brotherly agreement and mutual assistance, would be but a sorry weapon of conquest for humanity, were it not that the vigorous breath of science impels the nations onwards and helps to destroy the old religions.”

Masons as well as Catholics may find little to indorse in this. But does it not contain material for serious reflection? Particularly does it not strengthen the position of those who would lift Masonry above the plane of mere ritualism? It is certainly true, as the famous novelist here suggests, that the only institution with a future is one which ministers to some real human need.

Charles Sumner Lobingier, 33rd Degree Hon.

Shanghai, China.

*  * *

QUESTIONS

I am eighty years of age, and have read with much interest your address to “The Patriarchs.” Perhaps you will be kind enough to tell me what you think is the best book on old age.

-   J.K.P.

Beyond doubt the best, bravest, wisest book on old age is “Over the Teacups,” by Oliver Wendell Holmes, both because of the sweetness of its spirit, and for the fact that Dr. Holmes was an old man when he wrote it. We once heard a dear old lady say that she was willing to live as long as she could keep her front teeth and her sense of humor. Well, she lost her teeth - and got new ones - but she never lost her sense of humor. Nor did Dr. Holmes. You will also enjoy “The Round of the Clock,” by W. R. Nicoll, which discusses each period of life, with the names of great men and what they did at different ages. It is a very delightful and fruitful book of essays.

*  * *

I regard it as the duty of the Master of every Lodge to urge The Builder upon the attention of his Brethren. As a method of furthering the work and spirit of Freemasonry, may I suggest that in each issue you publish a column of pithy, instructive, quotable paragraphs relating to the Craft and its work, so that the Lodges which desire to do so may carry the message in whole or in part to the Brethren by means of notices and communications.

-   L.S.P.

Thank you for so good a suggestion, which we shall keep in mind. Perhaps some Brother will take this delightful duty as his share of the work; he would find it congenial and inspiring. We nominate Brother Parvin, if he is not too busy, for he has more treasures of this kind stored away in his mind than ever any magician of the East dreamed of. Do we hear a second? - it is carried unanimously!

*  * *

What caused the break between the Catholic Church and the Masonic fraternity? - N.R.M.

Rightly to answer your question would require a whole article. Perhaps you cannot do better than get two pamphlets by Brother R. J. Lemert, of the Masonic Lecture Bureau, Helena, Montana, entitled “Catholicism and Freemasonry” and “A Sign and a Summons.” They sell for fifteen cents each, and will furnish you with a brief and vivid historical discussion of the question.

*  * *

In the Builders (page 61) there is a note in which you say that Schure, TK and Dr. Buck are misleading. That is rather severe, is it not ? Please explain further what you mean. - H.H.J

How the text and the note to which it refers could be so misunderstood is hard to know. The discussion has to do with the Secret Doctrine and the claim of some, as in the case of Schure, that Jesus was an initiate of some ancient School of Masters from whom he learned his Gospel. Since this is all a conjecture, without even a hook upon which to hang an item of evidence, we said it is misleading; and added, “though not intentionally” so. Furthermore we pointed out that those who have led our race furthest along the way to the Mount of Vision were initiates into eternal truth, not by grace of some coterie of esoteric experts, but by the grace of God and the divine right of genius.

*  * *

Please tell me the origin of the feasts of the two Saints John among Masons, and something of their meaning. - W.B.N.

Of the Masonic feasts of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist much has been written, but to little account. In pre- Christian times the Roman Collegia were wont to adopt pagan deities as patrons. When Christianity came, the names of its saints - some of them martyrs of the order of Builders - were substituted for the old pagan gods. Why the two Saints John were chosen by Masons - instead of St. Thomas, who was the patron saint of architecture - has never been made clear, though legend has been busy in trying to explain it. None the less, it is in accord with the fitness of things, since John the Baptist was a stern prophet of righteousness, and John the Evangelist the Apostle of Love. Righteousness and Love - righteousness of character, and love of God and man - surely those two words do not fall short of telling the whole duty of a man and Mason. Howbeit, these two feasts, coming at the time of the summer and winter solstices, are in reality older than Christianity, being reminiscences of the old Light Religion in which Masonry had its origin.

*  * *

Some of us have come to depend on The Builder to tell us what books are worth while, not only in Masonry, but in other fields as well; and you have not failed us once. What in your judgment is the best novel of the year?

-   H.P.C.

It would be hard to find anything in recent fiction of more real power and worth than “The Harbor,” by Ernest Poole, not only for its fresh and vivid insight, and its skill in drawing character, but also for its symbolism. And don’t forget to read the article on “Quack Novels and Democracy,” by Owen Wister - himself one of our master novelists - in the June Atlantic Monthly. It is worth going miles to read.

*  * *

ARTICLES OF INTEREST.

A Poet and Freemason: John A. Joyce. London Freemason.

Indian Art and Architecture, by Edith K. Harper. Occult Review. June.

A Plea for Masonry, by C. H. Merz. American Tyler-Keystone.

“Grand Lodge of all England” at York, by J. S. Carson. Virginia Masonic Journal

“Father Taylor” Chaplain of Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, New England Craftsman.

Original History and Symbolism of the Mark Master Degree, by John Fishel. Masonic Observer.

Last Days of John Paul Jones, by G. P. Brown. The Trestle Board.

*  * *

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Spoon River Anthology, by E. L. Masters. Macmillan Co.

The Bible and the Anglo-Saxon People, by Wm. Canton. E. P. Dutton & Co.

Poems of Progress, by J. H. West. Tufts College Press, Boston.

The Mysticism of Music, by R. Heber Newton. G. P. Putnam’s Sons. The Divine Mystery, by Allen Upward. Houghton Mifflin Co. Religion in the Making, by Samuel G. Smith. Macmillan Co.

*  * *

CONTINUATION OF QUESTIONS ON “THE BUILDERS”

Compiled by “The Cincinnati Masonic Study School.”

1. Were all members of the College of Architects, Christians ? Page

85.

1. What led to the persecution of Master Masons and the breaking up of the College of Architects and their expulsion from Rome? Page

85.

1. What does the English writer, Hope, say of the Freemasons in regard to their effort to enrich architecture after Roman times? Page

115.

88a. Who instructed the ecclesiastics of the middle ages in architecture? Page 114.

89a. Which of the Arts is considered the most exalting? Page 153.

1. What is said of how the ancient Brethren set about to build an abbey or cathedral? Page 135, 136
2. What is said of the legend and the antiquity of Masonry ? Page

110.

97a. Was Bobby Burns a Mason? Page 226.

100. What is an atheist? What is an agnostic? What is materialism ? Page 267, 268.

101.  What lies upon the altar of Masonry ? Page 265, see also 261 note.

102. What references are there in the Bible, relative to the materials and working tools of the Mason ? Page 31, 32:

103. What large stone was the emblem of Buddha among the Hindus ? Page 28.

104. What is said of natural and artificial barriers in relation to the Brotherhood of Man? Page 288.

105. Was there early Masonic teaching in China in symbolical building? Page 31.

106.  What was the condition of affairs just before the Christian Era? Page 50.

108.  When and what condition made it possible for the church to influence Masonry? Was it entirely successful? Page 101.

109.  When did Freemasonry break with the Roman Catholic Church and why? Page 101, 102.

109a. What induced the Grand Orient of France to remove the Bible from its Altar and erase from its ritual all reference to Deity? Page 261, Note 1.

111a. Why is Masonry more than a political party, social cult or church, and why do some men give up their church when they enter Masonry ? Page 230, 251, 252.

1. What was the purpose of Old Charges and Constitutions? Page

102,  103.

120.  Why was the name of the Master-artist omitted from the Old Charges of Masonry ? Page 109.

120a. What makes the “Old Charge” of 1723 memorable ? Page 177, 178.

121a. What is the “Charge” as contained in the Constitutions of 1723 ?

122a. When were the “Old Constitutions” revised? Page 204.

123a. What is one of the hotly debated questions in Masonic history? Page 141, 196, 197.

124a. Was the legend of the Third Degree known prior to 1717? Page 149.

125a. Why the “York” rite? Page 216 note.

132a. Describe the transition we call Death. Page 278.

1. What does Emerson say that God and Nature does for us ? Page

57.

136a. What is the sure proof and prophet of life’s own high faith? Page 270.

146a. What is the result of Despotism ? Page 273. Of Bigoted Dogmatism? Page 273.

BUILDING THE BRIDGE AT TWILIGHT.

An old man, going a lone highway,

Came at the evening, cold and gray,

To a chasm vast and deep and wide,

The old man crossed in the twilight dim,

The sullen stream had no fear for him;

But he turned when safe on the other side And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,

“You are wasting your strength with building here:

Your journey will end with the ending day,

You never again will pass this way;

Why build this bridge at evening tide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head - “Old friend, in the path I have come,” he said,

“There followeth after me today A youth whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm that has been as naught to me,

To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;

He, too, must cross in the twilight dim - Good friend, I am building this bridge for him !”

-   Selected.

WANTED, A MAN.

Ah, God, for a man with heart, head, hand,

Like some of the simple great ones gone Forever and ever by,

One still strong man in a blatant land, Whatever they call him - what care I ? - Aristocrat, democrat, autocrat - one Who can rule and dare not lie !

-   Tennyson.

THE RIDDLE.

Hearken the eager strife - Hustle and hurry, morn till night;

Calm content, or fear and fright. Somewhere a frown, somewhere a smile, Making the world glad all the while. Faith in the Goodness ruling all,

Hope in the future’s glad’ning call; Darkness cov’ring the face of earth, Clouds replacing the rosy mirth.

Here a bubble of childish joy,

There a beggar - of Fate the toy.

Wealth and poverty, side by side,

Spirit humble, and pandered pride. Kings and classes, the great and small, Years recording the rise and fall,

Done to the lyre, the drum and fife.

This is existence, with mystery rife - We call it life !

-  Wm. Eben Schultz, Conn.

THE VOICE OF GOD.

Stern Daughter of the Voice of God !

O Duty ! if that name thou love Who art a light to guide, a rod To check the erring, and reprove;

Thou, who art victory and law When empty terrors overawe;

From vain temptations dost set free;

And calm’st the weary strife of frail humanity!

-  Wordsworth.

THE BUILDER MAGAZINE

JUNE 1915

VOLUME 1 - NUMBER 6

ROBERT FREKE GOULD

SOLDIER, BARRISTER, FREEMASON IN MEMORIAM

(Editor of The Builder:--With deep regret I have to announce the death on March 26th, of our veteran Brother Robert Freke Gould. As a reliable Masonic historian he occupied a high place in the affection and esteem of all Masonic students. His works remain withus as Masonic classics for all time. His influence in Masonic literature was incalculable and will never die. Fraternally yours,

John T. Thorp, Lodge of Research, Leicester, England.)

MAN AND MASON

By John C. Yorston, Philadelphia

THE sad news of the death of this renowned, honorable and worthy brother, of International fame, will be received by the Craft at large with more than ordinary regret. He died at his residence, Kingsfield Green, Woking, England, March 26th, at the age of 78 years. How much we may regret his decease is not a subject for words, for in him was recognized the closest and most considerate of friends, one who knew the difficulties of authorship and journalism, and was ever ready to help and take pleasure in doing so, and also to make allowances where many would have showered unjust criticism.

The great loss to Masonry will be acknowledged wherever the Masonic symbol is known and recognized, for, although an English author, his Masonic works have been translated into several European languages, and his shorter writings and studies have been translated into many more tongues, and read throughout the World.

His first published work on Freemasonry, entitled "The First Four Old Lodges," was succeeded by "The Athol Lodges," but the work which has secured for him his position and lasting fame as a Masonic Author, is his complete and exhaustive work of research, "The History of Freemasonry," a magnum opus. For years it has held, and still holds, the field, and is recognized as the only work of authority and the most reliable one on the history of the Craft, yielding to him the honor of being the greatest Masonic Historian the World has yet produced.

He also published a smaller work, "The Concise History of Freemasonry," summarized without much detail. Many of his contributions to the Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge are works of skill, erudition, and patient research. Many of these are out of print, but the best of them, together with articles from various Masonic journals, are reprinted in a volume entitled "Brother Gould’s Collected Essays and Papers,” published in 1913.

Bro. Gould’s contributions to Masonic literature are not numerous.

Many writers have given us more in quantity of matter and number of volumes, but none have achieved so much success in face of so many difficulties. He began his work when all matters of Masonic history were hopelessly mixed. All kinds of false traditions hovered around the name of Freemasonry, and countless rites and sects claimed association with the Order. His work consisted in clearing the way and breaking down barriers. He truly laid the tracks upon which his successors found it easy to travel. His standard was high, both as to literary accomplishment and to statement of fact. Guesswork and imagination had no part or lot in his researches. The truth was supreme, and all that possessed not its hall-mark was rejected or laid aside for further evidence. The work he accomplished will remain for many generations as a monument to his love of the Craft and his genius as a painstaking and truthful historian.

It might truly be said that his life was made up of the mystic number Three--for he was essentially a Soldier, Barrister and Freemason. These three separate characteristics were the predominant factors of his most useful life, and though he had formany years ceased activity as a Barrister, and took only a passing interest in military matters after his retirement from the Army, he devoted the rest of his life with a burning zeal and constant activity with his pen in behalf of Freemasonry until a short time before his death. His final letter, dated 22nd February, showed a mental and literary activity of the keenest nature, and introduced references to friendships in England, Gibraltar, and America.

Bro. Gould was a son of the Rev. Robert Freke Gould, Rector of Stoke Pearo, Somerset, and was born at Ilfracombe, Devon, England, in 1836. At the age of nineteen he entered the Army as Ensign in the 86th Royal County Down Regiment of Foort, and later in the same year was initiated in the Royal Naval Lodge, No. 429, Ramsgate, and also received his commission as a Lieutenant, and was transferred to the 31st Regiment. In the following year his Regiment was ordered to Malta, where he was exalted in the Melita Chapter, No. 349, and also installed a Knight Templar in the Melita Encampment.

In 1858 he found himself at Gibraltar, where he was installed Master of the Inhabitants’ Lodge, No. 153, E. C. The Lodge roll for the present year shows him as the senior living Past Master at the time of its issue, and designates him an honorary member.

His year in the chair was interrupted by a removal to the Cape of Good Hope, and later in the same year to India. Here he became Founder and first Master of the Meridian Lodge, No. 743, of the 1st East Surrey Regiment, then stationed at Poona. In 1860 he took command of a Company at Sinho, in the North China Campaign, and took part in the action at that place, and in the storming of Tangku. For the taking of the latter forts he received a medal and clasp. In 1862 he served on the staff of General Staveley in subduing the Taeping Rebellion. The operations in the district of Shanghai resulted in the taking of the stockade of Nanhsiang, the capture by escalade of the walled cities of Kadin, Tsinpoo, Tsolin, and the fortified town of Najow, and the success of the operations at Nanhsiang. Afterwards he was appointed by General Stavele to drill, discipline, and organize a battalion of Manchu soldiers at Tien Tsin. Continuing his stay in China, he was elected Master of the Northern China Lodge, No. 570, Shanghai, in 1864, and in the following year was installed First Principal of the Zion Chapter, No. 570, and was a founder of the Tuscan Lodge, No. 1027, in the same city.

His departure from China would appear to have terminated his military career, for in 1870 we find him settled at Russell Square, London, in close proximity to the law centers of the Metropolis.

This center was most favorable for the continuance of his legal work and for paying frequent visits to the Grand Lodge Library and to the British Museum. It was these later visits which enabled him to lay the foundation upon which so much valuable material was afterwards to be erected in the way of contributions to the literature of Freemasonry. What Bro. Gould himself described as the "distractions" of these two Libraries caused him to suspend his legal studies, and in 1877, he went on Circuit (the Western) for the last time, and a few years afterwards gave up his chambers in the Temple, and thus ceased to be even a nominal practitioner at the Bar.

Having thus closed his activities as Soldier and Barrister, his whole time was available for his chief "recreation"-Freemasonry.

In 1875 he was installed Master of the Moira Lodge, No. 92, London, and was re-elected for the following year, being also installed First Principal of the Moira Chapter. In 1875 he also served as a Grand Steward, and in that capacity took part in the installation of the Prince of Wales as Grand Master of England at the Royal Albert Hall, which is described by himself in 1911 as "the most remarkable spectacle I have ever witnessed during the half­century and more that I have been a Freemason."

Having served for several terms on the Board of General Purposes of Grand Lodge, and on the Colonial Committee, it was generally hoped by his friends that his services would secure him the coveted honor of Grand Rank. This, however, was not realized until 1880, when he was invested as one of the two Senior Grand Deacons. It may be as well to state here that this honor was not awarded for his literary services, for the first volume of his "History of Freemasonry was not published until two years later. This fact also emphasizes the neglect of the Grand Lodge of England to reward the literary efforts of its members; for although Bro. Gould’s monumental work was known and appreciated all the world over, Grand Lodge failed to recognize the merits of the author until December 1913, when, in honor of the Centenary of the Union of the Grand Lodges of England, he was made a Past Grand Warden.

The researches into Masonic archaeology and history on the part of a small circle of Brethren at this time entailed considerable correspondence by those who were exchanging ideas and discoveries, and the question of founding a special lodge for Brethren interested in research was mooted. After a few preliminary difficulties the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No. 2076, was consecrated in 1884, and the desire for the literature of the Craft was at once given a great stimulus, for those who were associated

in the work of this Lodge were keen upon their task, and in a very short time gave the Craft a literature which has never been surpassed. In this work Bro. Gould was a leading spirit and became a Founder of the Lodge. In 1887 he was installed Master, an honor which is the coveted "blue-ribbon of Masonry” amongst literary members of the Craft. In 1901 the "Inhabitants" Lodge, at Gibraltar, having become too large, a sister Lodge was formed, and in honor of Bro. Gould, who had been the first Master at the resuscitation in 1858, the new Lodge was named the Robt. Freke Gould Lodge, No. 2874.

Bro. Gould’s associations with other Lodges may be briefly touched upon. Founder of the King Solomon’s Temple Lodge, No. 3464, of which he was the first Master. Joining member of the Royal Lodge of Friendship, No. 278, Gibraltar; St. Andrew’s in the East, No. 343,

S.C., Poona; Orion in the West, No. 415, Poona; Royal Sussex Lodge No. 501, Shanghai; and several Royal Arch Chapters. His literary services to the Craft have been recognized by several Grand Lodges in his election to honorary membership with rank of Past Grand Warden, including Iowa, Ohio, District of Columbia, Kansas, South Dakota, British Columbia, and New Zealand.

*  * *

OUR THUCYDIDES

By Prof. Roscoe Pound, Harvard University.

If James Anderson has a prescriptive right to be styled the father of Masonic history, Robert Freke Gould has a much better title upon the merits to be styled its second father. Indeed Anderson owes his position in Masonic history simply to the accident of time and place which makes him our only authority for the most interesting period in the history of the Craft. Brother Gould, on the other hand, taught us how to write Masonic history and founded a school of Masonic historians which has put the history of the Craft upon a modern and scientific basis where it may take its place with the history of other human institutions.

Prior to the writings of Brother Gould the profane might well smile when it was said that Masonic history was to some extent a subject by itself and that it must have its own methods and its own standards. For unhappily it was formerly but too true that Masonic history was wholly unique among branches of knowledge that went by the name of history and that it had methods and standards not tolerated, much less admitted, anywhere else. Even in the eighteenth century, when men were willing to believe much of antiquity which they would not have believed of their own day, when, for example, the legendary history of the Roman kings remain unquestioned, solemn narratives that made every great personage from Adam to Solomon a Mason in the modern sense, that made Nebuchadnezzer and Caesar Augustus Grand Masters of the Craft, that brought Masonry into Britain with a Trojan king, and into Ireland with the prophet Jeremiah, ought to have been impossible. What shall we say then of enlightened men and learned Masons who repeated and affected to believe them in the nineteenth century and of the pomp and circumstance of Masonic oratory which rehearses them or their like today? Such things as Oliver’s "Five grand periods of Masonry from the creation of the world to the dedication of King Solomon’s temple" have not been

merely harmless. Dr. Oliver was an antiquary of high and deserved reputation. Moreover, he was one of the few really great Masonic scholars of the nineteenth century. It is no exaggeration in Mackey to style him "the father of Anglo-Saxon Masonic literature. His generous enthusiasm, undoubted archeological learning and wide reading enabled him to give to English Masonic writings a literary and philosophical turn that might have done much toward creating a scholarly interest in Masonry. But when such a man was found setting forth soberly in print that Masonry (presumably such as we know it) was to be found from the beginnings of history, that it was taught by Seth to his descendants and was in their hands pure or primitive Masonry, that with the dispersion of mankind after Noah it divided into pure Masonry and spurious Masonry, that the former passed through the patriarchs to Solomon and thence to the Masonry of today, while the latter, a corruption in the hands of the pagans, was to be seen in the mysteries and initiatory rites of antiquity--when this sort of history could be set forth gravely by one of the lights of Masonic scholarship two results were to be expected. One, the rank and file of the Craft accepted it and no speculation of the sort became too wild for Masonic post-prandial and grand lodge oratory. Two, the scholar within and without the Craft was led to think that if this was all that such a man as Oliver could say there was in reality nothing to say. Hence scholars within the Craft turned to philosophy and symbolism. But these suffered from lack of proper historical foundation. Those without the Craft simply laughed to the injury of all serious Masonic study. If the proposition that Masonic history is in some sort a subject by itself, that from the nature of the subject it has its own methods and its own criteria meant or threatened any recrudescence of this pseudo-history among Masonic scholars, it should be rejected at once.

It was a service of the first magnitude when Brother Gould, the undoubted leader of modern Masonic historians, took for his guide a standard more strict than the principles by which historians without the Craft were guided in their search for the truth. Since his great work in which the most rigorous tests were applied to every hypothesis, to every tradition, and to every assertion of fact, no one who makes any pretensions to scholarship would think of return to what a profane critic justly styled "the sprightly and vivacious accounts of the . . . Masonic annalists who display in their histories a haughty independence of facts and make up for the scarcity of facts by a surprising fecundity of invention." A great clearing away was necessary in order to put Masonic history upon a proper foundation. This clearing away Brother Gould achieved almost at one stroke. If we may think today that the circumstances of Masonic history call for less rigorous criteria in some connections, we are enabled to say so confidently because he has established the subject in a position where one may proclaim himself a Masonic historian without shame. If James Anderson in some sense is the Herodotus of Masonic history, Brother Gould is emphatically our Thucydides. It is not merely that he has written what is likely to remain the standard history of Masonry. Much more than that, he has taught us how to write Masonic history. For this service to the Craft, if there were nothing else, he would always have to be reckoned among the very first of our scholars.

LOGICIAN AND CRITIC

By R. J. Lemert, Montana

It is with the deepest sorrow and regret that I learn of the death of Brother Robert F. Gould. Thus passes, after a long and useful life, one who has in his own chosen field done more toward setting the history of Freemasonry upon a solid basis than any other man who has ever lived. So long as our institution shall endure--and that, I feel assured, will be until mankind shall have reached a state of perfection inconceivable at the present (May--the name of Brother Gould will live, and his writings will constitute for him a monument more lasting than can be built above his grave in stone or brick.

Brother Gould’s writings are essentially those of the practical man, the logician, the severe critic of mere theory. Some of us may have been at times a trifle impatient of his ruthless demolition of our dream palaces; some of us may not, even today, be content to accept his dicta as to certain mooted questions which he dismisses as not proven, and therefore not to be taken seriously; but those matters of history upon which Brother Gould has set the seal of his approval may be accepted with assurance by all who write upon the subject of the Craft, as sure foundations upon which to build. His Concise History, as well as his more pretentious work, published in this country in four volumes, are the constant companions of those who write upon Masonic topics, and the more they are studied, the more they reveal the amazing industry and erudition of him who has now penned his last line.

He was one of the nine earnest students and lovers of Freemasonry who founded Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No. 2076-- a nucleus about which has gathered a great student body of more than three thousand members. Of these nine founders, five have now passed behind the veil--the Rev. Adolphus F.A. Woodford, G. Speth, Sir Walter Besant, William J. Hughan, and now him whom all of these acknowledged as the greatest of them all. The work they set their hands to do, they did well; and we may be assured that when they stand before the Great White Throne, it shall be their lot to hear from Him who sitteth as the Judge Supreme the welcome words, "Well done, good and faithful servants; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

THE PYTHAGORAS OF OUR TIMES

By R. I. Clegg Cleveland, Ohio

Bro. Gould’s death is a grievous loss to me and doubtless to many others who were favored by correspondence. He never lost his keen interest. His industry failed not. Years passed, age crept upon him, the seasons ran their cycles, but he kept his poise, preserved his faith, and has now gone on to his reward. To have established a high standard of Masonic research and to have bestowed a noble example of such work is to have left at the portals of the Temple two great pillars to adorn and support the structure. That distinction was his. No greater monument is in store for any Mason however eminent he be. In the death of Robert Freke Gould there passes an accurate author, a painstaking student, a scholar of excellence, a courtly controversialist, the Pythagoras of our times among Masons.

HOW TO STUDY MASONRY

A SYMPOSIUM

(For this last installment of our Symposium we are indebted to the Masonic Study School of Cincinnati, Ohio, and to the kindness of Dr. Stewart and other members. This School was organized in 1910, and adopted a constitution and by-laws identical with those used by the Fargo, North Dakota, Masonic Study School organized in October, 1908. A copy of the constitution and by-laws may be found in Dr. Stewart’s interesting and valuable book, "Symbolic Teaching, or Masonry and its Message," chapter four. In the following letters we learn, first, from Dr. Stewart, what methods of study have been tried by the Cincinnati Masonic School, and with what results, as well as the plan finally adopted as most profitable and workable. Second, a committee from the Society of Past Masters of Cincinnati and vicinity tell of the efforts of that body to extend the influence of the School, and to deepen the interest of Masons in the deeper aspects and purposes of Masonry. Here we have the results, not of theoretical suggestion, but of practical experience in a company of busy men and Masons who undertook the study of Masonry; and we believe it reveals a point of contact with the problem, and also a method of beginning, which will be found useful to other groups who may wish to make a start.

Elsewhere in this issue we sum up the findings of this symposium with certain reflections suggested by each contributor.)

THE STUDY-CLUB

By Dr. T. M. Stewart Cincinnati, Ohio

Not until the Masonic Study School came into the field in February, 1910, was any definite effort made systematically to try out different plans of work. These plans were as follows: (1) Question and answer meetings. They were not satisfactory and therefore not continued, because very few had read enough to make it interesting.

(2)    Essays written by students and read to a general meeting of Masons. This plan also failed be cause the students were too few and the audience seemed to desire a variety of topics as well as of speakers.

(3)    The reading, and discussing as read, of one or more books during the season. A splendid plan, but only reaching a few, because in this city, with thirty-one Lodges scattered over a wide territory--not counting the Lodges across the Ohio in Kentucky--it is quite a task for members to get home and later return to the city for study. To meet in any one suburb does not change the condition, as regular attendance at the meetings is necessary or the thread of thought is lost. The problem, so far as the Masonic Study School has been able to formulate it, is as follows:

(a)     The need of Masons, and especially of the younger men, for a more general knowledge of the origin, nature and genius of our

ancient and honorable fraternity. To meet this need a book was selected and questions on its contents were prepared by the Study School. Following each question was the number of the page of the book--in many instances of the paragraph--where the answer may be found. The best results are obtained by the student writing the answer thereto in a small blank book, and meeting with others doing the same work at stated intervals, so that the questions and answers may be read--fixing the answers in the mind. Notes are taken of questions in regard to matters on which the student desires further light, and these are the basis of work after the School has finished with that particular book. The personal effort required in such a method is the secret of its success.

(b)    To enlighten the Craft generally with regard to what Masonry has done for the world, for this country, and for this city; and thus to formulate the basis of what Masonry can and should do for coming generations. To this end several lecturers should talk on the same topic, handled much in the same manner, to several Lodges in a jurisdiction. In this way all the Lodges are reached in a much shorter time, than where one lecturer tries to fill dates with many Lodges. This plan will be elucidated by its originator, Brother P. J. Cadwalader, who has gladly agreed to outline the plan for this Symposium.

*  * *

The Past Master’s Society

The Society of Past Masters of this vicinity have undertaken to do some work to try and bring to the minds of the Craft at large some matters which every Mason ought to know, and thus lead up to the work which Dr. Stewart and the Masonic Study School are interested in. With this idea in view, the Society has undertaken to make Masons realize that there is a greater work for the Fraternity than has been accomplished in the past.

The better to assist in this work, it has been deemed advisable to have addresses made by selected speakers to the members at large, and to the different Lodges at such times as may be convenient, and to try to bring home to each Mason the tremendous work we awaiting us, if the Fraternity is to retain its present high standing in this country. A committee has been appointed systematically to take up this work. For the first general meeting April 13th, 1915, at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, the following live subjects have been selected:

First--"The Position of Masonry in this Country, Past and Today, What has been accomplished? Looking Backward," by Dr. J. D. Buck, 33rd degree.

Second--"The Position of Masonry in this Country, Tomorrow and the Future, What can be Accomplished? Looking Forward," by Brother Rev. A. B. Beresford, 32nd degree.

The first subject selected to be presented to all the Lodges by different speakers is:--"After the Petition, then what?" The idea being that the speaker should try to address himself to the character of the candidate before and at the time of asking the "recommendation of a friend." That is, the care which the investigating committee should take, whether or not their report should simply be "favorable" or "unfavorable," or whether the committee should try, in its report, to picture to the Lodge the character of the candidate as he has impressed himself upon them; keeping in mind all the time that our object is "the Universal Brotherhood of Man."

Other subjects to be presented in the same way to the individual Lodges, and which have been favorably considered, are:--"After Raising, Whither Bound ?" and "Our Duty to Unfortunate Members," that is, how long and how far shall we protect them, not financially, but as to moral character. These subjects will cover three months of work, and will reach forty-four Lodges, with a membership of fifteen thousand.

The committee feel that all these subjects are very broad, and that properly treated, as we hope to have them treated, they will reach the heart of the Craft, and perhaps start the fire burning which will make the individual feel that there is something in Masonry more than making candidates and seeking office.

Fifteen thousand Masons in a community like ours, if they exert their influence for the highest and best things, can do much. The fraternity must stand for the highest morals, not only as a fraternity, but as individuals; so much so, that while it does not as an order enter politics, its influence may be so felt that politicians will have regard for the better interests of the city.

While this condition is being brought about by the Craft as a unit, each individual member should feel and know of his interests therein, and begin to learn that "the house not made with hands" is his own spiritual individuality, and that perhaps the "lost word" may be found in himself by a proper exercise and the guidance of others who may be able to point out the way, to which he must apply his efforts and make out of himself the real and true Mason which our fraternity demands.

Committee of Past Master’s Society.

John H. Dickerson

James N. Ramsey

Orin N. Littell

Chas. A. Stevens

Pierce J. Cadwalader

"THE BUILDERS: A Story and Study of Masonry.”

By Joseph Fort Newton

Questions Compiled by the Cincinnati Masonic Study School.

(Experience has shown that one of the most effective ways of awakening interest in the study of Masonry is a series of questions analyzing some book dealing with the history and teaching of the Craft. "The Builders’ is selected as the first book to be so studied, for the reason that it is the only book of its kind ever adopted by a Grand Lodge for the instruction of young Masons. It was adopted by the Grand Lodge of Iowa as its text-book June 10th, 1914. Other books will be analyzed in like manner, in the hope of tempting young Masons to study the story and teachings of the Order by showing how many interesting questions are involved in the research.)

11. What was it the early builders sought above all things? Page 12-2.

12.What were the two ideals of the early builders in their work? Page 12-2.

13.What is beauty? Page 8-2.

1. What is said of cube and square ? Page 25-26

20.  What is said of the Cross ? Page 24-25.

22.  What is said of eternity as an ideal of the early Egyptians? Page

12-2.

23.  What was the attitude of the learned ancient philosophers in regard to the Egyptian teaching ? Page 46.

24.  What was the central theme of the Egyptian faith ? Page 46.

25.  Give an outline of the Egyptian teachings Page 39-42.

26.  How were the secrets of the Allegoni form or faith transmitted? Page 31.

1. As to death what may be said of the value other universal intuition as to eternal life ? Page 39,
2. What is said of the Pyramids as to their age and durability? Page

13-1.

1. Why was Secrecy necessary in the ancient mysteries ? Page 59,

62.

58.  Give symbolic idea of temple, pyramid and cathedral. Page 15.

60.  What was the symbol of the heavens? Page 13.

68.  What historical evidence can be cited as to the use of the mason’s working tools? Page 29-30.

(To be continued)

A SIGN AND A SUMMONS.

During the last summer an explosion occurred in the trenches of one of the gas companies of Columbus which was caused by the stupid action of one of the laborers, a foreigner, in lighting a match near the escaping gas. In this frightful explosion the clothes of the workmen in the trench caught fire, and it was evident that they would all be burned to death. Chas Sumner Potter, a member of Magnolia Lodge, No. 20 the foreman in charge of these men, was slightly burned, but in a position of safety, when he heard the screams of these unfortunate men; and without a thought for his personal safety, and with his own clothes still burning, he rushed into the ditch and rescued three or four of the victims. Although he could have removed his burning clothing and escaped with very slight injuries, he continued in this work of rescue until his clothes were practically burned from his body; and in this condition he went to a telephone stationed some distance away to call for help. He was so weak that he could scarcely stand, and when he left the station there were pools of blood on the floor which flowed from the wounds on his hands and arms. He was carried away in an ambulance, and when asked as to his condition said that he wished none of the others were burned any worse than he was. He was taken to the hospital, where he lingered and suffered for several weeks, and died. He was buried from the Masonic Temple at Columbus, Ohio, and a great number of these foreign laborers attended his funeral; they could not understand the language of the ceremony, but they knew and appreciated the unselfishness and heroic devotion which they had witnessed.

Everything that Masons could do has been done. His body rests in Green Lawn Cemetery, and the grass is green on his grave. He carried out the great lesson taught in the second section of our Third Degree. He performed his duty at the cost of his life, and gave it up that those men, who were not his Brothers or even his countrymen, might live. I have considered it altogether fitting and proper to make a memorial of his noble sacrifice. When we teach men this higher duty and see our teachings exemplified in this way, we honor the Fraternity as well as the man in making a perpetual memorial of his sacrifice.

- Proceedings Grand Lodge of Ohio.

OUR "MACHINERY OF ORGANIZATION"

BY GEO. L. SCHOONOVER, SECRETARY

WITHOUT doubt the greatest impression, received by the average layman, of the entry of a new dreadnaught into the American navy, comes with the published reports of her christening. The picture of the uncompleted hull sliding into the water arouses his sense of proprietorship. And probably he takes as much pride in the photograph of the beautiful Daughter of the Republic who breaks the bottle of grapejuice over the bow of the vessel, as he does in the outlines of the fourteen-inch guns which will ultimately peer out from her turrets. The preliminary labors of designing, milling, testing and assembling, the engineering problems involved in making of this inert hull a living power for his benefit and protection-- all these are symbolized in the one ceremony of giving the ship a name. And, for the future, that name shall stand for the dignity and power of his Government. With the flag of his country flying at her masthead, with his countrymen acting as captain, helmsman, stoker and gunner, she becomes the visible emblem of organized efficiency. Efficiency means that results desired are accomplished. Without accomplishment, confidence and pride will vanish, proprietorship will be regretted, the labors will be counted as lost--the symbol of efficiency loses all its magic, and the vessel soon becomes junk.

So it is with all human institutions.

The National Masonic Research Society is a human institution. It has certain objects, known to all of you who have joined us in this work. It may seem to some of you that we advance very slowly toward the accomplishment of these objects. Much thought and labor have been devoted to the designs upon our trestleboard. Almost unanimously those designs have been approved by you. Now you are making it your Society. Day by day an increasing mass of evidence proves it. Let us rejoice that it is so. In the preliminary literature sent out by the Research Committee of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, Masonry in Iowa pledged itself to provide "the machinery of organization." Machinery which is not used, rusts. And upon your use of this machine which has been created to serve the Masonic Fraternity, depends its efficiency.

The purpose of this article is to give you a better picture of the "machine." To do this I must tell you the chief parts of which it is composed, what its limitations are, how it works, and some of its possibilities.

In the first place, it is a "wireless." This does not mean that there are no live wires in its construction. There are. But it means that there are no wires to pull. The Brethren who compose the Board of Stewards have kept in the background, for they take no false pride in their positions. They are organized on the basis of "who best can work and best agree." They are Stewards, in the full definition of the term.

Constructed strictly in accordance with Masonic usage, this "machine" has seven parts. The parts are George E. Frazer, N.R. Parvin, Joseph Fort Newton, Louis Block, John W. Barry, C. C. Hunt and George L. Schoonover. Every one of them is an American citizen- -though the blood streams of both the Allies and the Germans course through their veins. All of them are busy men. All are active Masons. Their conception of a Research Society for American Masons was born of service in the ranks of American Masonry, which had disclosed a great need. The invitation of the Grand Lodge of Iowa to the Brethren of our sister Jurisdictions was an attempt to satisfy that need.

These seven Brethren assembled in their first 1915 quarterly meeting as a Board of Stewards in April, at the newly-completed home of the Society in Anamosa. A brief description of that meeting will show you how the "machine" works. Incidentally, it may give to our members a better insight into the problems which have been involved in the organization and development of this Society, thus far, than could be done in any other way. At any event, the Board has a firm determination that the important questions

brought before them shall be fully discussed by the Members of the Society, in order that its policies may represent the best judgment of the majority.

II

The Committee appointed to draw up Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws made their report. They submitted a copy of Articles prepared in accordance with Chap. 2, Title IX of the Iowa Code, providing for corporations not for pecuniary profit, reported their adoption and execution, and showed that they had been filed of record according to law. They recommended that as soon as possible every member receive a copy of the By-Laws which have been adopted, and this recommendation was approved, and the Committee discharged.

III

Brother Newton presented the report of the Committee on Publications. It was full of good things which are promised for future numbers of "The Builder." The Committee are deeply gratified at the manner in which brethren are contributing the results of researches already made by them; and reported that the great number of splendid articles already submitted from all over the world is an absolute guaranty of the high standard of the magazine until such time as the growth of the Society shall justify the financial expense of making special original researches, which to some extent, are already planned. The Committee presented a letter from Brother Roscoe Pound, tendering to the Society the copyright on his lectures on the Philosophy of Masonry, and stating that when put into book form he would add a preface, a dedication, and a bibliography. With the utmost gratification the Board unanimously accepted this generous offer, ordered the publication of a first edition of 500 copies, and instructed the Secretary to convey to Brother Pound not only the feelings of the Board but the hundreds of the commendatory expressions received from the Brethren, regarding these lectures. The announcement of the Committee that Bro. Pound will also give to our membership, as soon as his time will permit, a series of papers on Masonic Symbolism, should be received with universal acclaim. The Chapters on "The Establishment and Early Days of Masonry in America," by Bro. Melvin M. Johnson, Grand Master of Massachusetts, the second of which appears in our next issue, will throw much light upon a subject concerning which there is little in literature accessible to the Craft. That brethren from Pennsylvania and Virginia will contest Brother Johnson’s claim of earliest establishment of Masonry in Massachusetts is certain. Thus will "The Builder" fulfill its prophecy, expressed in Brother Newton’s "Foreword," as a "forum of frank, free and fraternal discussion of every possible aspect of Masonry," from the historical standpoint.

IV

Masonic experience has demonstrated that the study club idea is practical. The Symposium on "How to Study Masonry" has been an illuminating one, and the practical workings of the Cincinnati Masonic School, as partially outlined in this number, show that, as a beginning in Masonic study, some sort of a textbook is necessary. The series of questions, arranged by this school, with Brother Newton’s book, "The Builders, A Story and Study of Masonry," as a basis, will be the first installment of the recommendations of the founders of the Society. The book referred to was therefore adopted by the Board as the official textbook of the Society; other books will be recommended later.

Much time in investigation of the proper form of study clubs has been spent by the Board. Many groups of students, all over the country, have asked us whether we would charter subordinate groups of the Society, and just how the Society proposed to make its investigations of real working value to its widely separated membership. The Board takes the position, unanimously, that the Society will not charter any study clubs or subordinate groups of students anywhere. Its reasons for so doing are three-fold; in the first place it is impossible for the Board to provide a way to accommodate all groups (each with its own conception of the organization which it needs) under a single, simple plan; secondly, they believe that the Society, a purely voluntary association with only one object--the advancement of the understanding of the members constituting it--should involve itself in no questions of jurisprudence, as an organization; and thirdly, because the brethren who desire to get together, in any community or Masonic group, are themselves best fitted by location and knowledge of their needs, to provide themselves with whatever machinery of organization is necessary for the promotion of their work. The Board appointed Brother Block as a Committee, however, to draw up a form of By-Laws adaptable to general conditions only, which could be used as a model, so far as considered of value. This simple form of organization, as soon as completed, will be published in "The Builder," as a suggestion only. No matter what form of organization the Brethren in any place finally determine upon as best adapted to their needs, the Society, insofar as it is represented by its Board of Stewards, will tender every possible aid, and give all possible suggestions which will promote the Cause. And as it stands ready to help, so it will appreciate co-operation in return, on the part of study clubs, by sending us their courses of study, as they may outline them for themselves, and telling their Brethren, through the columns of "The Builder," the methods which bring success.

The spirit of the above paragraph applies equally to the attitude of the Board upon the subject of the promotion of the Research idea, everywhere. The Society has a Committee for the purpose of urging the co-operation of Grand Lodges, through Committees on Research, or in whatever manner may seem best to any particular Jurisdiction. The getting together into a Society of nearly ten thousand Masons in a few short months, for the purpose of a study of Masonic principles and facts, should be in itself a notice to all Grand Lodges that there is an interest in the "study side of Masonry." Elsewhere a table of our membership is published. As an index of the real status of interest in this subject in any state it is valueless, because of the difficulty we have had in getting in touch with Masons who are interested. But as showing that we are finding students all over the world who are anxious to co-operate in a course of study--call it a kindergarten system, or a correspondence school system, or what you will--the table is illuminating. The splendid showing already made in the State of Iowa confirms our preliminary promise of a "substantial sustaining membership," and affords tangible evidence of the progress of Masonic study in the state as well as a complimentary evidence of the standing of the men behind the movement; but what is most significant in these figures is their affirmative testimony concerning the possible growth of the Society in other States, once the good faith, aims and purposes of the organization are generally understood.

V

In the opinion of your Secretary, the most important question considered at this meeting was the determination as to the future methods of promoting the work which we have undertaken. Manifestly, it was necessary at first that those who stood as sponsors for the organization should outline their conception of its plans and purposes, and to a large degree, direct its activities. It was the original intention of the Board that after the lapse of a sufficient time to discover the enthusiastic Brethren over the country, who could be depended upon to further its purposes, the Board of Stewards should be enlarged to say, twenty-five members. With the experience of the past few months, it seems as if the great distances in this country, involving extreme difficulty in ever getting even a majority of such a body together for a meeting, would make such an arrangement impossible. Meetings must occur at least four times a year, in order to make them of any value to the Society. Even as it is, we have already found that many questions must be decided by a mail vote.

To meet this contingency, the Board have decided that a much wiser and more practical plan is to leave the Board of Stewards as they are, at least for a while, and to create an Advisory Committee, as representative of the students of the country as possible, who should be invited to give us the benefit of their experience, and send any and all their suggestions in to the Secretary’s office. All questions of policy to be submitted to them, in order that, so far as possible, every State may feel that through one or more members of this Committee, it can aid in shaping the destiny of the Society. By this means, suggestions regarding the direction which the research should take, as well as explanations of this or that live Masonic question which are desired, might all be sent in to the Secretary. From this office, submission of these various topics could be promptly made to all members of the Committee, and the problems before us can be more efficiently solved, as we think, than by being compelled to wait the convenience of a moderately small quorum of an enlarged Board.

It is not to be expected that such a Committee would agree, perhaps, upon all of the questions submitted to it. Nor would it be even possible that each member of such a Committee would approach every problem from the same viewpoint. Such a condition, indeed, ought to be viewed with alarm, as it would mean Masonic stagnation. Nor would the announcement of such a Committee preclude any member of the Society from sending in his opinion at any time-- on the contrary, as we have already demonstrated, every member helps the Society by joining in this "frank, free and fraternal" search for Truth, and the more varied the expressions of views, the more successful and the more interesting, as well as profitable, will be the result. Expansion of the Society’s activities will by this method mean an increase in the number of shoulders at the wheel-- and the more rapid will be our progress.

And perhaps the greatest advantage of all in this plan, will be the manner in which members of the Society will be able to feel one another’s pulse, as it were, and thereby bring that active co­operation which alone can make this organization the great means of understanding and fellowship which was and is the dream of its founders.

VI

As this is written, it seems not too much to expect that the month of June will witness the expansion of the Society to 10,000 members. The tabulation herewith was prepared on May the first. Believing that a campaign for members during the hot months would be of little avail, we have determined that after June only necessary correspondence will be carried on until September. As much time as possible will be devoted to the preparation for definite expansion of the Society’s activities in the autumn. In the meantime, every member has been provided with blank applications, and all that are sent in will be taken care of, promptly. The real problem, from the financial standpoint, is to let ten thousand more Brethren who have not yet heard of the Society, know about it. Our canvass has reached, directly, less than four per cent of the Masons in the United States! And you Brethren who have come to know us are the only ones through whom we can get in touch with the other 96 per cent.

It needs no artificial stimulant to make optimists of the founders of the Society. Industrious advertising on our part brought us over four thousand charter members, before ever an intimation of what "The Builder" would be like was revealed to the Craft. That, surely,

was remarkable. And thereby was proven the need for closer fellowship in behalf of authentic, systematic, effective Masonic education. As we have progressed, the Craft have caught the spirit of the enterprise, and have stamped the aims, purposes and methods of the Society as truly Masonic. Since January first a steady growth of more than a thousand a month attests the respect won and the co-operation extended by the Brethren, and warrants the statement that the Society is "delivering the goods." And the tone of recent letters shows that Masons are beginning to see that what has been done shows what ought to be done, and, better still, points out the way to do it.

In bringing this little survey of our work to a close I can do no better than to quote a recent paragraph penned by Brother Newton: "For the many words of appreciation and co-operation, so spontaneous and enthusiastic, the founders of this Society are deeply grateful. They are doubly sure that they have not misread the needs of the Fraternity or the signs of the times; and they wish to urge every member of the Society to renewed efforts to enlist the interest of the Craft in a movement which means so much for the present influence and future glory of Freemasonry. The need is great. The opportunity is in our hands. The need is great. The opportunity is in our hands. done for the joy of doing it, uniting our efforts to make the Masonry of tomorrow greater than the Masonry of today--greater in thought, sweeter in spirit, and more effective for the sublime end for which it labors."

IMMORTALITY - THE CIRCLE

BY S.W. WILLIAMS G.H.P., TENNESSEE

"In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth-- and the Earth was without form and void.

AT some point of time in the vast Eternity that is gone, when an unknown Planet was at its perihelion, there was thrown from its surface, whirling into Space, a single Atom of Matter that, guided by the Limitless One, started on its course and forged out of the Ether a place for itself-- a home among the Stars--where it could fulfill its destiny of gradually perfecting a place whereon Man could dwell and work out his mysterious mission.

Such was the "BEGINNING"--the birth of this World of ours; and, as the Great Creator looked He saw that "It was good"--and "God said Let there be Light and there was Light." Then, throughout another myriad of years, by the same mysterious power, Vegetable Life appeared and "It was good"--only to be followed by Animal Life--and "It was good"--and then, the CLIMAX--God’s crowning Work, MAN-- "Male and female created He them."

All things come of God--and all return unto the Great Giver. "Cast thy bread upon the waters and it shall return unto thee "after many days." As we do, so shall we be done by. Darkness and Light shall be meted out in strict measure. Like begets like--an Acorn never produced a Violet any more than Hate can yield Happiness. All things pass from Eternity into Eternity. There never was a beginning to Time, and there can be no ending. The Light that WAS, is that which IS and IS TO BE--only as we grow more and more like Him from whence we came, we shall be more and more in the Light, and the Light shall drive out the DARKNESS; then we shall become the Children of Light--SONS OF GOD--because He is "Our Father." This is the demonstration of the CIRCLE.

There is a ONENESS in all things. Nothing is complete in itself-- but everything bears some relation to all else in Creation, without which kinship nothing would be complete and all things would be destroyed. This mysterious relationship ends not with this World-- for Earth is simply a small part of the Boundless Universe wherein there are millions of Worlds, each of which came into existence just as this one did--because God willed it, and it was a part of His GREAT PLAN. What that "PLAN" is, it is not given us to fathom-- but we know this--we are Children of Light and Light is of and from God--and HE is "Our Father." As a Father counselleth his children so speaketh He unto us, and we are told to speak unto HIM; for does He not say:--"Seek and ye shall find, ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you."

An Eternity of Love, Light and Life constitutes the Immortality which is promised us of God. But Immortality is for Eternity, and Eternity is a Circle, without beginning or ending. This body which we see with our physical eyes is not truly US--it is but the covering which conceals our true self-- a sort of Cloak with which we are provided, and which we wear while sojourning on this Planet. We put it on when we enter the World and discard it upon leaving it-- what, then, is MAN ? He cometh, he knoweth not whence, and he goeth, when summoned, into the vast Eternity of Time and Space to do the Will of the Father in other Spheres.

Children of Life--"The Life Which is the Light of Men.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

"The same was in the Beginning with God."

"All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made."

"In Him was Life; and the Life, was the Light of Men. And the Light shineth in the Darkness; and the Darkness comprehendeth it not."

ARTHUR MACARTHUR

BY BRO. G. ALFRED LAWRENCE NEW YORK

SUDDENLY in the full flower of vigorous manhood, at the very zenith of his distinguished Templar activities, Most Eminent Arthur MacArthur, Grand Master of the Grand Encampment Knights Templar of the United States of America, was called from this terrestrial Temple into the glorious presence of the Great Captain of our salvation in that celestial Temple, not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens.

To know him was but to love him and deep grief for their fallen leader pervades the hearts of each of the 225,000 Sir Knights in that vast Templar, but his acts of charity and pure beneficence have spread their fame both far and wide to the uttermost parts of this broad land. No less sincerely is he mourned by his Brethren in various other Masonic bodies, especially by every member of the Acacia Fraternity, in which latter body he had held Honorary Membership for several years. As one of its most distinguished members, Brother MacArthur, although his activities were multitudinous and exacting, yet found time to attend its functions and was deeply interested in all that pertained to Acacia Fraternity.

Quick to realize the unlimited possibilities of educated Masonic effort, as a college man, he gladly accepted Honorary Membership in Tradhi Chapter of Acacia Fraternity at Columbia University in the first year of the Chapter’s existence. In the spring of 1910 on April 4th at Earl Hall, Columbia University, and in the presence of another of its distinguished Honorary Members, Most Illustrious Wm. Homan, 33d Deputy of the Supreme Council, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction for the State of New York, and a large number of other members, Arthur MacArthur was duly initiated into Tradhi Chapter and presented by the Chapter with a jewelled pin of the Fraternity, Brother Homan participating in the ceremonies. A banquet followed at the Faculty Club at which he was the honored guest, and where he spoke of how deeply impressed he had been with the ritual and the work and of the great possibilities of such an intellectual Masonic movement. At a special reception given to him by Tradhi Chapter on March 15th, 1914, at the residence of one of the members, Bro. MacArthur insisted upon having his Acacia pin placed upon his coat lapel and entertained the members in a most delightfully informal way, recounting his experiences in constituting and dedicating the first Commandery of Knights Templar in the

Canal Zone at the Isthmus of Panama, his personal interview with Pancho Villa at Jaurez across the Mexican border about a year ago, and various other topics - among them the recent constituting of a Commandery of Knights Templar in Alaska. At this meeting he was full of youthful buoyancy and enthusiasm and impressed all present as but in the midway of active and distinguished services to his fellow men.

Unexpectedly about 1 P.M. on Sunday, Dec. 27th, 1914, at his home, 226 West 3rd St., Troy, N. Y., while his only daughter was at church the summons came, and as a true soldier of the Cross, Arthur MacArthur answered the last call. Shortly thereafter Miss Susan C. MacArthur returned, and finding her father reclining on a couch in the library and not responding, called her brother, Capt. Charles A. MacArthur, who hastily summoned physicians and upon their arrival an exammatlon revealed that Col. MacArthur had died suddenly of valvular heart disease.

Thus passed away a loving father, a true friend, an upright citizen, a fearless editor, a loyal patriot, and a great and noble Mason. Col. MacArthur was a Trojan by birth and ancestry. He was the son of the late Col. Chas. Lafayette MacArthur and Susan Colgrove MacArthur and was born in Troy, N.Y., on July 24th, 1850, and passed his entire life excepting for periods of study and travel, among his fellow citizens as an active participant in all that was best in their various organizations.

He received his early education at St. Paul’s Parish School and the Troy Academy, graduating from the latter. He devoted the next two years to the study of engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic

Institute at Schenectady, N. Y. He then desired to join a South American expedition, but being dissuaded he next turned his thoughts to the study of medicine and began reading medical works in the office of Dr. C. E. Nichols of Troy, N.Y. Finding this not to his taste he finally entered the newspaper office of his father, who was at this time proprietor and editor of the Troy Northern Budget.

About this time he was married to Miss Ella Elizabeth Griffen, daughter of Abner J. Griffen of Cohoes, N. Y., in 1877, and two children were born of this union, a son, Chas. A. MacArthur, and a daughter, Susan C. MacArthur. Mrs. MacArthur died in 1907 after thirty years of ideal married life.

The office of the Troy Northern Budget where Col. MacArthur now entered upon his life work was situated directly opposite the Masonic Temple and for over forty-two years he was a familiar and conspicuous figure in both places. Later his father took him into the firm which then became known as C. L. MacArthur & Son. Upon the death of his father a few years ago, Col. MacArthur continued the business with ever increasing success and recently in turn took his own son, Capt. Chas. A. MacArthur, into the firm.

Among the vivid incidents of his busy life was one that occurred when he was but fourteen years of age - that of the battle between the Merrimac and Monitor - which he witnessed at Fortress Monroe. His father, then a Captain, was connected with the commissary station at that point and Arthur MacArthur and his mother had been living at Newport News in order to be near Capt. MacArthur, and it so happened that he was visiting his father upon that memorable day. This event made a most vivid impression upon his mind and he could describe every detail of this great naval engagement in a most dramatic manner up to the very time of his death. He took an additional interest in the momentous event, owing to the fact that the plates for the Monitor were made in his home town, Troy, N. Y.

His father retired from the United States Army at the end of the Civil War, with the rank of Colonel and returned to his home in Troy, where he again took up his newspaper, becoming finally editor and proprietor of the Troy Northern Budget and maintained the same with the aid of his son up to the time of his death.

In his own life work as a newspaper man, Col. MacArthur maintained the high standard set by his father in adopting a policy of printing nothing which would offend the most conservative reader. No scandal found a place in the columns of his paper, and they were always open to the cause of the poor and the unfortunate and for all charitable effort. During the holiday season each year an appeal for food and clothing was made for the needy at his direction through the columns of the Budget, and distributed on New Years Eve by means of the Salvation Army, in which Col. MacArthur had faith that his charity would be ably carried out. This year the annual plea was made by Col. MacArthur, but upon the night of the distribution only the spirit of the giver was there, all that was mortal of their benefactor having been consigned to the earth from whence it came.

Col. MacArthur early became interested in Masonry and shortly after reaching his majority on Nov. 22nd, 1872, was raised a Mason in Mt. Zion Lodge, No. 311, F. & A. M. of Troy. He soon became

actively engaged in its work and was elected Junior Warden in 1881, Senior Warden in 1882, and Worshipful Master in 1883, serving one year as Master. He became a life member, was a frequent attendant, and evinced a deep interest in all its activities up to the time of his death. He was happily enabled to raise his only son, Capt. Chas. A. MacArthur, in his own lodge and the latter has just closed his administration as Worshipful Master of the same. In the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, Col. MacArthur was appointed District Deputy Grand Master of the 17th Masonic District in 1883, and served with distinction.

In 1890 he was appointed a member of the Advisory Committee of the Trustees of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund, and in 1910 a Trustee of the Masonic Hall Board. A year ago he resigned from this Board, owing to his many other Masonic duties. At the annual communication of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, in May, 1914, he was made a permanent member of the Grand Lodge.

In the Chapter he was equally active, being exalted in Apollo Chapter No. 48, R.A.M., Feb. 18th, 1874, and became a life member. He had the distinction of being elected High Priest from the floor in 1883 and was the dean of the High Priests of his Chapter at the time of his death. From 1890 to 1910 he served as Grand Representative of the Grand Chapter of Colorado near the Grand Chapter of New York. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Apollo Chapter for many years, and to him was entrusted the investments of its funds. So successfully did he carry out this duty that Apollo Chapter enjoys the distinction of being probably the wealthiest Chapter in the State although sixth in number of members.

In Cryptic Rite Masonry he was received and greeted in Bloss Council No. 14, R. & S. M., the largest Council in this State at present, and one of the largest in the United States, on March 5th, 1880. He was soon appointed to office and after passing through the several stations was elected Thrice Illustrious Master in 1891, serving one term. In 1908 he was appointed Grand Representative of the Grand Council of England and Wales near the Grand Council of New York. Becoming personally acquainted with many of the officers of the Grand Council of England, he did much to bring about the present close, cordial relations which exist between these Grand Councils.

In the Commandery he reached the very zenith of pre-eminence; the crowning glory of his Masonic career coming at the triennial election of the Grand Encampment Knights Templar in August, 1913, when he became the Grand Master of the mighty Templar host of the United States, consisting of over 225,000 Knights.

He was knighted in Apollo Commandery No. 15, Jan. 9th, 1880, and became an officer almost immediately thereafter, advancing through the various stations until he was elected Eminent Commander in 1887, serving two years. He scarcely ever missed a conclave of his own Commandery when at home.

In the Grand Encampment Knights Templar of the United States of America he entered the official line by appointment to the position of Grand Sword Bearer at the 27th triennial Conclave held at Pittsburgh, in 1898. At the 28th Triennial Conclave held in the City of Louisville, Ky., in 1901, he was appointed Grand Junior Warden, and in 1904 in San Francisco at the 29th Triennial Conclave he was

further advanced by appointment to Grand Senior Warden. Owing to the death of the Grand Captain General prior to the 30th Triennial Conclave, Col. MacArthur became acting Captain General, and was elected as Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements upon whom befell the innumerable details connected with the gathering of the Knights Templar host from all parts of the world at Saratoga Springs in 1907. At this the 30th Triennial Conclave he was advanced two stations, from Grand Senior Warden to Grand Generalissimo, and three years later, in 1910, at the 31st Triennial Conclave held in Chicago,

’he was elected Deputy Grand Master. Finally upon August 14, 1913, at Denver, Colo., his ambition was realized and at this the 32nd Triennial Conclave he was elected Grand Master of the Grand Ens ampment Knights Templar of the United States of America, the greatest Templar organization in the world. Shortly thereafter in the fall of 1913 he visited the Canal Zone and constituted and installed the first Commandery ever established in that part of the world. He also visited many of the Commanderies throughout the State of New York, attended the annual Conclave of many of the Grand Commanderies of the various states, visited the Pacific Coast in order to arrange for the 33d Triennial Conclave to be held at Los Angeles, Calif., in 1915, and at which he would have presided had he lived, and had accepted an invitation to visit the Panama-Pacific Exposition during 1915 as the official guest of Golden Gate Commandery of San Francisco.

His last public appearance as Grand Master was at the Christmas exercises of his own home Commandery, Apollo No. 15, Dec. 25th, 1914, two days before his death, at which time he delivered an eloquent and interesting address responding to the Christmas sentiment prepared by the Committee on Christmas Observance of the Grand Encampment. One of the first acts after his election as Grand Master was to appoint his intimate friend of many years (who assisted at the funeral services), the Rev. Henry R. Freeman, rector of St. Johns Episcopal Church of Troy, N.Y., as Grand Prelate of the Grand Encampment. At the time of his death, Most Em. Arthur MacArthur was the Grand Representative of the Grand Priory of Scotland near the Grand Encampment of the United States of America, materially assisting in bringing these bodies into close fraternal bonds.

Although his interest was deep and his activities numerous in York Rite Masonry he was no less deeply interested and zealous in Scottish Rite Masonry. He was a life member of Delta Lodge of Perfection of Troy, N.Y., receiving the 4th to the 14th degrees inclusive on April 28th, 1884, and became Deputy Master on Jan 18th, 1889, and was elected Thrice Potent Master Jan 19th, 1900, serving in the latter office for four consecutive years. He was also a life member of Delta Council Princes of Jerusalem, receiving the 15th and 16th degrees on April 28th, 1884. Also a life member of Delta Chapter, Rose Croix, receiving the 17th and 18th degrees on the same night of April 28th, 1884 upon which he completed his membership in the two subordinate bodies. The Albany Sovereign Consistor of Albany, N. Y., conferred the 19th to the 32nd degrees inclusive upon him on April 22nd, 1886. In this body he served as Second Lieutenant Commander from 1897, to 1900; First Lieutenant Commander from 1900 to 1903, and Commander-in- Chief from 1903 to 1906. He was crowned an Honorary 33d Grand

Inspector General Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction by the Supreme Council at Cleveland Ohio, on Sept. 16th, 1890. Upon Sept. 20th, 1906, he was crowned an Active 33d member from the state of New York and at the time of his death was one of the three active thirty-third degree Masons of the State of New York. For several years he had been Chairman of the Committee on Deceased Members of the Special Committee on Charitable Foundation in the Supreme Council for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. He was the Representative of the Supreme Council 33d for the Ottoman Empire. He was also Chairman of the Important Committees at the Annual Proceedings of the Council of Deliberation of the State of New York Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, U. S. A., and performed the various duties assigned to him in Scottish Rite Masonry with the same zeal and fidelity as in other fields of activity.

In addition to his membership in the above Masonic bodies, he was also a member of the Past Masters’ Association of the 17th Masonic District, a member of the Past High Priests’ Association of Apollo Chapter a Charter Member of the Past Commanders’ Association, organized Oct. 11th, 1911, a member of the Templar Knight Commanders’ Association, of the Royal Order of Scotland, the Masonic Veterans’ Association of Troy and vicinity, and was Most Venerable President of the latter in 1902, a Charter Member of the Troy Masonic Club, a member of the Masonic Club of New York City, a member of the Troy Masonic Hall Association, a Trustee of Mt. Zion Lodge No. 311. He was a life member of Oriental Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

Of Revolutionary stock, Col. MacArthur early became interested in military affairs, additional zest being given by his father’s active participation in the Civil War in which the latter was a member of the famous Second New York Regiment attaining to the rank of Colonel in the same. His witnessing the spectacular and epoch- making naval engagement between the Monitor and Merrimac, previously mentioned, was not only an event that made a life long impression upon his vivid imagination, but equally increased his interest in military and naval affairs.

He early joined the Troy Citizen’s Corps and maintained his interest in the same to the end. He served on the staid of the late Maj. General Jos. B. Carr, and placed a wreath upon the General’s grave every Memorial Day. He served upon the Military Staff of General Levi P. Newton and Governor Frank S. Black of New York State and by the latter was appointed Assistant Paymaster General with the rank of Colonel (thus obtaining his military title), serving as such during the Spanish-American war and going to Tampa, Fla., when the New York troops were mustered out and paying them off. About two weeks prior to his death he appeared before the Troy Chamber of Commerce to urge upon business men the patriotic duty of facilitating the enlistment of their male employees in the National Guard in conformity with a movement to that effect started some time ago by the Merchant’s Association of New York. It was a source of personal pride to him that his only son joined the militia and recently was elected to the Captaincy of Company A.

Col. MacArthur was the President of the Association that secured the funds for the erection of the huge shaft of the Soldier’s and Sailor’s Monument erected in Monument Square, Troy, the idea having been first conceived by his father. He was a member of the Wm. Floyd Chapter Sons of the Revolution, the Society of the Second War with Great Britain, and of the Army and Navy Club of New York City.

Col. MacArthur was a prominent member of the First Presbyterian Church of Troy, N. Y., and held office as an elder and regularly occupied his family pew when at home. He took an active interest in the Brotherhood of his Church, giving much counsel and kindly advice to all that came to him. He was also an active member of Young Men’s Christian Association.

Politically, Col. MacArthur was a Republican and served his party as Treasurer of Rensselaer County for two terms, being retired in 1912. He insisted upon clean politics both in the columns of his paper and in official life, and would stoop to nothing of an underhand nature, even at the cost of the loss of a re-nomination. The candidate who supplanted him in 1912 was defeated at the polls.

Col. MacArthur had various other affiliations to which he devoted his time and influence. During the Hudson-Fulton Celebration he was Chairman of the Upper Hudson Commission.

Probably no Mason in the United States ever had a more imposing and impressive funeral service.

All the pomp and splendor of that impressive pageant, the wealth of beautiful flowers, the words of well merited praise, the sounds of the funeral dirge; are now but a memory; but the spirit of this lovable, noble Masonic brother yet lives and permeates and uplifts all with

whom he came in contact during the many years of his useful and distinguished career.

"Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime

And departing, leave behind us

Footprints, on the sands of time."

AWAY

I cannot say, and will not say That he is dead. He is just away!

With a cheery smile, and a wave of the hand,

He has wandered into an unknown land,

And left us dreaming how very fair It needs must be, since he lingers there.

And you - O you, who the wildest yearn For the old-time step and the glad return - Think of him faring on, as dear In the love of There as the love of Here;

Mild and gentle, as he was brave -

When the sweetest love of life he gave To simple things: - Where the violets grew Pure as the eyes they were likened to.

The touches of his hands have strayed As reverently as his lips have prayed:

Think of him still as the same, I say:

He is not dead, he is just away!

-  James Whitcomb Riley.

DOWN AMONG MEN.

"The parish priest of austerity Climbed up in a high church steeple,

To be nearer God so that he might hand His word down to the people.

And in sermon and script he daily wrote What he thought was sent from heaven,

And he dropped it down on the people’s heads Two times one day in seven.

In his age God said, Come down and die.

And he cried out from the steeple,

Where art Thou, Lord ? And the Lord replied,

Down here among my people !"

-   Selected

MORALITY.

Morality is the established harmonic relation which Man, as an individual intelligence, sustains to the constructive principle of the universe.

-   The Great Work.

WHEN THE ALMOND TREE BLOSSOMS

BY BRO. WM. F. KUHN, P.G.H.P., MISSOURI

THE Scripture Reading in the Master’s Degree belongs to the best productions of Hebrew literature. In all literature, there are few that excel it. It is full of imagery, eloquence and beauty. In outward form it is poetic; a prose poem. It is a beautiful example of balanced phrases, gnomic in expression abounding in metaphor, and Semitic parallelism. An intense and graphic description of old age. It is to be regretted that the literary excellency of the Old Testament is so often overlooked and metaphors not understood. It is indeed true, that to the Gentile Church and to Masonry has fallen the honor of perpetuating the rare beauty of the literary art and the deep religious thought and feeling of the Heb. Prophets, Poets, Priests and Sages.

The arrangement of the Discourse into verses, often mars the connection and continuity of the thought. The Revised Translation of this Reading is herewith given, and while it may destroy the beauty of some of metaphors and take away some old familiar friends, yet the Discourse, as a whole, is much improved, is bet connected in thought and more clearly stated. It will be noted that the future tense of the old, gives place to aphoristic mode of expression in using the present tense.

The gloomy picture of old age, as delineated by Ecclesiastes is from the human side and as a result of disobedience to the injunction: "Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the sad days come."

KING JAMES VERSION

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say:--"I have no pleasure in them."

1. And the doors shall be shut in the Streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;
2. Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the street:

REVISED VERSION

Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth before the sad days come, and the years draw nigh when Thou shalt say:--"I have no pleasure in them;" before the sun, the light, the moon and the stars, be darkened and the clouds return after the rain; when the house guards tremble, and the strong men bow; when the maidens grinding corn cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows are darkened, and the street-doors are shut; when the sound of the grinding is low, when one starts up from sleep at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music are brought low, and one is afraid of that which is high, and terrors are in the way; when the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper is a burden, and all stimulants fail; because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets; before the silver cord is loosed,

or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel be broken at the cistern, and the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit return to God who gave it.

In this vivid imagery of old age, we have a minor chord, a note of sadness.

Has old age no recompense, no paean of victory, no laurel wreath of race well run ? Is there no sunlight in the realm of three score years and ten ?

Let us not mistake Ecclesiastes; The Preacher has not drawn aside the veil, that hides the Holy of Holes of the spiritual nature of man, but he has with the brush of experience, placed upon the canvas, mortal man, nature’s child, unadorned and human.

It is old age with its mental enfeeblement, with its physical decay, bringing to you and to me, the Master, man, two great lessons:-- That youth is the vigorous season of life; youth the seed time; youth with its possibilities, prophetic of the future; a harbinger of sunshine, when the almond tree blossoms:--and to remember our Creator in the days of our youth before the sad days come.

The Preacher graphically refers, in verses one and two, to the mental attitudes of old age toward the Past and to the Present. The recollection of the former brings no joy, in the latter he feels like "one who treads along some banquet hall deserted, whose lights are fled whose garlands dead and all but he departed." The cup of life is nearly drained; the joys of youth but annoy and irritate; nothing satisfies him; he is querulous and fretful. The years have drawn nigh, in which he can say, "I have no pleasure in them."

He is a wanderer in a strange land, speaking in sadness:-- Remember, before the sun of Ambition, the light of Hope, the silver sheen of the moon of Happiness, and the stars of Faith, be darkened, or the clouds of unrest and of disappointment play like a weaver’s shuttle over the sky, obscuring the light and shutting out the rainbow of promise.

Verses three and four represent the cessation of the activities of life, the decay of the natural powers of man and his failing physical structure.

The comparison is to that of a great house falling into ruin, while the activities of the inhabitants there are gradually ceasing.

How startling, in its naturalness, is the description of the old man with trembling arms and hands,--"the keepers of the house" as he slowly moves along, while the legs,--"the strong men"--are like the columns of the building, tottering under the weight of years; bent (flexed), at the knees, like a bow, through weakness and decrepitude. The maidens--the teeth--have ceased grinding the corn, because they are few. Failing sight has dimmed the "windows of the soul," the eyes are darkened. His wants are few, the avenues to the senses are slowly closing; visitors to his mind and heart are diminishing; it is seldom that any one knocks; "the street doors are shut." The sound of the grinding is low, feeble, almost pulseless; the machinery of life no longer throbs with the force of its former power.

He is "Worn out with age, yet majestic in decay.

Sleep, "Tired Nature’s sweet restorer," is fitful and restless, even the voice of the bird as it chants its early matin disturbs his uneasy slumbers. In vain would he say:

"For I am weary, and am overwrought With too much toil, with too much care distraught; And with the iron crown of anguish crowned, Lay thy soft hand upon my brow and cheek, O peaceful Sleep."

"All the daughters of music are brought low," because the avenues of all enjoyment are dulled, insensible and clouded. The daughters of music, attending angels, tender, solicitous and loving, have ceased their ministrations. Music, the universal language of the world, finds no responsive chord. The memory of a mother’s voice, a father’s council, of friends of long ago; the laughter and melodies of the Past, quicken not the pulse beat, stir not the harmonies of the soul. The lute of life is broken.

The first portion of the fifth verse delineates more literally the waning powers. With all the senses dulled, the muscular powers weakened, the nervous system unresponsive, he totters on his uneasy, uneven way, fearing lest he stumble:

"The pavement stones resound, As he totters o’er the ground, with his cane."

Truly, he is afraid of that which is high and fear is in the way. The blossom of the almond tree, as it bursts into bloom, is of a delicate pink color and unfolds its tinted petals before the leaf appears; when therefore seen from a distance the tree seems to wear a crest of white.

The striking appearance of the dead branches covered with a burst of silver, to that of old age with its crown of white hair, has given us one of the most beautiful metaphors: "The almond tree blossoms."

This metaphor as expressed in the revised version is far more appropriate and impressive than: "The almond tree shall flourish."

The grasshopper (locust) is a burden, because the lightest weight is onerous; every effort is oppressive; the smallest task is irksome; little things worry and annoy until they appear as a cloud of locusts devouring and devastating everything pleasurable and gratifying in life.

All stimulants (desires) fail. The end is at hand. The roads to further activity bring no response. The race is run. There is in life nothing that longer charms. The armor will soon fall from the trembling body. The summons comes: "Because man goeth to his long home and the mourners go about the streets." He is borne to the grave and the funeral college is seen upon the streets.

In the sixth verse, the Preacher refers again to the admonition of the first clause of the first verse, which, when placed with its context, will read: "Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the silver chord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel be broken at the cistern, and the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return to God who gave it."

Here again is an impressive metaphor of man’s final dissolution; more graphic, more poetical and the most beautiful trope ever penned by mortal man.

The silver cord refers to the spinal cord or marrow, from its silvery appearance. The golden bowl to the brain, the seat of man’s intelligence. The pitcher broken at the fountain refers to the circulation of the blood, dipping the vital fluid with a pitcher from the fountain. The wheel refers to the heart, the force pump, the wheel that draws the water from the cistern. These four physiological conditions are essential to health, and man dies when one or more are broken.

The fountains of life have ceased to flow. The dust or physical body shall be resolved into its original elements. Earth to Earth; Ashes to Ashes. But the spirit of man shall return unto God who gave it.

Immortality is the great doctrine of Masonry. Without this doctrine, there is no Masonry. Immortality, Man’s inheritance from the Father.

"It must be so, Thou reasonest well;--

Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,

This longing after immortality ?

Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror,

Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the Soul Back on herself, and startles at destruction?

’Tis the divinity that stirs within us;

’Tis heaven itself, that points out an hereafter,

And intimates eternity to man.

PURPOSE.

We dwell on this earth for a purpose-- That purpose may not be clear,

But the Father of Love, in His kingdom above,

Well knoweth why we are here.

Have we given this thought our attention,

Or are we drifting along,

Content the while, our days to beguile,

With meaningless chatter and song?

Then let us awaken in earnest,

And seek what our duty may be;

Let us work to fulfill God’s purpose and will,

’Til our innermost soul shall be free.

—U. G. Herrick, Minneapolis.

EDITORIAL

(The Builder is an open forum for free and fraternal discussion. Each of its contributors writes under his own name, and is

responsible for his own opinions. Believing that a unity of spirit is better than a uniformity of opinion, the Research Society, as such, does not champion any one school of Masonic thought as over against another; but offers to all alike a medium for fellowship and instruction, leaving each to stand or fall by its own merits.)

HOW TO STUDY MASONRY

IN summing up the Symposium on How to Study Masonry, let us keep clearly in mind the purpose in view and the problem with which we have to do. No doubt a club of University professors would undertake such a study in a systematic manner and work it out thoroughly, following many a sidelight and by-path. But we have in mind the great mass of Masons, more especially the young men just entering the Order, who are busy with the affairs of life and have neither time nor the training, perhaps, to follow in detail an extensive and varied curriculum of Masonic study. As Prof. Pickard points out, such a course would tend to repel rather than attract and be more discouraging than inspiring.

For that reason, we have sought the counsel of experience rather than of theory, and we believe that the results of the efforts of the Cincinnati Masonic School, as reported in this issue, reveal the point of contact with the problem, and a well-tried method of beginning. There we find a company of busy men, typical of Masons generally, who, under the leadership of one or two veteran Masonic students, have for years been doing good work in the study of Masonry. After trying many methods, they found it best to select some book and master it by means of a series of questions so arranged as to bring out its message and teaching, and then taking

up for more detailed study particular points of philosophy or periods of history as interest and inclination suggested.

Meanwhile, the Grand Lodge of Iowa had been making trial of the best method of inducing Masons to study Masonry, and the result of its experience was much the same as that of the Cincinnati School. Therefore its request that ye editor write his little story and study of Masonry, called The Builders, which it adopted, not as an authoritative and final statement of Masonic history and philosophy, but to be used as a kind of text-book to pilot the way for the student of Masonry. Every line of the book was written in that spirit and for that purpose, and its arrangement was determined by the desire to provoke interest in the study of Masonry and to direct it into authentic paths. Written with that specific end in view, it is the only book ever adopted by any Grand Lodge for that purpose, and for that reason the Research Society has adopted it, suggesting that it be used as a basis or guide in beginning the study of Masonry.

Individual students will follow each his own method and plan, but it is believed that the Study-Club or School, formed within a Lodge or group of Lodges, is the nucleus around which the study of Masonry may be organized and carried on to best advantage. Such a Club or School, by co-operating with the Research Society, can make use of any or all of the methods suggested in the Symposium, following the scheme of study outlined by Prof. Pound as interest and development justify. Brother Parvin has told how the Grand Lodge of Iowa keeps its members in touch with Masonic literature, by means of traveling libraries. Other Grand Lodges can do the same thing, or individual Lodges can begin the formation of libraries, adding to them as need requires. In the same way, any Lodge or

Club can make use of the Masonic Lecture Bureau, whose lectures are interesting and instructive, more suggestive than exhaustive, and intended to deepen interest and provoke inquiry. The Society has in mind a series of Leaflets, such as Prof. Shepardson suggested, and hopes to have them ready by the time they are needed.

When enough Clubs have been organized, and have gotten far enough along in their studies, they might meet in larger groups or Schools of Instruction, either in connection with their Grand Lodges or in district gatherings, as Prof. Pickard intimates. Such a gathering would be at once unique and inspiring. A program of well-written papers, topics for discussion, question for debate, would bring together a company of enthusiastic Masons and promote good fellowship as well a instruction. All this and much more is within the reach of possibility, but we must first make a beginning, and that is what we have now in mind. After all, the best way to do a thing is to do it. In this Symposium we have brought the best wisdom of the Craft to the service of our members, and it only remains for thee to make a wise use of it.

For the rest, we beg to suggest that those who study Masonry should begin at the beginning, master the facts about it, and work slowly toward its greater and deeper problems. A young man will write an essay on Virtue, but a philosopher will take one aspect of it some one Virtue, for his theme. Just so, often a young Mason will plunge headlong into the mysticism of Geometry, and get so tangled up amid lines, angles and curves that he loses his way, and turns out a hobbyist instead of a student. Approach the study of Masonry as you would the study of anything else, taking first things first, and the vista will unfold as you go on, tempting you step by step along a

shining way, deepening your faith, broadening your outlook, and leading you in the path of good and wise and beautiful truth.

*  * *

A MASTER OF MASONRY -

There are classic men, as there are classic books, and it was the rare distinction of Robert Freke Gould to have become a classic while yet he lived among us. Wherever Masonic literature and journalism has journeyed, he is known and honored as the foremost historian of Freemasonry; and his passing leaves vacant a place which no one else may ever hope to occupy. Others have written voluminously, and some have entered fields into which he did not venture, but he it was who applied the principles of scientific historical research to the annals of Masonry. If Pike found the Scottish Rite in a log cabin and left it in a temple, restored and decorated by the magic of his art, Gould found Masonic history a jumble of fact, fable, fancy and legend, and reduced its chaos to order, transforming a romance into a science.

For this service, which will be forever memorable in our traditions, he was almost ideally fitted by temperament, training, industry and genius. His work never had the artist touch and power of Pike, the winning clarity of Hughan, nor the literary grace of Crawley; but in minute accuracy of painstaking labor he overtopped all others, save only perhaps the astute and deep-seeing Begemann. Nor should we forget Speth, one of the most sure-footed and clear-headed of all the Masonic students who have left record of their labors in our time, and whose essays should be gathered and made accessible to the Fraternity. Yet in his own distinction and power, in the resoluteness

with which he made certified truth his standard and weighed every statement in its exacting scale, in the judicial care and skill with which he sifted and tested the records of Masonry, as the Higher Critics tested the documents of religious faith, there was no one like Gould, no one near him.

Howbeit, his work was done, and to those of us who have known something of the infirmities and anxieties which had beset him in recent years, there is little sadness in the news that one who had wrought so faithfully and so fruitfully had passed to where, beyond these voices, there is peace. The death of the old is natural; it means rest and reunion. Workmen grow weary and fall asleep, but the work goes on, building and built upon, as the years take their flight into the past. Courteous always, a courtly and gracious gentleman, a devoted friend, a noble Mason - such a life sets one thinking as to the investment of his own power of light and leading here among men.

*  * *

HYSTERIA AND HYSTERICS -

Some few Brethren seem to have lost their poise in their protest against the article in the April issue on Hysteria in Freemasonry, and there have been one or two acute cases of hysterics. To be sure, Brother Kuhn stated his case in a forthright and picturesque manner, as is his habit, but nothing was further from his mind than to belittle real Masonic scholarship, much less to depreciate the great and simple symbolism of Masonry. Indeed, the sharp point of his satire was in behalf of real scholarship and authentic symbolism as over against those who have so often made Masonry ridiculous by

exploiting pseudo-learning and every hind of eccentric absurdity in its name. For too long the field of Masonic research has been a happy hunting-ground for the faddist, the hobbyist, the half-baked mystic, not to mention the inveterate crank who seems to think that Masonry is a mathematical puzzle instead of human fraternity founded upon spiritual reality. Against this sort of thing the keen thrust of Dr. Kuhn was timely and well-aimed, and it went to the mark.

Judging from a number of letters in criticism of the review of The Great Work, the editor himself is in need of a thorough trouncing. Well, if Brother Kuhn and the editor have both earned a good thrashing, as some seem to think, by all means let us have it, and the pages of The Builder are open for that purpose. Neither of us, however, can be convinced by the man who takes refuge in the queer conceit of intellectual superiority and ponderous learning, the better to dodge the issue; we know the difference between argument and putting on airs. Face the issues squarely, bring forward the facts, flay us right heartily and in good spirit, nor forget the words of Carlyle describing a walk and talk with Sterling: - "We walked westward in company, choosing whatever lanes or quieter streets there were, as far as Knightsbridge where our roads parted; talking of moralities and theological philosophies; arguing copiously, but except in opinion not disagreeing "

*  * *

More than one of our contributors have made complaint that other Masonic journals have used their articles without credit to The Builder, and sometimes in a mutilated form. This is a violation not only of the copyright by which the contents of The Builder is protected, but also, and far worse, of the amenities that should obtain among Masonic editors. Any one is at liberty to use anything he may wish from our pages, but he should give The Builder due credit for it, and it would be only courtesy to ask permission to use it.

*  * *

Several requests have come for a brief introduction to the philosophy of Rudolf Eucken, to whom Prof. Pound made several references in his closing lecture. Eucken is a prolific writer, not infrequently prolix, but there are several good expositions of his system of thought, among them a tiny book entitled "Rudolf Eucken, A Philosophy of Life," by A. J. Jones, in the series of People’s Books, published by the Dodge Co., New York. If one wishes to read Eucken himself, he had better begin with "The Meaning and Value of Life, or with "Life’s Basis and Life’s Ideal." He will find them richly rewarding in many ways.

Innumerable articles, poems, questions, as well as many letters full of wise suggestion for the correspondence column, have reached us. For every one of them we are grateful, but it will take time to arrange, select and publish all of them, and we beg the Brethren to be patient. With the growth of the Society no doubt The Builder will be enlarged, but at present we have a limited space. In this respect, as in so many others, the response of the Craft is most gratifying, and it increases every day.

*  * *

CORRESPONDENCE.

COMPARATIVE JURISPRUDENCE.

Dear Brother: - Masonic jurisprudence has always interested me, and I like to compare the different laws of the various jurisdictions. I think it would do good to have more of this. Now if the powers that be in one jurisdiction had to decide upon a certain point of law or practice would it not be of some value to them to know the ideas and ruies of all the other jurisdictions ? They could then more intelligently decide the questions before them. Of course I presume that Masonic law is like our American law, too much of it, but if there was a more widespread knowledge of what there is, it seems to me that it would condense the principles and thereby make less. Now, my idea is this: - Every jurisdiction, or at least most of them, have a book of their laws, together with the Grand Master’s decisions that have been approved. Take these books, together with the general books on Masonic jurisprudence by well-known authorities, and trace out a certain subject of law common to all the jurisdictions and work it up into a readable article for The Builder. For instance, take the very first subject mentioned by Brother Clegg in his recent article, that of physical perfection, and do you not think that the comparisons would be of interest to most readers of Masonic literature? Then in another issue take up something else, and so on down the line. To my mind it would be not only of interest generally, but also of educational value. It would be a long and hard task. But could we not induce some one to tackle the job? Yours fraternally,

Lloyd C. Henningt Holbrook, Ariz.

(It would indeed be a long and hard task, but such a service would be of great value to the Craft. Perhaps it is too great an undertaking for one man, involving much time and labor, but why cannot a number of our readers "tackle the job ?” Suppose we let Brother Henning take the subject of physical perfection, another Brother another subject, all intent to reduce the chaos to order, why can we not do it in that way ? The Research Society has had this in mind, and, in fact, has for some time been at work on the subjects of visitation and transfer of membership, and the bewildering confusion discovered emphasizes what Brother Henning says about the difficulty of the task. We also believe that such a study of comparative jurisprudence would promote a better understanding and closer co-operation between all jurisdictions. - The Editor.)

*  * *

LODGE ATTENDANCE.

Dear Brother: - It is my opinion that we can all do more than we are doing for the advancement of Masonry, if we only will. I am sure that I could have done more for the order than I have done, though it has appeared at times that I have given much of my time to it in a local way. There seems to be a disposition among about ninety per cent. of the membership of our Lodges to be willing to allow the remaining ten per cent. of the membership to take all the responsibility and work of the Lodge on themselves. While practically all the membership are good and true Masons, and do not intend to hamper the work of the Lodge in any way, yet they do it by their absence from its meetings. Too many Masons are apt to remain away unless there is work in the Third Degree, and that being the case, they are unable to be of much assistance when they are present. This is a condition that should be corrected, and I should think it might come into the scope of our Society to suggest some means by which we can create more enthusiasm and have a better attendance at Lodge meetings. I like the contents of The Builder very much and think it is on correct lines, for anything that will bring out the usages of our ancient Brethren and show the antiquity of the fraternity, will be helpful as well as instructive. What we want is to have our membership growing in knowledge as well as in right living, not only toward the Brethren, but toward all mankind. I am sure the study of the history and meaning of Masonry, what it has done and what it can dot will no a long wav toward deepening interest and creating enthusiasm.

Yours fraternally,

W. J. Wroughton, Greeley, Iowa.

A BEAUTIFUL LEGEND.

Dear Brother: - Forty years ago Theodore Tilton in a public lecture delivered in the old Methodist church of this city, told this beautiful legend as to how King Solomon selected a location for the Temple. Two brothers were left an estate to be divide equally between them. One was married and had a family of children, the other was unmarried and a cripple. After the estate, which consisted principally of grain and live stock, had been equally divided, the married brother decided that his brother who was a cripple ought to have the largest share; and the brother who was a cripple came to a like conclusion, thinking that his brother who had a family ought to have the larger part. Under cover of night they both planned to carry out their purpose of giving a share to the other. It so happened that they fixed upon the same hour and place, and where these two brothers met, each seeking to convey to the other a part of his inheritance, King Solomon built the Temple for the worship of God. Yours fraternally,

S. H. Bauman,

Mt. Vernon, Iowa.

*  * *

A PRAYER FOR PEACE

Dear Sir: - Perhaps you would be interested in the following prayer for peace, uttered long before our era. It is found in the “Pax" of Aristophanes (lines 99iff), the Greek writer of comedies. I give this translation which, though somewhat free, is I believe true to the spirit and intent of the original:

"O Thou that makest wars to cease in all the world, in accordance with Thine ancient name, we beseech Thee, make war and tumult to cease. From the murmur and the subtlety of suspicion with which we vex one another, give us rest. Make a new beginning, and mingle again the kindred of the nations in the alchemy of Love. And with some finer essence of forbearance and forgiveness, temper our mind."

Alas, that such a prayer should have remained unanswered; but can we find words more noble wherewith to express our aspiration in a time of world-war?

Yours fraternally,

Theodore Liggin, St. Louis.

*  * *

MORE THAN AN ORDER.

Dear Brother: - I want to suggest this thought, not in criticism but in entire kindness, that our Masonic Fraternity should not be referred to as an Order, which term you frequently use in your excellent editorials. Our Brotherhood, as you know, is more than an Order, it is an Institution of traditional science, a Fraternity broader than an Order, with all the initiative rites, of antiquity instituted before Orders of any character existed; and it strikes me that it dignifies our Society deservedly to call it an Institution rather than an Order. I am a Pennsylvania Mason - temporarily residing in Kansas - and during all my Masonic instruction we were taught, in Pennsylvania, not to refer to Masonry as an Order. I am greatly interested in the Research Society and believe a great work is mapped out for it, through your leadership, and that much instruction and interest will result.

Yours fraternally,

Edgar A. Tennis, Salina, Kan.

WISDOM OF MEREDITH.

Take the matter into the heart; try the case there

There is more in men and women than the stuff they utter.

There is nothing the body suffers that the soul may not profit by.

Who rises from prayer a better man, his pray is answered.

Into the breast that gives the rose shall I wil shuddering fall?

Oratory is the more impressive for the spice that makes it untrustworthy.

Keep the young generation in hail, bequeathed them no tumbled house.

Life is a little-holding, lent to do a mighty labor.

-  The Meredith Pocket Book

THE LIBRARY "IN A NOOK WITH A BOOK" THE GREAT WORK

RETURNING to "The Great Work," as promised in our last issue, let it be said that it is in some ways a very thoughtful and suggestive treatise, albeit more curious than great. Lucid and forthright in style, often ingenious in advocacy of its scheme of thought, it lacks the artist stroke. There is hardly a page which holds one by the charm of

a flashing phrase, and the quotation from Emerson is like an oasis. The writer is all the while handicapped by the idea that he is the keeper of a wonderful treasure of truth, which must be carefully guarded from the eyes of the profane, lest it be betrayed into the hands of those who are not worthy or well-qualified to receive it.

With some, no doubt, this air of mystery lends enchantment, but with others it excites misgivings as to the alleged high wisdom hinted at but kept hidden. Indeed, one has a right to be suspicious of a book which makes claim of knowing what is unknown to all the world and the rest of mankind, and which leaves the inference that the noblest and most reverent scholars of the world are not worthy to receive its revelation. Surely the time for that sort of thing has long passed away. When a man imagines that he has a great truth to tell, and yet mistrusts the purest-minded men of his day and race, it is safe to assume that what he has to tell is of no great value or importance.

Strictly speaking, "The Great Work" is not a Masonic book at all, but an effort to show, or rather to assert, that Masonry - along with Buddhism, primitive Christianity and Protestantism - is, or was, an attempt of a certain secret Cult or School of Natural Science to teach the world its saving wisdom. Unfortunately, the attempt has been largely abortive, and these various worthy efforts of the Hidden Masters to instruct our race have been perverted, if not corrupted. Those Hidden Teachers, it would seem, look upon our eager, aspiring humanity much like the patient masters of an idiot school, letting us have such tiny bits of truth as we are able to grasp in our feeble way, while they sit in seclusion keeping the keys to what is beyond us. How gracious of them to allow us to pick up the crumbs that fall from such a banquet table of the gods !

All of which is very wonderful, if true. But when we begin to inquire as to this great and famous School, its local habitation and name, all is vague, dreamy and remote, its headquarters being located, indefinitely enough, "in far away India." If that be so, why did not the great School begin its work at home, and lift India out of the shadow of superstition and the paralysis of pessimism? Concerning this alleged Great School - whose real name, even, is not vouchsafed

-     the most astonishing statements are made. For example, with regard to the records of the School we are solemnly told:

"These cover a consecutive and unbroken chain backward from the immediate present to a time many thousands of years before the Mosaic period. In truth, the chain is complete to a time before Egypt had become a center of civilization, of learning, or power. This fact alone is sufficient to suggest the futility of any attempt to cover the subject in detail."

Manifestly, it is out of the question to ask for details, and the writer admits that he could not give details if we desired him to do so. Did he ever see those records of immemorial time, reaching thousands of years back of Moses ? Did he ever see anyone who did see them? If so, how does he know that they are authentic ? By what science for the testing of documents did he determine their authenticity? Alas, details of this kind are matters of small import, for he goes on to say:

"The most ancient records at this time known to man, are those of the Great School. There can be little doubt, however that the School, in some form, long antedated its most ancient authentic records. This would seem to be true because the great fundamental principles of individual life, liberty and happiness for which it has stood throughout the ages, and for which it stands today, go back to the very infancy of the human race."

But why stop with the infancy of the human race ? Those principles existed before there was any human race, and so it would seem to be true that the Great School must have existed from all eternity, since such a School was needed to guard those principles and keep them safely hidden. Which reminds one of the older Masonic writers who argued that Masonry existed before ever the world began, and that Adam was its first Grand Master on earth. Well, as Lincoln would say, if men like that sort of thing, then that is the sort of thing they like.

Down through the ages, we are told, the Great School has presided over the education of the human race; a hidden fraternity of initiates, adepts in esoteric lore, known to themselves but not to the world, who have had in their keeping the high truths which they permit to be adumbrated, dimly, in the popular faiths and philosophies, but which most of us, even yet, are too obtuse to grasp save in a most imperfect manner. Nearly all the master thinkers of the race have been members of this School in disguise, and naturally so, for, since the School enjoyed a monopoly of all wisdom, whoso would be wise must needs go to that School to learn. Of course, not only Buddha, but Jesus Christ was an initiate of the Great School and learned all He knew from its teachers, as Yogi Ramacharaka and others would also have us know

In the same way, Operative Masonry was another disguise made use of by this same ubiquitous School in its heroic effort to elevate humanity and teach it some sense. Alas, however, the old Craft Masons proved false to their high opportunity and calling, and hence the advent of Speculative Masonry. But Speculative Masonry was only a substitute for what was originally planned by the Masters of the Great School, a kind of imitation or counterfeit, so to name it, lacking the long lost Word which the said Masters took care to put away in a safe place against discovery. Sometime, it may be, if we prove ourselves to be worthy and well qualified, duly and truly prepared, we Masons may perchance be permitted to learn what Masonry is.

Such is the substance of the chapter on the Lineal Key to the ancestry and history of Freemasonry. Of a truth, it is an interesting romance - only, strange to say, not a few accept its fiction for fact, its bare statement for authentic history, and its imaginary knowledge for the actual story of Masonry. Ye scribe has dealt with this whole matter in the chapter on The Secret Doctrine in his brief story of Masonry, and for so doing he has been called a materialist, a Gradgrind, and a blind leader of the blind; as if to be a mystic, one must throw history to the winds and revel in romance. For not one of the statements made above is there the slightest shread of evidence, not even a shadow of a basis in fact. Until some semblance of evidence is offered, some fact cited, thinking men will continue to regard the whole scheme as visionary and absurd.

*  * *

QUESTIONS.

Will you tell me of some book in which I may find, in brief form, the substance of the teachings of the Theosophists?

-   J.J.K.

Perhaps you cannot do better than to read the little essay entitled "Theosophy," by Annie Besant, President of Theosophical Society. It is one number in an admirable series called The People’s Books, published in this country by Dodge Co., 220 East 23rd St., New York. 25 cents.

*  * *

Kindly tell me how I may become a member of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Research, or at least how I can get its Transactions, and greatly oblige.

-   P.J.L.

File your application through the Grand Secretary of your Grand Lodge, giving the name and number of your Lodge, and he will send your application to the Coronati Lodge. Membership fee is 10s 6d, annual dues also 10s 6d, entitling you to receive the Transactions previously issued during the same year.

*  * *

Please recommend me to a short history of architecture, not overloaded with technicalities, such as a busy man can find time to read. - J.D.H.

Try the brief introduction to the history and art of "Architecture," by W. R. Lethaby, in the Home University Library, published by Henry Holt Co., New York, each volume 50 cents. It is a very remarkable series of books, each one written by an authority in the field covered, and delightful to read.

*  * *

Are you asleep or am I dreaming ? In a reference to Plato’s Phaedrus in the Library you spoke of it as a great argument for immortality, but I can find nothing in it touching on immortality at all. Let in the light.

-   H.L.D.

Wake up! Of course Phaedrus is a study of love as one of the many kinds of madness, and as such the cause of the greatest happiness to mankind. To prove this, it was necessary to examine into the nature of the soul, both human and divine. The soul is held to be immortal, because it contains the principle of motion within itself - a subtle and profound argument not found even in Phaedo. And, when all is said, of love is born the hope of immortality. Wake up, rub your eyes, and read again. How readest thou ?

*  * *

On a train the other day some one was telling about the talking horses of Elberfeld - I believe that was the place - their ability to spell, cipher, and almost talk. Where can I find an account of them?

-   F.G.S.

There is a chapter, and a most interesting one, descriptive of the Elberfeld mares in "The Unknown Guest," by Maurice Maeterlink. (Dodd, Mead & Co., New York.) Let us hope that they talk horse sense!

*  * *

Our Lodge has appl opriated $100 with which to lay the foundation of a Lodge library. Will you not suggest a list of books with which we may start?

-   F.E.C.

The following list is worthy of consideration: - Concise History of Masonry, by Gould, also his Collected Essays, History of Masonry and Concordant Orders, by Hughan and Stillson; Encyclopedia of Masonry, by Mackey, last edition, Book of Constitutions, by Anderson; The Old Charges, by Hughan; Primitive Secret Societies, by Webster; Antiquities of Masonry, by Fort; Symbolism of Masonry, by Mackey; Things a Freemason Ought to Know, by Crowe; Masonic Facts and Fictions, by Sadler; The Spirit of Masonry, by Hutchinson; The Comacines, by Ravenscroft; The Veil of Isis, by Reade; Cyclopedia of Fraternities, by Stevens, last edition, Seven Lamps of Architecture, by Ruskin; Poems and Stories of Kipling; Low Twelve, by Ellis; Religion and Thought in Egypt, by Breasted, Kings and Gods of Egypt, by Moret; Pythagoras, by Schure, also his Hermes and Plato; Washington the Man and Mason, by Callahan; Franklin as a Mason, by Sachse; Indian Masonry, by Wright; Freemasonry Before the Grand Lodges, by Vibert, Morals and Dogma, by Pike; The Master’s Assistant, by Darrah; Manual of the Lodge Mackey; Masonic Jurisprudence, by Mackey; Mystic Masonry, by J. D. Buck;

The Philosophy of Masonry, by Pound, soon to be issued by the Research Society; and, if you can find nothing better, The Builders, by the editor of this journal. There are many other books of great value but before you have reached the end of this list your money wili have melted away.

*  * *

While the following questions are not related to Masonry, answers to them will be appreciated, if it is not too much trouble: (1) As a student of Lincoln, what do you regard as the best address in estimate of him? (2) Refer me to abrief account of pantheism. (3) Is there any short exposition of mysticism? (4) Was John Wesley a Freemason? - J.D.J.

(1) We like best of all the remarkable address by F. W. Lehmann, published in a pamphlet by Wm. M. Reedy, St. Louis Mirror. (2) "Pantheism, its Story and Significance," by J. A. Picton, himself a pantheist, published by Open Court Co., Chicago. (3) "Mysticism in English Literature," by G. F. E. Spurgeon, published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, is simple and illuminating. (4) No, Wesley was not a Mason, but he often preached in Masonic halls, as we learn from his journal.

*  * *

ARTICLES OF INTEREST.

The Character of Albert Pike as Gleaned from his Correspondence, by W. L. Boyden. The New Age.

The Story of the Craft as Told in the Gentlemen’s Magazine. Fred Armitage. Transactions of the Lodge Quatuor Coronati.

Is Masonry a Religion ? By A. Churchyard. London Freemason.

The Sublime Degree, by Robert Meekren. Tyler-Keystone.

Girard’s Masonic History. Masonic Monthly.

Freemasonry in Literature. Illinois Freemason.

Mental Qualifications, Not Physical, a Test for Membership. Virginia Masonic Journal, April 15.

*  * *

BOOKS RECEIVED.

The Master’s Assistant, by D. D. Darrah, Bloomington, Ill

The Confessions of a Master Mason, by C. F. Whaley, Seattle, Wash.

Masonic Jingles, by James T. Wray, Evanston, Ill.

Great Stone Monuments, by J. W. Fewkes, Smithsonian Institute. Philosophy, What is It? by F. B. Jevons, Putnam’s Sons, New York. The Mystery of Art, by R. A. Cram, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. Works of Luther, Vol. 1., A. J. Holman Co., Philadelphia.

A MASTER.

Son, thou oughtest diligently to attend to this: that in every place, every action or outward circumstance, thou be inwardly free and mighty in thyself, and all things be under thee, and thou not under them; that thou be lord and governor of thy deeds, not servant. - The Imitation of Christ.

THE BUILDER MAGAZINE

MARCH 1915

VOLUME 1 - NUMBER 3

THE MASTERS WORD AND THE ROYAL ARCH BY BRO. S. W. WILLIAMS, GRAND HIGH PRIEST OF

TENNESSEE

"The MASTER'S WORD * * * is the reward of study and devotion, and has never been obtained on any other terms. It has never been conferred in the ritualistic degrees of the Lodge, and never will or can be. It is the establishment of understanding in the Soul of man between that higher self in him, and the MORE and Beyond Self from which he draws his life, and from which his intuitions spring. This is the Real Initiation: At-One- Ment." ("Mystic Masonry." by J. Buck.)

Let us see. The Blue Lodge symbolizes this Life, from the Cradle to the Grave. From our entrance upon the Stage of Life's great Drama, 'till its close, when "Exeunt Omnes" is the order of the Greatest of Stage Managers, and the "Curtain of Life" is run down. The Chapter comes next in the Masonic System--capped with the Royal Arch--formerly, and we might say correctly, termed the HOLY ROYAL ARCH, for such it surely is.

The Past Master's degree has no place in the Masonic System--being merely a complimentary degree-- a sort of enabling Act to qualify the

Candidate for the Royal Arch degree. The Mark and Most Excellent Master's degrees are amplifications of the Work of the Blue Lodge and have no part in the consecutive work leading up to the Royal Arch in the position they now occupy.

Mackey and other teachers tell us that the Royal Arch degree is the symbolic representation of the state after death. Life's vanities and follies have passed away; even the first Temple, erected with such care through Life, has succumbed, and decay and desolation only appear in its stead.

Masonry is a search for Light--More and MORE LIGHT as we ascend the rounds of the Ladder--and Masonic Light is TRUTH ETERNAL. In his "Search" the Seeker will discover profound secrets of which he was previously ignorant. They had never been explained in the Lodge and NEVER WILL BE. However, they are there for all who will not only "Ask," but earnestly "Seek" for them. It must be personal, self sacrificing, painstaking and consecrated service, otherwise we shall fail in our search for these Treasures of Masonry that are never more than hinted at in the Lodge and never explained.

This is one of the things that each man "must do for himself" and if not undertaken in the proper spirit, he will find the Door securely barred against him--and he will "knock" in vain. Thus, if we do not attain the FULLNESS of Light, it will be our own fault-- we have not properly used all of the "Working Tools" that were given us in the Lodge and were there so carefully explained.

The Symbolism of the Royal Arch.

The City of Jerusalem and its first Temple in the Royal Arch symbolize our Spiritual Natures--Pure and Innocent--fresh from the hand of our Father in Heaven.

By contact with the World it becomes corrupted by Sin--crumbles under the assaults of the enemy, and we become prisoners--slaves-- just as our ancient brethren did to the Chaldeans.

After a period of repentance we determine to lead a new life, and with this end in view, leave our Babylon --where we have been enchained by the Powers of Sin --to start life afresh.

Our journey across the Desert, with its trials and tribulations, represents our first efforts to rebuild our Lost Character, and once more become good and true, and pure before God and Man, i.e.-- to rebuild the Temple which we have once destroyed.

We struggle on--each day is fraught with cherished memories of by-gone years--and each night, as we lie down to rest beneath the Starry decked Canopy of Heaven, finds us nearer our Goal--nearer HOME.

Finally, we reach the spot where we have dreamed that we shall reap our reward. There, standing on the Mount of Olives, we see --NOT the prosperous, well regulated City that we remember, with its impregnable fortifications, soaring Towers, marble Palaces and magnificent Temple erected to the Most High God, but a mass of unrecognizable ruins.

At first, we are disheartened, shocked, discouraged --but, remembering our good resolutions, we turn to the God of our Fathers for strength--and then take up in real earnest our Work in Life-- willing to make any

sacrifice to win, and offer unto Him our services in "Any part of the Work-- even the most difficult."

Under His guidance, we are directed where to begin our labors. It is a hard task, this digging among the ruins--this removing the rubbish which Sin and Vice have fastened upon our Souls--but we bravely press on and are finally rewarded by finding the Keystone of an Arch. It is the Keystone of Faith in the Arch of God's Promises attained by Loyal and Devoted Service. We take it up and offer it to the Master, who encourages us, but tells us there is still more work for us to do if we would win the coveted prize-- this time more trying and more dangerous.

We return to the scene of our labors--this time to penetrate this Arch--and, searching amid the accumulated damp and slime of years, find three squares which we take up to Him who is directing the Work. They prove to be the Squares of Virtue, Morality and Brotherly Love.

We are put to a further test of our sincerity purpose and asked if we would be willing to again penetrate this Arch in search of further treasures. Our answer you well remember--and we are told "Go -- and rest assured that your valuable services will not be unrewarded."

Gaining strength and courage with each successful effort, we once more return to the scene of our labors. This time we are more favored--the Sun is now in a position to shine into the Arch and we discover, in a remote corner, a strange Box, all covered with Pure Gold, upon whose top and sides are certain mysterious characters which we do not understand.

We take this up and lay it before the Master -- and then is brought to Light the Treasure of the Ages -- the Long Lost M. M. Word -- the

symbol of that Divine Love and Truth which passeth all human understanding.

Then it is that we hear those blessed words calling us to our reward:

"Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into that higher and holier Life, where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary findeth rest.”

Then we are permitted to enter "That Temple not made with hands eternal in the Heavens.”

We have expiated our Sin and have been forgiven -- and God has fulfilled his promise and called us Home. The Story of the Royal Arch Degree is of the Reclamation of a Lost Soul -- Redeemed by Trust in God's Love, attested by a Life of Faithful and devoted Service.

Light From the East.

We learn from Students of the Great School of India where many of the most ancient Mysteries are still preserved in their original purity, that, surrounding this Earth is a Circle of Darkness, and beyond that, seven Spheres of Light, corresponding to the Colors of the Spectrum--beginning with the RED and ending with the VIOLET. Beyond this, the Violet gradually fades away and merges with and into a Realm of Light of ineffable Purity and Whiteness--millions of times whiter than anything that Mortals can imagine.

All of these Spheres are inhabited by the Spiritual bodies of Men. Some never get through the Realm of Blackness; others struggle onward and upward--gradually getting higher and higher in the Spheres of Color --all struggling to attain the Light which is hidden from the eyes of mortals until their Spiritual sight is prepared to behold it in all its glory.

TO REVIEW--Thus, we find the Blue Lodge furnishes Rules and Precepts to be followed in this life; and concludes with the sublime lesson of Death and a Resurrection to a Glorious Immortality-- a life beyond the Grave. Here the Royal Arch follows and carries the symbolism into that after life--going back far enough to connect the one with the other.

St. Paul tells us "There is a Natural Body and there is a Spiritual Body."-- I.Cor. XV-44.

The Spiritual Body, with the Soul (its Guide) left the Physical Body at the close of the Master Mason's degree, and then passes into the "Valley of the Shadow" --the Realm of Darkness-- representing the Bondage of Sin in Babylon. Aided by the Wings of Faith in God's Promises and guided by the Star of Hope, it finally enters the first of the seven Veils of Light-- the Red. Here, freed from the Bonds of Sin for the first time since childhood, it begins its journey through the Spheres with that "fervency and zeal which should actuate all Royal Arch Masons."

As the journey proceeds, the Red begins to fade and merges into an Orange which betokens the first realization of hardship and weariness-- and a weakening of the first flush of enthusiasm which was present at the start.

We come to the "Bend of the River" and face the perils and hardships of the Desert. This is symbolized by the Yellow in the list of Colors. (A yellow flag at the Masthead of a ship at sea is a sign of sickness--of distress and suffering on board) And, were it not that the Spirit becomes stronger and Purer with each obstacle that is overcome, many would (and indeed, very many do) fall by the wayside. Fortitude, in the shape of a kindly guide, comes to our assistance and the end of the Desert journey is reached.

”We shall now turn our faces to the South-passing through Syria and toward Damascus.

Once more are we to feast our eyes upon GREEN Hills and fertile valleys--unforgotten through the years of exile.

Grand old Lebanon comes into view, rearing its lofty peak into the azure BLUE of a tropical sky and here we find a host of Helpers-- TRUTH, CONSTANCY, FIDELITY, FRIENDSHIP and HOPE--to welcome and cheer us on our way.

Passing down the Valley of the Jordan many familiar scenes greet the eye and the Spirit is filled with thankfulness at being once more permitted to view our native land. We kneel and pour forth a prayer of thanksgiving to the God of our Fathers.

Presently a single ray of RED (the Color of ZEAL and enthusiasm) comes down the spheres to us with the thoughts of our years of bondage-- and the RED, mingling with the Blue in its deepest shade, makes the Heartsease (Indigo Purple) with all its blessed promises of Glories yet to come.

Still pressing on, we climb the Mount of Olives; and there stand in the VIOLET! All about us are the Angels of Purity and Meekness. There are blessed recollections passing to and fro like the rustle of Angels' Wings-- and the Guide says "Let us press on.”

A PRAYER

I kneel not now to pray that Thou Make white one single sin,

I only kneel to thank Thee, Lord,

For what I have not been--

For deeds which sprouted in my heart

But ne'er to bloom were brought,

For monstrous vices which I slew In the shambles of my thought.

So for the man I might have been My heart must cease to mourn-- 'Twere best to praise the living Lord For monsters never born,

To bend the spiritual knee (Knowing myself within)

And thank the kind benignant God For what I have not been."

--Harry Kemp.

BEETHOVEN

O Psalmist of the weak, the strong,

0    Troubadour of love and strife,

Co-Litanist of right and wrong,

Sole Hymner of the whole of life,

1    know not how, I care not why,

Thy music brings this broil to ease,

And melts my passion's mortal cry Into satisfying symphonies.

Yea, it forgives me all my sins,

Fits life to love like rhyme to rhyme,

And tunes the task each day begins By the last trumpet-note of Time.

--Sidney Laniel.

"So many gods, so many creeds,

So many paths that wind and wind;

While just the art of being kind

Is all this sad world needs.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF MASONRY FIVE LECTURES DELIVERED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE GRAND MASTER OF MASSACHUSETTS MASONIC TEMPLE, BOSTON BY BROTHER ROSCOE POUND, PROFESSOR OF JURISPRUDENCE IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY III OLIVER

KRAUSE'S philosophy is concerned chiefly with the relation of Masonry to the philosophy of law and government. Oliver's philosophy of Masonry deals rather with Masonry in its relation to the philosophy of religion. In order to understand this we need only note that Krause was by profession a philosopher and that the main work of his life was done in the philosophy of law and of government while, on the other hand, Oliver was a clergyman. As in Preston's case, Oliver's general philosophical ideas came to him ready-made. He flowed with the philosophical current of his time. He did not turn it into new channels or affect its course as did Krause. Hence here, as with Preston, we may conveniently consider Oliver's philosophy of Masonry under three heads: 1. The man; 2. The time; 3. His Masonic philosophy as a product of the two.

Beginning in 1811 Oliver was a diligent student of and a prolific writer upon antiquities, particularly ecclesiastical antiquities and his writings soon brought him a high reputation as an antiquary. It is worth while to give a list of the more important of these books since taken in connection with the long list of his Masonic writings it will afford some idea of his diligence and activity. I give only those which have been considered the more important.

To these must be added a great mass of papers and notes on antiquarian matters published between 1811 and 1866. And be it remembered the author was, while most of these were writing, a teacher studying during his leisure hours in preparation for orders and later for his degree and when the remainder were written was rector of an important parish, a magistrate, a surrogate for the bishopric of Lincoln and a steward of the clerical fund for his diocese. This sounds like one man's work and a good measure at that. To it, however, we have to add a Masonic literary career even more fruitful and more enduring in its results.

Oliver was made a Mason at the age of nineteen. This statement, startling to the modern Masonic ear, requires explanation. As Masonic usage then stood a "lewis," that is the son of a Mason, might be initiated by dispensation before he came of age. The privileges of a lewis have never been defined clearly. He was supposed to have a right of initiation in precedence over all other candidates. Also in England and France he was supposed to have the right to be initiated at an earlier age, namely eighteen. The constitutions are silent on this point but the traditional custom was to grant a dispensation in the case of a lewis after that age. It is hard to say how far this usage has ever obtained in America. At present it is not recognized. But there is evidence that it obtained in the eighteenth century as, for example, in the case of George Washington who was initiated at the age of twenty. At any rate Oliver became a Mason in this way at the age of nineteen being initiated by his father in St. Peters Lodge at Peterborough in 1801.

Oliver's father was a zealous and well-informed Mason and a ritualist of the literal school, that is of the type who regard literal expertness in ritual as the unum necessarium in Masonry. Accordingly Oliver was thoroughly trained on this side--which indeed is indispensable not only to Masonic

advancement but, I suspect, to Masonic scholarship--and as a result of his thorough knowledge of the work and his tireless activity his rise in the Craft was rapid.

In 1809 Oliver established a lodge at Grimsby where he was the master of the grammar school and chiefly by his exertions the lodge became strong and prosperous. He was master of that lodge fourteen years. Thence successively he became Provincial Grand Steward (1813); Grand Chaplain (1816); and Deputy Grand Master of Lincolnshire (1832). The latter office he held for eight years. It should be remembered that the post of Provincial Grand Master was reserved in England for the nobility. It is interesting to know in passing that the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts gave him the honorary title of Past Deputy Grand Master.

The list of Oliver's Masonic writings is very long. He is the most prolific of Masonic authors and on the whole has had the widest influence. He began by publishing a number of Masonic sermons but presently as one may suspect by way of revolt from the mechanical ritualistic Masonry to which, as it were, he had been bred he turned his attention to the history and subsequently to the philosophy of the Craft.

His first historical work is the well-known "Antiquities of Free Masonry: comprising illustrations of the five grand periods of Masonry from the creation of the world to the dedication of King Solomon's temple." This was published in 1823.

Then followed in order:

12.The Origin and Insignia of the Royal Arch Degree.

He also published a "Book of the Lodge," a sort of ritualistic manual similar to the monitors or manuals so well known today. Likewise he was a constant contributor to English and even to American Masonic periodicals.

Probably no one not by profession a writer can show such a list, bearing in mind how many of the foregoing are books of the first order in their class.

Unhappily Oliver's views of Masonic law were not in accord with those which prevailed in England in 1840. In consequence when in that year Dr. Crucefix, one of the most distinguished of nineteenth-century English Masons, was suspended by the Grand Lodge and retired from Masonic activity Oliver also incurred the displeasure of the authorities by claiming the right, though a Provincial Deputy Grand Master, to take part in a public demonstration in honor of Crucefix in which a large number of prominent Masons joined. This led to his losing his office by the action of the Provincial Grand Master and to his withdrawing from active connection with the Craft. But English Masons soon came to see the soundness of Oliver's views as to the independence which Masonry must allow to the individual in his belief and opinion as to what is Masonic law. Accordingly four years later nearly all the Masons in the kingdom joined in subscribing for a presentation of plate to Oliver in recognition of his great services to the Craft. But justice was not done to Oliver as it was to Preston possibly because Oliver was not the type of man to urge it for

himself as Preston would have done. In consequence Oliver was out of touch with active Masonic work for the last twenty two years of his life. That this was in no way due to improper obstinacy on his part is, I think, manifest from merely looking at his portrait--which radiates benevolence and amiability. Moreover all accounts of his personality agree with the impression one gets from the portrait. All accounts bear witness to his lovableness, his geniality, his charitableness and his readiness to oblige. All who have written of him testify that he was in the highest degree unassuming, unaffected and easy of approach. That such men as Krause and Oliver should suffer from the jealousies which greater knowledge seems to engender in those who regard ability to recite the ritual with microscopic fidelity as the sum of Masonry is not wholly to be wondered at. The breadth which such knowledge inevitably brings about threatens the very foundations of the literalism which the strongest men in our lodges have been taught or have taught themselves is the essence of the institution. But it is strange and is an unhappy commentary upon human nature that the arrogant, ambitious Preston could at length obtain justice which was denied to Krause and to Oliver.

Summing up Oliver's personality, everything confirms the impression which one derives from the portrait. He was a warm-hearted man, of zealous antiquarian enthusiasm, of deep faith and of thoroughgoing religious convictions. We must remember each of these traits when we come to consider his philosophy of Masonry. So much for the man.

Now for the time.

The dominant philosophy everywhere when Oliver wrote was what is known as romanticism. In England, which at this period was still primarily taken up with religious rather than with philosophical or scientific questions, romanticism was especially strong. Thinkers of the generation after Kant objected to his critical philosophy on the ground that it lacked vitality. They asserted that the living unity of the spirit was violated by his analyzings and distinguishings. They pointed to religious faith on the one hand and to artistic conception and creation on the other hand as methods which unlike the critical philosophy did full justice to life. In other words the age of reason in which Preston wrought and wrote was over and for a season at least men ceased to expect all things of reason, intellect and knowledge and began to expect all things of what they called spirit. The younger thinkers especially were filled with enthusiasm at this idea of deducing all things from spirit and did not see that they were simply seeking for a new philosopher's stone. They expected through the idea of the spirit to establish a complete unity of all things, to break down the existing separation between science, religion and art and to reconcile all discords. Such an idea of knowledge rightly may be called romantic. It stands before us sublime and distant. It rouses our enthusiasm or our zeal to achieve it, and influences us by its exaltation rather than by any prospect which it affords us of clear and sober realization. That a whole generation should have been content to put its ideal of knowledge in this form seems difficult to explain even by reaction from the over-rationalism of the preceding century. Probably the general upheaval brought about by the French Revolution must be taken into account and the golden age of poetry which accompanied this philosophical movement must not be overlooked. Indeed the connection between the romantic philosophers, the romantic poets and the romantic musicians is very close. It is not an accident that what I may fairly call romantic Masonry appears at the same time. This will be manifest especially when I come to speak of Oliver's views as to the relation of Masonry to religion.

One of the most representative of the German romantic philosophers argued that all separation between poetry, philosophy and religion was superficial and arbitrary. He argued that while the poet regards philosophy as an expounding of the poetry of life which is to be found in all things, the philosopher regards poetry as a pictorial form, perceived intuitively, of the thought which moves in all things. But, he said, religion is a phase of the same quest for unity. Let me quote his words since they bear strongly upon Oliver's views: "If it is allowed that the task of thought is to show us the unity of all things, can philosophical endeavor differ in its essence from the religious yearning which likewise seeks to transcend the oppositions and unrest of life ?"

This romantic philosophy came into England chiefly through the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) who wrote while Oliver's chief literary activities were in progress and died about six years before the most important and significant of Oliver's writings. The relation of the one to the other is so clear that a moment's digression as to Coleridge is necessary.

In his youth Coleridge tells us he had been a disciple of the eighteenth- century rationalists. But he was repelled by the attempt, so characteristic of the eighteenth century, to reduce mental phenomena to elementary functions by means of analysis and to discover mechanical laws for all consciousness. If this could be done, he said, it would destroy the unity and activity of the mind. At this time he came in contact with the German romantic philosophy and turned in the new direction. Indeed he was a romanticist by nature. He revelled, it has been said, in ideas of the absolute in which the differences and oppositions of the finite world blended and disappeared. He was a poet and a preacher rather than a thinker and rarely got beyond intuition and prophecy. Hence there is more than a little truth in the saying of one of his critics that he led his generation through moonshine to orthodoxy and to a more pronounced orthodoxy than had formerly obtained. It is said that the Anglo-Catholic or Puseyite movement of the nineteenth century, which carried Newman and so many other English scholars into the church of Rome, was a result of Coleridge's ideas.

What, then, were the characteristics of the philosophy of the time and place in which Oliver wrote ?

All of these features may be seen in Oliver's Masonic writings. The defects of his historical writing, for example, which have utterly debased popular Masonic history are the defects of a romanticist. A warm imagination and speculative enthusiasm carried him away. In common with his philosophical teachers he had thrown off the critical method and had lost the faculty of discriminating accurately between what had been and what he would like to believe had been. On the other hand, in Masonic philosophy, where pure speculation was allowable, these qualities had a certain value. Mill says of Coleridge that his was one of the great seminal minds of his time. In the same way Oliver more than anyone else set men to thinking upon the problems of Masonic philosophy. His style is agreeable. He is always easy to read and often entertaining. A multitude of readers, who would be repelled by Krause's learned but difficult pages, have rejoiced in Oliver. Hence he has given a form and direction to Masonic speculation which still persist.

Turning to Oliver's philosophy of Masonry three important points may be noted: 1. His theory of the relation of Masonry to religion; 2. His theory of Masonry as a tradition coming down to us from a pure state prior to the flood; 3. His theory of the essentially Christian nature of our institution.

Let me take these up in order.

way we know Him and know ourselves and know the universe through Masonry. Third, He is manifest to us through reason, and in this way we know Him and know ourselves and know the universe through knowledge or, as we have come to call it, science. In common with the romanticists he sought to throw the entire content of life into one interconnected whole; and this he found in God or in the absolute. Accordingly to him Masonry was one mode of approach to God, the other two being religion and science. If Krause's triad was law, religion, morals, given effect by state, church, Masonry, Oliver's is revelation, tradition, reason, expounded, handed down, developed and interpreted by religion, Masonry and science.

William Hutchinson (1732-1814), an English lawyer, is perhaps the earliest Masonic philosopher. In 1774 by permission of the Grand Lodge, which then insisted upon a right to censor all Masonic writing, Hutchinson published his chief Masonic work entitled "The Spirit of Masonry." Oliver himself has said that this book was "the first efficient attempt to explain in a rational and scientific manner the true philosophy of the order." Hutchinson's doctrine was that the lost word was symbolical of lost religious purity due to corruptions of the Jewish faith. He held that the master's degree symbolized the new law of Christ taking the place of the old law of Judaism which had become dead and corrupt. By a bit of fanciful etymologsr he derived Hiram (Huram) from the Greek heuramen (we have found it) and Acacia from the Greek alpha privative and Kakia (evil)--Akakia, freedom from evil, or freedom from sin. Thus, he says, the Master Mason "represents a man under the Christian doctrine saved from the grave of iniquity and raised to the faith of salvation."

Hutchinson influenced Hemming, who wrote the lectures of the Ancients and a trace of this influence may be seen in America in the interpretation of the blazing star in our lectures.

Clearly enough Oliver got his cue from Hutchinson. But Hutchinson had identified religion and Masonry. This Oliver, as a clergyman of the established church, could not allow. Instead Oliver sought to unify them, that is while keeping them distinct to make them phases of a higher unity, to make them expressions of what is ultimately, though not immediately, one. This he did as has been seen by regarding each as a mode of approach to God. That conception led to his theory of Masonry as a body of tradition.

Briefly stated Oliver's theory is this. He held that Masonry was to be found as a body of tradition in the earliest periods of history as recorded in Scripture. This tradition according to his enthusiastic speculations was taught by Seth to his descendants and was practiced by them as a pure or primitive Masonry before the flood. Thus it passed over to Noah and his descendants and at the dispersion of mankind was divided into pure Masonry and spurious Masonry. The pure Masonry passed through the patriarchs to Solomon and thence to the present institution. On the other hand, the pure tradition was corrupted among the pagans and took the form of the mysteries and initiatory rites of antiquity. Accordingly, he held, we have in Masonry a traditional science of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.

What then are Oliver's answers to the three fundamental questions of Masonic philosophy?

As has been said, Krause's was a philosophy of Masonry in its relation to law and government. Preston's was a philosophy of Masonry in its relation to knowledge. Oliver's is a philosophy of Masonry in its relation to religion. Neither of the others has had a tithe of the influence which Oliver's philosophy has exerted upon Masonic thought. And on the whole his influence has been valuable and stimulating. A critic has said that "all he had to give was transcendental moonshine which shed a new light on old things for many a young doubter and seeker, but which contained no new life." In a sense this is so. Oliver's Masonic philosophy is an obvious product of a clergyman in the age of the romantic philosophy who had read and reflected upon Hutchinson. And yet it is not true that there is no new life in Oliver. Except for Krause nothing so well worth while has been pointed out for Masonry as the end which Oliver found for us. I cannot but feel that it is a great misfortune that his philosophy is being peddled out to a new generation in grandiloquent fragments through Grand Lodge orations and articles in the Masonic press instead of being apprehended as a whole.

NAPOLEON

Here was an experiment, under the most favourable circumstances. of the powers of the intellect without conscience. He did all that in him lay, to live and thrive without moral principle. It was the nature of things, the eternal law of man and the world, which balked and ruined him; and the result in a million experiments would be the same.

- Emerson

THE SACRAMENT

"The Holy Supper is kept, indeed,

In whatso we share with another's need;

Not what we give, but what we share,

For the gift without the giver is bare;

Who bestows himself with his alms feeds three--

Himself, his hungering brother, and Me."

--J. R. Lowell. The Vision of Sir LaunfalI

ERNST AND FALK TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF G.E. LESSING (1778)

BY LOUIS BLOCK,

PAST GRAND MASTER OF MASONS IN IOWA

[Truly, Lessing was a prophet. Almost it would seem that this second dialogue was written yesterday, or this morning, so pertinent is it to the present situation among nations, and so eloquent of the mission of Masonry. With what crystal clear insight that noble German saw what Masonry means to humanity, how it offers the only basis upon which men of all races and faiths may meet and live amicably together; and how by its very genius it becomes, as the Old Charge in the Book of Constitutions said, "the Centre of Union and the Means of conciliating true Friendship among persons"- -and, equally, among nations-- "that must have remained at a perpetual distance." Also, straight as a line of light, his vision goes to the truth that the basis of human society and the state is spiritual, and that, at bottom, all issues are religious issues. Hence the wisdom of the Old Charges--and most of all the great Charge of the Grand Lodge of England--concerning "God and Religion," and their emphasis upon "that Religion in which All Men Agree." Hear now the simple wisdom of a great Mason who, over a century ago, lived and wrote so unselfishly, not for the glory or profit of one race, but for the good of human beings wheresoever dispersed throughout the earth.--The Editor.]

Second Discourse.

Ernst--Well, where have you been? And still you have not the butterfly ?

Falk--It lured me from bough to bough as far as the stream--all at once it was on the other side.

F.--Have you thought it over ?

1. --About what were you talking?
2. --Think       so? Now then, let us talk about something else! For once you have torn me out of a cozy condition of dumb astonishment--
3. --Now          what?
4. --When each one knows how to rule himself, why not ?
5. --Will it ever come to that among men ?
6. --Very     hardly !
7. --Too      bad !
8. --Assuredly         !
9. --About  what?
10. --Do you believe that men were created for the state, or that the state was created for men ?
11. 1. --Why     not ?
    2. --Do you know, Friend, that you are already half a Free Mason?
    3. -- I ?
    4. --What    do you mean by the fate of human expedients?
    5. --And      what is that?
    6. --Undoubtedly! Suppose the best constitution that can be conceived of to have been established; suppose all the men in the whole world to have adopted this constitution; do you not think that even then that out of this very best constitution itself there must still arise things highly hurtful to human happiness and of which man in his natural state unfortunately knew nothing?
    7. --And      it would be hard for you to name one of those hurtful things that-
    8. --That      must of necessity arise from the best state constitution? Oh, ten instead of one!
    9. --Just       one, first!
    10. --Well      then, we will suppose the best constitution to have been discovered; we will suppose all men in the world to be living under this constitution would all of the men in the world for this reason constitute but one state?
    11. --Most    surely !
    12. --Now     there you have it already, for then it would be true, would it not, that each of the smaller states would have its own peculiar interests and that each citizen would have at heart the interests of his own particular state?
    13. --How     could it be otherwise ?
    14. --That      is a tremendous step !
    15. --Only      probable?
    16. 1. --And       how terrible these chasms are! How insurmountable are often these barrier-walls !
        2. --How      is that?
        3. --Now      consider how much suffering there is in the world that arises out of this very difference in rank and station!
        4. --Well      then, what are you trying to do, to disgust me with civilized life, make me wish that the thought of uniting themselves into nations had never occurred to men?
        5. --Are they then sacred--these things that divide ?
        6. --How      sacred ?
        7. --So          that it is forbidden to lay hand upon them ?
        8. --For        the purpose of--?
        9. --How      could that be forbidden ?
        10. --Very greatly to be desired !
        11. --Very     greatly to be desired!
        12. --Very     greatly to be desired !
        13. --And      if it should be fulfilled, this desire ?
        14. --What    if there were even now such men everywhere, and must at all times be such men ?
        15. --God      willing !
        16. --And      what if these men did not live in a state of barren distraction, nor always in an unseen church ?
        17. --Beautiful dream !
            1. --To make it short--and these men should be the Freemasons ?
            2. --What's         that you say ?
            3. --What  if it should be the Freemasons, who as a part of their work were endeavoring to close up, as far as possible, these gulfs by which men were kept strangers to one another?
            4. --The         Freemasons?
            5. --The         Freemasons?
            6. --Not         yet! Just a moment! The Freemasons, you say--

“SOLEMN STRIKES THE FUNERAL CHIME” AN EXPOSITION - BY THE EDITOR

HOW many tender memories these old familiar words evoke in the mind of a Mason. Often in the open lodge - alas, all too often beside the open grave - he has heard them march with slow, majestic step to the measure of the Pleyel Hymn. Never were words and melody more fitly blended, and they induce a mood pensive indeed, but not plaintive, rich in pathos without being poignant - a mood of sweet sadness caught at that point where it stops short of bitter, piercing grief. Yet few know when it was written and by whom, though many must have paused to muse over the faith of which it sings.

The hymn was written by David Vinton, a lecturer on Masonry and teacher of the ritual in the first quarter of the last century, whose field of labor was in the South, chiefly in North Carolina. Unfortunately, his path through life was dogged by the demon of drink, which left stains upon his character for which he was expelled by a Lodge in North Carolina. He died, so Mackey records, in Shakertown, Kentucky, in July, 1833, but Morris dates his death six years earlier and says that it occurred near Russellville, Ky. Morris adds this pathetic fact: "Nor were his own most beautiful words sung over his grave, on account of lapse from a life of sobriety."

In 1816 Vinton issued a volume entitled "The Masonic Minstrel, a Selection of Masonic, Sentimental, and Amorous Songs. Duets, Glees, Canons, Rounds and Canzonets, Respectfully Dedicated to the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons," with an appendix containing a short historical sketch of Masonry and a list of all the Lodges in the United States. It was printed for the author by H. Mann and Company, Dedham, Mass., and more than twelve thousand copies were sold to the Craft. This volume contained his funeral dirge set to the melody of the Pleyel hymn. As Mackey remarks, "This contribution should preserve the name of Vinton among the Craft, and in some measure atone for his faults, whatever they may have been."

From the preface of the Minstrel we learn that Vinton was appointed by Mount Vernon Lodge, in Providence, to procure a book of songs for use in the Lodge, and this suggested the book to his mind, the more so when he was unable to find any book to meet the need. This quaint volume, yellow with age, and alternating quickly from grave to gay, from lively to severe, tempts comment, did time permit; but our concern here is only with his dirge. Originally it had eight stanzas, only four of which are used in our ritual and burial service, and Vinton little thought that his lines would be sung for a decade, then laid aside, then taken up again and sung wherever a Brother Mason is laid to rest, "in the land called America."

II

Whether we hear this hymn in the tyled recesses of the Lodge, or on a green sward out under the sky, our hearts answer to its appeal. Albeit in less stately strain and more tender tone, it strikes the same note that sounds through the 90th Psalm - that mighty funeral hymn of the human race - with its chant of the swift death of mourning flowers, of the vanishing of man, and the hush of profound sleep to which all things mortal decline. How helpless man is, pursued by Time and overtaken by Death - his life a vapor that melts, his span of years a tale that is soon told. There is here that nameless sorrow, that unutterable sadness which lingers in all mortal music whatsoever, and will linger in it while yet we walk in the dim country of this world where Death seems to divide divinity with God. Evermore, in hours however trivial or tragic, in moods pensive or gay-

"Solemn strikes the funeral chime,

Notes of our departing time;

As we journey here below,

Through a pilgrimage of woe.

Touched by the twilights of time, the singer meditates and prays. He sees that the vast machinery of Nature carries forward the entire human race, and, without fail, drops them into one final sleep. Yet each departs alone - the father without the child, the wife without the husband, the judge without the court, the statesman unattended, the babe with no arm around it, aye, and king and peasant alike; and all walk one dark, inevitable path. In what silence and dignity they go, their faces all turned in one direction, following the footprints of a many-millioned multitude into the infinite. We who are compelled to watch their moving figures are powerless to detain them, and can only say farewell and then weep.

"Mortals now indulge a tear,

For mortality is here;

See how wide her trophies wave,

O'er the slumbers of the grave."

With all our philosophy and wit, death remains a bitter, old, and haggard fact which no man may either evade or avert. There is something appalling in the masterful negation and collapse of the body. It is profound. It is pathetic. Words are futile, and there is in that last silence what makes them seem foolish. What avails it what any man may have to say about death ? The real question is, what are we to say to it, whether or not we shall let it have the last word.

"Not all the preaching since Adam

Has made Death other than Death.

Heart and flesh fail; and the generations come and go, following the forlorn march of dust. Truly, as for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth; for the wind passeth over it, and it is gone.

III

Suddenly the shadow lifts, light shineth in darkness, and we see how true it is that the soul of man is the one unconquerable thing upon this earth. How wonderful is this ancient, high, heroic faith which refuses to admit that the grave is the gigantic coffin lid of a dull and mindless universe descending upon it at last. Life tries it, sorrow beshadows it, sin stains it, and yet it is victorious. When doubt deepens this faith becomes more profound, and out of the blackest tragedy it rises with a song of triumph. So it has been from the far time when the oldest book in the world was written, and so it will be until whatever is to be the end of things.

"Here, another guest we bring;

Seraphs of celestial wing,

To our funeral altar come;

Waft a friend and brother home."

Such faith is not a mere surrender; it is a force prophetic of its own fulfillment. At its touch the graveyard becomes a cemetery - that is, a sleeping chamber - and dark Death an All Man's Inn where a fellow pilgrim takes lodging for a night. Those whom we call the dead are the guests of God, whose love is the keeper of unknown revelations. Also, our singer sees that the social life of man, its warmth of sympathy, its sanctity of friendship, its dear love of man for his comrade, has enduring value. Because this is so; because life is brief at its longest, and broken at its best,

it must be filled with Truth and Love; that so we may bring to the Gate in the Mist something too noble to die. Hence the wise prayer:

"Lord of all below, above,

Fill our souls with Truth and Love;

As dissolves our Earthly Tie,

Take us to Thy Lodge on High."

O Death, where is thy victory? Our trust is in God, that He who made us what we are will lead us to what we ought to be. Higher faith there is none. Even so, Masonry rests its hope upon the ultimate Reality, the first truth and the last, and it is therefore that its singer sees, amidst the fluctuating shadows of this twilight world, an august, incomprehensible destiny for man. As a song of triumph the four stanzas omitted from this historic hymn are worthy of remembrance:

"For beyond the grave there lie

Brighter mansions in the sky!

Where, enthroned, the Diety

Gives man immortality.

There, enlarged, his soul will see What was veiled in mystery;

Heavenly glories fill the place,

Show his Maker face to face.

God of life's eternal day!

Guide us, lest from Thee we stray,

By a false, delusive light,

To the shades of endless night.

Calm, the good man meets his fate,

Guards celestial round him wait;

See! he bursts these mortal chains,

And o'er death the victory gains."

MASONRY AT WORK

[Beautiful is the Spirit of Masonry, and tireless in its labors. It never sleeps and it takes no vacations. If by some celestial art one could trace its influence, and make record of its gracious ministries, what a testimony it would be. But that Spirit is as modest and shy as it is unwearying in its served, using grips and signs the better to hide its charities. Nevertheless, in times of trial and crisis it is dramatically revealed, and men see, for a brief time, what it means. Therefore ye editor proposes to have a regular department in this journal wherein to make record of notable instances of

Masonry at work, and he invites his readers to assist by furnishing examples, such as the one given below - instances of relief, of rescue, of brotherly service and sacrifice in peace and in war - if so the "human touch" may be felt in the midst of our studies of philosophy, history, and symbol.]

Here follows a brief digest of facts of which elaborate record may be read in the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Michigan. While out hunting in Nov., 1909, Brother Harry Brownell disappeared, and as it was feared that some fatal accident had befallen him, strict search was made, but to no avail. Whereupon the Craft of Michigan raised a fund of $1672 for relief and search, but no trace of the missing man was found. Finally, one Sunday morning in November, 1913, while walking in the woods near Newberry, Brother Irving Weber was attracted by a shoe lying close to the road. The singular circumstance excited his curiosity, and upon closer examination he found the skeleton of the long lost brother. Opening the vest, he discovered a soft-nosed bullet mushroomed against some pencils in the pocket, showing that the ball had passed through the body and lodged in the vest pocket. Evidently, a hunter, mistaking him for an animal, had shot him in the back and ran away and left him. The remains were taken to St. Charles and buried by his home Lodge, No. 313.

Of the relief fund, $376 remained on hand unused. Upon inquiry it was found that the family of Brother Brownell were left in need, and this sum was presented to his wife on Christmas morning. It was a complete surprise to the young wife, whose tears told of her gratitude. During the long search for the body of Brother Brownell, his father-in-law, Brother Jay Doty, had mortgaged his little home for $950 to aid in the search. No sooner had this sum been expended than he was smitten with almost total blindness, incapacitating him for doing any kind of work. In due course the

mortgage was foreclosed, and Brother Doty was without a home. Once again the Masons took the matter in hand, St. Charles Lodge subscribing a fund with which it purchased a little home, and with the aid of other Lodges paid for it, giving Brother Doty a clear title. Such is the spirit of Masonry in Michigan; and the only reason given for this ministry in the report is as follows: "

"We should, as God prospers us as an institution and as individuals, be ready and anxious to aid those who are not fortunate or who have fallen by the wayside. We are our brother's keeper, and we cannot pass by on the other side when we see him in sore distress. If we do, we are not possessed of the Masonic Spirit, nor does the love of God dwell in us."

Knowledge is the solace of the intellect as religion is the comfort of the soul, and its acquisition is not a toil but an indescribable delight.

-   G. W. Speth.

GOING TO BED

There is a hall in every house,

Behind whose wainscot gnaws a mouse;

Along whose sides are empty rooms,

Peopled with dreams and ancient dooms.

When down this hall you take your light,

And face, alone, the hollow night,

Be like the child who goes to bed, Though faltering and half adread Of something crouching crookedly In every corner he can see Ready to snatch him into gloom,

Yet goes on bravely to his room, Knowing, above him, watching there, His Father waits upon the stair.

-   Madison Cawein.

ROADS OF MASONIC RESEARCH BY BRO. R.I. CLEGG OF OHIO

MASONRY is a prolific subject for discussion. Mention any angle of it and at once there is scope for abundant speculation, for cautious investigation, and for rigidly intensive and extensive study. Highways and byways there be through most delightful dales of dallice where the easy-going student may rest and refresh himself. Hills, too, there are whose loftiest crags defy scent save only to the hardiest of ambitious climbers. To each according to his taste, to every one according the test, all having their reward in proportion to the capacity and capability of him who seeks.

From this broad sweep of the field Masonic it is easy to see how our society may by the flood of incoming suggestions be overwhelmed to a degree where performance must lag behind all promises. Editorial willingness to supply all desired information will wait perforce upon limited space. A plan by which inquiries can be assigned to competent and co-operative brethren to answer by correspondence is one method of dealing with that branch of the situation where for any reason the printed page is too tardy or otherwise insufficient. If queries or suggestions do not get early attention some of our members will perhaps naturally assume that their particular choice receives not the consideration worthy of it. Moreover, on the other hand, it is easy to reach a rut and stay there notwithstanding the high standard set at the start. Many essays are too often imitative and not initiative in either matter or manner. To avoid the whirlpool or the rock will call for all the Masonic enthusiasm, energy, and equipment of our editorial pilot.

Suppose we set down a few items toward which the taste of at least one Mason is inclined. The number of them is not comprehensive but merely illustrative. Neither is the order in which they are mentioned any indication of their relative importance. The appended queries are readily increased.

What is the present status of the Morgan question? Have the various references to his appearance in other lands--such as the one at Smyrna mentioned in the biography of Ren Perley Poore--been conclusively cleared up? That the Anti-Masonic situation may have had a great dependence upon purely political matters is probable but how far has this been established? What foundation is there for the account by Father Eisenberg of a connection of the Jesuite with the Morgan mystery? Is there on record anywhere and what is the report of that early Committee of the Grand Lodge of New York appointed to collect and submit all the obtainable information on this subject? Did Col. King, John Whitney, Samuel Chubbuck, or Eli Bruce commit to anyone additional information not already ventilated by Rob Morris, W.L. Stone, Josiah Drummond, Thurlow Weed, John Ross Robertson, or other of the better known writers?

What about Leo Taxil? Has any Roman Catholic study of him appeared since he recanted from that faith? If so, would it be worth reproduction in synopsis or in extenso? Perhaps Benno Loewy or some other equally well-informed brother--if any there be-- could be induced to give us an up-to-the-times character study and biographical account of this curious individual.

The monitorial work of the Scottish Rite bears strong impress of the philosophy of Eliphaz Levi. An American investigation at first hand of the work of this mystic should not be lacking in attraction if sympathetically and skillfully performed.

What a fascinating subject would be the study of Masonic plays, operas, songs, and stories ! Mozart's "Zauberflote," Gounod's "Queen of Sheba," Dumas' "Balsamo" drama, and many others could probably to great advantage be reproduced. Especially would the words and music composed by Mozart for the ceremonies of his lodge be well deserving of record.

Much has been written upon the Old Charges and the Regius Manuscript but a complete modern rendering, particularly of the latter, is badly wanted. Put into twentieth century English these old treasures would have added value and a greatly enlarged circle of students. Hughan's "Old Charges" will in due course be reprinted by the Lodge of Research at Leicester, England.

How many and many a time does the story appear about a Pope being a member of the Masonic fraternity. Few Masonic magazines have failed to give it space at some time during lo these long years. Well, what are the facts ? Of late an effort has been made to filter the fiction out of this ancient tale. For sundry items of much interest about this hardy perennial blossom of the field Masonic thanks are due my good brethren Messrs. Shaver of Topeka, and Evans of Denver. Some of these days the data will be jotted down in shape for publication. Meantime any new or old contribution on this topic will be most thankfully received and in due course passed along to "The Builder."

What is the historic relation of the Church of Rome to the Craft and to its predecessors ? That there is a singular and suggestive connection between them running back into a remote past is very probable, and that their earlier relations may have been most amicable and cooperative is equally plausible. No one can consider similar symbolism, also the quaint reminders of the one set of ceremonies by the other, without an abiding impression that in the one body the other has found much.

Has the theory of Craft origins not paid too little respect to the probable deposition within the operative body of cathedral builders of the teachings and practices of the persecuted and disappearing Knights of the Temple? From whence naturally comes the Commandery if not by some such route ? Do the early accusations against the Templars not indicate certain rigorous tests of obedience and courage employed in their initiatory ceremonies ?

Is it not both desirable and feasible to briefly digest the several authoritative Masonic Codes? One State will not admit a candidate if lacking a finger. In another he would not be rejected if he lacked a finger but could not be admitted if he was without a hand. One State permits the officer's jewels to be suspended by pin, cord or ribbon and their aprons are blue. Another State calls for the white lambskin apron and the ribbon- hung jewel for officers. A stereopticon is forbidden in one State and permitted in another. One Grand Chapter requires its Royal Arch Masons to wear scarlet bordered aprons while another approves aprons entirely red. One Grand Chapter has legislated upon the dimensions of certain of its furniture and properties. Others leave the whole matter to the individual tastes of the subordinate Chapters. Some Grand Lodges approve of rituals, others don't. Several require certificates of membership from visiting brethren. These and many others are instances showing a diversity of practice that maybe would in time become simplified and systematized were there any synopsis made and regularly remade of these differences.

What are the conditions of Masonry in other countries? Can we somehow get an insight of their ceremonies? For instance, there is no Scottish Rite in Germany but there is an Inneren Orient. What does this last most nearly compare to in our American series of degrees? How far does the German civil law interfere with the fraternity? The Rectified Rite is not unfamiliar to me but cannot discuss it in print. Could we not get that admirable and scholarly Mason, Edouard La-Tente, to give us a comparative paper on the Rites of Continental Europe? Maybe that facile linguist, Jose Castellot, at present head of the Scottish Rite of Mexico, might be induced to tell us of Masonry as practiced between the Straits of Magellan and the Rio Grande. Of the three governing bodies of the Craft in France and their relative purposes few American Freemasons are fully informed. Much misinformation is among us on this subject. A first step toward mutual respect is to be better informed. And our knowledge ought to include an acquaintance with the propaganda waged vigorously in France and Belgium against Freemasonry by the Abbe Tremontin and his Anti-Masonic followers. Our admiration for Latin Freemasonry will not be lessened when we understand the activity and force of the foes it faces.

What of Cerneau? Little is known. Dr. Reid, in his history of Washington Lodge, in the City of New York, has about a couple of pages devoted to Cerneau. Bro. Albert Pike has in the first ten volumes of the proceedings of the Southern Masonic Jurisdiction, and in his several pamphlets, dealt freely with Cerneauism but of its founder we find little beyond the accounts of the clash between De la Motta and Cerneau. In the earlier reports of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvannia there is to be found mention of Cerneau because the lodge in the West Indies to which he is accredited was acting under authority of the officials at Philadelphia. But there is much data to be unearthed. What was Cerneau's trouble with the Grand Lodge of Havana before he left Cuba for the United States? What was the report of the Committee appointed by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania to look into that dispute? A committee was appointed but I have not discovered its conclusions. Of course I have read the report of a Committee on Cerneau appointed by the Grand Orient of France. The two reports would, combined, clear up a foggy episode in the progress of American Freemasonry.

Through what changes have our ritualistic ceremonies passed? There is immense difficulty in treating such a topic by the medium of the printed page. That it can adequately be done is very doubtful. There is more promise in classifying the work by Grand Jurisdictions so that a resident in any state or county might have a guide as to what ceremonies were most akin or least alike to those already familiar to him. Even at this stage, and certainly beyond it, the propriety of discussion without the tyled door is debatable.

Has anything of a comprehensive character been published on the progress of the monitorial work? The story of the Conservators and of like enterprises would be most instructive to many.

Down in the vault of the great library at Cedar Rapids is hidden much ritualistic material including the Bowers-Hughan manuscript, the Gilles Fellowcraft lecture, and hundreds of others. A catalogue of this abundance would be an interesting contribution and might exhibit at least the date when each item was in use and where it had its vogue and its survivals.

Let me not overlook a keen survey of topics treatable, topics upon which much more could be desired than is commonly found in print, that was published in the Palestine Bulletin by A. G. Pitts. A long life work stretches far away ahead of anyone doing full justice to but a tithe of the items mentioned by Bro. Pitts. Much the same can be said of these raised in my present contribution and the number of them could be easily increased, a selection only being attempted. As opportunity may serve the writer will do his best as on other occasions to add to one or another of these subjects such facts as he can unearth. In this case he very gladly

lends such help as he has at command and will ever be most appreciative of the labor of others in similar fields of endeavor.

A careful reading of all the foregoing leads the writer to consider two additional points. As in the case of the esoteric work there is much that cannot well be ventilated in the printed page. Would it not be well each year or bi-annually to call a convention of the members of the Society? If such meetings were held at Cedar Rapids, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston, Cincinnati, New York, or other cities possessing large Masonic libraries, the attendants at these conventions would not only have the benefit of these splendid collections but would enjoy companionship with kindred souls under most favorable conditions for the examination and discussion of the various questions such a body would handle. As to the time of year, and whether these gatherings should be coincident with the assemblies of other national or state Masonic meetings, need not be further dwelt upon now. Out of this idea of a national convention naturally evolves the thought of lesser sessions to be held wherever a few members of the Society can be assembled. Some one member in each section should be given a list of the local members and asked to get them together occasionally. How often and how regularly these meetings should be we will not now determine. A start is the main thing.

The second point is one approached with considerable diffidence. To my mind it is of the utmost importance. Yet few may agree with me. But here is the point: Too little emphasis is put upon the value of definitions. Let us take the classic instance attributed to Mackay. It is often quoted as "Freemasonry is a system of morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols." It is captivating rhetoric but marks no essential difference between Christianity, or almost any other of the world's great religions, and Freemasonry. We may say that Freemasons reverence God, honor the

Craft, and love their neighbors; Freemasonry being the institution inculcating these duties. This is too diffuse for a definition. Nevertheless there is one more extended that may be acceptable to some of the brethren. Take the thirteenth chapter of Corinthians, that well known discussion of charity, and substitute Freemasonry for that oft misapplied word. This also may easily be criticized as a definition though worthy of consideration as an expression of Masonic faith.

The brethren will surely admit that the word "Freemasonry" is too loosely applied. If a Chinese literateur employs the square as a figure of speech it is too readily assumed that there is in China a Masonry like unto ours. Because fundamental truths are taught in Freemasonry there are those who look upon it as being from a remote age the preserver of all the verities of religion. We need not here and now decide how far we can fairly go in this direction. But to keep us in the path we require the light of consistent definitions, something more than the usual output of the dictionaries, and a trifle less aspiring than that very partial conviction which seeks to credit it with everything in sight.

Humble, gentle, merciful, just and devout souls are everywhere of one religion, and when death hath taken off the mask, they will know one another. --William Penn.

Masonry is Friendship, Love, and Integrity-- friendship which rises superior to the fictitious distinctions and arrangements of society, the prejudices of religion, and the pecuniary conditions of life; love which knows no limit, no inequality, no decay; integrity which binds a man to the eternal law of duty. --A. C. L. Arnold.

"All else for which the old builders sacrificed has passed away-- all their living interests, and aims, and achievements. We know not for what they labored, and we see no evidence of their reward. Victory, wealth, authority, happiness--all have departed, though bought by many a bitter sacrifice. But of them and their life and their toil upon earth, one reward, one evidence, is left to us in those gray heaps of deep wrought stone. They have taken with them to their graves their powers, their honors, and their errors; but they have left us their adoration." --John Ruskin. The Lamp of Sacrifice.

THE HEART OF GOD

I stood in the heart of God;

It seemed a place that I had known:

(I was blood-sister to the clod,

Blood-brother to the stone.)

I found my love and labor there,

My house, my raiment, meat and wine,

My ancient rage, my old despair-- Yea, all things that were mine.

I saw the spring and summer pass,

The trees grow bare, the winter come;

All was the same as once it was Upon my hills at home."

--William Vaughn Moody.

THE HEART OF MAN

Then suddenly in my own heart I felt God walk and gaze about;

He spoke; His words seemed held apart With gladness and with doubt.

Here is my meat and wine, he said,

My love, my toil, my ancient care;

Here is my cloak, my book, my bed,

And here my old despair.

Here are my seasons: winter, spring,

Summer the same, and autumn spills The fruits I look for; everything As on my heavenly hills.

--William Vaughn Moody.

EDITORIAL LETTER OF GREETING

I hasten to tender my best wishes for the success of the new Society which has been founded by the Masonic scholars of the State of Iowa. The efforts of the late Theodore Sutton Parvin in the cause of Masonic Research have been ably continued by his son, your present Grand Secretary, and among the elder Brethren in your Grand Jurisdiction a spirit of inquiry with respect to the past of our Masonic Inheritance has taken firm root. Of this there is an example in point which is afforded by the formation of the Society whose literary organ it will be your privilege to conduct.

I    do not think the editorial chair could be better filled. Your record as a writer of the Craft is a bright one; you are a ripe Masonic scholar, and have the power of expressing yourself with vigor and lucidity in the mother tongue of Freemasonry. All omens, therefore, point in the direction of the new Society being admirably served by the journal whose province it will be to record the progress of the Association, the labors of which are having their beginning with the current year.

As an Honorary Member of the Grand Lodge of Iowa for more than a quarter of a century, I am, have been, and shall ever remain deeply

interested in all its proceedings, and that the important step it has recently taken with regard to the further development of Masonic Science may constitute another and lasting claim on the gratitude of all who are anxiously looking for "more Light," is my earnest Bravery

ROBERT FREKE GOULD

WORDS OF CHEER

SURELY no first issue of a journal ever received more bouquets, and fewer brickbats, than the initial number of The Builder; and this is obviously due to the kindness of the Craft, and also to the deeply felt need for such a journal and the Society which it represents. Ye editor and secretary have been literally overwhelmed by innumerable letters of congratulation and goodwill, expressing appreciation, and offering the most hearty co-operation, and they take this opportunity of replying, since it would be impossible to do so otherwise, and of thanking the brethren for their words of good cheer.

Every feature of The Builder has met with praise, including its size, its design, its paper, type and cover, and almost every article it contained. Hardly a letter but has expressed gratitude for the lecture of Brother Pound, and eager anticipation of the other four lectures in the series - which moves us to announce that we have secured his series of lectures of the. Symbolism of Masonry, to appear later. Ye editor is sincerely grateful for all the good words about his little Foreward, which ran a neck and neck race with "Ernst and Falk" in the minds of our readers. Many suggestions have been offered, all of them timely and valuable, but hardly a single criticism - except from Brethren who are impatient and want everything done at once; an impatience due to their deep interest. Typical of hundreds of others is this most gracious letter from Past Grand Master Hepner, of Montana:

"I have carefully read the initial number of The Builder, and allow me to assure you that if the succeeding numbers are as good as the first, you will have the finest Fraternal Magazine ever published; every line of it is worthy of study by every member of the Craft, and its readers should reach into many thousands in numbers."

Instead of keeping these letters to ourselves, the editor and secretary feel that it is but fair that the Society should know what impression The Builder has made; and hence this brief catena of extracts telling from many points of view how and why the Society and its journal are appreciated. Often The Builder is praised as much for what it does not contain as for what it publishes, and we have deliberately selected the most conservative letters, lest our readers think us extravagant.

"As to the aim and object of the Society, I am in full accord. Co-operation upon the lines indicated in the Foreword must bring good results, and will fill a want lonfir felt in the United States. There are several Societies of the kind in England, and all are doing good work." - Julius F. Sachse, Philadelphia.

"I fully appreciate the vast field that you are pioneering. You will have to furnish 'Mellen's Food' for the infants, and strong meat for the adults, and until you get the 'range' you will as often fire in the air over the heads of your constituents as you will shoot their boots off. But time, patience and perseverence will finally accomplish all things, and in the future you and your fellow-workers of the Grand Jurisdiction of Iowa will go down in history as the foster-fathers of true Masonic advancement." - H. F. Evans, Denver.

"The Builder starts off with the right spirit for constructive work in Masonry. The Foreword is splendid. After many years' work along educational lines in Masonry, I at last feel the encouragement which comes from a closer relation thus established with Brethren, widely scattered though they may be." - Thomas M. Stewart, Cincinnati.

"The absence of personal mention of bodies and individuals, which takes up ninety per cent of the average Masonic journal, is pleasing indeed. But more satisfactory to me is the policy inaugurated and embodied in the line, 'We drew a circle that took him in.' May this policy always be continued in The Builder." - J. Otis Ball, Evanston, Ill.

"I think the first issue of The Builder alone worth the price. Indeed I am afraid the price is too low, and unless the membership grows apace it will be necessary to mark it up. I believe and confidently hope that this movement will be a boon in Masonic circles, which we have needed for years." - Thomas A. Hines, Montgomery, Ala.

Indeed, it would be easy to fill one whole issue of The Builder with letters of like kind and spirit, but these are enough to show that this Society has struck a responsive chord in the heart of the Craft, and that it has a great work to do in advancing Masonry. Many thanks, Brethren, one and all; and we are sure that every member will do his part in spreading news of the Society and its journal, thereby making it more effective in behalf of an Order whose spirit of Freedom, Friendship and Fraternity is the hope of humanity. Both for himself, and for our hard-working and enthusiastic secretary, without whose investment of time, energy and money this

Society would never have been founded, ye editor extends fraternal greetings and goodwill.

THE PEDAGOGY OF MASONRY-

More and more it becomes clear that the problem before this Society - and before the Order generally, for the matter of that - is the problem of the pedagogy of Masonry. So far no one has solved that problem satisfactorily, albeit much has been done in that direction by means of books, pamphlets, oral and written lectures, study clubs, and various other methods. Still, we have not yet formulated a definite, systematic, practical course of Masonic study for the use of young Masons who ask, as perhaps a half thousand have asked ye editor of late: How should we begin the study of Masonry, and where ? Moreover, as a chief reason for the existence of this Society is the working out of this very problem, for some time to come that task will be its primary undertaking, the more so because so many young Masons, new to the Order and its wonderful history and philosophy, are numbered among its members.

Therefore ye editor has planned a symposium on the subject of How to Study Masonry, and has asked a number of eminent Masons - some of them university men who have had long experience in teaching - to contribute to it, with the intent of bringing the best thought, experience and method of the Order to bear on the problem. When completed and published in full, as it will be in the Builder - beginning with the next issue

-   it is believed that this symposium will be one of the most suggestive and valuable documents in the literature of the Order. Meanwhile, that we may have the benefit of the widest experience and the most fruitful suggestion, we throw the door open to the whole Society, inviting contributions to this symposium from every quarter; and no one should hesitate because he has not been asked by letter to contribute.

What we want is the net result of the experience and counsel of the Craft. and with this in hand the Society will formulate and publish a detailed program by which a young Mason of average ability and training may begin the study of Masonry, and pursue it step by step intelligently, on a basis as sound pedagogically as it is Masonically, and thus come to know the story of this great Order, its development, its symbolism and philosophy. Time will be needed to work out this plan in all its details, but it not only must be done but can be done, and this Society can render no more important and far-reaching service to the Order.

LIFE OF PIKE-

Here is good news. At last there is to be a biography of Albert Pike, written by his daughter, Mrs. Lilian Pike Roome, whose service to the memory of her distinguished father will evoke the gratitude of Masons of every rite and rank who hold him in veneration, alike for his character and his genius. They will welcome every detail of the life of a man who devoted his extraordinary powers to the Order which he loved, and who wrought in its Temple as a Michel Angelo of Masonic architecture - the master genius of American Masonry. Many years have come and gone since he disappeared from mortal vision, and other men and other scenes have come upon the stage; but Pike still lives, as he wished to live when he said: "I wish my monument to be builded only in the hearts and memories of my brethren of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite."

There will be no conflict between the labors of Mrs. Roome and the little book which ye editor has long had in mind, and to which reference was

made in the first issue of the Builder. His work, should he find time to complete it, would be more a study than a biography, an estimate, at once sympathetic and critical, of Pike as a Masonic thinker and artist. No purer, nobler man has stood at our altar or left his story in our traditions. He was the most eminent Mason in the world, not only by virtue of his high rank, but by the richness of his culture, and the enduring quality of his achievement. Nor will the Order ever permit to grow dim that stately, grave, and gentle soul.

BRIEFER NOTES-

By the kindness of Sir W. J. Chetwode Crawley, Grand Treasurer of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, we have the advanced proofs of an essay from his pen, discussing "The Legend of the SS Quatuor Coronati." It embodies the first attempt at connecting mediaeval Freemasonry with the followers of Wycliff, the progenitors of the English Reformation, and also the earliest authentic and authorized association of Solomon with the Guild Legend. It is one of the most brilliant and important papers in recent Masonic Research, but as it would not be proper to anticipate its publication in the Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, we reserve more extended notice of it until a later date.

It is good to know that we are to have a biography of Robert Collyer, one of the noblest preachers of his day and an ardent Freemason. It will be written by John Haynes Holmes, at the request of the family of Dr. Collyer. There was about Collyer, as Carlyle would say, something of the eternal. All who heard him carried a lingering, haunting suggestion that somehow, through this man, there came an echo of a voice divinely clear. He was a man of winning words and melting moods, as rich in pathos as in humor,

and ye editor is one of the many thousands who can never forget him nor lose the impress of his rare and beautiful genius.

By all means let us have a question box, as so many have suggested, in which such questions as may properly be asked and answered in print may be taken up and discussed. Meantime, not a few may be glad to know of a little journal devoted to that very thing, "Miscellanea Latomorum or Masonic Notes and Queries," printed for private circulation by L. Upcott Gill & Son, Drury Lane, London, W. C., annual subscription five shillings. This little paper will be found very useful in many ways.

Of course, we cannot promise to deal with questions not Masonic, though a number of such inquiries have already reached this office; as for example, one brothel asks for a little brief of what English literature has to say about the evil of gambling. Well, there is Scott's "St. Ronan's Well," and especially George Eliot's story of Fred Vincy in "Middlemarch," not to mention Dickens' "Old Curiosity Shop," which are among the most impressive exposures of the imbecility and disaster of gambling.

A certain minister who wishes to remain nameless - and we do not blame him - confides to ye editor that Masonry is an invention of Satan, and that Masons are on their way to perdition. His letter recalls the saying of Father Taylor, who was a good Methodist and a great humorist, when he said that it would not do to send Emerson to hell. Why, said he, the tide of immigration would set in that way.

Let a man learn to look for the permanent in the mutable and fleeting; let him learn to bear the disappearance of things he was wont to reverence, without losing his reverence; let him learn that he is here, not to work, but

to be worked upon; and that, though abyss open under abyss, and opinion displace opinion, all are at last contained in the Eternal Cause:

"If my bark sink, 'tis to another sea."

-   Emerson

WHEN THE GAVEL SOUNDS TO CLOSE

How many of us Masons Live according to our creed;

How many lend a helping hand To a brother when in need ?

How many of us Masons Have the lodge alone in mind With the work so letter perfect The great TRUTH we'll never find ?

How many of us Masons,

Both of high and low degree,

Are just button-wearing members Even as you and me?

How many of us Masons

Have the true idea at heart,

And each is striving daily To do his humble part ?

How many of us Masons,

When the gavel sounds to close,

Carries with him from the lodge room Better thoughts as home he goes ?

-  James T. Wray, Worshipful Master, Evanston, Ill.

MERCIFUL GOD When the victors and the vanquished are weeping for their dead, When are hushed the vindications, the last wild prayers are said, When from heaps of desolation, so late a fair domain,

To the wondering stars arises the incense of the slain,

O Thou of everlasting love, whose name we vainly call,

In Thy long-suffering tenderness have mercy on us all.

Do Thou dispel the primal fear, drive out the horde of hates,

And wake the Joy of Brotherhood for which this sad world waits.

-  J.F.N.

IS IT MASONRY?

Is it Masonry

To dare to take God's name in vain,

Or be careful of our speech;

From evil thoughts and words refrain,

And practice what we preach ?

Is it Masonry

To boast of your fine jewels,

Or purify your heart;

To be a man and Mason And act a Mason's part?

Is it Masonry

To fail to help your brothers,

Or your obligations fill?

To leave it for the others,

Or mean and say 'I will?'

-   F.G. Oliver, Georgia.

THE LIBRARY

"IN A NOOK WITH A BOOK”

UTTERLY cast down by the gigantic tragedy of world-war, equally by the magnitude of its horror and by his own inability to grasp it as a whole - so vast are its issues and so rams the stage on which it is enacted - ye editor took down the epical drama of Thomas Hardy, "The Dynasts." (Macmillan Co.) He wished to re-read it, having just read an account of how it was acted on the stage in London recently - a feat he did not believe possible - and he is grateful for having done so, albeit he rejects more firmly than ever the Lucretian philosophy that runs through it.

Here is a drama of the ten years of the Napoleonic wars, in three parts, nineteen acts, one hundred and thirty-five scenes, and more than five hundred characters. The action ranges over all Europe where the great battles were fought, through camps, in courts, in parliament, and not a great figure in any of the lands involved at the time is missing from the cast; hardly a high-lighted incident in the struggle is omitted. Truly, a wonderful achievement of genius, almost as if the historical tragedies of Shakespeare were rolled into one stupendous drama. By a miraculously swift panorama the scene unfolds, and we are now in Trafalgar, now at Leipsig, now at the burning of Moscow, now at Waterloo; now hearing Wellington swear, now watching Pitt die - the while those long dead men talk in a speech but slightly changed from the records of State papers, memoirs, and letters of long ago.

Not only so - and this is what held ye editor as by a spell - we are shown the whole picture from above and without the world, as it is discussed by disembodied intelligences who sit aloft and aloof, watching the drama and

offering interpretation in stately comment. The Spirit of the Years, the chorus of the Pities, the Ironic Spirit, the Shade of the Earth, and the Spirit of Rumor hold high conclave, describing the acts of the drama with vividness of crisp detail, and debating their meaning. Always the Pities are wondering why such things can be as the Dynasts do, how the people can be so sacrificed to the rulers and have no profit of it all; while the Ironic Spirit mocks. The Spirit of the Years has no explanation save that it is so. And ever recurs the insistence that the Power which moves the show, Dynasts as well as their tools, works unknowingly, purposelessly, blindly, even as the Dynasts do in the end.

With this fatalistic atheism ye editor has no affinity - holding, rather, with Whitman, that we may know the universe as "roads for traveling souls," and also "that they go toward the best, toward something great" - none the less he rose from a retreading of "The Dynasts" and turned to the contemplation of the present war with a more cosmic view of it, seeing history r epeating itself in the large and in detail, catching hints of recurrences of events and similitudes, and forefeeling the good working itself out through war, the Dynasts working their own undoing, and the people awakening to be no longer duped into mutual murder. So mote it be.

*   * *

By chance, as we say, the next book opened was a noble volume on "Greek Philosophy," by John Burnet, (Macmillan Co.) and as luck would have it, ye editor, turning through the many pages, fell upon the analysis and discussion of "Phaedrus" - that grand argument for the immortality of the soul, to which hardly a single reason has been added since that far off time - and he heard Socrates saying that such an argument ought to close

with prayer. Whereupon he uttered that brief and wise prayer, putting into a few words all his desire:

"O beloved Pan, and all ye other gods of this place, grant me to become beautiful in the inner man, and that whatever outward things I have may be at peace with those within. May I deem the wise man rich, and may I have such a portion of gold as none but a just man can either bear or employ. Do we need anything else, Phaedrus ? For myself I have prayed enough."

"Make the same prayer for me, too," said Phaedrus," for the possession of friends should be share and share alike."

How beautiful, how wise, reminding one of the prayer of two boys whereof we read in the old "Katha Upanishad" of India: "May He protect us both. May He enjoy us both. May our wisdom grow bright together." One may search the collects of the Church in vain for a parallel to this - the dear love of man for his comrade joined with a sense of care for the joy of God.

Rich in learning, this volume is so original in its interpretations that it will provoke debate, especially its efforts to disentangle Socrates from Plato in the dialogues. There is a noteworthy chapter of Pythagoras, "the man who first united science with religion," and he is given a higher place in the pantheon of philosophy than ever before - above even Socrates himself. Ye editor will return to this volume at another time, taking up the analysis of "Philebus," the dialogue in which Plato expounds his philosophy of numbers, if so he may clear the air in respect of the use of numbers as spiritual symbols, about which there has been so much fog in Masonic thought.

*   * *

What is poetry ? It is music associated with pleasurable ideas, said Edgar Poe, who had more music and fewer pleasurable ideas than almost any man - his song having chiefly to do with the beauty of death, or else the death of beauty. Macaulay, who was sane to a fault - hopelessly sane - held that poetry is a form of insanity. Whereas Charles Lamb, who knew more about both poetry and insanity, made it a point to refute Macaulay. Perhaps we cannot do better than accept the definition of Wordsworth, that poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge; and if we say life instead of knowledge it is perfect.

Now ye editor is a lover of poetry - though he would not go as far as Lanier and say that poets are the only truth-tellers - and he has no patience with those who say that we have no great poetry today. Why, only the other day he opened a slender volume called "The Lonely Dancer," by Richard Le Gallienne, and read lines as perfect as ever were moulded by human lips. There is the song "To a Bird at Dawn," to which no one may fear to apply the term great - lines addressed to the "little creature of soft wings" in whose small feathered throat "sings the long epic of the world." They are worthy of Shelley or Keats, yet they came to birth in our time, and will be singing a hundred years hence:

"And there is something, the song saith,

That makes me unafraid of death."

* * *

Speaking of poetry, here are the "Collected Poems" of Arthur Edward Waite, so well known and highly honored among Masons - a man to whom this world is an infinite parable, a place of sacraments and symbols; to whom the beauties of a beautiful creation are always the vesture and the vesture only, of a world Unseen. The processes of Nature and the ritual of the seasons appeal to him as a great rite forever in the performing, and this sense of the wonder and bloom of the world gives glow and color to his song, and withal a richness of suggestion and finish of form. For example:

"Why hint so deeply, O mind within,

Of the going forth and the coming in

Of doves through an arch unbidden?

Do I not know that the whence and where

Of the life of man may be symboled there ?

But in light so bright and on sward so fair

O let what is hidden be hidden."

*   * *

Of a truth, Algernon Blackwood - he who wrote that divinely beautiful story of "The Prisoner of Fairyland," wherein, if a man read with a mind "unwumbled," he will find his child-heart again - is a past-grand master of weird and ghostly stories. His new book, "Incredible Adventures" - and well-named it surely is - contains five "long-short" stories, each of which deals with the occult. The most remarkable is entitled "A Descent into Egypt," and tells how the remotest past lays hold of an excavator who penetrates the tombs of ancient dynasties, until the present world becomes

indifferent to him. George Islay leaves his true soul at Thebes, and only a shell walks the streets of London. Egypt has a dangerous spell, we are told, for her worshippers. Behind the stillness of hot, windless days, behind the peace of calm, gigantic nights, it lurks unrealized, monstrous and irresistible. The stream of life runs backward and the heart lives backwards. The pilfering of her ancient dead Egypt suffers still; she, in revenge, preys at her leisure on the living. Ay, it gives one the creeps to read about it.

* * *

If only one could remember all the striking phrases the startling and quick flashing of insight, which he meets in books, what a rich mind would be his reward. Here is a story, reflecting much of nobility and love and a restrained and quiet humor - "Faces in the Dawn,' by Hagedorn - in which ye editor found these words which set him musing a whole evening, and the more he mused the more they meant:

"There are not two worlds, one outside the house and one inside; there are not two struggles. There is only one struggle, the struggle for spiritual growth and none of us can fight it for others, and none of us can fight it alone."

*   * *

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Practical Mysticism, by Evelyn Underhill. Dent and Sons, London.

The King of the Dark Chamber, by Tagore. Macmillan Co., New York. The Rise of the American People, by R. G. Usher Century Co., New York.

Vitruvius: Ten Books on Architecture, translated by M. K. Morgan. Harvard University Press.

Jacques de Molay, by Charles Francis Lamb.

Fraternity, by J. R. Hutchins, Ardmore. Okla.

RESTORED TO LIGHT A faint light shining for a space;

A breath of wind upon the face;

A stirring in the mist; a sigh;

A sense of distance, height and sky;

A little wave of melody !

O but how beautiful to see The light leaf dance upon the tree,

The bloom upon the hedgerow stirr'd By the transport of a singing bird,

And - after darkness and eclipse- The sun upon the sails of ships,

All up and down the dancing sea !

O but how beautiful to hear A little whisper in the ear,

A smaller voice than note of bird,

A still small voice, a mighty word,

A whisper in the heart to say That God is not so far away !

-   A. E. Waite.

THE VERDICT

"The verdict which accumulates From lengthening scroll of human fates, Voice of earth to earth returned,

Prayers of Saints that inly burn,- Saying, What is excellent,

As God lives, is permanent;

Hearts are dust, heart's loves remain;

Heart's love will meet thee again."

-   Emerson.

THE BUILDER MAGAZINE

NOVEMBER 1915

VOLUME 1 - NUMBER 11

THE ESTABLISHMENT AND EARLY DAYS OF MASONRY IN AMERICA

BY BRO. MELVIN M. JOHNSON, GRAND MASTER, MASSACHUSETTS

CONCLUSION.

MAY I conclude with a few words concerning recent Pennsylvania claims to precedence? After conceding that the Pennsylvania Lodges prior to 1734 were held without Charter or Warrant, a most astounding argument is offered to the effect that they made themselves regular by confederating in a Gland Lodge; in other words, irregularity plus more irregularity, plus still more irregularity equals regularity. It is contended that in 1731 these unwarranted Lodges came together and formed a Grand Lodge which was a "sister" and not a daughter to the Grand Lodge of England. The complete answer to this argument is given by Pennsylvania herself. Her application to Price in 1734; her sending Franklin as a proxy several times to the Grand Lodge in Boston in the early days; her application again to Massachusetts in 1749; her application immediately thereafter direct to England for a confirmatory Deputation which was issued to her and accepted and

acted upon by her in 1750; her payment April 10, 1752, of 31:10:0 to the Grand Lodge in Boston as a charter fee; her acceptance and action under a Warrant received from England bearing date July 15, 1761; and indeed all her Masonic acts since 1731 are consistent only with the complete recognition by Pennsylvania of the fact that all of her lawful Masonic authority flowed directly or indirectly from England. Just as it is sound law and good reasoning that a tenant cannot deny the title of his landlord, so it is equally sound reasoning that a deputized Lodge or Grand Lodge cannot deny the authority of the source issuing the Deputation accepted and exercised by it. After nearly two centuries of Masonic life during which it has recognized the Grand Lodge of England as its lawful predecessor, and as the one Body in the world having the primary right in those early days to issue Warrants or Deputations covering Pennsylvania, it is a little late to claim for the first time in 1908 and for a present day historian to contend that "The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania was a sister and not a daughter to the Grand Lodge of England." It is, in fact, a daughter of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and, therefore, a grand-daughter of the Gland Lodge of England.

It is entirely correct that "the movement in Massachusetts was not an independent one, but subordinate to the Grand Lodge of England." But Pennsylvania having in the early days again and again acknowledged itself to be subordinate to England and to Massachusetts, it is now too late for Pennsylvania to expect that the novel modern theory of some of her recent sons will be permitted to upset the facts of history. Pennsylvania is too great a jurisdiction; she has too grand a history; she is too highly respected

in the Masonic world; she has too much claim to Masonic grandeur and pre-eminence in many directions to stoop at this late day to belittle Franklin and others of her great men; to belittle Price; to belittle Massachusetts; and indeed to belittle the Grand Lodge of England itself by the attempt now being made to distort history.

While it does not particularly concern this discussion, I cannot let pass without notice the same historian’s statement that the legitimate Grand Lodge of England (which had been nicknamed "Moderns") was superseded by the rival organization known as the "Ancients" (this being the schismatic Grand Lodge), and that such supersession has continued down to the present time. Every impartial Masonic historian and student in the world knows better. In 1813 there was a fusion or union of the two rival Grand Lodges in England known as the "Moderns" and "Ancients." On St. John the Evangelist’s Day in 1813 there was a very elaborate ceremony of union. The story of the union and its attendant circumstances are thoroughly detailed by Bro. Albert G. Mackey in the fifth volume of his History of Freemasonry, Chapter XLIII. A learned paper on this subject is to be found in XXIII Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, 215. The ceremony of union is given in full in the Minutes of the United Grand Lodge of England, and may be found also in Bro. W. J. Hughan’s "Memorials of the Masonic Union of A. D. 1813" published 1874; Revised, augmented and republished by the Lodge of Research in 1913. Original programs of the ceremonies and of the music are in the archives of Massachusetts. So far were the "Moderns" from being superseded, that their Gland Master, the Duke of Sussex, became then the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge. I call attention to this statement more particularly that it may illustrate how much weight is to be given to the other claims with which we have been dealing made by the same historian.

Recapitulating briefly the facts, we find that prior to 1733 many Lodges met without authority; that a regular Commission issued to Daniel Coxe for a part of North America in 1730, but that this Commission was never exercised; that after Masonry became an organized Institution and meetings of Lodges without a Charter or Warrant were prohibited, no lawful authority was ever exercised in America until July 30, 1733, when Henry Price organized a Provincial Grand Lodge in Boston under the authority granted him by the Lord Viscount Montague, then Grand Master of Masons in England. It is thus that the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts is the Mother Grand Lodge of America, and that Henry Price is the "Founder of Duly Constituted Masonry in America."

NOTE.

Recognition has widely and frequently been made of Massachusetts as the oldest Grand Lodge in the Western Hemisphere.

No effort has been made to collate with any thoroughness the instances, but a few which come to mind as this is being prepared for the printer are as follows:

By England. There has been frequent recognition by the Grand Lodge of England of Massachusetts as the oldest jurisdiction in America. The earliest instances have been heretofore referred to. More recent is a letter from the Grand Master of England to the

Grand Master of Massachusetts, dated Feb. 7, 1912, in which he speaks of that Grand Lodge as "The oldest Lodge on this (the North American) continent, and which originally owed its Warrant to the Grand Lodge of England." The most recent instance is a resolution of the United Grand Lodge of England, unanimously passed on Sept. 2, 1914, reading as follows:

"That Grand Lodge expresses its thanks to the Most Worshipful Grand Master for communicating the letter his Royal Highness has received from M.W. Bro. Melvin Maynard Johnson, Grand Master of Mason of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and desires to associate itself with his Royal Highness’ deep appreciation of the expressions therein contained, as voicing a sincerity of Masonic feeling especially welcome to Grand Lodge as coming from its ’eldest child in Western Hemisphere.’ "

By Canada. See the Address of Grand Master William David McPherson at Grand Peace Festival, held at Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, July 16, 1914, to be published in memorial volume, also his 1915 annual address.

By Nova Scotia. See "Early History of Freemasonry in Nova Scotia," by M. W. Bro. Hon. William Ross, June, 1910.

By the District of Columbia. Massachusetts was given seniority in ceremonies of dedication of Washington Monument, Feb. 21, 1885. This was after a formal hearing by a Committee before which Massachusetts and Pennsylvania presented their claims to seniority. The decision was in favor of Massachusetts.

By Idaho. M.W. Curtis F. Pike, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Idaho, in a letter to the writer dated April 8, 1914, says, "It occurs to me as I write that Massachusetts is the oldest Grand Jurisdiction in America, if my memory of Masonic History is correct."

By Indiana. See Proceedings. of May, 1852.

By Louisiana. See 11 Moore’s Freemason’s Magazine 167.

By Maine. See 1887 Mass. 236.

By Maryland. At a banquet in Baltimore, Md., in 1885, the representative of Massachusetts was called upon to respond to the toast "The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, the Mother Grand Lodge of Masonry in America."

By Missouri. M.W. Van Fremont Boor, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri, in a letter to the writer, dated April 29, 1914, refers to Massachusetts as "The oldest Grand Jurisdiction in the United States."

By Pennsylvania. As set forth in earlier chapters.

Also:

Wor. Alfred P. Reigh, a learned Masonic student and Past Master of Washington Lodge No. 164 of Pennsylvania, in a letter dated Sept. 9, 1852, refers to Massachusetts as "The oldest Grand Lodge in the United States."

The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania on June 16, 1834, on motion of a Committee of which Past Grand Master Michael Nisbet was Chairman, unanimously adopted a resolution, "For the celebration of St. John the Baptist’s Day, 24th of June A. D. 1834, A. L. 5834, being the Centennial Anniversary of the Establishment of the First Lodge in Pennsylvania, of which Lodge Bro. Benjamin Franklin was the First Master."

M. W. Sereno D. Nickerson of Massachusetts on June 10, 1903, said: "At the time of this Centennial the orator (R. W. George W. Dallas) was the Attorney General of Pennsylvania and ex-United States Senator; afterwards Minister to Russia, Vice-President of the United States and Minister to England. He was Deputy Grand Master, and six months later was elected Grand Master. He was then fighting the battle with anti-Masonry in his State. His father was a distinguished lawyer in Philadelphia, Secretary of the Commonwealth when Franklin died, and Secretary of the Treasury under President Madison; he must have known Franklin well, and lived until the son, born only two years after Franklin’s death, was twenty-seven years old. It is simply absurd to claim that the orator, under such circumstances, did not know the history of his Grand Lodge, did not know whether they were celebrating the true date of the ’Establishment of the First Lodge in Pennsylvania, of which Lodge Bro. Benjamin Franklin was the First Master.’ It is not improbable that there were Brethren present who had heard the story from Franklin’s own lips. Only forty-four years had elapsed since Franklin’s death, and probably the incidents of his life were as familiar as household words to some Brethren then present."

On Sept. 26, 1855, Bro. James King was orator at the dedication of the new hall on Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, and there and then referred to the illustrious Franklin as "The First Master of a Masonic Lodge in Pennsylvania."

On Sept. 26, 1873, Past Grand Master Robert A. Lamberton of Pennsylvania, President of Lehigh University, in an oration at the dedication of the Temple in Philadelphia said: "The Lodges in Philadelphia, doubtless desiring to place themselves under the immediate jurisdiction of that Grand Lodge (Massachusetts), accepted and recognized the power of R.W.G.M. Price to appoint Benjamin Franklin as the Grand Master; Massachusetts authority gives the date of this appointment the 24th of June, 1734. From a contemporary account it is certain that on that day at the celebration of the Feast of St. John the Baptist he appeared as ’Grand Master.’ Franklin evidently had doubts of the regularity of the powers of the Lodge or Lodges over which he exercised authority, for, signing himself as Grand Master on the 28th of November, 1734, he wrote from Philadelphia to the ’R.W.G.M. and Most Worthy and Dear Brethren in Boston,’ requesting that a Deputation or Charter be granted by the R.W.G.M. Price, by virtue of his commission from Britain.

He continued: "It is needless to follow on the history of the Grand Lodge, as then constituted, and of which Franklin, in 1749, again became the Grand Master by appointment of R. W. Thomas Oxnard." It would seem that Brother Lamberton was disposed to give full credit to Massachusetts.

By Tennessee. See 9 Moore’s Freemason’s Magazine 316.

By Vermont. At the laying of the corner-stone of the Bennington Monument.

By Lafayette. In this connection it is interesting to recall a letter written by General Lafayette on Aug. 29, 1824, to the Master of St.

John’s Lodge of Boston, in which he refers to that Lodge as "The first Lodge on the Continent of America."

AGNOSTICISM

Agnosticism, as now stated, assumed not simply the impotence of the

human, but of the Divine reason; for a God man cannot know is at

the same time a God who. cannot make himself known. Our inability

to reach Him is possible, only because of His inability to become intelligible.

--Albert Pike

THE END OF EVIL

Evil on itself shall back recoil,

And mix no more with goodness, when at last,

Gathered like scum, and settled to itself,

It shall be in eternal restless change Self-fed and self-consumed.

--John Milton.

THE MYSTERY

If it touches the heart of a Poet,

The gods and the ages will know it;

For over the waters and crags of time The winds of the world will blow it.

--Edwin Markham.

MY BROTHER KNEELS

My Brother kneels, so saith Kabir,

To stone and brass in heathen wise,

But in my brother’s soul I hear My own unanswered agonies;

His God is as his fates assign;

His prayer is all the world’s--and mine.

--Poems of Kabir.

THE BIBLE IN MASONRY

BY THE EDITOR

Joseph Fort Newton

BROTHER Toastmaster: Time is a river and books are boats. Many volumes start down that stream, only to be wrecked and lost beyond recall in its sands. Only a few, a very few, endure the testings of time and live to bless the ages following. Tonight we are met to pay homage to the greatest of all books--the one enduring Book which has traveled down to us from the far past, freighted with the richest treasure that ever any book has brought to humanity. What a sight it is to see five hundred men gathered about an open Bible- -how typical of the spirit and genius of Masonry, its great and simple faith and its benign ministry to mankind.

No Mason needs to be told what a place of honor the Bible has in Masonry. One of the great Lights of the Order, it lies open upon the altar at the center of the lodge. Upon it every Mason takes solemn vows of love, of loyalty, of chastity, of charity, pledging himself to our tenets of Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth. Think what it means for a young man to make such a covenant of consecration in the morning of life, taking that wise old Book as his guide, teacher and friend! Then as he moves forward from one degree to another, the imagery of the Bible becomes familiar and eloquent, and its mellow, haunting music sings its way into his heart.

And yet, like everything else in Masonry, the Bible, so rich in symbolism, is itself a symbol—that is, a part taken for the whole. It

is a sovereign symbol of the Book of Faith, the Will of God as man has learned it in the midst of the years--that perpetual revelation of Himself which God is making mankind in every land and every age. Thus, by the very honor which Masonry pays to the Bible, it teaches us to revere every book of faith in which men find help for today and hope for the morrow, joining hands with the man of Islam as he takes oath on the Koran, and with the Hindu as he makes covenant with God upon the book that he loves best.

For Masonry knows, what so many forget, that religions are many, but Religion is one--perhaps we may say one thing, but that one thing includes everything--the life of God in the soul of man, and the duty and hope of man which proceed from His essential character. Therefore it invites to its altar men of all faiths, knowing that, if they use different names for "the Nameless One of a hundred names," they are yet praying to the one God and Father of all; knowing, also, that while they read different volumes, they ale in fact reading the same vast Book of the Faith of Man as revealed in the struggle and sorrow of the race in its quest of God. So that, great and noble as the Bible is, Masonry sees it as a symbol of that eternal Book of the Will of God which Lowell described when he wrote his memorable lines:

"Slowly the Bible of the race is writ, And not on paper leaves nor leaves of stone; Each age, each kindred; adds a verse to it, Texts of despair or hope, of joy or moan. While swings the sea, while mists the mountain shroud, While thunder’s surges burst on cliffs of cloud, Still at the prophets’ feet the nations sit."

None the less, much as we honor every book of faith in which any man has found courage to lift his hand above the night that covers him and lay hold of the mighty Hand of God, with us the Bible is supreme What Homer was to the Greeks, what the Koran is to the Arabs, that, and much more, the grand old Bible is to us. It is the mother in our literary family, and if some of its children have grown up and become wise in their own conceit, they yet rejoice to gather about its knee and pay tribute. Not only was the Bible the loom on which our language was woven, but it is a pervasive, refining, redeeming force bequeathed to us, with whatsoever else that is good and true, in the very fiber of our being. Not for a day do we regard the Bible simply as a literary classic, apart from what it means to the faiths and hopes and prayers of men, and its in weaving into the intellectual and spiritual life of our race.

There was a time when the Bible formed almost the only literature of England; and today, if it were taken away, that literature would be torn to tatters and shreds. Truly did Macaulay say that, if everything else in our language should perish, the Bible would alone suffice to show the whole range and power and beauty of our speech. From it Milton learned his majesty of song, and Ruskin his magic of prose. Carlyle had in his very blood, almost without knowing it, the rhapsody and passion of the prophets--their sense of the Infinite, of the littleness of man, of the sarcasm of providence; as Burns, before him, had learned from the same fireside Book the indestructibleness of honor and the humane pity of God which throbbed in his lyrics of love and liberty. Thus, from Shakespeare to Tennyson, the Bible sings in our poetry, chants in our music, echoes in our eloquence, and in our tragedy flashes

forever its truth of the terribleness of sin, the tenderness of God, and the inextinguishable hope of man.

My brethren, here is a Book whose scene is the sky and the dirt and all that lies between-- a Book that has in it the arch of the heavens, the curve of the earth, the ebb and flow of the sea, sunrise and sunset, the peaks of mountains and the glint of sunlight on flowing waters, the shadow of forests on the hills, the song of birds and the color of flowers. But its two great characters are God and the Soul, and the story of their eternal life together is its one everlasting romance. It is the most human of books, telling the old forgotten secrets of the heart, its bitter pessimism and its death defying hope, its pain, its passion, its sin, its sob of grief and its shout of joy-­telling all, without malice, in its Grand Style which can do no wrong, while echoing the sweet-toned pathos of the pity and mercy of God. No other book is so honest with us, so mercilessly merciful, so austere yet so tender, piercing the heart, yet healing the deep wounds of sin and sorrow.

Take this great and simple Book, white with age yet new with the dew of each new morning, tested by the sorrowful and victorious experience of centuries, rich in memories and wet with the tears of multitudes who walked this way before us--lay it to heart, love it, read it, and learn what life is, what it means to be a man; aye, learn that God hath made us for Himself, and unquiet are our hearts till they rest in Him. Make it your friend and teacher, and you will know what Sir Walter Scott meant when, as he lay dying, he asked Lockhart to read to him. "From what book?" asked Lockhart, and Scott replied, "There is but one Book!"

--- O----

LET THERE BE LIGHT

Let there be light ! In world’s dim dawn When all earth’s hopes depended on The spread of that effulgent glow To germinate all things below,

Then wisdom’s laws, by His command Made ready evolution’s hand.

Then were the clouds of chaos riven When that decree by Him was given.

Let there be light!

Let there be light ! The edict spread O’er all the universe, where sped The essence of the Power Supreme Alight with glory’s potent beam Which woke to action, growth and force,

Each slumb’ring atom in its course,

While life’s prodigious prospects bright

Took shape at earliest dawn of light.

Let there be light !

Let there be light ! In darkened hours,

When hov’ring clouds with threatening powers, By superstition’s gruesome hand Are spread o’er mystic beauty’s land,

Swift as the lightning’s flash from heaven The blest decree to worlds is given,

And lights revealing hope and love Break through the darkened clouds above.

Let there be light !

Let there be light! By symbols known That wonderful decree is shown Expressing each true heart’s desire That lights of truth from mystic fire Which burns in each appointed place,

May spread their gleam o’er all the race

And they, in glow of beauty find Pare truths long sought by all mankind. Let there be light!

Let there be light ! When nations rise, And war clouds hover o’er the skies, When thunders of the battle break O’er lovely plains, and havoc wake, When devastation’s scorching breath Is borne through lands on wings of death, When horrors of the conflict rage And leave their marks on hist’l y’s page Let there be light!

Let there be light ! Nay, seek no more To stop each devastating war While leaving causes of the strife To stay and harass human life;

While war lords yet their systems nurse

To make mankind’s condition worse. Think well of these, of moral laws Which, violated, gave the CAUSE !

Let there be light!

Let there be light ! When they, in war, The rights of liberty ignore And scatter baneful dangers wide ’Mong friends and foes, all laws defied, Vain are the pleas ignobly made For wholesale murder’s cruel aid,

Nor can diplomacy atone For willful acts of murder done.

Let there be light!

Let there be light! In time of peace, That each oppressive system cease Should be our aim, and never wait Until remonstrance be too late;

Till outraged manhood’s hosts, in wrath,

Poise up across the oppressor’s path,

And freedom’s warriors’ bold stand At length brings peace through every land.

Let these be light!

-   Lewis Alexander McConnell.

THE WAY OF DITTY

This truth comes to us more and more the longer we live, that on what field or in what uniform, or with what aims we do our duty, matters very little, or even what our duty is, great or small, splendid or obscure. Only to find our duty certainly and somewhere, and do it faithfully, makes us strong, happy and useful men, and tunes our lives into some feeble echo of the life of God.

-   Phillips Brooks.

Masonry is not an exposition of a manufactured ritual, nor is it a new revelation. It expresses the underlying principles which govern all the religions which the race has loved, and is founded upon the accumulated traditions which are necessities to humanity.

-   Sir Gilbert Parker.

THE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF MASONRY

BY BRO. J. H. MORROW, CALIFORNIA

ONE of the most beautiful of natural phenomena is the dew. We rise up early in the morning, throw open the casement, and there, spread out before us on earth’s green carpet, lie myriads upon myriads of gems more brilliant than ever graced a queenly brow. It is as though God before rolling up the canopy of night had laid the stars for a moment upon the earth for man’s nearer view.

As we gaze, entranced, the sun asserts his majesty, and along invisible paths the wealth of magic beauty vanishes in thin air. But each crystal drop has left refreshment in its wake. The tender blade of grass, the new-born leaf of the shrub, the unfolding petal of the blossom has each in turn gathered fresh life and renewed vigor.

And so, in a way, is spirituality. Heaven sent, it comes to earth to quicken men’s souls into new life. It is all that the dew is to nature, but it is far more. It more closely resembles the gentle rain in the depth and permanence of its effect.

A dove brought a seed from the skies, and it said to the man, "The seed I bring is precious beyond all price. Its name is the Knowledge-of-God. I would fain plant it where it shall find constant nourishment, so that it may germinate and grow and bear fruit for the healing of the nations."

Reverently the man uncovered his head, and humbly bared his breast. "O gentle dove," he said, "vouchsafe that this seed may find lodgment in my poor heart." And the dove replied, "So let it be," and straightway it planted the seed in the human breast so freely offered.

And there flew to earth another dove, and the seed it brought- was called Faith, and this seed, too, found lodgment in the man’s heart. And still another dove brought the seed of Hope, and another the seed of Charity, and a fourth the seed of Brotherly Love, and again a fifth the seed of Immortality; for these seeds, too, the man’s breast gave welcoming place

The name of the man was Freemason. The life he lived, and the deeds he wrought, be they small or great, are known to all, but the vision of the doves and the planting of the seeds were for his eye alone.

Brethren, if I have indulged in metaphor and resorted to parable, it has been but to stimulate the imagination that you may the more easily rise with me to the plane upon which Masonry in its teachings and their fulfillment rests. The first seed implanted in the heart of the Freemason was the Knowledge-of-God. To put our trust in Him is the initial and the directing step in the journey of life. With Him as our guide, our mentor, we can press forward without doubt or fear. As Christian, Jew, Brahmin, or Mohammedan, each may call Him by a different name, but to one and all He is the Great Architect, the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, and as we learn to accept His guidance, He becomes better still the Heavenly Father, drawing us to Him with bonds of love. "We feel His presence, e’en unseen," and we walk by faith, and are sustained by hope in its whispered promise of eternal life. And so it is with the other seeds. In the exercise, for example, of charity through the promptings of brotherly love--charity which softens and modifies our judgments, makes us conscious of our own shortcomings, and renders us responsive to the appeals of those in distress--we become partakers of the Divine nature and thus children of God.

"To worship rightly is to love each other; Each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer." "Each loving life a psalm of gratitude."

King Solomon’s Temple is long crumbled into dust, but we as Masons are taught that we may rear another in its stead. The plan lies upon the trestle board of the Supreme Master. Happy is the man who builds according to that plan. For the temple site is the human heart, and the temple is known as character. Masonry is character-building, and whether we be Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, or Master Mason, our duties are clearly defined, and our accountability made clear.

Now, character is what we are, and must not be confounded with reputation, which is what men think of us. If character be sound, be good, be true, then reputation can safely be left to take care of itself. Men covet reputation, but reputation is only secure when it rests upon a moral foundation. Hypocrisy, deceit, false pretensions may achieve their ends for a while, but sooner or later the sham will be found out, and the structure so faultily built prove but a house of cards. Therefore, the question which concerns me as a

Mason is not what do men think of me, but what do I think of myself ?

In the light of Masonry I am able to judge myself. The plan lies before me. My obligations are emblazoned upon the walls of my remembrance. How have I hewn and laid the foundations of my character? How have I built the superstructure? Dare I apply to the walls the plumb and square and level of righteousness ? The heart of the man who received the seeds from the doves knew as the days and the years went by how well it had cherished the divine gifts. So, as I lay my head at night upon my pillow, and turn upon myself the eyes of introspection, I can search my soul.

Shall I be discouraged by the faults I find? Nay, not so. If I only realize that I have tried to build a temple acceptable to the Supreme Architect, I have not wholly failed. To be able to discover the fault shows that I have not lost sight of the plan, and am not deaf to the still small voice of conscience. And the wonderful thing in character-building is that so long as life lasts opportunity is given all to correct the faults. Fortunate, indeed, am I if the faults be those of days rather than of years. Yet it were better to begin all over again, though the structure eventually remain incomplete, than never to have made the attempt. But I must not put off the rebuilding to "a more convenient season," for "the night cometh when no man can work." Opportunity is mine, but it is limited. The sands remaining in my hour-glass I cannot see.

Still, I must not despair. Hands of brotherly love are outstretched to help me.

Toil though we may, none toils alone-- A brother’s hands help lift the stone My arm is powerless to place; And love is beaming from his face.

Furthermore, we cannot contemplate the sublime truths of Masonry without receiving a reciprocal blessing. It is an immutable law that like begets like. Out of the abundance of the harvest is the promise of another garnering of like kind. And we sow without doubt, knowing that as we sow so shall we also reap. What is true of nature is true of spirituality. Of all the gifts of the inner life, the highest is that of love. Brotherly love unifies Masonry, and in its expression ennobles the lives of the brethren. It is this ennoblement, this enrichment so evident in innumerable instances, that draws men to our sanctuaries, humble and voluntary applicants for admission. They have discovered in the influences of Masonry a transforming power for good which they would fain enjoy.

Sculptured in profile on a New England mountain cliff is the noble face of a man. Tradition foretold that one day the counterpart would appear in human form. And the story runs that a lad was wont to visit the spot, watching in his boyish faith for the fulfillment of the promise. Alas, many passed, but never one who in lineament and expression reflected the heavenly beauty of the face of the granite hills. From boyhood the watcher grew to youth, and from youth to manhood, and still his dream remained unfulfilled. The tocsin of war sounded, and he hastened to the defense of his country’s flag. Bravely, honorably, heroically he did his part, but often on picket duty in the gloomy watches of the night or amid the fitful sleep of the turf-pillowed bivouac, that

radiant face of the distant mountain would reveal itself, and he would study it with the eyes of introspection. The war ended, and it was vouchsafed to him to return to his home. From force of habit he repaired to the mountain. There stood the face, as it had stood for ages untold, not an attribute impaired. Lost in reverie the soldier in his faded uniform became unconscious of surroundings, and unaware of the gathering of an awe-struck group. The tradition was at last come true; the counterpart in human form was there-- but he did not know it.

Like begets like, beauty begets beauty, love begets love, holiness begets holiness, but the discovery is left to others.

Frequenting the almost inaccessible peak of a lofty mountain was a bird of snow-white plumage. Its name was Purity, and to him who should find one of its spotless feathers was the promise of eternal life. Many essayed to find a feather, but discouraged by the obstacles became disheartened and dropped back to the Valley of Ease—all save one. Undaunted, though bruised and bleeding, he pressed upward. Often he stumbled, sometimes he slipped backward, but only to regain lost ground and to keep on climbing. Would he ever reach the top ? His strength was giving out, when suddenly the shadow of the bird rested upon him. With one last effort he stretched forth his hand, but only to grasp thin air. He fell and died, and then, lo the miracle ! From the pitying breast of the hovering bird descended a feather, and rested on the palm of the nerveless hand. The gift of eternal life was won.

Brethren, the spiritual rewards of Masonry are not to be sought in the Valley of Ease. They may be summed up in one phrase--the satisfaction of feeling that we have endeavored to walk uprightly in every path of life, and to discharge our duties to God, to country, to home, to our fellow-men in conformity with the sublime teachings of the Order. The rest may be left to Him who noteth even the fall of a sparrow.

"Oh ! the cedars of Lebanon grow at our door, And the quarry is sunk at our gate; And the ships out of Ophir, with golden ore, For our summoning mandate wait; And the word of a Master Mason May the house of our soul create ! While the day hath light let the light be used, For no man shall the night control ! Or ever the silver cord be loosed, Or broken the golden bowl, May we build King Solomon’s Temple In the true Masonic soul!"

And the meaning is this--that we do not have to go far afield to discharge our Masonic obligations, and to be spiritually quickened. In the pursuit of wealth men often travel to the uttermost parts of the world and endure danger and privation without end, alas, sometimes in vain, not realizing that mines of golden promise lie buried at the very doorsteps of the homes they have spurned. So the demands for the exercise of Masonic virtues lie close at hand. The stranger, hopeless, distressed, is knocking at our gate for admittance. The tearstained faces of the widow and the orphan are lifted in appeal to our windows. The brother, needy in a material or in a spiritual sense, is mutely stretching out his hand for help and sympathy along the pathway of our daily routine. Our homes are demanding of us the highest expressions of love. Our city and our country are expecting us to exemplify civic righteousness. And the voice of God is ever ringing in our ears, "Inasmuch as ye have done

it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto Me."

It is a misnomer to speak of the spiritual side of Masonry. If there be another side it is foreign to our Order, and I know it not. Spirituality is the life of Masonry. Blest is he who is privileged to partake of it, and to help rebuild the Temple of King Solomon.

FREEMASONS AS BUILDERS

(A Series of Researches into the Operative Efforts of the Craft III.THIE TEMPLE AT IOWA CITY, IOWA

ERECTED and completely equipped for slightly less than $50,000.00 the Temple occupied by the Brethren at Iowa City, Iowa, is at once compact, convenient and commodious. It is designed to meet Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery needs. The Brethren have ventured further into club house arrangements than we have previously illustrated in this series. Iowa City is the home of Iowa State University, and the presence of a large number of Masons in the student body probably accounts for this.

The basement story (not illustrated,) is occupied by a dining room, kitchen and heating plant. The first floor is arranged around a central "Exchange," utilized for social features as well as a Commandery Drill Hall. Two Game Rooms, a Billiard Room, the Secretary’s Office and Vault, and a Reading Room, all have openings into the Exchange. In the forward part of the building, separate

parlors and cloak rooms are provided for the ladies and Brethren, both readily accessible from the main entrance.

In the second floor, additional cloak rooms are provided. The Armory, with a generous balcony, is well adapted to the uses of the Commandery, and opens directly into the Lodge Room. The Ante­Room, Committee Room and Preparation Room open into the Lodge Room also, while (as in all plans thus far presented) the paraphernalia and storage room parallels the Lodge Room. East and West. A high ceiling in the Lodge Room affords opportunity for mezzanine floors all around it, thus permitting the introduction of a pipe organ and other accessories, if desired.

THE RELATIONSHIP OF MASONRY TO THE LIBERATION OF SPANISH AMERICA

BY BRO. HENRY BIXBY HEMENWAY, A.M., M.D., ILLINOIS

(Note.--The following article has been written at the earnest solicitation of the Editor. It is submitted, not as a completed study, but that it may aid others who wish to follow a similar path. Unfortunately, such a study should occupy much time, and the investigator should be able to follow the path into many countries, and to search through documentary records. Citations are here given to shorten, if possible, the preliminary work of other students.-- H. B. H.)

ONE of the most inviting fields for the Masonic investigator is that which pertains to the relationship between this great order and governmental history. It is not probable that any one would be so rash as to affirm that Masonry was the cause of the War of the Revolution. On the other hand, there are many who believe that the Revolution would not have been successfully begun, continued and ended were it not for the aid of that body of patriots. If this be granted, the next question to arise is whether the revolution was the incidental result of the teaching of Masonry, or was the organization used by the leaders of the movement because secrecy was necessary for their operations. Were these leaders driven into the society for mutual protection ?

Apparently it was the oppression of the Huguenots in France and the constant annoyance of the Scotch Irish by the English government that developed in each of those oppressed a spirit of determined endurance, and a love of liberty, which they strongly exhibited on coming to America. This had much to do with the starting of the revolution. Both of these peoples were patrons of Masonry, and the two leading spirits of the movement which resulted in the formation of the Grand Lodge of England, June 24, 1717, were James Anderson, a Scotch Presbyterian clergyman, and John Desaguliers, a French Huguenot. One of the fundamental principles of Masonry is religious liberty; and it therefore received the condemnation of the Roman See. While Masonry has no opposition to the Roman church as a religious institution, it does oppose its attempt to connect spiritual and temporal power. As between monarchy and democracy that church has in the past always been arrayed on the side of monarchy. It was therefore a natural result that a large proportion of the leaders in the American revolution were members of the fraternity, though it must by no means be forgotten that some loyal members of the

Roman church gave important moral, financial, and personal support to the cause.

In the minds of such men as Washington, Masonic membership was another evidence of a man’s reliability and fitness for trust. Silence and circumspection had been taught him. If therefore there were some important business to be done in the interest of the colonial army or government, it was natural that it should be safeguarded by those fraternal bonds. If a council were necessary, it was not unlikely that it might be protected by the privacy of the military lodge. There was a double test of safety in the membership in the order, and the position in the army. The practical influence of this association impressed itself upon the Marquis de Lafayette, and he became an enthusiastic Mason.

It has been said that when Lafayette came to this country he had upon his staff a young native of Venezuela by the name of Miranda. It has been supposed that Miranda here became a Mason also, and it has often been said that Washington was his ideal. After he left the United States he settled in London for a time. There he established a secret society for the avowed purpose of freeing Spanish America from the European yoke. This society, we have been told, was founded on Masonry. It inculcated republican doctrines, and was formed principally, if not exclusively, of Spanish Americans who were pledged, in different degrees, to work for South American freedom. Into this society the great leaders of the southern rebellion were initiated--San Martin, Bernardo O’Higgins, Bolivar, Sucre and the rest. At Cadiz, we are told, (1) a subordinate society was established affiliated with the mother organization, and known under the name "Sociedad de Lautaro, o

Cabelleros Rationales." Subsequently a Logia Lautaro was established in Buenos Aires, and another at Santiago, Chile.

It will also be remembered that almost immediately after the success of the Spanish revolution, Masonic lodges were formed throughout Latin America, and that the political leaders were Masons. Further, though the Roman church was not disturbed in its ministrations, wherever the Masonic influences were the strongest, there the temporal power of that church was the most restricted.

The general evidence, therefore, tends to show a direct relationship, not only between the revolution in the English and that in the Spanish colonies, but between both and the Masonic order, either as a causative, or as an executive agent.

It is only within a relatively short time that the study of history has approached scientific accuracy. Formerly it was the custom of a historian to take what came to hand without special question, unless he found that statements or evidence did not agree. The consequence was that misstatements were kept alive, and by their very frequency they became convincing. If, as sometimes happened, many writers went to the same source for their information, a mistake in the original caused the error of many; still, in the place of being really the evidence of many, it was the evidence of only one, oft repeated.

In the sketch of Miranda’s life in the International Encyclopedia it is said that he resigned from the Spanish army in order to fight with the French in the United States. The Encyclopedia Britanica says: "He entered the army, and served with the French in the

American War of Independence. The success of that war inspired him with a belief that the independence of Spanish America would increase prosperity. He began to scheme a revolution, but was discovered and had only time to escape to the United States. Thence he went to England." As will be seen later this account is almost entirely wrong, though that writer refers in his bibliography to the only critical study of the subject which has been made. The Encyclopedia Americana repeats the former error about Miranda’s service in our Revolution, even giving the dates, 1779-1781. It also refers to his formation of the Gran Reunion Americana, which is correct. The other encyclopedias are silent as to this society, and the Logia Lautaro.

The misstatement relative to Miranda’s service in our Revolution is repeated by Dalton, (2) Hirst, (3) Eder, (4) Garcia Calderon, (5) and Chisholm. (6) Chisholm gives no authority for any of his statements, but he dwells at some length upon Miranda’s influence in the liberation of the Spanish Americans, and his formation of the Gran Reunion.

Turning now to South American sources, (but Professor Pennington, of the University of Cordoba, Argentina, and Garcia Calderon of Peru, should also be so ranked,) we find the two best recognized authorities for this period of history are B. Vicuna Mackenna of Chile, and Bartolome Mitre of Argentina. Mackenna, in his "Ostracismo de O’Higgins" in speaking of Miranda says (7) that he went to the United States and fought for freedom, with Washington as his hero, and Lafayette as his companion. Mitre, the poet, historian, general, and President, wrote large histories of San Martin and Belgrano. In the first of these he says (8) of

Miranda that he was "a soldier of Washington in the war of North America, Comrade of Lafayette, a General with Dumoriez in the early campaigns of the French revolution, a companion of Madame Rolland in prison, the confidant of Pitt in his plan of insurrection of Spanish American colonies, distinguished by Catherine of Russia, by whose favors the important mission which was imposed was fostered, and considered by Napoleon as a crazy man, fired by hot blood. In a similar manner Mitre speaks in his life of Belgrano

(9)   of Miranda’s having known Hamilton when under the orders of LaFayette and Washington he had fought for the independence of the English colonies.

We have been thus particular to refer to many accounts which speak of Miranda’s service here because they are all in error, but evidence of the mistake is likely to be overlooked. The only critical life of Miranda which the writer of these lines has found is that by Professor William S. Robertson, which is hidden in a copy of the Proceedings of the American Historical Society. (10) Robertson has taken the pains to verify his study by searching through official documents and private diaries. In marked contrast with the methods of Mitre, Mackenna, and the others cited, he makes it a rule to state the evidence. What he says may be taken as reliable so far as he goes, and from his account, unless otherwise specified, the following sketch is taken:

Francisco Miranda was born of Spanish parents in Caracas, Venezuela, probably June 9, 1753. Blanco gives (11) the year as 1756, and Vicuna Mackenna (12) as 1758. He was educated in a college in his native city, and according to his statement to President Stiles, at Yale college, he received his B. A. degree in 1767.

He later studied law "for a year or more" at a college in the city of Mexico. (The father of Mexican independence was Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a creole priest, who received his B. A. degree in the city of Mexico in 1770, (13) after his education in the college of Valladolid, Mex. It is therefore more than a possibility that Hidalgo and Miranda met at that time. It must be remembered that the word "creole" does not imply mixed blood, as many imagine, but is descriptive of those of pure Latin blood, born in America.) In Caracas it is probable, as has been stated, that one of Miranda’s companions during those early years was Manuel Gaul, who later took an active part in the revolution, and who was punished for translating and publishing the "Rights of Man." Incidentally we may here mention that later Thomas Paine became one of Miranda’s intimate friends, and that his "Rights of Man" became one of the potent influences for the revolution of Spanish America. Miranda was an enthusiastic student, and before he became of age he went to Spain, and there applied himself to the study of mathematics. His sympathies at that time were intensely Spanish. In 1772 he was commissioned a captain in the Spanish army. He served in Africa against the Moroccans. During the summer of 1777 charges were made against him, and he was imprisoned for a short time, at the instigation of the Inquisition, he thought. However, the official report of his commander in November of that year said, in contrast with the report relative to many of his fellow soldiers: "This captain performs his duties well."

During his early service he came under the command of Cagigal, who was ever thereafter his firm friend. In March, 1780, Miranda was transferred from Madrid to Cadiz. Early that spring the French and Spanish governments cooperated in hostile operations against England, and in the Spanish force sent to the West Indies Miranda was on the staff ore Cagigal. In August, 1781, Miranda was brevetted Lieutenant Colonel. In September Miranda was sent to Kingston, Jamaica, ostensibly to arrange for an exchange of prisoners, but really as a spy. There, with the aid of a Boston man by the name of Fitch he purchased some ships. The English commander received at the least a strong reprimand from his superior for the transaction; and Miranda found charges preferred against himself, and was arrested in the absence of Cagigal, but immediately released on Cagigal’s return. Envious fellow officers later made other charges involving both Cagigal and Miranda. Cagigal was transferred to Spain. April 16, 1783, Miranda wrote to Cagigal that he was disgusted with his treatment, and saw no chance for justice, though he was "more innocent than Socrates"; he had therefore determined to return to Europe by way of the United States. In spite of his desertion from the command, and in spite of the knowledge of the government that after leaving the service Miranda had been engaged in intrigue and plotting against the Spanish authority, in 1799 the Council of the Indies fully exonerated both Cagigal and Miranda of the charges made. Early in the summer of 1781, and while Cagigal was in command, Pensacola was captured from the English. It is possible that Miranda was present at this siege; but aside from this there is no evidence that he was within the present bounds of the United States before the spring of 1783, when he landed at Charleston to make his tour of the country.

Because the West Indies were very properly regarded as in "America"; because the Spanish and French nations were warring in the West Indies together against the English during the latter part of the war of the Revolution; and because Lafayette, a Frenchman, and some of his compatriots were with the American army, though not with the sanction of the French government; and because Miranda and Cagigal were serving in the Spanish army in the West Indies, it was, perhaps, natural that some non-critical historian should draw the inference that those Spanish officers were serving with Lafayette in the Colonial army. While the incidental effect of the Spanish campaign might have been helpful for the Colonial army, this was not its object. By the treaty of 1783 England surrendered title to Florida to Spain as a result of the Spanish victory. Since Miranda was not serving with Washington and Lafayette in the Revolution, it follows-that the inference was unfounded that his observations at that time led him to an appreciation of Masonry, and that he was made a Mason in the Military lodge, or anywhere in the United States at that time.

From time to time Miranda sent letters to the Spanish government demanding justice and protection, but he did not dare to visit Spain. However, the Spanish government kept a close watch of all his movements, and at one time expected to capture him in France. This official espionage, and the consequent records, makes it easy to trace his wanderings. The Spanish government feared that he might dispose of valuable plans of Spanish fortifications to the English.

After a tour of the United States Miranda went to England. Complaints from his friends in Spanish America, combined with his own feeling of injustice received, and contrasted with his observations in the United States, begot in his mind a scheme for freeing Spanish America from the Spanish rule. He visited most of the European countries to study their governments, and secured from Catherine of Russia financial aid and encouragement in his scheme. He got Pitt thoroughly interested for England; and in the expectation of commercial advantages to be received, there seemed to be a prospect of naval and military assistance from Britain. Miranda also received encouragement from Alexander Hamilton and from Rufus King that the United States would also assist. It was probable that during his American tour he discussed this project with Washington, Smith, Sayre, Adams and others, some of whom became his firm friends. It was here that he made the acquaintance of Thomas Paine. After his trip through Europe, and another sojourn in London, he entered the French contest for liberty. Later, with the turn in fortunes, he was imprisoned in the Bastile, at the same time that Madame Rolland was there incarcerated. On being released he returned to London, and continued to plan for action in America.

At this time there was a young Chilean at school in Richmond, England. He was the natural son of Ambrosio O’Higgins, then Viceroy of Peru, but was known then as Bernardo Riquelme. Needing an instructor in mathematics, chance sent the young O’Higgins to Miranda, but their discussions were not limited to pure science. They studied maps together, and discussed the great problems of the western hemisphere. It was about this time that Miranda organized the Gran Reunion Americana, with headquarters in London, though from a statement by Mitre (14) we infer that it was organized in Paris in 1797. It is natural that we should find few records of this most important organization--in fact, the wonder is that we find so many. It is also natural, considering all the circumstances, that its existence should be covered by the assumption of various names.

Professor Pennington, of the ancient university in Cordoba, Argentina, close to the seat of San Martin’s most strenuous exertions in connection with the secret organization, gives this account: (15) "General Francisco Miranda, a native of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, was the first South American to dream of the greatness of the various South American Colonies if they could be freed from Spanish dominion and converted into independent states. In order to carry his ideas into effect, he established a secret society called the ’Gran Reunion Americana’ with headquarters in London. This parent association gave birth to many branches and affiliated societies of which the principal was the Sociedad de Lautaro, or of Caballeros Racionales, which in 1808 had more than forty members in Cadiz alone. The meetings of these societies were secret and protected by rites and pass-words derived from Freemasonry. There were various degrees, the first involving a promise to work for American independence and the second accepting Republican principles. The fifth grade was the highest and most responsible, as it involved more than mere expressions of opinion and professions of faith."

Chisholm says: (16) "Erected on the models of the Lodges of Free Masonry that wielded such a beneficent influence for humanity during the eighteenth century, and conforming in great part with Masonic principles and methods, the "Reunion" included in its rolls many of the foremost patriots of Spanish America. There were found registered the names of Nariiio, San Martin, Fretes, Cortes, Yznaga, Bejarano and many others who represented every Spanish American colony from Cuba to Chile. When Miranda had satisfied himself that Bernardo [O’Higgins] possessed those qualities of character that would render him steadfast as well as enthusiastic, he opened before him the great purpose of achieving the independence of all the Spanish Colonies in America by one concerted and irresistible movement, and O’Higgins joined the lodge and took the necessary oaths of fidelity and service. It is interesting to know that a few years later Simon Bolivar also joined the same order, took the same oaths and fulfilled with equal fidelity the solemn engagements which joined him with San Martin and O’Higgins in overthrowing the power in America of the King of Spain." (Though this indicates that O’Higgins was not an original member, I am satisfied from many items that he was one of the founders of the organization in Paris, in 1797.)

In February, 1797, Pedro Jose Caro came to London, representing that he owned large properties in Cuba and in the city of Mexico, and attempted to get the English government interested in the scheme for freeing Spanish America. The Spanish officials thought that he was an escaped conspirator from Caracas. About the same time Antonio Narino, a conspirator from Santa Fe, failed to secure a favorable hearing from the English government. "It is possible that both these emissaries were sent or directed to London by Miranda. It is also possible, as stated by Miranda later, that other alleged agents, from South America were sent to London while the master intriguer remained in Paris." (17) "It is clear that the arrival

of Miranda in England early in the following year was with the full knowledge and consent of the English government." (18) On January 17, 1798, Miranda addressed a communication to Pitt beginning with the words: "The undersigned, principal agent of the Spanish-American colonies, has been named by the junta of deputies of Mexico, Lima, Chili, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Santa Fe, etc. to present himself to the ministers of H. B. M., in order to renew in favor of absolute independence of these colonies the negotiations begun in 1790," (19) etc. "Nothing is known of the alleged Spanish junta which was to take cognizance of the negotiations. Nevertheless, it is possible that some revolutionary spirits from Spanish America, like Caro and Nariiio, did meet in Paris and discuss a plan of campaign." (20) Apparently the junta was the mother lodge of the Gran Reunion.

In his original scheme Miranda planned a constitutional monarchy, binding the states in a federation, with an Inca at the head; this monarchy to extend westward from Brazil and the Mississippi, and from parallel 45 degrees north to the Cape Horn. (21) In the new version it was to be a federation of republics, and one of the propositions included the cutting of canals connecting the Atlantic and Pacific at Panama and through Nicaragua. (22) Though Robertson does not mention the Gran Reunion by name, he says: (23) "Miranda may well have been the founder of a revolutionary club which later developed into a great international association of Spanish American revolutionists, that was transported by the leaders to the different parts of Spanish America."

Vicuna Mackenna speaks (24) of the departure of Bejara, Caro, Iznardi, O’Higgins and others to arrange for the entrance of the

Gran Reunion Americana into the Spanish peninsula; and Mitre tells us (25) of the Sociedad de Lautaro o Caballeros Racionales in Cadiz. Vicuna Mackenna tells us (26) that the Lojia Lautarina (Chilean for Logia Lautaro) was founded in Buenos Aires in 1812, and Mitre says (27) that in 1717 a lodge of the Lautaro was established in Chile, to be composed equal parts of Chileans and Argentinos. It will be remembered that the rebellion of all the Spanish American colonies began at practically the same time, about 1811, and that the names of the leaders in each country are among those enrolled in the Gran Reunion or its branches. I have somewhere seen the statement that Hidalgo, who sounded the signal for the Mexican uprising from his pulpit in Dolores, was a member of this organization. Certain it is that there was an organized secret body of Mexicans in the plot, but I have not found definite evidence as to its official connection with the Gran Reunion.

As to the meetings of the Buenos Aires lodge, Mitre tells us (28) that it sometimes met in the factory of Vieyetes, or in the country house of Orma; but more frequently in that of Rodriques Pena, who was the sinew of this association, of which Belgrano was the counselor; and which showed sometimes the enthusiasm of Castelli, or the prudence of Vieyetes, or the high reason of Passo.

The organization having ceased to-exist, Vicuna Mackenna has been able to publish a copy of the constitution and by-laws of the Lojia Lautarina. (29) "The mother lodge is composed of thirteen Caballeros, aside from the President, Vice President, two secretaries, one for North America and one for South America, an orator, and a master of ceremonies. The number cannot be

increased. No Spaniard or foreigner can be admitted, nor more than one ecclesiastic." Whenever a brother is made the governor or magistrate in a section of the country he shall assist in forming a subordinate lodge. When one of the brothers is elected Supreme Governor, he shall plan nothing of grave importance without having consulted the lodge. The objects of the institution are to assist and protect each other in the conflict of civil life, and to support the opinion of the others, but when it is opposed to the public, they should nevertheless preserve silence. Every brother should support, at the risk of his life, the determinations of the lodge. Two-thirds constitute a quorum. A brother, who by word or sign reveals the secret of the existence of the lodge shall be put to death by the means most convenient. There is no mention of any connection with the Masonic order, and no stipulation that the members shall be Freemasons.

Mitre says (30) of these secret societies that they were composed of South Americans with the object of the emancipation of South America, and its foundation upon the republican plan. They resembled greatly in their organization and in their political plans the societies of charcoal sellers formed upon the Masonic rites, and which have not only the Masonic forms, but also their symbols.

Garcia Calderon says (31) that "from Mexico to Chili the same revolutionary fervour engendered the partial movements of 1808 to 18L1. Conspirators similar to the Italian carbonari, lodges in which men spoke of liberty in the midst of ingenuous rites, and university students who read the Encyclopaedists, were preparing the great crusade." And again he says: (32) The Masonic lodges worked in silence against the power of Spain and Portugal, and upheld the humanitarian ideas of French philosophy. In the lodge of Lautaro, San Martin and Alvear received their initiation as revolutionaries. In Mexico the lodge of York was transformed into a Jacobin club."

The very plain implication of Garcia Calderon is that there was a vital connection between the revolutionary secret societies and Freemasonry. It is true that in those early years there were no Masonic lodges established as such. So long as the old regime lasted such organizations were prohibited. It is probable, however, that there were many Masons scattered through the countries, and that they met occasionally as Masons. We may perhaps suspect that Miranda and O’Higgins may have received Masonic light, either in England or in France. In speaking of the early days of the independent Mexico, Rives says (33) "The nearest approach to a social or political organization was to be found in the Masonic lodges, which had been successfully established near the very beginning of independence. The fundamental principle of that order --the fraternity of all men and the apparent indifference of its members to theological beliefs had always arrayed the Roman Catholic Church against it, and indeed against all secret societies. Damnantur clandestinae societates, were the words of an infallible Pope; and so long as ecclesiastical authority was in full vigor in New Spain Freemasons were not tolerated in the kingdom. But when Mexican delegates sat in the Spanish Cortes under the Constitution of 1812 some of them were initiated under the ancient Scottish rite, so that in 1820 and afterward Masonic lodges were established in Mexico, and came to be exceedingly influential bodies." "The first Masonic lodge in Mexico was established in 1806 by Spaniards. There were at that time four lodges in the peninsula, which had been founded by Englishmen--two at Gibraltar, one at Cadiz, and one at Madrid--and it may be reasonably assumed that from these the Mexican Masons first derived their existence. It is reported that Hidalgo, who first raised the cry of independence, became a Mason about 1807. At any rate, the existence of this first lodge was short lived, for it was denounced to the authorities in 1808, and many of the brethren were imprisoned and prosecuted before tribunals of the Inquisition. Later on the Spanish troops which landed in Mexico after 1811 brought in their ranks a number of Masons; and still later the Mexican delegates to the Spanish Cortes were initiated in Europe, and on their return founded lodges, which, deriving apparently from French sources, followed the Scottish rite. These lodges were chiefly composed of men who were fairly well-to-do or were of recognized professional or commercial standing, and they thus naturally came to form in a short time a nucleus for those who were not favorable to the idea of a republic." (34)

The York rite was introduced into Mexico by Mr. Poinsett, the American Minister, in 1825, and became the great force of the populist movement for a republic. The two rites nominated candidates for the Presidency and the Yorkino candidate was an Indian by the name of Gerrero. Not content with battles of ballots the parties actually went to war. From that day to this Masonry has been powerful in Mexican politics. When the writer was in Mexico several years ago, he asked an acquaintance if he were a Mason. The reply was: "No, I never meddled with politics." (35)

According to the "Diccionario Enciclopedico Hispano-Americano," pages 687-703, Masonry was introduced into Brazil in 1816, and the first regular lodge was established in 1820. In Colombia it was introduced in 1820, and in Peru in 1825. The Grand Lodge of France founded the first lodge in Uruguay in 1827. In 1857 a lodge and chapter were founded in Guayaquil, Ecuador; and the Grand Lodge of Venezuela was established in 1865. In addition to these lodges, we aretold that the Grand Lodge of England has established lodges throughout Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, which are still in active operation.

The immediate founding of Masonic lodges throughout Latin America so soon as the bonds of Spain had been broken is an indication of their probable existence, sub rosa, at an earlier time. The fact of the immediate disbandonment of the Gran Reunion, and of the Logia Lautaro, is strongly indicative of their giving place to another organization. The way that prominent men in South American politics during the last century referred to these three organizations more or less together, suggests that the Logia Lautaro, was simply another name temporarily adopted by members of the Masonic body who were banded together for a special purpose. Otherwise it would have been natural for these old companions in the struggle for freedom to have continued their organization, and to have kept thus alive the principles of the order among their children and grandchildren. * * *

Masonry cut no small figure in the settlement of the Texas problems, and Poinsett’s activity in Mexican politics wrecked his mission.

When the Spanish government, through its London and Paris spies. became aware of the intimacy between Miranda and Bernardo O’Higgins, the commission of his father, Ambrosio, was cancelled, and the father ordered home for explanation. Ambrosio died in Peru, and probably never knew why he had been deposed.

Miranda was evidently a scholar of no mean ability. He was an enthusiastic maker of plans, but unable to carry them to perfection. Bolivar was perhaps the strongest of the great South American Caudillos, but he was also intensely selfish, and was willing to sacrifice any one and any thing to obtain his own advancement. O’Higgins was faithful and patient, working much of the time very quietly. San Martin combined in himself the good qualities of all, and having served as Grand Master of the Logia Lautaro for years, and having won the freedom of Argentina, Chile, and Peru, turned his army over to the northern "Liberador" who demanded supreme command, and then went into voluntary bal;lishment in France, that his presence might incite no possible opposition to his brother Caudillo, Bolivar. Whether or not San Martin was ever brought to light in a Masonic lodge, no truer Mason, nor one who more clearly illustrated the principles of our noble order, probably ever lived.

(1)   Mitre, Vida de San Martin, Vol. 1, p. 135.

(2)  Venezuela, p. 81.

(3)  Argentina, p. 77.

(4)  Colombia, p. 32.

(5)  Latin America, p. 66.

(6)      The Independence of Chile, p. 101 and ff.

(7)       p. 44.

(8)      Vol. 1, p. 82.

(9)      Vol. 1, p. 113.

(10)  1907, Vol. 1.

(11)   Documentos para la Historia de la Vida. Publica del Liberador, Vol. 1, p. 80, note.

(12)  La Ostracismo de O’Higgins, p. 44.

(13)  Noll & McMahon, Miguel Hidalgo y Castillo, p. 7.

(14)  Belgrano, Vol. 1 p. 113. Also see Blanco, Op. cit. p. 17.

(15)  Argentine Republic, p. 142.

(16)  Independence of Chile, p. 102.

(17)   Robertson, Op. cit. p. 316.

(18)  Robertson, Op. cit. p. 317.

(19)  Chatham MSS, 345.

(20) Robertson, Op. cit. p. 320.

(21)  Robertson, Op. cit. p. 272 and ff.

(22) Robertson, Op. cit. 319.

(23) Op, cit. p. 338.

(24)   Op cit. p- 49

(25)   Vida de San Martin, Vol. 1, p. 135.

(26)   Op cit. p. 269.

(27)    San Martin, Vol II, p. 30.

(28)   Vida, Belgrano, Vol. 1, p. 303.

(29)   Op cit. 269

(30)   San Martin, Vol. 1, p. 135.

(31)    Latin AmeriCa, P. 65.

(32)   Op, cit. p. 81.

(33)   The United States and Mexico, Vol. 1, p. 62.

(34)   Rives, Op. cit. Vol. 1, p. 163.

(35)   (For information as to the influence of Mexican Masonic lodges see Ward’s Mexico, Vol. II, p. 408, Suarez, Historia de Mexico, 77-79; Zavala, Ensayo Hist. Vol. 1, 346 Tornel, Breve Resena, 43-46.)

REVELATION

I made a pilgrimage to find the God:

I listened for his voice at holy tombs,

Searched for the print of his immortal feet In the dust of broken altars; yet turned back With empty heart. But on the homeward road,

A great light came upon me, and I heard The God’s voice singing in a nesting lark;

Felt his sweet wonder in a swaying rose;

Received his blessing from a wayside well;

Looked on his beauty in a lover’s face;

Saw his bright hand send signal from the sun. --Edwin Markham.

Look up, not down; look out, not in; look forward, not back; and lend a hand.

--E. E. Hale.

IN FELLOWSHIP

By C. M. Boutelle

My foot to thy foot, howe’er thy foot may stray;

Thy path for my path, however dark the way.

My knee to thy knee, whatever be thy prayer;

Thy plea my plea, in every need and care.

My breast to thy breast, in every doubt or hope;

Thy silence mine too, whate’er thy secret’s scope.

My strength is thy strength, whenever thou shalt call;

Strong arms stretch love’s length, through darkness, toward thy fall!

My words shall follow thee, kindly warning fond,

Through life, through drear death--and all that lies beyond !

REALIZATION

In the quiet hours of evening, I doze by the study fire.

My mind on the plans of a palace, from lintel to towering spire. Tinted its windows with colors, caught from the rain-bow at dawn, Painted by hand of a Master, designs, man hath not drawn.

Stately columns of marble, carved to adorn its halls Scenes from the noblest subjects, hang from its Jasper walls,

Truly a noble structure, wrought by the mind of man,

Shrine for some priceless Jewel, Flawless - Beautiful - Grand.

Yet were its corridors empty. hollow they sound to my tread Cold and silent its chambers, as the presence of something dead.

A something seems to be lacking a feeling that dulls my pride - As I gazed at my garnered treasures, What is missing? I sighed.

A beaver came to its portals, his garments tattered and worn - All he once had, had long been Riven, to silence the sufferer’s moan, Bound un the wounds of cripples, dried he the widow’s tear

Holding the babe to his bosom, lovingly quieting its fear.

Knelt by the side of the sinner, Yea - the scarlet woman of vice,

He whispered the old. old story, Love of a merciful Christ -

A light shone forth from his features, with a wondrous peaceful glow -

Surely, I said, ’tis a prophet come from the long ago.

He calne to my gorgeons portals, in the chill of the evening tide, Glanced at its cold. chill beauty. shivered and turned aside - Amazed, I caught at his garments, Hold stranger, a reason I pray Why quiver and turn to the darkness? - Enter, I beg thee and stay.

See - I have built me a palace, Jewell’ed its walls with arts,

Columned its halls with marbles, treasures from many marts

Yet I admit a yearning, Something - I have not attained

Seems to be casting a shadow, o’er pleasures I hoped to have gained.

He bowed his head as in sorrow, then stepped to the door by my side,

Glanced in at my marvelous beauties, then turning, sadly replied - Brother, I see a widow, haggard, weary, and worn.

Three little hungry orphans, nowhere to call their own.

Thrown to the mills of Mammon, crushed neath its cruel stones, Ground into shekels of silver, matters little their moans.

’Tis only the price of a picture, one of your Jewels of art Yet can I see on the canvas, tears from a broken heart.

Down in the slums of a city, a brother striving to rise,

Striving to gain his manhood. the spirit within him cries - Give me the hand of friendship. that is mv prayer for help.

Did’st answer his call my Brother? Assist with part of thy wealth?

’Tis only the price of a column such as I see in yon nave,

Yet, I see by that column, the form of a Brother’s grave - What if its price had been given, with a smile and a word of cheer

Life might not have been failure, but brighter while he were here.

And so in the halls of your palace, lofty - gorgeous - wide,

Built from the tears of suffering, built with the spirit of Pride

Empty its heart to me Brother, cold as yon marble glove

The soul of the builder has never awaked to the beauty of "Love."

This is the Jewel missing, this, - the shadow that falls Over your princely palace, over your lordly halls - Search for this precious treasure, not in some distant land Not in some wondrous building, wrought by the hand of man.

Deep in thy spiritual nature, search for its hidden ray This pure white stone of the Temple; Light of a new born day - Buried perchance in the rubbish, trampled and covered from sight, The gift that was sent by a Master, burns with a luster bright.

I gazed at my royal palace, it slowly crumbled to dust Judged bv this humble Brother, merciful, candid, - Just.

Again, will I build a mansion, my labor has not been lost,

Each "Great Truth" discovered, ever has labor cost.

Here at my hand the quarries, here in the walks of life Here will I rear a building, here in the midst of strife I will build with the widow’s blessing, paint with the orphan’s smile, Trim with the rays of gladness, caught from the face of a child.

Its columns in place of marble, shall be the strength of man Saved from the life of madness, upright, noble, grand - Wisdom, Strength and Beauty, they shall support my naves,

Keyed by the stone so priceless, the Great White Stone that saves.

I turned to thank my critic, only to find him gone,

To find that I had been dreaming, into the early dawn.

Light in the East was shining with glow of a crimson flame,

I thought of my dreamland treasures, thought of them only with shame.

Life seemed purer, grander, - the restless longing ceased Words cannot express it, this message out of the East - Thy search for treasure’s ore, a whisper drifted down Thy soul can name the Jewel, that which was "Lost" is "Found."

-   L. C. Stewart, Florida

DEMOCRACY AND MASONRY

BY BRO. H. R. BEST, SOUTH DAKOTA

BEFORE I became a Mason I was often assured that Masonry had nothing to do with religion, but with this statement I cannot agree, as it seems to me that it has much to do with religion. Of course, it does not deal specifically with orthodox creeds, but the very vitals of religion are involved, woven and interwoven through it all. A man must have religious convictions, who passes through its sacred symbols, otherwise he would be a conscienceless hypocrite. No man, who is morally impervious, can be a true Mason.

In the next place:--Since "We meet upon the Level and we part upon the Square," it seems to me that the great Masonic Brotherhood has before it a sublime mission at this particular time in the world’s conflict of ideas. In such an age as this, it is not difficult for a man to speak on some phase of life; it is however a difficult task, in an age so complex, to survey the field of life, weigh

the various forces of progress, compare the organizing ideals and arrive at an accurate generalization of truth. Still, I believe that thoughtful people will agree that the outstanding social fact of our day is the democratization of life.

The history of the race reveals a constant tendency to Aristocracy. Aristocracy always ends in the oppression of the weak. In the crude stages of the race, we see the strong man by brute force assume the leadership of his clan and wave the big stick. With the same motive, later, he becomes a soldier and with his army he conquers his fellows, going through slaughter to a throne. This is the Aristocracy of Force. This vantage he passes on to his offspring and thus we have the idea of "The Divine Right of Kings" and all its pernicious results. This is the Aristocracy of Heredity. Later, as men form larger ideas of culture, we have born the Aristocracy of Culture and Learning. Here men feel that because they have swallowed a college curriculum of classical heathenism, they are lifted above their fellows and it is not consistent with learning to bear the burdens of society. Then, as creative genius has produced wealth, we have, especially in this country, built up an Aristocracy of Wealth, which class has insisted on its right to plunder the public and outrage decency "within the law," or in spite of it, and claimed immunity from punishment due social criminals.

Now, over against the philosophy of Aristocracy, of the privileged few against the unprotected many, of selfishness against the public weal, we have this modern uprising of the masses, the unfolding of a new democracy. Look at Art. There was a time when painters, for the most part, thought only of the gorgeous, the outstanding in nature; now they find beauty everywhere, in some dull cut by the

way, some meadowbrook with its pastoral scenes or a peasant’s hut with parents and lusty off-spring about a simple board. These are sufficient to inspire the genius of the modern painter. Again, look at the field of Literature. Once the poem was inspired by the idle luxury of the court and dedicated to some voluptuous queen. To­day, we are inspired by everyday-flesh-and-blood people whom we can know and love and serve. We are learning to "Live in a house by the side of the road and be a friend to man." Then look at Fiction. Once the heroes or heroines must always, in the end, turn out to belong to the Aristocracy. Now, instead of princes in disguise and masked knights and an endless procession of impossibles, we have a new moral picture being drawn in modern books in which the heroes and heroines are found among the men, who swelter at the forge or women who stand behind counters. We are getting "Inside the Cup" and cleaning out "the drains" even under the pulpits of "sacred evils." We are finding the sources of a new life in helping folks who wrestle with hunger in an empty bread tray. This same tendency may be seen in education. The day when the educated man was defined as the man who had swallowed all the heathen gods and goddesses has gone as it ought to go. We are learning that education is not stuffing people on the debris of ages, but awaking the potentials of personality and turning a man loose in a world to create some utility. The new education is culminating in The Kingdom of the Commonplace. We are finding that every man and woman has in them the elements of greatness, which should be developed to the maximum of individuality. This individuality is finding its medium of immortality through social service and thus:

"The common deeds of the common day Are ringing the bells in the far away."

We are ever in danger of hanging on to cast-off husks of truth and losing sight of the vital organism that seeks a newer habiliment. This evil is what I call social appendicitis and in the classic phrase must be "cut out," else we endanger the whole social body. Now in this new democracy, this kingdom of the common-place, we can all have a part. It does not destroy individuality but creates it. Altruism is the law of life and produces the maximum of personality. It calls every man to live for public weal. It enthrones every man as his own priest, prophet and king. Any religion, politics or economy, that gives the destiny of people into the hands of a few, is dangerous and must be resisted. The man, who is emancipated from the slavery of selfishness, must stand for the emancipation of all.

Now friends, in the light of these ideals, it seems to me that our Fraternity, based as it is on ideals of equality, can be a mighty factor in overcoming these ancient evils and enthroning the people. With the regard for history and a proper use of ancient foundations, we should build thereon the structure of "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity," that shall truly bless the world. It is this vision that thrills me; it is this hope that makes me join my little mite to yours in order that we shape with true horizontals and erect with correct perpendiculars the Temple of Life. If this be the spirit that animates our brotherhood, we shall play well our part in that drama of life.

THE GREATER TRAGEDY

BY BRO. LOUIS BLOCK, P. G. M., FRATERNAL CORRESPONDENT OF IOWA

(Responding to many requests, we reproduce the "Afterward" of Past Grand Master Louis Block in his report as Fraternal Correspondent of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, as expressive of the horror of world-war, and the ruin wrought to the finer fellowships of humanity. What the war means to Masonry is shown by the following Resolution adopted by the German Grand Lodge, dated Berlin, May 29th, 1915:--"In view of the attitude of Italian Free Masons, who, inspired by French sympathizers, took part in the political struggle leading to the war, and thereby violated the cardinal principle of Masonry expressly forbidding such methods, the German Grand Lodge hereby severs all former relations with Italian and French Free Masonry. Toward Free Masons in other hostile lands The Grand Lodge affirms the decision adopted at an earlier date, that all relations of various Grand Bodies be suspended from the outbreak of hostilities.")

Beauteous the love of country is, The love that gives so willingly its life-- But, oh, we long for that more beauteous day When love no boundaries shall know. When man So love his fellow-man, where’er he dwell, That he refuse to slay him. Nor yet dare Send a soul into that great beyond While yet that soul’s experience on earth For which God sent it forth is incomplete. Beauteous the love of country is The love that gives so willingly its life-- But may that day more beauteous soon come When man, though loving not his country less Shall more than country love his fellow-man."

When we started upon our journey to visit the Grand Lodges just one year ago, it was with the pleasantest of anticipations. For the world then lay smiling beneath the sunshine of peace, and the prosperity of the people everywhere was most pleasing to behold. Involuntarily there flowed from our lips the sentence hallowed by so many sacred memories: "How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"

But scarce had the warm winds of summer begun to turn the green of the fields into the gold of the ripening grain, when a dark cloud blotted out the sunlit landscape, and we found ourselves shuddering beneath the somber shadows of an awful war. Shocked and stunned we cowered aghast before a perfect welter and whirlwind of hate, that seemed ready to tear from the human heart every last vestige of brotherly love. Never had human eye beheld a war so vast, so awful. The madness of murder and the lust to kill seemed to have set the heart of man aflame, and none knew how soon the horrible holocaust might wither even the new world with its blight. Mighty hordes of what once were men, led on by leaders filled with the lust of empire, by crowned-heads goaded on by commercial greed, swept down upon one another and left the land a blackened and smoking waste. Nation after nation has slipped into the flood and been whirled away into the mad maelstrom. Even as we write the sons of sunny Italy, after having so long withstood temptation, have at last succumbed to the horrid infection, and are now storming their way northward into the land of the Teuton, swept on by the fire of conquest.

The madness seems to be in the air, and we on this side must curb our desires, master our passions, and pray God for strength to

resist, or we, too, shall be swept away into the horrid flood of flaming destruction.

Just think of it! Twenty-nine million men flinging themselves at each other’s throats; was ever horror so frightful known before? Civilization? Was there ever any real civilization; will there ever be any ? Will men never be better than beasts? What is to be the end of it all? Will peace ever smile on us again, or will this bloody, burned, and sorely burdened world blow itself into blackened splinters as a culmination of the catastrophe ? Far better so than that man should live on hating man, with the fire of brotherly love forever cold and dead in his stony heart!

And yet, and yet, we Masons cannot endure to have it so. We cannot, we dare not let it occur, that this structure of brotherly love, which with such sore and sharp endeavor we have so steadily struggled to raise throughout the ages, should thus come toppling and tumbling into the dust ! We cannot suffer the temple of humanity to be thus ruthlessly torn down! Our hearts cry out against any such dire disaster as that.

Why is it that in every Grand Lodge we have visited since this horrid war broke out, the Grand Master has deplored in heartbroken accents this awful thing that has befallen us ? Was it not that he felt that the very foundation of our structure was being threatened, so that a mighty trumpet call was needed to rally men round about the standard of human brotherhood, to drive back the hordes of hate and save man from self destruction ?

When you take from Masonry its basic principle of Brotherly love you have nothing left, absolutely nothing, not even an empty last

year’s bird nest. So that with so much hate raging round the world the very life of our order is itself at stake.

And in heaven’s name what was there to fight about? Before this awful war broke out men lived in comparative comfort and happiness no matter what flag flew over their heads. Peace and prosperity reigned both sides of the line dividing nation from nation. What then did it matter to the ordinary individual whether he lived in France or Germany? Either place was better then than is now the one into which both are merged; one for which there is no fitter name than "Hell-on-Earth!"

What was the cause of it all? Was it true that nations could no more stand prosperity than could individuals? Was there a grasping greed for gain that, under the pretense of preserving peace, built a vast military machine made for murder on a mighty scale? Precipitating the greatest war the world has ever known is scarcely preserving peace.

Side by side with this foolish pretense of "fighting for peace" stands that equally palpable pretense of patriotism--of patriotism preached for the very purpose of hiding a passion for plunder. Away with such vile patriotism as that ! A nation that cannot treat another nation fairly, but hungers to devour it; that is not willing to live and let live, is not worth dying for, much less living for. When my nation grows so mad with greed that it will not do right, then it becomes my duty in a higher and nobler loyalty to humanity to abandon that nation to its fate. Yet my first duty is to try to save it from itself. The cry, "My country, right or wrong," is wrong and not right. For it we should substitute, "My country, may she ever be right and do no one wrong!"

What is our duty as American Masons in this present crisis? Surely in loyalty to our underlying principle as an institution; in loyalty to the real welfare of the people, it must be to hold up the hands of our President in the hour of his strenuous struggle for peace. Not since the days of Abraham Lincoln has a lonely leader in the White House pled so patiently with his people for the truth, and the right, and the love to prevail, and we were unworthy and traitorous ingrates did we fail to respond to his appeal.

For he pleads the cause not of America alone, but of that of humanity as well, and if we, turning a deaf ear to his call, shall join the blood-mad hordes of Europe, then we, too, shall both deserve and meet the fate that shall surely be theirs. "For they that take the sword shall perish with the sword !"

Here in the western world two great nations facing each other with never an army, a fort, or even a single soldier to guard thousands of miles of border, have for over a hundred years preserved the peace that blesses mankind, a thing which Europe, with the greatest armies and the mightiest war-machines the world has ever known, has most miserably failed to do.

Yea, my brethren, man’s road to hope and joy is never along the way of war, but ever along the path of peace. As Masons we are here on earth to learn to subdue our passions and improve ourselves in Masonry, which, after all, is but another name for the divine art of human brotherhood. Let us pray that we may be ever true to our mission, ever loyal to the high calling that is ours, that

each one of us in his own humble place may do his level best to speed the coming of the day--

"When the war drums beat no longer,

And the battle-flags are furled

In the parliament of man,

The federation of the world !"

Then, and then alone, shall we be content to leave the issue in the hands of the Great Architect.

MASONIC LIVING

Do we try to live Masonically As we perform our daily tasks ?

Do we carry out the teachings That’s the question that- HE asks.

Do we apply to every second Throughout every living day The truths of the Square and Compass

We will find that it will pay.

Do we divide our daily lives By the Gauge as we’ve been taught, Do we always use the Gavel On every word and thought ?

Do we meet upon the Level Will our acts the Plumbline stand Is our parting Square and honest Do we hear the lodge command.? ..

Do we in the daily building Of our lives and thoughts and minds Have in our hearts the Trowel lesson And use a love cement that binds? --James T. Wray, W. M.

Evanston, Ill.

THE HIGHER FATALISM

Whether the time be slow or fast,

Enemies hand in hand Must come together at the last And understand.

No matter how the die is cast Or who may seem to win,

You know that you must love at last!-- Why not begin?

--Witter Bynner.

HEW TO THE LINE

BY BRO. J. N. SAUNDERS, G. S. W., KENTUCKY

THE chief tendency of the students of Masonry, manifested by almost all of them, is to create a mysticism to which is given a forced interpretation by which they attempt to connect, as of

simultaneous origin, the symbols of Masonry with incidents of the pre-Christian era.

The men who do this assemble isolated facts, assume as true whatever links are needed to complete the chain and in ecstacy of delight exclaim--I have found it! I have found it!!

To the thoughtful man, who declines to follow blindly, but demands to be shown, this species of Masonic interpretation and this class of Masonic history is indeed laughable. An apt illustration is found in the blindly accepted interpretation given as the Masonic lesson of the forty-seventh proposition of Euclid-- that Pythagoras, an illustrious member of the Order, upon discovering the square described upon the hypotenuse of a right angle triangle is equal to the sum of the squares described upon the other two sides, sacrificed an hundred oxen. This the lesson, in substantial entirety, as usually taught is both meaningless and historically incorrect.

Pythagoras was born about 582 B.C., and there is no historical inference that justifies intelligent conjecture of the origin of Masonry for more than a thousand years after that time, unless such assumptions are indulged as would discredit the verity of all history.

Pythagoras was a scholar and a traveller, and is due the honor of having raised mathematics to the rank of a science. He had no connection with Masonry, for Masonry did not exist. He did belong to a brotherhood based upon the ideal of abstinence and hardihood and even community of goods, but by no justifiable stretch of the imagination can it be in any way connected with any fact which leads even to reasonable supposition that he was a Mason, or that Masonry, or any antecedent organization from which it was derived, existed at that time.

How much more satisfying to the man of thoughtful intelligence is it to discard all such patch work combinations of fact, deduction, imagination, fabrication and sheer nonsense, and look the facts squarely in the face. Masonry is a noble institution, the gradual outgrowth of the divinely implanted social instinct by which men of similar tastes have been drawn together into what is now a powerful and cohesive organization, but the growth of which has been gradual, and made possible by men who have themselves left no data by which to judge with accuracy the place and period of its origin. Its growth was a slow development which did not attract the attention of the writers of history until its full attainment. The symbols now employed to convey its precepts have been of gradual adoption, and are but the result of the love of all men for figurative expression of truth. Why not let us seek a direct approach to the reason for the symbols employed ? The reason that addresses itself, in simplicity, to the open mind is more to be relied upon than that which requires genius to conceive and pages to express, and whose line of reasoning is so occult as to addle the brain and bewilder the understanding of the plain man who in plain way seeks plain facts in plain fields of plain truth.

The geometric diagram alluded to but reveals the fact that in a right angle triangle the square of the base line added to the square of the line of altitude is equal to the square of the line connecting their terminal points and on which line depends the perfect angle.

How simple the application of this figure to the very object of Masonry--the perfect character in man. The square of the foundation or base line represents the physical efforts of man, the square of the line of altitude represents the intellectual and moral uplift of man, and the sum of his physical efforts added to. the sum of his intellectual and moral aspirations form his character. As the square of the level base line added to the square of the upright altitude equals the square of the line on which depends the perfect angle, so the sum of man’s physical efforts if level with industry and honesty added to the sum of his intellectual and moral aspiration, if upright, collectively form the character on which depends the perfect man.

Why then does not the geometric diagram serve as a symbol to portray the perfect man rather than to recall the fabled butchery of beef cattle by a man who had no connection with our Order ? It is a more satisfying explanation to me, and the same objection prevails to many of our strained interpretations of strained coincidences upon which some base the conclusion that Solomon had really felt our grip and heard our secret pass word.

THE WINDS OF GOD

Across the azure spaces,

Athwart the vasts of sky,

With winnowing of mighty wings

The winds of God go by.

Above the meres and mountains,

With unseen sandals shod,

Above the plains, with choric strains,

Sweep by the winds of God.

"Peace !--in His name !" they murmur;

"Peace--in His name!" they cry-- "Oh, men, give ear ! Do ye not hear The winds of God go by --Clinton Scollard.

MEM0RIALS TO GREAT MEN WHO WERE MASONS

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

THE handsome bronze statue of Frederick The Great, in Washington, is a replique of the one in Dresden, and was presented to the United States by the Present Emperor, Wilhelm. It was unveiled on the 19th of November, 1904.

It has not the prominent location it deserves: It stands on the Esplenade in front of the Army War College, at the foot of Four-and- a-half Street, near the extreme southern end of the City, and is out of the usual path of tourists.

At the unveiling and dedication of this splendid work of art there was the entire Diplomatic Corps, in Uniforms officers of every Corps of the Army and Navy in full-dress uniform; Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, Governors of States, etc.

Among the special guests was General Lowenfeld, the representative of the Kaiser.

The stops, which held the veil, were broken by the Baroness Von Sternberg, wife of the German Ambassador. The invocation was by the Bishop (Protestant Episcopal) of Washington, Mr. Satterlee: The presentation speech was by the German Ambassador, Baron Von Sternberg; the acceptance by Mr. Roosevelt, the President of the United States; the principal address was by the Hon. Charlemagne Tower, our Ambassador to Germany, and the benediction was pronounced by the Rev. Mr. Menzel of the German Luthern Church.

After the President had signified his acceptance of this memorial from the Emperor of Germany, a protest against its acceptance and installation was received by the President, from the Polish Catholic Federation, whose see is at Chicago; but the President had already accepted it.

However, on the 19th of the following January (less than two months after the dedication) a bomb of high power was exploded on the base of the Statue by some unknown person or persons. The bomb had a time fuse, which gave the vandal an opportunity to escape. The injury to the statue was small.

The Polish Catholic Federation was suspected, but an Irishman was afterward arrested in New York against whom there was evidence, but was released on the claim of insanity.

The protest of the Catholic Federation claimed that Frederick II was a despot and that the statue should find no place on “soil mad sacred by the blood of martyrs of liberty."

Frederick the Great was an admirer of George Washington and a friend of the new Republic: It must not be forgotten that the war of George III upon the Colonies was unpopular in Great Britain: so much so that the king was unable to get men in England to enlist and was obliged to go into Hesse Darmstat and Hess Castle, in Germany, to hire the "Hessians" to fight the Colonists: It was then that Frederick the Great learned of and forbade further enlistments of Germans for the purpose. Frederick the Great sent a sword to Washington with the Message.

From the oldest General

living to the

Greatest General.

Frederick the Great was a Mason of the 33d degree, and has the credit of revising the Ritual of the Scottish Rite, giving it to us substantially as we now have it.

THE INEFFABLE NAME

BY BRO. GEO. W. WARVELLE, ILLINOIS

(Scattered through the Reports of Brother Warvelle, as Committee on Fraternal Correspondence of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Illinois, are many scholarly and wise little essays on matters of vital interest and instruction. These little essays deserve a wide reading for their accuracy, their lucidity, and their importance to the Craft, and we are permitted, by the kindness of the author, to reproduce them from time to time; beginning with the following little gem, which will give our readers a foretaste of what is to come.--The Editor.)

We often hear the interrogatory, "What’s in a name?" And, usually, the question so propounded is pregnant with the answer, "Nothing." Indeed, this is a generally accepted opinion. But, is it really true ? Let us investigate it a little, for the reason, if none other, that what is known as the ineffable Name is the very essence of the Masonic system.

It would seem that in primitive thought the personal name of an individual was not regarded merely as an attribute-- a simple designation. On the contrary it was treated as an integral part of the man himself-- of his being. Hence, it followed that an injury or insult to a name reacted upon the person who bore the name. Notwithstanding our great intellectual advance have we wholly outgrown this primitive thought? Consider your own case. Would it not seem as though you had lost your personality if you should be deprived of your name? Can you, by any effort of the imagination, really disassociate yourself from it? Is not an injury to your name still resented by you as an injury to yourself--you, the conscious Ego ? Then is not your name, in fact, a part of yourself ? And, this being true, is it not easy to extend the idea, with even greater force, to the name of the deity ? As has been well said by Prof. Brinton, "for the practical purpose of life the name confers or creates personality. This fact exerted a profound influence in the earliest development of religion. The vague sense of spiritual power first became centered in the idea of an individual, or a personal god, when it received a name." And we can readily understand, if the names of men were held so dear, how sacred must be the names of the gods. And we may further understand why this feature should have become a component part of all religions when we remember that it has for its basis the primal conception of the name as a part of the Self.

It was also thought in an earlier and ruder age, as it still is among many savage tribes, that the essential power of deity was lodged in the name, and that a knowledge of this name would enable one to exert practically the same power as the deity himself. And so, we find the gods of the ancient world sedulously concealed their names. Particularly is this true of the Semitic nations and it has been surmised that it was the fear of some such subjection of their deity, through the malicious use of his name by an enemy, which led the early Jews to conceal it so effectually that it is now lost. This name--the true divine name--as it was not to be spoken, has now come to be described as the "Ineffable Name" and as such it figures in the symbols, rituals and philosophy of Freemasonry.

It is a curious fact, however, that the doctrine of the ineffable Name is not confined to any one form of religion, nor to any particular people or age. It is held in common by many widely differing faiths, being found in the rudest superstitions of savage races as well as in the most developed faiths of civilized peoples. But this is only another evidence, if such were needed, of a widespread belief of the fact that the name is of the essence of being.

*  * *

At the present time the current transcription of the tetragrammaton J H V H is Jehovah, but the pronunciation as well as the derivation of this name are still matters of controversy. By some modern critics the name is derived from the names of Egyptian divinities, supposed to have been nationalized by Moses. Others derive it from an Assyrian form of the divine name, but all of these derivations are in large measure conjectural. It is contended by some of the scholars that as the name of the national deity it must have been older than the time of Moses, as the name of the mother of Moses is compounded with it. For the most part, however, Jehovah is regarded as having been originally a family or tribal god, either of the family to which Moses belonged or of the tribe of Joseph. That it was, in fact, only a special name of El which became current within a powerful circle, and which, on that account, was all the more fitted to become the designation of the national god.

In the earlier periods of its history the name was not associated with any idea as high as that of "creator," but as the religion of Israel developed in spirituality and depth it became invested with new and richer meanings. So, too, primarily, Jehovah was strictly

Israel’s God, and it was not until long, very long, afterward that He came to be regarded as the God of the Universe.

Thus far we have employed the name of Jehovah, but this is not really a word of any language, neither is it the name now generally recognized and used by the biblical scholars. The Jews, of later periods, at least, either from religious awe, or from a misunderstanding of Ex. XX, 7; Lev. XXIV, 16; abstained from pronouncing the divine name, and whenever it occurred in reading substituted therefor the word Adonai (Lord). As only the consonantal outline of the word was written, (thus J H V H) in time the true pronunciation became lost. Subsequently the revisers of the Jewish scriptures, known as the Massorets, punctuated this consonantal outline with the vowels e (for a) o a of the word Adonai (Adonay) and thus we get the present name which, it will be perceived, is distinctly a hybrid form. It is now generally agreed among scholars, however, that the true pronunciation of the name is Jahwe (Yahwe), a conclusion which is supported not only by the linguistic argument derived from the fact that the various contracted forms in which the name appears, either separately or in compound proper names, are all reducible to Jahw, but also by the testimony of ancient tradition. * * *

The meaning of the name is involved in some obscurity. It does not seem that the Hebrew phrase lends itself very readily to translation into idiomatic English, and the scholars are not wholly agreed with respect to its etymology. The translation furnished by the Authorized Version of the Scriptures in Exod. III, 14, "I am that I am," is the one employed in all Masonic liturgies. The Revised Version gives the same translation with the marginal readings, "I am because I am," or, "I will be that I will be." The Douay Version, following the Latin Vulgate, renders it "I am who am," and-" He who is." The English rendering of the Septuagint seems to be, "I am he who is," or "who exists." The biblical scholars, as a rule, translate the phrase, "I will be what I will be," and "I will." This latter seems to be the true grammatical reading, as the words, in the original, are in the future tense. The root, however, is ’to be," and the essential meaning throughout the scriptures is "the being," or "the everlasting."

The foregoing states the long held and generally received opinion concerning the meaning of the phrase As previously stated, however, the etymology of the word Jahwe, is still unsettled and many of the biblical critics are of opinion that the better translation is, "He who causes to be," or "He who causes to happen." This view is now held by a very large number. It will be perceived that it still emphasizes the essential fact of being and, it is contended, in a much more satisfactory manner than the vague "I will be what I will be." It is also more in consonance with the views of the Israelites concerning the Deity at the time of its probable origin.

But, however we may translate the phrase, or eve though we may be unable to state its meaning in words the ideas which it connotes are the highest conception of God that can be framed--sublime and comprehensive --the great mystery of Nature which is at the heart of all things and connects all things into one whole. But that great mystery we may never know, for it is no given to the finite to comprehend the infinite. As a fitting conclusion I quote the words of Kant (Critik de Urtheilskraft, pg. 197): "Perhaps in all human composition there is no passage of greater sublimity, no amongst

all sublime thoughts any which has been more sublimely expressed, than that which occurs in the inscription upon the temple of Isis (the Great Mother-- Nature) :"

"I am whatsoever is--whatsoever has been what soever shall be: and the veil which is over my countenance, no mortal hand has ever raised."

NO CHURCH BUT MAN

A creedless love, that knows no clan,

No caste, no cult, no church but Man,

That deems to-day, and now, and here Are voice and vision of the seer,

That through this lifted human clod The inflow of the breath of God Still sheds its apostolic powers,-- Such love, such trust, such faith be ours.

We deem man climbs an endless slope Toward far seen tablelands of hope;

That he, through filth and shame of sin, Still seeks the God that speaks within; That all the years since time began Work the eternal Rise of Man;

And all the days that time shall see Tend toward the Eden yet to be.

Too long our music-hungering needs Have heard the iron clash of creeds.

The creedless love that knows no clan,

No caste, no cult, no church but Man, Shall drown in mellow music all The dying jangle of their brawl;

Such love with all its quickening powers,-- Such love to God and man be ours.

--Sam Walter Foss.

THE FATHERLAND

Where is the true man’s fatherland?

Is it where he by chance is born?

Doth not the yearning spirit scorn In such scant borders to be spanned?

Oh, yes ! his fatherland must be As the blue heaven wide and free !

Is it alone where freedom is,

Where God is God and man is man ?

Doth he not claim a broader span From the soul’s love of home than this ?

Oh, yes; his fatherland must be As the blue heaven wide and free.

Where’er human heart doth wear Joy’s myrtle wreath or sorrow’s gyves, Where’er a human spirit strives After a life more true and fair,

There is the true man’s birthplace grand, His is a world-wide fatherland !

Where’er a single slave doth pine, Where’er one man may help another-- Thank God for such a birthright brother-- That spot of earth is thine and mine ! There is the true man’s birthplace grand, His is a world-wide fatherland.

--James Russell Lowell.

EDITORIAL

(The Builder is an open forum for free and fraternal discussion. Each of its contributors writes under his own name, and is responsible for his own opinions. Believing that a unity of spirit is better than a uniformity of opinion, the Research Society as such, does not champion any one school of Masonic thought as over against another; but offers to all alike a medium for fellowship and instruction, leaving each to stand or fall by its own merits)

THE MASTER

HEAR now the history of a word as it has come down to us from days of old. In the ancient Guilds of artisans, the skilled metalsmiths of the Middle Ages, an Apprentice toiled for seven years at his tasks. When at last his hand was trained, and he had wrought some beautiful thing, perhaps in beaten silver, he brought it to the Master of the Guild and said, "Behold my experience !" Having worked for seven long years, the sum of all his impassioned patience and aspiration was in that tiny bit of shining metal; it was a symbol of his character which, as the word tells us, is something carved.

Like every man who achieves a delicate and difficult task, he had made many mistakes, had spoiled many a piece of metal, had dulled the edge of many a tool. He had spent painful days and nights in labor, and his Masterpiece, his Experience, was the sum and reward of all his Experiments. He had given himself to his task with enthusiasm; he had obeyed his Master; his faith had made him faithful - and the whole was in that tiny bit of silver. He might now take his kit of tools and go out as a journeyman, a Master of his Craft.

Which story is a parable of how a man becomes a Master Mason, not by receiving a Degree, but by the attainment of a habitual mastery of his appetites and passions by the Reason and the Moral Sense; a habitual mastery, as Pike reminds us, not a never-failing mastery - for that is a trophy which few mortals win in this world. The task of every man is to take the raw material of his life, with whatever of glowing passion or hard heredity it may hold; take it as it is, and by patience in spite of blunders, by perseverance in face of failures, by loyalty to an Ideal and fidelity to a noble Life-plan, shape it into a constant beauty and enduring worth.

No man who has tried it needs to be told that this is no easy task, albeit for some it is easier than fold others - it was easier for Emerson than for Burns, who tried so hard and failed so much. By the same token, since every man fights a hard fight, no one can boast over his fellow; and if, by reason of rare power or a sweeter ancestry he is unhampered by the failures of his fathers, it is the more reason why he should be an inspiration and aid to his fellow men. No man wins this victory all at once, or once for all. Let him who thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall, for the enemies of Mansoul are many and exceeding cunning.

As Huxley said, "it does not take much of man to be a Christian, but it takes all there is of him," and he might have added that it takes all his time. Just so, if one would be a Master Mason in very truth, and not in name only or the wearing of a pin, he will find that it asks for all that he has of wisdom and of wit, the while he divides his time into labor, rest, and the service of his kind. How well Wordsworth knew who he wrote:

" ’Tis the most difficult of tasks to keep

Heights which the soul is competent to gain:

Man is of dust ;"

and as all are made of the self same dust, it become us to be gentle as it behooves us to be just. More an more, as we grow older, and learn the perils of the roar and remember how often we have failed and how fe we have wandered, the words of Goethe come to mine "If during our lifetime we see that performed by others to which we ourselves felt an earlier call, but had been obliged to give up, with much besides, then the beautiful feeling enters the mind, that only mankind together is the true man, and that the individual can only be joyous and happy when he has the courage to feel himself in the whole."

Here is the great Fraternity in whose heroic and inspiring fellowship we live, and by whose inspiration we may win victory - man in God, and God in Man willing the God to be! Yet in each soul there is some thing unique, something not to be found anywhere else, a beauty peculiar, particular, precious, as no two leaves on a tree are alike, and no two sunsets the same. Each man must make Research to find that hidden Pearl of Eternity within his own soul; that star which shines for him alone - "My Star," as Browning called it; and having found it, let him follow it and he will find himself, his Brother, and his God. Even so, each of us by mastery of himself, may add a pearl of great price to the common wealth; each may set a new star in that sky which arches over our human world.

What though a man win wealth and the applause of fame, and have not Charity, it is nothing; what though he sway the world with his eloquence and miss the high prize of "self-knowledge, self-reverence and self-control," even if men erect an obelisk of gold above his grave it is a monument to a failure. He only is wise who lives a simple, sincere, faithful life, building on the Square by the Plumb, toiling in the light of Eternity; as Browning would say, did we alter one word in his lines -

Masonry is all or nothing; it’s no mere smile

Of contentment, sigh of aspiration, sir - No quality of the finelier tempered clay Like its whiteness or its lightness; rather, stuff Of the very stuff: life of life. and self of self."

*  * *

MASTERS OF TOMORROW -

Naturally, in a Society of more than ten thousand members one finds men of varying types of thought, as well as of different degrees of interest and training; and it is not easy to edit a journal in which all will find equal inspiration and value. What will appeal to the veteran student is often over the head of the young man who, though he is the Master of his Lodge, is really an Apprentice in the study of the history and philosophy of Masonry. Many men, many minds; but we are finding the range, and while it is difficult to hit so many marks at the same time, our aim is to reach every man who has an interest in Masonry.

Frankly, as we have more than once confessed, our chief concern is for the young men - the shock-heads, God bless them ! - who are to take our places and lead the Fraternity forward in the days to come. Sixty years ago Robert Lowe, in the beginning of the University Extension movement in England, made the slogan, "We must educate our masters;" and that is also a necessity in the development of Masonry. More young men new to the study of

Masonry are enrolled in this Society than in any other body of Masonic students on earth; and it is of vital importance to the future of the Order that they be started right, not only as to the facts of Masonic history, but also, and much more, as to its spirit, its meaning, and its mission among men.

Unless the masters of tomorrow are led to see clearly what Masonry is, what it is trying to accomplish, and in what spirit it labors, the future will suffer from a misunderstanding, if not a misuse, of Masonry. Once they really see what Masonry is, they will not think of it as a kind of secret annex to the club-life of the day, or what is still worse, as a mere weapon with which to fight a party or a sect. They will know that it is a great fellowship of free men for the practice of righteousness and the culture of good-will, seeking to train men for the service of humanity, to heal the bitterness of the world, and to promote its peace !

In this behalf we toil, seeking the truth for the love of it and the freedom which it gives, insisting that facts be distinguished from conjectures, and history from tradition; granting to the occultist every liberty to exploit his fantastic philosophy, but reminding him that the glory of Masonry is its simplicity, its moral teaching, its spiritual faith and its practical value. Nor can we ever be turned aside one iota from the path wherein our fathers walked, in whose tradition we stand and upon whose foundation we build; keeping in mind the young men who are to make the future greater than today, and loving Masonry more than we love any theory of it.

REAL RESEARCH -

The essay on the influence of Masonry on the liberation of Latin America in this issue, like the thesis by Brother Street in the last issue of The Builder, is a piece of real research, as interesting as it is valuable. Happily we are able to present both of those admirable articles in full, without chopping them up into sections, as, unfortunately, we had to do with the splendid seriesby Grand Master Johnson which now comes to a close. Brother Hemenway is widely known in other fields of scholarly labor, as for example his monumental volume, which has become a standard treatise, on "Legal Principles of Public Health Administration," which welds the two sciences of law and medicine into the one science of Public Health. His interest in Latin Americah Masonry grew out of his labors on the literary staff of the Chicago Evening Post, and his essay is the fruit of long research in a field hitherto little explored.

Robert Burns was wont to regard his contemporaries as an "unco squad," but we have no such mind toward our fellow-workers, albeit we wish some of them would mend their ways - as when our Brethren take our little paragraph on "When is a Man a Mason?" and fire it off as their own. No matter; what we had in mind was to express appreciation of the department called "The Deeper Problems," conducted by Brother Frank Higgins, in the Masonic Standard of New York. Nor do we forget the careful and accurate essays of Brother J. L. Carson, contributed to the Virginia Masonic Journal, a selection of which in permanent form would make a book worth while. Readers of these pages will soon meet Brother Carson face to face, and we are quite sure they will agree with us both as to the quality of his work and the fineness of his spirit.

*  * *

MASONIC EDUCATION -

Grand Master Bledsoe, of California, in a letter to the Lodges of his Grand Jurisdiction in regard to the Study Side of Masonry, has some pertinent things to say about the necessity and the difficulties of Masonic Research. He announces the appointment of a Committee on Masonic Education - which Committee is already in conference with this Society - to formulate a plan of procedure. A few sentences will show the drift of the letter of the Grand Master:

"There is among the Brethren a pronounced craving as well as necessity for additional information and education along the lines of the true spirit, purpose, philosophy and destiny of Masonry. . . Masons as well as profanes are becoming more appreciative of the fact that the real genius of the institution lies not in its obligations, lectures, floor work or mere mode of operation, but in its broader conception - its relation to human life, its opportunity for true service, its development of the social and fraternal element in man’s make-up. This tendency is made evident in the suggestions and requests coming to the Grand Master’s office, from time to time, for the service of those who, skilled in Masonic lore, traditions and symbolism, may interest and instruct the Brethren through the medium of articles, lectures and the like. In this behalf I have felt extremely chary about recommending every ambitious Masonic lecturer who feels the ’call’ to go forth and instruct the fraternity. . . The subject matter of Masonic lectures is a matter meriting genuine concern. ’Masonic Symbolism,’ a frequent subject, as well as source, of inspiration, because of its illimitable bounds and possibilities has been in some instances overworked. In the same strain much so- called ’Masonic History,’ as the same is dilated upon by lecturers, is nothing more nor less than ’Masonic Hysteria!’ "

*  * *

CORRESPONDENCE THAT FIRST SCOTTISH RITE MASON

Dear Brother Editor:- It seems to me that Brother Warner in his letter entitled the First Scottish Rite Mason, got things twisted as to facts and dates. It is surely news to read that "Morin was commissioned by the Grand Orient of France to carry the Rite of Perfection to North America," whereas his commission bore date of Aug. 27th, 1761, that is, ten years before the Grand Orient of France came into existence. As his commission has been printed so often, I am at a loss to know how any one could have fallen into such an error. Some writers say that Morin was commissioned by the "Council of Emperors," others by the Grand Lodge of France, and that his commission was signed by eight persons and by Daubantin, "by order of the Grand Lodge." But no one can pretend that it was authorized by the Grand Orient before that body existed. Nor is it correct to say that Morin was a Scottish Rite Mason. The error is common enough - even Samuel Oppenheim, in his history of "The Jews and Masonry in the United States Before 1810 " stumbles into it - but that is all the more reason why it should be pointed out and set right. Of course, an editor cannot keep tab on all his correspondents, but I think this matter of sufficient importance to call your attention to it, for the benefit of others who may be confused by it. Accept my fraternal regards and best wishes.

Russell Furgeson, Ohio

(Brother Furgeson is entirely right both as to the Commission of Morin not being authorized by the Grand Orient of France, and as to the error, all too common, of calling Morin a Scottish Rite Mason; and we are grateful to him for calling attention to the facts. Morin was never a Scottish Rite Mason nor was Francken, nor was Hays. They all belonged to the Rite of Perfection, which consisted of twenty-five degrees, and not to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, which consists of thirty-three degrees. Even Masonic historians, as Brother Furgeson points out, are continually falling into this error, and thereby making confusion worse confolmded. The Body at Albany, created in 1767, belonged to the Rite of Perfection, as did the Bodies at Charleston, created in 1783. We had no Scottish Rite on this Continent until Col. John Mitchell and Dr. Frederick Dalcho established the Supreme Council for the United States on the 31st day of May, 1801. By the kindness of a Brother of the Rite, we have this testimony of Hon. Giles Fonda Yates Grand Commander of the Supreme Council for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, in an address delivered by him on Sept. 5th, 1851, to the Northern Supreme Colmcil. In the course of his address Brother Yates said that, after having revived the Lodge at Albany, New York, which was founded by Francken, one of the deputies of Morin-

"Having been made aware of the new Constitution of the Thirty Third Degree, ratified on the 1st of May, 1786, conferring the Supreme Power over our Rite on Councils of nine Brethren, I hastened to place myself in correspondence with Moses Holbrook, M. D., at the time Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council at Charleston, and with my esteemed friends, Joseph McCosh, Grand Secretary of the last named Council, and Brother Gourgas, at that time Gr. Sec. Gen. of the H. E. for this Northern Jurisdiction. Lodges of Perfection in the Counties of Montgomery, Onondage, Saratoga and Monroe in the State of New York, were successively organized, and placed agreeably to the Constitutions under the superintendence of the Grand Council before named. The establishment of this last named Body was confirmed, and all our proceedings in ’Sublime Freemasonry’ were legalized and sanctioned by the only lawful authorities in the United States, the aforesaid Supreme Councils."

By all means let Brother Warner continue his studies, and give the Craft the results of his researches, but the value of his work will be enhanced by keeping these facts and distinctions clearly in mind. Fifteen years ago, Brother George F. Moore, now Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction, said that the history of the Scottish Rite had not been written, and that statement is still true. Here is a rich field for a careful student. - The Editor.)

*  * *

MASONIC POETRY

Dear Brother: - I have been much pleased with the selection of poetry in The Builder. To every Brother who has endeavored to

subdue his passions and improve himself in Masonry, there are endless allusions to Masonry not alone in literature and in social life, but in Nature. If you have space to spare at some time in the future, I believe many Brethren have never seen Brother Greenleaf’s beautiful poem "The Temple," and it would do them good to read it.

I have also applied Gerald Massey’s beautiful thoughts to my ideal of Masonry to much advantage. Our whole Masonic teaching so centers about the thought of Immortality, that this from Massey cannot be out of place in our literature:

"Although its features fade in light of unimagined bliss,

We have shadowy revealings of a Better World than this:

A little glimpse when Spring unveils her face and opens her eyes

Of the Sleeping Beauty in the soul that wakes in Paradise;

A little drop of Heaven in each diamond of the shower

A breath of the Eternal in the fragrance of each flower!

A little low vibration in the warble of Night’s bird

Of the praises and the music that shall hereafter be heard!

A little whisper in the leaves that clap their hands and try

To glad the heart of man, and lift to Heaven his grateful eye.

A little semblance mirrored in old Ocean’s smile and frown

Of His vast glory who doth bow the Heavens and come down!

A little symbol shining through the worlds that move at rest On invisible foundations of the broad Almighty breast!

A little hint that stirs and thrills the wings we fold within,

And tells of that full heaven yonder, which must here begin!

A little springlet swelling from the fountain head above,

That takes its earthly way to find the ocean of all love!

A little silver shiver in the ripple of the river

Caught from the light that knows no night forever and forever!

A little hidden likeness, often faded and defiled

Of the great, the good All-Father, in His poorest human child!

Although the best be lost in light of unimagined bliss,

We have shadowy revealings of a Better World than this!"

The first part of this letter was written a month ago, and I enclose a copy of "The Temple." by Brother Greenleaf, which in my opinion is the most beautiful Masonic poem, except "Every Year” by Pike. Remember this also, Mom Massey: "There is no pathway man hath ever trod, by faith or seeking light, but ends in God."

Fraternally yours,

S. H. Shepherd, Wis.

(Between the first part of his letter and the last, Brother Shepherd has paid us a visit, and we shall not live long enough to forget it. He is a man for whom Masonry has done much, and who would do something for Masonry in return, one who is seeking, what all of us are seeking to be what St. Paul said we should be, "God’s poems." His study of Landmarks has made him known to our readers, as we trust other studies of his will do in days to come. Cicero advised busy men, especially lawyers - for he was a lawyer - to read a little poetry every day, if only to keep open a window toward the City of Light. Otherwise, he said, the soul will become dry and hard amid the dust and din and litter of our labor. Keeping this danger in mind, we have thought it worth while to select snatches of great music for our pages, if so its melodies may accompany the work of the Builders. Brother Shepherd understands our purpose, and has sent us two sweet songs; perhaps others will do likewise. - The Editor. )

*  * *

"TRAVEL."

Dear Sir and Brother: - First let me congratulate you most heartily upon your success in making a magazine which is worthy of the best in Masonry. It might be invidious to say that The Builder is the first Masonic periodical in which are united intelligence, high purpose, reverence, and literary ability, but it is the first one that I have seen. While true to the Landmarks and to the spirit of the Fraternity, you know the difference between history and tradition, and between fact

and allegory. It is dangerous to trust the interpretation of our ritual to a literal-minded man, or to that of a visionary. Fortunately, you are neither.

But my present wish is to suggest what I believe to be the alternative meaning of the word "travel," as used, for example, in the phrase "travel for at least one year." It does not always mean journey, I think, but sometimes labor; and it is the same word that is now-a- days usually spelled "travail." The word in its present spelling, "travel," has also the meaning of labor, and was frequently used in that sense in the early days of Masonry.

It has always been used in this sense by the Shakers, who speak of "travelling in the gospel," "travelling out of sin," etc. I find in a book on Shakerism, published a hundred years ago, the "travail" of Freemasonry compared with the Shaker "travail." Regensburg Regulations, 41, as published in The Builder for September, reads: "No Master shall make any laborer a parlierer, although he may have served his term as an apprentice, but who has not at least traveled one year."

There is a curious analogy in the double meaning of the word "journey," derived from the French "jour," a day. It came to mean a day’s travel, or a day’s travail. In Masonry, a journeyman was a man who worked by the day, not a traveler. Our ancient Operative brethren set great store by day’s wages. The third Regensburg Regulation contains this: "Day wages shall continue, and in no way shall the contract system be used." This insistence upon the day- labor system, and upon rules in favor of the "journeyman" or day’s- work man, in distinction from the contract laborer, throws an interesting side-light upon one of the Chapter Degrees.

Regensburg Regulation 25, begins thus: "Even though a craftsman has journeyed and worked as a stonemason, and made advancement in the order, he should not be accepted as a Master if this experience be less than two years." Here "journeyed" may mean either "served as a day’s-workman," or "passed from place to place." The well-known double meaning of the old word "hail," which sometimes signifies welcome, and sometimes to conceal, is an interesting parallel. This is of slight importance for publication, but it may interest for a moment.

Fraternally yours

Harlow H. Ballard, 33d Hon., Mass.

*  * *

WHITHER.

Dear Brother Editor: - After reading the letter from Brother Arthur B. Rugg, of Minneapolis, headed "The Realization of Truth," one finds it rather difficult to decide whether or not Brother Rugg places the seal of his approval unon "The Great Work." Like you, Brother Editor, I am not of those who regard a difference of opinon as a personal insult. However Brother Rugg seems to have taken Masonry, the Great School, Christianity, and Mary Baker Eddy, and tangled them up in such a manner as to render it well nigh impossible for one to distinguish the point at which he is driving.

For instance, he says "The question would not be the demonstration of a future life, but the realization of the truth of the continuity of life." May we not ask, whither this discussion leads?

Fraternally,

Alwyn Vickers, Alabama.

*  * *

FAITH IN EACH OTHER

Dear Brother: - What are the essentials of success in the attainment of the ideals of Freemasonry by the earnest Mason? In answer thereto, and as an illustration. the following advice, suggestion, or hint by Brother George W. Kendrick, of Past Grand Master of Pennsylvania, will be found a valuable guide:

"No longer are men banded together in our Fraternity to erect physical structures to overcome physical foes. The light that we follow leads to a keener insight, a better understanding and a nobler expression of the human faculties. The materials with which we labor are constituent elements of every human being, and our purpose is to learn how to use the materials to construct temples of the mind and soul which will be pleasing to the eyes of the Great Architect. For this work certain essentials are preliminary to success. We must have faith in each other; confidence in the success of our efforts as long as they are rightly directed, and we must cast out every hatred and all uncharitableness. Constituted as we are, we strive ever toward the highest and best, confined to no creed, not

bound by any political or social lines. Our strength is greatest and our opportunities for good are most numerous, and therefore our responsibilities weightiest, in times like these, when suspicion lurks in every corner, ready to be swept by the winds of ignorance and discontent to shake the foundations of confidence in God’s greatest work - Man."

Yours fraternally,

John C. Yorston, Philadelphia.

*  * *

WHO’S WHO

Dear Brother Newton: - As a basis for certain historical research it seems to me that there should be made a directory of all distinguished Masons in this country before a given date, as nearly as could be discovered. This should be made from the old Lodge records, and the collected names should be arranged alphabetically. The record should give the name, lodge record, and dates. The fact that a certain name is not found is not conclusive evidence that he was not a Masons hint the finding of a name recorded is proof that he was a member of the Order. There is no question as to the fact that Masonic membership has been used as a means of influence in governmental affairs.

You recently stated positively that Thomas Paine was not a Mason, and only the day before I read your statement an admirer of Paine said just as positively that Paine was a Mason. This admirer of Paine was the son of an English clergyman who was born in the early part of the last century. I do not know upon what evidence either statement was made - but in such matters we must remember that formerly the records were frequently not well kept, and that degrees were loosely conferred. Further, though Paine might not have been a Mason in this country, he may have joined the Order in France.

Sincerely yours

H. B. Hemenway, Illinois.

(The basis for our statement that Paine was not a Mason was the positive statement to that effect in more than one of his biographies. Mackey is also explicit on the point. The notion that he was a Mason is probably due to the fact that he wrote an essay on Freemasonry, but the essay, while ingenious in its argument, betrays a vast incomprehension of the Order. Still, he may have joined the Fraternity in France after he wrote his essay, and if there is any record or proof of that statement we shall be very glad to know it. The suggestion of Dr. Hemenway is a good one, especially as regards distinguished men - our Presidents, for example - some of whom are said to have been Masons, while others deny, or have no proof, that they were Masons. - The Editor.)

*  * *

THE CABLE-TOW

Brother Editor: - May I not call the attention of the Brethren to the following history of the Cable-tow as found in "The Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man," by Albert Churchward? No doubt you are familiar with it, but it will interest many by showing how far back he traces the Cable-tow, and also as suggesting that we have not considered the meaning of what is one of the first things we meet in Masonry. You surely have begun at the beginning, and your discussion of the Cable-tow makes one realize how much there is of interest and importance in the first simple things of the craft. The Passage from Churchward is as follows:

"How many of our Fraternity know the real import and meaning of the Cable-tow? Originally it was a chain or rope of some kind, worn by the initiate, or those about to be initiated, to signify their belief in God and their dependence on Him, and their solemn obligations to submit and devote themselves to His will and service; and the fact that he is neither naked nor clothed is an emblem that he is untutored - a mere child of nature - unregenerate and destitute of any knowledge of the tree God, as well as being destitute of the comforts of life. This is the state in which we find ourselves as candidates. The chain was used by the Druids and Egyptians as a symbolism, as above stated. Also that he was being led from darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge of the one true and living God, Creator and Judge of all. That the fope appears around the neck of more than one in these picture scenes - seven in some - is only a symbol of ’the seven powers’ - as ’the seven ropes,’ and each one of the weavers of these represents one of the seven attributes of Horus I. in their sacerdotal duties. Originally it was one only which was associated with Horus I. and Amsu - the risen Horus or Horus of the Spirit. Horus, having been led or passed through dangers, difficulties, darkness and death in the underworld, emerged as Amsu, the first risen man-god, and attached to his crown of two feathers - denoting the two lives, earthly and spiritual - is this cable- tow or rope, as a symbol that it is a ’power’ which has led him through from earthly to spiritual life."

Fraternally yours

David Duncan, California.

THE FUTURE OF MASONRY

If Masonry is to be a factor in creating a noble future for our race, we must not be content to learn only the truths of the dead past, we must also master the knowledge of the living present. We must prove ourselves to be "sons of the Light," and assimilate into our lodge work the truths of modern thought and research. An institution resting on nothing but its past, is a mummy, not a living body. He who makes Masonry a living, working reality in the world is the real Mason.

-   Speculative Masonry by A. S. Macbride.

THE LIBRARY

"IN A NOOK WITH A BOOK"

THE JEWS AND MASONRY

THOSE who have not seen the booklet entitled "The Jews and Masonry in the United States Before 1810," by Samuel Oppenheim, a reprint from the publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, will find it exceedingly interesting and valuable. The author, albeit not himself a Mason, has given us a fine piece of historical research, taking up, first and briefly, the relation of the Jews to Masonry in general, and then tracing the presence and influence of Jewish Brethren in the early days of each of the Grand Jurisdictions of the country. As a kind of text, he quotes the words of Rabbi Isaac Wise:

"Masonry is a Jewish institution whose history, degrees, charges, passwords, and explanations are Jewish from the beginning to the end, with the exception of only one by-degree and a few words in the obligation. The beauty and pride of Masonry is its universal character, its tendency to fraternize mankind, and its being free from the elements which have been ever the efficient causes of hatred, persecution, fraud, and rude barbarism."

Turning to Massachusetts, we find a very good sketch of the life and Masonic services of Moses Michael Hays - sometimes spelled Hayes

-     who, as a deputy of Francken and Morin, brought the Rite of Perfection to the old Bay State. From this account, he was a gracious and noble man, of fine character, of beautiful home-life, devoted to the interests of Freemasonry; though after his death, and owing to prejudice against his race made use of by anti-Masonic fanatics - always experts in matters of prejudice - his good name was assailed. Howbeit, he was Grand Master of Massachusetts, Paul Revere serving as Deputy under him, and is entitled to all the honors that belong to the memory of a good man and Mason.

Passing to Rhode Island, we find that the author makes out a fairly good case in favor of that blurred, battered and much-debated scrap of paper which records a tradition which haunts the annals of that Grand Jurisdiction, to the effect that Masonry was brought to the Island in 1658; that is to say, long before the "revival" of Masonry in 1717. The scrap of paper reads as follows, as far as it can be read:

"Ths ye (day and lnonth obliterated) 1658 wee mett att y House off Mordecai Campunall and affter Synagog Wee gave Abm Moses the degrees of Maconrie.

For the most part, Masonic historians have been wont to pay scant attention to such a document, as Grand Master Johnson does in his study of the Early History and Establishment of Masonry in America; but the argument of Oppenheim is worthy of notice.

At any rate, he offsets, to a degree, the arguments against it, such as that there was only one degree in the Masonry of that day - about which no one can be dogmatic - and other points of like kind. For the details of the discussion, we must refer our readers to the little book under notice. All through the author is careful to give his authorities, and his essay is valuable as showing how early and how deeply our Jewish Brethren were interested in Masonry in America.

*  * *

MASONRY AND MUSIC

It was in accord with ancient usage, and with the eternal fitness of things, for the Grand Lodge of Illinois to issue its well-edited and neatly bounded book of "Appropriate Odes for Use in Masonic Work," concerning which Brother Isaac Cutter, Grand Secretary, Camp Point, Ill., can furnish information. We say that it is accord with ancient custom, for the Masons of olden time were wont to sing a great deal, especially in times of festival and play; and they had many such times of feast and fun - which shows that our bread-and- butter Masons of today are well-descended - as witness the collections of their songs which remain to this day. Indeed, one scholar, seeking the origin of the word Mason, has actually traced it back to the word "table.” Perhaps his derivation will not pass muster; no matter, it serves to show the fun and frolic which marked the social life of the older Masonry.

The object of the Grand Lodge of Illinois is to enrich the ritual work of Masonry with a more liberal use of appropriate music, and its purpose is as wise as it is worthy. There is much in Masonry which no word, no symbol may express, and which only music, the most infinite of all the arts, can utter; so much of that sweet, eternal mysticism which is like fragrance from the Fatherland of the soul; and we need to make a better and wiser use of the only art which carries the soul forward out of the shadows of Time into the light of Eternity - that holy sacrament of song whereby things inaudible may be known and loved. The advent of great temple organs in our temples bespeaks this deep need, and foretells the higher ministry of Music in the Masonry of the future.

THE MASON-BEES

If our readers are not familiar with the work of Fabre, whom Maeterlinck called the Homer of the insects, now is the time to make friends with one of the wisest, sweetest, greatest souls of this or any other age. His biography, by Legros, is a volume of shining pages, made vital by a thousand human touches that evoke laughter and tears, with here and there, like swift flashes of spirit-lights, passages that send a ray of light into the deep mystery of the world. Behind it and within it is a human soul so simple, so artless, so unconscious of its greatness, so unforgettably lovely, and a genius as rare, surely, as ever the round world has seen. Those who have read his Mason-Bees, his studies of the Fly, the Spider, and the little soft populations in the grass, can testify to a new sense of the infinite ingenuity of Nature; of God first, God last, God infinitesimally vast. When long time has passed, and the awful war has become a sad echo in the world, the name of Fabre will still shine like a white star.

*  * *

QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION

In the June issue of the Masonic Journal of South Africa I read an address by you on the Ministry of Masonry, in which you refer to a description of the initiation of a Mason by Count Tolstoi. Will you not give the reference more specifically ? - H.K.B.

It is found in "War and Peace," by Tolstoi - a book the reading of which will make vivid the great battles now raging in the east - but as that prodigious novel is published in many editions to give you the pages would do little good. You can find it, however, by turning to Part five, chapter two.

*  * *

My dear Brother: - I am an old man, and I find that there grows upon me a feeling - I do not say a fear - that when my body dissolves in death my mind will also melt into the universal whole and lose its identity. Is this a common experience? - H.L.P.

Indeed, yes; perhaps due to the natural lowering of vitality, and a slackening of the pulses of life. Yet there is no reason in fact for feeling so. Every analogy of nature, as far as we can see, tends in another direction. No atom is ever lost as we now know, nor can any element be changed into another element. Water may be separated into oxygen and hydrogen, but neither gas loses its identity or ceases to be. Hydrogen holds its own through every change. Nor can force be destroyed, and this must be true of the force - if such it be - which we call mind. When Emerson died, not one atom of his body was destroyed, not one element lost its identity. Why fear, or feel, that his great and pure mind, amid whose white shadows men saw truth as the face of God, was dissipated and lost? Every fact we know tells us that such a feeling is without basis, save, as we have said, in physical conditions.

*  * *

In your book, "The Builders," you express wonder that St. Thomas, the patron saint of architecture, is not honored by Masons along with the two Saints John. I have been unable to find any basis for saying that Thomas was, or is, the patron saint of architecture. What is your authority?

-  W.W.H.

It rests upon a lovely legend, never better told than by E. A. Green, in his "Saints and their Symbols," as follows. When Thomas was at Caesarea, it was shown him in a vision that he should go to Gondoforus, king of the Indies, to search for skilled builders to erect the most beautiful palace ever seen. He obeyed, and the king received him gladly, furnishing him with architects and money. Thereupon the king went away for two years. When he was gone, Thomas spent the money for charity. The king returned, and was so angry that he cast the Saint into a dungeon, intending to devise for him some horrible death. But the king’s brother died, and four days later appeared to the king and told him that he had seen a shining palace which Thomas had built for him in heaven. Then the king released the Saint. It is with reference to this legend, which is as old, almost, as the church, that Thorwaldsen when he made his statue of St. Thomas, now in Copenhagen, revealed him with a square rule in his hand - the Saint of the Builders.

*  * *

Recently a visiting Brother was examined by a committee of our Lodge, and proved very proficient, it was reported, except that he could not give the Masonic Word, which he said was communicated to him in so low a voice that he could not hear it. The Master declined to admit him, which gave rise to some discussion afterwards, and I put it to you. - C.G.C.

The Master, of course, was within his rights, but it is a rule, we believe, that no one thing taken by itself shall be made a test of whether a man has received the degrees of Masonry. It is entirely possible that the Brother was right in saying that the word was whispered to him in so low a voice that he could not understand it; we have known cases of the kind. Moreover, it is an unfamiliar word in a different language, and might slip the mind. Had the Brother been an importer, he would have had the word, or something very like it.

*  * *

What relation to a Mason should a woman be to give her the privilege of wearing a Masonic emblem ? If the privilege goes to a wife, widow, mother, sister, daughter, does the daughter still hold it after marrying a man who is not a Mason ? Similarly, does the mother of a Mason hold the privilege if his father is still living and not a Mason? Does the rule hold for the Chapter, Commandery, and Scottish Rite? - P.G.M.

The custom of extending the protection and courtesy of Masonic fellowship to the ladies of Masons, while not a matter of legislation - so far as we are aware - is as beautiful as it is useful. It obtains in all Rites of the Order, and we see no reason why a daughter should forfeit her privilege by marrying a non-Mason, if she cares to invoke it. As it is, chivalry is not enough practiced among us, especially in the North and West, and this custom is a part of the chivalry of the Order.

*  * *

In 1866 the State of Louisiana issued for revenue purposes, two Lottery stamps of the value Of 7 1/2 and 12 1/2 cents; the former of which has, as its most prominent feature, the Masonic Square, compass and letter G. Why, and with what authority was the Masonic emblem used? - W.I.M.

Brother Richard Lambert, to whom we referred this inquiry, says that, so far as the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana, of which he is Grand Secretary, show, there was no Masonic authority for such use of the emblems. He recalls that at that time the whole state was in the hands of the negroes - the Governor and Legislature being of that color - and he thinks the negro lodge might have granted the privilege. Brother Lambert, whose address is Masonic Temple, New Orleans, would thank Brother Mitchell to let him see the stamp.

*  * *

THE CABLE-TOW

Regarding the inquiry about the Cable-tow, it may interest the Brethren to know that it has no symbolic meaning in English Lodges where it is used only in the first degree, when its physical use only is explained.

-   E.E. Murray, Montana.

Might the Cable-tow not be a symbol of that moral cable by which an apprentice is raised to the plane on which the Fellowcraft is supposed to stand? And in the Fellowcraft degree might it not be a symbol of re-enforcement - a buckler - an added strength, to assist the Craftsmen in making the rough ashier a perfect one ? I would suggest that we make the Cable for ourselves, using honor truth, justice, chastity, charity for the links thereof; forging it true and strong, then welding this mystic Cable to our hearts let us anchor it firmly to God, Home, and Country. - J.H. Jones, Iowa.

But the Cable-tow is something already woven, by which we are brought into the Lodge, and by which we may be taken out if we be unworthy, or unwilling, to proceed. What is it in a man by which he is drawn into Masonry, and which, later, becomes the measure of his obligation when he vows to do certain things if within the reach of his cable-tow? Here is something very wonderful, if we think of it, and worthy of deep thought.

*  * *

THE 47th PROBLEM

The symbolism of the 47th Problem of Euclid, to my mind, is as follows: The problem demonstrates that in the building of an edifice there are certain unalterable laws that govern the result. If these laws are deviated from in the slightest degree the result will be at fault. Every man is the architect of his own destiny. To gain a desired and pure attainment, proper means must be employed. Do not delude yourself. The laws governing conduct are as inviolate as the laws of Euclid. - E. E. Murray, Montana.

Allow me to suggest as the longer leg of the Pythagorean triangle, Charity. Conscience says "Ought." But Conscience may be sadly warped by education. Charity, being the very breath of the Spirit of God which is in every man, unerringly reveals the truth. Hence Conscience, guided by Charity, cannot go wrong. And he who to a square Conscience adds a square Charity (which never faileth) Wlll live on the square to God, his neighbor and himself. - A. S. Harriman, Grand Lecturer, Vermont

Let us take the square on the hypotenuse as representing our duty to God, the square on the base our duty to neighbor and the square on the altitude our duty to ourselves. Let the base signify Conscience, one side of the square Reason - the altitude Intellect, and one side of its square Sentiment. Thus, Conscience acted upon by Reason results in the fulfillment of our duty to our neighbor. Intellect acted upon by Sentiment results in the fulfillment of our duty to ourselves. But in the faithful performance of our duty to our neighbor and ourselves, we cannot fail to fulfill our duty to God. Therefore, our duty to God essentially necessitates and embodies the conscientious discharge of our several duties to our neighbor and ourselves. - Leland Kress, Iowa.

*  * *

Years ago I read a book called "Ginx’s Baby," and I halve often wanted to know who wrote it. Perhaps you can tell me. -

With pleasure. " Ginx’s Baby, his Birth and Other Misfortunes," was written by Edward Jenkins, the son of a Canadian minister, who died last year at Upper Norwood, England. He wrote other books, one that attracted some attention being "Little Hodge"; but none equalled the fame of Ginx’s Baby, which ran through sixty-six editions in a few years. Our copy happens to be the eleventh American edition. It is one of the keenest satires ever written on sectarianism and its folly when applied to charity work.

*  * *

Will you be good enough to tell me something of the personal history of Edward Waite, the author of the "Secret Tradition in Freemasonry?" I have looked in vain for any material regarding him.

-   W.L.J.

In an early number of The Builder we shall publish a sketch and appreciation of Brother Waite - an honored and dear friend - as an introduction to one of the most fruitful and suggestive lectures on Masonry which we ever remember to have read. If our Brother will wait a wee bit, he will receive more than we could give him in a brief space.

*  * *

I am not quite satisfied with what has been said, either by Prof. Pound or by Mrs. Roome, about Pike and his Indian troops. After reading the military reports of the battle of Pea Ridge, on both sides, it seems to me that Pike miscalculated his ability to restrain the force he had raised. This is not to his discredit, especially when it was against his judgment.

-   O.H.N.

Manifestly, this is too large a question for our space here but the Brother will find new material on the subject in a volume entitled "The American Indian as a Slave Holder and Secessionist," by A. H. Able, published by Arthur H. Clark Co., Cleveland. It deals not only with the question here asked, but with the whole history of the Indian policy of the Confederate government.

*  * *

ARTICLES OF INTEREST

The Worship of the Solar Disk, by H. R. Evans. The New Age.

Freemasonry as a Means of Preserving the Peace of the World, by Sir Gilbert Parker. London Freemason.

The Scriptural References in our Ritual, by J. Young. Transactions Lodge of Research, Leicester, England.

G. F. Fort. by A. E. Bear. Miscellanea Latomorum, London.

The Grand Lodge of Virginia, by J. L. Carson. Virginia Masonic Journal.

The 47th Problem of Euclid, by F. C. Higgins. Masonic Standard.

From the Bridewell to the Bridal Altar. Oriental Consistory Magazine.

BOOKS RECEIVED

The Jews and Masonry in the United States Before 1810, by Samuel Oppenheim. Bloch Pub. Co., 40 East 14th St., New York.

Odes to be Used in Masonic Work. Grand Lodge of Illinois.

The Acacia Fraternity, by W. F. Cleveland. Iowa Masonic Library.

Let There be Light, by George B. Winslow, Grand Master, Kentucky.

Miscellanea Latomorum, Vol. 2, London.

The Authorized Version of the Bible and its Influence, by A. S. Cook. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York.

When a Man Comes to Himself, by Woodrow Wilson. Harper & Brothers, New York.

Fabre, Poet of Science, by C. V. Legros. Century Co., New York. Goethe, by Paul Carus. Open Court Pub. Co., Chicago.

Mithraism, by W. J. P. Adams. Open Court Pub. Co., Chicago.

*  * *

CONTINUATION OF QUESTIONS ON "THE BUILDERS"

Compiled by "The Cincinnati Masonic Study School’

1. What did the great orders of antiquity accomplish in ages of darkness? Page 524
2. What were some of the laws which the old Craft-masonry sought to train its members to make them good and true men? Page

132-133-134.

284a. How does Lowell define Freemasonry Page 272.

285a. Name some of the eminent men of history who have been Masons. Page 232.

298a. How far back do we have records of North American Masonry? Page 206.

306a. What is the purport of the Harleian MSS. ? Page 126.

308a. To what purpose did some Masons devote themselves up to the revival in 1717? Page 124.

315a. What was the condition of Society in 1724 ? Page 175-176.

316a. Give a short sketch of the various schisms of Masonry and what resulted? Page 213-219.

319a. Why criticize Masonry ? Page 252.

320a. Does Freemasonry belong to any one age or to any religion? Page 253.

1. Of what is the pyramid an image, as stated by Plutarch ? Page
2. Who was Pythagoras and what secret order did he found? Page 48.
3. Can fitness for the finer truths be conferred ?
4. What did Pythagoras say of the science of numbers? Page 15

THE BUILDER MAGAZINE

FEBRUARY 1915

VOLUME 1 - NUMBER 2

THE FLAG OF PEACE

’Tis said that the Flag of our Republic was born in 1777, but that cannot be true. It was stitched into form at that time, in a little back parlor, but he who would know its origin must look far into the dim, pathetic, aspiring past. It was woven on the Loom of Ages- -woven of the dreams and heartbeats of humanity, of the warp of sorrow and the woof of hope--by a Great Hand stretched out from the Unseen. All those who on red fields of war died that their sons might be free; all who in dark prison cells suffered for the rights of man; all who in the long night of tyranny toiled and prayed for a better day, added threads to our Flag. It floats to-day in the blue sky, swayed by happy winds, held aloft by innumerable hands of the living and the dead, at once a history and a prophecy.

In old mythology Minerva and Ceres presided over the laboring classes --robed in flaming red, and that color became their emblem; but it was an emblem of blood-making, not of blood-letting; symbolizing the victories of peace, not those of war. Color in ancient Rome separated plebeian from patrician--blue the color of the aristocracy, white the war symbol, and red the emblem of labor and peace. All these colors are blended in our Flag, making it the sanctifying symbol of Unity, Fraternity, and Good-will among men.

So may it ever be--Flag of Freedom and Friendship-woven of "the mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land," proclaiming the time-glorified principles wrought out by the tears and prayers of our fathers.

Let all those who stand under it join hearts in one faith, join hands in one purpose--for the safety and sanctity of this Republic; for the rights of man and the majesty of law; for the moral trusteeship of private property and public office; for the education of the ignorant; for the lifting of poverty, through self-help, to comfort; for the dignity of the home and the laughter of little children; for social beauty, national glory, and human welfare. Long may it wave, rendered for all ages holy by the faith of the men who lifted it up, and the valor of the men who defended it in an hour of madness and peril. May it never again float over a field of war, but ever and forever over scenes of peace, honor, and progress.

-- J. F. N.

MASONRY AND WORLD-PEACE

BY JOSEPH FORT NEWTON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

HAD any one written a story of modern civilization last spring, it would have read like a romance. What a picture it would have painted of the triumphs of art and industry, of disease yielding to the skill of science, of the intellectual linking of nations, of the rapid march of ideas, of the annihilation of time and distance by the ingenuities of invention. The bright cities of the earth, with their palaces of art and prayer, lay bathed in sunlight. Air-craft explored the sky, and wireless messages flew every whither, telling of the glory of man.

And then--a high-school boy in remote Bosnia fired a pistol, and a pall of ancient barbaric night fell over the earth, darkening the heavens. Merciful God! the tragedy of it--beyond comparison the greatest war in all the long annals of time in the new century! In an instant, all trace of civilization seemed to vanish, and nation was leaping at the throat of nation, filling the world with measureless misery and woe. Commerce languishes, art is paralyzed, religion is mocked, and civilization seems tumbling to a fall. Four days of the cost of this conflict would dig the Panama Canal and pay for it. One month of it would equip every hospital on earth to fight the great White Plague. Of the loss of life, the most precious of all wealth, who can think without a sob, remembering the cold law of biology by which, if the fittest fall, only the weak remain to father the men of times to be.

What man may ever hope to find words wherewith to tell the shame, the crime, the pity of it all. Prating of Evolution, we were swept along on the crest of an easy optimism, not realizing that we were carrying with us the lower forms of life, "moods of tiger and of ape, red with tooth and claw." Well may we refresh our memories by reading that passage in the "Republic" of Plato, in which a Pagan philosopher laid down the rules of civilized warfare, as follows-- non-combatants to be spared, no houses to be burned, no farms to be devastated, the dead to be honorably buried, no trophies of war to be placed in the temples of the gods. What a rebuke to Christian civilization in a day when shrines of art and learning and piety are ruthlessly destroyed, and men act like fiends incarnate! Indeed, a page from the story of this war reads like an excerpt from the chronicles of Hell, as witness these words from a war-lord to his men:

"Cause the greatest possible amount of suffering, leave the non­combatants nothing but their eyes to weep with. The law of Christian charity has no bearing on the relation of one nation to another."

--II--

With the immediate causes of this world-shaking war we have not here to do, except to say that no matter what generalization we make about it, there will be found as many facts on one side as on the other. History will debate them for ages to come. Any investigation into the question of who fired the first gun promptly goes back into the question of who made the gun, and why ? Who diverted the beautiful, constructive energy of humanity into such wanton waste and unreason ? After reading the many-colored books put forth by the nations, each in its own defense, we may admit that all are right in their reasonings, if we accept their basic fallacy that a nation is a thing apart from humanity to be hedged about with walls of iron.

They are nearer the truth who look for the roots of this tragedy in the ideas taught by unphilosophic philosophers within the last decade or two. Ideas rule the race. They run like rumors, they hide in the crooked lines of a printed page, but in the end they force us into the arena to fight for them. Materialism in philosophy led, naturally and inevitably, to a worship of brute Force, bringing scientific efficiency to the service of all the horrible gods of sport and speed and splendor. Offering incense to the diabolical trinity of Mammon, Mars, and the Minotaur, we have become so vain of our material advance and scientific technique that we have forgotten that human well being lies in the pursuit of justice and brotherly love. With Neitzsche preaching atheism in the alluring style of a poet, while Treitschke and Bernhardi expounded a rationale, if not a religion, of war, ’tis no wonder that we have been brought to where we are, to a cataclysm unbelievable, except that it exists.

This is not to cry down modern inventiveness and its astonishing achievements. Far from it. Not one of us but feels the thrill of this amazing effort, albeit often futile and misdirected, to realize life. There can be no question that this is a wonderful age, romantic in its advance. Equally, there can be no question that things still more wonderful are to follow. But what is it all worth--this "will to power,” this conquest of Nature--if it lead to a wide weltering chaos of world-war ? To be sure, we travel more rapidly and get news more quickly, but, God of dreams, what news of savagery and slaughter! No; our ideals are wrong, and with all the suffering and ruin already wrought, maybe it will get into our brains, and at last into our hearts, that our real progress does in fact depend on the genuine love of God and our fellow man. Only in tragedy, it seems, will man learn the highest truth.

Still, if we would find the real causes of this dreadful war we must go far back and deep down into the nature of man. Human history is saturated with blood and blistered with tears. It has been estimated that in the annals of mankind, there have been only thirteen years when there was no war on earth.

"Men are only boys grown tall, Hearts don’t change much, after all. Nations are these lads writ large, That’s what makes the battle charge."

So reads the record of the ages, and we cannot hope to reverse that order of things in a day. Envy, ignorance, jealousy, greed, hate, revenge, vanity, racial rancor, love of strife, these make war against peace. Nevertheless, we must refuse to accept war as the permanent condition of human society. Slavery was once well nigh as universal as war, if not as old, but it has been banished from the earth. We cannot look forward very far, but, despite the horror of today--perhaps, indeed, because of it--there is reason to hope for a time when war, and the menace of war, shall be removed from the terrors of human life.

--III--

What the issue of this gigantic conflict will be, no mortal can tell. One hundred years ago Europe was swept bare by wars of might against right, yet out of that long-drawn tragedy came a great advance of civilization. So it may be, must be, will be now. Make no mistake; the right will triumph, and as one nation after another is released from the burden of militarism, the arts of peace will prevail, the democratic spirit will be extended, and civilization will, in the end, be promoted. History, always the sure cure for pessimism, holds out this hope even to those, if such there be, who see above its tangled and turbulent scene no vaster, wiser Power correcting the blunders of man, and "from seeming evil still educing good in infinite progression."

Amidst all doubts, one thing is certain: kings may pass, dynasties may vanish, but the peoples of Europe will remain substantially as they are within their historic boundaries. But these battered and impoverished peoples will be preserved for no other purpose than new wars and new disasters if they do not fit themselves with a nobler, truer way of thinking. More important than all else is the question, not as to the map of Europe, but as to what the map of the human mind is going to be after the war. How well men have learned war, reducing it to a fine art of destruction, is shown by those great guns that speak with throats of thunder, and those "airy navies grappling in the central blue," as Tennyson predicted. Now they must learn peace, which means that they must begin with the young, and keep always at it, until mankind masters the sweeter, truer, and diviner language of fraternity.

In point of fact, we have been trying to do an impossible thing-- trying to found a humane order upon a basis of brute force. It cannot be done. Long ago Greece built its structure of art and life upon a basis of slavery, and it fell. Just so, our civilization will fail and fall if it is built upon a foundation of Force. After all, it may be that this war was an inevitable result of a transition from the rule of Force to the rule of Numbers, and, ultimately, the rule of Reason and Love. One is tempted to hope that, since it had to come, it will not stop until all despotisms are swept away, and with them all upholding of the privilege of the few against the rights of the many; until men everywhere rise up and say they will not go to war unless they have a vote on war. John, Hans and mystic Ivan will strike or soon or late, and then will come the end of Kings and Kaisers--and if this war hastens that day it worth all it cost!

As the grand divisions of geological history have their beginnings in stupendous revolutions, so, too the great new epochs in the human world. Such a time is even now with us. Manifestly, we stand at the end of an era, and the men who come after us will wonder that, seeing, we saw not, and mistook the red dawn of a new day for a house on fire. As Napoleon would say, we are condemned to something great. Whatever betide, the old order has collapsed. The times are infinitely plastic. There is no reason for letting go of faith in God or human kind. Instead, those who have eyes will see in this tempest a storm that shall clear the air of pestilential vapors and hasten the advent of a nobler world-order, through the corrected sense of the nations--the final flaring up of a blaze from falling brands, to be covered forever with penitential ashes and quenched with bitter tears.

IV

Meantime, what has Masonry to say, what can it do, in this hour of world-crisis when the race is struggling through blood and fire toward something new, shaking off shams, and coming face to face with the eternal necessities? Forming one great society over the whole globe, bringing men together without regard to race or religion, it is incredible that this Ancient Order should be inactive, much less indifferent, in a day of supreme demand. From the first Masonry has been international, knowing no Slavic race, no Teutonic race, but only the Human race, in proof of which hear these words from its Book of Constitutions--words that stand out like stars in the night of world-feud:

"In order to preserve peace and harmony no private piques or quarrels must be brought within the door of the Lodge, far less any quarrel about Religions or National or State-Policy, we being only, as Masons, of the religion in which all men agree; and we are also of all Nations, Tongues, Kindreds and Languages, and are resolved against all Politics as what never yet conduced to the welfare of the Lodge, nor ever will.

Such is the principle on which Masonry rests, and the spirit in which it has toiled through the ages, breaking down barriers of caste and creed, of race and rank, creating reverence, not only for the Divine, but also for the Human--for man as man, regardless of land or language, for the right of every man to be free of body and soul and have a place in the sun--and drawing men together in mutual respect into a profound and far-reaching fellowship. Never was its benign spirit more needed than today, living, as we are, in a world of fratricidal strife, when every energy of the race seems dedicated to destruction. Alas, that the truth of the Brotherhood of Man should be revealed only in tragedy and terror, but if the sword of Mars stabs the world wide awake to this fact, by the very magnitude of the horror of war, it will be worth the price in suffering. Truly, the time has come when Masonry must take up its harp and strike its world-chord with all its might-- strike it magnificently and with prophetic stroke.

Human unity is no fanciful dream of a poet, no far off promise of a prophet; it is a fact. Geographical boundaries do not now and never have represented either race or national potencies. Morality, intelligence, efficiency, fraternity refuse racial or political labels. There is no German chemistry, no British astronomy, no Russian mathematics. What is most excellent in Russia--its Tolstoys, its Kropotkins, its musicians, its painters, and its hard-handed millions of toilers--is not Russian, but human. The same is true of Germany, France and England. Goethe and Schiller, Koch and Kant are fellow-countrymen of Shakespeare and Darwin, of Hugo and Pasteur. The Republic of Letters and of Science is universal; it is only our patriotism that has lagged behind and become "the virtue of narrow minds"--when, indeed, it is not actually what Johnson called it, "the last resort of knaves."

How, then, can we justify our love of our own land as over against those who hold that all patriotism is provincial, if not pernicious? Only in this way: Each nation, each race has a genius of its own, and by that fact a contribution to make and a service to render to the total of humanity. Judea was no larger than Iowa, and yet it gave to the race its loftiest and truest religion, and the strongest, whitest, sweetest soul the earth has known. Greece was a tiny land, girt about by violet seas, but it added immeasurable wealth of art, drama and philosophy to the world. So of Rome. And thus we might call the roll of races and nations, asking of each what it had

or has to give of beauty and of truth to mankind. Even so, our country has a genius unique, particular, and peculiar, and by that token a service to render to the universal life of humanity. What is that service if it be not to show, not only that "government of the People, by the People, for the People shall not perish from the earth," but that it is the highest ideal of government, and that it makes for the greatest happiness of man, alike in private nobility and public welfare? Of that genius and service our flag is the emblem and prophecy, and loyalty to that emblem implies devotion to that service. Our field is the world, but our solicitude is our own country--that it may the better make its unique and priceless contribution to the universal good. Thus, with due reverence for other nations, by loyalty to our own flag we best serve our race.

Above all nations, greater than all races, more important than all royalties is Humanity, and no one nation can live to itself, much less be truly great, without regard for the usefulness and happiness of other nations. What we need is a transvaluation of patriotism from a tribal loyalty into a universal allegiance-- a world-patriotism, growing out of the deepening sense of human solidarity, large of outlook, far-reaching and benign of spirit. As it is now, patriotism consists too much in loving our own land and hating every other-- a feeling unworthy of a Republic where Teuton, Saxon, Slav, Gaul, Celt live amicably together, stand shoulder to shoulder in the industrial army, eat out of the same dinner pails, and, to a surprising degree, worship at the same altar.

Exactly; and that is the very genius of Freemasonry, its mission to mankind, and the spirit which it seeks to make prevail. By its very nature cosmopolitan, it thinks in terms of Humanity, rather than of race or creed or party, being as the old German Handbook defined it, the activity of closely united men who, employing symbolical forms borrowed from architecture work for the welfare of humanity, striving morally to ennoble themselves and others, and thereby to bring about "a universal league of mankind, which they aspire to exhibit, even now, on a small scale." As Goethe said, in his poem on "The Lodge,"

"The Mason’s ways are

A type of existence,

And his persistence

Is, as the days are

Of men in this world."

Every Lodge is an emblem and prophecy of the world, and there will be no abiding peace on earth until what Masonry exhibits on a small scale is made worldwide, and its spirit of goodwill among men of all ranks, races and religions becomes the reigning genius of humanity. Other way out of war there is none. If, instead of meeting behind closed doors for intrigue, the men who plotted this war had met in a Masonic Lodge, not one of them would have drawn a sword ! Alas, Lilliputian militarists have kindled a fire which not even Gulliver can put out, spreading death and desolation every whither--fanning old feuds, marshalling hordes of hates, until the very existence of civilization is threatened.

What of the future ? One thing is evident: if this tragedy drags its bloody way to the bitter end, as now seems likely, every tie by which man is bound to man the world over will be needed to hold the race together; and Masonry is one of those ties. To that end, Masonry itself must recapture its old accent and emphasis upon universal principles, and take part in recruiting and mobilizing a great army of men of goodwill, if so we may dehorn the nations now goring each other to death, and bring to this passion-clouded earth the light of reason. War is waste. It is unreason. It settles nothing. It is devolution, not evolution. It is not the survival of the fittest, but the sacrifice of the best. The canker of long peace, as Shakespeare called it, is the canker not of peace, but of materialism. No;

"The crest and crowning of all good,

Life’s final star, is Brotherhood;

For it will bring again to Earth Her long-lost Poesy and Mirth;

Will send new light on every face,

A kingly power upon the race.

And till it comes we men are slaves,

And travel downward to the dust of graves."

What this sad world needs is a League of its "Large Eternal Fellows," tall enough of soul to look over barriers of race, walls of creed, and mountains of misunderstanding, and recognize

their kinsmen in every land and language. These are the men who see that we are in more danger from the grasping greed and blind ambition of the few who rule than we ever were, ever will or ever can be from the great, toiling masses of our fellows in other lands. They see that the great generalship displayed in the war, and its good comradeship--the sagacity of its leaders, and the singing, jesting courage with which the youth of Europe is marching to the grave-- are the very qualities which, if dedicated to the organization of the world upon a basis of peace, will swing the earth into a new orbit! Therefore.

"Come, clear the way, then, clear the way:

Blind creeds and kings have had their day.

Break the dead branches from the path:

Our hope is in the aftermath--

Our hope is in heroic men,

Star-led to build the world again,

To this event the ages ran:

Make way for Brotherhood--make way for Man !

THE LODGE

"The Mason’s ways are A type of existence,

And his persistence Is, as the days are Of men in this world.

The future hides in it Good hap or sorrow;

We press still through it-­Naught, that abides in it, Daunting is--onward.

But heard are the voices, Voices of the sages,

Of the worlds and the ages, ’Choose well, your choice is Brief, but endless.’

And silent before us, Veiled the dark portal, Goal of all mortal;

Stars silent rest over us, Graves, under us, silent.

’Here eyes do regard you, In eternity’s stillness, Here is all fullness,

Ye brave to reward you, Work and despair not.’" --Goethe.

FIVE LECTURES DELIVERED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE GRAND MASTER OF MASSACHUSETTS MASONIC TEMPLE, BOSTON

BY BROTHER ROSCOE POUND, PROFESSOR OF JURISPRUDENCE IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY

II KRAUSE.

EXCEPT as he builds upon the old charges and so uses older materials, Preston speaks so completely from the eighteenth century that one needs but understand the thinking of eighteenth- century England to appreciate him fully. In the case of our next Masonic philosopher, there is another story. He was in the main current of the philosophical thought of his day. But that current, along with the current of Masonic thought, had been flowing without break from the seventeenth century. Hence to appraise his philosophy of Masonry it is not enough to consider the man and the time. We must begin farther back.

The beginning of the seventeenth century was a period of great mental activity. The awakening of the Reformation had brought in an era of fresh and vigorous religious thought. Political ideas foreshadowing those of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were taking form. The downfall of scholasticism had set philosophy free from Aristotle. Grotius was about to emancipate Jurisprudence from Theology. Conring was about to deliver Law from Justinian. In consequence a new theory of law and government arose. Men went back to the classical Roman jurists and their law of nature founded on reason--applicable to men, not as citizens, nor as members of civilized society, but simply and solely as men--and the philosophical school which resulted and maintained itself during the two succeeding centuries, produced the great succession of publicists, who built up the system of international law, launched the ever-growing movement for humanity in war and ultimate peace, and stimulated that interest in legal and political philosophy, of which the democratic ideas of our own time, and the humanizing and rationalizing of law in the nineteenth century, were to be the fruit. The renascence of Masonry, complete in the next century, had its roots in this period. "There was always," says Sir Henry Maine, "a close association between Natural Law and humanity." In such a time, with the very air full of ideas of human brotherhood and of the rational claims of humanity, the notion of an organization of all men, for the general welfare of mankind, was to be looked for. It may be seen, indeed, in the opening years of the century; and we need not doubt that the writings of Andreae and the well-known Rosicrucian controversy were a symptom rather than a cause. But the idea was slow in attaining its maturity. In the seventeenth century, it struggled beneath a load of alchemy and mysticism, bequeathed to it by an obsolete era of ignorance and superstition. In the eighteenth century, it was retarded by the absorbing interest in political philosophy. Hence it was not till the first decade of the nineteenth century that the possibilities of this phase of the new thought were perceived entirely. Then, for the first time, the idea of general organization of mankind was treated in scientific method, referred to a definite end, and made part of a philosophical system of human activities. Perhaps no better theme could be chosen as an introduction to Masonic philosophy, than the life and work of that learned and eminent man and Mason, in his time at once the first of Masonic philosophers and the foremost of philosophers of law, who rendered this service to humanity and to the Craft.

Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, one of the founders of a new Masonic literature, and the founder of a school of legal thought, was born at Eisenberg, not far from Leipzig, in 1781. He was educated at Jena, where he taught for some time, till, in 1805, he removed to Dresden. In this same year, he became a Mason; and at once, with characteristic energy and enthusiasm, he entered upon a critical and philosophical study of the institution, reading every Masonic work accessible. As a result of his studies, he delivered twelve lectures before his lodge in Diesden, which were published in 1809, under the title:          "Hoehere Vergeistung der

echtuberlieferten Grundsymbole der Freirmaurerei," or "Higher Spiritualization of the True Symbols of Masonry." A year later, he published the first volume of his great work, "Die drei aeltesten Kunsturkunden del Freimaurerbruderschaft," or "The Three Oldest Professional Records of the Masonic Fraternity." This book, in the words of Dr. Mackey, "one of the most learned that ever issued from the Masonic press," unhappily fell upon evil days. The limits of permissible public discussion of Masonic symbols were then uncertain, and the liberty of the individual Mason to interpret them for himself, since expounded so eloquently by Albert Pike, was not wholly conceded by the German Masons of that day. In consequence he met the fate which has befallen so many of the great scholars of the Craft. His name, even more than those of Preston and Dalcho and Crucefix and Oliver, warns us that honest ignorance, zealous bigotry, and well-meaning intolerance are to be found even among sincere and fraternal seekers for the light. The very rumor of Krause’s book produced great agitation. Extraordinary efforts were made to prevent its publication, and, when these failed, the mistaken zeal of his contemporaries was exerted toward expelling him from the order. Not only was he excommunicated by his lodge, but the persecution to which his Masonic publications gave rise clung to him all his life, and prevented him from receiving public recognition of the position he occupied among the thinkers of his day. It has been said, indeed, that he was too far in advance of the time to be understood fully beyond a small circle of friends and disciples. Yet there seems no doubt that the bitterness engendered by the Masonic controversies over his book was chiefly instrumental in preventing him from attaining a professorship. Happily, he was not a man to yield to persecution or misfortune. Like the poet, he might have said," *** I seek not good-fortune, I myself am good fortune."

Undaunted by miscomprehension of his teachings, unembittered by the seeming success of his energies, he labored steadily, as a lecturer at the University of Goettingen, in the development and dissemination of the system of legal and political philosophy from which his fame is derived. Roeder has recorded the deep impression which his lectures left upon the hearers, and the common opinion which placed him far above the respectable mediocrities who held professorships in the institution, where he was a simple docent. As we read the accounts of his work as a lecturer, and turn over the earnest, devout, and tolerant pages of his books, full of faith in the perfectibility of man, and of zeal discovering and furthering the conditions of human progress, we must needs feel that here was one prepared in his heart and made by nature, from whom no judgment of a lodge could permanently divide us. He died in 1832 at the relatively early age of 51.

Krause did not leave us a complete or systematic exposition of his general philosophical system. Nor can it be said that he achieved much of moment in the field of philosophy at large, though some historians of philosophy accord him a notable place. It is rather in the special fields of the philosophy of Masonry, to which he devoted the enthusiasm of youth, and of the philosophy of law, to which he turned his maturer energies, that he will be remembered. In the latter field, indeed, he is still a force. Two able and zealous disciples, Ahrens and Roeder, labored for more than a generation in expounding and spreading his doctrines. The great work of Ahrens, published five years after his master’s death, has gone through twenty-four editions, in seven languages. Thus Krause became recognized as the founder of a school of legal and political philosophers, and his followers, not merely by writings, but by meetings and congresses, developed and disseminated his ideas. Until the rise of the military spirit in Germany and the shifting of the growing point of German law to legislation, produced a new order of ideas, the influence of his doctrines was almost dominant. Outside of Germany, especially in lands where the philosophy of law is yet a virgin field, they still have a useful and fruitful future before them, and he has been pronounced the "leader of the latest and largest thought" in the sphere of legal philosophy. In view of the social-philosophical and sociological movements in the last generation, this characterization is no longer accurate. But it is true that until the rise of the great names of the social- philosophical school of legal thought in the past decade, Krause’s was the greatest name in modern legal philosophy. His great Masonic work is disfigured by the uncritical voracity, characteristic of Masonic writers until a very recent period, which led him to give an unhesitating credence to tradition, and to accept, as genuine, documents of doubtful authenticity, or even down-right fabrications. Hence his historical and philological investigations, in which he minutely examines the so-called Leland MS., the Entered Apprentice Lecture, and the so-called York Constitutions, as well as his dissertation on the form of government and administration in the Masonic order, must be read with caution, and with many allowances for over-credulity. But in spite of these blemishes--and they unhappily disfigure too large a portion of the historical and critical literature of the Craft--his Masonic writings are invaluable.

In a time and among a people in which the nineteenth-century indifference to philosophy is exceptionally strong, and threatens to deprive Law and Government, Jurisprudence and Politics of all basis, other than popular caprice, a teaching which sets them on a surer and more enduring ground, which seeks to direct them to a definite place and to give them definite work in a general scheme of human progress, cannot fail to be tonic. For the Mason, however, Krause’s system of legal philosophy has a further and higher value. It is not merely that his works on the philosophy of law, written, for the most part, after his period of Masonic research and Masonic authorship was at an end, afford us, at many points, memorable examples of the practical possibilities of Masonic studies. Nor is it merely that he enforces so strenuously the social, political, and legal applications of the principles of our lectures. His great achievement, his chiefest title to our enduring gratitude, is the organic theory of law and the state, in which he develops the seventeenth-century notion of a general organization of mankind into a practical doctrine, seeks to unite the state with all other groups and organizations--high or low, whatever their immediate scope or purpose--in a harmonious system of men’s activities, and points out the station and the objective of our world-wide brotherhood in the line of battle of human progress. Let me indicate to you some of the leading points of his Masonic and of his legal philosophy, and the relation of the one to the other.

Law is but "the skeleton of social order, clothed upon by the flesh and blood of morality." Among primitive peoples, it is no more than a device to keep the peace, and to regulate, so far as may be, the archaic remedy of private war. In time it is taken over by the state, and is able to put down violence, where originally it could go no farther than to limit it. This done, it may aspire to a better end, and seek not only to preserve order but to do justice. Thus far it has come at present. But beyond all this, says Krause, there is a higher and nobler goal, which is, he says, "The perfection of man and of society." The law, singly, is by no means adequate to this task. Rightly understood, it is one of many agencies, which are to operate harmoniously, each in its own sphere, toward that great end. The state organizes and wields but one of these agencies. Morals, religion, science, the arts, industry and commerce--all these, in his view, are co-workers, and must be organized also. But the state, or the political organization, being charged with the duty of maintaining the development of justice, has the special function of assuring to the other forms of organized human activity the means of perfecting themselves. It must "mediate between the individual and the social destiny." Thus it is but an organ in the whole social organism. He looks upon human society as an organic whole, made up of many diverse institutions, each related to an important phase of human life, and all destined, at an epoch of maturity, to compose a superior unity. Relatively, they are independent. In a wider view and looked at with an eye to the ultimate result, they are parts of a single mechanism. All operate in one direction and to one end-- the achievement of the destiny of humanity, which is perfection. Nor is this idle speculation. Krause seeks to animate these several phases of human activity, these varied institutions evolved as organs of the social body, with a new spirit. He impresses upon us that we are not on the decline, but are rather in a period of youth. Humanity, he insists, is but beginning to acquire the consciousness of its social aim. Knowing its aim, conscious of the high perfection that awaits it, he calls upon mankind, by harmonious development of its institutions, to reach the ideal through conscious development of the real.

This insistence upon perfection as a social aim and upon conscious striving to that end is of capital importance in contrast with the ideas which prevailed so generally in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Under the influence of the positivists and of the mechanical sociologists for a time there was a condition of social, political and juristic pessimism. Men thought of society as governed by the inflexible operation of fixed social laws, whose workings we might observe, as we may observe the workings of the law of gravitation in the motions of the heavenly bodies, but might no more influence in the one case than in the other. Krause’s social philosophy, on the other hand, to use a recent phrase, gives us faith in the efficacy of effort and thus accords with the best tendencies of social and political thought in the present.

Krause’s philosophy of Masonry and his philosophy of law require us to distinguish the natural order, the social order and the moral order. The distinction may be developed as follows.

Scientists tell us that nature exhibits a ceaseless and relentless strife-- a struggle for existence, though this way of putting it had not been invented in Krause’s day--in which all individuals, races, and species are inevitably involved. The very weeds by the roadside are not only at war with one another for room to grow, but must contend for their existence against the ravages of insects, the voracity of grazing animals, and the implements of men. Thus, the staple of life, under purely natural conditions, is conflict. If we turn to the artificial conditions of a garden, the contrast is extreme. Exotics, which-could not maintain themselves a moment, in an alien soil and an unwonted climate, against the competition of hardy native weeds, thrive luxuriantly. Planted carefully, so as not to interfere with each other, carefully tended, so as to eliminate the competition of native vegetation, supplied with the best of soil, watered whenever the natural supply is deficient, the individual plants, freed from the natural necessity of caring for themselves in the struggle for existence, turn their whole energies to more perfect development, and produce forms and varieties of which their rude, uncultivated originals scarcely convey a hint. All struggle for existence is not eliminated, indeed, in the garden. But the burden of it is shifted. Instead of each plant struggling with every other for a precarious existence the gardener contends with nature for the existence of his garden. He covers his plants to protect from frosts, he waters them to mitigate drought, he sprays them to prevent injury by insects, and he hoes to keep down the competition of weeds. Instead of leaving each plant to propagate itself as it may, he gathers and selects the seed, prepares the ground, and sows so as to insure the best results. The whole proceeding is at variance with nature; and it is maintained only by continual strife with nature, and at the price of vigilance and diligence. If these are relaxed, insects, drought, and weeds soon gain the day, and the artificial order of the garden is at an end.

Society and civilization are, in like manner, an artificial order, maintained at the price of vigilance and diligence in opposition to natural forces. As in the garden, so in society, the characteristic feature is elimination of the struggle for existence, by removal or amelioration of the conditions which give rise to it. On the other hand, in savage or primitive society, as in the natural plant society of the wayside, the characteristic feature is the intense and unending competition of the struggle for existence. In the wayside weed patch, nature exerts herself to adjust the forms of life to the conditions of existence. In the garden, the gardener strives to adjust the conditions of existence to the forms of life he intends to cultivate. Similarly, among savage and uncivilized races, men adjust themselves as they may to a harsh environment. With the advent and development of society and civilization, men-create an artificial environment, adjusted to their needs and furthering their continued progress. Thus, the social and moral ordeal are, in a sense, artificial; they have been set up in opposition to the natural order, and they are maintained and maintainable only by strife with nature, and the repression of natural instincts and primitive desires. It has been said that nature is morally indifferent. Morality is a conception which belongs to the social, not to the natural existence. The course of conduct which the member of civilized society pursues would be fatal to the savage; and the course followed by the savage would be fatal to society. The savage, like any wild animal, fights out the struggle fol existence relentlessly. The civilized man joins his best energies to those of his fellows, in the endeavor to limit and eliminate that struggle.

The social ordeal, then, is, as it were, an artificial order, set up and maintained by the co-operation of numbers of individuals through successive generations. Just as the garden demands vigilance and diligence on the part of the gardener, to prevent the encroachment and re-establishment of the natural order, so the social order requires continual struggle with natural surroundings, as well as with other societies and with individuals, wherewith its interests or necessities come in conflict. Consequently, in addition to the instincts of self and species preservation, there is required an instinct or intuition of preserving and maintaining the social order. Whether we regard this as acquired in an orderly process of evolution, or as implanted in man at creation, it stands as the basis of right and justice, bringing about as a moral habit, "that tendency of the will and mode of conduct which refrains from disturbing the lives and interests of others, and, as far as possible, hinders such interference on the part of others." The mere knowledge by individuals, however, that the welfare, and even the continuance, of society require each to limit his activities somewhat with reference to the activities of others, does not suffice to keep within the bounds required by-right and justice. The more primitive and powerful selfish instincts tend to prevail in action. Hence private war was an ordinary process of archaic society. The competing activities of individuals could not be brought into harmony and were left to adjust themselves. But peace, order, and security are essential to civilization. Every individual must be relieved from the necessity of guarding his interests against encroachment, and set free to pursue some special end with his whole energies. As civilization advances, this is done by substituting the force of society for that of the individual, and thus putting an end to private war. Historically, law grew up to this demand.

The maintenance of society and the promotion of its welfare, however, as has been seen, depend upon much besides the law. Even in its original and more humble role of preserving the peace, the law was by no means the first in importance. The germs of legal institutions are to be seen in ancient religions, and religion and morals held men in check while law was yet in embryo. Beginning as one, religion, morals and law have slowly differentiated into the three regulating and controlling agencies by which right and justice are upheld and society is made possible. In many respects their aim is common, in many respects they cover the same field, among some peoples they are still confused, in whole or in part. But today, among enlightened peoples, they stand as three great systems; with their own aims, their own fields, their own organization, and their own methods; each keeping down the atavistic tendencies toward wrong-doing and private war, and each bearing its share in the support of the artificial social order, by maintaining right and justice. Religion governs men, so far as it is a regulating agency, supernatural sanctions; morality by the sanction of private

conscience, fortified by public opinion; law by the sanction of the force of organized society. Each, therefore, to be able to employ its sanctions systematically and effectively in maintaining society, must be directed or wielded by an organization. Accordingly we find the church giving regulative and coercive force to religion and the state taking over and putting itself behind the law. But what is behind the third of these great agencies? What and where is the organization that gives system and effectiveness to the regulative force of morality?

Here, Krause tells us, is the post of the Masonic order. World-wide; respecting every honest creed, requiring adherence to none; teaching obedience to states, but confining itself to no one of them; it looks to religion on the one side and to law upon the other, and, standing upon the solid middle-ground of the universal moral sentiments of mankind, puts behind them the force of tradition and precept, and organizes the mighty sanction of human disapproval. Thus, he conceives that Masonry is working hand in hand with church and state, in organizing the conditions of social progress; and that all societies and organizations, local or cosmopolitan, which seek to unify men’s energies in any sphere-- whether science, or art, or labor, or commerce --have their part also; since each and all, held up by the three pillars of the social order--Religion, Law, and Morals; Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty--are making for human perfection.

But, in the attainment of human perfection, we must go beyond the strict limits of the social order. Morality, as we have seen, is an institution of social man. Nevertheless it has possibilities of its own, surpassing the essential requirements of a society. There is a moral

order, above and developed out of the social t order, as the social order is above the natural. The natural order is maintained by the instincts of self and species preservation. These instincts, unrestrained, take no account of other existences, and make struggle for existence the rule. In the social order, men have learned to adjust act to end in maintaining their own lives without hindering others from doing the like. In the moral order, men have learned not merely to live without hindering the lives of others, but to live so as to aid others in attaining a more complete and perfect life. When the life of every individual is full and complete, not merely without hindering other lives from like completeness, but while helping them to attain it, perfection will have been reached. Then will the individual, "In hand and foot and soul four-square, fashioned without fault," fit closely into the moral order, as the perfect ashler. Instinct maintains the natural order. Law must stand chiefly behind the social order. Masonry will find its sphere, for the most part, in maintaining and developing the moral order. So that, while it reminds us of our natural duties to ourselves, and of the duties we owe our country, as the embodiment of the social order, it insists, above and beyond them all, upon our duties to our neighbor and to God, through which alone the perfection of the moral order may be attained.

Krause does not believe, however, that law and the state should limit their scope and purpose to keeping up the social order. They maintain right and justice in order to uphold society. But they uphold society in order to liberate men’s energies so that they may make for the moral order. Hence the ultimate aim is human perfection. If by any act intended to maintain the social order, they retard the moral order, they are going counter to their ends. Law and morals are distinct; but their aim is one, and the distinction is in the fields in which they may act effectively and in the means of action, rather than in the ideas themselves. The lawgiver must never forget the ultimate purpose, and must seek to advance rather than to hinder the organization and harmonious development of all human activities. "Law," he tells us, "is the sum of the external conditions of life measured by reason." So far as perfection may be reached by limitation of the external acts of men, whereby each may live a complete life, unhindered by his fellows, the law is effective. More than this, the external conditions of the life measured by reason are, indirectly, conditions of the fuller and completer life of the moral order; for men must be free to exercise their best energies without hindrance, before they can employ them to much purpose in aiding others to a larger life. Here, however, law exhausts its possibilities. It upholds the social order, whereon the moral order rests. The development and maintenance of the moral order depend on internal conditions. And these are without the domain of law. Nevertheless, as law prepares the way for the moral order, morals make more easy the task of law. The more thoroughly each individual, of his own motion, measures his life by reason, the more completely does law cease to be merely regulative and restraining, and attains its higher role of an organized human freedom. Here is one of the prime functions of the symbols of the Craft. As one reflects upon these symbols, the idea of life measured by reason is everywhere borne in upon him. The twenty-four inch gauge, the plumb, the level, the square and compass, and the trestle board are eloquent of measurement and restraint.

There is nothing measured in the life of the savage. He may kill sufficient for his needs, or, from mere caprice or wanton love of slaughter, may kill beyond his needs at the risk of future want. His acts have little or no relation to one another. He does not sow at one season that he may reap at another, much less does he plant or build in one generation that another generation may be nourished or sheltered. The exigencies or the desires of the moment control his actions. On the other hand, the acts of civilized man are connected, related to one another, and, to a great extent, parts of a harmonious and intelligent scheme of activity. Even more is this true of conduct which is called moral. Its prime characteristic is certainty. We know today what it will be tomorrow. The unprincipled may or may not keep promises, may or may not pay debts, may or may not be constant in political or family relations. The man whose conduct is moral, we call trustworthy. We repose entire confidence in his steadfast adherence to a regular and orderly course of life. Hence we speak of rectitude of conduct, under the figure of adjustment to a straight line; and our whole nomenclature of ethics is based upon such figures of speech. Excess, which is indefinite and unmeasured, is immoral; moderation, which implies adherence to a definite and ascertainable medium, we feel to be moral. The social man, as distinguished from the savage, and even more the moral man, as distinguished from him who merely takes care not to infringe the law, measures and lays out his life, and the symbols of the Craft serve as continual monitors to the weak or thoughtless of what must distinguish them from the savage and the unprincipled.

The allegory of the house not built with hands, into which we are to be fitted as living stones, suggests reflections still more inspiring. Here we see symbolized the organic conception of society and of human activities, upon which Krause insists so strongly. Social and individual progress, he says, are inseparable. Nothing is to be kept back or hindered in the march toward human perfection. The social order conserves the end of self and race maintenance more perfectly than the natural order, which aims at nothing higher; and the moral order accomplishes the end of maintaining society more fully than a system that attempts no more. The complete life is a complete life of the units, as well as of the whole, and the progress of humanity is a harmonizing of the interests of each with each other and with all. Nature is wasteful. Myriads of seeds are produced that a few plants may struggle to maturity. Multitudes of lives are lost in the struggle for existence, that a few may survive. As men advance in social and moral development, this sacrifice of individuals becomes continually less. The most perfect state, in consequence, is that in which the welfare of each citizen and that of all citizens have become identical, where the interests of state and subject are one, where the feelings of each accord with those of all. In this era of universal organization, when Krause’s chapters seem almost prophetic, there is much to console us in his belief that the organic must prove harmonious, and that organizations which now conflict will in the end work consciously and unerringly, as they now work unconsciously and imperfectly, toward a common end. If, as his illustrious pupil tells us, "human society is but a solid bundle of organic institutions, a federation of particular organizations, through which the fundamental aims of humanity are realized," we may confidently hope for unity where now is discord. And we may

hope for most of all, in this work of unification, from that world­wide Brotherhood, which has for its mission to organize morals and to bring them home as realities to every man.

To sum up, how does Krause answer the three problems of Masonic philosophy ?

(1)     What is the purpose for which Masonry exists? What does it seek to do? Krause answers that in common with all other human institutions its ultimate purpose is the perfection of humanity. But its immediate purpose is to organize the universal moral sentiments of mankind; to organize the sanction of human disapproval.

(2)    What is the relation of Masonry to other human institutions, especially to government and religion, state and church? Krause answers that these aim also at human perfection. Immediately each seeks to organize some particular branch of human activity. But they do this as means to a common end. Hence, he says, each of these organizations should work in harmony and even in co­operation with the others toward the great end of all of them. In this spirit expounds the well-known exhortations in our charges with respect to the attitude of the Mason toward the government and the religion of his country.

(3)    What are the fundamental principles by which Masonry is governed in attaining the end it seeks? Krause answers: Masonry has to deal with the internal conditions of life governed by reason. Hence its fundamental principles are measurement and restraint-- measurement by reason and restraint by reason--and it teaches these as a means of achieving perfection.

Such, in brief and meager outline, is the relation of Masonry to the philosophy of law and government, as conceived by one who has left his mark on the history of each. Think what we may of some of his doctrines, differ with him as we may at many points, hold, as we may, that our Order has other ends, we must needs be stirred by the noble aim he has set before us; we must needs be animated by a higher spirit and more strenuous purpose, as one of the chiefest of the organic societies composing the "solid bundle" that

A KNIGHT’S PRAYER.

"Keep, in Thy pierced hands,

Still the bruised helmet;

Let not their hostile bands Wholly o’erwhelm it !

Bless my poor shield for me,

Christ, King of Chivalry.

Keep Thou the sullied mail,

Lord, that I tender Here, at Thine altar-rail !

Then--let Thy splendor Touch it once--and I go

Stainless to meet the foe !

--Alfred Noyes. Sheerwood.

SO MOTE IT BE.

The depth and dream of my desire,

The bitter paths wherein I stray,

Thou knowest Who hast made the Fire, Thou knowest Who hast made the Clay. One stone the more swings to her place In that dread Temple of Thy Worth-- It is enough that through Thy Grace I saw naught common on Thy earth.

Take not that vision from my ken;

Oh whatsoe’r may spoil or speed,

Help me to need no aid from men That I may help such men as need. --Rudyard Kipling.

"My New Cut Ashlar."

THE TWO PATHS

BY BROTHER S.W. WILLIAMS

MASONRY, the Church--in fact all religions --teach that each one of us has the choice of two Paths in life. One is long, tedious, tortuous and beset with all manner of dangers and temptations-- but finally leads to Peace and Rest--an eternity of Happiness. The other -- a broad highway, easy to travel--with delightful groves and a plentitude of sunshine, music and flowers --everything to delight the eye and charm the senses-- gently, almost imperceptibly, but none the less surely, leads downward to despair and death.

All men that have lived have chosen--yea, traveled--one or the other of these Roads. There is no avoidance of it. Either we must struggle as long as life lasts, to keep on that Path which leads to Light and Life Eternal--or give up the fight--yield to the many temptations that beset us--branch off upon a pleasanter Path leading to the Downward Road--exchanging our God-promised reward for a few short hours of indulgence in whatever debasing Passion or Desire may appeal most strongly to our brutal instincts.

In the Dhammapada, the authorship of what is ascribed to Buddha himself, and pronounced to be one of the most practical ethical hand-books of Buddhism, we read

"The virtuous man is happy in this World, and he is happy in the next; he is happy in both. He is happy when he thinks of the good he has done; he is still more happy when going on the GOOD PATH." "Earnestness is the Path of Immortality. (Nirvana.) Thoughtlessness is the Path of Death. Those who are in earnest do not die, those who are thoughtless are as if dead already."

"Fools follow after Vanity. The Wise man keeps Earnestness as his best Jewel."

"The Disciple will find out the plainly shown Path of Virtue as a clever man finds the right flower."

These verses are about 2600 years old, and yet the truths therein contained have never been more completely or more concisely stated. Analyze them as you will, and the more thought you expend upon them, the more thoroughly will you understand and appreciate their breadth and scope.

No thinking man can gainsay that True Earnestness leads to the Upward Path. "The Path of Immortality." It is beset with numerous dangers. Innumerable temptations and obstacles obstruct our passage.

Our Lodge lessons have taught us we have need of the three Theological Virtues--Faith, Hope and Charity--together with the four Cardinal ones--Fortitude, Prudence, Temperance and Justice; but without the foundation of Earnestness how could Success crown our efforts ?

Truly Earnestness is man’s "Best Jewel."

And, just as this is true of Earnestness, so is it also true that Thoughtlessness, if not eliminated from our character, will ultimately lead us on the Downward Course--even unto the Shades of Death.

How shall we find this Path of Virtue ?

Reflect upon the teachings of the Lodge from the First degree to the last one you have taken, and you will find the answer.

But neither Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Prudence, Temperance nor Justice will avail unless they are backed up with Sincerity-- with Determination--call it what you will--Earnestness is the word that best suits all phases of the case--and this message of Buddha, which has come down to us through 26 centuries, cannot be controverted.

About six hundred years after this message was given to the World, there was born in Bethlehem of Judea, the CHRIST. He said to the sinful Woman: "Go thy way--thy sins are forgiven thee"--her faith had made her whole.

But think you that Earnestness had no part in the healing? This poor woman had thrown every particle of Earnestness of which she was capable into her appeal--and the Christ saw--and approved.

It was the Earnestness of her Faith which wrought the cure.

Volumes might be written upon this subject, but more cannot be said than that which Buddha has so tersely expressed:

"Earnestness is the Path of Immortality. Thoughtlessness is the Path of Death.

Dear Brother, ponder over this seriously. Choose the RIGHT PATH. BE EARNEST and PEACE and REST will attend thy efforts.

WHAT IS MASONRY?

"Freemasonry is the subjugation of the Human that is in Man, by the Divine; the conquest of the Appetites and Passions by the Moral Sense and the Reason; a continual effort, struggle and warfare of the Spiritual against the Material and Sensual. That victory--when it has been achieved and secured, and the conqueror may rest upon his shield and wear the well-earned laurels--is the true Holy Empire." --Albert Pike. Morals and Dogma.

OLD LANDMARKS OF MASONRY BY THE LATE THEODORE S. PARVIN, FOUNDER OF THE LIBRARY OF THE GRAND LODGE OF IOWA

(Among many MSS left by Mr. Parvin--some of which we shall publish as occasion may offer--was the following paper, written in the forthright and pungent style characteristic of a man who had positive convictions, and knew how to express them. Recent students are not so sure, as Brother Parvin seems to have been, that there was only one degree in Craft-masonry. But no matter, the paper speaks for itself- and the editor ventures to add a brief discussion as showing its importance in view of the present situation in world-Masonry.)

"Every annual Grand Lodge has the inherent Power and Authority to make new Regulations, or to alter those for the real Benefit of this ancient Fraternity; provided always that the Old Landmarks be

carefully preserved."--Art. XXXIX, General Regulations of the Grand Lodge of England, 1723.

The term "Landmarks" does not occur in the Charges of a Freemason which are universally regarded as of bin ling authority upon all Grand Lodges. The quotation above made is from the "General Regulations," binding only upon those Grand Lodges which by enactment have made them so. These By-laws of the Grand Lodge of England--- for such they are--are no more binding upon the Grand Lodge of Iowa than are our By-laws upon any other Grand Lodge of the land.

Save the one subject of the History of Freemasonry, there has been more nonsense written upon the subject of Ancient Landmarks than upon any other Masonic subject. Neither the Charges of a Freemason nor the General Regulations, together usually styled Ancient Constitutions; anywhere define what a Landmark is, nor do the historians of Freemasonry, or anyone else endowed with authority, enumerate them. Dr. Mackey, a learned Mason--though not so learned as Findel, Lyon, Hughan, or Gould--in his Lexicon of Freemasonry, as also in his Encyclopedia, gives a list of Landmarks which he made and promulgated as "the" Landmarks of the Order. His judgment, when based upon historic or legal truth, is entitled to weight, but he followed his prejudices or speculations, as he did, he commands no more respect than others. one Mason in ten gives adhesion to his Sched Landmarks.

A writer of equal ability, if not so learned, a few years ago tried his hand at enumerating the Landmarks, and almost doubled Mackey’s last list; I say list, because Mackey two and his second contained some not in the first. Thus every writer has his ipse dixit. For many I have invited, urge and begged Grand Master and Grand Reports to furnish me with a list of Landmarks. None have ever essayed to do so--further than to refer me Dr. Mackey, as if a man who was born, lived and died in this century could make an "ancient" Landmark.

Quite recently a Masonic editor has told us that "every Mason ought to understand exactly what the Old Landmarks are." How can everybody be expected to know what nobody knows, ever has known, or ever will know; because there is no supreme authority to declare what they are. Scarcely any two jurisdictions, or any two men in the same jurisdiction, agree on the question.

Again hear a learned brother: "The Old Landmarks are those customs of the fraternity which became fixed rules at a time so remote that even their origin is lost, but which have been handed down as the fundamental laws of Freemasonry." Then he gives a list of twenty-five rules which he calls Landmarks. His second rule is "the division of symbolic Masonry into three degrees." Every schoolboy in Masonry knows that until the eighteenth century-- this is only the nineteenth--there was only one degree. His third is, "the legend of the Temple Builder in the Third Degree." As a fact, neither the Temple Builder nor the legend was ever known or heard of two centuries ago in connection with Freemasonry. And so I might go on.

Such Landmarks are like ten-pins; knock one over and many others fall with it. Talk about rules established in 1700-1799 as having been "fixed at a time so remote that even their origin is

lost !" It is too ridiculous to merit sober refutation. Yet the good brother says that "these twenty-five unalterable rules are now accepted as Landmarks." Accepted by whom? Not by the Grand Lodge of Iowa. In the number of her Lodges, in the intelligence of her membership, in enterprise and true devotion to the genuine principles of Freemasonry, the Grand Lodge of Iowa is the peer of the oldest, the largest and the best Grand Lodge, but she does not accept this list, nor the half of it. She refuses to bow at the altar of this modern Baal.

--II--

So far Parvin. As showing the wide divergence of opinion both as regards the nature and number of the Old Landmarks--the latter varying from six to sixty, and usually fixed at twenty-five--the article is interesting. Its criticisms of the lists of Landmarks proposed are as sound as they are keen. Nevertheless, the essayist leaves us still up in the air with little hope of getting down to the land, much less of finding our landmarks. Nor does it take due account of the injury done to the order, and the impediments put in the way of a wider fellowship and a mutual understanding by this uncertainty and confusion.

Hence we have the spectacle of Masons in one part of the world refusing to recognize their brethren in another part, because, forsooth, they do not use exactly the same words, when the differences in the most important Masonic principles, or their form, is so slight that they could never stand in the way of a greater and closer fellowship. Such bigotry--for it is nothing else --reminds one of the exclusiveness of the ecclesiastic who holds that the sacrament is only valid when administered in a certain way, when certain words are accurately recited, and when a certain person set apart and properly ordained by recognized authorities, is there to administer it.

Moreover, we accuse our brethren abroad--in France, for instance­

-    of having departed from the ancient Landmarks of Masonry, but we have not yet defined what a Landmark is. Instead, we take some Tradition, Custom or Usage, of comparatively recent date, and erect it into a barrier with which to exclude our brethren-- forgetting that a Landmark is one thing and a high board fence is another. Not only so, but we actually take some detail of organization, of whose antiquity no one dare make claim, and use it in the same way. What a queer outcome of the gracious and free spirit of Masonry whose genius it is, or should be, to make men friends and fellow-workers.

For example, in 1858 Mackey made his list of "ancient" Landmarks, twenty-five in number--that seems to be the sacred number in respect of Landmarks--one of which was as follows: "The Bible, being an indispensable symbol, must be present in every Lodge." If that be so, then a Mohammedan or a Buddhist, who reveres other sacred books than our own, cannot be a Mason. Even a Hebrew is in part disqualified, for he does not accept all of the Bible. Confronted with this glaring absurdity, Mackensie modified the Mackey article on this wise: "The Bible is indispensable in Lodge, but it need not be the Bible in all cases. It can be replaced by the Koran, by the Zend-Avesta, or by the Vedas, according to the religious faith of the Lodge." That is to say, the Bible is indispensable but it may be dispensed with!

Now ye editor is a firm believer in Christianity and the Bible, of which he is an humble teacher, but he does not make his Christianity a test of his Masonic fellowship. To do so would be to make Masonry sectarian-- that is, something utterly alien to itself, only one more atom in a world of factional feud and ferment. Instead, he welcomes to his Masonic fellowship his brother Masons of every faith, Catholic or Protestant, Hebrew or Hindu, thanking God the while for one altar where men of all faiths may meet without reproach and without regret.

Obviously, any other attitude is un-Masonic, and a violation of the fundamental, far-shining principle of Freemasonry set forth by the Grand Lodge of England in 1723, and reaffirmed in 1815; the cornerstone from which we must begin our survey if we are ever to find the Landmarks of the Order; the forever memorable words:

"But though in ancient times, Masons were charged in every country or nation to be of the religion of that country, whatever it was, yet it is now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves; that is, to be good men and true, or men of honor and honesty by whatever denominations or persuasions they may be distinguished; whereby Masonry becomes the centre of union and the means of conciliating true friendship among persons that must have remained at a perpetual distance."

--III--

What, then, are the Landmarks of Masonry? Manifestly, by a Landmark we must mean, if it is to have any meaning at all, a limit set beyond which Masonry cannot go, some boundary within which it must labor; a line drawn as against any innovation subversive of the spirit and purpose of the Order. So, and naturally so, the Landmarks of Masonry are its great fundamental principles, not any usage or custom, much less mere details of organization, save in so far as these are identical with the spread of its spirit and the fulfillment of its purpose and mission in the world. Since this is so, there has never been a better attempt to state the Landmarks of the Order than that made by Findel in his "Spirit and Form of Freemasonry," the sum and substance of which is as follows:

First, and chiefly, its universality, and the obligation of every Mason to believe and practice that universal religion in which all men agree and understand each other, and the avoidance of such debates as mar its fellowship.

Second, the organization of a secret society, a centre of fraternity, an alliance of men of good repute, without regard to the distinctions made by the outside world, such as rank, position, religion, nationality, race, or political party; and the right of every initiated Mason to be admitted on a footing of friendship in all regular Lodges--Masonry being universal, and all Masons forming a single Lodge in which all are equal in the sight of each other.

Third, the requirement of certain qualifications for the reception of neophytes, such as moral independence, a sufficient degree of general education, a certain age, and good repute; and the injunction that no external circumstances, but only moral value and service to the Order, entitles any one to distinction or honor. Fourth, the immutable necessity for the Lodges to teach their members to exercise brotherly love, relief, and truth, to work for their moral advancement and the betterment of mankind, and to keep strict discretion towards all outsiders regarding Masonic usages, and especially the signs and symbols of the Order.

Upon such a broad basis as this the Masons of all the world may unite in mutual recognition and goodwill for the advancement of the Order, and that is what our European brethren ask us to do. How can we refuse to listen to their appeal, the more so when all that they ask is that we return to the original platform as laid by the Grand Lodge of England from which we derive. No one has stated their plea with more point and force, or in a better spirit, than William Conrad, in his paper setting forth the aims of the International Bureau for Masonic Relations:

"We do not ask our American brethren to relinquish their opinions or their Landmarks; all that we wish them to do is to recognize us as good Freemasons, faithful to the traditions laid down by the Grand Lodge of London in the year 1717. We desire them to enter into fraternal relations with us, to inquire, in a benevolent spirit, into our History, our leading principles, our activity and our deeds, and to convince themselves that we have the same right to be acknowledged as good and true Freemasons, as they claim for themselves."

BY BROTHER R. BALDWIN, P. PROV. G. W. GRAND LODGE OF NEW ZEALAND)

[This brief Quarterly Address deals so admirably with a matter so important that it is here reproduced, lest in our zeal for numbers we forget what should always be kept in mind; and thereby bring injury to the Order. A better statement of it could hardly be made.- -The Editor]

WORSHIPFUL BRETHREN AND BRETHREN-- The subject which I have chosen for the brief address this evening is that important question of "Soliciting." I am well aware that brethren of high rank are of the opinion that a distinction should be drawn between soliciting and suggestion. This I have no doubt is drawn from reading a small work written by Brother J.S. Lawrence, and distributed by the Provincial Grand Master to the Secretaries of Lodges in the Provincial District of Canterbury, in which the writer states as follows:

"A candidate states at the outset that he has not been subject to the improper solicitation of his friends. Now, it is a well-worn dictum, frequently quoted even by those who are not of us, that no man must be asked to become a Mason. This is a counsel of perfection. The reference to improper solicitation certainly infers a solicitation that is not improper. A solicitation that puts pressure on an unwilling man; that suggested the extension of a business connection; that represented the Order as a benefit society, or as a convivial club, would obviously be improper and need not be referred to.

"But, is it wrong for some experienced brother to suggest to a friend, who is in every way eligible, that his admission to the Order might open up for him an increased or even a new sphere of usefulness; that the avenues of knowledge would be increased; that the friendship he already enjoyed with many Masons would be infinitely more enjoyable, strengthened by the Masonic tie? The

applicant has talked of the Order with his Masonic friends, and with whom originated the conversation that has led to the application it is not worth while enquiring. Moreover, might not a distinction be drawn between a solicitation and a suggestion?"

Personally, I consider it dangerous to suggest, because a brother is experienced, that he should be allowed to suggest or solicit his friends to become members of the Order.

Some time ago a well known and expert brother wrote a leaflet which was printed and distributed by the United Board of Enquiry, and in some cases read in Lodges in this district, in which he states: "The desire for membership should in every case emanate from the candidate and never by suggestion from a Mason. The candidate is called upon to declare that he has not been influenced by solicitation. It therefore behooves us to be extremely careful that no man shall ever be placed in the position of having to give a false answer to the first question put to him in a Masonic Lodge." Another well-known writer says: "Freemasonry requires that every applicant should seek the Craft voluntarily, entirely of his own will and accord." Therefore, if there is one tenet of Freemasonry that is known alike by the initiated and the profane, it is that of opposition to soliciting for members. No one should be solicited to become a Freemason. This is a part of the great unwritten law that must not be. Free will and voluntary action on the part of the applicant for the degrees is absolutely necessary. Were this not so the very application itself would bear on its face a falsehood, and the signature thereto would attest a lie. This is as it should be. The object is so pre-eminently a factor in Freemasonry; so much is Freemasonry concerned with the personality; its responsibilities

are so individualized, that, although as a whole it is an organization in which the parts are bound together by the most solemn and impressive ties, the work it does is accomplished more through the personal factors of energy and character than combined effort. The unsolicited applicant is taught through signs and symbols, and voluntarily obligates himself to do or not to do certain things.

All this concerns him personally. As he profits by the teachings he becomes a character builder. If he becomes really a Freemason, and not merely a member of the fraternity (for, mark you, there is a vast difference between the two), it is his individuality that works for good. As he lets his light shine, so does he reflect credit upon the institution.

The one absorbs what the other teaches. Then the taught in turn becomes the teacher. Advancement in Freemasonry should be along the same lines as those which led to the acceptance of the applicant.

"What!" do you exclaim. "Should the Freemason become a solicitor for honours ?" Not at all. He came to Freemasonry unsolicited, and Freemasonry received him; he solicited, Freemasonry investigated and, accepting, taught him to become a Freemason. As Freemasonry does not solicit, neither should he as a Freemason solicit, for Freemasonry is but the aggregation of Freemasons. But does Freemasonry never solicit? Yes; Freemasonry solicits of her votaries that they shall be good men and true, and conform their lives upon the moral principles symbolized by the plumb, the level, and the square. She asks that they apportion their time as she has taught them, by the gauge. She solicits that they shall spread the cement of brotherly love, and, with the Great Light in Freemasonry as their guide, build such a spiritual temple as shall make them worthy of all honour.

Once a Freemason, soliciting should forever cease, as no Freemason should solicit a profane, neither should he solicit preferment and honours. By living such a life as would make him worthy of these he will be solicited.

Freemasonry delights to honour her worthy ones. She solicits their services and honours worthy perform.

GIVE ME YOUR HAND.

"Brother, if your Christ be the Atoning Lamb,

The Only-Begotten of the Great I Am;

The Rock of Ages cleft for you;

And you say my Christ would never do,

Follow your Christ--but give me your hand.

Brother, if my Christ be the great Ideal,

The possibility of the race made real,

The lowly Man of Galilee,

And I say, your Christ would not help me,

Leave me my Christ--but give me your hand."

--John White Chadwick.

LIGHT SHINETH IN DARKNESS.

"The Past is the Fate of the Present;

Is the realm that no change knows;

Is the Lawgiver of the future,

The Source of its joys and woes;

The dead years are diadem’s Monarchs,

Whom the years that come after obey;

And yesterday is as remote from us As the stars are far away."

--Albert Pike.

ATTENTION, MEMBERS N.M.R.S.

For your own information, read carefully the inside back cover of this issue. It contains data which will clear up some misunderstandings which appear to be general, in spite of our efforts to the contrary

"Believe after observation and analysis, when it agrees with reason and conducive to the gain and good of one and all, then accept it and live up to it. When pure rules of conduct are observed, then there is true religion."

-- The Imitation of Buddha

EDITORIAL

WASHINGTON, the Mason, renouncing a crown to be the Father of a great Republic, is one of the sublime figures of human history. Thackeray was not wrong in saying that it was one of the supreme feats of mortal greatness, as heroic as it was prophetic. The revolution which gave birth to this nation was the work of the people, but their leader so incarnated its spirit, its struggle, its purpose that it almost seems to have been the work of one man. Had Washington fallen in battle, or been captured by his foes, so far as human insight can see the fight of our fathers would have failed.

Alas ! that a man so noble, so heroic, so humanly lovable should have faded, as he seems well nigh to have done, into a mere statue in the Hall of History. Yet so it is. Today we look at his picture and see a great face indeed, but it is more like the Sphinx than a man, from which almost every flush of life has vanished. Parson Weems with his little hatchet did his pious part to turn a hero into a prig, and the Stuart portrait ironed every human wrinkle out of his face. As a result, we see a man of giant strength who carried the burden of a nation, Atlas-like, upon the shoulders, half hidden from those who owe him the homage belonging to the mighty spirits of the race.

There are those who say that Washington was not a genius. It is true that no separate faculty, or federation of faculties, stood out in him in such splendor as amazes us in Alexander or dazzles us in Napoleon. Th’e quality of his genius, like that of Alfred, was moral, and his greatness lay in the symmetry of useful, reliable, unpyrotechnic powers. There was in him a moral magnificence more rare and precious than the radiant gifts of other men. Frederick the Great said that the Trenton campaign was the most brilliant of the century, and it was the century of himself and Marlborough. If Washington was not a genius, he was something better - a brave, true, strong man who picked his way amid the intrigues of friends and the treachery of foes, and led a people to victory, peace, and honor; bringing forth "on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

The people did not trust Jefferson, much as they admired him; Hamilton did not trust the people. Had it not been for Washington, who towered above all parties, our republic would have fallen between two partisan stools. He alone out-topped Hamilton and Jefferson, having a greatness unlike either, and which cornmanded the homage of all. Such a man the times demanded, and such a man in the providence of God was given to his country and his race. It behooves us to keep the image and spirit of Washington alive in our hearts, and tell his story, with all its vivid human color, to our children, and to those who knock at our gates. True patriotism may sometimes despair of republican institutions, but fear is folly so long as our soil can grow men who, like Washington, are proof to place and gold and show a manhood neither bought nor sold.

Washington came up from Virginia, Lincoln came down from Illinois. They came with one faith, one spotless honor, one high, disinterested patriotism, each to do the work set for him to do. They were maligned, villified, and defamed, but they revealed the same dignity, patience, and courage. As we see them now on the distant slopes of fame, they seem akin, and we make a high profession of

ideals when we pay them tribute. Neither could have done the work of the other. Each was a man sent from God in an hour of great need. Divided at time, as in temperament, they stand together in the grateful and venerative memory of a l:tepublic which they founded and defended. They were providential personalities, and this nation, united and free, is at once their monument and their memorial.

MEXICO.

Alas, it seems that Mexico, so long a cock-pit of anarchy, may yet inject an ugly